A/N: Thank you for the reviews, keep them coming please :) Here's chapter two, sorry for the delay. Special thanks to Anita, who brainstormed with me. Great minds think alike ;)

It was two days after election night and Alicia and Marissa were waiting backstage at Chicago's most popular morning talkshow. Alicia would go on in ten minutes.

"So, what's up with you and John? And Peter?" Marissa asked, making Alicia choke on her coffee.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, just distracting you. You look nervous."

"I'm not."

"Then why do you keep crossing and uncrossing your legs?"

"I-I'm just… Look, Marissa. I don't need you to distract me, okay? I'm fine." Alicia forced herself to keep her legs uncrossed. "It's just an interview." The first important interview since the election. And she didn't feel the least bit prepared. Funny how she had come to rely on John's coaching so quickly.

"Mrs. Florrick? Come with me, please. You're on in five minutes and we need to get your mike on."

"Good luck!" Marissa said as Alicia followed the production assistant.

§§§

"What the hell?" John stared at the pictures in front of him, that showed his new candidate in a very compromising situation involving a barely legal blonde and a jacuzzi. "Where did these come from? When were they taken?"

The campaign advisor who had brought him the pictures, shook his head. "I have no idea. But it's only a matter of time before the bloggers pick up on the story. God, this is a disaster." The guy actually started wringing his hands, and John had trouble keeping his face straight. He'd been here for only two days, but had already decided he didn't like most of the people working on this campaign. It was like the whole staff was made up of wannabe moviestars. They were just too... fake, with their toothpaste smiles and their plastic noses.

Or maybe he was just being cranky. He sighed. "Okay. We'll spin this. Let's see... Any chance the pictures were Photoshopped? By the other campaign maybe?"

"Maybe."

"Well, find out. I'll prepare a statement for the candidate. In case they're not fake." As the campaign advisor left, John turned back to his computer.

The speech he'd been writing for the fundraising dinner tomorrow would have to wait. He hadn't been making much progress on that anyway. Because he felt... uninspired by his candidate, which made it pretty hard to write a speech for the guy. And probably also because of the stupid Chumhum alert for Alicia Florrick that had popped up five minutes ago, tempting him to click on the link to a Good Morning Chicago video.

Well, the bright side of this crisis was he didn't have time for that now either. He'd just bury himself in work until he forgot all about that stupid interview. As for his lack of inspiration... he'd just have to get over that. Ignoring the little voice in the back of his head that asked him why he was working for a candidate he didn't believe in, he got to work on the statement.

§§§

Marissa's phone started vibrating at the same time the traffic light turned green. "It's my dad. I bet he's not happy... Too bad I can't pick up because I'm driving, huh?" The girl sounded positively gleeful. "You kicked ass back there, Alicia."

"I did, didn't I?" Alicia smiled. "I don't know what got into me, actually." See, she didn't need John, she was doing just fine on her own. Although Peter would probably disagree. In fact, he was probably calling her right now. She decided to leave her phone in flight mode for a while longer.

"I'm gonna send John the link to the video," Marissa said in a bright voice.

"What? No! Why would you do that?"

"Because I know you won't, and it's too good not to. And because it won't hurt to remind him, you know, how good you look." She shrugged. "Who knows, maybe it'll make him come to his senses."

"Marissa..."

"What? You want some pretty moviestar to snatch him up?"

"Marissa, would you let it go? John can do whatever he wants. I don't care. Okay?" She held up her hand to stop Marissa from talking. "And don't send him that link."

"Okay, if that's what you want..." Marissa sighed. "But just so you know, he cares. Even if you don't."

"Right. That's why he walked out without a word," Alicia muttered under her breath. But apparently Marissa had ears like a bat.

"You didn't see his face when he left." Having arrived at the FAL office, she parked the car. Then she turned to Alicia. "Or yours when you found out he was gone."

§§§

John suppressed the urge to throw something. Instead, he kicked the front tire of his rental car. This campaign was a train wreck waiting to happen. He'd just spent an hour at the candidate's mansion, questioning the man about the pictures. The guy had insisted they were fake, but John hadn't bought it. And to make matters even worse, the candidate's wife and four-year-old son had come home while the pictures were still spread out all over the dining room table. The scene that followed, wasn't pretty.

As he walked into the diner where he planned to have lunch, his phone vibrated in his pocket. It was a text from Josh Mariner: Our girl kicked ass. Thought you might wanna see it. Attached to the message was the link to the Good Morning Chicago video. "Damn it," John muttered. He did not want to see it, even though he did. He deleted the message and put his phone back in his pocket.

§§§

"Hey, JusticeGirl."

Alicia looked up from the file she'd been working on and smiled when she found Finn standing in the doorway of her office. "Hey, if it isn't CoolBeans himself. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, I didn't get the chance to congratulate you in person yet. So… Congratulations." He came in and gave her a hug, which she accepted. "Also, I was wondering if you were free tonight," he said when he let go of her.

"Thank you, and yes. Why?"

"Well, since I had to blow you off when you asked me, I thought I'd make it up to you by taking you to dinner tonight. Something fancier than pancakes, I promise."

Alicia chuckled. "Oh, that's hard to resist…"

"Alicia, we need to talk. Now." Peter barged in.

"Peter, can this wait? I'm having a conversation here." Alicia tried to keep her voice patient.

"Oh, that's alright, I was just leaving… Alicia, I'll see you later," Finn made for the door.

"No, Finn, wait…"

"I let you win the election and this is how you thank me?" Peter interrupted.

Alicia inwardly counted to ten while she went to close the door. Then she turned and looked at him, her stomach churning. "You let me win? Really? You were the reason I almost lost!"

"Oh, come on, Alicia. You can't be that stupid. Do you really think you would have won if I hadn't wanted you to win? If I hadn't given that speech…"

"I wouldn't have needed your speech if you hadn't said the things you said in that interview!"

Peter crossed his arms and tilted his head, giving her a disdainful smile. "And why do you think I did that?"

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. This wasn't about her calling him a racist. This was about... "Y-you… did all of that... The interview and the speech... just so I would, what—be indebted to you? You planned all of it?"

"Bingo. It's called politics, Alicia. I scratch your back, you scratch mine." He held up his hand when she tried to say something. "You were the one that wanted to turn our marriage into a business arrangement in the first place, remember? I suggest you start holding up your end of that arrangement. From now on, you'll sing my praises in every interview you give, instead of distancing yourself from me like you did this morning!"

"No." Alicia took a deep breath. She had planned to wait until she was actually in office, but… "I'm done with our arrangement, Peter. And with our marriage, too. I want a divorce."

§§§

"She's divorcing him. She's giving an interview now."

"Damn it!" John opened his hotel room door, dropped his bag of takeout food on the nearest side table and grabbed the remote control. "Okay, what channel is she on?" He said into his phone.

"Nine."

John hung up on the campaign advisor and switched on the TV. As he watched the candidate's wife make her announcement, he couldn't help wondering why he'd ever wanted to get into political campaign management in the first place. He was so tired of it all. Maybe he should just… His phone started vibrating.

"Johnny?" The candidate. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"If you're talking about the divorce…"

"No. That's not it. I, uh…" The man sighed. "I just got arrested."

John tried to hold it back. He really tried. But it was simply too much, and he just couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing.