Montserrat checked her phone one more time as she headed into the D.A's building. She'd gotten a text - several texts and calls - from Casey and Rafael, both leaving urgent voicemails. She had to be at Rafael's office ASAP. She hurried down the hallway and made a swift turn for Rafael's office.

"Hi," she gave a quick greeting to Carmen and pointed towards the shut doors. "Is he in there?"

Carmen didn't get the opportunity to answer because Montserrat had gone right in. She came to a skidded stop midway when she saw her brother sitting at the desk, along with Casey and Rafael.

"Oh n-n-n-n-n-no," Montserrat began to shake her head - and finger for that matter - once she realized what the plan was. "I am not-"

"Montse," Casey rose from her seat, but Montserrat violently pointed at her to stop.

"Don't!"

"Novak-"

Montserrat turned her finger on Rafael. "Especially don't!"

"For once I agree with her!" Gael also stood up, ready to go.

"Yes, I think for once we're on the same page," Montserrat shrugged and turned to leave...only to bump into her father. The ginger stumbled back a couple steps. "...Dad?"

"Hello Montserrat," Thomas Novak looked down at her daughter with a sharpness only a father could have. "Sit down."

Montserrat lost her bravery there and then. I'm almost 30 and he still does this to me! With a frown, she turned and headed for the chair Casey left open. She glared at her ginger cousin. "I can't believe you called our Dad on us." Her eyes then flickered to Rafael standing next to Casey. "And I can't believe you were on board with it."

"On board with it?" he scoffed. "It was my idea."

If Montserrat was irritated before, she was now furious. "What...the hell…?"

"Was exactly what I said," Gael muttered in his chair.

"Can we have a couple minutes alone, please?" Thomas asked the two lawyers in the room.

"Of course, uncle Thomas," Casey nodded her head. She looked over to Rafael and when he nodded, she took the lead out.

Thomas cleared his throat once they were alone. "I cannot believe my grown up son and daughter are fighting like...children."

"Dad-"

"Montserrat Irene, I suggest you not talk until I am finished," Thomas snapped. "It is ridiculous, and frankly embarrassing, that your argument has gotten to the point where your cousin, and your co-worker, felt the need to call me." He brought a hand to his nose, pinching the bridge of it. "What, pray tell, is it that has you two arguing like cats and dogs?"

Gael took the lead in answering, and fast. "Montse, here, said you weren't a good father-"

"-that's not what I said!" Montserrat exclaimed, turning on her chair. "Daddy, that's not what I said!" she almost whined like when they were children and she was accused of being the typical annoying little sister.

"Yes it was!" Gael shouted at her.

"Enough!" Thomas overpowered the two with a mere call.

"Daddy, that's not what I meant when I said that," Montserrat pushed herself up from her chair. "I was doing a case where a mother had to leave her kid alone for a couple days because she had no one to watch her. I was only making a comparison, saying how you used to leave Gael and I alone too. But I would never say that you were a bad father."

"Well, I know that, sweetie," Thomas walked over to her, setting his hands on her shoulders. "Is that really why you're arguing?"

Montserrat shot her brother a glare. "Yes. Gael, over here, doesn't get it. He started bringing in things about Mom and-"

"I said that Regina-" Gael made a point in saying their mother's name as if it belonged to a stranger, unlike his sister who still called her 'mom' despite her abandonment, "-was the bad parent. She was the culprit of our difficulties growing up."

"It's not how you said it," Montserrat snapped, turning to face her brother. "You made it seem like I was ignoring what Mom-"

"-Regina-"

"-who cares!" Montserrat exclaimed. "Point is, you made things a lot bigger than they needed to be. You took my words the worst way possible. You think I forgot what Mom did to us? You think I forgot that Mom abandoned us? That she left us? well I haven't. I know exactly what she did. I may not remember her, but I will always remember what she did to us."

Montserrat's eyes had teared up with memories she couldn't even remember. Regina Novak was a scarce memory of a four year old. She never knew what hurt most: barely remembering their mother, or remembering everything about her and missing her completely.

"Montse…" Gael sighed, bringing a hand to his ruffled dark hair.

"I am sorry about things, about shouting…" Montserrat moved towards her brother with the intention of hugging him if he allowed it. "About everything I'm...I'm sorry."

Gael nodded, acknowledging her words. He took his baby sister into a tight hug. "I'm sorry too, Montse."

"Great, now that it's settled," Thomas clapped his hands together, "If you ever make me do this again I will ground both of you until you're sixty."

"Gael's almost there anyways," Montserrat mumbled and earned a playful shove from Gael.

"I'm 40 and you're 10!"

"Twenty nine," Montserrat smirked.

"Going on 30. Soon, I may add."

Montserrat's smirk faded. A minute later, she turned back to her father. "Dad!"

~ 0 ~

Kara Mackie strode into the precinct's bullpen with a cheery, secretive smile until she came to the first desk with a familiar detective. "Good afternoon, detective."

