So what does happen when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
Time stands still, it freezes, until such a point that the reaction between the two forces can take place. Ultimately the unstoppable force always wins. Energy can neither be created or destroyed, only converted. Whether the immovable object moves or the energy contained within the unstoppable force crumples.
It's the equivalent to wrapping a speeding car around a stationary lamppost, or a flying bullet meeting its target.
BANG
The reverberations of a gunshot could be heard throughout the streets of Manhattan. The echo is the only thing Amanda Rollins can register over the searing pain that had caused her to slump against the standard police issue squad car before it had put her flat on her back in the middle of the road. Warm red liquid gushing from the hole in her body, soaking into her clothes.
She is sure she can hear panicked commotion and people screaming and shouting around her, none of it is really permeating her senses fully though.
The only thing Amanda is aware of is the ringing of a gunshot in her ears, the noise and the pain.
God the pain.
Amanda had always been an unstoppable force. In everything she had ever done, in her childhood, in the pursuit of her dreams at the academy, in her ambition to make detective. She has always been unstoppable. Sometimes even to a fault.
But right now, now she was bleeding out on the street from an equally unstoppable force, from a gunshot. One single bullet, straight into her body, her upper right quadrant.
Everything was beginning to fade around her. Amanda becomes acutely aware that this is how it ends. The deathly silence, the darkness. It's all beginning to take a hold of her.
How she had willed for the strength to be in this situation of her own volition on one too many occasions. Never quite having the balls to go through with it. Now though, now she didn't even need to think about that. This was it, this was the end.
"CALL A BUS." Olivia yells at the top of her lungs as she runs from the precinct doors gun drawn, desperately trying to get to her injured detective lying bleeding on the street.
After what feels like an eternity, an eternity of fighting through a mass of panicking people, Olivia reaches Amanda's side. The lieutenant kneels down beside the blonde, her gun dropped on the street beside her, applying as much pressure to the pouring bullet wound as she can. Desperate to stem the flow of blood, frantically trying to save the younger woman's life.
"Liv." Amanda mutters quietly. Barely able to make out the woman knelt over her. Her hands limply trying to grasp at her lieutenants arms.
It feels like deja vu for the seasoned SVU detective. She'd been in this situation before, some sixteen years ago. Alex Cabot had been shot on the sidewalk. The blonde haired, blue eyed woman, the gunshot wound, the blood, the overwhelming feelings for the squads Assistant District Attorney. Everything she had buried and forgotten a long time ago came rushing to the surface. The unwelcomed tears beginning to fall freely.
"Amanda, come on, stay with me." Olivia pleads through the salty liquid streaming down her face.
Nothing. Amanda had fallen unconscious.
"You can't die, you hear me? You can't." Olivia tells the now lifeless body beneath her hands.
She can feel the blondes heart beating, but it's strength is waning. It's weak, weak and crazily fast. Too fast. The unmistakable sound of sirens approaching from the distance giving the brunette the slightest slither of hope that they wouldn't be too late. That they would manage to save the woman Olivia had come to care so deeply about. Even if she had never admitted to that out loud.
"You can't leave me. I need you, Jesse needs you." Olivia begs the unconscious younger woman.
She had done this with Alex, she'd never told the attorney how she really felt about her until she had lead dying on the sidewalk. And when the doctors had told her that Alex had died, well, there was no way she could go through that again. The pain she had felt that day was unlike anything else she had ever experienced. But here she was, it was happening again.
You would think being a detective would make someone realise that life is short, too short. That it could all be taken away in an instant, but that never seemed to give Olivia the kick up the ass she required to effectively say 'fuck it' and go after what her heart wanted, what she wanted. Instead she'd spent her life married to the job, never fully giving in to her own desires. Closing herself off. Especially when it came to relationships.
"Come on Amanda. Hold on for me." Olivia continued to beg. Desperate for any kind of response from her detective.
The sirens were getting deafeningly louder, but everything else around her was eerily silent. The only thing Olivia could concentrate on was Amanda, Amanda and the sounds of the ambulance approaching.
There was no way in hell she could take the loss of another woman she cared about. Even if, in the end, Alex Cabot hadn't died, and had returned. Having the attorney ripped from her life had nearly destroyed the brunette. Nearly killed her. She couldn't live through that again. She didn't know how to, so she prayed. She prayed, applied pressure and tried to simply beg Amanda to just hold on a little longer.
Suddenly Olivia is being dragged from her position beside Amanda. Kicking and fighting to try to get back to the blonde. There was no way she was leaving her, not now, not like this.
"Liv, relax. Relax, it's me. Let the EMT's work." Fin tried to soothe, having appeared from nowhere. His own anxiety in full swing.
Softly he whispers meaningless words to his long time friend, holding her tightly whilst they both watched on helplessly as the EMT's worked on their friend and colleague.
Over the years, Fin had seen far too many of his partners get shot or shot and killed on the job. He was going out of his mind, worried, wanting to help Amanda anyway he could, but Liv needed him to be strong right now.
He had also been through the loss of Alexandra Cabot. In an entirely different way, but he had experienced it all the same. He hadn't been at the scene, but he had experienced the loss. The loss of a friend, a colleague. The pain everyone had felt over Alex's 'death' had been horrific. Especially Olivia. At the time he'd put it down to his colleague not being able to save the blonde, now though, he knew her better. Maybe even better than she would like.
The EMT's had covered Amanda's wound with a substantial amount of gauze, trying to stem the flow of blood to no avail. She was hooked up to the monitors, a large bore cannula also inserted, the signs were all bad. Her heart was hammering, her breathing shallow. Her skin was deathly pale, slick with a thin film of sweat.
Olivia and Fin watching on in silent horror as the medics prepared to transport the younger woman to the hospital. Undoubtedly she would need emergency surgery.
"Go, I'll follow." Fin told her as the stretcher Amanda was on was moved towards the vehicle.
Loading Amanda into the back of the ambulance, Olivia knew she was going with them anyway. Nothing was going to stop her, so she hopped into the back of the rig, taking the blondes hand between her blood stained hands and holding tightly.
With the sirens blaring, and the second EMT continuing to work on the blonde, the ambulance made its way at speed to the nearest hospital. Mercy General.
Olivia had noticed Amanda moving between semi-conscious and unconscious whilst she was lying on the street. That hadn't changed since the journey to Mercy began. The blonde had several times opened her eyes, unable to speak but clearly lucid enough to know it hurts since she was groaning in pain.
"What's that?" Olivia asked the medic just as he was about to inject something into Amanda's arm.
"Ketamine. It's better for us to put her out of any pain for now." He told the brunette, who nodded in acknowledgment of what he was saying. Her eyes hardly straying from the woman lying in front of her.
The instant the painkiller was into Amanda's blood, the heart monitor started to beep uncontrollably.
"Shit. MOVE." The EMT yelled both at Olivia to get out of the way and at the driver to hurry up.
"What's going on?" The driver asked.
"She's flatlining." The first EMT responded. Whilst starting CPR on the blonde.
Everything from that moment on was a blur for Olivia. The ambulance came to an abrupt halt, the rear doors flew open, a mass of doctors and nurses invading the confined space as she was pushed out of the way on to the street. Straight into Fins arms once more.
"What, what happened?" The older man asked stuttering.
Olivia stood there blankly staring at the rig.
"Liv?" He said trying to get her attention, with no response.
"Olivia?" Fin said more forcefully, seeming to snap the woman back to reality.
"Her heart, it stopped."
As is normal with anything I write... I have a vague plan, but it never goes to plan so we will see where this goes. Read and review, share your thoughts and enjoy the ride. Thanks :) x