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It was a quiet morning in the 16th Precinct. Olivia nursed a cup of coffee as she sat at her desk, while the squad room buzzed with idle chatter and the hum of the coffee machine. She spent the hour going through a thick binder of case files, preparing for a CompStat meeting tomorrow.
It was tedious work, but she was happy that she actually had some time to prepare for it; simple tasks like organizing their wins, flagging the DNA backlogs and readying a defense for some of her detectives’ unsavoury moments. For a while, it really seemed like her paperwork was going to be the hardest part of her day.
Olivia’s moment of peace shattered when Chief Dodds stepped into her office, looking grim. He wasn't alone. Fin, Carisi, and Amanda filed in behind him, followed by... Barba?
Olivia’s eyes flicked toward the ADA in confusion. They usually didn't involve the counselor until they had discussed with the victim or, at the very least, a solid lead. Barba looked as though he’d been plucked mid-motion from a courtroom, his expression a mix of curiosity and mild annoyance.
“Is everything alright, Chief?” Olivia asked, closing her binder and looking at everyone who had crowded her room.
“There’s some concerning news," Dodds began, his voice grave. "The NYPD's internal servers were hit this morning. The CCTV system has been compromised. Feeds from the past week have been leaked to an unknown source, and the strange thing is, the breach appears to be localized entirely to SVU.”
“So we have a mole," Olivia said, her detective instincts kicking in. "A week is a long time to be hunting for someone. Do we know who or what they were looking for?”
Dodds was about to respond when a knock at the door interrupted them. Ruben Morales from TARU (Technical Assistance Response Unit) entered, a laptop balanced in his hands.
“I have an update on the target," Morales said, his voice sounding uncharacteristically miffed. He looked nervously at Barba before shifting his gaze to Olivia.
“Good news is they haven’t been looking for anything confidential, per se. However, they seem to be targeting you, lieutenant.” He said to Olivia, before nodding towards Barba. “You as well, counselor. In fact, they seem to have surgically targeted every moment where the two of you were together. Near or inside Elevators A and B feeds.”
Morales turned the laptop screen around to face them. "These are the files that were extracted.”
The laptop screen flickered to life. The first clip showed the hallway outside the squad room. Benson walked toward Elevator B, and Barba followed a second later, balancing two cups of coffee. The scene shifted to inside the lift, where he handed one to the Lieutenant before turning to face her. The footage was grainy, but the hesitation in Barba’s posture was clear. Barba reached out, his fingers lingering as he adjusted the lapel of Olivia’s blazer, his face breaking into a rare, genuine smile that the camera caught in stark detail.
Rollins and Carisi looked at each other and grinned. This case was turning out to be quite interesting.
Enlightening too.
Before they could speak, Morales clicked to the next file.
There was another scene near the elevator, yet this time, they were exiting said elevator. Olivia was laughing, her head tilted back to Barba at something he said. She touched the counselor’s arm casually and Barba smiled. Again, a smile on Barba's face wasn't a sight that the majority of the detectives in the room weren’t that privy to.
In the final clip, the two were squeezed into the back of the elevator with a few other officers. Barba was in the corner with Olivia pressed to his side. Olivia was preoccupied, thumbing through a stack of documents, and seemingly without realizing it, she had leaned her full weight against the Counselor's shoulder. She stayed there for several long seconds before the realization seemed to hit. She abruptly straightened, moving to the far corner of the lift as the doors opened and everyone shuffled outside.
The office was deathly quiet.
Dodds looked thoughtful, his brow furrowed as he looked at the scene frozen on camera with Barba looking flustered. Behind him, Rollins and Carisi looked like they were on the verge of bursting out laughing. Fin had his arms folded as he grinned at Olivia.
“Anything you’ve missed disclosing, Counselor? Lieutenant?” Dodds asked, his voice apparently calm, but Olivia knew better.
“I- I have no idea.” Olivia looked genuinely flummoxed. She shifted in her spot, avoiding the eyes of her squad. “I mean, it’s no secret that the Counselor and I are friendly, but this is really-”
Meanwhile, Barba could feel his face grow hot as he stared at the frozen image on the screen. There he was, captured in grainy high-definition, smiling at the brunette Lieutenant with a fondness that made his stomach roll. He didn’t care (as much) at the others who were staring at the screen and laughing like heathens, but he felt exposed in front of Olivia, as if he’d been caught in the act of something forbidden.
