This is the sequel to 'Airtight Pretending'! Picking up a day before, Olivia and Amanda's official return back to SVU. Some flashbacks to let you know, what's taken place. Enjoy!

"No! This better be a joke. I don't understand. What the hell do you mean?!"

"Ma'am, please calm down."

"It's Detective, goddammit!" Click.

A week earlier, in Dr. Huang's office…

"So, I know that you're eager to get back to work—"

"Yes."

"Ok." Huang smiled at the interruption. "But are you ready to go back to work?"

"Ye—"

"Detective, take a moment, please. I'm well aware that you want to get back to work. However, I'm not certain if you're completely ready. You're different now. Whether you believe it or not, what you went through will affect your job. Have you taken a moment to consider how those changes might affect you and your performance?"

"I don't need a moment. This is one of the few things that I'm sure of. I love my job, I'm good at my job."

"Yes, but—"

"No 'buts', I'm ready!" Rollins stormed out of Huang's office. Totally over the psycho, babel bs.

Olivia was in the waiting room, when a pissed off Amanda burst through the door. Everybody in the waiting room watched in shock, as an angry blonde, barged out the front door. The brunette shot Huang a 'wtf' look, he just shrugged, as she went after her partner. Rollins was irritated beyond words. Therapy sucked and if she wasn't required to go, no way in hell would she put herself through torture, via chatting.

"Amanda! Wait up…"

Amanda stopped, looked up to the sky, and rolled her eyes. She took a deep breath, then turned to the direction of Olivia's voice. After all, it wasn't her fault. "I made a scene. I know, sorry."

"Forget about that. Why'd you storm out? What happened?"

The frustrated woman sighed again before she began. "Therapy's not for me. It's not. It just makes you feel like shit and second guess everything. Then, the Doc tries to push unwanted, hypothetical situations on you. Huang's basically trying to scare me into not going back to work."

"Amanda…I'm sure that's not what he's trying to do."

"No, no, no. You don't get to be on Huang's side. You hate therapy too, remember?"

"Come on, now. You know, I'm always on your side. And yes, therapy isn't my favorite thing but—"

"No, no, no. No 'buts', just stop at I'm on your side and therapy sucks."

Olivia let out a small chuckle, before continuing her previous thought. "Ok…but, I need you to tell me what had you raging, back there."

Amanda knew by now that she wasn't going to just drop it. "He, he was hinting at not clearing me for duty."

"Oh, ok. What makes you think that he won't clear you?"

"He kept asking me to 'take a moment' and think about how my 'trauma' might affect my job. Like maybe, I won't be able to go back to SVU. He's trying to take away the only thing that keeps me going. Well…one of the things that keep me going." Amanda softened a bit as she smirked at the brunette.

Olivia smiled back at her before speaking. "I know therapy is…less than pleasant." Wink. "But you know what would really suck? Me back at work without you there. I want us to walk in together. To show everyone that we belong there. Went through the worst and made it out on the other side, even stronger. That we can still do our job and do it well. A few more sessions and we'll be back at work Monday."

She's right, as usual. Damnit! "You know, you're not always going to be right. I owe Huang an apology, huh?" Olivia didn't say a word but got her point across, by the look on her face. "Ugh, fine. Come on, let's go back."

"Let's go." They linked fingers, headed back to the office.

"Think he's going to be pissed at me?"

"No, he's a pro. Probably happens at least, once a week."

"Yeah."

"Now, let's get back to you saying I'm always right. Maybe you can get a t-shirt made with that on it," teased Olivia. As she smiled at the shorter woman.

Amanda looked over and saw that smile, she adored so much. She'd never tire of that sight. However, she couldn't let Liv get the best of her. "I wouldn't take my words too seriously. A side effect of having a concussion, is confusion. And I must've definitely been confused to say something like that."

Liv laughed, at the semi self-deprecating joke, heartily. It was so typical, Amanda. She was just so uniquely herself and it was the thing that the brunette appreciated the most. Olivia brought their adjoined hands to her lips. Kissed them, then got serious before she said, "Never change."

Olivia's session…

"So, I've reviewed your file. This isn't your first experience with physical and psychological trauma?" Asked an inquisitive Dr. Huang.

"No, it isn't."

"Talk to me about your recovery after Seaview."

"I thought that we were supposed to be dealing with the trauma, from my recent attack? Not the past."

"Yes, we are but I'm curious about how you handled, that particular ordeal."

Olivia was reluctant to dive back into those memories. However, she knew that in order to get cleared, she needed to cooperate. "Well…at first, I didn't really deal because in my mind, I got away. I escaped. When so many other women, didn't have that opportunity. I felt like, I didn't deserve to feel traumatized when others had it worse than me."

"Your knowledge of how 'real' victims had been attacked, made you feel like your attack was less than?"

"Yes."

"And how do you feel now? I've read both you and Detective Rollins' statements. Saw the Dr.'s notes on your injuries and read your personal journal. Do you feel like a 'worthy' victim now?"

"I'm not a victim."

Huang noticed the testy edge to her tone. "I apologize. What word would you use?"

"I wouldn't use a word. I would say that I went through hell. Did what I had to do, to make sure that my partner and I survived. And we did."

"Hell. That's a very generic way of summing up the situation. Can you elaborate?"

"Why? You've read everything."

The Dr. was taken back by the slightly aggressive, straight forwardness. "Yes, Detective. I know but I would like to hear it in your own words."

Amanda's right, therapy sucks. I'm on her side, I'm totally on her side. "It was terrible. I was in the kitchen making dinner before I even noticed anything was wrong. From what I've been told—"

"Detective. Please, keep the focus on you and your experience."

