Archive of Our Own

“How on Earth did you manage a holiday weekend off, and four entire days of weekend as well?” Melinda asked when Olivia met her for lunch.

“It’s good to be the boss.” Olivia grinned at her friend, “And having nearly a full staff of detectives helps.”

Melinda raised her coffee in silent salute, Olivia met it with her own and the cups made a soft tink.

“Well, Captain,” Melinda emphasized the new rank with a smile, “What grand plans do you have for your weekend? Besides lunch with me that is.”

“Tonight we drive to the beach for three nights and three days of whatever is left of the sun and sand and relaxation. Monday night we drive back to the city and into reality again.”

“I hope the we is three and not two?” Melinda asked. She had never been one to fish for personal details of her friend’s social life but she had noticed that over the Summer Olivia had seemed more relaxed and happier than she had seen her in a while, years perhaps.

Olivia kept her eyes on her menu but couldn’t help the happy smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. “Yes, it’s three for the weekend.”

“Good. I never thought I’d say this about a lawyer, but he’s good for you.”

“I hope I’m good for him as well.”

“I can’t see how you couldn’t be, if he’s half as happy with life as you appear to be lately.”

Olivia’s smile widened and the waitress arrived to take their order.

After the late lunch Olivia drove back to her apartment, picked up the bags she had packed for herself and Noah, double checked that she had everything they would need and then carried it all down to stow in the trunk. She double checked again and realized that she was nervous and giving in to delaying tactics. “What the Hell, Benson,” she muttered to herself. This wasn’t the first weekend out of town that she and Noah had spent with Rafael, it wasn’t even the third or fifth. They had managed many weekends, or at least overnight trips to the beach or the mountains during the Summer and when they weren’t doing that they spent weekends together at his place or hers. Maybe it was because it was Labor Day weekend, or that she rarely had holidays off, or just the end of Summer seemed to signal an end of the rosy glow of the fantasy she felt she’d been living since Spring when a threat to Rafael had blossomed into the best relationship of her life. She slammed the car trunk shut and shook off the feeling of unease.

Olivia took the driver’s seat and headed for Rafael’s new office, still in the same building as his old one and still with his trusted assistant Carmen guarding his door like the fierce warrior she was. He was less often in the courtroom now as an Executive ADA, but he was still in her office several times a week and trying to poach Carisi for his staff of assistant district attorneys, Olivia blamed McCoy for that. Now that she had a full complement of detectives and Sonny had passed the bar, she could understand and if McCoy would find a way to assign him to her as SVU’s ADA she might even back the idea. As she pulled into the parking lot beside his office the man himself called. Olivia smiled when her phone lit up with the name Barba. She parked and took the phone off the seat next to her.

“Your timing is perfect, as usual. I’m outside.” Olivia answered the phone still smiling.

“I think you are the one who’s perfect, how could you know I’d be done early?”

“I didn’t. I’d planned on hanging around and distracting you.”

“I love the idea. I’ll be down in five.”

Olivia heard the distinct sound of the elevator before Rafael hung up. She got out of the car and slid her sunglasses down before walking to the back of the car to lean on the trunk.

Rafael saw her as soon as he rounded the corner of the building into the parking lot. Her hands were on the black trunk of the Mustang, her long legs crossed at the ankle, jeans and a tank with a half unzipped sweatshirt proving she was relaxed and ready for their mini-vacation. He felt overdressed yet pleased when she smiled broadly as she caught sight of him. He would never tire of that smile she gave him, not ever. He felt his steps quicken, lighten as he left work behind him and joined her. He let out a low whistle.

“Don’t get too excited, I was told I ruined any resale value when I had seatbelts installed after I brought Noah home.” Olivia turned and opened the trunk for Rafael to deposit his own weekend bag and briefcase.

“That wasn’t for the car, Liv.” Rafael dropped his bags in and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her close. “That was all you,” he kissed her on the cheek, their agreed upon allowable public display near work. He put his lips next to her ear, “But let’s get out of this parking lot so I can say hello the way how good you look deserves, hmm?” and he brushed his lips against her temple.

Olivia saw the half grin and the way he looked at her with his head tipped down, from under his brow, like they shared a secret. He was in a dark blue suit and the lavender shirt and dark violet tie he knew was one of her favourite combinations. She knew he’d be wearing dark blue suspenders and purple socks, she’d seen him dress for court in the exact combination and knew he liked to coordinate. It was oddly endearing and secretly she found it sexy as hell to know what parts of his outfit, unseen, matched the parts that showed. It was like getting to know him all over again this Summer, matching his inner self with his outer self, in all the ways that were important. She wondered if she revealed herself to him in the same ways, worry about that clouding her brow momentarily, what if it was too much.

“What’s got you so worried?”

Olivia looked up from contemplating his silk pocket square and didn’t even try to brush him off. She had her answer, he had come to know her inside out as she had him.

“I don’t know, Rafa, Summer’s ending.” Her eyes drifted back down to the violet silk matching his tie.

“Are you worried this was just a fling?” His voice betrayed none of his sudden onset worry, only concern for her state of mind.

Olivia looked up in alarm, “No, never.”

Rafael tightened his arm, bringing her close again, “Good,” he murmured next to her ear, his other hand coming up to brush his fingers along her jaw and then cup her cheek. “What do you need?”

Her voice was a whisper, “To feel able to trust happy.”

“What can I do to help?” His voice was quiet, trusting her to tell him what she could.

Her arms crept under his jacket to circle his waist and she leaned her head against his shoulder, face turned toward his neck. “Just be you.”

“If you promise to be you.”

“Done.” She leaned back and smiled again, almost as bright as before. Rafael answered her smile with his own, then broke their rule and kissed her softly on the lips, quickly.

“We better go while the parking lot is still empty.”

“We have some time before Noah is out of school, wanna go cruisin’?” Olivia’s grin was all tease now, her mood lightened by the support of her best friend, her lover, the only person in years she felt safe to show her uncertainty to who wasn’t a professional she paid to analyze her.

“Now you’re talkin’,” Rafael laughed.

They were at a stop light and Olivia turned to Rafael and apologized.

“No need, Liv, it’s not a weird mood or wrong in any way. We don’t have great track records when it comes to romance, you and me, but I’m still betting on us.” He reached over and squeezed her hand where it rested on the gear shift.

They pulled into a spot near the playground of Noah’s school, early enough to get a good view of the door he would be coming out of soon. Olivia turned the key and listened to the silence of the engine cooling, the noise of her city calling around them, distant sirens and taxis honking, closer in were the sounds of neighbors calling to each other from the front stoops of their buildings. Rafael reached over and took her hand, raised it to kiss her knuckles, then just held her hand on the seat between them, content with their quiet and the last of the Summer breezing through the windows open to the sunshine of the afternoon.

Soon there was the ringing of a bell and a set of double doors crashed open with dozens upon dozens of short little people rushing out, they resolved from a mass of bright backpacks and waving arms into grade schoolers and buses and cars began lining up on the street crossing the one Olivia had parked on. Noah spotted them quickly and waved as he ran full tilt toward them, calling back goodbyes to his friends, some of whom gave envious glances at the car he was heading toward. Oliva and Rafael both exited the car to meet him and he had hugs for them both.

By the time Noah had told them the news of his day, gotten out of his backpack, negotiated to take off his jacket for the ride to their vacation cottage but agreed to keep it close in case he got a chill as the sun went down, and then gotten situated with a puzzle book, some picture books, a bowl with apple slices and peanut butter that had a lid to keep them from getting messy, the playground was nearly deserted. Buses and cars had passed along the crossing street and the mass of children had melted away. Olivia and Rafael were still out of the car when the door of the school opened again and an older woman came out and approached the lone child still in the playground. Rafael raised a brow at Olivia who shrugged. They watched as the woman approached the girl who was sitting on a swing dangling her backpack from her hand. They couldn’t hear what was said but could see the girl shake her head at whatever the lady was asking her.

Olivia leaned down and asked Noah if he knew the lady or the little girl.

“That’s Senora Grace, she teaches Spanish. She’s talking to Kimiko, she’s new this year.”

As Olivia stood the woman noticed them and said something to the girl, gesturing in their direction. The girl looked up and then shook her head at whatever the woman asked her. Olivia took her badge out of her sweatshirt pocket and palmed it, approaching the fence and waving it toward the woman who would see it, though the child wouldn’t as she was still looking down at her feet, young shoulders bowed in a tired pose. Senora Grace approached the fence.

“Is everything ok?” Olivia asked as the woman got close to the fence, keeping her voice quiet.

“I don’t know.” The woman shook her head. “Kimi doesn’t ride a bus and nobody was here to pick her up today. I was about to go in and find her home number to see if someone is late picking her up.” She leaned a bit when she saw Noah waving at her, she gave him a wave and a smile. “You must be Mrs. Benson, Noah is delightful.”

“It’s Ms., but you can call me Olivia. Noah told me you are Senora Grace who teaches Spanish. And thank you?”

“Sorry, it must be confusing, we don’t start teaching French or Spanish until the third grade, but we do little workshops for the younger classes and Noah has been very curious about both languages. He tells me he takes dance lessons and wants to learn more French but also wants to learn Spanish because he has family that speaks it. He was quite disappointed when I told him he might have to choose between them for school classes.” Her gaze wandered to Rafael who was leaning against the car, chatting quietly with Noah to keep him distracted.

Across the school yard the door opened again and another adult started toward them. Olivia recognized the principal, a woman she had met several times. Principal Woods jogged across the playground and joined them.

“Captain Benson, good afternoon,” the younger woman smiled, “I wish I was seeing you for a happier reason.”

“I’m off the clock, you can call me Olivia. I just came by to get Noah, Lucy has the weekend off and we are going out of town. Or we were, I might be signing back in I suppose.” Olivia nodded toward the girl still on the swing and still paying little attention to the adults.

Principal Woods’ eyes were troubled, “I called both her home number and her emergency contact, there have been no answers at either number, not even a voice mail.”

“What is your standard procedure?” Olivia asked though she was aware it was to call children’s services or straight up 911 if a child was left at school with no supervision.

As they were discussing options, Olivia heard the car door open. She turned to see that Noah was out and had his covered bowl of apples and peanut butter in his hands. He approached slowly but quickened as his mother nodded at him.

“May I share my snack? We had peanut butter cookies at lunch yesterday, so I know she hasn’t got allergies.”

Olivia gave the principal a look, she gave a small nod, so Olivia smiled at Noah, “That would be very kind, thank you Noah.”

Noah ran for the open gate and called to Kimiko who looked up with a half sad smile to see him running toward her. Noah opened the treat and took a seat in a swing next to the girl, holding the bowl so they could share the peanut butter to dip the apples in.

Rafael joined the ladies at the fence, nodding to the principal who he knew through his mother, also a school official. “Hello Diana, nice to see you.” He smiled at the other woman, “And Senora Grace, your reputation precedes you.”

“Rafael, hello. Letty, this is Lucia’s boy Rafael Barba, Rafael this is Letty Grace our languages department. Was that your doing?” She nodded toward the children, sharing a snack.

“Nope, that was all Noah. He thought she looked lonely and the adults were taking too long to figure out why, so he asked if he could share his snack while we got busy.”

Olivia would have laughed if it weren’t also so sweet. Letty Grace did chuckle, commenting that his heart was much bigger than his little chest should contain. She told them she would sit near them and keep an eye on them while the professionals decided next steps.

Rafael handed Olivia her phone which she had left in the car, a knowing look passing between them. Diana Woods left to get the student file and Rafael went toward the front of the school where parents lined up their cars to pick up children and where buses had a separate lane for the same. He could see it was deserted but on the off chance the girl’s parents were there or arriving late, he could direct them. It remained deserted except for the usual neighborhood traffic. Rafael returned to the playground area to find Olivia giving her squad the information from the student file that Diana Woods had retrieved. He joined them at the gate, leaning against the fence upright, hands in his pockets and listening to one side of the conversation.

“Yeah, we’ll stay here until you and Amanda arrive, I think when this girl sees Noah trust you, she might respond better than to be suddenly surrounded by strangers.” She paused, listening, then continued, “Great, yeah, see you in twenty.”

Olivia looked up at Rafael, “Fin and Amanda will be here shortly, they’ve sent Uniforms over to the address in the file to see if there’s something going on or not. Could be someone lost track of time, who knows. We can leave when they get here.”

“Sure, however long we need.” To an outsider, Rafael’s voice sounded relaxed and unworried, but Olivia heard the truth, that he knew they would stay as long as she thought little Kimiko needed her to, and she heard his support as well. She smiled her gratitude to him.

Noah’s face lit up when he saw his Aunt Amanda walking across the playground. He stood off the swing as she got close. “Hi Aunt Amanda, this is my friend Kimiko. Kimiko this is my Aunt Amanda and she’s here to help.”
Amanda crouched down in front of the girl on the swing, looking up at her, trying to catch her eye behind a curtain of dark hair. She could see that the girl had been crying, her dark eyes were swollen and puffy, but there were no tears now. The girl didn’t speak, only nodded.

“Hi Kimiko. I’m happy to meet a friend of Noah’s.”

Amanda’s instinct was to encourage Noah to return to his mother but before she could gently suggest that to him he was talking again, sitting down on the playground sand next to Amanda and holding the bowl that still had a few apples and peanut butter in it.

