Thanks for the reviews!

Sorry this took so long to complete, I have rewritten this chapter 5 times and then changed the storyline completely.

Just as a side note – I just watched episode 9 of this season and Kate standing Ben up was so… I don't even know the word that would best describe it! I was so mad after seeing that I wanted to be able to rewind and rewrite the ep so that it didn't happen! Anyhoo, enough with my rants…

Note: After reading a few other fanfics, I realized I needed to make the content more descriptive. PLEASE let me know what you think.

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The Night That Changed Their Lives!

Summary: Ben and Kate spend a night of passion together and the consequences are life changing.

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Chapter Three: Next Morning

The bright morning sunlight streaming through the bedroom windows was starting to wake Ben from his peaceful slumber. He squeezed his eyes further shut trying to block out the light so that he may at least get a few more minutes of rest before getting up to get ready for work.

His longing for more sleep was rudely interrupted by the sudden feeling of shuffling under the sheets and this caused Ben to snap his eyes open looking for an explanation. When he saw Kate nestled comfortably half over him, the memories of the night before came flooding back. He smiled and lifted his free hand to brush a few loose strands of hair that were offensively obstructing his view of her flawless face. Once the hair was out of the way, Ben lowered his chin and brought his lips to her right side temple and placed a soft kiss.

The kiss was soft but enough to stir Kate from her sleep. She yawned dragging her hand from his hip, up over his stomach and finally coming to a rest over his left nipple. She slowly opened her eyes and said "Mmm… good morning". Still needing a little time for her eyes to adjust to the morning light, Kate closed her eyes and listed to the sound of his heart beating beneath is tanned skin.

The feeling of her intimate touch sent a pleasurable sensation throughout his body resulting in goose bumps and other "things" to rise. He couldn't miss up the opportunity and kissed her a second time asking "How did you sleep?"

Kate half opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. She smiled and replied "It was the best sleep I've had in a very long time" before returning to rest her cheek on his chest.

Looking around the room from her position, her eyes caught sight of the alarm clock on the bedside table that read "9:02am" and she gasped. "Is that the right time?" she asked not budging an inch.

Ben pushed the pillow down and looked at the LCD display before confirming "Yeah, that's right".

Kate quickly rolled off him onto the other side of the bed ripping all the sheets with her. She untangled herself and shouted "Oh my god, I'm late!" before collecting her clothes from the floor and rushing into the bedroom ensuite.

Ben laughed loudly and shouted "That's exactly what a guy wants to hear after he spends the night with a woman!" while putting his hands behind his head.

The bathroom door clicked and opened with a slightly amused Kate poking her head out and giving Ben a funny look. "Not funny!" she said sticking her tongue out before going back into the bathroom and slipping yesterday's clothes back on. Kate looked in the vanity mirror and sighed thinking 'This will have to do' realizing there was no time to go to Lauren's place and get changed before she needed to be in Judge Nicastro's courtroom. Happy with what she's accomplished, Kate turned around and opened the door walking back into Ben's bedroom.

Ben watched in amusement from the bed as she moved around the room collecting pieces of discarded jewellery from the floor. After being sure she'd collected everything, she stepped into her heels by the door and picked up her handbag. Kate looked back at Ben before quickly running back and giving him a soft peck on the cheek and whispered "Gotta go" before hoping off the bed and running out the door.

Ben stretched his arms and swung his legs off the side of the bed. He stood up and followed after her not exactly sure she knew how to get where she was going without any transportation. While coming down the stairs, Ben heard the sound of his front door clicking shut and quickened his pace to catch up with her. He opened the front door and saw her standing on the curb looking for a taxi. Ben smiled a shouted "You won't find a taxi around here!" and as if by will of god, a taxi drove around the bend and Kate held up her hand to call it over.

Kate looked back at Ben and laughed out "Looks like I found one!"

Ben smiled and watched from his front step as the Taxi pulled away from the curb and drove off down the street. As his eyes followed the car, his gaze came into contact with one of his neighbors walking their pet poodle. She was staring and Ben furrowed his eye brows in confusion. It was only with a cool gust wind that he remembered that he was only in his boxers.

Being his confident self, he waved at the neighbor before returning inside to shower and change.

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Now in the backseat of the taxi on her way to the Court House, Kate began searching her bag vigorously in an attempt to locate her missing iPhone. "Where are you?" she asked aloud pushing aside bits and pieces digging right to the bottom.

The taxi drivers cough brought her attention up and she noticed he was watching her suspiciously in the rear view mirror. Letting it go without explanation, she returned to the search and wished she had a headlamp to help navigate the unholy depths of her handbags.

Sighing in frustration, Kate looked out the window and became familiar with the passing buildings knowing full well that she was almost at her destination.

