I'm in a state of complete shock and denial over the SVU Season 16 Finale. So naturally, I'm now being attacked by lots of Amaro-centric plots. Enjoy.

Set directly after the events of 6.12 "Padre Sandunguero"

Disclaimer: SVU belongs to the fantabulous Dick Wolf.

"Nicky?" Cesaria Amaro yelled into the apartment. Aside from the one kitchen light, the home was dark and quiet. Cesaria shook her head and gave her granddaughter a little push through the door. "Ok, chica. Go wake your dad up and tell him I'll be back in a few hours."

Zara nodded. "Ok."

"And lock the door after me!"

"I know, abuelita!" Zara waved to her grandmother through the white screen door one more time before pushing the front door shut and locking it. The little girl shrugged out of her Disney princess backpack and struggled with the zipper on her blue coat. "Daddy?"

Zara finally freed herself from her coat, which she dropped unceremoniously on the floor by the coffee table. She started to head past the kitchen toward her dad's bedroom. "Daddy, I'm home!"

Zara never made it to the bedroom. Halfway past the kitchen, she turned and screamed.

"Yo, is Amaro planning on showing up today?" Fin asked, poking his head into Olivia's office.

"I think so," the female detective shrugged. "I mean, I tried to get him to take a few days off, but you know how he is."

Benson's cellphone buzzed, almost vibrating its way off the edge of her desk. She swiped it up quickly to see "Amaro" on the caller ID. She raised the phone in Fin's direction before raising it to her ear. "Speak of the devil. Hey, Nick."

"Detective Benson?"

Olivia started slightly, a delicate frown settling over her features and attracting the attention of her fellow detectives. "Zara? Sweety, is that you?"

"Yeah. Something happened to Daddy!"

"What do you mean, something happened?" Olivia questioned, trying to keep her tone nonthreatening even when her pulse spiked sharply. "Where are you, Zara?"

"I'm at Daddy's house," the little girl answered, sniffing in Olivia's ear. "Abuelita just dropped me off and I found Daddy in the kitchen. He's on the floor and he won't get up!"

Now Benson was on her feet, trying to shrug one handed into her jacket. "Ok, Zara, sweety, I know this is scary, but I need you to check something for me. Is your dad breathing?"

Zara let out another little sob that just about broke Olivia's heart. "Yeah, I think so."

"Ok, can you tell what's wrong with him? Do you see any blood?" Stepping out of her office, Olivia waved down Carisi and Fin, who stepped towards her with looks of concern. She pulled the phone away from her mouth slightly and kept her tone low. "Roll a bus to Amaro's apartment. Carisi, you stay and hold down the fort. Fin, with me."

"Yeah," Zara whispered. "There's blood on the floor, but I don't know where it's coming from. His face looks funny, and his eye is purple."

Son of a bitch. Olivia was fuming as she strode toward the elevator, Fin hot on her heels. The senior detective punched the elevator button. Hard. "Ok, Zara, honey, I have an ambulance on the way and I'm coming over myself. I want you to stay by your dad and don't open the door unless it's me or the paramedics, do you understand?"

"Ok. Please hurry, I'm scared."

Fin and Olivia rode to Nick's apartment in tense silence, sirens and lights going. Fidgeting in his seat, Fin glanced his sergeant's way. "Do we know what happened?"

Benson scoffed, her grip tightening on the steering wheel. "All I know for sure is that the last time I saw Nick he was with his father and he was in one piece."

"The father we all know cracked his own fiance's skull," Fin supplied unhelpfully.

Benson shook her head in disgust. "You do the math."

The detectives could hear the approaching sirens of the ambulance when they finally pulled up in front of Nick's building. Olivia practically flew out of the car, taking the stairs to the door two at a time and fumbling with her key ring for her copy of Nick's key. Fin tried to give her space to get the door open, but she could feel the unease and impatience radiating off of him waves.

"Zara? It's Detective Benson."

The little girl poked her head out from behind the kitchen counter, her eyes wide with fear. "Please help Daddy!"

"I'll wait outside and bring the paramedics in," Fin offered, his voice rough with anxiety.