“We’ve been sharing a snack but we have some left,” Noah said to Amanda, then switched his focus to Kimiko, “Should we share with Aunt Amanda? We have three left, one for each of us.” Kimiko nodded again. Noah let Kimiko have first choice, then offered the bowl to Amanda who murmured a thank you and took an apple slice, she was a mother and sharing snacks with small children didn’t phase her at all, though she knew some adults would be ill at the thought, her sister for instance. Noah made sure the girls got peanut butter and then finished scraping up the sticky treat. He didn’t eat his yet though.

“When I feel sad or mad I tell my friend Eddie and I feel better. He’s only a stuffed elephant though so sometimes I tell my Uncle Rafa while we walk in the park and he holds my hand across streets.” Noah looked at the Hello Kitty backpack Kimiko had let fall to the ground at her feet and couldn’t imagine it would be a good substitute for his Eddie. “Eddie stays home when I come to school so he can’t help today, but I could hold your hand if it would make you feel better?” Noah was kind of hoping his Aunt Amanda would offer to hold Kimiko’s hand because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have good ideas to help sad or mad like his Uncle Rafa always did, but he didn’t like to see his friend sad. She was new and didn’t have any friends like he did, but he tried to be kind like his mother asked him to be, and he saw his mom and Uncle Rafa hold hands and they always smiled when they did. He thought maybe them holding hands was like when he let his mom snuggle during bedtime stories, it was nice to feel safe. Maybe hand holding was how grown ups snuggled. He would try to remember to ask his Uncle Rafa who knew nearly everything there was to know about anything.

Amanda felt her eyes widen and hoped neither child saw her reaction that she damped down as quick as she could. Noah was an open and bright little boy that she had watched grow from toddlerhood, but his little boy wisdom, so simple, was pretty profound for a second grader. She knew that Olivia had insisted he see a counsellor after his kidnapping years ago, so perhaps his therapy had made him as insightful as a seven or eight year old could get. She was sure no matter what that she needed to get control of the conversation or Noah was going to put her out of a job.

Amanda sat next to Noah on the ground and said, “You know, sometimes it’s easier to tell your troubles to someone you don’t know.” How many times had she told her tales of woe to a bartender, Amanda didn’t want to count, but thanked her lucky stars those days were past. She had someone in her life she could trust with those secrets now. “We just met so if you feel like we could talk about what’s upsetting, I’d sure be glad to listen. I’d even hold your hand if it would make you feel brave enough to tell me.” Amanda smiled and hoped the little girl could find it in her to trust.

Kimiko held her hands out to show them that she had peanut butter on her fingers. Noah had finished his apple too and held his hands up, also with peanut butter on them. Amanda chuckled and held her hands out, also with peanut butter on them.

“I don’t know anybody who can eat peanut butter and apples and keep their hands clean,” Amanda smiled again. “I bet if we ask nicely your teacher would let us use the washroom inside, what do you think?”

Both children nodded. Amanda asked Noah to go get his mom and teacher and he jumped up to do it, not a little relieved. He returned shortly with all the adults in tow. Principal Woods and Senora Grace as well as Rafael came with him, Fin and Oliva hanging back a bit.

“Kimi, Senora Grace is going to show Miss Amanda where the girl’s room is so you can wash your hands, ok?” The principal said, “If you want you can leave your backpack here and we’ll make sure it doesn’t get lost, will that be alright with you?” Kimiko only nodded and stood from the swing.

“I’ll go with Noah if you’d rather not have a lone second grader roaming your halls?” Rafael said to Diana who nodded. “Let’s go, we don’t want peanut butter all over the seats of your mom’s hot rod do we, Noah?”

“It’s had worse, mom says, she says anything washes off Naugahyde. What’s Naugahyde made from?” Noah peppered Rafael with questions about the innards of his mother’s car as they followed the ladies into the building.

As soon as the doors closed Olivia and Fin carefully opened the Hello Kitty backpack, trying not to disturb the contents so much that the little girl would be suspicious. They found nothing helpful or showing any address or phone number, just a jumble of school papers, a spelling workbook Olivia recognized because Noah worked from the same one, and at the bottom of the bag was a plastic bag that might have once held a sandwich because it showed signs of crumbs but the sandwich was long gone and now the bag contained the stubby ends of broken coloured pencils and a few crayons, also broken and the paper from them missing. Olivia held up the baggie and Fin gave her a sad look, shaking his head.

“Wonder who broke those,” Fin said. “Bet it wasn’t her.”

“Kids don’t usually save things they break unless it was accidental or something important.” Olivia replied, “These look scavenged, like she might have collected them, they’re mismatched.”

They finished the rest of their search and replaced the bookbag where it had been, then stepped away to discuss next steps before the children returned with their adult chaperones.

Fin’s phone rang before they could make a plan and he stepped away to answer, telling Olivia it was the officers he’d sent to check out Kimiko’s address. Olivia waited to hear what they found, getting no information from Fin’s end of the conversation.

The three adults and two children returned, congregating around the swings, the teacher and principal standing back while Noah introduced his Uncle Rafael to Kimiko.

“Kimiko, this is my Uncle Rafa. He’s a helper too, but he doesn’t have a badge like my mom or Aunt Amanda, he has a Law Degree.” The adults listening could hear the capital letters when Noah spoke, as if a law degree was something magical like a detective badge.

Rafael took a knee next to Noah much as Amanda had done earlier to be on Kimiko’s level. “I’m happy to meet you, Kimiko,” he said. The girl nodded but remained as quiet as she had been all afternoon. “You know, Noah, your Uncle Sonny has a badge AND a law degree. Do you suppose that makes him a super-powered helper?”

Noah cocked his head to one side, unconsciously mimicking both Rafael and his mother who often used that gesture, and looked at his Uncle Rafa. Noah tried to imagine his Uncle Sonny in a cape and Superman outfit and the image made him want to giggle. He smiled instead, “Maybe?”

“I bet we can find out, he’s probably still at his desk. Maybe we can take Kimiko to meet him and see if he has super-powers.” Rafael knew this would soon be moving to the squad room and thought if they laid the groundwork it might be less frightening for the young girl.

“Yeah!” Noah said with enthusiasm, “Would you like to come meet my Uncle Sonny? He’s real cool and cooks real good spaghetti ‘cause his mom taught him how. It’s as good as Aunt Nett’s spaghetti and hers is for a real restaurant.”

Kimiko finally spoke for the first time that afternoon. “You have a lot of family, Noah, so many aunts and uncles.” Her voice was curious and a little awed.

“It’s ‘cause I’m adopted,” Noah’s voice was bright and happy, he liked sharing his family story, was proud of his collected family. “My mom doesn’t have brothers or sisters but she works with Aunt Amanda and Uncle Sonny and Uncle Fin, that’s him over there by the fence.” Noah nodded toward his mom and Fin, still conferring. “We made them our family. Mom says that made family is best, like she made me family when she adopted me. And then we made Uncle Rafa family because she dates him. They worked together, too, and was my uncle before but now it’s better because we have family movies and read stories and build Legos and go for overnights to the beach. Aunt Nett owns my favourite spaghetti restaurant, she’s an aunt because I couldn’t say her name right when I was littler, but she thought it was cute so she gets to be my aunt because she wants to be.” Noah finally paused for breath. “If you like, I’d share them with you, if it would make you less sad? We can be cousins for a little while.”

Kimiko gave Noah a small smile and nodded. “I’ve only ever had my mom. She always picks me up after school. I don’t know where she is today.”

Amanda crouched down again on Noah’s other side. “Kimiko, we’re gonna do everything we can to find your mom for you. How about you come with us to our office and we’ll get to work on doing that, sound ok to you?”

Kimiko looked uncertain, “Will Noah be there?”

Amanda looked at Rafael who nodded once. “Sure he will, for a little while, that ok?”

Kimiko looked relieved and nodded. “Ok, sure.”

Amanda and Rafael stood and Rafael led the children over to Olivia and Fin at the fence while Amanda spoke with the school teacher and principal for a moment.

Kimiko’s steps slowed as they approached the others so Noah linked his arm through hers, he figured that was as good as holding hands and wouldn’t seem as icky if his friends were to see it. “Kimiko, this is my mom. Her name’s Olivia. This is my Uncle Fin.” His voice shone with pride to show off his family to his friend. “Mom, I want Kimiko to be my cousin for a little while, will that be ok, until she knows where her mom is again?”

Olivia crouched down to their level and brushed her hand over her son’s hair. “Yes sweet boy, that’s very nice of you to share your family with your friend.” Olivia smiled at her son. “Kimiko, it’s lovely to meet you. You can call me Olivia, ok?” Kimiko nodded. “And this is Fin, and you already know Amanda,” Olivia nodded to her as Amanda approached. “All that’s left is to meet Noah’s Uncle Sonny. He’s waiting for us at our office.”

Kimiko looked a little worried until Olivia suggested Kimiko could ride with them in the Mustang. Rafael offered to get the kids settled in the car knowing Olivia would want to catch Amanda up on whatever Fin had been on the phone about out of hearing of the kids. Olivia smiled her thanks at him and agreed.

Noah pushed his backpack and jacket across the seat and into the footwell behind the driver’s seat then scrambled across himself and started buckling in. Kimiko followed, pushing her own backpack on the floor and buckling her own seatbelt. Rafael crouched down to watch them.

“Noah showed me the art hall when we went in to wash up. He pointed out your art as well, Kimiko. It’s very good.”

“Thank you,” she said with a shy pride, “My mom helps me.”

“She must be very good then,” Rafael said.

“She studied art history.”

“Did she now, does she work at a museum?”

Kimiko shook her head. “She goes to a studio when I am at school.”

Olivia joined them then and Rafael stood up, “Kimiko was just telling me her mom studied art history and works in a studio while she’s in school,” he told her, knowing any information might be useful to her squad.

Olivia raised a brow at him and leaned in to look at Kimiko, “That sounds pretty fun, has she ever taken you there to see it?”

Kimiko shook her head.

“That’s too bad. Are you ready to see where I work?”

Kimiko nodded.

“Let’s get this show on the road then, shall we?” Olivia shut the door and rounded the car to the driver’s side as Rafael got in the shotgun seat. When they were buckled in Olivia pulled out and followed Fin and Amanda in their unmarked sedan.

When they exited the elevator there weren’t very many people left in the SVU bullpen, just a couple of skeleton shift detectives who’d drawn the holiday weekend shift and Sonny at his desk. He wasn’t alone though, two people had pulled chairs up and were having a discussion with him. They all rose when Olivia and company entered the room.

“Uncle Trevor!” Noah called, “I haven’t seen you forever!” Noah ran the few steps to Trevor Langan’s side and hugged him, then grabbed his hand and pulled him over to where Kimiko was hanging back with Olivia and Rafael. “Come meet my friend Kimiko.” He stopped in front of his friend. “This is Uncle Trevor. He’s a lawyer like Uncle Rafa but a different kind of lawyer, he helped my mom adopt me.” Noah looked up at Trevor, “This is my friend Kimiko, she’s my cousin today because she’s been sad and doesn’t have as much family as me so I am sharing mine with her to make her feel better.”

Trevor crouched down and said hello. “It’s nice to meet you, Kimiko. You can call me Trevor. Welcome to the family. You’ll soon discover that Noah collects us, it’s a privilege to be included I think.”

Kimiko nodded and tried to smile, then when Trevor stood to greet Olivia and Rafael her head tipped all the way back watching him stand. She’d never met anyone so tall.

Noah linked arms with Kimiko again and led her toward Sonny’s desk, “This is Uncle Sonny, Kimiko,” he said as they drew close. Kimiko looked from Sonny to Trevor and back again. She leaned close to Noah and put her hand up to shield her mouth and whispered, “Is your Uncle Trevor a giant?”

Noah whispered back, “I don’t think so.”

The adults close enough to hear them hid their smiles.

Sonny sat again and leaned down with his elbows on his knees to be less intimidating, or less of a target, and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Kimiko. You can call me Sonny. I hear you are an honorary cousin to Noah for a few days.” He’d gotten the scoop from Amanda when she called to tell him they were on the way back to the office with Kimiko as well as Olivia and her family. He gestured toward the woman who had been sitting with him and Trevor when they had arrived, “This is Miss Kelly and she’ll be helping us. She’s gonna get you set up in a nice room with books and comfy seats and we’ll be in to talk to you in a few minutes.”

Kimiko looked alarmed and her arm that was linked with Noah’s tightened, drawing him closer.

“It’s ok, Kimiko,” Noah whispered to her, “There’s crayons and paper and art things too, it’s a nice place.”

Kimiko looked at him, worry plain in her eyes.

Kelly sat and leaned down toward the children, smiling. “It’s ok to be unsure or scared, Kimiko, but I promise we are all here to help.” She looked up to catch Olivia’s eye and continued, “I bet if we ask Miss Olivia she’ll let Noah come with you and sit with us until you feel comfortable,” Olivia nodded at Kelly, “sound ok to you?” Kimiko nodded and relaxed.

Noah showed Kimiko the drawer in the children’s room that was filled with boxes of crayons and coloured pencils as well as pads of paper and notebooks. When she couldn’t decide what to choose, Noah pulled out one pack each of twelve pencils and twelve crayons as well as a pad of blank paper and a lined composition book. His mom picked them up at the discount dollar stores, he knew because he helped her pick them out. He also knew that when they were done here his mom would slip the paper and colours into Kimiko’s backpack for her to keep, but he decided to let that be a good surprise for later, it seemed like his friend might need good surprises.

