DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and all characters are
property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am forever in debted to Aqua Blurr for putting up with me and providing me with a fantabulous beta (or two or three) and teaching me a thing or two about writing. Thanks be also to my love, Heathers, for the tweaking. No one does it better than her.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Greasemonkey 3: The Audi
By Nic
*Ding! Ding!*
A pair of dark eyes peered over the dog-eared and torn magazine at the fogged window in the tiny office. The snow and ice obscured most of the glass from the outside, and the portable space heater did the work from the inside. It was after dark in the dead of January and while New York was unbearably hot in the summer, it was equally cold in the winter. As the upcoming blizzard chased away the rest of the garage, someone had to stay behind to mind the workplace because Mikael prided himself on staying open every day of the year. So of course it was the one with the least amount of responsibility at home, the one without kids or a wife or a dog or even a car.
"Of course."
Olivia folded down the corner of the magazine and tried to figure out if the doorbell was faulty or if there actually was someone who was idiotic enough to risk life and limb to get their car fixed in the middle of a snowstorm. She frowned and squinted through the glass in the door. Maybe that was a rear light, maybe it wasn't. Did it matter, after all? She'd be leaving in an hour anyway.
Mikael could give her the worst shifts and the shit jobs, but she didn't have to walk outside to greet them. Nope. She pulled the open hoodie around her coveralls and returned to the magazine. If someone was out there, they'd have to come to her.
It wasn't like she hated her job. Hell, she loved it, actually. She was paid to work on foreign and domestic cars all day. Her uniform was a pair of blue coveralls she'd had since she started seven years ago that could be zipped up over three layers of clothing or nothing at all. It paid modestly, but she got by. It was exactly what she wanted.
The door opened, letting a gust of bitterly cold air waft through the small office. Olivia shivered but kept her eyes on the periodical in her hands.
"Customer service at its finest."
She supposed she could have reacted more positively: hopped up like a woman who's faced with her longshore lover returning from a stint offshore. But a raised eyebrow was all that Olivia offered.
Alex brushed off her long black wool coat and swished her hair. She looked at Olivia from just inside the door, her leather gloves clasped between long fingers. "I've got some car trouble," she said with a slight smirk.
"Ah," Olivia sighed. She turned the magazine sideways and let the centerfold fall open. "And just what kind of trouble is it this time?" Alex tilted her head slightly as if that wasn't really the response she was hoping for. "Broken tail light?" She straightened up in the chair and folded the magazine page.
"I hadn't realized Lowrider was required reading for mechanics."
"Maybe it's the antenna again?" Olivia continued, ignoring Alex's comment. She tossed the magazine on the desk and got to her feet. "I haven't had you in for the air conditioning in a while." Her eyes drifted along the lines of the blonde's coat as if trying to pull it from her body. Stopping a foot from the other woman, Olivia tugged the hoodie around her again.
Alex's cheeks were flushed from the cold and she sniffed lightly. "It's legit," she said.
Olivia laughed. "'Legit?'" she repeated. "I'd say you'd been spending too much time with me, but…" Her eyebrows lifted. "You haven't. So really, what is it? What could have brought you back here after two months, in the middle of a blizzard, at eight o'clock at night?"
Her eyes narrowed and Alex took a moment before responding. "Maybe it's best if I just show you," she said, reaching for the door.
"Of course," Olivia replied, pulling the hood over her head. "Maybe it just needs to be washed. Or the wiper blade broke off in an unusual manner." They trudged the short few steps from the office to the garage. Olivia stamped her boots on the floor. "I mean, I could be completely off base here. It could be the sideview mirror that accidentally broke or maybe there's a rattle—"
The sarcastic diatribe was cut mid-sentence when Olivia pushed the hood from her head and finally let her eyes fall on the sporty Audi. The once glowing charcoal paint was marred by a long streak of yellow and white, cutting to the metal body of the car, stretching grotesquely from rear to front wheel.
"Oh my God." Olivia was at the vehicle's side in seconds, her fingers tracing the scratch and noting how the dent deepened toward the front wheel well. Even the shining chrome wheel didn't get out of it unscathed. "What happened to your car?"
