AN: Hey all! I'm so sorry. It's been forever since I updated. I left my flashdrive at home when I came back to school from winter break and all my stories are on it. I had to wait for my sister to find it and mail it to me. But I'm back in business now so here's an update. As always, please leave your comments and suggestions. I appreciate all your feedback so much. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 45: Losing Control

Franco finally got out of bed just after one in the afternoon. He went to the bathroom then out into the living room looking for Chris. She was gone. He called her cell but got no answer. He went back in the bathroom to shower then changed his clothes. He grabbed his wallet and cell phone and then headed out of the apartment to the club. He went in through the back door into the private room. Monte was there with Rosita. He was cutting, weighing and bagging product and she was counting money. Franco went out into the club and a few minutes later he came back.

"Where is she?" he asked looking at Monte.

"¿Quien?" he asked confused. (Who?)

"Christina". He shrugged his shoulders.

"No se". (I don't know).

"She didn't come here?" He shook his head. "No me mientas". (Don't lie to me).

"I'm not lying. You said she wasn't coming so I called Rosita". Franco took his phone out of his pocket and called Chris again. Still, she didn't answer. He was about to call again when the back door opened and Ernesto walked in with Christina and Marisol close behind him. Chris had a cup in one hand and a tray of drinks and Marisol had a bag, which he presumed had food in it.

"I've been calling you" Franco said as she walked over. She set the drink tray down before sitting down at the table.

"My bad" she said nonchalantly.

"Hmmm. Tacos" Rosita said happily after looking in the bag of food.

"I thought we agreed you weren't coming here today?" Franco asked sitting down next to Chris.

"Well, I wasn't gonna sit in the apartment and be bored all day, now was I?"

"Hmmm. These shakes are so good" Rosita said before taking another drink to wash down her tacos.

"Hurry up and get back to counting" Monte said rushing her to finish eating. "We got a delivery to make. Don't wanna be late because you're busy stuffing your face". Rosita rolled her eyes and gathered her trash to throw away. Then she rejoined them at the table and started counting again. Chris took some bundles and started to help her count and Marisol helped Monte cut and bag product. Franco and Ernesto were off to the side having their own conversation while the rest of them worked. After about ten minutes of whispering, Ernesto went over to the safe, took out a bag and brought it over to the table. When he opened it, Chris saw guns inside. He handed them out one by one before looking at Chris.

"Usted sabe cómo usar esto?" he asked referring to the handgun (You know how to use this?). She nodded. He handed her the gun. She checked the mag and the safety then secured the weapon in her waistband. "Let's start loading up". Monte finished bagging the rest of the product while they loaded the finished bags and money in the truck. Chris went over to Franco.

"We're carrying guns now?" she asked folding her arms over her chest. "What the hell Franco".

"We need to protect ourselves" he said casually.

"Where'd you get these guns?" she asked. He just looked at her blankly then walked away. She sighed and shook her head.

"Hey" Monte said getting her attention. "Let's go". She walked out the back door and went to get in the truck. He picked up the last bag from the table and walked out behind her, pulling the door shut and locking it before getting in the truck. Franco pulled out of the alley and headed to their destination. After a half an hour drive, they pulled up outside of a warehouse. Franco turned off the truck and they waited. Five minutes later a truck pulled up beside them. The engine shut off and three Hispanic men got out.

"Rosita, Marisol, Monte" Franco said looking at them through the rearview mirror, "wait here". He looked to Chris then Ernesto, gave them the nod and they got out of the truck.

"You have the product?" one of the men asked.

"You have my money?" Franco asked without answering.

"We see the product then you see the money".

"Nah. That's not how it's gonna work. I want to see my money". The guy looked at his friends and chuckled. He made no moves to get the money so he could secure the product he'd come to buy. Chris could tell that Franco was getting aggravated and she had a feeling that things were about to go south. She knew what Franco knew. They had no plans of handing over the money. They'd come to rip them off. She instinctively placed a hand on her weapon. The man that was doing all the talking nodded to one of the men next to him and before any of them had a chance to make a move, Franco pulled his gun and shot him in the head. Chris was stunned but she had only a moment to act because the man standing in front of her started to reach for his waistband. She pulled her gun, released the safety and put two rounds in his chest. She heard three more shots ring out next to her and looked in time to see the third man fall to the ground, put down by rounds from Ernesto's gun. "Get the money" Franco said looking to Ernesto. He nodded and stepped over the bodies to the truck. He opened the front door and popped the trunk. Christina stood there staring at the three bodies on the ground in front of her. Then Franco stepped in front of her.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked barely audible.

"They were gonna rip us off" he answered. She looked up at him.

"So you killed him?"

