Title: Fairly Slashy – Part 4
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.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, otherwise not-actual-incest would be a definite future for Fairly Legal..
A/N: Thank you to my lovely live-in beta (i.e. wife) Starbuck 1980 (who took time away from her epic Swan Queen fic to beta this and then cursed me for it drawing her in…Never fear Regals she's back to Swan Queen)
Part 4
Lauren took a deep breath as she walked toward the entrance of Reed & Reed. She still wasn't over the embarrassment of her actions, Kate was her stepdaughter for god sakes, but she knew she would have to live with them. The only thing she could do now was ensure nothing inappropriate happened in the future, regardless of her feelings.
She took another deep breath and entered the office, her mask perfectly in place and her hair tied tightly back. No matter what had happened between her and Kate she would ensure it didn't damage their working relationship.
Kate was at her desk, chewing on a pen cap, when Lauren walked by. She tried not to notice but Lauren nodded discretely, acknowledging her presence without creating a fuss. Kate couldn't stop the heat that rose in her body at Lauren's momentary glance. She had no idea how she was going to function in the management meeting later on. Why had it been moved from Monday? On Monday she wouldn't have had the feeling of Lauren's leg running up her thigh running through her head on repeat.
Leo walked in, glancing behind him to see Lauren enter her own office.
"Is it just me or is Lauren's hair a bit looser than usual," Leo said, "metaphorically I mean," he clarified awkwardly, sitting down on the edge of the armchair opposite Kate's desk.
Kate looked at him oddly for a moment before shaking her head and returning to the work she was failing to complete on her desk.
"You know what they say about people who chew pen caps," Leo said gesturing to Kate's very chewed pen cover, "Sexually frustrated," he whispered.
"Ha. Ha," Kate forced out, not amused in the slightest.
She put her pen down and folded her hands on top of the papers.
"Is there a reason you're in here or is it just to comment on my sex life?" Kate asked perhaps a bit too harshly.
"Grumpiness is another sign," Leo said handing her a file, "The mediation for today, they've been in there for 20 minutes already," he finished.
Kate sighed as Leo slipped out; it was going to be a long day.
The mediation was an easy one, as they go, and only kept her until midday. After it was over she took a walk to grab lunch, making it two steps out the door before she had a call on her cell, it was Lauren.
"Did you forget we had a meeting?" she asked.
Kate ran down the road.
"Uh, no, I'm just getting back from lunch, I'll be right up," she lied, speeding away from the building.
"I know you don't take these meetings seriously but as a major partner it is your responsibility to at least be aware of the issues facing Reed & Reed," Lauren lectured.
"Lauren, what did you say, I'm loosing….. elevator," Kate replied hanging up abruptly.
She made it to the café and got in line, trying to ignore the fact that Lauren's voice had a completely new tenor to it and it was causing the knot in her stomach to constrict all the further.
She was only 20 minutes late for the meeting. Ben was showing off a pie chart of billable hours broken down by department and even Lauren looked bored. Kate sat a few chairs down from Lauren, realizing too late that Lauren was clearly in her side-vision. She watched her stepmother (trying to reinforce that connection was all that was keeping her sane at the moment) as she traced her pen along her bottom lip absently, politely acknowledging Ben at all the correct moments. Kate watched the path of the pen, remembering the sweet taste of Lauren's lips before Ben said her name (possibly for the second time). Her head snapped to him.
"Are you following?" he asked half-condescendingly, half because she didn't look like she was even paying attention. (After all she hadn't been.)
She tried to turn her attention to Ben but even watching the presentation properly she couldn't avoid the fact her eyes caught Lauren's surreptitious glances, each one sending little shocks down her spine.
Since Kate walked in Lauren hadn't the faintest idea what Ben was talking about. She smiled and nodded at all the right places, life had taught her that, but the entirety of her body was focused on Kate's proximity. It made her a little breathless.
Kate left the meeting while Ben and Lauren were still talking, making a beeline for the bathroom. When she entered she looked under the stalls, they were empty, before taking a deep breath. She splashed some cold water on her face and wiped it off. It helped a little. She entered one of the stalls and had just flushed, her body half way out of the stall, when she heard heels enter the bathroom. She pulled herself back inside, shutting the stall door with the hopes it wasn't Lauren and/or she hadn't seen her.
"Kate," Lauren said, it was half statement half question.
