AN: Hey y'all. It's been forever, I know. It's been a busy semester for me. But I'm back. Hopefully, I'll be able to update more frequently but don't hold me to it. As always, leave your comments/suggestions. I love knowing what y'all think. Until next time. Enjoy!

Chapter 40: Not Quite Right

The inside of the apartment building, like the outside, didn't look like much. It was a low rent place that probably wasn't on the up and up. Not anywhere that Chris would stay if she'd had to choose but perfect for fitting in with the crowd they'd be getting in with. The apartment was small. Only one bedroom, one and half bath with a small kitchen and living room. Chris went right to the bedroom and shut the door. Franco sat down on the couch and laughed softly to himself. What the hell had he gotten himself into? He knew that Chris would be able to help him with this case. She was the one that'd be able to help find his missing detective, bring her home, and take down this drug operation. But he was kicking himself for how he'd gone about it. Maybe he should've just asked Christina for her help. She's a good person. She wouldn't have left him hanging. And if she wouldn't have done it for him, she would've for a fellow officer missing in the line duty. He should've believed that about her. But he hadn't. Now she wasn't even talking to him and he knew she meant what she'd said downstairs in the car. Once they were done with this case, she'd be done with him for good. Somehow he'd have to live with that but for now he needed to focus on the task at hand. He had a detective out there somewhere that he needed to bring in safely. He'd do what he had to in order to make things right with Christina so they could get this job done. He got up from the couch and went over to the bedroom. He reached for the door knob and tried to turn it only to find it was locked. He knocked and waited for an answer. After a couple minutes with no response, he knocked again. Still nothing.

"Come on, Christina" he yelled through the door, "let me in. We gotta talk about this?" Chris ignored him and went on getting changed for bed. "Seriously Christina" he said in frustration, "let's be grownups about this". The door finally opened and Chris stood in front of him in shorts and a t shirt with her hair in messy bun on top of her head. He couldn't help staring for a bit longer than he should have. She still said nothing though. Just went over and climbed in bed, got under the covers and laid down to go to sleep. "We're seriously not gonna talk about this?" he asked sitting on the bed.

"What is there to talk about Franco?" Chris asked annoyed with his pestering. "We're here. We have a job to do. Let's just get it done so we can both go home".

"Look I'm sorry, ok?" he said finally apologizing. "You were right. I should've just asked you for your help".

"Yeah, you should've" Chris said. She kept laying down, not even bothering to look at him.

"But hey, it's a good cause" he said. Chris scoffed.

"God, you are really terrible at apologizing" she said rolling her eyes. "And you know what? Neither one of us would even have to be here if you did your job".

"Here we go…."

"No, really Franco" she said, finally sitting up to face him, "Let's be honest here. You had one job; to keep track of your asset. So what happened?"

"She didn't call in" he said nonchalantly.

"And you waited three months to ask for help?" she said raising her voice. "Why?"

"Come on Christina, you know the game. You don't go in when an asset misses one check in. It happens sometimes".

"But she didn't just miss one check in, Franco. You have a system, right?" He nodded. "It's there for a reason, right?" He nodded again. She worked with Franco enough to know his system like the back of her hand. Depending on the time between check ins, he gave cushion for his assets in case they couldn't make it at the appointed time. For an operation like this one, where check in was only once a month, he gave a cushion a couple days. For an every two weeks check in, he gave a cushion of about a week and so on. The further under they had to go on a case the longer they'd go between check ins. Those were the riskiest cases which is why there wasn't much cushion for missing a check in. Now that there was already a detective missing they're check ins had been made more frequent and they had no cushion for missing one. "So why didn't you use it?"

"Because I screwed up Chris. Alright!" he yelled. "Is that what you wanna hear? I screwed up!" He sighed and put his head in his hands. He collected himself before speaking again. "I made a mistake. I thou….I thought she was ready. I thought she could do this. I was wrong".

"You tried to make her into me" Chris said shaking her head.

"I thought she could handle it" he said still trying to rationalize his decision. "She reminded me so much of you. She was green but she was always on it, you know. She's smart, quick on her feet, a real go getter. Just like you".

"But she's not me, Franco" she argued. "Why are you trying to replace me? Why can't you just let me go? Move on". He sighed again.

"You're good. You're too good to just let you walk away" he answered.

"I haven't walked away. I'm just doing something else now".

"Yeah" he said softly.

"What's her name?" During this conversation, she'd realized they'd never told her the name of the missing detective and she hadn't asked.

"Elena. Elena Moreno" he answered. "She's a good kid….like you were".

"So, what, you're saying I'm not a good kid anymore" she asked a little offended by his use of the past tense. He laughed softly. "I wanna help Franco. I want to help you find her. I wouldn't have said no to that".

