Love of the Law
A Law and Order
SVU Fan Fiction
Two weeks had pass and the two of them had fallen into a comfortable pattern. For the first time since she could remember Amelia started to really feel happy, content and safe. This was all so new to her and in her few moments of anxiety about it Rafael was always right there reassuring her. He had been nothing but kind, understanding and...busy. The man rarely took a break. She was tired just watching him and the project at hand was moving her in. After the day of the trial the two of them had sat down and just talked about everything and anything. When they had finished her lease would remain unsigned and she was officially moving in with her now boyfriend. It sounded strange to her calling him that, nice but strange. He on the other hand loved it and would tell anyone who would listen. Olivia had told her she had never seen him so happy or so agreeable. It was a nice feeling to have so much support especially since she had never really experienced it before. It was nice to have a family.
It was early on a Monday morning when Rafael got up for work. Amelia still had a few days off to finish her unpacking and to retrieve the last of her things from her old apartment. She sat up in bed as she watched him hurry around the room as he got ready. The early morning sunlight streamed in from the window basking the room with a soft glow. This was usually her favorite time of day. Something Rafael had a hard time understanding. His excuse was that no one in their right mind could possibly like the early morning hours but her. He then added that, that was one of the reasons he loved her. Yes he had actually said that he had loved her. She had responded by crying and he had been at a loss for words the poor man but once she settled down she told him no one has ever said that to her and that she loved him too, more than anything. It had been a breakthrough for both of them.
She turned to watch out the window to the sunrise seemingly lost in thought when she felt the bed dip beside her. She turned to see him sitting there watching her with a bit of worry.
"You all right sweetheart? You seemed lost there for a minute." She smiled up at him and placed a hand his cheek trying to sooth away his worry lines.
"I was just thinking."
"About what?" She
"About how happy I am and how much I love you." He couldn't have smiled any bigger if he wanted to and bent down to give her a long drawn out kiss. When he pulled away he let out a sigh.
"You make it very hard for me to leave mi amor." He pulled away although reluctantly. "I shouldn't be too long tonight so how about I take you out to dinner." She hummed in response.
"Okay, that sounds nice. I just have a few more boxes to get from my old place."
"Are you sure you can get them. If you want to wait I can help."
"No that's okay I can get it. One trip should do it. I can get it before lunch. I'm meeting Olivia after that. She wants to catch up."
"She just wants to gloat on how right she was about us." Rafael added with a smile.
"Well she did win the pool." Amelia added with a smile.
"I still can't believe they all had that going." He added as he shook his head. She reached up and kissed him in the cheek.
"You're just upset because you didn't catch on councilor." He looked at her in surprise as he now stood and went to put his tie in in front of the mirror.
"You knew?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"I overheard. You know for a bunch of detectives they are not great at keeping secrets." This earned her a bit of a laugh.
"Okay, I've got to run but I will see you later." He leaned down and gave her another kiss. "Love you." She never tired of hearing him say it.
"Love you too. Have a good day. " His smile was the only answer she needed.
"I'll call you later, okay."
"Okay, be safe."
"You too." She heard the door shut as he left for the day and silence filled the apartment. She flipped back down for a few more minutes going through her day in her head when her phone buzzed. Picking it up she couldn't help but smile.
"Really, already? What are you still in the elevator?" The answer was a good natured chuckle at the other end.
"I said I would call you later, it's later."
"Rafael it's only been five minutes."
"You don't miss me pretty girl?"
"Of course I do, now go to work you crazy Cuban." She laughed. This went on for another ten minutes until he finally hung up once he reached work. She shook her head and began her day. First with a shower followed by a quick breakfast, she then grabbed her keys and made her way to her car. Her first stop was one last trip to her old apartment. She ran up the two flights of stairs and found her door. It was bitter sweet to be doing this one last time. It had been the first place that has truly been here and packing up the very last of her belonging left her with a sense of closing a chapter on her life.
She opened her door and walked it. When she did however the hair on the back of her neck stood up and in about two seconds she knew she wasn't alone. Before she could react however she felt something hit her in the back of the head and her world went dark.
When she woke up the first thing she felt was the pain in her head. The next thing she realized was she was tied to a chair. The last thing she realized was the crazed look of her cousin who now stood with a gun pointed at her face.
