Notes: In which I'm almost thirty years late to a fandom. Oh well. This story is post-season five episode 16 and post-season five episode 18. Chapter one deals with 16. Chapter two deals with 18. I guess you really don't need to have seen LA Law to read this story, but it helps.

Zoey stalked from the LA County Courthouse with hunched shoulders and a drawn face that even the police officers noticed as she passed them. The tension from the day settled in her back and at the base of her skull, every rhythmic heartbeat causing her head to thump in time. All she wanted was a quiet night at home with her favorite fluffy blanket, pillow, hot water bottle, and the book she was reading. Was that so much to ask? After the week she'd had, after the damn day she'd had, she figured that she probably wouldn't get half of that. Maybe her hot water bottle if she was lucky.

Her cornsilk blonde hair fluttered in the light wind as she waited patiently for a taxi. Her car hadn't started this morning and so she was relegated to waiting for one of the standard-issue yellow taxis to pay attention to her slender raised hand and so far, no one was taking the bait. C'mon, the entire LA County taxi company couldn't be full, she thought as another cab passed her. This time, she saw that the taxi was devoid of an occupant and she dropped her hand rather fiercely and yelled after the cab.

"Hey, asshole, I needed a ride!"

But the cab just kept driving. Of course. She threw her head back in exasperation which made it thump more. For a moment she saw stars. Okay. This was getting ridiculous. She straightened herself and tried again. She shifted her briefcase from one hand to the other. Her free hand shot up in the air and she called out "taxi!" but still no one. She uttered a curse and dropped her hand again. A lick of her teeth and she turned to stalk back inside the building, but she heard a honk and the distinct crunch of tires on loose gravel as a car pulled against the curb and stopped there. She turned quickly on her heel, expecting a cab, but instead…

"Tommy?"

Tommy reached over the passenger seat and cranked the window down, calling over it with a sly smirk, "Need a ride?"

She expelled a long-suffering huff from her chest. "What does it look like?"

She took a step forward and reached to open the door and slide inside.

"I dunno. You could've just been standing there to stand there," Tommy replied with a cheeky grin. His eyes sparkled with mirth and amusement.

Hers, however, did not. Her lips pursed together in a thin line as she looked at him. He'd been at the receiving end of that fierce and stern look many times over their relationship, even such as it was then.

"I wasn't," she said flatly.

"Didn't think so."

He threw the car in gear and merged into traffic to head to her apartment. It was a familiar route for both of them. They'd driven it more times than they could count. Thankfully, Tommy wasn't playing the music he usually did in his car. It was blessedly silent and at a red light, she finally settled her briefcase on the floorboard in front of her and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Couldn't get your car started this morning?"

So much for silence. "No."

"I thought you were getting that fixed."

The light turned green and he pressed on the gas pedal. For a brief moment, she didn't answer him. She simply closed her eyes and squeezed on the back of her neck, trying to massage the pain and tightness from it.

"I thought it was."

"You know, I could take it in for you. It wouldn't be—"

"I don't always need you to rescue me, Tommy," she snapped a bit harsher than she wanted to.

"You never need me to rescue you, Zo. Even I know that."

And that was the truth. Zoey was the last person in the world, or at least the last person in the LA County judicial system, who needed help, least of all from Tommy Mullaney. If anything, she bailed out Tommy more times than she could count, giving him money when he needed it or even getting him out of jail when his mouth ran off with him. She'd even scraped him out of the gutter once. That was a time she never wanted to remember and even as she thought of it, her chest got tight and she had to swallow back bile which rose bitterly at the back of her throat.

Another red light—Los Angeles seemed to be full of them today—and Tommy glanced over at her. She could feel his steel-blue eyes fixed on her. A part of her wanted to get out on this street corner and attempt to hail a cab so she wouldn't have to deal with him today. The other part of her wanted to slip into the comfortable familiarity of him. She wanted to drown the cacophony of today with something, and maybe he could be that something. But for the moment, she allowed him to watch her as she continued to rub her neck.

"Long day?" He finally asked as the light turned green.

"Long week."

"Wanna talk about it?"

Not particularly. "I think the judges are after me."

"Because of what you did for Jonathan?"

"Probably," she stated dryly.

