2 Months Later.

There was an unusual chatter in Forlini's that day, even when everything just seemed...wrong. While the restaurant was lively for whatever reason, the SVU squad members were mourning their not guilty verdict and the death of the boy they'd been in trial for. It just seemed like racism and fear would continue to win no matter how much they tried. One by one, the squad trickled in members. Going home to continue moping was just the next step after the day.

Eventually, the lone ADA of the squad remained. He was determined to erase the trial from his memory even if it took all the scotch stock in the restaurant. With all the alcohol in his system, the noise around him felt like it was amplified by tenfold. Why were people so annoying sometimes? They couldn't go celebrate home or just keep silent like normal people? No. It always had to be like this. Maybe going to the blissful silence of his home wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Rafael had only decided this seconds before a crowd at the end of the restaurant burst into cheers for whatever the hell they were happy about. He was in the middle of picking up his things when he heard some members of the oh-so-joyous crowd beginning to leave. Thank God.

"...stay some more!"

"No, sorry! I'll see you at home, Kara!"

"Didn't know you had a curfew!"

The crowd of celebrators burst into a whole new laughter. Rafael would've gone straight out before they even opened their mouths again but one particular voice was too familiar to just let go.

"You're all jerks!" cried a familiar woman.

"Miss Novak?"

Montserrat stopped walking and turned towards the bar counter where Rafael was still sitting. A grin came across her face at the sight of the ADA. "Oh, hi! I didn't know you came here! Well, actually Casey comes here so I should've just figured that you would come here but…" she shook her head, forgetting the long ramble, "It's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you as well," Rafael motioned the chair next to him, forgetting that he'd been about to leave (and she as well).

Montserrat sat down next to him, placing her black purse on the counter. When the bartender came by she waved a hand. "No thanks."

Rafael watched her for a minute as if to confirm whether or not this was the same woman he met two months ago. She remained the same, with her wavy fiery, ginger hair and bangs over her forehead. Her dark eyes seemed bigger now, or maybe that was just under the dim lights of the restaurant. Her figure was back. Because she's not pregnant anymore, Rafael almost rolled his eyes at himself for being so stupid. Clearly, Montserrat would look different now. She was dressed in a black and white, long sleeved, horizontal striped dress with a white, biker-like leather vest over it.

"You look well," Rafael found himself remarking. His glass became an automatic form of retreat in case she took it in the wrong way. Still, when he thought about his three worded sentence it still made him feel like he overstepped. "I meant that, you know, you didn't have your…"

Montserrat's chuckle cut him off. "I don't have my big stomach anymore? Yeah, that's what happens when you give birth."

Rafael smiled. He liked her way of taking things in a different manner than most people would. It was refreshing. "I meant to follow up after the case but...we were surprised to find you relocated hospitals."

After he told the others how Montserrat practically withheld her labor pains until after she testified, they made it their mission to visit her in the hospital to thank her for it. It was a shock to them all when Casey notified them her cousin was in a hospital she didn't even know of.

"Sorry. Leah and Michael have these...traditions, they wanted me to follow. They believe in only family seeing the baby for the first couple days." Montserrat gave a light shrug. She hoped he wouldn't ask too many questions about that.

"But was everything okay? You didn't...have any complications because of what happened in court?"

"No. I…" Montserrat started smiling, her gaze lowering to the counter, "I had a perfectly healthy baby boy. They named him Andrew."

"Congratulations," Rafael felt odd saying it since Montserrat wasn't technically the mother of the boy. Still, she seemed pretty happy so he'd just go with it.

"Thank you," she nodded. She shifted on her stool to face him with a whole new expression on her face. Anticipation. "Did you win the case? Tell me you got that guy, please."

Rafael put his glass down for a second and glanced at her, his growing smugness more or less an answer all on its own. "How do double digits in prison sound?"

"I love your language," Montserrat gave him a coy smile.

Now it was Rafael's turn to laugh. "So I imagine you're back in the Homicide division, then?"

"Uum... not quite. I...I decided to stay clear of that from now on," Montserrat cleared her throat. "Queens no longer feels like home to me. I'm living with a friend right here in Manhattan again."

"Going to be working with us, then Detective?"

