Thanks a lot to barsonaddict, who helped developing a part of this idea! Also, a big Thank You to my "twin", Emily, who betaed this piece for me!

(6650 Words)

A Serenade Of Interruptions

Olivia Benson could barely remember a time in her life when she'd truly felt as content as she did right now. In the past, there'd always been something that had thrown its shadow over her as soon as she dared to think that she was happy, but right now, everything seemed to be going the best it could.

Noah was being a joy, talking whenever he had the opportunity, saying the cutest things she'd ever heard – though her favourite sentence would always be 'I love you, Mama!'

At work, everything was going as well as it could when you were in the Special Victims Unit – Deputy Chief Dodds didn't go on her nerves, the squad was working well together, and she had complete control over her paperwork, allowing her to go home early rather often.

And then, there was her love life – it had been ever changing; there'd been a lot of lows, and she'd already given up on ever finding the man who was just right for her. She'd only been blind, though, as it now seemed like the man who wouldn't one day increase her count of failed relationships, had been right in front of her nose for years.

A smile lit up her face as she met Rafael Barba's gaze over the table, and her skin tingled where his fingertips caressed the back of her hand while he sipped the coffee they'd ordered for dessert, together with a piece of raspberry tarte for them to share.

Things between them had developed slowly over the past months; they'd gone for lunch while working on cases more often, met to grab coffee together. Evenings working on files ended with the papers lying abandoned on the desk of their respective offices while they were sitting on the couch, talking about personal stuff.

A few weeks ago, they'd watched a Broadway show together and had drinks after that, and various dinners had followed, during which they never talked about work. With him, she could talk about anything that was on her mind or weighed on her heart; he listened to her, and most of the time, he found the right words to say to her. Sometimes, when he walked her home, their fingers would brush against each other, causing them to exchange nearly shy smiles before one of them dared to take the other's hand. When they said goodnight in front of her building, he would give her a kiss onto the cheek and smile, wishing her sweet dreams.

Maybe it was ridiculous, but she felt like a teenager again, as if she was experiencing how it felt to be in love for the first time . She liked that they were making small, nearly tentative steps, taking their time, both of them afraid that they could move too fast and destroy the fresh spark that was growing between them. They'd both fallen too deep in previous relationships to risk this, as it was feeling too good, too right, too natural to let it fall apart. But still they hadn't given it a name yet, and they didn't call it a 'date' when they went out.

And somehow, Olivia didn't feel like she had to ask him just yet, she just wanted to enjoy the hours she had him for herself, in which she got to see the man behind the suits and snarky comments. The private Rafael was still a lot like the man who waltzed into the courtroom with a hell lot of confidence, but he was a lot more laid back, and liked to talk about how cute penguins were – something that immediately gained him sympathy points with Noah.

As he helped her into her coat after they'd finished their coffees and the tarte and had paid the check, she realised how time was flying when they were together; the evenings were always over too soon. The restaurant they'd chosen tonight wasn't too far from her apartment, and so he decided to walk her home again, taking her hand as soon as they were out of the door. Olivia felt wonderful as their fingers tangled and a soothing warmth crept up her arm, and she felt like it had been far too long since the last time she'd felt like that.

It only took them a few minutes to get to her place, and as they stood on the steps of her building, her heart was racing in her chest as his gaze briefly flickered down to her lips as he moved closer. She could tell that he wasn't sure if he should just stick with their usual embrace and the kiss on the cheek, or if he should make the next step now. His expression was slightly questioning, and she smiled, leaning in on him, and moments later, their lips finally met. A jolt of electricity rushed through her as he kissed her softly, one hand gently caressing her cheek, and she felt like he ended the kiss way too soon for her liking. As she opened her eyes again, he was smiling, every feature of his face showing content and affection, and she herself was still smirking as she switched off the lamp on her nightstand and closed her eyes. The memory of his lips on hers was lulling her into sleep, and she dreamt of him that night, her mind spinning fantasies of a future together that she hoped she would see.

OoO

It was two days later when Olivia was ripped harshly out of one of her wonderful dreams as her phone was ringing loudly, breaking the wonderful morning silence that had hung in the room. With a groan, Olivia untangled herself from her blanket and grabbed her phone, only managing to grunt as she took the call.

"Lieu, I'm very sorry to wake you this early, but I just arrived at the precinct and found something that Barba and you need to know. It's about the Gardner case."