Why did I have to look so damn in love? he thought, his jaw tightening.
He knew it wasn't far from the truth- hell, it was the truth- but having his internal pining broadcast to the entire Manhattan SVU squad, including the woman in question, was his own personal version of hell.
“Can we get to the point?” Barba snapped defensively. He straightened his cuffs, a classic nervous tic. “As in, can we please figure out why Lieutenant Benson and I are the targets of this horrendous breach of privacy?”
“Could be the Bianchi case,” Carisi piped up, leaning against the doorframe. “The mob was targeting everyone on the prosecution last week. Didn’t you receive death threats outside court, Barba?” He paused, his eyebrow tugged upward and his lips struggling to not smile. “Maybe they think Lieu is your 'Achilles' heel.' Take down the prosecutor by targeting his weakness.” Amanda didn’t have Carisi’s self control, she chuckled at that.
Olivia, however, went pensive. She was used to being the target in these situations, but the idea of someone using Barba to get to her or vice versa always sat heavy in her gut.
Barba, however, just looked as irked as before.
“Great,” he muttered, pacing through the confines of her office. “Apparently our servers are so penetrable that any random Joe or Jane can just pull out classified feeds whenever they please, and it just so happens to be clips of me and the Lieutenant. For no apparent reason.”
Dodds remained silent for a moment, his gaze shifting pointedly between the two of them, seemingly convinced of their innocence after Barba's tirade. “So, there’s really nothing I need to be worried about here, Lieutenant?”
Olivia’s jaw set. “There is nothing ‘here,’ Chief. If there were, I would have told you. What we need to focus on is why this is happening.”
“If the Bianchi mob is involved,” Dodds countered, ignoring her irritation, “then the two of you need to be moved to a secure location for safekeeping. Immediately.”
“Absolutely not,” Olivia and Barba snapped in perfect unison.
They caught each other’s eyes for a fraction of a second before quickly looking away. Barba cleared his throat, stepping forward. “There is zero evidence that this is a Mob issue. Let the good Lieutenant and her squad find the culprit before we start hiding in bunkers like we’re awaiting the Blitz.”
“Fine,” Dodds conceded, though he didn't look convinced. “But I’m arranging a full security detail immediately in case of any further threat to your safety. Effective immediately, both of you are not to be alone at any point. You will be accompanied by Tutuola, Carisi, or Rollins at all times. And yes, Lieutenant,” he added, catching Olivia’s protest, “that includes you.”
Olivia looked at the chief with gritted teeth as she watched Dodds step out of the room. Morales looks up from his laptop.
“I’ll be on the lookout, but between you and me this doesn’t look like an external breach. I looked into the feeds transmission and it looks like someone has willingly transferred feed details from TARU to an external source.” Morales flinched at the pointed stares towards him.
“Don’t look at me. I have no idea why someone from my team would do that.”
Olivia sighs. “I don’t know what this is, but this doesn’t look like Mob business to me. If it’s a corrupt employee…IAB will be involved,” Olivia said, pinching the bridge of her nose as a headache began to pulse behind her eyes.
The weight of the situation, in her mind, shifted from 'mildly concerning' to 'catastrophic.' She did not want Ed Tucker anywhere near this or her. They had only just ended things, the air between them still heavy with a lingering awkwardness, and now he was definitely going to try to be involved in this investigation where it looks like her and Barba were an item.
Not that there was anything actually going on between her and Barba. Nothing that should be truly concerning, anyway.
Olivia stole a quick peek at the Counselor. He had unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and was fanning himself with a stray file, looking uncharacteristically ruffled. She shifted her eyes away quickly, her heart giving a traitorous little skip.
Nothing concerning. At all.
“Ruben, do you think we can do our own audit of TARU regarding who might have breached the SVU CCTV feed?” Olivia asked. She wanted answers, and she wanted to avoid alerting IAB to this mess.
Ruben nodded, pulling a chair over. “I can run a trace on the local access terminals. If someone within the building was pulling the archives, there will be a digital footprint.”
Ruben furrowed his brows as he looked at the screen. “That’s strange,” he muttered. “The terminal in the back corner… the one we usually use for data entry was active at midnight. Lieutenant, someone was logged in using a guest credential.”
Olivia looked at Barba. “Counselor, do we have probable cause to pull the logs, or am I going to have to deal with Tucker breathing down my neck for a privacy violation?”
