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saiilorstars · 7 months ago

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The A-Team

Fandom: SVU; Sonny Carisi x OFC

Emilia’s Masterlist

Summary: Sonny is nervous about his first solo trial and so his girlfriend tries her best to help him out.

taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @averyhotchner @foxesandmagic @kmc1989 @caplanbuckybarnes

Warnings: Due to the nature of the series’ plots, I do have to rate this as ‘mature’ for constant mentions of rape

Emilia was nose deep in her laptop when Sonny walked in through the door. Her eyes flickered up from the screen and watched him drop his things on the couch. He didn't need to say a word — Emilia could tell whatever work he had going on had been terrible.

"Should I get that wine bottle now?" She asked him. "Or we could go the other route and relax?"

Sonny gave her half of a smile but shook his head. He wanted to calm down before he ended taking out his stress on her. Emilia didn't deserve any of the crap he dealt with at work.

Emilia was intuitive, however, and so she continued the conversation. "It's bad, isn't it? What's the case?"

"I don't" — Sonny shook his head —"want to ruin our good streak."

Emilia snorted and chuckled. "Good streak?"

"You know — we had a good Christmas and New Years. We had good holidays…"

"And now we're both back at work," Emilia said slowly, giving him a rather 'duh!' kind of look. "That's why it's a vacation. It's like an escape from reality and unfortunately we are all done with that, so…" She closed her laptop and motioned him to take a seat with her at the table, "Why don't you tell me what the case is?"

Sonny still hesitated. With a sigh, Emilia rose from her seat and walked over to him. She was gentle when she helped him out of his jacket.

"What are you working on?" Sonny asked her instead. He gave her a soft 'thanks' as she folded his jacket and left it on the couch for him.

"Me?" Emilia mused. "Oh, you know, vacation's done and so online school started again. I'm just finishing up my first lecture of the semester. But c'mon, don't change the subject." She took his hand and walked him to the table to sit down. "What's the case?" She left him to go to the fridge.

"It's this woman — she left a big billboard message on the streets for everyone to see." Sonny eyed the books left on the table and felt even worse knowing he was interrupting Emilia's studies.

"Billboard?" Emilia closed the fridge door with a leftover bowl in her hands. They had made pesto pasta yesterday. "Ooooh, I saw that! We all did! Alice showed it to me at work a few days ago. You're taking up the case?"

"I guess I am," Sonny said, sounding like he was only just realizing the implications. Luckily, Emilia was quick to understand too.

"That'll make it your first case in the courtroom — on your own…" She popped the leftover inside the microwave and turned to look at Sonny. "That's the nerves, isn't it?"

Sonny nodded at her. "Monica — the girl behind the billboard — she's not making the case easy at all."

"Monica Russo? Yeah, we saw the whole thing online as well," Emilia crossed her arms. It had been a whirlwind of a mess concerning the girl making public accusations about a celebrity and then getting arrested herself. "God, Sonny, why didn't you tell me that was your case? It's been days since all that stuff came out!"

The microwave beeped three times before turning off.

"I didn't want to burden you, alright?" Sonny leaned back in his chair, taking the moment to actually start de-stressing from the day. "The things I see…"

"That's the thing, Sonny, you see them…" Emilia walked over to the table and set the pasta in front of him, "I just hear about them from you. It's very different. Sorry about the leftovers tonight…I was a bit stressed myself."

"You're heaven sent," Sonny assured her, reaching for one of her hands. He laced his fingers with hers and kissed the back of her hand. "Never forget that." Emilia smiled at him and handed him a fork. "What were you stressed about?"

"Ah, no, you don't get to change the subject on me," Emilia chuckled and returned to her seat. She opened her laptop and picked up her pen on the side. "I'm listening. Keep going."

"It's the usual stuff, Em. You hit the mark earlier — it'll be my first case in trial on my own. I guess it's just getting to me a bit more than I expected."

"Well, that's natural," Emilia said, taking down some notes in her notebook. "It's like my first day of teaching. Well" — she scrunched her nose — "except for the fact that I was nervous about handling 25 five year olds on my own and you're talking about rapists so…I guess it's not the same at all."

Sonny smiled at her despite her futile comparison. "I bet you were still very nervous."

Emilia hummed. "That I was. You'll be fine, Sonny. Eat, unwind, and then we'll go to sleep."

The only reason Sonny didn't protest was because of hunger. The pasta smelled delicious and he was truly eager to just forget it all until it was absolutely necessary to start thinking about it again.

~0~

Emilia knew something was wrong when she didn't hear from Sonny at all. The morning of his first trial, she had sent a few texts wishing him good luck — even a voicemail where she wished him all the luck in the world and reassured him that he would be fine — but he never responded. He was gone before her that day and she was back before him. With a quick call to Olivia Benson, she learned what happened. Emilia drove down to the D.A.'s office to find her boyfriend cooped up in his office. The door wasn't properly closed so she gave a light tap with her fingers and stepped inside.

"Hey there," she approached him with slow steps. The room was barely lit — it was a wonder how Sonny was managing to write on his notepad. "I was waiting for you to come home tonight…"

"Sorry, I was a bit busy…" Sonny mumbled, his pen working furiously on the notepad. Emilia eyed two crumpled balls of paper on the desk and wondered what he was working so hard on.

"I spoke to Olivia — she said the trial didn't go so well…"

"More like I got slaughtered out there," Sonny spat. He stopped writing and finally looked up at Emilia. "I'm writing my resignation letter."

Emilia's first reaction was to laugh. "You are not…!" The way Sonny was looking at her, though, made her stop altogether. "Stop — Dominick Carisi, you are not writing your resignation letter."

"Em, I'm gonna lose this case. Ms. Hadid already knows! She has her spies in the courtroom! I'm done!"

"No you are not," Emilia plopped down in an empty chair and leaned her arms on his desk. "You had a bad first day. It happens!"

"Yeah, but…Em, what if I'm not cut out for this?" The devastation in Sonny's eyes just imagining that he made the wrong career choice was heartbreaking. Up until now, he had always been so animated about his new job. It was what he wanted to do from day 1.

"Okay, Dominick, listen to me," Emilia reached for his hands and gripped them tight in hers. "Remember my silly little comparison before about my first day at my job? Well, I'm gonna use it again but just bear with me. There's a point." She scooted closer to the desk. "My first day on the job, I had 25 kindergarteners in my care. I was responsible for them — I had to make sure that they survived the day!"

"And you did it beautifully," Sonny said, prompting Emilia to snort.

"I wish! My circle time was a disaster! I had four of them draw on the tables while I was doing an art lesson! I miscalculated how much time they would actually pay attention and so they got bored and started drawing on the tables, others started painting on themselves because that's another thing — I didn't plan on how to give them the supplies. And then that same first day, one of my kids had an accident on the playground. It was horrible. I had to call the parents and…agh, it was just awful. A really awful first day."

Emilia let go of one of Sonny's hands to then take his other hand in both of hers, urging him to listen to her words.

"But do you know what I did? I went home and I came back the next day with a new lesson plan. I came up with a new art project, a better system to watch the kids outside — I learned and I kept going. And now here I am, trying to go for a new credential."

"And I am very proud of you for doing that," Sonny said, smiling fondly at her. She adored her students every day, even when some of those days weren't all that great.

"The point is you can't quit. If you did, you'd end up regretting it," Emilia said sternly, yet softly.

"It's hard knowing that I failed, Emilia…"

"I know it is, baby, but you can't stop now. You can still get up and try again. Do it better."

Sonny squeezed her hand, loving her more in that moment. "What would I do without you?"

"You'll never have to find out. So then, what time is court tomorrow?" Emilia let go of his hands and leaned back in her chair. "No school tomorrow."

"You do not have to come," Sonny said. As much as Emilia loved her job, she also loved sleeping in. She took advantage of her days off to the fullest and that meant getting up past noon.

"I want to see the bitch lawyer who's making your life miserable and, I don't know, trip her or something."

"Emilia—"

"On accident of course."

Sonny playfully rolled his eyes at her. He still laughed, though, which just gave Emilia more fuel to keep her story going.

Emilia soon rose from her chair and moved around the desk until she was standing behind Sonny's chair. She planted her hands on his shoulders and gave him a light massage. "I'm taking that resignation letter, by the way."

Sonny chuckled. "Sure. You can take it and go home to rest. I'll probably be in here all night."

Emilia shook her head. "I'll stay here, give you all of my support."

Sonny closed his eyes as she pressed a kiss on his temple. "I'd like nothing more than that but I know you're as tired as I am. Besides…" He opened his eyes and reached back for Emilia, tugging her around his seat while he scooted his chair back at the same time. He brought her down on his lap and pushed some of her long hair behind her shoulder. "I know you'll be there tomorrow and that means the world to me. And on your day off…"

"On my day off," Emilia agreed, "So are you sure I can't trip the bitch or something?"

Sonny rolled his eyes at her. "No, you can't."

"Damn. Fine, I'll settle for seeing you kick hers and her rapist client's ass."

"That I can try to do."

Emilia gazed at him fondly. "You'll be great tomorrow, I know it." Her confidence was unwavering and Sonny took it to heart.

He leaned forward and kissed her. However bad his day had been, one kiss from hers was enough to change it around.

~ 0 ~

Like promised, Emilia had been there for the next trial. She sat in the rows and watched Sonny handle the victim and the rapist in one go. She had never really been in a courtroom and truthfully she did not like the tension in the room. She couldn't imagine doing this 24/7. Sonny was right to only ever tell her bits and pieces about his cases, even as a detective it had always been somewhat of an unspoken rule.

But today Emilia was amazed by her boyfriend. He who was absolutely distraught with how the previous day had gone was now a very different, more confident, man throwing questions at the culprit. She was proud.

After the jury was sent out, Emilia stepped out of the courthouse to make a few calls and to give Sonny whatever time he needed with his colleagues. When she returned, she was a little lost. The courtroom was empty of course save for a few lingering reporters. She ventured the hallway until she came across the squad.

"At the risk of looking like a bigger idiot for just wandering around, could somebody please tell me where I might find my boyfriend?" she chuckled nervously.

"Might want to try the restroom," Fin said, "Or wait outside…"

Emilia raised an eyebrow at him, the idea donning on her in a few seconds. "Oh, that man and his weak stomach…"

The others chuckled.

"Where's the men's restroom?" she ultimately asked.

They were kind enough to show her the way. She got lucky as Sonny was just coming out of the restroom when she arrived.

"Hey," she hurried to meet him, "There you are! Are you okay?"

"Not really, no…" Sonny didn't hesitate to say, "Jury's been out for days."

Emilia smiled sympathetically. "Babe, it's only been 3 hours…give or take." Sonny actually stopped and checked the time on his watch. Emilia felt even worse for him. "Were you throwing up in there?"

"No…yeah…" Sonny sighed, "Waiting for the verdict, it's-it's different when it's your case."

Emilia laughed softly and offered him some gum. Sonny couldn't take it any quicker

"Oh, hun…" She stepped closer to him and touched his face. "If it's consolation, I think you did great back there. You definitely got that guy to show his real self."

"Thanks for being here," Sonny said, lowering his forehead against hers. Her mere presence had been enough to boost his confidence.

"Anytime," Emilia said, kissing his cheeks. "You want to take a walk or something?" But not a moment later, Sonny got the news that the jury had finally come back.

Their walk led them back to the courtroom. Once gathered together, they learned that the jury had found the defendant guilty. Relief washed over the right side of the courtroom as the defendant was taken into custody. Sonny looked back at the squad and more precisely his beautiful grinning girlfriend.

