I don't own anything that Dick Wolf owns
Tim could see the room as he walked towards it. He tried to keep his expectations as low as possible, she's probably asleep. Even if she's awake she might not want to talk, or to see him. It was his fault she got hurt.
He opened the door. This was not what he expected.
She was gone.
Jeffries saw him enter the room.
He couldn't wipe the grin off his face. Finally.
He walked to the room and opened the door.
This was not what he expected.
"Can I help you?" someone asked him.
After Fin let him know what's going on Nick knew what he had to do. The doctor found an empty room and they made sure to move Amanda to that room in the hospital's computer system. After that he called Fin and waited.
When Tim walked in Nick wanted to kick him or shout at him or something, what was he thinking when he ran like this?
But there was no time, and the scared look on Tim's face when he saw the empty bed, Nick realized Tim was afraid he lost her.
"Get in there" he told him and gestured towards the bathroom "she's fine" Tim did as he was told without saying a word.
A couple of minutes later the door opened again. It was Jeffries.
"Can I help you?" Nick asked him.
"I don't think so" Jeffries said, where was Rollins?
"Maybe you could help me then" Nick smiled and moved closer to Jeffries.
"Highly doubt it" Jeffries answered, this was not good, not at all "I think I'm in the wrong room" he tried.
"Now I am the one who highly doubts it" Nick smiled "You're Carl Jeffries, no?" he smiled again "I have to say you look good for a dead man"
So they were on to him, but not all was lost, there was probably a way for him to get away.
He turned around, it seemed there was no one else there so he ran.
Nick followed him. He knew he wasn't going to get far.
Jeffries opened the door to the staircase and ran inside.
Nick saw the elevator's doors open and Fin and Hawkins walked out "he's in there" he pointed at the stair case and they ran in there.
"Jeffries" Hawkins called "I know you're here, don't make it harder on yourself"
"I'll go down" Fin said and Jeffries nodded.
Jeffries wasn't young anymore, he was getting out of breath. He knew he wasn't going to get far, but he wasn't going to make it easier for them either. He took out his gun and waited.
When he saw Hawkins he shot.
Both Fin and Nick heard the shot and ran upstairs towards it.
They saw Hawkins crouched next to the wall, he was bleeding "I'm fine" he said "he hit my hand, I'm ok"
"Go inside" Fin said.
They carefully made their way up. But Jeffries saw them and shot again. Fin aimed at him but missed.
"Give up Jeffries" Nick said "you're not getting out of here a free man"
Jeffries answer was another bullet.
"Your friend is dead" Fin said. They didn't hear anything for a moment and rushed upstairs.
They had to hide since there was another shot.
Jeffries tried to go higher, he had to try to get away, he wasn't going to surrender.
"He shot himself" he heard someone shout at him.
"Ain't it sad" he shouted back, he wasn't happy about it, but he cared about one thing right now, and it wasn't Jesse.
He felt like he was breathing normally and decided to take a chance and run faster, he shot again just to slow them down and started running upstairs.
But he was wrong, and on the third step he slipped, he caught the rail in time but dropped the gun. He tried to reach it but the next thing he heard stopped him "don't even think about it" he saw the guy who waited for him in the room pointing a gun at him.
Jeffries watched as the other guy took his gun from the floor and took out his handcuffs.
Hawkins was fine, it was just a scratch and after the doctor told him he could go they let him take Jeffries back to the precinct.
"I have something I need to do" Nick told Fin "can you take Amanda's dad to see her?"
"Sure" Fin said.
"He's in the room" Nick smiled a little when he said the next part "I hope"
"I'll take care of him, don't worry" he said "go do whatever it is you need"
Nick nodded and walked away as Fin made his way to room 405.
Fin was glad to find Tim there "lets go see Amanda" he said.
Nick was at Amanda's apartment. It felt like it's been years since the last time he was there. Seeing here lying there was painful. He still felt bad now, looking at the floor, at the dry blood.
He won't let her see it though.
