Chapter 36: Complications

The squad room was different without Amaro there. Chris didn't mind at all except for the extra work they all had to take on because they were down a detective. Amanda was particularly annoying with asking when he'd be allowed back. After he'd assaulted Simon Wilkes, he'd been taken down to beat cop and ordered into anger management. It'd been a few months and she was bugging Sergeant Benson about getting one pp to let him back in the unit. She kept saying she was doing her best. To pick up the slack, Benson had requested a new detective and he finally arrived. His name was Sonny Carisi. He was a bit eccentric for their taste and he wasn't exactly SVU issue but they needed the extra help. After seeing Nick while picking up a witness in the Ellie Porter case, Amanda started in again about when he'd be able to come back. Olivia said, again, that she was working on it but in the meantime she was in charge of showing Carisi the ropes. Chris joked that they were like a bickering brother and sister pair. One was always trying to get a point over the other. She knew Amanda didn't really like him so she got a kick out of picking on her about the two of them.

They finally closed the Ellie Porter case which Olivia was really happy about. They'd found the man who ordered Noah's mother killed and shut down a sex trafficking operation in the process. Carisi was getting settled in but he and Rollins still weren't really getting along. Chris and Amanda weren't really on speaking terms but they kept things professional. Chris didn't know if Amanda was still seeing Nick and she was trying really hard not to care. She'd gone back to being her old self; no relationships, no strings. It was what always worked out best for her. She was sitting at her desk finishing up her fives for a case she'd gotten with Carisi when Beth walked into the squad. She didn't notice it but Amanda was obviously not happy to see her there. She waited while Chris finished up and turned in her fives to the Sergeant then they left the squad together. Amanda didn't feel the best about how they'd ended things. It hadn't been her choice to stop working on their relationship but Chris had made up her mind. She thought that Amanda being with Nick only proved what she'd thought all along; that she was just an experiment. She hoped eventually they could at least be friends.

Another month went by and Nick was finally allowed to come back to SVU. He could sense a different vibe from Chris, like she liked him even less now than before. She was able to work with him but she didn't want to be his friend. She honestly just didn't like him. It had nothing to do with his relationship with Amanda. She hadn't liked him even before she knew they were together and she didn't think it would change. It still bothered her that he and Amanda were together but she didn't let it show. She did what she always had done; played the field; no feelings, no strings. She almost faltered when Amanda was in a hostage situation with a suspect but Nick, of course, was there to come to her rescue. She didn't need her. Amanda tried to talk to her but Chris always kept it short. She came in to work every day, did her job then went home to her family. Jeza was getting further along and had to start accelerating her classes so she wouldn't get behind after she had the baby. She was proud of her sister for staying in school and proud of Javi for sticking around. He went to every checkup with her that he could and got a job after school. Robbie was still upset but he was getting over it. And Robbie Sr. was really looking forward to being a grandpa. He bought a crib and put it together for Jeza. He decorated it himself and left a spot so he could paint on the baby's name once Jeza and Javi settled on one. They didn't know if they were having a boy or girl yet and wouldn't until the baby was born. They wanted it to be a surprise. Amanda would ask how Jeza was doing. Chris would say she was fine and not much else.

Olivia paired them up together more often hoping they would work out their issues. They rode in silence most of the time unless they were talking about a case. Chris was professional, maybe a little too professional. Amanda couldn't believe she wouldn't have a normal conversation with her. It was like they never cared about each other. It was a lot more awkward when work took them to Chicago and they had to share a hotel room. Chris did as much as she could to avoid Amanda. When they broke for the night, she didn't even come back to the room until she was ready to go to sleep. She came in, changed her clothes and got in bed without saying a word. Amanda wanted to throw a pillow at her head but she just laid down and went to sleep. They went back to New York and continued with business as usual. Jeza was having terrible morning sickness and then she had a fainting spell at school. They called an ambulance and had her taken to the hospital. Chris went there to see her. The doctor said her blood pressure was higher than he would like. He gave her some medication to bring it down, gave her a blood pressure monitor so she could keep track of her pressures and ordered her on bed rest. They said it wasn't serious enough for her to be admitted and sent her home. She had to regularly check her blood pressure, take her medication, and schedule a follow up with her primary OB.