~ 0 ~

Later in the evening, Emilia walked out of the bathroom after a much needed shower and immediately smelled the delicious scent of her boyfriend's cooking. She practically floated to the kitchen.

"Okay, I thought we agreed on some take-out?" She laughed seeing Sonny busy in the kitchen. "My shower wasn't that long, was it?"

Sonny shook his head at her and lowered the flame of the stove. "I wanted to treat you right tonight."

"Me?" Emilia's eyebrows raised together, another laugh slipping through her lips. "You're the one who did amazing today. The take-out was my treat."

"I wasn't all that great with my moods," Sonny said, leaving the stove for a moment and walking up to her. He could smell her freshly wet hair's lavender scent. "And I just want to say thanks for sticking it out with me."

"You say it like I wasn't supposed to," Emilia said, taking his hands in hers. "Like I was supposed to let you wallow on your own. Never gonna happen."

"Oh, I know," Sonny said with a long sigh. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her body flush against his.

"We're like a team...except that I don't know the first thing about lawyering and I'm sure you'd lose your head trying to entertain 25 five year-olds." Sonny looked down at her then, making her laugh. "Yeah, who am I kidding? You're great with kids. You could probably do my job with your eyes closed. Not that you should because that would make you a horrible teacher."

Sonny couldn't help his chuckle. He was the lawyer but Emilia always seemed to know exactly what to say to make things alright. "Dinner?" He pecked her lips.

"Yes, please!" Emilia made to go around him but he caught her head and turned her back for another kiss, this one longer.

When they broke apart, Sonny mumbled a soft 'thank you' and tugged a pleasantly dazed Emilia into the kitchen with him.

#ocappreciation #fd: svu #SVU fics #Sonny Carisi fics #Sonny Carisi imagines #SVU imagines #Sonny Carisi x OC #SVU fanfiction #Sonny Carisi fanfiction #SVU ocs #Sonny Carisi One Shot #Sonny Carisi Oneshots #Sonny Carisi imagine #law and order SVU fics #law and order SVU imagines #oc: Emilia Hartley

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cissyenthusiast010155 · 11 months ago

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Rita Calhoun Masterlist

Mommy… Master List

Approach at your own risk… smut =* extra smutty =**

One Shots

She’s Been to Hell and Back ~S13!Alex Cabot xFem Wife!Reader (feat. Casey, Rita, Liz, Liv, & Amanda)[MATURE]

My Guardian Angel ~Broken!Rita Calhoun xFem Younger!Investigator!Reader (Liz Donnelly x Alex Cabot) feat. Rafael Barba & Olivia Benson

Holding on For Me ~Rita Calhoun xFem Younger!Partner!GradStudent!Reader (feat. Rafael Barba)

Memory Case

Walls Broken Down

My Good Girl

You Have My Attention

Pets Don’t Go Unfucked ~Dark!Dom!Mafia!Boss!Rita Calhoun xFem Sub!Younger(20s)!Pet!Reader[DARK]**

Drudging Up the Past ~Cowgirl!Rita Calhoun

Oh and I take Requests, so hit me up with your ideas 😉 Requests & Prompt-List

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vintageneptune92 · 18 days ago

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Burn the Shadow- 5

Here is part 5. I hope you guys are enjoying it!!

Gia's eyelids felt like iron curtains. She couldn't understand why it was so hard to open her eyes. Finally, they slowly opened and she was met with a blindingly bright light. As she flinched, she felt her hand knock against someone's arm. As she looked to her right, Nick was slowly picking his head up. His dark eyes lit up when he saw hers.

"Oh thank God Gia." She started to try and ask him what happened when he stopped her. "No, don't try to talk. Your vocal chords are swollen."

It all came flooding back. The man. The man in her apartment. Him choking her. She heard the heart rate monitor beating rapidly.

"Gee, take a deep breath." As she did, it felt line she was breathing in shards of glass. She tried to move her head and she was met with searing pain.

"Gia stop, you're hurt. Let me go get the doctor."

All she could think about was Ali. She had to know. She grabbed Nick's arm. He turned to look at her and she waved him back. She grabbed his hand and wrote A-L-I-? on his palm. Something flashed across his face.

"She's alive." was all he would say and then he went to get a doctor.

She closed her eyes waiting for Nick to come back with the doctor, the light was hurting her eyes. It was like there was a base drum in her head.

"Gia?" Her eyes fluttered open. It was Jesse. "Are you okay with me examining you?" She nodded yes. Jesse made her feel safe.

"You guys know each other?" Nick asked.

"Uh, yeah." Jesse rubbed the back of his head. Nick could be intimidating and he was staring him down. Jesse hesitated for a moment. "I'm friends with Ali, we've hung out a couple of times."

"Gia, do you want me to leave?" Nick asked. She shook her head no. Nick stepped to the side to give Jesse room to do what he needed to do, but he never took his eyes off of her. When he was done, Jesse sighed.

"You have a severe grade 3 concussion. You are lucky there wasn't swelling or permanent damage. You have a small cut on the back of your head, but it didn't need stitches so we cleaned it up. You're going to be here for a bit. We need to monitor you. We need to keep an eye on any complications or side effects. You need to rest your vocal cords. There's some swelling. I'm going to get you some water. It'll come back, but you're going to be hoarse for a while. Pain?" She nodded. "Okay. I'll be back with something for that too."

When he patted her arm she grabbed his hand. He knew what she wanted to know.

"Ali is stable right now. If you hadn't showed up? She'd be dead. You worry about you for now. I've got her."

Gia was rapidly blinking back tears. Something was wrong with Ali. She knew by their responses. She wanted to ask Nick to turn down the lights. She tried to say his name, but Jesse was right. She clenched her jaw in frustration.

"You might be more stubborn than me." She slammed her hands against the mattress of her hospital bed. Nick walked closer and she turned her head to the side to avoid his gaze, tears building back up.

"Look at me." His voice was gentle. She snapped her head back to him. "I'll get a pen and some paper."

Before he left again, she smacked his hand lightly and then pointed to the lights. "You want them turned down?" She nodded. As he headed towards the door he dimmed them. When he looked back at her, she was staring out the window. Nick couldn't find the words to tell her about Ali. He knew Olivia was the best person to do it.

___________________________________

Gia was in and out of consciousness. Jesse, true to his word came back with something for her pain and then gave her something for her anxiety. He could tell by the frantic look in her eyes and her heart rate.

When Gia opened her eyes again, Nick was gone. She looked around her empty room. She felt so out of it. She wasn't sure if it was the drugs or the head injury, probably both. There was a pad of paper and a pen on the table next to her, along with some water. As she tried to get it, Olivia walked in.

"Hey." She said gently. "Let me help." Gia felt infantilized as Liv held the straw up to her mouth. Yet, she was still grateful because as hard as it was to swallow, the cold water felt good. Olivia sat on the side of her bed. Gia knew by studying Olivia's face tight with apprehension that she was going to tell her what she wanted to know. She also knew it was bad if they waited for Liv to get there to give her all of the details.

"She was attacked by the serial we've been after." Gia's eyes widened. "You showed up just in time. She's the first victim that has survived." Gia closed her eyes for a moment. Olivia waited to continue until she opened them back up. She could tell by her face she didn't want to tell her the rest. "She was raped, brutally, but she put up a fight. She has a lot of defensive wounds. He already had her strung up and gagged. She has some brain trauma and the bruising around her neck points to strangulation. She was in surgery for a while as they fixed any internal damage, I'm not sure of the outcome. Her ribs are fractured and she has a laundry list of cuts and bruises. The doctors don't know if she went without Oxygen for an extended period of time or not. They won't know if there is any permanent damage until she wakes up."

Gia slammed her head against her bed and immediately regretted it. She felt a wave of dizziness. If she had just been a little faster saying goodbye to Rafael, the outcome could have been different. Maybe he wouldn't have heard her and she could have captured him. The what if's were too much to bare.

"Gia, listen to me.” Liv took both of her hands in hers. "If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have a chance to fight for her life. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have his DNA. And when you can speak better? We can get a sketch artist." Gia's eyes widened. She pulled her hand from Liv's and pointed to the pen and paper. Liv handed it to her. She couldn't believe she didn't think of it before. She had a camera that she had hidden in the hallway. She had put it on the top of the doorway on the apartment across the hall from her. It was pointed directly at her door. She never even knew why she did it, this was the first time anyone had gotten past security without being seen. She furiously wrote down the information Liv needed to get it off her laptop.

"Gia, this is great. I'll have someone on it. We have a Uni outside of your room. We don't want to take the chance of him coming after you. We haven't been letting anyone but us and your doctors in. Do you want me to call your brother?" Gia shook her head. Liv thought about trying to convince her to let her call Grayson, but she knew Gia had a reason. She also didn't want to upset her any more than she already was.

"Okay. I'm going to go and take care of this. Just rest. One of us will be in to check on you soon. We are going to get him." Olivia reassured her. Gia nodded her head. Olivia squeezed her hand before she walked out. ____________________________________

Rafael slowly opened the door to Gia's room. As suspected, she was sleeping and he didn't want to wake her. He slowly closed the door behind him. The more she rested, the quicker she would heal.

He had barely gotten home when Amaro had called him. He couldn't wrap his brain around what had transpired. He had just been with her and had been fine, she had been perfect. If only he had insisted on walking her up to her door, he could have saved her and helped Alison.

Her building was secure, he had seen it with his own eyes. Gia had always been confident in her safety there. They had no idea how that man got in and why he had gone after Alison. It was a piece of the puzzle they were desperate to find- how and why this man chose his victims. Rafael wished he had that answer to give to Gia. He knew that she would want as much information as possible. His thoughts drifted over to Alison. He felt his own stomach turn. He had never met her, yet she felt like an old friend. Gia loved her and spoke about her often. Gia admired her tenacity and empathy. Their shared passion of helping people is what drew them together. While their paths were very different, their end game was the same.

Rafael had seen the crime scene photos. He was thankful that Gia hadn't seen her. Though he knew she would demand seeing the file once she was better, he would try to talk her out of . So would Liv and Amaro. She didn't need that image in her brain. At least, for the time being, that image wasn't floating around her head.

It was early. He had told his office he would be taking the day off. The first time in as long as he could remember. Carmen knew where he would be and would call if anything pertinent came up.

He had sat by her side the night she was brought into the hospital for hours. The dark purple marks around her neck made him feel homicidal. The cuts and bruises all over her face. He had stayed, willing her to open her eyes, even if briefly. They had worried she had incurred a serious traumatic brain injury. They wouldn't know until she woke up. He had to have traced that tattoo on her wrist over a thousand times.

Eventually Amaro showed up a little after dawn and sent him home to get a few hours of sleep. They all couldn't sit by her bedside and Nick had needed a break from the crime scene and the search for the man who had done this.

They still didn't have a suspect in custody. But thanks to Gia, they now had DNA and a face. He knew that they would find him, it was only a matter of time. She had been so smart to scratch him. The way she had the camera positioned gave them a full view of the door and into her apartment. They had seen the entire attack on her play out. He didn't know if he would ever get the image of her being choked out of his mind. The way her head slammed against the floor. He felt pride with how she fought back.

He slowly pulled the chair close to her bedside. He was more than tired. He felt depleted. He had slept very little and then he had gotten to work. He had warrants ready to go so that as soon as Liv called with anything, he could get them signed. Carmen was ready to beat down every judges door with Barba on the phone if that is what it took.

