I don't own anything that Dick Wolf owns.
Amanda knocked on the door. She didn't want to expect anything, she will listen to him and that's it. She doesn't owe him anything.
He opened the door, he looked happy to see her, but she tried to have a blank expression.
"Come on in" he moved to the side to let her enter the room.
It was a small room, one bad, two side tables and an old phone on one of them. There was also a small closet. She could see some clothes on the bed and a big suitcase of the floor.
"This is Frannie" she said when the dog got closer to him.
"She's adorable" he smiled at her.
Amanda bit her lip nervously "so" she said.
"Sit down" he said as he sat on the bed, there was no where else to sit so Amanda joined him and Frannie decided to do the same. Amanda was glad she did because it gave her hands something to.
"I don't know how much you remember Man…Amanda" he had had a shy smile on his face, he always used to call her Mandy "you were so young and" he wasn't sure how to proceed "back than I had a gambling problem"
"Yeah, I noticed" it came out harsher than she wanted it to be but he didn't say anything.
He cleared his throat before he continued, he should have known, Amanda has always been smart, of course she figured it out "that day" he knew she understood what day he was talking about "I went to a club, it was a small club just outside of Atlanta. I was a regular there, lost a lot of money" he looked into her eyes, she looked like she was listening "I went there hoping to win big, like I always hoped, but it wasn't happening" he took breath and continued "after a while I went out for a smoke, I was in the back of the club, where they had the trash and suddenly I heard this loud noise, I freaked out, hid behind one of the cans and saw three guys coming out of the club" he had to remind himself to breath, it wasn't the first time he talked about this but this time it was different "one of them pulled out a gun and shot the other two, just like that. And he just walked away"
Amanda could guess the rest of it, but she didn't say anything.
"Few minutes later the place was swarming with agents. I was still hiding in the back when they found me. Turned out the two men who were shot were undercover agents. And I saw everything"
Amanda wanted to laugh, was this real? It sounded way too familiar, she didn't have any dead agents in her case, but still…
He continued to talk since she didn't say anything "I didn't really have a choice, I had to take the deal they offered"
"What about us?" she wanted to know.
He looked down for a moment "your mom would have never wanted to go and there was no way she'd let me take you"
She nodded, so this was it, this is why he never came back. She was not sure how she felt about it, or if she believed him.
"The Marshal they assigned me sent me to a clinic, he said I had an addiction, I didn't even see it like that back then"
"But you called mom after that"
"I couldn't tell her the truth but we couldn't stay married, so they set it up. And that was it"
"So…" she wasn't sure what she wanted to say.
"After I got clean it suddenly occurred to me, I realized what I've done. I've hurt your mother, your sister and you. All these years I've never gambled, I know it doesn't mean much to you but…"
"No, that's really good to hear" she said. It did make her feel proud of him, she didn't want to feel it, but he was an addict, and as a fellow addict, she was happy for him.
"Why are you here now?" she asked, if he was in witness protection he couldn't just come visit her "how did you know I was here?" she added.
"Not long ago that Marshal I told you about, he retired. He was a good guy, and I didn't give him any trouble so I asked him for a favor. I just wanted to know you two were alright. He said he couldn't find anything special about Kim, I guess she'd still in Atlanta?" he asked but Amanda was silent "he said you were a detective here in New York"
Amanda knew the Marshal lied about Kim, if he looked them up he must have known that she was wanted for murder.
"And then about a week ago my new Marshal told me the man I testified against died in jail and the threat was over. I could go back to my old life" he looked at her "to my old name, more like it"
She could see there was something else, he had this look, like he's hiding something. She didn't like it "and?" she asked.
He smiled "the thing is" he got up and went to his suitcase "I was suppose to get my new ID, with my old name" he looked at her and then back at the suitcase, he took something out "then I found this" he had a newspaper in his hand.
He handed it to her and pointed on a picture "you see the man in the back?" he pointed at him. She didn't know who he was "That is Carl Jeffries, he's the man I testified against"
Amanda looked at him and then again at the picture, Jeffries was standing in the back, it wasn't even a picture of him but of some painting on a building, he was just walking there in the crowd. She looked at the date, it was taken two days ago.
"So he's still alive?" Tim nodded "and the Marshals told you he was dead?" he nodded again.
"I wanted to come here to see you, I didn't know about this until yesterday, and the truth is I don't know if I can tell anyone"
"Just me?"
He shrugged "I'm not asking you for anything Amanda, I'm just glad I got the chance to see you, to tell you the truth"
Amanda got up from the bed and Frannie followed her "do you have a phone?" she asked and he shook his head.
"I freaked out a little and got rid of it"
She chuckled "how long are you going to stay here?" she asked, he shook his head again but didn't say anything.
"Can I come by the day after tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yes" he answered without thinking about it.
"Ok then, I'll see you later" she opened the door and waited for Frannie to walk out.
"Later" he said.
Amanda was surprised that she didn't have a hard time to fall asleep. She was certain she would toss and turn the entire night, but the second her head touched the pillow she was asleep.
She woke up wondering if it was all a dream. Right now it looked as if her father was back, after being in witness protection all this time, and someone lied to him about the man he testified against. Not complicated at all.
She still wasn't sure whether she should believe him. A part of her wanted to, but another part, the one of that little girl who woke up on the ground waiting for her father, didn't.
She needed time to think about it, so she told him she will be there on Saturday. Today she was going to concentrate on work.
She saw Nick at the entrance to the building. "Good morning" he gritted her.
"Morning" she said and then turned around because someone called her name.
"Detective Rollins?" it was a man who looked to be in his late thirties, he was wearing a black suite "can I have a word with you?" he asked.
Nick looked at her as she agreed and when she was about to go towards the man he touched her shoulder "want me to wait?" he asked quietly, sounding a bit suspicious.
"No" she said with a questioning look "I can talk to him alone" she smiled and walked over to the man in the suite.
Nick went towards the door but didn't go in. he didn't like this one bit. The man yesterday and now this guy. He couldn't deny he was worried about her. He saw the man show her something but couldn't see what it was. He decided to go inside, he'd tell Fin about this, maybe she'll talk to him.
Amanda walked towards the man "how can I help you?" she asked him.
"Detective" he said "I am Deputy Marshal David Hawkins" he showed her his badge "I wonder if I could ask you a few questions about someone" he looked at her.
"Of course" she said, she had a feeling who he was going to ask about.
"I'm looking for a…" he stopped for a moment "a person of interest in an investigation, and I was wondering if you heard from him" she nodded and he continued "it might sound weird, but I'm looking for Tim Rollins, your father"
She knew it, what did her father want from her? Why did he appear all of the sudden after all of these years, making up this story.
"Detective?" the Deputy asked when she didn't respond for a while.
The words that came out of her mouth surprised her very much "the last time I saw him I was nine years old"
Let me know if you like this, more drama coming up soon