As it turned out, Evie Barnes had left out a few important details of her past that would really make a difference in her case. Olivia stood in the middle of the bullpen overseeing the detectives as they went through the other adult movies Evie had neglected to mention she made.

"There's 12 of these Liv," Sonny closed his laptop with disdain and rested his hands over it. "And each of those, I presume—" He gave a certain look at the rest of his co-workers, "—are just as violent as the ones I had to go through."

"You'd be right," Montserrat shuddered as she shut her own laptop. "Why couldn't Evie just tell us this upfront?" Even though she was the one to ask the question, she knew what the answer was. She didn't blame the girl but it didn't mean she was happy right now.

Before the others would agree with them, Olivia cut in with a fresh reminder of their job. "So she lied to us. So instead of focusing on what Evie didn't tell us, I'd like to focus on how we missed this." She ended by looking at Amanda again.

The blonde raised her hands to defend herself. "Well, we just started to vet her."

"Well, the defense found it fast!"

"She used a different name on the other videos. Plus, they're behind paywall."

"Yeah, maybe Buchanan was a subscriber," Finn commented, certainly not what Olivia wanted to hear.

"It's all moot. I mean, if a judge allows these in, how's Barba ever gonna explain the difference to a jury?" Nick, who'd finally started, had gotten himself up to date with the case. A personal record that Montserrat commended him for.

"Because on the boys' video, she didn't give consent," Olivia started listing off the many reasons on her fingers. "She wasn't paid, and she said no."

"Come on, Liv, you know sex workers don't get the benefit of the doubt," Finn said the sad reality. Olivia sighed. Of course she knew it.

"That's not how we go into this. And I don't want to be blindsided again. Is that clear?"

Before anyone could answer her, a round of applause startled them. They followed the applause to an older, slightly gray haired man, standing behind their desks. "Great speech. Better headline." He unrolled a newspaper he'd carried in to reveal the front page with Evie's face on it. They'd been thoroughly blindsided again. "I'm brand new to this division but this is a flatout embarrassment for you, Sergeant, and your detectives."

Montserrat's eyes narrowed on the man, wanting so badly to ask who the hell he was until she remembered Fin mentioning they had a new deputy chief. Oh, of course they'd get one of those for a boss. A know it all who could pretty much know next to nothing about SVU.

"I truly hope this isn't your best work," the chief went on, paying attention only to Liv. She was the one responsible for their work, in his eyes. "Your office. And bring along your number two." He gave a brief nod towards the detectives and without saying a word, Olivia pointed at Fin to follow.

He did not want to follow.

"Okay," Montserrat began when the office door shut and they were safe to talk, "Was anyone going to tell us we got a horrific new Deputy Chief?"

"First time we see him," Amanda shrugged, shooting a concerned look towards the office. "We're on thin ice apparently."

"Great for first impressions," Nick said with a huff since, right now, he was under scrutiny for any little mistake he could make.

"I'd save those commentaries for after you meet him," Sonny smirked at them all too smugly. Just as Montserrat was about to ask, he answered, "I met him yesterday."

"I really hate you," his partner declared.

~ 0 ~

Later on, Montserrat would go on to tell Rafael all about their meet and greet with Deputy Chief Dodds. She'd come into his office - ahead of time since the rest of the squad were supposed to be coming in to further discuss their case - and immediately started going on about the lousy impression she made with the new boss.

"No, really, he was so cold and short with us. He had something to say about all of us detectives." She was near pouting which made it just a smidge hard for Rafael not to chuckle. He was sure that whatever the new Deputy thought of her wouldn't last anyways. She did her job and there wasn't a single complaint about her. She was overreacting but to tell her that was to sign his own death sentence.

He was leaning against the front of his desk, holding Montserrat in his arms with her back to his chest. "It can't be that bad," he subtly tried to make her realize she was overreacting but she had a lot to say on the matter.

"I'm not," she huffed. "He said 'I notice you have a lot of personal days marked off. Do you need a reminder of the limit?'."

Behind her, Rafael made a face. Okay, that one was pretty bad. And quite rude. He might not like that chief either.

"What was I supposed to say to that?" Montserrat went on. "Sorry my brother got framed but I felt like I needed to go to his trial? Each of those days I took was because of something personal, hence 'personal days'."

"I'm sorry, Montse, but I'm frankly surprised you didn't snap back," Rafael tightened his arms around her.

