Chapter 6: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Note: So I've actually finished writing this story. We are almost at the halfway point. There will be 14 chapters. - Jasmine

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One Week Later…

Precinct - Tuesday Afternoon

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"So how do you think it went?" Amanda asked as she walked into the precinct with Sonny and took a sip from her coffee.

"Better than I thought." Sonny admitted as he straightened his tie. "I definitely don't feel as overwhelmed by it all like I had been. Everythin' the speech pathologist suggested we incorporate and work on with Dominick is very manageable. I mean, it's mostly through play."

The two entered the elevator together and Sonny hit the floor to the squad room. "I also liked how he said that we'll eventually get to a new normal and this won't be somethin' that consumes our daily thoughts."

Amanda nodded. "It'll just take a little time. But we're getting there."

Once the elevator doors opened and the couple made their way into the squad room, they were both surprised to see Hadid chatting with Liv inside her office. Liv, who had noticed them walk in, motioned for the two to join them.

"What's going on?" Sonny asked a little worriedly, clearly taken aback by Hadid's presence, as he and Amanda walked in and he closed the door behind them.

Hadid sighed. "Buchanan filed a 330 motion."

"He's trying to set aside the verdict of the Hudson rape case?" Sonny asked raising an eyebrow. "On what grounds?"

Hadid handed him the motion. "Juror misconduct. I read over it and the complaint has merit. It'll likely be granted."

Sonny quickly looked over the motion, closed his eyes and groaned.

Amanda sighed. "So what's gonna happen?"

"The verdict will likely be set aside and a new trial ordered OR…" Hadid let her voice trail off as her eyes drifted from Amanda to Sonny.

"We could offer a deal. Try to get Jack to plead guilty to a lesser offense. Like sexual misconduct." Sonny rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Sexual misconduct?" Liv asked with disgust. "That's a slap on the wrist."

"But if Carisi takes this to trial again and loses Jack would get nothing." Hadid reminded her. "We all know that getting a conviction the first time around after a bulk of the evidence was thrown out wasn't easy. There's a good chance he could be acquitted in a retrial. At least with sexual misconduct he'd be sentenced to something."

"A year in jail or three years of probation?" Liv balked. "That's hardly a suitable punishment."

Hadid turned her attention to Sonny. "Carisi, lets head back to the office and talk this out?" She then looked back at Liv. "And Captain Benson, maybe you and Detective Rollins can go talk to the victim…see where her head is at and find if she'd even want to go through this again."

Liv, though not too pleased with Hadid's approach to the case, pressed her lips together and nodded and the four of them exited the office. Just as they were all heading out, Fin and Kat were entering the squad room.

"Where are y'all heading off to?" He asked curiously.

Liv waved her hand and sighed. "I'll fill you in later. Rollins and I'll will be back in a bit."

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One Hour Later…

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Stabler walked into the squad room and, after noticing Liv wasn't in her office, headed over to Fin's desk. "Hey Fin, Liv here? She had something she wanted to give me."

Fin shook his head. "No she went to talk to a vic. She just called though and said she was on her way back if you want to wait."

Stabler checked his watched and nodded. "Yeah I can hang for a bit."

He looked back at her empty office and smiled. "It's still weird to me that Liv is captain. She 100% deserves it, don't get me wrong. Its just…it sometimes still feels like it wasn't that long ago when the three of us were running around here driving Cragen up the wall."

Fin laughed. "I know."

"What was Cragen like as Captain?" an inquisitive Kat asked Stabler as she got up from her desk and walked over to them. "Aside from Liv, Fin and Rollins, no one else around here worked with him.

"He was one of the best commanding officers I've ever had." Stabler said honestly as he reflected back. "Dedicated. Fair. Understanding."

"I agree." Fin said, adding. "Liv will be the first one to tell you that Cragen taught her everything she knows. It was unfortunate that his image got tarnished over the escort murder case."

Stabler sighed. "Yeah, I remember hearing about that."

"Me too." Kat added.

"Still, I'd take Cragen over someone like Declan Murphy any day."

"Declan Murphy?" Stabler asked Fin, eyeing him curiously, but feigning ignorance.

"He was SVU's commanding officer for a while after Cragen retired and Liv was still a sergeant. He was OK at the job, I suppose. But no one around here is a fan of the guy. Not after what he did to Rollins."

Stabler furrowed his brows. "What's that?"

"Got her pregnant and then went undercover in Europe somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again. Who knows where he's been these past eight or so years."

Stabler's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow."

"But Jesse's got Carisi." Kat reminded her sergeant. "He's her dad in every way that really matters and soon, legally, once the adoption is finalized."

Fin nodded. "That's true. Jesse's better off with the way things have ended up."

"Hmm." Stabler pondered, as he took in everything he just heard. However, his thoughts were disrupted by a text message alert. He pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and saw it was from Sgt. Bell: "Bug died. Need you to get a new one to him."

Stabler rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Gotta get going?" Fin asked him.

"Yeah." Stabler said as he deleted the message and then put his phone back inside his coat pocket. "Can you tell Liv I'll try to swing by later?"

"I'll let her know." Fin assured him.

Stabler nodded and then made his way out of the squad room.

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Brooklyn - Tuesday Evening

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Stabler sat outside an abandoned warehouse in his unmarked police car, absentmindedly tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel. After a few minutes went by he checked his cell to see if he had a missed call or text, but there wasn't one. He sighed and rested his head on the headrest.

