Brown Eyed Girl

Chapter 9

Oliva hung up her phone and walked into the kitchen where Rafael was preparing breakfast for Mari and Noah.

"I don't like this oatmeal Papi." Noah complained stirring it around with his spoon.

"It's the same oatmeal you ate yesterday Noah." Rafael explained

"Yes, but yesterday's tasted better."

"Noah, eat your oatmeal, we are going to be late." He told him shaking his head.

"Yes, we need to go, Papi and I have a meeting this morning." Olivia explained

"We do?" Barba asked, they didn't have a case so it must be with Trevor. "Does Trevor have something for us?"
"Yes, he said he wanted to go over it all in person." She told him nervously.

He crossed the kitchen, "Whatever it is, we will face it together." He said puling her into a hug.

Jason Stephens was in prision, he had plead guilty but would still not answer any more questions regarding his relationship with Claudia so they were anxiously awaiting the results of the DNA testing.

An hour later they were seated in Trevor's office nervously holding hands and waiting to hear what he would tell them.

"Sorry, for keeping you guys in suspense but I was hoping to get the DNA results back before we met." Trevor told them.

"And did you?" Barba asked growing impatient.

Trevor smiled, "Yes, and I can confirm that Jason Stephens is not Mari's biological father. He was in fact part of Claudia's touring company but nobody my people spoke to knew of them having a relationship and the DNA test confirmed it."

Oliva and Rafael hugged each other in relief.

"There's more," Trevor continued placing a picture on a young man on the table in front of them, "This is David Heard he was also a part of the company that Claudia traveled with. Several people my investigators spoke with said he and Claudia were involved that summer."

Oliva and Rafael both took deep breaths, 'What do we know about him?" Olivia asked studying his picture instantly recognizing his smile as the one she saw at home every day.

Trevor sat down at his desk, "By all accounts he was a decent enough guy. He toured with that company for three years and for the most part was well liked by everyone. People thought he and Claudia made a good couple before he got sick."

"Got sick?" Rafael asked

"Yes, it seems about the same time Claudia would have found out she was pregnant David was diagnosed with a brain tumor. One of Claudia's friends said she didn't want to burden him with a baby while he was fighting that and so she took off." He explained to them

"How is he now?" Oliva asked

"He only lived three months after the diagnosis, he passed away before Mari was even born."

Olivia and Rafael looked at each other in a mix of emotions, "Why wouldn't Claudia have explained that too me?" Rafael wondered out loud.

"She probably had so many of her own emotions she was working through that she didn't know how." Oliva said softly tracing the outline of the man's face on the picture in front of her. "Thank you Trevor, for everything."

"Legally there is not much else that you need to do, the adoption paperwork is ready as soon as you two are ready." Trevor told them.

"We are ready." They said in unison ready to have it finalized.

"Great, well then the only question is what last name should I put on the children's papers?" He asked them laughing at the look they exchanged indicating they hadn't thought about that.

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Rafael and Noah were dressed in matching tuxedos while Mari was dressed in a toddler version of Olivia's cream colored gown. The judge who had signed the children's adoption papers smiled at them both when they pulled apart from their kiss. Lucia handed Mari back to Olivia as they turned to face the guest who had come to witness the occasion.

"It is my very great pleasure to introduce you all to Olivia and Rafael Benson-Barba and their children Noah Benson-Barba and Marisol Benson-Barba." The judge said as their guest clapped and whistled in approval. Rafael picked up Noah and carried him while Oliva carried Mari, the four of them as a family making their way down the aisle to their life together.

The End

A/N- Thank you so much for all of your kind words on this story and thank you for sticking with it through the long breaks in writing. This is the end of this story but I have a feeling this version of the Benson-Barba family will show up again.