"Just let me do something."
"Rafael you sound like a four year old. I could let you in on Noah's play date if we still have time." She looked at her watch the way he looked at her: annoyed. The sergeant folded her arms and sighed. "Look I don't know what you want me to say."
"Say, 'here you go, Rafi. File these papers for me; go get some coffee; go back to your office,' or better yet, 'go home." His final suggestion was ripe with venom- he spat it out like he found out his five-course meal had a bit of human in every bite.
"Barba," Olivia loudly sighed and craned her neck. "You know I can't let you leave without supervision."
"Oh please, you've let plenty of victims leave without an escort; why can't you let me go?" Barba stared at Olivia who seemed to be searching for words that didn't exist. They both knew very well that she could let him leave, unattended of course, but she had a bad feeling. Olivia had experiences with these kinds of threats. What had happened with her and Lewis- god, she wouldn't wish that on her own worst enemy. The last thing she'd want is to find Barba kidnapped and…
She sighed. Her eyes scanned over the ADA. He was a little younger than her- not by much- but he had the bite in him like a man who wasn't a day over thirty. He was not going to give it up. Olivia knew what to do in situations like this with suspects who were unruly. She wouldn't compare Rafael to a suspect but he certainly was acting like one. She would have to compromise. Rafael was a lawyer and he also happened to be Rafael Barba, so the compromise would be inevitable.
"Look, if you really want to get out of here then you can-" she brushed her hair back behind her ear and shrugged in her classic fashion, pursing her lips and perking her brows before asking, "how does coffee sound?"
Rafael's lawyer smirk spread across his face instantaneously.
Sonny had spent the past few days watching out for Rafael. Well, more so just watching him. He had overheard Nick and Fin talking about his confession. Nick seemed hesitant as he spoke so there had to be more involved, but all he knew was that Nick told Barba exactly what the Vic had said.
Sonny was getting worried. And when Sonny got worried, his knee got jumpy. Olivia had him on deskwork so he was getting antsy. Any chance he had to escape the bullpen, he took- albeit a limited amount of options. If he heard the slightest stomach growl or talk of food, he already had his coat in hand and made his way out the door. Unfortunately for Sonny, Rafael wasn't always in the office, so his wallet kept finding itself paying for food for people who were only just starting to appreciate him.
On this particular day, Olivia and Rafael had gone out for coffee for the fifth time in a week and Sonny was more and more nervous each time. He expected a text or something, anything; but they never came. Rafael was content and right now he didn't need Sonny.
His knee kept bouncing.
"Okay. That's it. Rollins, call a bus, I'm gonna amputate it." Nick pushed back from his desk, sliding in his rolling chair. He slapped his hands to his thighs and his eyes shot straight to Sonny's leg.
"What?" Sonny turned and looked at Nick who was eyeing him intensely. He hadn't realized it was that bad. Fin laughed and walked to go get some snacks from his locker and Amanda shook her head, placing a hand on Nick's shoulder.
"Hon, your knee."
"What about it?" Sonny crossed his legs- the bounce was stopped indefinitely.
"What about it? What about it? My god, it sounds like we're living under a samba studio; calm that thing." Nick spat back. Amanda lightly shoved his chair and sat on the corner of Nick's desk. That got him to shut up a bit for the least.
"I'm sorry. Really. I didn't know." Sonny started to turn back to his work when Nick got up to tend to a phone call with Zara. Amanda watched him walk away and then watched Sonny as he started to get back to work. Sonny felt the eyes like a tigress was stalking him. He stared at his work but he knew he had to say something. And right as he started to, she cut him off. "Look-"
"Is it Barba?"
Sonny raised his chin a little higher, folded his arms and grit his teeth, looking at her. She pressed her lips together and sat in Nick's chair, sliding it over to him and speaking low and breathy as she often did.
"He'll be fine…" She spoke with an uncertainty that Sonny too felt. He didn't know if that was the truth either. As much as he wanted to believe that Rafael would be fine, still in his stomach remained a pit of longing and fear. Usually he was able to be the positive outlook on things, but he just didn't know. Neither did Amanda. They both frowned. "He's got Olivia, Nick, you, me and Fin and someone even called in Munch to keep an ear out. He's got the greatest detectives on watch."
"Yeah but he's also got the greatest crook on watch, too."
Amanda sighed. "You just need to keep positive about this entire thing."
