Disclaimer: All recognizable The Good Wife characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners including, but not limited to CBS. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fan fiction story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No financial gain is associated with the publishing of this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: What if in "Nine Hours" (3x09) Alicia was having a sex dream about Kalinda and not Will in the opening scene? What if there were missing scenes during the episode between the two, particularly in Alicia's bedroom, that we didn't see? Let me dream. -dkc

Nine Long Hours

The day began with the phone call from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals; that cryptic call asking if Alicia would be filing an addendum to the brief on Carter Wright.

No, the day began with Alicia writhing in her bed. Her empty bed, mind you. Images of Kalinda on top of her, their bodies doing naughty things to one another, flooded her subconscious as she startled awake and found herself sweating with nothing but a pillow to hold on to.

After the court called, Alicia's first thought was to call Kalinda. She began dialing the number, but couldn't calm her own nerves. The thought of Kalinda's naked body against her own made her hands shake. Instead she called Will and told him about the mysterious call from the court. Little did Alicia know Will's response would be to send the one and only Kalinda Sharma to her apartment.

Alicia tried desperately to not seem rattled when Kalinda arrived. Damn Peter for needing the house and forcing Alicia to conduct business in her own bedroom. She held tight to her coffee cup as she spoke to Diane on speakerphone. She kept her distance from the attractive investigator and kept her eyes from drifting to the place in the bed where she had woken sweaty, wet and frustratingly aroused that morning.

Kalinda stepped closer to the seated lawyer as Alicia grew hesitant about what she would now have to do. She picked up the phone to dial the court, losing her resolve for a moment, something Ms. Sharma took to mean she was nervous about making the call not that she was nervous about the investigator's close proximity.

"You're okay," Kalinda reassured her.

No, Alicia was certainly not okay. The phone call would be the distraction she needed to prevent her from focusing on the fact that here was Kalinda Sharma in the very bedroom where Alicia had had a sex dream about her hours before.

Dialing the number, Alicia tipped her head and the phone toward Kalinda, a brave move for a woman who had clearly lost control of her own attraction to this woman. She could smell Kalinda's subtle perfume. Alicia's heart fluttered for a moment when Kalinda put her hand over the phone.

Nine hours. They had nine hours to file an addendum that might save the life of Carter Wright. And in those nine hours Alicia would have to keep her mind and body in check when it came to Kalinda.

One might prove much easier than the other.

As Lockhart-Gardner got their marching orders at the office, Kalinda and Alicia remained near Alicia's home phone and thus in her bedroom.

Eventually Alicia relaxed a bit and began to focus solely on the case. That is until Zach came to use the one working bathroom and ogled an oblivious Kalinda in the process. Alicia rolled her eyes at this. Like mother like son? She couldn't believe this was happening.

Cary might not be willing to help Alicia, but Alicia was certain Cary would help Kalinda. If Kalinda used her sexuality there was no question she would be able to get Cary to do whatever she asked. Alicia excused herself from the bedroom to avoid listening to their conversation.

When the brunette returned to her bedroom, she stalled in the doorway as she noticed Kalinda's legs. Sitting in the chair, her legs crossed, Kalinda was a sight. Alicia's eyes followed the long lines up to the short skirt. She was startled out of her trance by a small noise from Kalinda. Alicia blushed when her eyes met the woman before her. She was caught.

"Alicia?" Kalinda's voice broke the awkward silence between them.

Shaking her head and making her way to the foot of the bed, Alicia sat across from Kalinda.

"Alicia," Kalinda tried again, unable to catch the lawyer's eye.

"Don't, it's nothing," Alicia said.

Standing from her spot on the chair and making her way to sit next to the lawyer, Kalinda noticed Alicia bristle at the move.

"In my experience, when people say something is nothing it rarely is nothing," Kalinda's voice was low, purposely sultry.

"Kalinda," Alicia's voice cracked.

Placing a steady hand on Alicia's closest knee, Kalinda was surprised to see the brunette's eyes meet hers. There was turmoil in Alicia's eyes and a touch of something else. Desire? No, it wasn't the same look she'd seen when she caught Alicia appreciating her bare legs.