Sonny smiled almost as brightly as she had coming in. "Afternoon Miss Mackie, Your roommate isn't here right now."

"Good, I was aiming for a moment where she wasn't here," Kara looked around and saw the rest of the squad in the break room. "Montserrat's birthday is coming up next month. It's the big 3-0 and I'm throwing a surprise birthday party for her. Think your team's interested in going?"

Sonny leaned back in his chair with a growing smile. "I think they might be. What's on the menu?"

"Whatever you're cooking," Kara easily answered with. Sonny raised his eyebrows in amusement, nearly laughing at how easily Kara had set everything up.

"I'm just kidding, though. I haven't thought it through exactly but I'm thinking of it having the party at a restaurant. That's why I'm starting early on this planning thing."

Before Sonny could say something about that, they started to hear familiar voices carrying into the bullpen until they saw Montserrat coming in - in a quick paced walk - with Rafael tailing her.

"Are you really doing this, Novak?" he followed her directly to her desk.

"You mean, like, never talking to you again? Yeah, I am!" she shook her head and plopped down into her chair. 'That's my plan and I'm sticking to it. You can pass the message to Casey."

Rafael pinched the bridge of his nose, so irritated with Montserrat right now he could shake her like a salt shaker. "Montserrat, Casey and I were trying to help. I was trying to help!"

"So you called my dad!? Like I was 10!? You see the problem with that, right?"

Kara exchanged a look with Sonny, both thinking the same thing.

"It's like if I would call your mom and...how old are you again?"

Rafael dropped his hand to his side and took in a deep breath. "Montserrat, I swear to God you're making this-"

"-I'm doing what now?" Montserrat frowned at him, her voice sharpening. "You're going to tell me I'm doing what now?"

Rafael sighed. He knew that challenging voice was just a trap for him. Whatever answer he gave, she would kill him. He sat on the edge of her desk and looked down at her for a good minute in which her glare did not waver. "Can I buy you lunch?"

Though she tried her best, Montserrat couldn't help the brief smile that came to her face. She rolled her eyes and looked away. "You can't just fix things with lunch."

"I can certainly try," Rafael said in amusement. "We can go for dinner later if you prefer."

"Stop," she ordered but she was near smiling again.

"We can try that French place you found last week," he continued on since it was clear he was getting through to her. "Or we can go to the bistro from down the block. Pick one."

Montserrat made a show of rolling her eyes again, as if he were just annoying her again, and practically forced herself to agree as if she wasn't hungry. "Fine," she got up and reached for her bag under her desk. "But I'm getting dessert. Twice."

"Of course you are," Rafael smirked as Montserrat took the lead out. He walked on after her, still carrying that confident air the others knew so well.

"Those two need to get a room already!" Kara nearly burst into laughter once they'd left. She looked at Sonny who couldn't seem more at home, as if he'd seen this before. "They just squabbled like an old married couple and he-" she pointed in Rafael's direction, "-just totally catered to her. Montse you idiot!"

~ 0 ~

"You're not off the hook," Montserrat said to Rafael after leaving their chosen restaurant. "You and Casey are... something else. You just happen to owe me a little less than Casey right now."

"I should be way ahead, I listened to you talk for an hour and a half straight."

Montserrat made a slow turn in front of him, forcing him to stop for a second. "Really? You didn't look that bored."

Rafael leveled her look with his own sarcasm. "Oh, right, because I was so excited to learn your biggest dream as a kid was to be a ballerina. Real original, by the way."

"What - hey!" she frowned. "Most girls at ten wanted to be a princess. I was original." Rafael scoffed and moved past her, leaving her to follow. "And I did practice! I was actually good, thank you very much."

"I'm eager to see the videos," he plainly said, making her roll her eyes. Truth be told, he was glad to have her back to normal. Sure it also meant she was in her prime state to irritate the hell out of him, but it was more fun anyways.

It gave him the chance to come up with new quick-witted responses.

~0~

In the evening when Montserrat was leaving work, she got a call from Kara asking her to stop by the salon first. It gave her the perfect chance to tease Sonny right before leaving.

"Unfortunately, you're not going on a date tonight," she stuck her tongue out at Sonny, very maturely of course, as she grabbed her things to go.

"No worries, I'll see her tomorrow," he suavely responded with, ending Montserrat's smirk.

"I hate that you two are dating," she pretended to shiver. "It's just not right." She took her leave when Sonny began to laugh.

Montserrat arrived to Kara's salon to find the place nearly empty. There were no customers, just two employees of Kara's and Kara herself cleaning the mess of the day.

"Big night?" Montserrat crinkled her nose at the sight of a pile of hair in the middle of the salon.

"Thursdays are like false Fridays," Kara looked up from a desk she was clearing. "A lot of people come in thinking there'll be less people because it's Thursday and not Friday night. Still, we did good...right ladies?"

