Authors Note: So sorry for the wait!

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Chapter 14:

Black Beauty.

Oh, what can I do?
To turn you on or get through to you
Oh, what can I do?
Life is beautiful but you don't have a clue
Sun and ocean blue
Their magnificence, it don't make sense to you

-Lana Del Rey

Amanda's POV:

An annoyed scowl graced Amanda's face as she made the customer his cappuccino. The cafe had recently hired a new supervisor and of course, he was now in charge of over looking shifts. That's how Amanda came to be serving coffees when she was supposed to be in school, he'd threatened to have her job if she didn't work the afternoon rush.

She knew her education was important, but so was this job. She didn't have anybody to fall back on, Amanda was in charge of taking care of herself. She had financial responsibility's and those had to come first now. If she got fired from the cafe, she would loose her apartment, and she couldn't let that happen. She may not have a lot, but she would not be homeless. At least she hadn't missed the whole day, just the last class of the day. She hoped she wouldn't have to work these hours for long, she didn't know how many times she could get away with missing class.

Amanda handed the guy his drink, and moved on to the next person in line.

"Hey, welcome! What can I get for you today?" Amanda asked, readying her notepad. As she took the lady's order, she kept glancing at her watch. She only had five more minutes until she could clock out and go home.

Amanda put the order in and took the money, swiveling around to go make the coffee. Amanda knew she should be grateful for this job. She knew that. And she was grateful, but that didn't mean she didn't hate every second of it.

Amanda poured the coffee from the blender into the cup, putting a lid on the top, and sliding it over the counter to the lady. "Thank you," Amanda smiled politely. Thankfully that seemed to be the last of the rush, and she finally got to relax. She'd been working her ass off since she started her shift, and it felt nice to have a moment to relax. She was so tired, and all she wanted to do was go home.

Leaning against the cool counter top of the bar, Amanda closed her eyes for a moment. When she was little and she fantasized about her future life, she could have never imagined she'd end up here. She was seventeen, living in one of the most amazing cities, and she was independent. She was the stray that nobody wanted.

Nobody except Olivia Benson. For the first time that day, Amanda let out a genuine smile. Just thinking about the older woman brought a warm feeling spreading through her body, from her head to her toes. She had been going through Olivia withdrawals lately, and she was beyond upset that she hadn't been able to attend Olivia's classes. She'd only missed two class sessions so far, but she knew that she was falling behind.

Amanda opened her eyes and straightened up, looking down at her watch again. Her shift was over in about five more seconds, then she got to collect her tips, and get the hell out of there. She began untying her apron, a wide grin on her face.

"Rollins!" came the hard, loud voice of her new boss. Amanda rolled her eyes and walked back to his office, steeling her nerves.

"Yeah, boss?" Amanda asked, poking her head in his office door.

"Congratulations. We're going to give you some overtime, your shift ends in two more hours. Get back to work," his cold, uncaring tone echoed in her ears.

Amanda gritted her teeth and stepped further into the room. "I didn't ask for overtime. I'm doing fine with what I have, sir," Amanda forced out.

"And I didn't ask for any lip. You either get your ass back out there, or walk out that door and never come back. Choice is yours."

Amanda clenched her fists, turned around, and stomped out of his office. Half of her was tempted to quit, but she knew that she couldn't. She would just have to deal with these hours and try her best to make them work. Grabbing her apron, she put it back on, and strode back to the register.

She was here for another two hours, fucking great.

Amanda grumbled as she stepped off the elevator and into the hallway that led to her apartment door. She was absolutely exhausted from her overly long shift at the cafe, and could hardly keep her eyes open. After her extended two hour stay at work, she'd been forced to clean up too. She had stayed at work all day. At least she had made really good money tonight, the overtime had given her paycheck a nice boost, and since she had been at the counter the whole day she got a decent amount of tips.

Amanda's eyes were half closed as she fished her keys out of her jeans pocket, and stopped at her apartment door. She put the key in the lock and turned, sighing with relief when the door opened. She drug herself into her space and shut the door behind her, heading for her bedroom immediately.