"Dodds, it's not even half past six, you really need to get a life," Liv mumbled while slowly sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes – since Mike's fiancée Alice had broken off their engagement, he practically lived at the precinct. "What is it?"

"Elena gave an interview to the press, it's on the front page! She's giving completely different details about the rape, and I bet that Calhoun is going to use that to her advantage!"

Sometimes Olivia hated how much her work seemed to dictate her life, but she also didn't want to trade it for a nine to five job. She exchanged some more words with Dodds while stumbling out of bed, and then he hung up with the promise to send the newspaper article to her phone. While she made her way into the bathroom, she dialed Rafael's number – they were only two days away from taking the case to trial, and he had to hear about this so he could do anything to stop the case from going down the drain.

Unfortunately, Rafael didn't pick up, even after she'd tried several times, and Olivia cursed inwardly as she rushed to grab some clothes from her closet while dialing Lucy's number. She had to get to him as fast as possible, which meant that she couldn't drop Noah at his daycare herself.

Only a short time later, she was getting off the elevator in Rafael's apartment building, feeling glad that she had Lucy in her life – she'd already been awake and able to come over to get Noah ready while Olivia rushed out. She'd read the article in the cab, and she was glad that Dodds had called her – if they didn't act soon, Calhoun would claim that the victim wasn't reliable enough to make a stable case.

Olivia knocked loudly at the door, not caring that it was still early – this was important, and Rafael would surely be able to apologise to his neighbours later.

At first, there wasn't a reaction, and only as Olivia knocked again, this time with her fist, she heard movement on the other side of the door. It was opened, and Olivia's jaw nearly dropped as she froze in shock, gaping at the person standing in the doorframe.

A young woman, not even thirty, Olivia estimated, looked at her with a questioning glance in her brown eyes. She was barefoot, her long legs ending in shorts, and she was wearing one of Rafael's Harvard t-shirts. Her voice sounded sleepy as she spoke, ruffling through her chestnut hair – it was bed hair, definitely – while she asked: "Yes, what can I do for you?"

The shock of seeing a woman open the door was still coursing through Olivia as the woman's question ripped her from her thoughts, and her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to speak. Her voice sounded raspy as she finally found the words, stuttering: "Uh, I'm... I'm Lieutenant Benson, I need to talk to Rafael, it's urgent."

An apologetic expression crossed the beautiful face in front of her, and she turned her head to look down the hallway curtly before replying: "I'm sorry, he's in the shower right now."

"Uh... it's... it's okay, I can come back later," Olivia said hastily, suddenly feeling the need to put as much distance between her and Rafael's apartment as possible. Her head was spinning, and it seemed like the little bubble of happiness she'd been in since they'd started to get closer was receiving massive cracks. Of course, they'd never talked about their... 'thing' being something exclusive, but she'd thought that he had feelings for her. But obviously Rafael didn't see their 'thing' the same way as she did, and the evidence was standing right in front of her, a gorgeous exemplar of a woman, half as old as her.

"You can come in and have coffee and some pancakes with me while you're waiting," the woman offered, her voice sounding kind, but to Olivia it felt like she'd punched her in the stomach. Something was aching deep inside of her, and she didn't know for how long she would be able to keep her composure – the last thing she wanted was to start crying in front of the woman Rafael was sleeping with, because she could already feel the sorrow building up.

"Oh, no, I don't want to bother you, or interrupt during... whatever... you're doing..."

Every word seemed to stick to her tongue, because even just vaguely referring to what they'd been doing last night made her feel sick and betrayed. It was as if she was losing something she had never had; he'd probably played with her all this time, and she'd been too dumb to see it...

"What? Oh... OH, no! I'm Rafael's cousin!"

Olivia blinked in confusion, staring at the young woman who flushed, and ran a hand over her face before stretching it towards Olivia. "Fia Rodriguez... oh god, I'm so sorry... I'm still half asleep, I didn't realise you thought..."

She hung her head a bit as they awkwardly shook hands and then took a step to the side, gesturing for Olivia to come in, and though her knees were still feeling weak – though now in relief – Olivia entered the apartment. While she followed Fia into the living room, waving off the countless apologies she uttered, Olivia still felt a little bit of uncertainty lingering inside of her. The fact that her brain had immediately jumped to the conclusion that Rafael didn't see their relationship the same way she did was something she worried about.

