"We need to talk," Isabelle said as she opened the door to Cary's office and saw him sat with Kalinda on the sofa. "I'm so sorry...I didn't see..." she garbled and Cary looked at her as he smirked at what Kalinda had been telling him, holding his coffee to his lips and looking at his PA.
"I'll be done in two minutes and then we can talk," he said sternly and coldly to Isabelle and she nodded.
"It doesn't matter," she decided. "It wasn't anything important."
"Okay then," Cary said and she left the room, shutting the door and going to sit back down at her desk, occasionally peering into the room where Cary and Kalinda were. Why was she so paranoid at looking at the pair of them? She wasn't jealous of Kalinda. She wasn't jealous that Cary was spending time in her company and the two of them looked quite cosy. She couldn't be jealous because that would be absurd. And besides, she had more pressing matters to deal with, like a drug dealer wanting to beat her badly rather than Cary flirting with someone else.
...
"She was jealous," Kalinda stated as she read through her little notebook and Cary looked out to where Isabelle had sat down and he shrugged.
"It doesn't matter," he told her and she raised a brow at him.
"You two have something going on and so don't even deny it Cary," Kalinda told him and he shook his head. "You're denying it," she pointed out. "I know she stayed over at your apartment last night too."
"I did that because that guy was at her apartment."
"He found where she lives then," Kalinda nodded. "I wonder who he went to for that information."
"You never gave him it?"
"No," Kalinda shook her head. "As soon as I found out that it was this Isabelle he wanted then I told him I didn't know where she was. I gave him nothing. So what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?" Cary asked whilst he was flattening his tie and making sure his hair was neatly placed.
"Well this guy wants to hurt her and you can't protect her all the time," Kalinda pointed out. "So is she going to back to hers or staying with you or what?"
"Why so curious?" Cary replied. "I'd say you were jealous."
"Oh Cary," Kalinda said, placing her hand onto his leg and tapping it. "Come back to me when you age out of puberty and then tell me that."
"Hey!" Cary snapped. "I am not some teenager with a huge ego."
"Fine," Kalinda said. "You're a twenty year old something with a massive ego. Now answer my question."
"I haven't thought about it," Cary shrugged. "Isabelle...I know she is in trouble and I want to help her..."
"I sense a 'but' coming in here," Kalinda said, crossing her legs.
"But," Cary drawled, "I don't know if I can. I don't know if I'm good enough to help her."
"You scared of some drug dealer?" Kalinda raised a brow.
"A little," Cary admitted. "And she won't go to the police. She says that there is a lack of evidence on this guy. Apparently he's been arrested multiple times but the charges have always been dropped."
"Then you need to set him up," Kalinda stood up.
"And how do you propose I do that?" Cary replied.
"Give me a week."
...
"You said you wanted to talk earlier," Cary stated. It was the end of the working day and he and Isabelle were stood near the lift, waiting for it to come back up.
"I did," she nodded.
"So talk," he urged her.
"I didn't mean to run out on you," she simply said and Cary raised a brow, shrugging as he stood in his long brown coat with his briefcase and leather gloves on his hands.
"Is that it?" he asked her and she nodded.
"That's the essence of it," she nodded.
"Well then," Cary replied. "I would forgive you but I want to know why you left."
"Why?" she asked him and stepped into the elevator. "I...you're going to think this sounds so pathetic..."
"No," Cary said, pressing the button to go down as the doors shut. "I won't laugh at you."
"You were my first proper kiss," she told him and he did nothing but raise a brow. "And when I say that then I mean you're the only guy I've kissed without being high or drunk."
"Well," Cary coughed once, "I'm flattered...but why did you run because of that?"
"Because...it...it was so intimate Cary..." Isabelle said, buttoning up her long red coat and pulling her blonde curls from under the collar. "I've never been so close to anyone and I didn't know what to do. I panicked."
"And there was me worrying that I was a bad kisser," Cary joked and smirked, looking at her out the corner of his eye as she laughed once at him and shook her head.
"You were alright," she said and he punched her lightly in the arm and she laughed once more.
"Where are you going now?" he asked and she shrugged.
"Who knows," she replied. "I thought about going to look for a new apartment...I can't go back to mine."
"Well at seven o'clock at night you're not getting anything," he said as the elevator deposited them on the ground floor. "We could go back to yours and get you some stuff and then you can stay at mine again."
"Anyone would think you're beginning to like having me around," she told him.
"Nah," he replied. "I'm hoping you can cook."
...
"I didn't know you had OCD," Cary stated as he watched Isabelle pack everything she needed into a holdall, moving quickly as she went and looked at him.
"I don't," she said.
"You have everything categorised and everything is in a perfect place," he told her. "I think it is OCD."
"No," she said, "I just don't like being messy."
"Well your apartment is very nice," he complimented it, taking her second holdall from her and placing it onto his shoulder, playing with his car key as he went. "What the hell did you pack in this bag?"
"The usual," she shrugged. "Toiletries...straightners...curlers...hairdryer...makeup."
"Well it's enough to strain my back," he complained and she took the lighter bag and led him from her apartment and back onto the main street where Cary looked around and placed her bags into the trunk before opening the door to his car for her. He turned the ignition on and began driving as quickly as he could in the dark, paranoid for Isabelle's safety in the lack of light. There was something about it which worried him.
...
"You know I'm probably not going to be at Lockhart and Gardner for much longer," Cary told Isabelle as the two of them sat in his open spaced living room. Isabelle was sat on the floor as Cary sat opposite her, the other side of his coffee table as he made notes. She looked at him with a raised brow.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because there is only one place up for the second year associate," he replied. "And Alicia is going to get it."
"Why so sure?"
"Because she is a Florrick and if you haven't seen Will's obvious attraction to her then you have to be blind," Cary commented and Isabelle chuckled.
"Maria won't stop going on about it," she said, pushing her hair from her face as Cary looked at her smile.
"So then you know I won't be your boss," he said and she nodded, the smile fallen from place and a solemn look upon her pale features.
"I know," she agreed.
"But we could still...well...you know..." Cary shrugged and Isabelle shook her head.
"I don't really know what we are," she told him. "I think we've crossed the boundaries of co-workers."
"I couldn't agree more," he nodded. "So...what does that make us..."
"Friends," Isabelle decided and Cary smirked once.
"Not even placing a girl or a boy in front of that word?" he asked her and she shook her head.
"You haven't even taken me on a date for that to happen Mr Agos," she replied and Cary stood up, offering her out his hand which she took.
"What are you doing?" she asked him and he led her into his kitchen, offering her a seat at his small glass table which she took and he pushed her in.
"What do you want?" he asked her. "I have ham, bread, butter, peanut butter if you're feeling adventurous and some fruit pie."
"Are you trying to say this is a first date?" she cocked a brow and he pulled out a beer and handed her one as he sat opposite her.
"It could be an unconventional one," he nodded. "I have taken you out because we are in my apartment and I have offered to provide you dinner."
Isabelle laughed loudly at him and he chuckled along with her and she shook her head.
"Many would say you're overconfident," she pointed out to him and he smiled lowly.
"Sometimes that's not a bad thing," he replied.
"You know what?" Isabelle said. "You're not as much of an arse as I thought."