Archive of Our Own ^beta

It actually started with a frantic call at an ungodly hour. Then a plane ride, because the FBI had a seemingly bottomless budget when it came to the BAU. Which then led to an early morning meeting at the precinct.

Although it probably depended on who you asked.

For Adela Juárez it never started, it just ended.

Or maybe it started with the discovery of Adela’s body.

Which might not be the start, but it's where this story starts.

With a limb visible under some trash bags, then screaming and a 911 call.

Then the musty odor of New York City, several officers, and detectives.

Olivia Benson was one of them.

“She died sometime last night, I'll have more information after the autopsy.” Warner was SVU's best asset and no one would ever convince Olivia otherwise. So she nodded and crouched next to the victim, looking carefully at the dead body of the young woman.

“She looks around thirty, no visible identifying marks.”

“Let's hope her DNA will match someone on the system, she looks like a working girl.” Amaro was mirroring her position on the other side of the body.

“Look, it looks like her fingers were broken.” With a gloved hand, Olivia carefully lifted the victim's fingers, looking over the bent and broken phalanges.

“It's on her left hand only.” Amaro pointed out, checking the other hand.

Then Warner said she was certainly raped, and she sounded so sure, Olivia almost didn't want to know what made her so certain. But it was her job so she asked anyway. And then Warner sighed before speaking, so Olivia knew it was bad.

“It's still inside of her, what he used to assault her, it's still there.” At this point Liv let it be, she really didn't want to know, not now at least.

“She was strangled with a plastic bag, it seems personal.”

“I'm not so sure about that Nick, he assaulted her with a foreign object, that doesn’t really scream personal to me.” Olivia could only shrug, standing up again. She needed a coffee.

But her phone rang before she could do anything about it.

“Lieutenant Benson.” She answered after the first ring.

And everything went downhill from there.

Amaro was looking carefully at all the facial expressions she was making, and seemed both amused and worried by them.

“Everything okay?” He asked as soon as the call was over.

“Surprise, the FBI decided to highjack our case.” Olivia answered, sarcastic as ever.

“What?”

“I’m not sure, they weren’t very clear, but they said the FBI has sent a team and we either work with them, or let them work it out themselves.”

Nick’s only answer was a heavy sigh, and then they got in the car.

Fortunately she managed to have a cup of coffee before entering the precinct, it’d have made things much harder if she hadn’t.

Mainly because Emily was right there. The team of five FBI agents invading their precinct was also a factor.

“Liv, Nick, these are FBI agents, they specialize in profiling, and catching serial killers.” Fin was always straight to the point, he was introducing the agents before Olivia had a chance to leave her stuff in her office. Not that she’d want to approach Emily too much, not right now.

“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Chief Emily Prentiss,” looks like she didn’t really have much choice now anyway, she looked at the hand the agent had extended her way. “These are Agents Jennifer Jerau, Derek Morgan, David Rossi and Doctor Spencer Reid.” Emily said while also looking at Olivia the whole time. “It looks like you have a serial killer in your hands.”

They did have a serial killer after all. All the evidence pointed at the pattern of a prolific serial killer.

“We’ve had him in our radar for a while,” this was JJ speaking. She talked to the whole squad with the ease of a practiced professional. “His comfort zone seems to be New York City, we’ve followed him all over the country but here it’s where he spends more time.”

“This is our chance to get him, he’s not going to stop any time soon.”

They knew that, because they’d seen all the files, and Doctor Reid had explained in great detail all the different objects the rapist had used to assault the different victims.

“He has to be a trucker, right?” Asked Amanda sipping on her third coffee. Olivia was on the fourth, and she would need a couple more if she wanted to make it through the day. It was only 10 AM.

“That’s what we’re thinking, but these cities are large, they’re common stops, it's going to be hard to narrow it down.” Shrugged Morgan.

They’d made space in a room for the BAU team, and they all crammed in there. It seemed both teams were okay with working together. The BAU certainly had experience in that area.

Olivia wasn’t complaining, she was just dreading the moment when they’d have to inevitably call their ADA. There was something in Emily’s stare that gave her up, she was thinking the same thing. They were treading in dangerous waters here. Maybe it’d be better if she talked to one of her superiors.

