I hope this will be better than my last attempt. Now I realize there are a lot of inconsistances, and little background at the moment on Georgia, but it's coming. If my spelling's bad, that's because I don't have spell check on here and I'm working on it. My grammer is not that bad. I try and if it doesn't work I'll catch it. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Georgia, Amanda and David Plummer. Everything else is Dick Wolfs.
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It was Special Victims Unit turn to host the annual Christmas party and one lucky, read: unfortunate, detective got to play Santa. Of course that meant someone had to play Mrs. Claus. Since Lake was the new guy, he got to play Santa and his new partner, Georgia Davis, got to play Mrs. Claus.
"I'm gonna go insane in this thing." Georgia complained, adjusting her wig and dress.
"How do you think I feel? I'm going to lose hair when I get this duct tape off." he said, Georgia grinned.
"I could help you get that tape off." she offered, Chester turned his head up to look at her and saw she was teasing him.
"No thank you, I'd like to keep my skin intact." he said as John and Fin, wearing fake elf ears and those funny green hats, herded the first group of children over.
"What would you like for christmas?" Chester asked, pitching his voice deep, trying to make it sound happy and jolly. This continued for a while until a sad looking girl came up and sat on his knee. Chester repeated the question.
"I'd like my daddy to leave me alone for christmas." she said softly, deep green eyes tearing up. Georgia exchanged looks with Chester.
"What's your name, sweetheart?" Chester asked.
"Amanda." she whispered.
"Amanda, why don't you go with Detective Munch and wait with him, I have a friend that I think can help. Can you do that for me?" Georgia asked. Amanda nodded, gave Chester a quick hug and went with John.
"Stay here, I can get out of my costume faster." Georgia said, walking away. Chester kept playing Santa, but couldn't get Amanda off his mind.
---------------------Georgia and Amanda----------------------
Georgia was out of her costume and back in her dress uniform in record time. She carried her cover under her arm, walking with a determination that made most get out of her way. Georgia stopped just outside of the security office, where John and Amanda were sitting. Amanda watched her walk in apprehensively. Georgia recalled the few times when she baby-sat for her cousin's children.
"Hi, Amanda. My name's Georgia, Mrs. Claus sent me. I'm her friend." she said. Amanda relaxed slightly.
"Can you help me?" she asked. Georgia smiled at her.
"I can try." Georgia said. Amanda stood up from John's lap and walked over to the table. John flashed her a look that said 'Becareful'. She smiled confidently at him and walked over to the table, sitting across from Amanda. "Okay, I need you to be really brave for me, Amanda. I need you to tell me what happened." she said. Amanda sighed and began staring at the table.
"Daddy's in the Navy and he just came home last week. That's when it started." she said, Georgia smiled and nodded.
"That's good honey. Now what does Daddy do?" she asked John stood up and walked over to take another chair next to Georgia.
"He comes into my room and night. I pretend to be asleep, but he just shakes me awake. Then he..." she trailed off.
"What happens next, Amanda." Georgia prompted gently, moving to kneel next to the girl.
"He...takes his clothes off and then...takes mine off." she said and tears started to fall on the table. "He touches me where, Mo-, I'm only supposed to touch. Sometimes I start to cry and he slaps me if I do. His breath smells bad and he..." she stopped and the tears became a steady stream.
"Okay, that's enough, baby." Georgia said, rubbing Amanda's back. She whimpered and threw her arms around Georgia's neck, crying. "All right, it's okay, it's okay." she murmered, rocking her gently. John silently rose to go get Captain Cragen.
----------------------The Precienct-----------------------
"Where's Amanda?" Olivia asked. Georgia, who was rubbing her shoulder a bit ruefully, jerked her head up.
"The lounge, sleeping on the couch. Captain, this...person, is in the Navy." she said. "Amanda said that he just came back from a cruise."
"Makes sense. He gets back, doesn't want to wait for the wife to come home and uses the little girl instead." Elliot said, Georgia shook her head.
"I don't know. She said, and I quote, 'His breath smells bad'. That sound sober to you?" she asked. Elliot nodded.
"Well, it doesn't matter if he's the pope. Elliot, Olivia, you two go down to the Naval Base in Jersey and get a list of the ships that just came back to port, Georgia, Chester, talk to the party guests, they might have seen something. John, Fin, go look at the security tapes from the party, see if you can get a time of when Amanda came in." Cragen said. Georgia grinned at Elliot.
"I don't know Captain, sending a former Marine into a Naval Base? He might get the idea to start pounding on some squids." she said. Elliot gave her a grin that might be best described as cocky and shook his head.