"It would be nice to hear that again…" Montserrat looked around as if someone would overhear a precious secret she had to tell. "Between you and me, I started talking with Olivia last month. Even though Detective Carisi already filled my spot, she said there's still room for another Detective. Apparently, the team recently said goodbye to Detective Munch?"

"Yes, we did," Rafael remembered Olivia's unnatural smiles last month when Carisi himself had asked who would be coming in to replace Munch. Olivia had been making the plans for long now.

"She's helped me get my papers back in, and this time here to stay. I'll be seeing you all next week," Montserrat said proudly.

"Great, another Novak to deal with," Rafael sarcastically rolled his eyes then took another drink of his glass. Montserrat gasped in the same sarcasm. "Relax, it'll be interesting working with a Detective Novak this time."

"I'm not that awful," Montserrat laughed. "In fact, I have-"

"Montse," a blonde woman stopped by the two, or bumped into Montserrat, "I thought you were leaving! You only came to talk to the first man-"

"Kara, I'm going to stop you before you say something you'll regret for the rest of your life," Montserrat said in one clean go. Kara was her best friend and probably the boldest which didn't bode well for Montserrat since the woman was also drunk at the moment. "Remember that job I told you about?"

"Mm, the cop one?" Kara swayed on her feet so Montserrat grabbed one of Kara's hands to keep her steady.

"Yes, that one," Montserrat figured that was as far as Kara would remember in her state. "He's one of the ADAs there, do you remember that?"

Kara scrunched face then very honestly shook her head. "I gotta be honest: right now, I don't even remember what I do for a living."

Montserrat wasn't the least bit surprised by that. Kara was one of the honest drunks where she would say anything on her mind no matter what. "Rafael, this is my best friend in her worst states, Kara Mackie. We were celebrating a friend's recent promotion and...Kara got into the mood."

Rafael figured even if he did introduce himself to Kara, she wouldn't remember the next morning. The tall blonde woman was swaying on her feet and she didn't even seem to notice it. Still, he offered Kara a polite smile and his name. Kara smiled very sweetly, but it looked like his words had gone over her head.

"I think I'm taking you home," Montserrat sighed and grabbed her bag off the counter. "She's the roommate I was talking about," she told Rafael and grabbed her purse off the counter. "Unfortunately, part of the deal is I have to take care of her sometimes."

"Ah, that's why I live alone," Rafael made a mock toast with his nearly empty glass.

"Yeah, well, give me some time and maybe I can too!"

"I suppose we'll be seeing each other next week?"

Montserrat nodded her head. "I think so. But don't tell anyone. I want to surprise them."

"They won't hear anything from me."

"Montse, is it me or does it feel like you've been talking for hours?" Kara closed her eyes for a moment but Montserrat knew this was a warning Kara would be dropping asleep very soon.

"Oh boy," Montserrat turned Kara for the doors. "I'll see you around, then." She smiled once more at Rafael then hurried with Kara before Kara said something more. And it turned out Kara did have something more to say.

"Your friend is kinda hot. Can I go back there for like ten minutes?"

"Over my dead body," Montserrat practically pushed Kara out the door.

~0~

Days later.

Montserrat pulled open a cafe shop door and was greeted with a sweet cinnamon scent. She loved the fact they sold some delicious, chewy brownies. That was never part of the pregnancy cravings - just enhanced - because she'd loved brownies for years and years before.

As Montserrat walked through the cafe she spotted the woman she'd come in looking for. "Sergeant Olivia Benson," she said once she was in hearing shot of the Sergeant.

Olivia looked up from her phone just as Montserrat pulled a seat out at the table. "Hi, glad you made it."

Montserrat nodded and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Of course I would make it. Thank you for agreeing to do this outside the station. You didn't have to do that."

"No reason why we couldn't," Olivia countered with. She motioned to a file sitting on the table in front of her. "I've finalized things and you really do look good for the job. Homicide had good recommendations for you."

"I bet they did," Montserrat bit her lip and smiled an unusual smile that Olivia couldn't let go of.

Montserrat seemed like a perfect candidate to be an SVU detective. She had the experience, she had the skills, the personality but sometimes Olivia noted there were moments where Montserrat would do or say odd things. It was as if Montserrat was talking about something only she knew about, something that still had an effect on her.