He gently took her hand and stared at the tattoo on her wrist. The more he got to know her, the more he understood it. She was like the ocean. She was vast and incredibly deep. Her emotions came in like a strong tide and sometimes boundless and dangerous. Other times, they were gentle and caressed you like a slow wave lapping at your feet. She was chaos, but in the most exquisite way possible. He lived his life inside the lines and she blurred every single one of them. She made him want to be boundless with her. He found himself tracing the wave on her wrist lightly as not to disturb he sat like that for another hour and a half, zoning out until her heard her struggle to cry out. He watched as she started to see her thrashing, gripping her throat.

Gia felt a familiar tightening constraint on her airway, she grappled at her neck to break free. She wanted to scream, but nothing would come out. All she could do was find a way to loosen the grip on her neck. Yet, she knew fighting against it would bring her demise at a rapid rate. She knew at the beginning, deep down that this job would be the end of her. She just thought she would have more time. Large black dots formed and floated in her line of vision. She thrashed, trying to get one of the most basic needs in life, air. Breathing was a luxury that was taken for granted. It was a reflex; and just when she thought it was over, that she was going to be swallowed by the darkness, she jolted awake.

"Breath Gigi, just breath. You're okay."

It took her a moment to recognize her surroundings. She was in the hospital. She was having a nightmare. She repeated the two sentences in her brain a few times and then she realized that she could breathe. Every ounce of oxygen she sucked into her body calmed the rattle of her heart even if it felt like tiny daggers going down. When she looked to her right, there was Rafael. There was a faint brush of stubble on his face. Deep concern was set in his handsome features. She felt her body relax, she never thought she would see him again. He stood up and walked over to the side table that had been pushed away. He poured water into her cup and then brought the table over.

"Drink some water, please." He helped her get the straw into her mouth. When she winced after taking a deep gulp. She slowly took a few more sips and then he pulled the cup away.

She hadn't realized how dry her mouth felt. She must have been asleep for a while. There was a faint light slowly trickling in, signaling it was early morning. She had been at the hospital for a day and a half at least, though she wasn't sure. The cool water was a welcomed feeling. As Rafael made his way back to his seat, it was then that she noticed what he was wearing. He was in a cream colored cable knit sweater and what appeared to be dark jeans. She was so used to seeing him in a suit, it was a pleasant change. As she swallowed again, the daggers that had just pierced her throat had seemingly dulled their blades, so she tested her voice.

"What, no suit?" She sounded like a 90 year old woman that started smoking at 8, but she had said it.

"You use your first words to make fun of me?" He chuckled and stared at her admirably. She gave him a small half smile. "You're unbelievable."

She winced a little. Now that consciousness was setting in, she felt pain flooding through her body. Her joints ached, her lower back felt like it was on fire, her neck had a deep seeded ache that had set in.

"Your head?" Gia registered the alarm on his face. She slowly shook her head.

"My whole body." she whispered out. "I'm stiff and sore." She patted her hands around and found the remote to adjust the back of the bed up. Once she got it adjusted, Rafael jumped up and helped slide her up. He heard her lower spine crack and at first it worried him, but then he heard her sigh in relief. He got some pillows behind her.

"Work?" She asked. He smiled a little. Always the questions. It had to be torturing her not to be able to say more than a word or two.

"You're not supposed to be talking." He admonished. She gave him an irritated look and he held both his hands up. "Just what the doctor said. I took a personal day." Her brow furrowed. She put her had across her chest and mouthed "for me?". When he went respond he saw a range of emotions sprawl across her face.

"Of course for you." He then added tentatively, "I saw the video, it's understandable that you're in pain." She looked away. He grasped her hand "You are so incredibly brave and your quick thinking saved your life and will save the lives of other women. You got us DNA and we have what he looks like because you knocked him down in that hallway and risked your own life. I swear to you, Gianna, we will get this guy and I will put him away for life." She slowly turned her face back to his.

"I thought." She started and then paused. "I was...I was going", another pause, "to die. All I could think is that I would never see Annie grow up. That I would never see my brother again..." she took a moment before trying to finish her thought and then added, "that I would never see you again."

"I know, I saw it in your eyes. I'm so happy you had left those stupid shoes in the hallway and Ali has a chance because of you."

"I can still smell him. He smelled like stale cigarettes and old beer." she closed her eyes for a few moments. "I can still feel his grip on my throat." Her hands were trembling. She felt a hot cold feeling crawl through her body.

"You're safe now. He is not going to get his hands on you again."

She reached over and grabbed her water to take a few more sips. "How did he get in the building?"

"We don't know. We checked the cameras. He's not on any of them. He studied her face. She was trying to think of how and where he could have gotten in. He was imagining her flipping through photographs in her mind.

"I can't think straight." She whispered.

"A solid blow to the head will do that to you. Give yourself some time."

"There is no time."

"Gia, even if we find out how he got in, it's not going to tell us where he is now. So don't stress yourself." She sighed.

"Rest your voice." He reached down into his bag and pulled out a sketch book and pencils. "I figured you'd want something to occupy yourself."

"Thank you." It was such a small gesture, but it meant the world to her. He was the first person to ever have a finger on the pulse of who she really was.

"De Nada." He said before pulling out a book and opening it up.

___________________________________

Gia squinted as the nurse was pushing her back towards her room after a repeat catscan. The bright lights were absolutely killing her. She needed to get out of this hospital, everything was bright as hell she was going stir crazy. All she wanted was a dark cool room that she could rot in, she felt like there was something cold enveloping over her. She doubted she could go home yet, it had to still be a crime scene. Did she even want to ever go back to that place? Her home was her sanctuary and that had been ripped from her. Maybe after some time she would feel differently about it.

Rafael had been with her all day. He read as she sketched and then they watched documentaries on the History Channel. Rafael seemed to enjoy having someone that actually enjoyed watching it with him. No one from the squad had been in yet today, but she would rather have them out there and trying to find him versus sitting by her bedside. Carmen, however, had stopped in. She had gotten to know her as her friendship with Barba had grown. She was incredibly kind. She had asked Liv if there was anything she could do for Gia. Liv had gone to her apartment after CSU had finished to pack her up some clothes. It didn't even occur to Gia that she had no idea where her dress went and she was perfectly fine never seeing it again.

Gia was torn from her internal dialogue when she heard "But she's my sister!" yelled out. She recognized Grayson’s voice immediately. Who the hell had called him? She instantly the familiar flutter in her chest that she had finally quelled as the nurse wheeled her down the hallway. Grayson turned and his eyes widened.

"Gia! What the hell happened?" He had a demanding tone. When he went to walk over to her, the officer stopped him from approaching her. Apparently Cragen oversold how much danger she was actually in.

"It's okay." She said when the nurse got closer. "He actually is my brother." As Grayson heard the croak in her voice, his eyes narrowed to her neck and then widened. Gia pointed him towards the door. Rafael had gone to get some real coffee and was going to make his way back while she was getting her scan done. Grayson was silent, but he was pacing back and forth as the nurse helped her back into bed. When she shut the door behind her, Grayson stared at Gia expectantly.

"Who called you?" His eyes widened

"NO ONE! When my fifth phone call and numerous texts went unanswered, I went to your apartment and found out it was a crime scene. I thought you were dead. They told me you were okay but in the hospital. Why didn't you have anyone call me. I need to call mom-"

"No!" Gia protested. "That's why I told them not to call you." His face filled with incredulity.

"Are you serious? They are our parents!”

"Gray I swear, you call them and I will have them move me and none of you will be able to see me." He shook his head.

"They're going to be upset."

"I'm the one that is hurt. Shouldn't my feelings come first? I'm not doing this with you anymore. I'm not dealing with her. She makes everything harder for me. She holds me to a different standard than you. You can accept that she and I don't have a good relationship or we won't be seeing each other as often." His face slackened in defeat. Before he could say anything, Rafael walked into the room. He halted in the door way when he immediately sensed the tension in the air. He tentatively walked all the way into the room.

"I got you that protein fruit smoothie you like. I thought it might help make you feel better." Grayson was giving him a piercing look. He couldn’t blame him. His sister was in the hospital and Rafael was a stranger to him. He knew Grayson was overprotective. His eyes never left Barba as he walked over and set her cup on the tray table. He then wiped the condensation off on his jeans and stuck his hand out. "You must be Grayson. I'm Rafael Barba. I work with your sister."

"Nice to meet you. Thanks for looking after my sister." Grayson was cycling through worried and angry, but he felt a little bit of relief that his stubborn sister at least wasn't here alone. He looked back to Gia, his voice a little softer.

"You win. I won't call them. But can you please tell me what the hell happened and why you have an armed guard outside."

Rafael dragged a chair over for Grayson and then went to sit in the one he had spent the entire day in. He felt like he was intruding, but he didn't want to leave. The pleading look in Gia’s eyes wouldn’t let him. He wanted to watch over her for as long as he could.

It took Gia a while to tell Grayson what happened between getting upset and the pain of speaking in long intervals. Rafael filled in where he could. He let Grayson know what they were doing to find this guy and that the officer outside was just a precaution and that no threats had been made.

"I'm sorry Gray." She said as her voice cracked. "I would have lost my mind if I went to your place and it looked like that. I was going to reach out to you tonight now that I have my phone back. I wanted to have an update from the doctor." Gia had gotten her phone when Carmen brought her clothes. She went to say more, but Jesse walked in.

"So good news, the scans look good. I just wanted to make sure we didn't miss anything. You're banged up, that's for sure. I want to keep you one more night.

"No Jesse. I just want to get out of here."

"Gia, c'mon. I should keep you for a few days. Give me one more night.

"Fine, but I get to see Ali." Jesse glanced at Barba. "Don't do that." She pointed between the two. Jesse let out a deep sigh.

"You go in a wheel chair." He conceded.

"Deal."

"I'll discharge you tomorrow. We'll go over symptoms to watch for regarding the concussion. You have to promise me that you're not going to rush back into anything. A grade 3 concussion is serious. You need a minimum of 2-4 weeks to recover. You also shouldn't be alone for at least the first week, just in case you have any severe symptoms." Jesse didn't want her going back to work right away.

"That's not a problem doctor, Gia will stay with me." Grayson jumped in. Gia's insides seethed. That was her decision to make, not his. Before she could protest, Jesse continued.

"How's the pain? And don't lie."

"It's bad. My back and my ribs."

"Okay, I'll have the nurse bring something for it. I'll check back in later." Once he was gone, Gia glared at Grayson.

"Don't speak for me like that. I'm not staying with you. I'm not putting Sienna out and Annie will freak when she sees me. She doesn't need to see me like this. I'll stay at Nick's." Amaro had the house to himself with Maria in DC. Gia knew he would be happy to have the company.

"Absolutely not. You need to actually rest and I know you. You will not do it if left to your own devices. I agreed not to call Mom and Dad. You do this for me. All Anna needs to know is that you got hurt at work. At least while you can't stay at your apartment. We will get someone to go in and clean it and you're getting a more secure door."

"Fine." Gia deflated. Barba watched the interaction with interest. He had never seen Gia acquiesce so quickly. He was glad she did, he was worried about her being alone while she recovered. Grayson stood up and let out a deep sigh.

"Gigi, I'm going to head out so I can get home and fill Sienna in. You know her, she will want to do something special for you. And before you protest-" he held his hand up as she opened her mouth and then quickly shut it. "She loves doing nice things for other people, especially you. You know how much she loves you. Anna will be excited too. I will get here tomorrow morning and wait for you to be discharged, okay?"

"Okay Gray. You win, but just this time." Deep down, she knew being there was the best place for her to be. The anxiety and fear were steadily pumping through her veins. Being alone with just her thoughts wasn't the best idea at the moment. It didn't hurt that she would get quality time with her niece.

