A/N: Let me know if you're liking and enjoying! I'm having tons of fun writing it.

December 3rd, 2016 – 8:07 a.m.

"Shit," Olivia cursed loudly, somehow managing to rub her aching kneecap while racing through the hallways with a bundled up Noah, his Spiderman backpack carrying army men action figures and coloring backs slung across her back.

She was thankful it was early enough that no one else in the District Attorney's office was milling about the hallways just yet because she must have looked hilarious at that moment. That also meant no one witnessed her running into the janitor's cleaning cart.

"Shit!"

Liv bit back a groan at the tiny voice that mimicked her, a small giggle at the end when she immediately chastised his using of the word. He'd been doing it for the past couple of weeks and she was finding it incredibly difficult to censor herself around him. She liked it better when he ignored her in favor of his cartoons or his story books.

Now, he just hung on to every word she said which resulted in only the bad words getting repeated back to her. It was funny and that was the problem. Too many times did she have to stifle a laugh or leave the room so she didn't encourage him with her chuckles.

It was rough.

"Noah, we don't say that word. It's very naughty."

"Shit!"

Liv just sighed, the pain dying down in her knee and the battle against her son's potty mouth lost, and checked the time on her phone.

8:09 am and Barba was going to kill her.

Honestly, he should have expected it with her when Noah was going to be tagging along. She was known for being punctual and professional, reliable by just being there when she was needed and required to be. However, with Noah being in her life the past couple of years, that part of her work ethic tended to slip sometimes.

With her little boy having been put through the ringer with illnesses and developmental snags, he came first and foremost. Of course, her squad and favorite ADA knew that and would never hold it against her.

Barba wouldn't be angry…just annoyed like he was 80% of the time. The thought brought a smile to her face.

She navigated the halls until she arrived at his office, leading Noah up to Carmen's desk where the young woman sat typing at her computer.

"Morning," Liv greeted and B-lined it for the office door. The young woman stood abruptly, looking slightly unnerved and unsure of what she was going to say after she called for the detective to wait.

Live raised an eyebrow, hand on the door knob and confused as to why Carmen would even talk to her to begin with. The woman was not the most talkative and only really appeared in their meetings when she was dropping off important files for Barba to sign.

In fact, she could count on one hand the number of times the woman in front of her had even acknowledged her directly.

"Mr. Barba isn't here," she said, hands wringing together uncertainly. That little movement didn't go unnoticed by the detective. Liv's hand slipped from the knob and she looked into the darkened office, noticing no one in the room through the opened blinds.

"Was court canceled? He would have called me," she explained, pulling her phone out of the back of her pocket to check the screen again. No missed calls or texts. And it was 8:15 now.

"No, court wasn't canceled as far as I know. And it's incredibly unusual for him not to be here at least an hour or two before a major case," the dark haired assistant explained with a shake of her head. Liv agreed, a sudden uneasy feeling washing over her.

Maybe it was the fact that Barba's assistant seemed incredibly disturbed by the fact that her boss was late on the morning of a highly publicized case, but her instincts were running wild now. Instincts that had been honed over the years to pin point important details.

Witnesses biting their lips and avoiding eye contact. Suspects acting as if they hadn't a care in the world while their forehead grew shiny with perspiration. She was trained to read body language and Carmen was raising red flags.

But she bit it down, thinking herself irrational. Barba was running late, nothing more.

Except, he was never late. Not in the entire time she'd known him had been late for anything. Unlike her, he was always the first to arrive and the last to leave the office.

"Detective?"

Liv came back to reality and gave the assistant a comforting smile, doing her best to ease her worry. It was understandable that the woman would be a bit freaked out after working for a man who was practically married to his desk.

"I'm sure he's down at the court house prepping. No big deal. I better get down there, though. I'm already late enough as it is," she joked and turned, wanting to hurry down and see if he was there or not.

"Wait!"