The two employees with them - one brunette and one black-haired - both nodded their heads. Montserrat didn't know them as personally as Kara did, but she was still good friends with them. The black haired woman was named Madison - sometimes nicknamed Maddie - while the brunette was Caroline, a petite girl.

"I think you all deserve drinks," Montserrat chuckled as she walked further into the salon. She swiped a magazine from a waiting table and skimmed the pages. "Maddie can get one, right?"

The black-haired woman stopped brooming for a moment to snort. "Drinking tonight, detective? Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Hey, I'm just here to pick up my roommate, but she's taking forever," Montserrat gave Kara a smirk. "Bet you don't move like that when Sonny's at the door."

Now Kara smirked back. "Well, when you look like him I'll come running."

"Cute Italian one?" Madison stopped brooming again just to gush. At Montserrat's questioning look, because there was no way Madison could know what Sonny looked like, Madison pointed at Kara. "She had pictures."

"You already have pictures!?" Montserrat groaned at Kara.

"They've gone out for a couple dates, it's natural," Caroline answered on Kara's behalf. "What's the big deal, Montse?"

"She's just mad cos I was able to snatch up a sexy detective and she can't get with her hot ADA," Kara said so easily Montserrat nearly keeled over from shock.

"WHAT!?" the detective practically screamed right there. While Kara laughed at Montserrat's fury, Madison and Caroline were echoes of 'what' in the background.

"Kara, what the hell!?" Montserrat stomped her foot to get Kara's attention since the blonde was still busy laughing. "You need to stop saying things like that or else someone hears and thinks it's true!"

"But...it is," Kara shrugged casually, even looking around as if she were genuinely confused. She walked over to Montserrat, ignoring the detective's protests as she dragged Montserrat to the nearest chair.

"Stop saying that, please," Montserrat's weariness was catching up with her. "We're just friends. You know, like I'm friends with Finn...with Nick...Sonny…?"

"All good looking," Kara assured Madison and Caroline as if the two were hanging on to their every word. "Though, as you know, Sonny's mine."

"I've seen pictures of them," Caroline admitted, a faint blush coming to her pale cheeks. "On the news...when they make reports or catch the criminals. They are good looking. And they seem to be kind."

"They are," Montserrat sighed. She was letting Kara brush her hair, though she had no idea what Kara intended on doing besides that. Sometimes it was just a thing they would do to each other to calm down after something happened. When they were teenagers and had bad break ups or problems, they would find comfort in this. "And they're my friends, okay?"

"Yes, they are," Kara agreed. "But Rafael isn't. Well, technically he is, but...you know what I mean." Montserrat shook her head but Kara forced her to stay still. "Stop denying me, Montse. Besides, what's the big deal anyways? He is attractive."

"Yeah, I know you think that because you were the one who first said it, not me," Montserrat scrunched her face after having her hair pulled by Kara's brush. She thought that was on purpose.

Kara chuckled. "It's like I'm talking to high school Montse. Remember when you liked Hayden from the baseball team? You were head over heels for him and you never admitted it."

"Because I wasn't!"

"She literally loved him," Kara told Madison and Caroline on the side. "He had all the muscles but not a lot of brains. She never confessed so he started dating this stupid cheerleader. And I literally mean stupid cheerleader. She was an airhead...just like Hayden was. One for the other."

"Kara!"

"Anyways," Kara smiled and paused her brushing for a minute, "Rafael's a different story. For one, he's not an idiot like Hayden. Sonny said he studied in Harvard-"

"-please stop," Montserrat closed her eyes and sighed.

"And, as I have said before, he's really attractive," Kara stopped for a moment just to mouth 'really' to the other women then continued on as if Montserrat wasn't shooting daggers at her through the mirror. "You can't deny that, Montse. Don't even try."

Montserrat said nothing but rolled her eyes. She wouldn't deny her face was a little warm, but Kara would never know that.

"The good news is, you're attractive too and he probably knows that," Kara reached for a spray bottle of water and started spraying Montserrat's hair with it.

"Woah, woah, woah what are you doing!?" the detective swatted Kara's hands away.

"I'm cutting your split ends off. You asked me to do that last week," Kara reminded her and so Montserrat calmed down.

"Oh, sorry…" Montserrat got back in her chair and straightened up.

Madison handed Kara a pair of scissors and continued with her clean up duties. Kara started cutting off some of the tips of Montserrat's hair, though apparently the conversation hadn't finished. "I'm just saying, you already do the couple bickering and the dates."

"It's not - ow!" Montserrat flinched after Kara pulled her hair again.

"Oh no!"

Montserrat froze in her chair the moment Kara had gasped. "What...happened…?"

Kara was covering her mouth with one hand while the other held onto the scissors. Montserrat's eyes landed on the mirror and saw a chunk of her hair missing. There were a lot of things that ran through her head so she was very proud of herself she was restraining herself.

