It was a crazy idea to even think that his grandmother would know about Montserrat but when Catalina asked again, Rafael was sure that he heard her right. When he looked over to his grandmother, she was smiling at him the same way she had when she'd ended his mother's interrogation earlier. She knew something alright, at least she thought.

"What's her name?" Catalina repeated her question, her smile widening when her grandson froze all over again.

It took Rafael a minute or so to be able to move his mouth. Had she just really asked that? How could she know to ask that? "I-I don't...I don't understand the question."

"Aha," the sarcasm was quite evident in his grandmother's tone, even with one word. "You hate those albums. They might as well have cobwebs. Y ahora, and now, you're going through every last page. Who changed your mind?"

"Abuelita, nadie did. Nobody did. I just...really did want to find a few pictures." For all his talent at talking, it would be no use against this woman.

"I won't tell your mother if that's what you're worried about. She has a bit of a tough personality - that's where you get it from - so you want to keep things quiet. Pero espero que no para siempre. I hope not forever. La quiero conocer pronto. I'd like to meet her soon."

"There is no one to meet because there's nobody," Rafael knew the argument was in her favor but he would still make an effort to change things. He closed the album in his hands but he left the one picture he'd liked sticking out like a bookmark, and walked to the couch. "No hay nadie. There's no one," he said as he took a seat beside Catalina on the couch.

"Don't lie to me. A mi no. Not me," she wagged a finger at him, much like when he was younger and he was trying to get away with something. "Why keep her a secret? I won't tell, I promise. Is she the one asking for pictures?"

Rafael looked away as he considered his next move. Catalina watched him with an amused smile. She knew him like the back of her hand. She didn't press but she did take the album from his hands and opened it up to the page he left it on. She picked up the picture he'd taken out and chuckled.

"She'll like this one. You still have the same big eyes."

"Abuelita, there is no…" Rafael trailed off at his grandmother's soft face. She wasn't saying it again but her expression did it for her. She knew. And there was no way around it. Maybe...maybe he shouldn't try to get around it. Somebody from his side should know about the best thing in his life right now. It was funny how different it was now. He had straight up lied to Olivia earlier when she made the same question yet right now he was tempted to do the opposite. Maybe it was because this time it was his grandmother asking. He had always had a connection with her, being her only grandson prompted it. He always talked a lot, he might as well talk about the person he liked most.

"Well?" Catalina was patiently waiting for him to speak up, though she didn't specify what about.

"...her name is Montserrat. We've been seeing each other for a few weeks now. A month, actually." Time actually flew by for him now that he thought about it. The days didn't seem to drag on and his nights were actually eventful now.

Catalina would humor him by feigning surprise. "No!"

He playfully rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine. Me doy. I give up."

"Ya lo sabía," she patted his cheek. "I knew it. You hate these pictures."

"Yeah I do," he momentarily frowned at the album on her lap. "But Montserrat's curious about them. She asked if she could see some." He shrugged in resignation. "So here I am."

"You should show her this one," she pulled out another picture from the next page. It was his fifth birthday and he had a face full of chocolate. "To this day I have never met anyone else who loves chocolate cake as much as you do."

"Oh sure, pick the embarrassing ones," Rafael took the picture from her hand to study it himself. The cake had been small and it was mostly on his face after attempting to take a small bite out of it for the cameras. The sugar had been too sweet and he dove for it. "Because Montserrat needs another reason to make fun of me." Although he was lying if he said he hated it. Her tongue was quick to make a comeback when he bickered with her and it was fun.

"Well, one of you needs to have a sense of humor," Catalina said. "I'm glad you picked a woman who does. You could use some cheer in your life with the type of job you have...not to mention the women you picked before." She didn't hide her disdain for his past.

Rafael didn't need a reminder of his poor taste in women. They weren't all bad but...he definitely traded up with Montserrat. He smiled at the picture and kept it, along with the first picture he found.

"Comó es? Montserrat?" his grandmother asked, confirming if she'd gotten the name right. "Con ese nombre debe de ser Española."

Rafael laughed. "No, she's not from Spain. She's Slovakian and Mexican."

"Es extranjera," Catalina's eyes widened, perhaps dramatically, either way it made him laugh again. "She's a foreigner."

"She's from here, just like me."

"Where did you meet her?"

"At work. She's a detective from the squad I work with."

"Y comó es?"

