Disclaimer: All recognizable For the People characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners including, but not limited to ABC and Shondaland. 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: Takes place during and after "Moral Suasion" (02x08). No Littlebell scenes is a travesty that must be remedied. I began this piece before scrolling through Tumblr and seeing the idea of Sandra being bothered by Jay and Seth, Jill and Roger being discussed as her actually wondering about potential pitfalls of being with Kate. My apologies to the various folks who were on to this before me. -dkc
Suasion
Suasion noun
sua· sion| \ ˈswā-zhən : the act of influencing or persuading
Ted sat across from her with an admonishing look. He had given her the file on the swatting and reminded her of who Jill is. Jill, mama bear to an entire office of young, underpaid federal public defenders, would never step aside and allow one of those defenders to come under attack by the United States attorney.
Roger made the choice to subpoena Sandra. Roger walked into her office with that subpoena. Jill was blindsided and furious. She had spoken to him personally. Sandra didn't see that part of this. Sandra only saw them on the street afterward. She couldn't know that his role as a federal prosecutor prevented their relationship from taking the next step. She couldn't know that Jill found the prosecutor part of him abhorrent.
This wasn't Jill's fault. Sandra did not sell out her client any more than she had sold her own soul. Jill understood this. Jill was angry on Sandra's behalf and her heart was heavy.
"Can I say something that's less about Jill and more about you?" Ted sat forward on his chair and placed a hand on the desk.
Sandra's wavy brown hair swayed as she tilted her head to look at him. She pursed her lips before ultimately nodding her approval.
"This isn't about Jill and Roger," Ted said as if that in itself explained everything.
"No, this is about my client going to prison for a crime I exposed. I did not protect him."
"That's not what I mean," his kind, calm voice induced Sandra to take a breath and listen. "You want it to be wrong for Jill and Roger to have a personal relationship. You want that to compromise their professional obligations."
Sandra furrowed her brow and leaned back into her chair.
"Why would I want that?" she bit back, her arms folding in a defensive manner.
"Because if Jill compromises her values and beliefs for Roger's sake and it affects her work, the relationship is a nonstarter. Or if neither compromises their values and it sabotages their relationship, either is doomed."
"And I repeat, why would I want that?" Sandra was losing patience.
The charming smile of the man in front of her made her angry. He couldn't possibly know what he was talking about.
"Sandra..." he softened his tone and held his hands out, palms toward her in a gesture of peace. "If two people like Roger and Jill—Jill who you believe to be a wise, devoted public servant—can't have a relationship without compromising their beliefs, then how could you?"
This served to make Sandra even more defensive. Ted found himself glad they were not in the boxing ring.
"I'm not in a—" he cut her off.
"No, but the thought crosses your mind. And you stop yourself. You don't want to be any less of a defender, any less of an equally wise, devoted defender, and you don't want to be that person whose principles are at risk because of how you feel about...her."
Ted's eyes smiled as he let the gravity of what he was saying sink in. He expected Sandra to counter with faux obliviousness regarding the person he might be referring to. She respected him too much for that. Instead she looked at her hands and felt the warmth on her cheeks. It hadn't been long since she had told Ted she did not want a distraction, implying she did not want to get involved with her colleague. She wasn't saying she didn't want any distraction, apparently. Even then she was entertaining the idea of something with someone else, even if she hadn't admitted as much to herself.
"Ted."
This was not a conversation she intended to have and Ted wouldn't have been on the list of the most likely suspects to have it with.
"Cut Jill some slack. And let yourself feel what you feel, Sandra."
He stood, smiled back at her and then left her office closing the door behind her. She let out an exasperated sigh. She looked at her cell phone and away toward the drawer where she had put the file on the swatting.
She reached for her phone, typed and hit send.
Bring your lunch to the park? it read.
Sandra Bell's impatience had not dissolved since Ted left. She wanted an immediate answer even though she understood the recipient must also be working. Ten minutes after she had hit send her phone dinged and she grabbed for it. She smiled when she noticed the sender.
Kate.
…
"I found out something about Jill and Roger that is eating at me," Sandra was between bites of her salad, sitting on a bench with the AUSA.
"Do I want to know what it is?" the blonde looked out the corner of her eye at the lawyer.
"They're involved."
"I know," Kate said nonchalantly.
"You know?" Sandra's voice raised and a man at a nearby bench looked up over his newspaper at her. She lowered her head toward Kate and continued: "How do you know? Why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't know it mattered," Kate answered.
"How did you find out?" the public defender wasn't letting it go.
"I saw the police report after the swatting."