She leaned her head against his chest and rolled her eyes at him. "He's the big boss. I snap and I get fired. I pick and choose my battles."

He rested his chin over her shoulder. "So, me basically."

"Oh honey," she patted his cheek, "You're a war that I already won." She didn't even have to turn her head to know he was making a face.

"You think you've won," he said after a moment, shifting his head near her ear. "But let's not forget what I do for a living. I let you win as a courtesy. You know, that nice thing that couples do for each other."

Montserrat smirked and did her best to ignore - and push away - the tingle she felt from his whispers that were so close to her ear. "Not true. You thought you were good until you met me. I've proven to be quite a challenge. You said it yourself."

"See, if you had just responded with those bits then the chief would've thought something completely different about you. God knows your sarcasm got me to shift entirely."

"Hm, it's like you want to be single again." She finally met his gaze and absolutely loved how close he was to her.

"Maybe that's not all that bad..."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up and make me feel better." She smiled when he kissed her cheek.

There was a light knock on the door that would've startled them if they hadn't asked Carmen to give them a heads up in case any of the squad arrived earlier. She was such a sweetheart. She opened the door a crack and smiled apologetically at them.

"Mr. Buchanon sent these," she informed when she was allowed in. She was holding several papers in her hands.

Montserrat tried to move out of Rafael's grip to give him the space he needed to attend to the problem but instead he only pulled one arm off her and kept the other one tightly around her waist. She didn't mind one bit. It wasn't often that they got to be 'domestic' at work - actually it was never - so any opportunity they had, they took it. Plus, it was always a sight whenever Rafael participated in it. He was naturally reserved, Montserrat had known that going into the relationship and though he tried his honest best with her, sometimes he simply just missed things. It wasn't a problem, no matter how many times he raised concerns about it with her, she was quite used to it. Whenever the moment did come naturally to him - like right now where he'd only shifted their position slightly to attend to work - she said nothing about it and just relished in it.

And right now, since she was so close to him, she took a peek at his work since she was already right there.

"That bastard really has no regard for professionalism," she made a face once she realized what that list was.

"'I bring terrible company'," Rafael reminded her while he went through the papers. She shot him a mock-glare.

"Oh please, you loved that line. I saw it on your face." She looked past him towards Carmen. "Seriously, how you deal with him I have no idea."

Carmen said nothing but she did smile as she left the office, making sure to close the door behind her.

"You're telling me Evie Barnes made over a dozen hardcore rape fantasy videos, and she thought nobody would find out?" Rafael said as soon as they were alone. He raised his gaze off the papers and turned all of his attention back to Montserrat, none too pleased Buchanon had been the one to let him in on the secret.

Montserrat innocently smiled. "Why do you think Olivia has all of us coming in?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "You are unbelievable."

"Oh, c'mon—"

"Buchanon wants the charges dismissed!"

"I get that it's a mistake but she's 18 years old! She's exactly half your age…" Montserrat immediately backtracked when he gave her that look. "Wrong choice of words, I see that now. But seriously, she's young and she just…"

"Thought no one would find out? What was she thinking?" He sarcastically said.

Montserrat forced her way out of his tight grip and turned to face him. "You know Olivia's not going to let you drop the case just like that."

"Oh," Rafael made a face at the idea of the Sergeant making her own argument to uphold the case. He made his way around the desk back to his chair. "I look forward to that conversation."

"Me too," Montserrat's smirk wasn't helping him at all.

"Drop the smirk, Novak, before I make you," he snapped, but all she did was laugh.

"Oh, now you're upset," she planted her hands on his desk and leaned down. Whenever he reverted back to using her last name it meant she'd finally hit the nerve of all nerves. "But you sadly can't get me back for that."

No, no, he couldn't but he was a very patient man and he could wait for his best chance. Luckily, the opportunity would come in later that hour when the others arrived.

As they predicted, Olivia did her best to keep the case going despite the discouraging evidence that would hurt them in the long run. "...she's 18 years old. She's all over the place…"

"Yeah, like half your age," Montserrat said with a far too widened grin for Rafael's taste. Sometimes she really was infuriating. He questioned his life choices and it somehow always led back to her. Maybe he was an idiot.