"Someone hit it," Alex stated, rounding the front end of the car to face Olivia.
The idea was damn near incomprehensible. "I… When did this happen?"
"Earlier." Alex's tone was almost blasé. "I didn't know where else to go."
"Man, there's so much to do." Olivia got to her feet and ran a grease-stained hand through her short hair. Snarky attitude forgotten, she stopped in front of the bench next to Alex and rifled through some books. Her right hand extended and without looking, she hit the garage door opener and the huge steel door rattled all the way to the floor. "I've got to call Zumbach and ask them if they can take it because I don't know…"
"Wait, what?" Alex placed a hand on Olivia's to still them.
"A dealership, there could be some serious damage here and they work with these cars all the time, so—"
"Olivia." Despite her best efforts to keep Olivia focused, the mechanic kept looking at the wounded Audi, the snow slowly melting from its hood. "I don't want to go to a dealership, that's why I came to you. Besides, if it's such a big deal, I'll just get another one."
Olivia's head whipped to face Alex. "Another one? Another one?" The cool confession from the blonde next to her was quickly processed in her head. All the women she had ever dated suddenly came to mind, each one of them summarily dismissed in the most convenient fashion and it occurred to her that this time she was the inessential one. Everything in Alex's life was dispensable: the cars, the money, even the people. Olivia walked over to the car, stroking the roof. "I know this isn't a classic, but… you can't just get rid of them when they're broken."
Alex smiled, taken by the woman comforting her car. "It's okay Olivia, I don't mind."
"I mind," she replied. "Look, Alex, cars aren't just tools. They're not things you can toss away when you're done with them or it's too hard to deal with. Cars are meant to be revered, loved, cared for. They'll do anything you want them to as long as you treat them right."
"You sound like my therapist."
Olivia brushed the remaining snow from the car. She considered the pearl finish before narrowing her eyes a little. "Why are you really here, Alex?"
Alex blinked a few times. "Are you serious?"
"You could have anyone in New York." Olivia wasn't about to snivel like the whining girls she knew Alex must regularly brush off, but for her own reasons, she wanted to know. Crossing her arms, she leaned against the wounded machine.
"The men are too vulgar," she replied. "And the women too… delicate."
"So what does that make me?"
Alex tucked her gloves into her coat pocket and met Olivia's eyes. "My mechanic."
Just a mechanic. Just a good lay. It'd been two months since she'd even seen Alex but she still expected some respect from the woman. Or was this foreplay or a challenge?
"When'd you buy this car?" she asked as if from nowhere.
Alex leaned against the steel tool bench behind her. "I don't know," she said with a sigh. "Shortly before I met you?"
A tight smile crossed the mechanic's face. "Ahh." She nodded knowingly, wiping the water on her cotton jumpsuit, and started toward the blonde. "So you get rid of this car…" She stopped short of the other woman, reminiscent of their first meeting. "What's next?"
Alex hummed and noticed Olivia's hand twitch. "There are always other cars."
Olivia's eyebrow arched. "You think the next one would be as good?"
"I think I could find one."
"I think you're wrong."
Alex smiled, self-satisfied. "So convince me to keep it."
It was perhaps the most blatant come hither statement Olivia had heard from the high-brow socialite, but it didn't stop her from pushing forward and swallowing the cocky grin. Her lips moved, warming the pale skin against them. Part of her hated Alex's manipulation, but the other part hated herself more for the fact she could never resist it. Thin fingers pulled at the blue jumpsuit, but Olivia trapped them in her own and closed them over the edge of the workbench. She pulled the long wool coat from Alex's shoulders, not caring that half of it draped over oiled tools and car parts. The tailored Versace suit went entirely unnoticed as its jacket slid to the rubber mat at their feet; Olivia's hand tugged at the white blouse. One rough jerk sent buttons clanging off an oil drum in the corner
"This is…" Alex's voice hitched as Olivia nudged her head back and attacked her throat. "… convincing me to keep you… not the car."
