Chapter 9: It Ends Tonight

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Early Thursday Morning - Langan's Office

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"And then I just need both of your signatures on these." Trevor said as he slid two documents in front of Amanda and Sonny, who both quickly scanned over both sheets and then signed.

Trevor looked over the documents to make sure everything was in order and then redirected his attention back to the couple. "You are all set for now. Thank you for coming in on such short notice. I know how busy you both are, but I was hoping to submit this paperwork before the end of the week."

Sonny shook his head. "It was no trouble at all."

"Yeah we really want to make sure we can keep the process moving." Amanda added.

They both stood up, said their goodbyes, exited Trevor's office and made their way toward the elevators.

Amanda hit the button for the first floor. "While we were waiting for Trevor and you went to the bathroom, Dr. Hanover called me back. She recommended someone for Jesse to see. I'm going to call him ASAP and try to get her in for an appointment."

Sonny sighed. "Sooner rather than later, hopefully. She seemed a little better this morning, but she's definitely still not herself."

"Dr. Hanover said the way Jesse's feelin' isn't out of the ordinary for kids in similar situations." Amanda told her husband as they both stepped into the elevator and watched the door close in front of them. "I know it's hard, but try not to worry too much. Things will be ok."

Sonny nodded and then changed the subject as the two stepped out of the elevator and exited the building. "So you're really going in to work today? You weren't suppose to be back from Georgia til tomorrow. You shoulda just taken the day."

"I thought about it." Amanda admitted as they headed toward their car. "But you were working, the girls had school and while I would've loved to spend the day home with Dominick it didn't feel right knowing Kat's been out with the flu and Liv's super short staffed, you know?"

"I hear ya." Sonny said as he felt his phone buzz and pulled it out of his suit jacket. He looked down at it and sent a quick text. "But let me take the car today and drop you off at the precinct. I gotta head to Green Haven with Stabler to talk to an inmate up there later this mornin' and I'm not a fan of his drivin.'

Amanda playfully rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You're not a fan of anyone's driving anymore. I swear, ever since you left the force you've started driving like a grandma."

Sonny shot her a look, feigning annoyance.

"So how's that been going anyways?" Amanda asked curiously. "You've been pretty tightlipped about what you're working on with the Organized Crime team."

Sonny had been wavering on whether or not to tell Amanda about Declan. The fact that he was in town, but also that he had talked with him. A part of Sonny thought it would best to keep it quiet, at least for now, for the sake of the case. But if he was really being honest with himself, he had hoped his words struck a chord with Declan and that his presence wouldn't have to be made known at all. Because they didn't need him disrupting Jesse's life. For her benefit, most importantly, but also because Sonny secretly worried how an appearance from Declan would affect his own, now slightly fragile relationship with the little girl he's loved as his own from the moment he first held her in his arms.

He shrugged. "Not much to say. Still trying…to get a grasp on the case."

Amanda nodded and the two continued on their way together silently, an uncomfortable silence for Sonny.

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Thursday Afternoon - Drive Upstate

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Stabler sighed and looked down at his watch. "Carisi, the next time you and I need to go anywhere together, I'm driving."

"And why is that?" Sonny asked as he switched lanes on the highway to let a car go past him.

"Because you drive like a grandma." He told him, unknowingly echoing Amanda's sentiment from earlier.

Sonny rolled his eyes and fixed his lips to respond, but was interrupted by a phone call coming through via the hands-free set up in the car. Not wanting to take the personal call with Stabler being able to listen in, he kept his left hand on the steering wheel and fumbled around with his right trying to grab his cell from the glove compartment, but struggled to locate it quickly so he decided to just answer it through the car, not wanting to miss the call.

"Hello."

"Mr. Carisi, hello. This is Marianne, Dr. Steele's nurse. I left a message with your wife, but I thought I should call and see if I could reach you as well. We put a rush order on Dominick's new hearing aids and they should be in in about a week."

"That's…that's great."

"Now Amanda said that his left one still seems to be working?"

"Yes, but it's bent and we've had trouble keeping it in place on his ear."

"If you are able to find a way to keep it on his ear securely, and comfortably, then go ahead and do it. Having one in so he's able to still hear from one side is better than going a full week without both."

"I'll play around with it later and see what I can do."

"Ok. If you or Amanda have any questions, just give us a call. Have a good day."

"Thank you. Bye." Sonny ended the call and looked over at Stabler, who sat quietly staring out the window, from the corner of his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was delve into another aspect of his personal life with the detective, but he knew questions were coming.

"Your son…he's deaf?" Stabler asked him.

Sonny turned on the windshield wipers as some steady rain started to fall. "Not…completely, but pretty close."

Stabler nodded slowly. "I didn't know. That must've been difficult to hear."

"It's fine." Sonny said sighing. "I mean, it's not fine, but we're working through it."

"I'm sorry I added one more thing on your plate to worry about it." Stabler told him, clearly making reference to the Declan and Jesse situation.

"That's not your fault."

Stabler nodded. "So have you told Rollins that Murphy's here?"

Sonny said nothing, but shook his head no. Stabler decided not to probe into it anymore than he already had and let the conversation fizzle out, much to the ADA's relief as he reached the exit and continued on toward the prison.

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Thursday Night - Amanda and Sonny's Apartment

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Sonny stared blankly in the empty, quiet bedroom he shared with Amanda, deep in thought. As more and more time passed, the guiltier he felt not telling Amanda about Declan being in Manhattan and the conversation the two of them had. After going back and forth in his head about it, he decided he needed to tell her. Before she found out another way.