"And it doesn't help that people are trying to make her the poster child for exploited sex workers," Olivia went on without a clue that her ADA was a smidge from murdering her detective. "There's a Twitter campaign. And she's being pulled in all different directions. One minute, she's empowered. The next minute, she's ashamed."

"She's hardly the only girl to turn to sex work or pornography to pay tuition," Amanda chimed in after a moment.

"Belle Knox, Tasha Reign…" Finn started making the list and Sonny and Nick were all too helpful adding on.

"I'm not making a moral judgment, but the video the boys made mimics almost move-for-move her first film." Rafael reached for the papers Buchanan had been so kind to send his way. "These are all the videos she's made and their popularity in the market. I can't sell this to a jury."

"Are you backing off of this because of the heat you're getting from the mayor's office over Hudson?" Olivia frowned, earning one back.

"You know me better than that."

"I thought I did."

Was everyone against him today?

"Okay guys, we're all on the same side here," Montserrat stepped in when things got actually hard. For all the jokes she made they were just that. "Look, can you use rape shield to keep her porn videos out of the trial?"

"Depends on the judge. I can file a motion under section V, but it's a catch-all."

"Buchanan will fight it," Olivia just knew he would have all the right words to throw the case out because of those videos.

"Buchanan is still representing both boys?" Rafael suddenly asked. It was a stretch but maybe if they were lucky…

"Yeah," Olivia nodded, getting to what he was hinting at.

"I say get Novak to find out if both families are splitting the bill. Don't let her clock out until she does." Rafael sent his lovely girlfriend his winning smile at her.

Montserrat's eyes blazed with anger. 'Screw you' She had mouthed at him behind the squad. He got her good.

~0~

With further investigation, the squad discovered that both boys were indeed still being represented by Buchanan, but at the expense of Daniel's parents. Knowing that detail made it easier to strategize how to get the truth out.

Montserrat came home that night quite pleased with herself. Daniel had been outed by his co-partner and now they would have a far stronger case against them...but Rafael would never hear that admission. She took his call after the third ring and only did so because Kara asked what the hell she was doing.

"Don't tell me you're arguing again," Kara sighed as she grabbed a seat at the kitchen table. She wanted to enjoy her dinner peacefully.

Montserrat said nothing, merely winking at her before finally answering. "Hello? Who's this?"

"Don't do that, Montserrat," Rafael said, almost knowing that she was rolling her eyes at him on the other end.

"Do what? Did you need something for the case, councilor?"

Now he rolled his eyes. "Montserrat Irene, do not do that to me. You played the game and I won. Don't be a sore loser, dear."

Montserrat's soured expression captured Kara's full attention. "Dinner and a show," she beamed. "Keep it coming."

Montserrat waved her off and continued her conversation. "Co-workers shouldn't call each other by their full names."

"Yeah, except we're a little more than that, don't you think?"

"I don't know what you mean. As of today, I'm single."

"Oh, so you're that type of a sore loser," Rafael laughed more than she would've liked. "It's endearing."

Kara giggled as Montserrat's face slowly reddened. Rafael was making her mad, no doubt. She wished Montserrat would put the conversation on speaker. He had to be saying golden things.

"You're a smartass," Montserrat spat, landing her hand over one of the kitchen chairs. All jokes had been set aside now.

"Why insult when you can use this opportunity to learn and play the game better next time?" Rafael truly wished he could see Montserrat's face right now. It had to be matching her red hair by now.

"I really hate you," she spat.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"You will do no such thing."

"How's about lunch? I'm buying."

"You can eat alone."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Not if I change numbers."

Kara had to cover her mouth to keep her laughter in. From Rafael's end, he was struggling to do the same. The only one not having fun was Montserrat.

Rafael hated that he was running out of things to say to her. All he wanted to do was laugh, but if he did that then he ran the risk of her hanging up on him on the spot. "You do realize we work together right?"

"That might change tomorrow," she continued to use the flattest tone possible, like she was truly angry with him.

"Alright, we'll see. Talk to you tomorrow."

"That's up in the air, but sure," she shrugged. As soon as she hung up, Kara finally let herself burst into laughter. Montserrat rolled her eyes and plopped down on a chair. "He is such an ass!"

"And you're not!?" Kara laughed even louder.

"Watch it Mackie or I'll hurt you!"

"I really did get dinner and a show," Kara grabbed her fork to continue eating.

Montserrat brought her fingers to her forehead where she started rubbing her skin hard. "Sometimes...sometimes I question my attraction to him."