"She's...pretty amazing." Rafael thought that was an understatement. In a short amount of time Montserrat had proven to be very different from everyone else. From the start, she had managed to impress him and yet scare the living daylights out of him. She was the only woman he knew of who withheld labor to finish a trial. From then on, she showcased her exceptional talent of keeping up with his fast mouth. He always got complaints from everyone he worked with. They claimed he needed to tone it down, stop arguing so much, but never from Montserrat. Her only complaint was that he was a smartass, something he did not deny and something she didn't want to end either. She knew exactly how to keep up with him and sometimes go beyond him. He loved that. He didn't have to change to be around her. And God knew that he was forced to change in prior relationships.

"Nada más?" Catalina had waited a few minutes but her grandson was long gone in thoughts.

Rafael smiled at her. "I could go on for hours. To be brief, she is somebody that makes me happy. She's someone that I don't have to change anything for. And you know my mouth…"

"Mhm," his grandmother nodded. "Gotten you into so much trouble before."

"It still does," he admitted. "But it's fun to banter with her. She has her own mouth too. Plus, she understands my work. That's a huge reason why I stopped seeing people in the past. There was always trouble with my schedule. Montserrat gets it and she fixes our dates. If I have a long night, she stops by the office with some take out. She doesn't care if we have dinner in a fancy restaurant or on the couch of my office." He was supposed to be brief and this wasn't even half of what he thought about Montserrat, but for now it was enough.

"I'm happy for you," Catalina said. "And I'm happy that you're happy." She could see it off his face from a mile away. "And I told you that I want to meet her soon. I won't tell your mother but I think you should tell her later on."

"I will. I just want to wait. We're doing fine right now and it's nice keeping quiet about it."

"I will keep the secret," Catalina promised him and then set off to help him find the best pictures for his next date.

~0~

Kara yelped when she bumped into Montserrat in the kitchen. "Jesus, you are nothing without coffee!" Kara rubbed her nose as she moved around her roommate to get to the fridge.

Montserrat hugged her coffee mug tightly as she went for the kitchen table. "Sorry. I'm a bit tired. I stayed up late watching stupid audition videos and when I say 'audition' I really mean—"

"Don't!" Kara quickly waved a hand at Montserrat. "Spare me the Special Victims horrors, please." She dug into the fridge and pulled out a few fruits. "I was supposed to have dinner with Sonny but he cancelled because of those videos you guys had to watch. How long have you been watching them?"

"It's been a few days," sighed Montserrat. "I want to stick pins into my eyes."

Kara had spread her fruits on a cutting board and grabbed a knife to start making her breakfast. "Honestly, I don't know how you and Sonny can be at that job. I would've quit on the first - no!" she raised the knife into the air while she thought, "I'd quit in the first hour."

Montserrat chuckled behind her mug. She took the last sip of coffee and went to leave it in the sink when someone knocked on the door. She swiped a few pieces of apple from Kara's bowl, smirking when Kara yelled a "Hey!" at her.

"Share!" Montserrat laughed and rushed to go open the door. "Oh, Rafael, what are you doing here? Pretty early…unless you really don't DON'T sleep."

Rafael rolled his eyes at her. "So this whole sarcasm is an all-day thing, huh?"

Montserrat smirked. "You would know."

"I know you were headed to my office anyways so I just came by for you," he said, choosing to end that soon-to-be banter. He just really wanted to see her.

"Oh. Sounds good to me," she smiled. "Give me a sec." She left him at the doorway to grab her coat on the couch. She was heading back when she remembered something else. "One more thing!"

Kara was just coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of cut up fruit when Montserrat raced over to steal a few more pieces, this time pears!

"Stop doing that!" Kara cried but Montserrat was already on her way back to the door.

"You are terrible," Rafael chuckled when Montserrat closed the door behind them.

"What? Nobody cuts fruit like her," Montserrat shrugged and offered him a slice of pear. He shook his head and led her to the elevator. "So how come you're here so early? I mean, I don't mind but I am curious."

"I told you I wanted to see you," Rafael said and pulled her into the elevator.

"Yeah, it does feel like it's been some time since we last saw each other," Montse swallowed the last of her pears. "Those videos have taken up my entire week. I swear to God if he's not in jail by the end of the week I might just finish the job, because after what I've seen…" She shuddered.

