AN: Hey! I want to say thank you to those who left reviews for chapter five. You guys are awesome, and I really appreciate your feedback. Although, I have to admit I'm a little discouraged that I got less than half the reviews I normally get per chapter. I don't know if people are losing interest (but views and visitors are still consistent, so idk) or if people just weren't in the mood for reviewing last chapter. Either way, I'd like to know people's thoughts even if it's criticisms about my writing, the direction of this story, or what I'm doing/not doing with these ships. I'm always looking to improve. :)

Anyway, we soldier on. Please read, enjoy, and review!

Save Room

6. Young Blood

Nick's eyes locked with Amanda's blues, her delicate mouth turning down into a grimace. Obstructing his view, his father got close to his face and spoke in hurried Spanish, swearing blasphemies and calling the allegations preposterous. Absently, Nick lowered his head in agreement; but the only thought whirling in his mind was Maria. He was finally getting to grips with the reality of the situation – that his girlfriend was raped when he left her alone in his bedroom. It was like being punched in the gut to comprehend the grave facts and realize that behind those words, there was a girl that was violated. His girl.

"Our suspect is awake."

They all turned around to look at Sergeant John Munch, who was seated behind his desk. He placed the phone back on the receiver and turned to look up at his partner.

"Fin and I are going to talk to him," he said, before fixing his eyes on Detectives Benson and Stabler. "You two, hold down the fort."

Nick watched as the two men disappeared down the hall that led to the elevators. From the corner of his eye, he quietly observed as Detective Benson crossed the bullpen to take Amanda by the elbow and escort her down another hallway. His blank gaze shifted back to his dad who was spouting legal terms left and right.

"Are you even listening?"

He blinked and then looked past his father. "Yeah… Where's Maria? Can I see her?"

Elliot stood his ground and blocked Nick's path. "You can't do that right now. We still have some questions."

"This interrogation is over," said Rafael, crossing his arms over his chest. "You have no incriminating evidence."

"CSU found semen on the sheets –"

"—And all it proves is that my son had a consensual sexual relationship with his girlfriend. Am I right, Nick?" Rafael shot a look over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at his son.

"Uh… yeah…" he stammered then looked at Elliot. "Look, detective, I'll do whatever I can to help you find Maria's ra… the guy who did this to her. If you need my DNA to help with your investigation –"

"—No!" Rafael set himself between the two men. "You are not giving them your DNA until they have a warrant. Even a baseless allegation will remain in your record once they enter it into the system."

"But I have nothing to hide! I didn't do anything!"

"You do not make legal decisions based on your wounded pride," Rafael said, clenching his jaw. "I told you to let me handle this."

"This isn't about clearing my name. This is about doing what I can to help them catch the asshole who put his hands on my girlfriend."

Rafael shook his head. "You do this, and you might as well be handing them the bullet to the gun that will pin you down as their primary suspect."

"Ok, ok, easy, counselor," Elliot said, pushing his arms out to separate both men. "No one's conspiring against your son. But it looks like he wants to cooperate with our investigation, so let's allow him to make his own decision, all right?"

"I know what's in his best interest so back off, detective."

Elliot placed his hands on his hips and lowered his eyes at the shorter man. Looking at them, it was like a pissing contest with both men trying to assert their dominance. It was clear that both men came from two vastly different backgrounds, but their backbones were both unwavering.

"You don't have a shred of evidence!" Rafael raised his arms in exasperation. "I mean, did the girl even press charges yet?"

"Well…" Elliot trailed off, tilting his head to the side and shrugging his shoulders.

"Unbelievable!" Rafael cried out before he turned back to his son. "You see? No charges filed and they're relentlessly making accusations on a case that doesn't even exist. You believe me now, Nicky?"

Nick's eyes fixed on the detective's, ignoring his father's outburst, which, he thought, made his old man sound like a real blowhard.

"But she was still raped?"

Elliot nodded his head once. "She was raped."

