The Path to Love: A Sonny Carisi Love Story

52: Break

We hang out at the station, watching Skip retract the story "our story, "Nightmare on Campus," generated international media attention and inspired a long-overdue discussion about campus sexual assault. However, it has now come to our attention that many of the disturbing allegations were fabricated by Heather Manning."

"Did I miss the actual apology part?" Sonny comments in a moment of silence.

Skip continues "like many of you, I believed Heather. That was a mistake. We have asked an independent ombudsman from the medill school of journalism to investigate and issue a report about what we can do differently in the future.

"An independent investigation. They're throwing the book at themselves." Amanda says after she turns the T.V off, not caring to hear the rest.

Finn adds on "Barba's hanging by a string and Dodds is hanging you out to dry."

Olivia quickly answers "I don't blame him. We moved too fast. We didn't vet it hard enough." She clearly torn about how this is ending up.

"It's not on us. It's not even on that haircut. It's on Heather. She straight-out lied to us." Finn comments, loudly enough for Heather to hear as she just walked in.

"Finn." I mutter, moving around him to the girl "Heather, can I help you?" I ask her.

She looks down at her feet, then to Finn, clearly thinking about the words he just said. She asks to speak to Olivia alone and the two of them step into her office.

The next day, Barba has to drop all the charges against all the boys from the Frat and things are not looking good for Olivia or our department. We watch as the TV station does another follow up report on campus "and that was just part of the outrage on campus today as students reacted to the news that the D.A. has dropped the charges against all four defendants in the Hudson University gang-rape case. Meanwhile, an attorney for the former defendants will be filing a lawsuit against Hudson University and the NYPD early next week."

"Turn that off." Finn directs and I pick up the remote to click it off.

Sonny says "well, we should feel proud. Pumped up their ratings for another week, and those boys will never get their reputations back." Clearly distraught with how this turned out.

Amanda responds "Yeah, but that's the job, Carisi. It's hard to know what actually happened in cases like these. If you can't take that, SVU isn't right for you."

He looks back to her "nah, I get it. I'm good here."

"Let's hope Liv is." Finn adds on.

I say out loud "right now she's heading up to Hudson U. Round three of the apology tour."

"This is a mess." Amanda adds on, before getting up and walking away.

Finn also walks away but Sonny stays standing where he is, looking down at me "So, you're really going?"

"I'll be back soon Sonny. I just need some time." I respond, refusing to look up to his blue eyes.

"You need a ride to the airport?" He asks next, taking me a bit off guard. I decide to look up to him then and he's staring at me, hurt in his eyes.

I sigh out, not wanting to accept his offer but knowing I should be fair to him and talk about things before I head off "sure, I'd like that." I tell him.

Later that evening, Sonny comes to my door to get me. He offers to take my bag for me and I lock my apartment up, leaving a light on in the kitchen for when I get home. I follow him into the elevator where we don't talk yet. Once in the car and on the way to the airport, he speaks to me "What caused this? I thought you and I were good together?" He runs a hand through his gelled hair, causing a piece to go out of place

I look out the window "we were, I think we are but you went behind my back Sonny, you got my dad involved."

He looks at me with squinted eyes "no, that's not it. I may have called your old team and they told your dad but that's not it, there is something else, something you're not telling me."

I exhale, not wanting to admit to him what it is really about. "I just.." I decide to let it all out though, unable to lie to him "you brought back all these memories of when my mother died and I don't want to live through that again, I can't live through it again."

"I'm--I'm sorry Maddison, I didn't know it was that hard for you to talk about." He returns. "But do you really have to leave to get over it, how will that help?"

"I uhm--" I hesitate, not sure how to explain it to him "I just can't explain it Sonny. Please?" I question, wanting him to move on.

"And Liv still has no idea about Doyle?" He asks next. I look at him, wondering if he's saying she's going to tell her. As if reading my mind he adds on "I won't say anything, I'm just wondering what she knows about this trip to the BAU."

"She knows they requested my help on a case and that my return date is to be determined." I inform him. He nods a few times, not having anything else left to ask.

We sit in silence for the rest of the ride. Once at the terminal, he gets my duffel out of the truck and comes over to me at the door "can you promise me something?" He asks.

"Mmm?" I hum back, as he steps closer to me, closing the distance between us.

"Can you take care of yourself?" He pushes a piece of hair away from my face and leans down to kiss me on my forehead.

"I promise." I whisper back as his lips touch my skin, wanting mine to touch his just one more time. But I know I wouldn't be able to leave him there if I let that happen. Instead, when he moves away. I give him a small smile and step around to get inside. "I love you Sonny." I whisper once I'm far enough away where he can't hear me, quickly wiping away the tear that fell down my cheek.

THE END!

A/N:

THAT IS THE END TO BOOK 1: A PATH TO LOVE

Please, Follow up on our two love bird detectives in the sequel -The Course of Passion