Prompt #71: You Can't Hurry Love (Cover) by The Chicks

Too Late

~oOo~

Lieutenant Olivia Benson quietly made her way through the house of Detective Tom Cole. Cole was a seasoned cop who was having a meltdown. Mentally unstable, he had taken her youngest detective hostage.

She could hear the shouts coming from the other room, as well as the terrified tremble In Carisi's voice. Carisi was trying to talk him down. For a moment, it seemed like it was working. The guy dropped his gun and turned away. Olivia rushed in, spoke soothingly to a visibly, extremely shaken Carisi, and moved to arrest Detective Cole. Neither of them could have predicted what happened next.

Cole yanked away from the uni who was cuffing him as Olivia read his rights. Without warning, he grabbed the Uni's gun, shoved him and Olivia backward, and aimed at Carisi.

"No!" screamed Olivia as the gun went off.

More cops burst in and Cole was dragged out while Olivia rushed to check on her detective.

"Call a Bus!" she shouted to whoever was around to hear.

Carisi was conscious but barely. Blood was pouring out of his abdomen.

"You're gonna be ok, Detective. You're gonna be ok, Sonny. Just hang on. Help is coming."

"Lieu? I…I…" Carisi attempted to say.

"Ssshh. I'm right here. Don't try to talk. The bus is on the way," Olivia soothed, as she kept pressure on the wound.

"P—please…Manda… t—tell…"

Olivia shook her head.

"Ssh. Sonny. You're gonna be fine. You can tell her whatever it is yourself when you see her."

"I…n—need.. her to kn—know. I…lo..." that was all Carisi managed before his eyes fluttered closed.

Olivia's eyes widened. "Sonny? Detective? CARISI? Do NOT go to sleep on me! That's an order!"

She received no response, but at that moment, the paramedics rushed in. Olivia followed them down and rode with Carisi to the hospital, calling Fin and Amanda on the way.

At the hospital, Carisi was immediately rushed into surgery, and Olivia called his family. She had barely gotten off the phone when Fin and Amanda entered.

"Liv!"

At the sound of her senior detective's voice, Olivia spun around and rushed towards her two subordinates.

"Fin. Rollins."

"How is he, Liv?" asked Amanda in a shaky voice.

Olivia took a deep breath.

"Still in surgery. He was hit in the abdomen. He lost a lot of blood."

"Well, will he be ok?"

Olivia looked up with tear-filled eyes, and rasped out, "I hope so. I…I should have been faster. I should have taken the shot when I had the chance.

"No, Liv. You wouldn't let me blame myself for Holden and I refuse to let you blame yourself for this. Carisi would never want you to. The only one at fault is Tom Cole," Amanda said firmly.

Before Olivia could respond, Carisi's parents and sisters came in along with his niece, Mia, whom Olivia and her detectives remembered from a prior case.

Olivia approached the family and said softly, "I'm Lieutenant Olivia Benson. I'm your son's commanding officer."

Carisi's family members introduced themselves and Carisi's mom said, "Sonny has told us so much about you. He's learned so much from you. His squad has become his second family from what he's told us."

Olivia offered them a tight smile.

"Your son has been a real asset to my team. We love having him there."

"What can you tell us?" Dominick Carisi Sr. wanted to know.

Olivia sighed before telling them what happened, leaving out any gory or classified details.

"That sounds like our Sonny. Always the peacemaker. Always working to de-escalate any conflict. He wanted to become a cop to help keep the peace. Now it may have gotten him killed," Serafina Carisi said almost bitterly.

"He's in the best of hands Mrs. Carisi. Please don't give up hope," Olivia pleaded.

Carisi's mom simply nodded.

Soon the doctor came in.

"Family of Dominick Carisi Jr.?"

The Carisi family stood and Dominick Sr. signaled for Olivia and her detectives to join them.

"I'm his father and there's his mother and sisters. His squad is as much his family as the rest of us. What you say to us you can say in front of them," Sr. said, leaving no room for argument.

The doctor nodded.

"Well, Domnick is a very lucky young man. The bullet barely missed major organs and arteries. That said, he did lose a lot of blood. He needed a transfusion. Luckily we had enough of his blood type on hand. Right now, he's in a coma and in critical condition. We'll know more once he wakes up. I'm sorry it's not better news."

Amanda's breathing amped up and she bolted from the room.

Fin started to go after her, but Olivia stopped him.

"I'll go after her. You stay with the Carisis."

"You sure?" Fin asked. He wasn't the best at comforting victims' families. That was Olivia's job.

Olivia squeezed his arm reassuringly.

"You'll do fine. I think Amanda needs another woman right now."

Fin nodded his understanding and waved her off. "Okay. Go take care of our girl."

After Olivia had left, Serafina looked at Fin.

"The young lady who ran out before…was that Amanda Rollins?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Fin asked, the two detectives hadn't properly been introduced to the Carisis yet.

"Sonny talks about her all the time. I think she means more to him than he tries to let on, but he's apparently not ready to admit his feelings quite yet.

Fin smiled. So Carisi's mom had noticed something going on between those two as well.

"He's also mentioned Fin Tutuola and Rafael Barba several times," Dominick Sr. added.

"I'm Fin. Barba is our ADA. He's been letting Carisi shadow him while he finishes Law school. Damn! I wonder if Liv remembered to call him. I better check on that. Excuse me a second," Fin said, taking out his phone and stepping aside.