She didn't know how many more shifts she could take like this, she was being drained of all her energy. Amanda was really trying to be a good employee. She was always nice to the customers, and the other workers seemed to genuinely like her, but it was getting harder for her to do her job. Amanda was extremely sleep deprived and she was relying on caffeine to get her through the classes that she actually got to attend. At work it got even worse, she was starting to fall asleep at the counter.

She just couldn't function like this anymore, but she knew that her boss wouldn't care. As long as she took orders and got them to the customers in a timely fashion he was happy.

Amanda let out a tired squeal as she caught sight of her bed, and she wasted no time in flopping down into the covers. "Oh, I've missed you," she murmured into her pillows. Her phone began to ring, but Amanda ignored it as she burrowed deeper into her soft mattress. Her eyes closed as she pulled the covers over her body.

Within minutes, Amanda Rollins was dead to the world.

Amanda sat quietly on a stool behind the register. It was a slow day, so she didn't really have much to do. All of her focus was currently going into doing crosswords to cure her boredom. Amanda was so into her puzzle that she almost didn't notice the bell that was placed above the front door chime, indicating that she had a new customer. Putting down the newspaper, she stood from her seat and waited.

When she saw who had entered, she was floored. Olivia was walking towards the counter, and she did not look happy.

"Hey, welcome, what can I get for you?" Amanda forced out, smiling. She knew her boss could hear what was happening out front, and she didn't want him to know there was a problem.

"Well, you can tell me why you haven't been in my class," Olivia said, leaning against the counter.

Amanda bit her lip nervously, praying her boss wouldn't come out. "Ms. Benson, I can't do this right now, I'm working."

Olivia shook her head in disbelief and let out a sigh. "I'll have a tall hazelnut cappuccino, please," Olivia said, taking out her wallet.

"Huh?" Amanda asked, her eyebrows furrowing. How did Olivia go from asking about her attendance, to ordering coffee?

"Tall hazelnut cappuccino, Amanda. I thought you remembered orders?"

Amanda tried her best not to glance over, but she could feel Olivia's eyes on her while she cleaned up. She had made Olivia over 5 cappuccino's. The older woman had been sitting at the same table all day, either scrolling through her phone or staring at Amanda while she worked. She wiped down the counter, and took off her apron.

Her shift was over and she figured Olivia had been sitting in here all day, waiting on her. So with a deep calming breath she hopped over the counter and made her way back to where Olivia was seated. Olivia looked up at her in surprise, but stood from the table.

"Ready?" Olivia asked, putting her phone away.

Amanda nodded and swallowed when she felt Olivia's hand on her back, leading her out of the cafe.

Once they were outside, Amanda cracked a smile as she breathed in the fresh air. Being inside that cafe all day could get really depressing, and Amanda was loving the sun on her face. Olivia chuckled and led Amanda to her car, opening the passenger side door.

She didn't question Olivia and she slipped into the car with no hesitation. She trusted Olivia with her life, she knew Olivia would never hurt her. Olivia climbed in on the drivers side and started the engine, pulling out into traffic.

Amanda rested her head back on her seat and looked at Olivia, still smiling. The sun was shining in through the cars windows, illuminating Olivia's features. Amanda marveled at Olivia's beauty. The older woman's skin was perfectly tanned, her dark hair was pulled back into a clip today, and she was wearing a pair of jeans and a white button up shirt.

"Olivia," Amanda murmured, still smiling like an idiot.

"Hmm?" Olivia hummed, her focus still on the road. Amanda shook her head, if she was smarter she'd keep her mouth shut. Amanda didn't want to be smart.

"You're beautiful," Amanda whispered, biting her lip. She didn't care if Olivia thought this was wrong, she needed to look, needed to touch. Without giving Olivia a chance to react, she reached over and grabbed Olivia's free hand. Olivia looked over at her, and Amanda swore Olivia was about to cry. Not thinking, Amanda brought Olivia's hand to her lips. Kissing the middle of Olivia's palm, Amanda stroked her fingers over the veins in Olivia's wrist. "So beautiful," Amanda murmured, her lips still pressed against Olivia's flesh.

