Unlikely

You've Got to be Kidding Me

When we got to Rafael's office, I was prepared to have him shower me in as much love as he needed to guarantee to me that he wasn't quivering on his notion to stay with me.
As we approached, there was a woman sitting at Carmen's desk, but it wasn't Carmen. Carmen doesn't start wokring until 8:30 and it was barely 7. She had dark hair and when she stood, she kinda looked like, fuck.
I looked up at Rafael and whispered so the lady would see but not hear. "Who's she?"
He waved his hand as the woman smiled and kept her eye on Rafi the entire time we approached. I found myself shying as much behind Rafael's arm as I could without getting too much attention drawn to myself.
"Can I help you, miss?" Rafael looked the lady in the face as her eyes wondered over his body.
She smiled then glanced over at me, her smile left. It was her. "You're that little girl who was with Nevada." My face flushed and I could feel Rafael's glare. The woman held out her hand to me for a hand shake, "I'm Erin."
"You're kidding." I accidentally thought out loud and returned Rafael's glare. "Did you call her or something?"
He bit the inside of his cheek, "Eri- Miss, excuse us. You can let yourself out seeing as you found your way in." Completely ignoring my accusations, he grabbed my hand in his and pulled me into his office.
After he locked the door, I began to say something but he shushed me before I could. "Don't, I didn't call her. I'm not going to ask about the Nevada comment she made so you're not gonna ask about her, okay?"
I nodded in agreement and tossed my bookbag on his couch, sitting myself at the little round table in front of the turned off TV. He didn't say another word as he went to his desk and flied through some papers sitting there.
I was tired, so I ditched my sneakers and proped my feet up on the chair next to me. I was nearly asleep when Rafael's voice seemingly boomed through the office.
"Naomi."
I shot up in my chair and looked at him, "Huh? Hi."
He laughed, biting the edge end of his pen. "Come here."
"Ughhh." I yawned and streched before standing. Making my way over to his desk. Before I could sit down, he shook his head at me. "What?"
He stood and walked around his desk to stand in front of me. "Naomi I want you to understand something." He stopped calling me Ana a while ago, I kinda missed it.
I looked up at him, expecting some sort of physical touch but surprised when he simply stood there. His face was inches from mine and I realized he was waiting for a response. "What is it Rafi?"
He inhaled deeply before continuing. "I don't know if I can keep doing this to you."
"Doing what?" My heart dropped and I was genuinely worried about what was coming next.
Rafael stepped back and sat on the edge of his desk, "Robbing you of life." My confused look encouraged his to keep going, "You're young cariño. You deserve better than sitting around, waiting for me to finish working so I can give to the attention you no doubt deserve."
"Rafi..." I was blinking back tears at this point as I stepped forward. Stopping just before our feet touched.
He stood and sighed, pulling me into a hug and tucking my head under his chin. "I'm sorry, I'll talk to Sonny and see if you can stay with him until you find a job-"
"Wait," I pulled away and looked at his now glossy eyes. "You're just gonna kick me out?"
He smiled empathetically as a tear actually dropped down from his eye. Nod. "I have to Naomi."
"Why?!" I snapped. Why was he doing this? Now, of all times? "Is it becaus of Erin? I know she's tall and pretty but jeez..."
He stepped forward and almost got his arms around me but I moved back before he could. "Naomi..."
"No no," I shook my head at an attempt to clear it as I grabbed my bookbag off his couch. "I- I'll go."
Before he could grab me, I unlocked his office door and left. Making sure to pull it shut dramatically behind me. My teary eyes met with those of a confused assistant's.
"Hi Carmen." I scurried past her before she could fire any questions, also since I heard Rafael's office door open. I got to the elevator and frantically pushed the down button.
I heard Rafael shout my name one more time before the elevator door shut, leaving me alone in the moving box.
To think.
It wasn't until my thin socks hit the concrete outside that I realized my shoes were still residing in Rafael's office. How convenient.