“There’s no need Liv, we’re perfectly capable of keeping things professional! You and Rafa have done it for years!” They had managed to meet in the office and steal a couple minutes to themselves. Emily didn’t want to risk Olivia’s job.

“We disclosed, remember? NYPD knows about us, they don’t know about you.”

“And they don’t need to! I’m not under NYPD we’re not breaking any protocol or whatever, and besides that, it’s not like the rest of your squad knows, you’re still keeping it from them.”

“Em, I’ve been doing this for years, I know how to behave, Rafa knows how to behave, usually. Do you?” She hated to bring it up like that, it wasn’t fair to Emily, it wasn’t, but Olivia also knew that Emily would understand what she wanted to say, and that her words weren’t meant to hurt her.

“You know me, you know perfectly well I can do it Liv.” Emily answered back.

“It’s our jobs on the line babe.”

“I know, I know” Emily went to cup her face, but immediately retracted. “I can do it, trust me?”

“Always, of course I trust you, i don’t trust myself.”

“We’ll catch this guy and then we can go back to being ourselves.”

Before their conversation could go on for too long, and draw unnecessary suspicion, they parted ways. Going back to the small stuffed room with everyone else.

“Here, this was the profile we had put down after we were called to Chicago, he didn’t assault again after that, and we lost him, but we had put out a profile.” Explained Rossi, looking through the papers in his briefcase and then flipping through different notebooks, looking for every last trace of evidence he could think of.

“Well we know he’s experienced, he hasn’t left any DNA in any of the vics as far as we know,” chirped in Fin. He felt uneasy with so much FBI presence but was warming up to them, especially seeing them working well with the rest of the team.

“Yes, but there are more interesting things, did you notice the broken fingers?” Started Reid.

“We did, on her left hand only, Warner, our ME said they could be defensive wounds.” ”They’re not, he’s stealing their wedding bands.”

“We couldn’t find a husband or fianceè for the last victim, that’s weird, are you sure?” Olivia flipped through the file, searching for answers.

“No wait, that’s not true Liv, she was a widow.” Amanda passed her a slip of paper.

“Adela Juarez is her name, she was married for three short years, her husband was killed in what seemed a gang altercation.”

“She’s a prostitute, he’s a gangbanger, was he her husband or her pimp?” Nick blurted.

“I don’t know if it makes much difference now that they’re both dead,” started JJ in a calm tone, then added, “what matters it’s that she did have a ring on her, and he took it off her, breaking her fingers in the process.”

“That’s a lot of anger for a ring.” There was a general nodding, where everyone looked around. Maybe the BAU was used to these sorts of cases, but the sheer scale of it put many things into perspective for the detectives.

Rossi, always ready for the spotlight, had explained to the precinct how their job worked, a small group had created around him and just for this time, Olivia had let them be. They’d hopefully learn something from him.

“He shows detachment towards her victims in many ways,” they went on, trying to get the profile out so they could concentrate on locating him, “he uses objects to assault them, particularly objects he finds on the scene, the same can be said for the restraints and suffocation, we’ve seen telephone cables, old ropes, plastic bags, ripped pieces of cloth, anything that can be tied into a knot. This shows a great deal of detachment, he’s punishing them for something.”

“Something related to their wedding bands.” Pointed out Fin, raising his eyebrows.

“Well, they were all prostitutes, weren’t they? It is rare to see prostitutes with their wedding band on.” Morgan said, giving everyone a look.

“Very, it’s not really an open invitation for the Johns, but you know, there are people out there that like it.” shrugged Amaro.

“So she kills prostitutes that go around with their wedding ring on? that’s a very specific target, there should be something out there about this guy, some precedent.”

Olivia shrugged “If there is we will find it.”

“Fin and Amanda went to talk to some trucking companies, but it’d be helpful to find one that has routes that match the cases.”

“This is where I come in my darlings.” Olivia hadn’t realized Agent Morgan had been on the phone. From the other side came a high-pitched and bubbly voice. “Hi, I’m agent Penelope Garcia, I do the hacking, well, not hacking, I never hack, I just find information.”

“Just tell us what you got gorgeous,” smiled Derek Morgan, although the woman on the other end couldn’t see him. Amaro was listening to this exchange with a slight frown, but no one else seemed to question the behavior so he ignored it too.

