She has made her position clear. Yet when she sees the unconscious way he smiles to himself after Alicia walks by, she isn't sure she can object and still be his friend. Still, she worries about his heart. She worries about the firm. She worries.
The first time he snaps at a confused Alicia, she can't help but feel a surge of smug pride. Finally. By the fourth time it happens, the pride is long gone replaced by concern.
When she hears his denial- 'that's all you're seeing', the annoyance swells. She isn't blind. He practically runs from her questioning and she can't help the growing misgivings.
The next day he comes to work smiling and she sees staff moving a new lamp into Alicia's office. The sand has shifted again. She hates uncertainty. She particularly hates feeling uncertain in her own domain.
The new SA is talking about his latest success, his wife looking uncomfortable in line next to his advisors. The speech is on in seemingly every office except one. Will sits in his office, scotch in hand. It's not his first and her uneasiness is getting hard to ignore.
When she sees the curtains closed in his office a few hours later the apprehension swirls in her stomach. The anger swells as Alicia walks out moments later smiling slightly as she smooths her hair behind her ears but when she sees his face, it disappears back to the familiar swirl, wondering if he's in over his head. Knowing he is.
The SA has a proposition for them. She feels extraneous at the settlement meeting and knows this is not about the case. The undercurrents perturb her but it's the challenge in the two men's eyes that keeps her seated. Someone has to keep a level head. Someone has to watch out for them all.
Will is in victory mode, Alicia by his side. Peter is celebrating, Alicia's name on his lips. Somehow 'not a loss' has become good enough for both sides. She finds this new grey, new focus, this new diversion from what the law is all about the most distressing of all the shifting sands.
The rumors are swirling. Not just in their office, she hears them in the courthouse, at lunch with former associates, in the coatroom at the bar association dinner. The more Will refuses to acknowledge them, the more Alicia withdraws from the ensuing fray, the more she feels the pressure to protect. Protect the firm. Protect her friend. Protect herself.