“Damn, Liv, aren’t you dating the guy?” Amanda said, looking amused.
“Amanda…” Olivia said, her voice flat and unamused, before turning back to Barba. "It's none of your business, but Tucker and I are history."
The room went quiet as both Barba and Amanda raised their eyebrows in surprise. Barba fought to keep his expression neutral, but it was a losing battle; he absolutely hated the guy.
“Barba?”
He cleared his throat, trying as hard as he could to not smile, and addressed Olivia’s question.
“Administrative searches of workplace equipment during a security breach don’t require a warrant. There’s no expectation of privacy. Pull the logs, Ruben. And let’s do it in your lab where we can actually see what we’re looking at without having to climb over each other.”
Olivia grabbed her blazer from the back of her chair. “You heard him. Ruben, let’s go. Fin, you’re with us. Carisi, Rollins. stay here in the squad room. If anyone so much as looks at a CCTV monitor funny, I want to know.”
______________________________________________________________________
Ruben led the way to the lab while Fin walked behind them, leaving a respectable distance between them. This left Olivia and Rafael walking together, shoulders brushing each other as they walked through the narrow corridor.
There was an awkward silence between them that bothered Olivia, and she glanced at Rafael before turning to keep her eyes on the back of Ruben’s head.
“You’re awfully quiet, Counselor.” Olivia said. “Usually, a breach of the fourth amendment would have earned me atleast a five minute lecture.”
Rafael adjusted his suit, his stride stiff. “My ‘lectures’ can wait, lieutenant. I’m currently fighting with the desire to sue the manufacturer of those cameras for their excessive clarity.”
“It’s grainy CCTV, Rafa. It’s not exactly IMAX.”
“It was clear enough that you could see the brand of coffee I was holding.” he countered, his voice dropping to an octave. “And clear enough for Rollins and Carisi to develop a sudden interest in our... friendship.” He cleared his throat, the word friendship hanging heavily between them.
Olivia felt the heat rising in her neck. “Amanda doesn’t know went to shut up. But...is that what we’re calling it now though? Friendship?” She gave him a sidelong glance, a smile playing on her lips.
“Because after that video of the elevator, I think the squad has moved us into a different category.”
Rafael tried to look unaffected by her playful teasing, but he knew he was failing miserably.
"If the squad spent as much time on their casework as they did on precinct gossip, we’d have a hundred percent conviction rate, Lieutenant," he countered, desperately trying not to think of Olivia and himself in any way that wasn't strictly professional.
Olivia laughed at Rafael's defensive attitude.
They reached the labs, Ruben opening the doors to reveal two interns and an assistant who all turned to look at them. One of them was a girl who seemed to be trying to blend into the drywall after taking note of their sudden appearance. Unlike Morales, Barba was an expert at reading people who were about to crack.
“Hello. Maya, was it?” Barba said, his voice dropping into that smooth tone as he looked at her name tag. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
The girl, Maya shook her head, but he noticed her hand shaking as she did so. “No, Mr. Barba. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is something the matter?”
Ruben informed his team that this impromptu visit was about the SVU security breach, and the girl’s hands seemed to tremble more.
“The guest credential was used post midnight. Any idea what that’s about?” Ruben looked pointedly at the two interns.
“T-The guest credential is for the interns. We use it to practice scrubbing grainy footage.” Maya stammered.
“And what were you ‘practicing’ on after midnight?” Olivia asked, her voice softer but no less commanding than Barba’s. “Because it looks to me like you were scrubbing footage of the Counselor and me. What I don’t understand is why?”
Maya looked at Olivia, then at Barba, her eyes brimming with a terrifying mix of guilt and... adoration. “It wasn't for anything bad. I promise.”
“Maya, the footage was sent to an external source. Why would you do that?”
“I promise, this isn’t anything bad! It was- oh, I can’t explain it!”
“You better explain it,” Barba piped up, leaning into her personal space.
“Otherwise, you’re looking at Official Misconduct and Computer Trespass. You’ve exceeded your authorized access to distribute confidential department property to an unauthorized third party. I can have you in a holding cell before the sun sets.”
“Barba,” Olivia said firmly, placing a hand on his arm to pull him back an inch. She turned to the girl, who looked absolutely petrified.
“Nothing will happen if you just tell me the truth, Maya. Who did you send the footage to, and why? Did someone threaten you?”