“Yes, of course, well I found three companies that are a match.”

“That’s two too many,” huffed Olivia, her eyes for some reason went back to Emily. The detective wanted to know what she was thinking, was she thinking about Adela Juarez? or did she have Olivia or Rafa in mind? was she worried? It was hard to tell, she could usually read her like an open book, but being on the job made it that much harder, Emily was trying her best to keep her face neutral and her behavior the same as any other day. Her thoughts were interrupted by Garcia, she shook her head and caught Emily also looking at her.

“That’s why I’d need some more information, about dates, but they seem to keep it on paper, you know how some companies are, stuck in the past.” She huffed, annoyed.

“That’s great,” Morgan’s voice was dripping with sarcasm, “Thank you, Baby girl, we’ll keep you posted.”

After saying their goodbyes and having the names of the companies they called Rollins and Fin, to redirect them on their search.

“It’s harder when you have to just stand around doing nothing,” grumbled Amaro, which earned him a pointed look from Olivia because it was a lie. There was always paperwork to do, and other cases to look over. But the presence of the BAU had slightly shifted the dynamics in the department, unintentionally the detectives were following the BAU’s pace. This also earned him a laugh from the FBI agents “You know what I mean!” Nick tried to defend himself, but not very successfully. “Waiting for results.”

“I get it, Detective, we’re used to a faster pace,” nodded Morgan. He was sitting next to Reid and they seemed pretty cozy together. Reid had been mostly silent the whole time, but Olivia could see the wheels turning in his head.

She felt like she somewhat already knew all the agents, Emily always spoke about them, they were family, and Olivia had always wanted to meet them properly. She didn’t imagine meeting them under this particular circumstance.

Emily and JJ were talking in hushed tones close by, pointing at the files and their tablets, like two old partners in crime.

Having even a couple of minutes of free time wasn’t good for Olivia, not with Emily right there. Having to pretend to not even know each other was killing her, at least with Barba they could mostly get away with acting naturally, their banter was almost expected at this point.

“We call them UNSUBs, for Unidentified Subject.” Olivia tuned back in into the conversation the agents and detectives were having.

“I guess perp is more New York?” shrugged Nick, which made Rossi and Morgan laugh.

“It does sound like it,” said Morgan smiling.

“UNSUB sounds more professional, I guess,” said Nick, giving away what might’ve been his first-ever compliment.

“I was told someone needed a search warrant?” Barba barged into the precinct waving the paper in his hand, his usual self-satisfied smirk playing on his lips.

“That was quick,” JJ turned around from her conversation, stalking toward the recently arrived ADA. This gave Barba a full vision of Emily.

To his benefit, Olivia could admit that he was certainly good at hiding his stupor. If she didn’t know better she’d say that his expression when seeing the FBI, especially Emily, hadn’t changed an inch from his normal one. But she did know better, and she could tell the slight raise of his eyebrows and a glint in his eyes that hadn’t been there seconds before.

Nick cleared his throat and Olivia realized she’d been staring at Emily and Rafael, who in the meantime had introduced himself to the rest of the agents.

“I should go give this to Fin and Amanda, they’re expecting it,” Nick said, raising a brow, which Olivia pointedly ignored.

“We’ll come with if you don’t mind, Morgan is getting restless,” Agent Jerau said, and Morgan huffed out a laugh, nodding.

“I don’t mind,” Amaro shrugged for the hundredth time, throwing on his coat and leading the agents out.

“Chief Prentiss, could you come to my office? There are things I’d like to discuss.” Olivia said, she knew Nick had heard, as did the other agents, “you too Barba.” she said then, trying to sound as unphased as possible.

“Em, what are you doing here? Why did no one tell me?” Rafa sounded hurt.

“I- I don’t know I’m sorry, there’s just so many things going on.” Olivia paced around in her office, she went to close the blinds so they’d have more privacy, she didn’t want to risk it.

“It’s okay Liv, it’s my fault, I didn’t tell anyone I’m sorry.” Emily put her hand on Olivia’s arm, trying to get her to calm down.

“God, this is-”

“A lot?” tried Rafael, “improper? could get us fired?”

“All of the above,” sighed Olivia.

“You’re not helping Rafa,” muttered Emily rolling her eyes.

The ADA let himself fall onto the leather couch.

