AN: Thank you for the reviews for chapter three. I really love hearing people's thoughts and reactions so thank you for taking the time to let me know what you think, even if it's just to tell me to update sooner. :) I'm sorry for the long wait. I've been on vacation and I thought that meant more time to write, but it actually means I have less down time because there's so much more out-of-town trips and socializing happening. I'm pretty introverted so I'm not used to spending all this time with large groups of people, and it can be REALLY exhausting. That, and a lot of the places I've traveled have had spotty internet which discouraged me from bringing my laptop along on my trips. So anyway, enough about my life... here's chapter four of Save Room.

Read, enjoy, and review!

Save Room

4. Do I Wanna Know?

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

Rafael marched across the room to face his son, who stared back and stood unmoved. Nick's mouth hung open as the neurons started firing and the image of his trashed house started to register in his brain.

"I got a call from your mother and the police at five in the morning. Where the hell have you been?" Rafael raised his voice. The two detectives hung back to watch the scene unfold, and Olivia noticed that the normally confident ADA almost seemed uncomfortable taking on the role of a distressed and angry parent.

"Out," Nick replied indifferently. "On a walk."

"You throw a party without your mother's permission, invite over a hundred kids, serve them alcohol, and then just leave them to do this?" Rafael cried out incredulously, waving his arms around to point out the damage in the condo. "Where is your sense of responsibility? Or did you lose it while you were cruising the streets at this god awful hour?"

Nick's eyes widened and he scoffed. "You're going to parent me now?"

"Clearly someone has to," Rafael bit back. "Now tell me where you were when you were supposed to prevent this from happening."

"I don't have to tell you anything."

"But you'll have to talk to us," said the male detective, who flashed the badge attached to his belt loop. "Detective Stabler and this is my partner, Detective Benson."

"What?" Nick questioned, his brows furrowing at the intrusion of detectives in his home. It all seemed quite unnecessary. "Okay, so the party got a little out of hand. Why do the cops have to be involved?"

"Nick," his father began to explain, "they found drugs and –"

"- Counselor," Elliot interrupted, "if you don't mind, we'd like to speak to your son at the precinct."

"Not without his lawyer," Rafael replied, narrowing his eyes at the detective.

"I don't need a lawyer. I didn't do anything wrong," Nick said defensively. "Look, if you found drugs… they weren't mine. I didn't even know half the people who came here so it probably came from one of them."

"You don't have a list of guests?" Olivia asked the teenager. The tone of her voice was much more sensitive than her partner's.

"No. I thought only ten of my friends from school would show up but my girlfriend told them to invite more people; and, you know, word travels fast."

"What's your girlfriend's name?" Olivia asked, flipping open her notebook.

"Maria Grazie," Nick answered. His eyes darted towards the stairs and he began to stalk towards it when Rafael seized his shoulders and stopped him. "Is she still here?"

"Most of your guests left before the police arrived," Olivia explained. "We may need you to contact Maria and ask her to meet us at the precinct."

"We'll also need you to identify people from the cell phone cameras we found in the area," Elliot added, his eyes narrowing to study the teenager. "In the meantime, CSU will work on this place. So Nick, you'll have to come with us to the station."

"No, no, no," Rafael chuckled darkly, stepping in front of Elliot. "You will not be taking my son on the back of a squad car without any charges. I will drive him myself."

"Look, we don't have to make this difficult." Elliot smiled sardonically down at the shorter man. "Just let us –"

"Detective, don't think for a second that I am unfamiliar with your manner of manipulation and coercion. I am not allowing you to speak to my son without his lawyer present."

"Counselor, with all due respect," Elliot crossed his arms over his chest and raised his chin. "ADAs usually represent the victims in our cases. Not the suspect."

"Elliot," Olivia called out, staring back at him with wide eyes.

The accusation didn't seem to rattle the teenager whose ears only focused on one word. "Victims?" Nick asked, turning to Rafael. "Dad, what is he talking about?"