"I love you. Call or text me if you need anything. I don't care if it's 3am." Grayson looked over at Rafael tentatively.

"Would you mind staying with her? I hate the idea of her being here alone. I would stay myself, but I want to be 100% available tomorrow for her."

"I will stay here for as long as she needs me to. I cleared my schedule." Gia looked back and forth between the two men. She was used to her brother giving any guy in her life, friend or otherwise, the 3rd degree.

"Mr. Barba, thank you for looking out for my sister. I'm glad she has such good, um, friends." He said the last part tentatively. He had seen the way he looked at his sister. He was sure this was the friend she was talking about when he met her outside of her building.

"Call me Rafael. And no thanks is needed. We all care about Gia very much. I promise you the SVU squad will find this guy, thanks to Gia's quick thinking. If it weren't for her, we'd have a lot less to go on. I will put him away for the rest of his life.”

"I have no doubt that you will." He looked over at Gia. "See you in the morning Gigi." Grayson leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and then headed out.

"You okay?" Rafael watched as she massaged the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, I just wished that he hadn't found out that way. I would have been better prepared. You were uncharacteristically quiet."

"I was just observing." He gestured in front of him." Gia rolled her eyes. "I have never seen you concede that quickly. I was trying to learn."

"I felt guilty for him finding the crime scene."

"It'll be good that you're staying with him. You need to follow their directions. You got really lucky."

"I know. I promise I will."

"For now, drink your smoothie. You need something in your body. Low blood sugar isn't going to help your headaches.

"Don't get used to bossing me around." She pointed at him.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

____________________________________

Rafael slowly wheeled Gia down to the ICU. He didn't know if it was a good idea for her to see Alison just yet, but she wasn't a child and he had to ignore his instinct to try and protect her.

When they entered, a man and a woman were tearfully sitting by Alison's bedside. They had to be her parents. He wondered where Ali got her darker skin from as both of them were Caucasian.

"Oh Gia! Honey...I'm so glad that you're okay." the woman stood and immediately came over and once Gia was on her feet, she hugged her fiercely. Gia looked smaller in that moment. She was clad in a hooded sweatshirt probably 2 sizes too big and leggings. The height her shoes usually gave her diminished. Helene was quite a bit taller than her, which added to the effect.

"I'm so sorry." Her could hear the tears in her voice. He moved her wheelchair to the other side of the room. As he turned, Helene took Gia's face in her hands.

"Don't you dare apologize. The detectives told me about what you did. She wouldn't even have a chance if you hadn't been there." Alison's father approached.

"Gia how are you feeling?" His voice registered a level of concern only a father could speak. She pulled away from Helene, held her hand out and tipped it to the right and to the left. Rafael cleared his throat and approached. He stuck his hand out to introduce himself.

"Rafael Barba. I'm a friend of Gia's."

"Mark Bennett, it's nice to meet you." He shook Rafael's hand. Helene still had her arms around Gia but gave him a nod of recognition.

Rafael watched as Gia slowly peeled herself away from the woman and stepped towards Ali's bedside. He watched her take Alison's state in and then close her eyes for a moment.

Her face looked the worst. Both of her eyes were bruised, on the left side the bruise went down past her cheek bone. It was a dark purple color, the heeling tinge of yellow not present. Her bottom lip was swollen and there was a large cut down the right side. It was topped off by a gash that was raised above her right eye. The IV inserted into her arm had 3 bags hanging from the stand. As her eyes trailed down, Rafael watched her take in the severe bruising down her arms and the dark purple bruise around her neck like a matching necklace to Gia's. One of her hands was wrapped in gauze that was covering a stitched up wound from a knife that went through her hand. There was a good chance she wouldn't ever perform a surgery again, depending on the nerve damage. While they couldn't see her torso and legs from under the hospital down and blankets, there was no doubt it was littlered with bruising and cuts.

"What are they saying?" Gia's hoarse voice seemingly fit the scene in front of her. Helene went and stood next to her and wrapped her arm around her. Rafael felt like an intruder in their moment, more so than when he was a witness to Gia and Grayson. Yet, he wouldn't leave her, his feet would never allow him to retreat to the waiting room down the hall.

"She is in a medically induced coma. They're keeping her sedated to give her brain time to heal." Mark said, Rafael knew he was holding back information and Gia sensed it too.

"Mark, please..." she pleaded. He sighed, the over protectiveness from a father slowly seeping from him. Rafael wasn't the only one with the instinct to protect her.

"She has some severe internal injuries. They had to give her a hysterectomy. Her Uterus it... it had ruptured and they couldn't contain the bleeding. There was other damage to her reproductive system, they didn't want to take the chance of having to go back in. She may never operate again, that animal stabbed through her hand after stomping her body. She is covered in subdural hematomas, deep cuts that have been stitched. They... they don't know if there is any permanent brain damage. The blow to her head and the damage it caused and then being suffocated..." he trailed off, not able to finish his sentence. Gia took Ali's unwrapped hand in hers.

"I just wish I had gotten there sooner." Gia's confessed, which caused a pang of guilt to wrack through Rafael. He saw the look in Gia's eyes harden. "I will not rest until he is found."

"No, Gia." Helene said. "You let your team do that. You need to recover and heal too. Alison would not want you jeopardizing your health. You're too important to her." Gia didn't respond and instead clenched and rolled her jaw. He said a silent prayer that Alison made it through this. If she didn't, he didn't know how Gia would survive it.

#rafael barba #svu #law and order svu imagine #rafael barba imagine #rafael barba x detective #rafael barba x oc #law and order svu #svu fic #svu imagine #rafael barba x reader #special victims unit

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youngeditor1999 · 9 months ago

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🌞🕯️✨🕯️✨🕯️✨🌞

#YEAH #I really will too!!!!!#In fact I've already started!!!!!!#writing #fan fic #fan fic writers #writing inspiration #writing motivation #writing life #summer time #writing time #tweets #Also this was tweet is originally from the Law and Order: SVU and Law and Order: OC fandom in case anyone #was wondering lol #manifesting #stories #OP #original poster #love

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itwasrealtome · 8 months ago

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#scarlett johansson x reader #olivia benson x reader #rita calhoun x reader #law and order svu x oc #law and order svu x reader #woso x reader #alexia putellas x reader #katie mccabe x reader #leah williamson x reader #maura isles x reader #rizzoli and isles #sapphic novel #bestbeloved #ellewiley #mcu fic #wlwnovel #uncharted love #elliewalker

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yoyok-era · 1 year ago

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Look at us, you and I (back at it again) - chapter one

Elliot Stabler x Olivia Benson ♡ Law and Order: SVU ♡ 1.6k ♡ Ao3

[Series Masterlist]

It's cold. It's so cold. The snow bites into her skin, turning her bones into aching icicles.

She shouldn't complain. That's the whole reason she's out here, after all. Because she'd complained. Good girls don't complain. Good girls do as they're told.

She'd been bad.

He'd given her specific instructions to stay on the couch, no matter the circumstances, and she'd disobeyed. Her throat had been aching, phantom hands scratching the insides of her esophagus and crawling their way up to her mouth.

She'd moved slowly, legs trembling as she clutched onto tables and closets on her way to the kitchen. She wasn't allowed here, she was breaking the rules, but the punishment for puking on his floor was worse than the punishment for sneaking into the kitchen.

She'd managed to grab one of the cups on the counter, broken fingers screaming in agony as they curled around the glass. Her hands shook as she filled it with water, eyes glued to the liquid as it streamed from the faucet and into the cup, like it was a drug and she was an addict.

He'd come back just as she'd lifted the glass to her lips. The slam of his fist against the door rattled her, and she watched, horror stricken, as the glass slipped from her hand and landed on the floor, shattered.

"I thought I told you to stay put?" His voice was low and growling, and it vibrated through her body. "I suppose I'm used to you breaking my rules, but breaking my things? That's new, Olivia."

Her heart raced and her head swam, nausea rising in her stomach as fear flooded her veins. She whimpered quietly, trying her hardest not to throw up.

"I was thirsty, I-"

There's a scoff, and she cuts herself off. "You know when you're allowed water, don't you Olivia?" He's standing in front of her now, staring down at her, waiting impatiently for an answer as she flounders for something coherent. There's a scowl etched on his face, and his expression makes her feel even smaller than she already does.

"When you let me."

"Exactly," He steps closer, if that's even possible, and she can smell the alcohol on his breath. "So why, pray tell, are you being an ungrateful bitch and disobeying me?" The word stings, like fire and acid. She knows what she did was wrong. Knows it was a mistake to break the rules, but that doesn't make the sting any less painful.

She licks her lips and says nothing.

His brows crease in frustration, confusion. Then he breaks into a smile. "I know exactly what your punishment will be for this little stunt of yours."

That's how she ended up here, tied to the tree in the garden, the bark digging into the skin of her back through the thin material of her shirt. He'd left her out overnight, wrists bound and mouth gagged as she sat through the blizzard that the news had been warning about for the last week.

She looks up as the door to the house opens with a slam, blinking the snow out of her eyelashes.

Lewis doesn't step outside. He stays in the doorway, smiling at her as he nurses a steaming mug between his hands. "How's the weather out there, Livvie?."

Olivia doesn't – can't – respond, humming weakly around the gag.

"The blizzard broke one of the window frames last night. I'll have to go to the store." He smiles, watching as her eyes fill with fear. "I can't take you with me, of course. But, to move you inside only to tie you up again is a bit of a hassle, don't you think?"

Her heart drops. The closest town is hours away, and she feels like she might freeze to death if she spends any more time outside. Of all the ways she thought she'd die, all the possibilities that had run through her head over the last few years, freezing hadn't been one of them.

She watches helplessly as he closes the door, walks through to the front of the house, steps into his car, and drives away. Her eyes follow him until the car fades from view, and then her gaze settles on her bound wrists, on the rope that digs into her skin, leaving red streaks in its wake.

If it wasn't so cold, if she wasn't gagged, she would scream. But there'd be no point to it; the cabin he's kept her in is isolated from the rest of society. No one comes here, and if they do, they don't leave alive.

There was a couple once, two hikers that had taken the wrong turn. Olivia had screamed, begged them to help her, to call the police, to do anything. Lewis shot them both, and she can still see the bodies as they crumpled and fell in front of her.

She's pulled out of the memory when something stabs into her leg, drawing crimson droplets to fall onto the snow. She maneuvers as well as she can, moving her hands to the injury. There's a sharp pain in her thigh and she yanks, gasping as she tugs something out of the wound.

It hurts. God, it hurts so much. She stares at the bloodied shard of glass in her palm, tears burning as fresh blood drips from the open slice of skin. Must've blown over during the storm, she thinks.

She cries then, a sob wracking her body as her vision darkens slightly, threatening her with the darkness that's always lurked beneath her skin. She tries desperately to hold the bloody piece of glass between her shaking hands, moving it back and forth until the rope binding her wrists together breaks.

Her arms are stiff, frozen, as she moves them, the ropes around her chest biting deeply into her flesh as she tries to cut them off. She grits her teeth, harder and harder until it hurts.

Blood. So much blood. It drips down her legs as she stands up, the ropes pooling beneath her feet. The only barrier between her and freedom, the only thing keeping her bound here, severed and laying at her ankles.

The realization almost makes her collapse. She can go. She can leave this place. She can get out and leave and go back to her family. Fin, Amanda, Noah.

Elliot.

