Montserrat made a mental note to replenish the bottle of scotch in the kitchen. Granted she was sure that Rafael was responsible for drinking most of it but since she took the last pour, he would definitely blame her.

He's lucky I like him enough to buy another bottle for him. She smirked to herself. She supposed it was fair in these cases. He bought her tons of sweets. She was expecting her bag of desserts to be arriving any second now.

When she heard her phone buzzing on the counter, she presumed it was Rafael apologizing for being so late. She answered the call, though did notice it was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Montserrat Novak?"

"Yes, who is this?"

She should have never asked. One moment, she was drinking scotch and the next she was almost having a heart attack. Scotch abandoned — spilling over the counter — she was bolting to the hospital. An outright mess, she yelled her questions and demanded answers at the front desk in the E.R. room. She couldn't possibly think one coherent thought at the moment, not until she knew what exactly was going on.

The nurse behind the desk, bless her heart, remained absolutely at ease. She was used to it. "Ma'am, you need to calm down," she told Montserrat.

But such a suggestion was out of the question.

"I got a call telling me that my boyfriend was shot and he was taken here! SO WHERE IS HE!?" Montserrat's fists came down on the desk, rattling a bowl of pens on the side and yet none of that fazed the nurse. She was about to pull her shield out if that were to make things move faster when someone cut in.

"Scuse me?"

Montserrat's head flipped in the direction of the voice, immediately spotting a young woman trying to approach her. She didn't blame the woman; she probably looked horrific right now. The woman's blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail and her face seemed as disconcerted as Montserrat. What the latter noticed, however, were the dry stains of blood on the blonde's shirt and thighs.

"Are you the girlfriend who likes sweets?" the blonde asked cautiously.

Montserrat had no idea what the hell was going on but now she understood even less. She turned away from the desk for a moment, nodding her head at the question. "Who the hell are you?"

The blonde cleared her throat, one hand coming up to rub the side of her neck. "I'm Clara, um…I'm the one…I made the 911 call. I think he was your, uh..."

Montserrat's eyes widened. Screw the nurse. She ran up to Clara, startling the woman when she yelled. "What happened!?" She practically shook Clara as she begged for answers. She ignored the nurse behind them calling for calmness.

"Um, he, your boyfriend, he was, um…he was buying pastries and we were, um, we were talking about blueberry champagne donuts and then suddenly…" Clara's eyes shined with tears, the fear still etched across her face, "This man came in with a gun…he was going to rob us but…" She shook her head, "He told me to get on the floor so I did. I heard them talk for a bit — Rafael hit him or something, I didn't see — and then he told me to make the call. I was in slow-mo so he went for his phone instead. It was at the other end of the room. The guy shot him."

As far as that story went, it wasn't the worst one Montserrat had heard in her line of job. Clara seemed more than traumatized but she was still able to retell the story of the incident decently.

Montserrat was always a cop in these situations. She had a clear mind of what protocols looked like and what she should do. Right now, she couldn't remember a damn thing. "O-okay," she nodded her head, turning away from Clara. Now she was shaking. "Oh…okay…okay…"

"Ma'am, you need to sit down..." The nurse hurried over as Montserrat's legs started buckling.

Everything was ringing in her ears at the moment. How she managed to get to the hospital in the first place was beyond her. "I-I-I don't understand h-how…I don't understand…" Montserrat couldn't finish her sentence for lack of air and thoughts.

The nurse and Clara sat her down in one of the waiting seats.

"Ma'am, you might need to see a doctor," the nurse said, but Montserrat didn't hear.

"We were going to have dinner…dessert…" She swallowed hard. Her eyes shifted from side to side, taking in the busy room. "He called me..." That call couldn't have been more than half an hour ago. What happened?

"Ma'am, let's get you to—"

"No!" Montserrat pulled her arm back as soon as the nurse tried making her stand.

"But you're—"

"I said no!" Montserrat snapped. "What I want is to see my boyfriend! What I want is to know why the hell he was shot! There's many things I want to know and seeing a damn doctor is not on that list so GO!"

