Present Day

"So, the latest suspect is Andrew Nowling, 24 years old, lives in Kappa Nu frat house. We have a warrant to search the house for computers, laptops, anything that could hold pictures of the victims. Vics said they met someone online, claimed to be a boy, their age, went to meet them at a public place and then turned out to be a creep with a friend who gang raped the young girls. So if you see our suspect or any girls in the house not in college, bring them all in."

"You got it, Lieutenant" Carisi said, standing up and sliding his jacket across his shoulders, waiting for Rollins to get up to go with him. The ride down to the university district was short - it was after rush hour but not quite nightfall, a lull in peak driving times. They burst through the doors of the frat house, seeing normal suspects - boys throwing darts, drinking.

"NYPD, we have a warrant." Carisi said, walking through the door and picking one of the boys. "You, where's Andrew?"
"Which one? There's one right there" He gestured towards the couch, where a guy was wrestling with a girl clearly in a high school uniform on a couch.

"Yo, Andrew!" Carisi said, pulling him off of the girl. "You're coming with me."

"Whoa, whoa!" The boy said as he got up. "Am I under arrest?"
"Do you wanna be? Let's go. And you, what's your name? Where do you go to school?" The girls brown eyes widened, and she shook her head. She was clearly hispanic - long, darkest brown hair that hung in loose thick curls, long eyelashes, tanned skin. Her uniform was nicer - like the ones from the upper west side prep schools, but she wasn't wearing a vest that revealed the exact name.

"I'm reserving my right to remain silent at this time." She said, standing up and putting on a north face jacket.

"Well you're coming with us."
"Figured as much." She replied.

"Honey you're obviously in school, how old are you?"
"Sorry, officer, I would prefer to not answer any questions at this time." The girl said politely, letting her arm be taken as Rollins and Carisi lead the two into separate cars, CSU continued searching for anything that would tie the girls to the house.

An hour later they had the boy and girl in separate rooms. Olivia put the teenage girl in her office - she figured she was a victim and didn't want to scare the girl by putting her in an interview room. She called in Barba - given that they had the witness testimony, they could at least attempt to get a confession and an arrest warrant.

"So what am I here for?"
"We've got the suspect and a young girl he was with in the frat house. The girl is clearly in high school but won't even give us her name." Olivia gestured towards her office where Carisi had left the teenager. "We're hoping we can get this victim to cooperate and offer a deal to the boy to reveal his co-conspirator -" Olivia stopped as Barba abruptly stopped walking, staring into her office.

"Is that the girl?" He said, his shoulders raising as he took in a deep breath. He looked furious.

"Yes, why?" Olivia asked before he started marching towards the office, busting open the door.

"Noelia!" Barba snapped, glowering. Her eyes widened for just a moment before she took a breath, keeping her cool.

"You know this girl?" Benson asked, following him in. Carisi had come across the squad room, a can of coke in his hand.

"How do you know this kid? She's like sixteen." Carisi said, handing the coke to the girl who thanked him, clearly trying to look unaffected by Barba.

"Try fourteen." Barba said levelly, his eyes not moving away from her face. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Papi I'm a sophomore in high school, I take college classes. You're acting like I'm a baby."

"Papi?!" Carisi and Benson said in unison, looking between the two.

"Noelia." Barba spoke each syllable of her name slowly and carefully. "What were you doing at a frat party, on a school night, with a 24 year old?"

"One: I was with Emilio so don't get your suspenders in a twist, two: doing nothing because I know the age of consent in New York and I'm incapable of giving, it, and three: he's 20, not 24, and if I'm a betting man neither of us were even in relation to your warrant. The creep who targets young girls in that frat is Andrew Nowling; you have Andrew Borror in that room. Same description. Your detectives are racial profiling, daddy, it's not my fault all early 20s white boys look the same." She deadpanned, leaning back in her chair. "Further, let's not even discuss this conflict of interest. Go talk to the wrong Andrew, try to hold him on whatever BS charge you're going to choose, and let the detectives question me. I have pics with the guy you're actually looking for - I'll give them to Carisi and continue to explain that we were innocently playing scrabble after doing stats homework and Andrew Borror will collaborate my story." She huffed. Barba's face was turning red. Before he could open his mouth Benson hooked his arm around hers and pulled him out of the room.