In the bullpen, Fin brought everyone up to date on what the Uniforms reported from the home address on Kimiko’s school form. “There are signs of trouble, broken stuff everywhere but no blood. Unis are sittin’ on the place, waitin’ for a warrant. Soon as we get it, Amanda and I will head over there. I expect Karla to be back with that shortly.”

As if he had conjured her, Karla Blevins, new to their squad, breezed in waving a folded paper in triumph. “Warrant’s in,” she called to them, crossing the room to join them where they’d gathered around Sonny’s desk. “Hi Captain, sorry your weekend got shortened. We’re trying to get you out though.” Karla smiled at Olivia who returned it.

“I’m invested now, so we might be here a while, that’s ok though, perks of the job.” Olivia’s wry half smile said all it needed to about the uncertainty they all lived with in the SVU.

Fin continued his catch up now that they had a warrant in hand. “We got Kelly Conroy from Children’s Services and she brought Langan in to be the Guardian Ad Litem for Kimiko,” Fin nodded down the hall where Langan stood at the window watching the children’s room, Rafael stood with him. The fax machine whirred and dinged, and Amanda checked, bringing back the single page.

“The principal at the school sent this over, literally the only information they have about Kimiko.” Amanda had asked the school official for the copy and she’d agreed to send it. “Look at this, her name is listed here as Kimmy Johnstone. That explains why the teacher kept calling her Kimi and not Kimiko. So, which is her real name?”

“Another thing for us to find out,” Olivia said. “I’ll work with Kelly if you don’t mind Fin, Kimiko needs a somewhat familiar face in there with her.”

“Of course Cap, but you have plans.”

“Do you think my kid is going to just leave here with his friend missing her mom?” Olivia nearly laughed, “He’s expecting super-hero performances from us right now. I can’t disappoint my boy. And neither can you.”

“Yeah, you got that right.” Fin grinned at her. “Sonny, whatcha got to report?”

“We have a placement for Kimiko for the weekend at least, depends on what Kelly decides of course, she’s in charge of that. Karla and I are going to work on background information on the mom. Hoping you find something more to work with at the apartment.”

Fin looked to Olivia who nodded and said, “Sounds like a plan, but you’re in charge Fin, I’m just support until we have a handle on it, then I am off to the beach, ok?”

“Got it. Let’ go,” he nodded at Amanda. They left with the warrant and Karla and Sonny went to their desks while Olivia headed down the hall to talk to the men watching through the window into the children’s room.

“Rafa, sorry about the change in plans,” Olivia said softly. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her to his side.

“Plans change. This is more important. Even Noah would agree to that.” Rafael nodded toward the room where Noah and Kimiko were drawing and chatting quietly, both subdued.

“I need to interview Kimiko; can you keep Noah occupied? I unlocked my office for you.”

“Of course, Liv, we’ll get his vocabulary homework done. I’ll bribe him if I have to.”

Olivia chuckled, having witnessed many of the negotiations her son and her lover had over getting homework done early in the weekend so they could play more later. She suspected they both enjoyed the back and forth but was afraid Rafael was doing early training to make her son into a lawyer. Rafael’s ‘bribery’ was usually agreeing to teach Noah more Spanish though sometimes it involved talking her into teaching him more French. His vocabulary was growing so she figured it all worked out in the end. “I’ll send him out. Thank you.”

“De nada, mi amor,” Rafael said and brushed his lips against her temple before letting her go.

When the door closed behind Olivia, Trevor gave Rafael a look from the corner of his eye then went back to watching the room on the other side of the glass. “It’s good to see her happy,” he commented, voice quiet in the empty hall.

Rafael gave a one shoulder shrug and nod. “I hope to keep them both happy.”

“Good,” was Trevor’s only reply.

Olivia joined Kelly and the children at the table. “How’re you doing in here?”

“Good, Mom.” Noah said. Kimiko just nodded in agreement.

“Noah, I need to talk to Kimiko and Miss Kelly, some girl talk. I need you to go hang out with Uncle Rafa, ok?”

Noah looked at Kimiko who kept her eyes down. He looked up at his mom, worry in his eyes.

“It’s ok sweet boy, we’re just going to visit a bit. I promise you can come see your friend before we leave, ok? Sorry about the delay getting to our beach house.”

“That’s ok Mom, the beach will still be there tomorrow. Kimiko is more important than the beach, don’t you think?”

“She is and I’m glad you think so, too.”

Noah leaned closer to Kimiko and whispered, “My mom will hold your hand if you need it, she’s the bravest person I know.”

Kimiko leaned toward Noah and whispered, “Thank you for sharing.”

Noah awkwardly patted her shoulder, not really sure how to help, then said, “I’ll see you soon.” Kimiko nodded and Noah took his backpack and headed for the door.

Rafael and Noah went down the hall and past the bullpen into Olivia’s office. Her desk was clear, so Rafael took his usual chair and nodded for Noah to take his mom’s chair behind the desk. They sat quietly for several moments. Rafael watched Noah, waiting for him to initiate a conversation, not wanting to push but ready in case he stayed quiet too long. He was surprised by the direction of Noah’s thoughts when he did finally speak.

“Was Kimiko’s mom kidnapped like me?”

“I don’t know, Noah, why do you ask?”

“I don’t remember very much about it; I remember being confused. But I wasn’t scared, not very much at first. Kimiko is real scared. Is that how you and Mom felt?”

Rafael decided truth was better than prevarication. “We were all scared while you were gone, we love you and missed you and wanted to know you were safe.”

Noah nodded and thought about that, then looked up right into Rafael’s eyes. “Even though you weren’t Mom’s special friend back then?”

This kid knows how to cut to the chase, Rafael thought. He leaned forward with his arms folded on the desk, “Noah, I loved you as soon as your mom brought you home with her, the first time she handed you to me to hold I was scared to death. I was afraid I’d break you or something. I didn’t have really great role models growing up and I wanted to do the very best by you I could. Sometimes I still get scared that I might not be doing things right but with your mom’s help and the help of all of the people who love you, I think we’ll mange to do alright.”

Noah got out of his mom’s chair and Rafael leaned back, not sure what Noah’s plan was. Noah crawled into his lap like he had as a toddler, wrapping his arms around Rafael’s neck. Rafael automatically wrapped his own arms around the child in his lap, holding him close as Noah buried his face against his chest.

“You do good, Uncle Rafa, like a dad. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Oh, Noah, I’m glad I’m here, too.” Rafael just held Noah, wondering what the next surprise would be. He didn’t have to wait long and if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t very much surprised after all.

Noah took a deep breath, head still down. “Do you think you’d be my dad one day?”

Rafael nodded against Noah’s head. “I’d like that, Noah, would you?”

“I’d like it a bunch. I’d like calling you Papi. And then Abuelita Lucia would be my real grandma. Will that be ok with her?” Noah pulled back a little to look up into Rafael’s eyes again.

Rafael smiled at the boy, “Yes, she would. In her heart you are already her very real grandson. She’d be thrilled to know you want her to be your grandmother.”

Noah put his head back down and sighed out a big breath. “I love our made family, it’s the very best.”

“It sure is, mijo,” Rafael said. Noah squeezed him tight, recognizing from the vocabulary they’d been studying that Rafael had just called him son, and it gave him a warm feeling, a belonging feeling. He decided that in this instance snuggles were appropriate and even his friends wouldn’t frown on it.

“Do you think mom will be sad?”

“Why would she be sad, Noah?”

“That I want you to be my Papi. She’ll always be Mami, though.”

“You know what’s the best thing about love, Noah, it’s like hugs and smiles, the more you give, the more you get. Your mom isn’t going to be sad, she knows you have enough love to go around to her and all your aunts and uncles and to me, too.”

Noah nodded again against Rafael’s shoulder, “Uh-huh.” Noah was quiet another moment and then continued, “Did you love mom as soon as you saw her, like me?”

That surprised a genuine laugh out of Rafael and Noah loved how he could feel that laugh rumble in Rafael’s chest. Rafael had a flash of memory, his first meeting with Olivia had been directly after a satisfying court win, he was full of that feeling of adrenaline and success and she had been standing there with Amanda and her temporary captain, challenge in her eyes and an unwinnable case to present to him. His mouth had gotten the better of him, as it sometimes did, and he’d met that challenge in her eyes with a smart-ass remark and a smirk.

“I’m letting you in on a little secret, Noah. I think I did love her as soon as I saw her.” He thought about that case, that unwinnable case that he had crushed, and the look in her eyes when he won it, the nod he’d given her in the courtroom. He was certain he’d loved her already by the time he’d seen her smile after that win. “And ever since then, it’s only grown more. That’s another great thing about love and smiles and hugs, they all get better with time.”

Noah nodded, then asked, “Will we need Uncle Trevor to make papers to sign so you can be my dad?”

“Eventually. Your mom and I will have to talk about the best way to go about that. And maybe I’d like to propose to her first, you know, so we’ll all be family. Do you think she’d marry me? And do you think you’d like for all of us to live together as a family?”

“I would. I’d like storytimes every night and to see you every day and not just sometimes. I think mom would like it, too.”

“Now that I have your permission, I’ll discuss it with your mom, Ok?”

“You need my permission, like slips mom signs for school?”

“Sort of like that, yes.”

“I can make one!” Noah was excited now and jumped off Rafael’s lap to grab his backpack and look for paper. “I need help spelling though, I don’t think I know how to spell permission.”

“Tell you what, I’ll help you look it up in the dictionary and then help you write the note, then we’ll do the spelling homework I know you have.”

“Deal!” Noah found some paper and a pencil in his backpack and reluctantly pulled out his spelling book as well, if it got the job done he’d agree to do his homework too, and maybe talk his Uncle Rafa, no, his new Papi he corrected himself in his head, to teach him new words in Spanish.

Down the hall, Kelly and Oliva had been working together to get as much information as they could from Kimiko. It wasn’t the first time they’d worked together and they did well.

“I really like your drawings, Kimiko, do you think I could have one?” Olivia asked her.

“I’ll make you one if you like.”

“I would like that, thank you. I tell you what, if you write your full name and your address on the back, I can send you a thank you card, would you like that?”

“Yes, Miss Olivia. What would you like me to draw for you?”

“How about you draw something that makes you really happy, something that always makes you smile. I can put it up on my wall and it will remind me of happy things.”

“Ok.” Kimiko pulled the blank pad of paper to her and took up a coloured pencil to start.

“Miss Kelly and I are going to go talk a bit but we’ll just be over by the door if you need us, ok?”

Kimiko nodded, not looking up from her paper.

While Kelly and Olivia were talking quietly, Olivia’s cell phone vibrated. She checked it and saw a text from Fin. He and Amanda were on their way back, he also reported that Sonny and Karla had found nothing on their calls to hospitals and morgues. “Looks like good news and bad news,” she told Kelly and explained what little they’d learned.

“We’ve got a place for her for the weekend to start, Trevor and I will get the ball rolling on that.”

Olivia nodded and they discussed some more, watching as Kimiko drew her picture. Kimiko turned the paper over and drew some more, then laid the pencils aside and sat with her hands folded, eyes down. Olivia and Kelly went back to the table.

The picture was surprisingly well done considering the artist was only in second grade. It was clearly a park of some kind with trees and sunlight streaming through the branches and wooden walkways winding between the huge trunks.

Olivia and Kelly sat down at the table and Kimiko pushed the paper across to Olivia.

“This is very pretty, will you tell me about it, about what makes you happy there?”

Kimiko nodded, “It’s a place my mom used to take me all the time, it’s full of redwoods and bay trees and it smells really good, we would picnic and spend all afternoon there and she would draw the trees and help me draw, too.” This was nearly more words in a row than Kimiko had said all evening. She turned the paper over and Olivia could see that she’d drawn on the back as well, addresses and a stamp with waving line across it like a post mark. “This is where I used to live,” Kimiko pointed out the return address in the upper left corner, “And this is where I live now.” She pointed to an address in the middle of the right side of the paper where her name had been written as ‘Kimiko Sano’. “I drew it like a postcard, we used to buy postcards at the gift shop there.”

“And where is this?” Olivia asked.

“It’s called Muir Woods, it’s in California where we lived before.”

“It’s very beautiful, I will be very happy looking at it on my wall. Thank you, Kimiko.”

“You’re welcome, Miss Olivia.” Kimiko looked up and gave her a small smile.

“Someday when you are a famous artist someone will want to buy this from me and even if they offer me a million dollars I will say no.”

Kimiko giggled, surprising Olivia and Kelly. “That’s silly, nobody pays a million dollars for drawings.”

“Sure they do, when they are drawings by Picasso or da Vinci.”

Kimiko giggled again and bowed her head.

“Can I get a million dollar drawing, too, if I promise never to sell it?” Kelly asked.

Kimiko pulled the paper back in front of her and started drawing. Olivia took her drawing and stood, indicating with hand gestures that she’d send Trevor Langan in now that she was done, Kelly nodded and smiled.

“I’ll be back in after a little while, Kimiko,” Olivia said.

Kimiko looked up and nodded, then went back to her picture.

Olivia and Trevor exchanged nods and places, Olivia watching through the window as he spoke with Kelly briefly and then sat with her to watch Kimiko drawing. Olivia took the picture down the hall to show the squad the name Kimiko had written. No wonder they weren’t finding much information if Johnstone wasn’t her last name. Sonny and Karla took the name as well as the address in San Francisco that was written on the back of the picture and started again to look for information on Kimiko and her mother, unsure now exactly what her mother’s name really was. Kimiko had confirmed that her mother’s first name was Risa as it had appeared on the school information sheet, but nobody had asked about her last name.