“Perdòn mi amor, I just wasn’t expecting you two together here, it’s- ah- enticing I should say.”

Olivia sighed, but she couldn’t find it in herself to disagree. Emily was snickering, trying to cover it, but in a room with both her lovers she could hardly disguise it.

“I am happy to be here though,” said Emily, smiling, “I know it’s not an ideal situation but I can’t help but be glad about it.”

Rafa was smiling warmly at her, motioning for her to sit next to him, and she did. He then placed a hand on her thigh and a kiss on her cheek.

“I’m glad you’re here too Em,” he said squeezing her thigh lightly.

Olivia watched them and she smiled. God, she loved them, and she’d do whatever she had to to keep them safe, and their relationship.

Emily was a very high-profile agent, the BAU was constantly under the spotlight in papers around the country. Olivia had been part of many high-profile cases in New York, one of them had her as the main victim. And Barba may like to think that he acted from the shadows, but Attorneys didn’t have the privilege of staying out of papers, not if you won cases at the rate Rafael did, and especially not if you antagonized the people Rafael antagonized on the daily.

If their relationship was ever to come out it could ruin all of their careers. And Olivia would never let that happen. She knew how much they loved each other, but she also knew the three of them were similar in how much they cared and loved their jobs too.

She must’ve gotten distracted, because when she came back to herself Rafa was kissing Emily and she looked about ready to straddle him right then and there on her couch, in her office.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she sighed because it was the last thing she wanted to do. What she really wanted was to join them, wrap her arms around Emily and kiss her neck, pull her shirt open and maybe take off her- No, she had to stop that train of thought before she wasn’t able to stop.

“Where was your pretty little head of your just now?” Asked Rafa, smirking, knowing.

“Rafa.” She said as a warning before he could spur her on further. “Don’t you have work to do?” This made him roll his eyes, but he didn’t deny it. ”I do, actually.” He stood up after leaving another kiss on Emily’s forehead. He then got into Olivia’s space, crowding her against her own desk. “I’ll pick you two up for dinner later, what do you say? or is that too scandalous?”

“Depends on who leaves with who.” Emily sneaked up behind Barba, with her low heels on she was as tall as him.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” With that Barba disentangled himself from both women and turned to leave, winking at them as he exited the office and shut the door behind him.

“That man’s going to be the death of me,” huffed Olivia.

“Is he usually like this at work?” Asked Emily curious. She had taken Rafael’s place and she was innocently caging Olivia with one hand on her desk.

“He can be, he mostly keeps himself on check, and me, but you know sometimes there are slips.”

“Oh I know about those,” Emily grinned looking rather smug.

Reid knew Emily Prentiss, he took pride in that, they’d known each other for too many years. She’d seen him become the man he was now, and he had seen her evolve into the strong woman and unit chief she was.

Another thing about Reid is that he could not be easily fooled. And yes, He also took pride in that.

ADA Barba seemed one of those attorneys at first sight, the rich type of guy, the suburban rich guy with the wife and kids. Reid immediately knew he wasn’t. To work in SVU for as long as he had he couldn’t be. He was also cunning, quick, incredibly smart, and like Emily, devoted to his job to a fault.

Lieutenant Benson was too much like Emily at first sight too.

When the three of them got into Benson’s office Reid felt like he was watching three lions on the prowl. There was a strange tension in her speech, as well as on Emily’s steps, he could tell.

He wasn’t sure what to do with that information if the seeming power struggle that was happening was going to become a problem later on. Or if there was something else to the story.

Barba didn’t seem particularly on edge when he got out, there was a smirk on his lips, Spencer had quickly figured out that that was his perpetual state of being. Smirking like the cat that got the mouse.

When the Lieutenant and Emily got out minutes later the energy around them was completely different from the one that had been there before. Emily’s eyes seemed softer like the tension had somehow been resolved.

Reid furrowed his brows, wondering.

“Benson,” Olivia answered her phone as she poured herself what she hoped would be the last cup of coffee of the day. Doctor Reid was watching her intently, probably knowing one of her detectives was on the other end of the line with news on the case. “Okay, great, send me the information, we’ll see what we can find,” she nodded again, “thank you Fin.”