"I don't eat sushi." he said as he and Olivia walked out. Cragen rolled his eyes and sat down at his desk.
-----------------------Lakehurst Naval Base-------------------------
Elliot got out of the car, closing the door behind him. Olivia got out and closed the door, locking it as she did.
"We're on a naval base, do you think the car'll get stolen?" he asked. Olivia shrugged.
"I suppose it's habit by now." she said. Elliot walked over to the door and held it open for Olivia.
"Thank you." she said, smiling. Elliot smiled back and followed her in.
-------------------Hilton Hotel security office----------------------
"How many people came this party?" John asked as he and Fin played the thirtieth tape.
"A hundred at least, coming and going." Fin replied. John sighed and made himself comfortable in his chair and spun it around. Fin rolled his eyes. "Why do you gotta do that?" he demanded testily.
"Because I'm bored." he said.
---------------House of Jordan and Michelle Drake-------------
"Hi, Detectives Lake and Davis, we'd like to talk to you about the party last night." Chester said, showing his badge as Georgia did the same thing. The man smiled at them and moved to the side to let them in. They nodded their thanks and walked in. Georgia shivered a bit.
"A little cold out there." she said. Jordan Drake nodded.
"It is. Would you like something to drink?" he offered.
"Oh, no thank you." Lake said as Michelle walked in.
"Did you see this girl coming into the party last night?" Georgia said, holding out a school picture of Amanda. Jordan took it and shook his head, but when it reached Michelle, bells went off.
"When I went back to the car for my purse, I'd forgotten it, I held the door open for her to come in. She thanked me and joined the line to Santa. Polite little thing, did something happen to her?" Michelle asked as Georgia pulled her notebook and pen.
"What time was that?" Chester asked, as Georgia had her pen poised.
"Oh, we'd just arrived, say...11:30." she said as Georgia wrote it down.
"A kid out that late?" Chester said as they left the brownstone. Georgia snorted.
"Like she'd stay home at night." Georgia retorted as she sat down in the driver's seat.
"True." Chester agreed.
-------------------Stationhouse---------------------
"Michelle Drake said she held the door open for Amanda around 11:30. That was shortly before she reached me in the line." Chester said. Georgia was upstairs in the lounge with Amanda, playing with and distracting her.
"Lakehurst said the only ship that just recently come in was a L.H.D. with a platoon of Marines. There was a...Pvt. David Plummer with a daughter named Amanda." Elliot said. Georgia was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Private? He's a marine?" Georgia said. "I was in marines." she said. Chester snorted while Elliot looked surprised.
"That explains a few things." Fin muttered.
"Didn't know you were in the Marines." he said. Georgia shrugged.
"I had a tour in Okinawa and got discharged as a Gunnery Sargent." she said. Elliot nodded and tossed off a quick salute.
"Gunny." he said. Georgia laughed.
"Thank you, Stf. Sargent. At ease." she said. Cragen tossed Elliot a confused look.
"By marine code, I can still call her Gunny." Elliot explained. Amanda came down, looking sleepy.
"Hey, what are you doing up?" Chester asked, pulling her onto his lap.
"Couldn't sleep." she said, leaning against him.
"Do we have a place for Amanda to stay?" Georgia asked Captain Cragen as Chester walked the little girl back upstairs.
"The half-way houses are all full and Social Services is swamped this time of year." Cragen said. "We can't find any aunts, uncles or grandparents." Cragen continued as he sat down.
"I can take her overnight." Chester volunteered as he walked in. Cragen leaned back in his chair and regarded the two.
"Captain?" Georgia asked, regarding his assessing look nervously.
"I think it'd be a good idea for someone to move in with someone." Cragen said after few moments of silence. Georgia blinked.
"Beg pardon?" Chester asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"You heard me. This girl needs protection and with her father being a marine, she needs the expertise of a former marine." Cragen said. Georgia shook her head.
"Then let Elliot take her over night. I care about what happens to Amanda, but I don't have enough usable rooms in my house to have let her stay overnight." Georgia protested as she closed the door leading to the squad room.
"Then you'll have to move in with Chester." Cragen said. Georgia rolled her eyes.
"He's probably got an apartment. Captain, I've got my dog to think about." Georgia said, leaning against the wall. Chester cleared his throat.
"Actually, I've got a brown stone with a large backyard and I was thinking of getting a dog anyway." he said, shrugging. Cragen nodded.
"Good, then it's settled." he said, throwing a hard look Georgia's way.
"I hope you like Labrador's, Chester. You're gonna get real friendly with one real quick." Georgia said, opened the door and walked out, swearing under her breath. Chester sighed and followed her out.
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TBC
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Please R&R!