Clara watched the nurse let out a frustrated sigh and retreat to the desk. She was sure that once Montserrat calmed down, she would probably apologize to that poor nurse.

Montserrat rested her elbows on her lap and leaned her head into her hands. Clara felt awful.

"Yeah, I was there," she sighed, "I froze. I have lived in New York my whole life and I've never even been mugged. Tonight…I almost saw God."

Montserrat finally glanced at Clara. She seemed very young now. Her eyes fell down to the stains. "The blood…"

"Oh," Clara looked at her stained jeans, "Um..." she was very hesitant to explain, even though Montserrat was pretty sure she knew what Clara wanted to say. "Uh, it's...it's his. I'm sorry."

Montserrat felt very sick. It had been a long time since she threw up but tonight might be the night she went through it again. "Wh-where did...where was the bul...?"

"The bullet went near the stomach and kidney, I think. I needed to stop the blood until the paramedics got there. I'm in medical school…" Clara let her head hang low, "Fat lot of good that did "

"You stopped the blood," Montserrat put a hand on Clara's arm. "He's here, isn't he? That's because of you." And that is what she was clinging to right now. Rafael wasn't gone. He was still here, somewhere in a room.

"They took him into surgery," Clara said, "I...I haven't heard anything."

Montserrat nodded. She took in another breath — several ones — to calm herself down. She looked at Clara again and the stains on her clothes. "Have you been checked?"

Clara nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I...nothing happened to me."

"Yes it did," Montserrat said. "You're not physically hurt but mentally? Have you called someone yet? For you? Parents?"

Clara shook her head. "No, I, um, I didn't even think about it, honestly."

"You should, at least so you're not alone."

"I'm not alone," Clara offered her a small smile.

Montserrat couldn't really manage any kind of chuckle. She felt like right now she could only focus on continuing her breathing. She could only do one thing at a time. "Well, you should rest, then. I'm not...I'm not going anywhere." No way in hell she was going anywhere. She always thought she would never have to be anything related to the word 'victim' again, but somehow this felt a thousand times worse than the last time.

"I'm going to stay with you," Clara said, "They only gave me so much information and since you're his girlfriend, they'll tell you more. I can't leave without knowing if he's going to be okay. He saved my life."

Montserrat nodded shakily. "Thank you." She gulped. She looked at the reception desk, suddenly regretting her treatment of the nurse. With Clara's help, she stood up and walked over to the nurse to ask her (more calmly this time) about Rafael.

He was indeed in surgery and there was no time stamp on when he would be out. The next hours would be agonizingly long and it wouldn't be until Clara asked if there was anyone else who would want to be there with Montserrat that the latter remembered — family.

"Oh God," Montserrat sunk in her chair again, bringing one hand over her hair. "If his grandmother finds out, she'll have an actual heart attack!" She checked the time on the clock on the wall. "They're both probably sleeping."

If anything, she would have to talk with Lucia first to decide how they would tell Catalina. And right now, she really saw no point in getting Lucia out of bed to come down to the hospital to wait on uncomfortable chairs. For the time being, Montserrat settled for calling the others. She went with the obvious for reasons and only because they would notice she wasn't coming home the next morning.

"Montserrat!" Kara exclaimed as soon as she spotted her best friend in the waiting room.

Montserrat raised her gaze off the floor just as Kara and Sonny joined her. She looked exhausted and that was more than when they closed the case earlier.

Kara enveloped Montserrat in a tight hug. "Oh my goodness, how did this happen?"

Montserrat's shoulders slumped together. "I'm still trying to understand," she said weakly. No amount of coffee could stop her voice from shaking. "Clara — the-the barista where he was said somebody tried robbing them. He had a gun…"

The rest was pretty obvious.

"Did the girl get a look at him?" asked Sonny, already in detective mode. It was impossible to turn off, especially when it dealt with their own. Montserrat envied him at the moment because try as she might, she could not go into the same mode.

"I don't know," she said, sounding even more exhausted, "She says he wore a ski mask. She said, she said Raf—he talked to the man…"

"Okay, okay," Sonny knew this was probably the worst time to be talking about what happened. All Montserrat could think of was the pending surgery and that was completely fine. He could take the rest. "I'm going to call Liv, okay?"

