She hung up the phone with another apology to Lucy, all hopes of getting home at a reasonable hour dashed as this case continued to unfold before them. A judge caught soliciting a minor – the stakes were high and she could sense the storm about to rage on them. Barba had just hurried into the squad room and she took a moment to eyeball him, discerning his dark jeans and the black shirt which gaped open at the top. No suspenders, no coloured tie, no vest; she wondered what exactly she'd interrupted tonight.
"Sorry to disturb your Friday evening, Councillor."
His eyes never strayed from the board as he muttered a reply. "Not at all. Political abuse of power trumps dating every day of the week."
Finn offered up a little rough laugh, handing out some mugs of coffee with a chuckling "Plus here, the caffeine is free." and catalogued the little double blink Liv did at Barba's response to decipher later.
It was past midnight before they packed it in for the night, everyone trailing out of the office wary of the continued horror awaiting their return. Barba sat strewn across her chair, peering at her across the desk. She glanced at her watch whilst shoving her things back into a bag. "I'm sorry to have ruined your date night."
A half smile greeted her as he replied, "I should be thanking you. Truthfully it was not going too well."
She tried to keep her voice as nonchalant as possible when she voiced an even "oh?" and avoided his eyes. Silence stretched between them for a few beats before he roughly coughed and with a lowered voice shared the thoughts that had been pestering him all evening.
"She wanted to know about the kind of cases I work here; in what way's it is different from Brooklyn PD. How do you bring that up over Coquilles Saint-Jacques and a glass of Chablis?" It's a variation of the same question that seems to haunt these hallways. How do you go home to your family and not see the danger around every corner? How do you take a woman to bed and not see cold body parts? How do you have a drink and not worry excessively that it will blur that line of consent? How do you live a life outside of the job? She meets his eyes squarely and can see that he already knows her answer.
"I don't know."