"Kara...I know I say this a lot, but this time I really mean it: I'm going to kill you."

~ 0 ~

It was morning when Kara walked into Casey's office. She passed Casey's assistant and found the Homicide ADA working fervently at her desk.

"Good morning," Kara greeted Casey as she closed the office door.

"Kara," Casey made a face of surprise. Kara never came to the DA's office. "What can I do for you? You're not in any kind of trouble are you?"

"No," Kara chuckled and moved towards the desk. "I'm just stopping by and inviting people to a little party I'm throwing for Montse next month. It's early but I want it to be perfect."

"Oh, that's right," Casey passed a hand down her face. It was too early to be on her third coffee and yet here she was. "Thirty years old...poor Montse."

Kara playfully rolled her eyes. "Don't tell her that."

Casey smiled to herself. Everyone knew Montserrat was trying to ignore the fact she was entering her thirties. "I will make my best effort not to. So then, party's at your place?"

"As of right now, I'm thinking about Montserrat's favorite restaraunt," Kara shrugged. "You'll be there?"

"Of course!"

"It's a surprise, so don't say anything to Montse."

"Not gonna say a word," Casey promised.

Kara smiled and headed out the office. She'd been making a list of everyone she'd invited and there were only a few people left on the list, including her own brother and Montserrat's brother as well. She'd get an earful from Damian, no doubt. She strode down the hallway with her phone in hand, ready to call her brother when she spotted a familiar ADA. Saves me the search, she thought before picking up her pace.

"Rafael?" her call stopped the ADA from leaving with another co-worker. His confusion was beyond evident, almost amusing but Kara knew from Montse (and Sonny) this was not the man to joke around with. "Morning, did I interrupt?"

"Not really...what are you doing here?" he asked with the same tone Casey had earlier. "Are you in some type of problem?"

"Why does everyone ask me that?" Kara chuckled.

"Because this isn't the type of place you visit just because?"

"Right," Kara nodded and cleared her throat, preferring to get to business. She'd never talked to Rafael on her own, and now she realized that she would never be able to have anything with him. He kind of scared her. "I was inviting people to Montse's surprise party next month and you and Casey are in the same building, so…"

"Montserrat's birthday is coming up?" he asked with the same confusion as before. "She...didn't tell me anything."

"Don't worry!" Kara quickly said before he jumped to conclusions. "She's turning 30 so she probably doesn't want anyone to know."

That caused a smile for Rafael. "Really? She's afraid of 30? Try 36."

"You're 36?" Kara blinked but quickly shook her head to avoid any awkward conversation. "Sorry! Point is, she's 29 going on 30 and she's not very happy about it so don't feel bad about not knowing. I'm sure she's desperately trying to forget herself."

"It's not that big of a deal."

"For women, it kind of is. The party's probably going to be at Montserrat's favorite restaurant and it's a surprise, so...don't say anything."

"Promise I won't," Rafael gave a light nod.

"Great," Kara smiled. She made a move to leave when she remembered something important and whirled around with a loud "Oh!" She walked back to Rafael and said, "By the way, when you see Montse...if she looks...different...don't make comments about it. Please. For my life."

"Comments…?" Rafael raised an eyebrow at her. "As in…?"

"You know, your typical sarcasm Montse talks about," Kara innocently smiled. "Just a warning. She might actually kill you."

Rafael watched her rub the side of her neck as if there were something she was remembering. "O...kay. Sure. I have to go."

"Okay," Kara's smile was rather uncomfortable for his liking so he preferred to leave.

Though now he was curious about Montserrat. Maybe he'd make a stop earlier than planned.

~0 ~

Montserrat hugged her coffee cup like her life depended on it. She emerged from the precinct's elevator and made way for the bullpen. She could already hear Amanda and Nick going at it over something no doubt unimportant. They seemed to bicker a lot, now that Montserrat thought about it. She silently came in and walked straight for her desk. As she began to settle her things on her desk, some of her team members had already noticed her.

"Montse…" Sonny began, even leaning forwards on his desk as if he needed a closer look.

"Don't," she quietly warned. "Kara Mackie is dead to me."

Sonny chuckled and looked at the others. "No wonder she called so scared."

"You look nice," Amanda kindly remarked despite Montserrat picking at her new shortened hair.

Montserrat's long, wavy red hair had been cut to her shoulders now. It retained its waviness with a few more curls than usual. Her straight bangs were no longer in front of her forehead. Each half was now curled to the side.

"Thanks…" Montserrat sighed. "But it was an accident. Kara was cutting the tips and then...her hand slipped. And now here we are."

"You do look great," Amanda reassured her with the same kind smile.

"Is Kara still alive?" Nick couldn't help but ask, sharing a snicker with Fin.

"Barely, but she's there," Montserrat answered with a straight face.

The door to Olivia's office opened up and out came the Sergeant with a grimness no one could match.

