#him getting ready to pounce. like the shot of her with el's fists in the background. oh mama. she just knows “do you need a break detective

[ohtendril]

two of you. always in sync

#you know what i wasnt gonna do this but i rewatched prodigal son and uh. some of the frames made me crazyyyy this time around #and i love imagery it has to be said #its like. this time around i actually Perceived them. and not watched them like. every time liv looks at el its like. she cant believe it #like she's looking at a ghost. like he's gonna disappear any second #and at the same time. she can barely look him in the eye. she looks at him when he isnt watching. lest he sees. lest he recognizes her #and what shes feeling. lest she recognizes that he still knows her and *sees* her even after all this time. and she cant have it. she wont #so she watches him and observes him like shes both memorizing him and recognizing him.especially in that interrogation room... fuck me bro #that metaphor. of her standing right between el and the suspect. up against that mirror. and we're seeing her reflection. #the present liv the captain watching like a hawk and the past liv. right behind her back in the room with el sensing him and seeing #him getting ready to pounce. like the shot of her with el's fists in the background. oh mama. she just knows “do you need a break detective #and then them being literally divided in some of those shots. by the window binds by kathy and space and actual doors #(and her sliding those doors in the first place and then watching from the other side and the cut to her again watching through the door an #OPENING IT???) #and i havent even talked about el lmao. but it's svu it's supposed to be liv centric (well) but anyway #i havent essayed in the tags in so long i forgot to tag this in the beginning oopsie daisy #svuedit #bensleredit #eo #lawandorderedit #svu #benson x stabler #*mine #*svu

[rauliskafan]

A Hard Lesson in Valiance: Chapter 12

Authors’ Note: Happy Tuesday, everyone!!! Lots of surprises last night. And now Rafael is a man on a mission. Read on to find out what he has up his sleeve! @vintagemichelle91 and I hope that you enjoy!!!

          “You sure he’s not like a cousin of yours or something?” Fin asked.

           Peering through the mirror into the interrogation room, Rafael saw Ramirez tap a can of soda before cracking open the aluminum for a drink. He looked no worse for the wear. Because Natalia had endured the brunt of his cruelty. Wanting to smash the glass, he watched Rollins circle the room as Liv stayed fixed to her chair.

           “Nevada Ramirez,” Liv began. “You got a rap sheet a mile long.”

           “My reputation precedes me,” he said.

           “Does it ever,” Liv replied. “Makes me wonder why you came back.”

            “I have interests to attend to.”

           “Do those interests extend to accosting Natalia Barba in the park this afternoon?” Rollins asked. Ramirez lazily looked over his shoulder and shot her a small smile as his hands trailed down his legs.

           “That was different,” he said. “Eso fue un asunto personal. We were just getting reacquainted when your thug busted in.”

           “Man’s digging his own grave,” Fin said. But Rafael feared that the dirt could… that it would choke Natalia if Ramirez stayed close.

           “What is this really?” Ramirez questioned. “I’m the injured party. You should be slapping the bracelets on her.”

           Not if he could help it.

          “Can you give us a moment?”

           Fin had his back as Liv’s eyes centered on his face. But Rafael focused only on Ramirez. The man slouched in his seat, his smirk stretching the length of the room. What would have happened had he met him years ago in the Bronx? No doubt Rafael would have said too much, been bloodied before Eddie managed a few well-placed punches.

          Now he had to take him down on his own.    

          “Barba?”

           Looking to Liv, he nodded towards the door.

           “The lady wants to help,” Ramirez sneered. “Do you need a niñera?”

           “I’m good,” he said. “Do you need the backup?”

           “What do you think?”

           Sitting across from him, Rafael folded his hands against the tabletop as Rollins took the cue to exit, Fin almost following her.

           “Next time you cross my path you won’t be so lucky,” Fin threatened.

           “We’ll see about that.”

           With that they left. But Liv lingered.

           “Barba?” she asked. “Do you know what you’re doing here?”

           “I’m handling this, Lieutenant.”

