Work Text:
Olivia sighed when her feet touched the carpet of her apartment. With her heels off, she sauntered further inside. She dropped her purse on the couch. The item vibrated, making her furrow her brows and face it. The captain fished her cellphone out and found ‘Carisi’ shining on her screen.
“Carisi, what’s wrong?” she answered. Voices could be heard in the background, conversations, and laughter. Soft music also played, a tune she didn’t recognize.
“ Liv, ” the ADA hailed. “ Liv, we’re at this new bar…” he muttered something away from the speaker. “ I don’t remember the name of it, but Barba isn’t doing well. ” He chuckled. “ I beat him on this drinking game I learned with Amanda. ” A second pause. “ Is Amanda with you? No, she can’t be, she must be home with Billie and Jessie. I want to go see Billie and Jessie.” his last sentence quieter as if he spoke to himself. “ Anyway, Barba drank too much. I can’t drive, neither can he, but you like him, right? He likes you, a lot, really. ” He spoke closer to the speaker. “ I shouldn’t say, but I think he has a crush on you ” Carisi was interrupted by someone talking to him. “ Anyway, ” he repeated. “ could you pick him up? I can’t leave him alone. I like him, this fottuto stronzo . ”
Benson chuckled. “ Calmati ,” she exhaled. “What about you? How are you going home?”
“ Hm… ” Sonny uttered. “ I’m not going home yet, but I can’t really say where I’m going. ”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Okay… Can you assure me that you’re going to be okay?”
“ Definitely, ” said the attorney.
“Okay, I’ll take that. Text me the address, will you? I’m on my way.” She hung up, chewed on her bottom lip.
“Need me to stay a bit longer?”
The captain turned and found Lucy at Noah’s bedroom doorway. Benson pressed her lips together tight. “I’m sorry, Lucy.”
Huston smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s sleeping already, had a long day. Take your time, I’ll work on my thesis until you get back.”
Olivia touched her palms together. “You are a lifesaver.”
The young woman winked. “I know.”
Captain Benson marched into the bar, the scent of meat and beer hit her and earned a growl from her stomach. She shook it off and stepped towards the counter. She raised a hand, but a yelled ‘Liv!’ made her spin on her feet. The brunette spotted ADA Sonny Carisi waving at her, across from him Rafael Barba was finishing a beverage she didn’t get the chance to identify by sight.
Her brown irises focused on the Cuban-American attorney. “What was that?” she questioned as soon as she reached the table.
Sonny frowned at her. “Shit,” he said when he eyed the other lawyer and saw the glass. “That was the whisky I told him not to finish.”
Rafael turned his head and smiled when he saw Olivia. “Liv! You’re late for the fun,” he informed her, pouting. He faced Carisi. “Will you at least let her have a drink?”
“I’m not drinking,” announced Benson. “You’re coming with me, mister.”
Barba furrowed his brown, a smirk at the corner of his mouth. “Okay, captain. Wherever you want to go. Are we going now?”
She nodded. “Yes, you’ve had quite enough.”
His shoulders lowered, he stared at the ADA. “You called Olivia on me, really? Olivia ? That’s low, does she know you’re running out of here straight to Amanda’s?”
Sonny covered his face with his hands. “And this is the price I pay for being a good friend.”
Barba stood, he reached across the table and took Carisi’s glass, he downed it in a gulp and laid it back as if it was nothing. “Next time,” he exhaled. “I’m calling Rollins on you.”
“Come on, Rafa,” Olivia tugged at his suit sleeve. She looked at the other man. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
The ADA nodded. “I’ll be fine, I’ll call Amanda.”
“I could take you home,” the captain insisted.
He shook his head, met her eyes. “I want to stop by her place, see the girls.”
Benson regarded him, lingering. “Okay. Take care. Come on, Rafa.”
Rafael clicked his seatbelt in place and sank into the passenger seat. “I didn’t mean to offend,” he said.
The captain got the car moving. “Hm?”
