Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Gangster

45. Inclusion: Mrs. Barba

One Month Later....

It was Detective Juliana Barba's first day back at work after having given birth to her twins. Everyone was a bit worked up about it, and Juliana's sister Selena, who she was paying to babysit, would be bringing them by the precinct after work. Selena had just gotten out of jail, and needed a place to stay, so in exchange for just so, she was watching the kids. Juliana had checked in with Sergeant Benson, and she had been cleared for field work. Everything seemed to be working out just fine at the moment.
"Congratulations on the twins, and welcome back, Detective Barba," Liv smiled.
Juliana nodded. "Thank you, Sarge. I'm happy to be back. Staying home with Rafael and then my kids was amazing, but, well, it gets crazy after four months," Juliana chuckled.
"I hear you. Go ahead and rejoin your partner, Juliana?"
She nodded, heading out of the office.

Juliana loves work, and hadn't realized just how much until she was gone for so long, which she appreciated. She headed to her desk in front of Carisi's, ready to begin a new day.
"Welcome back to the precinct, uh.... Mrs. Detective Barba," he joked.
Juliana chuckled. "I've been hearing that all day. Even from people I don't actually know."
"It's funny how work is huh?" Sonny Carisi shrugged.
"Yeah," Juliana nodded. "Oh, I should probably check my voicemails," she realized, pressing the button and entering the password on her work phone.

The first was probably an old one, from Rafael. Juliana smiled, perfectly happy with hearing his voice as she began to put a few things into her drawers.
"Hey, Mami. It's getting late, and I think you should come home. I'm getting really bored here without you. I want you," the machine played.
"F**k! No!" Juliana cried, dropping whatever it was that she was holding, trying to find the pause button on the machine.
"Damn," Rollins nodded appreciatively from across the room. "In a totally non-weird and one-hundred percent curious way, I almost wanna hear the rest."
"Same here, Rollins," Fin laughed.
"I'll bet you all ten dollars that the phrase 'bad boy' is in there at least once," Amaro called.
"Okay, okay, that's enough from the goddamn peanut gallery," Juliana frowned. "God, I'm just glad the Chief wasn't here."

****

"Oh, man. We got a pretty tough case here," Amaro said to Juliana as they left the precinct.
  "Talk to me," Juliana said quickly as she grabbed her jacket.
  "Transgender girl got pushed off of a bridge. Dealing with the press on that one's gonna be a real f**king headache, I already know," he sighed as they all headed to the hospital.

****

  "I was taking pictures on the bridge, and they surrounded me," the girl explained.
  "Avery, can you describe them?" Juliana asked gently.
  "Black, my age," she replied. She inhaled, bracing herself. "They we're giving me the look."
  "Oh. That look," Juliana nodded empathetically.
  "And what look is that?" Sonny asked.
  "The 'freak needs to learn a lesson' look," she answered slowly.

The victim's parents looked around the room sadly.
  "I tried to go, but they started saying stuff," Avery explained.
  "What were they saying?" Benson asked.
  "'Tranny', 'he-she'. My personal fave," she repeated sarcastically. She breathed in, fighting back tears. "One grabbed my skirt, another my camera. I was pushed, and I tripped on my heels."
  "Avery," Benson said, stepping toward her bed,"Can you remember anything else about the boys, anything they said, or that they did?"
  "It was all a blur of shoving, people laughing.... taking video," she said as her father brushed her cheek gently.
  "This isn't the first time. The local precinct never follows up," the father revealed.
  "We will," Olivia promised. "We take this very seriously. I give you my word, Mr. Parker."

The parents both nodded appreciatively, then continuing to tend to their daughter. As a new parent, Juliana could only imagine what they were going through now; having a child treated this way by the world would be terrifying and horrible.

****

  "You got something?" Benson called to Rollins back at the precinct.
  "Well, we were checking social media, lensing the area where the crime occurred, and these finally popped up," she explained.
  "'These'?"
  "Three separate cell phone videos so far," Juliana replied.
  "They all begin after it started, but you get the idea," Fin added.

They all crowded round, watching as Avery was being unfairly called many derogatory names. It seemed that everyone recording, the entire crowd, was on the attackers' sides as Avery was being smacked around and pushed.
  "All these people watching. Nobody helps." Carisi frowned.
  "How long do they go on?" Liv asked in disbelief.
  "To the fall," Juliana replied grimly.

The video was then paused.
  "Do we have any idea who posted these?" Benson asked.
  "Well, according to Facebook, it's, uh, two sophomores and one junior from Shirley Chisholm," Rollins answered.
  "That's it, guys, let's go.... Full court," Olivia decided.

****

  "This is deeply disturbing," the school's principal murmured.
  "Yes, it is, and three different students from your school posted these videos," Benson agreed.
  "Well, let me be clear," the man said. "This behavior is in no way indicative of our community. We strive for inclusion," he argued.
  "We understand, sir, believe me," Juliana promised.
  "Who are these kids?" Benson asked, showing separated pictures of the boys from the video.
The principal sighed.

****

  "Alright, quiet," he said to a whole classroom of students. "Keon Williams, Markus Green, come with me," he called.
  "Why? We didn't do nothing," one kid called.
  "Now."

Both boys stood reluctantly as Juliana, Carisi, and Benson escorted them to the principal's office.

****
  "So you're saying it wasn't your fault?" Carisi asked angrily, fists holding his arms up on the table.
  "That tranny started it, all up in our face wit, you know, being weird," Keon Williams replied defensively.

Carisi bowed his head down irritably as Juliana looked at the mother expectantly.
  "That boy goes around dressed like a girl? You should be talking to his parents, not my son," she pointed angrily.
  "First of all, she wasn't the one going around pushing people around and shovin em off of bridges," Juliana pointed out.
  "Well, they're in the hospital, and you're here, so think about that," Carisi agreed as they both walked out.