Author: Elliedragon
Pairing: Implied Alex/Olivia,
Abby/Other
Rating: Everyone
Spoilers: "Loss"
Word Count: 1442
Disclaimer: Though
our
production logos look similar Coyote Studios nor I have any claim to
the L&O or L&O: SVU characters.
Chance
Encounters
An
SVU Fanfiction
She was deeply engrossed in
studying the menu when Jenna turned
to ask her what'd she have that morning. Jenna had just started
working at the little coffee kiosk in the courthouse and had been
serving black and blue suited men who never stopped talking into their
bluetooth headsets while placing their orders, all morning long.
Jenna, a quiet, middle class, Manhattan girl attending NYU and working
her way through, was not prepared for the smile the brunette before her
flashed her as she looked up at the sound of her voice. Jenna
wasn't
prepared for that smile any day after that either. Her stomach
flipped, her hands started fidgeting with the cloth she wiped the
counter down with, and her cheeks flushed as the woman's smile spread
softly across her tanned face and sparkled in her rich brown
eyes.
She'd continually almost forget that she should be getting the lawyer's
espresso ready as she listened to the order that came in a soft husky
voice. Each time she handed the paper cup down to her, Jenna
wished
the brunette wouldn't obliterate her senses so that she could come up
with something else to say to her other than "Here you go." and "You're
welcome" when she'd say "Thank you.".
She had two cups of coffee every morning before
leaving her
apartment. She didn't need to buy another cup that was overpriced
from
the kiosk in the courthouse lobby. She didn't want to admit it to
herself that she did so anyway because she wanted to see the girl who
worked there. She thought she was crazy for developing a crush on
the
shy strawberry blonde who was easily at least ten years her
younger.
One of these mornings she'd find her quick professional tongue not out
to lunch when waiting for the girl to fix her order, but nothing ever
seem to make it passed her lips.
"Here you go."
"Thank you, Jenna." As she turned
to head to her office, she
realized that she had said the girl's name. It had made it passed
her
lips and it felt beautiful to say.
"You're welcome." Jenna
watched her turn to go when it hit
her. She had said her name. The realization of this noun added to
a
simple sentence threw a switch in Jenna's brain. She opened the
gate
to the kiosk and jogged after her. "Wait!"
She had heard the girl call after her and she had
stopped and
started to turn, waiting for her to catch up. She had time to
glance
around once for any possible excuse to escape from making a fool of
herself when the girl came to a stop in front of her. She
couldn't
possibly form coherent sentences in her brain with a counter separating
them and now she was touching her arm.
"I, uh, wish I knew your name
first but, I was wondering if y-
you might want to have dinner with, with me tomorrow night." In
the
time it took the other woman to respond, Jenna had started to tremble
for fear she'd thought wrong. She looked down and saw that she
had
placed her hand on her elbow in an unconscious effort to keep her there
until she had finished fumbling over her request. She began to
withdraw it.
The time that it took Jenna to get terrified was the
time it took
the woman to process what she was asking her. She grabbed a hold
of
Jenna's hand and held it in both her own, aware that the slender
fingers were cold and shook. She looked into Jenna's pale,
emerald-green eyes and smiled.
"I'd love to." She said,
taking one of her hands from Jenna's
to pull out a business card from her tailored suit jacket and slipping
it in her palm. "I'll be in my office. 7:30? Pick me up?"
Jenna nodded mutely, barely understanding that she'd
said yes and
lightheaded from holding her breath. She gasped as the brunette
leaned
in and kissed her cheek before letting go of her hand to leave.
Jenna
saw heads and bodies slipping in between them as the distance
grew.
She looked down at the small card in her hand. She read the name
printed in bold black letters. It was beautiful and she smiled as
she
said it out loud to herself.
"Abby."
Jenna got back to her kiosk without hearing the
complaints of the
customers she had left waiting and went through the rest of her shift
on cloud 9. She'd been smiling all day. Two blocks, on to
the train,
and three stops into her journey home, Jenna was still unbelievably
happy. If it was humanly possible, Jenna would have smiled
straight
through the sneeze.
"Bless you." He said and
handed her a tissue from a travel packet.
"Thanks." She smiled at him and
brushed a strand of her hair
that had come loose from her ponytail. She went back to staring
out
the window into the sunny afternoon and imagining leaving the
courthouse tomorrow night with Abby on her arm.
"Abby." She whispered, smiling
and playing with the tissue in
her hand. She wondered why she had accepted it from the man
sitting
behind her. It had just been a sneeze.
'She's perfect. So
happy. The sun turns her hair golden and
her eyes twinkled when she looked at me. She smiled too.
She'll be
the one. I know she'll be better than the others. She'll
know how
special she is. I'll make sure she does when I come into her room
tonight. She'll thank me again, before I make sure no one else
touches
her soft peach skin. I'll have her forever then.'
At 4:27, there was a knock on Abby's office
door. She wasn't
expecting anyone unless Jenna was three hours early. She called
for
the person to come in and looked up to see someone she hadn't seen in
almost two years.
"Liv? What are you doing
here?" She asked, surprised. Olivia
Benson steppedinto the office followed by her partner, Elliot
Stabler.
This was obviously not a social visit.
"Abby, do you know Jenna
Acker?" Stabler asked. A cold, sick
feeling began to sink its way into Abby's stomach as she nodded.
"What happened?" The words
were strained and quiet. Abby caught Olivia's slight flinch at
the sound of her question.
"Jenna was murdered last
night." Abby closed her eyes. Olivia
didn't have to say what else had been done to the shy, sweet
girl.
Olivia was on the case and that said enough. Abby conjured up an
image
of Jenna working at the kiosk, the early morning sun streaming through
the high courthouse windows to lay gold among the strands of her hair,
and her smile when she saw Abby coming from across the hall. Abby
sighed and opened her eyes to face her reality.
"Jenna worked at the kiosk
downstairs in the lobby. We were
going to have dinner together. She was going to pick me up here
at
7:30. That's why I gave her my card, so she'd know which office was
mine."
"How well did you know Jenna?"
Stabler asked this after a look
from Olivia. They had come to find out about her card winding up
in
Jenna's possession and because of it, Abby was their only lead.
They
had to know how connected she was to the case but there were other
things to consider, like Abby's history with Liv. They hadn't
seen
each other last on the best of terms.
"Until you walked in the door,
Detective, I didn't even know
her last name." Abby shook her head and stared at her hands which
were
clasped together in her lap. "I wish there was more I could give
you." The detectives thanked Abby for her time. Abby got up
to walk
them to her door. Before she closed the door behind them, Olivia
turned to look at her.
"Abby, I- give me a call if you
need to, okay?" Abby nodded to
her. She no sooner shut the door than the tears came tumbling
down her
cheeks. She had barely known Jenna but she felt as if she'd never
breathe again, it hurt so much. Maybe she would call Liv.
The
detective had survived Alex, the love of her life, dying in her arms so
Abby would be able to survive losing a woman she's just met,
right?
Abby's fingers moved to her lips. She closed her eyes again and
remembered the feel of Jenna's soft skin against her lips when she had
kissed her cheek the day before. Abby sank to her knees and
sobbed.