He took the bucket and walked to the bathroom to fill it with water.
A few days later Amanda was released.
She still had to rest and Nick insisted she should to stay with him. They went to her apartment to get some stuff for her. She was quiet before they went inside but he smiled at her and took her hand "don't worry" he said.
She still looked a bit scared when they walked in, but he could see her face relax when she saw it was clean. She looked at him and then smiled "thank you" she whispered and hugged him.
They placed her things in a bag and drove back to his apartment.
Frannie was so excited to see Amanda nick was afraid she would hurt her, she almost jumped at her. But Amanda didn't seem to mind, she just hugged Frannie and told her how much she had missed her.
"I hope you didn't have any trouble" she said.
"No, she was an angel" Nick said.
Amanda grinned at him "I was talking to her" she smiled and he had to kiss her.
It's been another couple of days and Amanda was doing better, she was still tired and spent a lot of time sleeping, but the doctor said it was alright.
Nick could tell she was feeling better as she was getting a bit irritated when he tried to help her with everything. He still did it though.
"What do you want to have for dinner?" he asked her.
"I don't care" she smiled "whatever you want"
"Gil's coming over tonight" He reminded her, they'd talked about it and she got upset when he offered to reschedule Gil sleeping at his place.
"I know, bring whatever he wants"
"We'll surprise you" he kissed her "I've got to go now, I'll see you later"
"How's it going Amaro?"
"I'm good Tom" Nick answered "thanks for everything" he said. He told Tom some of what had happened and Tom knew better than to ask about the things Nick didn't say.
"Good" Tom smiled.
"You had something to talk to me about?" Nick asked.
"Yeah" he nodded "I don't think you know but I took the sergeant exam"
"Congratulations" Nick was thrilled to hear that.
"I didn't say I passed" he watched the smile fade from Nick's face "but of course I did" he laughed.
"Of course you did"
"Anyway, I'm moving to major crimes" he said "I'm putting this team together"
"Oh" Nick though he knew where this was going.
"I know it's not special victims but I could really use your help, you'd be like my second in command"
"Can I think about it?"
"Sure" he nodded "it could be good for you, like a fresh start maybe, I know you've been through a lot at SVU and…"
"I really appreciate it" he said.
"You need to talk to the Mrs?" he smiled "how's she doing?"
"She's doing fine" Nick smiled.
Gil was holding Frannie's leash as they walked back home after buying some take out.
They went to the park earlier and he played with her there, he didn't want to leave but Nick promised he could spend more time with her later. He wanted to go get some food and go home to check on Amanda, she fell asleep before Gil got home.
"So she's ok?" Gil asked, Nick didn't tell him much, just that Amanda was healing after being hurt a little.
"She's ok" he answered "she just needs a lot of rest, that's all" he looked at Gil and saw him smiling.
"I knew she's your girlfriend that day she came over with Frannie" he said shyly.
"Well" Nick looked at him again "you are a smart kid"
Amanda was up when they got home "hey Gil" she smiled when she saw him.
"Hey" he answered letting the leash go "how are you feeling?"
"I'm alright" she smiled "how about you? Did you have fun with Frannie?"
"She's awesome!" he said went on telling Amanda about everything they did at the park.
Nick woke up few hours later, it was still dark. Amanda wasn't there. He checked on Gil, he was asleep and Fannie was lying next to him on the bed. He smiled and closed the door.
He figured she was outside since she wasn't at the living room or the kitchen.
"Hey" he said when he saw her sitting on the steps, she smiled at him and he joined her "I don't think you're getting Frannie back" he said.
"She likes him" she said.
"He really loves her" he put his arm around her and she leaned into him "you ok?"
She nodded "I'm tired of sleeping" she said "tired of being tired"
"The doctor said it should pass soon" he felt her nod again "did you talk to your dad?"
"Yeah" she said quietly "he's still in Atlanta, the whole thing is a mess"
"It is" he agreed "did he talk to your mom?"
