Strong [A Barson Fan Fic]

- 22 -

When they got home, Olivia left Ezra with Rafael so she could be alone. She slammed her bedroom door before quickly grabbing her pillow and screaming into it. She was so beyond pissed off and never thought that she'd be twenty and dealing with all of this. She hoped that Danny would put Gillian in her place and be around for both of his children, but he chose the baby he was having with Gillian over the baby that he had met and fallen in love with.

Olivia was trying to calm down for a few hours, but eventually had to leave the room when she heard Ezra start to cry and refused to settle for his father.

"Hand him over." Olivia sighed softly as she walked over to where Rafael was trying to sway and bounce enough to get Ezra to calm down.

"Liv, I can get him to calm down. He's just fussy." Rafael spoke softly, and Olivia shook her head.

"He's hungry, and you can't feed him. I'll feed him, I'm okay." Olivia replied. She took Ezra from Rafael, before moving into Ezra's room to feed him.

She got settled, and once Ezra had stopped crying, Rafael came into the room to check on them. But mostly on his girlfriend.

"How are you doing?" He questioned hesitantly. Olivia looked up from Ezra and locked eyes with Rafael.

"I'm not doing good, Rafa. I'm kinda pissed off and really want to beat the shit out of both of them. It's driving me nuts to think that Ezra just wasn't enough for Danny. And if Danny ever tries to come around again, when Ez is older, he will have to deal with the thoughts of not being enough for his father. Not being special enough, or as important as his younger siblings." Olivia grumbled.

"But he will have me, Liv." Rafael replied plainly.

"I know that he has you. But eventually he will start wondering why he is blonde, but his siblings will have brown hair and probably a little darker in complexion. He will wonder about a lot, and it is already freaking me out." Olivia breathed as she started to fight the losing battle against sobbing.

"I will make sure that he doesn't care about that, Olivia. He will be so loved, that he won't even care that he's different. Because he will be special, just like every single one of our other children. He is our son, and that is pretty damn special. But I'm also biased."

"I want him to feel loved, Rafael, because I didn't feel loved until I met you." Olivia started to sob.

"Oh, baby. You will never feel unloved ever again, I promise you that. And neither will Ezra. I will always be your biggest supporter, no matter what. Okay?"

"Okay..."

///

Rafael really did mean that he would be Olivia and Ezra's biggest supporter. While finishing up his final year of law school, Rafael also helped Olivia study and eventually pass her GED. And by the time Ezra was a year old, Olivia was in college and studying anything and everything she could to become an officer. Rafael was working with Adam and making really good money, which he was thankful for because he and Olivia needed and wanted to move. And on Ezra's first birthday, they got to celebrate in a house in Queens with a backyard and plenty of space for more children in the future.

"I'm proud of us." Olivia smiled as she set up streamers on the back porch of her house. She had worked her ass off to help purchase the house with Rafael, which made it feel like their home instead of just Rafael's.

"I am too. We really kicked ass these past few years." Rafael grinned as he handed Olivia a piece of tape.

"And we managed to survive a full year with a baby, and he is still alive." Olivia laughed.

"Alive and hyper as fuck, that is for sure." Rafael agreed.

They finished decorating their backyard and their porch, before sitting down on the stairs and drinking from cups of lemonade.

"So, I have something to ask you before we go and get Ez up and ready for his party." Rafael spoke as he reached out and ran his hand over Olivia's upper thigh.

"What do you have to ask?" Olivia questioned, as she turned and looked at her boyfriend.

"Do you wanna get married?" Rafael asked, and Olivia's eyes went wide.

"What? Rafa, I thought that you didn't want to marry me anymore... especially after bringing it up during the custody battle." Olivia breathed as she looked down at her hands because she didn't want to look at Rafael. She was worried that he was just asking her out of pity, and maybe because he knew something that she didn't know.

"I still want to marry you, Liv. I was just waiting for the right time to ask, and so I decided on right now. We are both happy, in good places mentally, and I'm making enough money from being Adam's right-hand man to plan a wedding that would be like something out of a dream for you." Rafael spoke as he moved his hand from Olivia's thigh and gently lifted her head up and made her look at him.

"So this isn't because you are trying to ease the pain of something that I don't know about yet?" Olivia asked nervously, and Rafael shook his head.

"No. It's because I love you more than words could ever describe. And it might also be because I'm still a tad nervous about you being a cop, and I'd like to maybe look into adopting Ezra just in case something happens to you. Then he could stay with me."

"Oh, Rafa..." Olivia breathed, before leaning forward and kissing Rafael gently. She sat her cup down so she didn't spill the contents, before wrapping her arms around Rafael's neck and kissing him deeper. 

"So?" Rafael asked once they parted for air.

"I want to be your wife, Rafa. And getting away from being a Benson will be amazing. It's like I'm finally starting a new chapter in my life and burning the old one... so please let this be a proposal."

"I have a ring, so I guess it really is a proposal."