"Let me see her. Let me talk to her."

"I'm afraid we can't do that while you're a suspect –"

"- For God's sake!" Rafael roared. "He can't be a suspect if you don't have a case!"

Nick crossed his arms over his chest and raised his chin in defiance. "Look, I'll cooperate and give you guys whatever you want; but I need to see Maria first. Alone."

Once they arrived in the cribs, Amanda pulled out of her mother's grasp and rubbed her elbow. She figured she deserved this treatment after putting her mom through all that panic and worry. Olivia paced across the room, aggressively running her hands through her hair.

"Amanda, what were you thinking going to that party?"

She released a heavy breath. "Mom, I'm sorry."

"And then traipsing around the city after midnight with that boy?"

"I said I was sorry!"

"You better be," Olivia raised her voice, pointing an accusing finger at her daughter. "I don't even know where to start with you, but you're definitely grounded. You're not allowed out of the house for the rest of the month except for school and track practice. You're lucky if I let you attend homecoming after this stunt."

"That's not fair!"

"Fair?" Olivia reared her head back and narrowed her eyes. "You went to a party with drugs and alcohol."

Amanda opened her mouth to protest, but Olivia lifted her hand to stop her.

"And don't even lie to me and tell me you didn't have a drop to drink… God, Amanda, did you have any idea there were date rape drugs in that party? What if someone slipped it into your drink, huh?"

Amanda rolled her eyes and sank down on one of the cots. "Quit being so dramatic. I'm fine," she said, sweeping her hands down to proclaim that she was both alive and unharmed. "Besides, I wasn't around long enough to see it get that crazy."

"That's another thing," Olivia started. "You've never met this boy before and you think it's a good idea to walk around the city with him? I know you think you can take care of yourself, and I do give you some degree of autonomy, but you always put yourself in danger –"

"—Danger? Mom, don't be ridiculous."

"You need to be more mindful of people."

"You mean mindful of boys, right?" Amanda shot back. "Just because you deal with a lot of horny teenage boys who have no respect for girls' boundaries doesn't mean they're all like that."

"He's a suspect in our investigation," Olivia said, pressing her lips into a slight frown. "I think it's fair to say that he might fall in that category of boys I don't trust being alone with my teenager."

"You've got the wrong guy!"

Her mother cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know that?"

"We talked."

Her mind drifted back to their conversation on the rooftop, and how she felt comfortable enough around him to open up about her experience in foster care. She didn't tell him about Georgia. There were less than a handful of people she's ever talked to about Georgia; but looking into his eyes last night, she just knew that she could trust him.

"Is that all you did?"

"Yes!" Amanda blew out an exasperated sigh. "We ate falafels, rode up to midtown on Citi bikes, and just talked. Fin took my statement."

"It's hard for me to trust you after you lied to me," Olivia admitted, wrapping her arms around herself and turning away from her daughter.

Rolling her eyes, Amanda scoffed. "Oh please. Look who's talking… You're the one sneaking around and sleeping with Brian Cassidy."

Olivia's hands flew over her mouth and she stared back at Amanda with wide eyes. Crossing her arms over her chest, Amanda scowled at the shocked expression on her mother's face. She knew she promised Brian that she wouldn't speak of their run-in that morning, but all bets were off when her mom was calling her a liar. Besides, she didn't owe Brian anything. So why should she protect him?

Olivia swallowed hard and calmed herself before she spoke. "I didn't want to tell you until I knew where it was going."

"Yeah, whatever," Amanda said, getting up from the cot and walking to the opposite end of the room. She whipped around to look at her mom. "You got it all wrong. Nick didn't rape that girl because I was with him all night and nothing he said or did gave me the impression that he's a bad guy. I get that you're upset with me because I didn't tell you about the party, but trust me when I say that Nick is innocent."

"We still need to do our due diligence," Olivia sighed. "I want to believe you. If it means anything, I don't think he fits the profile and he also seemed genuinely distressed to hear what happened to his girlfriend..."