-------

So there I was, sitting next to Amanda at her desk while waiting for Sonny and Fin to come back so Sonny could take me to his apartment. With no shoes on.
I heard the elevator ding and assumed it was Sonny, but instead it was a person I'd never seen. Amanda on the other hand, seemed to be very fond of him.
"Amaro!"
"Rollins, and pretty lady next to Rollins' desk!"
They hugged and smiled at each other before Amanda introduced us. "Nick, this is Naomi."
He smiled and put his hand out. I took the offer and shook his hand, "Hi, I'm Sonny's cousin."
"You went missing a little bit ago," He apologized as soon as he said it, smooth one pal.
I forced a small smile as I pulled my hand away from his, "Yea, that's me."
Amanda excused herself after getting a call from Lieutenant Benson, which left me and Nick to talk. We were sitting shoulder to shoulder on top of Amanda's desk.
"So what brought you back to New York?" I asked, trying to keep a conversation going.
He had rested his hand on my knee and was using his other to gesture while he talked. "I brought my son to visit his abuelita, his mom was too busy with something to take him herself."
"Are you and his mom together?" I was watching his fingers tap around my knee and lower thigh.
He laughed and put his hand flat on my leg, squeezing slightly. "No, but aren't you and the counselor together?"
I matched his laugh, "Not as of an hour and a half ago."
"Really? What happened?" He turned slightly towards me.
I sighed, scooting myself back and crossing my legs on the desk. "He got, dramatic, and claimed I was 'wasting my time' with him." I looked up into his genuine brown eyes. "How long are you gonna be in New York?"
"About few days." He was staring at me now, leaning gradually closed to me.
My heart started to pick up it's pace a bit as he got so close that his lips were inches from mine.
Out intimate moment was broken when I heard my name being called from the entrance of the squad room. Nick and I both looked up and seen Rafael strolling in. Speak of the devil.
"Naomi can we please just,"
I hopped off the desk, a twinge of pain shot through my bare feet as I shook my head. "No we can't just. But Erin might wanna just."
"Cariño," He'd gotten closer and put his hands on my shoulder. I heard Nick hop off the desk and I assumed he was watching Rafael and I.
I shook off his hands, "Did you bring my shoes?" He looked down at my socks then up at my face and shook his head no. "Then what do you want Rafael?"
He looked over at Nick and cleared his throat, "Can we talk in private?" Not waiting for an answer, he put his hand on the small of my back and led me into the on-call room. This time, he left the door open.
"I can't just kick you out and have you storm off. I want you to know why." He had let go of me and stepped a few feet in front of me.
I nodded at him, not really that I knew what he meant but I really didn't want to find out.
Nonetheless, he continued. "You're a wonderful girl and I like you but it's a waste."
"Rafael, how long has it been since you've been in a real relationship?" I asked bluntly.
He looked at me for a moment and put his hand on the back of his neck. "A while."
I teetered back and fourth on my feet and smiled empathetically. "If you're scared of getting serious then fine. Just the timing that's off. That Erin lady shows up and you suddenly have a change of heart."
Before he spoke, I turned and left. I went back to where Nick was standing with a half-worried-half-confused look on his face as I grabbed my bag and smiled up at him.
"I don't have shoes but I have $17 and there's a store down the street that I'm sure they'd have something." Nick smiled down at my socks.
I glanced back at Rafael who was getting coffee before nodding. "Let's go."
Once again, I was walking on the cold cement in my pink and purple polka dot socks. This time I was walking alongside Nick, who was rambling about some case he worked on while at SVU.
"The guy was running for mayor while paying off a bunch of chicks for sexts, one was 15." He laughed as we approached the store at the corner of one busy street and one not so busy.
He opened the door but I just smiled up at him, "I don't have shoes on Nick."
"Oh yea, what size do you wear? I'll run in and find something."
"6."