The rest of the team visits Rafael and tells them their stories and what went down during the trial. Rafael tells Olivia his side of the story as the two become closer.
A little while later, Rafael finished getting ready as Olivia brought Amanda and Sonny into the room so the three could talk. The two immediately gave Rafael a watery smile.
"Hey guys." Rafael said softly.
"Hey Barba, we are glad you're getting better." Amanda says.
Sonny was thinking about the past few days before he spoke. Rafael had had so much influence on his life and it was nothing short of a miracle Rafael was recovering. He wouldn't be as good as a lawyer he was without Rafael Barba. He realized that he had gained something from Rafael that he hadn't noticed before: the courage to stand up for those you love.
"We're all glad you are on the road to recovery Rafael. I have to say that you all gave us something to fight for. We all gathered around you and Olivia as a family. You are a part of our family."
Rafael looks at the two adults and shakes his head in disbelief.
"I know it's been a while since we all talked but I don't think I deserve a chance to even try and make things right."
"Why would you say that?" Amanda says softly.
"Rollins, I know you weren't at the trial but you wouldn't want to associate with the man I was in the courtroom."
"Well what I do know is this, you did what you did to protect Olivia. We discovered that through her and we did what we did to protect you. You've done so much for us and we had to do everything we could to make sure you would be okay." Amanda replied.
"We're not mad at you Rafael. We're just glad you're okay." Sonny says.
Rafael slowly sits up in the hospital bed and looks Sonny in the eye.
"Carisi, I owe you an apology. Even if we were going up against each other my tactics were not the best. Some were even cheap and I never should have scoffed at you. I respect you immensely."
"Rafael I think we can both agree that the trial was a mess from the very beginning. It never should have been an SVU trial but no matter what, I believe we both gave it our all."
"I'll admit, after the fact it was good to finally see someone take down Wheatley a peg."
"I could say the same to you about, well you know who." Sonny says
"Oh no, he did that on his own." Rafael says.
Rafael takes a deep breath.
"Dominick, promise me you will be careful. Wheatley is dangerous. I'm not even sure if he knows I'm still alive after the beating his men gave me."
"I will. I promise. And please we're family, Sonny is fine outside of the work and the courtroom."
"Okay, Sonny."
Rafael sighs.
"I'm really glad to see you both, but I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room."
"We'll tell you as much as we can but some of it is not our story to tell." Amanda says.
"Olivia came into the precinct on Monday morning and wanted our help in putting the pieces together of what happened. We formulated a plan with Olivia and went for it. She said she knew it in her gut that you were in trouble and we knew we had to try and do something." Sonny says
"We saw the footage from your apartment. I know we could possibly get in trouble for seeing it but once we knew you were in trouble, we ran to your apartment while Carisi tried to get us a warrant. Olivia, Fin and I entered your apartment and saw how injured you really were and called a ambulance. You were losing so much blood and we were trying our best to help you. You arrived at the hospital just in time and were immediately rushed into emergency surgery. We waited about an hour and that's when..."
