InsaneJournal

Amelia was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 30 1971, to Benjamin and Sophia Colbert. She was the eldest child of the couple, with her younger brother Anthony born three years after her. Their father worked as a police detective when Amelia was born, and by the time she was seven, had been appointed Lieutenant, and would eventually go on to become Captain of the NYPD. Amelia's mother, Sophia, was a school teacher, teaching English at one of the private schools close to where they lived. As a child Amelia was quiet but had a curiousity streak a mile wide, and often caused her parents some grief because of it. She also read quite a lot, taking an interest mostly in fantasy and adventure books, as well as science-fiction as she grew older. Due to her brother's influence, she also took an interest in sports.

High School was ... an interesting experience for Amelia. Growing up, she was a pretty girl, but never really managed to grow out of her childhood 'tomboy' phase; preferring to rough it up and be 'one of the boys' rather than dress up and act anything remotely lady-like, much to her mother's dismay, who was constantly trying to get her only daughter to at least try to be a little more feminine. Amelia did well in school, however, and managed to pass through her high-school years with good grades. It was around her teenage years when she also began to realise that, unlike the other girls around her, she never felt even remotely attracted to the boys she constantly hung around, seeing them all as nothing more than brother-like figures and friends. Instead, it was actually those other girls who began to catch Amelia's eye, though it wasn't until an awkward, slightly drunken and fumbling encounter at a party with one of the girls on the soccer team she had been ever-so-discreetly admiring from afar, and realising how much she actually liked the feel of the other girl's soft lips and skin, and how much she wanted to keep kissing her, that she considered the possibility she might not be so straight after all.

It took Amelia nearly two years before she managed to come to terms with her sexuality, and at least another two before she dared to come out to her parents. She was twenty-one at the time and found it increasingly difficult to avoid the constant nagging from her mother as to why she never brought home any men. Her brother had been well aware of her sexuality for years and much to Amelia's relief, kept it under wraps from their parents. To her surprise, her father took it quite well. Her mother, however, was not as accepting. While she claimed to be fine with the news, Amelia could see very clearly that her mother saw it as a phase that would be easily fixed by finding a nice, suitable guy to settle down with. And thus began the endless efforts of Sophia Colbert to set her daughter up with just the right man, which still continues to this day, as every time Amelia comes home to visit she is unsurprised to find her mother has 'someone for her to meet.' And people wonder why she's so hesitant to come home.

Despite her refusals to date any of the men her mother tried to pair her up with, Amelia's love life was not completely tragic. After a few short-lived and semi-serious relationships that were scattered over her last years in high school, and years in college, Amelia met Kate. The two met through a mutual friend, who happened to be Amelia's old roommate in college, and seemed to hit it off right from the beginning. Within a few months of casual dates and encounters, Amelia and Kate were quickly heading into something much more serious. Amelia had just left the Academy when she asked Kate to move in with her, the two of them moving into a nice apartment in Chicago, where Amelia had moved to attend Northwest and Police Academy after high school.

As a child who had always looked up to her father, practically idolising the man, it had come as no surprise to any of her family when it was announced by Amelia that she was going to follow her father right to the Police Academy. In fact Ben often joked that his daughter was born to one day own a badge and gun, and there wasn't a force in this world that would stop her from joining the police. By the time she was twenty-five, she’d graduated from Northwest, with a degree in Criminology, and the Police Academy and was a full fledged, if still inexperienced and naive, police officer at the Chicago Police Department... mostly relegated to fetching coffee for her seniors. However her determination, hard work and admittedly a few lucky breaks finally allowed her to be noticed by her superiors, and though it took her some time, eventually Amelia was promoted to detective.

The excitement and happiness over her promotion, however, was marred by the obvious trouble in her relationship with Kate. The two had begun to grow increasingly apart, and with the long hours that Amelia was working, combined with the constant travel Kate's job required, the distance between them was becoming an obvious strain. Arguments became much more frequent, often over small and ridiculous things, and Amelia was growing tired of it, obviously having realised that she and Kate had simply grown too far apart long ago for there to be any hope of mending their relationship. It was when Kate told her that there was someone else, that the deal was sealed. She moved out the next week, putting down rent on a new apartment closer to where she worked and breaking off contact with her ex, who to her knowledge moved to Boston with her new girlfriend some months later. In her heartbreak, Amelia threw herself into her work with the aim of securing a position in the Homicide division she had been eyeing for quite some time, attempting to forget all about her troubles.

It was when she finally did land in Homicide that Amelia knew she had found where she was meant to be. The thrill and rush of examining a crime scene and solving a murder, though horrible, was also something she found great satisfaction it. She cracked several low-profile cases before moving on to larger ones and quickly becoming one of the department’s golden detectives when it came to non-forensic solving of murders.