Before the ADA could answer the question, Elliot spoke up. "Unis found five victims of sexual assault when they were called in on a disturbance."

"Fuck," Nick heaved; his body doubled over as his palms rested on his thighs. He lifted his head up to meet the detectives' eyes. "Seriously?"

"You're just gonna let your kid use that kind of language?" Elliot inquired, turning towards Rafael, with a smirk on his face.

"Elliot, stop," Olivia said firmly, raising her hand and taking a step forward to block the display of arrogance between her partner and the ADA. "Let's just go back to the precinct… Counselor, we'll meet you there."

Olivia took her partner by the elbow and ushered him out of the loft. The father and son stayed behind in moratorium, unable to speak or even look in each other's direction. Nick knew he had screwed up by leaving the party and letting shit hit the fan. His dad was right, he should have been more responsible and this would never have happened. He wasn't the drug peddler that Detective Stabler suspected he was, but the gnawing guilt in his gut still made him feel like an accessory to the assaults.

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder and he looked behind him to see his dad with a sympathetic look. "Come on, son, let's sort this mess out."

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the rumble beneath her feet and the feel of cool metal on her fingertips. Her upper body jerked forward as the train braked upon arrival. She hung onto the metal bar with one arm and leaned her head against it as fatigue washed over her. Noticing the muscles in her legs were sore, Amanda's lips curled into a smile at the memory of riding bikes up the streets of New York. A warm flush spread across her cheeks, and she opened her eyes to see a homeless man staring at her with a toothless grin on his face.

So lost in reliving the night, Amanda forgot her stop in Hell's Kitchen and ended up further uptown close to her apartment. She got off the subway and sent a text to Claire. [Missed the stop. Going to crash at home instead. Donuts and coffee in the morning?]

Amanda walked the two blocks from the station to her building. Sensing a vibration in her pocket, she pulled out her phone and saw the message from Claire. [Wes wants to facetime when you get home. We want to hear about this guy you met at the party.]

[There is no guy.]

[I saw you leave with him. You're not as stealthy as you think you are.]

[Who said I was with him?]

[Claire said he was hot. Do you have pics?] Wes joined in to add to the group message. Amanda turned to her building and walked through the lobby towards the elevator.

[No. And you still haven't answered my question about the donuts.]

[Did he kiss you good night?] Claire teased, ignoring her question completely.

Amanda walked down the hallway to their apartment door. [Nope. I kissed him.]

[Look at you! Is he any good?]

Inserting the key into the lock, Amanda turned the knob and opened the door. The moment she stepped inside, she felt something was off. She turned to her right and saw a shadowy figure emerge out of the kitchen. She grabbed a hold of a nearby umbrella and started swinging it in the darkness.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The gruff voice called out. "Amanda, hold up!"

"How do you know my name?" She yelled back, still swinging the umbrella. She finally made contact with the man's shin and she heard him yelp in pain. "Who are you?"

The light switched on and Amanda faced a middle-aged man who looked somewhat familiar. "I'm Brian Cassidy… " he trailed off, bending over to rub his shin. "I used to work with your mom."

"You're that guy? The one who got shot a few months ago… the one working UC as a pimp?"

"I wasn't the pimp. I was working for him…" he retorted, shaking his head. "I mean, I was working security for him."

"Uh-huh… What are you doing in my house?"

"I, uh… your mom let me in?"

"Where is she?" Amanda asked and without waiting for an answer, she ignored him and walked down the hall towards the bedrooms. "Mom! Mooom! There's a strange man in our living room!"

"She's not here," Brian groaned as he followed her. Amanda turned around to see him hobbling towards her. "Work called."

She watched him try to support his weight on the back of the couch as he bent down to inspect the purple bruise forming on his leg. Amanda knew she should've apologized, but she honestly thought Brian was an intruder. "Wait…" she trailed off as the realization began to hit her, "you're the guy she's been seeing these last few weeks?"