"We'll get him," Rafael assured her despite having his own reservations. The case was wobbly from the start and if it wasn't for Liv, he probably wouldn't have batted an eye at it because of the lack of evidence. He did hate seeing Montserrat so worked up over it, especially when she was forced to see those videos.

The two left the apartment building and started for the office but midway, Rafael pulled Montserrat into her favorite cafe shop.

"Okay, you are being extra sweet," Montserrat laughed once they were back on the street. She carried her favorite vanilla latte, he his dark roast, and an order of peanut butter brownies that she just knew he wouldn't ever order on his own. At least not until he would try them. "What is going on?" She eventually asked him when they reached his office.

"Nothing, is that so hard to believe?" Rafael laughed at her suspicious face. She had a way of narrowing her eyes that, because it was just them, didn't look so threatening anymore. If this had been work-Montserrat he might have felt a little something.

"Well...kind of," Montserrat let the bag of brownies drop on his desk.

"Am I not allowed to be spontaneous?"

"I'd hardly call it 'spontaneous' but...different, yeah."

"Well, I just woke up in a good mood." Rafael set his coffee down and let a moment of silence pass by before talking again. "On an unrelated note…" he started making his way around his desk.

"Ah, there it is," Montserrat smiled knowingly as he came up to her.

"I may have had a little conversation with my grandmother…"

Montserrat watched in bemusement as he set his hands on her arms, giving them a light squeeze. "Riiight...and…?"

"She sort of figure out that I was seeing someone and...and in the end I didn't exactly deny it." Rafael knew that was understatement. He had a very long conversation with his grandmother about Montserrat. "I told her about you."

"And?"

"And? That's it." Montserrat waited for something else, for the big thing that had him acting so strange but apparently that was truly it. "You're too funny sometimes and that's astounding because up until now I didn't even know you were capable of being funny."

Rafael's face fell flat at her innocent jab. "You're not funny at all."

She leaned on him and offered up her best smile. "I like to think that I am, just a bit anyways. But right now, I'm being serious. You told your grandmother about us, so what? I told Kara 3 days after it happened."

"I wasn't sure how you would react, that's all. It's one thing to tell a friend and another to tell a family member." But now that he could see her reaction, a layer of nervousness disappeared from his shoulder.

"If anything, I should be nervous," Montserrat's voice went down a notch. "What did, uh, what did she say?" Her hands suddenly started fixing his tie despite there being nothing wrong with it. "Any inclination of whether or not she'll like me when the time comes to meet her?"

Now it was Rafael's turn to be amused with her. It was so quick how her entire demeanor changed. "She'll like you. She said she wants to meet you soon." Montserrat's hands froze over his tie. Her eyes widened in shock and an utter fear that almost made Rafael laugh. "What? Is that too much?"

"Just...just surprising. You're not gonna make me meet her right now, right? Because I need to know way in advance so that I can prepare."

"Montserrat, calm down," Rafael had to release at least a chuckle. He rubbed her arms comfortingly until she breathed normally again. "And I thought I was nervous."

"You're not the ones who'll have to please your mother and your grandmother!"

"No, but I will be the one to officially meet your father and brother."

Montserrat was about to respond when she realized he was right. They would both have to undergo similar moments with each other's family. "Oh God...let's just never meet each other's family!"

Now Rafael laughed. "Trust me, my grandmother may be elderly but she still has strength."

"Well, maybe one grandmother might be easier," Montserrat swayed her head until she chuckled. "Oh God!"

"You'd be amazing, I know it," Rafael kissed her forehead.

Montserrat felt her face warm up when he leaned back. "You think she'd like me? Seriously?"

"No doubt about it. Who wouldn't like you?"

"You, when I first got here."

"I did, it just so happened that you were a bit more irritating than everyone else."

"And what about now?" Montserrat once again leaned on him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Well, you're still irritating—"

Montserrat rolled her eyes. He just couldn't say it.

"—but I find it much more endearing when it's you."

That made Montserrat's face light up with a wide smile. Rafael thought she looked even more beautiful right now. No wonder Damian wanted her too - who wouldn't?

But she's mine, Rafael made the happy conclusion. She was there with him, hugging him and talking about the day they would inevitably have to meet each other's family. As nervous as that idea made him, he wouldn't give her up for anything. He'd do all the introductions, the meetings, the revelations that - yes - he was actually dating someone.

