A/N This is more a prequel than a sequel. Hope it still hits the right spot.

January 2017

"I take it that your New Years resolution wasn't to spend less time at the office."

Rather than getting annoyed at the interruption a smile slid onto Rafael's mouth. He hadn't seen Liv since the previous year and though that wasn't as long as it sounded (this year wasn't even a week old) it had felt long enough. The smile lingered as he finished off the note he was making and turned in his seat to face her, contemplating her words. If he was being honest, he hadn't bothered to make a resolution for the new year because what he wanted, the only part of his life that he wanted to change, was out of his reach and always would be. And there'd been no chance of him picking something as cliche as cutting down on his caffeine intake. He wasn't going to tell Liv any of that though. "I don't have time to make resolutions that I'm only going to break just days later," he shot back, a trace of a smile still on his lips.

Liv nodded, her eyes scrutinising both him (and his position on the couch where he'd decamped hours ago) and the files (some open, whilst others were firmly closed) that were spread across the small table for a beat or two. There was a further moment's pause when she looked away before she met his gaze again and asked, "Have you got time for a break?"

Concern slowly pulled his lips down to a straight line. "Is something wrong, Liv?"

"No," she replied quickly, a small shake of her head accompanying the denial. There was another long pause, during which he thought she might just turn on her heel and flee the scene, before she spoke again, a little less certain than before. "But there is something I want to tell you and I'm not sure how you're going to react."

His mood darkened almost immediately, mirroring the cold, drab January evening that lay outside his office. A dozen different scenarios whizzed through his mind, all equally pessimistic, before memories of the night she'd tried so hard not to tell him about her relationship with Tucker lodged firmly in his thoughts. He still wasn't sure, all these months later, if she would have told him the truth if he hadn't worked it out for himself; he still wasn't sure if she'd wanted him to work it out. At the time he'd been so angry at the deceit (both professionally and personally) that he hadn't given her motivation much thought; later, he'd tortured himself with the possible (and highly implausible) reasons for her deception. In the end he'd come to accept what he could never have but his heart still ached at the thought that she'd rekindled her relationship with the IAB officer. "Please don't tell me you're back with Tucker."

"I'm not," she assured him but the sincerity was tinged with something else. "But it is sort of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay…"

His agreement had been half hearted at best but was apparently enough for her to close his office door (there was really no need; it was late and most people were now in a bar drinking away the day's disappointments or at home with their families) and move toward the couch, taking a seat next to him, just as she had done so many times before. "I never told you why it didn't work out with Tucker."

"No, you didn't," he agreed. Unlike his ignorance during the beginning of her relationship with Tucker, she had told him when it was all over; in fact, he'd been the first person Liv had confided in but she'd never offered any details and he hadn't asked. He hadn't wanted to know; picking over the remnants of her failed love life wouldn't have made him feel any better about her heartache or her choice in men. It would have hurt far too much (and would have reinforced the fact that she only thought of him as a friend) though he would have endured it for her. He might still have to; they were friends, after all (and he didn't have many of them) so if he could find a way to support her relationship with Tucker then he could do the same for its demise. If he really had to. "Please don't feel that you need to tell me."

"I want to. It's taken me far too long to figure it out," she said firmly, pausing and meeting his eyes until he finally nodded his agreement that she should continue. "He wanted us to move in together, to play a bigger part in Noah's life but I knew, almost straight away, that it wasn't what I wanted. I couldn't really explain why because I didn't truly understand myself. Not until you phoned me on Christmas Day."

Rafael nodded again, feeling that he should fill in the pause with something (and he didn't trust himself not to give an exhaustive list of reasons why the relationship might have failed if he opened his mouth) because he didn't quite understand what she was telling him or why his phone call was even pertinent. He'd called her on Christmas Day because his plans to speak to her, in person or otherwise, the day before had fallen apart when one of his cases had done the exact same thing. He'd spent all of Christmas Eve, and much of the next morning, trying to rescue that case (and had incurred his mother's wrath by missing church; he was going to have to make it up to her this year) and hadn't found the time to call Liv. The conversation that afternoon had lasted a short while but they'd not spoken about anything of importance; he'd wished her and Noah a Merry Christmas, asked how they were enjoying the day and had listened with a smile on his face as Liv had tried to answer, struggling to be heard over an excited Noah. It was what friends did.

