Note: OK folks, this is the last chapter. Thank you all so much for reading. Your comments have been amazing.

Chapter 11

Epilogue

The cotton fields remember when,
Flash of lightnin' drove us in.
We were soaked down to the skin,
By the time we climbed inside.
An' I don't remember what was poundin' more...
The heart in my chest or the hood of that Ford.
As the sky fell in an' the storm clouds poured,
Worlds away outside.

~Trisha Yearwood - Georgia Rain

6 months later

A lot can change in a person's life in just twenty four hours. A lot more can change in six months. Six months is like a lifetime and in that lifetime a person has the chance to become someone else altogether. To rediscover, to learn and to move on. A lot of things take time. Healing takes time, understanding and accepting take time too. But moving on takes perhaps the most time of all and sometimes when she looked beside her she wondered how she had ever managed it. But every time Amanda opened her eyes she was reminded how; because she wasn't alone anymore.

Olivia lay on her side and watched Amanda sleep. It was a habit she'd gotten into after their reunion in Georgia. It was a little bit of reassurance to see her there, so peaceful and so quiet. It was just to check she was still there. Although she knew Amanda wouldn't leave, the fear was still there and this was her way to dealing with it.

Six months had gone by and their lives had changed in a way she couldn't have imagined. Returning to New York with Amanda had been nerve wrecking. She had to deal with Brian and seeing the hurt in his eyes as she ended the relationship and confessed to having slept with Amanda prior to that moment was something she wouldn't forget. She had crushed him once and she had done so again. After walking out of the apartment they had shared for the last time she hadn't seen him again. Last she heard he was working all hours of the day but she hoped he would find the happiness he truly deserved.

Since Amanda had given up the lease for her old apartment she had to find somewhere else to live. This resulted in a brownstone in Manhattan and she had sheepishly asked Olivia if she wanted to move in with her, since she too had nowhere to live. A week later they had been painting the walls and bought new furniture, both fully aware that moving in together was a crazy idea after just such a short time. But sometimes crazy ideas were the best ones and a leap of faith was all it took. It had been worth it and it worked.

Cragen announced his retirement only four weeks after they'd moved in together. It had been Amanda who encouraged Olivia to apply for his position and no one in the 16th precinct was surprised to hear that Detective Benson was now Captain Benson. It changed the dynamics within the team in such a way that Olivia's position was filled by Detective Jordan Wilkes, originally from Vice. Her partnership with Nick was a fiery one but they complimented each other well.

Olivia sighed as she looked at Amanda. She owed the way her life had turned out to her, even if Amanda herself didn't see it. She'd heard the whispers around the precinct; Hurricane Olivia had finally settled down. She felt the same way. She had an inner peace now she'd never felt before. Amanda had given her something she didn't even know she still sought; closure.

"What time is it?" a soft voice muttered and Olivia grinned.

"Three in the morning."

Amanda groaned. "Go to sleep."

"I will," Olivia promised and leant in to kiss Amanda's forehead. "When I'm done looking at you."

"You're weird."

"I know but you love me anyway."

Amanda smiled but didn't open her eyes. "I do."

Olivia pulled the duvet a little higher and snaked an arm around Amanda's waist. The smell of her hair was the smell of home. The sound of her footsteps in the kitchen of her voice in the shower was the kind of things she looked forward to at the end of the day. To simply see her around the house, to hear her even if she couldn't see her, made her feel safe and warm. Amanda was her home and until now she had never known what that felt like but she had finally found it and she was never going to let it go.

The Georgia rain on the Jasper county clay,
Couldn't wash away the way I loved you to this day.
The old dirt road's paved over now,
Nothin' here's the same except for the Georgia rain.

~Trisha Yearwood - Georgia Rain