AN: Another long wait between chapters and for that I sincerely apologize and present you with a chapter that is +1000 words longer than my average chapter (YAY!). I think updates will be more frequent from now on; I reckon once a week until my schedule changes in September. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who took the time to review chapter four. You guys are awesome and your reviews are like manna - they sustain me and keep me motivated so keep 'em coming!

Read, enjoy, and review

Save Room

5. Dazed And Confused

The detectives didn't burn any daylight once they learned about their rape victim. Elliot and Olivia got in the squad car and drove to Presbyterian where they split up, with Olivia speaking with Maria Grazie, and Elliot and dealing with their suspect. His name was Eric Price, a 17-year-old junior at Saint Francis and a midfielder for the school's soccer team. He was still at a tender age, but if the charges stuck he wouldn't be tried as a juvenile delinquent and that could mean several years behind bars.

Based on the information they gathered so far, the detectives learned that the people involved – Maria, Eric, and Nick – were all part of a tight-knit group of the private school's elite. Popular kids throwing parties with drugs and alcohol was a trope for good reason - because it happened all the time. The call made to the loft was this particular group's first encounter with the police, and what started out as a noise complaint unwittingly turned into possible sexual assault charges. Whatever the case, it would be an eye-opening experience for this group of teenagers.

Olivia knocked on the door and slowly entered the private hospital room. Inside, a nurse checked her patient's vitals and made sure the IV was properly hooked so she could get rehydrated. The girl, dressed in a light blue hospital gown, kept her eyes focused on the scene of falling leaves just outside her window. Her long brown hair was gathered away from her face with a headband. Clear and fresh-faced, her olive skin gave an appearance of youth and refinement. No one would suspect she was passed out and assaulted some time within the last seven hours.

The girl didn't even acknowledge Olivia's encroachment of her space as she kept staring outside. Olivia wondered what was going through the poor girl's head; she was curious to know if the girl remembered any of it happening, perhaps something that led to her attack. But her face was stoic and difficult to read. Her body language, jaw clenched and arms laid out on her lap with her fingers intertwined, gave the impression that whatever she was feeling she wanted to keep imprisoned inside her. The nurse rounded the bed and gave her a small smile before she headed out to the hallway to attend to her next patient.

"Hi, Maria, my name is Detective Olivia Benson and I'm from Special Victims. I'm here to ask you questions about last night."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "What about it? I don't remember a thing."

Olivia moved over to the side of her bed and blocked her view of the window so she would look at her. She met the young girl's green eyes, and that was when she noticed the telltale signs of someone who had just shed tears. "Do you remember how you ended up in the bedroom upstairs?"

Maria pouted her lips and shook her head.

"Do you remember anything about the party?"

She opened her palms out on her lap and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I guess."

"Can you tell me what you do remember?" Olivia tried again, pressing her on for information without overwhelming her. The girl just went through a trauma so she understood the caginess and reluctance. It was a defense mechanism, one she was acquainted with in her experience in law enforcement and in her own personal life. "Let's start with the time you arrived at the loft."

"Um, I guess it was around seven," she said. "I went over early to have dinner with my boyfriend –"

"—Nick Amaro?"

"Yeah," she replied, furrowing her brows before continuing her account of events. "We ordered in and had some Thai food. Then we started setting up for the party… he was putting some songs into his iPod when I told him there was no need because I had hired a DJ. Then he asked me why a DJ was necessary for a party of ten people, so then I told him that I got all our friends to invite their friends... And I guess, it kind of took off from there."

"So Nick didn't know about the size of the party?"

"Not until like half an hour before the first guests showed up," Maria said. "He was so cranky the whole night, wouldn't even talk to me except to tell me I was getting sloppy. Easy for him to say; he never even touched a drink."

"Were you with him for most of the night?" Olivia asked, writing down what Maria was saying in her black notebook. "From what you remember?"

"No, not really…" she trailed off, looking straight ahead to avoid the detective's gaze. She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her shoulders, appearing smaller than she already did. "I was mostly with my girlfriends, dancing and taking shots of vodka. And – uh… yeah, that's it."

