Ghosts Are Not Real.
"There are no such things as ghosts, Carisi." Amanda stated firmly as she carried a cup of coffee back to her desk and sat down. "They're just stories you tell kids so they'll behave or make sure they'll stay out of places you don't want them to go near. Didn't your mother ever threaten you with a ghost story?"
Her partner frowned and looked at her like she had just grown three heads. "No, if I was told to stay away from a place then I'd stay away. There was never a need for a ghost story but that doesn't mean that they're not real."
The blonde snorted in disbelief. "So you were the perfect little boy growing up? Always listened to your mother, uh?"
Carisi shrugged awkwardly and glanced towards where Fin was sitting and listening to the two detectives with an interest. "I wasn't always well behaved. I had my moments." he stated, trying to prove that he wasn't mommy's little boy and that he could in fact put his foot down and be a bit of a rebel.
"Still do." Fin interrupted while folding his arms across his chest, grinning slightly at the youngest squad member.
Amanda chuckled at her colleague's joke and took a sip of her badly brewed precinct coffee. "This tastes like crap. It should be against the law to drink this stuff." she muttered and took another gulp.
"And you still drink it." Carisi said and sat down on the edge of Amanda's desk.
"It's the only coffee here. I can't run out to get a cup every time I get a craving for caffeine. I'd get nothing done."
"You still don't." Fin mentioned and now it was Carisi's turn to chuckle. Amanda wrinkled an empty sheet of paper into a ball and threw it at him, satesfied when she hit him in the shoulder and the paper ball rolled across the floor and landed in a corner.
They all laughed and fell into a comfortable silence, each detective focused on their paperwork before Fin finally spoke up, his voice low and serious. "There's a ghost right here in this station. I've seen him myself a couple of times upstairs in the cribs."
Carisi raised his eyebrows and Amanda chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah sure, and look..." she pointed towards the small coffee area that they all shared, "there he is, making himself a cup of coffee. Ask him if he wants cream and sugar, Fin. It's only polite."
The African American detective kept his stoic face and folded his hands together, resting them on his desk top. "I'm serious. Long before I started working here a detective hung himself upstairs where the cribs are now located. The room was once used as a storage area because it wasn't insulated back then. He stayed late one night and when all his coworkers had gone home for the evening, he went upstairs, closed the door and hung himself from one of the beams in the ceiling. The cleaner found him the next morning, his face ashen, body stiff as an iron rod, his tongue dangling from his mouth and his eyes popping out of his skull. The cleaner quit her job the same day."
Amanda rolled her eyes but couldn't help to let a shiver run down her spine. Carisi looked pale and sweaty, his eyes scanning the room from corner to corner. "What's the matter, Carisi? You look like you've seen a ghost." the blonde snickered at her own joke as she began organizing her case files that were lying in a pile in front of her.
"Very funny, Rollins." he said, slightly annoyed at his partner for making fun of him in his current state. "There's always some truth behind old stories and legends like these. It's what carried them from generation to generation in the first place."
"Don't tell me you believe him, Carisi? It's just a story." Amanda pointed out and dismissed the whole stupid idea with a wave of her hand. "By the way, why are you both still here? I'm the only one who has like a whole Mount Everest of paperwork to finish. Now scoot, I need my peace and quiet."
Fin sighed and stood up. "You're right, I'm off. I'll see you tomorrow, Rollins. Carisi, you coming?" he grabbed his coat and approached the younger man who still looked a bit pasty.
"Y... yeah." he stuttered, gathered his belongings and very eagerly left the building, like he couldn't get out fast enough. Amanda snorted and shook her head, a smile edged her lips as she thought of how easy it was to wind Carisi up.
Sipping her coffee she got back to her enormous pile of files and sighed. "This could take a while." she muttered and dug into the first one lying on top of the stack.
It was nearly elven pm. The room as quiet, since she was the only one left, the gloomy light from the lamp on her desk only gave her enough vision of a four feet radius and the temperature was beginning to drop outside which made it significantly cooler inside. She always kept a spare jumper in her locker and decided that now was a good time to use it. She turned the light on in the ceiling and fiddled with the lock until it finally popped open.
She instantly felt the warmth sooth her as she wrapped her thick wholly cardigan over her shoulders. Heading back towards her desk, something suddenly made her stop. A noise, but from where she couldn't tell. Shaking her head to clear it she simply pushed the thought away, thinking she was just hearing things because of what Fin had told her just a little while ago. "Get it together, Rollins." she mumbled and sat back down in her chair.
Ten minutes later her whole body suddenly jolted. There it was again! That noise! The same noise she thought she had heard just a few minutes ago. It was a faint but a solid thump and it came from upstairs. She knew she wasn't imagining things. She did hear it. She was certain of it. Her hearbeat picked up speed and within just s couple of seconds she could feel herself beginning to perspirate.
