Title: Fairly Slashy – Part 2
Fandom: Fairly Legal
Pairing: Kate Reed/Lauren Reed
Rating: M (not through all of it but definitely at some points)
Spoilers: References to season 2 eps 1, 3, and 5. Part 1 has scenes from ep. 5, which I added after the fact because they fit in so well (oh the slashiness!).
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, otherwise not-actual-incest would be a definite future for Fairly Legal.. And yes, there are direct quotes from ep 5 in part 1.
A/N: I wrote most of this before we saw most of the house so some of the blocking is a bit off..
A/N 2: Thank you to my lovely live-in beta (i.e. wife) Starbuck1980 who took time away from her epic Swan Queen fic to beta this and then cursed me for it drawing her in…
Part 2
"Of course Lauren is hot," Leo assured Kate, handing her a coffee as Kate reclined in the chair behind her desk, Leo stretching out in an easy chair opposite her.
It had been a supposedly hypothetical question; one Kate had been wrestling with since Lauren's date. Try as she might she couldn't convince herself was completely unrelated to her body reacting to Lauren's presence. It had only gotten worse since the night Lauren had waited up for her.
"In a very respectful 'signs my paychecks' kind of way of course," he added looking around to ensure no one was in hearing distance. "Is her date the other week bothering you because your 'evil' stepmother has a more active social life than your newly-divorced a..." he trailed off as Kate shot him a look, demurely sipping his own drink before sarcastically correcting himself, "of course not, this has nothing to do with Justin and everything to do with you having to hots for your stepmom," Leo joked, raising his eyebrows at Kate.
Kate's stomach twinged as she forced the broad grin over her face, grabbing a few M&Ms and throwing them at Leo as he ducked out of the office, careful not to spill his own coffee as he nearly careened into Lauren in his hasty exit.
Lauren rolled her eyes and entered Kate's office. She had given up on controlling the behavior of these particular employees. Despite their off-kilter relationship they were a highly effective team and as long as she got results she was happy to let them continue in their odd manner, within reason. Giving up Leo had been hard, he had been a very able replacement for her own assistant while Kate was gone, but she wasn't sure anyone else could handle Kate quite like Leo. She certainly couldn't.
Lauren walked toward Kate and handed her a file, "Here is the file for the mediation in ten minutes," she said matter-of-factly.
"Which mediation?" Kate asked leaning forward to taking the file, her fingers glancing against Lauren's (why did that cause her fingers to tingle?) and looking at her watch while taking an anxious glug of the coffee Leo had just provided.
"Lauren has a mediation for you," Leo said, popping his head around the door, "she'll give you the file when you get in," he added before promptly departing. (Lauren rolled her eyes again - usually very able assistant, she internally corrected.)
Lauren gestured to the space previously held by Leo, "that mediation. You should check your messages more often Kate," she said as she turned to leave.
Kate pulled a face at Lauren's back but fixed it back into an insincere smile as Lauren quarter-turned back to her, "As you're not up to date on the case please note that these are two of our top clients," Lauren added, folding her hands together before spreading them before her.
"They always are," Kate said under her breath with a bit more venom than intended.
Lauren turned the rest of the way to face her, "If you want to keep mediating, then yes, they all are," Lauren's deepened voice half threatened, "but these are both high paying clients and one is considering opening a new line of product which could make it a conflict of interest for us to represent them both," she explained, "We need to keep them both Kate so get them on the same page," she finished, leaving Kate's office before she could respond.
Kate dropped herself in her chair with a sigh as she took another sip of her coffee, opening the file and wondering why her stomach still felt like it had a knot in it.
At various points during the morning Lauren found herself watching Kate from outside the mediation room. She was sometimes sweet, sometimes firm but always able to find an equitable path, even when none seemed possible. She went to extremes to find this in some cases, Lauren didn't really agree with her methods, but her outcomes spoke for themselves and Lauren respected Kate's ability to control the situation to get a resolution. At least in mediations, her personal life was a completely different matter. She would never tell her that of course but she was lucky to have Teddy's very able daughter on board.
The parties were departing and Kate looked up, catching Lauren's eye. Lauren quickly turned away, hugging the file she was holding closer and trying to leave, pretending her presence was a momentary pause in her path.
Kate, on a high from the resolution, rushed out of the mediation room and plopped herself in Lauren's path.
"Did you need me?" Kate asked, trying to read something in Lauren's eyes but the humanity she sometimes saw at home was buried beneath her rock-hard work exterior.
"I was just curious how it was going," Lauren replied.
