Unlikely

Amiguto

Rafael's POV
Sitting in my office and talking my third Advil of the day, yet my head ache raged on in the front of my head. Why did I do that?
Erin had stopped by again around noon and I politely told her to fuck off. But not before trying to pry out what happened with Nevada and how she knew Naomi. She was no help though, she just claimed they kept going at it at some restaurant and she advised Naomi to stay away from Nevada.
I was staring at the papers on my desk without actually reading them when one of the last people I would've wanted to see that night walked in.
"Detective Carisi, how can I help you?"
He waltzed right in and stood in front of my desk. "What happened to Naomi and why did she leave with Nick?"
"Shouldn't you call her and ask?" I stood and stared daggers at him as he attempted to look intimidating.
He shook his head and pulled out his phone. "I've tried, a lot."
"Hold on." Not that I think she'd answer a call from me, I called her anyways. "Straight to voicemail, I'm sure she's fine."
"Shouldn't she be with you counselor?" He put his hands on his hips and cocked his head sideways a bit.
I shook my head and sat back down. "I can't be with her anymore and you can't ask why."
He nodded solemnly before asking: "Why?"
I inhaled sharply before pressing my fingers to my temples, "Do you need anything from me Detective?"
"My cousin."
"Well I can't help you with that." I snapped.

-------

"Good job Barba." Benson patted my shoulder as I walked into her office from the box.
Just as I was about to say something, Carisi practically ran out of Liv's office and I couldn't see to what.
"Ya just gonna sleep with everyone I work or have worked with?" Wow ok. I slowly approached to look around Carisi. I seen Naomi, and she was ready for the fight Carisi had picked.
I didn't understand her incoherent yelling but she pointed back at me and I assumed they'd bring me into the yelling match.
Liv advised them to take their screams elsewhere and they did, but they didn't stop screaming on their way out. I felt bad for whoever had to drive their cab.
When I got home, I took the liberty of gathering all of Naomi's things so when she stopped by for them it wouldn't be awkward for too long.
Then it hit me.
This girl, this wonderful girl, was gone. I thought I was ready to let go, I've been alone for so long. Occasional one-night-stands, sure. But Naomi was my first real relationship since, well, a long time. Not to mention, she stayed with me after she was kidnapped due to my wrong doings.
Maybe she was right, it's the commitment that scares me. The thought that I had feelings this strong for this perfect woman scares me. Not that that matters now, she's already moved on to Nick. Why did he just so happen to be in New York? Why did I have to be such a bad person?

Naomi's POV
Sonny came back around 3 pm with my things from Rafael's house, so fortunately I wouldn't have to get it myself. He told me he'd be working a double in order to drive me to Staten Island tomorrow and left. He didn't exactly love the idea of me going to live with my aunt, his mother. But the fact that me either crawling back to Rafael or being infatuated with Nick was still on the table, he wasn't going to argue too hard against it.
I was digging through Sonny's fridge and cabinets looking for something that wasn't leftover takeout. After crawling on the counter and reaching back to what I thought was popcorn, my phone started ringing.
It wasn't a number I knew, "Hello?"
"Oh so Rollins wasn't just messing with me, this is your real number."
"Nick?" I hopped off the counter and walked into the living room with my phone up to my ear.
"Yea, hi. I uh..." I sat down on the couch and folded my legs as he stammered on the other line.
It was silent for a moment long enough for me to think the line went dead, "Hello?"
He coughed awkwardly before continuing, "Do you want to get something to eat?"
"Yes!" I hopped off the couch, a bit too excited. "I mean, ahem, yes."
A chuckle rung through my ear before he informed me that he'd meet me outside Sonny's apartment in an hour.
I dug through the clothes Sonny brought from Rafael's and settled on light blue skinny jeans with a gray t-shirt.
It wasn't until I showered and got dressed that I realized it said "Harvard" across the chest. Thanks Sonny. I swapped that out with a plain white shirt because Lord knows I wasn't wearing Rafael's shirt.
After 50 minutes I figured it wouldn't hurt to wait a few minutes, so I grabbed the spare keys Sonny had and left. I came to regret that decision when I neglected to bring a sweater and Nick took his sweet time to get there, not showing up until 15 minutes later.
"Hi, sorry. I lost track of time." Nick sped walked up beside me and gave me a brief but tight hug.
I hugged back and laughed, "It's totally fine, I just forgot a sweater." I sniffled a bit and hugged my arms around myself.
"Do you want mine?" He had started sliding his gray sweat shirt off his shoulders. Before I could protest, he draped it over my shoulders and begin walking down the street.
Following at his side, I snaked my arms through the sleeves of his sweater. "So where are we goin?"
He shrugged and smiled at me, "Neither of us are dressed for a nice restaurant." He was right. We were both wearing jeans and a t-shirt. We differed at the NYPD across his shirt while I had an oversized sweater.
"We can just go to like," I glanced around as we approached a busy-ish corner and pointed to a Little Ceaser's. "There."
"Sounds good." He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the street with him.
The sun was just starting to set, so it wasn't too dark when we stepped into the restaurant. Nick ordered one of those $5 boxes with an extra drink so we'd both have one.
"So you're going back to California tomorrow?" I asked him as I took a sip of my Coca Cola.
He nodded, his mouth too full of pizza to audibly reply.
I sighed as I put my elbows on the table and rested my chin on my hand. Nick was staring at his phone in one hand while nibbling the piece of pizza in his other.
He looked up at me and set the crust of his pizza down, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just a little..." I trailed off and watched him as he crossed his arms on the table.
He leaned forward, brushing his lips against mine before I backed away. When I seen his face start to turn red and immediately felt bad.
"I'm sorry."
"No no," He shook his head and laughed at himself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Ding.
I glanced down at my phone to see a message from Rafael.