"What's going on?" Fin asked once Olivia finally lowered her phone to her side.

"Do you remember Sarah Walsh?"

"Right, the piano student, the one whose rapist got off."

"Yeah. She just texted me. She thinks she was raped. Again."

"Hold on, when did we do this case?" Montserrat asked the others for some help.

"A case from 2 years ago," Fin started getting up.

"We need to go question her, and fast," Olivia declared. "This girl has been raped before, gone to trial and lost. We have to be extra cautious."

"Aren't we always?" countered Nick with a thin smile.

Olivia gave a bob of her head before walking off, though as she passed Montserrat she remarked, "Nice hair."

Montserrat scrunched her face but kept her mouth shut.

~ 0 ~

When Olivia and Nick went to talk to Sarah, the rest of the team got ahold of the needed special teams to go through Sarah's apartment once again. She was taken to the hospital for her rape kit and in the meantime, the other detectives did their own paperwork for the case.

"So Michael Wedmore got off scot-free in a trial?" Montserrat reread the report of Sarah's previous trial and came to the awful conclusion. "And now he's raped the same girl?"

Sonny, who was also reading with her, took a look for himself. "Bastard is hitting in his comfort zone."

"But it's stupid," Montserrat moved around their desks so that she could sit at the edge of Sonny's desk. "He would obviously know that he'd be the prime suspect if he attacked Sarah again. This doesn't make a lot of sense."

"None of our cases usually do," Amanda called from her seat. She'd just hung up the phone and was looking rather disillusioned. "Finn and Amaro just finished talking to Wedmore's boss and mother. Apparently, he was on a shift last night but today he's at a church retreat with his fiancee."

"Great," Sonny let the report drop on his desk. "So where does that leave us now?"

"Well," Amanda went through her own papers again. "Hospital did confirm Sarah was assaulted. She had a torn earlobe, bruising, and trauma consistent with dot, dot, dot…" she trailed off and looked up. "She's not crying wolf."

"So, just to recap," Montserrat started back for her own desk. "Neighbors didn't see nor hear anything. There were no signs of forced entry and to top it off, there's no security cameras in the building. Lovely Friday it is."

Sonny's cellphone dinged with a call, and upon seeing Olivia's name on the screen he quickly answered it. It was a quick conversation but full of information. "Rape kit came back," he announced to the two women with him. "Sarah was drugged. G.H.B. in her urine. No semen. No DNA. Liv says we need to talk to Sarah's friends. Maybe they can help put together the timeline that we don't have."

"You two go," Amanda nodded him and Montserrat out. "Finn and Amaro are coming back so maybe we can try to see if we can get any security cameras from the street the bar was at."

The other two detectives nodded and gathered their coats to leave.

~ 0 ~

Talking to Sarah's friends led Montserrat and Sonny to a higher income neighborhood, specifically one nice two story penthouse. A dark haired girl was cleaning the living room when the two detectives arrived, but she was more than willing to help.

"So how do you and Sarah know each other?" asked Sonny.

"Sarah and I met at the music academy, and we used to cater together."

"Nice place you got here," Montserrat had to remark after catching sight of a beautiful chandelier on the ceiling.

The girl chuckled. "I wish! I just house-sit, and I feed George and Martha." She gestured to the two lizards inside their glass tank.

Montserrat struggled not to shiver right there and then. "So...now, you and your fiance... You guys went out with Sarah Friday night?"

"Yeah. She left me a message, but I haven't called her back yet. I'm so busy with the wedding." The girl walked past the detectives to put her cleaning supplies down. She got the vibe, from their sharp looks, that she was missing something. "Um, is she okay?"

Sonny exchanged a glance with Montserrat before answering. "Something may have happened, and now we're hoping that you can help us. Now, did you see Sarah with any guys that night?"

"No, no. It was just the three of us."

Montserrat held out a black tablet she'd been carrying, loaded with men's pictures for her to look through. "Recognize any of these guys from the bar?"

The girl skimmed through them but she shook her head after finishing with the last one. "No. Was she raped again?"

"How late were you out with Sarah?" Montserrat took the tablet instead of answering. Maybe if the friend had called back she would know.

"Um, like, 11:00. We gave her the watch, and then Matthew and I went home."

"The watch?" Sonny repeated in confusion.

"Yes. I thought you knew. It's like an entry pass to an underground party."

"Where was the party?"

"You never know. That's the thing. It's... Last weekend, it was at an abandoned subway station."

"Oh, okay, so it's one of those deals where you meet a guide on the corner, and he…"

Nicole nodded. "You give him a pocket watch that you got from someone who went to last weekend's party."

"And you gave Sarah one?" Sonny inquired. Nicole nodded again. "Do you have another one?"

"Yeah, um... " Nicole went towards a backpack sitting at a dining table. She reached into the front pocket and pulled out a silver pocket watch. She came back and handed it to Sonny.