"How do you know about that?" He replied, eyes wide and full of curiosity.

"My mom's Olivia Benson; you learn some things," she shrugged. "That, and I'm not stupid. She's been acting different lately – all these little smiles when she's reading messages on her phone. And she works really late sometimes even when I know, for a fact, that Elliot is at home because Lizzie is always railing about her dad on Facebook."

"Liv did say you were pretty smart for your age." He tried to extend an olive branch out to the girl. Maybe it was to make peace with hid girlfriend's kid, or maybe it was to prevent further umbrella attacks in the foreseeable future. "So what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be over at your friend's house."

"I missed my bed." It wasn't wholly untruthful. She walked towards her room but stopped and turned around to study him with narrowed eyes. He seemed like the complete opposite of her mom's last boyfriend, David Haden. She wondered what the rationale was for getting in bed with this roughneck-looking guy when her mom had her pick of handsome, successful men. Her mom didn't seem to think that was the case, but Amanda was rather perceptive of the stares her mother elicited. Brian did say they used to work together so maybe there was some history there. Amanda made a mental note to interrogate her mom the moment she returned home from work.

"Hey, Amanda, can we keep this meeting between us?" He sighed and lowered his head. "Liv doesn't really want you to know about me until things get serious."

So much for that interrogation.

"So you're not serious about her?" Amanda teased.

"No! I mean, I like your mom a lot… we got history, you know?" He revealed. She smiled, feeling pleased with herself. "Anyway, she just doesn't want you to get hurt in case this thing isn't going anywhere."

"Me? Hurt?" She asked, furrowing her brows in confusion. "Doubt it."

"Hey, I didn't make up the rules. She did."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed."

Brian's mouth twisted into a scowl, feeling like he had botched it with his girlfriend and her kid. He watched Amanda's form disappear before the door slammed shut. "Night," he whispered to no one in particular.

He walked back towards the kitchen to grab some ice for his shin. Hearing the creak of the door, he turned around to see Amanda's head peeking out of the doorway. "Hey, Brian, if you break her heart, I'm going to aim for your balls and shoot you with a squirrel gun," she threatened in a completely serious and deadpan tone. She raked her eyes over him like she was sizing him up. A smirk fell upon her face and her eyes glistened. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Rafael and Nick were seated in the interview room across the two detectives. He supervised as his son was asked to identify people in pictures retrieved from the cell phones they found at the crime scene. Nick honestly said he didn't recognize most of the people in the shots. After a frustrating couple of hours, the detectives led the father and son to the interview room where Detective Stabler was under the impression that he would lead the questioning. But Rafael called the shots and told Nick he didn't have to answer some of the irrelevant and ensnaring questions posed by the detective.

"What time did you leave the party?"

"1AM."

"Are you sure about that?" Elliot arched an eyebrow as he comfortably leaned back on the chair.

"Yes, I'm sure," he replied, casting a distrustful look at the detective. "I remember checking my watch when I was heading out the door. It's a habit."

"Why'd you leave?"

"Like I said earlier, I just wanted some fresh air. The party wasn't fun for me; I was more stressed out trying to make sure no one was breaking anything."

"You did a great job, kid," Elliot said sarcastically, smirking at his own joke.

His partner shot him a look before she turned to Nick. "Is there anyone who can corroborate your story?"

"Nick, tell the truth." Rafael looked from his son's eyes to Olivia's. She nodded her head as if she were assuring him that he was doing a fine job both as Nick's lawyer and, more importantly, his parent.

"Whatever I say here… my girlfriend won't find out about it, right?" Nick asked expectantly, nervously tracing his thumb and index finger over his lips.

Elliot piped up. "Not unless this thing goes to trial –"

"—And it won't." Rafael glared at Elliot, daring him to continue with the scare tactics. He didn't know what the detective's problem was or why he felt the need to intimidate a 16-year-old kid. Was it because Nick was Rafael's son? From the beginning, he knew he got off on the wrong foot with Elliot, but he didn't think the man would act so unprofessionally for seemingly no apparent reason. The ADA lowered his head and exchanged a look with his son. "Go ahead, Nick."