"I saw it this morning," Sandra sighed. "Though I also saw them together on the street the other night."
She kept hearing Ted's words. They weren't all that different from what Kate was saying. Why did it matter?
"Seth said you asked Jay how he can live with him, how they be roommates and still face off in the Mother Court," Kate set her sandwich aside and turned her body slightly in the direction of the tawny brunette.
"You talked to Seth?" Sandra raised an eyebrow.
"He and I had coffee and a terribly awkward conversation with Judge Byrne."
Sandra smiled at this assuming that it was Kate who had behaved awkwardly not Seth. The thought of Kate trying to make Seth less awkward would have left her in giggles.
"Are you or Allison considering going to work for the prosecutor's office?" Kate's stomach hurt at the thought of never facing off with Sandra in court again. It was one of the highlights of her job. The FPD was fiery and challenging in ways that Kate valued.
Sandra chuckled at this and shook her head.
"Then why did you ask Jay about Seth? It obviously has something to do with Jill and Roger," Kate was now very curious about what the real issue was.
"Actually, no," Sandra's hazel eyes caught Kate's and she ducked in embarrassment.
Kate remained quiet. She would wait this out. Nothing she could ask would spur Sandra along. She would reveal whatever the issue was on her own timetable.
Covering her salad, Sandra took a deep breath and met Kate's eyes once again.
"It's about us?" Sandra posed it as a question, more for her own sake than Kate's.
"I don't understand."
Kate felt a surge of anticipation followed by hope. She tried to push both feelings aside as not to be disappointed by whatever it was Sandra would say.
"You and I, if we were ever to, I mean…" the public defender felt word salad coming. "If we became a something rather than a nothing, would our jobs interfere?"
Oh, Kate suddenly understood.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have," Sandra placed her salad container in her bag and appeared to be preparing to flee.
She was stopped by Kate's hand on her forearm.
"No, it wouldn't interfere. I am a professional. You are a professional."
Turning to once again look into flittering blue eyes, Sandra opened her mouth to speak and then stopped.
"What?" Kate asked.
"You surprise me, Kate Littlejohn," she smiled.
"Should I be offended that you are surprised by my professionalism?" Kate glared sardonically.
"You chose to point out our professionalism rather than comment on whether we are a nothing or could be a something," Kate was elbowed playfully in the ribs.
A cautious smile played on the prosecutor's lips.
"You do not have to persuade me to be a something," Kate stated.
Sandra Bell was known to be many things. She was a force of nature, a rarely contained ball of emotion and a person willing to leap whilst the rest of the world waded into the mysterious waters. If Kate didn't need persuading, Sandra certainly didn't. Not after her conversation with Ted. Not after she realized what it was that had her so hung up on Jay and Seth, Jill and Roger. She had been trying to convince herself that it was a terrible idea to be interested in Kate when, in fact, if Kate didn't find it a terrible idea, it couldn't possibly be. Kate Littlejohn was also many things. She was a calculator of all risk, averse to the emotions that could stand in the way of attaining justice and strategic to the point that she knew which items she would place on the table in which order when eating her cereal in the morning. There is no way Kate hadn't weighed pros and cons, careful to set aside desire for potential outcomes. If Kate had considered this, it couldn't be a terrible idea by definition.
Something remarkable happened on that park bench—Sandra kissed Kate. She did not try to convince Kate of anything. She wasn't tracing her bottom lip out of the type of courtesy you grant someone as they decide for themselves if this is something they want. No, Kate already knew. She didn't hold back her hand when she felt the urge to frame Kate's face with it, brushing back the blonde segments that had fallen in the prosecutor's face. Kate didn't need to come around to the idea that this very intimate moment could be shared in public. And when Sandra slipped her tongue past Kate's swollen lips, she never stopped to persuade Kate of anything. Kate was all in.
The phone in Sandra's purse chimed, ignored only until Kate's phone also sounded. The kiss ceased for now, it would eventually resume like the best conversations that have no known end.
"Judge Byrne—" Sandra started only to have Kate finish, "would like to see all of us."
"This is unusual," Kate spoke, though her eyes were still on Sandra and it was unclear if she was speaking about the judge or the way she was feeling in the wake of their kiss.
"Allison says it has something to do with the importance of juries in the 'determination of truth and justice.'"
This made Kate smile. Jury duty in state court must have left some mark on the esteemed federal judge.
"Shall we?" she asked the younger woman.
There was a double meaning in the question, one that made Sandra nervous yet happy. She knew her answer long before the question had even been asked.
"We shall."
-Finis-