Amanda sat straight in her chair at the dinner table, smiling as Chief Patton raised his glass. He stood, clearing his throat, the smile on his face reaching up to his eyes.

"I'd like to propose a toast, to Detective Amanda Rollins. Amanda, you are not my daughter, but you are as good as my own. You are the daughter I have never had. Welcome to the family."

"Thankyou." Self conscious, but inwardly glowing with pride, Amanda dipped her head, sure her face was blushing. She looked up, seeing the Chief and his wife, and their three sons smiling up at her. "Y'all have been more than kind enough to me. Really. I'm honored to serve with you, and to be taken in to your family-" Amanda took a deep breath. "I've never had a father. You're the only father I've ever known, if I'm being truthful."

"Well." The Chief cleared his throat, "I'm honored to be your father."

Amanda walked up the stairs to her apartment that night, a smile on her face, though she was very tired. "Hey Banjo." She smiled warmly at the old Blue Tick hound that lay on her couch. She tossed her purse to the floor, smiling as she tossed the dog a treat. "How are you Boy? You have a good day?" The dog raised his left ear high in the air. "I should've named you Trusty." She laughed, entering her kitchen. She pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator, kicking off her shoes as she walked into her bedroom. She flipped on the light, smiling as she pulled her diary out of the spot between her bed and the wall.

"Dear Olivia.

Today was absolutely amazing! I passed my test to become a detective, and we had a celebratory party for me at Chief Patton's house! I thought it couldn't get more wonderful than that. Honestly! He's my hero! I've never known anyone else who cared enough to help me succeed. Mamma didn't even want me to become a cop, but in all honesty, I did it because it's what I've always wanted. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe it. Anyways, Chief Patton said I'm like his daughter! I've never had a father and to have someone like him as a substitute, is well...amazing. I'm so glad I got assigned here, in his precinct. Even though I do have to work with Tavers, but I don't mind. He's an okay cop, when you get past his sexist attitude. I'm just glad that he's not my partner anymore. I talked to Patton, I was really nervous, since Tavers is his nephew and all, but he said not to worry, he'd reassign me. I get my new assignment tomorrow. I can't think of anyone else that I would hate working with. Maybe I'll get assigned to be Powell's partner. She's pretty cool. She's an old hat with the force, kinda reminds me of you. Not that you're old or anything. God I'm glad you're never going to read these lol. Goodnight Olivia. I love you. Thanks for listening.

Amanda put the diary away and turned off the light. She closed her eyes, but not before she stole a glance at the newspaper article she'd been reading that morning. "New York Detective arrests five in trafficking case." She smiled as she began to fall asleep. She hoped that someday she would meet the beautiful woman again. But, even if she never did, she was learning from Benson's life and all the things she was accomplishing. She fell asleep that night with a smile on her face, dreaming of driving down the streets of New York city with Benson in a squad car.

"Good morning Rollins." Amanda set her coffee on her desk, and turned to greet her boss. "How was your evening last night?"

"Good Morning Chief. My evening was wonderful. Can I ask who my new partner is?" Amanda responded, looking at him. Patton raised his eyebrows, a grin on his face. He pulled her chair away from her desk, gesturing with a grand sweep of his hand for her to sit down.

"You're in luck. Your new partner is an old veteran of the force, looks like Clark Gable and is standing right here in front of you." Amanda snorted.

"You do NOT look like Gable." She laughed, finding herself blushing. She rolled her eyes. "YOU'RE my new partner? That..that means I'm Chief's assistant." Amanda's eyes widened. "I..I'm not ready! I..Chief's assistant? I'm new!"

"You've worked here for a year Amanda. It normally takes a rookie three years to move up to detective, but you've done it in one. you're the best detective I know. trust me Darlin' you're more than ready." Patton's calm eyes steadied her, and she took a deep breath and stood on her feet.

"I accept. I'm honored to work with you. I won't let you down." Amanda was surprised when her boss pulled her in for a hug.

"You better not." She felt Patton's hand on the small of her back and for a fraction of a second, she felt a cold feeling, an instinct to run away, to get as far away from him as possible. But why? He loved her, yes, but he had said he loved her like a father loves his daughter. Amanda pushed the feeling away, chalking it up to nerves. "I have a meeting with the Police Commissioner for lunch today. Come with me and I'll introduce you. He'll be looking forward to meeting you. I've told him a lot about you."

