A\N: Hey guys, sorry it's been a little late but I've had a lot to do. This one is a little longer than the others but I didn't want to split it into two separate chapters. I do not own these characters. Please leave a review.

"I guess what scares me the most now is the thought that I won't be able to protect you"
― Julia Hoban

Chapter 6: Protection

Olivia looked up from her seat and her facial expression changed from one of happiness to one of concern. Her eyes locked onto the cut above Amanda's eyebrow and the bruising that was starting to fade on her face. Benson got up from her seat and rushed to her partner's side.

"Amanda, who did this to you?" Rollins looked at her and rolled her eyes.

"Liv, I'm fine. I'm in a prison it's gunna get a little rough now and again. What I'm more interested in is why it's taken you so long to visit. I thought you'd know the visitin times by now." Amanda grinned, a smile strewn across her face. "On a serious note though Liv, I know some victims that are in here and I hear things. Things about the rapist but when I go to confront them about it, well they ignore the fact I've asked. It's like…..it's like he still has some strange hold on em, I dunno."

Benson looked at her younger partner and smiled to herself. She loved that Rollins had such a genuine attachment to the other women and had worked hard to find out some crucial information.

"So how much longer do you need in here?" Benson asked.

"As long as it takes to find him. I'm not leaving until I know." Rollins replied tugging at her orange jumpsuit. "I better get back; otherwise they might start getting suspicious." The younger of the two stood up and walked to the door.

Benson followed and grabbed Amanda's arm and pulled her towards her. Olivia touched Amanda's chin with the tips of her fingers and then put her hand in her partners. She looked into her marine blue eyes and whispered 'I miss you.'

Rollins' heart skipped a few paces; those words were all she needed to keep her going for the next few days.

Rollins walked back to her cell, she turned a corner and heard the word 'rapist'. She passed a group of women and watched as they clearly eyed the potential victims of the crime and then Amanda turned to see Stella sat on a bench. There was a clear loss of her demeanor, a loss caused by that man.

Amanda passed another group of girls and heard one say "Do you know what makes me sick, is that those sluts get more attention from the guards, they get better food, better inmates…" she trailed off as Rollins passed. Amanda had had enough and talked as she walked to the cafeteria, grabbed a metal tray and slammed it against the floor. "Do you know what makes me sick?" The room went silent as the bang reverberated off of the walls and the leaders of the gangs stood with clenched fists as they saw Rollins stand up on a table. She cleared her throat and addressed the swarm of criminals.

"I'm thoroughly sick of listening to all of you! Every day without fail I can guarantee you I'll hear about that rapist that got to half of you," she said pointing to the crowd, looking over she saw the guards approaching her. "That rapist that y'all are letting get away with this because y'all are too scared to tell the cops who did it. Don't you want that bastard to pay?" The group was silent until Stella chipped in with; "It's not that easy Vick."

"But why? What is it so bad that the cops can't catch him?" Rollins shouted and everyone in the room was deadly quiet apart from the prison guards that were dragging Amanda off of the table. "If you have any decency you'll stop it from happening to other girls and fucking tell someone!"

Above the commotion a detective smiled to herself as she saw a blonde woman being dragged away, moving her brown hair from her face she turned on her heel and left the prison.

The next morning when Amanda awoke, she heard the scuffing of shoes as the prison guards walked the hallways. She looked across to see Stella looking out of their cell, her hands cupped around the peeling white bars and she seemed oddly fixed on something. Rollins asked her what was wrong but the woman just grunted and walked away to the cafeteria once the cell was open. No one had appeared to look at Rollins yesterday after her speech; it was quite strange in the detective's opinion. She herself got up from her bed and checked the hallway was clear. Moving back to her cell she found her shiv under her mattress, placing it in the back of shoe she ambled down to get some food.

The room went silent as she entered and today all heads turned to look at her. Rollins ignored it, grabbed her food at sat at a table with Stella and her crew. There was a brief moment as Amanda began to eat that Stella's gang just sat down watching her then one after the other they began to get up and disappear towards some of the south facing doors. Rollins looked around and watched as more and more women did the same until only a dozen or so prisoners were left seated. That's when it hit her. They were heading towards the warden's office. They were heading to make their statements.

About three hours passed and Stella arrived back at the cell to find Amanda led on her bed.

"It seemed to work you know," Stella said taking a seat next to her cellmate. Amanda looked up at her.

"Thought it might." Rollins took a small pause before continuing with, "we can't sit here and let someone like that get away with somethin so sick."

"I guess you're right but the girls are still a lil cautious as to how he's gunna react and what will happen to them."

Amanda glanced up at her and replied with "What do you mean? Now that you've given a statement we're more likely to catch him." Stella went to reply but stopped and stood up instead.

"What?" The detective questioned.

"You said we're more likely to catch him. You're a prisoner you ain't getting out of here to catch him, unless you're a…." Amanda realised her mistake, she had spoken to Stella as if she was one of the team, and she had stupidly come out of character. This was something Olivia had warned would happen. "You're a cop."

"What? No. It's a figure of speech. Geez." But Stella wasn't convinced and edged backwards.

"I trusted you." Then she left.

"Shit!" Rollins said to herself as she rushed out of her cell, past the other inmates and to the warden's office. A line of women still stood ready to give statements, Amanda passed them all and watched as the warden's door opened and Anna walked out. Brushing against Anna she strolled into the room and closed the door.

"I'm sorry Miss Clay but you're not next in line. If you'll just go and get to the back of the line…"

"I wanna talk to Detective Olivia Benson." The warden had no idea that she was an undercover cop. He began to protest until she said, "I'm Detective Amanda Rollins and I suggest you do what I say."

Around half an hour later Olivia walked through the door to find Amanda sat in a seat in front of the warden's desk.