Benson barely spared her fellow detective a nod, instead rushing into the little kitchenette. Zara was there, kneeling over the still body of her father, and Olivia's throat constricted. Nick lay half on his side, half slumped over onto his stomach. His clothes were rumpled, his lip split, and his one visible eye had nasty purple bruising around it. And sure enough, there was blood pooling on the tile floor under Nick's head and Olivia hesitated, not wanting to move him until the paramedics were able to put a neck brace on him. Instead she pressed two fingers to his carotid, relaxing slightly when she felt a sluggish, yet steady pulse.

Zara sat watching the detective's every move, tears leaking down her face. "Is he ok?"

"Paramedics are here!"

Rollins' warning was barely heard when two paramedics rushed in with a kit and a backboard and immediately began assessing. Olivia pulled Zara to the side to give them space to work, and turned her away sharply when they rolled Nick onto the backboard, revealing the large gash in his temple that was responsible for the blood all over the floor. Her partner never stirred, eyes closed and face pale as the paramedics fitted him with a neck brace and lifted him up onto the stretcher.

Damn it, Nick, what did he do to you?

But Benson couldn't dwell on her anger towards Nicholas Sr. Taking a breath, her voice went hard and commanding. "Fin, I want this place locked down and CSU going over it with a fine toothed comb. I'm going to take Zara over to the hospital and I'll call Nick's mom."

Zara sobbed at her side, clinging to her hand. Benson pulled the little girl in for a hug, even though she knew that her words alone couldn't do anything to make this better. "It's ok, sweetheart, we're going to find whoever did this."

"You can't seriously believe my father did this."

Olivia resisted the urge to close her eyes in frustration. She was beginning to understand why Nick didn't talk about his sister much. Sonya had come in with Nick's mother, all gold earrings and attitude and hadn't stopped pacing since. The small yet feisty woman was clearly a daddy's girl.

"I'm not trying to make any accusations," Benson tried, hands out placatingly and voice calm. "All I know is that Nicholas was the last person to see your brother last night. Are you sure that Nicholas wouldn't do something like this?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sonya snapped, eyeing Benson up and down with distaste written all over her perfectly made up face. "It wasn't enough for you to let my brother embarrass himself and my family in court, but now you're trying to pin this on Papi too? I mean, sure, Papi used to smack Nicky around a little when we were kids, but it was only because Papi wanted to make Nicky into a real man. Not that it worked."

Cesaria, Nick's mother, looked distraught. "Sonya, please!"

"What, it's the truth!" Sonya replied, staring her mother down. When the older woman brought up one hand to cover her face as she cried, Sonya rolled her eyes and walked out of the waiting room. "I need a smoke."

Zara nestled closer to her abuela. The poor little girl was all cried out.

"Cesaria, I'm -"

"Family of Nick Amaro?"

One of ER trauma doctors stepped out into the waiting room and Cesaria stood up hurriedly, dragging her granddaughter with her. Olivia hovered slightly behind the pair, even though she knew visitors were likely to be family only. Cesaria blinked past her tears. "Is my son ok?"

The doctor hesitated ever so slightly, but Olivia caught it. "For the most part. He's got a few cracked ribs, a fractured cheekbone, and a sprained wrist. But what I'm concerned about is his head injury. Nick was lucky that he just broke the skin and not his skull when he hit the floor. He's got a severe concussion and has been in and out of consciousness since he was brought in. I'm going to need to keep him for observation for a couple of days before he can go home."

Cesaria nodded, trying to take it all in. "Can we see him?"

The doctor nodded, eyeing Benson. "He's pretty out of it, but you can see him if you want. Family only, I'm afraid."

Cesaria started to follow the doctor into the treatment area when she paused, glancing back at the female detective who had done so much for her boy over the past few years. Somehow, the grieving mother mustered up a small smile. "Aren't you coming, Olivia?"

Touched, Olivia returned the look with a small upturn of the lip and nod. "Yeah, I'm coming."

Nick's bed was still in the ICU, in a quiet corner of the ward. He propped up, his head slumped down toward his chest slightly, eyes closed. Despite the bruises littering her partner's semi-swollen face, Olivia felt reassured by the steady beeping of the heart monitor just to the side of the bed.

"I thought you said he was conscious." Cesaria said worriedly.

"He's sleeping now, but he's still not completely with it." The doctor admitted. "Ms. Amaro, I have to ask, we found evidence of an old, healed skull fracture when we were taking x-rays. Does your son have a history of head trauma?"

Cesaria's answering sob confirmed all of Benson's suspicions. Nick hadn't just recognized what set Nicolas off on his fiance; he had lived the whole experience before. Olivia stepped forward to wrap a supportive arm around Cesaria's shoulders.

