A/N: Yeah, I'm back. Again. Thought I'd try my hand at something less fluffy this time. I have an outline for three chapters. This is the first one. Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!

CCTV

Tuesday, 4 pm

Alicia took a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves that made her stomach flutter as she peeked through the curtain at the back of the stage. Reporters were filing in and taking their seats. There were a lot of them. TV, newspapers, even some bloggers. Some faces she knew, others she didn't. One she remembered all too well from the debate, yesterday. She rolled her eyes. Of course he was in the front row, sitting on the edge of his seat, a gleeful smirk on his face as he spoke quietly into his phone.

"Mancini's here. I guess he smells blood." She was pleased to notice her voice sounded steady. She let the curtain fall back and turned to face the two men standing behind her. They were unusually quiet. As a matter of fact, they were both completely ignoring her. Probably because they were too busy giving each other dirty looks. Alicia thought it was a welcome relief after the day full of drama that had led them up to this moment.

Another relief was that Peter had followed her advice and hadn't shown up here like she had feared he would. She didn't need him here. This was her mess, and she was going to clean it up herself.

Crossing her arms, she looked from Eli to John, her gaze lingering on her campaign manager a little longer than it should. Her mind wanted to do a replay of their conversation at the debate, but she quickly shut it down. No time to delve into that now. No time to think about his feelings, or to dissect her own feelings. What feelings? There are no feelings, she reminded herself.

"So…" She uncrossed her arms and smoothed her skirt. "How do I look?" Again, there was no response. Okay, no more stalling. Time to throw herself to the lions.

"Alicia, don't do this. It's a bad idea," Eli said, his eyes pleading. John was staring at his shoes.

Alicia arched her eyebrows. "Thank you, Eli. You already told me that at least ten times today, so consider me duly warned. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a press statement to make." She looked back at John, who had lifted his head and was now looking at her with guarded eyes. He looked as tired as she felt. She felt like she should say something to him, but she didn't know what she could say. Not at this moment.

She shook her head and turned around. Squared her shoulders, hoping she looked composed and confident. She felt like throwing up, but she wouldn't. She could do this. She had to. It was past time for her to take back control over her life.

Straightening herself, Alicia walked past the curtains and onto the podium. Camera's began flashing immediately. Reporters shouted questions at her.

She ignored them all as she walked up to the microphone and waited for the crowd to settle into silence.

Tuesday, 8 am

Alicia woke to the sound of the TV in the living room. Grace must be watching the morning news, she thought as she stretched lazily. She was in no hurry to get up, since she had nowhere to be before one in the afternoon, when she would be meeting Owen for lunch. She wasn't needed in office until the partners meeting at three, and there were no court cases that demanded her immediate attention. She was gonna enjoy her rare morning off by taking a long shower and then catching up on the three episodes of Darkness at Noon she had missed.

The smell of fresh coffee hit her nose and she decided to go have a cup of coffee with her daughter before she hit the shower. They hadn't spent as much time together as Alicia would have liked lately, and Grace would be off to school in half an hour or so.

"Good morning!" she called out to Grace as she went into the kitchen to pour herself the coffee. There was no response from the living room, but she did hear a reporter saying her name on TV. They must be discussing last night's debate. Or maybe they were talking about the protests and wondering why she hadn't been out on the streets with either Prady or Peter. Alicia shook her head, deciding to switch off the news program as soon as she could get Grace to hand over the remote control. She was in no mood for politics this morning, she just wanted to relax a little.

Her phone began to vibrate. It was on the counter, right where she'd left it last night. As she reached for it, the doorbell rang and someone pounded on the door as well. "Never a dull moment," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she hurried to the door. "Hello?" she said into her phone.

Looking in as she passed the door to the living room, she saw her daughter staring at the TV, dressed in her school uniform, a shocked expression on her face. "Grace? What's wrong?" The doorbell rang again. And again. "Grace? Honey?"

"Alicia." John's voice spoke in her ear as the person on the other side of the door started pounding again. "Alicia?"

Grace kept staring at the TV.

"Yes John, I'm here. But can I call you back in a minute? There's… For God's sake, would you stop banging my door down already? I'm coming!"

"Are you watching the news?" John asked.

"What does it sound like I'm doing? Hold on..." She opened the door and jumped back immediately when Eli came striding in, his face reminiscent of a thunderstorm. "John, I'll call you back. Eli's having one of his meltdowns again," she said, rolling her eyes. "Good morning, Eli!" she called out after her husbands chief of staff, who was just walking into the living room.

"He's there already? Ah, hell… Listen, I'm on my way. I'll be there in... five minutes. Don't take any calls from reporters, okay?" John didn't wait for her reply before he broke the connection.

Alicia had no time to wonder what all the sudden fuss was about. As soon as she had put her phone in the pocket of her robe, Grace came marching from the living room, looking like she'd seen a ghost. "Grace? What's going on?" She put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, but Grace shook it off and walked right past her, out the front door. Alicia was shocked to see her eyes were glassy with tears. "Grace, wait..."

"Don't, mom. I don't want to talk about it now." Grace looked over her shoulder, her eyes pleading. "There's a test, so I can't be late for school."

"But, honey…"

"Just... watch the news, okay?" With that, Grace got in the elevator, leaving her mother confused and shaken and wondering how the morning could have gone to hell in the blink of an eye.

Sighing, Alicia went back inside, closed the door and walked straight back into her bedroom. Apparently there would be no long shower, but there was no way she was gonna face both Eli and John in nothing but a robe. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a red V-neck top from her closet and got dressed quickly.

Walking into the living room not four minutes later, Alicia found Eli staring at the TV, looking like he could explode any minute now. "Okay, go ahead, Eli. What's wrong?"

"Take a look at this remarkable footage of Alicia Florrick, recorded the day before yesterday…" came a news anchor's voice from the TV.

Uh-oh.

Alicia turned around and stared, knowing what was to come. Yup, there she was, walking through the parking garage, a big, happy smile on her face. And there was John, giving her a puzzled look. She watched herself walk right up to him, put a hand in his neck and smacking one on him. Saw John's arms came up around her waist reflexively...

Then the news anchor was back, pretending to fan himself as he smirked into the camera. "Wow, that was some kiss. And in case you hadn't noticed, that wasn't the Governor, folks... I wonder how this will affect Mrs. Florrick's position in the SA's race?"

The anchor kept babbling, but Alicia tuned him out as she sank down on the couch, her mind working overtime. How had they gotten that footage? Who had been filming them?

"Couldn't you at least have picked a place that doesn't have CCTV?" Eli spat, just as the doorbell rang to signal John's arrival.