"I was so happy that you called and later on, when Noah was asleep, I realised why. When I think about the future, Tucker's not the man I picture standing next to me, squabbling over the dishes or what to watch on the TV or which college Noah should attend. It's you that I see."

He opened his mouth, ostensibly to ask her to repeat what she'd just said (because he was sure he'd misheard or he was having a stroke or there was a TV crew waiting to burst into his office and tell him this was all a prank) but any words would have sufficed. Anything at all, so long as he didn't look like a fish that had just been pulled out of the water. But nothing came out of his mouth. To be fair, his brain was working extremely hard trying to comprehend what she'd said so maybe it was for the best that his mouth concentrated on the breathing part.

A small, almost shy, smile appeared on her lips, "I want to be with you, Rafael."

Mouth still gaping, the best his brain could come up with in response was the suggestion that he'd fallen asleep in his office (it wouldn't be the first time) and this was all a dream. He thought about pinching himself, just in case; then he thought about pinching Liv and all attempts at putting together a response were forgotten for a little while. Thankfully his hands remained as uncooperative as his mouth.

"It's okay," Liv frowned into the silence, her head and eyes dropping away from him. "I had to tell you how I felt. I need to know that it's never going to happen otherwise the possibility that it might is just going to derail any future relationship."

Words still seemed beyond him; he wasn't sure there were any - in either of the languages he was fluent in - to do the situation and himself any sort of justice. He'd spent the better part of a year suppressing his feelings for her in the belief that she'd never reciprocate and now she was telling him that wasn't the case at all. It was all he'd wanted to hear for so long but his supposedly superior brain failed him further by reminding him that Liv was his friend and colleague, both of which could be at risk if he pursued a relationship with her. It also failed to alert him to the fact that she was withdrawing her admission in the mistaken belief that his ongoing silence meant that he wasn't interested in her and she'd just made a fool of herself.

Liv stood slowly, her escape achievable in just a few short steps and it was enough to finally spur him into action. His hand reached for hers as he rose from the couch, the gesture making her pause and turn back toward him. There was a flicker of hope in her eyes, along with what looked like a dozen questions and he still didn't feel capable of articulation. His mouth (and the words that fell forth from it) had always been his strength; he could destroy a witness on the stand, sway a jury with his argument, hobnob with every politician at every event that he was compelled to attend and cut down annoying detectives with law degrees who thought they knew better than him. But even though words had abandoned him he could still use his mouth to make her understand that he wanted her.

He leant forward slowly, pressing his lips against her own in a gentle kiss as he stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. Her free hand immediately reached for his tie (loosened hours ago so he could unbutton the collar of his shirt, naturally) deepening the kiss and anchoring him to her. It turned out that his fantasies of kissing her (which had begun the day they'd met when she'd challenged his court room abilities and he'd decided to show her just how good he was) had come nowhere close to the reality and his other hand reached for her cheek, determined to discover if her skin was as soft as he'd always imagined it to be. It was. His fingers itched to travel further down, to take in the smooth surface of her neck and more, but his brain flagged up his current work based location and questioned exactly where their actions were leading them. Reluctantly, he broke off their kiss, dropping his hand from her neck (where it had wandered anyway) but twined the fingers of his other hand with hers.

She smiled widely at him as her fingers spread out from his tie to rest on his chest, just over his heart. "That's some opening statement."

A smile blossomed on his own lips. There would be things to consider: Noah, their careers, their working relationship (in some ways it seemed more daunting than any trial) but, in that moment, nothing seemed insurmountable. The only hurdle had been his misapprehension about her feelings for him and that had now gone. They just needed to do things the right way. "I've got a very good case too," he smiled, moving his free hand to rest over hers. "And I'm definitely going to win."