"There was this girl from the party. She told me she didn't go to St. Francis and that a friend of hers had found out about the party. We ended up eating falafels and renting Citi bikes to ride up to midtown." Nick nervously chewed on his lip as he debated whether or not to be entirely truthful. He figured that the police would want the full timeline, and his dad did say that leaving out details could jeopardize the case and make him look like he had something to hide. "She took me up to the rooftop of this building on East 51st Street, and we hung out there until 4 or 4:30 when her friend called. Then we headed back and parted ways at the station."

"You can check the bill on his credit card for the bike rental. The time they had the bikes would reflect the charge," Rafael added, watching as the smirk faded from Elliot's face.

"That's great, Nick." Olivia smiled at the teenager and thanked him for cooperating. "We'll see if we can track down this girl and see if your story checks out."

"This girl… did she have a name?" Elliot asked.

"Mandy."

Rafael couldn't help but notice the strange look exchanged by the pair of detectives. Elliot leaned across the table and studied him carefully. "Can you describe her?"

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, average height. She had a bit of a Southern accent."

Olivia gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. Elliot turned to her and leaned close to her ear. Rafael could barely make out what he said but it sounded like 'it's not her'.

"Will you excuse us?" Olivia pushed herself off the desk and walked out of the room; her partner not far behind.

When the door closed, Nick turned to Rafael and tilted his head in confusion. "Dad, what's going on?"

"I don't know," Rafael replied, shaking his head. He got up and paced across the room, looking out the window to see Olivia running her hands through her hair as her partner tried to reassure her. She was hearing none of it though because she pulled out her phone and started dialing, which was thwarted immediately by Elliot.

Too impatient to sit back and watch without an explanation, Rafael told Nick to stay inside the room. He stormed out to hear Elliot tell Olivia that she was flying off the handle without knowing for sure what was going on.

"She is in so much trouble."

"Hey, Liv, calm down. She's just a kid," Elliot tried to reason with her. "They do this sort of thing all the time."

"Really? You're going to tell me to calm down?" She shot back, getting close to his face. "If this were Kathleen or Lizzie, you would've reached over that table and strangled the boy."

"Oh, believe me, I wanted to."

Rafael cleared his throat and both detectives turned their heads to see the fire burning in the ADA's eyes. "I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear two NYPD detectives talking about strangling my son." He raised his chin defiantly and planted his hands on his hips. "Will someone tell me what is happening?"

"Your son was with my daughter all night," Liv said accusingly, her eyes wide in shock before she exhaled.

"Liv, we don't know if it's Amanda. There are a million blonde-haired, blue-eyed teenage girls in the city. It could've been anyone," Elliot pointed out.

"I hate to say it, but Detective Stabler is right. The girl may not even be your daughter," Rafael stated.

"Right," Olivia shook her head and tried to put her mind at rest. "Amanda wouldn't sneak off to a party like this. She's fifteen."

"Exactly. She's fifteen so we can't be certain," Rafael countered. "Teenagers are unpredictable."

"Look, I know my daughter," Olivia fired back at the ADA who looked caught off guard that the usually cordial detective was being combative. "Maybe your son is unpredictable, but I know Amanda. She wouldn't –"

"Liv." Elliot warned, blocking her path towards the ADA. "Look, there's only one way to find out. We ask him if he recognizes her."

Olivia nodded, pulling out her phone and leading the way back into the interview room. Once they were all seated, Rafael turned to his son. "Would you be able to identify the girl if Detective Benson showed you a picture?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Nick shrugged. "But I don't understand. I've spent the last two hours looking at pictures from the party and I didn't see her in any of them."