Sonny saw there was a message inside the pocket-watch and read it out loud. "Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' She asked."

Nicole smiled. "It's an Alice in wonderland theme."

"Kinda got it," Sonny made a face before taking a tighter hold on the watch. "Has Sarah been to any of these parties before?"

"Nicole?" a man's voice called from downstairs. Nicole glanced back to see her fiancee coming up. 'Everything all right?"

"Uh, yeah, Matthew, these are S.V.U. Detectives. Sarah was attacked," she felt guilt to say since they were just now hearing about it.

"Oh, my God. She was just starting to have fun again," Matthew said in horror.

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at the two, her disapproval so evident the younger couple seemed to shrink. "So neither of you guys have checked in with her since that party?"

Nicole awkwardly shifted in her spot. "Is it okay to call her now?"

"Gee, it just might be," Montserrat shook her head and started to head out.

"We're keeping the watch," Sonny informed them before leaving as well.

~ 0 ~

On their way back to the precinct, Montserrat and Sonny let the others know what they'd discovered in hopes that they could get a head start on the research of the underground parties.

"I wonder if the actual culprit is a regular guest at these parties," Sonny wondered while they waited for the precinct elevator to open up.

"Well, if he is then he has a lot of time for it," Montserrat said. "These parties are every week on Sunday and sometimes Saturday by what Amanda texted. This guy has to set apart two whole nights for these things."

"They make time," Sonny said and pressed the elevator button again, impatiently tapping a foot too.

"So maybe we'll have to make time too," Montserrat blinked when an idea popped into her head.

"Detectives," Rafael called as he entered the building, "Tell me you're the ones who have something good for me?"

"What do you mean?" Sonny frowned.

"Liv called, and I've learned to recognize her 'I don't have anything' tone," Rafael shook his head, already weary for this case that started off badly. He suddenly did a double-take at Montserrat and immediately remembered Kara's words from the morning. "Hm."

"Don't say it," Montserrat warned. The elevator doors dinged open and in she stepped first.

"I didn't say anything," Rafael said, but his smile was worth a thousand words.

"No, but you want to," Montserrat's eyes flickered to the side.

Sonny was the last to step in and therefore the one to press for their floor. "I'd be careful, councilor. Kara took a punch in the neck."

Rafael then remembered poor Kara rubbing the side of her neck. "That's violence, Novak. And against someone who just gave you a nice haircut." Montserrat quickly looked at him for his words. Rafael met her glance with a light smile. "You do look nice." He knew his words were out of place, at least in the wrong time, due to their work hour but he did mean what he said. Her ginger hair seemed to be even more red, like a blazing orange that was neatly styled into soft curls. It made her smirk more...striking.

When the elevators re-opened, the two detectives and ADA stepped out and headed for the bullpen.

"So, how'd it happen?" Rafael couldn't keep his curiosity at bay. Kara seemed quite scared in the morning meaning she couldn't have planned something like this.

Montserrat sighed. It was getting tiring being mad about it. "I mean...she was just going to cut the tips off and then suddenly her hand slipped or something, I don't know, but the next thing I knew there was a big chunk of my hair missing."

"To be fair, Kara does feel bad about it," Sonny thought it was worth mentioning.

"To be fair-" Montserrat mimicked his tone, "-I'm the one walking around with half my hair missing."

"It's fine Novak," Rafael motioned with a hand not to get worked up about it. "It'll grow back."

But apparently, that wasn't any better. "Says the man with the set of fluffy hair." Her eyes then flickered to Sonny and groaned. "The two of you, actually." She moved past them, missing them both reaching a hand up to their respective hair.

After a few minutes, the entire team gathered in the conference room to review the development of their case. Unfortunately, it wasn't heading in the right direction.

"Okay. So, Sarah was a cooperating witness as long as she thought we were going after Wedmore. Now she's backing off?" Rafael asked just to make sure he was hearing correctly.

Olivia raised her hands for him to stop and not jump to conclusions. "Not on her story. She's realizing that she was assaulted by a different man. We've seen it before. You get victimized a second time. You blame yourself."

"Either way, she still can't I.D. anyone," Amanda reminded them, but she received the same gesture from Olivia.

"Look, we're not gonna drop the case. I mean, whoever slipped g.H.B. in her drink, he's still out there."

"Alright," Rafael said, giving Olivia a sharp look. It's not like he was going to leave things as they were. "Any luck tracking this underground party?"

"We know the corner where she met her guide, but it's Sunday night," Nick answered, seeming a little too casual about it.

Rafael impatiently waited for him to continue, but when Nick didn't he pushed for it himself. "Yeah, so what?"

"The kids that go to these things, they don't have day jobs."

"So we catch them at night," Montserrat said once she followed Nick's game. She shrugged at the others with a secretive smile. "Ourselves."

"You mean like UCs?" Fin raised an eyebrow at her.

