This chapter is a memory jog. We'll be getting to the story after this. Don't skip it unless you remember everything.
Addendum at time of publication: I didn't mean for this to become so long. But this is from the first chapter, all the way to the one where I left off.
Everything Changes is a story I came up with about Amanda hitting a very big roadblock. In this case, it's her family. The story was written before we knew much about the rest of the Rollinses besides Kim. I also don't remember what season it was, other than Amanda, Nick, and Carisi were new/newish. It also looks like this is post-Munch. I wrote this before we knew Amanda's mother's name, or that the Rollins kinfolk have money. Creative liberties were taken.
In this tale, Amanda's mother is called Bedelia Rollins, and she's just moved up to New York from Loganville. Her goal is to start a new life. But she also has a list of different reasons. The first is that she has been separated from her husband—Amanda's father, Odis Lee—for quite some time but has recently realized that there is more to life than staying in Loganville forever. Bedelia also left home because she had a baby girl by the name of Maggie Blue. She was born during the years that Amanda was away. Maggie Blue is three now. Bedelia also cut out of Loganville because she was massively pregnant. New York is her idea of a clean break.
Meanwhile, Amanda and Nick are together. They're even engaged, living together, and expecting twins. A few other things have happened with them. On the day that Bedelia went into labor with her son, Leon, she receives a text from Amanda's father. It specifically states that he and one other person will be up from Loganville in exactly one month to get Leon.
A month has since passed, and things are mayhem.
In one morning, Olivia arrives at the precinct early to discover something of a surprise—in the form of three children. The first is Zara Amaro. She has been left at the precinct, surrounded by an Army associate of her mother's. Maria isn't there because she has been assigned to a top-secret mission in Kandahar. She's already gone. The other two children are three-year-olds Lilyjoy and Rubyjane Rollins. They're Kim's daughters. It's revealed in a letter that Kim is definitely in town with Odis Lee, and she has officially surrendered the twins to Amanda because she can't afford them anymore. They also have special needs that require more care than what Kim can give them. So Amanda and Nick soon gain guardianship of both Rollins twins and Zara. They've become parents ahead of schedule.
Odis Lee strikes later that day by abducting Bedelia from her home. He also had the intention to get Leon, but misses the opportunity because he's with his nanny. As means to keep Bedelia out of the way, he stashes her at his room in the Lydia motel where he and Kim have been staying. Bedelia comes to after being knocked unconscious, and sees Kim in the room with her. Odis Lee is out. Kim tells her about the things she's done and seen since falling in with her father. On her own, Kim even confesses that she just wants to be good. So they escape together and work on getting back to the sixteenth precinct.
In the interim, the detectives figure out what's going on. They even find what room Bedelia and Kim had been in at the motel. While they're investigating, Odis Lee comes back from buying food for his wife and daughter; he had no idea that they left. The detectives capture him when he runs away.
Back at the precinct, Odis Lee doesn't say anything to give himself away, but their parade is rained on when by the one and only Lionel Granger. He has been hired to represent Odis Lee. When the detectives realize that they don't have any concrete proof to tie their visitor to wrongdoing, they have no choice but to let him walk out with Granger. No one is happy.
Meanwhile, Bedelia and Kim finally make it to the safety of the local hospital. Kim just isn't doing too well. She had been taking drugs earlier in the day, and is having major withdrawal issues—a lot of the substance is yet in her system. She also starts to convulse when her body overloads.
Bedelia is in the emergency room waiting area while Kim is being looked after. Then, of all the people in the world, she winds up sitting next to Casey Novak (it's a long story about why she's in the ER, but the short version is that she is not hurt). She sees Bedelia crying and comforts her. They also get to talking. Casey asks her if she knows Amanda because she sees the resemblance at once. When Bedelia confirms that she is Amanda's mother, and that she's looking for Olivia, Casey calls her. They haven't seen each other in three years. But Olivia is just relieved to hear that the Rollinses are safe that she forgives her about the time apart, and heads to to the hospital.