           When he glared, her eyes glazed over. Still a fight for another day, and as soon as she slammed the door shut, Rafael looked to his hands, allowing himself a moment where he envisioned them forming fists and pummeling the smug expression from his double’s face.      

          “Your esposa just can’t keep away from me.”

           And Ramirez seemed ready for the fight.

           “That’s quite an active fantasy life you have,” Rafael said, slowly meeting the other man’s eyes.

           “You didn’t see her in the park,” Ramirez responded. “All weak in the knees for our reunion. Tell me something?”

           “That’s vague,” Rafael answered. “You want to talk about the weather?”

           “Hot out there tonight!” Ramirez said, rolling up his sleeves and taking a sip from the can of Coke. “Steamier when Natalia showed up. Tell me…”

           He leaned closer, and Rafael felt his carbonated breath tinged with tobacco wash over his face.

           “She look like that good the first time around? She’s got this glow about her.”

           A part of him wished that Natalia had managed to plunge the knife into his heart. Or whatever he called the organ beating in his chest. But he kept that secret to himself and unfolded his hands, planting his palms on the table.

           “She always looks beautiful,” Rafael said.

           Even when she was crying. Even when the sight of her sad sliced his soul.

           “Don’t I know it,” Ramirez hissed.

           “My turn,” Rafael muttered.

           “You didn’t answer—”

           “That’s all you’re getting,” Rafael said, his voice thick.

           “Guess you don’t put out. But Natalia does.” Ramirez fell back with a laugh and coiled his fingers behind his head.

           “You son of a—”

           “Natalia plays hard to get, but I know she likes what we have.”

           “You have nothing,” Rafael insisted.

           “So sure about that?” Ramirez asked.

           Counting to ten, willing his want to kill away, Rafael took a deep breath before starting in again.

           “I have a proposition for you.”

           Ramirez’s eyebrows arched, and his cheeks expanded, another stream of arrogant air filling the room before he downed the rest of his drink.

           “You offering the blonde or the bull dyke?” Ramirez asked, looking towards the two-way mirror. “Can’t really say that either one is really my type. But together they might be worth the price of admission.”

           “You couldn’t handle them,” Rafael said.

           “Speak from experience? They good fucks?”

           “I speak as someone who knows that they could send you to the tombs with your limp dick ready to fall off if you cross them.”

           “Whoa!” Ramirez clapped his hands together and kicked at the legs of the table. “What do you get up to around here?”

           He almost honored that with a retort but just as quickly dialed his rage back and stilled his feet on the floor.

           “A conversation for another day,” Rafael said. “Let’s talk about you.”

           “I’d rather talk about those lady cops. Or better yet… Natalia.”

           Ramirez spoke her name as if she belonged to him.

           “Must be problemas en el paraiso,” he said. “Couldn’t manage to knock her up again. Bet you tried. And look at me. One and done. Natalia knows it. She can say all she wants that it’s yours. But la verdad duele.”

           Why hadn’t he hired anyone else but Carmen… kept a closer eye on Ward…?

           “Usually I am un hombre que perdona,” Ramirez continued. “Tonight she came into my club, got out of line, and—”

           “What if we found a way to let that slide?” Rafael asked. Obviously emboldened, Ramirez rose from his chair, his smirk intensifying.

           “What’s on the table?” Ramirez asked.

           Something that stuck in the back of his throat and threatened to turn his stomach inside out if it dropped too deep and festered in his bloodstream. Rafael gave himself five seconds, let his wrath cool. Only then did he leave his seat and join him beside the window, their matching reflections meeting like some twisted joke.

           “More than the likes of you could ever fathom.”

           One image left the glass, and Rafael felt Ramirez’s eyes burrowing into his cheek as he gripped the windowsill.

           “You have my attention,” he said.

           He needed much more than that.

           “I… how would you like a life where you could conduct your… business and never have to worry about the long arm of the law?” Rafael asked, quietly.

           “Interesante,” Ramirez said. “You gonna keep talking or—?”

           Seizing his hand, fighting the urge to crush his bones and leave him howling, Rafael found the other pair of green eyes and spoke fast.

