So This Is Love
Summary: Tracey's always been able to keep her personal feelings out of the courtroom…That is before she met her new partner. Takes place a couple years Pre-Trial By Jury. Response to "Questions" challenge on TBJ:Ladies Livejournal forum.
Pairing: eventually Tracey/Kelly, mentions of past Tracey/Alex Cabot
Disclaimer: I do not own these fabulous characters. I wish I could, but I don't, so I mention this.
Word Count: 2,725
Kelly. Kelly Gaffney. That was the name of her partner. Why she needed one was beyond her, but according to District Attorney Arthur Branch, this girl, or technically woman, was highly recommended. She would be a valuable asset to both Tracey and the DA's office as a whole.
This woman, whoever she was, was not supposed to meet her for another half hour. Perfect. That should give her enough time to leave the office, go the coffee shop, stand in the long morning lines, and get a decent cup of coffee. If she was going to have to entertain the thought of someone else barging in on her job, then she would need more caffeine.
She did a mental scan of her desk before picking up her coat. It was not terribly messy. A couple papers were lying about, but she could fix it once she returned. She began slipping her coat on, but a faint knocking sound caught her attention. Tracey glanced over at the door and met her visitor with an icy cold stare.
"Tracey, this isn't personal," Arthur Branch told her. He came prepared. In his left hand, he had two bags of donuts as well as a small box of assorted donut holes. In his right hand, he had a tray filled with two disposable coffee cups. "I think you know very well that if it was something about your performance, then I would come right out and tell you."
"Then what is it?" Tracey asked. Her arms were folded across her petite body, and she leaned against the back of her chair. She refused to acknowledge that her boss had brought the one thing she desired most at the moment. It was obviously another bribe. "I've been in homicide for over ten years, and I've made it this far on my own. Why the sudden rush to pair me up with someone?"
"I said it's not you," Branch told her. He offered one of the coffee cups to her, but Tracey politely declined.
"I'm not taking any deals with the devil," she retorted.
"You choice, but that coffee's going to get cold before Gaffney gets here," Branch pointed out. He then placed the coffee cup on the desk between him and Tracey. A moment later, the cup was in his ADA's hands. "Do you still think I'm the devil?" he asked.
"Depends on why exactly you feel I need another ADA with me," Tracey told him seriously. "You're still avoiding that topic."
"It's more for her sake," Branch explained as he pulled up the seat across from Tracey's desk. "And if it's really that bad, it does not have to be permanent."
Tracey's expression wrinkled into a frown. "So you're telling me I'm with a rookie? You made it seem like she would be valuable to our office."
"And she will be," Branch assured Tracey. "I'm not saying that she's invaluable. The more correct term would be inexperienced with these kinds of cases. City homicides."
Tracey still looked unconvinced.
"You will be thanking me in the long run," he told her.
"But what's she like?" Tracey asked. She glanced at the clock in the upper right hand corner of her computer. "I'm meeting her here in my office in about fifteen minutes. I can't go in only knowing her name."
Branch exhaled as he stood up. "You want to know my first impression of her?" he asked. Tracey nodded slightly. "She reminded me of you when you first started working here."
Less than ten minutes later, Tracey's coffee cup was almost empty. The donuts were still there. Tracey was saving those for when Kelly arrived. As long as she was not paying for them, she was a happy girl. She was unsure of how exactly she would integrate Kelly into the system. She already had her own system, and it worked for her. She was used to doing things her own way. No one ever messed with that before.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a small, timid knocking at the door. Tracey glanced up at the doorway and saw a woman standing there. Younger. Tracey placed her age at mid thirties at most. Tracey pushed her desk chair away from the desk and stood up. "Kelly Gaffney, I presume?" she asked.
The other woman nodded and placed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. It was a better look for her face, Tracey decided. The rest of her body was not bad looking either. She was slender and professionally dressed in a gray skirt with a matching suit jacket. Her outfit almost made Tracey feel like she was the less professional one.
"Good," Kelly finally said with relief. "I was so worried I would come into the wrong office. They all kind of look similar at first." She smiled a white, toothpaste-ad-type smile at Tracey as she stepped into Tracey's office. She looked at the older ADA with a moment of confusion and gestured at the door.
Tracey shrugged. "You can close it. Doesn't really matter," she admitted. She gestured at the seat formerly occupied by Branch. "Take a seat," she welcomed. "And a donut," she added with a hand movement towards the unopened bags of Krispy Kreme goodness. "And I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm-"
"Tracey Kibre, I know," Kelly supplied the name. She extended her right hand for Tracey to shake.
