Chapter 12

"How long you planning on sticking around, Liv?" Fin questions, leaning in the door of her office.

She shakes her head, not looking up from the paperwork in front of her. She's read it three times already and still doesn't know what it says.

"Liv, go home. Be with Noah."

Relenting, she closes the file, gathering her bag.

"...Barba called; there's going to be an officer outside of your building. One outside Noah's school tomorrow."

"I didn't ask him to do that," she sighs.

"You know, it's alright having people in your life that do things for you without asking."

She meets his gaze.

"And besides; if Barba didn't make the call, I was gonna."

...

Noah's smile is from ear to ear as he barrels out of the school and into her. "Mom! What are you doing here?"

She brushes the curls from his eyes as he looks up at her. "Well, I was sitting in my office, missing you, so I thought I'd call it an early day and pick you up."

Noah beams, hugging her tighter. "Can we go on an adventure?" "What did you have in mind?"

Pulling back, Noah looks up at her. "Can we go to the mall?"

His request catches her by surprise, and as he moves to climb into the backseat, she helps him into his booster seat, pulling the seatbelt around him. "The mall?" She questions. Her son had never been one to follow toy trends and her curiosity is piqued. "What for?"

"I want to get something special for Broadway this weekend."

With all of the chaos of the day, their upcoming tickets to Broadway had slipped her mind. "I think that sounds like a great adventure."

Noah smiles.

...

"What do you think of these ones, Noah?"

Noah inspects the navy blue suspenders in her hands, before shaking his head. "I want ones like Uncle Rafa wears."

She looks at the display of children's suspenders. Despite the selection, there are definitely none that are reminiscent of Rafael's flare for color and patterns. "I think maybe we better ask someone who works here." Taking his hand, they approach the counter where a young man is busy steaming dress shirts. "Excuse me."

The young man smiles, setting down the steamer. "Hi. How can I help you?"

Liv looks down at Noah. "We're looking for a very specific style of suspenders."

"Ok. What are you looking for?"

"Pink with stripes!" Noah answers.

The young man smiles. "Let me go see what we have out back. I'll be right back."

Noah swings their hands back and forth excitedly. A few minutes later, the employee returns with a garment bag in his hands.

"What do you think about these?" He questions, pulling the pink suspenders from the bag.

Noah's smile is enough to bring out an ear splitting one of her own.

"They're perfect!"

"They also come with a matching bow tie, if you're interested." He pulls out the miniature bow- tie from the bag to show them both.

Noah looks up at her expectantly, and she chuckles. "We'll take them both."

...

She's far more diligent than normal, scanning the crowds of people for any sign of Sheila. Noah happily swings her hand and his bag beside her as they shop the isles of Target for a few last minute essentials. As her arm quickly fills with items, she grabs a rolling basket conveniently placed at the end of an isle, dropping her items in.

Noah looks curiously into the basket. "Mom, why are you buying all of those things?"

She looks down at the extra toothbrush, contact solution, sweats and t-shirts she's dumped into the basket. It might have been a bit presumptuous on her part, but Rafael had spent a few nights now at their apartment and she wants to him to be comfortable.

Grabbing a box of the coffee pods he prefers, she drops them into the basket too. "Just trying some new things, that's all," she lies. While he's stayed the entire night, he hasn't stuck around for Noah to notice and it's not a conversation she wants to have with him yet.

Noah gives her a skeptical look, but shrugs in response anyway.

As they head to the cash, Noah helps her place the items onto the conveyor belt and the sudden feeling of being watched washes over her. Scanning the store around her, she just catches the back of a woman ducking back into an isle and her instincts scream at her that it's Shelia.

Noah tugs on her hand. "Mom, can I get a treat?"

"Sure honey," she answers absently, her focus on the isle, waiting for the woman to reappear. "That's 47.89," the cashier announces.

A group of woman exit the isle, and there among them, is Shelia.

Noah tugs on her hand again. "Mom, you gotta pay!"

Their gaze connects as she stands there, watching them.