"Hey, we still got a cover to maintain" he reminded her in a whisper. "So get your shit together. Get in the truck". She took a breath before turning around and went over to the truck. She looked back at the bodies on the ground one more time before getting in the truck.

"¿Estás bien?" Marisol asked looking at Christina. (Are you ok?). She gave a silent nod then looked out the window at Franco and Ernesto as they went through the dead men's pockets, taking their wallets, phones and guns. Franco walked around and got in the driver's seat while Ernesto wiped his prints off of everything he'd touched in the car. Then he came over, got in the truck and they drove off, heading back to the club. They unloaded the truck putting the drugs, money and guns back in the safe and locking it all up. Franco and Chris left the club to head home while the rest of them stayed to set up for the club to open. When they got back to the apartment, Chris started pacing in the living room. Franco watched her from the kitchen. He took a beer from the refrigerator, found the bottle opener in the drawer and popped it open.

"You need to calm down" he said before taking a drink.

"I need to calm down? Are you out of your mind?"

"We did what we had to do" he said nonchalantly.

"No, We" she said gesturing between them, "didn't do what we had to. I did what I had to because you shot that guy for no reason" she said angrily.

"He was going to rip us off" he said restating what he'd said earlier.

"Like I said, for no reason".

"What you thought they were just gonna take out product and let us go?" he asked. "They would've killed us Christina".

"You don't know that" she argued.

"Come on, Christina. Don't be foolish. You know how these things work. They wouldn't have let us walk away".

"You shot him before you had a reason to Franco" she said angrily.

"So what" he said with a shrug. "You gonna report me?" he asked. "You killed someone too. Remember that".

"You're not serious". She couldn't believe he was doing this.

"Dead serious mi amada" he said looking her in the eyes. "If you try to take me down, I'm taking you down with me". She glared at him for a moment longer before turning and going into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She undressed and changed into running clothes, put some cash and her phone in her armband and attached her headphones. She walked out of the bedroom and walked towards the door, ignoring Franco who was calling after her not to leave the apartment. She left the building, putting in her headphones as she went, and started walking down the block. When she was ready, she picked it up to a jog. She kept going until she got to the pay phone that she'd made her first call to Amanda from. She checked the time and thought that she should still be in the office and hoped that everyone was there with her. She went in the corner store and asked for some change then went back out to the phone. She put coins in then dialed Amanda's number and waited for an answer.

"Rollins" she answered.

"Hey babe" Chris said into the speaker. "Are you in the squad room?"

"Hey" Amanda said happy to hear her voice. "Yeah, I'm here. We're all here". She got up from her desk and gestured for Fin, Amaro and Carisi to follow her. "Are you okay?" she asked as she knocked on Olivia's office door.

"I need to get out of here". Amanda heard Olivia say to come in. So she opened the door and they went inside. Fin shut the door behind him and Amanda put Chris on speaker phone.

"What's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"I need to get out" she said again.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

"We had a buy today and…." she leaned her head against the pay phone shelter and took a deep breath. "Franco's losing it" she continued.

"What do you mean losing it?"

"He killed a guy" she said plainly. "He just….he shot him".

"Why?" Fin asked.

"The deal was going bad. They were gonna rip us off" she answered.

"Did they draw down on you?" Nick asked.

"No" she said almost yelling into the phone. "No" she said bringing her voice down. "He was just pissed off because the guy wouldn't show him the money. He's doing this on purpose. He's trying to set me up".

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked.

"I confronted him. I told him that I know he's dirty" she admitted. "I know I shouldn't have but I just couldn't pretend with him" she said feeling like Nick and Fin were going to jump on her for giving that away. "I told him that we'd finish this and then he had to turn himself in but I know Franco. He's not gonna do it. He's not gonna go in voluntarily. He's gonna make us take him down".

"But you said he's setting you up" Carisi said speaking for the first time. "How?"

"There were three men at the buy. After Franco shot the first guy, I shot the second guy. I killed him" she said sadly.

"I'm sure you didn't have a choice" Olivia said.

"He reached under his shirt at his waistband and…"

"Then you did the right thing" Nick said not even waiting for her to finish. "You did what you had to do to protect yourself".

"But I didn't see the gun. I just saw him reach under his shirt. I should've waited until he drew" she said thinking back on what happened. "I should've waited".

"If you had waited, he could've killed you" Olivia argued. "You did the right thing" she said trying to reassure her.

"He did it on purpose" she said angrily. "There were five of us and only three of them and we all had guns. That buy would've went our way no matter what but he told the two other girls in the crew and Monte to stay in the truck. Franco had no intention of selling to them".

"He wanted them to think they had the upper hand" Fin said putting together what Chris was saying.

"What does that mean?" Amanda asked.

