XXXIV:

In the aftermath of a wave of police-related violence, new bureau chiefs were installed, and Olivia found herself squared off against William Dodds. It wasn't that he disapproved of her, exactly, but he seemed to go out of his way to undermine her authority in small ways and he was constantly attempting to paperwork the squad to death. She didn't mind him – he was far from the worst bureaucrat she'd had to ass-kiss – but she was tired of the constant insinuation that she needed to hurry up and promote again because 1PP wasn't pleased with having such a low-level officer in charge of an elite squad.

Never mind that they had a relatively high case prosecution rate, thanks to her wheedling Barba at every turn. Never mind that their case closure ratio was higher than other departments – legitimately – taking into account the number of unsolveds that went onto the back burner.

She was working her way through yet another pile of paperwork when someone knocked on her door. "Got a minute?" Rollins said. "We've got a walk-in to see you."

"Sure – send her in," Liv said, flipping the folder closed and sighing deeply before taking off her glasses and schooling her features into neutrality.

"So they let just anyone sit in the boss's chair now?" came a dry voice from the redhead in the doorway with a perfectly straight face.

"Casey Novak!" Liv yelped. "I thought you were in Chicago –"

"Yeah, like three years ago – I'm in San Diego now," Casey said with a chuckle. "I have a case that's crossed over state lines so I had to come out and consult with McCoy and his lap dog – Barba, I think his name was? The EADA. He's something else."

Liv raised an eyebrow. "He used to be SVU's ADA."

Casey came in and shut the door. "How did you deal with that unsufferable prick? I mean… he looks like he's going to be your sassy gay friend and then he opens his damn mouth."

"He isn't gay."

"I suppose you got close to him working SVU cases?"

"Something like that," Liv said with a tight smile. "Barba is married with a son, and he's very devoted to his wife."

"I saw the ring, I just assumed he was with a guy because – well, he's so…" Casey sighed and made a gesture. "You aren't going to let me back out of this, are you?" When Liv only inclined her head in answer, Casey frowned. "Okay, fine – I'm sorry, I shouldn't assume." She paused, then said, "So… you're married. Lucky… man?"

"Yes. I'm a very lucky woman – my husband is a wonderful man," Liv said, her voice softening. "How long are you in town, Casey?"

"I'm flying back tomorrow – we have to prepare our part of the case and one of the New York ADAs will be prepping additional material for use with Barba's supervision…" Casey's voice trailed off. "You kicking me out because I talked shit about your friend?"

"No, I've got a mountain of paperwork to get through," Olivia said softly. "My husband and I were trying to get home at a reasonable hour tonight so we can spend some time with our son – but if you want to come over and have dinner and drinks, I wouldn't complain."

"You have a kid?" Casey asked, her smile lighting up her face. "Wow – leave for a while and everything changes. You have any pictures?"

"I do," Liv said with a smirk, grabbing the framed photo of the three of them that had been taken on Noah's adoption day – the two adults in profile, turned to one another, laughing, Rafael holding Noah's torso on his forearms while Liv clutched at the toddler's squirmy legs (which were out of focus in the motion shot) – off her desk and passing it over to Casey. "Noah's about two and a half now, and just hitting that stubborn stage where everything papi says gets 'no'."

Casey's eyes widened and she spluttered. "Oh my god. That's –"

"Rafael Barba? Yes." Liv's smile was frozen in place.

"You're married to – how long?"

"Coming up on ten years," Liv said.

"Holy shit."

"And while he is an asshole, he's also an incredible human being and I love him," she finished. After a pause, she added, "So… what do you want for supper? I was thinking about ordering in Chinese, but I could go for a good Thai."

Casey paused, seemingly taken aback by the abrupt shift. "Uh, whatever you want – my taste hasn't really changed since we worked together." She hesitated. "Look, I didn't mean –"

"You can have all the opinions of Rafael you want," Liv said with a chuckle. "Just know that he's a different man in the courtroom than he is in our home. It's something that I struggled with in the beginning, but… he has difficulty letting down his walls and showing people his softer side."

"I find it difficult to believe that that man has a soft side," Casey said with an indelicate snort.

"Just wait till you see him with Noah," Liv murmured.

He rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie as he joined her at the counter, pulling down a fresh sippy cup for Noah from the cabinet. "Today was difficult," Rafael said.

"I heard a little bit about it," Olivia commented dryly, reaching into another cabinet and pulling down three glasses. "Casey Novak came to see me in my office. You know she was SVU's ADA for a few years, right?"

"I didn't know, no," he replied, pouring some water over the ice in the cup. "Was she a friend of yours?"

"Funny – she asked me the same thing about you… after calling you a prick and saying that you act like the sassy gay friend till you open your mouth," Liv teased, smirking at him. "You want water or tea, babe?"

"Are we having a guest?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah, Casey is coming for dinner," she replied cheerfully. "It's been years, Rafa."

He huffed. "I'll try to behave."

"You're fine," she assured him. "Water or tea?"

"Water," he replied. "I'll definitely need all my faculties if I have to spar with her again."