"So, anything else you wanted to add?" Montserrat asked him.

"Actually," he unfortunately had to untangle one of her arms from him so he could retrieve something from his inside pocket. "I have something for you."

"More?"

Rafael pulled out the three pictures he'd taken from his mother's place. As soon as Montserrat knew what they were, she squealed and stepped back. "You brought them!? You actually brought them!?" She was in utter disbelief.

"Listen Montserrat, when I make a promise to you, I will always keep it," Rafael said as seriously as he could.

She beamed and swiped the pictures from his hand. "I believe you now! C'mon, before you regret it," she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the couch.

"Oh, I already do regret it," he had to say when they sat down together. She rolled her eyes at him and made herself comfortable on his lap (the only good thing to come out of this entire situation).

"Aww, look at you," she started with the first photograph. It was the chocolate cake one — of course it was the chocolate cake one! "How old were you here?"

"Five," he sighed with resignation. "They said take a small bite for the camera and—"

"You obviously heard 'devour the whole thing' instead," she laughed. "Some things never change, huh?" She made a nod towards the brownies still sitting on his desk.

"Those are for you and you know it!"

"Yeah, but we both know you'll be more than happy to help me out with the load!"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Montserrat..."

She had already moved on from the topic. The pictures were practically gold in her hands. "You're so adorable. I think there's more cake than you in the picture." She had a light laugh as she switched to the next picture.

Her heart melted at the sight of his child version grinning at the camera with a book in his hands. "Let me guess, your first book?"

Rafael was smiling just as proudly as in the picture. He was four and if he remembered correctly it was the day he figured out how to read his first book. Looking back, it was probably an over exaggeration but he was four and so proud of himself. He held his book to the camera and had the grin of a lifetime. "Maybe."

Montserrat laughed. "I have one too. I also have a video where I got mad and I threw the book."

Now it was Rafael's turn to laugh. "Why am I not surprised?"

"But look at you," she gingerly grazed the picture in her hand. "You have the same eyes."

"My grandmother said the same thing."

"They're beautiful," she said as if it truly was the first time she came to see his eyes. "Are they from your grandmother?"

"No." There was a slight edge in his answer that she picked up on fast. She glanced up from the picture to see his face harden. "They're from my father."

"Oh," she said quietly. She should've realized before but despite not talking a lot about their families, he never really said anything about his father. She got the jist it was the same situation she had with her own mother. Ironically, she got her own eye color from her mother too.

"Yours have to be better, though," she ultimately decided. She gave him a short kiss on the lips afterwards.

He gave her a weak smile in return. "You think so?" She nodded. He sighed and ran his fingers through her curls. "I never thought of that."

"Well you should," she gazed at the picture again.

The absolute fondness she had on her face made Rafael feel a certain type of way. No one ever really gave him that look — at least none of his exes had.

"Can I see the third one?" Montserrat eagerly asked, her fingers already doing the switch of pictures.

Rafael laughed. "I guess so."

The final picture had himself as a seven year old standing in front of a playground's monkey-bars. Like the other two pictures, his grin was big enough to crack his face. It was such a novelty sight for Montserrat considering nowadays it took a lot to make him smile in public.

"What's going on here?" she nudged him for the story.

"It took me a while but I was finally able to make it all the way through the bars."

"Ah," Montserrat laughed. "The menacing monkey-bars. You're absolutely adorable." She put the pictures on the coffee table then shifted her body to better face him. Her arms wrapped around his neck before she gave him a long kiss on the lips. "Thank you for this," she said afterwards. "I know that you didn't want to, so...thanks."

"I liked it," he admitted. "I never really showed any pictures to anyone. It's never been my, uh, style but you've bee pushing me to do new things."

"If I ever get too pushy, tell me," she said, leaning her forehead against his. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do something just because I said it. I know I was pushy with the pictures—"

"No, you were just you. Trust me, if I hadn't wanted to do it...you would've known." He tucked a few curls behind her ear and left his fingers fall to its tips. "But it seems like you have me wrapped around your finger."

"Me?" she feigned surprise. "I don't think I have enough power to make Rafael Barba do anything."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, well, up until you showed up that's the way it was. Look what you did."

Somehow she wasn't all that upset about it. Her response was that he had done the same to her.

Author's Note:

I absolutely loved writing this chapter. It was some well deserved fluff!

P.S I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's also a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.