Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Gangster

5. Always On The Clock

Juliana Vasquez was having a nice dinner with Rafael Barba at his home. It was a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, and salad. They were currently deep in conversation, about their childhoods and family, which were always very sore subjects for the both of them. Juliana grinned as the man even ate seductively.

  "It was always just my mami, my abuelita, and I. We lived in the projects, and we didn't have a whole lot of money. I just had my two best friends, Alex and Eddie. We were like the three musketeers," Rafael mused. "That's how I got through everything back then. Now, my abuelita, she's doing good, and my mama, she's got this great job running a charter school," he explained, concluding his story. "How about your family?"
  Juliana sighed. "I had eight siblings. Yvonne was the oldest, then my brother Chris that I was closest to, then me, then my sister Mari, then my brother Julius, then my brother Emmett, then my sister Selena, then my brother Carlos, then my sister Reyna, and my brother Sammy. Only.... when I was nine, I lost my sister Yvonne. She was killed, at fourteen years old, by police who thought that she was holding a gun. It was her phone," Juliana explained.
"That's so awful, Juliana, I am so sorry," Rafael began.

"It was a long time ago. It's healed, Rafi. Thank God. Then when I was sixteen, my brother Chris got killed in a drive-by, right in front of me, my mama, Julius, and Mari. Chris and I, what we had to do to support the family.... it was really awful. Rafi, we were a couple of kids, in street gangs," Juliana explained. "The only income we had were my mama's jobs, Chris and my bangin, and Mari's job. None of the kids' dads were helping out either. They were all either too gone or too dead to help."
"I've had experience with gangs. I know where you're coming from," Rafael nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"We had to do horrible things, Chris and I. Steal, lie, hurt people, sell drugs...." Juliana trailed off. "And Chris was constantly on the clock. A real gangsta. He even dropped out of school, but he didn't let me. He and my mama said I was too smart to drop out. I guess they were right," she shrugged.
"Wow. Sounds like he was an amazing brother," Rafi smiled at her.

Juliana nodded in agreement. "He was. Even just before he died.... Chris gave me this cross that I wear. It was his dad's, who left us. He said that to him it was just a bad memory of his dad, but for me it could be a good memory of him," Juliana remembered. "His last words were 'I love you mamas'."
"He really loved you. And in a way, he still does," Barba pointed out.
"Yeah. But our family was never the same after that, not after we lost two children, so young," Juliana sighed. "But it is what it is. My past might've sucked, but maybe I can find something in the future," Juliana smiled.

Rafael Barba smiled as well, noticing the beautiful glimmer in her dark eyes.
  "Maybe something that only sucks in a good way," Juliana grinned.
  Rafi smiled, leaning in to kiss her. "You're my future, mi vida," he promised her.
  Juliana smiled wide, which she didn't do often. "Te amo, mi vida."
"Juliana?" Rafael asked.
  "Hmm?"
  "I never thought I'd fall in love with a gangster," he murmured with a chuckled.

  Juliana leaned in with a satisfied smile. "I never thought I'd fall in love."