Sitting down on the couch, she watched how Fia walked into the open kitchen and grabbed a mug of fresh coffee from the kitchen isle before coming over, handing it to her with a warm smile. "I'm going to go tell Rafi you're here, otherwise you'll have to endure him singing in the shower. Michael Jackson is turning in his grave when he sings 'Thriller'."

Her small wink made Olivia smile weakly, and as she listened to Fia padding down the hall, she let her gaze wander through the room; the last time she'd been here, it had all been rather tidy, just like she'd imagined his place to be. However, now it looked like a bomb had exploded in the room; two big suitcases and a duffle bag were lying on the floor. Various pieces of clothing were peaking out, and some seemed to have slipped out of the bag, strewn around.

In the distance, she could hear a door being ripped open, and then Fia's voice drifted over as she exclaimed: "Rafi, Lieutenant Benson is here! She says it's urgent."

"Qué chingados, can't you knock?!" Rafael yelled back, his voice sounding a tiny bit squeaky.

"No, I can't, and stop using my shampoo, Vanilla!"

They exchanged a few hushed sentences in Spanish, and Olivia didn't quite catch what they were saying, but from the way Rafael's tone changed, she seemed to inform him about the little misunderstanding between Olivia and her at the door.

"You're chaos! I let you sleep in my guest room for one night and everything goes crazy."

"Ti amo, Vanilla!"

Olivia couldn't help but chuckle lightly as Fia came back into the living area, a polite smile on her face as she grabbed a bowl from the fridge. They'd sounded a little bit like siblings fighting, and it was kind of cute.

"He'll be here soon, I guess," she said calmly while starting to prepare pancakes, and Olivia sipped her coffee, having no idea what she was supposed to say now. It wasn't that the situation was uncomfortable, but it was still a little awkward.

"Here, the first ones are for you."

Fia placed a plate of chocolate chip pancakes on the coffee table, ignoring how Olivia shook her head to signal her that she was content with coffee.

"So, you're the Benson, huh? Lucia talked about you on the phone, that you drive Rafi crazy." Fia sat down on the floor, grabbed the duffel bag and started to pull clothes out of it, stuffing them into one of the suitcases. "And he said you two are close. I've never heard him speak with so much affection about someone in quite some time."

Olivia shifted in her sitting position while asking herself how many of Rafael's relatives knew about her already. To mask her irritation about Fia's words, she hurried to fork some of the pancake and stuff it into her mouth, but Fia didn't seem to have noticed her reaction at all, continuing to speak casually.

"I feel like I haven't apologised enough yet for causing confusion. I guess Rafi would have told you about me visiting had he known that I would have to crash at his place. I arrived in New York only a day ago, and a pipe at my friend's place burst, so... "

"Oh, what are you doing in New York?" Olivia asked in an attempt to make some polite conversation, even though her mind was spinning a little at the question if Rafael would have introduced her to his cousin hadn't Fia been staying at his place. Except for Lucia, he barely talked about his family.

"I'm a dancer and I've been invited to an audition for the New York City Ballet."

"Oh, good luck with that," Olivia said, and in the same moment Rafael entered the living room, wearing grey suit pants and a white t-shirt, his hair still a little bit wet. Before even acknowledging Fia or her, he made a beeline for the kitchen counter, grabbing the mug of coffee that waited there for him. His slightly grumpy and tired expression faded away after the first few sips, and Liv could see Fia cocking an eyebrow about his sigh of relief.

"You really have an unhealthy relationship with caffeine, Rafi," she commented, but Rafael only ignored her, turning to Olivia, seeming unsure about how to greet her. At least he didn't seem to let on what he was thinking concerning the little confusion about Fia's identity.

"Morning, Liv. I hope Delfia didn't tell any lies about me? What can I do for you?"

"I'll get dressed, I have to get going soon," Fia said, a little bit of annoyance swinging in her voice, making Olivia assume that she wasn't particularly fond of her given name. As soon as she was out of the room, Olivia put her coffee down and handed him her phone, simply stating: "Read. Dodds discovered it about an hour ago."

Rafael sat down next to her on the couch and his knee briefly brushed hers; taking another big sip of his coffee before putting the mug down, he narrowed his eyes at the text on the phone, his expression getting more and more worried with every sentence he read. He ran a hand through his damp hair and frowned while cursing under his breath, then returned her phone, his fingers lingering on hers.