Olivia let out a whimper and Amanda could see she was struggling to keep her concentration on driving. She reluctantly released her grip on Olivia's wrist so that the older woman could drive, but she kissed the tip of Olivia's finger before she allowed the other woman her hand back.

Olivia's hand immediately went back to the steering wheel, and Amanda could see how tight she was gripping it. Amanda reached out and stroked a fingertip over the side of Olivia's cheek trying to relax the older woman. "Hey, it's okay," Amanda soothed.

Olivia shook her head, but leaned into her touch. "No, it's not. God, I can't help myself," Olivia sighed.

Olivia was confusing her, but Amanda didn't question Olivia's words. "It's alright," Amanda cooed, her fingertips running over the line of Olivia's jaw. She was surprised that Olivia was allowing her touch, but she wasn't going to argue. Olivia's skin was so soft, Amanda couldn't get enough. Her fingers ran from Olivia's jaw, to her neck softly scratching at the skin there, then the car hit a speed bump. Amanda's hand dipped into Olivia's shirt, her fingertips skimming the top of Olivia's breast.

Amanda's eyes glazed over as she felt the heat of Olivia's skin under her fingertips, the silky smooth feel of Olivia's cleavage.

"Oh," Olivia groaned, her eyes suddenly darker. "Amanda..." then Olivia seemed to catch herself. "I'd appreciate it if you could remove your hand from my shirt please," Olivia said in a strained voice. Amanda quickly nodded and went to move her hand, but she couldn't avoid touching more of Olivia's soft skin as she worked her hand out. Olivia was biting her lip, still trying to drive.

She took her hand away from Olivia and placed it on her lap. Olivia looked more worked up than she had before. Great.

"Olivia, where are we going?" Amanda asked, finally noticing that they had passed her apartment.

"Library," Olivia answered quickly, her tone was clipped.

"Why?" Amanda questioned, "Do you need to check out a book?"

"No. You do," Olivia answered. "You've missed my class for the past week, this is how you're going to make it up."

"Uh. Okay," Amanda shrugged, and rolled her window down. She was feeling extremely hot..and it had everything to do with the woman next to her.

Olivia's POV:

Olivia paced the length of her living room, too worked up to sit. She had known spending the day with Amanda wasn't good for her self restraint but she'd done it anyway, and now here she was charged with sexual energy. She had been remembering how Amanda's hand had felt on her skin, felt on her breast. God.

She had taken Amanda to the Library and had tried to keep her distance as Amanda picked her book, then she drove Amanda home. Amanda was quiet for the whole ride and Olivia was grateful. She had been at her breaking point, if Amanda had so much as looked at her, she would've snapped. Olivia wanted to give in so badly, it was like her body was on fire, and Amanda was her water.

She'd never felt this way about anyone in her life. She was just drawn to the blonde. Deep down Olivia knew that Amanda was the one, and if she couldn't have Amanda, she didn't know how she'd make it through.

Jesus, you're pathetic, Olivia thought to herself as she continued her erratic movements around her living room. She's only 17 for god sakes! She's your student, you could ruin her future. Pull your shit together, Benson!

Olivia huffed as she fell back on her couch, pulling her legs up. She was so tired of fighting her feelings for Amanda, and Amanda certainly wasn't making it easy. Olivia knew that spending time with Amanda was incredibly stupid, every moment she spent with the blonde had her falling deeper into the hole. All she wanted was to make these feelings go away, she felt like a horrible person for even entertaining these thoughts, but they wouldn't leave her alone. Olivia didn't know what else she could do, she couldn't stay away from the blonde, and just the thought of dating another person- being intimate with someone who wasn't Amanda, made her cringe.

Olivia rubbed her temples, and leaned back into the couch cushions. Was it really so bad for her to want this? Shaking her head, Olivia groaned at her own thoughts. Yes, Olivia, it's bad to want your high school student by your side.

It was so hard to tell herself that these feelings were wrong, when they felt so right. The problem was that fighting these feelings is what felt wrong.