Rollins had come back some half-hour earlier when she noticed the presence of the FBI was enough and she was not really needed. Now they were waiting for the rest.

“Call your tech analyst, we have four possible names,” there was a hint of urgency in her words. Rossi nodded, dialing.

“You call Ra- Barba, we need him here,” Prentiss told her back, almost slipping up. She masked it by quickly answering Garcia who was on the other end of the phone already.

Barba was there sometime later, along with the rest of the agents and detectives.

“Looks like I won’t have to come pick you up after your shift is over,” Rafael whispered into Olivia’s ear, which was a common enough occurrence that no one batted an eye at the interaction. Olivia only smiled as an answer. Her phone indicated that it was already almost 6 in the afternoon. She couldn’t wait to leave.

“We’ll at least have to pretend the three of us aren’t going to engage in hot passionate sex when we leave,” winked Olivia, ready to walk away, but Barba caught her arm and pulled her back. She looked around making sure they weren’t getting too many stares.

“Oh, so it’s that what’s going to happen tonight? I thought we were going out for dinner.” He said, his words punctuated by fake innocence.

“You never said what we were eating.” Barba was over getting flustered by their usual banter, but he could tell Emily had been looking at them, her cheeks had gotten slightly darker, probably imagining what they were saying to each other.

Nick was also watching because he usually was, but he wasn’t phased by the interaction, which wasn’t out of the norm between his lieutenant and the ADA.

The rest of the group was listening with growing levels of sleepiness as Morgan and Fin told everyone their findings about the different trucking companies.

“All of them have routes that match the killer’s, and after some convincing, with the warrant, they shared the names of the truckers that drive that route.” It was easy to see that Fin was tired, as it was undeniable that the BAU kept up an urgent pace they weren’t used to.

“I’ll look into these guys, I’ll have files on all of them by tomorrow,” Garcia chirped up from the other end of the line.

“Thank you Babygirl,” with that Derek finished the call.

“Will a name be enough for an arrest?” Asked Olivia right after.

“Absolutely not,” Barba answered promptly. “There’s no evidence, and a trucking route is circumstantial at best, you should know better by now Liv.” He was shaking his head.

“Then let’s hope we find something on him,” said Rollins, ready to get out, she was already pulling her coat on.

“You better detectives,” Barba said, raising one brow.

There was a general sigh from everyone.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m beat, I’m going home, Frannie’s waiting for his walk,” Amanda was already halfway across the room, “see you tomorrow guys,” and then she was gone.

“We were talking about getting some drinks,” Morgan gestured at the agents around him, Reid, JJ, and Rossi, “you coming?” The invitation was open to everyone, to which both Fin and Amaro agreed.

Now everyone was looking expectantly at Emily and Olivia.

“I’ve actually got to catch up with a friend, but have fun,” Emily said with a smile, lying through her teeth.

“I’m also headed home, see you tomorrow.” Olivia didn’t specify either but saw the unimpressed looks on the faces of her detectives. They didn’t believe her, but they also would never imagine who she was actually seeing.

“Do you think they dated?” Asked JJ conspirationally, a drink in her hand, “because they know each other, that much is obvious.”

“Oh yeah, Liv likes to think she’s good at hiding stuff from us,” Fin stated, laughing a little.

“Well, she’d probably get away with it, if they weren’t in the same room.”

“If they’re pretending they don’t know each other it’s because there’s been something in the past.”

“You’re the profilers, you should know this,” muttered Fin sipping his beer, but there was no heat behind his words, and the agents laughed with him.

“Emily isn’t acting much different than usual, maybe they met on duty, undercover,” Shrugged Reid, looking around the thankfully empty bar. He had gotten better, much better, at dealing with crowds, but still, the fewer people the better if you asked him.

“Yeah, that’s probably it,” Rossi ended up dismissing the argument, as they went on to talk about less relevant things about the job.

“Everyone either thinks you've dated, you are dating, or you want to date.” Emily displayed a playful smile, twirling her glass of wine in her hand. While the other one was firmly gripping Olivia’s thigh under the table.

“Well, I don’t think they’ll ever figure out it’s actually the three of them,” Rafael answered, stealing some pasta from Emily’s plate.

“Ever?” Olivia raised an eyebrow, “I think they’re getting suspicious.”