"Good, you're awake! It's about time!" Amelia took in her cousin. Someone she had grown up with had played with and fought with. She didn't recognize the person standing in front of her.
"Natalie, what are you doing?" Amelia asked as she tried to remain calm as she tried to pull at her restraints.
"What am I doing?!" She screamed at her as she started to wave the gun that she held in her hand. "I'm ending a problem! That's what I'm doing! What is wrong with you?!" She demanded. "It isn't enough that you got everything that you had to take my husband too?!"
"I didn't take..."
"Shut up! You have everything!" She swung her gun at Amelia's head, hitting her and causing her to cry out. She felt blood run down her face and she saw stars. She blinked a few times in hopes of clearing her vision.
"I finally, finally get you to leave home, you the perfect child. Everyone's favorite and you still manage to take everything away from me." She wasn't making much sense but Amelia knew she had to keep her calm if she had any chance of keeping herself alive. She had to come up with a plan and quick. She tugged at the restraints once again finding them slightly slacked. In her haste Natalie hadn't tied them tight enough.
"Natalie I need you to hear me..." She started to say but Natalie stopped her.
"No! You don't get to talk! Everything is a lie! Everything!" Amelia felt her phone buzz from her back pocket. She couldn't reach it quite yet but she knew and hoped it was Rafael. If it was him she had no doubt that he would keep trying until he got a hold of her. If anything he was relentless. The buzzing had stopped only to start up again not even a minute later. He was officially worried.
"It's bad enough that you have the perfect lawyer boyfriend with the perfect life but that wasn't good enough was it?! You just had to take my life way. We were happy but no you had to sneak your way back in, get your hooks in again. Was it some kind of revenge plot because of what we did to you? Because if this is what it is..." She shook her head and started pacing back and forth in front of her.
"Nat...he found me! I came to the city to get away from him, from you!" She managed to say before she got hit again, this time with enough force that she and the chair fell over.
"Lie! All lies! She was breathing heavy and had a wild look in her eyes. "You don't know what I had to do! What I have been through!" Amelia had finally had enough of the crazy. She had managed to wiggle her hands somewhat free and discreetly pulled the phone from her pocket hitting a button. Her hope was that she had answered the buzzing phone.
"I...Don't...Want...Him!" She yelled through gritted teeth. "He was the one who came after me. He is the one who couldn't move on. He still thought he could control me." She felt a kick coming her way but was able to move out of the way just enough to avoid it. This only aggravated Natalie even further but it gave Amelia enough time to hide her phone better and to gage her plan of attack. She was not about to let her cousin, someone who was not only family but a once friend, get the upper hand. She was ticked!
"What do you think you're doing?!" Natalie screeched at her. At this point Amelia had made it to her knees. She looked up at her cousin trying to figure out exactly what had caused her to suddenly become so unhinged.
"If you think for one minute I'm going to lay here and let you do whatever you want to me in my own apartment then you have another thing coming." She knew she had to get Natalie distracted enough to let the gun go but also shouting out information so that whoever was on the other end of the phone could figure out her where abouts.
"You're the one who doesn't get it." Her voice took on a whole new sound and quite frankly it was frightening. She suddenly seemed composed and in control but the gun still trained at Amelia's head. "I had everything and then you took it away so now I am going to end you. It's the only way cousin."
"Why do you hate me so much Natalie? What have I done to you? We use to be such good friends. We're family." Amelia had to keep her talking because her hands were almost free. Natalie looked at her for a moment and then just shook her head giving a very dark laugh.
"You stupid bitch, you really don't know do you? You really have no idea. I have always been made to be like you. Be your cousin, be like Amelia. The perfect child. Always doing what you are told. So I tried and it worked for a while until you had to be here."
"That would be sad if it were true Natalie." She was trying to remain calm but it was beginning to be difficult. She was starting to lose faith that whoever she had answered the phone to hadn't taken the hint. And then she heard the slight sound of a siren in the distance and felt a relief surge through her as is seemed to be getting closer. "Do you think it was easy living with my mother? I was always told how to do everything. She was so worried about appearances and how she would look that she controlled every aspect of my life. My friends, who I would marry, everything! If it wasn't for what you did with Dylan then I would be stuck with someone who never loved me and just wanted to control me. I couldn't live like that so for the first time in my life I made my own choice. Yes I ran away, yes I risk my mother's indifference and yes I realize I could have handled it differently but I didn't and It was the best choice for me. I love my life. I love what I do, who I am with. I have real friends, someone who loves me for me and I will be damned if you are going to take that away from me. So put the gun down so that we can walk out of here. You have a daughter. Someone who needs a mother that can do better than ours did. So..." She didn't get to finish because she was hit again alongside of the face causing her to gasp and fall again this time her hands flew out and she connected with the floor. Her phone flew from her hand and skidded across the floor. Natalie realizing what had happened looked from Amelia to the phone and in a fit of rage stomped on it.