Chris went to her school the next morning and got her work from all of her teachers then took it back to her at home. She'd made meals and snacks for her so wouldn't have to be on her feet. She could just go to the frig, get her food and sit back down. She set her up in the living room on the couch, gave her the remote, and moved the table closer to her for all her books. She sat her monitor on the table with the journal she needed to keep a record of her pressures next to it. Jeza practically had to get up and push Chris out the door. She offered one last time to take the day off from work to stay home with her. Jeza said no. The doctor told her to avoid stress and her fussing was making her crazy. It turned out that Jeza was dealing with her pregnancy complications a lot better than Chris was. Chris finally left and went to work. She was late but she'd called ahead and explained the situation to Benson who told her to take her time. She walked into the squad room at nine thirty and went to sit down at her desk.

"Hey" Carisi said, "How's your sister doing?" he asked. "The Sarg said something happened with her. The baby alright?" Chris nodded her head.

"Yeah. The baby's fine" she said. "Just a little scare; high blood pressure. She's home though. We just have to keep a close eye on it is all".

"That's good". Chris got up and went to get herself some coffee. Amanda came over to talk to her. Their relationship had been complicated since their break up and even more so now that Chris knew about her and Nick. She was still hopeful that they could fix things between them.

"So your sister, she's gonna be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, she's gonna be fine". Chris took her usual six packets of sugar and dumped it into the bottom of her coffee cup then poured in coffee. She took a stirrer and mixed her coffee.

"And the baby's healthy?"

"Yep" she said simply.

"Are you ever gonna talk to me like we've done more than just work together for the past year?" Amanda asked annoyed with Chris' attitude. Chris threw her stirrer in the trash, took her coffee and went back to her desk leaving Amanda standing there alone. Amanda went back to her desk and got back to work. The next day they found a video online of a star football player and his girlfriend in what looked like a domestic dispute. Benson ordered them to check it out before it hit mainstream media. It turned out that it had been a domestic dispute and football player AJ Martin had knocked out his longtime girlfriend and dragged her, unconscious, across a parking garage. His girlfriend, Paula Bryant, wasn't filing a complaint but Benson wanted to go ahead with the investigation and bring charges against AJ. She got Barba on board and they moved forward even though they didn't have a complaining witness. Over the next couple days, there was a lot of disagreement in the squad room about whether or not they were overstepping their bounds. Paula wanted to stay with her now husband and Rollins thought she should be able to make that decision for herself. Benson and Amaro disagreed and thought that, even though Paula didn't want to press charges, it was up to them to save her from an abusive relationship. Fin and Chris kept their opinions close to the vest.

Chris had a day off and when she came back to work, there was a lot of tension between Amanda and Nick. She asked Fin what was going on and he said he didn't know but he was trying to stay out of it. He kept the part about advising Amanda to keep her personal and professional relationships separate to himself. Not too long ago, he'd told Chris to give her and Amanda a shot. Now he was seeing that he'd been right in all his years of thinking that mixing the two was a bad idea. Things weren't working out and it was starting to take a toll on how they worked together. He still thought that things might work out between Chris and Amanda if they'd both stop being so stubborn and apologize to each other. But he didn't want to get in the middle of anything. The trail against AJ Martin continued and Paula decided to take the stand to defend her husband and her relationship. Next were closing statements then waiting for the jury's verdict. There were still disagreements about whether they were doing the right thing inferring but there was no going back now. The jury came back with a guilty verdict and though, Paula Martin wasn't happy with the outcome, Barba assured Olivia that they'd done the right thing.

