A/N: Hi! This is a just a cute fluffy pre-established Barson story! I hope you guys like it! I really like writing Rafael as being extra sweet in a relationship, because I feel like he's just a big teddy bear with anxiety under all the sass! Don't own SVU or Barson would be canon!
"Te quieres niño?" Rafael asked Noah, who was sitting in his high chair while Rafael looked through his refrigerator for a snack for the 3 year old boy. He pulled out some baby carrots, and gave them to the small boy. He held them up and said, "Zanahorias, te gusta?"
Noah clapped his hands in excitement, "Zaza!" He was slowly picking up on the Spanish that Rafael was trying to teach him.
"Si mijo, zazas." Rafael chuckled and shook his head. His phone started to ring, so holding the carrots in one hand, he answered it without checking who it was.
"Barba." He curtly answered. He really hated when people interruped his time with Noah or his fiancée.
"Hi babe." Liv's voice came through the phone.
"Liv, hi. What's up?"
"You can't laugh."
"What? Are you coming home? Noah and I miss you."
"I miss you too Raf. I left my keys in my office, will you let me in?"
"No. I'm going to leave you outside and kidnap Noah." They both chuckled.
"Thanks, I'm coming up the stairs now." She hung up.
Rafael looked back at Noah, "Your mami, she's a funny lady mijo."
He opened the door for Olivia, and pulled her into a hug. "I missed you today."
"I missed you too babe." She whispered as she kissed him sweetly. She walked over to Noah and picked him up. "Did you and Papi have fun today? I missed you my love." She kissed the toddler's forehead. Once they got engaged, they made the decision for Noah to stop calling Rafael "Raf", and to start calling him "Papi." Olivia was the one who suggested it, and though Rafael was hesitant at first, he agreed.
"Papi give zazas!" He smiled up at Liv.
"Zazas?" She looked at Rafael, clearly confused.
"Carrots. They're called zanahorias en Español."
"I see." She laughed. "It's late, and I want to shower, would you mind putting him to bed?"
"I got him, why dont you take a bath, Liv?"
"Okay." She hugged Noah "Good night my big boy, mommy loves you very much. Be good for papi."
Rafael took the toddler back to his bedroom, and changed him into his train pajamas. He sat in the corner of the room, while Noah looked through his bookshelf to pick out a book for tonight. Olivia and Rafael made it a point to read to Noah every night, at least one book, in either Spanish or English. It was something that neither did with their parents. Rafael sat, watching his son toddle around. He felt all of his anxiety subside when he was with Liv and Noah, he wanted to be the husband and father that his wasn't. He spent so many years focused on his career, and now he had everything, a career, a family, a beautiful brownstone, everything was just perfect. Noah came toddling over and tapped Rafael's shins with the book he had chosen for the night, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".
Rafael was in the middle of reading when he felt Noah completely relax in his lap. He continued to read to him, while Liv listened over the baby monitor from the bathroom. Rafael finished the book, and picked Noah up. Cradling him in his arms, he spoke to the small boy. "Mijo, never change my sweet boy. You bring so much light and love to mami and papi. Your mami, she's very special, she loves you very much. We both do. I love your mami. We're going to get married soon, and you're going to get to hold our rings. You'll wear a fancy suit, and oh you'll look so handsome. You're okay with me and mami getting married, right little man? Your mom, she means the world to me." He placed the sleeping toddler into his bed. "I love her so much, it's scary. But a good scary. Someday, you'll meet someone who loves you just as much as your mom and I do. Good night sweet boy, te amo para siempre." He walked out of the room, and into the bathroom to check on Liv.
"How's it going sweetheart?" he sat on the edge of the tub, brushing her hair off her face.
"Work was stressful, as usual. I'm glad to be home." She smiled tiredly up at him.
"Let's go out tomorrow. I already asked Rollins if she would watch Noah. And you know he loves playing with Frannie."
"Well I get the feeling you planned something already, so why not?"
"That's because I have a day planned for us. Let me text Amanda and let her know." He leaned down and kissed Olivia before walking out in search of his cell phone.
The Next Morning
"Rafael where are we going?" Liv whined to him, asking him for the third time.
"Cariña, its a surprise! I can't tell you, but dress nicely. Here, how about this navy and white dress? With your white Jack Rogers?"
"Okay. Can you go dress Noah before Amanda gets here?"
"Already done." As if on cue, there is a little sound on their bedroom door. Rafael opens the door and Noah comes running in. Olivia scoops him up while she finishes putting her earrings in.
"I still don't know how you can multi task like that." He says, looking at her and shaking his head. There's a knock on the door, "That must be Amanda. I'll get it."
"Thanks babe!"
"Amanda! Thanks for coming over." He says, smiling at the blonde detective.
"Don't worry about it! Frannie loves playing with Noah. Plus Liv hardly ever takes time off, so it's my pleasure." She smiled as Noah came running out.
"Manda!" He squealed with delight as he recognized the detective. She picked him up.
"Hi little man! You ready to have some fun today? Frannie's waiting for you!"
"Amanda, thank you so much for watching him today." Olivia said as she came out of the bedroom.
"No problem, Liv, I love spending time with this little guy. Well we're gonna head back to my place now. You two have fun today!" Amanda said as she picked up the bag Liv handed her.
"Ready to go?" Rafael asked Olivia.
"I wouldn't know since I don't know where you're taking me." She snarked back, she really hated surprises.
