A/N: Happy New Year/2021 Constant Readers! It's heeeeeeere! Not only did we survive 2020, you made it to the newest update. Woo! I hope everyone's holidays were wonderful. Mine were the busiest, and most exhausting I've had in years. For like 3 days after Boxing Day, my wife and I were so tired we slept like 12 hrs each day. Wowza. Like, I was whipped shit, y'all. I'm a bit more alive now, and just finished up the newest chapter. Thanks for hanging on, I hope you enjoy. Read and review., and thank you for all kind words, as always. See you soon!

Rating: T

Spoilers: None

Trigger warnings: weapons, death, hospital environment, medical treatment references

Recall

The blast of shotgun fire reverberated, in the air around them, in the walls of the cabin – even in the bones and teeth of the two women on the bed. Outside, in the forest of skeleton trees, winter animals skittered.

"Amanda!" Liv gasped, her hands skimming skin wildly as she finally filled her panicked lungs, "Are you hit?!"

Before Rollins could form an answer, the door to the room was kicked open violently, and everything became a cacophony of noise and movement again.

"Police! Drop the gun, drop the gun!" Carisi shouted, aiming at Rhoda, who was still standing over Vince. Her chest was heaving with anger, smoke still curling from the barrel-end.

Then her shoulders dropped, and she let go of the shotgun, letting it rattle heavily to the floor. "Don't worry," she said emptily, "he's dead, anyway." She said no more as Carisi slipped the handcuffs on her.

At the sound of the gun hitting the floor, Fin had immediately shrugged off his leather jacket and stridden to the bed, covering Olivia and Amanda, keeping his eyes cast down. "Get her outta here, Carisi!" he shouted, and then respectfully turned away from the bed. "You two a'ight?" he asked.

"Yes, Fin - we're ok," Liv answered.

"You need medical attention?"

"We can wait until we get to a hospital," she said, catching her breath. "Can you step out long enough for . . . ?" she trailed off purposefully.

"Yeah, sure thing." He left them alone with Vince, dead on the floor with a bullet hole in his head.

Olivia passed clothing up to Rollins from the floor, and the two women dressed slowly in silence. Amanda pulled on Fin's jacket over her sweater, giving Liv back hers, which she had been wearing for the last days. At last, they opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the world they had been locked out of, looking warily around them.

.

.

It was over an hour before the two women were escorted to the hospital that was on the highway, North of Adrian. By then, they had spoken with Adrian PD, summarized their ordeal to Fin and Carisi, and watched Vince's body get removed from the cabin. The property was swarming with crime scene analysts and detectives by then, the blue, red and white lights illuminating the snow in the dark of the long-past-sunset evening.

Doctors separated Liv from Amanda, sending her for tests, then focused on cleaning Liv up, checking stitches and asking the usual battery of questions.

"Well, whoever they are, they did a fine job on these," the doctor murmured, touching the stitches gingerly.

"She said she used to be a nurse. Maybe she worked around here? First name Rhoda?"

The doctor shook her head. "Not that I know of. You're dehydrated, and pretty exhausted, but you seem mostly well. We're keeping you overnight, for fluids and observation."

"Can you tell me, please, where to find Rollins?"

"Your partner was taken down for a head CT and some x-rays. She'll be here all night as well, so you can ask the nurse on duty in a while what room she'll be in," the doctor told her.

A nurse came, leading Olivia to her room for the night, then set her up with a saline IV. They gave her a paper cup of pills with ibuprofen, an antibiotic, and an Atavan, then made sure there were plenty of warm blankets for the bed. When the nurse left, Fin appeared in the doorway, hovering anticipatorily, hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Fin," Liv smiled faintly.

"What'd the doc say?" he asked, crossing to the foot of her bed.

"Oh, I'm fine," she dismissed with a chuckle, "just tired and cold."

"You scared the hell outta us, Liv. For real."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I really tried," she told him.

"Glad you're okay. Better get some sleep though," he smiled, pulling up some of the heavy blankets.

"Fin."

"Yeah?"

"I think he's our guy – our serial. I need you to check it out. Cross-check the victims, get DNA . . . "

"I'm on it, Liv. Don't worry, ok? Just rest up."

"Any word on Rollins?"

"Not yet. If I hear anything, you'll be the first to know."

Then she was too sleepy and warm to answer or argue, and she let her eyes close for long-overdue rest.

.

.

Olivia startled awake with her heart in her throat. The buzz of fluorescent lights and the intermittent beep of her IV settled over her, and she exhaled, taking a few deep breaths. A clock on the wall showed it was nearly 11:30 in the morning; she had slept nearly 12 hours. She threw off the blankets and sat up, letting her feet dangle to the floor. The deep ache in most of her muscles was a clear reminder that her body had been through the paces of too much adrenaline and not enough sleep, food or water.

Glancing around for her shoes, she thought only about finding Amanda. She was still searching when an orderly came in with a lunch tray.

"In a hurry to leave us?" she joked, sliding the tray onto the overbed table.

"No, I – " her stomach rumbled at the smell of lunch, "I'm just wondering what happened to my partner."