"I know it's gonna happen again. If not Rafael, then someone else."
"We're sort of at a stalemate, pal." She pursed her lips, looking at Sonny with sad eyes. "We're still waiting on the rape kit. Backlog is so far behind. We put a rush on it but we need to be careful so we don't end up contaminating evidence. Staten Island just got in trouble for a whole chain of custody thing. " She put her hand gently on his shoulder and frowned. "He's going to be okay."
Nick ran his hand over his mouth as he sighed, looking at him with trying eyes. "I'm going to do my best to keep him safe."
"Your best isn't going to save his life." Sonny stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. "Sorry, I got to go." Sonny took off right as Rafael and Olivia returned, laughing.
Rafael stood in his spot with two coffees in his hand; smile fading as the tall detective passed him by. "Where's he going? I just got him one of those super specific mochas he's been talking about." The ADA looked at Nick and Amanda whose mouths were straight lines and they shrugged.
"Barba, he's really worried about you." Amanda sighed, nodding to Olivia as she was handed a coffee. Rafael sighed himself and turned around to leave.
"Not so fast, abogado. I'll come with you." Nick grabbed his coat when Rafael shut him down.
"No." Rafael pivoted on his foot and looked at the Cuban with his quintessential attorney face. "I need to talk to him. One on one." Nick nodded, setting his coat down.
"I don't know about that." Olivia chimed in with a worried tone.
"Liv, again. I'm fine. I can do this, okay? Soy un hombre. I just need to talk to him. Maybe get his mind back onto his coursework. It's affecting the flow of your precinct, so now it's become my problem." He tried to cover up his true intentions of getting Sonny to smile by covering his explanation with work related hubbub to get Olivia off his tail. "I'm leaving, I'm gonna lose him."
Rafael took off and Nick took it upon himself to sneakily follow suit. Rafael was able to track down Sonny a few blocks down from their building buying a hot dog. Of course he was getting food. He sat at a small table and Rafael sat across from him. Sonny furrowed his eyebrows.
"I can't see why you're mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you." Rafael slid the cup of coffee across the table and Sonny's face creaked somewhat of a smile for the first time in a few hours. "Thanks." He pushed it aside, deciding that the coffee wouldn't match well with the hot dog right about then.
"What are you upset at, though? You stormed out of there really fast, and now you're spending your break hour eating god knows what." Sonny lifted the hot dog to his mouth and set it on his plate before flicking Rafael off with his eyes. "Amanda looked a little worried."
"She's not worried. I'm the only one who's worried."
"What reason do you have to be worried?" Rafael sipped on his to go cup with knowing eyes. "If anything, I'm starting to become a little worried about you."
"And I'm not allowed to be worried about you? Are you kidding? Raf, let's be real."
"We don't have to be real about anything. I can handle myself. S-"
"Yeah, yeah. 'Soy un hombre.' I get it. You're a man. But so was Greg and so is the next guy that's gonna get his ass handed to him and the next one too. Jesus, for all I know, if that is a legitimate threat, then who knows? I could be next."
Rafael felt his heart drop. "Nobody would dare harm you. I wouldn't let them."
"Yeah, okay. Sure." Sonny mumbled bitterly. God he was acting like an absolute child right now, but who said he didn't have the right to. After all, his b-
Right. They probably weren't anything, anyways. He frowned in thought.
"Sonny." He looked up and met his eyes with Rafael's. "Just between the two of us: I would never let anybody ever lay a hand on you." His words were met with a gentle hand on Sonny's own and they locked eyes. He squeezed it and gave his best light smile to the detective. He really did care.
"Shit." Nick's eyes widened at the realization. He knew but he honestly wasn't sure. He had suspicions about the duo but he had never realized how legitimate the situation was. This was an exciting turn of events to say the least.
He hid almost comically behind a large group of tourists and made his way back to the precinct, ultimately deciding not to secretly intrude further on the intimate moment.
The couple returned to the precinct, together, and Liv gave an appreciative nod to Rafael. Sonny returned to his desk and got his paperwork situated. Amanda gave thumbs up to Rafael, while Nick hid behind his computer and at least pretended, for once, to be immensely indulged in his work.
Sonny shook his professor's hand as he walked out of his class a little earlier than expected. His briefings had gone over great and his mock trial was quickly approaching. He had done loads of research, with the help of the great Rafael, and he was really looking forward to getting it over with. He only had a few more papers after that and his graduation was quickly approaching. He could taste it. Just as he noticed a few of his buddies in the parking lot, his phone buzzed.