Olivia heard the hesitation in Maria's voice and observed her chew on her lip. It was clear that the teenager was withholding information that could be pertinent to their investigation.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Maria? Something that you're afraid other people will find out about?"

She quickly shook her head.

"I'm here to help you," Olivia assured her, tilting her head to the side so she could meet the younger girl's fixed stare. Maria gave her a skeptical look but finally her sharp features softened, and she sighed.

"I remember being really wasted and wanting to puke, so I ran to the upstairs bathroom to take care of it. When I got out, Nick's friend was waiting by the door… and he gave me an aspirin and said that it would help with the headache."

"Nick's friend?"

"Eric Price."

Olivia's eyes widened. The puzzle pieces in their case were now starting to fit and the picture was making itself clear. It looked like they wouldn't need further investigation; they'd just have to wait for Maria to complete the rape kit and for CSU to show them the match in DNA. She was also quite certain that the toxicology screen would reveal that it wasn't aspirin in Maria's system but Rohypnol, as Fin suspected. Olivia didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but from the looks of it this case was only a few signatures away from being closed and filed away.

"Anyway, after that Eric helped me down the stairs then I went over to Nick. He was still pretty mad at me…" she trailed off, pausing to look up at the ceiling. Her eyes squinted like she was starting to regain some memories from the night. "I remember Nick took me upstairs to his room and he gave me some water to drink. It's so like him to do that," she said, rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Did Nick stay with you in his room?"

"I don't really remember," she said, releasing her arms and settling them back down on her lap. She lowered her head and a pink flush crept up her cheeks. "But I know we made out for a while... After that, I must have blacked out."

Olivia paused her note taking to look up and see the aloof expression on Maria's face. There was a casual, offhand way she talked about blacking out like it wasn't the first time it's happened to her; and for a 16-year-old that rang some alarm bells in Olivia's mind.

Maybe the case wasn't close to being solved after all. Nick could have easily slipped the roofie into the drink he gave his girlfriend. And with Maria's last memory being intoxicated and in bed with her boyfriend, it still made Nick a plausible suspect. He would have had enough time to assault her and still leave the party by one in the morning… with her daughter. Sure, it still wouldn't explain for Eric Price being naked in bed with Maria when the unis found them early that morning; but maybe Eric was an opportunist. Perhaps he found her already undressed and vulnerable and he simply took advantage of her. Olivia knew by relaying this information to her partner and taking it back with them to the precinct, they'd be opening Pandora's box. Whatever the case, they couldn't rule out Nick as a suspect just yet.

"So you don't remember anything after that? You don't remember Nick leaving?"

"No. The next thing I remember is being woken up by a paramedic and having all these needles inserted into my body."

"So you don't recall how Eric Price got into the bed with you?"

"Wait, what?" She cried out in shock. Her lip quivered, but then another unreadable expression washed over her face. Maybe it was finally the realization of what happened to her, or it could have been confusion. Or regret. "Eric was in the bed when you found me?"

"He was also naked and we found semen all over the bed. We're still waiting on the Crime Scene Unit for the results, but it would really help, Maria, if you agree to let the nurse complete a rape kit."

"I don't see the point, detective," she said, a perfectly arched brow rising in defiance. "I don't plan on pressing any charges."

That was something Olivia feared when she heard it from Fin and when she walked into the room and felt the palpable distance and aloofness from the teenage girl. But she never pictured Maria saying those words so boldly like she was so sure of herself. Sure, she pictured something more akin to a scared, little girl afraid to relive the nightmare of her assault. Never this.

"I know it's is a lot to take in all at once, Maria, and you probably need some time to think –"

"—I don't need time," she argued. "I'm not accusing anyone of rape because I wasn't raped."

"You were drugged. You have bruises on your hips and thighs –"

"Stop!" Maria yelled, shoving the tray off the table. Olivia sprung back and stared back at the girl who gave her the iciest glare. "I don't care. And do not say a word of this to my boyfriend or, I swear to god, I'm going to sue you."

"Maria, please."

"Just leave me alone."