"I know" he said softly. "I didn't think it through. I'm sorry. I mean, you have your father and Jeza's baby is due soon. I shou….."

"It doesn't matter now" Chris said interrupting him. "We're here now. So let's get this done". He nodded his head. She turned over and laid back down to go to sleep. Franco, who was already moved into the apartment, got up and went over to the dresser to get a change of clothes. He went in the bathroom, showered and then joined Chris in bed. He tried to cuddle with her multiple times during the night but she kept pushing him away. He tried to play it off like it was an accident but she knew he was doing it on purpose. She finally got out of bed at six thirty in the morning to go out for a run. Franco woke up and told her she couldn't go out.

"Why not?"

"Because Christina Reyes goes for morning runs" he said turning over, "Christina Rivera doesn't. Come back to bed" he said yawning. Chris groaned and sat down on the edge of the bed. It was her first morning under as her new identity and she was already over it. "Since when do you run anyways?" he asked sleepily. "You hate running".

"Yeah, that was before".

"Before what?"

"Before Amanda" she said simply. She got up from the bed and started to leave the bedroom.

"Hey, hey, hey" he said quickly sitting up. She stopped and turned to look at him. "Where you going?"

"Why?" she asked annoyed.

"Why?" he echoed. "Because I'm responsible for you that's why".

"I'm going out Franco" she answered.

"Out where?"

"I don't know" she said with a shrug. "Out. I'm not gonna sit around this crap apartment all day".

"It's not even seven yet" he said looking over at the clock.

"So". Franco groaned and rubbed his face with his.

"Alright. Hold on. Let me get dressed".

"I don't need an escort".

"Come on" he said getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom, "we're in this together right?" He went in the bathroom and shut the door. Chris went to the living room to wait for him. He came out fifteen minutes later and they headed out of the apartment. They wandered around the neighborhood, drifting into the territory they'd have to infiltrate. They walked in lock step, sometimes hand in hand. They stood on a corner they knew was taken by the crew they wanted to get in with and waited. It took a while but finally they were approached by two men who wanted them to know they were on their turf. They were obviously more interested in Chris than Franco. She worked her magic and they invited them to a club later that night. They accepted the invitation and went on their way. "I knew I was right to request you" Franco said as they walked together.

"Don't gloat. It's unbecoming" Chris said looking over at him. "Anyways, we're not in yet. Still a ways to go".

"Nah. We're in" Franco said confidently. "Tonight will seal the deal". It was still early so they went out for breakfast. They talked about how they would play it at the club. They agreed that Chris would take the lead. In crews like this, they were always interested in the women. People were less suspecting of women being in the drug trade. Once they were part of the crew, they'd work their way to the big boss. In the meantime, they'd discretely ask about Elena.

After breakfast, they went shopping so Chris could buy some clothes to better fit in with the crowd they'd be running with. They hit mostly thrift stores to stay within the budget the department had given them. Once they'd hit their limit, they returned to their apartment. They spent the rest of the day going through case files on intel they already had on the drug ring. There was a picture of Elena in the file giving Chris her first visual of the missing detective. She was young and beautiful, just Franco's type. She wondered if there was more to why Franco had chosen her as his asset than he was telling. Franco went through everything, introducing Chris to all the players that Elena had given him info on before she went missing. He started from the bottom and worked his way up. She'd managed to get some good intel before she stopped checking in. Chris was impressed. Once she felt up to speed, they started getting ready for their night out. From what Monte and Ernesto, they guys they'd met earlier, had said it wasn't an upscale club. Still, people came dressed up. So Chris wore a simple dress with flats and Franco wore slacks and a button down shirt. They left the apartment at eight thirty and took a taxi to the club. When they got there, they went to the front of the line.

"Hey, man, what's up?" Franco said to the bouncer. He got a nod in return. "Monte y Ernesto nos invitaron". He looked to another bouncer behind him who went inside the club. He came back a few minutes later with Monte who gave the okay for them to come in. There was latin music playing, people dancing and plenty of alcohol flowing. Monte escorted Chris and Franco to a back room where there was a private party going on. There was a game of cards going, a pool table, and a small private bar in the corner. There was a couple dancing to the music that filtered in from the main club area. Monet introduced them to everyone and invited them to join in the game. Franco sat down at the card table and they dealt him in the next hand. Chris opted to play a game of pool instead. She bantered back and forth with her new friends, trying to find out where exactly she'd fit in. Franco, on the other hand, fit in perfectly. Almost too perfectly. It was like he'd known them for a long time. She went on with her pool game and kept an eye on her company.

They'd been at the club for nearly two hours when the drugs came out. Both Chris and Franco were offered but declined to participate. They stuck to beers and watched as everyone around them did illicit drugs. Christina got a contact high from Ernesto who kept blowing smoke from his marijuana in her face. Franco kept a close eye on him. He could see him taking an interest in her that had more to do with him wanting her to join his crew.