"No…" Montserrat barely shook her head, "She's got baby Noah and…it's late."

"She would want to know, Montserrat," Sonny said, "If it was about anyone else, she would want to know. I'm calling her, okay?" Montserrat had no choice but to agree. "And that barista, do you know where she is right now?"

"She's in the cafeteria getting us some coffee. She's the one who made the 911 call," Montserrat sniffed, fresh tears brimming in her eyes, "She tended to the wound…" She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the tears from escaping, "She said there was a lot of blood and—" Her hands motioned in front of her stomach. She couldn't say more.

"Oh Montse," Kara took her best friend into another hug. At that point, Montserrat couldn't help from bursting into tears.

~ 0 ~

Kara stayed at the hospital to keep Montserrat company while Sonny took Clara back to the dessert shop. He had already called to inform Olivia and was waiting for them at the crime scene.

"Hey, no one else?" Sonny asked Olivia as soon as he saw she was by herself with the local officers.

"I have Rollins and Finn at the precinct doing security feed diligence," Olivia explained, "I'm giving Amaro a few days to, uh, digest…"

Sonny nodded. He wholeheartedly agreed that Nick needed a bit of rest after the case with his father. "Uh, well, this is Clara," he gestured to Clara beside him, "She was with Barba when everything happened."

Clara gave a bleak wave of her hand. It was clear she would rather be anywhere else than the shop.

"Sargeant Benson," Olivia introduced herself to the woman and shook hands with her. "I'm so sorry about this."

"Not as sorry as I am for your friend," Clara replied, causing a brief exchange of glances between the cops. "I should have done more but I…I was in slow motion. I can tell now — it's why he got distracted. I didn't get the phone so he went for his and that's when the other guy took his chance. If I would have just listened—"

"Hey, no, it's not your fault this happened," Olivia stepped in to clarify. "Let's just focus on what we can do right now and you, Clara, can do a lot for Rafael right now. Can you take us through the whole thing here?"

Clara nodded. She took a few steps towards the counter. "I was over there, waiting for your friend to order. He, um, he was on the phone. He pointed at the things he wanted but he didn't talk to me until after he hung up."

"Okay, alright, and then what happened?" Olivia said as she and Sonny followed her around the counter.

"He said he wanted to buy sweets — his girlfriend liked sweets a lot."

"And then?"

"I told him about the blueberry champagne donuts…" Clara trailed off seeing the infamous donuts on the floor near the counter and a couple still on the counter where she had left them. "We were going back and forth with them. I told him it was a compromise since they're sweets and alcohol. He told me he wanted four so I went to grab a bag…" She paused, taking a moment to force herself to swallow down and not get overwhelmed thinking about what had come next. "And then he came in."

"The man with the ski mask?" Sonny presumed, glancing back at the entry doors. Nothing had been broken. The perp had come in easily and left as such.

"Yeah," Clara said quietly, her eyes falling over the metal tray stand on the floor, "Your friend talked to him. I was on the floor — the thief wanted me there — and they talked for a couple minutes."

"Was Rafael trying to talk him down?" Olivia presumed.

"I think so. He sounded really mad..."

"Of course," Sonny playfully rolled his eyes. Even in situations like these, Rafael would still find something to be mad about.

"And then I heard the metal tray. The guy fell, I think. I don't know, there were a lot of movement sounds after that until Rafael told me to get the phone."

Olivia stopped by the tray on the floor and studied the angle. She positioned herself as accurately as she could be to see how the situation must have gone by. Rafael was at the counter, he grabbed the closest thing to him and used it as a weapon. The perp fell. She'd check in with Amanda and Fin to confirm.

"If he was here, how did he end up on the floor all the way over there?" Sonny pointed to the spot near the glass wall, halfway across the shop.

"I told you, I wasn't moving fast enough," Clara said, feeling even more distressed now that she was thinking more clearly about it. "I should have moved but I didn't. So, he went for his phone."

"His phone was over there?" Olivia tilted her head, eyes gazing the distance between her current position and where the phone allegedly was.