Olivia swiped through her phone and found a picture she took of Amanda a few days back. Her hair was pulled to the side and she had a close-mouthed smile that showed off the one dimple on her right cheek. She turned the phone around and showed the screen to Nick. "What about her? Do you know her?"

Nick swallowed hard. "Yeah, that's her. That's Mandy."

As soon as she stepped out of the room, Olivia made a beeline towards the cribs to call her daughter. She didn't care if she was waking up her 15-year-old; she was livid. The heels of her boots clicked against the concrete as she paced back and forth across the enclosed space. After six rings, Amanda finally picked up.

"Mom? What time is it?"

"Where have you been?" Olivia wasted no time getting down to the truth.

"Uh… At Claire's," said the groggy voice on the other line.

"Don't lie to me, Amanda. I know you were at a party in Tribeca."

"Oh my god, mom, did you have me followed?"

"No, of course not," Olivia replied defensively. She spent years trying to reconstruct a life for Amanda and reestablish the concept of family and love; she would never betray her daughter's trust like that. It hurt to be accused of that sort of behavior. "I received a call about a party in Tribeca. Not only did I find out you were at a party where they were serving alcohol and kids were doing drugs, but also that you spent four hours traipsing around the city with some stranger."

"Wait… What?" Amanda's voice sounded panicked at the other end. "That's not what happened. I was at Claire's the whole night."

"I can't believe you're still lying to me," Olivia sighed, placing her palm over her forehead. She leaned against the lockers and exhaled exasperatedly. "What were you doing walking around the city with a boy who thinks your name is Mandy?"

"Mom, I can explain…"

"You haven't used that nickname since you were in Georgia," Olivia said quietly. Memories of her daughter's rough childhood came rushing back, and she felt sick to her stomach. After speaking with a series of therapists, she was aware that her daughter had self-destructive tendencies that were masked by a sense of reckless abandon. Amanda would often distract herself with excitement and heady adventures just so she wouldn't have to deal with her past. Introducing herself by the nickname she had buried so long ago proved that avoiding her problems was not helping her heal.

"I'm sorry."

Olivia sighed. "Get dressed. I'm coming to pick you up at Claire's—"

"I'm actually home," she admitted.

"So you lied about that too?" Olivia snarled. "You're coming with me to the station to give your statement."

"Wh- Why?"

"Because you went to a party with drugs and alcohol and you might have seen something that could help our case."

"They called your unit?" Amanda's voice fell. She knew what that meant and it made her feel unwell when she realized at least one of those kids at the party had been assaulted.

There was a knock on the door. It was Fin. "Liv, hey… We got some news on the vics."

"Hold on," Liv said, holding up a finger. "Be ready in ten minutes, Amanda." Olivia hung up the phone and shook her head in disapproval.

"Heard about your kid, she all right?"

"Yeah, she's at home. I'm swinging by to pick her up so she can give her statement and so I can keep an eye on her."

"That might have to wait," Fin began, raising a folder. "Three of the five vics we found naked in the living room had no signs of entry. In fact, they had passed out before anything happened. But the two teens in the bedroom – well, the girl is refusing to do the rape kit. Nurses say they saw bruising on her hips and thighs, and she's coming down from something and it ain't alcohol."

"What are you saying?"

"They can't say for sure without a tox screen, but the nurses say it looks like someone may have slipped her a roofie," Fin explained. "Captain thinks you have the best shot at convincing her to get the rape kit done."

"She must be so terrified," Liv said, pressing her lips into a slight frown. "I'll talk to her. But can you do me a favor? Can you pick up Amanda at the apartment and take her here."

"Yeah, of course."

"Thanks, Fin." She smiled softly at the detective and began to head out of the room. He handed her the folder and she flipped open to the first page. She read the title on the initial medical report and her eyes scanned down to focus on the name. "Maria Grazie?"

"Yeah, she's the girl," Fin said, cocking his head to the side to study Olivia's shocked and confused expression. "Why? You got something?"

"She's Nick Amaro's girlfriend."