- Jack McCoy: I suppose you want to talk to me about ADA Barba.
- Olivia Benson: He is the best ADA that I've ever worked with. He is honest and honorable.
- Jack McCoy: But I can't have my ADAs running around killing people. It's unbecoming.
- Jack McCoy: In my younger and more vulnerable years, when I was knee-deep in my very first trial, opposing counsel unwittingly sabotaged his own case by including an inculpatory document in with his discovery request. I didn't know what to do. So I did what any young ADA did when he was utterly lost. I went to Mr. Stone's cubicle, where he was writing a closing. Ben listened patiently. "I can either ignore the document," I said, "or...", and he cut me off before I could finish the sentence. "A man shouldn't do what he can," he said. "He should do what he must, without regard for consequence or repercussion. That's what makes us moral," Ben added. "And God help us if we lose that." So, like that, the world is a sadder place. The noblest of hearts has cracked. Goodbye, Ben Stone. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
- Jack McCoy: We don't pay you to think, we pay you to work.
- [indicating the drink in Barba's hand]
- Jack McCoy: Sure, I'll have one. You know, I always wish the law was more like chemistry. You heat up water to 212 degrees, and the son of a bitch boils.
- Rafael Barba: Sans bias, sans judgment.
- Jack McCoy: Sans conscience. So what's so interesting out that window?
- Rafael Barba: My father... almost seven years ago, dad went into a diabetic coma, and he was on life support for six weeks.
- Jack McCoy: I'm sorry.
- Rafael Barba: No, don't be. He was not well-liked. By anyone. Especially me. Still, I was at the hospital every morning before work, and every night, until the nurses threw me out. The doctors said that there was nothing they could do for him. There was no brain activity. They highly recommended that we end it. And I said "No. Where there's life, there's hope." I could've eased his suffering, but I didn't. And I told myself that it's because Father Mike wouldn't approve.
- Jack McCoy: I'm sure he wouldn't.
- Rafael Barba: I was selfish. I hated the man. But still, I didn't want the burden of being the reason that he took his last breath. I was selfish. I let him suffer.
- Olivia Benson: Rafa, what the hell?
- Rafael Barba: Latte, right?
- Olivia Benson: I don't want coffee. You killed the baby?
- Rafael Barba: I expedited his passing.
- Olivia Benson: That's gonna be a tough hair to split in a courtroom.
- Rafael Barba: The court room's the last thing I was thinking of when I was in that hospital room.
- Olivia Benson: You could go to prison.
- Rafael Barba: You don't think I know that? Sometimes you have to act without concern for the consequences.
- Olivia Benson: Not you. You wear suspenders and a belt.
- Rafael Barba: I had no option.
- Olivia Benson: [sighs] I gotta fix this.
- [walks off]
- Rafael Barba: Liv. Liv! Liv, you can't help me.
- Jack McCoy: Prosecute Aaron Householder.
- Rafael Barba: For doing the same thing I did to my dad?
- Jack McCoy: The law is what the statute says it is.
- Rafael Barba: It's a shame. No matter how hard we try, we can't legislate morality.
- Jack McCoy: We're not in the compassion business, Rafael.
- Rafael Barba: Sure. Why not?
- Jack McCoy: [finishing his drink and standing to leave] Cut a deal. Offer him probation. Go to church. Say three Hail Marys. Then come back here and fish off that bottle.
- Randolph J. Dworkin: I have to admit, I thought my surprise quotient was filled for the year when McAdoo benched Manning. But this, I gotta tell you, on the all-time scale is up there between Bucky Dent and Charlie Rose.
- Rafael Barba: If you don't want to represent me, that's fine.
- Randolph J. Dworkin: I don't wanna represent you, I have to represent you. Cases like this whet my whistle, so to speak. So, what did the little bastard do to you?
- Rafael Barba: [standing to leave] This was a mistake.
- Randolph J. Dworkin: Okay, okay. I'll skip the whole self-defense angle.
- Rafael Barba: I'm sorry I wasted your time, Mr. Dworkin.
- Randolph J. Dworkin: Randy. And my point is this whole thing is a sick joke. You killed something that nine out of ten doctors would say wasn't alive.
- Rafael Barba: What about the tenth doctor?
- Randolph J. Dworkin: Look, you wanna prove a point, and I wanna prove a point. It's what my nana would call the perfect shidduch.
- Rafael Barba: What point do you want to prove?
- Randolph J. Dworkin: That the government's power has grown too damn much. That the bigger the government gets, the smaller it leaves the individual. That once the government takes away our right to die, it takes away our right to live. How am I doing so far?
- [as a response, Barba sits back down]
- Olivia Benson: I feel so guilty about this.
- Rafael Barba: What did you do?
- Olivia Benson: I called you about this case.
- Rafael Barba: You know, when we first started working together, what was it, five years ago?
- Olivia Benson: Six.
- Rafael Barba: [exhales deeply] The world was an old movie. It was all black and white and it was high noon. I was Gary Cooper.
- [chuckles]
- Rafael Barba: I was absolutely sure absolutely who were the good guys, who were the bad guys. And then you... you started to weasel your way into my world, and the black and white became different shades of gray. Don't say it. Before I knew it, there were blues and greens and yellows and reds. I'm you now, Liv. You opened my heart. and I thank you for it.
- Olivia Benson: And?
- Rafael Barba: I've got to move on.