Liv stopped a few steps away from the threshold of the door, watching with keen eyes as Carmen came around from behind her desk, holding a folded up piece of paper in her hand. She handed it over and Liv let go of Noah's hand to unfold it.

"It was on my desk this morning…," Carmen said, watching Liv as she read the note, "it's like the other ones before." And Liv knew exactly what she was talking about.

WATCH YOUR BACK.

The handwriting was large and bold and left a chill down her down her spine, but Liv schooled her looks and slipped the paper into her pocket, resting it next to her phone. Nodding, she made her exit, saying nothing more than a goodbye.

Scooping up Noah, she walked quicker back towards the elevator than she had coming up, wanting to make it to the court house before 8:30. Rollins and Carisi were probably already there since both of them would be sitting in on trial per her request.

December 3rd, 2016 – 8:27 a.m.

"I'm just saying it's a little weird that you don't sleep with a pillow. Your head isn't supported at all but your feet are?"

Rollins rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee, Carisi trailing behind her munching on a glazed donut and trying to wipe the crumbs off his brand new tie. Navigating the halls of the court house kept her from loudly griping about the fact that he said some very embarrassing things in his sleep, but she would bring it up later in the precinct or tonight over dinner.

How dare he talk about her foot pillow.

"I like my feet to be elevated, not that it's any of your business."

"It is when I wake up with one your toes digging in my nose," he shot back, swallowing the rest of his breakfast and snatching the coffee out of her hand.

"I don't know why we keep you around," she said dryly, waving him off when he tried handing it back to her, "and you're only there for another three weeks anyway. Who knew fixing busted pipes could take so long. You really need to find another place to live."

In truth, she hadn't minded Carisi camping out at her place while his apartment was being cleaned and fixed. Since her sister moved out and into her own place in Boston, Carisi had been nothing but a huge help with Jessie and keeping her company at night. The various television series they were hooked on and the fact that her co-worker knew how to cook a mean Stromboli didn't make his overstaying an issue.

"Tell it to my salary."

He was pretty funny, too.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh, Liv!"

Down the hall, looking around like she didn't know where she was, stood their Lieutenant, Noah cradled in her arms and playing with a loose strand of her hair. Liv spotted them almost immediately.

"I thought she was supposed to be prepping with Barba," Rollins thought out loud, checking the time on her phone. Court wasn't scheduled until 9:30, far too early for Liv or the Counselor to have been there.

"Amanda, Carisi…have you seen Barba anywhere?"

That threw both of the detectives off for a second, having figured the two of them were locked away in the ADA's office. What was even more confusing, was why Noah was waving at them with a gloved hand a toothy smile.

"We thought he was with you prepping. We just got here," Rollins replied. The look on Liv's face was enough to tell her something was wrong without having to say it. She had worked with the skilled detective long enough to read her expressions. It was important to in the field, anyhow.

"When did Barba relieve his security detail?"

"A few days after…," Carisi trailed, waving his hand so he wouldn't have to finish the question. That was still a sore spot amongst their squad. Losing a man would never be easy and Mike Dodd's happened to leave a big hole in their precinct.

"Right…," Liv was quiet, letting Noah stand on his own feet, "Well…turns out whoever was sending those threats wasn't done with him yet. I'm gonna run upstairs and double check he's not in one of the interview rooms."

"Wait," Rollins called after the woman already racing towards the elevator, "What's going on?"

Liv didn't turn to answer her and hurried Noah along as fast as his little legs could carry him. Carisi and Rollins shared a confused look before deciding to follow, figuring whatever Liv was doing could use some help.

December 3rd, 2016 – Time Unknown

The first thing he noticed was the pain that lanced through his body, shooting up his back and making it hard to breathe. It felt like a thousand pounds of weight sat on his body. He felt heavy and exhausted.

The second thing he noticed was how dark it was. Pitch black and he couldn't see anything, but he felt incredibly cold. He blinked a few times into the void, the scratchy carpet like material his cheek rested against felt like it was melded to his skin.