"Yes," Clara nodded, noticing the strange looks the cops were sharing. "Do you guys not believe me?" That was the last thing she needed. "I-I'm not lying—"

"No, no, it's not that," Sonny mumbled. He went to the spot where Rafael had fallen, preferring not to focus so much on the dried blood stain on the floor. "The phone was here — why?"

Clara shrugged. "I don't know, the guy told him to throw his phone away."

"Throw his phone?" Sonny looked back, frowning.

"Yes!" Clara exclaimed. "Do you guys really think I'm making this up or what!? Why are you looking at me like that!?"

"Clara," Olivia started, putting her hands together, "The officers said nothing was taken from the register."

"Yeah, that's right," Clara confirmed.

"Okay, and he told Rafael to give his phone up but didn't take it."

"Yes!" Clara groaned. "Why!?"

Sonny walked back to the two, grim and serious. "This was never a robbery. Nothing was stolen, nothing was even damaged besides what Rafael used. This was all planned."

~ 0 ~

As soon as Olivia and Sonny returned to the precinct, they relayed their discovery to Amanda and Fin in the bullpen.

"You think this was a homicide?" Amanda was surprised and yet, after a couple seconds thinking about it, felt like it wasn't such a stretch. Their search through the security cameras didn't bring up much except for the unfortunate incident. The perp wasn't identifiable either under the mask.

"Attempted," Finn corrected, "Barba's not gone yet."

"What does Montserrat say about this?" Amanda wondered how erratic Montserrat would be with the news. She imagined Montserrat was already past frantic at the moment; this would make it all so much worse.

"We...haven't told her yet," Olivia admitted.

"She doesn't need to know about it right now," Sonny said sharply, intending for that to be the only warning Amanda and Fin needed to keep quiet. "We can take care of the technicalities on our own."

"Alright, so we run with this angle," Fin started, leaning back in his seat, "It doesn't exactly give us a small suspect pool. Barba's processed too many people to count."

Olivia agreed with Fin. "Let's start looking at the ones that have been recently released, if any. We'll work from there."

"Are we even allowed to work this case?" Amanda made the question once the tasks started being handed out. "We won't get IAB or anything?"

"I'd like to see them try," Olivia half smiled. That was a warning all on its own. "Besides, once I get done speaking with the D.A., I'm sure they'll want this seen to the end."

~0~

Kara returned from the cafeteria with two cups of coffee for her and Montserrat. She sat down beside the ginger, expecting the dead silence. It seemed like Montserrat had cried all she needed. Kara sighed and placed the cups of coffee on the side table stacked with magazines. She honestly thought silence was worse than tears.

"Montserrat — hey, stop that," Kara said, reaching to take Montserrat's hands apart. She was back to picking her nails. "You haven't done that in ages."

"I haven't had strong reasons," Montserrat mumbled.

Kara squeezed Montserrat's hands in hers. "You shouldn't. Rafael is not going to want to see your nails like that again."

"He knows why," Montserrat said quietly. At the moment, she didn't care if her double meanings were understood or not.

"It doesn't mean he would want to see that happen again," Kara reiterated, patting Montserrat's hands. "I'll do your nails later." She already saw spots of dried blood around Montserrat's nails.

"Hey, Novak!"

Montserrat's head snapped up, eyes falling on Nick just as he came to a sprinted stop beside their chairs. "Nick? What are you doing here? You've got the days off—"

"Forget about that," Nick said quickly, "Rollins texted me. How's Barba?"

"Still in surgery," Montserrat replied, "We've been waiting for someone to come out and tell us something — anything, at this point, really."

"Hey, it'll be alright," Nick said, bending down in front of Montserrat to hug her. "Guy like Barba — he doesn't go down that easily. I actually pity the fool who did this to him because when Barba gets through with him...yeah…"

Montserrat wanted nothing more than to take refuge in Nick's words. She thought he was right. Rafael was strong. He didn't go down without a fight. It's what he did for a living. But she couldn't find the strength to think like that right now. She couldn't see past the end of the surgery. Until the doctors came out and told her that everything was fine, she couldn't think of anything else.