"I'm sure he does the same."

Montserrat dropped her hands to the table and shot Kara a glare. "Whose side are you on?"

Kara shrugged. "Don't know. I mostly do comments. It's more fun." Montserrat said nothing else about that and instead snatched Kara's whole plate and fork. Kara gasped. "What-"

"Next time be on my side," Montserrat flashed her a smirk then started to eat.

Kara frowned. "I am forever on Rafael's side now! Hmph!" She got up to go get a new plate.

Montserrat merely grinned proudly of herself, figuring that maybe she and Rafael were just a tiny bit alike.

~0~

The next morning, Montserrat reported for work like normally. She only made two steps into the bullpen when Amanda called from her desk.

"Morning, that's a real nice flower you got. Is he cliche?"

"What?" Montserrat naturally made a face of confusion. She walked towards her desk when Amanda pointed to something on it. Montserrat blinked at the single rose with a large stem laying over her desk.

"Came in real early too," Amanda said off-handedly while she worked on her laptop. Montserrat suspected that there was nothing on that laptop and Amanda was just fishing for some explanations. "Is he an early bird?"

Montserrat rolled her eyes but didn't pay Amanda the sufficient attention to respond. She was more interested in the indeed cliche rose on her desk. Her lips curled into a smile the longer she stared at it. She slowly let her things down and took her seat.

"I, uh, believe there's a note?" Amanda finally tore her gaze off the laptop, her smile giving the impression that she had already snuck a peek.

For a moment, Montserrat panicked at the idea that Amanda already knew about her and Rafael but then she remembered...she was dating Rafael. He was no idiot. If he sent the rose - which Montserrat was pretty sure that he did - to the precinct, then he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave his name on the card.

"Hey, that's pretty," Nick came in just as Montserrat had picked up the rose. Behind him followed Finn and Sonny. "You go flower shopping in the morning?"

Montserrat waved him off. She was picking the card off to read. 'Stop being a sore loser and have dinner with me tonight.' The expression on Montserrat's face was one of a kind for the rest of the squad. "I...hate him!" She let the rose fall to the desk and slumped against her chair. Her eyes met Sonny, the only one who was smirking because he knew exactly who had left the rose. And he was giving her the expression of 'That's him alright'.

"How romantic," Amanda crossed glances with Nick and Fin, all three of them close to laughing at Montserrat.

Montserrat herself was nearly doing the same. She couldn't believe that Rafael had done this and yet at the same time, she could. And the thing she hated the most was that it was still giving her that same tingle she got when he was actually being romantic with her.

"I didn't even know you were dating anyone," Nick remarked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"It's...complicated," she shrugged, her lips still trying their best not to form that smile. "And don't even ask—" she pointed at each of them in warning, "—because I'm not saying anything right now."

"I just have one question," Amanda said slowly, slowly smirking, "What did he mean when he said 'sore loser'?"

"I don't think we want the answer to that, Rollins," Fin said, making a face that had Montserrat blushing madly.

"I hate all of you too!" She declared with a huff.

"What's going on?" Olivia had found her squad collectively laughing at the ginger detective.

"And how do we join?" Rafael stood beside Olivia with an all knowing look on his face. He could practically see the murderous glare on Montserrat's face. She had shut her eyes the moment she heard his voice. "What a fine morning it is, isn't it?"

"You in a good mood today, councilor?" asked Fin who expressed a rightful confusion.

Rafael was smiling like he was. "One could say. Nice flower, Novak." Montserrat cleared her throat as she forced herself to thank him. Of course knowing him, he wasn't stopping there. "Gonna show it off?"

"Probably not considering he's on thin ice," Montserrat said before cocking her head and adding, "He's sinking actually."

Olivia came up beside Montserrat's desk to take a peek at the rose. "I think it's nice," she said honestly. Of course she would be the only not to poke fun at the situation. Montserrat knew exactly what Olivia had meant. She did, after all, know everything that had happened to Montserrat. "I hope he's a nice man too."

Montserrat hummed, briefly meeting Rafael's gaze who couldn't be more smug about things. "Well, he's your local smartass, so…" Now it was her turn to smirk.

His face had fallen. "I'm sure you're a lot to handle too."

"How would you know? You're going to be single all your life."