This whole time, Amanda and Alex, along with Nick's mother—Audrey—and all of the little kids are at a safe house in Harlem. It's a measure to keep them out of harm's way.
Kim eventually goes from the hospital to rehab.
When Alex, Amanda, Audrey, and the kids are later reunited with everyone else at the station-house. Bedelia seeks an audience with the sergeant. She has a few things she needs to get off her chest. Her most pressing concern is asking Olivia to look out for her children, should anything happen to her—she says she wouldn't put it past Odis Lee to try again with taking her to Loganville. Olivia promises to do what Bedelia asks of her.
Then the sergeant asks Bedelia if the name Lionel Granger means anything to her. Bedelia promptly asks if Odis Lee hired him to represent him, pro bono. Olivia says yes, and asks how she was able to guess this. Bedelia says it's because Granger is Odis Lee's half-brother.
This really surprises Olivia. But she and the others make a note of it.
The next day, Olivia and Amanda visit Kim at the hospital so they can get her version of events from the past twenty-four hours. Kim cooperates because she really wants to be good. She tells them everything.
Three days go by.
Bedelia and Maggie Blue are on a walk in Central Park with Frannie Mae. Everything is fine until they're surprised by Odis Lee appearing out of nowhere—he had been watching them from afar since their arrival at the park. He has no interest in Maggie Blue. He doesn't chase her when Bedelia urges her to run away with Frannie Mae. She obeys. And Odis Lee takes Bedelia off to a deeper part of The Ramble to have his way with her. He's so determined to 'do things right' that he's willing to go to any length to achieve his goal.
Maggie Blue and Frannie Mae are found by Fin and Melinda—who are already at the park, spending time together. They work out what's happened. Fin even finds Bedelia. She's been hurt and humiliated in the worst ways possible. Odis Lee is nowhere to be found.
When Bedelia is recovering in the hospital, she's visited by Olivia and Amanda. Audrey is also there, out of concern for her friend. All of them are blindsided when Tucker stops by for a visit. He questions Amanda's objectivity, but also asks Bedelia if she's seen her husband. She grows outraged and says the last time she saw her husband was when he was assaulting her in the park. When her blood pressure spikes, Olivia threatens to harm Tucker if he doesn't leave. So he does. Trevor Langan appears on the tail-end of this. He heard about what happened, via the grapevine. He wants to help however he can. In doing so, he offers to represent Bedelia pro bono, if the need arises. She agrees.
The detectives and the others work together to figure out the situation so far because Odis Lee is yet in the wind. During this time, they realize that Maggie Blue is the only person who can tell them anything. A major drawback is that she's gone into such deep shock from it all that she's gone totally mute. This is not resolved until the day after the epiphany, when Doctor George Huang has a conversation with her to see what's made her clam up. Maggie Blue finally unfreezes after drawing a picture of a river. She also starts humming the hymnal of 'Down To The River,' which Bedelia has sung to Maggie Blue before when she's been afraid. Bedelia is watching this interaction with Olivia and the others. She also recalls that she and Odis Lee were younger, they liked to hang out at a river near their trailer park in Loganville. So she suggests that they check for Odis Lee near the lake in Central Park. Maggie Blue returns to herself after this.
Odis Lee is definitely loose, and nobody has an exact idea of his location. He uses this 'down time' to visit Kim in rehab. It's a power move to show that he can get to her anywhere. He then reveals to her that he's moving in on his final act—orchestrating one last 'family reunion.' The man tells her because he knows that she'll be too freaked out to tell on him. He's gone as fast as he arrives.
Back at the precinct, Amanda finds Olivia in her office to tell her that there's a call on line one for her—from Kim. Alex also happens to be there because she had already been visiting. She listens with Olivia and Amanda to Kim telling them about the visitor she'd just received. When asked about where her father could have gone, Kim says she has no idea where that could be, but suggests that he could be somewhere along the water in Central Park.
Olivia, Amanda, and Alex then stop over at the media center to update Nick, Casey, Barba, who are already there. They just finish telling them what's going on when Casey gets a phone call. It's a woman called Hanakatoba—she is the fiancée of Casey's younger sister, Azalea. She's hurt and in trouble. Her call is to sat that Azalea was just jumped in Central Park by 'an angry white man with a southern accent.' Sound familiar? Casey leaves to go see her. George and Amanda tag along for good measure.