Over the next couple days, Amanda tried harder to talk to Christina. She wanted to ask her to go out to dinner but Chris was still avoiding her. The next day, Beth met her at the precinct and they left together again. Fin could see that Amanda was trying but Chris wasn't giving her the time of day. He wanted to help her out but he'd told her it wasn't a good idea to date anyone from work. But for some reason he felt different about her and Chris together than he felt about her with Amaro. He decided if the opportunity came up for him to push them back together he'd take it. In the meantime, Amanda tried on her own to get Chris' attention. She called and texted. She would answer but would always rush her off the phone and always kept their texts short and sweet. After a few more days, Amanda gave up. Chris was over her and she figured she might as well accept it and move on. Chris had the next couple days off and they got a new case in that reminded Rollins of one back in Atlanta. She made a call back to her old Captain to see if they had anything that could help them with their case. When he called back, it turned out they had three open cases matching their MO but the rape kits had never been tested. Benson sent Rollins and Fin down to Atlanta to track the kits down so they could be tested and talk to the women who'd filed the complaints. The trip was stirring up a lot for Amanda and she couldn't wait to get back to New York. The victim they'd talked to from Atlanta gave them the break that they needed. It led them to a doctor which led them to the perp. Carisi was able to get a confession out of the guy and they closed the case. Fin could sense that something was up with Rollins since their visit to her old job and a weird phone call she had with her old chief. He asked if she was okay and she said she was good. He wasn't sure she was telling the truth but he didn't push it.

Chris came back to work after a couple days off taking care of her sister. Amanda pretended she wasn't there and Chris did the same. They both tended to their own work. Amanda had a lot on her mind and she wasn't focusing on Chris anymore. Chris had a lot on her mind as well and she hadn't been focusing on Amanda since she found out she was sleeping with Nick. She suspected from how they were acting around each other that things between them had ended. It didn't matter. She didn't trust Amanda's feelings for her so she couldn't be with her. Over the next couple weeks, Amanda got more and more anxious. It was subtle but Chris noticed. She'd had the same behavior at the start of their undercover operation. She didn't know what her deal was but she was sure she'd find out soon enough. There was a conference in town that night and Amanda's old squad from Atlanta was there. Chris couldn't go because she had to go home and take care of her sister but Benson, Tutuola, Amaro and Rollins went. The next morning, Amanda came in late and Chris could tell she was hung over. Before she could sit down at her desk, Fin got a call that a detective from Atlanta had been raped. Rollins went to the hospital with Liv and the rest of them stayed back at the precinct.

Things got complicated quickly and Rollins was put in a tough position. She'd told Chris before about how she'd been assaulted on the job back home but she'd never gone into much detail. Seeing how she was now with these accusations being leveled against her old boss made Chris question if he'd been the one who hurt Amanda. She thought about trying to talk to her about it but Fin had it covered. He got Amanda to go to Barba and vouch for the veracity of the accusation against Chief Patton. She wasn't telling the entire truth about what happened to her but just enough for them to move forward with the charges against him. Once the trial started and the victim, Detective Reese Taymor, had testified, Amanda decided it was time for her to tell her whole story. The truth was out there about what'd happened to her in Atlanta and why she'd left. It was uncomfortable for her but it was time. She couldn't hide it anymore. It turned out that Rollins wasn't allowed to testify against Patton but it wasn't all for nothing. It felt good to have finally gotten it off her chest; to finally tell someone what happened and have them believe her. She still had her issues to work through to be okay with happened and move on but at least now she wasn't pretending that nothing had happened at all.

Chief Patton ended up taking a plea and Amanda decided to take some time off. Chris went back and forth with herself about whether she should talk to her. She'd kept her distance during Patton's trial. She didn't want to crowd her. She had Fin to talk to and Nick and she overheard her telling Fin that Benson wanted her to see a therapist. She figured she'd just give her some space. She was in a daze at the table making herself a cup of coffee when Fin came over and stood next to her. She didn't notice him there until her nudged her arm with his elbow. She snapped out of her daze and said good morning. He returned the greeting then got right to the point.

"You talked to Amanda?" She shook her head.

"No" she said as she reached for a stirrer.

"Why not?" he asked with a bit of anger in his voice.

"She's…taking time off" she said stating what he already knew. "I just thought I'd give her her space".

"Maybe she doesn't want space" he said, "Maybe she wants to talk to you. You know she has been trying but you've been ignoring her".

"She hasn't tried to talk to me for weeks" Chris said defensively.

"Yeah. You were ignoring her so she gave up".

"I wasn't ignoring her….."

"You were acting like you didn't want to talk to her. It's the same thing". Chris threw her stirrer in the trash and stood there listening to Fin lecture her about how she'd been treating Amanda. "When are you gonna stop pretending like you don't care?" he asked her bluntly. "Maybe that's what she's really waiting on". He walked away and left her standing there alone like she'd done to Amanda not too long ago. He was right. She was pretending and maybe it was time for her to face reality.