You Should Have Stayed

Kate. Jake. A one night stand and a misunderstanding. One-shot for now. Its been ages since I've written anything and I haven't gotten used to writing these two yet. Reviews are loved.

Warnings: rated for swearing and mild sexual content.

Kate awoke to a pounding in her head and a dull ache behind her eyes. The watery early morning sunlight still seemed too bright as it penetrated through her bedroom curtains. There was a glass of water on her bedside table; a glass of water she couldn't remember getting. She had drunk a lot the night before but she didn't think she could have climbed out of bed, walked to the kitchen, filled a glass with water and gone back to sleep without remembering. The water was still cool and tasted fresh, even in her parched and dry mouth, telling her that it had not been placed there very long ago.

She flopped back down onto the pillow, wincing as the pain in her head intensified and pulled the covers back over head. It was then, and only then, that Kate realised that she was naked.

Forcing herself into a sitting position and wrapping the bed-clothes tightly around her, she listened for any signs of life coming from her apartment.

"Hello?" She called, but even after she attempts no one replied. She was a lawyer not a cop, but she was still sure that no one had ever broken into someone's home and left them a glass of water before.

Convinced that she was alone, Kate slowly climbed out of bed and threw on her dressing gown. She was due at the office in less than an hour and a half, and she knew she was going to need a lot of coffee to get through the day.

As she walked back into the bedroom after her shower, a towel wrapped around her body and a smaller one around her damp hair, she saw something sticking out of the top of her small rubbish bin.

"Oh, shit" she muttered to herself, pushing the empty condom wrapper underneath some make-up wipes.

When Kate arrived at work, only a minute late even though the tube had been packed and her only clean pair of tights had been laddered, Jacob Thorne looked annoying calm and professional. Kate pushed her short curly back from her face and tried not to scowl at him. If they were going to get any work done today, she had to push aside any personal feelings and concentrate on their professional relationship.

Jake could almost feel Kate changing toward him in that moment. He would take his lead from her, the same way that he always did. If she wanted to focus on work today then that was they would do.

"Um Kate," he said as she led the way into their shared office. "You know you've got a ladder down the back of your tights, don't you?"

She glared at him, wishing not for the first time that the CPS would allow them separate offices.

By lunchtime, Kate's professional attitude towards him was beginning to irritate Jake. Her tone was cold and clipped when she spoke to him, though they had made a lot of progress on both of the cases they were currently working on. She refused his offer to having lunch together and left her eating a sandwich at her desk. A walk and some fresh air might help him to get through the afternoon.

Alone in the office, Kate flung her empty sandwich container in the bin and tried not to swear aloud when it missed by miles. Henry didn't like swearing in the office, but it wasn't Kate's fault that he had hired someone like Jake who infuriated her so much. She would have to find some way of working with him without wanting to kill him though.

Although he knew that he would be rejected, Jake still asked Kate if she wanted to go for a drink with him after work.

She laughed, shaking her hair back from her face. "You serious? Do you think that's a good idea after last time?"

"Nobody asked you to drink the bar dry, Kate."

"No, but it explains my behaviour for the rest of the night, what's your excuse?"

Jake had missed the moment where their playful banter had escalated into an argument, but then he quite often did. He could be in complete control in the courtroom, but with Kate it was completely different, he never knew what the right thing to say or do was.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this here?" He suggested, wary of the fact that their colleagues could most likely hear their conversation.

"It's fine, forget it." Kate sighed, her head was beginning to pound again and she wondered if it was more a reaction to Jake than the alcohol she had consumed the night before.

"I don't want to forget it, Kate."

They went back into their office and Kate shut the door, leaning against it for the support.

"If you don't want to forget it," she said, picking up the thread of their conversation. "Why did you run out on me without a word this morning?"

"I didn't think you would want to wake up and find me there, especially if you thought what happened was a mistake. I did try to talk to you, to tell you I was leaving but I think you were comatose at the time."

Kate tried her hardest not to smile at that, her front teeth cutting into her lip with the effort.

"It wasn't a mistake; well I didn't think it was until I woke up to find you gone."

"I'm sorry; maybe I should have left you a note or something."

"You should have stayed," she told him, moving away from the door to step further into the office. Jake met her halfway, pulling her into his arms as soon as they were within touching distance.

When Kate awoke the next morning in a grey t-shirt that reached the tops of her thighs, there was no headache and a mug of still hot coffee sat on her bedside table. She sat up, blowing across the hot liquid and smiled. After a few sips she climbed out of bed and walked to the kitchen where Jake was scrambling eggs in a pan. She came up behind up and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back.

"You stayed."