“It was for… a creative cause, Lieutenant. It was for inspiration. For a club.”
“A club? What kind of club?”
Maya’s cheeks turned a bright, betraying pink. “A fan club. I really can’t talk about it. It’s against the rules.”
“You better give me something, sweetie,” Olivia said, her voice dropping into a maternal yet firm tone, “otherwise you’re going to be the only one who’s in trouble for this.”
Maya bit her lip, her gaze flickering between the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder. She looked like she was witnessing a holy site rather than a criminal investigation.
“Fine. I’ll give you the club location. You’ll find your answers there. But I promise you, Lieutenant, Counselor... there’s really nothing illegal or threatening going on here. It’s exactly what I said. It's a fan club.”
“You really believe that, Liv?” Fin said, dryly, walking out of the room with her and Barba.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to believe,” Olivia said, her expression thoughtful. “It doesn’t feel like we’re investigating anything dangerous. It’s clear something is going on, but... it’s strange rather than scary.” She paused, looking conflicted.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being perceived to this extent, Liv,” Barba said derisively. He adjusted his vest, looking genuinely unsettled. “This might be scarier than any mafia mob we’ve ever dealt with.”
______________________________________________________________________
They met with Amanda and Carisi at the entrance of the address Maya had provided, which turned out to be a quaint little stationery store in Greenwich Village.
“You’re telling me the cyber-terrorists are those nonnas sitting in a stationery shop handing out greeting cards?” Fin asked, his hand hovering near his holster as they climbed the narrow stairs.
“Quiet, Fin,” Olivia whispered, though she felt just as ridiculous. This whole thing felt like a strange April Fools' prank. She was flanked by Fin and Amanda, while Barba followed closely behind with Carisi.
She knocked on the door- twice, thrice. There was no answer. She tried the handle.
“It’s not locked,” Olivia hummed. “I don’t think anyone’s in there, but just to be safe- on three.” Olivia signaled.
“NYPD! Nobody move!”
They pushed open the door and froze as they truly took in the contents of the room. There were two PCs on a mahogany table littered with paper, colored pens, highlighters, and most disturbingly, posters.
Barba stopped dead in his tracks. He was staring at a life-sized cutout of himself. It was a photo from a police gala back in 2014, but someone had meticulously edited a wedding band onto his ring finger.
“Oh… my… God,” Amanda breathed, her eyes darting around the room, seemingly not knowing where to look first.
The room was a shrine. There were posters of Olivia and Rafael everywhere. One featured them leaning into each other; another showed them walking away from one another, but with a literal red string tied between their fingers.
Hundreds of candid photos of the two of them littered the walls.
“Is that…” Carisi pointed to a corner. “Is that poster labeled ‘Barba’s Courtroom Smoulder’?”
“Don’t touch anything, Carisi!” Barba barked, but his voice was an octave higher than usual. He had been right when he said earlier that this was scarier than anything they’d ever faced before.
Olivia, who had been staring, shell-shocked, at the display, slowly moved to one of the chairs. She accessed the first PC; it didn't even have a password. The wallpaper of the PC was a high-res still of her and Barba from the elevator feed, both caught in a moment of fond, private smiles. She began clicking through the documents. They were... fiction? Novels. Books about them. So many stories.
“These files are heavy," Olivia murmured, her eyes scanning the file sizes. "There must be hundreds of thousands of words worth of me and Barba in here.”
“Would you look at that," Fin said, leaning over a different stack of papers. "This one has Stabler between you and Barba. Looks like even in stories, the dude doesn't know how to knock before entering a room.”
“Oh my God. Lieu! Lieu, look at this!” Carisi’s voice went up two octaves as he waved a stapled packet in the air. “There’s a whole… there’s a whole manuscript here about a- about a threesome! With me! And you and the Counselor! Oh my God, Amanda, look at how thick this is!”
A chime suddenly rang above the shop door, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps and laughter echoing up the stairs, leaving Olivia on high alert.
She signalled the rest of the squad to be on guard. Fin and Carisi instinctively moved towards the door, hands on their holsters.
I’m telling you, Lucy- the last chapter was amazing! When Olivia took Rafael’s hands and brought them lower, I was like... finally! Something! After all that pining, she finally realized he’s meant for her!” a woman’s voice sighed dreamily, followed by a giggle from behind her.
