No Strings

Chapter 4

A week of Christmas cheer had passed, the Holiday season was still heavily in swing, and you'd been back to work before you knew it. There were other detectives who'd asked for more time off, more time over the holidays to see extended family, especially those who were further away. Olivia was thankful for you staying in New York, the holidays always brought a surplus of cases for the minimum amount of detectives that were on duty. So, there you sat, in a conference room, at 11:50pm on New Years Eve, head buried in a mountain of case work, the tv on in the background on NYE covers, simply for white noise. You would've been at your desk but the station was way too loud, the overflow from downstairs filled SVU's lock up with drunken morons, plus you needed your room to work, case files, laptop, not to mention the pizza box, from your delivered dinner a few hours ago. The conference room you chose was barely used, at the end of a darkened hallway, much more secluded from the noise. You had no place to be, and Liv was okay with you taking overtime, so even she had left by this time.

You barely heard the dress shoes come down the hallway, you lightly heard the voice, but you knew the light in your conference room would give you away so you didn't say anything. You were focussed on a file when a figure appeared in the doorway, and you could recognize the sass in the way he leaned against the door before he spoke.

"Really? They've got you working on New Years Eve?" You rolled your eyes, glancing up at Barba.

"And what? You're here for fun?" He chuckled slightly, moving into the room.

"I needed to drop off something for Olivia, left it on her desk, but I saw the light..." He trailed off.

"What's the point in going out and celebrating? Bunch of drunk idiots making fools of themselves," You jerked your head towards the noise coming from the bull pen, "May as well work on some cases, try to get some justice." Your attention hadn't deviated from the file in front of you, the fact that you were so focussed, much less on a Holiday many people loved, made Rafael feel even more fondly for you.

"Hey...."He spoke gently, you finally looked up, watching Raf glance at his watch as he moved toward you "You know it's very close to midnight." He smirked, you cocked an eyebrow in response, standing up slowly, only to tease him as you grabbed a file out of the box closest to him.

"Really?" You tossed the file into your growing pile, moving closer to him "And what would that mean?" You were so close your lips could ghost over his, he smiled into it, the tv in the background counting down to the new year in front of you.

"That I get a kiss." Rafael murmured gently, waiting for the "...1!!!" Before kissing you, his lips molding perfectly to yours, hands wrapping around your waist, pulling you closer to him as yours played with the hairs on his neck. He slowly pulled away, "Happy New Year...."

"Happy New Year." You repeated, gently stroking the back of his neck, lost to the world.

"Cariño, put this work away. It's an actual holiday, take some time off." You rolled your eyes,

"Fine." You started packing up the files, knowing they could stay in the room for the weekend, tossing the takeout in the garbage before you grabbed your coat, following Rafael out of the building. As you reached the street you stifled a large yawn, realizing just how tired you were.

"Rafa...I should probably just head home." It was a reluctant statement, but a true one. He wrapped his arm around you, pulling you close enough to him he could smell your perfume, happily breathing in the intoxicating scent.

"I know....you need to stop working so much." You scoffed at his remark.

"Really?! Coming from you??"

"Hey!" He laughed, "Let's just get you home safe okay?"

"Okay." You murmured into his shoulder as he lead you down the Manhattan streets.