"Amanda. Maybe you should go home….rest a while". Fin touches her arm, but she flinches, twisting away from him. It's been two days. Her mom has the girls up in Rockland county, keeping them far away from this. Amanda walks down the steps of the ESU trailer. Straight ahead are the metal barriers. Keeping people out. She holds her arms over the railing and leans against it. A pit of rubble is all that's left of the beautiful courthouse that once stood at 60 Centre Street.
Fin looks over to Serafina Carisi. Her eyes are swollen and red from crying and she's holding tight onto her husband. He's trying to be the strong one for their whole family. Holding his wife, even though his own heart is breaking. The rest of the family left just after the fire chief came to talk to them. Tommy had to prop Bella up, Gina and Theresa were both clinging to each other and white as a ghost. Mia was driving back from the Poconos with her boyfriend.
When Chief Linden told them all they did not believe anyone could've survived…..everyone but Amanda took that to mean Olivia Benson and Dominick Carisi Jr were dead.
Amanda sat there, stoic. She did not say a word. She refused to shed a tear, and even when Serafina's heartbroken sobs stopped the chief from continuing, Amanda didn't react.
Now, she stands here, knowing that her husband….her Sonny….the love of her life….father of her children..he IS alive. No one can convince her otherwise. No one believes her. They'll continue to use the dogs, continue to dig, but they've turned the main objective of the operation from rescue to recovery.
She feels a hand on her shoulder and turns as Serafina wraps her up in her arms. Amanda doesn't hug her back. She just stands there. Unmoved.
"Amanda….why don't I have your mom bring the girls to Staten Island. We can drive you"-
"NO"! Amanda screams and tears herself away. "How can you believe this?! How can you give up on him? It's NOT true! If Carisi was dead I would know! Sonny would never leave me! He promised"!
Serafina starts crying again and she reaches out for Amanda, but she pulls away and stumbles, Amanda might've fallen but someone catches her. The one person she knew would be on her side….she'd been trying to reach him since Fin drove her from Fordham here to ground zero.
"Hey, whoa. I gotchu". Her eyes meet his, he's clearly surprised to see how pregnant she is.
"Stabler". Tears of relief spill out of her. She clings to him, her one hope. He takes in the whole scene as he cradles Amanda in his arms. The fire trucks and ESU vehicles as far as the eye can see in one direction, and behind them, a dusty pile of concrete and rebar that used to be the courthouse.
"You have to tell them…..Liv and Sonny….they're alive". Amanda's voice is muffled by Stabler's jacket but he can see what's going on.