Rollins, 10:24 p.m.
'You. Me. Classic Yankees v. Braves rerun."
Sonny smiled. It was nice to get to hang out with other people in the squad besides Barba, albeit their visits were less than frequent lately. The stress of his schoolwork and the lack of leads on this case were starting bring him down. What better than to down a few beers with his coworker and settle a classic rivalry. He was in.
A few beers. That's what he had planned. But then Amanda started to get competitive and the pints kept making their way to Sonny's mouth. He ruled to pee in between innings and that's exactly what he did.
He was drunk. Amanda? Not so much. The game ended and Sonny noticed himself starting to slur more and more and Amanda, well she was just peachy. Sonny started to think about Rafael after seeing one of those cheesy local lawyer ads with William Shatner, so he decided to text him.
Sonny, 12:54 a.m.
'Rolllllllins and I are hav in a few drinks.. you want to come join? ."
"Barba, 12:56 a.m.
'Sorry. Wine with Liv."
Sonny rolled his eyes and set his phone down, mood drooping dramatically. Amanda had to stifle a laugh that almost escaped her mouth when her fellow detective almost transmorphed into a small dog. He was pitiful. She had to pry deeper.
"What's up, buttercup?" Her question was met with a dramatic, kindergarten-esque sigh. "Trouble in paradise."
Sonny hiccupped and stared at her- eyes narrowed. It wasn't that he was trying to intimidate her; the poor guy just couldn't see. The drinks were too much. He tried to focus as best as he could before giving up and letting his head fall to his tabled arms. "Ugh."
"Can I take a wild guess again?"
"Hasn't stopped you before."
"Barba?"
Sonny groaned a 'yes' before downing the glass of water the knowing bartender had nonchalantly slipped him.
"You know. I'm gonna let you in on something." Her voice lowered and Sonny's attention was solely on her- whether or not he could see her didn't matter. She continued, "a little while before you got here, I was going through a similar situation." Still am, she and Sonny both thought. "And Fin caught me in the midst of a crisis and told me not to bring the job home."
Sonny nodded. He could agree with that. Simple.
"But he also taught me not to bring anyone from the job home." She gave a frown/smile hybrid and tried to pretend like she understood what his situation was. They weren't that different, but still. She had a point. Sonny groaned and once again buried his face in his arms.
"Sonny, do you have feelings for Barba?"
He nodded like a child who was caught stealing a sweet before dinner.
"It's just an um… an innocent crush, right? Just awkward feelings and all. Right?" She tried to make sense of things.
"No, not exactly." She didn't interrupt. If she were going to fix Carisi, it would have to come out of his own mouth. She couldn't pry too hard. "Well, a few weeks ago, um. Barba- Raf and I met at a bar. Well, we didn't meet there. We kind of just bumped- I followed him there and uh.." Carisi moved his hands around a bit, deep in his convoluted Italian thought process and shrugged. "Stuff went down. And it uh, continued to."
"So this is an ongoing thing."
"Not as of recently, no."
"Oh?" She tilted her head. "'Cause of the case."
"Well, yeah." He wriggled his nose and scratched the nape of his neck. "And Liv."
"Oh, god. Did she find out, too?"
"No, she's just been… On to Raf. "
"So, she's got her suspicions."
"No. Rollins… She's sweet for 'im. I can tell. She's doing that hair tuck behind the ear that girls do and she's always smilin'." Carisi's speed in words came out a little faster than usual and Rollins smirked slightly at his passion, but was annoyed at the situation. "And she's always taking him out for coffee."
"She's got to keep an eye on him."
"Which can be done at the office."
"He's just bored and wants a change of scenery."
"She's just bored and wants a plaything." Sonny lifted his drink to his lips and mumbled. "My plaything."
Amanda frowned and pursed her lips. "Is she with him right now."
Sonny nodded and let his attention focus on the bar snacks and then back to the TV. The same attorney commercial came on and he rolled his eyes before checking the time on his phone. Amanda did the same. "I should go. Studyin' to do an stuff."
"Uh, Carisi. It's a good thing, you're heading out now." Amanda's voice lowered and she immediately sprung up and slid her coat and scarf on.
"Hm?" Carisi stuffed his mouth and fixed his own coat.
"There's been another rape."