Barba stood frozen beside his own life-sized cardboard cutout.
The door swung open and a group of four people walked in, carrying chinese takeout and coffee trays. As the front was a young woman who stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the room full of detectives.
“Kathleen?” Olivia stood up, her voice a mix of shock and utter betrayal. “Kathleen Stabler, what on earth is going on?”
Kathleen looked at her father’s former partner, then at the Senior ADA, and the massive collection of Barson posters behind them. She didn’t look scared, she looked like she had just been caught planning a surprise party.
"Hey, Liv," Kathleen said, casually setting a coffee tray on the table. "Look, before you get mad... better you and Barba than you and my dad. I had to do something."
You’ve been leaking the Lieutenant's private movements for... for what? For Chapter Three: The Pining?" Fin asked, moving forward with his eyebrow raised. He remembered Kathleen as an innocent kid; now she was a seemingly crazy woman with a plan.
Kathleen took a casual sip of her latte, glancing at Fin before looking between the stiff, navy-suited ADA and the shell-shocked Lieutenant.
"Look, Liv, I’m serious," Kathleen said, completely unfazed by the badges. "He’s a total smoke show. He still has his hairline, he wears the hell out of those three-piece suits, and the man knows how to smoulder." She gestured vaguely toward Barba, who looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. "And the way he looks at you? Gosh, anyone can see it. He loves you. Dad was there for you for ten years, but he left and he's kind of an asshole anyway."
The silence that followed was heavy enough to sink a ship. Barba’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, but for the first time in his career, no words came out.
Olivia was in a similar state. She was stuck between the shock of Kathleen’s bluntness and a desperate need to understand what Elliot had to do with any of this in the first place, but her voice had abandoned her. She just stood there, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"And actually," a woman standing next to Kathleen stepped forward. She looked familiar- her eyes were bright with a terrifying level of reverence. "It’s not all Kathleen. Do you remember me, Lieutenant Benson? ADA Barba? You both saved my sister. I never forgot how your eyes locked with Olivia when you made that defense that threw her kidnapper in jail, Mr. Barba. You looked at her like she was the only person in the room."
Barba blinked, his legal armor cracking. "Lucy? Lucy Foster?"
"I’m the lead writer," Lucy said proudly, gesturing to the stack of manuscripts. "I just wanted to give you both the happy ending you deserve."
The door creaked again, and a man in a waistcoat walked in, holding a box of cannoli. He stopped, looking at the assembled crowd.
"Anthony?" Barba’s voice impossibly went up an octave higher. "Anthony from Forlini’s? You're a part of this... this…?"
“Barson cult?” Amanda supplied helpfully.
“Crazed fanclub?” Carisi added humorously.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, Barba," Anthony said, shrugging as he set the cannoli down. "You guys were in the bar together all the time. It was cute. I’m just here to read the new drafts. Lucy’s got a real gift for dialogue. In return, I give her a few pictures of you both from the bar."
Maya followed them all in, looking sheepish as she stood by her friends. "We love you Barson! Rafivia! Olifael! All of it!"
Olivia’s forehead didn't think it could handle any more pain today.
“I don’t care how ‘cute’ you think we are, Anthony, Maya,” Olivia said, her voice regaining its authoritative edge despite the throbbing in her temples. “You all just committed a series of Class C felonies.”
“Technically,” Barba added, his lawyer brain finally overriding his sheer embarrassment, “it’s a violation of New York Penal Law Section 156.30. Computer tampering in the first degree. I could have you all in front of a judge by morning.”
Lucy didn't look intimidated. She just looked at Barba’s unbuttoned collar and whispered, “He’s so much more dramatic in person. It’s sexy.”
“I think Olivia has a bit of a competence kink, too,” Kathleen said with a wink. "This must really be doing it for her."
“I do not!” Olivia snapped, though the words came out a little too fast and a little too breathless. "It does not!" She looked flustered, her professional mask finally crumbling under the weight of their relentless teasing.
Accidentally, she met Rafa’s eyes. He was still flushed, his usual cool composure replaced by a raw, startled vulnerability. Her gaze involuntarily flicked down to his unbuttoned collar and then to his forearms, exposed where he had rolled up his sleeves in the heat of the "investigation."
In the background, Kathleen and Lucy started giggling. "See?" Kathleen whispered loudly. "I told you. The physical tension is off the charts."