When they get to the hospital, they find Hanakatoba quickly in a curtained-off area of the emergency room. She's been beaten up very badly. Her left ankle is even broken. It takes a little while, but Hanakatoba tells the story. She and Azalea were going for an evening stroll in Central Park when a crazy-looking man pops out of the bushes. He yells at them for being too close to 'his part of the park.' Azalea is then held at gunpoint while Hanakatoba is forced to run away. Hanakatoba does, but trips on a tree root in the process and goes tumbling down a nearby hill in the dark. She is even able to identify that she saw Odis Lee when she's shown a picture of him.
Azalea gets away at some point and winds up at the hospital, but I don't think I've written how that happened. My bad.
Casey then leaves with Hanakatoba to a private room to wait on the rest of her family, as they're on the way there. Amanda and George leave to find Azalea. They do. She's a little different, and in the middle of an overstimulation meltdown. She comes down enough to undergo a rape kit and recount what happened. In due course. One important detail that Azalea recalls is that everything went down over by the park lake—namely on the side where The Plaza Hotel is visible. Another solid lead.
Even with all this, the trail for Odis Lee goes cold again.
Until four weeks later. On the night of August seventh.
Maggie Blue's birthday is in the morning, and Amanda and the rest of the squad are looking forward to going to her party. The activity is even going to be the first big thing that Bedelia has attempted since her assault. At the precinct, Amanda goes to check on Olivia before she leaves out for the night. Olivia tells her a secret: she's in the beginning weeks of an IVF pregnancy. Amanda is thrilled for her. She also agrees not to say anything when Olivia asks this of her.
Fast forward to later that night to Amanda's and Nick's house in Queens. It's late. Amanda gets up for a late snack. Frannie Mae follows her because that's her way.
Everything just goes wrong again.
Odis Lee has broken into the house. He's waiting for Amanda in her kitchen. Frannie Mae barks very loudly, waking everyone because she is very leery of this man. She's also two steps short of attack mode. Odis Lee is completely sober and has a gun. When the dog barks, he considers shooting her. Amanda begs for Frannie Mae's life. While this happens, Nick arrives in the kitchen with his own gun at the ready. He tries to talk Odis Lee down. It doesn't work, but the detectives do learn that he is only interested in leaving out with Amanda. He doesn't give them a choice. But he does allow Amanda to say a quick good-bye to Nick before he wrests her away into the night.
Flash back to a little earlier, to where Bedelia lives with Maggie Blue and Leon. All Bedelia wants is to get some sleep because she's been feeling very nauseous lately. And there's her daughter's birthday party in the morning. She eventually goes to bed after the kids fall asleep, but she's woken up quickly.
By Odis Lee.
He tells her again about his plan for relocating back to Loganville. When Bedelia freaks out, Odis Lee responds in turn by upping the ante. He announces on the fly that he is going to take Maggie Blue and Leon to be with Amanda. Then the two of them will head back down south promptly.
Before Bedelia can say anything, Maggie Blue chooses this moment to walk into the room. Her intention was to ask for help getting water. She freezes when she sees her parents and goes into hyper-vigilance mode because her hearing aids are out.
Odis Lee changes his mind when he sees Maggie Blue and takes her, instead, knocking Bedelia out. The others are gone when she comes to.
Bedelia runs to Leon's room. He's awake in his crib and unharmed. Bedelia calls 911 to report the break-in and the abduction, but she has to hang up in the middle of the exchange because she's back to feeling extremely nauseas. Only sooner had she done this, than she makes it to the toilet in time to vomit.
Local paramedics arrive. Fin, Carisi, and Melinda show up just behind them.
Carisi takes care of Leon for Bedelia, while Melinda cleans her up and checks her for any lasting trauma. Olivia arrives in the middle of Bedelia recounting her story. She even sits with her for comfort.
