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Chapter 20

Noah frowns. "I don't want eggs and toast."

Rafael withholds his sigh, reaching for patience. "We don't have time this morning for you to change your mind, amiguito, You're going to be late for school, and I'm going to be late for court." He spoons the eggs he's made onto his plate next to the peanut butter toast he had asked for.

Noah pushes the eggs around on his plate, his head in his hand on the counter.

Silence fills the kitchen between them and Rafael can feel the doubt settling inside him.

You're going to be just like your father.

The sound of keys in the apartment door brings them both back from the pit of silence, and Noah's face lights up when Olivia walks in.

"Momma!"

Liv smiles tiredly, kicking off her shoes crossing the living room towards him. "Good morning, sweet boy." She leans down, kissing the top of his curly head. Noah swivels in his stool to hug her and she holds him a little longer, a little tighter. "Did you rest well?"

Noah nods, pulling back. "I had a bad dream but Uncle Rafa snuggled with me just like you do and he sang to me and chased them all away."

She looks over at him, leaning against the counter, mug in his hand. He's already partially dressed for the day, in his shirt and tie and she's not sure when that particular suit had found it's way in her closet. It's been several hours since she'd left him more than a little aroused in her bed and everything he had stirred inside of her ignites all over again.

The way he had wanted to know about her sexual preferences.

How he had touched, kissed her scars, so tenderly, so full oflove.

Chasing away her sons nightmares and being there in the morning to get him ready for school. It all comes to a heady feeling in her chest.

"I'm so glad that Uncle Rafa was here, then," she says softly.

Noah turns back to his plate, eating his breakfast. "Me too."

She kisses the top of his head again before circling the island towards him. Leaning in, she presses her lips to his. "I love you," she breathes against his mouth.

He kisses her back gently, mindful of Noah. "I love you too."

Smiling, she pulls back, meeting his gaze. "Give me 15 minutes? I want to drop Noah off with you."

All he can do is nod, lost in the light that's in her eyes, the soft smile on her lips.

Pressing another quick kiss to his lips, she takes his mug of coffee with her to her bedroom.

He smiles, making himself another one.

...

She pulls up to Noah's school, and as she parks, he unbuckles from the backseat leaning between the console to give her a hug goodbye. "Love you, Mom."

Liv kisses him on the forehead. "Love you too, sweet boy. Have a great day."

He hugs Rafael just as tightly. "Love you too, Uncle Rafa."

Rafael returns his hug. "...Te amo, Noah."

The little boy smiles, grabbing his backpack from the seat beside him. "Bye!"

"Bye!" She calls back just ask he jumps out of the backseat, closing the door behind him. There's a group of kids waiting for him, and Noah joins them as the head into the building together.

As she pulls out into traffic, he's quiet beside her and she gives him a few minutes to digest the moment. "You ok?"

"...yeah," he lies. "...just a lot of emotions. Tell me about the case you caught last night."

He's deflecting, but she lets him, changing the subject. "Three year old boy, roaming the streets last night. Convenience store owner called it in when he tried to buy some food. There's neglect but no signs of sexual trauma. The squad is out canvassing again now to try and find the parents."

"What's his name?"

"Bruno...he was so tired, Rafa...he latched on to me at the hospital so tightly that I couldn't just leave him."

"He knew you were a safe place."

She nods, and he reaches over to squeeze her knee. "...it's hard not to think of what could have happened to Noah, with cases like these. If I hadn't found him when I did, his life could have been very different."

"You were meant to find him when you did, Liv. And you've given him everything, amor."

She pulls up to the courthouse, parking. There's plenty of people coming and going that could easily see them but she doesn't care. Leaning across the console, she kisses him and he's teasing her bottom lip until she opens her mouth to meet her tongue with his.

He kisses here there, in her car, the way he had wanted to in her kitchen earlier, expressing just what her words had done to him. Sliding his hand beneath her jacket, he gently runs the back of his hand against her breast, his thumb teasing her nipple beneath her blouse.

A sigh slips through her lips into his mouth. "People can see."

"I don't care," be breathes against her lips, deepening the kiss. "Say it again."