Amanda stood in the bathroom, checking her hair and makeup in the mirror for the umpteenth time that hour. She tried to calm her racing heart and her nerves but to no avail. Her hands shook as she pulled the worn picture from her wallet, allowing the strength in the soft brown eyes to calm her, to steady her. She sucked in a deep breath. "I can do this. I HAVE to do this. It's just the Police Commissioner. It's like I'm meeting just another person. It'll be okay. I'm sure of it. It'll be just fine. Okay Amanda. Head up, shoulders back and stand up straight."

The restaurant was so beautiful that the tile in itself could have taken Amanda's breath away. She had never been to a place where the menu was mainly in Italian, and she blushed in embarrassment when she turned to Patton. "I can't read this." She whispered.

"It's alright. I'll help you." She felt his breath on her ear as he read out the different menu items, translating them to English. Her heart began to pound, and she again felt the deer-in-the-headlights feeling where she didn't know if she wanted to run or to freeze. "Relax Amanda." She told herself "He's reading you the menu. it's ok." But she still couldn't shake the feeling.

"I'll have the Chicken Parmesan salad." She said, hoping the other occupants of the table couldn't hear her heart beating. She was sure it was going to beat itself right out of her chest.

Soon, the waiter arrived with their food and drinks, and Amanda relaxed. The Commissioner was a charming, grandfatherly man who reminded her of the KFC logo. He put her at ease right away, chatting her up about her dreams and ambitions. "My end goal is to transfer to New York City and work Special Victims . I've wanted to go there for the longest time. Ever since my academy days." She took a bite of her salad, smiling when the Commissioner hummed his approval around a bite of shrimp and pasta.

"From what I have heard from Deputy Chief Patton you'll be the one to do it. Why just last week he was telling me about how you were able to diffuse the situation at the bank without calling in the hostage negotiations team when he stopped in to turn in some paperwork." He took a drink of his wine,smiling at her in that grandfatherly way of his that was already putting Amanda well at ease. "You're one of his favorite cops. It's no surprise that he chose you to be his assistant."

"Thankyou." Amanda smiled, "He's an amazing man. I've learned a lot from him. I hope to continue to learn from him and improve even more." She knew it sounded like a textbook answer, but she really couldn't think of anything else to say. She turned to look at Patton and was pleased to see that he was beaming. "I couldn't do this without him. Not in a million years."

"Well Amanda." Patton smiled, sliding his arm around her shoulders in what she assumed, was a fatherly gesture. "I have to say I'm proud to work with you as well. I've never known a gal with your drive and ethic. I'm honored to have you on my team."

"Thankyou." Amanda responded, trying her best to shut the alarm bells off that were screaming in her head. She was sure Patton wasn't aware that his hand was brushing the side of her breast. If he was, he would surely be just as embarrassed as she was. She decided to ignore it. She was sure that he didn't notice. Was she trying to convince herself?

Amanda sighed as she entered her apartment that night, thankful that Patton had driven her home. They'd talked in the car for nearly four hours outside in her parking lot, and her head was aching. They'd started off talking about work, about her past cases, and she'd taken the opportunity to ask him for tips and tricks, and he'd readily responded as she hoped he would, sharing everything he knew with her. The conversation had taken a very unexpected turn when he asked her about her childhood and she found herself telling him things she had never in her life told anyone, except her diary. She told him about her mother, and her drinking problems, how from a young age she was taking care of her baby sister, who she would, even today do anything for. She told him how her sister was into drugs and was , last she'd heard working in prostitution in Las Vegas, but that she wasn't sure. And, to her absolute shock, she told him about her Uncle Todd. She'd never told anyone, not even her diary about that awful pig of a man. But she told Patton. Once she started talking, she couldn't stop. It was like word vomit,but Patton didn't seem to mind. She'd started crying when she began to talk about Todd, about what he had done to her, and Patton had held her close to him, and she had buried her face in his shirt, sobbing so hard her whole body shook. In hindsight, she knew his expensive, silk shirt was now covered with mascara and eyeliner, but he didn't mind, just held her, his big hand caressing her hair and his deep voice telling her that it would be alright, he would hunt Todd to the ends of the earth, and if the Statute of Limitations was up, he would kill him himself.

"Dear Olivia,

Is this what having a dad is like? Being able to tell him anything, knowing that he would protect you and defend you? If that's true, why do I feel uncomfortable around him sometimes? What does this mean? I wish you were here Olivia, the I could talk to you about this stuff in person. But I'm sure glad I've got this diary and Banjo. "

Rollins lay down in her bed, after brushing out her long hair and washing the streaked makeup off of her face. Banjo jumped up beside her and she wrapped her arms around the big dog, sighing as she began to fall asleep. Everything would be alright, it was jut a new world she had to navigate.