She moves as fast as she can, stumbling and staggering as the cold seeps deep into her bones and numbs them, slowing her down more than she already is. Her blood is trailing in the snow behind her, but she can't be bothered to care.

It feels like hours until the lights from the town come into view. They shine bright enough that she knows where to go, knows which path to take and the quickest route to get there. She's free. She's escaping, and she's free.

She ducks into the first store she sees as she struggles for breath, each inhale painful against the ice in her lungs. She ignores everything around her and grabs at the nearest rack of clothes, clutching whatever item she can find. Anything to stop the numbness creeping up her limbs, the dizziness threatening to drag her down under the weight of it all.

"Miss, you okay? We've had someone call an ambulance for you. Would you like to sit down?" There's an employee that's started approaching her, his hands stretched out in front of him, like he's trying not to scare her.

The world around her moves in a blur, her head spinning. She barely registers a voice shouting about a missing police captain, and another voice calling 911, and then there's nothing, only a darkness and a dull pain in the side of her head.

o0o0o0o0o

Saturday night means movie night in the Stabler household. It used to be Sunday, but then Noah moved in, and Elliot didn't want him going to bed late when he had school the next day.

Noah's recounting the story to Vincent as the two attempt to make a batch of cookies, though they're doing a better job of messing up the kitchen then they are of actually baking.

Elliot's watching from the couch as they do, Jet tucked against his side as she scrolls through their movie list.

"We could do a Disney movie?" She suggests, raising an eyebrow at the rest of them.

Noah and Vincent break out into a fit of giggles. "After Dad cried during Frozen 2? No way." Noah laughs, throwing a handful of flour at his boyfriend in the process.

"It was a nice moment!" Elliot defends himself against his adopted son, glaring at Jet as she snickers beside him.

"Why don't you do something classic? Titanic or something?" The attention shifts to Joe, who's sitting on the other side of the couch with his arm draped around Kathleen's shoulders.

There's a series of boos around him as he finishes the suggestion, and he throws his hands up in surrender.

Lizzie grabs the remote from her spot next to the coffee table, switching the TV onto her netflix account. "Since all of you are so indecisive, I'll pick."

They end up settling on the 2nd Hunger Games, a sequel to the film they watched last week, eating cookies and popcorn as one of them cracks a joke every few minutes.

Elliot's phone starts ringing an hour into the movie, and when the caller ID reads "Fin," his heart drops. Fin has no reason to be calling him at 9pm on a Saturday night; they haven't worked any cases together recently, and Fin's not known for initiating small talk this late into the evening.

He presses the green button, standing up and moving away from the laughter of the group. He freezes as the news leaves his speaker, tears springing into his eyes.

He's slow when he turns back to his kids, who've gone silent.

It's Kathleen who speaks first. "Dad, you okay?"

"That was Fin." He pauses, his eyes searching for Noah's amongst the group of people.

"They found her."

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nyandereneko · 1 year ago

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Stranger

Word Count: 604 Summary: “The trio of fantastical strangers found themselves stupefied in the wake of the devastating strength of the bond that’d formed between them in the breadth of a breath, but their collective confusion had no bearing on the enduring—and steadily intensifying—status of said bond.” Author’s Note: I know I'm posting this fairly late but I found a promptober list and I wanted to attempt at least some of the prompts. I probably won’t be able to keep up with every day because I’m still working (and building Gen$hin charas) most of the month, but I’m certainly going to try to do a couple of these!! If nothing else I just want to try to get into the mood of writing again, and I really enjoyed working on this piece, so thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!!

*****

Neither man knew quite what to do with himself as he was unexpectedly struck by the woman’s peculiar presence. She fell over them like a shower of late spring rain, or perhaps she was more like autumn, tinged with a chill that drew their warmth to the surface rather than stripping it away. Inexplicable and extraordinary.

She was as devastating as a comet, and as inspiring as the flash of a falling star, imbued with the essence of a wish in the depths of her very being.

She was a stranger in every sense of the word, even as their wandering gazes tripped over her that first time. They were drawn to her just as the sun is drawn beneath the distant horizon; a predictable comfort at the end of a long and arduous day. The man forged from gold and the man carved from ocean torrents orbited the star that blazed across their skies with instinctive finesse, an overwhelming impulse that prickled through their veins like a swelling storm. Her acknowledgement was the sole balm that could soothe their restless hearts. Her influence was impossible to ignore, although the idea that they’d even want to was the last thing on their minds.

Not when their minds were already so full of her.

A dazzling star that reflected the celestial radiance of the cosmos in her fragile visage, she directly contradicted her own distinguished luster in her habits, seemingly determined to conceal it at all costs. Muted, insignificant, more preoccupied with shrinking into the shadows of the darkest corner she could find than exchanging pleasantries in most meaningful social capacities…and yet. And yet, in the midst of a crowded room, there was still no doubt in their minds as to her precise position. Her very essence was a beacon to them both, a lure set with rare and mysterious bait, seemingly unremarkable while still managing to catch and hold the attention of not one but two nigh mythological beings.

The trio of fantastical strangers found themselves stupefied in the wake of the devastating strength of the bond that’d formed between them in the breadth of a breath, but their collective confusion had no bearing on the enduring—and steadily intensifying—status of said bond. In short, there was nothing a single one of them could do to divert from the path they’d stumbled upon, and there was likewise no way for them to know if that inscrutable path was the right one, the one they were always meant to find. Each of them had already tread so many different paths on their own, set off on so many journeys and wandered so many twisting alleyways and avenues of life with only their shadows—and unreliable shadows at that—as fickle company.

For Zhongli and Neuvillette, the encroaching woe of embracing a lonely future was eased by her arrival. For Nova, the swelling wave of despair and doubt that threatened to engulf her in its roiling depths broke against their very beings, dispelling any immediate danger to her fragile composure. They were each other’s remedies before they’d even said hello, forming anchors to various eras of time that passed in whirling blurs of friends and foes alike. So many years passed together in simple bliss, and just as many terrors and trials reared their heads to displace the joys of simpler times.

Nova was their constant until she wasn’t. The duo served as her shelter until she was cruelly whisked away. An untenable circumstance each of them was determined to right at any cost��though the tangled strands of fate never intended for them to be forced apart for long.

#self insert #selfship #selfshipping #oc x canon #self insert fic #self insert fanfiction #selfship fic #selfship fanfiction #self insert writing #my writing #ck writes #my self insert #my self insert writing #glitter and gold #something borrowed something blue #glitter and gold writing #something borrowed something blue writing #sorry for a novel already in the tags #yeah i love neuvillette in need to update stuff sorry he's like hydro zhongli #not legitimately ofc but like they're literally law and order okay #i'm losing my mind #also not entirely sold on his ship tag yet but i wanted something color theme to kind of match the other genshin ones #anyway thanks i wrote this in a post migraine fugue state now i'm gonna go watch a halloween movie #happy first day of halloween!!!!!!!!!#oh and yeah it seems tragic bcuz zhongli and nova and neuvillette all get together and then get separated and then find each other again #zhongli and neuvillette yearning for nova while she gets brainwashed and tortured yeehaw we love the drama #promptober 2023

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nacrella · 2 years ago

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Hey everyone!! What’s up?

My girls @kiwiithecrazybird and @intothestargate started writing a fic together!! Here’s the first chapter for those who are obsessed with Veluncy 🩵

Go read it and give them the appreciation they deserve ✨

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roadtogracelandx45 · 2 years ago

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Veiled Justice| Law and Order SVU| Masterlist

set in seasons 22-24 of Law and Order SVU and seasons one and two of Law and Order: Organized Crime.

Summary: Ressa Stabler had sworn up and down that she was never going to return back to the city after her relationship with ADA Rafael Barba ended suddenly and disastrously. But then her sister-in-law Kathy is killed in a car bombing and she knew that Elliot and her nieces and nephews needed her. She didn't expect those feelings she had for Rafael to surface again when he turned back up to defend the man that killed Kathy nor did she see herself introducing their daughter to him.

Rated T-M for language and content

The first chapter posting Sunday, Feb 19th at 12 pm MST with updates coming every Sunday

Playlist

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posting on ao3 and ff.net as well.

Part One

One Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven Eight

Nine

Ten Eleven Tweleve

Thirteen

Fourteen Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

#ash writes #oc: grace stabler #series: veiled justice #law and order fan fiction #law and order imagines #rafael barba fan fiction #rafael barba imagines #rafael barba fic

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claires-audience · 9 months ago

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After the successful completion of 25 seasons of Law and Order :SVU, I wanna personally thank whoever would put Olivia in date night outfits every now and then without reason. You really fueled my bi awakening, please never stop.

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winchesterszvonecek · 5 months ago

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Rafael Barba Masterlist

Full Masterlist

Sex in a pool/hot tub 18+

Uniform

How Rafael Would Punish You in Bed After You Testified for The Defense 18+

Original Character:

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Rafael Barba never intended to fall for Melanie Dodds, but now that he had... He was slowly beginning to uncover that there may be far more to the rough and tumble Detective than meets the eye ongoing

Like Rafael? Apply to his tag list so you don’t miss out on his works!

Like my work? Consider buying me a coffee!

#rafael barba #rafael barba fic #rafael barba fanfiction #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba x you #rafael barba x oc #law and order svu fic #law and order special victims unit #law and order svu #law and order svu x reader #raul esparza #rafael barba masterlist

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saiilorstars · 10 months ago

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Ch. 60: The Waiting Game

Previous chapters // Montserrat’s masterlist

Fandom: SVU // Pairing: Rafael Barba x OC

Warnings: Due to the nature of the series’ plots, I do have to rate this as ‘mature’ for constant mentions of rape.

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag @arrthurpendragon @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel @stareyedplanet @averyhotchner @abzidabzy @hellofutur @foxesandmagic @xovalliegirlxo @sam-i–am @kmc1989 @midmourn @choosejoyangel

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message

When Montserrat woke up from her Nyquill-induced nap, she very quickly realized she slept way more hours than she intended to. It was past noon, almost four. Granted she was truly well rested but that was not the point. She still felt mentally exhausted and wasn't equipped for what had to come next. She had to finally call Lucia and tell her what happened — it was the worst conversation she ever had with the woman. Lucia was livid with Montserrat, to say the least.

"How could you not tell me before!? Why are you barely telling me!?"

Montserrat could barely give her reasons when Lucia went on a rampage in the Spanish and English language to the point where Montserrat couldn't dream of understanding. The only thing Montserrat managed to hear was that Lucia was on her way to the hospital and pretty much cut all ties with his son's girlfriend.

Great. That would be fun explaining to Rafael when he woke up. It was definitely about the last thing he needed in his life right now. After that, Montserrat soon found out that somehow Casey had gotten involved with the whole thing.

"Yeah, that was my fault," Kara said with a hand raised in the air. "I suggested it."

"Why?" Montserrat couldn't understand what a robbery had to do with her cousin at the moment. Then again, she was only really thinking with about a 50% capacity.

Kara understood her mistake too late and was left squandering for a reasonable excuse (otherwise this time Sonny would have a true reason to kill her). "Well, uh, Casey's another prosecutor and she'll maybe take the case? If they find the guy?"

"It's just not her case yet," Montserrat insisted, although it seemed like the heat was now going more towards the situation rather than Kara (or Casey for that matter). "Nobody's been murdered."

"And it'll stay like that," Kara jumped on the chance to provide actual support to her friend. It was hard thinking this could turn into a homicide case rather than attempted murder. "You'll see."

Montserrat would've been more convinced if she didn't have other things on her mind. She kept getting voice-mail for Lucia's number, only reiterating how angry the woman was with her.