She looked at him "I don't think so, but I don't want to get involved" she shrugged "it was hard enough to tell him the truth about Kim and about me" he knew she told him about her gambling. He was glad she was talking to her dad.
They were both quiet for a moment and then Nick decided to tell her about Tom's offer.
"You want to take it?" she asked him.
"I don't know" he replied "you know Liv's not thrilled about us working together" he had to tell Amanda that Liv knows about them.
"Maybe it's the best thing" he said "I mean, what if we want to take a vacation together, we can't just go together if we're at the same unit, who would solve the crimes?" he grinned at her.
She laughed "are you making plans?" she asked.
"Well right now I can offer you a trip back to the bedroom, to dreamland"
She chuckled at his answer "I guess it's not that bad"
This time when he woke up there was already light out side. But again Amanda wasn't there. Gil wasn't in his room too.
Nick walked into the kitchen, he wondered where they went but just a second later the front door was opened and they walked in with Frannie.
"Hey dad" Gil smiled at him "we took Frannie for a walk"
"Yeah?" he smiled but was a bit concerned when he looked at Amanda, she looked a bit tired.
"It's fine Nick" she could tell he was worried.
"Why don't I make you breakfast" he said "you need to be at school soon" he looked at Gil.
After breakfast and a heartfelt goodbye from Frannie Nick drove Gil to school. When he was back Amanda was asleep so he decided to take a quick shower before work.
He stepped out of the shower with only a towel and took out a pair of boxers, he took the towel off and stopped for a moment as he felt like someone was watching him.
He looked at Amanda, who was looking back at him with a smile on her face "are you checking me out?" he asked, trying to sound as serious as possible.
She tried to look innocent and he turned again so he could put the boxers on.
"Oh you're mean" she said.
"Yeah?" he smiled and got closer to the bed.
"The meanest" she said, biting on her lip a little.
He lay down next to her and kissed her gently "I'm sorry" he said "I don't mean to be mean"
"A poet too" she said and he smiled.
"I tell you what" he looked into her eyes "what if I promise that when you get better I'm gonna keep you up for a whole night and…"
"Just one?" she asked.
He kissed her again, he missed being intimate with her too, he found her desperation adorable "more than one" he said "if you can keep up"
She chuckled and was about to say something when he kissed her again.
He told Liv about his decision that day. He was going to take Tom's offer. He loves SVU but he also knew Tom was right, it could be a fresh start, and he could be with Amanda without hiding it.
"Can't say I'm surprised" she said "I'm happy for you Nick, both of you"
"I'm really grateful for everything" he told her "it was an honor working with you"
"I'm still your boss for the next couple of weeks" Olivia smiled "let's wait with the sweet talk"
"Did we take everything?" Nick asked as he locked the door.
"Yes" she smiled "for the fourth time"
"Did we take everything?" he asked again, just to piss her off.
She didn't say anything and took the suitcase to the car "I don't remember the last time I had a vacation" she told him when he helped her put it in the trunk.
"Neither do I" he said.
It's been almost a year since she was released from the hospital and many things had changed.
While Amanda did stay at SVU, Nick moved to major crimes, he loved working there.
They found out that Hawkins was promoted to the Chief Deputy of the Atlanta office after he had ran a thorough investigation about Jesse Bean and all the events that lead to Carl Jeffries' escape.
Jeffries himself had died in prison from a heart attack eight months after he was caught.
As for Tim, he stayed in New York for a while, but decided to move to Vermont, because Diaz offered him a job not far from where he lived. Amanda and he spoke often and saw each other once in a while.
Two months after Nick left SVU Amanda and he had found a new apartment and moved in together.
He looked at her before going to his seat in the car, he was happy, and from the smile she gave him, followed by a kiss, he knew she was too.
-The end-
I want to thank everyone who took the time to review, favorite, follow and read this story.
I loved writing it and I'm a bit sad it's done, I had to force myself to finish the fluffy part of this chapter.
Let me know your thoughts about it, I'd love to read them.