"I do see it," Amanda added, smirking as she leaned against a mahogany table.
Olivia massaged her temples, her head throbbing in earnest now. She looked at Fin tiredly, pleading with her eyes for an exit strategy. “Can you just... confiscate everything? Tag it, bag it, and bring it all back to the squad room. I really need a break.”
“You got it, Lieu,” Fin said, finally putting down his coffee and stepping into his authoritative role.
He looked at the “Barson crew” with a dry grin. “Alright, the show's over. Pack it up, poets. You're coming with us to give formal statements.”
______________________________________________________________________
Chief Dodds stood in the center of the squad room, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he looked at the cardboard standee of Barba in a tuxedo.
“Let me get this straight.” Dodds said, his voice flat. “This wasn’t a coordinated hit by the Bianchi mob. It was….a stationary shop fan club?”
“That’s the gist of it, Chief.” Fin said, not even trying to hide his grin.
Dodds looked from the standee to the two leads. "Are you two sure you aren't together? Because this is a lot of effort for something imaginary."
"We're sure!" Olivia and Barba snapped in unison, their voices echoing off the precinct walls.
"Right," Dodds muttered, waving a hand dismissively. "Just... get this stuff out of my sight. And make sure they don't do it again."
But the damage was done. The sheer volume of the "Barson" archive had left them both rattled. Instead of going through the files together as a team, they retreated. Barba vanished into a spare office on the far side of the floor, claiming he had "paperwork to file," while Olivia locked herself in her own office, determined to be professional.
While Fin, Rollins, and Carisi were busy taking formal statements from Kathleen, Lucy, Anthony, and Maya, Olivia found herself actually opening the files.
Despite herself, she was getting….swept up.
“Let’s see… This sounds, not so bad.” Olivia mumbles, scrolling through the words on the screen.
Olivia’s focus drifted. Though she was physically there with Ed, her mind kept wandering back to Rafael. A smile touched her lips as her mind went back to the day they first met. She could still see him standing defiantly in the center of the courtroom, a belt tightened around his own neck just to prove the victim’s agony to the jury. It had been a bold, dangerous gamble, and she remembered feeling a sudden, sharp ache of arousal that had caught her completely off guard.
Olivia raised her eyebrow slightly, lip twitching slightly as she realised just how much research the group had done on their past that they (more or less) accurately portrayed their first case. She quickly closed that particular drabble, sensing it was about to head into wildly inappropriate territory, and clicked on another of Lucy’s files.
Rafael and Olivia sat close on the couch, the house finally quiet. Olivia had just tucked Noah into bed; he’d been exhausted after a full day of shadowing his "Uncle Rafa." Olivia fought to suppress a smile, knowing the sharp-witted counselor beside her would tease her if he caught it.
This was the life she’d once considered a distant fantasy. Seeing her son bond with a man so effortlessly was a revelation. Ed had always been too pushy, and Elliot had been a ghost- and when he did show up, his "macho" behaviour felt more like an irritance than parenting. But Rafa was simply Rafa. He respected Olivia’s role as a mother, never overstepping, yet always standing firmly behind her.
Her only ache was the fear that he wouldn’t want her and her son for the long-term.
Lost in thought, she found herself staring at the curve of his smirk and the smolder in his gaze. She didn’t realize he was staring back until she noticed the flush of pleasure creeping up his neck. As he leaned in, the scent of his cologne and the heat of his breath anchored her to the moment.
“Rafa…” she whispered, her voice hitching as his lips finally met hers.
The kiss was deep and certain. Olivia’s eyes remained open for a heartbeat, locked onto his green gaze, before she tilted her head to let him in, while letting her tongue lick at his lower lip. Her arms coiled around his neck while his hands found the curve of her waist, drawing her flush against him.
“Mi amor…” he murmured against the sensitive skin of her neck. “Hermosa.”
He trailed a path of kisses over her shoulder before returning to her mouth with a soft, jagged breath. “Amor de mi vida.”
When she got to the description of them on the couch, the smoulder and the kiss, her face went a little red. She shifted in her chair, feeling a sudden flutter in her chest. It was the "Amor de mi vida" that really got to her, though. It just felt... right.
The love of his life.
"Okay," she breathed, shaking her head as she finally closed that story.