"She'll come around," Kara kept insisting as well, "She's stunned, like you were when you first got the call. It's just different. She's his mother, after all. Give her some days."

Montserrat nodded only because there was nothing else she could do, but it didn't mean it wasn't nagging at her in the meantime. "I need to go back to the hospital," she told Kara after lunch. She did Kara the solid of sticking around for that mealtime but it was about all she would do now. She'd been away from the hospital for way too long.

"What are you talking about? It's only been a couple hours," Kara pointed out. She would rather Montserrat stay for a bit more until she was less anxious and stressed.

"It's past noon now!"

"So?" Kara would love to hear an adequate reason why the time even mattered. "Montserrat, you need to rest."

"I already did!" Montserrat exclaimed. "Way more than I planned!"

Kara's eyes flickered to the side for a moment. The nyquil was still under wraps. Her phone started ringing and seeing it was Sonny, she urged Montserrat to wait for another 5 minutes. "Just let me take the call and see what's happened, okay?"

Montserrat groaned. "Fine! But I am leaving as soon as you're done, with or without you!"

Kara nodded and hurried to take the call. Montserrat took the first seconds to try and calm herself down. She didn't want to actually fight with Kara, not with anyone for that matter. They were all walking on eggshells around her already, thinking she was a ticking time bomb. It was hard staying afloat not knowing what the next day would bring, or even the next hour. Tears stung get eyes just thinking about the uncertainty.

Hearing the knock on the door somehow startled her greatly. She went to open it, presuming it would be Sonny on the other side only to find her father instead.

"Dad!" She gasped, stumbling back a step.

"Montserrat, how — woah! What's happened to you?" Thomas of course referred to his daughter's face of anguish.

Immediately, Montserrat whirled around, eyes wide as she took a few steps away from her father. She tried wiping her eyes quickly. "Dad, what are you doing here?"

"I got the day off and since it's been a while, I thought we could have lunch,, but..." Thomas trailed off, reaching forward for his daughter's shoulder. He gently turned her around and saw the same face as before, only this time it was slightly redder from the fervent rubbing at the eyes. "Now I'm seeing it's longer than I thought. Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Dad," Montserrat shook her father's hand off her shoulder. "Just a rough day, that's all."

"No, no, no," Thomas shook his head, "Don't try to kid me. I know you, Montserrat. You've been crying and it looks like it's been going on for a while. What's happened?"

"Nothing, sheesh!" Montserrat exclaimed. Of course she would've been more convincing if her voice hadn't shaken towards the end. How the hell am I a detective? "Look, I can't do lunch today. Can we schedule another day?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Thomas declared, crossing his arms, "It looks like you've got explaining to do, young lady."

Montserrat glared at her father. This was the last thing she needed right now. Despondence, anxiety, and anger mixed into one did not bode well for anybody in the room. "Dad, I don't have time for this. Can we do this another day, please?"

Thomas raised an eyebrow at his daughter. Usually it was all he needed to warn her she was crossing a line with him.

She still knew that.

But she didn't back down this time.

"You've got 5 seconds to tell me what's going on with you," Thomas warned. "Five…four…"

Montserrat gawked at her father with incredulity. "Dad, you can't treat me like I'm five—"

"Three…two—"

"Dad, seriously!"

"One—"

"I SAID STOP!" Montserrat unintentionally yelled at her father.

Thomas was dumbfounded with such a frantic reaction from his daughter. Tears were coming to Montserrat's eyes and though it was partially out of guilt, there was something deeper going on. "Montserrat," he tried again, softly, "Sweetheart, what's—"

"Can you just go? I'm actually leaving right now too," Montserrat gestured to the door behind Thomas. "I have to—"

"Montserrat!" Kara called from the hallway seconds before emerging. "Sonny says he'll be by in 15 and he can take us to the hospital."

"Hospital!?" Thomas exclaimed.

Kara's eyes widened. She had no idea they were no longer alone. "Oops…"

Montserrat let out a heavy sigh. "Dad—"

"Why do you need to go to the hospital!?" Thomas started demanding. "Are you hurt?" He went to check himself but Montserrat swatted his hands away.

"Dad, stop!"

"Why do you need to go!? Do you feel alright? What am I saying — it's obvious you're not feeling well! You've been crying!"

"She has," Kara agreed solemnly.

"KARA!" Montserrat said loudly enough to make Kara flinch. "SHUT UP!"

"Don't yell at Kara like that," Thomas reprimanded his daughter, "Answer my question. Why are you going to the hospital right now?"

"Because…" Montserrat racked her head for a good answer that wouldn't give away such a terrible situation.

"Are you hurt?"

"No!"

"Then why—"

"Oh, just stop!" Montserrat resorted to pleading, something downright shocking to her father. "Please! Just stop!" Tears rolled down her cheeks as the weight of each of her problems finally culminated into one heavy load on her shoulders. "I'm not hurt! At least not physically because trust me, everything else right now hurts! I'm going to the hospital because my boyfriend's there because he's been shot, okay!? He's been shot and he hasn't woken up since it happened and I want to be there when he does — if he does! Now please stop berating me and just—" Montserrat ran into her father's arms where she finally burst into tears.

Thomas was utterly stunned. For the first couple of seconds, nothing of what Montserrat said had sunk in so while she hugged him, his arms were awkwardly on either side of him. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open, he met Kara's gaze. She nodded to confirm everything Montserrat had said. Her grim expression helped sell it too.

"When...when did you get a boyfriend?" Thomas looked down at his daughter but at the question, Montserrat only whimpered and retreated further into him, desperate to be hugged back. Thomas slowly did so, bringing one hand over her back and the other behind her head. "O-okay, um…that's...that's...bad..." He sighed. He was terrible when it came to things like these. Montserrat's teenage years had been quite an adventure in terms of boyfriends and dating but now at 30? He didn't know which age was worse. "I'm—I'm so sorry, sweetheart," he ultimately said, "Really. I — how did this happen?"

Montserrat pulled away to take a deep breath. Her face was stained with tears. "A robbery. The guy was trying to rob the shop Rafael was at and then he just shot...he shot…"

Kara remained absolutely silent and lowered her head. It killed her to keep the truth of the situation a secret from Montserrat. But if she knew the truth, it would make her feel even worse, she reminded herself.

"Okay, okay," Thomas cupped Montserrat's face, "Wipe those tears. We can go to the hospital right now."

"You'd come with me?" Montserrat sniffed. "You're not mad I didn't tell you—"

"It does not matter right now," Thomas said, "Besides, you're a grown woman — as tough as that is to deal with — and you can make whatever choices you want."

"I was going to tell you. That's why I asked about having dinner, remember?"

Thomas nodded. "Yeah, and I told you I was going out on a trip for a whole month. Okay, that was my fault then."

"Dad, you would really like him. I mean, he's sort of a smart-ass but then again so is Gael."

Thomas let out a low laugh. "Oh, is it just Gael?"

"Of course, why do you ask?"

Thomas barely held his next laugh in. "Right." He gave Montserrat a kiss on the forehead. "Are you ready to go?"

Montserrat nodded fairly quickly. "Yes, please, let's go!"

"Kara?" Thomas looked at the blonde behind them.

Kara waved them off with a hand. "I'll wait for my boyfriend. He was already on his way. Plus, I think there'll be a lot of talking done on that drive."

Thomas wholeheartedly agreed with her. His eyes drifted over to Montserrat who had the energy to appear more nervous than before. "Ready?"

Montserrat wasn't so sure anymore. Still, a ride to the hospital meant she would practically do anything.

~0~

Thomas started slowly, cautiously, and for that Montserrat appreciated but it didn't make things any less awkward nor tense.

"Dating your co-worker — isn't that against the rules?" Thomas wondered out loud. He stopped at an upcoming red light, giving him the opportunity to glance at his daughter.

Her tear-stained face was finally getting a glimpse of light. She had stopped crying for the moment — she just needed to clean her face.

"Not if you disclose," she answered quietly, "Which we did."

"Ah, okay, um...when was that?"

"Dunno, two months ago? Time sort of blurred…"

"Time 'blurred'?" Thomas let out a small chuckle.

Montserrat glanced at him, eyebrows knitted together. "What?" Her voice couldn't go any louder than a quiet tone. If not, she would've demanded the explanation.

"Nothing...it's just...usually when you feel like time has 'blurred', it's because you've been having a good time," Thomas explained. At the green light, he was no longer able to look at her.

Maybe it was for the best.

Montserrat shifted in her seat. She was not about to go into detail about her relationship to her father. "It's been different," she left it at that. It wasn't a lie but it didn't outright expose her either.

Thomas hummed. "I can see that. I've never seen you so distressed over someone like this."

"To be fair, none of my other boyfriends have ever been shot."

Thomas let out a small laugh. "True, but I also meant in general. I've noticed you've been more, uh, content lately. Because I don't know what made you leave behind your old job and place in Queens, but I know that you haven't been happy in a while. I like the change."

"I'm sorry for that," Montserrat mumbled, eyes downcast. However painful it was for her, she imagined it had to have been hard for her father as well. She wasn't the kindest to him in the beginning. She did what a victim typically does: push people away. She thought she did it perfectly. She left her old friends in Queens, her job. She put distance between her father, her brother, even her nieces, and Kara. She became a good liar, indeed.

"I wasn't expecting an apology," Thomas clarified, "And I certainly didn't need one. I'm your father. I just want to know that you're okay."

Montserrat smiled lightly. "I can tell you that before all of this, I was more than okay."

Thomas nodded. "I believe it. You were...happier, more than I'd seen you in a very long time. I would love to say that you were your old self again but it still isn't like that."

"Dad, I don't think I'll ever be the same as before," Montserrat said, figuring it was best to shatter that dream right now than let it keep going without a future. "But that's okay because the way I felt before all this, it was damn great." Her breathlessness was enough to take her word for it. It sounded like even she couldn't believe it.

Truthfully, sometimes she still couldn't.

It took very little for Montserrat to become accustomed to the idea of always feeling miserable on the inside and overall like she was simply floating through life. She had resigned herself to the idea that it would always be like that from now on. But things changed again and she couldn't be more grateful. It would be beyond cruel to lose it all again. Actually, Montserrat couldn't see herself getting past it all over again if she lost Rafael.

"No more tears," came Thomas' voice.

Montserrat snapped out of her thoughts to find there were new tears rolling down her cheeks. "Sorry," she sniffed, wiping the tears off with the backs of her hands.

"No need to be," Thomas told her, "I'm so sorry this is happening, sweetie. But let's have some faith that it'll be okay in the end."

"To be honest Dad…" Montserrat let out a low sigh, "I don't really do the 'faith' thing a lot anymore."

Thomas nodded silently. It wasn't much of a surprise. "The things you see at your job can't leave much hope in the world, I know."

"Mhm," Montserrat nodded. She could let her father believe it was all because of her job. It would be easier for him that way.

"But in times like these...who do you turn to for strength?" Thomas asked curiously. "People pray to God, or other saints or something. What do you pray to?"

"Nothing," Montserrat admitted. It had been a very long time since she turned to any type of religious prayer. She was non-practicing Catholic at this point. Don't tell Lucia. "Right now, I just think about Rafael and how he's strong enough to come back. You should see him in action, Dad. If I were that guy who shot him, I'd run. I've been on the receiving end a couple times and Rafael doesn't play. And I've only gotten a small taste of the real thing. He's scary. Ask Kara."

Thomas let out a small laugh. "Knowing you, you probably kept it going."

Montserrat nodded. "Hell yeah. He's not right until I say he's right." She shifted in her seat. "Although right now, I'd give anything to hear his smart-ass remarks. An argument. Anything."