“I bet my whole team is already onto you two, and they’ve known you for a day, you’re not particularly subtle.”

“What can I say mi amor, it’s just so very tempting.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Emily smirked, squeezing Olivia’s thigh, who at the moment was feeling just a tiny bit objectified, not that she minded. As long as they kept this behavior out of her precinct, they could do whatever they pleased with her.

“I think,” she said, trying to stir the conversation away from how much she’d like to jump both of them at that very moment, “my team is just used to our bickering.”

“It’s our warm-up,” smirked Barba, sipping his own wine languidly.

They were tucked away in a dark corner of Forlini’s, where they usually dined when Emily was around. They knew the potential of meeting someone they knew was high, but they remained loyal nevertheless.

“If you want dessert you should order some, or, we can go back home,” Emily smiled, innocently, while her hand moved further up on Olivia’s thigh in a way that suggested nothing innocent at all. Barba had caught up with her antics pretty early on and seemed keen on following her lead, for tonight.

“Let’s,” he said getting up first, offering her hand to his lovers, helping them up.

“Such a gentleman,” murmured Olivia, knowing he would be everything but in a couple of hours time. Rafa winked at her.

Another call and another early morning. Well, two calls. Pointless since they were together anyway, not that their teams knew of course.

The clock on their phones showed it was nearly 6 am, early, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Benson,”

“Prentiss,”

And off they went.

Rafael stirred on the bed, but didn’t try to get up, they each placed a kiss on his cheek before leaving, while he dozed off again for another half hour.

“Sorry for the early call Liv, we have a breakthrough,” Fin was already there, and so were the rest of the BAU. No sign of Rollins or Amaro yet. Olivia tried not to dwell on it too much.

“We have our UNSUB’s car, they’re running the plates right now, if we cross-check with Garcia’s list we have our guy,” explained Rossi to both Olivia and Emily, that had conveniently arrived some minutes apart.

“Where did you get this information?” Asked Prentiss, curious.

“Well, the officers you sent yesterday to question the other pros that worked with our victim recognized the car, we got lucky someone was taking a picture and the car was in the background.”

“Perfect, call me when you get the info,” said Olivia, walking into her office. Her superiors would want to know.

JJ was managing the media effectively, but it was a matter of time before the true magnitude of their case came out, and her superiors wanted to know they had covered all their basis. A case this big was bound to make a big splash, and publicity was always a good thing. A high-profile arrest from a joint task force was the perfect occasion.

“Are they hammering down hard?” Olivia hadn’t noticed Emily slipping into her office, she saw she hadn’t closed the door.

“You know it better than I do how they can be.” Olivia sighed.

“You’ll get used to it,” Prentiss attempted to encourage her, smiling.

There was a knock on the door.

“Sorry to interrupt, we got him,” came from Reid with an urgent tone.

“Let’s get him.”

“I’ll call Barba to get the arrest warrant,” nodded Olivia, picking up the phone.

They didn’t get him right away, but they did in the end.

Of course, he wasn’t home, but it only took a half-hour after they had released the details on the car to the press to get a sighting.

The guy was just as the BAU had profiled him. Average in just about everything, forgettable. And filled with relentless rage.

He confessed the second Morgan and Rossi applied the tiniest bit of pressure on him and did he confess. It was a word vomit of narcissistic discourse where he kept the detectives and agents entertained for various hours.

Barba watched proudly from behind the glass as his girls kept the killer talking for another half-hour. Rossi and Morgan exhausted by the unending monologue. No one was around to see his smile, fortunately, but he could’ve blamed the easy victory he foresaw in the future, which was also making him particularly giddy.

The second day had also been tiring, in a different way, and so celebratory drinks were in order, this time everyone joined in.

“The smart ones are the hardest to find, but the easiest to crack.” Said Rossi, sounding like an old wise man, which he probably was.

“Are you sure that’s not the wine speaking?” joked Morgan, keeping a beer in one hand and Reid’s hand in the other. They were awfully cute.

Reid himself was busy in conversation with JJ and Amanda, the two blondes were asking for the juicy details and Spencer was getting redder by the second.

“Hey you two, stop harassing my man,” Morgan interjected, shooing them away as they laughed.

“Okay big man, keep your secrets,” shrugged a slightly intoxicated Rollins.