The phone ringing caused both women to jump, Alicia immediately putting some space between them. It was Will and, yes, Cary. Kalinda's ways were apparently successful.

They once again had something to focus on. Whatever was happening or about to happen there at the foot of Alicia's bed was over now. For now, perhaps.

Once Will called, the two women went to work tracking down the arson expert. Alicia splayed the files on her bed, making herself comfortable there. Kalinda, aware of the way Alicia was putting distance between them, knelt on the floor, using the bed for her own files.

"What?" Kalinda asked after the sigh from Alicia when they got off the phone.

"I think I need to take a breath," the lawyer said as she pressed her hands to her face.

"You know, you've been different lately," Kalinda said.

"I've been different?" There was a tone to Alicia's voice that suggested she was either hiding something, not convinced or both.

"Yeah."

"It's prob…" Alicia stopped herself. "One second."

Kalinda watched with confusion as Alicia got up and left the bedroom. Kalinda made herself comfortable on the bed and was there when Alicia returned with two bottles of beer. She took the outstretched bottle, thanked Alicia and watched curiously as Alicia climbed onto the bed and actually sat next to her.

"Life's been playing tricks on me lately," Alicia said as she sat cross-legged next to Kalinda. "And I think it's best not to take it seriously."

Alicia took a swig of her beer as Kalinda collected her thoughts.

"Is this about work or is this about Will?" Kalinda asked.

For a moment there was a reaction on Alicia's face that even the investigator couldn't quite read. She thought it might be the lawyer dismissing the idea of she and Will. Or was she scoffing at Kalinda not addressing the underlying and quite obvious tension between the two women?

"There's a man sitting somewhere seventy-five miles from here. He knows that in nine hours he'll be dead. I can't get my head around that," she said, shaking her head and not making eye contact with her friend.

There was a moment of quiet until Alicia looked over at Kalinda and Kalinda looked back.

"What does Blake have on you?" she pointedly asked.

"Have on me? I don't think he has anything on me," Kalinda shrugged it off. She knew he had something on her, but she was not about to let Alicia be hurt by it.

Kalinda took a drink of her beer, signaling the end of that line of questioning. Alicia shook her head in annoyance.

"Okay, I'm going to drink," she gave.

Kalinda smiled and watched Alicia as she did exactly that. She could have let it go, but she felt a responsibility in this moment to be honest with Alicia.

"I didn't like my life before, so I changed it."

"You changed it?" the lawyer was intrigued.

Kalinda nodded.

"How did you change it?" she asked.

"In ways that Blake is trying to use against me," Kalinda vaguely answered.

"Are you in trouble?" Alicia asked with concern plastered on her face.

"No."

"Were you in trouble?" Alicia tried another way.

"No," a reflective voice answered.

"It's just that when someone changes their life, it's because they're usually in trouble."

"You changed your life," Kalinda's quiet voice stated.

Alicia laughed at this right as the phone rang.

The urgency of Kalinda's getting to O'Hare broke up the serious nature of their conversation. They discussed her getting a ticket and she made her way off and around the foot of the bed before stopping to look back at Alicia.

"Good talking to you," Kalinda smirked in that charming way that could get to Alicia like nothing else.

A rush of something made its way through Alicia, but she didn't have time to identify what it was before she heard Zach's voice speaking to the leaving Kalinda. The lawyer once again rolled her eyes and fell back into the pillows, running her hands through her hair as she contemplated what the hell that conversation had been about.

"What happened while I was gone?" Kalinda asked as she entered Alicia's bedroom.

"Let's see," Alicia smiled. "Jackie caught Grace praying. Peter wouldn't say that I'd forgiven him and that our marriage is none of the business of the voters."

Kalinda cringed at the mention of Peter. She was, however, somewhat pleased to hear that Alicia hadn't forgiven Peter. Peter didn't deserve her forgiveness. On the other hand, someday Kalinda might need Alicia's forgiveness and could only hope the lawyer would be able to give it.

"Look, you get back to your life. I'll wait," Kalinda took her jacket off, offering.

"No, this is my life," she pointed to the files all over the bed.