The memories of last night began flooding her mind and she blushed thinking how close they had come to letting themselves become swept away in the passion and romance of their forbidden love. 'What was I thinking getting into that bed?' she mentally questioned herself wondering how far she would have taken things if it had gone down that road. Although Kate didn't want to admit it, she kind of felt idiotic not seizing the opportunity and allowing herself the pleasure of being with Ben.

Kate was jolted from her daydreams by the taxi's breaks slamming the car to a full stop. Slightly disoriented, Kate reached into her bag and pulled out some notes and handed them to the driver. "Thanks" she said sliding across the backseat of the car and opening the door.

Taking a few deep breaths, Kate began running up the Court House steps and weaved in and out of the crowd trying to get inside as fast as possible. She was brought to a sudden stop when she needed to go through the security check station and was forced to wait in a very slow moving line. Once at the desk, Kate opened her bag for inspection and stepped through the metal detector with no issues.

Now in the clear to proceed, Kate ran through the corridors quickly almost knocking down several clerks and some innocent bystanders before arriving at the large wooden door for the Court Room. Kate stopped for a moment and straightened her clothes before bursting in and shouting" I'm here! I'm here! Don't send me to jail"

"Miss Reed, you seem to take pleasure in make me wait" Judge Nicastro boomed from his judges bench not impressed by her tardiness.

Kate clasped her hands together, laughed nervously and said "If you let me explain, I-" before being cut off by the pounding of the gavel.

"I don't care Miss Reed! The only reason you are here today is so that I can order you to mediate a dispute between these two parties. Their problem is trivial and I don't want it in my courtroom!" The judge said in a frustrated tone.

Kate was always intimidated by Judge Nicastro because on some small level, he reminded her so much of her father. "I understand your honor" she said respectfully

"The only thing you need to understand Miss Reed is that if this isn't resolved by 11am tomorrow morning, you will be sent to Jail" He said handing a file to the court clerk.

Kate scoffed in expected surprises and said "Judge? Don't you think I could have a little more time? I have-"

The Judge is not amused and asks "How about this afternoon then?"

Kate laughed nervously again and said "11am tomorrow is fine!" putting false enthusiasm in it.

"Good! This hearing is adjourned to 11am tomorrow" He said banging the gavel down dismissing everyone in the Court Room.

Kate smiled at both parties sitting at their respective desks and issued them both directions on how to get to her office. They both agreed to meet with her in one hour to start mediation. Kate was now free and able to leave the Court House to meet with Lauren for their "big" meeting with a "BIG" client.

Not in any real rush, Kate slowly made her way through the corridors saying a brief hello to anyone she recognized before walking out of the Court House, down the stairs and hailing a cab. The meeting with Lauren wasn't the only thing that was deterring Kate from getting to the office quickly. She realized that Ben would have most certainly arrived there by now and thought of confronting him was causing her some mild anxiety.

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Ben stood in the elevator waiting for it to get to the Reed & Reed floor thinking about what he would say when he saw Kate. The sound of the elevator ding and the opening of the doors brought him back to reality and he walked into the lobby and through the large glass double doors.

Walking through the waiting area, Lauren saw Ben and called out "Ben? Can I see you in my office for a moment?"

Ben nodded and replied "Sure" walking up and into her office and taking a seat. He watched as Lauren came in watched her face for any tell signs that would indicate what this meeting might be about. The last thing he needed right now was Lauren nosing about in his and Kate's business.

"We have… a new client coming in at 11:30am and I would appreciate if you could be there to meet him. Kate has already agreed to be-"

He didn't need to hear anything further and cut her off "-I'll be there!" he said excitedly.

Lauren looked at him with a questioning look but decided not to ask and replied "Good"

Ben took Lauren's suspicious looks as his cue to leave and he quickly fumbled his way out of her office and back into the main area heading towards where his and Kate's office were.

Seeing that she wasn't in her office, he walked into his and sat at his desk and watched and waited for her to walk by.

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Kate was on her way up in the elevator searching her bottomless handbag for her phone starting to believe she'd lost it forever. 'Where did I leave you?' she questioned herself trying to mentally place her activities since she last used the phone yesterday.

Not even noticing she reached her floor, Lauren got on the elevator and pushed the button to go back down to the ground floor. She saw Kate was distracted and decided to speak up "Kate?"

Kate was startled by Lauren's sudden appearance and jumped back saying "What? Where did you come from?"

Lauren rolled her eyes and asked "Something on your mind?"

Kate looked from Lauren to the LCD display panel in the elevator and realized she was on her way back down to the ground. She turned back to Lauren and said "Have you ever done something that you knew was wrong but it felt so right?"

