It was contrary to popular belief that Cary Agos had a crush on Kalinda Sharmar. He enjoyed flirting with her; which man wouldn't? She loved it just as much as he did. But things had changed between both of them. Cary had left Lockhart & Gardner to form his own firm with Alicia, and he knew who he could trust and who he could not trust. He had trusted Kalinda since the very beginning, and she had not ratted out on him. She had kept his leaving secret.

He thanked her for that, but not for anything else.

But Cary wanted another way to test Kalinda, and he knew just what that would be.

And Kalinda was pissed off with him for doing it, but impressed at the same time. She had met him for a drink and he had set her up in the bar. He had sent a text to himself, pretending to be a client who was not happy at Lockhart & Gardner. And Kalinda had read the text. She had gone into his phone and falling for the trap.

So that was now how she found herself stood outside of his apartment door, knocking on it lightly with her curled fist. She waited patiently, adjusting the pink mac which covered her body. It was only when the door opened that she received a sight she didn't think she would see.

"Oh, can I help you?"

Kalinda did her best to remember where she had seen this girl's face before. Had she seen her before or was she at the wrong apartment? But Kalinda never got things wrong...well...not often..."

"Yeah, I was looking for Cary Agos," Kalinda spoke. "I thought that he lived here. I could have gotten the-"

"-Oh no, Cary is in. He's just cooking at the moment. Give me a moment and I'll go and fetch him."

She left the door open slightly and shouted for Cary, wandering further into the apartment whilst Kalinda stood by the door. It took a few more moments before Cary appeared at the doorway, one arm moving up to hold the frame and the other resting by his side. He looked different in comparison to normal. A black shirt covered his tell frame and he wore jeans in comparison to trousers, black socks on his feet and a laidback expression on his face.

"You figured it out?" he guessed and Kalinda nodded.

"You played it very well," she admitted. "Texting yourself that a client was unhappy because you knew that I would look."

"I didn't know," Cary responded. "I had a hunch and it turned out to be right. You're Will's detective through and through."

"And the charges you made up about him?" Kalinda wondered. "Did Robin plant those?"

"Who else?" Cary responded. "I would apologise, but I needed to know who I could trust...and you're not that person."

"Who's the girl?" Kalinda finally asked.

She had been unable to stop herself. She knew that Cary was probably thinking that it made her jealous. And it probably did, but she had a right to know who she was after their history together.

"I'm surprised you don't know," Cary muttered so that the brunette in the kitchen couldn't hear them. "She used to work with me before I left."

"She's not a lawyer," Kalinda confidently replied and Cary's lips quirked, knowing that he could get a rise from her if he so wished. But did he want that? Did he want to see Kalinda annoyed with him?

"She was mine and Alicia's PA during our first year," Cary replied. "I left and never saw her, but now she works for Florrick Agos."

"You've been screwing your PA," Kalinda rocked back and forth on her heels with her hands in her pockets, her eyes looking over Cary's shoulder to see if she could catch a glimpse of the girl again. She could scarcely remember what she looked like. Was she attractive enough for the great Cary Agos? Kalinda remembered Cary in his first year. She remembered how he only went for attractive women, but Cary had grown up. He had changed.

"Dating," Cary replied, "for four months."

"Must be love," Kalinda responded, rolling her eyes to the ceiling as Cary narrowed his.

"Why are you here, Kalinda?" he wondered.

"I wanted to see if you fancied a drink, but you're too busy playing househusband," she nodded back into the apartment and Cary leant his side against the door frame, the black door hitting his hip as he folded his arms over his chest and continued to stare at the woman in front of him.

"Did you think that I would wait?" Cary whispered to her.

"For what?" Kalinda replied, cocking a brow as she folded one ankle over the other and kept her arms in front of her stomach. "There was never anything between us, Cary. You know that."

"There was something," Cary responded. "You know that as well as I."

"Not now," Kalinda spoke. "You're too busy with your new PA."

"I couldn't wait around for you," Cary shook his head. "Any attraction I had to you...I knew it would never get me anywhere. I knew that I could never settle down with someone like you, Kalinda. You're too free for your own good."

"You're a lawyer," Kalinda spoke. "Do lawyers ever settle down?"

"Alicia did," Cary shrugged. "And I want that someday, but I don't want to wait for you anymore."

Kalinda shook her head. "I never knew that waiting for me was an option? I never thought that there was anything going on between us."

Sighing, Cary shook his head as he heard his name called from the kitchen. His eyes met Kalinda's eyes once more, the longing seemingly gone from them. Every time they were close he could have sworn he felt something with her. He could have sworn that there was something there, but they never really acted on it. They never really acted on any of their impulses. And now they wouldn't.

