Chapter Eleven

She can tell by the look on his face that he's about to start a serious conversation. She knows that it's inevitable, even though the first part of their evening went pretty well without.

"You probably wonder why I waited a whole week to call you."

"It crossed my mind," she says, trying not to give herself away too much.

"I'll just be honest here, even if it's embarrassing. I thought there was something between you and Will."

His reply surprises her first, she thought everything that happened between her and Will in front of his eyes was pretty much harmless, even if she hoped to make him jealous just a little. But then she remembers the night out a week ago.

"Your mother saw us."

"Yes."

She is tempted to ask what she said, but maybe it is better if she doesn't know exactly. She couldn't have seen anything inappropriate, but knowing her she might have put it in a different light, unaware that Peter would rather have been interested in the truth.

"And what has changed since then?"

"I ran into Will last night."

She suddenly sees everything clearly and realises that she can't blame him for thinking there was something between her and Will, because she thought the exact same thing a week ago. Of course Jackie couldn't have known that, but it doesn't really matter, because even if there was something, it is over now. She and Will cleared up the air at the end of that dinner and he was in fact out on a date the previous night.

"We are partners and friends."

She had fun making him jealous while they were fighting, but she doesn't need to do it anymore.

"I know," he nods slightly and she feels relief that they've clarified everything. There's only one more issue left to talk about and now that she's heard his explanation, she is prepared to hear him out on that other subject too, even though she still doesn't really know her answer.

"And what about us? What are we?"

"I don't know, I really don't know, our work…"

"Do you have anything else against it, because if you don't…"

"Isn't it enough?"

"No, you have to do better than that."

She tries to think of something else, but it's unlikely that she could come up with any other reason right at that moment.

"If that is all then your motion is denied, Miss Lockhart," he says playfully and she would smile at him, but she's still trying to convince herself that giving in to him is the right thing to do. "You have to give us a chance, we should try it first before we give up."

His statement sounds reasonable. They don't know each other that well yet, time will tell if they are suitable for a relationship together and how long that will last. And besides reasons she can't ignore the attraction either, that is starting to take over every reason inside of her. It was a wise decision on his side to choose a restaurant for this talk, allowing her to think things through more properly.

"You say we have nothing to lose?"

"Exactly."

"All right," she agrees with a smile on her face.

"I've always known you won't be able to resist my charm for much longer," he says with evident relief.

Despite the obvious playful tone she is kind of shocked to hear this sentence and quickly tries to come up with a proper response.

"Way to ruin a moment, Mr Florrick. You'd deserve to be left alone right now," she says, standing up from her seat to give emphasis to her words, even though she is obviously not serious about leaving.

He manages to softly grab one of her upper arms with his hand and the sudden touch on her skin makes her shiver.

"But you won't leave me alone, right?" he asks intimately, "Or just let me go with you," he whispers as he slowly moves his hand down on her arm, before letting go of it.

But she still doesn't move, she just looks into his eyes and it feels as if they restrained her. The fascination is so strong that she is actually tempted to lean forward and kiss him right there, but she chooses to resist this urge. She cannot be the one who makes the first move, even though the way his hand touched her skin was definitely a start of something.

"Let's go," she nods slightly and her eyes leave no doubt about her unvoiced promises.

A few minutes later he opens the door of his car for her, but before she gets in he finally makes that move they both have been waiting for too long. The kiss easily confirms that she's made the right decision and she can only hope she won't regret it the next day, because it will definitely be too late.

THE END

Thank you all for reading and for the reviews. I don't think I'll ever write another story with this pairing, but it was fun while it lasted, so I regret nothing. ;)