He was lying on his side, arms twisted painfully behind his back and bound by what felt like a thick rope that bit into his wrists. The same harsh rope bound his ankles together, his knees pushed up against a barrier.

His back hurt, his head ached and his memory was beginning to come back to him in fragments.

He made it home and was about to get ready for bed. Beer. He had a beer. And then there was a knock at the door. And then he opened it and there were the-

His world shook and vibrated, loud banging noises making him jump in fear. Barba began to squirm, not being able to suppress his flight instinct and listen to what was going on around him.

He kicked out his legs, moving them frantically as if he could somehow free his ankles from the ropes as well as his wrists. The distant sound of aggressive Spanish came from above him and before he knew it, a bright shining light blinded him, forcing him to turn his head and shut his eyes.

"Wakey, wakey, pendejo!"

"Move the fucking light, cabrón."

Barba hesitantly popped open one eye and looked up, seeing the same masked men who beat their way into his apartment before. He froze, staring intensely into the barely visible eyes of the man who hung over him.

He briefly looked away, noticing he was crammed into a space that was far too small for him, like the trunk of a car. And now that he thought about it, he smelled gasoline and exhaust. Directly above him he could see scaffolding and dingy, rusted walls, like a factory or warehouse of some sort.

"Hola, amigo," a dark, raspy voice greeted him finally, the light disappearing as the man leant further into Barba's face. The lawyer moved back as much as he could with his limbs bound and limited space to begin with. He could feel the cold metal bar jab him in the back of the neck painfully, but he paid it no mind.

"Sorry for the bumpy ride. Back roads are a bitch," the man said again, a sudden harsh slap echoing into the room around them. Barba grit his teeth, willing the stinging to ease along with his watering eyes. He needed to find a way out of his situation and fast.

He had a sinking feeling, deep in the pit of his stomach that he might not be coming back from this.

"What do you want?"

His voice sounded weak and small, not forceful and demanding like he usually used on people who wanted to get in his face or talk down to him. That voice he reserved for particularly ass-holey defendants and their lawyers looking to slip their way out of jail time.

But he sounded like a small, scared little boy…the one he was before he grew up and began to take things like the man his father always wanted him to be. Except where he lacked in physical skills, he made up for them in conversation.

"Why are you doing this? Who do you work for?"

Barba could see clearer now, eyes adjusting to the bright light still shining his general direction. He could see the baggy clothing and recognized the symbols on their hats, being intimately familiar with the gang from various police reports and criminal cases he'd been a part of.

BX-9 was a street gang with an affinity for murder, rape and torture. There was not a damn good bone in their bodies and would sell their mother's for a fix or some extra cash if they had to.

Who the hell did he piss off enough to get BX-9 on his tail? The thought was scary. Especially considering that they were the one's responsible for all those death threats he'd received all year. They stopped, fortunately and unfortunately after Dodd's death and the need for a security detail died down almost as fast as it was assigned.

But apparently, he'd been wrong when he thought he was in the clear. A few months of no threats didn't mean that he wasn't a target anymore.

"You know who we work for. And he wants you to hurt."

"Why?"

Barba's response was almost immediate, gaining confidence the more this masked man continued to talk. He wasn't sure, but the voice sounded vaguely familiar. Like he's talked to this person before.

"You think we give a damn? We're getting paid for this shit, that's it. What happens to you after we make the drop doesn't matter to me."

Before Barba could ask any more questions, the man pulled back and reached above him, the trunk door slamming and leaving him the darkness once more. He kicked his feet out, thumping against the side of the trunk and yelling for them to talk to him and open the door again.

Outside of the car, the three men removed their masks, walking towards their makeshift hang out complete with a raggedy old couch and a mini fridge. It was cold inside the warehouse, but their heater provided sufficient heat, especially for them having to stay there for the next few days before they moved their target again.

