A/N: The first part of this was going to be part of a longer chapter but after last night's finale, I decided to change it to skip forward to the present.

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Chicago, March 2016 – before the trial

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How To Save A Life (The Fray)

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Diane and Alicia were talking over drinks, waiting for Angela to arrive.
"My Mom is coming to town tomorrow, for Jackie's Ketubah signing," Alicia said, rolling her eyes before taking a drink of her red wine.

"Oh, Veronica!" Diane laughed, "She's always interesting!"

"You and Kurt are definitely coming to the party? Please, I need sensible adults there!" she said, in a quasi pleading voice.

"Yes, of course we'll be there! I still struggle to comprehend how Howard is marrying Jackie Florrick," she said, shaking her head and laughing a little, "when Will and I decided to bring him and his brother, the alter kockers," she scoffed, "back to the firm to oust Bond, I couldn't even dream of him attaching himself to anyone, let alone your mother-in-law!" She chuckled and took a drink of her cocktail.

Alicia shook her head, "I know!" she said rolling her eyes again at the thought, "I can't believe that after everything, they are the great Lockhart Gardner romance!" She laughed into her glass.

"Oh, I think you and Will gave it a good shot, however much I disapproved," Diane chuckled, giving the brunette a quick wink.

"It was romantic because it didn't happen," she thought to herself. Alicia looked across at Diane and gave a half smile. "It was good while it lasted, but we weren't meant to be forever. I loved him but I hurt him and," she paused, "I ended it to protect my family. I don't know if either of us truly got over it."

Diane sighed, "Yes," she said in a low tone, "for a long time I thought Will had ended it," she paused, "I told him to. For the firm," she reached across the table and squeezed Alicia's hand, "I'm sorry I did that." Alicia looked up at her, "I know," she said, bobbing her head and giving a weak smile.

The apology Diane gave for meddling in her friends' burgeoning romance for the sake of the firm and her career, would strike a chord later that month, when Alicia would find herself the instigator of a cavern in the McVeigh marriage. She would also have her reasons, but would she feel the need to apologise to her friend, her mentor, her legal partner. To save Peter and to save her family, Alicia had put her friendship and her career in jeopardy.

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….

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Chicago, March 2016 – after the trial; Peter takes the plea deal.

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The doorbell didn't summon a response from inside the smart townhouse, so hammering on the door was Plan B. The noise he was making would wake the dead! Eventually the door swung open to reveal a clearly distressed Kurt McVeigh. He looked at the visitor and mumbled, "Diane's not here."

The visitor ignored his comment and pushed past him into the hall.

"What the hell, Kurt?" David yelled at the ballistics expert. Kurt was taken aback; he'd never seen David Austen raise his voice in anger.

Kurt looked shell-shocked, he didn't know how to respond, he began to speak but no meaningful words came out, "I, I, don't know," he stumbled.

"You don't know?" David questioned. "Seriously, you are a grown man, a married man," he emphasised, "and you don't know what happened?" He added, incredulously, wiping his hand over his face and through his greying hair.

"It's not what you think," Kurt tried to explain, "it is over."

"What is over?" David asked, a little calmer. He recognised that Kurt was referring to his affair with Holly Westfall, but he wanted him to say it.

"The affair, my relationship with Holly," he said, looking down at his feet as he tried to justify his actions in his head.

"Good, because if it wasn't, you know I'd say to end it before you even considered approaching Diane," David replied. "I don't like how you call it a relationship, but that is something you have to explain to Diane. I don't want to know the details. I just wanted to confirm it was over. I also," he was interrupted by Kurt, trying to explain.

"I ended it before I retired, Holly wanted a reduced price for my firm and her silence was part of the bargain," he said

David sighed, "So, it's recent?" he asked spinning around and running his hand through his hair again. "You only retired two weeks ago Kurt!"

"No, no, err, yeah," Kurt fumbled.

"So which is it?" David felt himself growing angry again.

"We had a relationship before I met Diane, but, it was rekindled, recently. But, it is OVER. I was stupid to cheat on Diane. I was lonely," he tried to excuse himself, but faced with his wife's best friend he didn't think it was working.

"Don't give me the "I was lonely" crap, I know what lonely is all about and having a WIFE is not it," he began to raise his voice again. "Don't explain to me. Tell Diane."

Kurt nodded, "I will. I need to."

David began, "I'm not a violent man, it goes against my beliefs, but," he paused as he closed the distance between them, "I know if Will was here he would have to stop himself from doing his," he said as he swung at Kurt, his clenched fist connecting with his friend's jaw, surprising him and causing the ballistics expert to stumble a few steps backwards. Kurt's breathing heightened as he rubbed his jaw, looking at David and trying to understand what just happened.

"You don't hurt Diane," David said pointedly. "Now, fix it, before it's too late. I'll see myself out."

Kurt heard the front door close as he sat back on the arm of the couch. He rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. He realised that he could have thrown away the best thing that ever happened to him.

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Twenty minutes later David pulled into the Lockhart, Florrick and Associates parking garage and sighed. He knew Dee would be in her office; it was her sanctuary and her protection.

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Alicia sat in the rear of the car, next to Peter. Her cell phone began to ring. She stared at the caller ID and gulped. "Go ahead, take it," Peter urged. Alicia smiled weakly at him, clicked 'accept' and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello," she said quietly.

"We need to talk. You threw Diane under the bus," came the reply. Hearing the words from her friend she went pale and felt her eyes begin to tear, a quiet, "I'm sorry," escaped before the caller hung up.

Peter turned to her, "You OK?" he asked.

Alicia replied in a small, tear-stained voice, "I've hurt so many people," as she turned away from him to look out of the window as the streets of Chicago flashed past.

A/N: I'm going to blend some discussion between Alicia and Angela into coming chapters. Angela might also take on a new role… see how it goes.