"Mom!"

Retrieving her phone, she looks away long enough to brings up her banking app, holding it to the machine to pay. Once the machine beeps Liv turns her attention back to the Shelia, who has disappeared into the crowd.

Noah and the cashier place their items into bags, and she grabs them quickly, thanking them. She holds onto Noah's hand tightly as they maneuver through the store towards the exit. There at the automatic doors is Shelia, waiting for them. Nothing about her physical appearance gives her cause for concern, except for the knowledge that she could have a weapon on her.

Liv stops, tugging Noah closer to her.

Intuiting the change in her, Noah looks up at her. "What's going on?"

"I just forget something, honey. We have to go back into the store for a minute," she lies. As she turns back into the store, she can sense Shelia following her. Heading for the customer service station, she pulls her phone out of her pocket calling for back- up.

The sales associate behind the counter overhears, panic crossing their face. "Should I call security?"

Olivia nods, showing her badge on her hip while ushering Noah behind the counter into the back office.

"Mommy, what's going on?"

There's fear in her son's voice and she gestures for him to sit at the empty desk, dropping the bags on the floor. "Everything's ok. I need you to sit here for a minute, ok?"

Noah nods, and she closes the door to the office, greeted by two security officers and the sales associate. "I need one of you to stay with my son, please. There is a woman in the store that is under a restraining order and may be armed."

"I'll stay," the female officer offer.

"Thank you...do you mind coming with me?" She addresses the other.

"Not at all."

The security officer following close behind, Liv retracing her steps back towards the exit. She spies Shelia trying to slip out through the crowd. "There!" She points her out and the other security guard sprints to catch up with her, just as a police cruiser pulls up.

...

"How was my client to know that Olivia and her son would be at that very store?" Rita argues. "This was pure coincidence."

"So say that it was," Fin reasons. "Why was your client at ADA Barba's office earlier today?"

"Mrs. Porter was well within her right to be at that office-"

"-with a weapon?" Carisi questions.

Rita rolls her eyes. "You don't have any proof that my client was concealing a weapon-"

"-you don't have any proof that she wasn't," Fin barters back.

"Look, we all know what this was; an unfortunate coincidence. My client can't remain hold up in her apartment out of fear of running into Ms. Benson; she has the right to live her life."

The room to the interrogation room opens and Rafael strolls in. "Then if you're client doesn't want to spend the night in lock-up, she'll wear this." He tosses the ankle monitor on the table between them.

"Fine." Rita snatches the monitor. "Are we done here?"

"For now," Rafael answers. He holds Sheila's gaze as she rises from the table. He's waiting for her to say something, anything to explain herself, only she doesn't. Instead, she holds his gaze right back, following Rita out. "Where's Liv?"

Fin gestures to the adjoining door. "In her office."

Crossing the interrogation room, he let's himself in. She's sitting on her couch, her hands clasped together at her mouth as she leans forwards on her knees. "Where's Noah?"

"In the conference room with Amanda," she whispers.

His worry about the entire situation is only just contained. He had been in the middle of a meeting with Jack when Carmen had interrupted them with Fin's phone call. He knew that his reaction had been barely veiled and Jack had questioned him with his gaze as he cut their meeting short.

The blinds are drawn in her office and he moves to sit next to her. She immediately moves into him and he wraps her tightly in his arms.

"How long am I supposed to let her stalk us before she escalates?" She questions into his shoulder.

He knows as well as she does that the monitor is just a band-aid to the real problem. They can't keep Shelia away for ever, and at some point the investigation he had lied about will be questioned and the visitation case will be re-opened. Angel Perez is already in jail for Ellie's murder and Rafael knows that even he can't materialize a case that implicates Shelia when it doesn't exist.

"Get the squad to start digging. We may not be able to connect Shelia to Ellie's death, but we can look for evidence that will deny her visitation rights."

She hugs him tighter, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"The monitor will alert us if she gets within a 100 feet of you or Noah-"

"-that's not going to stop her, Rafa."

He knows as much.