"Okay, then. The girls were right about the smoulder." She leaned back, her mind drifting to the first case he’d won. She could still see him turning toward her in that courtroom, his expression intense and searching, silently asking for her approval. She had nodded back, a small acknowledgment of his victory, but she realised now she’d been holding her breath.
Olivia bit her lip and clicked another fanfiction, promising herself that she wouldn’t go through too many of these today. They really were messing up her thoughts. She was significantly more flustered than she had been five minutes ago, her brain filled with vivid images she definitely shouldn't be thinking about in the middle of a precinct.
Maybe something a little less….that.
Olivia clicked on another file, which unlike the fluffy paragraphs she read before, this one felt a little heavy, that made her heart ache.
Olivia stood in the shadows of the hallway, her breath hitching as she looked through the cracked door of Barba’s office.
He wasn't alone.
Yelena was there, leaning against his desk with that practiced, effortless grace she’d had since they were children. Rafael was looking at her- not with the sharp, inquisitive gaze he gave the rest of the world, but with a soft devotion.
It didn't matter that she had chosen Alex Muñoz.
It didn't matter that she had stayed with a man who betrayed her, or that she had once accused Rafael of being blinded by jealousy.
In this moment, to him, there was only her.
Olivia felt a hot, stinging tear track down her cheek. She wanted to scream at him, to tell him that Yelena had cheated on his heart a thousand times over, but she knew it wouldn't matter. To Rafael Barba, some ghosts were more real than the living.
Olivia blinked rapidly, realizing with a jolt of horror that her own eyes were actually stinging. A stray tear escaped, hitting the back of her hand, and she wiped it away with a frustrated, shaky breath.
"Stupid Rafael," she whispered, her voice cracking in the empty office. "She cheated on him. She chose a man who didn't deserve her, and she blamed you for it."
“What is this? What am I even doing?” She was in the process of wiping her eyes when Barba entered the room, looking at Olivia in alarm.
“Liv? Are you alright?” He stepped toward her, his hands hovering as if he wanted to reach out but didn't know if he was allowed. “Has this all been too much? The breach, the squad… I’m sorry. Maybe I should go, let you have some-”
“Stay, Rafa.” She cut him off with a tired, watery smile. She gestured to the chair across from her. “Sit. Please.”
Barba pursed his lips, and attempted to change her mood. “Apparently, according to Chapter 14 of the fanfiction I’m reading, my ‘unspoken longing’ for you is so palpable that even the barista wrote 'for the love of god just tell her' on my cup instead of my name."
Olivia knew he was just trying to get her to laugh, and it worked. She laughed.
“Well, did you?” Olivia asked, smirking as she leaned back on her chair.
Rafael shrugged. “Didn’t reach that part yet. Apparently this slow-burn is really, and I mean really slow.”
Olivia hummed in acknowledgement.
“What about you? I assume you’ve been ‘reviewing the evidence’ as well?”
“I’ve been…skimming.” Olivia said, leaning back in her chair.
"Skimming?" Barba let out a sharp, incredulous laugh. "Olivia, I just spent forty-five minutes reading a collection of ‘drabbles’, a word I never wish to hear again- one of which was entirely dedicated to the way I supposedly 'yearn' for you while you're drinking scotch. Scotch is my thing, not yours. Apparently, my pining is so loud it’s a public nuisance."
"At least yours is consistent," Olivia countered, her voice regaining its strength as she teased him. "I just finished one where you were still hung up on Yelena. I was practically ready to go find her and give her a piece of my mind for cheating on you with Alex Muñoz all those years ago."
Barba froze, his eyebrows shooting up. "She cheated in the story too? Good God, even in fiction I can’t catch a break from the Muñoz family." He shook his head, a ghost of a smirk appearing. "Wait. You were crying. Were you crying over my heartbreak?"
"I was frustrated!" Olivia defended, her face reddening. "The writer made you sound so... devoted. And stupid.”
Rafael observed her with a slight curl in his lips.
“And don’t get me started on that smirk. Almost all of these fanfictions mention it! And I always-”
“You always what, Liv?”
Olivia bit her lip, the truth slipping out before she could stop it. “I always lean in to kiss you after that.”
Rafael’s smirk widened. “Considering my lips are currently untouched, I claim inaccuracy.”
Olivia stared at him, her heart hammering. “Are you… flirting with me right now?”
“Maybe," he murmured, his gaze dropping to her mouth. "Wanna read one together?”