When the phone rang, Alicia was surprised to hear the clerk's voice. She was even more surprised to hear him say he had the judge on the line with a question. As she attempted to make her position in the firm known for the judge, Kalinda stopped her. Kalinda was often annoyed with Alicia Florick selling herself short, no more so than in this moment.

They both spoke into different phones, Alicia with the judge, Kalinda with Will. When Alicia was asked the heavy question of Carter's innocence, Kalinda found herself drawn to the lawyer even more. She clicked off the phone she held in her hand, leaving Will in the dark. Her eyes never left the lawyer.

"…So much of what we do is uncertain, your honor. So much of my day is working between right and wrong. But this has to be right. To do this to a man, it has to be right," Alicia was joked up and attempting to hide her tears from the investigator watching her closely.

As she hung up the phone, Alicia kept her face turned from Kalinda. She was ashamed of how emotional she was being.

"You did good," Kalinda whispered.

Alicia shook her head.

"You did good," Kalinda leaned in. "Trust me."

Alicia still had not looked up at Kalinda. She still had not gained control of her emotions.

"Alicia," came the soft, small voice beside her.

Kalinda reached out a hand and placed it on Alicia's shoulder.

The brunette turned, placing her own hand over Kalinda's. When their eyes met, Alicia was quickly lost in the investigator's dark eyes.

"Kalinda," Alicia's voice was a warning.

Despite the tone, Alicia's eyes told another story. They were battling an inferno of emotion. Kalinda leaned down and felt Alicia leaning forward to meet her advance. Their lips met and breathy moans exited both women as lips parted.

"Is this why you've been different?" Kalinda hummed.

"It isn't Will," Alicia smirked.

The investigator's lips were once again on the lawyer's, this time a subtle push and pull as they challenged one another for control. The battle won by Alicia, she pressed her tongue past thin lips and swiped the roof of Kalinda's mouth. It was the most erotic kiss the quite experienced woman had ever had and here she was receiving it from the unlikely Alicia.

"Oh god," Alicia groaned when they once again parted. "My kids are just outside that door. They could come in to use the bathroom."

This made the investigator take a step back. The last thing she wanted to do was cause Alicia trouble.

"No, I…" Alicia stood from the bed and pulled Kalinda toward her.

She pressed her lips softly to Kalinda's, an offer of understanding more than anything. She didn't want Kalinda to think she was pushing her away because of the kids or anything else.

"Alicia," Kalinda breathed. "You're right."

Nodding toward the door, the investigator tilted her head to the side. She wanted so much more, but if all she would ever have of Alicia were the few kisses they shared in this bedroom after saving a man from execution, she would savor this.

"What do you want?" she asked the woman before her whose lips and courage astounded her.

"Not here," Alicia responded, running a hand through her hair rather than reaching out for Kalinda and not being able to control what happened next.

"The question or the answer?" came the curious response.

At this Alicia smiled that raw, sexy smile that she rarely showed anyone, much less the woman she had tried to hide her feelings from over time at Lockhart-Gardner. One smile and Kalinda melted. She tried to keep up a mysterious demeanor, but her desire for the lawyer was written in her dark features.

"Come over," it wasn't a question—she was offering.

At this the reality of what was happening set in and Alicia balked. Before she had the time to think any further about the consequences of what Kalinda was offering, the investigator's lips brushed her own. Kalinda's hands tangled in brunette locks before her pointed tongue parted the lawyer's lush lips. Slipping into the warmth of Alicia's mouth, Kalinda used her tongue to distract the lawyer as she pulled their bodies flush against one another. Her hips burned where Alicia's hands grabbed them.

"God," Alicia moaned as the kiss was broken.

"Come over whenever. It doesn't have to be right now," Kalinda said.

"Okay," Alicia responded, a smile on her face she couldn't stifle.

"I'm going to go," Kalinda said.

Alicia watched the investigator gather her things and move to the bedroom door. She laughed when Kalinda winked at her before exiting. She let out a deep, throaty laugh when she heard the awkwardly flirtatious voice of her son saying goodbye to Kalinda.

-finis-