Amanda winced at the mention of the girlfriend. She had no idea up until she and Fin walked downstairs to the bullpen and overheard the heated argument between the detectives and the ADA. She couldn't believe Nick withheld that information from her. But looking back at their conversations, he never really led her to believe he was single and interested in her either. So why didn't he say anything when she kissed him?

"I understand that you want to defend him, Amanda," her mom began, placing her hands in her pockets. "But I just don't trust him with you."

"He didn't do anything… we didn't do anything."

"Amanda, it's ok. When I was your age –"

"Oh my god!" Amanda cried out, stalking forward to take her mom by the hand, leading her back out the squad room. Once she saw the three men standing by the doorway of the interview room, she marched up to them with Olivia practically being dragged right behind her.

"Nick!" She called out. "Tell my mom that we didn't have sex."

"What?" Nick's brows creased as he stared at her with wide eyes. "She's your mom?" He looked between his dad and Olivia, trying to gauge their reactions and trying to piece through this tangled web. His deep brown eyes drifted back to hers and she felt her heart beating hard beneath her chest. She blew out a shaky breath to calm herself.

Amanda fixed her gaze on Nick before she turned away, feeling the heat in her cheeks. She was tapping her foot impatiently to distract herself from her heart pounding. "Just tell her so she'll quit worrying about me."

"We didn't have sex," he said, scrunching his face up in confusion. "I swear."

"See!" Amanda opened her palm to stress the point; then she looked over her shoulder and twisted her lips in a wry smile. "He wouldn't cheat on his girlfriend."

The entire room gawked at the feisty, young blonde; but no one with as much intensity as Rafael's son. The ADA was about to speak up when he heard the click of heels and a familiar voice.

"Where's Nicholas Amaro?"

He looked past the detectives to see his ex-wife, accompanied by a uniformed officer, turning the corner into the squad room. Isabella was dressed in a low-cut blouse, a skin-tight skirt, and five-inch heels. Needless to say, all eyes had averted to the bottle blonde with olive skin and a pair of stems that went on for miles. She marched down the room like it was her catwalk, glaring at the direction of the detectives and sneering at Rafael.

"Let's go, Nick," she commanded, taking him by the wrist, but he yanked his arm away. She pursed her lips and tilted her head at him, like it was so unbelievable that someone would challenge her.

"Who are you?" Elliot asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Isabella Amaro. I'm his mother and his attorney."

"And my ex-wife," Rafael added bitterly, pressing his lips together in a scowl.

"Oh, two lawyers in the family," Elliot said in amusement. He chanced a look at his partner and shrugged his shoulders. "Must make for an interesting Thanksgiving dinner."

Isabella gave him a fake smile. "You done, officer?"

"It's detective, actually." Elliot clenched his jaw and positioned his hands on his hips.

She simply rolled her eyes and turned back to her son. "Let's go. You don't have to talk to the police." She then turned to the detectives. "I consulted with Maria's parents, who are driving down from their cottage upstate, and they said that the detectives are mistaken and that their daughter wasn't raped."

"That's not true," Olivia interjected. "The nurses found bruises consistent with sexual assault."

"There was no rape kit, because no one was raped." Isabella arched a brow and gave the female detective a once-over. "I don't know what your agenda is, but you are not going to coerce a girl into pressing charges for something that didn't happen to her. If you are so thirsty for justice and an improved closure rate that you insist on falsifying evidence, then do it on another case. Do not involve my son in any of this."

Rafael nodded his head in agreement – a move that nearly surprised him considering this was his bitch of an ex-wife. While he thought the detectives were reaching with the allegations against his son, he didn't doubt that Maria was assaulted. He just didn't think it was a case worth pursuing if she made the choice not to cooperate with the investigation. It would just be a waste of time. He wasn't heartless; he did feel sympathy for the girl but he just didn't believe in strong-arming her into disclosing details of her assault and effectively forcing her into a trial she didn't want.

