"I had an interesting conversation with Kate today," Allison said over the pint of ice cream they were both eating out of.

"My Kate?" Sandra said without thinking.

"Yours, huh?" she elbowed the small woman who immediately rolled her eyes.

"Don't start!"

"You said it," Allison smiled. "I must admit that this I didn't see coming. If anyone, I would have guessed Ted would have caught your eye. And a prosecutor, to boot."

"Ted is a good guy," Sandra returned her attention to the ice cream and didn't continue about their colleague who she knew had feelings for her.

"Honestly? I thought there was something going on between Kate and Knox. It didn't occur to me that Kate might be into women. I mean, should it have? Probably. But she's Kate. That woman is incredibly hard to read."

This made Sandy smirk. She had never met another person who was as hard to read as Kate. Had Kate not asked to kiss her on the couch at the office, she may never have known with certainty that Kate liked her.

"I read her the riot act," Allison said matter-of-factly.

This got Sandra's full attention.

"You did not!" her jaw dropped.

"In the courtroom... before and after court," Allison grinned at the brazenness of it. She would never have thought herself confident enough to lecture Kate Littlejohn about her personal life, but her love for Sandra knew no bounds.

"Poor Kate. I can't imagine how uncomfortable you must have made her," Sandra had started out the statement serious and then began giggling at the end. The entire scene was ludicrous and yet it made her love Allison all the more.

Allison loved to see Sandra laugh. There wasn't enough of it.

"Thanks, Al," she placed her head on the taller woman's shoulder.

"Anytime," Allison pressed a kiss to the top of Sandra's head before getting a wicked look on her face. "But I have to know, you really haven't slept together?"

Whipping her head around to look at her best friend, Sandra's jaw dropped once again.

"She told you?!"

Allison chuckled.

"She did indeed. I mean, you can understand how a person who walked in on that might assume that once the door closed behind them things might have happened on this very couch."

Sandra thought back to the feel of Kate's skin on the tip of her tongue and that tight feeling in her core returned. She'd love to have Kate back on this couch.

"Nothing happened," she confirmed.

"But you really wanted it to."

This made the young women smile and carry on eating their ice cream. These conversations were what best friends were for.

…

"Allison spoke to you," Sandra closed Kate's office door behind her and flopped down in a chair.

Taking her ear buds out, Kate was wide-eyed and switching gears from whatever work she had been doing to the statement and/or question at hand.

"She's worse than an overprotective father," Kate hypothesized.

"And you would know that how?" Sandra smirked at the thought.

"Nothing like a shotgun on the porch as I went off to prom. I didn't go to prom. I only know how my father treated my first serious girlfriend. He didn't want my heart to get broken. It did and nothing he could have done or said would have prevented that. It was the thought that counted," Kate was getting more comfortable sharing these personal anecdotes about her life.

"My first girlfriend, if you can call her that, was never invited to meet my dad."

Sandra had never mentioned her relationships, not with men or with women. She rarely discussed them with Allison. Telling Kate this felt like the natural sharing that happened between two women who were close and cared for each other.

"It's not a long distance from Sacramento to Berkeley, is it?" Kate asked.

"No, it isn't," Sandra started rummaging through her bag for a piece of gum. Kate opened her drawer and held out a perfectly square pack of gum. Of course Kate Littlejohn could prevent an opened pack of gum from becoming a mangled mess. Sandra smiled and took a piece.

"Thank you."

"First girlfriend suggests there were others," Kate lowered her gaze and noted the increased chewing of the small woman.

"Yes," Sandra left it there and this only made Kate more curious. She didn't pry, but she did smile inwardly at this revelation. There was some relief at hearing Sandra talk about girlfriends. Kate no longer felt she might be an anomaly in Sandra's life. They weren't girlfriends. They were existing in this space.

"I went to prom," the way Sandra said this was regretful.

"Bad experience?" Kate was concerned.

"I would have rather been home studying. It felt like lost time. It wasn't for me."

"I was home studying."

Standing and walking around her desk, Kate leaned against the edge and looked furtively at Sandra.

"Is there a reason you walked in here to announce something I already knew?" Kate brought them back around to her talk with Allison.

"I, well, yes," Sandra sat up and looked out the windows of Kate's office to see if any of her colleagues were nearby and might be walking in. The last thing she wanted was to say what was on her mind and have Seth or Leonard walk in at that moment. "You told her we are not having sex."

"That is a fact," the blonde was unrattled by the topic.

"I know this, obviously. Allison didn't need to know this," Sandra was rattled.

"If it were true, I assume you would have told her. Isn't this what best friends talk about?" Kate folded her arms.

"Wait," Sandra sat forward. "Have you never had a best friend?"

"I don't see how that is relevant," Kate bristled.

"We aren't in a courtroom, Kate. Would you be okay if I told her? If we were, you know."

"That depends," Kate Littlejohn was embarrassed and dropped eye contact. "If you wanted to, you know."

"I can't believe we are grown women having this conversation!"

Sandra suddenly stood and moved toward Kate. With the prosecutor leaning against her desk, Sandra was not at as much of a height disadvantage. She lowered her voice and waited for blue eyes to find hers.

"You are not blind, dear Kate. You know I would."

Their faces were temptingly close.

Sandra pulled back, took her bag and exited Kate's office. She said 'good morning' to Seth and continued on her way off of the U.S. attorney's floor.

Kate remained at her desk; a deep inhale followed by a forceful exhale. It was going to be a long day.

To be continued…