“Why didn’t we question the name to start with?” Olivia asked nobody in particular.

Karla answered anyway, “The apartment is rented in the name Johnstone, I think it never occurred to us to ask.”

“Let’s be glad children so rarely display guile, at least we are starting fresh early and not three days from now. I’ll get Kelly to try to see if Kimiko will talk about where her mom worked in California.” Olivia sent a quick text and got a reply immediately from Kelly down the hall. Then Olivia turned toward her office as Fin and Amanda returned. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to check in with my men.” Olivia was confident in Fin being in charge since she wasn’t even supposed to be here. She wasn’t sure she should leave yet though, not until they knew Kimiko would be settled for the evening at least. A chorus of agreement came from her crew.

Olivia found her son in her chair, studying a list of words written in Rafael’s handwriting. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to the top of Noah’s head. “Spelling must be done if you have new Spanish vocabulary to study.”

“Yep,” Noah said.

“I suppose you’ll be wanting new French words too, then.”

“Yes please, and Uncle Rafa said he has some French suggestions for you.”

“Does he now?” Olivia smirked at the wicked look Rafael gave her over Noah’s head.

“I think it’s time I added some Italian in there, to keep your Uncle Rafa on his toes.”

Noah looked up at his mom, then at Rafael, both were smiling those smiles they got when they were being weird grown-ups. He smiled too, because he knew something his mom didn’t. Satisfied, he just agreed with his mom and went back to studying the words and definitions that Rafael had written out for him.

“I’m going to talk to my mom about getting some language workbooks for Noah, ones for his grade level. In both Spanish and French.”

Olivia took the other chair in front of her desk next to Rafael “That’s a great idea, thank you Rafa.”

“My pleasure, and hers as well no doubt. She loves that he likes to practice with her.”

“I’m happy we are all getting to learn from one another.” Olivia reached out and put a hand on Rafael’s elbow and nodded her head at the door. He nodded back.

“I need to borrow Uncle Rafa for a minute, sweet boy, you keep studying, ok?”

“Ok, Mom.” Noah didn’t look up as they left her office.

Olivia and Rafael stepped away from the office door and Olivia quietly brought Rafael up to speed on developments so far. He didn’t directly try cases for the SVU anymore but he was in charge of the ADAs that did, so he’d be reviewing the case after the holiday anyway.

“So you’ve implemented the team idea getting Kelly and Trevor in here already,” Rafael said. “Who’d they draw for an ADA?” He knew there were two on the rotation this weekend.

“Clark. I think it’s a good fit, she’s enthusiastic and willing to fight for victims. She’s checked in a few times already according to Fin’s texts to me.”

“Speak of the devil and she appears.” Rafael nodded toward the hall to the elevator where Shirley Clark was walking in. The redhead surveyed the room and caught sight of Rafael, stopped briefly and then continued into the bullpen. She exchanged greetings with the detectives and made her way to Rafael and Olivia.

“Sir, I thought you were away this weekend,” she nodded to Olivia by way of greeting.

“I am a figment of your imagination,” Rafael said. “If Carmen asks, you didn’t see me.”

“She better not ask then, ‘cause no way in hell am I lying to that woman.”

“Great, my staff is ready to throw me under the bus, thanks.”

“We understand who makes the schedules in your office.”

“Well, that’s me in my place then,” Rafael gave them a half grin. He grew more serious then, “Update me where we are on our end.”

“Please,” Olivia said.

“I’ve got the paperwork squared away to have the girl housed for the weekend, if her mother isn’t located by Tuesday, since it’s a holiday, there will be a review. If no family is found or her mother is still missing then we will discuss further options. She is not yet officially in the foster system, only a temporary care order. The judge was understanding and wants to be kept up to date.”

“Judge Linden?” Olivia asked.

“How did you know?”

“Kind of a friend of the family,” Olivia smiled.

“Well, it’s working. Our temporary custodian should be here soon. As soon as she is, we’ll get Kimiko settled if you don’t need her for more?”

“Check with Fin, he’s in charge. I’m also a figment of your imagination,” Olivia said.

“Well Carmen had better not ask about you either.”

“Looks like I’m under the bus with you, Barba,” Olivia said to a smirking Rafael.

“Equal Opportunity, Captain,” was all Shirley Clark said as she turned to seek out Fin and coordinate with the detectives.

“Seems like we’re surplus to purposes, Rafa, shall we gather our boy and go sit with Kimiko until her caretaker arrives?”

Rafael smiled, warmed by Olivia referring to Noah as ‘theirs’, and nodded, a little overwhelmed in the moment to say anything in light of his earlier discussion with Noah. Olivia flashed him a question with an eyebrow raised and he simply shook his head, mouthing the word ‘later’ and glancing around the squad room, too many people to overhear any discussion he wanted to have. Olivia nodded and they went back to her office.

“Let’s pack up and go see Kimiko, sound good?” Olivia said when they entered to find Noah still studying his vocabulary.

“Yeah,” Noah said, “I like the plan.”

“Good, but first help me find the perfect spot for this picture she drew for me, please.”

Noah looked at the picture and then around at the walls of his mother’s office. The wall behind her desk was windows with shades drawn that looked out on her squad room. Next to her desk was a bulletin board where she had put up his own drawings and a calendar and various lists and notes. Across from her desk hung assorted certificates and the things collected over her career as well as a framed photo taken on the day she adopted him. He took the drawing and held it up beside the picture of his mother holding him, she looked pretty in a light blue dress. “You should put it here, where you see it when you look up from your desk.”

“How about the bulletin board?”

“Nope. Right here. You can put it in the frame from our picture and we can get a different frame for this one,” he gestured to the adoption day photo, “and put it with a picture of you and me and Uncle Rafa together.” His voice was certain, nearly adamant.

Olivia looked at Rafael who shrugged. “If you’re sure?”

“I am.” Noah’s smug look reminded Olivia of Rafael so much she wondered if Noah practiced it.

Rafael helped Noah gather his things while Olivia replaced the picture in the frame and rehung the drawing across from her desk.

“Can we, I mean may we get dressed nice for a picture together, Uncle Rafa?” Rafael nodded and Noah continued, “Would you help me dress so we can match?”

“Do you want to dress in a suit like me or an exact matching suit, or just your own clothes that kind of look like mine?” Rafael wasn’t sure what Noah’s intention was here.

“I’d like a matching suit. And Mom can wear her pretty blue dress. And we can have a picture to go with that one,” he nodded to where his mother was securing the adoption day photo in a file for safekeeping until she had another frame.

Rafael felt slow on the uptake. Noah was telling him he wanted another adoption day photo but didn’t want to say it in front of his mom, not until Rafael had talked to her like he promised. Rafael crouched in front of Noah and smiled, letting Noah know he’d caught on but not spilling the secret. “We can absolutely have matching suits, Noah, and we will go shopping for one as soon as we are back from our beach weekend. Deal?”

“Deal!” Noah high fived the hand that Rafael put up for him.

“Noah, you don’t need a suit, you have perfectly nice school clothes.”

“I think every boy should know how to wear a good suit, Liv, and it would be my pleasure to make sure Noah has a nice one.”

“I suspect the two of you of something, but I’ll let it slide if you promise not to go overboard.”

Both of the men in the room raised their hands as if to swear in court and the synchronization of it made Olivia laugh out loud. She rolled her eyes and told them to follow her. She opened the door and led the way to the children’s room where Kimiko was sitting with Kelly and Trevor.

Shirley Clark met them at the door, asking Olivia if she could confer with the other two adults inside, Olivia told her she and Rafael and Noah would be happy to keep Kimiko company, so Shirley led Kelly and Trevor off and Oliva and company sat with Kimiko.

Noah sat next to his friend and leaned in, whispering, “Ok?”

Kimiko nodded. She looked up at Olivia then, asking very quietly, “If my mom is lost will I have to be adopted? Is that why Mr. Trevor is helping me?”

“Oh, sweetie, no.” Olivia reached over and put her hand over Kimiko’s where she had them folded in front of her on the table. “Mr. Trevor does a lot of different jobs as a lawyer, helping me adopt Noah is just one of the things he does. Right now his job is to protect you, to make sure we do everything we can to keep you safe and to find your mom. He’s here to make sure you get what you need, including your mom back.”

To be honest, Olivia had been surprised when Langan had volunteered to be part of her experiment, one that created a team of people to work with underage victims that found themselves in the care of the SVU. It was something she’d been thinking about for a long time and when her boss and his boss had asked for her input to improve the SVU, she’d been happy to tell them how a perfect world should be and they’d pared that down to some possibilities. This was one of the first test cases where they had Children’s Services and a Guardian Ad Litem for their underage victim ready and waiting at the squad to help their client through the process. The experimental team also included temporary care without using the over-taxed foster system but still approved and checked out by Children’s Services, a short list of judges willing to be woken at any hour to help with placement, and a list of counselors also on call if any of the team or detectives felt they would be needed.

Kimiko looked relieved. She turned her hands over and took Olivia’s hand in both of hers, “Thank you, Miss Olivia.”

Olivia gently squeezed the little girl’s fingers, “You are so welcome, Kimiko.”

Noah saw that the colours and paper had been neatly stacked to one side. He pulled it back over towards Kimiko. He looked at his mom and tapped the pile and nodded to his friend. Olivia understood his silent question.

“Kimiko, you can take these with you to keep, they’re yours now.” Olivia slid the pile over in front of the girl. “You can put them in your backpack if you like.”

“I’d like that. Thank you.” She brought her backpack from the floor by her chair and unzipped it, sliding all the art supplies in like they were a cache of gold, beaming a smile at Olivia. “Thank you so much.”

“You are very welcome.” Olivia couldn’t help but smile back, it was the best she’d seen Kimiko look since she met her.

Kimiko turned to Noah and leaned toward him, “Thank you for sharing, everyone has been so nice,” she whispered.

“Welcome,” he whispered back.

The door opened and Kelly returned. “Kimiko, there are some people here to meet you, they’re going to give you a safe place to stay while we find your mom. Would you like to come meet them?”

Kimiko hugged her backpack to her chest and gave an uncertain nod.

Noah held out his hand and Kimiko took it, giving him a tremulous smile.

Hand in hand and carrying backpacks, the two children followed Kelly down the hall, Rafael and Olivia following them. In the bullpen Noah made a happy sound. An older couple stood talking to Sonny and Amanda, who was holding a towel wrapped pan in her hands.

“I know you’re working late so be sure you feed everyone, gotta keep your strength up,” the older lady was saying.

“Ma, we got take-out.”

“Not as good.”

“Listen to your mama, Junior, it’s easier,” the older man said, then tapped the woman, obviously his wife, on the elbow and nodded toward the hall where Kelly was approaching.

The older couple focused on Kelly as she led the children in and Noah squeezed Kimiko’s hand happily.

“Noah, why don’t you do the introductions,” Kelly said, having heard several iterations of the ‘adopting Kimiko for a day’ story by now. She figured if Kimiko had accepted her so easily on the strength of Noah’s reassurance of knowing most of the rest of the detectives and Trevor Langan, then letting him introduce the couple who would be taking care of Kimiko wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Noah was happy to do this, leading Kimiko over to the couple. “Kimiko, this is Uncle Sonny’s mom and dad, I call them Prozia Sophia and Prozio Dom. That means great-aunt and great-uncle in Italian.”

“You have so much family,” Kimiko whispered, then slightly more loudly said, “Nice to meet you,” to the new family she was meeting.

Sophia Carisi sat in the chair by her son’s desk to be closer to the little girl. “It’s very nice to meet you, Kimiko. My son tells me that Noah has decided you will be his cousin for the weekend. You can call us Sophia and Dom if you like, or aunt and uncle even but only if that is comfortable for you. We have dinner waiting at home if you are hungry?”

Kimiko looked at Noah who smiled encouragingly and nodded. She looked back and said quietly, “That would be nice. I am hungry a little bit. Thank you, Miss Sophia.”

“That’s great sweetheart, we’ll get you settled and fed, ok?” Kimiko nodded so Sophia continued, “Miss Kelly and Mr. Trevor are going to check in with us over the weekend and we have Noah’s mom’s number in our phone if you think you will need to talk to Noah, ok with you Noah?” Sophia checked and Noah nodded.

“Yes Prozia Sophia, if it’s ok with my mom.”

“Of course,” Olivia said from where she stood behind Noah.

Amanda had disappeared the covered dish to the break room and returned with a dark blue nylon gym bag emblazoned with the NYPD logo on it. She crouched down to Kimiko’s level as she had in the playground. “I went by the place where you live and got some things for you, clothes and stuff. I hope I got things you like. There’s a bag with a new toothbrush and toothpaste and hair brush in there. Couldn’t find a jacket or coat though, did you leave it at school maybe?”

“No Miss Amanda, I don’t have a jacket.”

Amanda was nonplussed. Sophia stepped in to rescue her, “We have plenty of jackets at our house she can use, in a variety of sizes. We’ll keep her cozy.”

Amanda stood and nodded, handing Dom the gym bag when he held his hand out to take it.

“Ladies,” Dom said, “shall we go find that dinner?”

Kimiko looked from one to the other of them and then back at Noah who smiled so she nodded up at the man. Sophia held out her hand and Kimiko took it. They said their goodbyes and Kelly and Trevor walked them to the elevator.