Isabella wasn't done though. Her glare was now fixed on the father of her child. "You allowed these vultures to interrogate him?"

"All he did was give a statement," Rafael replied defensively.

"And now you're allowing them to hold him as a suspect?"

"I'm not!"

"Nick, you didn't have to say anything; you were always free to go," she said, holding his arm. "Your father is just too much of an incompetent coward to tell you."

"Mom…" He lowered his head and sighed.

Isabella glanced sideways and smirked. "I can see some things never change with you, Rafi. You're still as weak as you were back in Harvard… maybe all these years being away from a woman has made you soft."

"You evil, manipulative bitch."

Elliot gently pushed the ADA back to maintain some distance between him and Isabella. Rafael shook out of his grasp and straightened his jacket, his eyes instinctively drifting to Olivia whose mouth was slightly open. He quickly cocked his head to the side and mentally shook the anger and the frustration out of him. The last thing he wanted was to recreate their divorce proceedings in the middle of the 16th precinct.

Isabella checked the Cartier watch on her wrist before she turned back to Nick. "Let's get you home."

"No!" Nick got out of her hold and took a step back. He clenched his fists as his chest rose and fell in rapid breaths. "You two can go to hell. I'm out of here."

Olivia pressed the phone to her ear and listened to the voice on the other line. She sighed when she heard the final orders and the warning not to go rogue. "Yes, I understand, Captain."

She ended the call and leaned back on her chair with a heavy sigh. Steepling her fingers over her eyes, she barely caught Rafael walking past her desk, sliding his coat over his shoulders, and walking down toward the elevator. Quickly, she got up and followed him down the hall.

"Counselor," she called, watching as he slowly turned around at the sound of her voice. He pursed his lips and raised a brow. "I just heard from my captain and he said that the brass wants us to drop the case. Apparently, the Grazies pulled some strings in 1PP."

Rafael sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not surprised. Prominent family – I'm sure the last thing they want is to have their only child's assault plastered all over the papers. And you know all the media will focus on is the fact that she was drunk and high when this happened to her."

Olivia nodded. "Trust me, I know what happened to Maria and I wish we could pursue this and give her justice; but our hands are tied." She paused, bowing her head and looking away from the ADA. "If it's any consolation, I didn't think your son had anything to do with it. But you understand that I was just doing my job… It's nothing personal."

"Doing your job?" He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You mean accusing a 16-year-old boy of rape when you don't even have evidence or charges filed? You know, after reading up on your squad, I expected the scare tactics coming from Stabler but not from you."

"Do I have to remind you that a 16-year-old girl was raped?" Olivia questioned. "We don't give special treatment to a suspect because of his age or because of his relation to you. My partner and I never employed scare tactics."

"Next time, before you crucify a kid, I suggest you cover all your bases and make sure you have a case."

"My squad followed protocol."

Rafael laughed darkly and shook his head. "If this is protocol, and if this is how your squad operates, then I cannot serve as your ADA. I expect detectives to be thorough. And this entire investigation was a shit show and a pile of baseless speculation from the get-go."

Olivia placed her hands in her pockets and raised her brows at him.

"Do you always lead with emotion, detective?" He asked, probing her with his green eyes. She felt like he was staring into her depths and unwrapping her very nature; and they had only just met days ago.

She cleared her throat. "Pardon?"

"I've noticed that you go with your emotions first – who you feel is guilty, who you think deserves justice – before you look at the facts and the whole picture. Regardless of Nick's involvement in this case, I would have still advised you to take a step back. I suggest you work on your objectivity."

"Don't tell me how to do my job," Olivia squinted her eyes, pointing a finger at his chest.

Rafael looked down at her finger before his gaze lingered on her brown eyes, alight with anger.

"I understand that Isabella Amaro made you look like a fool in front of everyone, but don't take out your frustrations and delayed comebacks on me."