"And I see you decided to put down you're still seeing a shrink," Olivia meant to discuss that only briefly, but she felt she still had a duty to inform Montserrat her options. "You know it's not required, right?"

"I know, but it's not like it was a secret," Montserrat shrugged. "Plus I wouldn't want it to come up in some trial and take the ADA by surprise. I'd rather have things out in the open."

"Okay," Olivia gave a nod.

"Can I ask you something?"

Olivia smiled at the ginger's shyness. "Of course. You can make any questions you want."

"You're the Sergeant so...is there a Captain? A Lieutenant?"

"Uh, we used to have a Captain but he retired and we're still searching for someone."

"Okay," Montserrat nodded. Olivia gave her another look as if expecting more questions. "I don't really have any more questions."

"Really?" Olivia raised an eyebrow, a smile crossing her face. "I would think switching from Homicide to Special Victims might leave some questions. At the very least switching neighborhoods would."

Montserrat laughed softly. "I lived in Queens but since I moved in with Leah and Michael during the pregnancy I've learned enough about the city."

"So you've definitely moved here, then?"

"Yeah, right now I'm staying with a friend until I find a place of my own," Montserrat looked around the cafe. "This is actually one of the places I've learned to love. It's adorable."

Olivia laughed and had to agree the quaint cafe shop was highly relaxing. She didn't have a lot of time to do that anymore and she wouldn't tell Montserrat that if she did become an SVU detective there wouldn't be a lot of time to visit relaxing cafes. "So, can we expect you Monday morning?"

Montserrat didn't think twice in answering. "With coffee for everyone."

~0~

"So, it's settled and I'm going to be starting at SVU on Monday," Montserrat relayed her lunch meeting with her therapist. She was happier than the previous times she'd visited, especially after giving birth.

Dr. Weslin made that note without initially mentioning it. "And you're feeling competent for that?"

Montserrat understood where she was going. Her smile faltered for a bit but she still answered calmly. "I do, actually. Things seem...to be getting better now. I can actually say it and feel it. I mean, two months ago I was giving birth to…" she paused, biting her lower lip.

Dr. Weslin waited for her to continue but, just like the other times Montserrat hesitated. "Montse, part of this process is for you to be able to say it out loud."

"I know-"

"-and especially considering where you're going to be working at-"

"-I know!" Montserrat squeezed her eyes shut and balled a fist on the couch. "But it was already difficult saying it as a Homicide Detective but now as an SVU detective…"

"It's a challenge," Dr. Weslin knew. She knew by now that Montserrat said the same thing each time she was in for an appointment.

Montserrat opened her eyes but her fist remained curled and unmoving. "It will always be a challenge openly admitting that I was raped. I feel better now and I don't want that to go away."

"It doesn't have to," Dr. Weslin remained calm even as the woman teared up. She put her clipboard down and gazed at Montserrat. "You have done fine progress, Montserrat."

"I know that," Montserrat unintentionally snapped. "But sometimes when I get to thinking about this year, I…" she scrunched her face and raised her balled fist. "Sometimes I start to go back…"

"Normal action," Dr. Weslin nodded. "You've had quite the year, Montserrat. And the fact you never disclosed to your family…"

"I did what I needed to," Montserrat dropped her hand to her lap. "I just told Casey, and I went to the hospital, I got the rape kit done, I disclosed to my Lieutenant. My family didn't need to know."

"Now let me ask you something, Montserrat. Do you think working at SVU will in anyway dissolve your progress?"

Montserrat couldn't give any answer with certainty. She could say no and definitely know that she was lying. Or, she could say yes but without being completely sure. She truly felt like she had made an honest progress in healing and she really didn't want to lose it.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."

Author's Note:

Sorry for the short chapter but I wanted an intermediary chapter to transition to our actual Detective Novak now ;)

For the Reviews:

Rossi's Lil Devil: I'm proud of Montse too believe me. And I think she's definitely earned herself a special type of respect from Rafael. If it's more we'll definitely see what it is ;)

animexchick: Thanks! Hope you continue liking the story! :)