Kate exited sheepishly, her heart pounding in her ears.
"Yes?" she asked, acting as if it were normal that she jumped into a stall to escape conversation. She went over to wash her hands, standing one sink over from where Lauren had turned to touch up her eyeliner, taking measured glances at Kate in the mirror.
"Just didn't want you to feel you needed to duck me," she said, putting her eyeliner back in her purse.
"Of course not," Kate said blustering as she finished washing her hands. She crossed to the towels, walking behind Lauren as Lauren started unpinning her hair. Kate forced herself to maintain her path, act normally, as the scent of Lauren's shampoo assaulted her senses giving her memory-induced goose bumps. She leaned in impulsively, wanting the high she got from her scent, backing away hurriedly as Lauren turned to face her.
"What are you doing?" Lauren asked in a hushed tone, her voice containing none of her usual calm evenness.
Kate stared back, it was bad enough that Lauren turning had increased the smell of her shampoo but now she was facing Kate, lips inches away, her newly released golden waves framing her face.
Kate took the tiniest of steps forward, her heart hammering in her chest, overriding the useless cautions being sent from her brain.
"Kate what are you doing?" Lauren asked again, a hint of fear in a voice otherwise husky with desire.
Kate reached out her hand, trying to memorise Lauren's face like this, beautiful and venerable. She edged her fingers along Lauren's jaw line as Lauren bit her lip to maintain a sliver of control over her otherwise aroused body.
"I'm kissing you," Kate replied as she leaned in, pausing when their lips were a hairsbreadth away to breathe Lauren in, before softly touching their lips together.
The kiss was gentle, slow and deep and when it broke Lauren searched Kate's face, not sure what she was looking for. Kate smiled.
Lauren leaned back and slapped Kate, "Don't you ever compromise my standing in this firm like that again," Lauren growled, regaining control of her senses.
The door opened and they both turned to see Leo entering with Kate's coat. Kate was still holding her cheek, a shocked expression on her face. Lauren's mask fell into place.
"You say a word Leonardo and Kate will have to find another assistant," Lauren preemptively stated, a cold evenness in her voice that had been missing moments ago.
Leo, a confused look on his face, made a zipper motion over his mouth. Paused and then unzipped his mouth, "Kate, you're late for your meeting with Judge Nicastro," he said holding her coat out to her as he backed out of the room slowly.
"Thank you Leo," Kate said with an unusually unenergetic terseness, grabbing her coat from Leo's hand and following him out of the bathroom.
As soon as she was out of range of Leo she got a text.
'What was that?' Leo asked.
'Didn't you hear Lauren?' Kate asked, not sure she really wanted to explain. Not sure she could.
'She said I couldn't say anything. I'm not saying anything,' his reply pointed out.
Despite the confused emotions churning inside her she smiled.
'Way to think like a lawyer,' Kate typed, trying to avoid the question proper.
'You're avoiding the question,' came Leo's response.
She smiled again. 'It's a long story, sleepover in my office?' she replied.
'Understood,' came Leo's reply. She could picture his furrowed brow and the possible salute that may have accompanied that statement. She slid her phone in her pocket, still not knowing how or what she would tell Leo.
She was unsurprisingly very late to Judge Nicastro's office, which made him more bad-tempered than usual. He gave her a new case, explaining in great detail while ensuring Kate was listening. She wasn't but nodded as needed. When he finished he handed her a file that was the size of a law textbook and told her they would be at her office the following morning.
"What?" she said looking at the size of the file, the time of their arrival being the first thing she had registered.
"See you in two days," He said dismissing her from his office, "And I'm a friend of the family so don't let me down," he added.
"Two days?" she exclaimed as he stood up and ushered her out of his office.
"That's it. Goodbye Kate," he said evenly as he shut the door behind her.
She walked back to her office, hefting the file from one side to the other while juggling her coffee, trying to figure out exactly what had happened in the bathroom earlier. She had finally acknowledged what they both (she thought) wanted and Lauren had accused her of undermining her standing in the firm. Was she really that insecure? Although Kate realized the bathroom wasn't the best place for her acknowledgement and if it hadn't been Leo... She sighed, realizing Lauren had a point, if Ben found out somehow he would be insufferable. It didn't mean the slap was called for…
She snuck back into her office without interruption (amazingly, although it helped that Lauren was avoiding her for obvious reasons and Leo was avoiding her so as not to get in trouble with Lauren) and closed the vertical blinds she rarely used, sitting at her desk with only the minimal light from her desk lamp. She opened the file and stared blankly at it. It was a Will dispute, she could gather that even barely paying attention. She shook her head and took another sip of the coffee, turning the page and trying to focus on the case in hand.