"Liv, just relax honey." He laughed as he sped off toward Long Island in his BMW.
"I'm sorry you just know I don't like surprises." She apologized to him, smiling sweetly, and he took her hand with his.
"I know, but I promise you'll like this, okay?"
An hour and a half later, they pulled into the parking lot for the ferry.
"Fire Island?" she asked him.
"Shelter Island, much nicer." He quipped back. They drove onto the small ferry, and got out to stand as they headed to the small barrier island. It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining, the water was calm, and it was warm but not too hot outside. Olivia placed her hands on the railing, as Rafael slid his arms around her waist and placed his chin on her shoulder.
"I love you." he whispered to her. She tilted her head to face his,
"I love you too, Raf." She softly kissed him, the breeze blowing her hair back.
"Can you believe we're going to be married in under a month? I can't wait." He smiled.
"Me either. It's surreal."
They drove off the ferry, and Rafael took her to his favorite restaurant for lunch. They had just gotten their drinks when Olivia froze.
"Liv. Liiiiv. Earth to Olivia." Rafael tried to get her attention.
"Yeah, sorry. What?" She asked, still not focusing on him.
"Liv what are you looking at?"
"Someone I know just walked in. That's all, no big deal."
"Oh, who-" Rafael was cut off by someone approaching their table.
"Olivia Benson. How are you?" Elliot Stabler approached their table, and put a hand on Olivia's shoulder.
"Elliot." She curtly said, clearly not wanting to engage.
"It's been a while Liv, how are things? I heard you have a son now?"
"I'm sorry, have we met before?" Rafael piped up.
"No, who are you? Liv who is this? Your new partner?"
Rafael stood up, and stretched out his hand. "Rafael Barba, Manhattan must be Elliot Stabler. I've heard so much about you." He said, dripping with sarcasm.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Barba. All good things I hope. Liv and I worked together for 12 years. We had a really great run."
"We did, but everything has changed since you left Elliot." Olivia clearly did not want to be having this conversation.
"I'm sure they have."
"So what brings you to Shelter Island, Elliot?"
"Dickie had a baseball game, so we came to get something to eat. What about you? Case, given your company?" Elliot said, with sarcasm towards the well dressed ADA.
"Well actually, he's not here as the ADA. He's my fiance." Liv reached across the table and grabbed Rafael's hand. "We're getting married next month."
The color drained from Elliot's face, and Rafael sat up straight, and kissed Olivia's hand.
"You're what?" Elliot stuttered.
"Engaged. I asked her six months ago, and she said yes." Rafael answered, smug as all hell.
Elliot kept his eyes trained on Olivia, who had her eyes looking at Rafael, "Wow, never pictured you being engaged, Liv."
Olivia rolled her eyes, "That's what happens when you disappear without so much as a goodbye. Life's been good to me since you've left. Shame you didn't stick around." Olivia said, clearly still hurt.
"Look, I get you're mad, but in my defense-" Olivia cut him off.
"You don't get a defense Elliot. You just completely walked the fuck out of my life. And now you expect me to tell you everything, act like nothing's happened. You don't even know me anymore Elliot. I spent months by my phone, waiting for you to call, to check in, to come back, to say you were sorry, or you missed me, and nothing. Not a fucking word. So sorry if I'm not as welcoming as you would like." Olivia spat the last sentence at him. Rafael took both of her hands in his, trying to calm her.
"Look, I'm sorry I left. And I get you're angry. I have to get back to Dickie, but it was good to see you Olivia, nice to meet you counselor. And congrats, you deserve to be happy Olivia." He said as he walked away.
"Well that was awkward." Rafael said.
"He disappeared from my life and that used to bother me so much, I would see him everywhere, just because I wanted to. But you know what, I really don't care anymore."
"He acts like you still work together, not like he disappeared for 3 years."
"That's Elliot. But I'm actually over it. I was worried I wouldn't be, but these past three years taught me that I can survive, and thrive, without him. And I have you and Noah now. I have all I need." She said, smiling at him.
"I love you." He leaned across the table and kissed her quickly. "Plus, he seems like a jack ass." He chuckled.
"Oh you don't know the half of it!" She laughed back.
"Come on, let's head down to the beach." Rafael took her hand in his and led her to the car.
Rafael drove them down to the beach and to a house right on the shore. He took her to the door and turned the key, letting Olivia inside. The house was decorated nautically, with anchors, rope, flags, and shades of blue and stripes throughout, but wasn't tacky.
"Raf, this is a beautiful beach house. Who did you borrow this from?" Olivia asked him.
"I didn't borrow it from anyone. It's mine. I bought it a few years ago. I already had a nice apartment, I didn't want to move out of the city, but I wanted somewhere to escape to. It's ours now, it's just as much yours as mine." He handed her a key. "I want this to be a safe place for both of us. When life gets too stressful, or we get scared, or we want to get away and be alone together, I want us to have a place that we can go. I know you used to just drive around. I don't want that anymore. It's not that I need to know where you are all the time, it's that distracted driving isn't safe, and I don't want anything to happen to you and this is a decent enough drive and I know you like the beach..." He trailed off, his eyes looking at the floor, knowing he was rambling.
"Rafael, it's perfect. This is so sweet. Thank you." She pulled him close to her, wrapping her arms around his waist. She touched her forehead to his. "I love you." she whispered.
Her breath tickled his nose, and he scrunched it up and smiled. He looked up into her brown eyes and whispered "Te amo, Olivia, para siempre."