“Back in the bar,” he elaborated. “There’s no one else I’d rather save me from this kind of situation. The thing is…” he trailed off, shook his head, leaned back. “I don’t trust myself around you when I’m drunk.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Rafa, I’m a cop.”
He snorted. “As if I could ever fight you. No, I worry about what I could say.”
A beam at the corner of her mouth. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your compromising secrets.”
Barba smiled, his gaze wandered and he caught sight of the time. “God, it’s late. You should be home with Noah.”
“Lucy is with him,” she said.
“Lucy?” he faced her. “You got home late? Wait, Liv, have you eaten anything?”
Her stomach growled when reminded of food.
His eyes widened and he shifted on his seat.
“What are you doing?” she questioned.
Rafael produced his wallet and rummaged through it. Two of his fingers caught a card and he raised it to her. “Come on, let me buy us pizza or something, whatever you want to eat.”
“Rafa,...”
“Least I can do,” he insisted, his tone decisive.
Olivia sighed. “You’re lucky I’m too hungry to argue.”
Rafael swallowed his bite of the pizza slice, he observed how the street lights reflected on the sauce. He smirked to himself. “Do you want to get married?”
Olivia stopped chewing, she frowned at the man on her passenger seat. “I’m not opposed to it.”
“I meant to me,” he explained.
Her eyes widened, she blinked. “Keep eating, you drank quite a lot, it seems.”
He grinned, faced her. “I’m serious.” She indicated his slice with her nose. He indulged her, taking another bite. Shrugged. “Could be fun,” he said. “You can’t say we aren’t great together, and I don’t know about you, but you’re my best friend and the best person I know. One of my favorite people.”
Benson regarded him. “You’re probably my best friend too,” she confessed. “Never really thought about it.” A bite. She shook her head. “This isn’t how this works, though.”
“Could be,” he continued. “You and me and Noah,” he beamed, finished his slice. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Olivia paused, she met his eyes. “Come on, don’t be like that, you’re drunk.”
He raised an eyebrow. “If I wasn’t, would you say ‘yes’? Because I know a coffee shop nearby and we could solve this in minutes.”
She chuckled, gave her head a shake. “We can’t just get married like that, Rafael.”
“Why not? I like you, you like me, I like Noah, I think he likes me. The rest we can figure out,” a shrug. “We’ve known each other for over six years, I’ve seen engagements shorter than that.”
“You’re really thinking about it,” she said.
Rafael observed her in silence. A shiver ran down the captain’s spine in that small period of time, she wondered why had his gaze caused it. What was her body sensing that warranted this response? She chose to ignore the other parts of her that responded to his darkened eyes.
The former ADA picked up another slice of the pizza. “Promise me something?”
She blinked, swallowed, wondered if her voice would be hoarse when she spoke. “What?”
“That you’ll think about it,” he said.
There was no humor, no alcohol. He couldn’t seem soberer if he tried. Goosebumps spread through her.
“Please,” he added.
Olivia swallowed. “Okay, I promise.”
Rafael beamed, his eyes softened. He bit his pizza. “Thank you, Olivia.”
He faced the world outside the windshield and the captain’s shoulders lowered. Her body released a tension she had missed as if a puppeteer had released her strings.
She leaned against her seat, closed her eyes, touched her forehead. “Rafa.”
“Hm?”
“Are you…?” she couldn’t finish it.
His head turned to her, he studied her form. “Do you really want to know?”
A beat. How to answer that? “Yes,” it was out of her mouth without her sensing it.
“Yes,” he said, licking his fingers clean of food. “And I’ve never felt like this before. I meant what I asked. And you’re free to say ‘no’, of course, but I meant it.”
“Rafa, I--”
“It doesn’t matter what happens, what you choose,” he said, eyes on hers. “I’ll love you no less for it.”
She gaped, words died in her mouth, her lips dry.
Rafael closed the lid of the pizza box. “We better go, you need to let Lucy go home.”
She blinked herself out of it, nodded. “Right.” She started the car, not behind her eyes.
“We’ll talk later, we have time. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”
Olivia exhaled, her shoulders coming down. Breathing easier. “Okay, okay.” She drove them away, in silence.