A Course of Passion

35: The Mother of all Drama

"My sister's finally ready to let everyone visit her apartment. What do you say we go over there Sunday?" Sonny asks me while we're out to eat.

Bella had her baby a few weeks back, but I haven't gone over to meet her. Ever since telling Sonny's family about the babies, anytime I think about seeing them I feel guilty. I don't know why but I just feel an overwhelming sense of dread that they, or should I say his mother, doesn't like me now, "sure, is she taking her to church or is everyone going over after?" I ask him, knowing most of his family goes to Sunday service together.

"She's not going to church, so if you want we can go early." He offers.

I give him a look as if I'm thinking about it. I don't know if he can tell what I was asking or is just oblivious and threw out a random idea. I finally say, "sure, maybe we can all have lunch or something." I smile.

"Yeah, sure." He returns and our waiter comes with our check.

The next morning, Olivia allows Sonny and I to interrogate Kim once her lawyer shows up. Her lawyer starts off "Ms. Rollins has nothing to hide. We'll answer any questions about last night's incident. It's a clear case of self-defense."

I hold my hand up at the eager, young attorney, "okay, okay. So, Kim... tell us how we got here."

she explains her version of events, "well, Slice kept texting me, and he was real, real angry. You should not have told him about the flute." She looks at my partner but continues on, "so, I had to get out of town, and so I gave my money to my mom, and she took it to Amanda's apartment."

"Well, how did he find you?" Sonny asks.

"Why don't you ask him that?" The lawyer quips back "I mean, he stalked my client."

Kim adds on, "yeah, I mean, he was banging on that door. He was so mad, and I tried to keep him in the hallway, but he just barged through and just started beating on me, so I lied and said that, you know, the money was under the couch, and when he went to look, I grabbed his knife. He turned and lunged. Next thing I know, he's on the floor, and I was running." She says this with a sort of cockiness, her demeanor is calm like it was not at all a big deal.

Sonny asks, bringing things back around, "was this the money you got from stealing that flute?"

"The flute Mr. Krasnikov gave you." Her lawyer corrects.

"Yeah, it was a gift." Kim confirms.

"A gift? Mm-hmm." Sonny hums out, eying me, "okay. Well, Let's talk about your session with Mr. Krasnikov."

"Everything was legal, okay. They met online. They went on a date." Her lawyer explains.

"So, Kim, you're saying that Mr. Krasnikov, after one date, was so smitten with you that he gave you a $50,000 flute?" I ask her, obviously not believing the statement.

"Yeah." She chuckles, "he said it was insured, you know. He just wanted to help me get my life back together, get me enough to go back to school, and, maybe if there was a little left over, give it to Amanda and the baby."

"Was Mr. Krasnikov sober when he gave you this flute?" Sonny questions, pad open to take notes.

"He'd had a few drinks, you know, had a couple pills" she says.

"Pills. Kim, were those your pills?" I question.

"No. He offered, but I don't do drugs. I mean, they just make people do crazy things." She states.

"Okay, Kim. Why don't we stop here?" Her lawyer says to her, to all of us.

"I will defer to Mr. Desappio." Kim puts her hand on her lawyers arm and laughs, then says, "how he assaulted that poor woman, I mean, if he hadn't done that, none of us would be in this situation."

Two days later, on Wednesday, we all we go to court. Anton pleaded non guilty on his charges as did Kim on all of hers. Amanda freaks, thinking Kim would have taken the plea bargain she helped negotiate for her. We all meet outside the courtroom, "she skips out on her warrant, and now she wants to go to trial?" I comment to everyone.

"My sister, the gift that keeps on giving." Amanda returns sarcastically.

"Can you imagine the headlines?" Sonny says.

"Carisi." Olivia urges him to stop, along with a stern eye glare from myself.

Amanda's mom walks out of the court room now, firm tight lipped scowl across her lips, "mom. Mom. Hey. You got to talk to Kim" we here her tell her "she's making a mistake."

Mrs. Rollins keeps moving, "she is? You're the one who had her arrested, and you used me to set up my own daughter. If you hadn't, she'd be safe and sound and out of town."

"If we hadn't found Kim, her pimp could have killed her." Amanda tries to clarify the situation to her.

Her mom chortles back at her, "what are you talking about? She handled that man just fine."

"No, she did..." Amanda tries to chime in.

Her mother just cuts her off, "Kim can take care of herself. This was about you."

"What are you talking about?" Amanda asks floored. I look to Sonny who looks to me with a shrug.

Her mother says, "you chose your work over your family.  Just like you always have."

"Can we not do this now?" Amanda asks, looking back at all of us.

Her mother corrects her, "no, let's not do this at all."

She moves farther to leave the court house, "why, what do you mean?" Amanda asks.

"I'm sorry, darling. I came up here to help you, but it's quite clear you know what you're doing. I'd just be in the way." Mrs. Rollins says to her.

"Okay, so what, you're gonna leave?"  She asks her mother, seeming a bit upset.

"I'll be back for your sister's trial, and maybe by then, you will have finally learned the value of family." She tells her before walking away.

Amanda just stands there so we all walk over to her, "she's leaving? Now?" Sonny asks, as if to clarify and say we didn't hear everything.

"Yeah. Yeah. She'll be back. I mean, she's a drama queen.' Amanda returns, leaning against the court house marbled walls.m, "where do you think Kim gets it from?"

"Amanda, you okay?" I ask her, seeing her face lighten in color.

"Yeah." She tries to assure us.

"You sure?" Olivia asks.

Amanda stands up, pushing some hair away from her face, "yeah." She says.

But she stumbles a bit, leaning into Sonny to help her balance, "no, you're not." I say out to her as Sonny and Finn lean in to help her walk.

Olivia commands, "we're taking you to a hospital."

Finn, Sonny and I stay behind at the hospital while Olivia and Mike head back to the precinct. We are there for 2 hours when Sonny starts to get anxious and pace ," what's taking so long? She going into labor?"

"Somebody would've told us." I remind him, touching my own stomach remembering the drama from earlier in the month.

He nods and sits next to Fin, "so Rollins' family, huh?"

"All families got stuff." He replies to himm.

"Yeah, but hers has, like, a lot." He adds on.

"There she is." I point out, seeing Amanda get rolled out in a wheelchair.

"Hey. You guys are still here?" She asks once in the waiting room with us.

"Oh, well, Fin was worried about you." Sonny tells her.

"Mm." She hums out hiding a smirk, knowing Sonny was mostly likely the most worried of us all, "It's nothing to worry about. My doctor said that my blood pressure spiked, like Maddison's. That's all." She tells us. She clears her throat and says "and they asked if I had been under any extra stress lately."

"What do you say we drive you home?" Fin tells her, the two men helping her stand up.