"Thanks for coming," Montserrat settled for the polite thing to do at the moment. She pulled back from Nick, offering what she hoped was a decent little smile. She knew she looked like a mess right now.

"You said it, we're friends," Nick said, "And I want to be a better company for you than I was earlier. What you said about my father...you may have been right and I'll work on it."

Montserrat appreciated his honesty. "It's a long process, trust me. Still working on it myself."

"Maybe we can work on it together," Nick suggested, causing a small chuckle between the two. "In the meantime, I'm going to stay here with you."

"But your daughter…" Montserrat didn't want him to waste his only days with his daughter before she had to go back to L.A.

"She'll be sleeping until noon," Nick waved it off. "Don't worry." He gave an acknowledging nod at Kara before taking the seat on Montserrat's other side.

From there, the three of them began their collective waiting.

~0~

"Okay, so there were only three recently released convicts that were processed by Barba," Amanda told the others at the conference table. "We've eliminated one because of an alibi. He was working at the time of the assault."

"And the other two?" asked Olivia.

"Fin and I are about to go talk to the second one right now," Amanda said, getting an agreeing nod from Fin beside her.

"And the security feed?" Olivia turned eyes to Sonny who sat one chair down from her. He was engrossed in his laptop, watching the security feed of the dessert shop.

"The guy's in a ski mask all the time," he informed, eyes flickering up from the screen, "But Barba does clock him." He tried his best not to let any amusement slip from him but the fall of the suspect was more than hilarious. "Twice."

"Least the guy will have a mark to identify him with," Fin remarked.

"Anything else?" Olivia prompted them to keep the conversation going. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and reached inside for it.

"Clara was right," Sonny said, resigned. "The guy makes Barba throw his phone but he doesn't even take it. He doesn't even go near the register. He just talks to Barba then tries to shoot him."

"Yeah, we saw that too," Amanda said. "Robberies don't usually go down like that."

"But without Barba, we can't know what they were talking about," Sonny said, closing his laptop. He'd already seen the shooting and would rather not go for a repeat. "Because whatever they were talking about, it seemed to put both of them on edge."

"We'll have to wait until he's conscious then," Fin said.

"Well maybe we can start now," Olivia cut into the discussion as she looked up from her phone. "Surgery's done. Barba's out."

~0~

The group of detectives met the others at the hospital just as Montserrat was finished talking with the doctor. Her walk back to the group was slow, obviously exhausted, but nobody said a thing. They waited anxiously to hear the news.

"The surgery went fine," she said slowly, "But he's still unconscious. We have to wait to see how his body will react."

"Okay, well, we got past one bad step," Olivia said, hoping that would cheer Montserrat a bit. "He'll be okay, you'll see."

"I was telling Montserrat since Rafael's going to be out for a couple more hours, she should go home and get some rest," Kara said with eyes sharp and fixated on Sonny for backup. "She hasn't slept at all."

Sonny was quick to agree and, thankfully, so were the others.

"I can drive you over there," Sonny offered since he'd driven Kara to the hospital in the first place. "You need to eat something too. We can stop on the way for some take out."

Montserrat shook her head. "No, no, I don't want to leave him. And I'm not hungry."

"He probably won't wake up for a while, Montse," Sonny insisted, "He won't even know you're gone."

"I'll know," Montserrat argued, "I don't want to leave him here."

"How about this," Nick step forwards, "I can stay here while you go home. You rest, eat, shower — take care of yourself before you come back here, alright?"

Montserrat looked at the others. While they didn't outright say it, she was smart enough to know that this fight was lost the moment it started. They were just being kind enough to pretend that she had a choice. If she didn't walk out, they would drag her out.

"I will be back soon," she warned them. "Just...just gonna change and—"

"Sleep," Kara finished for her and wrapped her arm around Montserrat's. "Even just a nap! Sonny, let's go!" She was quick to start walking with Montserrat before the latter started putting up a fight.

~0~

One hour later, Kara was coming out of Montserrat's room with a tray of half eaten food. Sonny was finishing up a call when she joined him. She placed the tray of food on the table with a sigh. "She didn't eat very much."