"I love you, Rafa."

He wants to pull her over the console. Rid her of her blazer and her blouse and tease her nipples with his mouth until she comes undone on his lap.

Instead, he pulls back, reaching for his briefcase in the back seat. She's breathing heavily next to him and the smell of her perfume and the heat that's coursing through his body sends the blood right to his cock.

"Rafa."

Her voice practically undoes him and he groans, closing his eyes. "I'm going to get out of the car and go up to my office and I'm going to have to consume copious amounts of caffeine to distract myself from how much I fucking want you, Liv."

Her clothing is all of a sudden constricting against her heated flesh and she squeezes her legs together in an attempt to stave off the aching throb between her thighs. "Ok."

Taking a few deep breaths, he finally looks over at her. "This weekend. We're having our first date. My place. I'm going to wine and dine you and then I'm going to take to you my bed. If that's alright with you."

She nods. "I can't wait."

"Sorry, elevators always out."

Liv follows the case worker up yet another flight of stairs, Carisi behind her.

"And the stairs can get pretty ranky in the summer," he continues.

"When was the last time you were here?" She questions.

"A couple weeks ago? Both kids were fine-"

"-kids? Plural?" Liv clarifies.

The case worker looks back at her. "Bruno has a half sister. Keisha Houston. She's eight."

She gives Carisi a look, and he shakes his head, surprised at the new information too. They've finally reached the 9th floor and they both follow the case worker down the hallway.

When they reach the apartment door, Carisi exhales. "This is six dead bolt country. That door's not even locked!"

Stepping past her detective and the case worker, Liv enters the apartment. "Manuela Ozuna?" She calls, pushing open the door. There's a chair just behind the door and she moves it out of the way. "NYPD," she announces.

The TV is playing in the background as they search the living room.

"She's not here. No wonder Bruno walked; this place is a furnace," Carisi comments.

Liv looks quickly through the kitchen rejoining them in the living room. "She's not in here." "I think she sleeps down there." The case worker points down the hallway.

Both she and Carisi head down the hallway and the heat is more oppressive as they make there way to the back of the apartment. Remembering that Bruno has a sister, Liv calls for her. "Keisha?"

Carisi flips back the blankets on a makeshift bed - a single mattress on the floor- finding it empty.

"Keisha?" She calls again. Searching the room for any signs of the little girl, Liv spots a blanket covering something large and rectangular. "What's this?" She questions.

When the caseworker is silent, she flings back the blanket. Her heart slams into her chest, her stomach dropping. Inside the dog cage is who she can only assumes is Keisha.

Carisi moves quickly to unlatch the cage, and she kneels reaching inside to feel for a pulse. "Keisha? Keisha, honey, can you hear me?" Her skin is uncharacteristically warm and her tiny body still. "There's a pulse, it's just faint."

Carisi immediately calls for a bus and she maneuvers into the cage the best she can to pull the little girl out. "She's so tiny. I thought you said she was eight years old?"

"She is," the caseworker answers nervously. "She's almost nine."

Liv pulls her gently from the cage and into her arms on the floor. "It's going to be ok, honey. We're going to get you some help. You're going to be ok."

The apartment is silent as they wait for the ambulance and Liv holds the little girl tightly, repeating over and over again that it's going to be ok.

The minutes creep by and when they final hear the sirens of the ambulance, they collectively exhale. It's a bit of a commotion when the paramedics finally maneuver their way through the tiny apartment, and they're kneeling beside her, gesturing for the child. Liv releases her and they immediately take her vitals, starting an IV.

As they load her on to the gurney, she wipes the sweat from her forehead standing. "I'll ride with her to Mercy."

Carisi nods. "We'll follow you there."

...

"That poor kid," Carisi sighs.

Liv watches her tiny chest rise and fall from the window to her hospital room. The steady beeping of the machines she's hooked up to is the only thing giving her hope that Keisha will be ok.

"Still no sign of the mother?"

"Fin's working the dealer," she answers softly. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Dr. Wilder making her way towards them. "Dr. Wilder, how she doing?"