"The blonde?"

"Yes."

"She's in the ward in the opposite wing. Can't speak to her medical condition, but she's awake." Liv visibly relaxed a little. "Eat some lunch," the orderly urged, "and wait for the doc. She can let you know about you friend."

Olivia relented, and sat back down, pulling the cover from her tray. There was a bowl of beef and barley soup, some cold salads and fruit that Liv inhaled as she gave in to the fact that she was ravenous.

She was joined by the doctor moments after she pushed back the table with the empty tray.

The doctor took Liv's wrist and silently counted off her pulse. "Feeling any better?"

"Yes, thank you." She winced as the doctor touched her stitches. "Mm. Some more painkillers," the doctor murmured, "and another antibiotic. You should take it easy for a bit."

"How is Amanda?"

The doc scratched some notes into Liv's chart as she spoke: "Her CT scan showed some minor swelling in her prefrontal cortex – " the doctor tapped her forehead, "but no fracture. We gave her something to help reduce it, and help with any headaches. Like yourself, she's also exhausted, but she'll make a full recovery."

"What about the amnesia? Will she remember everything?" Liv blushed deeply as her mind immediately thought of Amanda's hand slipping inside her underwear.

"Some of the older memories could take six months or so, but she's already showing great improvement. We'll have you both discharged by end of day."

"Can I see her?"

"Of course."

She gave Olivia directions to Rollins' room in the opposite wing, and then left her alone again. A second search resulted in the shoes she had wanted, and Liv hurried out of the room with her IV pole in tow.

.

.

Knocking softly, Liv went into Rollins' room, and sure enough, there was the blonde: awake, a little pale, and sporting her own IV line.

"Hey!" Amanda drawled brightly, "I was wonderin' where you'd gotten to!"

"Not far," Liv smiled. She came to Amanda's bedside, searching her face intently. "The doctor said you're doing better."

"Yeah, that's what I hear," she chuckled. Her hands moved anxiously atop the blankets, expending nervous energy. After a quiet pause, Amanda looked down and said, "I'm sorry, Liv."

Liv's heart skipped a beat. "For what?" she husked out, her throat suddenly thick with too many emotions.

"For not being more helpful . . . for getting amnesia and making the situation even more dangerous." Rollins sighed. "For not being more careful, when I got out of the car?" she shrugged.

"Amanda, listen to me. You didn't do anything wrong; Vince was obviously very well-practiced, and I don't think it would have mattered which one of us got out of the car. All I care about is that you're going to be okay, and that Vince won't be able to hurt anyone else."

"Have you heard anything about Rhoda?"

Liv shook her head. "I told Fin to look into our serial rapist victims, though, and see if there are connections."

"You think Vince is our guy?"

"I have a feeling, yes." She glanced over to the food tray beside Amanda's bed. "Did you eat anything?"

The tired blonde wrinkled her nose, which made Liv grin. "Hospital food," she shuddered.

"If I promise to get you something better when we're discharged, do you think you could suffer down the fruit and the jello?"

The blue of Amanda's eyes sparked with amusement. "Something better like a burger?"

"Why not?" Olivia laughed.

"And salty, grease-soaked fries?"

"You earned it," Liv told her, going to the tray and pulling out the plastic container of fruit. She popped it open and stabbed a fork into a piece of pineapple. She held it out to Rollins', grinning. "Eat up."

Amanda snatched the fork, rolling her eyes, but ate the pineapple as agreed. Liv was transfixed by Amanda's mouth, drawing in the fruit, and the quick glimpse of pink tongue before she imagined the squirt of tart juice that would follow.

A quick blink, and she turned her focus back to the cup of fruit in her hand. Blushing, she held out the cup to Rollins, who met it across the stretch of the hospital bed. Their fingers brushed in the exchange, and Liv finally reminded herself to refill her lungs.

"You know . . . " Amanda said slowly, "now that my memory is coming back to me, I seem to recall that you promised me something." She speared the fork into a chunk of watermelon, keeping her eyes on the fruit as Olivia's stomach took a fall off of what felt like a trapeze rope.

Olivia opened her mouth to reply.

At the same time, Carisi strode through the hospital room doorway. "Rollins!" he said with a relieved smile. "You look better!" He didn't stop until his long legs collided soundlessly with the side of Amanda's bed. "Good to see you with an appetite."

Liv's mouth snapped shut, and she turned away from them both, long enough to smooth her hands over her wrinkled clothes and take a deep breath. She longed for a shower, and for resolution.

"Does anyone know what happened with Rhoda?" Liv asked, as Fin joined the room.

"Yeah," Carisi nodded. "She got discharged this morning, and the Adrian PD took her into custody for murder."

"Murder?" Liv echoed sharply, narrowing her gaze. "Carisi, it was self-defense; Vince obviously had her brainwashed."

"Vince?" Carisi was confused.

"Pelley," Fin cut in, trying to help.

"Oh. No, they didn't take her in for shooting that piece'a crap," he told her.

"You just said murder," Liv reminded him.

Carisi nodded. "Because that's not the only person Rhoda's killed."

TBC