So I may have watched the Younger trailer several several SEVERAL times with this song in the background. A mixture of missing Barba, Peter Hermann being all sexy as hell as Charles Brooks and this song worming its way into my brain produced this. I miss Barba. Have I mentioned that?

If we lay, let the day just pass us by
I might get to too much talking
I might have to tell you something
Damn, I like me better when I'm with you
-Lauv (I Like Me Better)

He sighed, looking out at the darkening sky from his window. He would be grateful that Rita was basically letting him live rent free in her Hamptons cottage. At first, it had been solace. The Hamptons in the winter is cold and basically deserted. Just what he needed after the last few months in the DA office. It gave him time to brood and grieve and heal. But then the weather started to change. People started to come out of their homes, come up for weekends and he knew with the impending Memorial Day weekend his days of being a recluse were close to being over.

Which he didn't think he minded. Until his phone rang about a month ago. Amanda Rollins. Begging him for help, an outside perspective. A brutal case that they just couldn't crack. He didn't have to ask. She offered it up without him having to. No, she hadn't told Olivia she was calling.

He was glad she met him outside the precinct. He wasn't sure he would have gone in if she hadn't.

"You still haven't told her I'm coming, have you?"

Amanda shook her head. "No. Trust me. I may get my ass handed to me, but she would have found a thousand different reasons to not bring you here if I had told her my plan. And we need you on this one, Barba. If it makes you feel better, I did ask Stone if bringing you in would screw anything up. He said it wouldn't."

"I'm not sure that helps."

Rollins shrugged and looked at her phone as it vibrated in her hand. "Come on. She's wondering where I am. We are starting the morning briefing about the case."

He felt like he had been gone forever as he climbed the steps and rode the elevator. Nothing had changed here. But he had changed. At least he was trying to.

Right before they got to their floor, Amanda looked him up and down. "Maybe they won't recognize you dressed like that." He smiled slightly. Jeans and a polo. Shaggy hair and stubble. "There are a few perks to no longer being a practicing lawyer" he replied, shrugging as the elevator doors opened.

The din of voices and movement seemed to stop as he rounded the corner toward the conference table. He glanced at Fin, who just stared at him. Carisi pushed himself out of his chair, coming over to them.

"She's going to actually kill you this time" he said to Amanda.

She shrugged. "Not if we get this guy. Barba can help us do that. I just know it."

Carisi clapped him on the back. "I don't disagree. She's still going to kill you." Barba was about to open his mouth when he heard her voice.

"OK, people. Quit down. We've got to…" but she trailed off as she looked up, locking eyes with him. For a moment, it was just them. Every moment they had over the last 6 years flooded through his brain. He had gotten so wrapped up in feeling sorry for himself that he had forgotten what it felt like to be here, with her, working and helping. She then cleared her throat, dropping her files on the table.

"Rollins, join me in my office for a moment, won't you?" Amanda smirked at him and followed Olivia into her office.

"Do you think I should go?" he asked Carisi, who just shrugged. The crowd milled around a for a few minutes until Olivia and Amanda emerged. He looked at Rollins, who waved him off. Olivia sat down, pulling out the chair next to her and nodding her head at him. He quickly moved around the crowd, dropping into the chair next to her.

"Don't be mad at Amanda."

She looked at him. "She swears that you will help us get this guy. She's probably right. Just wish I had known you were coming. Just know, Rafael… I am glad you're here." With that, she slipped into Lieutenant mode and motioned for Fin and the rest of the group to begin.

He grabbed a beer out of the frig, reflecting on the last few weeks. It was like he had never left. Or riding a bike. Or whatever you wanted to refer to it as. They got the guy two days ago. Because he and Liv decided to just throw everything against the wall and see what stuck. Peter Stone and Jack McCoy had even stopped in to thank him for the help, the latter asking him if he wanted to reconsider vacating his job. But he knew going back to the DA's office was not an option. But working with them, with her, one last time, on better terms, when he was in a better headspace – he had forgotten what that felt like.

He sighed, remembering the same exact feeling from a few years ago, after the Samra case. He knocked on her doorframe, adjusting the bag strap on his shoulder. She looked up from her computer.

"You're leaving" she said, with a mixture of shock and maybe disappointment.

"Yeah. I'm not needed here anymore so…"

"That's not true" she replied, pushing herself out of her chair and moving toward him. He just shrugged, not being able to find the words to respond to that.

She stopped right in front of him. He could see a battle being waged behind her eyes. "Liv?"

"Are you… ummm… are you still staying at Rita's house in the Hamptons?"

He nodded. "She told you?"

Olivia shrugged. "I may have badgered her about your whereabouts until she gave it up." He laughed. "Man, that would have been something I would have paid to see." She returned his smile.

"Please don't be a stranger, Rafa" she whispered. Before he could respond, she threw her arms around his shoulders, pulling herself to him. He let the bag slip off his shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist. The last time he hadn't gotten to savor this moment, having her in his arms. He was so relieved he wasn't going to jail and destroyed about what he had done, he didn't even realize it had happened till it was over and she was letting him go. He closed his eyes, savoring her for just a moment. He felt her melt into his embrace, pressing her cheek against his. He heard a throat clear behind him and he moved to let her go quickly, but she refused. She held on to him, only pulling back enough to look over his shoulder at Amanda. He didn't even hear what she said, only that Olivia dispatched her quickly and turned her attention back to him.

"You have to work to, Liv. I should go." She shook her head, tightening her grip on him. "Liv" he whispered. "You go back to work. But that guy in jail for good. I'll call you, ok? I promise." He knew he had to leave or he never would. So, he extracted himself from her embrace, grabbing his bag off the ground and turning on his heel before he could change his mind. He moved as fast as he could toward the elevator, only finally looking back at her as the doors opened and he stepped on.

He was kicking himself. It's not like he had anywhere to be. But he ran. Yet again. From her. If he was being honest, he liked who he was now, but he found a better version of himself when he was in her presence. Hadn't that always been the case, though? He was better around her. He grabbed his phone to call her, but the knock on the door made him pause.

He dropped the phone and the bottle on the table, moving to the door. The knock was a little louder, a little more insistent and for a moment, his heart stopped. He grabbed the door handle, taking a steadying breath and pulling it open. And there she stood.

"I shouldn't have let you leave" she said. He shook his head.

"You had work to do, Liv. I was just in the way."

"I'm not talking about yesterday. I shouldn't have let you leave. I should have followed you. Asked you to stay. Begged you to stay. Told you to work through what you had to work through with me. Every time I thought about you sitting up here alone…" she paused, eyes suddenly going wide. "Unless… oh God… unless you weren't alone. You aren't alone… oh God…"

He grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him. "I'm alone, Liv. Am now, have been since I got here." She exhaled the breath she had been holding. And she smiled at him. A wide, happy smile he hadn't seen in a long time. He responded in kind, unable to stop himself from smiling at her like a goof.

"The thing is, Rafa… I just like me better when you are around. As Amanda so lovingly put it, I'm less of a hard ass when I've got you around. I think that's part of the reason she called you in."

"What was the other reason?"

"I missed you. I miss you. Every day I miss you. That's what I needed you to know."

He grabbed her, pulling her flush to his body, arms around her waist, pressing his lips to hers like he wanted to do that cold day in February and for lots of days before that. He leaned back against the door frame, taking her weight and relishing the feel of her against him. Her fingers threaded through his hair, her lips sliding against his. He knew she was right. And that she needed to know. So, he broke the kiss, resting his palm against her cheek.

"I'm also better when I'm with you too, Liv."