A quick update : )

But the next one might take longer.

Let me know what you think.

Amanda wasn't sure how to react to Nick's words. Of course he was right, it felt good to be with him, to spend some time not concentrating on work. As much as she wanted more of that, they would just be playing house, this wasn't the reality and they both deserved better.

"I know Nick" she nodded after a few seconds "you're right, we will always be friends…maybe we should go our separate ways, literally"

Walking to separate directions was hard since their cars were parked close to each other so they walked back together, it was one of the most uncomfortable silences they'd ever experienced, and they had plenty of those in their past.

When they finally reached Nick's vehicle both muttered a quick goodbye and dropped the idea of hugging or any other physical contact. As Nick drove off and Amanda walked to her car she asked herself whether they would be friends or maybe this was their final goodbye.

She got back to the hotel, realizing she's barely spent any time there. She took a quick shower and called Fin, he gave everything to Warner who promised to update him as soon as soon as possible.

"Meanwhile you get to spend another night in the city of angels" he said "It's still early there, you got plans?"

"I'm going to spend my time sleeping, I'm exhausted. Hopefully you'll get an update tomorrow or the police will find her" she took a deep breath.

"I hope so too, I miss you partner"

"Oh..." she laughed "aren't you sweet…"

"I better be, since you're gonna to be my sergeant soon, and a damn good one"

"Thanks" she smiled, Fin always had her back.

"I should be thanking you, if you wouldn't have passed, Liv would have made me take it" he chuckled "you ok?" Fin asked thinking she sounded a little off.

"Sure, just tired, that's it" she replied.

"K, well, have a good night Amanda, hope to see you soon"

"You too Fin" she let the phone fall on the bed and followed it, allowing her body to go limp.

Stupid Nick, she thought and drifted off to sleep.

Nick arrived to his home and called Gil, they had plans for the weekend and he wanted to go through them again with him, it was a good distraction but Gil didn't have much time to talk, he had friends over and Nick ended up on his couch having a cold beer alone.

He had to do it, he tried to convince himself, he had to because if she would have been there right now it would make him feel so good and then, when she's back in New York he'd just be completely lost. So it was better this way.

He took another sip, this was so much better…

This was absolutely fucking unbelievably incredibly amazing.

Then why did he want to drive over to her and say he didn't mean a single word? Why did he go to his bedroom and lay down on the bed they'd made love on and tried to feel her, smell her.

Why were they always saying goodbye?

His thoughts drifted to the day Benson had that thing for Noah's adoption. He remembered how Amanda came by to pick him up and he asked her to wait a few more minutes.

"Ok, you have a good excuse for being late" she chuckled.

"You can say your car broke down and we had to walk" he called from his bedroom.

"Doubt you could make it that far, I'd have to carry you" Nick limped back to the living room, smiling at her.

"Don't think you'd be able to do that" he looked at her, she looked at ease wearing the mostly white dress, her wavy locks, bare neckline, he loved seeing her like this.

"What?" she looked down, thinking there might be dirt or a stain on the dress.

"Nothing" he assured "you look perfect"

"Thanks" she replied quietly, not able to hide the fact her cheeks turned a bit red.

"I found this" Nick took out something from his pocket, it was a small box wrapped in green and red paper "I…well…wanted to give this to you last Christmas but…well…" he didn't want to talk about it, they'd been distant after their fight so he let the present he got for her stay in a drawer. He was looking around, throwing things away when he found it and decided it was better late than never.

She looked at the colorful paper "I thought we weren't exchanging gifts"

"I know, but I saw it and" he shrugged "thought you might like it, it's no big deal"

Amanda unwrapped it, she thought it was a deal, even if not a big one "a necklace" she took it out of the box.

"I saw you wearing these kind of necklaces and…" he was at the mall with his mother one day and it caught his eye, it had Amanda's name written all over it, a simple, delicate piece of jewelry. Amanda may have not been a very delicate person herself, but she always wore simple things like that. So he had to buy it for her.

"Well thank you for the belated gift Nick" she turned around and moved her hair to the side "will you do the honors?"

Nick leaned on the crutches and slowly hooked the clasp, her skin felt so good under his fingers he pretended to have some trouble with the task. Amanda didn't say anything, she liked the way he touched her and he could take another hour for all she cared.

But he was done and she turned to him, smiling.

"I'm sorry" he said.

"What?"

"For everything" he noticed what jewelry she liked but couldn't see her struggle, he should have known better.

"We're over this" she shook her head a little, thinking they'd forgotten and let it go.

Nick didn't respond, he looked in her eyes, trying to remember the exact shade of blue. The few months he'd have in New York seemed to be just a couple of seconds and he wanted to remember her like this. He leaned in to kiss her cheek and let his lips remain connected with her, he knew she closed her eyes and felt as her palm was on his hand.

"I don't know what to say" he confessed, his lips not too far from her ear.

They smiled at each other as they drank the champagne, all they could think about was how his lips had to kiss her again, as if it was bound to happen.

But he left to LA without doing that, and now, lying on the bed he cursed his mouth, instead of talking, saying all of those things, he should have kissed her, he could handle a broken heart if he just had one more night with her.

Amanda woke up early and it took her a moment to realize she was at the hotel. She tried to push away the thought of how different it felt to wake up in Nick's bed as oppose to this dull room. It was too early to get any breakfast so Amanda just ignored the nagging feeling of hunger and tried to focus on something else.

The only thing that could distract her was the case and she went through it so many times she almost had it memorized. But Mona gave her a copy of her notes, it was the only thing that wasn't in the system and maybe there'd be something there.

