Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU or any of its characters.
Pawned Off
Once back at home, it took the joint efforts of Annie and Lucia to keep Rafael in the apartment. They played good cop and bad cop. Lucia, to Annie's surprise, preferred to be bad cop.
"Finish your soup, Rafi!"
"I am not a child. What is going on with you?", he exclaimed.
After a few weeks, when Lucia went back to her place, Annie had to use all her charms to coax Rafael into resting. He often made her wear skimpy clothing while looking after him. And more than often, that led to something else.
"Somebody's happy", Annie was putting her clothes back on.
Rafael lay naked in bed, basking in the afterglow. He chuckled,
"You think?"
She kissed his nose before moving away. He held her back by the wrist. Green eyes told her all that was to know.
"Raf", she shook her head, "We have done it twice since morning"
"I know", his shoulder hurt as he pulled her back in bed, "I just thought of something more we could do"
"Babe, I..."
He was already removing her clothes. Annie gave him a look of reproof. He said,
"Come on. I go back to work tomorrow. We won't be having daytime sex until the weekend then"
"Good point", she gave in with a grin.
They were necking like teens when the doorbell rang. Annie jumped up,
"Saved by the bell"
"Not for long", he said and grabbed his clothes.
Annie walked to the door, adjusting her dress, and peeped through. It was Aunt June and her niece Cordelia.
"Aunt June!", she hugged them both, "Corey! Come in, come in. What a surprise"
Rafael answered all of Aunt June's loving inquiries about his health. They were sipping lemonade when the old lady said,
"Rafael, why don't you show Corey the apartment? I want to talk to Annie alone"
"Um, sure"
Annie mouthed a 'sorry' to him. He assured her with his eyes that it was all right. Aunt June didn't even wait for them to leave.
"When you called me yesterday..."
Corey was admiring Annie's bookshelves in the spare room. It pleased Rafael to see a teen who liked books. His phone rang somewhere in the apartment. He followed the tune to the living room but stopped midway. Aunt June was saying to her foster-child,
"You know I never approved of your engagement to Michael"
Annie nodded.
"Well, your Uncle Mick made me keep a secret all these years. It's about you and Mike. When he... a week before he died, I asked Father Andrew to talk to him. I wanted him to convince Michael that it would be wrong for him to marry his foster sister. I know he never treated you as a sister but that's what you were"
'Old bat', Rafael grimaced.
If she had come all the way there to upset Annie, she wasn't going to get away with it.
"Father Andrew did convince him, Annie. Michael had his faults but you know he would never offend God. He was going to break the engagement off. He wouldn't make you party to a sin"
Annie said,
"Michael would never do that to me"
Aunt June insisted,
"He swore before God, in my presence and Father Andrew's presence too. He pawned off the ring he had bought for you"
All Rafael wanted to do was put a stop this humiliation. Annie asked,
"Why are you telling me this now?"
The woman's eyes filled with tears,
"Because I didn't want to hurt you before"
She sobbed. Annie's own eyes were dry. Aunt June continued.
"What you told me yesterday, it made me realize I had to set you free from the promise you made him. That's all, honey"
"Free or not", Annie sounded cold, "Michael come back from his grave can't stop me from what I'm going to do"
Aunt June nodded in comprehension.