"These guys sometimes set up buys with no intention of actually selling product" Nick said explaining. "They pick the crews that are known for ripping people off. Then at the buy, the crew lives up to their reputation so they kill them, keep their product and take the money. They make a profit and get rid of some of the competition in one go".

"He did this on purpose" she said again. "He said if he's going down then he's taking me down with him".

"But he can't, can he?" Carisi asked. "I mean the shooting was justifiable. On your end anyway".

"It doesn't matter. He's gonna do whatever he thinks he needs to do to save himself. If that means he has to get rid of me, he will" she said confident that she was right. "Look, I'm pretty sure I know what happened to Elena and that's what I came to find out so I'm done with this".

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Chris heard from behind her. She turned to see Franco standing behind her.

"Who is that?" Amanda asked. "Chris" she said when she didn't get an answer. "Christina". Still, she didn't get an answer. Just a click and then a dial tone.

"Are you stalking me now?" she asked annoyed.

"I told you not to leave the apartment" he said angrily.

"You don't tell me what I can and cannot do".

"You seem to have forgotten what went down earlier" he said smugly. "You killed a guy".

"I did what I had to do because you went off halfcocked". She was really pissed off. She couldn't believe that Franco was seriously threatening her to save his own ass.

"We both know I saved our asses".

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that" she scoffed.

"Get in the car" he said pointing towards the cab he had waiting.

"No" she said folding her arms over her chest.

"Get in the damn car" he yelled.

"No. Let's not forget what we're doing here Franco. You can posture all you want but you need me. Unless there's something you're not telling me. Something about Elena maybe?" she asked accusingly.

"Don't get beside yourself".

"Oh, I won't. You're already doing that enough for the both of us". She knew he couldn't do anything to her. They were there to find an undercover officer that'd gone missing on his watch. If anything happened to Christina suspicion would fall on him, especially since she'd been in contact with SVU behind his back. He glared at her for a minute longer then turned and went back to the cab. She waited until it pulled out into traffic to pick up the phone and call Amanda back.

"Christina what's going on?" Amanda said answering without saying hello.

"My check in with Schiller is in two days. I'll call you after I talk to him".

"You gonna tell him about Franco?" Carisi asked.

"Yeah, I am. I have to. Franco's losing control of this thing. His only option now is to find a way to get rid of me".

"Why don't you just call Schiller today?" Amaro asked.

"Because I just used all my free time to call you".

"Who was that before?" Amanda asked.

"Franco. He followed me here". She looked into the store window and saw the reflection of a truck that looked familiar to her. She turned around and saw Ernesto in the driver's seat. The only way he would know she was there was if Franco told him. She nervously cleared her throat and turned her back to him. "I have to go".

"No, Christina wait" Amanda said worriedly.

"If anything happens to me question Ernesto".

"Who's Ernesto?" Fin asked.

"He's Franco's number two. He's the one that got rid of Elena and he's here right now waiting for me to go with him" she said quickly. "Franco must've sent him".

"Don't get in the car". Amanda knew this was a bad idea from the beginning.

"Just remember if anything happens to me, find Ernesto".

"Chris" Amanda yelled into the phone.

"Amanda, I have to go" she said regrettably.

"Christina".

"I love you. I have to go". She hung up the phone and went over to the truck. Ernesto rolled down the window as she approached. "What are you doing here?"

"Franco sent me to get you" he said simply. "We got a run. Get in". She hesitated for a second before getting into the truck. She didn't know what was going to happen but she was preparing herself for the worst. Meanwhile, back at the precinct, the SVU was arguing about what to do to help her.

"She's with the guy that killed the other undercover" Amanda said angrily. She was pissed off that even now, when Christina was definitely in danger, they still didn't want to pull the plug on this operation. "She said Franco had something to do with that and now he's sent the same guy after her".

"Amanda we can't just go in for her" Nick said, "it doesn't work like that. I know it doesn't feel like it right now but we are trying to keep her safe" he assured her.

"If we're gonna go in for her, we need to have a plan" Fin jumped in, "And that plan has to come from Chris. She's on the inside. She has to call the shots".

"The worst thing we can do for her right now is jump the gun" Amaro said trying to calm Amanda down. "If we go in at the wrong time, it could blow her cover and she'll be in even more danger than she is without us interfering".

"Christina knows what she's doing" Olivia said looking at Rollins. "She knows Franco. She's in the best position to resolve this and bring him in peacefully. We have to trust her. You have to trust her" she said firmly. Amanda took a deep breath and nodded her head then got up and left her office. "Keep an eye on her?" she asked looking to Fin. He nodded his head then he left her office followed by Amaro and Carisi. Again, they were left to wait and hope that nothing happened to Christina before they could get to her.