"Don't we need to give him some water or something?"

Victor shot the new kid (Zeke or something) a glare and scoffed, muttering about him being soft and treating the lawyer like he was a newborn baby. He took a seat and spread out his legs, sipping on the beer Romero passed him.

"Wait until tomorrow. Let the bastardo freeze for a bit."

"Hey," Romero piped up, blowing a burning lungful of smoke from the recently lit joint perched between his fingers, "what time are we taking him to the safe house anyway?"

"Why, you got some important shit to do?" Victor snapped, snatching the weed from his oldest friend's hand. Zeke stood in front of them, unsure of what to do while his eyes wondered back and forth between his bosses and the man in the trunk of his beat up car.

"Yeah, her name's Mariposa," Romero laughed, slapping Victor's outstretched hand. The two shared a knowing look. Victor held up the joint to Zeke and the younger man shook his head, finally taking a seat on a fold out chair. He still looked unsure and it was starting to piss Victor off.

Unsure associates were never to be trusted. Too many times had they had to track down snitches and take care of them to make a statement. And besides Zeke's obvious hesitance as well as his newly minted member status, he liked the kid.

He better not fuck it up, though. Because Victor wouldn't hesitate to kill a snitch.

December 3rd, 2016 – 9:10 a.m.

Every room checked, every floor swept at the court house and now Liv and Carisi stood outside of Barba's apartment door, hoping upon everything that the man had simply slept in. It wasn't a likely probability because the man had six alarms on his phone to make sure he was on time.

Liv knocked a few more times and was met with complete silence once more. Sighing, she bent down and lifted the worn grey mat that sat in front of his door, peeling it up and snatching a silver key that hid there. If he wasn't going to come to the door, then she would just have to waltz in herself. God, she hoped he was in there.

She had a sickening feeling he wasn't, but she could still hope.

"How many times have you been over here?"

Liv shot Carisi a confused stare over her shoulder.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Well, you know where his spare key is…," Carisi suggested, shrugging his shoulders a second after and waving off the conversation like he hadn't said anything to begin with. It was a good move to save his skin.

Live focused back in and unlocked the front door, opening it a crack before she swung it open. There were two lights: the lamp in the living room and the kitchen. Nothing looked out of place or on the floor. His heavy coat was hung up neatly above his shoes and a briefcase sat behind an armchair, partially opened.

"Counselor?"

A cold silence met Carisi's call, which unnerved the hell out of Liv and the young detective beside her.

"Maybe we just missed him?"

"He left without his briefcase?"

Carisi bit his lip and moved further into the apartment, gripping his gun holster as an extra precaution while Liv tracked into the living room, careful not to touch or bump into anything. The couch looked recently sat on if the crumpled cushions were anything to go by and a few dirt smudges on the dark grey rug that sat underneath the coffee table was highly unusual.

Carisi stepped over a small puddle on the floor, ruling out blood immediately. It looked more like water or beer, if the open bottle on the counter was anything to go by. He was a little shocked that Barba even drank beer.

"Lieu…I'm not seeing anything incredibly incriminating here. I mean it's unusual that all of his stuff is still here, but he could be going down to court as we speak? Maybe we should try calling him again," Carisi suggested, backtracking away from the hallway that lead to a few closed doors and into the living room where his boss stood.

Liv just nodded, agreeing and pulled out her phone. The lock screen showed a text message from a number not recognized by her phone and she opened it without a second thought.

The image on the screen, when it finally loaded, made her freeze, mouth slightly open and eyes wide in shock. Carisi noticed the change immediately and asked her if she was ok before he took the phone from her hand.

On the screen was a darkened image of a bound Rafael Barba, duct tape over his mouth and squeezed into the trunk of a small car. His bright hazel eyes looked fearful and angry all at once and one of them was sporting a newly black ring underneath.

"Shit," was all Carisi could say, leaving the words unspoken between him and Liv for a few seconds before the detectives jumped into action.