Atlanta, Georgia 8:44PM
It had been a long day for the whole squad. Fin and Amaro still stationed in Manhattan working the case from afar, while Rollins and Olivia had been urgently sent to Georgia to follow a strong lead in the case they were working of multiple teenagers being attacked while walking to and from school. Somehow the perp managed to get from New York to Georgia in a matter of hours. Luckily they had alerted all other precincts across the country due to the brutality of the assaults, which led to Atlanta Police Department alerting Manhattan SVU about the identical MO of their most recent attack on a young girl, which ultimately led to Olivia and Rollins shipping off to Atlanta on the first available plane.
Olivia and Amanda walked down the hall of the hotel they had chosen to stay at, neither of them saying a word, disgusted from the day's events. This job never got any easier, no matter how long or how many stories you heard. It continually got harder and harder to deal and cope with.
"Goodnight, take care of yourself," Olivia said to Amanda, as they stepped off the elevator and headed opposite directions down each hall. Atlanta had a convention for information technology going on, so the hotel was booked up and they could not get adjoining rooms.
Amanda smiled back at Olivia, pain evident in her eyes. It had been a long case and Olivia knew Georgia was not one of her favorite places to be. She felt bad dragging her along here, but she knew how deep into this case Amanda was, and how that would make her be able to connect and identify with the victims more. And it worked. The victim had opened up to Amanda, agreed to the rape kit, gave her statement and even had identified the perp in a lineup. They got him. The victory, however, didn't feel so big to Amanda after listening to multiple young girls accounts and experiences dealing with this criminal. If only she had got to him sooner.
Amanda walked to her room down the shady hallway. You could hear people laughing and talking in the far distant behind closed doors. If they only knew, Amanda thought to herself. She needed to get to her room, have a drink and unwind. Oh, how she would love to go to the casino right now. Her old stomping grounds. But, no – she simply couldn't and wouldn't.
She put the key card into the door and entered a dark, quiet room. Finally, she thought. She searched for the lights on the wall as she let her bag slip off her shoulder onto the floor.
That's when she heard the chuckle and the presence of somebody moving up against her. She searched for the lights frantically. "Who's there?"
It was too late.
She tried to reach for her gun but he grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her back, taping them together. She let out a moan, and struggled to get whoever this person was away from her. To no avail, he overpowered her as she fell to the floor, no arms to break her fall. A small light flicked on, and it lit up the room just enough to see his face. How could she have been so stupid?
The man, tall with dark hair, stood over her. Face grinning. He reached to the back of his pants and pulled out a gun and pointed it down at her.
"Don't make a sound, Amanda," he said, with the gun fixed on her.
Sam Reynolds. Captain Sam Reynolds.
Amanda's thoughts raced - how was she going to get away from him? A gun?
First Patton, now Reynolds.
He kneeled down to her level, caressing her jaw line, and then tipping her chin up so she looked straight into his eyes.
"I don't like a fight," he said, as he raised the gun and bashed it against her head.
Everything went dark.
…
The pain in her head coursed through her whole body, god – what had happened? She couldn't find the strength to open her eyes, her body felt like it was on a rollercoaster. She felt like she was suffocating. The pain spread through her body like wildfire. That's when she remembered Sam's face. She struggled to open her eyes, to become more aware of her surroundings. That's when she heard the grunting, the moaning. She felt sick to her stomach. She started to feel the assault on her body as she came too. She opened her eyes to find him on top of her, naked. Goosebumps and shivers went through her whole body. Not again. She prayed Olivia would come knock on the door, or anyone for that matter. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Stomach bile rose in her throat.
Sam noticed her eyes open, which was evident. And with that, he reached to the side, grabbing the gun, and knocked her out again with the butt of his gun. Just like that, it all slipped away, again. Maybe it was for the best.
…
The world came flooding back to her. Sounds, smells. Something was beeping. The alarm clock. Shit.
She moved her hand to her head, which was throbbing. That's when she realized her hands were bound free. Her eyes rushed open, to find nobody else in the room. Nobody on top of her. She was alone. He was gone.
She moved to sit up and the pain in her body made her curse. God, what happened? She knew all too well, from her brief moment of consciousness. She looked down to find herself naked, bruises starting to form along her arms and thighs. She couldn't do this again. No.
7:30AM the clock read. She pushed herself to the side of the bed gently, but didn't avoid the pain that plagued her body. She quickly found her pants, belt attached with gun and holster. Thank God he hadn't taken her weapon. She picked it up and quickly checked the bathroom and closet. No sign of Sam. She locked the door and slid down against it. The sobs racked her body, physically shaking her. She couldn't do this, fall apart, again. Nobody could know. Not again, not after last time when everything went down with Patton. They would look at her like she was nothing, weak, irrelevant. Probably because she was.
She pushed herself up off the hotel floor, and walked towards the shower. She turned it on as hot as it could go and stepped inside. Washing away any evidence left behind, and the remainder of her pride. Little bits of blood went down the drain, she didn't even know where it had come from, and frankly, she didn't really care anymore.
She got out of the shower, as the water ran cold. Dried her hair, applied make up and pulled her hair over the slightly visible bruise on her forehead. God, I hope nobody notices. Her phone rang, which made her jump. She found it in her jacket pocket, which was thrown across the floor. It made her cringe.
Her phone lit up, 'OLIVIA'. Oh god. Act normal.
"Hey," Amanda answered quickly, voice barely shaking.
"I'm heading down for breakfast – you coming? We're going to have to leave in less than an hour, flight is booked."
"I should actually finish packing," Amanda said, food was the last thing she wanted right now. The thought of it actually made her want to puke.
"Ok, meet you in the lobby in a half hour?"
Olivia sounded so confident, so calm. Jealousy grew inside of Amanda.
"Yeah."
Amanda rushed to get ready, hide any evidence of her injuries, both physical and mental. She stood in front of the mirror, prepping herself, trying to stop shaking and to act like she normally did. She grabbed her suitcase, and pulled it down the hallway to the elevator.
The elevator opened with a loud ding, which made Amanda almost jump out of her own skin. She stepped out, suitcase in tow. She searched for Olivia in the lobby, and also Sam's. She met Olivia's eyes. She wanted to cry, tell her everything. Suck it up, she thought. Not her problem. Yours.
"You ready?" Olivia asked her, as she got closer.
"I've never been more ready," Amanda said, regretting it as it slipped out of her mouth.
"Are you okay? You look tired," Olivia asked as she turned to look at the younger detective, as they both walked out the hotel doors.
Olivia hailed a cab.
"Yeah, just one of those nights," Amanda smiled. She wanted so badly to tell Olivia. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes; she looked up and tried to blink them away.
Olivia watched her younger detective, something was off. Very off. She passed it off as being in Georgia, no less, Atlanta, where that bastard had hurt her before. She wished Amanda would open up to her, talk to her, anything. But it never did happen, and probably never would.
They both got inside the cab, in the back seat, as they drove off towards the airport. It was a short drive. It had started down pouring with rain on the way there, so typical for Georgia.
Finally they got to the airport.
Olivia got out of the car and Amanda slightly struggled to get out, the pain evident in her face, which did not go unnoticed by Olivia.
It would only be a matter of hours before Amanda would be back home in her own apartment, and she could finally break down.
