Chapter Ten

Lauren looked quite nervous as she entered the office, which again made Diane question why she was there on the first place. She'd had a few minutes to get used to the idea of spending some time alone with the woman who had been an important part of Kurt's life in the past, but she still had no idea what could have been Lauren's reason for being there in the city, let alone in her office.

"Come in. Sit down," she motioned towards the armchairs in front of her desk and tried her best to cover her bafflement over this meeting.

"I'm sorry, I know you must be really busy, I just wanted to…I just wanted to thank you for doing this for Lara, she really appreciates it."

She didn't exactly need a thank you from her, she definitely hadn't even thought of her when she'd made the offer to Lara. Had she thought of Lara's mother she might never have made such an offer, she didn't feel comfortable about Lauren entering her life. Still she had no choice but to pretend that she was okay with the situation. She had to do it for Kurt and for Lara.

"It's my pleasure. She is a smart girl, she's going to be a great lawyer," she said these with a smile and Lauren seemed quite grateful for her words.

"She really enjoyed her first day here, she couldn't talk about anything else last night."

Diane didn't really want to be reminded of the previous night in her presence, so she started to feel uncomfortable again, still she composed herself and smiled at the woman.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Anyway, I just wanted to thank you and…" she couldn't really finish the sentence, so after a short pause, Diane decided to interfere and try to close this rather pointless conversation.

"You're welcome."

She had no idea what should be her next step, if she should wait for her to say something more or just pretend she was busy and try to get rid of her in a polite way. But she didn't have too much time to consider these options because Will Gardner suddenly appeared in her doorway and he couldn't have arrived at a better moment.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mrs. Turner is here with her lawyer."

Lauren turned around to look at Will for a short moment than looked back at Diane and stood up from her seat while Diane did the same.

"I really should be going," she said quickly and muttered a short goodbye before she left the office.

"Who was she?" Will looked quite confused as he stepped inside the office, but he glanced back on the woman walking down the corridor.

"You have officially saved me from this woman twice already. I owe you," Diane said gratefully.

"I really like the sound of this, but she seemed pretty harmless to me."

"I have one word for you: ex-wife."

Will sent a sympathetic look in her direction then checked the time on his watch and smiled at her.

"It's probably too early to drink."

"Yep," she chuckled shortly, "Plus we have a meeting."

"Right, the meeting," he said as if he had really just remembered, "But I'm going to collect that favor."

"I expect no less," she smiled at him as she stepped closer then walked out the door followed by him.

It didn't take long until she stopped again, because she spotted someone she hadn't expected to see that day. Another woman she was not comfortable being together with. She started to wonder what she'd done to deserve these unexpected and unpleasant encounters on the same day.

"What's wrong?" Will asked, stepping next to her.

"Life seems to be playing silly tricks on me today. What is she doing here?"

Will looked in the same direction, at the two women sitting at the table in the conference room

"Do you know them?"

"I know one of them and I'm sorry to say but I don't think we can settle this case anytime soon."

"What do you mean?"

"It's…personal."

Will waited for a short while, before he replied, probably for her to say something more, but she chose not to. It wasn't something she could just tell him right there after all.

"Want me to take the lead again?"

She appreciated his offer, on the other hand she'd already promised Adam she would first chair his case. Amanda Jones being in the picture wasn't reason enough to change her mind, in fact with Katherine's case she'd intentionally took it over because of Amanda. Of course that one had just been a small case, while this one seemed much more serious. Even though she couldn't really tell anymore how much part Amanda had played in bringing this suit against Adam, simply because she was capable of anything.

She could have asked Cary to second chair, he had already known a few things about her and Amanda, but the hospital was their client mostly because of Will and she already felt a little bad about taking over his case because of Adam, she didn't have the right to cut him off the case completely, not to mention she did need his help.

"No, I'll be fine," she tried to convince both him and herself of this fact and when he looked at her still a little worried she added, "Of course we are doing this together, right?"

"We are," he replied nodding slightly and it was a good feeling to have his support even though he obviously had no idea what he was getting himself into and Diane already dreaded the moment when she would have to tell him more about her relationship with Amanda.