"What's happened?" She asked Rollins.

"You heard about the statements being given right?" Olivia nodded, "Well I need to see them and quickly."

"What's happened?"

Amanda looked up from the paperwork and shook her head.

"They're all the same Olivia. Every description's the same. But they're not clear enough; this could fit a quarter of the men in New York. What we need is a key detail something specific."

Benson nodded and carried on searching through the files. "Wait, I have seen something not a lot of them have said it but it seems like the most recent victims have. Look." She said passing Rollins a file. "Julia Hart mentions a red and purple scarf."

Amanda looked up at her partner. "I've seen him. I've seen that bastard before."

"What? Where?" Olivia replied.

"Can you remember when we interviewed those girls downtown? He was there, I saw someone at the end of the street watching us but I didn't a clear enough view. The only thing I could make out was a red and purple scarf." Amanda got up and reached for the door. "We need to speak to Stella."

They reached Amanda's cell and Stella was sat on the top bunk, her legs were crossed and she was clearly engrossed in a book. She looked up as Olivia and Rollins walked in. She rolled her eyes and threw down her book.

"I knew it, you are a cop." Stella said and Olivia looked at her partner.

"Stella we need your help. I need to know why you didn't want to tell the cops."

Stella looked at Amanda and knew that this woman was going to continue questioning her until she answered. "Because he said he'd get us back. He'd get us back by hurting our families."

"But how would he do that if he didn't know your names or where you came from?" Benson questioned but Stella turned her head indicating she wasn't going to answer the question.

"If he's gunna hurt your families then why did you come forward?" Rollins asked.

"Because if a whole bunch of us came forward he had less of a chance to get to everyone's."

"You said to me the other day that he kept a check on you. How?" Amanda said but again Stella didn't answer.

"He works he doesn't he." Benson stated and Stella looked up, her eyes began to fill with tears and she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Only a few of us actually saw a clear view of his face. I was one of them."

Olivia nodded and walked from the cell, she told Rollins to stay and comfort her inmate while she went to talk to the warden.

"So I need a list of all your male employees." Benson said exiting the room with the warden and a part-time psychiatrist who had been placing files back into the office.

"If you need my help Detective be sure to call." The psychiatrist said handing Benson a card which she twirled in her fingers.

She looked to her left and saw Amanda walking along with Stella, whose eyes were red and puffed up. The warden walked back into his office as the psychiatrist walked in the opposite direction to Rollins. Benson looked down at the card and then back up at her partner. But Amanda wasn't focused on Liv she was focused on the man up ahead of her, she watched as he opened his satchel and reached for a notepad and an object fell from his bag. "Oh Dr Learner you dropped something." Benson said reaching down and picking the object up.

Then she realised. It was a red and purple scarf. Dr Learner stood still as Benson turned her gaze to Amanda. The younger detective appeared to be looking at Stella who had suddenly gone still, and then she nodded. "It's him."

Rollins saw Olivia drop the scarf as she heard Stella's words and ran after the psychiatrist who was now sprinting down the hallway. Amanda took after her running at full speed until she realised that the hallway split off into three and Benson had clearly disappeared down one of them. The blonde haired woman chose the right hallway and proceeded to race after Dr Learner.

Benson reached the end of the corridor and found Dr Learner with a knife in his hand and a prisoner in the other. He raised the knife up to the woman's throat and Olivia grabbed her gun and pointed it at him. "Drop the knife Dr Learner, or I'll put a bullet in that twisted head of yours." He began to laugh. "Wanna try me?" She asked.

Rollins reached the end of the corridor as well and up ahead she saw Benson with a gun pointed at the Doctor who had another prisoner in his arms. She reached down to her shoe and grabbed the shiv she'd been hiding. 'I knew it would come in handy' she thought. Silently she sidled over to the doctor, Benson saw she had a sharp object in her hand and watched as the blonde woman plunged it into the back of one of his legs. He crippled under the pain and Amanda grabbed his knife.

Olivia reached down and handcuffed him then she reached for his satchel. "Let's see what he's got in his bag." Opening it she pulled out some bracelets, a few notepads and some earrings. "Trophies." She said. "Son of bitch."

The detectives had found out that Dr Learner had kept the girls under control because he had access to their records he would send them notes during their stay at the prison to let them know he knew where their families were. They had him locked up for now and they had a feeling he'd be going down for a real long time. Amanda and Olivia had been given the evening off and they have gone back to Benson's apartment.

Olivia came walked out of the bathroom to find Amanda sat on a blanket on the floor surrounded by food and a picnic hamper. They both smiled and Benson joined her.

"Shouldn't I be doing this? After what you went through this past week?" The older of the two asked.

"I thought I'd treat us, thought I'd treat you." Rollins smiled as Benson crawled over to her, grabbing the back of Amanda's neck she pulled her lips onto her own. Their kiss began to intensify and they found themselves led on the floor crushing the newly bought food. Benson stopped and looked down at the croissant she had just flattened with her thigh.

"Well they do say that food is an aphrodisiac." Amanda laughed brushing Olivia's hair from her face and placing it behind her ear. Olivia kissed Rollins on the lips once more before replying.

"I don't need an aphrodisiac."

"And why's that?" Amanda asked feeling the breath of her partner glide across her face.

"Because I love you and you're all I need."

Amanda gazed up at her partner, her lover and pulled her in for another romantic embrace. They slowly stood up as the moonlight began to pour in through the window and Olivia guided Rollins to her bedroom. They began to undress slightly before Amanda pushed Liv onto the bed, their faces a short distance from each other's and whispered "I love you too."

A/N: So I know it was long but hopefully the confession of love was worth the read. Let me know what you think and where you think their relationship will now go. I'm curious to hear what you guys reckon. Please leave me a review and let me know. Thanks.