Rafael Barba Imagines

Secret Admirer

The day the first one arrived, you definitely needed it. Without a doubt, it had been one of the worst days of your career. Everything was going wrong, evidence thrown out and cases dismissed, to even mentioning the fact that all of these things were scheduled back to back. So when you finally dragged yourself back down to your office for the first time that day it was about 7:00 in the evening. Your assistant had gone and switched on the lights expecting the office that you had left over twenty-four hours earlier. And for the most part, it was expected, except for one thing.

A bouquet of flowers, on the corner of your desk.

Your assistant obviously had brought it in but you were confused by it nonetheless, mostly because you hadn't expected it. There was no card but it didn't even matter because they were your favorite flowers, tulips. The same sort of ones you would plant with your mom when you were a kid. They did bring a smile to your face and the next day when you asked for the card from your assistant she said it didn't come with one.

You assumed it must have been a mistake or it was a bunch that was delivered late that were intended for your birthday a few weeks earlier. You liked having them there, you usually hated having live flowers because they died in your care, but you took good care of them. They lasted two weeks.

Even your colleague complimented them.

"Flowers?" He questioned, after bursting into your office, asking you a question and as per usual making himself comfortable on your couch as he flipped through a file.

"Mmm," You nodded, not looking up.

"Trying to spruce things up around here?" He asked amused and looking at you, "Or are you frustrated and just need to kill something?"

"Both but not intentionally," You smirked, looking up and making eye contact with him, "I got sent them the other day,"

"By who?" He persisted.

"Don't know," You shrugged, "There wasn't a card."

He shrugged before going back to his file and engaging you in work related talk. Or at least your guy's version. Where you talked about each others cases, pointed out things the other had missed and insulted them for it. It was the most fun you had at work.

You had lots of work friends form work but Rafael was the only one that you would consider an actual 'friend' friend. You actually went out of your way to see each other outside of work as well as during. He was a good friend and knew lots about you and you about him. A good friend even if you wanted it to be more.

You'd known each other for over a year, meeting when you transfer to the Manhattan District Attorneys office from a private corporate firm in Albany. You became a joint ADA, taking cases from both Special Victims, Rafael's department and Homicide. Which was why you got to know each other so well as you were the only two ADAs who worked Special Victims cases. And other the months, you got to know each other very well and you has started to like him in more than just a colleague and subsequently more than a friend. And you were so embarrassed about feeling this way because it was so unprofessional and you were almost sure that he would never like you the same way.

Occasionally though you indulged into the thought of him liking you back.

But back to the flowers. You probably would have forgotten about them but they just kept coming, expect they started coming with mysterious and unsigned notes. You were paranoid initially because you were almost certain you had a stalker but they just kept coming and if you did the stalker would have actually done something by now.

Once you got over that thought, you actually found them quite endearing, mostly because they started coming with notes. Coincidentally, they always came on days you needed them when not even Rafael insulting you couldn't make you feel better. They were also quite funny, your favorite type of funny, the cheesy sort of funny. Which is what almost exclusively your humor, in fact, most of them had jokes that you almost certainly had made yourself. They said things like 'What's a moth's life motto? Always look on the bright side' and 'Why did the yogurt go to the art exhibit? Because it was cultured'.