Chapter Two
The spring air was invigorating, at least that was what Sonny Carasi thought after spending three hours trapped upstairs in the bullpen working through police reports. It was a long and monotonous task, one that numbed his brain as he tapped away constantly on his keyboard. So when his partner Jen Davis had suggested they take a walk to get the good coffee from the place around the corner he had practically leaped out of his seat.
Now the two of them were enjoying the bright, crisp sun, meandering back towards the 16th Precinct, sipping mochas from their take away cups. Beside him Jen was walking with a spring in her step, and if he was honest Sonny was glad to see it. The past few months had not been kind to either of them, their memories were still tainted with the horror of finding Keisha Ozuna dehydrated and starving in that puppy cage. The event itself was enough to give him nightmares but to discover the sheer amount of children that social services supervisor Janette Grayson had failed...
Even Barba's voice had cracked with emotion when he detailed the abuse they had suffered.
Cigarette burns, being made to drink bleach...
Even now the images from those cases, the ones that social services had neglected to follow up on still haunted Sonny. He was a firm believer in the system and to see it fail like that, it had shaken his faith.
The impact on Jen though...
He hadn't been the only one to notice the weight she carried after that case, how worn she had looked when she'd come in for her shift, day after day. There had been a darkness in her that she couldn't seem to shake off. He knew that Liv had taken her aside, he never knew what the summary of that conversation was but he could guess.
"Someone seems chipper today." Carasi observed casually casting a glance at his partner as she walked alongside of him, white coffee cup in one hand her phone in the other as she texted out a message with her thumb. "Not that that's a bad thing. I'm just making the point it's nice to see you smile again."
Her tousled waves fell just past her chin as she tilted her head up to meet his gaze, slipping her cellphone into the pocket of her slate grey, leather jacket. In the past few weeks she had undergone a few major changes, her usually dark hair was highlighted with a warm honey blond, balayage he thought his sister Gina called the technique. She'd cut it shorter than he had ever seen on her during the past two years of working together. The style suited her, framing her oval features.
"Yes." she acknowledged as the two of them slowed their pace to a dawdle. "I just couldn't shake that case."
"I still have nightmares about it." Sonny confessed, those expressive blue eyes of his lowering as he fiddled with the white plastic lid on the cup.
That was the thing about Sonny, he was always in motion. If he wasn't playing with something in his hands, he was constantly gesturing with them. If his arms were crossed, then his legs were moving, whether shifting from side to side or even jangling his knee or ankle. In the beginning of their partnership it had driven her crazy, these days it was a sign that everything was right in his world.
"You talk to anyone about it?" Jen asked Sonny.
He glanced up, his lips pursed together grimly as he nodded.
"My priest." he admitted, swigging his coffee before prompting her. "You?"
"Liv recommended a counselor. The same guy she saw after the whole thing with William Lewis." Jen revealed, clasping the cup close to her chest. It was a comfort thing, something Carisi had observed that she did when she needed a moment to draw strength. "It helped."
There was a comfortable silence between the two as they fell into step once more.
"If it's the one thing I've learned it's that talking helps." Sonny said jovially, bumping his shoulder intentionally against Jen's in a show of solidarity. "If you ever need to vent..."
He trailed off leaving the sentence hanging in the air between them.
"Likewise." Jen responded, clinking her coffee cup against his in acknowledgement of the promise they had made.
Jennifer was beautiful, Rafael had never realized just how stunning she was until he had her in his bed. The sound of his name rolling off of her lips at the pinnacle of climax has been enough to tip him over the edge as they made love in the darkness of his bedroom.
He thought of the way her soft skin felt pressing against his own as he kissed her into oblivion. What had started as hard and fast had become slow and tender after they had stripped each other of their clothes. He had taken his time with her, using his fingers and tongue explore every aspect of her wanton form as she had stroked, tasted and teased every inch of his own body. There was something about that woman that lit a fire deep down inside of him and when the two of them together...
It was like a god damned inferno.
The surprising aspect of their encounter was the fact Rafael had never seen it coming. Sure, the two of them flirted when they were alone together, he thought it was part of the founding principles of their friendship. It was part of the unique chemistry that bonded the two of them together.
They had grown close over the past four years, ever since that night they had bumped into each other at Carlito's. After a verdict in one of their cases, no matter what happened the two of them would always end up in that place, sharing a drink, eating a meal. It was part of an unspoken agreement the two of them had forged and at the end of the day they enjoyed each other's company.
Last night had started the same way as any other. The two of them had been sitting at the bar as usual at Carolito's, sharing a meal whilst discussing the Lane Baker verdict. He didn't know which one of them had been happier when the jury had come back with a guilty verdict on Pastor Gregory Eldon. Jen had done the legwork, building the case from the ground up before narrowly preventing the marriage of thirteen year old Lane Baker to her rapist. Winning over the jurors had been an uphill battle when it came to Lane's credibility but the evidence was as clear as day. Afterward Rafael had felt immense satisfaction as he watched the young pastor receive his sentence.
It wasn't until they got outside that things had changed, it was usually at this point in their evening that Barba would put Jen in a cab and tell the driver to make sure she got to the front door safely. Still in a celebratory mood, the two of them had decided to walk and it wasn't until they found themselves on the doorstep of his own house that they realised just how quickly time seemed to slip by. He'd invited her inside with the intention of calling her an Uber but he never got around to making that call.
They'd ended up in his study, drinking that expensive blend of scotch that he had been saving for a special occasion. Jen had complimented the crystal decanter his grandmother had given him for graduating Harvard, he recalled the way her fingertips played over the etched shapes before she had replaced it back upon the side board.
He didn't know who started the kiss, all he remembered was how soft her lips felt as they caressed his. At that moment it was like the floodgates had opened and Rafael had found himself drowning in the sensation of euphoria that erupted through his body. He had no idea how they made it to his bedroom, although he had found his shirt at the bottom of the stairs, his trousers on landing and he still hadn't managed to locate the tie he had been wearing that night.
Speaking of the tie...
He picked up his phone from the surface of his desk before quickly swiping his finger across the screen and selecting Jen's contact details before he began to type out a message.
Missing: One red, white and blue tie.
Last Seen: In your possession.
Current Whereabouts: Unknown.
Hey guys! It's update day! I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Amber: The most recent episode broke everyone's hearts I think. Don't worry I promise it won't be as horrific as that! Barba is one of my fav chars as well next to Dodds and Sonny!