Hospital:
Walking out of the elevator, they spotted Olivia standing in the hallway. She was staring into the room intently. Her arms were crossed and her shoulders were stuffed back, but her eyes were telling the truth. She was close to breaking down.
"Liv." Fin stopped a few feet away from her, not wanting to be the one to startle her. "Cap!"
Snapping out of her trance, she glanced at them once before facing forward once more. As the others reached her, they found no one in the room.
"How is he?" Nick asked.
Olivia shrugged. "Last I saw him they were wheeling him into surgery. Haven't been told anything after."
"We have the camera footage from the corner store." Fin held up the flash drive.
"Did you watch it?"
Shaking his head, he grabbed Amanda's laptop and placed it on the counter. Inserting the drive, they gathered around.
Barba's Lexus pulled up to the red light. Everything seemed normal. No one seemed to be giving him any extra attention. As the light turned green, the Lexus was moved forward. Barba had just cleared the pedestrian lines when the SUV entered the screen and rammed into the passenger side of the Lexus. The SUV kept pushing the smaller car until it was pushed up against a parked car.
Out of the SUV, two males jumped out. One ran out away from the scene and out of camera range. The second one stood in front of the Lexus and fired into the car. It was clear in the video he emptied the clips before taking off.
The rest showed when Olivia appeared, followed by the squad and the fire department.
Closing the laptop, she laid her hand on the top, closing her eyes for a moment. She was right there. Just feet away from him. Had she stopped him like she'd planned, maybe just maybe?
"Liv?" Fin dipped his head down, trying to catch her eyes. "You good?"
"Y-yeah." Shaking the feeling off, she turned to her team. "I assume me all agree this was planned. They were waiting for Rafael."
"As Amanda said, he was greenlit." Carisi sighed. "Golden question, why?"
"Anything on the SUV?"
Amaro shook his head. "Stolen last week."
"Okay, get the footage to TARU. Have facial recognition run on those two." Olivia ordered. "Rollins and Amaro check traffic lights. See if we can find where they came from or where they went."
"On it cap." Following Rollins into the elevator, he waited for the doors to close. "Is it just me or does Liv look..."
"Broken?" Amanda sighed. "No, we all see it."
Running a hand down her face she turned towards the chairs. Taking a seat she leaned forward, running her fingers through her hair and holding her head. 'This is not how it was supposed to end.'
"You okay Liv?" Fin took the seat next to her.
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Want to talk about it?"
"Right before this, we had an argument." Olivia whispered. "He was trying to make amends and I kept pushing him back. I couldn't let it go."
"The Wheatley case?" Fin was aware of her feelings towards the situation. Ever since Barba took that case and left, the subject was never brought back up. If it ever, was it was immediately shut down. He had spoken to Barba once after the trial. But only to tell him to back off Liv.
"You know I don't even understand why I was so angry with him." She laughed humorously. "I don't know why it bothered me so much more than Elliot leaving. Rafael asked me and I couldn't give him a straight answer."
"You-"
"Family of Rafael Barba?" The nurse jumped at the sudden appearance of Olivia in front of her. "Oh, hi, I'm nurse Diaz. You must be Mr. Barba's wife."
Olivia frown. "No, he's a friend."
"Oh?" She scanned the document in her hands. "The paramedics said you were his wife."
"I'm Olivia Benson."
"Ah! Okay, you're his emergency contact." She handed her a clipboard of paperwork. "I need you to fill this out. Give as much information you can about him, please."
"That's fine, but is there anything you can tell me?" She pleaded.
"All I know is he's still in surgery." Diaz placed a comforting hand on her arm. "I assure you; you will be the first I update."
Dragging her feet back to the chair, she slumped down. Glancing down at the papers, she decided to keep herself busy. "Allergies? None. Medication? None. Family medical history? Oh god!"
Fin was startled by her gasp. "What?"
"We haven't called his mother." Digging for her phone, she handed him the clipboard. "Crap."
'Hello?'
"Ms. Barba?"
'Si, who is this?'
"It's Olivia Benson. I used to work with your-"
'Benson! Yes of course I remember you. Como estas mija?'
"I've been better." Olivia stepped out of the hospital, hoping the cold breeze would make this easier. "I am calling..." Why was this so hard? She's done this call so many times.
'Has something happened? Is it Rafael?'
She picked up on the worry in her tone. "It'll be best if you come down to the hospital. I will explain everything down here."
'Porfavor...just tell me he's alive.'
"He's-he's in surgery at the moment." The last words were croaked out. "I will-uh-send a unit to bring you down here."
'Okay. Okay.'
Lowering her phone, she stared at the device. After so many years on the job, this was practically routine for her. So why did this feel worse? It wasn't the first time she has called a close friend with such news. Not wanting to dwell on it anymore, she called for the unit that will be picking up Rafael's mother.
Time jump:
"I was told my son is here." Lucia Barba's worried voice carried throughout the waiting room. "They said he was in surgery."
"Ms. Barba?" Olivia approached the already anxious woman.