Lauren leant forward and pushed the 'stop' button the control panel causing a loud bell to ring momentarily. "What have you done?" Lauren asked folding her arms across her chest.

Kate smiled and said "Nothing illegal… It's something personal" before reaching across and pushing the stop button to resume the elevators decent.

Lauren wasn't really the kind of person that did "personal" conversations and remained silent on the issue. She did however notice that Kate was in the same clothes as yesterday and wasn't going to ignore that. "Isn't that what you wore yesterday?" Lauren asked looking her up and down several times.

Kate gave a nervous laugh and replied "Isn't it obvious?" trying to think of a good excuse while she waited until Lauren did that shrug shoulder, roll her eyes expression to know to continue. When Lauren did that, Kate quickly said "When you like something SO much, you need to buy two!"

Lauren wasn't too impressed by that response and thankfully the elevator reached the ground floor and she was able to exit this situation without causing further damage to her mental sanity.

Kate pushed the button for her floor again and this time paid attention on her way up so that she knew to get off. The sound of the ding signaled it was time to leave and just as she exited Leo was standing there ready. Kate looked at him closely and asked "Do you have a tracking device on me?"

Leo gave a toothy smile and said "I saw you enter from the street and since you've ignored all my calls I thought I would warn you that Ben is here and he's acting pretty strange"

Kate quickly dragged Leo over into the corner where they couldn't be seen from the rest of the office and asked "What do you mean strange?"

Leo released himself from her grip and raised an eyebrow and said "Similar to the strange way you are acting right now".

Kate ignored his answer and looked over his shoulder and into the office. Fortunately she couldn't see him so that would mean he couldn't see her. "You know what to do Leo" she said moving around him and through the doors.

Leo stood still for a moment and sighed before saying "Oh I always know what to do".

He entered the office again and walked over to Ben's office where he found him still sitting there like a statue. He knocked on the door and Ben snapped his attention to Leo.

Ben smiled and sat upright and said "Leonardo my man! How can I help you today?"

"Just wondering if you need anything?" Leo said trying to be as convincing as possible.

Ben's face brightened and he stood up and asked "She's here isn't she?"

Leo flustered a little and stupidly said "She? Whose she? I don't know who you're talking about". He might as well have said 'Yes' with that kind of answer.

Ben ignored Leo and adjusted his suit jacket before pushing past him and straight across the hallway and into Kate's office where he found her rummaging around desk most likely looking for the phone he had in his pocket. He watched her for a moment before quietly shutting the door and walking up closer to her.

"Hi Katie, looking for this?" he whispered pulling the phone out of his pocket and placing it on the desk.

The sound of his voice caused her to jump and she looked at the phone on the desk. "Th…thanks" she stuttered grabbing the phone and checking her messages. Once finished with her messages, she looked around for something else to use as an excuse for why she didn't have to be in the same room as Ben. She mumbled something incoherent and looked at the floor and tried to walk pass him with no success.

Ben quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her against him and kissed her very passionately. At first she tried to resist but the urge to kiss him back was too great and she relaxed into him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

As the kiss began to lighten up, Kate took the opportunity to break free and pull away from Ben. "We can't do this! Not here!" She said slightly flustered taking several deep breaths.

Ben stepped closer to Kate again and put his hands on her hips. "I know you want this" he said pressing his hips to hers. She shuddered, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. "Do you know what I think?" he asked her rocking her back and forth soothingly

Kate didn't reply but pulled away slightly and thought 'stuff it' before grabbing the back of his head and pulling his lips to hers. Their mouths wrestled for dominance for a few moments before finally finding the right rhythm.

Both were trapped together like magnets and felt like nothing could pull them apart and it wasn't until someone knocked and opened the door at the same time that both pulled away. Kate wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt, looked at who had walked in and almost fell over in shock.

"Lauren?" Kate said as more of a question really without making direct eye contact with her. She mentally scolded herself thinking how stupid she had been to kiss Ben in the office. She knew that it was a bad idea but couldn't stop herself from doing it.

Lauren gave both Kate and Ben angry looks and said "Our meeting is starting in 5 minutes and we will be talking about this later". The couple turned their gaze to the floor as if they'd just been reprimanded by their mother. Both nodded silently and Lauren left the office.

Kate looked at Ben, shook her head and sat behind her desk. "Go Ben. I'll catch up shortly" she said resting her face in the palms of her hands.

Ben nodded and whispered in her direction "Check you phone" before leaving her office.

Kate lifted her face from her hands and picked up her phone and noticed a new calendar entry 'Dinner with Ben at La Ricetta at 8:30pm'. Kate put the phone down and smiled softly before getting up to go into the meeting.

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TBC…

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Note: There you have it, another chapter. Sorry it took so long to write… Let me know what you think… Onto CHAPTER FOUR!