Single and Seeking Barson story

Chapter 5

Author's note I consider this a Rated M chapter because of what is talked about.

A.D.A. Rafael Barba was thrilled the weekend was finally over. He spent most of it, the way he spent the majority of his weekends, in isolation, buried under a pile of paperwork. His stubborn mother was always trying to drag him out, but he was equally as stubborn. Thankfully, this weekend he was able to smile while talking to Olivia, who he called three times over this weekend. He was happy and relived that Noah was doing so much better. He was very curious who Dr. Taylor was. He wanted to ask her about him, but he didn't. He was Olivia's friend, she would talk to him about it when she wanted to, if there was anything to talk about. He did know Olivia didn't spend any time with Dr. Taylor on Friday night. Barba smiled thinking of the Friday night phone call with his friend.

It was now Monday at 3P.M. He was now sitting at his desk waiting for Olivia and Miss Price.
"Hello Lieutenant Benson. Go on in." He heard Carmen say. He stood up, and was about to walk out to greet Olivia when he saw her standing by his doorframe. Her dark brown hair was damp. Quickly, Barba looked out a big widow, and saw that the sky had opened up. Despite the fact that his office door was open, Olivia hesitated. She tapped once on the frame.
"May we come in?" Olivia asked.
"Please." Barba answered, motioning for her to come in.
"I'm here with Nicole Price. Do you need a minute?"
"No come on in." He answered. Olivia entered and Nicole Price followed slowly behind her. Olivia turned to Nicole.
"Nicole this is ADA. Rafael Barba. We're going to sit down and talk." Barba sat down behind his desk, Olivia sat in the chair directly across from him, and Nicole moved her chair closer to Olivia before sitting down.
"I'm sorry we're meeting under these circumstances Miss Price. I know this is very difficult. We will go as slowly as you need, all I ask is that you don't leave anything out that you remember."
Nicole turned in her chair to face Olivia, she tucked a short blond hair behind her ear. "Wait, he's a man, how... how... can a describe everything I remember to him."
"Nicole, sweetheart, you have to get used to telling your story, juries are made up of both men and woman. You can trust Mr. Barba. He works very hard for victims."
"You have to say that."
"No, I don't Nicole. A.DA. Barba has put away a lot of bad men, and some women."
Nicole glanced at Barba, and then turned her body back toward Olivia.."Do you trust him Olivia?"
"I told you he's very good at his job."
"Answer my question? Do you trust him?" If you were in my shoes?"
"Yes, Nicole, I trust him."
Nicole looked at Barba again. "I started talking to Victor about 2 months ago, first we emailed, then he called me every night. It was nice.... to have someone to talk to. I thought we really understood each other. We talked about everything. I have never been able to talk like that to anyone. It's sad. How could I have trusted someone I never met in person? We decided to meet on Monday night. Victor said he had some time off work, and I finally had some free time. I'm a business major at NYU, and I work in the office for pocket money. My last class was canceled on Monday, so we decided to have dinner."
"Did he pick you up?" Barba asked.
"No, I told him I didn't want him to. I trusted him, but I still live with my parents, and they wouldn't have approved of me going out?"
"Why?" Barba asked quickly.
"They like to pick my dates for me. I just wanted a few dates with him before I introduced him to them. If everything worked out. I was sure they would like him and overlook how we met. I'm in college to make myself more desirable for marriage. I come from money, my parents want me to find the right partner, meaning he has to make a ton of money. Victor said he was in advertising and he comes from old money too. I thought it would it be perfect... that I would get what I wanted and still be able to make my family happy. I met him at this new Italian restaurant called Verona's. We had a great meal, I felt like a princess. I agreed to go back to his apartment for cappuccino. I had no reservations, he was the perfect gentleman. When we got to his place, we continued our conversation. We were sitting together on his couch side by side I put my first cup of cappuccino down on the coffee table. He turned toward me, he put his hands on my shoulders and he started kissing me. It felt good, I wanted him to, but then my brain kicked in. I took both hands and pushed at him, so that he would stop or slow down. He kissed my neck.. I said that we had to stop, that I couldn't do this, it was too soon, too fast. He seemed disappointed but he said he understood, he said I was right. He asked me to stay and talk. I shouldn't have, but I poured myself another cappuccino, Next thing I know I was on the floor of a walk-in-shower. He must have dragged me in there."