"I'm going to kill her." He snapped, pacing the squad room. "And her mother - how did she-"

"Whoa, Barba, slow down. You have a 14 year old? How have we never known?" Olivia sounded hurt by the secrecy but tried to hide it with the urgency in her voice. Barba sighed.

"Her mother never told me. Fifteen years ago, after my father died… I was in a dark place. I spent so much time hating him. Amelia -her mother- was there. When I told her a month into the relationship I didn't want anything serious she moved to Cleveland where her sister was. She came back to New York last year - Noelia applied for an elite high school and got a scholarship. I only met her because she took the subway to go to Abuelita's funeral. She'll talk to my mother but apparently hates me, and honestly aside from seeing her once or twice we've never really spoken." They looked towards the office where Carisi and Noelia seemed to be chatting easily. The young girl waved her hands animatedly while Carisi laughed. Barba narrowed his eyes.

Carisi got up, leaving Noelia in the room. Seeing the two talking, he walked across the squad room.

"Hey, Lia wants a coke - how's it going out here?"

"Lee-uh? BFFs now, Carisi?" Barba snapped.

"Whoa, counselor, everything's fine. She showed me the pics of the perps and even gave me the name of another vic - apparently she's been watching this creep for weeks, trying to get email addresses of the girls from his computer to warn them. The kid we got-Borror-his dad's on the job on the 1-4. Im sure Rollins and Fin will come out and tell us the same." Carisi grinned "She's just like you, counselor. Smart as a whip with the snark to match." Barba's knuckles were white as his fists clenched at his side. "Apparently me and Rollins have met her mom - she's the SANE nurse that originally interviewed the blogger girl from the D'Amico case. Lia saw it on Kristi's blog."

"All that in two minutes?" Benson said, shocked. Noelia hadn't said a word prior.

"Yeah, she was trying to avoid talking until we either let her go or 7 a.m. - that's when her mom gets off work. She didn't want her mom to leave an hour into a 12 hour shift and not get paid, plus she knew we worked with you, counselor, because she followed Kristi Cryer's trial. But once she was outed as Baby Barba there was no way that was going to happen." Carisi glanced back towards the office where Noelia had taken her phone out and was looking down. Rollins and Finn came towards them from the from the interview room.

"Hey, it turns out we got the wrong kid-this isn't our perp. His dad's on the ob, we called him. Apparently the girl is some high school genius - they got out of class at Hudson at six and went back to the house to eat and play scrabble. He has valid alibis for when the other girls were attacked and he and the high schooler weren't doing anything illegal - they were wresting over a blank tile when we found them." Amanda looked between Barba, Benson and Carisi. "Am I… missing something?"

"Apparently Barba has a mystery child," Carisi blurted because anyone stopped him. Amanda and Finn both raised their eyebrows. Benson quickly intervened.

"Look, Fin, Rollins, go back to the frat house - see if our perp got wind of our visits. Carisi, take the pictures Noelia gave you and see if you can track down the perp- you and Dodd's check the campus. I'll get Andrew and Noelia home." She ordered. As no one moved, she nodded her heads. "Go."

Everyone exchanged one more glance before disbursing.

"I need to talk to her." Barba said, still fuming.

"No, you need to calm down. There are no charges here, Barba. Go get some drinks from the break room. I'll talk to her so you don't bite each other's heads off." Barba signed, storming off to the other side of the precinct. Benson slowly walked towards the door, knocking. Noelia's head tipped up. Benson opened the door.

"Hi, Lia." Benson,said, sitting down behind her desk.

"You can call me Noelia - Carisi just says it wrong with his accent. Like Know-lia, instead of No-el-ee-yuh." She explained.

"Okay, Noelia." Benson enunciated the Spanish pronunciation. "Tell me what happened tonight." Noelia sighed.

