A/N: First off, I'm glad that I am causing confusion in understanding Amanda's intentions. That is what I was trying to accomplish. Secondly, I am smiling devilishly while writing this chapter so I hope you like it as much as I do!
Olivia was woken up by the ring of her cell phone. With half-closed eyelids, she looked at the screen: 5 am. She made a grunting sound before answer the call with, "Benson," not even bothering to look at the caller id.
"Hi…um…I d-did something stupid," came a quiet confession. Olivia immediately sat up in her bed when she heard Amanda's voice on the other line.
Olivia raced into the spare bedroom and opened the door, "Amanda, what happened? Where are you?" she said after pulling back the blankets and seeing a row of pillows.
"Please d-don't be m-mad," Amanda started after hearing a commotion on the other end of the line.
Olivia sighed, "I'm not mad, Amanda, just concerned. Where are you?"
The line was quiet for a few seconds which made Olivia's heart beat faster before Amanda whimpered, "I n-need h-help. I can't…I'm sorry…um…"
"Just tell me where you are…please!" Olivia now scared for Amanda's safety.
Olivia's heart dropped with the words she heard next, "the roof."
Olivia only froze for a beat before quickly stepping out of the spare bedroom's window and climbing the fire escape stairs to the top, "I'm coming, sweetie, just stay where you are."
Out of breath, Olivia made it to the roof in record time. She scanned the area for any immediate dangers but only found Amanda, sitting on the opposite end of the building with the feet dangling over the edge.
Olivia walked up behind Amanda and spoke softly as to not startle her, "Amanda, it's Olivia, can you come away from the edge for me?"
With a shake of the head, Amanda started pleading, "I'm sorry…I didn't want this to happen…I…I l-let a g-girl…I'm a m-monster." Amanda put her hands over her face and was rocking back and forth to calm herself down.
Olivia went into protective mode, "Amanda, I'm worried you might fall. Can you back up towards me a little? Then you can tell me all about what has you so upset."
Finally recognizing what she was doing, Amanda stopped and looked at Olivia, "you'll find out soon. I'm sure you will get the call to investigate it."
Frowning slightly, Olivia continued, "we will deal with it when it happens. Now, can you come towards me a little, please?"
Amanda scooted herself away from the edge of the building, "I…I was j-just trying to th-think. I d-didn't mean…I'm not…I-"
"It's okay Amanda, it doesn't matter any more. How about we get you back inside?" Olivia said, interrupted the rambling of Amanda.
They both walked slowly back down to Olivia's apartment with Amanda resting herself slightly on Olivia as if she was too tired to even stand up alone. Once inside, Olivia sat Amanda down on the couch and wrapped a fluffy blanket around her.
Immediately, Amanda snuggled herself in as if she was trying to hide from the world. Noticing this, Olivia set a hand on Amanda's shoulder, "Amanda, can you tell me why you left my apartment?"
Instead of a verbal response, she simply handed over her phone so that Olivia could see the text message.
"Amanda, you should have shown me this last night. I understand that you needed to go see them. You didn't need to sneak out like some teenager," Olivia half-spoke-half-reprimanded.
Amanda simply lowered her head into the cocoon she had created, "sorry…I f-freaked."
Nodding in agreement, Olivia asked, "Can you tell me wha-"
Her cell phone ring interrupted her question and she quickly looked at Amanda before answering, "Benson," a moment of silence, "she said it was payment for gambling dues?" her eyes now pleaded with the blonde, "did she get a good look at her attackers?" more silence before her shoulders dropped, "okay, I'll be there soon."
After hanging up, Olivia looked at the blonde on her couch, "Amanda, I just got a call about an attack on the wife of a diplomat. Is this what has you so upset?" Amanda nodded.
Olivia continued, "do you know anything about what happened to her?" Amanda nodded.
Olivia asked, fearing the answer, "were you there?" Amanda nodded.
Swallowing, Olivia asked one more question, "can I trust that you will stay in my apartment while I go out to interview the victim and any witnesses?
Amanda looked up, "y-you're not g-going to lock me up? I-I thought you were going t-to put me in h-holding…I mean…I…god, I screwed up."
Olivia looked directly at Amanda, "remember the trust we were talking about earlier? Can I trust you to not leave this apartment?"
Amanda nodded, "can I trust you to not mention that you know anything about my involvement?"
Olivia looked confused, "what do you mean?"
"They have ears everywhere. Even in their victims. If they know that I told you something…" Amanda stated worriedly.
Concerned, Olivia thought for a moment, "how about we make this our first trust exercise. We both keep our ends of the deal, and the trust will start to grow from there.
Olivia entered the mansion-like house. She immediately saw a bunch of uniforms walking around looking for any evidence. Up a small flight of stairs was the victim, still being attended to by some EMTs.
Olivia walked up to her and showed her badge, "my name is Olivia Benson. I'm an SVU detective. Can you tell me what happened?"
"SVU?" asked the victim.
"Special Victims Unit. We deal with sexual assau-" Olivia started but was cut off.
Shaking her head wildly with her eyes very large, "nothing happened. No SVU. I didn't tell you anything. Please, don't tell him."
"Tell who?" Olivia asked confused.
Scoffing, the woman clarified, "tell Declan that I'm not pressing charges. I just want to go home. The debt is paid."
Realising she wasn't going to get anything else from her, Olivia turned to walk away. As she walked down the stairs she heard, "detective?" come from the victim.
Olivia looked up at the victim expectantly, "watch out for the blonde woman. Declan isn't as stupid as he looks. He's got her doing side jobs that she isn't even telling you about."
Remembering what Amanda told her, "what? No one is telling me anything."
Laughing the victim replied, "Declan may have assaulted me for the money my husband owes, but I was also a ruse to get you away from her. He knows that you know."
A/N: Ah ha ha ha…evil cliffhanger ending, I know! Next chapter will go into more detail of "the event" which I have changed around a bit from how it happened on the show.