"We need to get to court, now. If the defense uses this before we claim that she was pressured into the interview it could blow up the whole case. We both talked to her several times, she was consistent in her descriptions. Damn it."

He emptied his coffee with a few gulps and then got up, mumbling something about grabbing his tie and shirt so they could get going.

OoO

They spent nearly all day at the court, trying to reduce the damage, and also had the opportunity to talk to their victim. It was stressful, and Olivia developed a headache around lunch, during which they could only hurry to grab a sandwich and coffee. The judge had wanted to speak with them and the victim again to make sure that they were being honest with their claims that the young woman had been pressured into the interview. Every single conversation seemed to take hours, and they found themselves repeating the same things again and again, pointing out the consistency in the interrogation protocols a dozen times to the judge, to Calhoun, and then to the jury when the trial was opened.

After the end of the first day of the trial they still had to have another look over their facts to make sure that there wouldn't be another problem. By the time Rafael threw the case file on his desk with a tired sigh, Olivia was massaging her temples and had slipped out of her boots; somehow, the heels were killing her feet today, even though she was used to walking around with them all day.

"How about we call it a day?" Rafael asked softly, sitting down next to her on his leather couch, and she smiled weakly as he let his fingertips brush over the back of her hand. "There's nothing more we can do now, and it was a stressful day."

"That would be nice," Olivia replied, brushing a strand of her brown hair out of her face. "I could really use a drink now."

Rafael hesitated visibly, looking at her for a very long moment before clearing his throat and suggesting: "How about we two go to your place and have dinner? After you put Noah to bed, we... uh... we could talk, about... us?"

Her heart actually skipped a beat as negative thoughts rushed through her mind for a moment, but then she realised that he was still holding her hand, and that a lot of affection was visible in his green eyes. Taking a deep breath, she nodded and allowed him to pull her to her feet; without her shoes, he was a tiny bit taller, and he smirked slightly as he looked at her. "Why do you always have to appear taller than me?"

"So everyone sees who of us is wearing the pants?" she shot back, mirroring his smirk before letting go of his hand and leaning down to slip into her shoes while Rafael gathered their coats.

"That's what you dream of, Liv. Do you mind if we pick up Fia? I forgot to give her a key this morning, and I also want to hear how it went."

"Sure, no problem," Olivia said, allowing him to help her into her coat, and then turned around, her gaze lingering on his a little bit longer than necessary.

He smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and she held on to his arm as they walked out of One Hogan Place together. While Rafael hailed a cab for them, she asked herself why she wasn't nervous about the conversation they were planning to have – on the contrary, she felt a certain anticipation. She had this feeling in her gut that the happiness she'd felt when they'd been together in the last months would continue, and so she didn't have the reason to fear anything.

"Rafi, mijo! I'm so glad I caught you!"

Rafael didn't look too happy as he whipped around and spotted his mother, Lucia Barba, striding towards them with a look of determination.

"Mamí," he said weakly, moving to give her a kiss on the cheek, but she held him at a distance, frowning.

"What were you thinking? My niece comes to town and you don't tell me she's staying at your place? Oh, hello Lieutenant Benson, how nice to see you." Lucia smiled at Olivia, obviously more than pleased to see her and her son together, then she turned her attention back to Rafael, her expression stern again. "So?"

"She asked me not to tell you, because she knew you would fuss around, and with that important audition to focus on, it was the last thing she needed," Rafael tried to justify himself, but Olivia knew that Lucia wouldn't be happy with that.

A cab stopped next to them and Lucia, grumbling something under her breath, got into the passenger seat without asking if she could come along or where they were headed, while Olivia and Rafael slipped into the back. Rafael gave the driver the address and threw an apologetic glance at Olivia as Lucia suddenly started rambling again.

"I didn't raise you to lie to your mother."

Lucia didn't stop until they reached the place where Fia was waiting for them, and the moment Fia climbed into the back of the car with her heavy bag, she also became the target of Lucia's complaints.

Olivia found that it was a rather odd scene; they were crammed into the cab, and Lucia was scolding Fia and Rafael loudly, complaining that they thought she was annoying and that they tried to avoid her. The two of course argued against it, and a string of Spanish curses flew back and forth, then the discussion came to an abrupt stop. For a few minutes, silence hung in the car, then Rafael asked softly: "And how was the audition, Fia?"