Thomas stretched a hand out until he was able to find Montserrat's. "It'll be okay."

Montserrat didn't say much after that. She couldn't wait to see the end of the drive and be at the hospital again. Nick had tried sending her messages but it didn't look like the service in the hospital was doing so well. All his texts were coming in as 'incoming message'. It left Montserrat even more anxious. What if something happened while she was away!?

She practically ran through the hospital, leaving her father to do his best to keep up. "Nick!?" She called as soon as she saw the man in the waiting room. "Your messages weren't coming through! Did something happen?"

"Yeah," Nick nodded, eyes flickering past Montserrat to her father.

"That's my Dad," Montserrat said dismissively. She had no times for introductions right now. "What happened!? Is Raf—"

"He's awake," Nick thankfully cut Montserrat off. He presumed that she had assumed the worst with his answer.

The relief that washed over Montserrat was monumental and yet so short-lived. Nick didn't understand why.

"I wasn't here," she whispered, eyes falling, "I wasn't here for him. God — I told you people I shouldn't have left!"

"Montserrat, you needed to rest," Nick said, "Besides, he woke up like 15 minutes ago. His mom's in there with him right now." Apparently, he'd something really bad because Montserrat's face had paled to a ghostly shade.

"What?" She asked, sounding like she'd lost air as well. "N-n-n-n-no, tell me she just got here too. Please."

"Uuh…" Nick was utterly confused but he still had to answer with the truth and it was not what Montserrat wanted to hear. "She got here an hour ago."

"Crap," Montserrat let out a heavy sigh.

"Montserrat, what's wrong?" Thomas asked her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You should be happy!"

"I am," Montserrat clarified, "But you don't understand. Lucia got very upset with me because I didn't call her immediately when this happened. I called her this morning instead because I thought there was no reason she should lose sleep when I was already here, waiting to hear how the surgery went. She didn't agree. She thought she should've been notified immediately."

"Okay, well, that was then, this is now. Things will change now that Rafael's awake. She was probably very scared too."

"I bet she was," Montserrat agreed, "But she's Rafael's mother. Where do you think he gets his temper from?"

Nobody would answer her. It was better to stay quiet and to help move things along, Olivia arrived shortly afterwards. She'd gotten the call from the doctors themselves as was protocol.

"Is he capable of answering?" She asked the two detectives.

"He might be too tired to remember things right now," Nick said, "I was with him for 10 minutes and he barely said anything about what happened."

"Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it," Montserrat said. "And he shouldn't if he's not ready."

Olivia nodded with her. "Yes, but it's worth asking, don't you think?"

The detective in Montserrat would make her agree but the civilian side of her made her shake her head. That was the part of her that wanted everyone to stay the hell away from Rafael until he was all better.

"There's his mom," Nick said when he saw Lucia emerging from the hallway.

Montserrat immediately pressed her clothes down as if Lucia were going to point them out and add to her fuel against Montserrat. She made herself front front center when Lucia joined them.

"How is he?" She immediately asked the older woman. "Is he — is he talking? Does anything hurt?"

"He had a bullet in his body so yes, he is in pain," Lucia answered sharply enough to have Montserrat wincing each time.

"Excuse me," Thomas cut in just as Montserrat was about to go on. He moved around Nick and Olivia to stand beside his daughter. "There's no need to be that kind of rude. You're both stressed and frightened."

"And who are you?" Lucia demanded, eyebrow raising.

"This is my father," Montserrat said hastily, truly wanting to avoid any kind of confrontation.

"Thomas Novak," Thomas introduced himself, "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak to my daughter like that."

Lucia didn't appreciate the tone used on her either. "Lucia Barba," she introduced herself in the same tone as Thomas, "And your daughter knows exactly why I'm upset." She crossed gazes with Montserrat.

"I'm sorry," Montserrat reiterated, sighing. "I didn't want you to go through a sleepless night. You nor Catalina."

"Don't take decisions that don't belong to you," Lucia retorted, "When it comes to my son, I need to be informed about everything that happens to him. I don't know why I didn't get the call in the first place. Do you?"

Montserrat lowered her head. She preferred not to answer for the moment.

"There's no need to argue," Olivia stepped in as well, "We all want the same thing, don't we? For Rafael to get better?"

"Of course," Lucia said incredulously. How dare they think otherwise?

"Okay," nodded Olivia, "Then I'd like to see him right now. I think Montserrat as well."

Montserrat nodded fervently. "I do," she said.

"Don't bother him with the unnecessary, please," Lucia warned as the two women started walking around her.

"I would never," Montserrat said sharply. "But I do want to catch whoever did this to him. And I will."

She followed Olivia down the hallway, preferring not to look back. She couldn't take whatever look Lucia must be giving her right now. She didn't have the head for it either.

"Montserrat," Olivia called twice before she was heard, "Forgive me for intruding but, have you taken some time for yourself with all this going on?"

"Are you kidding? I slept way more than I should have!" Montserrat exclaimed. "He woke up and I wasn't here!"

"I don't mean that," Olivia shook her head. "With this kind of stuff, I presume you would want to go see your therapist?"

"I don't have time for that!" Montserrat said dismissively. "I need to be here!"

Olivia suspected that mindset long before she got the courage to ask Montserrat. "It's important that you take care of yourself first. I'm sure Rafael would say the same thing."

It honestly didn't matter to Montserrat right now. She just wanted to reach the damn room herself and see with her own eyes that Rafael was awake. That's all she wanted. Olivia must have seen it because she didn't mention therapy again for the rest of the walk.

They didn't make a sound when they finally entered the room. If Rafael was really asleep, neither wanted to wake him. Questions would wait. But, as soon as they were in sight, Montserrat saw Rafael wide awake. He seemed a bit dazed but lucid enough to recognize them.

Montserrat forgot all about her conversation with Olivia and rushed forward. "Hii…" She said breathlessly, "You're still awake! You should be sleeping."

"I've done enough sleeping," Rafael muttered, sounding a lot more like himself than Montserrat (and Olivia) expected. He was definitely irritated enough to be himself.

Montserrat grinned widely at his response. She absolutely loved seeing him act like he usually would — it meant he was getting better! She reached for his hand, immediately gripping it. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke up. I-I should've been, I know, but…"

Rafael watched Montserrat in a more dazed manner again — his mind went in and out with all the meds he was on.

This, Olivia presumed and since Montserrat seemed too upset with herself to notice, Olivia decided to cut in and help them both out. "Now, Montserrat, I think it's okay," she started slowly, watching Montserrat lower her head out of utter guilt, "You had to go home and rest too." Olivia looked at Rafael who was still trying to make sense of Montserrat's long ramble. "She was here all of last night and Carisi and Amaro and sent her home to sleep and eat."

"Well — why are you apologizing then?" Rafael glanced at Montserrat, eyebrows knitting together with confusion. "It's not like I noticed, right? I was in surgery. At least that's what my mother told me?"

"Is that all she told you?" Montserrat asked rather curiously and slightly worried. She grabbed a chair and sat down beside the bed.

"She said a lot of things but honestly, I tuned her out," Rafael drew in a breath, "The mess might be a blessing in disguise, you know."

"Ha…" Montserrat smiled lightly. That sounded a lot more like him. It truly relieved some of her anxiety. "Still, I'm really sorry. I did want to be here but I…I sort of overslept and…"

"I promise you that I am okay with that," Rafael said, smiling for the first time. "I don't want you forgetting about yourself because of me."

"I'm good, I promise," Montserrat assured, nodding her head fast. She brought their interlocked hands to her mouth, kissing his hand. "I just want you to be okay now. I've been a little crazy."

"A little?" Rafael's smile widened.

"Shut up," Montserrat said hushedly, letting out a small chuckle. She missed this so much. All the nerves were washing out as a familiar warmth flooded her insides.

At the same time, Olivia's phone started buzzing. "I'll be back," she told the two before taking the call.

Montserrat scooted her chair closer to the bed. She held onto Rafael's hand, still keeping her smile. This is all she wanted. Rafael was awake, seemingly recuperating and already taking jabs at her. In all her thoughts, she missed Rafael studying her. He noticed something he truly wished he hadn't. It led to his question.

"How are you?"

Montserrat blinked at first, puzzled with the question. "What — me?" She laughed. "Môj drahý, I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine."

"I'm on some strong medication but I assume you just spoke Slovak but even then…I don't buy it," Rafael said, shaking his head. "You went crazy over me."

"You were shot," Montserrat said, still frazzled having to say that. "What did you think I would do? Happily pass the night with your scotch?"

"Did you save me some, by the way?"

"Rafael," Montserrat warned him not to play jokes right now. "You were shot. It's not funny."

"Oh, I'm not laughing at that," agreed Rafael, "But I am trying to lighten the mood here. I don't want you to worry about me."

"Not right now," Montserrat shook her head, "Don't ask me not to do that when you're here. You have no idea how scared I was when I got the call."

"They called you…" Rafael said, as if realizing something.

"Um, yeah…" Montserrat cleared her throat, "Why did the hospital call me first? Your mother, uh, she was pretty pretty confused about that too."

"Yeah…" Rafael nodded, "Uh…I was going to tell you sometime…definitely not here but…"

"I don't think I've ever heard you ramble so uselessly…" Montserrat laughed almost immediately after saying that.

Rafael deadpanned her for a straight minute while she laughed. "I think I deserve to be cut a little slack, right?"

Montserrat nodded as she did her best to sober from her laugh. "Of course, dear."

It was too late as Rafael was already properly annoyed. "You're my emergency contact," he said in a huff.

Montserrat gasped lightly then, eyebrows raising with pleasant shock. "Am I really?"

"Yes, but you're making me regret it—"

"No, no, I promise I'm good! That's nice to hear, I…" Montserrat could feel the familiar spread of butterflies in her stomach. "When did you…when did you decide to do that?"

"I don't know, a bit back? Is that — are you okay with that?"

"Of course! Yes!" Montserrat was a smiling mess, a deep difference from the past day. She leaned over, carefully, and pressed a kiss on Rafael's lips. "Thank you for that trust in me." There was something else she wanted to desperately say to him but she felt the timing was off and perhaps even imprudent on her part.

Even if Rafael said nothing of it, Montserrat still noticed the subtle scrunch of his nose and the twitch of his mouth every now and then from the pain he obviously felt. He just didn't want to tell her about it — it wasn't shocking for her. He barely got used to the idea of asking her for help in far less serious situations so this situation would require a lot more effort from his side and she wanted to make it as easy as possible for him.

"Do you need anything?" She asked him, "I don't know, like a drink or something? And by that I mean water, of course."

"Damn, and I was just about to ask you for some scotch…"

"I would smack you right now if you weren't hurt!" Montserrat sighed and shook her head. "So listen, I really hate asking you this right now but I need to help so…about that night…"

Rafael already started turning his head away from her. He knew exactly what was coming.

"Do you remember what happened?" Montserrat wanted to be as cautious as possible for his sake. It was physically painful enough and now he would have to deal with any mental trauma he suffered from that evening.

"...a little," he did answer albeit in a low mutter.

"Okay, um, well there is that cashier — Clara?"

At the mention of the young woman, Rafael immediately looked back at Montserrat. "Is she okay!?" He truly didn't remember much after hearing the sound of the gun firing. He was in and out of consciousness but he did have slight memories of the young woman terrified in the shop.

"Yes, she is," Montserrat nodded, smiling lightly. "Did you know she's a med student? I was told she helped keep you stable while the ambulance got to you guys. She called 911. I absolutely love her."

