Prologue: Olivia's Bad Day
Olivia Benson was having a rough day. She and her squad were dealing with an exceptionally insane case, involving nineteen-year-old Leanna Barrie and her mother. Leanna had cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. The alleged perp was Leanna's thirty-year-old boyfriend, Francisco Charles. Her mother, who was a close friend of Chief McGrath, had court-appointed guardianship over her. She claimed that Mr. Charles raped Leanna but Leanna swore that it was consensual and that she was in love with him. Carisi then of course said that they didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest but the mother kept on insisting. It was just a mess.
Olivia set down her glasses on her desk and sat back in her chair, closing her eyes and trying to ignore her approaching headache. Despite some moments of peace and happiness, she felt so emotionally drained lately. She should talk to her therapist but she had been so busy to see him. She could talk to Amanda Rollins but she didn't want to sound like she was always complaining. She could call Elliot Stabler but their conversations tend to get awkward nowadays. He was still going through grief over the loss of his wife but he wanted something more than a friendship from Olivia. Then, her thoughts went to Rafael Barba despite herself.
She had told herself not to give Barba the time of day again after he decided to defend Richard Wheatley. Yet, here she was, thinking about him. She was missing him; missing his little smirk, his sarcastic remarks, him asking her if she was okay, just missing his voice in general. Maybe her judgment was slightly compromised during the Wheatley case because the victim was Elliot's wife. Maybe she was too harsh on Barba. He was only doing his job after all and not all of his clients were exactly virtuous.
Even though she heard Fin telling Rollins that Rafael was dating a neighbor, Olivia still needed Rafael in her life in some way.
"Rafa," she whispered to herself before she realized what she was doing.
She was about to swallow her pride and call him when Fin knocked on her office door.
"Liv," he said, popping his head in, "Leanna's mother is here again and she's on a rampage. She'll only talk to you. Do you want me to tell her to go home?"
"Thank you, Fin," she sighed, "No, I'll talk to her. Just give me a sec."
"Alright, Liv."
It was time for her to go back to work. She was going to take some Tylenol and power through her emotions. She told herself that she would call Rafael later and he would hopefully forgive her. For the moment though, she needed to remain focused on her work.