"Good, I think. But all I can do now is wait for the call."

"I'm sure you danced beautifully, princesa. But you got thin, Delfia," Lucia said, joining the conversation again after obviously deciding that it didn't help to sulk. She let her gaze wander over Fia, then shot an accusing glance at Rafael before she finally looked at Olivia. "She's just like my Rafi, works too hard, forgets to eat sometimes..."

"I'm sorry," Rafael whispered into Olivia's ear as Lucia continued to moan about how skinny her niece was.

"I don't mind," Olivia replied with a smirk, and it was the truth; she found this situation rather amusing, and even felt a tiny bit envious about the obvious love they felt for each other, even though they showed it through bickering. Her whole life, it had only been her and her mother, and now, the squad was her family, even though it probably wasn't the same.

"Oh, and like Rafi, you're single because you're working all the time. I really wish I could have some grandchildren, but I guess I can't expect any from you two... I would be content with a nice big wedding, though..."

While Fia released an annoyed, slightly exaggerated sigh, Olivia could feel Rafael tensing next to her, and again he mumbled an apology into her ear. His embarrassment was evident, and it was a tiny bit cute – she rarely saw him taken aback, so this was a nice change.

She could hear the sigh of relief he released as they reached his apartment building and could get out of the cab. Handing Fia his briefcase and the keys to his apartment, Rafael said: "We're going to Liv's place, we have some things we need to talk about and Noah surely wants to spend some time with his mother, it's still so early."

"Oh no, I'll cook something. Hopefully you have more than pasta and cereals at home," Lucia growled, grabbing him by the coat. "Olivia, why don't you ask your babysitter to bring your son over? I would be delighted to meet him."

It wasn't really a question, and as Olivia and Rafael exchanged a quick glance, the look of defeat on his face told her that there was no way they could deny. Lucia Barba obviously had her own plans for the evening, and there was nothing they could do about it. And so Olivia took her phone and texted Lucy while they stood in the elevator that took them up to the floor Rafael's apartment was on, giving her the exact address.

When they entered the apartment, Lucia immediately started to complain about the state of it, scolding Rafael as if he were a small boy who'd forgotten to put his toys away after playing, but she had a smirk on her lips and gave him a peck on the cheek as he put the used mugs from the morning in the dishwasher. Fia rolled her eyes with a small smile on her lips and dragged her suitcases into the guestroom while Olivia was told to sit down on the couch and make herself at home. Lucia started to pull packages from the cupboards when they heard a shocked gasp, then a loud curse.

Moments later, Fia came into the room, running a hand over her neat hair bun while the other was holding her phone. She was trembling slightly, and the expression of distress on her face made everyone in the room feel alerted.

"What happened?" Rafael asked, moving over to her with concern in his eyes, and Fia gulped before trying to say something, but only a few choked sounds escaped her throat before she handed her phone over to Olivia, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Turning on her heel, she walked past the big dining table and stopped to stand in front of the windows, staring into the evening blankly while Olivia looked down at the phone. It only took her a few moments to understand what was going on, and she felt Rafael standing close to her, looking at it as well.

Clearing her throat, Olivia slowly walked towards Fia, her tone gentle as she started talking. "How long since the breakup?"

"Three months."

Her voice was shaking, then Fia rolled her shoulders, shook her head and turned around, continuing with a much stronger tone. "We only had a couple of dates and slept with each other a few times. It was more for fun on my behalf, and I made it clear I didn't have any feelings for him."

From the corner of her eye, Olivia could see Lucia frowning, her expression telling her that she had obviously not known anything about that.

"Is this the first time he sent you texts?"

"No... he started with it right after I told him I didn't want to see him again."

"And these... pictures?"

Olivia tried to be careful, but she knew from her years of experience when she had a serious matter at hand. Biting her lip, she looked down at the photos showing Fia in front of the building of the New York City Ballet, at what seemed to be an airport, how she climbed into a cab... and then there were the pictures of her having sex with a man, and a message.

If you don't come back to me, I will publish the pictures. Fia, you know that we're meant to be, I love you. You're mine, and I will take you if I have to.

