It was another Monday morning in New York. It was a week before Christmas and the weather was really cold. It's been over a year since Amanda moved in the big apple but she still haven't adjusted to the New York weather. The winter in Atlanta wasn't warm either but here in New York she was always dressed like an Eskimo and she would often reminisce the warm Georgia days. She entered the precinct wearing a brown coat and a colourful scarf. Her hair was loose and her cheeks and nose were red from the cold. Ever since Captain Harris suggested they should be dressed in business attire Amanda thought it would be a nice change of pace and so her style is less casual this year. Underneath her heavy coat she is dressed in an all-black women's suit and it fits her thin silhouette perfectly. As soon as she saw Fin she gave him a quick glance and a smile. "Hey, good morning! What's up?" . "Hey, nothing much. I think we are looking at a quiet shift today." "Good! We have a lot of paperwork to do and we need as much time as we can get," she said. "I 'm gonna make coffee, you want some?" She asked him. He looked at her and nodded! "Yeah I 'll have a cup of hot coffee. Why not?". He got comfortable in his chair and grabbed his pen getting ready to get to work.

This was his desk for over twelve years now and the special victims unit was his second home. Fin always tried to keep the profile of the tough male. He had the reputation of the bad boy and nobody would ever describe him as cute or soft. He was also known as a police officer with a strong personality and he was never enthusiastic when his captain assigned a new partner to him. He always had a complaint and usually he had no problem whatsoever to share his dissatisfaction with his superior. Everyone knew he preferred riding solo and he didn't do well with partners. The only partner that despite his peculiar personality and the obvious differences between them had managed to gain his acceptance, respect and ultimately his love was Munch, who was a sergeant now. The news that two young detectives would "invade" the svu squad didn't amuse Fin. He anxiously waited to see what kind of guy he would have to put up with and although he didn't want to admit it he loved Munch like a big brother. He did not want to spoil the recipe of a successful partnership. However, Munch was not available. Besides, he was getting too old to work long hours and especially outside the office. Fin had to deal with it and move on. Both he and Liv needed new partners and neither of them was thrilled. It was harder for Liv who was still recovering from the sudden departure of Elliot who was her partner for all these years. Elliot's shoes would be too big to fill and Fin felt so sorry for her loss. All they could do now was pray their new partners weren't gonna be a disaster. The day Amanda came into the department with that disarming smile and those flaming blue eyes and introduced herself to her new colleague is still stuck in Fin 's memory.

She was a skinny, milky white little lady, who looked more like a teacher or a nurse than a cop. She looked too young to be a detective and anyone would wonder if she could really handle this job. Fin was never the type of person to judge the book by its cover so he decided not to let her appearance cloud his judgement. Sooner or later she would show what she was all about. Since she was a little girl, she always managed to fool everyone with the seemingly innocent and cute looks of hers. Both back when she was a kid and now as an adult and a detective, she has always been dealing with misconceptions about her personality. She was accustomed to people seeing her as the rookie, sensitive baby girl and for that reason, she was very happy to find out that Fin, the African American middle-aged man with the rough face treated her like any ordinary male cop from day one.

Ultimately, this blondie proved to be pretty skilled and relatively experienced. Lot more than both him and everyone in the department expected. However, what had taken Fin by surprise was that Amanda didn't have all these annoying features of a typical woman. She was quiet and when she opened her mouth to speak she'd say exactly what was on her mind, without unnecessary mysteries or games. Fin never liked the enigmatic women neither in his personal life nor in his job. In addition, he considered his work his top priority and didn't appreciate any kind of distractions from disturbing females. That was the main reason why he was mostly single and was never interested in relationships that lasted longer than one night. It never crossed his mind that there were women out there who deserved more of his time and his devotion.

While he was daydreaming about all those changes that have happened this last year, he kept staring at Amanda. She spoke to him but he didn't reply so she realized that he was distracted by his thoughts .She grabbed the cups of coffee and she just stood before him, smiled at him and that cute wrinkle on her forehead appeared. "Hey you! Are you planning on returning to our world anytime soon?" She said to him with this deep sassy voice and took a small sip of her coffee. He snapped out of his thoughts and smirked at her, "I'm a big man , you can't scare me like that .You almost gave me a heart attack." His voice gave away his playful mood. He immediately smiled back at her and reached out for his cup of coffee. "Here you go. Black coffee, no milk, no sugar. Just the way you like it."

She sat at her desk and took a deep breath. They had a long day ahead of them. The phones have already started ringing and it wouldn't be long until they'd catch a case. Shortly afterwards Liv arrived at work bringing bad news. Apparently, another girl had become a victim of sexual abuse. Fin and Amanda gave each other a quick look and got up from their seats to follow Liv to the reception room, the place where they would meet the victims. It was less hostile and overwhelming than the interrogation room. There is a sofa and it is comfortable and relaxing to some extent. How can a shocked girl who has just experienced the most heinous assault and has lost her innocence with such a brutal way manage to relax anyway? Once Liv introduced the girl to the detectives, Amanda froze. "Erica?" She managed to say after the initial shock. "What are you doing here? What's going on?". "You know her?" Liv and Fin asked almost at the exact same time. Amanda was still in shock and after taking a big breath she replied, "Yes…yes I do".