“I’m glad your parents got their review done, I know they are going to be great with kids that need them,” Olivia said to Sonny who nodded and smiled a little.

“Mom has more than enough love and food to take care of an army of kids, plus she might stop aggravating me to give her some more grandkids. Win win, Captain.” They both chuckled at that.

“Keep me posted, Fin,” Olivia said, “we’re not going to make the beach tonight. Call if you need me.”

“Will do, Cap, have a good evening.”

Everyone said their goodbyes and the three left for the elevator and finally out of the One-Six.

In the car Rafael said, “I’ve been texting with my mom, she knows we were delayed but not why. She invited us over for dinner. I told her I’d let her know.”

Olivia thought about it, then turned to Noah in the back seat, “What do you think sweet boy, shall we go see Lucia?”

“Yeah!” was his excited reply.

“That makes two yeses, you up for dinner with your mom?”

“It’s unanimous. You drive, I’ll text.”

Olivia turned the engine over and they drove toward Lucia Barba’s apartment.

“Mi nieto, ¿cómo estás?” Lucia said when she opened the door to Noah’s knock, hugging him and then greeting her son and Olivia.

“I’m good, abuelita,” Noah answered her question in Spanish then switched back to English, “Thank you for dinner.”

“It’s my pleasure to have you over. It’s ready so let’s get to it, shall we?”

Over dinner Olivia explained as much of what happened that afternoon as she could and still keep the confidentiality of the details of the case intact. She had explained confidentiality to Noah on the way to Lucia’s and made sure he understood why confidentiality was important and how it was different from a secret. Noah was his usual exuberant self through dinner but after was thoughtful and quiet as he played while the adults cleaned up after dinner and enjoyed coffee in the living room.

“In light of your adventure tonight, do you think you’ll make it to the beach tomorrow?” Lucia asked them.

Olivia looked at Rafael and back to Lucia but Rafael answered, putting his arm around Olivia as he did, pulling her to his side on the loveseat. “This case is a little close to our hearts,” he tilted his head toward the other side of the room where Noah was playing. “It’s also one of the test cases for the new team action that Liv has been working on creating.”

“You’ve been part of that creation, Rafa,” Olivia said, leaning into him.

“But it’s your baby, your pet project. There are a lot of reasons to keep an eye on it. That’s why I am pretty sure we won’t be sunning on the beach tomorrow or the next day.”

“You already have suitcases in the car and I have no exciting plans, let me have Noah here for the weekend and the two of you can have a little staycation while you keep an eye on this case even if you aren’t in the office. You can come by and have lunch Monday and take him home then.” When it seemed like Olivia was wavering Lucia continued, “You’ve had nearly no time alone all Summer, let me help with that.” There was a bit of a gleam in her eye when she said that.

“Mami,” Rafael protested.

“What, you think I can’t remember what it’s like to be young and in love and have a little one underfoot?”

Olivia laughed. “Lucia,” she said, “I think you made your unflappable son blush. For that I award you my son for the weekend with thanks.”

“For wanting to keep your son to myself or for pushing mine on you?”

“Yes,” Olivia was still laughing as she got up to cross the room to Noah who was paying no attention to them.

Olivia sat on the floor with her son. “Noah,” she said, and he smiled up at her. “You know we just aren’t going to get to the beach this weekend, I’m so sorry.”

“If we were at the beach how would we get home fast if Kimiko needed us?” Noah asked.

“Exactly right. So Lucia was wondering if you’d like to spend the weekend with her instead. I promise to call her if Kimiko calls me to talk to you and Uncle Rafa and I will come have lunch on Monday and we’ll spend that afternoon doing something fun for the three of us. Would you like that?”

“I’d like all of that, please.”

“You’ll be good for Abuelita Lucia?”

“I will.”

“I love you, my sweet boy,” Olivia said and smiled when Noah launched himself into a hug around her neck.

Rafael and Olivia agreed to stay long enough to say goodnight and Rafael agreed to read to Noah before bedtime. They also agreed to call each evening to say goodnight to Noah. Olivia went to get Noah’s suitcase and Lucia excused herself to go make sure her guest room was ready despite knowing that it was. Rafael had quietly requested a moment alone with Noah and it was the best reason she could make up on the spot. She hung back out of sight knowing she shouldn’t but couldn’t help eavesdropping.

“Uncle Rafa,” Noah said quietly when Lucia was gone, “I have a question.”

“I could tell you did, what’s on your mind?”

“Mama was talking about the difference between secrets and condenses,” he stumbled on the word, looked up at Rafael.

Rafael sat on the floor with Noah, “Confidences,” he said.

“Confidences,” Noah carefully repeated the word, “and you and I have a confidence.”

“We do. Secrets aren’t always bad, Noah, like keeping secret what you got for someone’s birthday gift, that’s not a bad secret to keep. But a confidence like you and I have will soon be known by everyone and so it would spoil a good surprise but it won’t hurt anyone to find out about it. Keeping Kimiko’s confidence right now is to protect her, we keep her safe by not talking about certain things about her. Sometimes we don’t ever tell things in order to keep someone safe.”

“I think I understand better now, Uncle Rafa.”

“I’m glad, Noah, you can always ask me anything, ok?”

“Except what’s in my birthday presents, right?”

“That’s right, mijo,” Rafael chuckled.

Lucia wondered what in the world they were talking about and didn’t miss her Rafael call the little boy his son. She decided she’d better pretend to return but then Olivia knocked and opened the door with Noah’s suitcase in hand.

Rafael read to Noah after he got into his pajamas and then said goodnight, after a hug he kissed Noah on the forehead and tucked him in, telling him he’d send his mom in for a goodnight hug and kiss and they said goodbye. Olivia left Rafael alone with his mom and as soon as she was gone Rafael gave his mom a look that had been known to make defense attorneys cringe in the courtroom.

“You listened.”

“I’m sorry Rafi.”

Rafael’s look said plainly that he didn’t believe she was at all sorry for eavesdropping.

“Ok, stop the look. I have no idea what you were talking about anyway.”

Rafael relented with a sigh. “I want to marry her, Mami, I just don’t know how to convince her.”

“Have you actually asked her?”

Rafael just stood with his hands in his pockets, not looking up at his mother.

Lucia walked up to him and put her hands on either side of his face, “Oh Rafael, mijo, just ask. I promise she adores you so much, I see it every time she looks at you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and he relented, hugging her back.

“Te amo, Mami,” he said.

“I love you too, mijo. Be happy.”

Olivia returned to the living area to see that Lucia had packed up leftovers to send home with them, and Rafael was rolling his eyes at her instructions, as if he didn’t know the first thing about cooking or reheating dinner.

Lucia turned to smile at her. “Olivia, will it be alright if I take Noah to Sunday mass? I thought he might like to light a candle for his friend and her mother. It’s ok if you would rather he not go and he doesn’t have to be Catholic to light a candle…”

Olivia stopped Lucia before she could talk herself out of the idea, “It’s fine, Lucia, thank you, I think he’d like that very much. We’ve been to a few different kinds of services and he knows to stay quiet and not ask questions until after the service and we’ve left the church. And we’ve lit candles in a few of the places we’ve been so he knows why and to ask for help to do it. Just be prepared for a lot of questions after.”

Rafael and Olivia finally got out of his mother’s apartment, with not quite half of her refrigerator’s worth of food, Rafael was sure.

“What does she think, we’ll spend all weekend in bed and be too exhausted to cook?” Rafael grumbled as he put the full to bursting bag in the trunk when Olivia opened it.

“No Rafa, she just realizes that we likely haven’t stocked up for a weekend at home since we planned to be gone for several days.” Olivia shut the trunk and then put her arms around Rafael’s neck, “And remember,” she grinned, “we’re young and in love.”

Later in Rafael’s apartment they were curled together on the couch under a blanket with a musical playing on the television, the volume low. They’d changed into their standard sleepwear which for both of them was sweats and tanks, they were comfortable and had drinks in hand.

Olivia reached forward and put her glass on the coffee table, then snuggled back under Rafael’s arm. “What’s on your mind, babe?”

“What?”

“Three entire songs have gone by and you usually at least hum along. Something’s bothering you.”

“You know me too well.” He put his own glass on the end table and turned so he could wrap his arms around her.

Olivia reciprocated, wrapping her arms around his waist, “Isn’t that kinda the point?” She looked up into his eyes, smiling, and found his expression serious.

“I really like this. I like us together.”

“I do, too.”

“I love you. I love Noah.”

“I love you and I know Noah does as well.” Olivia gave him questioning eyes, wondering where he was going with this conversation.

“There’s something I need to show you.”

He led her to the bedroom and opened the box on top of his dresser that held his tie tacks and cuff links. He pulled out a folded sheet of paper, then sat on the edge of the bed and turned on the bedside lamp. He patted the bed next to him and Olivia joined him.

“This is not how I planned this.” Rafael started turning the folded paper in his hands, over and over as he spoke. “My plan, such as it was, involved dinner and dancing and likely a fancily wrapped Christmas gift. It’s September and we haven’t even hit our six month anniversary yet. There is nothing romantic about Labor Day weekend.” He looked over at her and she was just watching him, her dark eyes full of love and trust, as they always seemed to be whenever he looked at her which was as often as he could. “But I’m no longer on my own schedule here. Someone else is very invested in your answer to this.” Rafael slipped off the bed to face her on one knee. “Olivia Benson, light of all my nights, love of my life every day, will you make a family of us?” He handed her the paper.

She unfolded the paper. In the middle, very carefully printed in her son’s handwriting, it read Permission Slip. Under that was a line drawn where Rafael had filled in his own name in his neat printing. The note read, all in her son’s careful yet still second grader printing after Rafael’s, “Rafael Barba has my permission to ask for my mom to marry him and to adopt me and be my Papi.”

Under that Noah had done his best to sign his name in cursive, though shaky it was still legible.

Olivia’s eyes were teary when she looked up from the paper and down at Rafael who was waiting for her answer. His eyes were suspiciously damp as well.

“Yes.”

“Yes?” Rafael asked.

“Yes, all of this, yes! Yes, yes, yes!” Olivia reached for Rafael as he reached for her and he raised up to kiss her, carrying her back on the bed so they were laying side by side.

They came up for air and Olivia rolled to her back, holding the paper up to read it again, Rafael beside her smiling.

“How?” she asked him, so he told her about the conversation with Noah and writing the permission slip together and then about their later talk about secrets and confidences. She had laid aside the permission slip and curled up with him as Rafael talked.

“So that’s why my plans for a romantic Christmas themed proposal went awry, I didn’t want to make Noah wait that long to spill the secret.” Rafael leaned over to kiss her again. “You deserve the romance though.”

Olivia laughed, kissing him back. “And does that explain the business about the picture? He expects a new adoption day picture perhaps.”

“I think so. Or a wedding picture,” Rafael shrugged. “Why not both.”

“Luckily, we know people in the right places. We should be able to find a way to make adoption day and wedding day happen together.”

“We do, but nothing will be open until Tuesday so I suggest we table the discussion and concentrate on celebrating.”

“I do like how you think, Counselor.”

“It’s why you keep me around, Captain.”

Olivia’s hand slid under his shirt, “One among many reasons,” she said.

A pair of phones started ringing from the living room and they both groaned, separating to go find out what was so urgent at ten in the evening to make both of them needed.

When they checked, it turned out to be texts.

“Test case, test texts,” Olivia said and turned her phone in Rafael’s direction. He held his own phone up, nodding.

“We might want to remember in future that vibrate is a function on our phones or make sure the squad goes home at a decent hour.”

“Yeah, not gonna happen.” Olivia scrolled through quickly, not much was new since she and Rafael had left the squad a few hours earlier. “The logic of sending group updates daily is sound but maybe we can change the timing.”

“The joy of supervising.”

“This brain-child is half yours, Barba.”

“Then I second the morning report idea.”

“Motion carries.” Olivia opened a reply text and let Fin know that they’d gotten the text and suggested that future reports be done in the morning but didn’t bother suggesting going home at a decent hour. She and her entire squad worked as long as they had to, always had and always would. She felt a twinge of guilt for being on vacation but tried to shake if off as she hit send on the reply.

Rafael wrapped his arms around Olivia from behind, leaning down to rest his chin on her shoulder. “I can hear the wheels squeaking.”

Olivia sat her phone on the kitchen island and leaned her head against his. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for, workaholism is generally rewarded. All I’m pointing out is that you aren’t going to get anywhere beating yourself for not solving a case in under an hour. If things had gone as planned, we’d be at the beach and you wouldn’t have known this was happening.”

Olivia turned in his arms and he straightened so she could tuck herself into him, he tightened his arms and she leaned her head under his chin. “I know you’re right,” she sighed.

“Can I get that in writing?”

“No, and if you tell anyone I will deny it.”

“Perjurious.”

“That’s not a word.”

“It is.” The mock indignation in Rafael’s voice made Olivia laugh and he joined her.

Olivia leaned up and kissed his cheek, then rubbed her cheek along his until her lips were next to his ear, “Thank you for always knowing how to keep me from brooding on things I can’t control.”

Rafael murmured in her ear, “Part of my job.” Then he nuzzled her neck and kissed her pulse softly before rubbing his stubbled cheek along her neck. She shivered in his arms and hummed her pleasure as she pressed against him, hugging him to her.

Olivia cupped her hands around Rafael’s face, bringing his lips to hers and kissing him softly, then sucking his bottom lip between hers and he made that sound in the back of his throat that she loved hearing, the sound that she knew meant she’d just melted him inside out. His hands slid down her sides and then cupped her ass to pull her hard against him and she could feel his growing interest in their activities.

