Nick's eyes fluttered open however he couldn't see anything, his vision was head was pounding and he couldn't get his eyes to focus, a few seconds had passed before he realized that the television was on. He slowly began sitting up, groaning while doing so; his eyes finally began adjusting to the room. Once he was fully sitting up when he noticed that Maison was sitting in front of him, she actually had his feet behind her. She was holding a cup of what looked like coffee with her eyes on the television, she didn't quite notice that he was up until he groaned at the sunlight hitting his head.

"He's alive!" She said with a smile on her face

Maison always had a way of lightning the mood, however it didn't always seem to be at the best of moments. Nick had met Maison back when she was a rookie police officer, just barely starting out. She had the bad luck of finding her way into a crime scene that involved nearly a ton of illegal drugs, Nick's attention was brought to her when she said that "maybe she would take some to relive all this tension." It was the start of a beautiful friendship she became almost a family friend even with the age difference between the two. When Maria and he fought, he'd call her and they'd sit at a bar drinking while he bad mouthed women... in a sense, it would start out with "I can't believe Maria..' and eventually end with "I can't believe that i did that." Then she would round him up, drop him off at home where he and Maria would make up once again.

However this last time, it didn't end like that. This time when he called Maison up, it didn't end like it should have, this time he was upset not angry. He was practically crying, she swore that his glass of alcohol was actually filling up with tears. This time she was taking him to a hotel where she sat in the room with home because she was scared of what he would do. Somehow... someway Nick ended up staying in her guest room, they barely saw one another due to their schedules, he was always on a case with S.V.U. while she was out with Homicide. It had been almost six months since he moved it, although he wasn't technically moved in as boxes still sat in her living room.

"Yeah." Nick said with his hand on his head, "How long have you been awake?"

Maison held her watch to face while she took a few moments to think, "Two. Three hours. Surprised you're awake."

"Huh?"

"There's a glass of water and aspirin on the stable, behind you." Maison smiled at him as she turned down the volume to the television. She raised her drink to her mouth as nick sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. There was a moment of silence between the two as it took Nick a while to compose himself, he slowly took his tie off from around his neck but was more shocked that he didn't manage to kill himself.

'Thanks, how'd you know to leave that out?"

"You made a crap ton of noise, it sounded like you ran into everything i own No sober person makes that much noise when they are being allowed to temporarily live with a friend besides I walked out here expecting to find you covered in cuts and my floor a damn mess." Theres a sense of sarcasm in her voice while also a bit or seriousness, he wasn't quite sure what she was trying to mean by that but he couldn't even began to focus straight. it seemed that his headache/hangover was getting the best of him.

"Besides where were you last night?"

"I got a drink."

"Mm-hmm, did you get in a fight with maria again? And you didn't call me?" That last part however seemed to sound as though she was a sad little girl who was betrayed.

"No, Amanda."

Maison's squinted her eyes "What? The blonde chick?"

"Yeah."

"She was egging me on... to hit her, i think." Nick looked around the room as he spoke, confusion arose in his voice. He wasn't sure what else to say or if this was even what exactly Amanda was trying to achieve last night. She could have been just drunk but why did she attack him? There were so many men that she could have directed her anger at or even closer friends. None of it made sense to him apart of him was hoping that somehow Maison would find it for him.

"What? She wanted you to hit-" The confusion that overcame Nick seemed to be contagious as Maison succumbed to it as well.

"Yeah, i think so."

"So?"

"What? Did I? Is that what you're asking?" At this point in the conversation it was obvious that Nick was getting hostile towards her "No, I didn't. I walked away."

"Then how are you having a hangover?"

"I went to another bar."

"Oh, so you took your anger out... at a bottle of alcohol." She smiled a little at him before continuing "Or you attempted too and it came back and bit you in the ass."

"Neither of the two said anything more, they allowed the silence of the room to be a distraction around their conversation. It wasn't that they didn't have anything left to say, it was because they didn't know how to say it. Maison had only met Amanda once but she could tell she had problems... problems that ultimately would suck Nick in because he was the oversensitive-over caring guy who never took no for an answer.

It around the time that Nick had just been transferred over to the Special Victims Unit, he was a newbie... the second one to come. He was sitting at his desk across from Olivia who was nose deep inside of a case file, Fin however was nonchalantly making his way towards the desks.

"Hey, Newbie what do you say you join us for a drink?" Fin asked gathering the attention of his fellow detectives John, Olivia as well as Amanda.

Nick looked up unsure if the term Newbie was directed towards him but upon seeing everyone's attention now was faced on him, he knew he indeed was the 'Newbie.' "I-uh, appreciate the offer but i got plans with a friend tonight." Nick stuttered while talking because he still wasn't sure how what everyone was like and didn't want to step on any toes, it made even the tiniest bit of words he spoke to be overthought.

"Bring the friend."

"I don't know, i mean she's homicide." He titled his head to the side

Fin looked over at John and began chuckling, "Hey, as long as she ain't the rat squad, she's alright in my book." Fin sat on his desk whilst his attention turned the large stack of files on his desk. "Compared to this paper work, i'd rather be facing the rat squad."