The doorbell rang and Liv said, "That'll be the food." She gave him a quick kiss – more a peck on the lips than anything else – and grabbed her wallet to pay for the Chinese delivery. Once back inside with the food, she watched Rafael strapping Noah into his high chair and offering him the sippy cup. "You know you're really sexy right now," she commented.

"Oh please," he muttered sarcastically.

"I mean it – all in daddy mode, sleeves up, little bit of tummy going on, sock feet, hair's fluffy… I wanna drag you to bed and have my wicked way with you," she teased.

He smirked over at her. "Mrs. Barba, your standards are slipping."

"Oh, no, I still expect you to get me off at least twice before you come, hot stuff," she purred. "My standards are just fine."

"There's something wrong with you," he accused, chuckling.

"If there's something wrong with me, I don't want to be right," she replied, setting out takeaway containers on the table. The doorbell rang again, and she said, "And that'll be Casey. I'll get it – I don't trust you not to be a prickly porcupine."

"I'm insulted."

She raised a brow. "Really?"

"Marginally."

"Noah's lo mein is right here," she said, handing him one of the paper boxes as she headed toward the door. "Love you." The doorbell rang again just as she was getting to the front door. "Yeah, hold on – coming, coming." She flung it open and smiled. "Sorry, the food got here a few minutes ago, Casey, and we were trying to get situated – come on in."

"This is a hell of a house," Casey commented. "In this market, I mean –"

"Yeah, we've had it a while," Liv hedged. "It's a great place. I ordered some of the old favorites, and Rafa has to have crispy duck or he gets cranky."

Casey wrinkled her nose. "Well, then."

"You want water or tea?" Liv asked.

"Tea, please," Casey replied politely. "He's okay with me coming over?"

"Casey, it's fine," Liv assured her. "He didn't realize we were friends."

"Well, it was practically a lifetime ago," Casey laughed. "Hell, look at you – married and in charge."

"And you're Assistant Chief District Attorney for San Diego County," Liv pointed out. "Not too shabby."

Casey sighed. "It's not a contest."

"Not at all," Liv agreed. "Come on – food's getting cold." She led Casey into the dining room where the food was spread out on the table and Rafael was helping himself to some fried rice and crispy duck. "Rafa, pump your brakes – what about the rest of us?"

"I didn't touch your shrimp and lobster nonsense," he shot back defensively. "Hello, Novak."

"Barba," Casey greeted.

Liv rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay, we're not in the office now – Rafael, this is Casey. Casey, this is Rafael. Could you two please treat each other civilly?"

Rafael huffed. "Sassy gay friend?" he challenged Casey with a raised eyebrow.

"In my defense, straight men don't usually wear magenta paisley ties and pink striped dress shirts," Casey said, shrugging. "Sorry."

He rolled his eyes and sat down where he could supervise Noah. "More heterosexual men would benefit from injecting color into their lives," he groused. "Olivia chose my tie and pocket square this morning, and I chose the shirt to match."

Casey served herself some food and sat down at the table while Liv retrieved their drinks from the kitchen. "He's a cute kid," she commented, gesturing to Noah with her chopsticks.

"Yeah, we think so, too," Rafael said. "Noah, noodles don't go in your hair," he sighed, reaching over to prevent the toddler from adding more lo mein to his head. "They go in your mouth, mijo."

"Terrible twos?" Casey asked.

Liv chuckled. "Eh, no, just… he's pushing boundaries."

"No!" Noah yelped, throwing a handful of noodles on the floor.

Rafael rolled his eyes again. Noah watched him intently, then sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes just like his papi had just done. "Noah, we eat our dinner, not throw it," Rafael warned gently. "Aren't you hungry?"

"No!" Noah yelped again.

"Told you," Liv said to Casey. "Noah, baby, momma has a cookie for you, but you have to put all the noodles in your tummy first – not on the floor."

"OOOH," Noah said, eyes wide.

"So I'm the bad cop and you're the one who gets a commendation for coercion?" Rafael groused, stuffing a piece of duck into his mouth.

"Objection: badgering the witness," Olivia grumbled. "If it gets him to eat the food, don't whine about it."

Casey stifled a laugh; they both whirled and looked at her. "You two have this married couple thing down to an art, don't you?" she asked. "Does anyone question it anymore?"

"A few people," Olivia admitted. "Not many."

"It's pretty effective."

Rafael paused and smiled up at Liv as she hovered over him and the high chair before he pulled her down for a quick kiss. "It is effective, isn't it?" he said softly.

"Yeah," she said with a crooked little half-smile before she returned to her seat. "Eat up so Noah can have his cookie and the rest of us can have some cannoli – Carisi's mom made them and he brought all the extras in to the squad today."

"I miss real cannoli," Casey said. "You can get them in LA, but it's a pain in the ass to try to get them in Orange County. The drive is hell. It's just not worth it. I miss New York."

Rafael paused, his chopsticks stuck in his rice. "McCoy would be amenable to you coming back," he said.

"In what capacity?" Casey shot back.

He swallowed, his cheek twitching almost imperceptibly. "EADA."

"What, you're stepping down?" she asked, raising a brow.

