Just one day in the life

So I can, understand

Fighting just to survive,

But you taught me I can

.x.

Running. It was something she had been able to do since she could walk. It was something she always resorted too since the day she turned 11. It was the sport she played throughout middle school, high school and parts of college along with softball. Running had been where she picked up her tall and slender figure, not that she was trying to achieve it. Sports and Running had been stress reliever. Either from her family, from stress or overcoming her addiction. There were two types of running she partakes in, running for exercise, and running from her problems. Amanda Rollins never thought she'd able to do both at once.

Amanda Rollins locked her apartment door and inserted her silicone ear buds into her ears. She loved Sundays for this very reason; the peacefulness of the sun and the smiles worn by couples and families. After showering this morning, the junior detective dressed in a pair of neon pink and grey running shorts, grey running shoes and a neon pink hoodie. Along with her phone secured to her forearm with her ear buds firmly in her ears, already blasting music.

She began making her way towards the stairs. She half jogged, half ran down the 4 flights of stairs of her apartment building.

The cool early August air blew harshly, taking red-ish-orange leaves along with it. And the occasional empty Starbucks coffee or abandoned Times newspaper. The 8 am sun shone onto the otherwise dark streets of New York. On the outside, it looked like a peaceful day, in a peaceful world, where everyone was happy. Amanda didn't get ahead of herself. She starting running and didn't look back for a second.

.x.

By the time she had returned to the lobby of her apartment building almost an hour later, the wind had picked up a terrible pace and a light drizzle began. Had Amanda been wearing running pants instead of shorts, she would've continued running. The cold never really bothered her any way.

Just as she had opened her apartment door, her phone buzzed from within its arm strap.

"Rollins." She answered without checking the caller ID as she threw her arm strap on her coffee table.

"We caught a case. Two young girls found death in their apartments by a maid." Nick's voice was something she was used too. And she wasn't surprised by it; they were only two on call that day.

"Hm." Amanda said to herself removing her slightly damp hoodie. "Where at?"

"Gee, Amanda. For a detective, you don't pay much attention."

"What?" Nick had been becoming a head case to her lately, but now he was just being confusing.

"Look out your window."

Still confused, Amanda made her way barefooted towards her living room window, which gave a great view of the street below. She pulled back one of her black curtains, and she realized what Nick meant. The red and blue sirens were unmistakable. Along with the 4 patrol cars outside the apartment building across from hers. The drizzle she had left outside earlier was now replaced with a downpour.

Amanda remembered she still had her phone to her ear. "Right, give me 20 minutes."

"You better hurry before IAB gets down here—and speak of the devil."

"Copy that." Amanda quickly hung up her phone. Nick mentioning IAB left her imagination running wild at what he meant.

Amanda's mind continued to guess at why IAB could've been there. It wasn't like it was uncommon, but although Tucker was an ass; he couldn't exactly show up with a real reason. She continued to think as she peeled herself from running outfit in her bathroom. Had a cop been involved? Turning on the tap, she wondered if Olivia would be at the crime scene as well, but she quickly stopped herself. Lately, it seemed as if her thoughts had come down with a case of 'Benson fever'. Not that she was complaining much.

After 10 minutes, she reemerged from the cubicle. Dressing in dark black jeans and a crème sweater, the Georgian detective quickly strapped her gun to its holster on her belt. Not having time to dry her hair, but also not wanting a cold, Amanda slipped a grey beanie onto her damp blonde hair. Olivia never left her mind for a second as she exited her apartment.

.x.

Olivia Benson had seen her share of especially heinous and despicable crimes, that's what almost 13 years working at SVU will do to you, but she never had she came across something this disturbing.

"What the hell happened?" Amanda's southern accent rang through Olivia's ears, bringing her out her thoughts. Olivia looked back at Amanda. Their gaze met for a while, but once Olivia noticed it was becoming too long, she averted her eyes back to crime scene in front of her.

Melinda Warner, along with several other CSU technicians littered the scene at hand. Tucker and another IAB agent watched from afar. Amanda still didn't know why they were even here. They all took up space inside of Stefani Streletti and Sabrina Southerlyn's living room. Stefani's body lay dead from and obvious gunshot wound to the stomach. The horrific detail was the blood splatter everywhere. It seemed like every inch of the white and silver decorated apartment was drenched in red paint. Most décor items were glass; they now lay broken across floors. The blood red against white furniture was a scary contrast.

"Stefani Streletti and Sabrina Southerlyn. Stefani's cause of death is apparent GSW to the stomach." Melinda Warner began as she took one more picture of the disaster area. "But all this blood says otherwise."

"And Sabrina?" Olivia asked. She had to get her eyes away from Stefani's open blue eyes.

The two detectives followed Melinda to the larger bedroom in the loft. Amanda's blue eyes immediately met with a lifeless bloody mesh of what she had to guess used to be Sabrina Southerlyn. The only thing that could be told was that Sabrina was a blonde. The bedroom was just as bloody as the living. But at least this one had a reason. The white sheets of the bed looked pure red.

"Good lord." Amanda sighed. This had to be personal.

"My gut tells me." Olivia began picking up a non-damaged framed photo of the dresser. "They knew each other really well." The senior detective handed to frame over to Amanda. The silver engraved frame held a picture of both victims hugging and smiling as if they were longtime friends.

"It still doesn't help answer why Tucker and his vermin have decided to infect the building." Amanda's gloved hand returned the photo back to its original place.

Olivia let out a small laugh. "One of homicide's prosecutors is Serena Southerlyn. I'm just gonna out on a limb here and say Sabrina is related to her." Olivia and Serena have met before, and even went to dinner together under the company of Alex. They were friends, though Olivia hadn't heard from Serena in a while. Nor had Alex mentioned the blonde prosecutor.