"Well you left at an odd time for that," Kate parried, trying to suss out why Lauren would have left her spot outside the mediation room if that was what she wanted.
Lauren felt herself colour slightly, she wasn't sure herself why she had left so suddenly. "Did you get them to agree to drop the new line?" she asked exasperatedly to cover the odd circumstance of her departure.
"I got them on the same page," she assured Lauren before pretending to see something over Lauren's shoulder and running for her office.
In the safety of her office she watched as Lauren was approached by one of the clients.
"So how did you do it?" Leo asked from the armchair, watching Lauren while snacking on popcorn. He passed the bowl to Kate who grabbed a handful before explaining.
"The newer client is still going to produce the new line and Reed & Reed will still represent both of them, but not where the companies overlap," Kate confirmed.
"Lauren won't be happy about that," Leo said watching as Lauren shook hands with both of the clients and then turned to Kate's office.
Leo slid the popcorn bowl on Kate's desk and then did a very convincing monologue of transferring a call while leaving, which Kate then 'picked up' just in time to avoid speaking to Lauren who had entered the office upon Leo's departure. Kate held her finger up to Lauren and did a similarly superb monologue of talking to someone on the phone before hanging up, folding her hands on her desk and looking at Lauren as sweetly as she could muster.
"I didn't think I needed to specify that I wanted to keep ALL the business with Reed & Reed," Lauren remarked coldly, folding her arms across her chest, "your deal lost us a third of the business."
"You told me to keep them and get them on the same page. The investment was happening but they both wanted to stay primarily with Reed & Reed as much as you wanted to keep them, this was the only way to make everyone happy," Kate said.
"Except me," Lauren said, uncrossing her arms, and leaving Kate in her empty office.
Kate frowned at the exiting form, grabbing another handful of popcorn and trying to brush Lauren's annoyance from her mind.
Lauren sat down at her kitchen table and took a sip of the wine she had just decanted. She let it fall down her throat as the taste relaxed her. She pulled the pins out of her hair, letting the strands fall and release the physical pressure from her skull as the wine worked on the emotional pressure of the day. She stood from the table and took the fish from the fridge, turning on the oven.
Kate entered the house a bit hesitantly, not sure if her most recent scene with Lauren would have any affect on their implicit agreement to cohabit without interaction.
"Hi Kate, perfect timing," Lauren said, a bit too chipper to be believed, as Kate took a few more steps into the house. Lauren was setting the table for two. "I made dinner," she said, gesturing for Kate to sit.
"Did I walk into Stepford?" Kate asked taking in Lauren's loose ponytail and slightly stained white apron covering a fitted T-shirt and shorts, the exposed sides of the apron revealing half an inch of bare skin. She hesitantly sat in the seat proffered.
Lauren shot Kate a mock-insulted glance before hurrying back to the oven to take out the fish.
"I cooked for your father all the time, but it is depressing cooking for one," she began as she served up dinner from the various pans, "I thought I would apologize for my earlier behavior by making you dinner. While I don't agree with the outcome I don't expect you to second guess me at my job and I shouldn't do it to you," she finished, putting a plate in front of Kate.
"It's oven baked salmon with spinach and pasta with a garlic and lemon drizzle sauce," Lauren continued as she left Kate's place at the table, took off her apron and sat at her own place opposite Kate.
"Smells wonderful," Kate said as she hesitantly picked up her fork and speared a bit of fish. Lauren had taken a bite and was chewing happily, looking at Kate expectantly.
"I'm still trying to figure out if this is safe or if I've stumbled into some alternate universe where my stepmother/boss is nice to me and we eat dinner together," Kate said with, she hoped, the right amount of sarcasm as she let her fork rest on her plate.
"Kate, please just grow up, I'm hardly going to poison you," she replied, "And, after tonight, I can stop being nice if you'd prefer," she added spearing another piece of fish.
Kate was silent for a moment before picking up her fork and, looking into Lauren's eyes, eating it off her fork.
Lauren watched with interest as Kate took the piece of fish in her mouth and chewed, watching her eyes widen as the taste hit her palate.
"This is really good," she said with her mouth still full. She covered her mouth in embarrassment, swallowed her food and reached for her wine glass.
"I am seriously impressed," Kate said before taking a sip.
Lauren only smiled and returned to her own plate.
Silent eating ensued as they both tried to figure out how long the silence could last before it became awkward.
"So what made you become a mediator?" Lauren asked tentatively, her eyes soft and caring like Kate had never seen them.
"Being a lawyer," Kate quipped before realizing this was not exactly the time for bravado, "seriously?" she asked.