Ok, he's really annoying the hell out of me. Olivia took a deep breath and bit her tongue. To keep from letting her inner dialogue flow. She gathered her thoughts and tried to recall the details, as best she could. "I could tell that something was wrong. I felt it. So, I went in search for Amanda. I walked into our bedroom and saw her tied to the bed, her eyes were big and panicked. She was trying to warn me but I saw her in that state and just reacted. I took a step into the room and I was struck from behind. When I came to, I was tied to a chair. Helpless."

"Helpless. That's an interesting word, that you chose." Huang flipped through his notes before continuing, "Because according to Detective Rollins' official statement, and I quote 'Detective Benson sacrificed herself to save me' end quote. That doesn't sound like a helpless person to me."

The detective's emotions began to rise. Hearing those words helped to assuage some of her guilt for not doing enough, that night. It was a secret burden that she'd been carrying with her. Olivia felt like she'd failed her partner. She was the senior detective, so she took on the responsibility for their safety or lack thereof. It was personal to her. Huang could see her processing the information and he awaited her response.

"I felt it coming."

"The attack?" The Dr. was confused and needed some clarity.

"Yes. I had a feeling the week leading up to it. He watched us, for weeks before attacking. He mocked me about it, during… It got to me. I knew he was watching and I still couldn't prevent it from happening. So, I didn't sacrifice anything. I just fought hard to make up for my initial mistake of letting down my guard."

Huang closed his notes, stopped the recording and sat directly in front of her. "Olivia," She looked up at the use of her first name. Huang was always professional when they were working. So, she could tell that whatever he was about to say was coming from a personal place. "I've read everything several, several times. And I'm in complete awe of you, both of you. With your injuries, I have no clue how you were able to fight back for so long. Those were extreme, brutal circumstances. The type of situation that no amount of training or preparation would ever fully prepare you for what you endured. You pleaded for the perp to take you instead of Amanda. Then sacrificed your body, giving her time to reach her weapon. That's what I want you to focus on. Not the what ifs but the facts. I have a fact for you. An evil, sociopath will never hurt another woman again. Thanks to you and Detective Rollins. Fact."

Olivia processed what the Dr. was saying. Facts. Hard to dispute, cold hearted facts. Another fact, was that she actually felt some relief after hearing Huang's facts. The inadequate feeling that had been plaguing her, seemed just a little bit more manageable now. It could have been worse and that was another fact that she couldn't deny. She remembered the photos of Lawrence's other victims. All six had been raped and beaten within an inch of their life. Knowing they'd dodged that bullet, eased her burden even more.

Olivia looked at Huang, her doctor, her friend and nodded her head in agreement. "Facts. I like them."

"They're comforting. The truth is always comforting. You're making good process. I need you to continue to focus on the facts and steer clear of the what ifs. So, they don't halt your moving forward."

"Ok, I'll remember that."

"Good." The Dr.'s phone vibrated. "That's our time."

They stood to their feet and Olivia was just about to open the door to exit when she stopped. She turned back to Huang and said, "Thanks, George for helping me through this."

"You're welcome, Olivia."

Present time…

Nerves and butterflies were in the pit of Amanda's stomach. The anticipation of going back to work, had her on edge. For the last month, all of her recovery and hard work came down to, three people giving her the 'ok'. Therapy still wasn't her thing but she really tried to make some progress and it was actually helping. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone but it was. Rollins was waiting on one more clearance for active duty. When her phone vibrated on her small coffee table she rushed over to it. Olivia's face was on the screen. Not the call that she'd been hoping for but a very pleasant surprise indeed. A different type of butterflies floated as she answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, what you doing?!"

Amanda smiled at the excitement that she heard in Olivia's voice. What's got her all excited? "Not much. Better question what are you doing?"

"Getting ready for, work. Work! It's been a while since I've been able to say that."

"Yeah, I know…"

Olivia could hear in Amanda's tone that something was bothering her. They both had been waiting for the moment to get back to work. So, the brunette was confused as to why her partner didn't seem excited. "What's wrong? You're not excited?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. I just haven't been cleared by Huang yet. I'm supposed to be hearing from his office soon."

"Oh…" Wish I would've known that before my over excited call. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that you hadn't heard yet."

"It's ok. I'll know soon."

Liv knew that her partner was beyond worried but was trying to play it cool. Distract her. "Why don't we grab a coffee or something?"

I'd rather have a whisk—no Amanda. No whiskey. "Yeah that sounds good."

"Our spot in thirty?"

"Sounds good to me. See you, soon."

Amanda ended the call with a smile on her face. Our spot. I like the sound of that. For the moment, the only thing worrying her was, what she was going to wear. Yes, it was silly, given the fact that Olivia had literally seen her worse. However, this was the beginning of their new chapter and everything was still fresh and new. After finally deciding on an outfit, Amanda headed to their spot. When she turned onto the block of the coffee house, she spotted Olivia outside on the phone. She wasn't close enough to hear what she was saying but her antics and gestures, were pretty clear. Liv was pissed. So, she sped up to see what was going on. Amanda made it there just in time, catching the end of her call before the abrupt end.

"It's Detective, goddammit!"

Whoa! "Hey, hey what's going on?" asked the confused blonde.

Olivia recognized the familiar voice. It was the only thing that kept, from throwing and destroying her phone. The brunette took a breath before she turned to face Amanda. "I just found out that, I'm not cleared for active duty."

Thanks for reading! SN: To my anon, that understands I'm busy but also made sure to let me know that I'd be responsible for an innocent girl's death if I didn't hurry (no pressure tho). Hopefully, you're alive, well and enjoying the first chapter of the sequel! ;) SN: To my other friends, yes backstories/histories will be addressed. Thanks again.