"There is no baby, there never was! I had to say there was or he was going to leave me!" She reached Amelia's side and put the gun to her head.
"The police are here Natalie, if you shoot me you won't get out of here alive."
"That's the point, cousin. I have nothing left to give." She whispered in her ear. She put her head against Amelia's so that when she shot the gun it would kill them both. "Say goodbye." She never got the chance because Amelia used all of her weight and final bit of strength to push against her causing her to become off balance. This was enough for her to push the gun away just as it fired. The bullet ricocheted around the room finally longing into the wall. Natalie let out a scream just as the door burst open.
"NYPD, hands in the air, now!" Amelia watched as her cousin, looking shocked and starting to cry actually did just that. Amelia collapsed to the floor head down as she too burst into tears. It was over.
The next few hours passed in a blur. She was practically lifted from the floor by Olivia who kept telling her that it was okay and she was safe now. She remembered whispering Rafael's name and Olivia telling her that he was outside and it was him who had been on the phone. It wasn't until she had collapsed into his waiting arms that she finally let herself believe that it was finally over. He held her tighter than he ever had before telling her over and over again how sorry he was that he wasn't there and he would never allow anyone to hurt her again. They made her go to the hospital where her various cuts, bruises and head wounds where attended too. She did indeed have a concussion and needed to stay overnight for observations. She hadn't wanted to saying she was fine but Rafael had insisted. He also had refused to leave her side much to the argument of the hospital staff. In the end he had won and now sat with her, holding her hand telling her how much he loved her and how sorry he was.
"You really need to stop saying that." She told him in a sleepy voice.
"What? That I love you?" He asked with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.
"No, that I like hearing." She added with a smile of her own. "The part where you keep saying you're sorry. It wasn't your fault. Natalie is sick and needs help. I just didn't realize how bad off she was." Rafael squeezed her hand but she could tell that he still wanted to take the blame.
"Sweetheart, she tried to kill you." He added gently. "I'm not sure I could handle it if she had succeeded."
"But she didn't and I'm okay. I never want to see her again, but I'm okay. I just want to get pass all of this." He kissed the top of her hand and then looked down at her hand seemingly to be studying it.
"We will but first there is something I really need to ask you. I was going to wait but after today, I don't think I can." She looked at him as he finally met her eyes. "When I was able to get through to you on your phone, it scared the hell out of me with what I was hearing and it made me think..." He paused for a moment and she tried to encourage him to continue. He took a deep breath and it was as if he was trying to regain his nerve. Something she had never seen before.
"Rafa...what is it?"
"You love me right?" He asked as he looked up at her with an unreadable look in his eye.
"More than anything."
"And you know I love you, right?"
"Yes."
"You know I would do absolutely anything for you. If you wanted the moon I would find a way."
"I don't need anything, just you. So tell me what you are thinking."
"You, I want you always, forever. I don't want you to just live with me." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled something out. "I want forever; I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to make plans and build a life. I want to have kids and grandkids and great grand kids. I want to love and fight and be with you always. So I was thinking your hand looks a little bare. So what do you say about wearing this." He held up a ring and Amelia felt tears start to fall.
"Oh Rafael..."
"So what do you say? Will you marry me?" He looked nervous as he held her hand. She couldn't answer but she nodded vigorously.
"YES..." She was finally able to croak out. He couldn't smile any bigger as he slid the ring onto her shaking hand.
"I love you Amelia."
"And I love you." Then they sealed the deal with a kiss. In the hallway Olivia looked in and then back up at her squad. "All right people, pay up." There was a collective groan as each one handed over the money owed. She smiled and added. "Drinks are on me." She looked back once more taking in the very happy couple smiling. No two people could be better matched.
So there you have it! Thanks for the reviews and such. It's been fun! Sty tune for updates on the Killing Ground.
