"Mom," Amanda said, trying to get her mother's attention. "Mom, hey. You gotta talk to Kim. She's making a mistake."

She stared at her daughter incredulously. "She is? You're the one who had her arrested. And you used me to set up my own daughter. If you hadn't, she'd be safe, and sound, and out of town."

"If we hadn't found Kim, her pimp could've killed her," Amanda reasoned.

"What are you talking about? She handled that man just fine."

"No she didn't—"

"Kim," her mother interrupted, "Can take care of herself. This was about you."

"What are you taking about?"

"You chose your work over your family, just like you always have."

Amanda glanced away before saying, "Can we not do this now?"

"No, let's not do this at all," her mother said before turning and walking off.

"What do you mean? Huh?" Amanda asked.

"I'm sorry darling, I—I came up here to help you but it's quite clear you know what you're doing. I'd just be in the way."

"So what, you're—you're gonna leave?"

"I'll be back for you sister's trial, and maybe by then you will've finally learned the value of family."

Carisi, who had been standing to the side pretending he couldn't hear the painfully confrontational conversation between mother and daughter walked up and said, "She's leaving?"

"Yeah," Amanda said, exhaling deeply and moving towards the wall.

"Now?" he said.

"Yeah, um, she'll be back; I mean, she's a drama queen. Where do you think Kim gets it from?" She placed her hand on the wall. Her face and forehead were growing hot. She swayed, struggling to maintain her balance, and coughed, moving her hand to her head.

"Amanda," Liv said in a motherly tone while reaching her arm out to her, concern drawn across her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she responded.

"You sure?" Liv asked.

"Yeah," she said, beginning to walk away from the wall. She walked towards the others and then began to collapse. Liv grabbed her right arm and Carisi her left while Fin steadied her from the front.

"No, you're not," Carisi stated.

"We're taking you to the hospital," Fin said.

"I—" Amanda said before trailing off, allowing the others to balance her.

"Yeah, let's go, guys," Olivia said.

Fin drove like hell on the way to the hospital. It was a ten minute trip, with traffic twenty, tops, but he made it in five. He cut off at least three people.

In the back of the car, Olivia sat to Amanda's left and Carisi to her right, supporting her from either side. Everything after happened so quickly.

Someone wheeled Amanda inside. She was in one of the rooms. They were examining her. Extremely high blood pressure. The baby's heart rate was dropping. Fetal distress.

Then she was in a delivery room. A small ensemble of doctors and nurses were surrounding her. There was an IV in her arm, a paper wall in front of her stomach. An oxygen mask made it difficult to communicate. Emergency C-section.

Declan wasn't there. He had told her to call his number if she needed him, that'd he'd be on a plane in an hour. She needed him now. There was no way she could contact him.

Pressure on her abdomen. They had taken out her baby. She could barely move, let alone see him or her. She couldn't hear any crying. Amanda's hear rate monitor sped up. She tried to push herself up but was stopped by one of the nurses, who insisted she stay still as they closed the incision.

Outside, in the waiting room, Carisi paced back and forth. "What's taking so long?" He asked.

As if on cue, a too young-looking doctor with mop-like brown hair and freckles arrived. "You here for Amanda Rollins?" He said, looking at Sonny. "You the father?"

Fin, who had held the same grave look on his face for the past three hours, smirked.

"No, I'm not the father. Is she okay?"

"She's just had an emergency C-section."

"Doc, is she okay?" Carisi repeated.

"She's not conscious at the moment. C-sections, especially emergency C-sections, are particularly strenuous. We'll have to keep her here for about a week."

"But she's okay?" Carisi demanded again, his face turning a delicate shade of scarlet.

"She'll be fine, sir."

"And the baby?" Fin asked.

"She's a fighter. Five pounds, two ounces. Preemie; she'll have to be here for a bit longer than normal, just until we can ensure that she'll be okay."

"Can we see the baby?" Fin asked.

"You the father?" The doctor said. Carisi burst out laughing.

"Please, doc, he's closer to being Amanda's father." Fin couldn't decide who he wanted to glare at more.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I can't permit you to see her without permission from the mother or father. You're welcome to stay here until Miss Rollins wakes up."

"All right," Fin said, sitting back down. The doctor turned on his heel and walked back.

"How's about I go get us some coffee?" Carisi said. Fin nodded his ascent. The two men sat together in silence as the sun retreated. Of course, being Manhattan, the sky never darkened.

It was two hours after Carisi had gone to get coffee the first time when Fin broke the silence. "I'm surprised they haven't kicked us out," he said.

"Be careful. You'll jinx it. Look man, if you wanna go home, sleep a little, I got this. I'll stay here."