"I go to Manhattan Heights, then after to Hudson University where I take Stats and English. After stats, Andrew and I met with Emilio - a family friend of mine. Eddie Garcia's little brother." Benson's eyes lit up with familiarity - the Alex Munoz case. "We walked to a hot dog stand, then went to the house. We got there around 6:15, to he house by 6:30. Emilio left to go to his girlfriend's house at 7, Andrew and I played Scrabble until you guys busted in. Got here at about eight, you called my dad, we're here and it's -" She looked at her phone. "9:15."

"Do you always hang out with boys that much older?" Benson asked as gently as she could.

"I'm a scholarship kid at a WASP school who, unlike my father, can't pass as anything but latino. I also tend to use words beyond the scope of typical high school diction. Doesn't lead to a lot of friends." She said, shrugging. "Side note, I see him out here, he can come in, assuming I don't get lectured."

Benson turned where Barba stood near the window. He no longer looked angry - just defeated. Benson gestured and Barba came in, setting the second can of soda in front of Noelia. She took it, opening the can and drinking eagerly.

"Thank you." She responded, looking between the two. "Sidenote Borror's mom is a doctor at the hospital my mom is a nurse - we used her credit card for the hot dogs. Paula Borror."

"Does your mom know you hang out at frat houses?" Barba asked quietly. Noelia rolled her eyes.

"You mean does my mom know I hang out with her coworker's son who is in my stats class at reasonable evening hours? Yes, she does. Look, I texted her when I got there." She said, flashing her phone screen. A message to her mother said she was at Andrew's, with her mom's curt "o.k." response.

"Now that I've been here for approximately 900 hours, can I please go home?"

"Okay, Noelia, let's get you home." Benson said kindly.

"Actually can my dad take me back? I feel like he should know where I live, given we're now aware of each other's existence and in the same city and everything." She said, taking another sip of her coke. Benson raised her eyebrows as she looked at Barba, who just looked up at the ceiling.

"Sure...let's go." Barba said, standing up. Noelia stood too, making eye contact with Benson.

"Look, the other Andrew, Nowling, he's a sketchy dude. Even if he's not your rapist, he brings home girls who aren't exactly post-pubescent, if you know what I mean." She said, her mouth turning upside down in a grimace. "I'll try to help in any way I can."

"Let's go, Noelia."

"Yes sir." She said, following on her dad's heels closely as they walked out of the building.

They didn't say a word as Barba drove them to where she lived. She looked down at the car they were in - it was clearly not Barba's. He must be part of one of those car share things. Neither spoke as they drive, adult Barba kept his eyes on the rode, child Barba looking down at her phone and reading. They pulled up to the building, Rafael getting out with Noelia.

"Going to make sure I get inside safe? Or that I don't go back off into the night to party?" She said, walking around the car to the sidewalk.

"Yes, I'm not going to be responsible if the perp you gave away is up in your walk up." He replied.

"Are you sure you want to join me? We're on the fifth floor." Noelia countered, taking out her keys and unlocking the front door.

"I'll survive." They walked up the stairs, once again in silence. Noelia used two different keys for the different deadbolts in the door, opening it and gesturing for her father to come inside.

"You can check it out, I'm sure we'll be fine. Do you wanna watch House?" She said, flopping down on the couch, wrapping a blanket around her legs and turning on the TV.

"You want me to watch TV? At ten o'clock at night?"

"Would you rather risk me going back out? At least if you stay until midnight it's past curfew and someone could arrest me if they see me on the streets." She argued, going to Netflix and picking an episode. Rafael's brows furrowed. This was his flesh and blood - spending an hour with her couldn't be the worst thing in the world, particularly if she was in New York for the next three years as a student. He sat down besides her on the couch, watching with mild amusement at Noelia's range of emotions - she correctly guessed what the patients were lying about, what random hint of foreshadowing would lead to the ultimate diagnosis, and showed outrage when characters behaved unreasonably. She was smart, snarky, enthusiastic. Despite everything, she was very clearly his.