"Oye" he said interrupting their pool game. He stood beside Chris and wrapped is arm possessively around her waist. "Paso atrás" he said giving him a small push (Step back). "Ella está conmigo" (She's with me). Something about the way that Franco was interacting with Ernesto, and everyone else in the room, felt off. He was a bit too comfortable challenging Ernesto in front of everyone for her liking. And to her surprise, he backed off without a fight. They stayed at the club until closing and after, back in the private room where the money was being counted and drugs were being bagged for distribution. Neither Chris nor Franco were allowed to participate. She guessed they weren't trusted enough yet. But the fact that they were allowed to stay was a good enough start. They finally left the club just after three in the morning and headed home. Chris was going over the night's events in her head, cataloging everyone she'd met and analyzing everything conversation she could remember. She'd learned early on to trust her gut and something was telling her that things weren't quite right. She kept her thoughts to herself though and got ready for bed. Later that morning she went out while Franco was still asleep. She walked a ways to a pay phone and made a call that she wasn't due to make for a couple of weeks.

"Rollins" she heard through the receiver. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her voice on the phone.

"Hey" she said back, "it's me".

"Christina?" Amanda asked. It wasn't that she didn't recognize her voice. She'd recognized it immediately. That was the problem. It'd only been one full day since Chris had left to assume her new identity and she was calling in way ahead of schedule. Having said her name out loud, Amanda had gotten Fin, Nick and Carisi's attention. They all looked over with the same confusion that she had.

"Yeah, babe. It's me" she said confirming that it was her. Amanda got up from her desk and headed for the Sergeant's office, gesturing for them to follow her. She put Chris on speaker phone as she walked in Olivia's office. Nick, the last to enter, shut the door behind him. "Amanda?" Chris said making sure she was still there.

"Yeah, I'm here" she assured. "We're all here".

"Reyes, what's going on?" Benson asked worriedly. "You're not supposed to check in for another couple weeks".

"I know" she said quickly. "I know that but ummm….something's not right".

"What do you mean?" Fin asked.

"It's just…this is too easy" she answered. "We went out yesterday, walked the neighborhood, and we met these two guys. They invited us to a club and we went and….I don't know. Something's just off. They accepted us way too easily".

"Wait, you're already in?" Amaro asked surprised.

"Yeah" she answered. "Pretty much. I mean, I'm not making any runs or anything. I haven't met the boss but….they invited us back to their private room. They counted money in front of us, cut and bagged product. Everything. And…." she paused not knowing if she should say what she was thinking.

"And what…." Carisi asked encouraging her to continue.

"Franco….he just seemed way too comfortable. It was like he already knows them or something".

"Reyes, where are you?" Benson asked.

"I'm at a pay phone a good ways away from the territory. I had to sneak out while Franco was still asleep".

"Sneak out?" Fin asked confused, "What's that about?"

"Franco doesn't want me going out alone. He made a big deal about it yesterday" she explained.

"Well, he did already lose an agent" Olivia pointed out, "Maybe he's just being overly cautious".

"Yeah maybe" she said softly.

"You're onto something already. What are you thinking?" Amaro asked knowing that it had to be important for her to risk calling in so soon. She sighed heavily into the phone.

"I…" she hesitated to share her suspicions out loud. "I think I have to trust my gut and my gut is telling me that something isn't right" she said deciding to not to exactly what she was thinking. The conversation was making all of them nervous but none more than Amanda.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked trying to hide the worry in her voice.

"I'm gonna keep a low profile and keep working it. They like me already. Especially this one guy, Ernesto. I think he's gonna be my way in" she said further filling them in. Her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw it was Franco calling. "I have to go".

"Wait" Amanda said quickly, "when will you call again?"

"I don't know" she said honestly.

"Well definitely in two weeks right? For your first official check in?" Carisi said. There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone that didn't sit well with them.

"Yeah" she said clearly unsure of herself. "In two weeks". Her phone started to ring again. "I really have to go". Amanda took her off speaker phone and walked to the corner.

"Hey, be careful, ok?" she said quietly.

"Yeah, I will" Chris said. "I love you".

"I love you too" she said softly. She heard the line click and Chris was gone. She hung up the phone and rejoined the team.

"I don't like it" Fin said as soon as Amanda had rejoined them. "She's barely been under a whole day and she's already calling in?"

"I don't like it either" Nick said in agreement. "Chris knows what she's doing. She's not new to undercover work. She wouldn't break protocol and call in so early unless she felt threatened. She's prepping for something?

"What do you mean prepping for something?" Carisi asked confused. He'd never done undercover work in narcotics.

"It means she thinks things are gonna go bad and she wants us to know it" Fin said without missing a beat. Amanda stood uncomfortably listening to the conversation.