Amanda took out the pages and started reading. Most of this stuff she already knew, all the details of the attack, he tried to grab her and touched her stomach and breasts but she pushed him away and managed to escape. Not much time later she recanted and dropped the charges. Detective Flynn's hand writing was bad, it took Amanda a while to make sense of some sentences, again, some of the information she already knew, about her going to college, working part time. But there was something else there, it wasn't in the file, Kate Caron volunteered in a place called…the name was unrecognizable and Amanda took out her phone to use the internet, maybe she could figure the name out.

Two words, the first had the letters e and n in it and the second word started with a c. The second one was probably city but Amanda wasn't sure and the search gave her nothing. She'd have to go back to the station and see if the detectives know anything.

Amanda bought herself breakfast not far from the hotel and drove to the precinct. The captain wasn't there yet but detectives Moore and Reynolds were at their desks.

"Good morning" Amanda greeted them.

"Morning Rollins, you must be enjoying LA if you're still here" Reynolds smiled "coffee?"

"No thanks" she already had some with her pastry "I was wondering if you heard any news about Kate Caron"

"The jailbreak?" Reynolds asked.

"Nothing yet" Moore answered "you're staying here until she's found?"

"I don't know" she shrugged and sat down "you think it'd be soon?"

"I hope so, I don't like to think that a person who attacked me is free, she doesn't get a pass for doing that" Moore said "I do believe she'll be found"

"If you ask me" Reynolds interfered "she's dumb for doing this, she was going to get early release, why run? So either she's stupid or…"

"Or what?" Moore looked at him "don't tell me you think someone took her from the freaking prison"

"Whatever it is, there are a lot of questions" Amanda added "something is not right, by the way, maybe you could help me with a name, apparently she was volunteering somewhere and I can't make it out" Amanda showed them the page and pointed at the line. She left the rest of the notes at the hotel room since they added nothing.

"What is this?" Reynolds tried to decrypt the words.

"More info I got" she replied "you have an idea what's that place?"

"No, sorry" he handed it to Moore who looked at if for a while and shook his head.

"There are so many places to volunteer, don't know what it is or how to help you narrow it down" he apologized and gave her the paper back.

"Thanks anyway" her phone buzzed and she saw Fin's name on the caller ID "I gotta take this" she excused herself and walked away from them.

"Hey Fin, I kinda have something that might be nothing…" she started but Fin didn't let her finish.

"Unless you found her, mine's bigger" he said "Warner took sometime with the photos because she said there was something strange about it, she thinks the wounds were self inflicted"

"What?" the surprise caused her voice to rise a little and Amanda looked around to make sure no one was listening "she did it to herself?"

"The doc's pretty sure, from the way it looks and the angle, it's not a hundred percent because it's only pictures, but…"

"But the report says no weapon has been found" Amanda was thinking out loud.

"Doesn't mean somebody didn't take it and make it disappear" Fin suggested.

"Probably, the wounds were shallow…you think this was planned? A way to get medical help, the warden said there were blind spots in the infirmary, I just don't know what to think"

"Nothing good, that's for sure. I talked to Liv, from the looks of it her statement is going to be useless for us, even if they find her and you talk to her…"

"Yeah, that testimony is not going to be very believable" Amanda took out a breath "I guess I'm coming back now, it's a good thing cause I don't have clean clothes"

"Try to catch the next flight and see you soon"

"See ya Fin" Amanda hung up the phone.

Amanda wasn't sure what to make of this, Kate stabbed herself and someone helped her get rid of the weapon so it would look like at attack. She used the time in the infirmary to run away…but why? She didn't have much time left so what happened that caused her to do something like this? There were no prior incidents in the prison and apart from the assault her record was clean. Amanda couldn't shake the feeling there was something else, but what?

"I gotta go" she told the detectives "would you ask the captain to give me a call, I want to thank him"

"Sure thing" Reynolds smiled.

She drove back to the hotel. What was she supposed to do? Talking to Kate wasn't going to help her investigation and they were swamped as it is. She had to go back to New York.

Amanda made her way to the room, she barely had anything to pack so it wouldn't take anytime. She also had to call the airline, they were probably tired of her changing the flight. But this was it.

Amanda opened the door and walked inside.

Something was wrong.
She was sure she left the bag on the bed this morning, she placed the notes inside after she was done with them. Maybe it was the maid who put it on the floor. But the bed wasn't made, it was messy just as she left it this morning.

Amanda looked inside the bag, her things were there, but the notes were gone.

Someone had been in the room.

She walked to the front desk and waited until the man there would get off the phone, somebody took the notes Mona Flynn gave her. Who'd need them? Did she miss anything?

"Can I help you?" a voice interrupted her thoughts, it was the man in the reception.

"Yes" she smiled "would you tell me if you have security cameras on the third floor?" she flashed him the badge for less than a second, hoping he wouldn't notice she was with the NYPD.

He gave her a puzzled look but then shook his head "I'm afraid all the cameras are being replaced this week so the only working ones are pointed at the desk"

"So you can't even see the guests?"

"Not unless they stopped by the reception, is everything ok?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you very much" she nodded and walked back to the room.

Someone broke in, there was no way to know who without ant footage and SCU wouldn't be any help in this hotel room.

This was no coincidence. Kate escaping, someone breaking into her room. Amanda knew she should call captain Charles but she wasn't sure she could trust him, she couldn't trust anyone.

That wasn't exactly true, there was one person she trusted in this place. Amanda took her bag and quickly left the room.

Where could Amanda go…