"I'm sorry, Miss Price." Barba said quietly. "Please, understand , there are times in this process I will have to ask you very difficult personal questions. As I said before I have to know everything. Mr. Glenn has pictures of you on his phone. Were you aware of that?"
"Yes I was so stupid, I sent him pictures of me in a bathing suite, if you call it that."
"Nicole this is not your fault, I don't care if you were completely nude, once you said no to sex that's it. If he didn't stop it's rape, and you can say no at anytime. You understand? Now, I won't lie to you, some members of a jury might have a hard time with those pictures." Olivia said, her voice soft and full of heartfelt compassion.
"Do you believe me Olivia?"
"Yes."
Nicole sighed loudly. "I should have just gone with it. He made me feel wanted, I wanted to be with him, but I had to listen to my brain. No one ever made me feel that way before."
"You said no, and if he had intercourse with you that's rape. Anything sexual he did without your consent is an assault." Olivia replied.
"If I just went with it, let it happen, he wouldn't have raped me, everything would have been fine, and I wouldn't be where I am now. I would be dating him."
"Nicole, you don't want to date any man, capable of rape."
"If I just let it happen, he wouldn't have raped me!" A part of me wanted to be with him."
"Nicole I know this is difficult..." Before Olivia could finish Nicole turned in her chair, and quickly interrupted. She stared at Olivia, her blue eyes blazing.
"What do you know?" Nicole yelled. "You protect yourself! You have never been raped, you have never been attacked and violated! You would never let that happen! For heaven sake, you're armed. I bet you never go anywhere without your gun!"
"Nicole sometimes all the training in the world doesn't protect you from an assault, all you can do is fight to survive, and you did, You are a survivor and that's what matters, that's all that matters."
"Spare me the little speech Olivia! How do you do this?"
"I fight for people, I am, and I will always be an advocate, Someone has to do it."
"What kind of person, what kind of woman deals with this everyday? Victim after victim, pervert after pervert, it's sick! Do perverts turn you on Olivia?" Nicole yelled.
"Stop now." Barba said. His voice was composed and low, but he was angry, and he didn't care if Miss Price knew it. At the moment, it took every ounce of energy he had to keep his temper in check.
Nicole didn't even flinch at Barba's words. She continued to stare at Olivia. "How many times have you said no? How many times have you been around the block?"
"Out." Barba said fighting the urge to stand up.
"What?" Nicole yelled, turning away from Olivia, and looking at Barba .
"Get out of my office." He said.
"What?" Are you serious?" Olivia asked, disbelief in her voice.
"Please,Miss Price, get out of my office now."
"You can't kick me out!"
"Lieutenant Benson believes you, she asked me to speak with you, I did. I listened, and for now I've head enough. Get out." Nicole stood up from the office chair and ran out. Olivia glanced at Barba for a moment, and ran out of his office, following Nicole.________________________________________________________________________________
It was 6P.M. when Olivia reentered Barba's office. He stood up from his desk, and stepped away from it."You threw a victim out of your office!" Olivia said angrily.
"Hello to you too." Barba said calmly.
"What were you thinking?"
"I think I made that very clear. I wanted her out."
"You know better Barba! You don't do that to a victim.
"You think she's a victim."
"And you don't trust me? You don't think I can spot someone who has recently been victimized. I have been doing this a long time, and so have you, which is why you know better then to throw a victim out."
"I trust you Liv. Are you prepared to tell me that in all of your years in SVU no one has ever made false allegations or accused the wrong person?"