"I'm looking out for your safety and your best interest. If you don't press charges, you're going to have to see these boys walking down the halls of your school for the next two years... Is that what you want?" Olivia asked. "Please think about it," she pleaded one last time before she picked up the tray and set it down on a table in the corner of the room. She retreated towards the door and watched as Maria's head turned to face the window. A tear fell down her cheek but she swiped it away as if showing any sign of weakness was the worst thing imaginable. In some ways, Olivia could see herself in the 16-year-old.

Saturday morning sunshine beamed directly at the coffee shop across the street. They were bustling with customers, which was not uncanny especially on a weekend morning. The place was notorious for these melt-in-your-mouth chocolate croissants, which were valued at five bucks apiece. Amanda had them once and while they were probably the most delicious croissants she'd ever had and will have in her life, they were neither worth the price nor the queue.

On the patio, people enjoyed their cups of java with their morning paper. One customer had their dog tied up to the fence and a young mother was talking to the dog owner while her little girl petted the furry animal. When the dog bared its teeth, she hurriedly shied away and hid behind her mother's leg.

Everyone in the city seemed to be up and ready to take on the day refreshed and renewed, but not Amanda.

She barely had any sleep after cycling across town with a stranger she met at a party, then coming home to learn that her mom was sleeping with Brian Cassidy. After she threatened him not to hurt her mom, she closed the door to her room and got into her favorite oversized t-shirt. She Facetimed her friends to let them know she was alive and well and ready to hit the sack. But Wes and Claire didn't let her off so easy, wanting to hear about her adventurous evening of bike rides and rooftops and one memorable kiss…

Amanda slid into the passenger seat and greeted Fin with a playful punch on the arm. But there was no amusement in her eyes and there was no laugh that accompanied the gesture. Not only was she low on sleep, she was still feeling like shit over her last phone call with her mom. Olivia didn't give out much information, but Amanda could go out on a limb and say that a call to Special Victims meant that at least one person was sexually assaulted at that party. As gut wrenching as that sounded, she couldn't really say she was surprised because she had witnessed firsthand how wild some of those kids had gotten. She had seen the unlimited supply of alcohol, inhaled secondhand marijuana smoke, and had even been offered to snort some communal blow.

So she was thankful that it was Fin who ended up picking her up from the apartment. If it were her mom, Amanda knew they would have both been on edge and they would have driven each other to say things they probably wouldn't have meant had it not been for the heat of the moment. She knew she had a tendency of driving people away even when she knew, full-stop, that they were right; and in this case, her mom had every right to be angry with her for going to that party. But it was easier to think logically when she wasn't in the situation. She just needed to calm herself and rehearse her defense for when she met her mom at the station. She sighed and looked to her left to give Fin a small smile to let him know she was doing all right.

Reaching over, she turned the volume up to the radio to hear the latest Lil Wayne song. Her smile widened and her eyes lit up as she blasted the volume in the car, dancing to the catchy tune. Fin cast her a sideways glance and narrowed his eyes.

"This ain't rap or hip hop," he said, switching it to a different station.

"Nooo," Amanda whined, putting it back to the previous song. "I don't care if it's not up to your standards, Fin. It's fun and it's got a good beat."

"No one in the game raps like they used to," he sighed, shaking his head. "He's talking about goin' stupid!"

"It's a song about his homies, a song about friendship. How can you hate on that?"

"I'm not a hater but I hate the shit they call rap these days."

"Whatever, old man." Amanda smirked when she saw Fin throw her a glare. She liked this. She liked the playful ribbing between her and Fin. Of all the people in her mom's unit, Fin was probably the one she got along with the most and the one she trusted to keep a secret in case she ever got herself into trouble. She could joke around with him, catch up on TV shows together, and compare their diverse tastes in music. Unlike Elliot who had a tendency of overprotecting her and treating her like one of his children, Fin treated her like an adult. He respected her and didn't judge her, or at least did a bang-up job of not showing it. He didn't infantilize her and Amanda appreciated that more than he knew.

"Yo, Manda," he said, breaking her out of her quiet contemplation. "So what the hell happened last night?"

"Shouldn't I wait until we get to the precinct before I give my statement?"