"It's easy," she plopped down in a chair, still smiling so casually, "We go as undercovers and just follow them to where the party is tonight. I've gone to one of these things when I was younger. I know how it works."

Olivia made her motherly disapproval face. "I'm gonna pretend like I didn't just hear that."

Montserrat smirked like a child would when they knew they were going to get away with something.

Olivia then turned to the rest of the team. "But she's right. We'll need to interview each guest that was in the previous party. Best guess at where they'll be tonight is at this party so let's prepare ourselves."

~0~

SVU had a parked van across the street from where the underground guide was meant to be at. Fin and Amanda were stationed at the head of the controls, ready to listen in, while the remaining detectives were outside getting ready for their roles.

Olivia was leading Rafael down the street, explaining their intentions in detail. Since this was a second time tape for Sarah, Olivia was adamant in getting this right. Rafael could tell.

"Liv, it's just a routine UC job," he stopped the sergeant at the end of the block. "We'll get them."

Olivia tossed her head to the side, weary in the late hour. "We need to get it right this time."

"Liv!" called Sonny. He, Montserrat and Nick were walking up to them, the first two donning unusual clothing for their liking but perfect for their UC roles.

"They're ready," Nick assured the Sergeant and ADA. "Everyone is."

"I'm freezing my ass off, so let's go," Montserrat urged everyone to take their positions. Her short sleeved blouse seemed breezy just by appearances, and even more so when wearing it.

Thankfully, Olivia was on the same page so they split within the second.

Both Montserrat and Sonny arrived at the other end of the street, where the underground party guests were waiting for their guide, in time because the guide approached them not a minute later.

The tall, dark skinned woman eyes every guest before speaking word. She gave a peculiar look in the detectives' away before saying, "Your old man alright climbing stairs?"

Montserrat nearly laughed there and then. Though maintaining his role, it was easy to tell the comment did not sit well with Sonny.

And perhaps Montserrat's comment didn't help either. "Yeah, my old man will be just fine."

"Are you serious?" Sonny hissed at her once they began moving. "I'm only a couple years older."

"Settle down, Carisi," Amanda's voice rang through their earpieces. Though a minute later she added, "Though maybe it's time to dye the gray hair away."

Sonny bit his tongue even as he heard some of the others snicker through his ear piece.

The underground party guide led them down several blocks, crossing two intersections before coming up an abandoned building. They made it to the rooftop where the guide stopped them I'm front of another ladder.

"To go down to wonderland, you start by going up," she flashed the group a smile and started up the ladder. "Follow me!"

"Wait, old man," Montserrat grabbed Sonny's arm before they could move. "Let me go in first." Her smirk was truly irritating for Sonny as she followed the guide up the ladder.

Montserrat peered into the second part of the ladder that led down to the underground party. It seemed crammed, honestly, and stuffy. She was definitely not a 20 year old anymore. She crinkled her nose at the foul scent of alcohol inside. It wasn't good alcohol, that much she knew.

"Hey! Call it in," she shouted down to Sonny. "No one's getting out of here!"

Sonny happily flashed his badge at the others.

~0~

There were various detectives questioning the underground party guests, including the guide, but so far it seemed no one remembered Sarah Walsh.

"They're playing stupid," Montserrat stopped by Amanda after interrogating another clueless guest. "They're acting as if they don't remember Sarah but if Sarah was as drunk or drugged as we think she was, someone has to remember her."

"Not everyone here is clueless, Montse," Amanda nodded towards the young man Fin was interrogating across them. "That's Cameron Tyler. He just sold his game app, sweets rush, for $180 million."

"Fine, then it goes back to what I'm saying: they're lying," Montserrat crossed her arms, though it was probably more because she was cold than upset.

"Then it's your job to make them say the truth," Rafael said when he and Olivia walked up to them.

"We're trying," Amanda assured, but it was easy to see she was already frustrated.

"Hey," Sonny called just as he joined them. "One of the guests just said the club promoter was Sarah's last boyfriend."

"And which one would that be?" Olivia asked, eagle eyes already searching for the club promoter amongst the guests.

Amanda was the one to answer by turning her back on them and nodding ahead. "The guy I just talked to. Conveniently left that detail out."

Olivia narrowed her look on the precise man. "Then let's talk to him again, see if he'll remember new things." She took the lead without another word. Amanda briefly glanced at the group with a smirk before heading after Olivia.

"Did anyone else get something useful?" Rafael asked the two remaining detectives.

"Well, Fin just talked to some gaming app guy who apparently has no clue," Montserrat began then Sonny finished.

"And all Nick got was drunken, fuzzy memories of last week."

"Hm, so, nothing," Rafael gave a nod of sarcasm.

Sonny side-glanced Montserrat with a knowing look. "Yeah, we'll see if we can get something else."

"Yes, do," Rafael nodded him to get going. "Novak?"

"I will use nice words," Montserrat said, thinking he would be on her case for her lack of proper interrogation skills. It wasn't a big problem, he just probably liked irritating her with it.