Sonny made that conclusion with the half eaten sandwich still on the tray. "At least she drank," he nodded at the empty glass next to the plate. "She's sleeping?"

"Yeah," Kara shrugged, revealing a smirk. "I slipped in some nyquil."

Sonny openly gaped at her. "Kara!"

"Well!" Kara threw her hands above her head. "You heard her before we even walked into the apartment! Montserrat was swearing up and down that she wasn't going to sleep. She was only coming to shower and eat and head back to the hospital. I had to do something!"

"So you slipped Nyquill into her drink!?" Sometimes, Sonny couldn't believe half the things that came out of his mouth where Kara was involved. "You — you are insane!"

"Oh calm down, she's sleeping isn't she?"

"Not by choice!"

"She will be fine and well rested. She needs to sleep, doesn't she?"

Sonny knew he could stand there and argue with Kara all day long and still somehow lose. "You — she's going to kill you," he warned Kara instead. "She's absolutely going to kill you."

"It's a chance I'm willing to take," Kara smiled. "And she won't even know about the Nyquill. She'll just think she was so tired that she fell asleep."

Sonny shook his head. On some level, Kara was helping Montserrat out but it still didn't feel right.

"Let's move on," Kara suggested, something that Sonny could agree on given that he would have to leave soon. "What's going on with the case?"

"You know I can't tell you," Sonny gave her a look, one that Kara gave right back.

"Don't even waste time with that. You've told me about other cases."

"Difference being you weren't involved with the other cases," Sonny pointed out, "You are Montserrat's best friend. Anything I tell you, you're going to tell her and she's not up to hear any of this right now."

Kara took a moment to read between the lines. "Wait a damn minute, what can't Montserrat know? What did you find, Dominick?"

"Oh no," Sonny pointed at her, "Only my mother does that. You're not doing that!"

Kara rolled her eyes again. "Can we please just skip through all this!? What did you find out!?"

"Montserrat can't know anything! Promise me you won't tell her!"

"C'mon, we're not—"

"Promise me, Kara!" Sonny demanded. "Otherwise I will not tell you anything."

Now it was Kara who saw herself without options. She groaned. "Fine, I promise! Now tell me what you know!"

Sonny was still reluctant but, because he trusted Kara, he told her what they learned so far. By the time he was done, Kara had already sat down in the nearest chair. Her mouth was open in shock, eyes wide to match. "You think somebody wanted to hurt Rafael on purpose? Why?"

"He's a prosecutor. Unfortunately, it comes with the job," Sonny said. "It wouldn't be the first time a case like this happened."

"Okay, well...now I get why you don't want Montse to find out about this," sighed Kara. "But you do know that she will eventually find out and she'll kill you specifically because you're her partner and you didn't tell her." She reached forward and shoved Sonny. "And then you'll have me worrying about you because you're going to be dead."

Sonny half smiled at her. "It's a chance I'm willing to take." Kara deadpanned him for his use of her words. "I'm sorry. This is just for the better. Montserrat's head is all over the place. This will only just make it worse."

"I see your point but it doesn't make me feel any less guilty," Kara mumbled.

"We'll tell Montserrat eventually, I promise," Sonny said, "But for now, it's best to wait until things are better."

"Okay, fine," nodded Kara. "So what happens now?"

"We keep investigating," Sonny said, "We're rounding up possible suspects but honestly it's not going so well. There's too many to go through. Barba's worked as a prosecutor for a long time."

"Why don't you ask Casey Novak for help?" Kara's suggestion was both startling and puzzling. "Doesn't she work with Rafael on some cases? They're close at work. If anything, she can help you weed out the suspects."

Sonny started smiling widely. "Now I remember why I love you."

"Oh," Kara's voice went sharp enough to make Sonny wince, "So you didn't love me for a moment back there?"

"No, I just meant—" Once she got started again, Sonny started wondering if there was any more Nyquil left.

A/N:

I know things are horrible but like Sonny and Kara are so fucking cute and funny *heart eyes*, I want that! But on the other side, poor Montse :'(.

As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)