"Olivia!" Taking the woman's outstretched hand, she allowed herself to be guided to the chairs. "How is he? What happened?"
"I-I uh Rafael was ambushed and shot." Olivia saw the blood drain from Lucia's face. "We don't know much, besides the fact that he was the target."
"Sho-Target?" Lucia let out a shaky breath. "Who? Who would want my son dead?!"
"I don't know." Olivia wrapped her arm around the older woman. "But I will find out."
For the past four hours, Lucia and Olivia sat in the waiting room. Fin had brought them both a cup of coffee and was now seated beside Benson. Each time the door open it had the woman ready to jump to their feet, only to fall back with less hope.
"I am going to go outside." Fin whispered. "Give Rollins a call for an update."
"Okay."
"I was told that you filled out the paperwork?" Lucia spoke for the first time in hours.
"Yes, they told me I was his emergency contact." She chuckled with a light sniff. "I wasn't even aware he had done that."
Lucia chuckled. "He changed it about a year after knowing you."
"A year?" It was a surprise. "I thought I drove him crazy?"
"You do-did." Lucia laughed, sobering up just as fast. "I honestly thought he changed it after your fall out." seeing the look of guilt on the younger woman's face, she sucked her teeth and placed a hand on her arm. "I don't know what happened between you two, but I know it was ugly. I also know some of it had to have been Rafael's fault. That boy does not know how to keep his mouth shut sometimes. But I never thought a fight with you would affect him as it did."
Olivia frowned. "What do you mean?"
"When he came back from his last case, he was different. He stopped by but didn't speak. It was almost as if he was lost in his own little world. I had to pry the words out of him. Went home without even saying goodbye. Didn't hear from him in two days. He didn't answer my calls. Missed Sunday mass. I got worried and I went to his loft." Lucia dropped her gaze down at her hands. "I have a key to his place and when I walked in, it was a mess. There were a few pictures on the ground and some chairs were tipped over. I found him drunk passed out on the floor."
"Barba drunk?" Olivia had never seen him take more than a few drinks. He was always careful with his liquor.
"Imagine my shock. Rafa never drinks to the point of blacking out. Says he refuses to be like his father. I didn't know what to do, and I tried calling you, but a man answered. He said you were a bit busy at the moment, so I called Sunny." She clutched her purse. "He came over, helped put Rafa under the shower until he woke up. Sunny asked to call you, but Rafa refused."
"Carisi didn't say anything to me." Olivia muttered.
"Because Rafa told him not to." Lucia replied. "He isolated himself for a few days until he left."
"Left? Where?"
Lucia shrugged. "I don't know. He just came back today. He said Rollins asked for his help. I hadn't seen him in months. We had plans for dinner after the trial."
"I-I hadn't known he left the city." She felt another wave of hurt hit her chest.
"No one knew. He made sure of it."
"Had I-"
"Mrs. Benson?" The nurse from before approached them both with a male trailing behind her. "This is Doctor Shepherd, the surgeon."
"I am Olivia Benson." Shaking the surgeon's hand, she stepped aside to present Lucia. "This is Rafael's mother, Lucia."
"Mr. Barba." He gave her a small nod. "As you are aware, Mr. Barba came with several GSWs. Along with that, he had three cracked ribs and two fractured bones. Miraculously the bullets missed anything vital. Many were through and through wounds, except for one in his shoulder and the other in his chest."
"So, he's, okay?" Olivia held her breath waiting for the response.
The man nodded. "We will be keeping him here for a few days. Make sure there are no complications from the surgery. When we release him, he will need some care until fully healed."
Olivia exhaled slowly. The pressure lifted off her chest. "When can we see him?"
"Nurse Diaz will come to get you once he is in his room." He offered them a smile. "I will be in to check on him later tonight."
"Thank you." Lucia placed her hand on her chest, a smile spreading across her lips. "I have to call my sister. Let her know."
"Of course."
At that moment the nurse came over to her. "He's in his room now."
"Oh, his mother just stepped outside for a phone call."
"I can take her once she comes back in." Leading her into the hallway, she stopped next to one of the rooms. "He's still under the morphine and asleep, but should be waking up in the next hour or so."
"Thank you." Pushing the door in, she stepped into the cold room. Her eyes fell on the sleeping man in the hospital bed. The entire scene was so wrong. For a man that didn't know how to stay still for more than a few minutes, it was off. His chest and abdomen were wrapped with bandages, blood already spotting through. He had various wires sticking out of him, monitoring everything his body did. "Rafa."
Taking a seat on the chair next to the bed, she scoots closer. Seeing the bag of belonging on the table at the foot of the bed, she reached and pulled it into her lap. Her stomach twisted at pulling the bloody shirt, it was completely drenched. Grabbing his wallet, it flipped open, revealing the picture on the inside. To her surprise, she found it was of her and Noah. Rafa had Noah on his lap as he laid back against the couch, while Olivia leaned into his side with her head on his chest. His arms were wrapped around both her and Noah in a secured hold.