He chuckled softly. "Don't answer my question with another question. I hate that."

"Do you, Fin?" She asked just to rile him up even more. He laughed and shook his head before he reached over to the passenger side and poked her on the rib. She jerked away at the contact and shielded herself with her arms like she was a ninja on the defensive.

"Baby girl, I know you," he said, his voice suddenly growing serious. "You're going to go in there and give them your statement but you're going to spare the details. I want to know why you left that party with that kid. Did he force you to go with him? Did he hurt you?"

"What?" Amanda jerked forward and turned her head to look at Fin. "No, he didn't hurt me… or force me to do anything. We were just headed out at the same time, I swear."

"He was headin' out of his own party?"

"Wait a sec." She held her hand up and slowly blinked her eyes. "You mean to say that was Nick's party? That was his apartment?"

"Well, his momma's but yeah, Liv didn't tell you that?"

Amanda shook her head as she tried to process the new information. She couldn't believe he didn't tell her it was his party. They spent hours together talking back and forth about a number of different things and he never even thought to mention that important detail.

"What else have you learned?" She asked anxiously.

Fin turned left and drove a few feet down the street before she asked him again.

"Fin, what do you know?"

He continued driving, choosing to ignore her questions. Finally, he answered. "I think you're right. We should wait 'til we get to the station so you can give your statement and I'll let Liv tell you what you need to know."

"Oh come on, Fin, you know she's not going to tell me anything!"

"Amanda, that's up to her to decide." He turned the volume down on the stereo just as they arrived at a traffic light. Pressing on the brakes, he turned to her. "The less you know right now, the better. Trust me, you don't want to get yourself involved."

"Me? Get involved? I haven't even done anything."

"Yeah, well, your boyfriend might," Fin countered, stepping on the gas as the light turned green.

"My boyfriend? That guy was not my boyfriend."

"You were gone for four hours with this kid," he said, pausing to let her fill in the implications of that nuanced statement. "I don't know what your mom's thinking, but if I were you, I'd come up with a better excuse than renting Citi Bikes and just talking on rooftops."

"But that's exactly what we did."

He lifted his arms from the wheel in mock surrender. "Look, I'm sorry for assuming –"

"—That I was having sex with him?"

"No, I mean, yes… I can't help it. I see it happening everyday on the job and the teenagers just get younger and younger," Fin explained. "Now, I'm a dad and I've got a son and this is the stuff I thought about when he was growing up. I thought I had to worry about him getting a girl pregnant… guess I didn't have to worry about that at all. But, you know what I'm trying to say here; it's natural that your mom is going to worry about you having sex."

"I – I'm not," she stammered.

"And either way that's fine. Look, all I'm sayin' is don't flip out on her when you see her later," Fin said, proving that he was more perceptive of her emotions than she originally thought. "She's just freaking out because you're growing up so fast, sneaking out to parties and shit."

Amanda swallowed hard. Of course that's why her mom was really upset with her. It was bad enough that she went to that party without her mom's permission, but then she ran off with a boy and was unaccounted for for several hours. It looked bad from almost any angle, and even though she knew none of their theories were accurate, she couldn't help but put herself in the detectives' shoes.

"Is he at the precinct?" She asked.

"Who?"

"Nick. The guy I met at the party."

Fin cast her a sideways glance as he turned down on Broadway. "Yeah, he's sitting pretty in the interview room. Why?"

"Good," she said, settling back against the chair and crossing her arms over her chest. "We'll get our stories straight."

No one's talking. The other noises one wouldn't typically hear become significantly evident. For example, a ticking clock hung on the wall, the percolating coffee machine at the far end of the room, or the constant taps of thumbs on a piece of glass. They sat there in silence, father and son, for over an hour with only a few short looks between them. They were worse than strangers forced to sit beside each other on an airplane. At least those strangers attempted small talk, asking the person on 17A if they were arriving home or leaving for vacation, wondering if the person on 17B were flying for business or pleasure. But even in that room that was less confined and had more circulation than an airplane cabin, the silence was suffocating.

Still, both men seemed to find more comfort in the absence of chatter than in inane pleasantries.

