A/N: Yes, this story is till alive... But sometimes real life has a tendency to get in the way of writing. Also, it was kind of a struggle to get this chapter out. I'm still not entirely happy with how it turned out, but it will have to do. As always, thanks for all your support, and for reviewing!

John ignored the sudden sting of jealousy when Alicia confirmed what he'd suspected all along. Being jealous of a dead man was pointless. Besides, his feelings weren't the ones that really mattered here. Not now.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes—just feeling stupid. Damn it, I wish I'd divorced him years ago!"

"You mean… Peter leaked this? Why?"

"Because of last night." Alicia pulled her hands from his and rubbed her arm before continuing. "He was really angry. I should have known he wouldn't let it go that easily."

"I don't understand. This is because… you danced with me?"

"Well, that—and…" She paused to take a deep breath. "He thinks you're the reason I'm divorcing him."

John blinked, his heart missing several beats. "You're… divorcing him? Why would you do that? You…"

"…Don't you dare tell me I need him. Or that we are a brand." Alicia put her hands on her hips and raised her chin. "Because I'm done with that crap. I can be a brand on my own."

"No—I mean yes, you can, but I wasn't going to say that. I just thought…" He faltered, making her raise her eyebrows in question. "Never mind. It doesn't matter now. Tell me what's going on, so we can figure out how to deal with it."

"We? John, you don't have to…"

"I want to," he cut her off. "Tell me, what happened?" Sitting down, he gestured for her to do the same.

Alicia hesitated briefly, and he could almost hear the wheels in her head spinning. Then she sat down across from him, wrapping her hands around the coffee mug, and told him everything that had happened with Peter since the Good Morning Chicago interview.

John listened without interrupting her, but it was hard. Especially since the more she told him about Peter's blackmail file and the way he had treated her in the limo, the more he started wishing he had planted his fist in Peter's face when he had the chance last night.

"Show me your arm," he said when she finished her story.

"What? Why?"

John just looked at her, until he saw understanding dawn in her eyes. She rolled up her sleeve and showed him her arm. There were no bruises, and John released a sigh. "Okay," he said.

"Peter would never hurt me, John—Well, not physically." Alicia rolled her sleeve back down. "So, what do I do now? I focused on integrity in the interview with Davenport, because I really thought Peter would go for the Sweeney thing. I figured that would hurt my position the most. And now… This." She sighed and looked at the table in front of her for a moment. When she looked back up, she had a sad smile on her face. "It isn't even true… I didn't 'sleep my way to the top'. I loved Will. And he loved me."

"We'll figure it out." John gave her a reassuring smile and secretly wondered how the hell he was supposed to compete against a dead man. But first things first. He exhaled quietly and got up. "Just give me a couple of minutes to shower and get dressed, okay?"

§§§

While Alicia waited for John to come back, she drank coffee and tried to ignore the urge to go read the story on her laptop. But by the time her mug was empty, she couldn't ignore it any longer. It was either read the story or call Peter to tell him just what she thought of this low blow. She went to get her laptop.

She found the story on the first news site she opened and was still reading it when John came out of the bathroom, wearing his tuxedo shirt and pants again. The wrinkled appearance of the clothes didn't do anything to make the man wearing them look any less attractive, she noticed as she closed the laptop. Her mind wanted to cling to that, to distract her from the current crisis, but she wouldn't let it. Instead, she got up and poured them more coffee.

"Thanks," he said when she handed him his mug. "Okay. The way I see it, we need to…"

"John," she stopped him. "I've been thinking, and you—you really shouldn't get involved in this. You…"

"I'm already involved." He looked at her intently. "And again, not because I have to be. I want to be. Okay?" He smiled.

Alicia felt her throat close up at the look in his eyes. Unable to speak, she just nodded.

"Okay," he said. "So, the way I see it, we need to get your side of the story out as soon as possible. When will the interview you gave Trent Davenport be published?"

"Tomorrow."

"Perfect. I'll call him, tell him to come here for an additional interview." He checked his watch. "If I do it now, he'll probably have enough time to do the interview and add it to his story before the paper is printed. And he can put it on their website even sooner."

"But it's Saturday, won't he be…"

"He's a reporter. They work twenty-four-seven. Where's my phone?"

He put his coffee mug on the table and went looking for his phone, leaving Alicia to wonder what, exactly, he wanted her to tell Davenport. Her side of the story was kind of the same as what the blogger had put out there—well, minus the sleeping herself to the top bit, of course. John came back in, phone pressed to his ear, already talking to the reporter. She sipped her coffee and waited, her gaze following him as he paced the kitchen. She was trying to look calm, but she wasn't sure if she was pulling it off.

"Okay, he'll be here in thirty minutes," John said when he was done talking to Davenport. "That means we have exactly fifteen minutes to prep you. Sit down."

"Why do we need to do it in fifteen minutes?" Alicia asked as she sat down.

"Because I can't be here when he arrives. He'll take one look at us and…"

"…Right. Of course. Got it." Alicia felt a blush creep up to her cheeks as their gazes met and held across the table, images of last night playing through her mind. She looked away and took a deep breath. "Okay. So what do I tell him? Do I need to… go into detail?" Looking back at him she found him looking intently at his coffee mug. "John?"

"What?" His head shot up. "Um—no. No need for details. Keep it simple. Here's what you say."

As Alicia listened to him, she felt her tension ease a little. His instructions made perfect sense, as usual. When he was done talking, she quickly summarized everything he'd said. Looking at the clock, she saw that only ten minutes had passed since he'd started talking.

