Unlikely

Normal

Early the next morning, a Saturday, Olivia stopped by and gave me some clothes so I could shower then change. We headed down to Rafael's office.
She explained on the way over that Rafi had went to Nevada to discuss the charges he'd be facing and Nevada got one good nose-hit in before the guard got him, so nows he's facing assault on an ADA. Nevada's a fucking genius.
When we got to his office and Carmen let us in, he was sitting at his desk with his feet up on it as usual. But he looked happier today.
"He's pleading guilty to multiple counts of assault, kiddnaping, and drug abuse so he'll be put away for a while." Rafael smiled widely and I returned, genuinely relieved that I wouldn't have to sit through a trial.
Olivia and I sat in the chairs in front of his desk, "So, Naomi, you're gonna need a place as well as a job."
Liv placed a hand on the arm of my chair and looked at me, "I-uh," I exchanged a look with Rafael and then looked back at Liv. "I could ask Sonny if I could stay with him until I find a job."
"Okay, I'll call him and make sure he's fine with it, excuse me." She stood and left after flashing a reassuring smile to me.
I looked forward to Rafael who was pulling his legs off the desk to lean forward. "I'm really sorry Naomi."
"Why'd you go to my hotel room last night?" I folded my arms on his desk and rested my chin on top of them.
He smiled then mimicked my position, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and clean up my nose since you were closer than my house."
"You're an idiot." I giggled.
He shrugged at my comment and leaned his head to the side. "You're pretty."
My cheeks heated up a bit and I stuck my tongue out at him. It was nice being able to kinda go back to how we were around each other before any of this happened.
We sat there just looking at each other until Olivia came back in and startled us.
"Carisi said it's fine, do you need a ride over to his place?" I sat up but before I could reply, Rafael stood and answered for me.
"Actually I was just going to take her to get something to eat." He did his cute half smile at me. "I'll make sure she gets to Carisi's safe after that."

-------

We went to the same restaurant we went to the first time we'd gone "out" together.
"So what was it like?"
I looked up at Rafael from my plate and swallowed the piece of broccoli I had in my mouth. "What?"
He ran his finger around the top of his scotch glass. "What was your life like for the past few months." He looked irratatingly unbothered.
"It was pretty uh," I looked at him then down at my plate. "Pretty weird actually. Can we not talk about it?"
He nodded as he handed his card to the waitress as she came by with the check.
He paid and we left, walking down the street with our arms intertwined. It was only around noon and I really didn't want to spend all day sitting in Sonny's apartment. Alone, since he'd be at work.
It was October so it was just starting to get cold outside. I snuggled close into Rafael's arm, almost tripping over my own shoe a few times. Little did I know, we were walking to his apartment.
As we approached the front door of the building, he laughed at the confused look on my face. "Come on cariño, just so you won't have to sit alone at Carisi's place."
"I hate you Rafi." I took the hand he offered and followed him up to his apartment.
He whispered, so I don't think I was supposed to hear. "Creo que te amo."
"What?"
"Nothing querido." He kissed my forehead and led me into his familiar living room.
He sat on the couch and I shamelessly laid across it, putting my head on his lap.
"Naomi," He ran his fingers through my hair slowly while he spoke. "You can go take a nap on the bed if you're tired."
I shook my head and stubbornly buried my face into his stomach.
He sighed and continued running his fingers through my hair. No more than five minutes went by before he spoke softly, he thinks I'm sleeping?
"What are we gonna do cariño?" For the first time today he sounded unsure, like when we were both in the box. "Carisi will never agree with us being together, that is even if you would want to be together after I put you through this." He sighed and rested his hand on top of my head. "Te quiero mucho nena.
No quiero perderte."
"I liked it better when you were speaking english Rafi." I turned my head to smile up at him.
I giggled at his confused look and pulled myself up to sit on his lap.
"I'm sorry."
He chuckled and hugged me close to him. "It's not your fault, don't you want to take a nap thought?"
"Nahh," I started tracing my fingers along his tie pattern. "I wanna hear you talk stuff about me in spanish again."
"I wasn't talking stuff dear, you should learn spanish." Grabbing my hand and rubbing his thumb on the back of it, he made me feel like such a little girl. A niñita. Except I liked when Rafael did it. I didn't feel overpowered, I felt safe.
I woke up, because apparently I fell asleep, to the ringing of Rafael's phone. I shook him by the shoulder a little to wake him, "Rafi, your phone."
He obstinately buried his face into my shoulder, tightening his grip around my waist.
"Rafiiiii..." I crawled off his lap and grabbed his phone. "Hello?"
"Naomi? Where's Barba?" Shit.
I looked over at the cute man snuggled into a throw pillow, "He's sleeping, what's up Sonny?"
"I just wanted to know where you are. Benson said you were gonna stay with me but you never showed up."
Oopsie. "Yeeeaaa about that," I glanced back at Sleeping Beauty on the other side of the couch and smiled to myself. "I'll just stay with Raf-Barba."
After explaining to Sonny that I am an adult, I hung up and checked the time.
7:34 pm.
I scoot back to Rafael and poke his side. "Rafaaaaeeeel."
"Hmmmmm" He sat up and looked at me with an evil glare. "What?"
I smiled while idly trailing my hand down from the spot I poked to wake him. "Morning sleepyhead."
He bit the inside of his cheek before tackling me back onto the couch. After my head hit into the pillow at the edge of the couch, he snuggled into my chest with a satisfied "hmm".
I took my turn to play with his hair, too tired to try and push him off me. He started humming, I didn't know the song but the vibrations of his hums tickled against my skin.
"Rafi stooop." I tried to push him off me.
He slid farther up and kissed along my neck, continuing his song between each little kiss. "I'd still be asleep cariño, but you decided to pester me. My turn." I felt him smile against the skin on my neck.
I giggled and kept pointlessly trying to push him off me. After placing one firm kiss on my lips, he picked himself up and strolled off into the bedroom. I smiled to myself while walking after him, finding him digging through the closet.
"Do you have something I can wear?" Sitting on the edge of the bed, I watched him pull put a plain white t-shirt and hurl it in my direction. "Thanks."
He grabbed himself a paif of checkered pajama pants and a plain white shirt that matched mine. "So you're just gonna stay here?" He sits next to me on the edge of the bed.
I nod before leaning my head on his shoulder. "What are we gonna do Raf?"
"Whatever we can mi amor, whatever we can."