"No", she said, placing her hands at her side. She looked away from him, and paced for a moment, something he knew she did when she was upset, thinking or both. She turned quickly to look at him. "You're saying you think she's lying?"
"I'm saying she's unstable, I don't trust her. I don't trust her as a witness."
"She's traumatized!"
"Is she? I'm not sure about that. I have to go over the evidence and think, which is why I told her I heard enough for now."
"You don't like her, but how many times have I told you, we don't chose our victims Barba?"
"I understand that Liv. I get it. You follow the evidence, but there's not much of it here. You know it. I know you want to believe every person who reports a crime, but sometimes, very rarely people lie about terrible things for revenge, attention, sympathy. Sometimes a victim accuses the wrong person out of fear. Nicole went out to dinner with him." Olivia rolled her brown eyes. Barba continued quickly. He didn't want her to tune him out. "She didn't do a rape kit."
"You have any idea how invasive a rape kit is?" Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, and for a split second she rubbed her hands over her arms. "Not every victim has one."
"I know that, and you know it makes it harder to prove."
"And you know some rapists make sure that their victims take a shower to wash away any DNA evidence."
"I'm not saying she's lying, I'm saying I don't know,and it's hard to prove. I don't have much confidence in her right now, and you're right I don't like her, but that doesn't matter. If she was raped, and I think I can prove it, I will do everything I can to get a conviction. I hope you know that by now."
Olivia walked to Barba's office couch and sat down, placing her hands in her lap, she felt drained. She spoke softly. "You think over the years every victim has treated me nicely Barba? That's not always how it works. I have been punched, kicked, screamed at, called names, and insulted by victims. It's part of the job. These people who we deal with have been brutalized, traumatized, they are just trying to cope, and at first some don't do it well. They lash out. I have to ask them to relive the worst time in their lives. I'm a reminder of everything bad in the world, sometimes they lash out at me. I don't mind. I can take it."
"Liv, I sympathize with victims, I know they lash out,. That's normal, they're human, I understand that. I'm telling you that young woman is unstable."
"We once had a victim who striped down to her bra in court, you rushed to cover her with your jacket. By day she was an athlete by night she was prostituting herself. You still defended her. She was raped and you believed her."
"I remember, and once she took the medication she needed she was a much better witness.""You believed her, but you think Nicole was asking for it?"
"I didn't say that. Liv. You know me better than that, much better than that. What I saw in this office was not normal. I know you deal with victims all the time. I know you can handle yourself. This is my office, I won't sit here and watch someone attack you like that! That was disgusting. If you want to hold someone's hand as they attack you in your own office I can't stop you, but I don't have to put up with it! I won't! No muerdas la mano que te da de comer."
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Olivia translated. Barba nodded. He walked over to his couch and sat down next her. He twisted his body around so that he could look at her.
"She needs help, you're trying to help her. You don't deserve that."
"She was traumatized."
"You're not changing my mind on this Liv! I'm not sorry I told her to get out. She needed to hear it. Behavior like that won't help her on the stand. I told her to stop, she continued to attack you, then I told her to get out. I was about to call you right before you barged in here. I was worried. Where did you go?"
"Where do you think?"
"You took her home."
"You're a smart man Barba."
"Don't forget it."
"I also went home to check on Noah."  
"How is he?"
"No fever now, and sleeping. I walked in here so mad at you."
"I'm used to it, I'm also used to you forgiving me." He heard her laugh softly for a second."You shouldn't have kicked her out. Does this count as a sidebar?"
"No, but if you need one we'll have one."
"Anything she said, I didn't take it personally."
"I did. She doesn't know you Liv."
"Nothing she said was true."
"I know that Liv! I just couldn't take it! It was vile!"
"She's a troubled girl."Are you giving up on this?"
"Not until I know for sure she doesn't have a case."
"I knew you would say that. You really shouldn't have kicked her out of here.""Liv!" He said as he rolled his eyes.
"You shouldn't have Raffa... but thank-you. Thank-you for standing up for me."