Connie Rubirosa glanced at her boss, Mike Cutter. She was slightly uncomfortable.
The briefs on the table looked ominous. She frowned. After what Cutter pulled at the trial, she didn't want to spend the night working with him. Sure, she understood why he made those wild accusations about the murder being her idea. All part of Cutter's plan. Which he neglected to include her in.
"We should probably get to work, Mike," said Connie sitting at a desk. Adjacent to the desk was Cutter's cluttered desk. He glanced at her, looked down and took his seat.
She has to be furious with me. I didn't keep her in the loop. It was too risky. I had to! She must understand that.
"How many do we have again?" he asked sighing.
"102," Connie groaned inwardly. She was not going to enjoy this weekend.
They had just finished 60 of the briefs, 30 for each of them. Connie looked at the clock on the wall. It was 3am. She wanted to go home. She was a hard worker, but since the trial she was beginning to lose trust in him.
You are strong, Connie. You can't let him get to you. He's just being himself. What did you expect?
She grew tired and found it hard to stay awake.
"Connie?"
"Yes?"
"Did you want to get something to eat? Chinese maybe? This might be an all-nighter," Cutter glanced at her.
"No, I-," she yawned.
"You know, its late you can go home if you want to."
"No. I want to stay. It's not fair to you," but at the moment she didn't care what was fair to him. She was just trying to be nice.
"I wasn't fair to you today. I should have told you," Cutter sighed.
"That's okay. You did what you had to," She heard the remorse in his voice, but still was hurt and shocked to sat the least. She never thought he would bring it up again. Or admit he was wrong to do so.
"No…I'm really sorry."
Cutter stepped towards her. He looked almost loving to her. She felt the agitation from earlier melt away. She stood up from her chair. Suddenly, his arms were around her. The kiss was gentle. Connie was stunned but she closed her eyes and kissed him back.
"Connie…" he murmured.
Connie woke up from her sleep. She had her head on the desk.
"Connie?"
"I'm sorry Mike. I must have dosed off," she said, embarrassed. Very embarrassed, she felt herself blushing.
"Its okay," he yawned and loosened his tie.
She quickly got back to work, trying to hide her uneasiness.
Why did I just dream that? I don't feel that way about Mike! Sure, he's attractive but I work with him… This is silly. Get back to work.
Cutter gazed at Connie. It hurt to look at her. Even sleep deprived, she was beautiful. It may have been his own tiredness, but the feelings he had harbored these past few years were surfacing. He remembered when he'd first met her, it put a smile to his face.
"Ms. Rubirosa, this is Mike Cutter," Said Jack McCoy, the DA of New York City.
"Hello," Cutter smiled and shook Connie's hand. Almost at once he noticed how attractive she was.
"Hello, Connie Rubirosa, nice to meet you," She smiled at Cutter.
Coming back to the present, he tore his eyes away from her. Thankfully she didn't notice his stare. Connie closed her eyes. He would give anything to gaze into them. She would kiss him, tell him she loved him…He heard a whimper.
"Connie? Is everything alright?"
"No. Not really. When I saw that man with the gun, I thought for sure he would shoot all of us," she looked down and closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry Connie," Cutter wanted to comfort her some how.
Her trembling voice was unnerving to Cutter. A tear fell form her eye. When Connie realized a tear had escaped she opened her eyes and was mortified when more tears spilled. He knew what he wanted to do. Hold her in his arms and tell her it would be alright. He couldn't. that definitely would be crossing the line. He could name a hundred different ways why that would be wrong. But it broke his heart to see her like this.
Maybe, if I put my hand on her shoulder. That wouldn't be too bad, would it?
Cutter did just that. To his astonishment, she took his hand. More tears fell. He wanted to put his arm around her, comfort her with heart felt words.
"You can go home," he said softly.
"No, I'll be right back." she stepped out to go to the women's restroom.
Connie was devastated.