It was indeed complicated and Kate spent the next few hours poring over the case notes, only realizing what time it was when Leo snuck in with a change of clothes and a blanket. He opened the blinds to reveal the darkened office beyond and Kate sighed, rubbed her eyes and shut the case notes.
Leo left again and came back with a pizza, half meat, half pepper and onion, and a six-pack of bottled beer. Kate smiled and came to sit on the floor where Leo had moved her chairs aside and put down a blanket.
"Thank you Leo," She said as she grabbed a slice of pepper and onion pizza, taking a bite.
Leo sat on the other side of the pizza box before grabbing a piece from his side and taking a bite.
"So?" he asked when he had swallowed his first bite.
"So what?" Kate asked, a knowing smile on her face as she grabbed one of the beers and opened it, taking a sip and setting it down carefully.
"You're teasing me," he exclaimed, taking another bite.
"Of course I am," Kate replied, picking up her pizza again and taking a bite.
"I want to know about that which I am not allowed to speak," Leo said opening his own beer and taking a sip.
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," Kate replied with a false innocence.
Leo looked at her intently, trying to read her mind.
Kate put her pizza down laughing and waving her arms in front of her head both to block his mind reading and to surrender.
"That's better," Leo said self-assured, grabbing another piece of pizza and taking a bite.
"It's a long story Leo can I finish my pizza first?" Kate asked, trying to delay until she could find the right words.
Leo nodded begrudgingly, taking a bite of his own pizza. They continued to eat in silence, Leo occasionally trying to read her brain, which only made Kate burst into giggles while trying not to choke on her pizza or her beer.
When they had finished the pizza and polished off two bottles each Kate flopped down on her couch and Leo grabbed the armchair. He put on his best Freud accent and said, "what is it my young one?" while pretending to smoke a pipe.
"Not Freud, he'll just tell me it is because I desired my father," Kate said, her voice becoming screechingly high as she covering her face with her hands.
"Sorry Kate," Leo replied back in his own tone, Freud is the only famous therapist I can do. He paused. "What it is that is twoubling you my child?" he instead asked with a higher pitched voice and a lisp.
Kate looked at him oddly, "What is that from?"
"Xena," he replied, "Nevermind," he added before getting back on track. "Seriously Kate, what did you do to make…," he paused and ran to get their phones, handing Kate hers as she sat up on the couch.
'…Lauren slap you?' he texted.
Kate put her phone down and took a deep breath. "I kissed her," she said softly, staring at the phone in her lap.
Leo stared at Kate for a second to see if she was kidding but she looked up tentatively when Leo didn't reply.
"You're serious," he said.
Kate nodded pursing her lips as her gaze wandered around the room.
"I think I need context," Leo said, looking at Kate intently.
Kate flopped back on the couch. She took a deep breath and started telling Leo how Lauren was different in 'real' life and those glimpses were making Kate see her in an entirely different light. She then relayed the highly awkward incident with Lauren's date before glossing over the scenes in the study and in the bathroom. It was a relief to be stating the thoughts and feelings she had been keeping pushed down for god-knows how long and she was again thankful that she had Leo in her life.
"And that is why you asked if she was hot? And Freud – oh Kate," Leo connected when she had finished, "I'm sorry, I didn't…"
Kate sat up and put her hands over Leo's, "It's okay, I know you didn't mean it but it does feel weird – she is my stepmother after all," Kate exclaimed standing, putting her hands to her back, "what if Freud was right? What if this is all some odd process of grief?" Kate asked, feeling the tears stinging at the edges of her eyes.
Leo got up and stood before Kate, grabbing her hands, "Kate, listen to me, this is not about your father," he said looking in her eyes, "I can't guarantee how this will play out but I know you and you wouldn't fight for something as hard as you've fought to understand this unless there was some truth to it," he pointed out.
Kate nodded, heading back to the couch and sitting down.
Leo sat back in his chair and they continued to chat about everything from Lauren to Game of Thrones until he left around midnight. Kate fell asleep feeling much better than she had in weeks.