A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews and follows. I can't believe it is now a year since I first started this story (9/25)! Just a little update for now to complete the conversation between Angela and Cary. More to come soon.

Chicago, September 2016

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I'll Be There For You (The Rembrandts)

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This follows on immediately from Chapter 30.

Cary felt his pulse quicken and his temperature drop at the mention of Kalinda, he was excited and eager to hear about his friend, but scared for her if she was back in Chicago - back within the clutches of Lemond Bishop. Trying to compose himself and put a little colour back into his cheeks, he took a large mouthful of the whisky he was cradling and breathed out deeply. "You saw her in November?" he asked.

"Yes," Angela replied, nodding gently at Cary, "I know that will be a shock to you," she added.

Cary pulled his head back a little, smiling in surprise, "Yeahhhh, it is," he said eventually. "Kalinda left for her own safety. She saved Diane and she saved me. She sacrificed her freedom and her life in Chicago for us," he said candidly, honestly and with emotion. Cary really did care for Kalinda Sharma and wasn't afraid to admit it to the near-stranger in front of him, as he knew enough about her to know she cared deeply for those associated with Lockhart/Gardner and was trusted with secrets.

Angela smiled at him, leaning forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees. Before she began to speak, Cary chuckled a little to himself. "What?" Angela questioned.

"It's just, with the outfit you're wearing and that pose, you really do remind me of Will," he said softly with a hint of humour, "sorry, go on."

Angela smiled and felt a pang of sadness in her own stomach equal to that Cary likely felt in his; looking down she had rolled the sleeves of her shirt up to the elbows and was wearing light wool slacks in a French navy, with her body language she was echoing Will. It was always nice to be reminded of him. She let the feeling wash over her and began to explain to Cary.

"Kalinda had some files from Will's computer that she felt needed to come back to me. Personal files, things Will had kept about me, about our life," she added before swilling the liquid around her glass, "she came to my apartment to give them to me."

"Why did she wait until last year? Was she in danger?" he said hurriedly.

"You might not know, but I was out of the country when Will died, working with Doctors Without Borders, and by the time I returned to the US, Kalinda had left Chicago." Cary looked around Angela's face for more information; she continued with her story.

"I imagine she couldn't return before November. She was out of state. I know where she was immediately prior to coming to me, but I don't know where she had been in between or where she is now," she clarified.

Cary didn't know what to say, he wanted to know as much as Angela did and was ravenous for information. He knew Kalinda had met with Alicia just before she left for good, but struggled to believe that K also met Angela, but ignored him, unless she really was in danger and was scared for his safety. He hated that they couldn't see each other for fear of reprisals and threats of violence. "I know it is the obvious question, but where had she been?" he asked.

"Canada," Angela answered, "she was in Montreal before she travelled to Chicago. She felt safe enough to come then but she didn't stay long."

"Ohh-kay," Cary replied, "did she leave the same evening?"

"Yes. She had been in my apartment for a few hours, waiting for me to come home. We talked, we drank, then she left. She knows she is free to return when she can. She has a key."

Cary shook his head in bewilderment, "She has a key to your apartment?" he asked for clarification.

"Yes," Angela nodded, "I live in Will's apartment and he gave her a key when all the crap with Nick Savarese cropped up, so she had a safe place. The sentiment was reiterated when he died and Will left the apartment to me," she smiled at him, "he knew I wouldn't sell it, so it could remain a bolthole for those who need it."

Cary nodded, "Wow, I had no idea. Will could be an ass at times, but he did have a caring side then," he smiled back at Angela.

"Yes," she nodded, "I've said this to many people over the years, but my Will, was very different to courtroom Will. He cared and loved very deeply."

"He loved Alicia," Cary commented, a little uncertain, although he had come to realise the feelings his former boss and his former partner shared, "and she him," he concluded.

"Yes," Angela confirmed, "Will loved Alicia and Alicia cared for him. For many years it was a one-sided, unrequited love," she said before taking a drink of her bourbon. "But, getting back to K, he trusted, respected and loved her, differently, obviously," she chuckled, "taking her to bed was something he never once considered," she laughed. "I think she was too much, even for Will!" Cary laughed with Angela and thought that, wow, he had (partially) tamed a wild beast too kinky for Will. "But," she said pointedly, "she was loyal to L/G and to him, so he saw that it was paid back."

"With the key?" Cary asked.

"Not just with the key," she answered, "Kalinda will always survive, but at times she thought she might have had to disappear, to reinvent herself again, so she made arrangements, financial, legal etc. to ensure she could leave if necessary. Will helped her."

Cary smiled again at the thought of Will, a morally dubious lawyer he had once prosecuted via a Grand Jury, helping Kalinda stay safe. "How?" he asked.

Angela shook her head, "Doesn't matter. But, she has access to what she needs. She also has a safe place whenever she needs it in Chicago and, also, if she ever goes there, a place in the UK."

"The UK?" Cary asked.

"Yeah," Angela said quietly, "my Dad is English and although he sold my grandparents' sprawling country home, he didn't sell the small Cornish cottage they maintained as a holiday home." Cary lent forward with increasing interest. Angela continued, I used to go there as a child with my Dad and grandparents on school holidays, but haven't been in years. In fact, the last time I was there was with Will, over a decade ago. It isn't as if my Dad really goes there, but it is a great holiday let, so he rents it out to holidaymakers – it is quite the goldmine!" she laughed.

"So, Kalinda has a key to this place too?"

"Well, no," she said shaking her head, "I don't have a key to it. My Dad does, somewhere, but she just needs to get in contact with the letting agent, the realtor, and she can have it. Just as I would if I ever went to Newquay. Don't worry, she doesn't have to use her own name."

Cary smiled at the thought, the unbelievable idea in fact, of Kalinda in a small Cornish town, eating scones and watching the tide roll in. "Has she been there?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied as she finished her drink. Cary sat back in his chair and contemplated the information he had just gleaned from Angela. Perhaps Kalinda wasn't gone from his life forever.

A/N: Let me know what you think. More Alicia and some flashbacks to come soon.