"Not well," the doctor answers sadly. "Starvation, infections, she's so dehydrated her organs are shutting down."

"But she's gonna make it though, right doc?" Carisi questions. "I wish you'd found her sooner. I'm sorry."

"How much time?" Liv asks softly.

"I don't expect her to make it through the night."

She swallows hard, nodding, and the doctor give them a sympathetic look before returning to her rounds. "...I'm going to sit with her so that she's not alone."

Carisi nods. "I'll let you know if we find anything."

Letting herself back into Keisha's hospital room, Liv closes the door behind her shutting out the hustle and the noise. Pulling a chair to her bedside, she sits, taking her tiny hand in hers, stroking her hair gently. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart," she whispers. Tears fill her eyes and she blinks them back. "...you deserved so much more."

...

"Paperwork for Buchanan, the files for the Smith case, and you have a motions hearing at 2pm." Carmen hands them the stack of papers and files on her desk. "Your mother has also called twice today."

"Did she leave a message?"

"Just that she's been trying to get a hold of you, and that it's starting to feel personal."

He puts the files and paperwork into his briefcase. "Things have been busy."

"She also said you'd say that."

He meets Carmen's gaze. "I'll call her."

Reaching into the bottom drawer of her desk, she offers him a power bar. "Don't want you coming back here hangry," she smirks.

Rolling his eyes, he takes the bar putting in his briefcase too. "Thank you."

"It's why you pay me the big bucks. I'll work on clearing your calandra for the weekend."

He heads for the elevator and as the button lights up to signal its arrival, he's surprised to see Liv on the other side. He immediately registers her watery eyes, the way that they're red from her crying.

"Liv?" As she steps off of the elevator she's closing the space between them and he drops his briefcase in time to envelope her in his arms. The fact that she hasn't called him about anything concerning Noah, he assumes that her current state is due to the case she's working. Her face buries into his neck and he sifts his fingers through her hair, rubbing her back.

He just holds her in the lobby of his office and he can already hear Carmen on the phone rearranging his meeting with Buchanan. When she finally pulls back, her face is streaked with tears and he wipes them away gently with his thumbs.

"I'm ok," she whispers, her eyes filling with more tears. "You were on your way out-"

"-Liv, don't." Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he leads her back to his office. He knows Carmen has already given him some time, and they share a quick glance before he follows Liv into his office. She heads right for his couch and he closes the door behind them, heading to the coffee bar to grab her a bottle of water. He quickly draws the blinds before sitting beside her. He doesn't think he's ever seen her like this before, and his heart slams in his chest, because he doesn't know exactly what to do. "I'm here, amor. Talk to me."

She shakes her head at the water, and he places it on the coffee table. "...we ID'd Bruno...child services has been involved and we went to his house with the case worker...turns out, Bruno had a sister."

"Had?"

"...the heat in the apartment was unbearable...we found her locked in a dog cage, unresponsive."

"Jesus," he sighs. "...how is she?"

"Extreme starvation, dehydration...her organs were shutting down...I held her hand as she died, Rafa."

"Mi amor." Rafael scoots across the couch, wrapping her in his arms again.

"...if we'd gotten to her sooner-"

"-no, Liv," he interjects gently. "You dideverythingyou could, amor. This isn't on you."

She grips the back of jacket tightly in her hands, nodding into his shoulder.

"She wasn't alone. She had someone with her thatcared...she isn't in anymore pain," he continues.

There's a soft knock on the door, Carmen's signal that their time is up. She pulls back, wiping her eyes and he offers her his handkerchief from the breast pocket of his jacket. "...I'll call Fin-"

"-I'll be ok...I just...needed this minute...with you."

He nods, rubbing her back. Carmen knocks again softly and he knows that's his warning that he'll be late if he doesn't go now. "I have a motions hearing."

She presses a kiss to his lips. "Go...I'm just going to take another minute before heading back."

He searches her eyes, and despite the facade she's attempting to slip into, he can still see the guilt lingering. "Take as long as you need. Carmen's got snacks." She smiles a little, and he presses another kiss to her lips. "Te amo."

Tbc