She slid her hands down his back and under the hem of his cotton tank, letting her nails lightly graze up his back as she pushed the shirt out of her way then pulled back from their kiss to toss the shirt away and lose her own as well, then she pressed against him again and delighted in his welcome. She kept pushing until he was backed up to the couch, his hands still stroking her bare skin and his kiss becoming more demanding, his tongue exploring known and well loved territory.

Olivia kissed her way down Rafael’s throat and chest, placing her fingers over his lips when he tried to protest, then smiling as he gasped as she applied her teeth gently to his nipples, teasing one with her finger and thumb as she licked and sucked one, then changing over to the other. Rafael stroked her skin and hair as she teased him, his head thrown back and eyes closed, letting her do as she liked.

She continued to kiss and lick and stroke down Rafael’s belly, pushing his sweatpants out of her way and finally just slid her hands down his sides and underneath his remaining clothes and pushed it all off to pool at his feet. She hummed against his skin and knelt in front of him, cupping his hard cock between her hands. Olivia looked up to see him with his head bowed over her, his eyes dark, pupils blown wide with desire, hands clenched on the back of the couch next to his hips. She held eye contact with him as she opened her lips and then flicked her tongue across the head of his cock and was rewarded with a sharply indrawn breath from Rafael, his own lips parted in awe or anticipation.

Olivia circled her tongue around and around the velvety head of Rafael’s hard cock, drawing him ever deeper into her mouth, one hand wrapped around the base of him and her other hand cupping and stroking his balls, fingers reaching back to stroke his perineum, gently pushing there to stimulate him further, rewarded with his deep groan of pleasure. She sucked hard and fast, taking as much of him into her mouth as possible, then pushing herself to her limit to take a little more and Rafael threw his head back, calling her name and then muttering in all the languages he knew how good it felt. Olivia thought he might not be speaking a known language at all until finally he lost the power of speech as she sucked and licked and stroked him with her mouth and hands.

“Liv, I’m…” he stopped trying to speak again when she pushed forward, taking him as deep as she could and swallowing him down, pushing him against the roof of her mouth with her tongue as he came and she drank him in. She finally pulled back and he was still half hard even after he came and there was a popping sound when she let him slide from her mouth.

Rafael pulled her up into his arms and kissed her, his tongue pushing into where she’d just had him in her mouth, licking his way past her teeth to tease her soft palete and circling her tongue with his, mimicking her moves earlier. He slid his hands in her clothes, pushing them away as she had done to him, then sliding one hand between her thighs, finding her wet and ready. He pulled her thigh up and out, bracing her with his own thigh and then holding her in place with one arm around her back. He slid his fingers deep into her and out again, using her own sweet wetness to circle her clit again and again, then sliding his fingers in her again, his thumb circling her clit as he made come here motions with his fingers deep inside until he found the exact right place to make her shake even as he kept kissing her, her moans of pleasure swallowed by his mouth.

Her orgasm crashed over her as he held her and he moved his mouth from hers and kissed his way to her ear and growled, “I’m gonna eat you until you scream my name and forget your own.” He picked her up and stepped out of the pile of sweatpants on the floor and carried her to the bedroom.

The clock read just after eight when Rafael woke in the morning. He closed his eyes again and just listened to the soft breathing of his sleeping lover, spooned with her back to him, bare skin warm along his chest and legs, hugging his arm to her middle. He let the contentment wash over him, feeling lucky and thankful. Eventually he slid from the bed, careful not to wake Olivia and went off to take care of his morning ablutions then went to the front room to retrieve their discarded clothing. He slipped into his sweatpants, smiling as he returned the pile of clothes to the bedroom. He went back out and set the coffeepot to start, then checked his phone, nothing there thankfully. He puttered with breakfast making until the coffee was done, then carried cups of coffee with toast and fruit into the bedroom to see that Olivia had woken and was in the bath. He set breakfast on the nightstand and picked up the permission slip sitting there, smiling. He replaced it in his tie box for safekeeping.

Olivia came out of the bath and smiled when she saw the breakfast, settling back in bed and picking up her coffee. “Good morning.”

“Good morning yourself.” Rafael joined her, reaching across her for his own coffee and stealing a quick kiss, then sitting the plate between them to share.

“What shall we do with our day?”

“Ring shopping.” Rafael’s voice was decisive.

“Wasting no time?”

“Nope.”

“I’m not changing my mind, I promise.”

“Nor am I, mi amor.”

Olivia gave him a soft smile, her eyes full of love. He returned it.

After a shower, which delayed their leaving a bit as they got distracted easily, they called for an Uber to avoid parking nightmares on their shopping trip. Eric greeted them as they passed the lobby desk downstairs, and they went out into the sunshine just as their car pulled up.

“Diamond District, is that right?” The driver asked when they got in.

“Yes, please,” Rafael said.

“Won’t take long to get there, good thing the parade is Monday and not today.”

They chatted about traffic on holidays and the nice weather predicted for the parade and soon the driver was pulling up in the few blocks of Manhattan famous for diamonds and jewelry.

“Congrats, Lovebirds. Have a great day,” the driver said as they exited the car.

As the car disappeared into the late morning traffic Olivia turned to Rafael, “Is there a neon sign over our heads?”

“I might have let slip that I wanted a ring for my lady when I was texting the driver.”

Olivia rolled her eyes at him and linked her arm through his.

“Sorry, Liv.”

“No babe, don’t be sorry. Good news is worth sharing.” She hugged his arm to her and looked up at him. He smiled and leaned in to kiss her quick.

“Shall we then?”

They agreed to browse along the windows until something caught their eye, but nothing was very appealing until they came to a tiny little shop wedged between some big name stores. There was a woman changing the window display and she looked up and smiled at them when she saw them stop. She was putting pocket watches on the velvet in the window.

“I have a good feeling about this one, Rafa.”

“As it pleases my lady,” he smiled and led her to the door and opened it for her, ushering her in with his hand in the small of her back. The bell on the door rang with a happy sound and the woman from the window turned to greet them.

“Good morning! How can I help you today?”

“We’re just looking right now, if that’s ok?” Olivia said.

“Yes of course, please come in. I’m Gladys and I will be happy to show you anything you’d like to see closer.”

“Thank you, Gladys,” Rafael’s voice held a smile in it and Olivia smiled at him, loving to hear his happiness.

The shop was tiny and there were displays of jewelry handcrafted on site as well as more commercial pieces. In one display Olivia found an unusual pair of bands and asked Gladys about them. It was obviously a matched his and hers set. The smaller band was gold with a small pink rose and two green leaves, there were three tiny diamonds set like dew drops on the rose and each leaf, a delicate scrollwork of gold holding everything in place. The larger band had no diamonds and a heavier gold filigree with one pink leaf and two green ones but still looked masculine for all that.

“Ah, a lovely set with a sad story. A lady came in a few years ago with them. Her parents had ordered them as a fiftieth wedding gift, they planned to renew their vows for their anniversary but then died in a plane crash before they could do it. The lady said that these came in the mail soon after the funeral. She had no emotional attachment to them and so wanted to sell them. I have been hoping I could find a home for them. A grand love represented by a beautiful gift yet never worn. These are Black Hills Gold, common in the flyover states but unusual for New York.”

“They’re perfect,” Olivia said. “Look, Rafa, three, like us.” She pointed to the bands with the three leaves and the two leaves and one rose, the three diamonds twinkling.

“You and me and Noah, yes, they are a bit perfect.”

“May we try them?” Olivia looked up at Gladys who happily brought the tray out for them to see the bands more closely.

Rafael took the smaller ring out of its velvet nest and Olivia put her hand out. He looked in her eyes and slid the band home, it fit like it was made for her. She laughed happily and picked up the larger band, then held Rafael’s hand with one of hers as she slid the ring on, keeping eye contact as he had. The ring fit. He nodded and she hugged him, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet, then sat her back down. “Forever, Olivia,” he murmured in her ear.

“For always, Rafael,” she murmured back.

Rafael let her go and turned to Gladys, “We’ll take them.”

Would you like me to box them for you then?” she asked as she returned the tray to the display case.

Rafael looked at Olivia and said, “I think we’ll wear them. Nothing about us is quite like others so these will be our engagement and our wedding rings, do you suppose?” Olivia nodded.

“That’s sorted then. I’d also like to look at some tie pins, I have a son who wants to wear a suit and tie and we need a matching set of pins for our matching suits.”

“My pleasure, sir. Over here, you might like these.” Gladys led Rafael to another case and Olivia wandered over to a display case of pocket watches, wondering if Rafael would like one. She was so pleased to hear Rafael call Noah his son and musing on how much life could change in so little time that she lost track of Rafael’s conversation with the shopkeeper. When Gladys appeared before her on the other side of the display she was startled.

“I’m so sorry, honey, I should be belled like a cat after the birds, shouldn’t I?” Gladys smiled as she said it.

“My fault, I was woolgathering.” Olivia looked over her shoulder and saw that Rafael was talking to an older man. She looked back to find Gladys still smiling before her.

“My husband is talking tie tacks and custom orders with your young man. Was there something you’d like to see?”

Olivia found it odd to be considered young but realized to the grandmotherly lady speaking to her she was indeed still young, as she and Rafael were to his mother. It kept the smile on her face. “I was looking at the pocket watches but I’m not sure about one, Rafa never wears one.”

“If you are looking for a wedding gift, I have some lovely fountain pens, perhaps that might appeal?”

“Oh, yes, that would be perfect.”

Gladys led her to a case where there were beautiful fountain pens made of everything Olivia could think of and some things she’d never considered. Her eye caught on a gold and green pen, simple in design but stunning. Gladys saw and reached into the display to bring it out, sitting it in a velvet lined tray.

“You have a good eye, this is a very fine 1930s malachite and gold pen, it was well taken care of and will last many years to come.”

Olivia reached out and ran a finger along the barrel, it was cool under her fingers. “Malachite is stone, right?”

“Yes, rumored to have healing properties back when people believed that sort of thing.”

“I do want it, but I’d like it to be a surprise. Would it be possible to have it delivered to my office?”

“Absolutely.”

Olivia took a card from her wallet and gave it to Gladys. “That’s my work address and all my numbers if you need to get a hold of me for any reason.” She also handed over a credit card. Gladys went to the back room of the little store and came back with a receipt and the card. She disappeared the pen and business card into a box as Olivia put her card and receipt away. Gladys gave her a quiet nod and cut her eyes to the side, indicating they were about to be interrupted. Olivia turned to see Rafael approaching.

“Did you find more treasures?”

“Many more and we’d better go to lunch while I can still spring for it.”

Rafael put his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. “Whatever you want, Liv.”

“Thank you for your help today, Gladys, it’s been a pleasure.”

“It was all mine, Olivia, I assure you. And congratulations.”

On the sidewalk again, Rafael asked where Olivia wanted to lunch but she couldn’t decide so they walked instead, window shopping and letting the day take them where it would.

Behind them in the little jewelers shop an older couple sat in the back room comparing notes.

“What a lovely young couple,” Gladys said as she polished and packaged the antique fountain pen in a padded box custom build for it, nestling the pieces in their velvet lined places.

Walter came and looked over her shoulder. “I’m sure they don’t consider themselves young.” Gladys harumphed at him and he patted her side good-naturedly.

“I have the best addition to that gift of a pen there, a brass and glass stand and inkwell. Let me get that and we’ll send it as a wedding gift.”

“You’re feeling generous today?”

“Aren’t I generous always?” He smirked as she grinned at him. “Mr. Barba gave me a generous tip to have his items done in two weeks, so it all balances.” He went to a set of shelves and brought her the gift, then showed her his sketches for the custom pieces he was making. Two tie pins with a clover and leaf motif made of gold and set with three birthstones, an opal and garnet and emerald as well as a locket with the same motif and birthstones. “I think these will be satisfactory, what do you think, love?”

“They will be pleased, no doubt.” She reached up and kissed his cheek, “How could they not.”

“Your confidence in my work never fails to lift my spirits.” He returned her kiss and went to his workbench to choose three sets of matching stones for his work. Gladys smiled as Walter set to work.

Rafael and Olivia were finishing lunch when her phone rang. She checked the screen to see it was Fin calling. She answered, “Benson.”

She listened for a bit, her side of the conversation not letting Rafael know much but she didn’t look alarmed so he motioned for the bill when their server passed by, taking care of it and the tip. He finished his coffee and waited for the call to be done.

Olivia hung up and they waited until they were outside the restaurant before they discussed the case.

“Risa Sano was reported missing by her employer eight weeks ago in Mill Valley, California. The bay area has circulated her picture as well as that of her daughter, but the news hasn’t gotten outside that area because they had no reason think anything was wrong. The police had no idea if Risa had just up and left or what. Her apartment was emptied so they thought she might have left on her own. Her boss didn’t think so.”

“And what sort of work did she do and for what employer?” Rafael asked as they walked back toward the diamond district.

“She worked in a gallery but also did work restoring art on the side, mostly for private clients at the gallery.”

“So we’re thinking what, something related to a client or the gallery. And when can we expect the FBI to descend on us?”

“Fin already reached out, they aren’t interested until we can prove kidnapping. They’re also concerned about jurisdiction because California and New York aren’t exactly neighboring states.”

“FBI is all the jurisdictions if you believe anything they say, not to mention state lines have been crossed, that’s an automatic FBI call. What about the address here?”

