Disclaimer: I do not SVU. That would be pretty epic though.

Twelve-year-old Sarah Harris was jolted awake by the sound of the doorbell. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she sat up on the couch and looked at the digital clock on the table across from her. Who in the hell was ringing the doorbell at 3:30 in the morning?

She sighed, too tired to seriously ponder the question, instead figuring she'd find out soon enough. She flung off the blanket that she'd haphazardly strung across herself while mindlessly falling asleep to a rerun of some random soap opera. Groggily she made her way across the room, squinting and occasionally having to touch a table or wall to keep herself from falling over, unsteady on her feet from being suddenly and unexpectedly awakened.

She latched the door from the inside, as one might do in a hotel or an apartment, and even though she, Alicia, and Leah lived in a small house, Alicia insisted on installing one. Sarah had rolled her eyes when Alicia fretted over getting one, but she was suddenly grateful for it now. The thought of being the oldest one home, opening a door to God knows who past three o'clock in the morning swiftly hit her, and she was now feeling a bit uncertain.

They didn't live in the ghetto by any means, but it definitely wasn't the best neighborhood either. What was she going to do if it was some creepy, scary criminal outside her house? She obviously was going to be useless in self-defense considering she was quite small for her age. And there was no way she would be able to protect Leah too. And what if there was more than one of them? She had no chance against one let alone two huge, frightening maniacs.

She told herself to stop being so paranoid. She always made fun of Alicia for being unreasonably overcautious. She couldn't be hypocritical and overanalyze and be suspicious of everything.

Sarah forced herself to regain a sense of courage and cracked the door, albeit tentatively and not before checking the chain's strength a few more times.

She peered outside, and was met with the sight of two people standing on her porch. There was a petite blonde lady standing next to a rather large Hispanic man. She almost laughed at the stark contrast between the appearances of the two. The man looked harsh and muscular, like he should be in a motorcycle gang or at a wrestling match or something. And then there was the tiny woman, who looked like she belonged at a country club or the beach. And although she knew where they looked like they should be, she did not know why they were where they were: outside her house.

"Hello?" she inquired, immediately cursing how weak her voice sounded. She decided to blame it on just being asleep and still adjusting to consciousness.

"Hi, darling. Sorry to wake you. I'm Detective Rollins, and this is Detective Tutuola," the blonde lady said, her voice tinted with a soft southern accent.

Sarah nodded. "Okay. Why, um, what are you doing here?" she inquired.

"Your sister Alicia just sent us here to check on you."

"Why, where is she, is she all right?" Sarah said, not even bothering to hide her panic this time. She could feel her heart drop to her stomach and its beats vibrate in her throat and pounding in her head.

Sensing her alarm, Rollins quickly reassured her. "She's fine, she's fine. She's just gotten herself into a little bit of trouble," she said with a regretful smile.

"What kind of trouble? What do you mean?" Sarah asked, still frantic.

"I'll tell you. Do you mind if we come in? It might take awhile," Rollins asked.

"Yeah, sure. Sorry for being rude, I-" she stumbled over her words, overwhelmed at everything that was happening. She tried yanking the door open to no avail. It kept getting stuck on something. It took her a few pulls before she remembered it was still latched. She bit her lip and gave the detectives a sheepish, embarrassed smile before undoing the lock and sliding the door open with ease.

"Thanks," Rollins said, stepping into the home. Fin followed behind her, nodding at Sarah as he stepped inside as well.

"Uh, Leah's in her room asleep," Sarah stated. She didn't exactly know why she felt the need to inform them of this, but nevertheless thought it would fill the void of awkward silence.

"Okay," Rollins smiled. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure, yeah, sorry about the mess," she said, grabbing the blanket off the couch and draping it across a dining room chair. She anxiously rushed to tidy up the coffee table, picking up the bowls filled with lone macaroni and cheese noodles and a few Cheerios remains swimming around in a shallow pool of skim milk. "You can go ahead and sit," she said as she walked into the kitchen to place the empty containers in the sink.

She turned to join them in the living room, pausing before she could get all the way out of the kitchen. This was so awkward. Here she was with two strangers; home alone except for her baby sister. Granted, they were cops, or so they said, but it was still weird. Apart from the fact that these were highly unusual circumstances, she was also feeling odd for more practical reasons. She didn't know the proper etiquette for this, and she didn't want them to think she was rude. So she did the only thing she could think of.