It was Rafael's turn to smile. "Should I be worried?"

Montserrat let out a weary sigh but her broad smile defeated any attempt to sound annoyed. "Shut up."

"I want to tell her thank you," Rafael said a moment later. "She was so scared. I may have yelled at her."

"Lots of people react differently in situations like those. It's a flight or fight thing — you chose fight, she chose flight. All involuntary of course. But please, don't ever choose to 'fight' with a robber."

"Oh, but you can?" Rafael countered on the spot. His smirk didn't help. "You carry — you do that for a living. The way you feel right now is what I always feel about you..."

"I know, I know," sighed Montserrat. This was a conversation she didn't like having because Rafael always had the right. His concerns were right, his points made sense.

Rafael gripped Montserrat's hand as much as he could, which wasn't very much if Montserrat was honest with him. She wouldn't tell him. "I'm not arguing, I'm just telling you this is something we can't control," he told her. "I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't…I didn't see the guy getting up…"

"So you do remember some things, then?"

"Yes…but it's still mostly fuzzy…" If there was one thing Rafael didn't want to do right now, it was having to lie to Montserrat. His gaze lowered to their interlocked hands, which fueled his reasons all over again. "I don't know what they put in my body but I couldn't even tell you my birthday right now."

Montserrat smiled sweetly at him. "I'll make a full list about you when you get home. We can go over it together." She scooted her chair even closer to the bed. "Because when you get out of here, you have two choices about what's going to happen."

"Oh, do I?" Rafael blinked, bemused with the revelation.

Montserrat nodded. "Yup. You have a bullet wound and you need to take care of it. You won't be able to move around so easily — you won't be working," she said the last part as a full on threat in case he had the idea of even discussing the matter. "So, when you get out of here, you can either come home with me where I can help you out."

"Not happening," Rafael said on the spot. "You live with Kara and by extension Carisi. Haven't I been through enough already?"

Montserrat deadpanned him for a short minute. She was honestly expecting a response like that. "Then your other option — and your only other one — is that I come stay with you at your place for a while."

"You'd be willing to do that?"

"Yes, of course. I want to help you and I can't do that if I'm at my own place."

"Montserrat, that's sweet of you and I appreciate it but I don't need help —"

"Yes, you do," Montserrat nodded. This was also something else she anticipated and was well prepared to handle. "Raf, you can't live by yourself right now. Until you can go up and down the stairs on your own, I will be staying with you."

"It's not that the idea of having you around isn't pleasant — because it is — but I don't need you giving up your time just to take care of me." Even as he said it out loud, Rafael thought it was ridiculous. "I can manage on my own. I always do."

"Tough luck because it's not just about you anymore," Montserrat countered with a wry smile, "To your misfortune, and mine, I like you very much. With all your sarcasm and hard attitude, but I like you."

Rafael rolled his eyes at Montserrat. It was, of course, nice to hear something like that but it still didn't take away the feeling of impotence either. There were many things out of his control and Rafael was not used to it.

"Montse—"

"Let me do this, please," Montserrat insisted earnestly. "You're right. I was dead worried about you and, yeah, I want to be close to you for the next couple days because of it. I promise I'll try not to bombard you, okay?" She squeezed his hand in hers. "Please?"

This was a battle he had already lost and Rafael knew it. For all he knew, half her things were already in his apartment. That's not the worst thing that could happen. No, no it absolutely wasn't. Rafael sighed. What he would have given for this conversation to be part of a much better situation than the one they were in right now.

"You can go back home anytime, alright?" He said, instantly earning a beam from Montserrat. "You don't have to stay more than you want and you definitely don't have to do anything for me."

"I don't understand how you graduated from Harvard. You're seriously so stupid," Montserrat said quite honestly, which prompted a hard deadpan from Rafael in return. Montserrat let out a laugh in the next second. "But I want you just the way you are! I missed it all!" She leaned over to give him another kiss. "I missed you," she whispered afterwards. "I know it's insane to say that when we saw each other — what, yesterday? — but I really did miss you so much."

Even while saying it, she still sounded so afraid like he would fall under again. Rafael felt so guilty even while knowing this was way out of his control.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," he insisted for her sake. He wished he could get up from the stupid bed and show her — ease her fear and worries. "I don't want you worrying anymore, okay? Calmada."

"I cannot be calm when you're in this situation," Montserrat promptly huffed. "You went ballistic when I had a scratch on my back! I have every right not to be calm about this. Who did this to you? Do you remember anything about the guy?"

Rafael's mind was slow with all the medication, so coming up with a good excuse was even harder than usual. Luckily for him, Olivia returned at that moment.

"Sorry, that was Rollins," the Sergeant said, "She and Fin are going through some possible witnesses." She approached the foot of the bed slowly, both hands in front of her. "Do you think you can give your statement right now?"

Rafael shifted, and in doing so felt a jab of pain on his side.

"Or we could wait…" Olivia said, mistaking his shift for uneasiness.

"I'm good," he said immediately. He glanced at Montserrat, and a moment later he was asking her: "Maybe I do need something after all."

Montserrat nodded. "Anything," she encouraged, "What do you need?"

"A damn glass of water," he said, "They pump meds all night and day and I don't get to eat anything. I'm so thirsty."

"I'll go see what I can do," Montserrat smiled slyly, "Flash my badge and all."

Rafael smiled at her. He knew very well that she would. "Thank you."

"Of course." Montserrat gave his hand a pat then stood up, turning to Olivia. "Keep an eye on him?"

"Oh yeah," Olivia pressed a finger to her cheek then pointed at Rafael.

Montserrat still left with some reluctance, especially when Olivia mentioned that Lucia was asking for her.

"My mother's still here?" Rafael asked, eyebrows raised.

Olivia nodded. "Oh yeah, she's made it clear she's not stepping away for a while."

"She should go home, like you all. I don't need babysitters," Rafael said, shaking his head.

"Oh no, you're not paying Montserrat with that coin when she's had to deal with your mother."

At Olivia's words, Rafael turned his head slightly. "What do you mean by that? Has she been giving Montserrat a hard time?" He wouldn't put it behind his mother given the situation.

Olivia reluctantly nodded. "Yeah. Novak made the call to inform your mother about the situation earlier in the morning. She didn't want Lucia going through a sleepless night like her, much less your grandmother. Lucia didn't like that."

"Is she kidding?" Rafael snapped, not at Olivia but at the situation. "She just told me she hasn't told my grandmother anything about this." He loved his mother, he did, but sometimes she could be a…

"Montserrat didn't tell you?" Olivia assumed with Rafael's reaction. "She probably didn't want to add to your stress."

"Of course," groaned Rafael, although he soon stopped when he discovered it hurt him. "I'll have a word with my mother."

"Sorry," Olivia said guiltily, "I didn't mean to…you know…"

"No, I'm glad you did," said Rafael sharply, "Because Montserrat wouldn't tell me." Nobody would make her life harder than it had to be, not if he could help it. "Don't even tell her that I know."

"Understood," nodded Olivia. "So, about the case…"

"I need you to do something for me," Rafael said out of the blue, startling Olivia.

"Uh, yeah, of course…" Olivia nodded slowly, "What-what do you need?"

Before answering, Rafael's gaze flickered to the door. Montserrat would be away for a while, hopefully. "I need you to close this case."

"Excuse me?" Olivia tilted her head, presuming she heard wrong.

"You heard me," Rafael said, meeting her gaze. "I want the case closed. Cold case, if it must be."

"I don't — I don't understand…" Olivia rubbed her temple, "You want us to…"

"Close the case, yes," Rafael nodded. 'That's exactly what I want you to do. It's my case, and that's what I'm asking for."

"Why?" Olivia never thought she would have to have this kind of conversation with him. If there's anyone who always said what he wanted, it was Rafael. This made no sense. "Are you still processing what happened? Do you need —"

"I already processed it and this is what I need to happen," Rafael said, sounding very sure of himself. "I know what happens next and I'm not doing that."

"Because of a trial? Rafael, you know that's the natural order of thi—"

"I know," Rafael cut Olivia, his sense of impatience growing. "Believe me, Liv, I know what happens next. I know that you will eventually catch this guy and it will go to trial. I know that their defense attorney will start playing tricks and turn things around for their benefit."

"So you're afraid?" Olivia guessed. "That's also normal…"

"I'm not afraid," Rafael clarified, "I would gladly go along with every part of the process but this isn't about me. It was never about me."

Olivia was utterly lost. She rubbed her forehead relentlessly, leaving faint red marks on her skin. "You're going to have to explain this a little better because I'm not understanding. You don't want us to proceed with the case, you don't want a trial, but you're not scared?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Rafael confirmed, "And you, as my friend and more importantly the Sergeant here, need to help me."

"Why? Why do you want me to do that!?"

"Because that man worked for someone I get the feeling has been watching us for a while now."

Olivia presumed that the struggle she saw in Rafael was for himself. His hands balled into fists on either side of him. His lips pursed together enough to scrunch his nose automatically. But once again, Olivia was wrong because as Rafael had said earlier, this wasn't about him.

"He's been watching Montserrat," he spat darkly. The idea sent him into a frenzy and the only thing stopping its full fledged form was the aching throb he felt on the side of his stomach.

Olivia looked at Rafael both curiously and alarmed. "Why…why would you think that?"

"Because that man told me," Rafael replied, giving the impression that he remembered exactly what happened last night.

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

"You and I are the only ones who know what happened to Montserrat before she transferred here, so this should be easy to understand," Rafael said, only taking a moment because he abhorred what he had to say next. "That man who hurt her — he's watching her. I don't know how, I don't know when, but he's still got eyes on her."

Olivia was keenly aware of the rising noise from the machine beside the bed. One of them was connected to Rafael's finger — a blood pressure measure. "I think you need to—"

"It makes sense now, what Little Tino told Montserrat when we visited him in jail. He told Montserrat that there was a rule in place…"

The beeps got slightly louder.

"Raf—"

"Nobody lays a finger on the redhead," Rafael repeated the words he now hated himself for. He completely missed them at that moment. A deep scowl marked his face. "He has rules, Olivia, about her, about Montserrat — in his eyes, she belongs to him. I can't — he's just—"

"Rafael!" Olivia snapped to get his attention. She moved to his bedside, urgently motioning him to calm down.

"Liv, we can't let him keep watching her," he told her, finally sounding what he truly was: frightened. He was scared, but not for him. "We can't let this keep going. He's—"

Olivia nodded and once again motioned him to calm down. "You need to take it easy. You have stitches. They can burst," she reminded him. She grabbed Montserrat's chair to sit down. "Okay, you're going to have to walk me through this so that we're on the same page about what happened. Only then we can decide how to proceed from here."

"Fine, whatever, but you can't tell Montserrat anything about this."

"I can't promise that but we can work together to come up with the best solution," Olivia said.

It wasn't good enough for Rafael. He needed to hear it out loud…but he knew he was asking the impossible from Olivia. He'd been on that side plenty of times. It was hypocritical of him to be asking the same thing he denied so many times before.

Yes, he was being hypocritical.

Yes, he was being unreasonable.

But he just didn't care.

He didn't care about anything, not even the frikin stitches throbbing on his side right now. The only thing he cared about was currently outside, getting something he asked her for. She was all he cared about. So damn everything else.

#ocapp #allaboutocs #ochub #fd: svu #Rafael Barba fics #Rafael Barba imagines #Rafael Barba x oc #SVU fics #svu imagines #law and order fics #law and order imagines #original characters #oc: Montserrat Novak #fic: dare to forget

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