“No actual proof of wrongdoing, some knocked over furniture and a broken lamp with no blood could be just a tantrum.” Olivia’s frustration was plain in her voice.

“Do you have any contacts in San Francisco?”

“Nothing, the closest I have is LA and that’s no help at all.”

“I know a couple guys in the white collar division here in the city, I’ll get in touch. Maybe I can do some back channel dealing with them.”

“We could go by the apartment, we have a Uniform sitting on it, maybe we’ll see something the others missed.”

“Long shot,” he said.

“It’s what we’re best at,” Olivia replied and Rafael could see the challenge in Olivia’s eyes when she said that.

Rafael stepped toward the street and raised his arm to hail a taxi.

The apartment that Kimiko and her mom lived in was a fourth-floor walk-up in a building that had seen better days. The gentrification that had come to neighborhoods just a few blocks over had yet to reach this place. They found the expected uniformed officer in front of the apartment door, standing at parade rest when they approached. He saw them and turned, his hands coming from behind his back to reveal a clipboard.

“Captain, hello,” he nodded to Olivia, then Rafael, “sir.”

“Officer McColl, good to see you,” Olivia said and took the clipboard he handed her. She checked and saw nobody had been by since Amanda picking up clothes for Kimiko last night. She signed herself and Rafael in and handed the clipboard back. “You want to take your lunch or a break of any kind?”

“No ma’am, thanks. My partner went to get sandwiches and then we’ll change places, it’s her turn to stand here and I get the car in the alley.”

“Has anyone said anything, volunteered information? Any nosy neighbors commenting?”

The officer shook his head, “Sorry, no.”

Rafael tried the door, it was unlocked. He walked in while Olivia was talking to the officer and stopped, shocked at what he saw because what he saw was nothing. He backed out again and when Olivia turned, she saw what he had.

“What the hell?”

“That’s what I thought,” Rafael said.

The officer looked in and nodded. “Weird, huh?”

Olivia turned to him, “It’s been like this the entire time?” The officer just nodded.

Olivia and Rafael walked in and surveyed the stark apartment. The walls were blank. There was a folding table and two folding chairs in the middle of what would be the living room. There was nothing on the kitchen counter but a two-slice toaster. The front room and kitchen were devoid of anything else, not even a take-out menu or some junk mail. Olivia dug in her bag and pulled out some gloves, handing a pair to Rafael and pulling on a pair for herself.

“Hasn’t CSU finished here?” he asked as he donned the gloves.

“Yeah, and left fingerprint powder everywhere, best to avoid getting it all over us.”

Rafael opened the fridge to find an open pint of milk, a single orange, and nothing else. The freezer compartment was equally bare, not even an ice cube tray. Olivia started opening drawers and cabinets, finding nothing. Rafael joined her and found the cabinet next to the refrigerator held an open pack of paper plates, a roll of paper towels, and a box of assorted plastic utensils.

“This is creepy.”

“Yeah, so very,” Rafael said.

There were two doors off the living area, one led to a bedroom and the other to the bath. They went in the bedroom and found two single mattresses on the floor and two cardboard boxes, one open and empty, the other open but filled with clothing, it seemed to be women’s sizes, mostly small. There was a floor lamp that had been broken but was leaned up against the wall. The closet was empty, no hangers, no coats or clothes, no shoes. The bath had nothing in it but an open pack of toilet paper sitting on the floor. The medicine cabinet was hanging open, one hinge broken so it wouldn’t latch, it was also empty.

There was fingerprint powder everywhere, but it didn’t look like very many prints had been found because there were no voids in the black smudges where the techs would have used tape to lift a print.

Rafael’s phone rang and he pulled off one glove to reach in his pocket and bring it out to answer.

“Peter, hi, thanks for getting back to me so fast,” Rafael said when he answered it. “I need to pick your brain about this case we’ve got, and it’s some of the creepiest shit I’ve seen in a while.” He listened to his friend a bit and then continued, “Yeah, I know I don’t get out much, just tell me you have some ideas for me.” There was more listening before Rafael went on to describe the apartment to his friend. “Yeah, there’s a fire escape, hang on,” Rafael went over to the bedroom window and looked out, “No, it doesn’t look down on the alley, looks like it’s wedged between this building and the one beside.”

There was a metallic rattling and legs appeared as someone came down the fire escape, stopping to look in the window and wave a phone at Rafael. Rafael hung up his phone and tucked it in his pocket, then pulled his glove back on before opening the window. Someone above handed down an overly large piece of cloth, it looked like a tea towel. The man at the window put it over the sill and stepped into the room, followed by two more men, the last shut the window, he was already wearing gloves.

“What the hell, Peter?” Rafael asked.

“I was never here, good to see you Rafael. This is Neal,” Peter gestured toward a young man in a nice suit, “and this,” he was interrupted by the third man, the last through the window who shushed him and then put his hand over his own lips in a gesture like locking a door. Peter huffed out an impatient breath, “This is our associate.”

“I was never here,” the little associate in the black framed glasses said.

“Ok, we’ve established you were never here. What are you doing not ever being here? And this is Olivia, by the way, who you’ve never met since you aren’t here.” Rafael waved a hand at Olivia who stayed silent, a half smile playing along her lips.

“We aren’t helping you and we definitely aren’t investigating,” Neal said as he started going over the walls and baseboards of the nearly empty room. Olivia noticed that all three of them were wearing gloves.

The associate started his search in the kitchen, boosting himself up onto the kitchen counter so he could look at the top shelves of the cupboards. When he was done with that, he stretched to look above the cupboards at the space between the top and the ceiling, but it was high. A loud whisper came from the kitchen, “Suit, come be tall.”

Peter rolled his eyes and went to join the other man while Neal smirked. Peter climbed up and looked at the top of the cupboards while the other man climbed down, surprisingly quietly Olivia thought. Peter reached into the space between cupboard and ceiling, bringing out a dust covered newspaper, he held it between his finger and thumb.

“Dated November of 1963, not for us.” The little man turned and continued his search. Peter replaced the paper to where he’d found it with a shrug. He climbed down after taking a look at the top of the refrigerator.

Neal had made it around the room and started checking the mattresses for slits or sewn up places, poking the edges and random places to listen for papers hidden or to feel the wrong shaped lumps. He came up empty. He moved the mattresses and checked the floorboards, then replaced them where he’d found them. The other two men were doing something similar in the front room now.

Neal made it to the closet and took a tiny flashlight from his pocket and waved it around the closet, then shined it up. “Yeah, that’s what I want,” he said softly. He turned and looked around, seeing only Rafael and Olivia he smiled and turned to Rafael. “Would you give me a boost?” He leaned down and cupped his hands then gestured his cupped hands up, Rafael got the idea.

Rafael walked to the closet, the door to it was missing, and put his linked hands down for Neal to use as a step.

“Lift with your knees, you’ll be sorry later if you don’t.”

Rafael’s look told Neal to take it or leave it. Neal put his wingtip in Rafael’s hands and stepped up, Rafael propelled him to the shelf high in the closet, then stepped back when Neal disappeared off his hands, looking up and in to see where he went.

Neal’s muffled voice came from high up, “These old buildings sometimes have a crawlspace between floors,” there was a soft thunk and a bit of dust filtered down, Rafael stepped out of the way. Then a pair of legs appeared, and Neal was lowering himself from the edge of the shelf, he dropped the last bit of the way down, dusting his immaculate suit off and grinning. “Let’s see what we have.” He walked out to the living room where the card table was and spread a large sheet of paper across the empty surface of the rickety table. Peter and the other man joined him, as did Olivia and Rafael.

The large paper had been folded into quarters and in each was a sketch of a man, each different, but very detailed. There was no date on the paper but in the very bottom corner there was a tiny ‘RS’, a signature perhaps.

Neal pulled off one glove and rubbed the paper between his fingers and then leaned down and sniffed the paper. He replaced his glove and smiled like a cat who had all the canaries where he wanted them.

“Well, now that you’ve contaminated the evidence, what is it?” Peter asked.

Neal and the other man looked at one another and then back to Peter and both said, “Money.”

“And it’s old money, not new. This is paper stock for US currency from at least a decade ago,” Neal said.

“You can feel that?” Olivia asked.

“I can, and if you compare it to a bill from your wallet, if you have one old enough, you can as well. Forging bills isn’t that efficient but if they have a foreign buyer, they might make enough to break even on it. Forging bonds is a better bet and a much better return. I’m guessing somebody got their hands on old mint stock and they’re trying to duplicate some plates from a decade or more ago.”

“We need to get this down to the squad and see if we can get facial recognition on these guys,” Olivia said.

“And we’ve been here too long, we gotta go like ten minutes ago,” the little guy in the glasses said and headed back toward the fire escape.

“Nice not meeting you both,” Neal said and grinned as he followed his associate.

“Let’s try to do something more mainstream next time, like coffee, ok?” Peter said, turning to follow the others.

They were out the window before Rafael or Olivia could answer. Olivia and Rafael looked at each other and back to the closed window.

“What the hell?”

“I’ve been saying that all along, Liv.”

Olivia pulled off her gloves and dug in her purse to find an evidence bag, then held it open while Rafael folded and slid the paper into the bag. She closed the bag, sealed it, signed and dated it, then stuffed it into her purse. She took Rafael’s gloves and shoved them along with hers into another bag and stowed it away as well. “Looks like we’re headed to work, unless you’d like to split up and I’ll meet you later?”

“Hells no, I’m invested now, let’s go.”

They signed out with the officer outside and Rafael texted for an Uber as they went back down four flights of grungy stairs.

“How’d they get up on the roof?” Olivia asked when they were in the car.

“I don’t want to know,” Rafael said.

They found Fin and Amanda working when they entered the bullpen, Amanda on the phone and Fin standing at the fax machine drumming his fingers on the top of the machine while it slowly spit out whatever he was impatient to get.

Olivia took the large drawing out of its plastic and pinned it to the board where they had Kimiko’s photo and all the information available on the case which was sadly very little. Fin thumbed through the pages from the fax machine and made dissatisfied noises and dropped the papers on his desk before joining Olivia and Rafael at the board.

“Hey, Cap, Barba,” Fin nodded his hellos, “Whatcha got?”

“Found this in a crawl space above the closet in the bedroom at the apartment. Speaking of which, what is up with that creepy place?” Olivia said.

“It’s weird, for sure, very post-modern flop-house,” Fin nodded.

“Or Kidnapper Crib,” Rafael added.

“Oh yeah, and wiped down like someone with somthin’ to hide,” Fin said. “I’ve never seen a place so clean without any cleaning products in cupboards. Not even a trash can in there.”

“They know how to cover their tracks, this isn’t their first rodeo,” Rafael said.

“It might be enough to get some hits on similar kidnappings, and now we have these sketches to try for some facial rec,” Olivia gestured at the board.

Amanda was off the phone now and joined them. “You found this in the closet?”

“Not exactly, it was in a crawl space above it.” Amanda gave Olivia a puzzled look when she said that so Olivia went on, “We got some inside information on old buildings and took a second look. We might want to get copies of these over to Kimiko and see if she can ID any of them, and maybe she knows how her mother managed to hide the picture, it’s a pretty high crawlspace. Let’s get some copies out on the street as well. Rafael and I can swing by the Carisi’s with copies.”

“Sonny took the girls over, they’d been promised a playdate at Nonna’s and Kelly thought some kids to play with might help Kimiko settle in, so he’s there. Let me get these sent to his phone and then I’ll get Kelly and him up to speed in case she wants to be there when Sonny shows her the pictures, yeah?”

“Sounds good, thanks. If you have this in hand, we’ll get out of your hair.”

“I’ll send the scheduled update,” Fin said, “in the morning,” he stressed, “and if something breaks, I’ll call ya.”

“Thanks Fin.” Olivia said, and Rafael just nodded in agreement.

“So,” Amanda said, making a point to look down at where Olivia and Rafael were holding hands, then looked at Liv’s other hand and back up at her, “Anything you want to share with the class?”

“What, I, oh,” Olivia looked down at their joined hands and smiled when she met Amanda’s eyes again, “Yeah.” Olivia smiled and held out her free hand. “We haven’t told Noah yet that we’re engaged, so if you could keep it quiet until after Monday?”

“Your secret’s safe with us, Cap. Congratulations.” Fin leaned toward Rafael then, “’Bout time, Counsellor, good job.”

Olivia beamed and Rafael smirked at Fin. They said their goodbyes and left the squad room, still holding hands.

“They’re so cute,” Amanda said when the elevator closed on their boss and their former ADA.

“Slow, they’re so slow,” Fin laughed. And they aren’t the only slow ones, he thought to himself as he watched Amanda dial Carisi’s number to explain what they needed him to ask Kimiko and arranged for him to contact Kelly while she got the sketches photographed for them to disperse. He turned back to his desk so he could try to find matches for the sketches or the kidnapping details in the many databases they needed to search. It might be a long afternoon.

Rafael flagged a taxi when they got to the street and asked Olivia where she’d like to spend the afternoon, as the taxi pulled over she leaned against him and whispered in his ear. He gave her a huge grin and opened the door for her, they slid inside and he gave the cabbie his address, looking forward to Olivia’s promise of more celebrating their engagement.

The next morning Olivia and Rafael were sitting at the kitchen island enjoying coffee and the last of their waffle breakfast when their phones dinged a text message alert.

