As promised, here is my new Rollaro. This story picks up with the detectives returned to work the Monday following their weekend in the Catskills. Sorry for taking so long, I hope I'm able to update quickly. Please let me know what you think or any ideas you may have.
I own zip, zero of these characters. And, once again, sadly I do not own Danny Pino either.
Amanda sat at her desk checking her weekend emails and drinking her coffee in big gulps, she needed as much caffeine as her body could take. She and Nick stayed up late; he left around 4am, so she managed about 2 hours of sleep. She looked over at him and he was full of energy talking basketball with Fin. How could he not be tired? I hate his energy level. She thought to herself.
"Well aren't you a bowl of cherries this morning?" Liv teased her. Looking over her overall appearance Liv continued to tease, "You look like hell!"
"It was a long weekend. I'm sorry but I can assure you my personal life will not affect my work anymore." Amanda stood up and began organizing the open files on her desk.
Liv ignored her response and turned to Nick, "How was the weekend getaway?"
Thoughts of Amanda's naked body enter his mind again. "Uhh…it was good." He met Amanda's eyes with a smile.
"Yeah, Sarge. It was a nice break, but the hangover was the shits!" Carisi threw in his two cents.
"Did you have a good time Amanda?" Liv asked with sincerity.
"Yeah, it was fun." She smiled awkwardly.
"Well good, I'm glad you all had fun because now it's time to get back to work. Let's see what comes in this morning." Liv left to her office.
Amanda dropped her head on her desk and blew out a heavy sigh. Liv was always so hard on her. She didn't like the tension between them.
"Amanda, are you okay?" Nick stopped in front of her desk and gently squeezed her arm.
"Yes, just tired." She smiled up at him.
He leaned down to her face and desperately wanted to kiss her but instead he said, "I'm sorry for keeping you up too late."
Liv walked out of her office, she took notice of her two young detectives, "Fin, Rollins head down to Mercy. I just got a call, we have an 18 year old vic, says she thinks she was raped. Go down get her statement and go from there."
"Got it." Fin grabbed his phone and keys. Amanda followed behind him.
"Nick you come with me to check out the scene. You drive."
Nick and Olivia had been in the alleyway where the apparent rape happened. The alley was so filthy it took CSU hours to go through it and determine what seemed like evidence and what was plain old trash. Nick rested his hip against the squad car and listened to Liv talk to Lucy about Noah. They were going over the details of a doctor's appointment the little guy was scheduled for.
"I am so not looking forward to this appointment." Liv exhaled loudly.
"Liv, don't worry. He'll be fine. The nurses are quick with the shots. We'll be in the waiting area longer than we'll be in the room!" Nick assured her.
"So does that mean you're coming?" Liv questioned with raised eyebrows.
"Of course. I meant what I said and that includes doctor visits. I am the more experienced parent here, so you would benefit from my expertise 100%." Nick teased her.
"You may be more experienced but you're still full of shit." She joked.
"Yeah, yeah." Nick playfully pushed her away from him.
"So…anything interesting happen this weekend with you guys?"
"What? No. Why?" He asked suspiciously.
"Aww something happened. You better tell me."
"Nothing happened. You can be so bossy AND nosey sometimes." He pretended to be interested in what CSU was doing.
"Single guys and single girls…c'mon Nick something had to have happened."
"Well what do you consider interesting?"
"Juicy gossip! Duh!" She laughed.
"I don't like gossiping, you know that." He gave her a serious look.
"You like being nosey so I know you know something." She pushed.
Nick took a second to consider what he could tell her, "My buddy Rick and Amanda's friend, Emily hooked up." He shrugged like that was all he had to offer.
"Tell me the details?" she said excitedly.
Nick gave her his manly, detail-less version of Rick and Emily's weekend and some of the activities the group did together. He purposely left out as much of Amanda as he could. He still wanted to talk to her about easing up Amanda but he figured he should wait a week or so, otherwise Liv would be suspicious.
Nick was happy to finally be home, it was late and he was tired. He realized her hadn't gotten much sleep in the past four days. He showered quickly, headed to bed, found a comfortable spot and flipped on the TV. His mind wondered towards Amanda, he felt like texting her but he was worried about coming off as too eager. They hadn't agreed to see each other outside of work again or even touched on the subject. Eventually he fell asleep with thoughts of Amanda and their weekend on his mind.
Meanwhile, Amanda was just getting home herself. The victim she had spoken to earlier was badly shaken up, Amanda stayed with her until she was released from the hospital, and the girl clearly needed someone for emotional support. Amanda knew providing comfort to victims was a part of the job but on this day she more than welcomed the distraction because it kept Nick off her mind. She was bummed they didn't have much time to see each other, she felt like calling him just to see what he was up to. Her energy level was in the negative but she wouldn't mind if he was here with her, holding her in his strong arms. For now, she was happy to cuddle with Frannie. She felt the need to talk to Nick; she wanted to know what it was that they were doing. Was it a fling or could it be something more? She hated not knowing and that was exactly the situation she was in. She, too, fell asleep with thoughts of Nick and the weekend they shared.