"Well shouldn't we do something?" Carisi asked.

"Do what?" Olivia asked jumping in. "She's not even supposed to be calling us. Her check in with us isn't for another four weeks. Her first check in is with Schiller".

"Who here thinks he'll keep us in the loop like he said he would?" Amanda asked looking around.

"Well, if he doesn't contact us then I'll call him" Olivia assured her. "And she said she'd call us after talking with him anyway".

"Yeah. And what if she can't?" she asked with some anger in her tone.

"Ay, it's like Nick said" Carisi said looking over at Amanda, "she knows what she's doing. She'll get a message to us".

"And until then, this conversation doesn't leave this room" Olivia said sternly to all of them. They all nodded their understanding and were about to leave her office to go back to work when Amanda's phone started to ring again. It was the same number that Chris had called from a few minutes ago. She answered and immediately put it on speaker.

"Hello" she said casually.

"It's me again" Chris answered.

"What's going on?"

"If I don't call you back by two o'clock on Friday, this is blown. You go to Hawes and Schiller, tell them to come in for us".

"Christina, what's going on?" Amanda asked worriedly.

"I don't have time to explain everything" she said. She was talking quickly letting them know that she in a rush. "I just know that things aren't right here".

"What's not right?" Nick asked quickly. "Tell us what's going on".

"One of the guys in the crew just called me. He wants to me to come back to the club on Thursday night" she said talking quickly.

"So he wants to use you guys for something. That's good right?" Carisi asked.

"Not us. Me" she clarified. "He wants me to come alone. I don't know what this is. Just be waiting for my call. Two o'clock on Friday, ok?"

"You got it. We'll be waiting" Fin said without hesitation.

"Ok. I have to go" she said quickly.

"Chris, wa…." Amanda started to try to keep her on the line but before she'd finished her statement, Chris had hung up the phone. "Dammit" she said angrily.

"I told you" Carisi asked much to everyone's confusion. "She got us a message. Now we wait".

"Oh great, Carisi. Thanks" Rollins said sarcastically.

"I'm just saying, she…."

"Ok" Olivia said stopping him from continuing. The last thing they needed right now was an argument. "We need to stay calm. Keep our heads". She included everyone but she was mainly talking to Rollins, who was visibly unraveling. "We do our jobs like we always do. Friday at one fifty we'll meet in here and wait for Reyes to call in. Ok?" They all nodded their heads. "Ok. Get back to work". They filed out of her office one by one, "Rollins, stay a minute?" she asked even though it wasn't a request. Amanda hung back and shut the door behind her teammates. "You gonna be able to keep it together?" she asked. Amanda nodded her head.

"Yeah" she said with a shrug.

"You sure about that?"

"Positive" she said without any hesitation.

"Because if it's gonna be a problem, you can sit out of the check in".

"There's no problem" she assured her.

"And you do know that if we have to go in for Chris and Franco that you'll have to stay behind, right?" Olivia asked to make sure they were on the same page.

"What? Why?" Amanda asked angrily.

"You're too emotionally involved Amanda".

"Damn right, I am. That's my girlfriend".

"Yeah. And that's why you have to stay behind" Olivia said getting up from her desk. She walked around and stood in front of her. "You know how this works, Rollins. You can't be involved in cases together".

"We're not involved in this case together" she argued. "She's undercover".

"And we're her handlers" she reminded her. "Now, it makes sense that she calls you when she checks in. I won't say anything about that. But if we have to go in to get her out, that's a part of our role in the investigation and that…..you can't be a party to". Amanda shifted uncomfortably in front of her boss. "I know this isn't easy" Olivia continued, "but this is how it has to be. Got it?" Rollins knew there was no point in arguing.

"Got it" she said in defeat.

"So, you sure you're good?" she asked one last time for assurance. Amanda nodded.

"Yep. All good Sergeant". She stood there for moment longer then walked out of the office. Olivia returned to her desk and got back to work. Amanda rejoined her colleagues in the squad room. She was obviously restless, tapping her pen on her desk and bouncing her leg up and down. After a few minutes, Fin finally spoke up.

"You know she's gonna be alright" he said quietly.

"I don't know Fin" she said in hushed tone. "You said yourself she's barely been under for a whole day and she's already calling in".

"Yeah but I also said that Chris is no rookie. She knows what she's doing".

"She said Franco's gotten people killed Fin" she reminded him. "I just….I can't stop thinking about that".

"She's gonna be alright" he said confidently. Amanda shook her head. She didn't have the kind of confidence that Fin had at the moment. "Hey" he said getting her to look at him, "she's gonna be alright" he repeated. Amanda took a deep breath and nodded her head. Nothing Fin could say would keep her from worrying until she heard from Chris again. All she could do now was wait.