Meanwhile, Olivia searched the hospital for Amanda. She finally found her in the Ladies room, retching in one of the stalls.

"Amanda?" Olivia called out gently.

"Liv? I'll be fine. Just go back to Carisi's family. They need you," Amanda somehow managed to get out before her stomach erupted once more.

"Honey, they're fine. Fin's with them. I'm more concerned about you right now."

There was a long silence, and then the sound of the toilet flushing.

Olivia heard sniffling sounds before the stall door finally opened.

Amanda exited the stall with tears streaming down her face.

"Amanda, Honey, what's going on? I know this isn't just about your partner getting shot," Olivia said, rubbing her friend's back.

Amanda just shook her head and pushed past Olivia, heading to the sink to rinse out her mouth.

After she was finished, Olivia urged, "Amanda, talk to me. I'm here as your friend right now, not your superior. Anything you say will stay in this room."

Amanda looked at her for a long moment as if trying to size her up. Finally, she nodded.

"My mama always told me, you can't hurry love. Those may be song lyrics, but I thought it was also great advice. Until today."

Olivia nodded.

"Go on."

"Liv, I may have missed my chance. To tell Carisi how I really feel," Amanda said, brushing her tears away briskly, only for more to come.

"You love him," Olivia realized. It wasn't a question. Olivia could see it clearly.

"Yeah. I have since he calmed Jesse two weeks after she was born. I watched him hold her and bounce her and I just…melted. But I ignored my feelings and now…"

That was as far as Amanda got before completely breaking down.

Olivia immediately pulled the younger woman into her arms and rocked her back and forth.

"Just have faith, Amanda. We need to believe Carisi will pull through. You'll get your chance. And you have to know he feels the same way. I'm certain he was trying to tell me as much before he lost consciousness."

"Really?" Amanda asked, pulling back from her friend.

"Really. But you two need to communicate once he wakes up. No more running from your feelings," Olivia advised

Amanda took a deep shaky breath.

"You're right. I can't put it off anymore."

A few minutes later, Amanda pulled herself together and she and Olivia headed back to the waiting room. Barba had arrived by then.

"The doctor came back. Carisi can have visitors one at a time for just a few minutes. We already went, so it's your turn," he greeted the ladies upon their return.

"Thanks, Rafa. Amanda, do you want to go first?" said Olivia.

"Nah. You can go, Liv. I want to go last so I don't feel as rushed," Amanda replied.

Olivia gave a short nod and headed to Carisi's room.

Amanda greeted Barba properly and sat down.

A moment later she was joined by Serafina.

"I'm Sonny's mother. Serafina. You're Amanda?"

"Yeah. That's me. Nice to meet you. Carisi's mentioned you before. You have a beautiful name," Amanda responded.

Sarafina chuckled. "Thank you. He's mentioned you as well. In fact, he can't stop talking about you. Sweetie, the way his eyes light up, he's head over heels for you."

Amanda blushed.

"Thanks for saying that."

Sarafina shrugged.

"Just stating the truth."

At that moment, Olivia returned and told Amanda it was her turn with Carisi.

Amanda went back to the hospital room and quietly walked in.

Pulling up a chair, she took Carisi's hand in hers.

"Hey. I…I don't really know where to begin. Please wake up, Dominick. Jesse needs her godfather. I need you. I've never told you this before, but… I love you. I've loved you since that day you bounced Jesse and calmed her down on the sidewalk. Maybe even before. I should have told you earlier, but I was scared. I mean we work together and we've been friends for so long that…I didn't want to wreck that. I didn't want to lose what we had. But now, I just pray it's not too late. That I'm not gonna lose you for good. Please, Dominick, don't leave me. Come back to me. Please stay…for Jesse and me. I love you…so much."

Amanda leaned over and kissed Carisi's forehead before laying her head on the bed next to Carisi and beginning to sob.

After a moment she felt a hand stroking her hair and heard a voice whisper, "I love…you… too."

Amanda looked up and saw the most beautiful sight she'd ever seen.

Carisi's big blue eyes were looking back at her and he had a smile on his face. It was a tired, drugged smile, but still a smile.

Amanda grinned through her tears.

"Welcome back."

"Manda, we need to talk. I don't want... to do it here. I want to be less drugged…and not…in a hospital…for this…Conversation, but I'm serious about…loving you. I want you, me…and Jesse to be…a family. That's all…you need to know…for now. We can work…out the…details…later."

Amanda was still crying but she squeezed his hand.

"I want that, too."

Just then, the doctors came in to check on the patient, so Amanda went to let the others know Carisi was awake.

"He's awake and he's gonna be ok!" Amanda informed the group as she started to cry again, this time tears of joy.

There were cheers and hugs all around.

Olivia hugged Amanda tightly, and upon pulling away, she said with a wink, "Amanda, as long as you keep it outta the office, I saw nothing, I heard nothing."

Amanda grinned.

"Understood, Liv."

A few minutes later the nurse came back and told the group that Carisi would be just fine.

Amanda went to say goodbye to him before she left to go home to Jesse but found him already asleep.

She sighed but leaned down to place a tender kiss on his cheek. The real kissing would be saved for when Carisi recovered.

Running her fingers through his hair, Amanda whispered,

"I love you, Dominick Carisi Jr. Forever and ever."

The author of this SVU - Love Lead You Home story will be revealed in March