"Right," Tracey said as she eyed the new woman suspiciously. Although she was slightly confused, she did shake the other woman's hand. It would be rude to leave her hanging there after all. "Um, so other than my name, I don't know how much you know about what I actually do here," Tracey began.
"What we do," Kelly corrected with a raised, challenging eyebrow at Tracey. "I apologize if that sounded cocky, but I'm just excited."
"About homicide?" Tracey asked in disbelief.
Kelly shrugged. "It's better than those SVU cases. I don't think I could handle those."
"True," Tracey noted. "I don't know how Alex deals with it."
"Alex?" Kelly questioned.
"Alexandra Cabot, the Special Victims ADA," Tracey supplied the name. "Don't worry. I don't expect you to remember her. At least not for a while." She looked at Kelly. The other woman had eaten one of the donuts. She did not look like she was going to eat another in the near future. "Judging from when you feel ready to jump into things, I will be expecting you to remember other names though," Tracey warned.
Kelly nodded. "I'm ready," she declared firmly. "Throw it at me. Give me something to do. A witness to find. An alibi to verify. A motion to file. Anything."
Tracey chuckled. Branch was right about this woman. Tracey could not put her finger on exactly what it was, but there was definitely something about her that caused Tracey to believe without reasonable doubt that Kelly would be around for a long time. "Well, almost all those things are Hector's job. That's Hector Salazar, our DA investigator, a name you will have to remember. It's easier when there's a face, and his isn't bad, I guess."
"So what can I do?" Kelly asked. "I'm not just going to sit around all day and twiddle my thumbs."
"I would never have you do that," Tracey promised. "Well, I have an arraignment in about ninety minutes. Ever prepared one of those?"
"How do you plead?" the judge asked in a bored tone of voice. This was his last case before lunch. It was an early lunch, but it was still a lunch. It was something to his advantage, and he did not want to waste any more of his time in this courtroom on cases like this.
The defendant, JT Hopkin, glanced at his lawyer with a look of disbelief on his face. "Not guilty," he said clearly. "Duh."
"With all due respect, Your Honor, Mr. Hopkin has killed before. He has, um…" Tracey's voice trailed off into nothing. She could feel Kelly's eyes on her as she stood up facing the judge. She could not see the other woman, but she knew that Kelly was looking up to everything she was doing. Knowing that made it harder for her to concentrate. "He has, um…"
"Ms. Kibre, if you have a point, please make it. If not, stop stuttering and sit down," the judge commanded. His tone was harsh.
His words angered Kelly No one, even a judge with a bad attitude problem, should talk to Tracey like that. While she did not know the full extent of the case, she had been helping Tracey prepare for this arraignment for the past hour and a half. She knew enough about it to get the two of them through this part of the trial. "Your Honor, the defendant has killed before. He is a danger to the community. Not only that, but he has ample means to flee the area. With this in mind, the People request remand."
The judge eyed Kelly suspiciously. "And who the hell are you?" he asked.
"Assistant District Attorney Kelly Gaffney," Kelly stated.
"She just started," Tracey explained. She could finally speak in court, though she did not want to look anyone, Kelly in particular, in the eye.
"If she just started, how can she accuse my client of these things?" the defense lawyer argued. "Your Honor, my client has no intention of fleeing."
"He has a boat!" Kelly argued. "Not to mention a cousin with a private plane who lives within an hour of here. He could be halfway to Mexico before court reconvenes."
The judge rolled his eyes. "Order," he yelled. "Look, you both have your points. Bail is set at four million dollars." With that, the judge was eager to get out of there.
Tracey glanced over at Kelly. She probably owed her career to the woman. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "You know, for back there."
Kelly shrugged. "No problem. I'm sure you'll be doing the same for me eventually," she noted. "There's always a moment when you just lose your train of thought. I understand."
Tracey walked through the halls until she found Alex's office. If there was one ADA she could trust with her personal life, it was Alex. Although the two of them were no longer dating, Alex probably was still the person who knew the most about her. If anyone could make sense of what was going on, it was Alex. Tracey knocked on the door twice before entering. "You busy?" she asked.
Alex shook her head as she placed her glasses down on the desk. "For you, never," she said. "What is it?"
Tracey sighed as she slumped down into one of the chairs in Alex's desk. "You didn't hear yet, did you?"