"Okay," Olivia had said quickly, thinking an argument would come out of those two short lines. "Why don't we get to work? Who's bringing me the college boys?" Amanda and Fin dutifully raised their hands. "Good. Councilor?" Olivia had started for her office but Rafael waved her off.

"I'll be a moment," he was staring directly at Montserrat.

"Please don't pick a fight."

"Yeah, I'm working," Montserrat was all too happy to help.

"I would never," Rafael promised but of course there was a natural doubt that ran through Olivia's head. Still, she let him be.

Montserrat pushed herself out of her chair and turned to him. "We left the boys' files in the interrogation rooms. Separately of course. I assume you want to have those?"

"You would assume right," he nodded, motioning her to lead the way.

She straightened her blazer and headed for the corridor. She led him down without saying a word to him. He didn't strike up a conversation either but if Montserrat looked back, she knew that she would find him smirking. He was so smug! She stopped by the first interrogation room and opened the door for him. She motioned him to go in and when he didn't, she promptly shoved him inside. "You are so dead!" She let the door close behind him and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket.

"Am I?" He was far too amused with her reaction. "Guess you picked the right spot since there's no cameras but let me remind you that—" He pointed at the mirror behind them, "—is a special mirror."

Montserrat raised an eyebrow at him. She pulled him into the corner of the room by the door—the only blind spot in the room—and fervently kissed him. Rafael had assumed that morning when he woke up that things could go in two ways: she would yell at him for truly being a smartass, or she would kiss him...for being a smartass. He was very glad it was the latter.

"Somebody could open that door," he quickly slipped in between their kisses. The responsible thing would be to pull away and end such a moment but he was feeling her hands crawling under his jacket, no doubt in search of his suspenders to hold onto. There was no way he was giving that up, at least not for another few minutes.

"Give us a thrill," she smirked as she nipped on his lower lip. Her eyes were on him the entire time.

"I thought you were mad at me…"

"I was...then I got over it. And the cycle continues. Next time, I'll win though."

Rafael scoffed. "Sure. I am the prosecutor in this relationship."

"Don't ruin it," Montserrat warned him, pressing one finger over his lips. "Or you will be single again."

"There it is," Rafael pulled her finger off his lips to give it a gentle kiss. "So, dinner with me tonight?" Montserrat pretended to consider the idea, even tilting her head every now and then. Rafael took his chance to persuade her when she moved her head and he was able to kiss the side of her neck. He smirked when her entire body stiffened. "We can go anywhere you'd like," he said as he left a slow trail of kisses. He stopped by the base of her neck.

Montserrat hummed when he started leaving small bites over her skin. "Anywhere?" She asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking. Suddenly initiating this in the interrogation room didn't feel like the best idea because now she wanted to keep it going for a long time.

"Anywhere," Rafael promised her. He knew he had her when he sucked on that same spot. He heard her cut-up gasp and felt her body slowly fall under his. She would be following him now. He offered to take her to her favorite dessert shop after dinner and then a nice night at his place. All that she agreed to with quiet hums and nods. Her hands were gripping his shoulders. He was sure he could get her to agree to anything right now...but he wasn't that mean.

"I expect a fancy restaurant this time," Montserrat whispered.

He kissed the corner of her lips. "Oh, really?"

"Mhm," she smiled at him, softly this time.

"I guess so." He realized he would agree to anything she wanted as well. What a cycle.

"We should go," she regretted to say. "Don't want anyone barging in on us, huh?"

"Yeah." Rafael stepped back but as soon as he did, she grabbed onto him again.

"Hold on," she fixed his clothes. She needed to straighten his tie or there would certainly be questions from the others. "And for future references, my favorite store is Kate Spade." She patted a hand over his chest. "They make the loveliest gifts." She left a long kiss on his lips before heading out first.

She missed Rafael's rather grim expression. Of course he was aware that was her favorite store. He always had the reminder when he saw the stupid watch on her wrist that Damian gave her a while back. He tried his very best to forget that man altogether. As open as he was about his dislike for Nick's behavior, he knew that in the end Nick would never overstep with Montserrat. The relationship was sealed as friendship...but Damian was a whole other problem. It was ironic to say that when it came to that case, Rafael failed to find the right words to speak with Montserrat. And he knew that eventually, they would have to talk about that.

Author's Note:

I love this chapter so much. Their fucking bickering gets me. I want a relationship like THAT.

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 "saiilorstars"