“See, much more civilized,” Olivia said as she checked the group update from Fin. Rafael’s phone dinged again, but Olivia’s didn’t so he checked his own phone to see that his FBI contact had sent him a text.

“Peter sent me a message,” he told her as he opened it.

The text was an address and a time and said simply call now.

Rafael pushed the button to call and it was answered immediately.

“Rafael, good to hear from you after so long,” Peter’s voice was chipper and there was no hint that they’d just seen one another the day before. “I hear you have a case that might intersect with something I’m working on, maybe we could meet to compare notes?”

“Sure, Peter, we can do that. Are you free this morning?”

“I have somewhere I have to be but I could do coffee on the way, say in an hour? I can text you the address.”

“Mind if I bring my fiancée?”

“The more the merrier,” Peter emphasized the word more.

“Got it, in an hour then, I’ll be looking for your text.”

“Later, Counsellor.” The line went dead. His phone dinged with another message and the name of a coffee cart in Central Park appeared, only blocks from the first address he’d been texted.

“Fin got a hit on one of the sketches and it’s not good.”

Rafael looked up at Olivia’s worried face. “What’s not good?”

“The guy is suspected in at least two murders and has terrorist ties, cartel ties, pretty much every scumbag organization on the planet is on his contact list. They have some footage of him arriving at LaGuardia in May but he appeared to be alone. Fin’s still trying to find the other three on any database. This guy runs drugs, guns, girls, launders money, he’s a department store for all things illegal.”

“What a peach.” Rafael said, “And we have a coffee date in an hour, get Fin on the phone, and anyone else you can get because I think we might need them.”

As they dressed Rafael explained the call and the texts. Olivia asked if he could guess what Peter was up to.

“I have no idea. Peter has always been pretty strict about rules but that business yesterday with the guys we never met, that’s out of character for the guy I’ve known for years, but I haven’t seen him for a few, things change.”

Olivia went to the closet and reached up to the top shelf and brought down a vest and handed it to Rafael as soon as he had his tee-shirt pulled over his head.

“What?” Rafael asked, taking the Kevlar she handed him but not putting it on yet.

“I think your buddy just called for back-up, Rafa, and I’d rather be wrong and overdressed than right and one of us dead.” Olivia watched him and he didn’t move. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.” he quirked one brow at her and she nodded. He gave her half a grin, a sparkle in his eye, and lifted the vest over his head and on. She stepped forward and smoothed the Velcro into place for him and leaned close to whisper in his ear, “You have so much to live for, be sure you do.”

She went to the suitcase she’d planned to take to the beach but found only tank tops and one nice blouse but it was white and all those would show her own Kevlar. “Dammit,” she muttered. She checked the drawer Rafael had cleared for her to use but found nothing there that would work. “I’m a cliché, I have nothing to wear.”

Rafael handed her a green polo shirt, “Will that do? It’ll be a bit big but that might work in your favour. And if you show up wearing my clothes everyone will know we’re not undercover or anything.”

“We aren’t undercover.”

“We’re crashing what I suspect is a rogue FBI op, we’re undercover.”

Olivia rolled her eyes and slipped the shirt over her Kevlar. It fit great and covered the butt of her gun sticking out of the holster in the small of her back. She slid her ID and badge wallet into her pocket and checked that she had her actual money and standard ID in the other. She checked the back-up gun at her ankle and straightened the denim of her jeans over it. When she looked up Rafael was dressed as well in jeans and a black polo shirt.

Rafael’s phone dinged a message and he checked it, his Uber had arrived.

“Did you call for an Uber while I was dressing?”

“No.”

He showed her the phone, and sure enough the text showed that his driver Nick was waiting downstairs.

“The app should give you a picture ID.”

Rafael checked, and showed that to Olivia as well, “Look, a guy we don’t know.” It was a picture of Peter’s friend Neal.

Olivia grabbed her own phone and they left the apartment, not sure if it was a mistake or not.

Outside Neal was leaning against the door of a sedan, smiling and patient, relaxed in a casual sweater and a ball cap. He held the back door open and then took his place behind the wheel. As he pulled out he handed an envelope to Rafael and then drove at a sedate pace toward Central Park.

“Please put those in before Peter has apoplexy in my ear,” Neal’s voice was smooth and unruffled.

Rafael opened the envelope to find two very small ear buds, he handed one to Olivia and as they inserted them, Peter’s voice came in very loud and clear.

“Mozzie, you promised this would work, where the hell are they?”

“Suit, you gotta calm down, Elizabeth will kill me if you stroke out.”

“What the hell, Peter?” Rafael asked, and was surprised that Peter answered.

“Finally, how long does it take you to leave the house?”

“When I’m in my pajamas, a while.”

“Look, Rafael, I’m sorry for the spy business but I can’t talk about this at work or at home and I had to get you out where we can actually talk. A lot has happened in the last twenty-four hours and I don’t have time right now to bring you up to speed. All I can say is that my bosses boss wants the boss of the guys you’re after and is willing to look the other way on this kidnapping your team is working to do it. I can’t let that slide but I also can’t let the big boss of these kidnappers go, so we have to work fast. I am guessing Olivia is there?”

“Good morning, Peter, and associates,” Olivia said.

“Super, and good morning. How many of your team is on board?”

“I have two pairs of my detectives staking out the address you sent Rafael, the first address not the coffee cart.”

“Told you she was smart,” Mozzie’s voice was a little muffled, then clearer, “I got it.”

“What the hell?” Fin’s voice was suddenly loud in Olivia’s ear.

“Fin, hang on,” Olivia said. “Associate, explain please.”

“This is a one time deal and for today you are on alternate FBI channel thirteen, we’re a go.”

“Carisi, Rollins, Blevins, you there?”

A chorus of yes and yes Cap greeted her. “Alright, Peter and associates, this is your op, get us caught up.”

By the time Neal/Nick dropped them at the coffee cart, the plan was explained. The part that concerned Olivia and her team was arresting the four kidnappers but letting their boss, and more importantly the fake currency, go so the FBI could trace it back to the bigger bad guy.

The kidnappers thought they were transferring the artist to Peter so he could use her services to forge more currency or paintings or whatever he wanted, so she was certain to be at the exchange. The timing had to be right, so the big boss thought he got away with his scheme, which was why Mozzie, the associate, had tied the communications into the NYPD network that Olivia’s crew was using. He assured them that it was untraceable, one time only never to be duplicated, and that the FBI was shut out of the communication.

“Do I want to know how you rigged our comms?” Olivia asked.

“Do any of us?” Peter asked. “The answer is no, trust me, just go with it, you’ll have fewer nightmares.”

Olivia and Rafael got out of the car and saw that Peter was waiting at the coffee cart. His associate was running the cart.

Rafael and Olivia ordered coffee as they had been instructed, were surprised it was good, and said so.

“Of course, I am a connoisseur of…” Peter slapped a five-dollar bill on the counter and stopped Mozzie’s dissertation the finer points of whatever he was about to say.

“We don’t have time, Mozzie.”

“You owe me eight more bucks.”

“The cart belongs to the bureau.”

“I stocked it.”

“Bill me!” Peter took his coffee and directed Olivia and Rafael to follow him.

Olivia could hear a soft chuckle over the comms and Peter scowled. “I don’t want to hear it, Caffery.” The chuckle turned into an actual laugh, then muffled.

Unarmed and not actually any kind of trained law enforcement, Rafael, Neal, and Mozzie were tasked with getting Risa as far away from the action as possible as soon as Peter had secured her, Olivia was in charge of their retreat. Olivia’s detectives were to wait for Peter’s signal that the fake cash was on its way to its new owner and they were to move in and arrest the four kidnappers. The problem was that the kidnappers slash forgery crew had insisted that this exchange take place on a city street next to Central Park. The chance for it to turn ugly and too public was high. Peter had no backup from his own agency because he wasn’t supposed to be involved at all, the chance to free Risa was a last minute wrinkle that he was hoping to get past his own brass before they even knew it was happening. His direct boss was the only one who knew he was running this side operation.

The plan worked, though if asked ahead of time, Olivia would not have put money on it.

Neal strolled up to them, now in a suit as he had been the first time they’d seen him, his hair combed but falling across his forehead, an easy smile on his face. Behind them Mozzie pulled the coffee cart truck into place and they parted company, Neal and Peter heading for their meeting with the criminal element, and Olivia and Rafael to fake some window shopping. Half an hour later Fin alerted them that their targets were in play. Risa appeared safe for the moment, if a little coerced.

“Nothing ever goes this well, Rafa,” Olivia muttered.

“Maybe the white collar division is a better class of FBI,” Rafael replied.

“I can hear you, you know,” Peter said in their ears.

“Which is why I have been nothing but complimentary, Peter,” Rafael said.

“I can hear the smirk, Barba,” Peter cracked back at him.

Neal brought Risa around the side of the coffee cart and hustled her inside, Mozzie started the engine as Olivia and Rafael joined them and they were away. Olivia could hear Peter and Fin coordinating the take-down of the four kidnappers as soon as the van of fake currency was gone and the operation was a success.

Mozzie pulled up outside the One-Six and Olivia, Rafael, and Risa changed places with Peter. Risa was bundled into the building by Amanda and Karla, Fin and Sonny following with a string of four very unhappy men in handcuffs.

Mozzie flipped a switch and Olivia’s comm went silent. She and Rafael removed them and handed them up to Peter in the truck, who gave them to Neal to put wherever Mozzie’s toys went when they were done with them, removing his own and handing it over.

Rafael and Peter shook hands, then Peter said, “Elizabeth would love to have you both join us for dinner next week, if you’re free. The kitchen’s been remodeled so if you come early she’ll let you play with it. Olivia and I can enjoy a drink while the two of you do the kitchen geekery.”

Rafael looked at Olivia who shrugged and nodded, “I can get Lucy to stay late, or maybe your mom would watch Noah.”

“Given her choice, my mom would have Noah at her house every day, we may never pry him out of her hands again.”

“Hello! I’m getting hives here,” Mozzie called from the front of the truck, “Tell the Secondary Suits to get back in the truck and you can chat all you like, just let me get AWAY from the front of a cop shop.”

“Please forgive my friend, you’re making plans to have dinner with his favourite homemaker and not including him, also sitting in front of the police station will make him hyperventilate in about ten more minutes.” Neal smiled at Olivia and Rafael.

“Fine, dinner at my place for six, Neal and Mozzie and Rafael and my wife can get crazy in the kitchen and Olivia and I will sit in the garden with Satchmo and a bottle of wine. Then we’ll eat whatever craziness you make and all will be well. I’ll text you a time,” Peter looked at Rafael who nodded. “I got the first aid kit,” Peter said as he shut the door of the truck and it took off fast.

Olivia looked at Rafael who looked right back at her.

“You have some interesting friends, Rafa.”

“I have no idea what you mean. Peter has always been such a straight arrow, like square to the squared power straight arrow. And Elizabeth is sweet and normal. She plans parties for a living.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she does,” Rafael looked at Olivia who looked right back at him. “She plans parties for a living. We might need to go very early to this dinner party.”

“Or you boys take over the kitchen and let Elizabeth and I have the wine in the garden.”

“I’ll text Peter.”

The next day Rafael and Olivia showed up a little early for lunch at his mother’s house, explaining when they called ahead that they had an appointment they needed to keep, a surprise for Noah. When they arrived, Noah ran toward them with his arms out and they both knelt down to catch his exuberant hug. Rafael took Noah in his arms and stood, holding him close to whisper in his ear, “Guess what?”

“What?” Noah whispered back, his whisper not very quiet.

Rafael made sure his mother was paying attention when he whispered, as loud as Noah, “She said yes.”

Noah leaned back to look Rafael in the eyes, “She did?”

Olivia stepped up and wrapped her arms around both her boys. “I did, sweet boy, I’m marrying Rafa and he’s adopting you to be his son. We’re a family, for always.”

“Forever, Noah. That ok with you?”

Noah hugged them both again, “Yes, please and thank you.”

Lucia watched, hands over her mouth, trying not to cry. Olivia saw her and opened her arm to gesture her over and she joined them in a hug, surrounding Noah with family that loved him and each other.

After lunch Olivia drove them to the One-Six and went up to the children’s room where Kelly and Trevor were with Kimiko. The adults backed off and let Noah and Kimiko talk. Olivia and Rafael watched from outside with the Marshal from Witness Protection. She had the speaker on so she could hear the kids, her partner was finishing paperwork with Risa in another room. Kimiko and Noah were coloring pictures they had drawn.

“Thanks for letting him say goodbye,” Olivia said.

“No problem. I read the file, it would be cruel not to let them have a minute.” The blonde Marshall watched, her eyes a little soft as she watched the children. “WitSec is difficult enough for grown adults, for kids it sucks.”

In the room Noah watched as Kimiko chose her colors carefully, filling in what she’d drawn and adding life to the picture. “I’m glad your mom is home. I’ll miss you.”

“My mom says that we have to go somewhere nobody will know us, that the Marshalls will help. We can’t go back to California. We don’t even know where we’re going. It has to be secret to be safe.”

Noah remembered his conversations with his mom and his Uncle Rafa. He told Kimiko about those conversations, about how secrets could be good, that confidences were sometimes for safety, that nobody would tell them.

The Marshall looked over at Rafael and Olivia while she listened to their son tell his little friend how the Marshalls would keep her and her mom safe.

“Kid’s gonna put me out of a job in there. Tell him to call me in a dozen years or so and I’ll hire him, ok?”

Rafael and Olivia laughed.