A couple more minutes passed before Stabler finally spotted a figure from afar approaching his vehicle.

"Sorry I'm late." Declan said as he opened the car door and sat down in the passenger seat. "I couldn't slip away any earlier."

Stabler reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out the new bug and handed it to him. "Slootmaekers said this one's waterproof and should hold up better."

Declan nodded as he took it, placed it into his own pocket and pulled the dead one from a zipper compartment in his coat jacket. He could feel Stabler's eyes on him. "What are you looking at?" He asked as he handed him the dead bug.

Stabler shook his head and gave Declan one of his signature, snarky smirks. "Nothin' much."

Declan eyed him curiously, but said nothing.

Just then, Stabler's cell buzzed. He glanced down and saw it was a text from Eli. He picked his phone up and read the message to himself quickly before looking back at Declan. "Gotta go. My kid…he needs me." Stabler said as he glared at him.

The two sat staring at each other for a moment, before Declan opened up the car door and exited without saying a word.

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Squad Room - Tuesday Night

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Amanda sat at her desk in the nearly empty squad room, finishing up a report when her cell started ringing; a FaceTime call from Sonny.

"Hey." Amanda said as she moved the phone back a bit so her face fit better into the frame. "What are you guys up to? Did the girls eat yet?"

"Eh, if you want to call it that." Sonny said rolling his eyes. "They mainly picked at it. Neither of them were digging my meatloaf and green beans."

Amanda shrugged. "Well they can't eat spaghetti every night."

"So Cara really wants me to try and negotiate a plea deal for a lesser offense if the verdict gets set of aside?" a disappointed Sonny asked her.

Amanda nodded. "She doesn't want to go through another trial. You know how much of an emotional toll that can take on a person."

"I do and I get it." Sonny said through a sigh.

Amanda's eyes shifted to the clock on the wall beside her. "I can't believe how late its getting. But I should be home soon. I'm just about finished. I'll be back in time to help tuck the girls in."

Sonny sighed. "About that. Pretty sure Jesse is only gonna want you to tuck her in tonight. She's really ticked off at me."

Amanda groaned. "Why? What happened?"

"You know the dad-daughter lunch event at her school tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah…" Amanda said, dragging out the word.

"It was today." He said as he closed his eyes and brought his palm to his forehead. "I mixed up the dates somehow. I wrote it in my planner as the 13th…told you it was on the 13th, but no…it was the 12th.

"Oh no. She was really looking forward to that." Amanda said sighing.

"I wish I hadn't worked late yesterday and then left early for work today. I know if I had seen her last night or this mornin' she would've brought it up to me. And what makes it worst is that I didn't miss it because I was workin.' I mean, we were at that appointment for Dominick, but I could've made sure we scheduled that for another time. I feel really…really bad. Gotta figure out a way to make it up to her."

She nodded. "You'll think of something good, I'm sure."

"Ok, I'll let you finish up."

Amanda nodded again. "See you soon. Bye."

Sonny blew her a kiss and waved bye. She smiled, ended the call and returned her attention to her computer. Just a few minutes had passed when she was interrupted by a loud set of footsteps walking into the squad room. She turned her head around and saw Stabler heading in her direction.

"Rollins, hey." Stabler said once he reached her desk. "I know Liv left already, but she said she'd leave—"

Amanda grabbed a large manilla envelope from off the top of her desk and handed it to me. "She said you were probably going to stop by so she left it with me."

Stabler smiled. "Thank you."

Amanda nodded. "No problem."

"So…" He began as he looked around the quiet squad room. "Got stuck workin' a night shift?"

She shook her head. "No, I'll be on my way out soon. Fin and Kat are the ones who are actually still working. They both put in for overtime and went out on a call about an hour ago."

Stabler nodded. "Well I won't hold you up. Thanks again, for this." He said as he held up the envelope.

Amanda gave him a small smile and then redirected her focus back to her computer while Stabler started to head out. However as soon as he reached for the door to exit, he found himself instead turning around and heading back toward Amanda's desk

"Rollins, do you have a minute?" He asked as he scratched his head. "There's something I think you oughta—"

Stabler's words were cut off by Amanda's cell. She looked down and saw it was Jim calling.

"Sorry, I gotta take this." Amanda said apologizing. "It's my dad and him and I have been playing phone tag all day. It'll just take a second." She answered the call and made her way into the break room for privacy.

Stabler stood quietly rocking back and forth on his heels while he waited. He soon found his eyes immediately drawn to a framed photo on Amanda's desk; the funny photograph of her, Sonny, Jesse, Billie and Dominick at the baptism. He sighed and then found his mind drifting to the case he and the rest of the Organized Crime task force had been working on. The one they had spent months investigating and were so close to making a large number of arrests in. Stabler closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as he pondered his next move. His thoughts were soon interrupted as Amanda reemerged.

"Sorry about that." She said as she set her cell down on her desk. "What was is you were saying?"

Stabler pressed his lips together and contemplated for a brief moment before shaking his head and waving his hand. "It's not important."

"You sure?" She asked, eyeing him curiously.

Stabler nodded. "Yeah. So umm…I'm gonna get going." He gave her a small smile. "Have a good night, Rollins."

She nodded her head slowly and watched as Stabler quickly made his way out. Amanda continued to stare for a moment in his direction after he exited, but eventually shrugged off the slightly peculiar encounter and resumed her work.