"Then we have both been kidding ourselves," Cary shrugged to her and inclined his head. "I should get going. Emma is an even worse cook than I am."

Kalinda could see he was failing to bring a smile to her face as she turned on her heel and left him alone. There was something inside of her stomach which churned at the thought of him returning back to a stove to cook homemade stew with his pretty little PA. She never thought that Cary would be one to settle down. She never thought that he would find a girl to hold his interest for long enough.

It seemed as though she was wrong on both accounts.

Cary closed and locked the apartment door again, traipsing through the apartment's corridor until he came to the open planned living area. Emma was still stood at the stove, frying the vegetables with the noodles. Her tight fitting grey dress covered her to her knees, her tight covered legs remained planted on the floor until her foot ran up the back of her thigh and Cary stood behind her.

He dropped one hand to her hip, startling her slightly as he reached around her body for his glass of wine he had left at the side of the stove.

"What was all that about?" Emma asked.

But Cary knew that there was a suspicious tone to her voice. He had interrogated plenty of people to know when they held a suspicious tone, and Emma was doing just that. He shook his head and gulped down the white wine, resting the glass back where he had picked it up. She continued to stir the vegetables, the smell of the stir fry causing her stomach to whine in hunger.

"Nothing," Cary lied. "Kalinda lost a client to us today. She wanted to know how I managed to play her."

Nodding, Emma kept silent, her brown curly hair creating a curtain between the pair of them. Cary knew that silence would never satisfy her curiosity. He knew that he had to do more to make him believe her. Of course it would prove difficult to do that.

"What's wrong?" Cary finally dared to ask.

"It's just that...well..." Emma sighed and turned the hob off, moving the wok from the hot ring to the back of the stove as she turned around to look Cary in the eye, her green orbs wide and full of apprehension. "Everyone at Lockhart Gardner used to known about you two. They saw how you looked at Kalinda...I was your PA for God's sake, and I knew. Whenever she entered the room you would stop laughing with me and turn your attention to her."

Cary groaned and captured Emma by the waist, holding her tightly as she kept her arms firmly by her sides.

"That was five years ago," Cary spoke. "It was before I moved to the DA's office."

"You still did it when you came back, Cary," Emma informed him. "I may have been another lawyer's PA but I saw it. I don't know...I just wonder when you truly started to notice me. When did that happen?"

"Do you honestly want to know?" Cary wondered.

He could remember it very well himself. He remembered how his father had come to call in Chicago. He remembered how he had wanted to do nothing but use Cary for his own personal gains.

"It was that night you had stayed late and I had rowed with my father," Cary confessed. "You walked by my office and saw me kick him out...but you came back. You walked by and you came back to me. You knocked on the glass door and put your head around the door, asking if I needed anything. I sat there all night and told you things I had never told anyone else...but you listened to me. You listened to me and no one has ever done that before. Not my father...not Will...Diane...Alicia...they all care about work, but they don't care about your personal life."

Gulping, Emma recalled the night pretty well. They had sat up until two in the morning and then Cary had taken her home. She had insisted on walking, but there was some gentlemanly behaviour in Cary. He had practically demanded her to get in his car and he had not taken no for an answer.

"It was that night when I looked at you differently," Cary whispered. "So you have nothing to fear. Kalinda is no threat to you."

"But she...people still gossip...no one knows about us and people still assume you are with her. I sometimes wonder if that's what you are waiting for; for her to come running back and claiming that she does want to be with you."

"She wouldn't."

"But if she did?"

Cary took a deep breath and sighed then. He shook his head and bent down to tilt Emma's head to look him in the eye. How could he destroy the hope which sat there? How could he ruin her? He would be foolish to throw away a girl who cared for him as much as she did for a risk of adventure.

"I would say no," Cary promised her. "If you want to make this relationship public than all we have to do is walk into the office together."

"You would do that?" Emma worried and Cary nodded, a smile creasing his face and causing dimples to form in his cheeks.

"It doesn't matter what people have to say, but we should be able to prove them wrong. You're the one here and not Kalinda. Don't be jealous of her," Cary urged and drew her tightly to him. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she closed her eyes, clinging tightly onto him.

There were some times when safety as a lawyer was worth much more than taking a risk. This was definitely one of those times.

...

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this one shot. Basically, I love Kalinda/Cary moments, but I don't genuinely think that could ever work together. I love Kalinda being a strong independent woman, but I love the thought of Cary finding someone to love him. So voila! Hope you enjoyed!