“Come on Amanda, let’s get another drink,” murmured JJ, a mix between annoyed and amused.

Amaro had struck a conversation with Rossi at that point, and Emily was butting in from time to time, but most of her attention was on Barba and Olivia, who were speaking a couple of seats over from her.

“What’s with those two?” Asked Amaro, wary, as he followed her line of sight, noticing her distracted.

“Beats me, I thought she was your captain.” She shrugged, smiling.

“Lieutenant actually, but yes.”

“Nothing’s going on Nick, Liv has made it clear how she feels about attorneys,” said Fin, shrugging.

Emily was listening intently, still watching her lovers. “Has she now?”

“Many times, yes.”

“Interesting,” was the only thing she answered.

“Do you two know each other?” That got Prentiss to finally look at Nick when he asked, she then trailed her eyes back to the couple taking.

“No, we never had the chance of meeting before, why?” She lied coolly.

“Nothing, you two work well together,” shrugged Amaro, trying to sound uninterested.

“We’re both very professional, from what I can tell, she seems like a good Captain,” Emily shrugged too.

“Lieutenant,” corrected Fin for the third time that night, as he came back with three more beers. He offered one to each.

“Thank, and yes, of course, Lieutenant.” Emily sipped, smirking internally.

“I’m definitely not drunk enough for this,” Olivia laughed, she could feel his intense stare, and Emily’s from her place ten or so feet away.

“Or, let me suggest, you’re too drunk for this,” he said, sounding like he wanted to do something stupid like grab her hand or worse, kiss her.

“I might be, but you’re no one to judge.”

Barba raised his hands, “I’m not judging.” He snickered.

Maybe she was the one that was about to do something stupid, like kiss him, or worse fuck him in the bathroom. She had thought about it.

“Liv stop it, I know that look,” he warned.

“Yes, yes, I know, I’ll stop it.” But she didn’t

“Everything alright here?” A new voice piped in, JJ and Fin sliding into the chairs next to them.

“Yes, just gloating,” Barba raised his eyebrows.

Nick had remained back, now Amanda had settled by his side, and everyone knew what that meant. Some random excuse and a shared taxi.

“You’d think they’d be more careful than that, we can ignore it for so long,” said Olivia, temporarily forgetting about the looks she was sending Barba a few seconds before.

Emily was nowhere to be seen, which might be for the better because Olivia wasn’t sure she would survive the both of them in her tipsy state.

“We can ignore it a while longer, at least they’re not at each other’s throats at work anymore,” said Fin, who had to deal with that in first person. Barba laughed.

“That is certainly an upside,” nodded Olivia.

“The downside is that they treat you like an idiot, believe me, Morgan and Reid took their sweet time before telling us, and they were under the impression we weren’t aware it had been going on for years,” JJ laughed and everyone joined.

“What’s with the cackling?” Rossi approached too, with Emily by his side.

“Oh nothing, just reflecting on love and work,” JJ nodded towards the two couples who had unintentionally singled themselves out.

“Ah, yes, young love,” sighed Rossi, playing his part.

“Well, I should be going, it has been nice though, getting to work with America’s finest,” Barba said, smiling his charming smile as he got up.

“I’ll take my leave too, I need sleep,” Emily got up as well, “if I remember where I parked, that is.”

It was all very well acted if you asked Barba. He turned to her, an expectant look on his face.

“Want a ride? better than a taxi, right?” Offered Emily, with nonchalance.

“That’d be nice, thanks,” nodded Barba, well-practiced.

Olivia wanted to laugh, she loved them so much. It was her turn now, and this is where it got tricky.

“I’m going as well, someone wants to share a taxi?”

“Liv, you are close to my place, maybe Agent Prentiss will be so kind as to give you a lift as well?” Asked Barba, making it sound almost like a transaction.

“Call me Emily, and of course, it won’t be a problem.” They could hear some of their coworkers had gone back to their conversations, but others were listening in, the nosy ones.

“Okay then, I guess we should be going, have a good night, it’s been a pleasure.” Emily finished her performance, and as soon as they were out of the door they dissolved into giggles, like teenagers lying to their parents.

“Well that was fun, we should do it more often!”

Olivia walked next to Barba, her arm looped through his, Emily grabbed her other hand, and so they walked together, the three of them.