"Serena Southerlyn. Sounds familiar." Amanda continued looking over the crime scene, until Nick entered.

"Hey, Cragen wants you two down at the precinct, ASAP." Nick quickly said before exiting the room. Amanda and Olivia sent each confused looks before following Amaro.

.x.

The rain had really started coming down and turned into a full blown storm, the wind blew harshly and the streets were beginning to flood by the time Olivia exited the 1-6th precinct late that afternoon. With Tucker on them like fleas, there was very little the squad could do that Sunday. She had only been outside for all of 5 seconds and she was already soaked to the bone with rain. Nick and Fin opted to stay in the precinct to finish the shitload of paperwork they'd neglected since May. Amanda left at around 2, mainly because she has a knack for finishing paperwork the same week she gets it.

It would take too long to walk to the subway, then walk the 3 blocks to her apartment and by that time, Benson swore she would've been dead from hypothermia. She entertained the thought of catching a cab, but not a signal one was in sight. And she was not going back inside the precinct. Who knows how long she would be stuck there anyway? The way this storm was going, it wasn't stopping any time soon.

Olivia searched the vass expanse of her brain for any place she could walk to, that wouldn't mean her freezing to death. A strange and risky thought entered her mind. She couldn't go there. She just couldn't. But the cold got the better of her and she soon found herself beginning to walk 3 blocks to her destination.

.x.

"I'm not arguing with you mom, I just don't want to go to Atlanta, and you know why." Amanda Rollins said into her phone. She loved her mother, she really did. But she wasn't going back to Atlanta. Bad things happened there, and she was destined to make them stay there. Amanda moved around her apartment making sure that all her windows were locked. What had been a light drizzle this morning turned into Hurricane Hanna within 9 hours. The thunder rumbled and lighting roared across Manhattan's skies.

Amanda had seen plenty of hurricanes and storms in her life time. Georgia was a frequent host to them. Rain, thunder, and wind didn't scare the blonde. She had played soccer in the rain with friends before when she was little. She had thrown mud at her sister the next morning of a storm. She had even twirled around in the wind. Sounds like a happy child, right?

Amanda's childhood memories were stopped short by a knock at her door. "Mom, I'm gonna have to call you back." Amanda's mother's drawled accent said a quick goodbye and that was the end of their conversation.

"Who is it?" Amanda asked the mystery person.

"Guess."

Rollins undid her chain and the deadbolt on her door to find a shivering and soaked Olivia Benson. With her jeans soaked and her chocolate strands of clinging to her face, stood Olivia in front of Amanda. Amanda had to blink a few to make sure she was seeing it correctly. "Liv?" Amanda called out. Olivia was sure she looked like a wet rat. She could feel the furious blush upon her face. "Please, come in."

Olivia had never seen the inside of Amanda's apartment. But she had a few ideas at what it looked like just by knowing the beautiful blonde. Variants of green, brown and white decorated the spacious apartment. The walls were painted a light brown which accented the dark wooden floors. A kitchen was too her left along with what she could tell was the bathroom and a hallway was to her right. In front of her was a crème couch, glass coffee table and a television set.

"Sorry for showing up like this. The rain was too hard to walk in and I thought of you. But not as you know like that. I'm rambling; maybe I should just shut up." Olivia said as she took in the place.

"It's alright, Liv." Amanda took a moment to look at Olivia, only making the brunette blush more. "I have some sweats you could probably fit. Although I do warn you, the shirt may be a little tight." She smiled at the end. The same beautiful smile Olivia stared at every day.

"Oh, Amanda." Olivia began to object. "You don't have to do that."

"You're right, I don't. But I want to." Amanda smiled again and Liv was sure she would collapse from the gesture. Olivia didn't say anymore as Amanda padded her way across the living towards her bedroom to retrieve the clothing.

The senior detective let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding as her eyes focus on a hallway table next to her. Framed photos took up the wooden surface. The older woman smiled when she saw photos of Amanda smiling happily. Her eyes landed on a photo of Amanda and a tall brunette and blue eyed man. They were next to each other smiling. As she looked around more, she saw the same man in different photos.

"See something interesting?" Amanda's voice caused Olivia to jump. "Did I scare you?"

Noticing the sweats and towels in Amanda hand, Olivia answered. "Sorry, you just look really…happy in these photos. I mean, not that you don't look happy any other time. I just… I'll shut up now."

Amanda let out a laugh. "Honestly, my mother decorated this place. I never really looked at those photos." She handed over the sweats. "You can take a shower if you so please. Bathroom's right there."

"Thanks, Amanda."

"No problem." Amanda smiled, and this time, Olivia returned the gesture.

Amanda had a problem. Well, no, make those problems.

First, her gambling addiction still tried to take her over at times.

Second, she develops this woman crush on her co-worker, one that is apparently straight.

And let's not forget that said crush is now in her bathroom, changing. The dangerous thought of Olivia Benson, in her bathroom, covered in rain, naked, crossed Amanda's mind. But she quickly got rid of it. Amanda felt like a little schoolgirl falling in love with the 'boy' next door. Only she wasn't in school, this wasn't a movie, it wasn't a boy and Olivia was much closer than next door. The last few months she had been practicing trying to get her little crush tamed. They were colleagues, nothing more. It can't become anything more, and it won't. Amanda was confident in that.

With the hurricane going on outside, Olivia could be staying here till it passed. This worried Amanda. It wouldn't be such a problem if Amanda didn't find Olivia so...attracting. No, she was a grown woman. She could definitely keep her hands to herself.

Amanda Rollins was confident she could last a few days alone with Olivia Benson. It shouldn't be that hard.

Right?