“Maybe.”
Barba didn't wait for an invitation. He pulled a chair around her desk, sitting so close that his knee pressed against hers. He didn't seem to notice- or maybe he did.
"If we’re going to be the subjects of this... 'literary' analysis," Barba muttered, his shoulder brushing hers as he looked at the screen, "we might as well ensure the facts are straight. Move over, Olivia."
"I'm the one with the mouse, Rafael," she reminded him, though she didn't pull away. She clicked on a file titled The Art of the Sidebar.
Author’s Note: This scene is heavily inspired by the actual events of the Miller hearing six months ago. I was sitting three rows behind the Lieutenant. I saw the way ADA Barba looked at her after the verdict was read- like the win didn’t even matter until she looked back at him. It was the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen in real life. I had to write it.
The silence in the office deepened. Barba stared at the note, his typical quick-fire wit finally failing him.
"Six months," he said quietly, his gaze fixed on the screen. "That’s how long Lucy has been taking notes on us."
"I guess we’re even less subtle than we thought," Olivia murmured, her heart racing as she looked at the screen and then back at him. "She wasn't just guessing, Rafael. She was documenting."
The courtroom was stifling, but Rafael didn't notice the heat. He only noticed the way Olivia was sitting in the gallery, her chin resting on her hand, watching him with an intensity that made his closing argument falter. He wanted to win, yes, but more than that, he wanted to know that she saw him- not just the ADA in the three-piece suit, but the man who would tear down the world if she asked him to.
"A three-piece suit?" Barba interrupted, pointing a slender finger at the screen. "This is libel. I distinctly remember wearing a two-piece charcoal Italian blend that day. I wouldn't be caught dead in a waistcoat in the middle of a July humidity spike."
"Focus, Rafael," Olivia nudged him with her elbow, fighting a smile. "Read the next part."
During the recess, they stood in the narrow hallway behind the courtroom. The air was thick with things they hadn't said. Olivia reached out, her fingers brushing the silk of his tie, straightening it just because she wanted an excuse to touch him. 'You were brilliant today,' she whispered. Rafael didn't thank her. He couldn't. He just leaned in, his forehead resting against hers for a fleeting, desperate second.
The air in the office suddenly felt just as stifling as the courtroom in the story. Barba’s hand twitched as it had moved to rest on her thighs.
"Did I?" he asked softly, his eyes not leaving the screen. "Rest my forehead against yours after the Miller verdict?"
Olivia looked at him, her heart doing that familiar, frantic dance. "You did. But I thought you were just tired. The writer says you were 'aching for a sign.'"
"I'm a very good actor, Olivia," Barba murmured, finally turning his head to look at her.
They were so close she could see the gold flecks in his eyes among the green. "But even I have my limits. Page forty two of one of these... masterpieces... claims that I have a 'tell.'
That every time I want to kiss you, I look at your lips and then immediately check to see if anyone is watching."
Olivia felt her breath catch. "And? Is it accurate?"
Barba didn't answer with words. Instead, his gaze dropped to her mouth, lingered for a heavy second, and then he shot a quick glance toward the glass door of her office.
Olivia let out a shaky breath. "Oh. So it really is a 'tell.'”
“Makes me wonder how they figured that out when we haven’t even kissed yet,” Barba said, his brow arching. Up close, Olivia couldn’t help but notice the scent of his cologne- the warm, expensive spice that had been described in agonizing detail in at least a dozen of Lucy’s drabbles.
“The details are almost eerily accurate, aren’t they…” she murmured. She licked her lip unconsciously, her palm resting on the solid warmth of his forearm. She inched closer, her heart hammering against her ribs, but Barba’s voice- edged with that familiar, defensive wit, stopped her just inches from his lips.
"I must protest," he whispered. "If Lucy’s been watching us this closely for half a year, her pacing is atrocious. We should have reached the 'Endgame' phase months ago."
Olivia laughed softly, as her lips brushed lightly against his before pulling back. She reached out, her fingers fiddling with the silk collar of his shirt where the top button remained undone.
"Is that your professional opinion, Counselor? That we’re behind schedule?"
"It’s a gross miscarriage of justice," Barba said, his green eyes softening. He leaned in the final inch, his breath ghosting over her skin. "One that I believe requires immediate remediation."
Olivia didn't give him the chance to file a closing argument.
“Then kiss me already, Barba.”