"Good. Now I really should get out of here, in case Davenport shows up early," he told her as he got up.

"John—wait. We've only talked about Will. What if he asks about Peter?" She got up as well.

"Just do what you did on Good Morning Chicago. Distance yourself from him, but don't say anything specific. You'll do great."

"You—you saw it? Good Morning Chicago? In LA?"

"Um, yes. I—I watched online. You were great." He looked at his feet for a moment. "Look, Alicia… I really need to go now, but… Is it okay if I come back? Later?"

He looked just as awkward as he had that first night, in the hallway, and Alicia couldn't stop herself from kissing him. But she did make herself stop before it could get out of hand. "I'll call you as soon as Davenport leaves," she whispered when she let him go.

§§§

As John drove out of the parking garage under Alicia's building, there was a smile on his face. He had no doubt that Alicia would do just fine in the interview. He licked his lips and could still taste her, and that made his smile even wider. He couldn't wait to go back to her.

But he needed to change his clothes first, and he still had to check the rest of the blogs to see what they wrote about the gala. He'd go to his apartment, change and then work for a few hours before going to the liquor store and buy a bottle of Alicia's favorite red wine. They could have dinner at her place tonight, make it seem like a real date, even if they couldn't eat out. Having dinner would also give them the chance to finally really talk. He realized there was a lot to talk about.

He was halfway to his apartment when his phone started ringing in the car kit. The caller ID indicated it was Trevor Rhodes.

"Mr. Rhodes, good morning!" he answered—and was greeted by nothing more than vague background noises. "Mr. Rhodes? Hello?" Maybe the old man had pocket-dialed? John was just about to break the connection when Ashley's voice came from the speaker.

"John? Are you there?" She sounded… strange.

"I'm here. Everything alright?"

"No. You need to get over here. Right n-now." Her voice broke on the last word, and John frowned. Something was definitely wrong.

"Why? What's going on?"

She started sobbing. John pulled over to the side of the street and stopped the car, so he could give her his full attention.

"Ashley. Calm down and tell me where you are," he said in his most authoritative tone, hoping to snap her out of it. Apparently it worked, because she took a deep, shaking breath as her sobbing subsided a little. Then she said two words that had immediately checking for oncoming traffic, because he needed to make a U-turn. Seeing none, he quickly put the car in drive again. "Okay. I'll be there in ten minutes," he said.

He broke the connection and put his foot down on the accelerator, all thoughts of Alicia forgotten for the moment.

§§§

"Thank you," Trent Davenport said as she handed him a cup of coffee. He waited until she was seated across from him before continuing, "Okay, Johnny said you wanted me to rewrite the previous interview…"

"Not rewrite, just add to it." Alicia started crossing her legs under the table, then thought better of it and crossed at the ankles instead. She had opted for a glass of water herself, which she took a sip from as she calmly looked at him. "As you know, a story about me getting involved with my former boss has surfaced, and I want people to know that story is incorrect."

"You didn't sleep with Mr. Gardner?" He sounded skeptical.

"No, that part is true. I did have an affair with Will…" Her throat constricted, and Alicia had to take a deep breath before she could continue. Thinking of Will, talking about him… It still got to her. "That affair was not, however, a way to… to further my career."

"Could you elaborate on that?"

"Certainly. What happened between Will and me, was simply something that happens to millions of people all over the world, every day. We fell in love. It was wrong to act on those feelings, because I was married. That's why I ended things with Will. Because I wanted to focus on my family again."

"So you are saying that you made a mistake in acting on your feelings, but corrected it in the end," Davenport summarized, looking up from the old-fashioned notebook he'd been scribbling in.

"Yes." Keep it simple. Even if everything inside her rebelled to the notion of what she'd had with Will being labeled a mistake. Once again, it didn't matter what had really happened. It was all about the greater truth, she reminded herself.

His next question gave her the chance to address that, as John had predicted. "And would you say that your integrity as a politician is still intact, even now you've been caught with your pants down, so to speak?"

"Mr. Davenport, I realize that politicians are held to higher standards than other people, and rightfully so. But you have to understand that even politicians have a past. My affair with Will began and ended before I ever thought of getting into politics. Back then, I just wanted to be a lawyer. So, yes. I believe my integrity as the State's Attorney is still very much intact."

When she saw Davenport nod his head in apparent agreement as he scribbled in his notebook some more, Alicia felt her stomach settle. During the rest of the interview, she successfully navigated her way through questions about her marriage and about the impact of Will's death on her political views. Thirty minutes later they were done.

After closing the door behind Davenport, Alicia immediately went to get her phone from the living room dresser, where it had been charging, and dialed John's number. "The coast is clear," she greeted him when he picked up.

"Hi. Um, listen, I can't talk right now. Can I call you back?"

Alicia was just about to ask him why he was whispering, when she heard an urgent female voice in the background calling his name. She frowned. "John? What's going on? Where are you?"

"Sorry, Alicia, I have to go now. But I'll call you as soon as I can, okay?" John whispered.

Before she could say anything in response, he was gone. Alicia slowly lowered her phone, trying to think of a reasonable explanation for John being with Ashley Rhodes instead of at home, where he'd told her he was going. Or was he at home… and was Ashley there with him?

The doorbell rang, interrupting her thoughts. Davenport must have forgotten something, she figured as she walked to the front door. But it wasn't the reporter.

"Alicia. Can I come in? I need to talk to you," Peter said.

I have a couple of busy weeks ahead of me, so I'm not sure how much time I will have to work on this story. But I'll update as soon as I can!