Sorry for the longer wait.

I had certain plans for this chapter, but again, things turned out differently.

Hope you like it.

"Oh, crap"

"Looks like you were right" Nick said and sat down on the couch, Frannie, who was happy about his visit, walked over to him and he patted her, keeping his eyes on Amanda.

"Yeah, this just makes everything more complicated" she raised her eyes from the file to Nick's "I have to talk to Mason"

She was about to reach the phone when, all of the sudden, it started buzzing. They both looked at it a little surprised.

"It's him" she let Nick know and answered "we need to talk" she told Mason and then listened while he spoke.

"Well?" Nick asked as she placed it on the couch next to her.

"He wants to meet up, has something to tell me" she got up.

"Can I go with you?"

She narrowed her eyes "no, Nick" moving closer to him she caressed his arm "I should have never accepted your offer to help me out, you said it yourself, what if Liv finds out? I don't want you to get into trouble for helping me"

"Don't worry about that" he reassured her but she shook her head.

"I promise to tell you everything, ok? But you can't get involved" the look on her face was very serious and Nick had no other option than to nod, even though he really wanted to go with her, or help in any way.

"Thank you" she gave him a quick kiss and hurried to take the file, her phone and jacket before walking out of the door.

Amanda met Mason not far from the spot Nick had seen them the other day. She got into his car and he drove away to a more secluded location.

"What did you want to talk about?" she wanted him to start.

"I followed your lead, about Vidaport" he said "and I've got something, they have one very interesting employee there, Joanna Collins, his mother"

"Eve's grandma?" Mason nodded "and? What did you find?"

"She's an accountant, been working there for years. I think you're right, something is going on there, I just started, but this could be the reason there are not many records in Collins' name, if they are running things through the company"

"And the smuggling? You think they are using it as a cover?"

"Vidaport is a real firm, it's legal, but it's a real possibility, we've got to look deeper"

"Well, I've got something to show you too" she handed him the file "check out who was first at the scene"

Mason read the first pages and looked at her "Roger Dives" he said "this is not what's in the database"

"Maybe he'd managed to delete it?" she suggested.

"Could be" he read it again.

"This is in no way a coincidence, he could have done something to the car and follow her, or change something at the scene so it would look like a suicide"

"I know" he nodded "I know"

"What are we going to do about him?"

"Right now" Mason looked at her "nothing, the priority is Collins"

"This has to be related, do you think they knew about you?"

"No way" there was no doubt in his voice "she wouldn't have told anyone, and we were always careful"

She wanted to comment on that but decided not to, he just got confirmation somebody killed his…girlfriend? Amanda wasn't exactly sure what they were.

"So what do you need from me now? Wait for Collins to call?" she asked.

"Right now yes, if he calls go talk to him, I doubt he suspects anything. In the meantime I'll be looking into Vidaport, I need more if we are going to make arrests"

"What about Haller? The guy I delivered that box to?"

"He works at the hospital they took Eve to" he replied.

"Should I state the obvious?" she chuckled.

"I know, too many coincidences are not a coincidence, but stick to the plan, I will let you know what's going on"

"Alright" she nodded.

When Amanda returned to her apartment Nick was trying to do something in the small kitchen.

"Hey" he tried to be casual, even though he wanted to know what Mason had told her.

"What are you doing?" she smiled as he struggled to open a jar of pickles.

"Thought I'd make some dinner, it's not going that bad, except for this" he placed the jar on the counter, giving up on it.

She walked towards him and opened the jar "it's the thought that counts" she moved to kiss him.

"So?" there was no need for him to elaborate, she knew exactly what he wanted to know and she shared with Nick the information Mason had given her.

"Basically you solved everything" he smiled "and he's going to get the reward"

Amanda shrugged and helped him put the food on the plates, it was just grilled cheese with some vegetables but Amanda didn't mind, she wasn't used to much better, unless it came in a take out box.

"So now you're just going to wait?" he went back to talking about the investigation once they sat down.

"I guess, he's gonna look into it, and see what he comes up with, I just hope it will be over soon" she looked down before raising her eyes to meet his "I feel like I'm stuck until it's done"

A few days later there were still no news from Mason, but there was plenty of work at Amanda's 'day job' as Nick referred to SVU. He wasn't thrilled to sit at his desk most of the time, and Benson didn't want him interrogating suspects while injured. Still, the cast turned out to be useful as they had a case where the victim was a young boy. The kid was reluctant to talk to any of the detectives, until he saw Nick and his arm.

They figured he felt less threatened by him because of the injury, and finally the boy had opened up and told Nick everything. It made Nick feel not as worthless as he's been feeling about work.

Being with Amanda was the best remedy for that worthlessness.

They got back to her apartment a little earlier than usual one day and spent half of the evening in her bed.

"You're kidding" he laughed at a story she just finished telling, about one of her first days in New York.

"It's not funny" she looked at him, smiling widely herself.

"No" he shook his head "I can't believe you got lost there"

"You're terrible" she moved so her eyes were just in front of his and Nick stopped laughing and smiled softly.

"I'm not gonna let you get lost again" he whispered and she kissed him. His hand reached to caress her cheek and she deepened the kiss.

Amanda's phone buzzed and she pulled away, a bit flustered by the interruption.

"Damn it" she mumbled moving away from him. Nick saw the look on her face get even more upset when she looked at the called ID.