The next day, close to noon, Nick showed up to work with Noah and Liv in tow after Noah's appointment. Amanda had to admit to herself that she was a little jealous of how close and comfortable Nick seemed with Liv. In an outsiders eye the partners looked like a little family with baby and all. They brought lunch for the team, Amanda noticed how Nick carried the food, placed it on the table, the way Liv handed Noah to Nick and he accepted the baby into his arms and kissed his cheeks. Now that his hands were free, Liv took out the food from the bags and spread it across the table. Nick sat down and Liv placed a plate of food in front of him, prepared a plate for herself, took Noah from Nick's arms and then sat down to eat. It irked Amanda how all of that seemed so natural to them. She was jealous…
"Rollins, I heard you liked to eat salchicha. I brought you a big one…" he winked at her. Fin laughed while Liv wacked Nick on the arm.
"Nick, don't talk to her like that." Liv said with some shock in her voice. Liv knew her partner to be more business and less play at work, so a joke like that, directed at Amanda, of all people, seemed out of the norm.
"You know, it's funny that you chose hot dogs for lunch because I've been craving a big one." She looked at him through her bangs.
Nick smiled at her, she looked cute when she blushed. "Well I got one for you…" he handed her a hot dog.
Liv looked from one detective to the other, "Is there something I should know about?"
"Nope." Nick quickly answered as he handed a Noah a french fry to chew on.
"Okay…just asking. Playful banter is not something you two usually do…" Liv kept looking from one detective to the other, looking for signs of something that could be going on.
"Liv, chill, Amanda and I had time over the weekend to bury the hatchet. You should be happy we aren't going rounds right now."
"So how did the little guy's appointment go?" Fin smoothly changed the subject as all detectives were comfortable with Noah being the conversation topic.
After lunch, Liv went home with Noah. She decided to take the rest of the day off when she noticed he started developing a fever like the doctor said he might. Once she was gone the team got right back to work. Fin and Amanda had been productive in the morning with the leads they uncovered from the evidence. They picked up the suspect, Barry Bryce, at his apartment, when he saw the detectives at his door he immediately began to cry. Fin figured he would cave and admit what he did. He and Amanda decided to let Barry sit while they had lunch, then Fin and Nick headed to the interrogation room to question him about the previous night.
Barry's confession took longer than the two men expected. Barry felt the need to explain himself, tell his story and cry endlessly. He wanted to apologize to Sue, the girl he raped; he wanted her to know it was an accident-something that he didn't mean. After allowing him to write a letter of apology the guys sent him up to central booking.
It was close to 6pm by the time they were free to start paperwork. "Hey Nick, I'll do my paper pushin' tomorrow. I promised Melinda I would make it home early tonight."
"Alright, have a good night." Nick waved him off. He walked down the precinct hall and pushed his way into the cribs, he was surprised to see Amanda in there. He thought she had left hours ago. He stood there for a few moments watching her tie her hair into a ponytail, he took in her gorgeous figure, her purple top clung nicely to her curves and her slacks hugged her hips and thighs perfectly. While he was admiring her backside Amanda had turned her head back and was watching Nick, she knew he was checking her out. She cleared her throat and Nick immediately brought his eyes up to hers, she noticed how cute he looked when he blushed.
Nick stood there a moment after Amanda had caught him looking at her ass, he briefly considered making up an excuse but decided differently, "Hey…I'm sorry." He walked closer to her, pushing her against the lockers, and placed a hand on her hip, "I just couldn't help myself."
Amanda backed up into the lockers, "You couldn't, huh?"
"Nope. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you at all." He kept his eyes locked into hers.
Amanda twirled Nick's tie in her hand and tugged at it a little, she smiled at him.
He pushed his chest into hers, feeling her breath on his neck, and whispered close to her ear, "Can I take you home?"
Amanda badly wanted to say yes, but since seeing him interact with Liv and Noah the way he had, it put her off. Something in her gut didn't feel well about their situation. Their body language and their comfort in knowing each other's unspoken need. They seemed to just flow together. She felt hurt, let down, jealous, unlucky, crushed…
"Nick, Liv is probably waiting for you." She tried to escape from his hold but Nick held her firmly against the lockers.
"What?" Nick's mind had just spun.
"Go home to Liv and Noah, they're probably waiting for you." She had an accusatory tone.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
Amanda noticed Nick's expression was of complete confusion and disbelief.
"Nothing, Nick, Nothing." She pushed him firmly on the chest, he let her go from his grip, and she walked out.
Nick stood there in utter disbelief. What the hell was that? What did I do? He wondered to himself. By the time he grabbed his stuff and made it to his car Amanda was nowhere in sight.