"Rafi, you need to do something about this," Lucia exclaimed angrily, her dark eyes emitting sparks as she turned to her son. Rafael and Olivia exchanged a short glance, then she pulled out her own phone.

"Have you ever consented on being filmed or photographed during sex, Fia?"

"Of course not!"

Fia sounded a tiny bit exasperated, but Olivia could understand it – she surely would have had a hard time staying calm too if something like this had happened to her.

"I'm going to call at the precinct so we can have this properly documented. Don't worry, this is enough to get him off the street."

Lucia seemed relatively satisfied with that, as she moved back to the kitchen isle where she'd started to set up things for cooking. Not for the first time on this evening did Rafael give Olivia an apologetic glance, even though it wouldn't have been necessary – it wasn't his fault that Fia's ex had decided to follow her to New York. Though of course she wished that this hadn't happened, as she really wanted to have a talk about their relationship, too.

While Olivia exchanged a few quick words with Amanda on the phone, explaining the situation in curt sentences, Rafael took a look at his watch and said with a low voice: "Might be too late to get a warrant by now."

"He's been doing something like this for months now, I guess I'll be able to take it for another day," Fia responded with a sigh, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I just thought that it would all stop if I left Chicago and came back to New York."

Olivia could see Rafael chewing on the inside of his cheek before he went over and pulled the young woman into a hug, patting the back of her head and mumbling some soothing words, even though Fia looked relatively calm by now.

OoO

About twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door, and Lucia squealed in delight as Olivia came back into the living room after answering the door, carrying Noah in her arms. Fia had to take over the kitchen to keep the food from burning as Lucia walked over to greet Noah, who seemed to be a little taken aback at first – "Don't worry, it's a common reaction. Kids think she wants to eat them because they're cute," Fia said – but after a few minutes, he started smiling. Lucia also appeared to be more than pleased about the excitement that Noah displayed when Rafael came over to him to say hello, but with that, she wasn't alone. Olivia was happy that Noah liked Rafael, as it meant that she didn't have to worry about anything should Rafael really want to take their relationship to the next step.

Not long afterwards there was another knock at the door, and Rafael went to answer it, returning to the living room with Sergeant Dodds.

"Rollins said you need someone to record evidence, and I needed a break from the paperwork," he explained after greeting Olivia, and she wondered if he'd taken a break at all today. He'd been working before she'd woken up in the morning, and had still been in the precinct when she'd called there – maybe she would have to have a serious word with him. But now probably wasn't the right time, there were other things they had to concentrate on.

"Sergeant Dodds, this is my cousin, Delfia Rodriguez," Rafael introduced the two, and Olivia thought she could see Mike's face lighting up a tiny bit as he shook hands with Fia, who smiled weakly. "Her ex is stalking her and just sent compromising pictures, threatening her in several ways."

"It's sad how there are less and less gentlemen out there," Lucia chimed in before anybody could say something, and she smiled at Dodds. "Respect for ladies seems to die out."

Rafael's eyes widened for a moment, as if he couldn't believe that his mother had just said that and Olivia felt tempted to start laughing at Lucia's insolence – she had probably seen Mike's change of expression as he'd seen Fia, and Lucia had probably started to pursue a secret plan.

"Yes, it's indeed getting rare," Dodds replied politely, and if he'd caught the meaningful glance of Lucia, he didn't show it. Taking Fia's phone from Olivia, he scanned the message and then handed it to Fia without looking at the pictures, asking her to send screenshots of everything to his work email address.

"I'm sure any judge would give us a warrant because of the stalking," he said, exchanging a glance with Rafael while Lucia was setting up the table in the background, letting Noah 'help' her.

"A temporary restraining order should be achievable too under these circumstances," Rafael responded in agreement, taking out his phone. "I'd say Judge Morgan would be the right one to approach in this matter, and I'll also give you the number of one of my colleagues; she's known for taking things like stalking very serious."

"It will be the first thing I'll do tomorrow morning," Mike promised, his phone buzzing as Rafael's message arrived. "I wish you a nice evening, then."

"Oh no!" Lucia exclaimed, and everybody seeme to know what would come next before she opened her mouth. "Sergeant, why don't you stay for dinner? I cooked enough for all of us."

Mike looked a bit insecure as he exchanged glances with Rafael, who simply shrugged – there was no way he could deny Lucia's request, and he seemed to understand that, too.