Rafael glanced down at the Rolex on his wrist – a present to himself when he landed the job at the District Attorney's office. But even with an expensive timepiece, there was still not enough money or influence in the world to control time. He was getting really sick and tired of being told to wait at the precinct while Benson and Stabler talked to their victim and suspect, who were both admitted in Presbyterian. What did they even still want with his son anyway? Nick already identified a handful of kids from the cellphone pictures; he cooperated when they hounded him with questions of his whereabouts, and he even supplied them with a witness to corroborate his airtight alibi. Rafael hated waiting. He wanted everything done competently and efficiently, one case to the next without all this dilly-dallying. And worst of all, he hated not having his finger on the pulse. Not knowing what the hell was going on was really starting to grate on his nerves.

Looking across the table, he quietly observed his son and watched him stare off into space, absent-mindedly twirling a pen between his fingers. It took some skill that Rafael tried to study for all of two minutes until he grew bored. But at an hour and twenty minutes into this mutually assured silent treatment, the pen twirling was driving him up the wall. Without so much as a second thought, he rose from the chair and practically lunged forward to grab the pen from his son's hand.

Nick stared at him in complete shock and disbelief, his mouth hanging open ready to bark an insult but he was too lost for words to come up with anything on the spot. Rafael sat back down and pulled the pen close to the edge of the table, far enough that Nick would have to make a similar effort to reach for it. For a while, they sat there in continued silence until Nick asked a question.

"When do you think they'll be back?"

Rafael gawked at him for a moment as if he was alarmed that his son had a voice. He cast a glimpse down at his watch again and noticed that the minute hand barely moved since he last checked.

"I'd say they should be back soon. They don't usually let police interview victims longer than a few minutes while they're still in the hospital."

"Victims?" Nick rested his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. Then he looked up at his dad with worry etched in his features. "Do you know who they might be?"

Rafael shook his head in response. "They're keeping that information private until the victims decide to press charges."

Nick placed his hands together and rested them against his lips. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Dad," he started, and immediately Rafael leaned forward and was all ears. "I need your help."

"What is it?" He asked in a flash. "What do you need me to do?"

"I've been trying to reach my girlfriend," he said. "I've been trying to text and call her since we got to the car and drove here, but she hasn't gotten back to me."

"What are you saying?" Rafael had a feeling where this conversation was going but he wanted to hear it from Nick first before he jumped the gun. But judging from the distressed look on his son's face, he had to devise a plan or at least come up with some positive reinforcement to tide him over.

"I left Maria alone and I think she's one of the victims the detectives were talking about," he admitted, unclenching his jaw and exhaling deeply like he was letting go of some close-guarded information he had held onto since the moment he stepped out of that elevator and entered the loft. "I should never have left her… God, how could I have been so stupid to leave her alone? And then run off with some girl I've never met before in my life?"

"Nick, I – I…" I don't know what to say.

"I could've stayed. I could've protected her."

Rafael stood up and walked around the table to where his son was sitting. Nick's hands were on his lap and they were curled into fists; he had never actually seen it firsthand but he had heard that his son had inherited his temper.

"If some guy put his hands on her, I swear, I'm going to kick his ass!"

"Hey, hey… We don't know that," Rafael tried to put his mind at rest. "For all we know, Maria could be in her bed nursing a hangover."

Nick tightened his fists and clenched his jaw, slowly shaking his head. "I've called her place and the housekeeper said she wasn't home, thought she was with me. I tried her friends and they all said the last time they saw her was before I took her up to my room."

"Wait," Rafael said, holding his arm out to stop him. "You took her to your room?"

"She was drunk and so I told her to sleep it off."

"And that's when you left with Benson's – I mean, with Mandy?"

"Yeah, wait –" Nick cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at his dad. "Do you know her?"

Covering his mouth with hand, Rafael contemplated telling him but he was saved when he looked out through the blinds and saw the detectives returning into the squad room He exchanged a puzzled look with Nick, who immediately got up from the chair. But Rafael placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "Don't worry, I'll handle it and I'll find out what happened to Maria."