There's a quick knock on her door and they pull apart before Noah lets himself in, Amanda leaning in the doorway.

"Mom, I'm hungry," he complains. "Can we go home now?"

She quickly wipes her eyes, pulling him onto her lap as he leans into her. "Sure. Just give me a few more minutes, ok?"

Noah nods. "Uncle Rafa, want to come for dinner?"

He smiles, even if it's a bit strained. "I'd love to."

...

They had stopped to pick-up some take out on the way home, and while Noah had made short work of his rice bowl, vegetables and all, all she can seem to do is pick over it. Rafael is watching her out of the corner of his eye and she gives up entirely on eating. Rising from the table, she places the container in the fridge.

"Uncle Rafa?"

"Yeah, amiguito?"

"Are there snacks at Broadway, like at the movie theatre?"

Rafael shakes his head. "No snacks, I'm afraid."

Noah finishes his drink, his legs swinging from underneath the table. "Is it really dark at Broadway?"

Leaning against the counter, she wraps her arms around herself. "Honey, I don't think we'll be able to go," she says gently.

Noah turns in his chair to look at her. "Huh? Why?! What about my special surprise?"

They could get an officer to follow them and the squad is taking turns watching the monitor and she could carry her weapon and hope and pray that nothing will happen.

"...I heard that the theatre had a pipe burst," she lies. "They may not be able to open on the weekend."

Noah's face falls, tears welling in his eyes. "But it might, right?"

She looks to Rafael who rises from his seat, scooping Noah up to sit with him in his chair. "They might be able to," he soothes. "But if they can't, we'll get tickets for another show." Noah sniffles, and Rafael wipes the tears that have spilled down his cheeks.

"Promise?" Noah questions.

"Promise," Rafael assures.

He's quiet for a minute, and they both attempt to gauge his mood. "How about some ice cream?" Liv offers.

Noah perks up a bit at this, nodding. "Can I have syrup too?"

...

She closes the door to Noah's bedroom gently behind her, making her way back to her living room. Rafael is occupied with his phone as he leans against her kitchen island. Leaning across from him, she holds her clasped hands against her mouth.

He finishes up his text, lifting his gaze to hers. "Just confirming the officer outside of your building."

She nods.

Silence envelops them.

"I don't want to catastrophize, Rafa," she begins softly. "...I'm not going to gamble with Noah's safety."

He reaches across the island for her hands. "You don't have to convince me of anything, Liv."

She twines her fingers with his. "...I also don't want to put Noah in a bubble, either."

Circling the island, he leads her to the couch, sitting. "Do you want comfort or solutions?"

Settling next to him, she rests her head on his shoulder. He oddly sounds like Dr. Lindstrom and she appreciates the clarity in his question. "Solutions."

"You have a few days before the weekend. Why don't you wait and see how you feel with the security detail before you decide on whether or not going to the show will be safe."

"...a few days to monitor Shelia's movements," she adds, wrapping her arm around his torso.

He sifts her fingers through her hair gently. "That too."

Closing her eyes, she exhales. "I can live with that plan."

His lips press to her forehead. "So can I," he agrees softly.

She tips her face up further into his neck, inhaling his scent. "...Rafa?"

"Hmm?"

"I was really worried about you today...I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." He inhales deeply, and she pulls back to meet his gaze. His eyes dance with hers that way they do when he's trying to read her and she leans in, pressing her lips to his.

His hand snakes into her hair, and she places a hand on his chest. As gentle as his lips are against hers, she can feel how widely his heart is beating beneath her palm. Before she can decide what she wants to do with the information, he pulls back, resting his forehead against hers.

"The feelings mutual, Liv," he admits softly.

She kisses him again before moving to grab the shopping bag she'd left on the coffee table, dropping it in his lap.

He gives her a curious look. "What's this?"

"Look and see."

He looks into the bag, that lopsided smile spreading across his face. "Stay?" She questions.

His gaze meets her, and he leans across the couch pressing his lips to hers again. "Yeah."

Tbc

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