"Well, as long as I don't disturb anything."

"Oh, you won't disturb us! I'm delighted that you're staying!" Lucia smiled, gesturing at the table and signalling everyone to sit down. She looked more than pleased by Dodds' answer and that she had all these people gathered together. "Oh, isn't Fia a beautiful woman? She's a ballerina, you know, and she just auditioned for the New York City Ballet."

"Tía!" Fia hissed angrily, rolling her eyes, but Lucia ignored her, pulling her organiser out of her bag and opened it, taking a photo out and handing it to Mike.

"This is her as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker when she was twelve. Isn't she adorable? My Rafi paid for her ballet classes so she could get out of the Bronx," Lucia told him, her hand on Mike's shoulder while he sat down, and Fia looked like she wanted to jump over the dining table to throttle her aunt. Her cheeks were red and she sat down while avoiding any eye contact, but Olivia could see that Mike tried to give her an apologetic glance. Rafael meanwhile looked incredibly happy that he wasn't the one being embarrassed by Lucia this time, though that probably wouldn't last for long.

As the six of them had sat down at the table, there was an awkward silence at first, then Noah broke the spell, exclaiming: "Love pasta!"

Olivia chuckled lightly and ruffled her son's short hair, and everyone started to put food on their plates, Lucia asking Fia how her audition had been, obviously to get some kind of conversation started.

"It was okay, I guess. I felt like my arabesque was a very sloppy job, though. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't take me," Fia mumbled while shoving her pasta around on her plate with her fork, frowning.

"I'm sure you were wonderful. You're too harsh with yourself," Lucia said softly, then she turned her head to Mike. "You should have seen her in Swan Lake last year, she was part of the... what do they call it?"

"Pas de quatre," Fia replied before stuffing herself with pasta, her cheeks definitely a little bit redder than before.

"Oh yes, she was wonderful. The New York City Ballet would make a big mistake if they don't take her, and I'm sure she'll…

"Could you please stop it?" Fia asked, her gaze wandering over to Rafael and Olivia, nearly begging them to do something.

"I've never been to a ballet," Mike said after clearing his throat awkwardly. "I'm more a baseball and rock music fan."

"Oh, Fia likes rock music, too!"

Olivia definitely had to give him credit for trying to help Fia out of this situation, but Lucia was simply too eager to advertise her niece to him to see the hints. She probably didn't mean no harm, but she also didn't seem to care that she made people around her uncomfortable with her very direct way of… expressing her thoughts.

"And she's also a baseball fan."

"Oh, which team?" Mike asked, a spark of interest crossing his face, and Fia smirked, completely ignoring Lucia.

"Yankees, of course."

"That's my girl," Rafael chuckled, bumping his shoulder against Fia's while Noah looked at him with big, questioning eyes.

"What's Yankees, Rafa?"

"A baseball team, amigo. How about we two play some baseball next time we go to the park?" Rafael suggested, ruffling Noah's brown hair and the boy beamed up at him with an excited expression, nodding eagerly, even though he probably did only have a vague idea what baseball was.

"Aren't they cute together?" Lucia asked, her face turned towards Olivia with a meaningful expression, and Olivia congratulated herself on her ability to smile back politely while gently squeezing Rafael's hand under the table. If Lucia only knew...

"Tía, por dios, you really need to find a new hobby," Fia stated dryly, glaring at her aunt over the table, and Lucia scowled as her son started to chuckle.

The rest of the dinner went by rather smoothly, though Lucia still didn't refrain from making comments to Olivia or Mike, which everyone tried to take with humour. Unfortunately, it was already too late for Olivia to be staying to have a talk with Rafael, as Noah had to be in bed soon, and when he said goodbye to them at the door, she could see that the disappointment was mutual.

When Lucia wasn't looking, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, close to the corner of her lips, and his hand brushed over hers. His smile was a promise that their conversation wouldn't be forgotten, but still she felt a little bit of sadness twinge in her heart as Noah and her left.

From the corner of her eye she'd seen Dodds exchanging some quick words with Fia, probably to make sure she would come to the precinct in the morning, and as he got onto the elevator with Noah and her, he was wearing a small, dreamy smile on his lips. And in this very moment Olivia asked herself if Lucia could influence people's mind with her sheer willpower to have things her way. It was certainly feeling a little bit odd.

To Be Continued...