If you're reading this story, I would love to know what you think.

Chapter 3 - Rollins

Laying in bed with the warm, reassuring form of Carisi next to her, Amanda's eyes burned with fatigue. The faint glow of dawn's early light was coming in through the blinds, and she knew the girls would start waking up soon. She'd been awake most of the night, and when she had slept, it was fitful and nightmarish. Even with police protection outside her building, she had visions of Henry finding his way in and terrorizing them, or worse. He'd outsmarted cops before, after all.

She and Carisi had talked for hours after the girls had gone to bed, and they'd talked to Benson again too. Sending the girls away was the best solution; she knew that, but she couldn't bear the thought of not being with them. Her mom had agreed to care for them, and they would be out of the city, under police protection, until Henry was back in custody. She dreaded telling Jesse, who loved school and her friends and would be upset to be disrupted. It was one thing to miss school for a trip to Disneyworld, but it would be harder to put a fun spin on this situation.

"Did you get any sleep?" Carisi's voice was scratchy as he put his arm around her, pulling her close.

"A little. You?" She snuggled against his chest, closing her eyes again for a moment.

"Yeah, I got a bit. You decide what to tell the girls?"

"Just that they're going to have some fun with Nana, but I have a feeling Jesse will see through it. It's not like it's normal to all of a sudden spring something like this."

"She doesn't miss much," Carisi agreed. "They'll be ok. I'll feel better once they're out of the city."

"Me too." A small whimper from beside the bed turned their attention to Frannie, who looked up at them hopefully with her shining eyes. Reluctantly pulling herself from his embrace, Amanda knew she'd better take the dog out before the girls woke up and her mom arrived. "I'm going to walk Frannie. I'll bring my gun."

"Ok, I'll get breakfast going and wake up the girls. Be careful."

A few minutes later they were taking their usual route with Frannie eagerly leading the way. In a way she almost wished that Henry would come at her now and get it over with. After escaping the previous morning, things had been almost eerily uneventful. Amanda couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that he was lying in wait somewhere, waiting to strike. She'd threatened him after he'd stabbed Carisi with a pencil, and she was certainly prepared to make good on that threat. As Frannie stopped to sniff some bushes, Amanda twisted her engagement ring on her finger and escaped into the memory of the night Carisi had proposed. The two of them had enjoyed a rare date night to celebrate the anniversary of their first kiss. The day she'd finally given in to the feelings for him that had been simmering under the surface for years. There'd been a lot of denial on her part for a long time, while he had made his own feelings pretty clear. As her dad had pointed out crassly, she was prone to picking 'losers', and a good guy like Carisi didn't stand a chance. She'd never thought it could work out between them, but over the years their friendship had deepened, and she knew now that he accepted and loved her, flaws and all. That night, with that kiss, there had been no going back. One year later, after a romantic dinner out, Carisi had steered them to walk out by the water, and he'd proposed at the very spot of that fateful kiss. It had all felt so inevitable, so right. They were planning a spring wedding and would find a place to live just outside of the city. They talked about having another baby once they were married, though Amanda knew the clock was ticking on that one. All of those plans suddenly seemed so far away as the reality of their current situation made her stomach twist with anxiety. The last time she'd seen Henry Mesner she had told him that if he came near her family again she would kill him herself. Would Henry heed the warning she'd given him or did he see it as a challenge?