"Do you want something to drink? We have, um, let's see," she opened her fridge. They were rather lacking on drink variety. They'd finished the milk with dinner and Alicia didn't buy soda very often. "We have water and coffee and…that's about it unless you're in to Juicy Juice," they were always stocked with juice boxes because they were Leah's favorite.

"Got any grape?" Fin joked, talking for the first time.

Sarah let out a laugh. "Afraid not. Will apple or cranberry do?"

"I really had my heart set on grape. In that case, I'll just take a water," Fin winked.

"Water would be great, hon, if it's not too much trouble," Rollins added.

"Of course not, detectives," she said, taking out a few glasses and filling them with ice.

"You can call me Amanda," Rollins said, taking the glass of water. "And this is Fin."

"It's a little shorter than Tutuola," Fin said, taking a sip of water as well.

"So," Sarah started after each of them had put their water glasses on the coffee table. "My sister."

"Your sister," Amanda nodded, pursing her lips and looking over at Fin, hoping he would either take charge or give her some idea of how she should begin. "Well, tonight Alicia had-"

"Sarah!" a whiny voice cried out and interrupted Amanda's speech from the hall.

All three looked over to see a tiny, strawberry blonde, heavily freckled girl pouting and crossing her arms.

"What is it, Leah?" Sarah leaned forward to see her little sister stomping her way to where Sarah was sitting, unfazed by the presence of the two strangers.

"Sarah, I am very upset," she said seriously, her arms still crossed, her eyebrows lowered.

"Why are you very upset?" Sarah asked patiently, but obviously exasperated.

"My teddy bear is missing. You know that I cannot sleep without my teddy bear," she addressed this matter with a pressing tone.

"I am well aware of this, but I don't know how that's my fault or what you want me to do about it."

"I want you to give it back," she said as if this was obvious.

"Give it back? I didn't take it!" Sarah said defensively.

"Well I had it when I went to sleep and teddy didn't just walk away! He wouldn't do that to me! He loves me!"

"Well did you check around your bed? Maybe teddy fell down by accident."

Leah huffed. "Of course I checked around my bed. But he is not there, Sarah. Are you absolutely positive you didn't take him?"

"I am 100% certain that I did not steal teddy."

Leah moved her head to peer at Fin and Amanda. "What about you? You look rather suspicious."

"Leah! Don't be rude to our guests!" Sarah clasped a hand over Leah's mouth. "I'm really sorry. She's just tired, she's really usually not this much of a brat," she glared down at Leah.

Lean licked her hand.

"Ew, Leah, that is disgusting! I don't want your nasty tongue on my hand!"

"Well I don't want your nasty hand on my mouth either!" she cried.

Sarah sighed. "Okay, when I get done talking to the detectives, I'll help you find teddy, all right? Now will you please go back to bed?"

"I told you I can't sleep."

"You don't have to sleep; you just have to wait there."

"I want to wait with teddy."

Sarah put her head in her face. Why did Leah always have to be so irritating? Why couldn't she just mind her this one time? This was important and she was stuck.

"How about I help you try to find teddy? Would that be okay?" Fin asked.

Leah looked up at him skeptically, but surprisingly without fear. "What's your name?" she squinted.

"Fin," he stuck out his hand, and which Leah promptly gave a firm shake. "Amanda and I are detectives, so we're really good at finding things."

"I'm Leah. It'll be a pleasure doing business with you. If it's okay with my sister," she glanced over at Sarah. "Can he help me?"

"Sure. That would be great," she gave Fin a grateful smile and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on, Fin! Maybe if we find teddy we can even have a tea party with you and me and teddy and teddy's friend Mr. Piggy, and Mr. Piggy's wife Mrs. Kitty, and -" her voice trailed off as she dragged Fin into her room, leaving Amanda and Sarah alone on the couch.

"Well she's very…outgoing," Amanda said.

Sarah gave a chuckle. "Tell me about it. She's a lot to handle. It gets to be pretty exhausting sometimes."

"I know how that can be," Rollins replied, thinking about how Kim was always the loud one, the talkative one, the social one who liked to go out and meet new people. She was always shyer, more of a homebody.

"So…Alicia," Sarah started. "She was arrested, wasn't she?"

Amanda nodded slowly. "She was, but she won't be in jail for long. And my friend is with her. She's taking really, really good care of her." Amanda didn't want to go into detail about the arrest, and she wasn't even going to tell her about the attack. It would be too much, and it wasn't hers to share. Alicia would have to be the one to tell her that.

"I know what it was for," Sarah looked down at her hands.