Nick was about to protest but Rafael's eyes hardened and his son backed down, sinking back on the chair. Dark rings circled under Nick's eyes from the taxing night, and Rafael couldn't imagine what that paranoia was doing for his kid's stress levels. "Stay here. I won't be long and then I'll bring you home so you can get some sleep." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder. Nick looked up at him and gave him a somber nod.

With that, he draped his jacket over his shoulder and advanced out to the squad room to meet with Benson and Stabler. Blocking their path, he stood firm and raised an eyebrow, wordlessly commanding them for an update on the new developments of the investigation.

"Counselor," Olivia began, but her partner took a step forward and took over.

"My partner briefed me on her chat with the victim and we have some new leads."

"New leads?" Rafael asked, furrowing his brows. "I thought you had your suspect."

"We do. But we have a second suspect," Elliot said, lifting his chin up to look over the other man's head and into the interview room.

Rafael furrowed his brows, craning his neck around and pointing to the room with his thumb, and then he whipped back to face both detectives. "Nick? Nick is a suspect?" The sheer ridiculousness of the accusation almost made him laugh, but their serious demeanor was contrary to his idea of a joke. It made him see red. "Are you two out of your minds?"

The officers in the bullpen stopped what they were doing and watched the dispute go down.

"Counselor, if you would just let us explain," Olivia started, bending sideways slightly so she could speak to the ADA without her partner shielding her path. She also stepped closer to Rafael so the eavesdroppers wouldn't get an earful of what she was about to say. "The victim we found in your son's bedroom is Maria Grazie, your son's girlfriend."

Rafael inhaled before he blew out a shaky breath. Then he nodded his head and turned his neck back to peer into the interview room, where his son was sitting with his back turned to the bickering going on outside. He sighed and shook his head.

"Wait, you knew it was Maria?" Olivia asked, narrowing her eyes.

He reared his head back and narrowed his eyes at her in feigned disbelief. He didn't want to give anything away and implicate his son, possibly making him appear guiltier than the detectives already assumed him to be. "No. But I know that he would never hurt her. He's been trying to contact her for the last three hours; he's been worried sick about her."

Elliot cocked an eyebrow at Rafael. "He's been trying to call her? We're going to need his phone to check his messages."

"Whoa, not without a warrant you're not."

"He might've texted her, told her to drop the charges," Elliot said, turning to Olivia. "Nick could be good for the rape."

Rafael's jaw dropped and his eyes opened slowly.

The female detective looked warily at her partner then back at the ADA. "Maria said that Nick brought her to his room and the last memory she had was the two of them in bed kissing. Our strongest lead is still the male suspect in the hospital, but he's still incapacitated from all the drugs in his system. Detective Stabler was unable to talk to him, but from the initial evidence we're confident that he's the perp."

"Then arrest him!" Rafael cried out. "What do you want with my son?"

"Maria's statement puts Nick with her after midnight," Olivia explained. "Now, we're not saying that Nick did this but we will need his phone and his DNA… it could help rule him out."

Rafael lifted his chin and fixed his eyes at Olivia. "Go talk to a judge and secure a warrant."

"You don't want to fight this, Counselor," Elliot warned.

"Try me."

"Dad?" Nick called, stepping out to the tension-filled bullpen. "What's going on? What do they need a warrant for?"

Before Rafael could respond, Elliot placed his hands on his hips and stared Nick down. "Nick Amaro, you are now a suspect for drugging and raping your girlfriend, Maria Grazie."

Nick had the wind knocked out of him with the gravity of those allegations. He fixed his eyes on Elliot's unyielding expression, his throat suddenly feeling parched and constricted. Rafael stood in front of him and gave his word that he would handle it and that he would do whatever it takes to make those unsubstantiated accusations go away. He was ADA Rafael Barba for Christ's sake, and he wasn't going to let these detectives harass him or his family.

But his son wasn't focused on Elliot anymore, and he wasn't listening to anything that his father was saying. Nick was looking way past him, up the stairs, behind where they were all standing. At the top of the steps were Fin and a blonde-haired girl, who Rafael had been introduced to only several days prior. And judging from the disgusted look on her face, she had heard the utter defamation of his son's character.