"Yes" she answered and there was a long pause, Nick couldn't hear the person on the other line, but he had a very good guess.

"Alright, yes…I remember" she placed the phone back on the bedside table and it took her a few minutes to turn to him.

"I have to go" she looked at him but to his disappointment she didn't move closer, she got out of the bed and grabbed her clothes which were scattered on the floor.

"Ok" he slowly sat up straight and watched as she got dressed "you gonna be back soon?"

"I doubt it" she gave him a quick apologetic look "but you can stay here if you want, I'll leave you a key"

"I can take Frannie for a walk" he suggested.

"That would be much appreciated" she finished buttoning her blouse and walked over to him "thank you" she kissed him again.

"My pleasure" he said before she left.

Mason asked her to meet him at his apartment.

"What's going on?" Amanda asked the instant he opened the door.

"Come on in" he closed the door behind her.

"What's going on?" she repeated looking around. There were many carton boxes all over the place.

"These are all the files I could get my hands on" he explained "the company is having a tax inspection" he used air quotes saying the last two words.

"You think they won't suspect anything?" Amanda wasn't sure if Collins wouldn't find out about it.

"I hope not, a tax inspection isn't uncommon, and if his mother is good, which she seems to be, they have no reason to worry about it. But this why we have records going back more than six years. We don't have to look so far, but we need to find anything out of the ordinary. Any suspicious transfers, anything to do with the hospital Haller works at" Mason looked at her "hope you had no plans tonight"

"I guess sleeping is canceled" she took a deep breath before grabbing a box.

True to his word, Nick took Frannie for a walk and later spent the rest of the night at Amanda's place. He hadn't slept very well though, since almost every noise woke him up, he expected her to show up, but she never did.

There were no missed calls or text from her and Nick wasn't happy about that. He though it wouldn't be a good idea to show up at work late, especially if Amanda had plans to do the same. But he waited for the last minute he could before leaving.

To his surprise Amanda wasn't late. Nick saw her walk into the building when he was across the street and hurried after her.

"Hey" he managed to catch the elevator just a moment before the doors had closed.

"Sorry" she looked tired, they were alone, but there was no time to have a real conversation.

"You ok?" he asked and she nodded just as the doors opened.

"Later" she walked straight to the coffee pot to pour herself some.

Nick tried hard not to throw glances at her throughout the day, she tried to act like everything was normal, but he could tell she was tired, probably didn't get any sleep.

They had a moment alone when Fin was at Olivia's office so Nick walked over to Amanda and asked her what was happening.

"Not now" she didn't look up.

"Come on" he tried again "I get you can't tell me everything, but I can see something is going on"

"I will tell you everything" she turned to look at Benson's office; the door was still closed "but not now, ok?"

"Fine" Nick raised his hand in surrender.

She gave him a little smile, just to reassure him she was fine, they couldn't talk about it at the station.

Hours later they were back at Amanda's place again.

"Well?" he asked as Frannie happily greeted her.

"God, you're impatient" she smiled at him and nodded in agreement, he sure was.

"You were gone the entire night and didn't call" he tried to justify himself.

"I know, I couldn't do that, but don't worry" she sat down and he joined her I went to Mason's place" she started.

They started going through the boxes. There were many files and many documents, various money transfers, medical equipment shipments details.

Since neither Mason nor Amanda had known exactly what they were looking for, they had to look at everything very carefully. Their 'suspicious' pile was growing fast.

But then Amanda remembered something.

"The MRI machine" she said and elaborated because Mason gave her a confused look "I've told you about it, Collins donated an MRI machine to the hospital, let's see what they have about it"

"You are a genius" he said and knowing what they were looking for, they had managed to find it faster.

After that things got easier. They crossed referenced information and found another company,

.Health. That was the company the MRI machine was purchased from. But Mason tried to look them up in his database, and there wasn't much. It appeared to be a straw company.

"This could be his way of smuggling things in, but also a good way to launder the money" he said "I will have to look into them tomorrow. I guess he's using to buy the equipment, and then he brings his merchandise inside of it, and donates, maybe even sells it to hospitals using Vidaport"

"Probably with the help of his mother" Amanda added.

Mason stood up and looked out of the window to the dark street outside. Could this be it? Finally?

"What now?" Amanda asked after a while.

"We have to finish going through the rest" he turned to her "but now I'm taking them down"

"And I just wait?"

"Yes" Mason nodded "if everything goes right, this is the last thing I'm going to ask of you" he pointed at the remaining boxes "if he calls, don't even answer"

Two days later there were no news, not even rumors, nothing.

But Amanda did as she was told, waited. Collins didn't call, so at least she didn't have to deal with him.

"I'm going out to get some food" Nick said. They were at the squad room, waiting for results for a case.

"Mind if I join?" Amanda tried to sound casual "I could use a break, want anything Fin?"

"Bring me something good" Fin answered and Nick had to wonder if he suspected anything. It was getting harder to hide their relationship, control their expressions, their tone of voice, not to stand too close to each other. Not that they were going to make out in the middle of the squad room, or anywhere else at the station as it was very unprofessional. But he was afraid to even smile at her sometimes, just so no one could read his emotions.

They got Chinese and walked back to the station a little slower than they should have.

"My mom made more of that chicken you like" he let her know.

"So your place then?" she smiled at him.

They were about to walk into the precinct when somebody called Amanda.

"Detective Rollins" they both turned to see Collins.