When things quiet a little, Melinda asks Bedelia if there's a possibility of her being pregnant because of her assault in the park. She mostly asks because looking off-color. But Bedelia says yes. In another room, Melinda uses a portable Doppler machine she has with her to perform an ultrasound on her friend. There is a baby in there. Bedelia is pregnant.
It's moments after this that Olivia receives the call about Amanda's predicament. Bedelia is overcome with despair and collapses.
At the park, Odis Lee marches Amanda and Maggie Blue from his truck to a restaurant. It has an abandoned apartment-type dwelling attached. Odis Lee has been staying there, and it's at this location that he leaves his oldest and youngest daughters. They're very startled to see that they have been locked in with Kim. She's the last person Amanda expects to find. And she's also been pretty beaten up.
While Amanda cares for her middle sister, Kim tells her that Odis Lee has collected them because last she knew, their father wants to use them as bait to draw their mother out. She also worried that she brought this all on herself. As means to distract Kim, Amanda introduces her to Maggie Blue. Both of them hit it off. Amanda also informs Kim about the Granger business, and promises to protect them. All three occupants of the apartment eventually fall asleep because there is nothing else to do.
Back at Bedelia's place, she's yet trying to digest everything that's happened. It's a lot.
She finally snaps out of it by asking if Nick, Audrey, and Alex are at the Rollins-Amaro house in Queens. Olivia says yes. She helps make arrangements for Bedelia and Leon to be brought out there.
In the middle of this moment, Bedelia suddenly wonders if anyone has heard from Kim. No one has. After she asks, Carisi informs them that he's just had a call from the precinct in the neighborhood where Kim's rehabilitation center is—they've informed him of her abduction.
Bedelia's response is to put up a steely wall. She tells her company that she has officially given up on Odis Lee, and if he goes to Rikers Island, she never wants to see him again. Bedelia also emphasizes that if her husband dies, it's her wish that the city cremates him. Nobody questions her. And she and Leon are finally chauffeured out to Queens by Carisi.
Olivia, Fin, and Melinda are the only ones left Bedelia's place. They lock up and head back to the precinct. Casey, Barba, George, and Trevor are waiting for them. Each of them just want to help.
They all try to think of how to go about a rescue mission, but the only solution Olivia can come up with is for Casey to call Donnelley or Petrovsky. They need help. Now it's just a matter of who responds first. Everyone watches Olivia then call to the rehabilitation center to ask them why it took so long to report Kim's abduction.
Nick leaves his house because he's restless, and wants to help search for Amanda, Kim, and Maggie Blue. It's midnight now.
Finally—
Amanda, Kim, and Maggie Blue are woken abruptly from sleep when they hear loud noises outside. Odis Lee is back. And he isn't alone.
A terrified female voice can be heard pleading with him to let the other person in her company go. Startled is the word again when Amanda recognizes who the other person is.
Before anyone can say anything, the door to their room is opened and someone is pushed inside. Odis Lee is blocking the only way out. There is no place for the newcomer to go.
Amanda finally shines her lamp on this person to see who it is: Azalea Novak.
It should be noted that Casey and Barba are in a serious relationship. They don't keep things on the down-low, but Casey hasn't been around the SVU in a good long while. And then Barba isn't the type to share personal information about himself. So it's a surprise when everyone finds out about them, but it's a bigger surprise when they see that Casey is massively pregnant. She's expecting a baby girl already named Mía. Presently in the story, she's due to arrive any day.
Fin and Melinda are also together. They're more on the down-low because he's helping her recover from a bad divorce. Olivia is the only one who knows because she's only just gotten them to fess up. Now she's keeping their secret.
And those are all the notes and memory-jogging tidbits I can think to put for now. Everything here has already happened. I can't change them. This fic is already a couple of years old. If you think it's dumb, then I'm impressed you made it all the way here. Please don't waste my time (or yours) with reviews about this being ridiculous. I was in my early twenties when I created this fic universe. And I wasn't that good at dramatic storytelling yet. This tale is for readers who are still interested.
If you are one those people, then welcome back!
The next installment will be up shortly ;)