"Thanks man, but I'm good," Fin said. The sun rose as quickly as it had set. Fin and Carisi were groggy from having spent the night up.

After an eternity and a half, a nurse with curly red hair came to them and told them that Amanda could have visitors. Fin and Carisi practically ran to the room.

After sanitizing their hands, they entered to find their blonde colleague sitting up in bed, alone. She was clearly exhausted.

"Fin! Carisi! Are you guys wearing the same clothes as yesterday? Did you sleep here?"

"We didn't exactly sleep," Carisi laughed.

"How are you, Amanda?" Fin said.

"I'm okay," she said. "The doctor took Charlotte to do some tests." She seemed anxious.

"Charlotte, huh? That's a nice name, Amanda," Fin remarked.

"Yeah, congratulations, Amanda," Carisi said. She smiled at him.

"Guys?" She said, "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, whatever you need. You name it," Carisi said.

"Can you go find her and check up on her? I can't leave this room, and—and I—"

"We understand," Fin interrupted. "I'll do it. Carisi, stay here with her," he said, motioning to Amanda.

"You need anything, Amanda?" Carisi asked.

"Really, I'm fine. Does Liv know I had her?"

"We haven't called her, so I guess not," he said.

"I need to let her know," Amanda said. "Could you hand me my phone?" Carisi reached into her jacket which had been laid across the back of an armchair and retrieved it, then passed it to her. He could hear it ringing as she held it against her ear.

"Lieutenant?" She began. Olivia was at home, with Noah, who had just managed to spill apple juice all over the kitchen floor.

"Amanda! How are you? You okay?" She asked, placing her sticky toddler into a high chair so she could clean up his mess. Amanda smiled.

"It's a girl," she said, grinning ear-to-ear.

"You had the baby? Congratulations! Wait—weren't you only seven and a half, eight months? How is she?" Olivia asked without regard to the lack of an answer to her first question.

"Almost eight months. Doctor says she's small, but she'll be fine, that she can leave the hospital the same time I do."

"You have a name?" Olivia said, wringing out a juice-scented rag into the sink.

"Charlotte," she said. "Five pounds, two ounces."

"Can I come visit you? Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, come anytime you want," Amanda said. She hung up the phone. "Carisi? Can you go to my apartment and get my bag and the car seat from my room?"

"Yeah, no problem. I'll be back soon," he said, taking her keys. Ten minutes later, when Fin arrived, too young-looking doctor and blonde baby in-tow, Amanda said that she needed to nurse.

"I'll wait outside," Fin said without being asked to do so. Alone with her baby, Amanda called Declan and put the phone on speaker to free up her hand. Exceeding her hopes and expectations, he picked up.

"Amanda? You okay? You need me to come home?"

"Only if you want to meet your daughter," she smiled.

"I'll be on a plane in twenty minutes. It's about a twelve hour flight, though." She could hear shuffling on the other side of the line. He must have been packing or something like that. She didn't know whether to say anything else, so she said goodbye and hung up.

The day was hectic. Olivia arrived (without Noah, he wasn't old enough to come visit), and friends passed through. Despite the events of less than twenty-four hours before, Amanda longed for her mother.

Olivia was quick to catch on to Amanda's uncertainty about calling her mom.

"Amanda, if you want your mom here, call her. But whether or not she's here, you're not alone. You have us," she said.

"Thanks," she nodded. Finally, Carisi arrived with the car seat and bag.

"Sorry I took so long, Amanda, I noticed that the crib wasn't put together so I took care of it." Amanda was surprised and smiled greatly. She hadn't even remembered the crib.

"Thanks, Sonny," she said. "How'd you learn to put together a crib?"

"I did it for Bella before she had her baby," he said.

Amanda decided against calling her mother. By the end of the day, everyone she had wanted to see had dropped by. Except one. Sometime late that night, she was awoken by the sound of her phone buzzing.

"Declan?" she said.

"Amanda, I'm in the elevator right now. I'll be there in a minute."

"Stay on the phone," she said.

"Okay," he responded. "Is she asleep?"

"Finally," she said.

"I'm here to see Amanda Rollins," she heard him say.

"I'm sorry sir, visiting hours are from eight to eight," the receptionist said.

"I'm the father," he stated. "She's in there with my baby."

"Okay, in that case, her room is B340," the receptionist replied, taken aback. Murphy wasn't saying anything into the phone now. Amanda heard nothing on the phone. Moments later, there was a perfunctory knock at the door as the father of her child walked into the room.

Amanda had never seen Declan cry. But as he entered that hospital room and witnessed the gentle scene before him, the small, blond infant asleep on her mother's chest, tears ran down his face.

"Hello," he whispered. "I'm your daddy."