He grimaced. As much as their relationship had deteriorated some years previously, she knew he still cared for her in his own little ways. Yeah, she was a lousy wife and he wasn't the best husband, but at least they still got along. Today, and many other days previously, it was appreciated.

"I'm sorry about that. I should've never put you in the middle of that."

"I could've told you no," she said pointedly.

Like she could tell him no. Besides the divorce, she rarely ever told him no. He was just too addictive and made her do crazy things. She'd joked to Jonathan that that was the reason she had to divorce him. He made her drop her defenses and made her morality hazy and as a prosecutor, she couldn't let him do that. She couldn't let herself do that, but Tommy… Damnit, he was worth it, and she couldn't pinpoint when that thought permeated her mind and made her defenses drop again, but she knew it was coming tonight. She felt like crap and he'd showed up when she thought she needed him less than she ever had. Instead, she needed him more than she could possibly admit, both to herself and to him.

Eventually, Tommy's car pulled into the driveway of her house and he threw it into park and shut it off. She sat there and stared at the edifice standing in front of them. For a district attorney, it was modest. She didn't need much. She didn't want much. In many ways, she was like Tommy in that regard, but she did indulge when the occasion called for it, and she indulged mostly on clothes. Typical, she could hear Tommy snort in derision, but she liked looking good in the courtroom. Tommy, of all people, knew that. Maybe she did it to drive him a little crazy. She knew his gaze still wandered when they sparred in court.

"Want to come up?"

The question didn't feel out of the blue for her, but Tommy looked blindsided for a moment. His steel-blue eyes widened for a moment as she watched him search her face for a hint of a joke. But she wasn't joking. She wanted him to come inside with her. Without waiting for him to gain his bearings, she grabbed her briefcase and her purse and exited the car. She shut her door behind her and rounded the hood to bend over and lean through the driver's window that was still open.

"I'm being serious. C'mon."

That got him going. He cranked the window up after she moved out of the way and followed her up the driveway and through the front door. She tossed her keys into a bowl sat on the solid wood top of a shoe rack. Her shoes followed suit and she placed them neatly on a shelf before padding further into the apartment. Tommy hastily shucked his jacket off and hung it on the limb of a coat tree next to her shoe rack.

"Want some coffee?" She still drank, but she made it a habit to not drink in front of him.

"Sure. You know how I like it."

"Black?" She asked with a hint of mirth in her tone.

"Like my soul."

She snorted as she pulled down two coffee mugs from her cabinet and began the motions of making coffee.

"No one believes you when you say that."

"I know, but it sounds cool."

Zoey rolled her eyes. "Cream and two sugars?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

He slid into the butcher block chair at the kitchen table and watched her. The tension in her shoulders was still there in every movement she made. Once again, she could feel his eyes affixed on her. She was used to people watching her. She loved to be in court for that reason, but this week had taken its toll on her. She tried not to think about Noreen Carter or Edward Johansson and the way she'd failed both of them in many different ways. Sure, she won Edward's case, but Noreen… there was no reason why Noreen's case went south. She pushed the image of her, full of rage and anger and sorrow, sitting in the holding cell out of her mind as she turned to hand over coffee to Tommy. He murmured his thanks and took a drink.

"Ya sure, you don't wanna talk about it?"

She leaned against the counter and crossed an arm over her chest as she drank her own coffee.

"No."

"Listen, Zo, I know whatever happened has you rankled. I can see it."

"I know you can," she whispered.

"What can I do to help?"

She set her mug down on the counter. "You're helping me right now."

"No, I'm not. I'm just sittin' here watching you at war with yourself."

He took the chance and stood up, crossing over to her without his mug of coffee, and rubbing his hands up and down her forearms. Zoey immediately melted into his touch. Her head fell forward, her forehead pressing against his as she let out a long breath. Could she stay there forever?

"I was prosecuting a gang leader. He shot and killed a woman's son. Set up a plea deal and the guy went back on it. The woman killed him outside the courtroom because I couldn't protect her and her other children." She pulled back to look into his eyes. "What if she's right? What if it's all for naught?"

"It isn't," Tommy began as his hands abandoned his arms to frame her face tenderly. "Sometimes things go sideways, but you can't let it get to you."