Olivia pushed a hand under Alex's open shirt. "Isn't it the same thing?" she asked, dipping her head.
Alex closed her hand over Olivia's arm to still her. "Tell me about the car."
Arrogance still filled the blonde's features and it sent Olivia's heart racing. It was obvious Alex wanted her to give up the control. It was always what Alex wanted. But that simply wasn't Olivia's style. Alex knew that, too. Olivia wasn't careful. She wasn't gentle. Olivia counted on Alex's lack of undergarments in situations like these and gathered her skirt at her waist before hoisting the woman and setting her roughly on the wet hood of the Audi behind Olivia. The metal thumped and creaked under her weight.
"Jesus!"
There was no way the car warmed during their conversation. Olivia was counting on the contrary. She leaned against the hood, lips catching every stuttered breath that escaped Alex as the cold seeped through her skin.
"Olivia."
The mechanic stopped, so close she could feel the heated breath between them. For a moment, she glimpsed the same anxious look in Alex's eyes she saw the first summer afternoon they'd met. "2004 Audi TT S line Coupe," she said, her gaze never wavered. "Dolomite grey."
Her lips decorated Alex's skin, sliding down her chest. "Eighteen inch cast alloy wheels," she whispered against her breast, drawing out a long moan. Olivia thanked the sturdy German engineering when she braced her legs against the front grill and pulled Alex closer. Her hands were on pale skin then, running down to rest on Alex's waist. "3.2 liter V6 engine…" She leaned over Alex and kissed her hard, the heat from their mouths spreading easily to the rest of their bodies. Olivia's hips thrust between Alex's legs. "236 pounds of torque."
"Olivia…"
"250 horsepower..." Olivia's breath was lost then. Her hands moved over Alex's breasts, sides and stomach, leaving dark streaks of grease and oil against the fair skin in their wake. She watched the tribal pattern shift under her. "Sit up."
Alex's confusion was evident, but she did as she was asked. Something about that stirred Olivia when she dropped to her knees. "Zero to sixty…" she kissed along the inside of Alex's thigh, nudging her legs further apart. "… in 5.7 seconds." Alex braced herself when Olivia descended on her, the cold steel beneath them forgotten. "It's a beautiful machine, Alex."
"Olivia, I…"
Alex had never been a vocal lover. Since she and Olivia had been in what Olivia might at some point hazard to call a relationship, there had never been a loss of control. That was, after all, the origin of their affair. It was the clash of classes and mistaken assumptions that made the relationship interesting, but Olivia had begun to wonder if in fact she'd done herself justice in Alex's eyes. Did she consider Olivia just another casual fuck in the city? A convenience not unlike sliding into her favourite bar knowing the same people would be there, the same drinks would be served and the same buzz would make her fingertips tingle.
Olivia's hands smoothed Alex's shuddering stomach, warming the cool skin as they passed. The quiet murmurs from the blonde reminded Olivia of the soothing talk she'd have with a problematic car. Coaxing it from its uncooperative corner, Olivia would stroke the metal, the dashboard, the steering wheel. The murmur grew to a throaty mantra as Alex's long fingers found their way into Olivia's hair, not to push or guide; to connect. Olivia watched the blonde's spare hand bracing her on the hood whenever Alex's hips shifted against her mouth.
When the cars she worked on succumbed to her, finally gave in and let her work her own particular magic, she didn't let them down. She never betrayed them and always respected their limits and potential. She treated every car like it belonged to her. When Alex said her name for the third time, Olivia gave her exactly what she needed. Her orgasm was quick and fierce, her voice reverberating throughout the large garage. The exploratory fingers in Olivia's hair became more forceful, holding Olivia still as she moved against her.
Alex relaxed her grip and lay back against the windshield of the car. Olivia slowed to a stop, keeping Alex from sliding off the hood. In the few moments of silence, Olivia could feel the heat of sex dissipating and the cold weather seeping into her. The wind whistled past the garage and rattled the door.
"Okay." Alex said. Her voice sounded almost hollow in the large space. "You win."
Olivia frowned. "What?"
"I'll keep the car."
The End