           “I’m talking no threats from the policia,” he started. “Or the DA’s office. I’ll fix it so that you can do what you will without any fear of repercussions. Let’s call it a gold card that you can cash in over and over again.”

           “Go on.”

           Seeing that Ramirez was intrigued, Rafael moved in for what he hope would be another kind of kill.

           “No one will try to take you down. Only your rivals locked up if there’s a raid. Think of how much product you could move. The territory that would be yours alone.”

           And the ways that he would have to scramble to keep up with the promise and his nose clean. But he was willing to do chance it. So that Natalia could fall back into his arms contented and never have to so much as think of Nevada Ramirez again. So that Violetta would get the chance to be a big sister.

           So that the twins would be well out of his reach.

           “Rafael…”

           Ramirez fell against the wall and shook his head.

           “You think I would put my faith in you abogados again?”

           Shit! It hadn’t worked. And now he had doomed Natalia to a life where was forever tied to this creature. His legs felt as if they would give out from under him.

           “Maybe… maybe you didn’t hear—”

           “Claro como el cristal,” Ramirez said. “You’re all the same. Ward thinks I’m back in the palm of his hand. So I came home but…”

           Ramirez’s words trailed off, and Rafael looked up in time to see his face cloud over as he held his tongue.

           “What did you just say?” the ADA asked.

           “I… nothing. Just one more tonto in his pen, right? Me and Carmen and all the rest.”

           It should have made enough sense. But Ramirez suddenly seemed nervous.

           And Rafael pounced.

           “How did you know about the babies?” he asked.

           “Babies!” Ramirez echoed, his eyes wide. “You’re still running second to me!”

           “That wasn’t the question. It would have been wiser… why take the risk of returning?”

           He had him speechless and just curled his hands around his throat when Liv and Fin burst into the room and tried to pull him away.

           “We’ll take it from here, Barba,” Fin said, but Rafael held fast for another second, two, only releasing Ramirez when he gasped for air.

           “This fuck is crazy!” Ramirez cried, his hands on his throat. “I want him charged with assault.”

           “Like my wife?” Rafael challenged.

           “Thought… thought we were negotiating?” Ramirez asked from the floor, sputtering.

           “No hago tratos con escoria.”

           His mind was running a million miles a minute as he left the interrogation room and ran right into—

           “Rollins!”

           “Barba, what the hell were you thinking?”

           “Who ran the test?” he asked quickly.

           “Who… some tech. She’s worked on cases with us before.”

           “And she didn’t ask any questions?”

           “She… no. I told her to keep it quiet.”

           “Ever wonder why she did that? Why she said nothing when you just showed up off the record?”

           “I…”

           He watched her eyes flicker and her head nod as they started to leave the squad room.

           “Hey! What’s up?”

           “I’ll tell you tomorrow, Sonny,” Rollins said.

           “It is tomorrow,” he said, glancing at his watch.

           “Then let’s hope it’s on our side.”

           They raced back to the hospital, and Rollins promised to learn Ward’s new room number. Letting her go, Rafael calmed his breath and found his way to his wife’s door.

           “Natalia?”

           She was asleep. Thankful for that much, he minded the one palm clutched in Alessia’s grasp and found her free fingers, holding them fast, leaning forward to kiss her slumbering brow.

           “Rafael?” Alessia asked. “What’s going on?”

           “I don’t know yet,” he muttered, smoothing Natalia’s hair from her face and kissing her once more.

           “But I’m going to find out.”

Translations

Eso fue un asunto personal- That was personal business

Niñera- Nanny

Esposa- wife

Problemas en el paraiso- Trouble in paradise

La verdad duele- The truth hurts

Un hombre que perdona- A man who forgives

Interesante- Interesting

Policia- Police

Abogados- Lawyers

Claro como el cristal- Clear as crystal

Tonto- Idiot

No hago tratos con escoria- I don’t make deals with human waste

#raul esparza #rafael barba #natalia barba #nevada ramirez #olivia benson #amanda rollins #fin tutuola #dominick sonny carisi #a hard lesson series #a hard lesson in valiance #law and order svu #svu fanfiction