It's Not Over

Chapter 16

Nick's POV

"What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be working" Liv said as we walked into the precinct.
"Relax, just came to say hi" I lowered my voice "and apologize for lashing out at you yesterday"
"What happened to your hand?" She said changing the subject.
"Nothing, umm" I started.
Her eyes glanced at Amanda's bandaged hand and back at mine then nodded to show her understanding.
"Well we should get going."
"Nick wait."
I stopped.
"Can I talk to you alone for a second?"
"Yeah of course"
I knew she was going to bring up last night. Regardless I followed her to her office.
"I just wanted to check up on you and Amanda"
This was a pleasant surprise.
"I'm fine, she's...she's a different story."
"Are you though?"

Fin's POV

I stared at her sitting across from me. Oh how she changed so much in the past few months. Her face was still cut and bruised and the lash across her face made by a whip remained very visible. The rest of her injuries were covered by clothes but her neck was still covered in finger marks.
"How you doing?" I finally asked.
"I don't know anymore"
"That son of a bitch is going to be locked up for life."
"I wish that was comforting, but Jeff's dead and I still hear his voice everywhere I go. I see his face in every crowd."
"You will get through this"
"You've got too much faith in me."

Nick's POV

"Alright let's get going" I called over to Amanda.
I wanted out of there before I got questioned anymore.

"So what'd Liv want?" She asked me in the car.
"Oh, nothing just was checking up."
"You know you're a terrible liar right?"
I sighed.
"It doesn't matter."
She glared at me still not convinced.
"Okay fine. I'll tell you what our conversation was about if you tell me what happened last night."
She pondered the offer. I expected her to drop the topic but she started talking.
"Well it was a nightmare as you'd expect, well it was at first. I was dreaming about Jeff what he did. I grabbed the shard of glass as an attempt to get him away."
"What about when you ran to the bathroom? You weren't asleep."
"I don't know, I just panicked."
Her tone suddenly became less matter of fact. Tears started forming in her eyes
"I locked myself in the bathroom, and it just felt like deju vu. God I swear I heard his voice, him pounding on the door."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." I started
"It's not you. I just I felt so bad about your hand I thought. Never mind, now it's your turn."
Now I had to quickly come up with a cover story.
"Liv was trying to convince me to see a shrink, but that's just not something I'd do."
I guess it wasn't exactly a lie. Liv did want me to see a shrink, but not for the incident with Marcello. Before she could ask any questions we pulled up to the K9 facility.
"Alright, let's go get him."

Amanda's POV

"I'm going to the store you wanna come?" Nick asked as he left the house.
"Naw, I'll stay here and catch up on my sleep"
"Alright suit yourself."
He left.
"Apollo" I patted the spot next to me and he jumped up beside me.
After much baby talk and belly rubs I decided to take him for a walk. I grabbed his chain and leash and off we went.
I won't lie being outside on my own was a little intimidating at first. Every noise made me jump. But Apollo was right there the entire time. Soon enough I had completely forgotten I was even worried and we were strolling down the sidewalk and into downtown. It was when some guy came up to me that I started worrying.
"Hey, I saw your dog, and um" he rubbed the back of his head. "What kind of dog is it?"
"He's a Dutch shepherd."
"Oh, never heard of it."
He bent down to pet him. The guy seemed nice enough. He was probably in his early 30s had tattoos up his arms. To some he might come off as intimidating, but he seemed relatively nice.
When he reached for Apollo the dog let out a growl.
"Apollo, nein!"
It wasn't like him to growl for no reason.
"I guess he's not much of a fan of me" the guy chuckled.
"He's usually pretty friendly, guess he's just grumpy"
I felt myself getting uncomfortable with the situation.
"Oh my name's Daniel, you?"
"Amanda."
"Well hopefully I'll see you around Amanda"
"Yeah, hopefully."
As soon as he left I went straight home. There was something fishy about Daniel. Nah I'm probably overreacting. I let Apollo off the leash to run around the yard and grabbed the mail. To my surprise there was an envelop addressed to me. I was confused then when I read the corner. It was from Rikers.
"Apollo come on let's go inside."
I rushed inside and locked the door behind me. I opened the envelope.

Dear Amanda,
I've been thinking a lot about you lately, all the things you did. You are one dirty whore and I bet your boyfriend knows that. Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to come visit me. I have something I believe you want.
Yours truly, Marcello

I dropped the letter in the trash and ran to the bathroom.
Dirty dirty whore it replayed in my head.
I felt the scar across my face while staring in the mirror.
"I am so dirty"
I punched the mirror causing it to shatter and blood poured out of my hand. I stared at my bloody hand then the mirror.
"Oh god, what'd I do?! He's gonna kill me!"
Apollo came running in. He started whining and pawing me. I ignored him and turned on the shower letting the hot water burn my body.

Nick's POV

"I'm back"
No sign of Amanda but I heard the shower running.
"Apollo"
No sign of him either.
I put the groceries on the counter and looked through the mail. I tossed junk mail into the garbage and noticed an envelop addressed to Amanda already in the trash. I took it out realizing it had been opened. My curiosity got the best of me and I read the letter inside.
"Shit" I said
Right then Apollo came rushing in crying and spinning in circles.
"Where is she boy?"
He ran to the bathroom and I followed.
She was in the shower. I looked and saw a trail of blood on the from and followed it to the shattered mirror.
"Hey, you okay?"
She didn't answer, but I could hear her crying, talking.
"I can't get clean, I'm so disgusting!"
I opened the shower door and turned off the water then wrapped a towel around her. She had scrubbed her skin raw. Parts were bleeding but she kept trying to wash herself.
"Calm down calm down" I tried.
"No! I'm a dirty whore!" She yelled.
"What he said, it's not true."
"You don't get it, I can't even look at myself without wanting to vomit I know you must feel the same way."
"No, don't ever think that you're still as beautiful as you were before any of this happened."
"Please, just leave." She pleaded.
"Okay, I'll be right outside the door if you need anything."
I backed out of the bathroom and went and called Liv. I wasn't sure what else to do at this point. She was not in her sane mind.