"Baby's finally asleep." an exasperated sounding Amanda said to her husband as she entered their bedroom. "Girl's all settled in?"

Sonny nodded. "Billie needed two glasses of water, three stories and had me check to make sure there were no monsters under the bed, outside the window or in the closet, but her eyes were finally starting to flutter once I shut the lights off and said goodnight."

Amanda laughed. "Oh Billie." She slid onto the bed next to her husband and rested her head on his chest as he wrapped his arm his wife and pulled her in closer to him.

"This is nice." Amanda said as she snuggled into him. "But…I'd rather be doing something else." She placed her hand on his cheek and brought her lips up to his.

Amanda released herself from his grasp, straddled him and deepened their kiss, but just a few minutes into their makeup session, Sonny pulled back.

She eyed him curiously and bit her lip. "What's wrong? You not in the mood?"

"That's not it." Sonny tried to reassure her. He tucked a loose strand of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear and stared deeply into her eyes. "There's somethin' I want to talk about you. I—"

His words were interrupted by Amanda's cellphone going off. She grabbed it from her nightstand. "It's Liv." He nodded and watched as Amanda got off the bed and took the call.

"Hey Liv, what's—" Her words were cut off by something Liv was saying and Sonny watched quietly as Amanda listened intently to whatever was being told to her on the phone.

Amanda ran a hand through her hair. "Ok, I'm on my way." She then ended the call.

"What's going on?" a concerned looking Sonny asked.

"Guess who was just accused of rape again?"

Sonny sighed. "Jack?"

Amanda nodded. "Fin's still on the clock, but since I worked the first case with Liv and she can't get a hold of her sitter she asked if I'd go with Fin and talk to the girl who's making the accusation."

Sonny sighed again and nodded.

"I know you wanted to talk—"

Sonny waved his hand. "It can wait. You gotta go."

Amanda nodded, tossed her cell on the bed and began rummaging through her side of the closet for something to put on.

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Thursday Night - Manhattan - Parking Garage

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Stabler sat quietly in his dark, unmarked car near an empty closed parking garage under construction waiting to meet up with Declan. The two weren't exactly on the best of terms, especially, after Declan put it, Stabler ambushed him with Carisi. But Stabler brushed him off, having told Declan he deserved it, and the two continued their partnership much as they always had before, professional and focused on the work at hand.

Stabler checked his watched and noted the time: 11:11pm. He started getting a little worried. Declan hadn't checked in earlier in the day to confirm their meet up and was now nearly 45 minutes late. He started wondering if he had been discovered and was in trouble or worst, dead somewhere. However, his fears were soon eased when he saw Declan in the parking garage making his way toward his car.

But just then numerous dark colored smoke bombs flooded the garage, inhibiting Stabler's view of Declan, followed by a loud boom and gunshots.

"Shit!" Stabler said as he instantly reached for his radio, reported his location and what was going on to the dispatcher and asking for backup. As he ended the call he started to hear more gun shots going off. Stabler immediately hopped out of his car, reached for his gun and headed into the smokey garage.

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Thursday Night - Manhattan - Amanda and Fin

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"Unbelievable." Amanda said shaking her head as she stared aimlessly out the passenger's side window of the police car she was riding in with Fin. "We head out to Hudson U, take her statement, bring her to get a rape kit done at the hospital and then after we wasted all this time and resources she decides to confess to us that he didn't actually rape her. She was just afraid her boyfriend would find out she cheated on him with Jack so, since he was already accused of rape once, why not do it again."

Fin sighed as he tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel, waiting for the red light to change. "I know. She just gave this kid a get out of jail free card. We both know he's a rapist after what he did to Cara, but now he has this false allegation he can point back to if he rapes someone again in the future."

"Exactly." Amanda huffed. "That's why I had those patrol officers haul her in to the station and charge her with filing a false police report."

"Hopefully she learned a lesson tonight." Fin said as the light turned green and he continued on toward the precinct.

Amanda balked. "Probably not."

Fin started to speak when he heard his radio go off. Dispatcher stated that a request was made for back up at a closed parking garage and that an explosion and gunfire were reported.

"I know you want to get home to Carisi and the kids, but this is two blocks away and it sounds serious. We—"

Amanda cut him off and sat up straighter in her seat. "No we should go help."

Fin nodded, reported to dispatch that they were on their way and started speeding toward the scene. When he reached it they noticed the unmarked police car and another police vehicle pull up at the same time theirs did. As both Fin and Amanda go out of their car, they saw Sgt. Khaldun and another male detective run out of it as all four of them heard more gunfire go off.

Khaldun, who had also been working close to the scene and drove over after hearing the call for assistance come on the radio, motioned for Fin and Amanda to enter through the front.

"We'll go in through the back!" He shouted to them as he and his detective hurried off.

Amanda nodded as her and Fin made their way inside the still very smokey, empty garage. They immediately came across an angry looking middle-aged salt and pepper haired man handcuffed to a set of stairs. Both Fin and Amanda stared at him cautiously, but were brought back to reality when they heard another round of shots come up from above. Fin looked up and saw Stabler running.

"It's Elliot!" He said and the two ran up the stairs.

Fin headed toward the direction he saw Stabler running and Amanda began to as well, but stopped when she heard what she thought were groans coming from the opposite direction. She then hurried her way toward the sounds. When she turned the corner she came across Declan lying on the ground, clutching a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

Amanda's eyes widen in disbelief and shock. "Declan…"