"Not exactly," he hedged, glancing over at Liv. "But I got some news about –"

"Oh my god, Rafi, you got it?" Liv asked, her eyes widening even as her heart kicked into overdrive. "You got the family court appointment?"

He bit his lower lip to hold back a smile and nodded. "I… don't know how, but – I did," he said. "I'll finish out the term, two years, and then I'll be eligible for appointment in the circuit court in my own right."

Mindful of their guest, Liv only reached across the way and held his hand, grinning at him. "I am so proud of you," she said softly.

He laughed and said, "I don't know why – I don't know shit about family law and I'm going to be cramming like I'm back at Harvard."

Casey laughed at them. "You wanna tell McCoy to call me? Because if he seriously wants me back, I'll entertain the notion. It would be good to get out of California and back to the east coast."

"And it would help to have a friend back in charge," Liv said. "Keeping things moving at a pace."

"Yeah, I hear that 1PP is turning over a new leaf –"

"They're trying to," Rafael said. "But they keep getting tripped up on the little piles of leaves that they keep forgetting to sweep away."

Casey smirked at him. "You mean all the ones you can't prosecute?"

"Yeah, those."

Casey winked at Liv. "I'm ready to raise some hell, Benson."

"Not too much hell," Rafael warned.

"Just enough," Liv replied, raising her water glass in toast.

Dodds all but slammed down a sheet of paper onto her desk. "Congratulations," he said.

She stared at him. "For…?"

"The Lieutenant's exam. You passed. 35th out of 2000." He was sitting in her guest chair. "It doesn't get you off the hook, you know."

"I didn't think it would, but is there anyone more qualified to run this squad?" Liv shot back. "Because if there is, they sure as hell haven't stepped up since Murphy went back undercover." She was tired of fighting the dominance game.

He made a noncommittal noise. "How is Mr. Barba?" he asked.

"My husband has nothing to do with this," she said.

"I hear he's leaving the DA's office, effective next week."

This time, she was the one making a noncommittal noise. "Maybe."

"Seems like an odd time, with so many cases going to trial –"

"Not our worry," she said.

"It should be: they're our cases."

"Ask what you want to ask and I'll answer if I can," she said.

"Is it something to do with the Ashtonja Abreu scandal?"

She laughed in incredulous relief. "No."

"Will he be taking his knowledge to a private firm to –"

"If you think Rafael would dare do something like that in violation of legal ethics and moral responsibility, clearly you haven't taken the time to get to know him," she hissed. "He's leaving the DA's office to take up a temporary judicial appointment in family court. That's all. Nothing nefarious."

Dodds paused, then nodded. "Well… that's… something."

"I'm sure there's more paperwork I'll need to fill out," she supplied. "As the wife of a judge and the head of a unit –"

"I'll get back to you on that."

"Chief," she said, getting his attention, "he deserves this. And part of the reason he's already pulling back from supervising cases is so that he won't run the risk of having eyes on anything that could be potentially tried in his chambers. That's all. It isn't personal and it isn't to fuck over the NYPD."

Dodds frowned and said, "Does it bother you to have to defend him all the time, Benson? He does things wrong and you just jump into action –"

"He hasn't done anything wrong," she declared firmly. "And if we're done, sir, I have a meeting with Jack McCoy in thirty minutes."

"Why McCoy?" he challenged.

"I assume it's to meet the new EADA, if he's settled on a replacement," Liv said. "I'm rooting for Casey Novak, myself – or Myra Duncan." She looked him up and down with scathing disgust. "They'll both give you a run for your money." With that, she walked out of her office, leaving her boss to sputter in incredulous fury.

One of these days, she was going play stupid games and win stupid prizes – but today was not that day. Rafael was slowly packing up his office and transferring its contents to what would be his new chambers at the family court, but she could still come and go as she pleased with impunity as long as Carmen didn't protest too harshly. She gave the assistant a look and a thumbs up, which Carmen returned with a little smile before ducking into his office.

He was hovered over a file, muttering to himself. "Hey," Liv said, startling him into looking up. "Dodds is probably going to make a fuss about current cases if you don't get McCoy to tell him who your replacement is."

"You know who it is," he countered. "It's Novak – she starts tomorrow and I take the rest of my things to my new office and take vacation days until my last official day. Why is he being a prick about it now?"

"Because he hates being out of the loop." She examined her nails for a moment, then said, "Oh, and I passed the Lieutenant's exam. So you're going to have to come to the ceremony."

He nodded and said, "Make sure Carmen has the date so we can schedule hearings around it." Almost as if it suddenly sank in, Rafael jerked his head up and stared at her. "You passed?"

"I did," she said with a little smile.

"Big pass or little pass?"

"35th of 2000."

He grinned at her. "God, you're sexy."

"If that turns you on, Your Honor, I've got a copy of the handbook that we can go over –"

His eyes were wide, glowing green, but his smirk faded. "I'm afraid I'm a little bogged down in reading up on family statutes at the moment," he said, "but you're still the sexy bad ass cop I fell in love with."

She leaned over his desk and gave him a kiss. "Hey," she whispered against his lips. "I love you. You know that, right?"

"Siempre," he agreed.

TBC...