"To what do I owe the honor, Detective Amaro?"

Nick looked up at the older man, studying the inquisitive look on his face. He looked fearful, as if he knew that whatever Nick had come to see him about was going to require a lot of time and effort to require. He couldn't blame the man for being afraid; the last time Munch had come to his existence it had been because he lost his temper and beat the shit out of a suspect.

Munch was right to be suspicious of the younger man's presence, but not for the reasons that he expected. This wasn't an issue of Nick's temper, it was an issue of what Nick had been up to with his colleague.

"Munch, it's not what you think. I didn't beat anybody up this time," Nick sighed, avoiding eye contact with the former detective as he spoke.

"Well you've never dropped by here just because you enjoy my company."

"You remember Detective Rollins, right?"

"Of course. I may be old but my memory's not that bad yet. Besides, I couldn't forget her even if I wanted to. She's my former partner's partner and he talks about her all time. Shouldn't you be at the hospital right now? Fin didn't give me any details because it was his turn to go back and see her, but he mentioned something about her being in the hospital. Is she alright?"

Nick didn't answer at first, simply because he didn't know the answer to that question. Physically, she apparently needed some rest and some food (and don't think it hadn't crossed his mind that it should be probably be him taking care of her, not Liv), but he had no idea what her emotional state was. She had been forced to testify about an assault that she had so desperately tried to deny with all her being, and now she was unexpectedly pregnant by a man whom she had a very ambiguous and tumultuous relationship with.

Did the fallout of their relationship really lead her to believe that she could tell Barba about her pregnancy, but not him? Had she ever even spoken to Barba outside of work? Nick knew he should've been at the hospital with her, but when he heard that Barba had known she was pregnant and he hadn't he had been so overcome with both shock and anger that he had found himself driving around aimlessly, before finally calling Liv and finding himself at Munch's place.

"Nick," Munch broke the silence warily, "what did you do?"

"I got her pregnant," he mumbled, so quietly that he wasn't sure if the man in front of him would be able to understand his words.

"Detective Amaro, did you just tell me that you got Detective Rollins PREGNANT? I figured that you had a thing for her but I didn't think you'd just completely throw the rules of the job out the window. Oh wait, you've done that before!"

Nick opened up his mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off by his mentor continuing to lay into him. He wanted to say that he didn't deserve it, but he knew that he did.

"Why aren't you at that damn hospital? You got a woman pregnant, and she passed out it court, and you're NOT at the hospital? Do you think this is a game Nick?"

"No, I don't think this is a game, but-

"No buts! You got Rollins pregnant, you should be there with her right now."

"She doesn't know that I know."

"What?"

"Barba told Liv to tell the 911 operator that she was pregnant. They don't know that I know, neither does Amanda, and Liv doesn't know that the baby's mine. I don't think Barba knows, either. Fin and Carisi have no idea that she's pregnant," he explained, fully aware of the absurdity of the situation for a group of detectives.

"Nick, I was an SVU detective for decades and also a third grader at some point in my life and I thought that I had heard it all in terms of he-said-she-said cases, but I think your little story there might have taken the cake. Good god what has happened to my department?"

"Munch, I need your help. I don't know what to do."

"Well for starters, you probably should be talking to Amanda about that… not that I don't want to help you. I'm sorry for you yelling at you, you just took me by a little bit of surprise."

"I deserved it. I know I should have gone to the hospital, but what would I have said? 'I heard Barba tell Liv that you're pregnant, and by the way, why did you tell Barba and not me?' We had been fighting, but did I really make her think that she couldn't come to me about something like this?"

"She could've only just found out. Maybe she hasn't been keeping this from you for very long. And Fin didn't give me all the details, but he did imply that this case was pretty tough on her. She could've been waiting to tell you until after."

"I think she was trying to tell me yesterday but I was dick to her. Not that it was completely unwarranted but… I think I could've handled it better. We had a fight and she kind of lost it on me, but I should've known… I don't want to say too much for the sake of her privacy. It's complicated."

"Yeah, I got that much."

Both men chuckled, shaking their heads at the depth of the situation. "Complicated" was a bit of an understatement. There was the fact that Rollins was pregnant and the obvious implications of that, then there was the broken relationship between her and the man who had gotten her pregnant, and finally, there was the fact that would Amanda and Nick had been doing was against NYPD regulations.

"I just… I don't want to be angry at her. I'm tired of being angry at her. But I can't understand why she told Barba for me. I get that we were fighting and why she might go to someone else first, but Barba? I didn't think they were even friends."

"Then they're probably not. Maybe he found out accidentally. Or maybe she wanted him to be prepared in case it somehow came out in court. I don't know Nick, but if doesn't make sense to you that she would tell him, she probably didn't tell him because she trusts him more than she trusts you. However terrified that you are, she probably feels that twice as much. Until you hear her side of this, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt."

Nick nodded, taking in Munch's perspective. Nick didn't trust his own head on this one- which is why he went to John. He trusted the man to provide him with some level-headed guidance, and he wasn't disappointed. The older man was right, Amanda and been to hell and back as of late, and knowing that she was pregnant by a man that she had an imploded relationship with probably hadn't been helping. He had to give her the benefit of the doubt until he got to talk to her himself.

"So what do I do now?"

"You give her some time. If she doesn't reach out to you in a few days, then you have to let her know that you know. But the two of you need to have a long talk, and I think it's only fair that you give her chance to initiate it."

"I'm worried sick about her and our situation. How am I supposed to stay away from her?"

"You managed to do it today."

Shit.

He deserved that. But it wasn't because he didn't care about her.

"It wasn't because I don't… I care about Amanda. I just found out and I-

"You needed time to think, and now you're going to give that same consideration to her. Within reason, of course. But I think you can give her a few days."

"Damn it, Munch, I think you're right."

"Of course I am. I'm old enough for that whole wisdom thing to have caught up with me."

"I should probably go check on Gil, you know, my second child with a second woman. He sprained his wrist over the weekend."

"Ouch. Tell him I hope he feels better. But before you go, can you ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Are you in love with her?"

Nick knew he wasn't talking about Cynthia.

"I'll see you later, Munch."

"Sometimes love is patience, Nick. I wish I had learned that sooner."