It had been a bad day. A really bad day. The case was slipping away from her and she knew why. It wasn't the witness that Cary had somehow unearthed and that Kalinda had no good explanation for missing. It wasn't the fact that her client sucked on the witness stand and gained absolutely no sympathy from the jury. It wasn't even because her client was as guilty as sin. No, she sighed and looked down the hallway towards the dim light of the corner office, she knew exactly why she was losing this case.

Alicia rubbed her eyes and stretched her long legs under her desk. She needed to focus. She needed to scrub her mind clean, think only of the case and the last 2 days in court. She needed to find a shred of something to work with, something to hang her diminishing defence on. She flipped to the cover of her yellow legal pad and started reading her notes from the trial. Again.

Unaware of how much time had passed, she looked up from her notes when she found herself squinting in the low light. God she was tired and her eyes hurt but she had seen something. A note from halfway through day 1. How the fuck had she missed this? She dialled Kalinda but got voicemail. Irritated she hung up the phone, determined to go and locate her at the obvious place, the bar over the road. She knew she'd be there because that's where they always used to go. Before. When they were friends that did things like that.

Distracted by the excitement and hope for the case swelling in her belly, she grabbed her keys and spun out of her office.

She felt it before she saw it. Felt the burning of his eyes on her skin, felt her nerve endings tingle, felt his presence so close to her. She looked up and he was standing right in front of her, their faces almost touching. She must have been a nano second from walking straight into him. A million thoughts flashed through her mind but none stuck as the feeling of his presence started to fog her.

What was he doing outside her office? As the seconds ticked by, the fog cleared a little. She knew she should speak, knew she should make some little joke about nearly bumping into him but as she lifted her eyes to meet his, the words stuck in her throat. His eyes, good God his eyes. She could literally drown in them, she actually felt like she was. Her pulse quickened, her legs weakened. This was the problem, she had an actual physical reaction to him. Every single time she looked at him. How can a person do that to another person? She had never experienced it before him. Before that kiss in his office. Now every meeting made her heart race, her limbs weak, her breathing quicken. How was she supposed to keep burying it? Keep pretending? It was getting harder and harder.

"Alicia?". He spoke. It saved her from drowning. Brought her back to reality and she managed to form a smile. "Sorry Will, I wasn't looking. I found something. It could make the case for us, I need to find Kalinda." And she took off, looking back once to see an amused look on his face, his eyes lit up and she bit the inside of her mouth to take the focus away from his face.

She pressed the button for the elevator, she planned on walking over to the bar even though it was cold as hell tonight and starting to snow, it would be quicker than trying to park. As she waited for the doors to open she heard him call her name.

"Alicia, wait up." And there he was, standing next to her again. "Kalinda just called me, she's out of town investigating something for me, she says she'll call you when she's through".

"Damn it. I really need her on this Will, she's dropped the ball already and I need her focussed for me, we're losing this thing".

"I know and she is on it but something urgent came up and I needed her to go do something for me. It's a personal thing. She'll be back later tonight"

She took a breath and looked at him. Really looked at him. He seemed worried, she saw a few lines around his eyes that are new. She reaches out and touches his arm instinctively and a jolt of something unexplainable hits her. He felt it too and they stay like that for a long moment, just looking at each other.

"Do you fancy a beer?". Will broke the spell and all she could do was nod and follow him.