"Hear what?" Alex asked. "Hear about your partner coming, or how she totally saved your ass in court?" Before Tracey could speak, Alex continued, "Word travels fast, Kibre."
"Who?" Tracey asked. She was almost afraid to hear the answer. Correction, she was afraid to hear it. Even though she was afraid, she had to know.
"Jack McCoy," Alex said simply.
"Damn him," Tracey muttered. "How'd he…?" She shook her head. "I don't even want to know."
Alex nodded. "You have that right," she stated. "But let's get back to the how. What the hell happened in that courtroom? Now, all I have is Jack's diluted version, but according to him, you just froze. Stuttering, and then the other one came in and saved your career. Branch is looking for you, by the way."
Tracey rolled her eyes. "I know. I'm avoiding him right now. At least until I get this mess with Kelly sorted out." She sighed again. "But that basically is what happened. I don't know how to explain it. I started out fine. He was a flight risk with a pattern of killing. It's obvious he should be remanded, and if I hadn't faded out like that, he probably would be."
Alex shook her head. "No, don't go there, Trace," she said. "You have enough crap in your toilet. Don't add any more."
"I can't have that being Kelly's first impression of me," Tracey said. "I just can't. They say that first impressions make or break a person. I can't have that happen."
Alex eyed Tracey suspiciously. "Trace, what do you really think about Kelly?" she asked curiously.
"She seems professional enough. Branch is right. Once I get used to working with another person, she will prove to be a valuable asset," Tracey responded.
Alex shook her head. "Not what I meant," she stated. "What about personally?" she asked. "What do you think about Kelly?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Tracey started. "I've only known her for a few hours, in which I've humiliated myself in front of her. Even if I was interested, I doubt she'll…" Again, Tracey trailed off into nothing. "It doesn't matter anyway. I don't even know if she's…"
"And you didn't know that I was, but that didn't stop you from talking to me," Alex reminded the other woman. She did not want to see Tracey like this. She could tell that Tracey longed to talk to this Kelly woman again. Even is Tracey did not know it, Alex could tell.
"That's different," Tracey said. "She works with me. For me, actually. I'll be seeing her every day of every week. I can't take the risk that she's straight."
"So the proper way to handle it is to sit back, make yourself miserable, and do nothing?" Alex asked with disbelief. "Trace, just because things didn't work out between us does not mean you're doomed in the romance world. Just look at me and Olivia. I see her on a daily basis, and I took the risk. That all worked for the best. You just have to talk to her, Tracey. What's the worst that could happen?"
Plenty, Tracey thought as she walked back towards her own office. Kelly without a doubt would already be inside, finished with lunch, ready to start up with the rest of the day's work. Unfortunately, that would mainly be drafting motions. She had to wait for Hector to call with some witness names before investigating the Hopkin case further. Besides, after what happened earlier that day, she wanted to put that case out of her mind for the time being.
Tracey walked inside her office. As expected, Kelly was already in there. Alex's words came back to Tracey's mind. Talk to her. Tracey shook her head slightly. She had known the woman for less than twelve hours. That's not something off of which to base a relationship. Before she approached Alex, she had known her for several months. It was too soon to know how she truly felt about Kelly.
"Any more court cases?" Kelly asked curiously.
Tracey shook her head. "Not today, fortunately. I don't think I could handle being back in a courtroom. Not right now. Rumors are already spreading."
Kelly immediately got defensive. "What kind of rumors?" she asked.
"I haven't heard the specifics, but the word about what happened is spreading. Branch wants to see me. I'm kind of avoiding him right now," Tracey admitted as she walked over and sat down in her chair. She placed her arms on the desk and propped her head in her hands. She ran her fingers through the edges of her hair right behind her forehead.
Kelly smiled slightly. "Pardon me if I'm out of line, but you're extremely adorable when you do that," she stated fondly.
Tracey continued running her right hand through her hair. She picked her head up curiously and looked at Kelly. "You are?" she asked curiously.
Kelly nodded. "I've known since high school. My parents still don't know. They're overly religious; they'd freak, but yes. I am."
"Well then, do you think I could interest you in some dinner?" Tracey asked. "It doesn't have to be a large platter of shared spaghetti that we both eat until we realize that we're both eating the same noodle and our lips touch…unless you want that."
Kelly chuckled. "Not sure on the spaghetti platter, but dinner sounds nice," she said with a smile. "You know, I'm really glad I decided to come here."
Tracey smiled back. She would be thanking Branch later. "Me too."