Barba's New Life

Time To Dig

Olivia

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Olivia shouted exasperatedly, hands flying to her forehead in disbelief.

Rollins and Carisi strolled in to see what the commotion was about. She didn't even wait for them to ask before explaining

"You know how I went to see Barba this morning?" —— they nodded

"Well there was a woman there, living with him. Her name was Sophie and they were...very affectionate. Barba said he was going to propose tonight"

The two of them exchanged disbelieving glances and Rollins remarked jokingly

"I don't know anyone who could put up with Barba long enough to live with him"

Olivia motioned them over to look at a picture of Sophie, smiling, standing in front of the United States border with dozens of small children surrounding her, all with paperwork in hand. Alongside that picture was Sophie standing behind a podium in an emerald evening gown with her curls cascading around her face as she spoke into a microphone to hundreds of people with the title on top

"2017 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Sophie Kennon"

"She's a literal Nobel Prize winner...Maybe that's how she lives with Barba" Carisi joked to Rollins, who was less than impressed with his comeback.

"What's the problem?" Rollins asked Olivia, who was still staring at her screen in disbelief

"Why didn't he tell me?" she asked disheartened

"I mean, is that really something you bring up over breakfast? Oh hey Lieutenant, by the way my girlfriend just won world peace. Even Barba wouldn't be that cocky" Carisi offered, a good middle ground between the two women.

Olivia stared at the screen reading

"Sophie Kennon, 34, has spent the last eleven years living between the United States and various countries throughout Central America. With a baccalaureate degree in political science from Georgetown University, a masters degree in trauma counseling from University of Illinois, and a doctoral degree in Peace Studies from Notre Dame, she has earned the respect amongst colleagues as a "crusader" for justice and peace.

She first turned heads as one of the youngest undergraduates in Georgetown history at the age of 16 with a full ride scholarship. She soon joined campus government clubs earning students respect by advocating for gender neutral bathrooms, gender inclusive language in the student handbook, and developed a scholarship program for un-documented immigrant students. She coordinated at least three protests in her time at Georgetown over the brutal tactics used during the war in Afghanistan and interviewed President G.W Bush for the campus paper.

Spending her summers in Tijuana, she quickly became immersed in refugee culture and the procedure of asylum. Seeing a deeply broken system, she vowed to help make it more functional.

Her doctoral thesis has since been published and widely spread as a blueprint for peacekeeping between other countries and the United States.

She has spent the last eleven years serving as an ambassador and human rights gatekeeper for the UN during the recent migrant/humanitarian crisis between the United States and its southern border countries. Because of the peacekeeping work of Ms. Kennon, upwards of 10,000 refugees have found a home in the United States or Canada."