"Sure," Rafael said with a roll of his eyes then moved on. "I just wanted to confirm something I heard about you…"

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at him. There were no rumors about her...as far as she knew. Her heart skipped a beat the moment she thought - even suspected - that maybe he'd heard about her history in Queens…The reason she left the precinct maybe…? Her fingers immediately went for each other and started picking at the skin around the nails.

"Is it true you'll be turning 30 soon?" Rafael's question didn't register until a minute later.

She paused just as she was about to successfully lift a piece of skin from her right hand thumb. Her eyes seemed to squint for a minute until she could speak. "What? This is about my birthday?"

"Yes - what did you think it was about?" Rafael noticed her twitching fingers. She hardly ever got nervous - that's what made her a good detective - and this was no reason for her to be nervous.

"Nothing," she quickly said and drew her hands to her back instead. "U-um, so...my birthday? My age? Who the hell told you I'd be turning 30? That is no one's business!"

"I just heard it and I was curious. Didn't think it was that big of a deal…" Rafael remembered Kara's warning about Montserrat's sensitivity towards her age and it was frankly amusing. "It's a number. Literally."

"This is hardly the time to discuss my age," Montserrat's gaze flickered to the side where more interrogations were going on. "Do I look that old to you?"

Rafael playfully rolled his eyes at her. That was a question no man should ever answer a woman to. "No. I told you, I was merely curious. You never mentioned anything about it."

"Maybe because I didn't want anyone to know? It's not a good number no matter what anyone says. So please don't say anything about it to anyone. I want to skip it."

It took everything Rafael had not to scoff right there and then. If only she knew Kara was already planning a party and, he assumed, Sonny now knew of the exact date Montserrat's birthday fell on. Poor Montserrat.

"Hey, Rafael, promise me that, okay? Don't say anything," Montserrat pleaded, none the wiser about anything. "Might not seem like a big deal to you but…" she sighed and paused for a minute. If she was being honest, her dilemma with her birthday didn't exactly pertain to the fact she was turning 30. Every time she thought about her birthday, her mind raced back to the horrible event that happened almost a year ago. It was nearly a year since she'd been raped, and though she was aware she'd made good progress on her healing, there were still things that hindered her from being a truly normal person. Turning 30 meant she had completed another year of life but it hadn't been the best of years for her. In fact, it's been the worst year of her life. She lost her job, she lost her home, and she lost the friends that she made in Queens.

With all the years of his profession, Rafael learned to read people's faces. He leaned to pick up on quirks of his clients and foes in order to help him succeed. Looking at Montserrat, he knew right away her problem wasn't the one she was describing. Or, it was at least part of her problem with her birthday. But, the reality was that she was keeping something from him. Maybe she was keeping it from everyone, he didn't know. But the point was there was something she wasn't saying, something she didn't want to say for whatever reason. And that something was a heavy load.

"They won't hear it from me," he promised what he could because he knew Kara would be doing the exact opposite.

The change in Montserrat was instantaneous. The color returned to her face and her lips stretched into an everlasting smile. "Thank you," she said fast. "I really appreciate it."

There's definitely a secret there, he silently concluded. Still, he wouldn't push. He had no right to. "No problem." He saw the comfort his words gave Montserrat, a near peace she'd lost for some reason. It just made him want to know what troubled her so that he could help put an end to it.

"I'll see you around," Montserrat sheepishly said.

"Hold on, Novak," he called without thinking of what he could say to make her want to share. She waited for him to speak, but it was clear she had no intention of sharing. What a shame. "It's cold," he came up with instead. Montserrat blinked in surprise (and perhaps confusion) when he started shaking his coat off. "Take it."

Montserrat's eyes flickered from his coat to him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, Novak. You're not going to freeze because no one was gentlemanly enough to offer a coat. Take it," Rafael practically waved the coat in front of her face.

With another sheepish smile, Montserrat took the coat. As she wrapped it around her shoulders she could smell the faint scent that was Rafael Barba. It was a mixture of his usual cologne and alcohol. It was just the right amount of each.

"Thank you," she said one more time, her face warm once again.

Rafael gave her a smile, actually finding it endearing to see her in his coat. Once he realized that admission he decided it was time to leave. "Until tomorrow." He moved on past her, afraid that if he so much as looked at her from the corner of his eyes he might get another of those thoughts.

Author's Note:

So I actually went on a writing spree for this story because of that little marathon they had for Rafael on the USA channel. Kinda inspired me to write 10 chapters in one week. I mean seriously, the line "who wouldn't want to do time with this sexy ADA?" got me spewing out chapters after chapters. Because...you know...who wouldn't? Montserrat probably would. Plus, I started re-watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - aka Ellie Kemper, the visual reference for our Montserrat - and she's just so darn cute I HAD to write her again.

For the review: I know but thankfully that argument is finally over!