"What do you mean?" Amanda asked.

"She was arrested for…you know…bad stuff. Right?" Sarah said, her face blushing a deep red. She couldn't bring herself to say the word to this unfamiliar person. "Sex stuff," she practically whispered.

"Yeah," Amanda nodded casually, trying to relax her. She could tell the poor girl felt awkward. "Prostitution is the official term." She didn't see the point in holding back. The girl obviously knew what was going on, and it was better she heard the truth than creating situations in her head.

Sarah nodded. "I've known for awhile."

"How?" Amanda inquired. She seriously doubted Alicia knew about Sarah knowing. Though she'd never formally met the girl, from the little she'd heard about her, she didn't think that would be something she felt comfortable doing or sharing.

"Oh you know, I kind of just put everything together. I saw her in some of the clothes she wears when she comes late and she thinks I'm sleeping. She has a lot of makeup hidden under her sink. It all just kind of came together one time."

They sat in silence for awhile. Sarah kicked her feet while Amanda chewed on some of the ice left over in her cup.

"I think I know why she makes me do what I do now," Sarah said breaking the pause in conversation.

"Do what?" Amanda said with a hint of concern, wondering if Sarah had to do things if they were running low on cash.

"She's always really tough on me about school and stuff. And she never lets me wear any cool clothes or go out late. I think it's just because she don't want me to have to do what she does. I think it's because she's protecting me. Don't you think?"

She looked up at Amanda. She was asking a simple question, but her eyes were asking more. She was desperately seeking some answers about her life. She knew so much, too much for a girl her age, but yet she knew so little. So much of her life and who and what she lived with was still a mystery. It was all way over her head.

"I think you're right. I think you have a really great older sister," Amanda said, suddenly getting a pang in her chest. She should have been more like this to Kim. Maybe if she would have, Kim could have turned out differently. Their relationship could have been different. Had she been selfish? Should she have taken more responsibility as an older sister? Did she let Kim down?

"I know what she did was wrong. And I know why you had to arrest her. But now you know how good she is and that she was just helping me, so can you get her out so she can come home now?" Sarah asked desperately.

"I wish I could, honey, but it doesn't really work that way. We'll help her though, I promise," she reassured.

"I should have done more to help," Sarah said guiltily. "I shouldn't have complained so much and done more and then she wouldn't be in jail."

"That's not true," Amanda said, awkwardly putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. She usually left it up to Olivia to be the touchy-feely one. It came more naturally to her than it did to Amanda.

"It is true. This is all my fault," Sarah pulled her knees up to her chest and reluctantly let a tear fall from guilt, exhaustion, and fear.

"Sweetheart, it's not your fault, okay? Don't cry. It'll be all right," Amanda tried soothing her with words, patting her back, sighing when it was making no impact.

"Come here," she said softly, clumsily wrapping her arms around the girl.

Sarah obeyed and sniffled, leaning in and allowing herself to be held by this stranger.

Amanda breathed a sigh of relief and loosened up her formerly stiff, awkward embrace. Maybe she wasn't so bad at this after all.

"Thanks," Sarah wiped a tear and gave Amanda a small smile.

"Anytime," Amanda replied. And she meant it. "Will you be okay by yourself the rest of the night?"

"I'll be fine."

"You sure? I could stay, I don't mind. And you have enough juice to last us all through the apocalypse."

"I'm sure," Sarah laughed.

"Okay then," she patted Sarah's knee before standing up. "I guess I'll go get Fin."

Sarah nodded and led them to Leah's room, peering in to see Leah clutching the long-lost stuffed teddy bear in her hand and Fin fast asleep in the chair next to her, "Goodnight Moon" open on his chest.

"On second thought, they're almost too precious to wake up. Mind if we have a slumber party?"

"Not at all," Sarah chuckled. "I'll get some blankets from the closet for you."

Amanda shook her head, an amused smile still on her face. If only she'd brought her camera to snap a picture of Fin in this rare form.

She turned off the light to the room and thought about how weird this night had been, how strange the situation had been.

And the strange feeling she was getting around Fin lately.

It was a foreign feeling to her.

And the idea both excited and terrified her.

That idea that she thought might be called love.

Sorry for such a long wait between updates. The end of junior year is hectic! Little break from the Alicia action to focus on her sisters and Amanda and Fin. Did you like the change of pace and setting? What'd you think of the ending? Let me know in a review! =)

Shout out to justliziam for being a rocking beta! Without her this chapter probably would have been practically unreadable.