She scoffed softly. "Perks of the job?"

"Perks of the job," he echoed. "You're one of the best ADAs I've seen. You're a damn good lawyer. So, you had a bad week. We all do. Just get back out there and kick some ass tomorrow."

Her lips quirked into a tiny smile and despite his hands on her face, she leaned in to press a kiss to his mouth. They'd done that before. Plenty of times, in fact, but it felt different and when she pulled back to peer into those eyes of his, the eyes she once found so beautiful, and still did in a lot of ways, she felt the energy crackling between them. For a brief moment, they just stood there, staring at each other, until he pulled her forward and crushed his lips against hers heatedly. It felt so familiar and so foreign and, God, he still made her do really stupid things. Why was that?

Her fingers curled desperately into the fabric of his button-down, all crisp white and smelling like smoke and his cologne and something new she'd never smelled before but it made her feel like she was home all the same. She bit down on his lower lip desperately before he licked inside her mouth and their tongues tangled and danced together in a dance they knew too well. Their teeth knocked, it'd been a while, but they settled into a familiar rhythm, even as she abandoned his shirt to tangle her fingers at the back of his neck and the soft hair there.

She was carving marks into his neck, she knew, she could feel it, as his own hands abandoned her face to gather her skirt up around her hips. She could feel the edge of the counter digging into her back and then her hip as she hooked a leg around him. He pulled back just enough to search her face for something, anything, that would stop him. He loved her, he wouldn't do something she didn't want, but she felt herself nod and with both hands, he ripped her pantyhose and quickly pushed aside her underwear to push a finger inside her.

Her sounds were muffled by his mouth on hers, devouring her eagerly as he thrust up into her. Her hips met his movements eagerly or as eagerly they could despite her being pinned against the counter by his own hips. She pulled back to catch her breath as he continued to work her, her head falling back, eyes closing. He pulled from her and teased at her with a thumb as he pressed a hot, open mouth kiss at her arched neck.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured there.

She whined as he flicked her with a thumb again. "Tommy," she managed breathlessly.

Two fingers filled her, and he ground his palm up into her as he worked her eagerly and hotly, his breath panting against her skin. She remembered rather hazily that he always liked doing this to her, always liked getting her off first. This was no exception. She found herself on her toes, both seeking more pleasure and trying to get away from it. He was just too good at this. She tightened her leg to keep him there, to keep him right where she wanted him. She was a mess of hot breaths and needy whines of pleasure as he kept moving until she straightened and looked into his eyes, dark and full of lust. Her hips stilled as her muscles tightened around him, holding him there with hot, wet pulsing.

She felt Tommy's breath fan, sharp and short and pleasured, against her skin. His entire body thrummed in excitement against her and she couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"You are such a bad influence on me."

He brushed his thumb over her in retaliation as he nipped at her exposed neck. "You know you love it," he stated gravelly, his voice colored with lust and need.

That brush of his thumb made her whine and curse, her body folding in on itself, her forehead ending up pressed on his shoulder.

"I do."

She pressed a kiss to his neck as his fingers slowly slid from him. He had to resist the urge to suck them clean. Instead, he wiped them on his pants and gathered her trembling form in a strong bear hug. She felt his need against her, but he didn't move to remedy that and neither did she.

"You're still the greatest person I know. Don't ever lose that."

Silence enveloped the pair of them after he spoke. It lingered, deafening in its implications, but she was grateful for it. She was also grateful for those words. He'd spoken them so earnestly each time that she couldn't help the way tears welled in her eyes at them and how they landed on her.

"Thanks, Tommy," she started as she pulled back. "You are too."

He smiled that mischievous smile of his that she loved so much, that smile that always brought out a twinkle in his eye.

"Don't tell anyone."

And she wouldn't. Not even as they fell into bed later that night and drowned themselves in each other again. Not even as he left when all was said and done, despite the fact it left a gaping hole in her chest for him to leave. Not even when they faced each other in court the next day and he couldn't stop smirking at her every time he looked at her. Not even as she smirked after him. Whatever they were dancing around, she wouldn't give away his secret.

That wasn't what she did to the man she loved.

Even if he did make her do crazy things.