Rafael Barba Imagines

Are You In Love?

You looked up cautiously into the mirror, biting your lip,knowing that both Rafael and Liv were watching you from the other side. Then you turned back to the fourteen year old girl sitting in front of you who was bawling her eyes out and you sighed sympathetically at her pain.

Her name was Rachel and she had been groomed by a thirty year old pimp and had subsequently run away from home leading to the SVU investigation when her parents reported her missing. Like many girls in her situation she truly believed that the bastard loved her and was unwilling to testify against him. Your lieutenant has ordered you to convince her otherwise as you were the youngest female detective on the squad and she felt that you would relate to her more. With the backing of your secret boyfriend ADA Rafael Barba who said who said you were the best detective to deal with a hormonal teenage girl in his usual sarcastic way.

"But he loves me." She claimed for the umpteenth time.

"Sweetie," you reasoned, "People don't ask people they love to sleep with their friends for money."

"It was only a one time thing." She cried.

"Yeah until the next time." you pointed out.

"He said...he said..." She sobbed

"That he loved you. That you were going to get married,have kids and live fairytale life for the rest of it." you continued for her.

"Yeah...how did you..." She wailed.

"Do you know how many girls like you I've met? They all say the same things. Listen to me. It's highly unlikely that you'll find the person you'll marry when you're fourteen. Even if you did they wouldn't ask you to do what the bastard did. You've got your whole life to find that person. You can't find the person who'll spend your whole life with when you don't know who you are yourself." You explained sympathetically.

"But I thought I loved him and he loved me." she cried.

"Do you even know what love is? Like really what it's like." you questioned attempting a different way of getting through to her.

"He told me it was doing whatever he said and not complaining afterwards." she admitted sadly.

"I think you already know thats not whats it's like." you commented.

"How could he do this to me?" she cried once again.

"It's because he only wanted to use you." You pleaded.

"I want him to die." she exclaimed.

"Will you testify?" you asked hopefully.

"Yes, anything to get him put away." she agreed.

"You're making the right decision." she sighed giving the signal to Liv through the glass so she can go ahead with arresting him.

You turned back around assuming that everyone had gone now.

"It's all over now. You'll be okay in time. Is their anything else you need?" you offered.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked.
"Of course. Anything." you agreed immediately.

"How do you know when you are in love? So I don't make this mistake again." she asked looking up at you.

You thought about Rafael and the moment you knew you were in love with him. It's when you introduced him to your only living family member and one of the most important people in your life. Your little brother. You introduced them at your place at dinner one night. You had prepped your brother beforehand ordering him to not embarrass you and emphasising how important this was to you.

They completely hit it off however and you are certain at one point you think that they completely forgot you were their. Watching them from the other side of the table and how they were interacting you knew you'd fallen for him. No other boyfriend had embraced your role as your brothers guardian only seeing it as an obstacle but not Rafael. You hadn't actually told him that yet though. You didn't want to scare him off.

"Well," you began looking momentarily at the mirror, " it's hard to explain. It's a feeling and if your not in love you won't ever know what its like. In the simplest terms I guess it just wanting to see them every day. Not wanting to say goodbye to the. It's this all consuming feeling that somehow slips into your life so effortlessly it's like you've always felt that way. It's getting to know someone and not just their favourite band or whatever but their soul. Their fears and what they want out of life. You just look at them and your first thought always is how lucky you are to have them. That's how you know you are in love."

"Are you in love?" she questioned.

"Most definitely." you answered honestly assuming that nobody was watching you two anymore.

"What's he like?" she probed further.

"He's the most complete absolute asshole I know. He's rude, abrasive and so sarcastic. He is the worst sort of hard-ass. But he's also the biggest mommas boy and softy I've ever met. He's sweet and kind and super flirty which keeps me on my toes. All he wants to do is help people despite what he might tell you. He's the only person who could insult me all day and then tell me how beautiful I am at night when we are alone. He makes me feel happy and loved which is something I've wanted my whole life. He's the perfect guy to handle my problematic ass. I love him with everything I've got." you described happily.

"I don't feel that way" she admitted sadly.

"You will. One day." you smiled.

"Thank you detective. For everything." she thanked.

"Call me Y/N. It's alright. I'm going to get your parents now, okay?" you asked.

"Yeah. Yeah." she smiled.

You walked out the other door, let her parents in and then walked round into the interrogation hallway. You thought that it would empty but you saw Rafael standing their watching the girl with her through the glass.

"Oh, I thought you had left." you commented awkwardly.

"I didn't." he answered.

"So, I guess you heard everything then." you sighed slightly embarrassed.

"Hmm." he replied.

A awkward silence fell over you both. Then you both went to speak at the same time and then you both stopped seeing that. You laughed shyly.

"You go first." you offered.

"I was going to say that I feel the same way." he said finally looking at you.

"What?" you asked surprised.

"I feel the same way." he repeated moving so he was now right in front of you.

You went to speak but he stopped you. You knew he wasn't going to do anything as you were both at work and didn't want to alert anyone.

"I'll see you tonight." he whispered leaning in brushing his face against yours for a few seconds.

With that he walked away leaving you smiling, shaking you head and completely in love as watched him leave.