"Nick's father had, uh, had a temper." Cesaria admitted hesitantly. "The two of them used to get into it. One night Nicky hit his head on the wall...Only time I ever called an ambulance in my life."

"That might explain why he's still so out of it," the doctor sighed, making a note in Nick's file at the end of the bed. "People who've suffered multiple head injuries tend to be more at risk for increasingly severe reactions to head injuries. But don't worry, we'll keep a close eye on him."

As Cesaria spoke quietly to the doctor, Benson gave Zara a boost up onto the edge of Nick's bed. The little girl grabbed onto her dad's hand and Nick stirred ever so slightly. "Daddy? Daddy, it's Zara. You need to wake up now."

Nick's eyelids fluttered open slightly, his one swollen eye making it open no more than a slit. He looked up at his visitors groggily. "Zara? Liv? What-"

Zara flung herself around his neck in a sudden hug, jarring his ribs. Nick grunted in discomfort, but raised his arms to cradle his daughter against his chest. "Hey, mi amor."

"Careful, Zara," Olivia warned. "Your dad's still pretty banged up."

"Daddy, you scared me!" Zara exclaimed, pulling out of the hug and giving Nick her best frowny face. "I got home and you were in the kitchen and there was blood-"

"Well, I'm still here, aren't I?" Nick managed a half smile, glancing sideways at his mom who hung back slightly to the side. "Mami."

"Hey, baby," Cesaria said, leaning forward to gently caress the bruised side of her son's handsome face. "Lo siento… you were right, I should've-"

"Mami, I'm okay." Nick stopped her, grabbing her hand in one of his own. "Besides I should've seen it coming."

"What does that mean? Did Abuelo really hurt you, Daddy? Auntie Sonya said-"

"Speaking of," Cesaria cut her granddaughter off. "We better go find your auntie, let her know her hermano is going to be okay."

Nick groaned, leaning back against his pillows and closing his eyes. "Sonya's still here? Mami, I can't… handle her right now."

Cesaria paused, looking down sadly at her son before nodding. "Okay, mijo. You get some rest. We'll be back to visit again tomorrow."

"I love you, Daddy." Zara declared, seemingly unphased by the state of her dad's face as she leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"Love you too, monkey." Nick replied with another tired half smile. "Be good for abuelita."

Cesaria thanked Benson again for finding her son before heading out, her rapidly growing granddaughter in tow. Olivia sighed tiredly herself as she watched Nick shift uncomfortably in bed.

"How are you really feeling?"

Nick snorted humorlessly and closed his eyes again, briefly. "Like my head's about to explode."

"Do you need me to get a nurse?" Olivia asked in concern, already reaching for the call button.

"No, Liv, it's… The doc says they can't give me any more pain meds until the concussion clears up. Something about how long I was out for." Nick shifted again, grunting quietly. "I'll be alright."

The partners were quiet for a minute, each revelling in the fact that Nick was still here. Never in a million years had Benson thought that, what with the danger they faced as police every day, she would come close to losing a partner to domestic violence.

"Nick," Olivia started hesitantly. "Look, you know I have to ask…"

Nick nodded shortly in understanding. "I get it. It's okay. It was him."

"Nicolas?" Olivia pressed.

"Yeah," Nick whispered, and now the pain on his face was entirely different from what it had been just moments before. "We, uh, we talked at the station after you left. He said he knew he couldn't change the past, that he was worried about me… I should have known it was just an act."

Olivia squeezed his arm gently in support. "What happened?"

"I, uh, went home and he showed up a couple of hours later. Uninvited. He was drunk and angry and said he'd thought about it some more and that I couldn't just disrespect him like that. I tried to get him to just walk away and leave, but…"

"But he went off on you." Olivia finished with a shake of her head. She wished she could say it was unbelievable.

"I could have defended myself," Nick mumbled, looking embarrassed. "I'm a trained police officer. But every time I tried I just kept looking at my dad and thinking, when did he get this old? And I couldn't do it."

Olivia offered him a sad smile. "That's because you still love him, Nick."

Nick made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob, and a single tear ran down from his good eye. "How pathetic is that?"

"No, it's not pathetic at all," was Olivia's firm answer. "Abuser or not, Nick, he's still your dad. No matter how complicated the relationship, most of the time that still means something."