- [walks away as Olivia stands outside the courthouse alone]
- Jack McCoy: It must have been tough growing up with Saint Ben.
- Peter Stone: A great man is not necessarily a good one.
- Jack McCoy: Did you know that he had everybody over to his place the first time you pitched? I thought his heart stopped when that bastard ruined your no-hitter. I think he secretly became a Cubs fan.
- Peter Stone: [with an amused laugh] That's treason.
- Jack McCoy: That's what I told him.
- Olivia Benson: It's not right that a guy like that goes to prison.
- Dominick Carisi Jr.: Well, the law says it is.
- Odafin Tutuola: Sometimes the law sucks.
- Rafael Barba: I concur.
- Olivia Benson: You think we should lock him up?
- Rafael Barba: My dad always said he wasn't scared of being dead, he was scared of dying. That kid is dying every day. He's taking his folks with him.
- Jack McCoy: My first wife made me promise to never eat at my desk. I thought it was good advice. Sit.
- Peter Stone: I just wanted to thank you for your kind words yesterday.
- Jack McCoy: All of them true. All of them heartfelt. Sit.
- [as Peter sits down, Jack offers a paper bag]
- Jack McCoy: Eat.
- Peter Stone: I'm good.
- Jack McCoy: This is still my jurisdiction, and people do what I say or they pay the price.
- Aaron Householder: You don't look like a cop.
- Olivia Benson: Okay, well, I'll take that as a compliment.
- Rafael Barba: Christ.
- Olivia Benson: Nobody's forcing you to prosecute.
- Rafael Barba: If I don't, I'm telling the world that baby Drew has no rights.
- Amanda Rollins: What about his right to die?
- Dominick Carisi Jr.: Unfortunately, that's not in the Constitution.
- Rafael Barba: Let's find out if daddy's little excursion yesterday caused the baby any harm.
- Olivia Benson: So you can let Aaron go with a clear conscience.
- Rafael Barba: So I can prosecute, and maybe get some sleep in the next decade or so.
- Olivia Benson: [to Aaron] I spoke with with Maggie.
- Aaron Householder: How is she?
- Olivia Benson: Well, I gotta be honest with you, Aaron. She's not doing great.
- Aaron Householder: I didn't wanna hurt her.
- Olivia Benson: Aaron, you took her baby.
- Aaron Householder: I just wanna be alone with my son.
- Olivia Benson: Yeah, well, you know, some days that's all I wanna do too, but unfortunately, the world just... it just doesn't work like that.
- Maggie Householder: When he was two months old, Aaron noticed that he was struggling to breathe. It's called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. It's a genetic thing. It causes muscle weakness that rapidly progresses.
- Olivia Benson: So soon Drew won't be able to breathe on his own.
- Maggie Householder: I spend more time at Mercy Hospital than I do at home.
- Aaron Householder: What's his name, your son?
- Olivia Benson: Noah. He's five.
- Aaron Householder: I bet he... I bet he loves baseball. I bet he and his dad go to the park and play catch. See? Drew is going to love baseball. And we're... we're gonna go to Yankee Stadium. And why us? It's a one in ten million chance. What did we do wrong? You don't think that I'm a good father.
- Olivia Benson: I don't... I don't know you. The only thing that I have to go on is that you ran off with Drew.
- Aaron Householder: It's not against the law.
- Olivia Benson: It is if you kept him from his mother.
- Aaron Householder: She doesn't want him.
- Olivia Benson: I talked to Maggie, Aaron. And she... she wants him very much.
- Maggie Householder: It's not like I was going to hold a pillow over his mouth. The doctors have humane ways. We were waiting for a court order.
- Amanda Rollins: To kill your son.
- Maggie Householder: To end his suffering.
- Amanda Rollins: And you didn't think to tell us about any of this?
- Maggie Householder: I wanted you to find him.
- Amanda Rollins: [to Barba] I feel like I'm chasing my tail.
- Olivia Benson: Okay, any luck?
- Odafin Tutuola: All we know is he returned a rental car to Sheepshead Bay.
- Olivia Benson: Okay, so work backwards, looking for any calls he made to Sheepshead Bay.
- Odafin Tutuola: Already done. Nothing in the past month.
- Dominick Carisi Jr.: And he didn't check into any hotels or motels within a ten mile radius.
- Amanda Rollins: At least not using his own name.
- Dominick Carisi Jr.: Nothing in his office suggests that he wasn't coming back.
- Odafin Tutuola: Two weeks ago, he charged about six grand to a medical supply store.
- Olivia Benson: When did he rent the car?
- Odafin Tutuola: Two days ago.
- Olivia Benson: Okay, well, you can't just carry a ventilator onto a subway.
- Dominick Carisi Jr.: And the store doesn't open 'till 10:00 a.m.
- Olivia Benson: Okay, so track down the manager.
- Amanda Rollins: Yeah, he's in there. He's on the first floor, and he's not coming out.
- Olivia Benson: And what about the baby?
- Amanda Rollins: He says he's okay.
- Odafin Tutuola: At least he's talking.
- Amanda Rollins: It was hard to get him to even turn his cell on.
- Dominick Carisi Jr.: The back door's bolted.
- Olivia Benson: Get him on the phone.
- Odafin Tutuola: The neighbor says he's sure he saw Mr. Householder and the baby get into a blue Toyota around 12:30 yesterday.
- Maggie Householder: We don't have a car.
- Odafin Tutuola: I'll check the rental companies.