I need to talk to you, I'll meet you at Carisi's apartment.

Sonny's apartment was just the place to meet today.
"Who's that?"
I looked up at Nick to see his face had went back to it's normal color. "It's Rafael."
He looked confused at first but quickly caught on. I guess he was used to calling him Barba.
"I-I'm really sorry, about last night and tonight. I shouldn't have-"
He stood and cut me off, "It's cool, I'll walk you back to Carisi's?"
The walk back was an awkward one, it was even more awkward when Rafael was getting out of a cab in front of Sonny's apartment.
Almost as soon as Rafael and nick made eye contact, there was an instant tension. The closer we approached, the worse it got.
"Ok well, I'll call you." Nick gave me a hug and I could've sworn I seen him smirk at Rafael as he walked pass him.
Rafael bit the inside of his cheek as he put his arm around my waist and pulled me towards the front door of the building. He watched Nick walked down the block and waited until he was out of sight to turn back to me.
"It's cold Rafi, what do you want?" I leaned against the outer doorframe and buried my hands into the pockets of Nick's sweater, oops.
He sighed and looked down at his feet. "So you're going to live in Staten Island tomorrow?"
"Why?"
He looked up at me, "Carisi let it slip that he was working late to take you in the morning. Why are you moving back? You just graduated and you cou-"
"Could what?" I cut him off and crossed my arms over my chest. "Get a job here? I tried that."
He laughed sarcastically in defense, "I'm sorry I couldn't give you a lavish job that would make all your little friends jealous."
"Yea but you did manage to get me kidnapped so, props." I bit my tongue as I watched a mix of anger and guilt wash over Rafael's face.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, I'm going upstairs." I turned and attempted unlocking the door.
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to face towards him, his eyes turned glossy. "Naomi I beat myself up over that every day. I'm sorry you were put through that because of me."
"Rafi," I put my hands on his chest to try and stop him from continuing.
"No, listen." He put his hand against his forehead and inhaled deeply, "I need you. More than I'd like to admit, I need you to stay. I've put you through so much and if you left now I have no idea what I'd do."
I watched him, astonished considering he'd never been so open with his feelings to me before.
"Please just come back home..." He cupped my face in his hands and wiped away tears I hadn't noticed with the pads of his thumbs. "We can talk it out."
I was ready to forgive and forget but I felt a twinge of guilt for Nick. "Rafi," I pulled his hands off my face and held them in my hands. "I don't think I can. Not just because of me but Sonny and Nick..." I trailed off.
He scoffed and slightly squeezed my hands, getting my attention. "Cariño, did something actually happen between you and Amaro?"
"Uh..." I stared at the point of his nose to avoid his green stare. "Sorta."
He gritted his teeth but seemingly shook the thought from his head and let go of my hands to put his around my waist. Pulling me tightly into him, not giving me the chance to move much so my arms sort of snuggled in between us. "It's fine, it was my fault. I shouldn't have overreacted yesterday."
I leaned my forehead against his chest and wiped my wet cheeks on the borrowed sweater. "I'm so sorry."
"Shh, it's not on you." He started to run his fingers through my hair with one hand still on my lower back. "Just please come back, we can talk about this."
It was getting colder but I honestly just wanted to stay there. But Nick. No, Nick was going back to California.
Wait.
"Are you just doing this because of Nick?" I pulled away from Rafael and out if his embrace.
He looked confused, "What?"
I shook my head and pulled the keys out of my pocket. "I have to go, I'm sorry but I've already told Sonny I'm moving back home."
He bit his bottom lip and watched me enter the apartment building, not bothering to stop me for the second time.