Barba's Second Shadow

The courthouse corridors were swarming with the dull humming of voices mingling, and shoes hitting the marble flooring as they walked. If you were close enough; you could hear the faint snapping of a camera lens, but the other sounds ultimately drowned it all out. DA Rafael Barba; hated the sound, it was like if you got too close to a bee hive and heard them all buzzing at once. Luckily, this time; he wasn't in the middle of it, and neither was his client. They were off to the side; thanking the man, and the SVU crew for all of their hardwork. The 'Thank you's' and 'You're welcome's' eventually started drifting off as everyone was making their ways in different directions. Barba knew one thing was for sure; he was ready to go to his office and relax as much as he could.

As he made his way to the elevator, Detective Carisi followed a little ways behind. He heard the sound of high heels shuffling quickly behind him. A voice followed;

"Mr.Barba! Mr.Barba!"

He didn't want to turn; He didn't care at this point what anyone had to say, he wanted to reach the elevator and just go, but she just kept on yelling for him louder and louder. He finally stopped and turned on his heel.

"No autographs, please. I like to stay humble." he replied dryly with a lopsided smirk. As he turned he was met face to face with a young woman; maybe early 20's, almost right in front of him. She walked with confidence, something he admired, but it almost made him laugh that she was still right under his chin in her high heeled shoes. The girl just smirked herself and giggled.

"Don't worry," she replied as she stopped, "I just came to talk.". She held her small pale hand out to the DA and she introduced herself. "My name is Rose Monroe, I am a student of Fordham Law.". Barba knew what she was going to ask and he wasn't a fan. He took her hand in his and shook it.

"Rafael Barba, pleasure, I'm sure." Is all he said before she continued,

"Mr.Barba, I didn't come here today to bother you; I assure you. I have to take the Bar soon and all I ask is that before I do, I get to shadow under someone.". Her voice seemed a bit shaky but still oozed aggressive confidence. While this was impressive; the DA just wasn't having it. He let out a scoff like chuckle,

"You've come to the wrong person, Ms.Monroe." he said as he turned on his heel to head to the elevators. The red head wasn't going to take that for an answer.

"I'm aware this isn't ideal sir, however; I'm in need of a mentor. I heard that Detective Carisi learned a lot from you in that time he was under you. Not only that but he passed." she explained in a calm voice as she started walking with him. He shifted his eyes to her then forward once more.

"Where exactly did you hear that?" He asked.

"Detective Carisi.", she jut a thumb over her shoulder. Barba let out a deep sigh as he finally reached the elevator and pressed the button with his thumb. "You're one of the most genius and hard working DA's I've ever seen sir. It'd be a privelige to learn from you.".

"I'm not disagreeing with you on that, but shadowing; especially for cases like the ones I handle are very streinuous on myself, and right now I have a date with my office chair. The last thing I want to think about is shadowing some kid.".

He looked over at her and saw the determination mixed with raw hope in her eyes. Most of him wanted to say no; he wasn't taking another shadow, but the other half was wanting to see where a girl like this could go with the right shadowing experience. Why should he leave her to go with some other DA who wouldn't teach her anything, or leave her to think corrupt of the law? Barba sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as his brows furrowed.

"My God." he said aloud before mumbling in Spanish.

Rose shifted her weight excitedly as he inhaled deeply and spoke,

"I'm willing to shadow you. But I'm telling you the same thing I told Carisi; Shadows do not have opinions and they do not speak. When we are in the court room, you only speak to me and I will answer your questions. Is that understood?" He said all of this so quickly Rose didn't exactly process all of it. The elevator dinged and she was soon brought out of her trance. She clasped her hands together tightly;

"Thank you so so much for this Mr.Barba. You have no clue what this means to me. I won't let you down.". She said all of this with a beaming smile that even made Barba have to crack a small one. The genuine joy from something as small as him saying "Ok", even when he was so seemingly strict about it. He just chuckled a bit and steppped into the elevator as the doors opened. He looked at her as she just stood there.

"Are you coming, Ms.Monroe?".

She jumped a little and made her way in quickly; mumbling to herself about how she had to stop being so scatterbrained. The man lightly chuckled before looking at her from the side. "You should come with me to my office just so we can get some more things settled, to give you a feel of how things work. Maybe get some coffee before we go?". She scrunched her face up a bit and giggled,

"I don't drink coffee, sir.".

"Well you do now," he replied while patting her shoulder "You're gonna be a lawyer kiddo, if there's one thing we strive off of; it's coffee.". The elevator doors opened as Barba straightened his tie. He saw the slight disdain on her face as they walked out the door, and this made him full on smile. He noticed as he did this that his previous need for sleep and relaxation was gone. Barba felt like a fire was lit from underneath him, it was the strangest thing. His mind stopped reeling as he heard Rose's voice.

"Maybe I should rethink this." She said playfully as they exited the building.

Barba scoffed, thinking to himself; 'You and me both.'.