Nick and Maison arrived at the bar, they ordered their drinks and headed over to the detectives. Olivia was the first to introduced herself to the young detective , shortly there after Fin and John followed. 'Where's Amanda?" Nick wondered, he thought that maybe she wasn't a invited but from what he could tell of Fin, he wouldn't openly invite someone to something and not invite witnesses. The svu detectives all played nice with the Homicide detective, swapping horror stories mostly due to Fin and Maison. It wasn't until an half hour passed that Amanda had showed up, she was in a black jacket with her hair up in a pony tail.

"Whose the junkie?" Maison asked leaning near Nick

Nick's eyes scanned the room trying to locate this junkie but the only new person that arrived was- "Amanda?"

"If i knew the blondes name, i wouldn't have called her a junkie."

Nick shook his head slightly at her with a small smirk crossing his face, "That's Amanda, a detective."

"Really, she looks like a mess."

it became a little awkward after everyone else began leaving, it dwindled down to Nick, Maison as well Amanda. Maison would have opted to leave the minute Fin did but Nick was her ride and his normal over bearing attitude would have ended with him following her home in his car. This time however the tables had turned, Amanda was openly flirting with Nick, all be it the Alcohol she ingested may have thrown her off her normal senses it was fairly obvious that he was wearing a wedding ring.

"Hey, Nick; dont' you think it's about time... you get home?" To be honest, not one single part of her was actually ready to get home she just didn't want to allow something to happen on her 'watch' so to say.

"God, what are you his mother?" Amanda remarked

Maison smiled a clear fake smile, "No, just a detective who knows how to handle her liquor."

Eventually, she managed to get Nick to agree to go home, Amanda however stayed at the bar drinking her sorrows away. "How is she a detective? She looks like she has more problems than someone who works at a low end-low income job." Nick didn't even try to respond to the remark, Amanda was his friend. More than that she was a detective, a detective that he would ultimately possible end up being partnered with he couldn't start bad mouthing her and then have her back when she needed it.

It wasn't a pleasant memory for Maison, she had a feeling about her and low and behold it had came true. "I told you something was off about that girl."

"She's not off, she just needs help."

Maison got up from the couch, shaking her head at him "Oh-Amaro, you need professional help. please dont sleep with her. Drink you damn water."

Maison disappeared down the hall, he could hear the sound of the shower starting when he finally laid back down. He checked his cell phone and saw that he had five missed calls from Olivia, instead of checking them he turned his phone off. he wasn't going to work today, not in this condition, just talking seemed to be taking a toll on him.

Amanda however awoke to the sound of her cellphone buzzing constantly around her ear, the stench of alcohol burned her nose and eyes. She rolled over to her side and saw a silhouette of a body, it hurt her eyes opening them but it hurt her head even more to think. The nights events were not being kind to her, she could vaguely remember what happen last night. Bits and pieces came back to her, a few glimpses of glasses; singing and Nick.

"Oh, god; Nick?" She said quietly, there was rasp to her voice

No response.

"Nick, are you okay?"

Still no response.

"Nick?" She fought the pounding in her head as she stood up and began making her way to the man's body. It took what felt like forever hours to reach the him. The closer and closer she got, saw him. Nick.

"Nick, what happen?"

"Whose Nick?" The man responded, groaning

"What?"

A few seconds later, Amanda stopped focusing on the pounding in her head, she looked closer at the man and saw that it wasn't at all Nick, just some random guy. A guy with a shaved head, and a tattoo on his neck. She knew something happened last night with Nick as to what happened exactly, she couldn't remember. Frantically, she searched for her phone, slowly she pressed down on the number 4 button, held it to her ear. There was no response, straight to voicemail

She tried again. Nothing.

A third time.

Still nothing.

He's at work, that's why he's not answering. She stared at her phone screen and saw she had five missed calls, Liv as well as Fin. It took a while for her to get dressed meanwhile the man that was currently occupying her living room was searching in her kitchen for coffee, she assumed. There wasn't any communication between the two, there wasn't anything to say. They went about getting ready to leave separately and ignored one another completely. It took her almost an hour to get ready as she spent half the time with her face buried inside the toilet and had to make a few quick stops to resume that same position but eventually made it.

"Amanda, Where you been?" It was Fin, he was outside the building almost like he was waiting for her

"I got in late."

"Liv, put you on desk duty; i covered for you but she's not happy."

The two headed inside to the precient where she immediately began searching for Nick, "Where's Nick?" She eventually asked "Out sick." The office was lonely, empty no one was there with her. Everyone else was out on a case. Normally, Liv would have her partner stay with her but Nick was out and she was mad at her. She grabbed her phone and dialed Nick's number for a fourth time that day but still was met with the wonderfully sounding sound of his voicemail.

"Hey, Nick. It's me; i just wanted to see how you were doing. Call me back."

About an hour after she left the voicemail, she was greeted by her memories of last night slowly starting to return to her. One by one the incidents of last night began coming back. She went out for a drink with Nick, Got in a fight with Nick and got drunk off her ass. She knew why Nick wasn't answering her phone calls but she couldn't have been the reason why he didn't show up for work, could she?