"I – I – She's the last thing on my mind," he stammered. "What happened in there has nothing to do with my opinion on how your squad mishandled this case."

"Then take it up with my captain," she countered. "I was just trying to apologize when you questioned my objectivity."

He scoffed. "Your sincere apology is very touching. Are we done here, detective?"

Olivia lifted her chin and gave him a tight smile. She stood in place as Rafael broke their proximity, turning on his heel and stepping into the elevator. She walked back into the bullpen and sank into her chair, burying her face in her hands before stroking her hair away from her face. Whatever just happened there with the ADA, she wanted to forget all of it. Suddenly she missed having Casey and Alex around.

Her partner looked up from his desk and gave her a small, reassuring smile. "That ADA is a tool."

She lowered her head and returned the smile.

"Wait," Elliot said, his eyes lighting up almost flirtatiously, "you actually agree with me?"

After hounding them with questions at the nurses' station, Nick ran up the stairs to the fourth floor. He needed to see her. He needed to know how she was doing. His restlessness was at an all time high that he ran the sixteen blocks from the precinct to the hospital where Maria was admitted. While his legs carried him to Presbyterian, his mind raced with anguish for the girl he loved.

Right when he turned the corner, he caught sight of Detectives Munch and Fin emerging out of one of the hospital rooms. Quickly retreating, he stood against the wall and steadied his breathing. He peered from the corner and saw them walking down the hall, their voices getting louder.

"You got Cragen's text?" said Munch, placing his phone back into his jacket pocket.

Fin nodded. "Yeah, man. So our suspect admitted to having sex with our vic, but now we can't use it because the brass wants us to drop the case? So we just let this guy stay here?"

"There's nothing we can do. Case dismissed."

"And what, this kid goes back to school on Monday like nothing ever happened?" Fin exclaimed, crinkling his nose in disgust. "That's messed up."

"Our vic doesn't want to help herself out," Munch replied, placing a hand on Fin's shoulder. They walked toward the elevator, completely oblivious of the fact that Nick was standing in the stairwell and listening to their conversation. "We need to respect her choice."

Once the detectives were far enough down the hall, Nick walked down the opposite way until he reached the room where they came from. Looking left and right before entering the room, Nick slowly turned the knob on the door. Once the patient came to view, Nick was frozen on the spot, his blood draining from his face.

"Nicky, hey!" his friend, Eric, greeted, sitting up on the hospital bed. Besides looking a little pale, he didn't look like he belonged there. "You didn't have to stop by, but since you did, where are my flowers?" He laughed at his own joke, stretching his arms behind his head.

Nick clenched his fists and hardened his eyes. Eric watched with wary suspicion as Nick took one calculated step forward.

"Hey, man, I was just messing with you. I didn't actually want you to get me flo –"

Before Eric could finish his sentence, Nick attacked him with his fists, throwing punches and connecting blows to his head. He saw red. Ignoring the pain in his knuckles and the strained whimpers coming out of Eric's mouth, he continued his attack in a blind rage.

"You sick son of a bitch!"

Punch.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Punch.

Eric's forearms tried to shield his face, but Nick's fists slammed against the side of his head and up his jaw, a discernible crack when his head was thrown back. Blood was pouring out of his nose and his eyes were both red and blown from their sockets. The scent of iron wafted into the room, replacing the clinical smell of bleach.

The door flew open.

"Shit!" Fin yelled as soon as he saw the reason for the commotion. Without a second wasted, the detective got behind him and wrestled him away.

"Get off him!" Fin pulled Nick off the bed and stumbled back towards the opposite end of the room. He pushed him hard against the wall and Nick's eyes snapped open, holding his arms up in surrender. As Fin held the 16-year-old back and relaxed once he stopped struggling, Munch tried to look at the kid and reason with him but all he saw were vacant eyes and a small curl of his lip, turning up into a devilish smirk.