Even though she was now sweating, the tought of discarding her jumper was out of the question. It privided her with some sort of comfort and safety-ness, almost like an armour or a shield to keep enemies and possible threats at bay.
Pulling the jumper closer to her body she shivered as the hair on her neck stood up. She was glad that the full light in the ceiling was on so she had a full view of the bullpen in a clear light. "No such thing as ghosts." she told herself and resumed with her paperwork. Her ears, once again, picked up a strange sound coming from the floor above her. It almost sounded like...? No, it can't be? I'm totaly losing it! She thought to herself but couldn't quite shake the feeling that someone, or something, was upstairs creating these noises, these sounds, these... these Footsteps? Get a grip!
Then it suddenly occurred to her that it must be the guys trying to scare the living crap out of her. She saw them leave but they must've somehow gotten back in without her seeing it and they were now yanking her chain and doing a pretty good job too. Then again, more footsteps followed by a faint bang.
Groaning, she stood up and made her way to the bottom of the stairs, turning on the light before taking the first step. While slowly climbing the steep staircase she reached for her gun that was securely holstered on her right hip and held it out before her to protect herself from whatever she needed protection from. Her heart was pounding in her ears, her breathing short and shallow and the sweat glistening on her forehead and upper lip. She was scared but would never admit it to the guys. If this was their doing they would pay for it.
Her body froze as she heard a weak moan coming from behind the door leading to the cribs. Of course! Amanda rolled her eyes. That's where the alleged man hung himself and her colleagues were obviously in there making sounds and noises to make her believe that it was the work of the ghost Fin had been telling her about.
She placed her ear against the door and listened. There was nothing but silence now. No banging, no footsteps and no other unexplained noises could be heard from inside the room. If they were in there Amanda decided to catch them in the act, hoping to scare them in the process. She stepped away from the door, braced herself before forcefully kicking it open, gun still in hand, eyes frantically scanning the dark room. "Got ya!" she stated when she saw a dark figure sitting on one of the bunks in the far corner. Quickly she turned on the light to get a better view and was surprised and confused by what she saw.
"Liv?" she gasped, immediately lowering her gun and put it back in it's holster. "Wh... what... why are..." she shook her head to clear it, leaned back against the wall for support, rested her hands on her knees and panted, feeling her heart beat slowly resuming it's normal speed.
"Amanda?!" Liv had quickly turned around to see who had just barged in the door and was just as surrised. "What's going on? You okay?" she got up and made her way to the slightly distressed blonde and placed a warm hand on her upper arm.
"I... I heard a bang and then footsteps and I though... I thought that... Fin said that there's..."
"A ghost haunting the place? Yeah, I've heard that one before." she chuckled, crunched down a bit to met Amanda's blue eyes. "You okay? Come on, let's sit down for a while."
Liv led her to the bunk she had just been sitting on and brushed blonde hair away from a clammy forehead. "He got to you too, didn't he?" she smiled and shook her head. "He told the same story to a detective that started here a few years back. He never worked lates again after hearing the tale of the hanging man. He doesn't work here anymore though, he got transferred." Liv looked at Amanda with sympathy in her eyes. "I'm sorry I gave you a freight, hon." she placed an arm around her shoulders and felt the other woman shudder underneath her touch. "Oh, sweets, you're shaking. I'm so sorry. I fell asleep and I... um, I actually fell out of bed and then I accidentally bumped my baby toe against the leg of the bed." she admitted, a bit embarrassed for her clumsy behaviour. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to scare you." she soothed.
Amanda shrugged and smiled nervously. "You didn't. I mean, you did but you didn't." Liv raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I thought that Fin and Carisi were playing a prank on me. I just... wasn't expecting to see you here. And I don't believe in ghosts, by the way." she quickly added, not wanting her boss to think that she actually believed in that stuff. "I mean, usually there's a scientific explanation for strange things happening, right? Like shadows, noises, UFOs..." she chuckled. "I mean, who believes in that kind of stuff? It's all so... unrealistic if you ask me but..."
"Amanda," Liv finally interrupted with a faint smile. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" grinning, she rubbed Amanda's back gently. "It's okay, you know. I won't tell anyone that you got scared."
"I wasn't. I mean... I'm not. I just... you know, thought that someone had... I don't know, broken in or that the guys were... were..." her shoulders slumped in defeat and she sighed. "Yeah, I got scared."
Chuckling, Liv squeezed her shoulder gently. "Well, as I said, I won't tell anyone if you promise not to tell the guys I fell out of bed. I would never hear the end of it."
Amanda nodded her head in agreement. "You've got my word, sarge."
They both fell into a comfortable silence in the poor lit room before Olivia broke it. "What do you say we play our own little prank on the boys, ugh?"
Amanda's face lit up like a child on christmas eve. "Paybacks are a bitch!" she said, grinning from ear to ear.