Lauren put her fork down and focused on Kate, "Seriously," she answered.
Kate looked down at her plate, feeling Lauren's gaze on her but unsure how to meet it without her false confidence.
"When I was a lawyer there was this case where our client was being sued by a family whose child had been nearly blinded by their product, some new medication," Kate began, looking up hesitantly and forcing herself to make eye contact despite the annoying tingling it was causing down her spine, "Because the family was aware it was an experimental drug and blindness was a possible side effect it was an easy win for me but I'll never forget the young girl's smile as I left the courtroom, begging her father for ice cream," Kate finished, her eyes misting over as she looking back at her plate. "I decided at that point that there had to be a way for everyone to win, even if the lawyers didn't," she finished, putting another piece of fish in her mouth to cover her nervousness and looking up into Lauren's eyes.
Lauren was looking past Kate, considering what she had just heard and Kate watched her, feeling anxious for a reply, any sort of reply, which would clear the air that was tightening around them both.
"We're not all bad you know," Lauren replied cautiously after a long silence, taking a sip of her wine and watching Kate.
Kate nodded, chewing and swallowing her food, thankful that it was giving her time to think of a response to the personal undercurrent in that comment.
"There are sometimes better ways to do things," Kate replied generally, unwilling to give her stepmother forgiveness quite so easily. Although she wasn't sure what she was not forgiving her for.
Lauren felt the guarded insult and fake-smiled, taking another bite. She chewed and swallowed slowly before continuing, "and sometimes you have to be an adult and do things that don't have a happy ending," Lauren countered, raising her voice a notch.
"I refused to be resigned to that," Kate instantly replied with sincerity as she put the last forkful in her mouth and put her fork down. She looked up, willing Lauren to argue with her.
Instead Lauren laughed, wiping her mouth with the napkin in her lap before putting it on her empty plate.
"You will never cease to surprise me Kate Reed," Lauren said leaning back and taking a sip of her wine.
Kate, unsure why Lauren had backed down, held her own wine to her lips but instead of drinking it she watched Lauren. While her persona usually filled the room this Lauren was smaller somehow, she still radiated the same strength but without that strength being overwhelming. And yet without Lauren wearing her strength like a shield Kate didn't know how to interact, how to function with a Lauren who wasn't second guessing her and chastising her for one thing or another. A Lauren she couldn't bait.
What was even more odd was that Lauren had not only apologized for acting ridiculous earlier she had created a scene in which they were forced to interact outside of work and then backed down from an argument. It was actually really nice and she couldn't understand why she was trying to undermine it by arguing.
She watched Lauren hold the glass to her lips for a moment, her free hand playing with the necklace at her throat. She followed the line of Lauren's fingers to the chain, up her neck and to her throat as the knot in her own stomach sent electrical currents through her body. She continued to follow the curve of Lauren's throat to her jaw only to catch Lauren's eyes looking curiously at her.
A lump caught in Kate's throat, worrying for the briefest of moments that Lauren could read her thoughts. She shook off Lauren's gaze before standing up with a sudden vigor and a forced smile. Without comment she started to clear the dishes from the table.
"Do you have somewhere you need to be?" Lauren asked as she stood, taking her empty glass and Kate's napkin.
Kate shook her head, "No, but my parents taught me to help clean up when I didn't cook," she replied bitingly as she started to load the dishwasher.
Lauren came up behind her to put her glass in the dishwasher before sliding past Kate to get to the dishes on the stove. Kate's breath hitched at the contact of Lauren's front against her back before she made a renewed effort to get this done as quickly as possible. Lauren grabbed the dishes on the stove and came up behind Kate again, putting her hand on Kate's hip to warn her that she was behind her. Kate bit her lip as shocks of electricity ran from the spot on her hip downward. They finished filling the dishwasher together and Kate walked toward the table before turning to thank Lauren for dinner.
"Kate is something wrong?" Lauren asked, concern painting her features.
Kate smiled widely, the truest fake smile she could muster, "No, it's fine, I should just be
getting to bed," she said unconvincingly.
"It's only seven," Lauren replied dryly.
"But you know how much I can procrastinate," Kate replied with a smile, keeping a firm hold on the chair back as Lauren took a few steps toward her.
Kate let go of the chair and took a few more steps toward her bedroom.
"Ok," Lauren said bemused, "I'll see you tomorrow then," Lauren said as Kate made it the rest of the way to the top of the stairs.
"Good night Lauren," Kate said forced-casually before running down the stairs.
Lauren stared after Kate's departing form oddly, wondering what exactly was happening between them and why her absence could make her feel so empty.