She remembered that night with great detail. It was at Rollin's place for her daughter's birthday. Carisi was making his rounds taking pictures of the guest. Noah had wanted a picture with her and Barba. She remembered the side glance Barba gave her. In that simple moment, he wrapped his arms around her and she let her head rest on his chest. All thoughts stopped as if her heart took over her head every time, they were close. Next, he would squeeze as if he needed to check if she was really there with him, really there and really real... and she was, body and soul. Olivia doubted anyone else ever felt the way she did about his arms. It was one of the many things she missed the most.
Closing the wallet, she placed it on the table next to the bed. Digging deeper into the bag, she pulled out his small chain covered in blood. Stepping into the bathroom she rinsed the chain off and dried it. Taking her seat once more, she held onto the chain as she found his phone. Tapping the screen, she rolled her eyes at finding it locked. "I would guess, but I don't know you that well."
"52015." Lucia stated as she entered the room. "That's the code."
Putting the code in she was given access. "May, 5th 2015? That's Noah's-"
"Adoption date." Olivia muttered.
Lucia nodded stopping to stand beside her son, taking his hand in hers. "I asked him once about it, wondering why he didn't just use Noah's birthday. He said that Noah was reborn on that day. New mom. New better life."
Olivia chuckled. "That's why he would give Noah gifts on that day."
"You should have seen him last year." Lucia laughed. "He spent the entire day going from store to store, looking for a specific cop car. He finally found it after nearly giving up in the sixth toy store he ran into. He was face timing me the entire time."
"I remember that day. He showed up at my place an hour before midnight." Scrolling through his phone, she clicked on his messages. "Is it alright if I go through this? See if I can find anything that might tell us something. A threat perhaps."
"Of course."
She scrolled down them coming to a stop at her name. Her thumb hovered over the screen for a moment, before tapping on it. She scrolled up to the first message he sent after the Wheatley case.
5 pm: 'We need to talk, meet me at the bar. I will be there at 7.'
9 pm: 'I really am an idiot for thinking you'd showed up. I will say my piece and leave it at that. I understand your anger. I do, but you need to understand me as well. I am aware I screwed up in your eyes. But you knew better than to ask me to leave a case. This had nothing to do with your ex-partner and everything to do with you. I wasn't going to let anyone harm you, not if I could help it. Suppose I sound like a broken record now.'
Next day:
3 am: 'I don't understand why or how you can forgive Stabler, but can't even take my calls? Won't even let me talk to Noah? You want me away that's fine, but please do not exclude me from Noah's life.'
Next day:
Noon: 'I once told you I would never leave without saying goodbye. And this is me keeping my word. It is time for me to leave, for good. What was going on inside of you at that time was difficult, from the way you behaved it must have been painful. Yet there are times we must protect the self, protect our own hearts and souls if the damage from a friend is too much. I wanted to walk with you through any and every storm, but it was akin to trying to hold a toddler who scratched and bit for years whilst alone. And though I tried, you broke me, literally, in pieces. So, I will be leaving the city. New job. New me in a way. I will always be here if you need me. Stand with you in any storm, yet walking into the same storm that once left me for dead, not a chance in hell. Goodbye Liv.'
"You need a warrant for that."
Olivia jumped at hearing the raspy voice. "Rafa?"
"Mijo?" Lucia leaned forward pushing his hair back. "Como te sientes?"
"Like I've been hit by a jackass." Making a move to sit up, he laid back down with a loud groan. "And a semi."
"Don't move too much." Olivia placed a hand on his shoulder.
Rolling his head to the left he glanced up at her. He had so many things he wanted to tell her, but try as hard as he did, he couldn't. Instead, he turned to face his mother. Feeling Olivia remove her hand he suddenly felt cold. "How you been mami?"
"Really?" Lucia didn't miss the look of hurt flash across Olivia's face at Rafael's dismissal. "You've been shot 12 times and you ask me how I've been?"
"I haven't seen you in months."
Rolling her eyes, she patted him on the hand. "Voy por el doctor."
"Ma wai-" She was out before he could stop her.
"Here."
Turning to her he grabbed his phone from her. "What were you looking for?"
"Anything that might tell me why you've been targeted." Olivia replied. "Any threats? Weird calls or texts?"
Barba shook his head. "I was the DA remember? I got multiple cops indited. Pissed off a lot of people. And I worked some high-profile cases after."
"We are going to need to see all those." Olivia replied. "The Wheatley one as well."
"There's that name again." Barba scoffed. "I'll let my office know. You have full access."
Olivia watched him for a moment, not sure what to say. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything." She muttered. "Shutting you out. Shutting you out of Noah's life. I-"
"Stop." Barba gritted his teeth. "Let's have this conversation when I am not in a hospital bed. Or have a price tag over my head."
"Fine."
Barba glanced at her with a small eye roll. "How's Noah?"
"He's good. Misses you."
"And I him."
"Mr. Barba seems the meds wore off sooner than we thought." Doctor Shepherd walked into the room, with some new faces.
"Elliot?" Olivia frowned at seeing him and Sergeant Ayanna Bell enter the room. "What are you two doing here?"