Chapter 7

Kate stared at her phone for a second as if to make sure she'd heard the caller correctly before putting it back up to her ear. "Okay Bo, sure. How about tomorrow?"

After a few more minutes the young mediator was scribbling down an address and a phone number to reach Bo on in case she got lost. After hanging up she smiled slightly and leaned back in the driver's seat of her rental car as she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel lightly. Bo had actually called to request a meeting and asked her to contact Lauren and have her join them at an address she wasn't all that familiar with. It was still a Los Angeles zip code so she knew she wasn't going too far away but she really had no idea where she was going or what would be in store for her when she got there.

HONK

Kate glared in her rear view mirror as the impatient twenty-something behind her made an unfriendly gesture with his hand encouraging her to go as the light had been green for a whole two seconds. Sighing she accelerated through the busy streets and after about twenty more minutes she was dropping her car at the valet and heading into the hotel. Going up to her room she threw her bag on the bed while flopping down next to it and dialing her assistant waiting impatiently for him to pick up.

"Kate Reed's office."

"Leo…hey it's Kate."

The colorful assistant smiled as he wandered the halls of Reed and Reed avoiding the less than favorable attorney's he didn't want to get stuck talking with. The Bluetooth forever attached to his ear was a blessing and a curse as he could use it to his advantage to appear busy when in fact he was just not in the mood to talk to whoever stopped him. At the moment however it was more curse than blessing as he literally had the voice of his bubbly supervisor in his ear. "Kate, what do you want?"

The brunette laughed and shook her head as she stretched out on the oversized and very, very comfortable bed. "Is that any way to talk to your boss Leo?"

He laughed and shook his head. "It is when the boss is out of arm's reach. Haha. Okay I'm sorry Kate, what can I do for you?"

Kate smirked to herself as she rolled her eyes, never getting tired of Leo's antics. "I think I'm almost done here so I should be back by this weekend."

Leo stopped as he entered his office and looked around in confusion even though she couldn't see him. "Wait, I'm confused. Yesterday they were at each other's throats. Today they're ready to make nice and reach a decision?"

Kate sighed and stared at the ceiling for help. "I know, it sounds too good to be true, even in my head. I'm not sure but one party has already signed the separation papers so now we just need the other signature."

Leo rubbed his chin in thought as he settled into his computer and brought up the online strategy game he'd been busying himself with while Kate had been gone. "So what more do you have to do? I mean wasn't that your job? Go down to LA and get a decision made?"

Kate frowned as she sighed loudly. "I think there's more to it than that. This is too easy Leo, something isn't adding up here."

He laughed as he clicked around the screen he was on looking for something or another on his game. "Don't do it Kate. Don't get involved."

Kate laughed and sat up as she reached for her bag. "I know I'm right in this case Leo. These two women have been in a relationship for ten years. You can't tell me this one indiscretion is reason enough to have this preverbal war over one detail of their separation."

Leo sighed and leaned back in his chair as his online game buffered the next level. "Kate."

She shook her head and stared ahead deep in thought. She could hear the warning tone in his voice but she knew he couldn't understand where she was coming from with this. "I'm serious. This isn't just about the cheating. This is…more than that. I can't explain it Leo."

He shrugged and punched a few keys on the computer as he ramped his guy up to fight in the current room he was in. "I could sit here and tell you why getting invested in this is a bad idea but we both know that's just a waste of my breath so why don't you just tell me what you think?"

Kate laughed loudly as she rolled her eyes and put him on speaker as she rifled through the papers she'd retrieved out of her bag. She spread them out on the bed and looked them over quickly. "Well for starters I just don't understand why the financing is such an issue for Lauren except for the fact that the thing she was researching seemed to be a point of contention between the couple. As the head of a research foundation it's in her best interest to have steady contributors and Bo's company is a logical source of funding for her."

Leo chuckled to himself as he shook his head. "Lauren? Bo? How much time did you spend with these people Kate?"

She shrugged and sighed. "I'm missing something here. I spoke with both of them and it seems at least on the surface that they both want the same thing, to fix the problems they'd been having and move forward."

Leo squinted his eyes as his player got demolished on the computer screen not really paying attention to what his boss was saying. He knew she was probably more invested than she needed to be but that was often the case with her and the bleeding heart syndrome got boring after a while. "Well that would be fine except for the fact that Bo cheated."

Kate frowned as she stared at the phone with slight annoyance. "Can you at least try and sound interested?"

Leo sighed overdramatically as he hit pause on his game and leaned back in his chair locking his hands together as he rested his elbows on the armrests. "I'm not understanding what you're saying Kate. Bo Dennis had an ongoing affair with a woman she worked with on a daily basis while her wife, Dr. Lewis, was busy researching the possibility of spawning their child through a combination of their own DNA. If that's not the lowest betrayal of all betrayals I'm not really sure what is."

When he put it that way Kate knew her young assistant was probably right but some part of her felt that there was more to the story than meets the eye. She ran a hand through her hair in frustration as she made a strangling motion towards the phone. "If it were that easy then yes, I think this is a no-brainer but you weren't there Leo. You didn't see the way they interacted or how they looked when talking about the other. Wait…how did you know all that? I didn't tell you about the research thing."

Leo sighed and rubbed his forehead knowing what he was about to do would only fuel her fire even more. "I've been doing my own research Kate. So much so that I actually had a conversation with one of Bo's confidants."

Kate looked confused. "Who did you talk to and why didn't I know about this?"

Leo laughed. "I tracked down a Ms. Kenzi Malikov…who apparently is Bo's best friend and she told me quite the story. And this only happened today which is why I've been calling you all day with no response thank you."

She growled slightly and rolled her eyes in frustration. "Leo…"

He chuckled and opened his notebook where he'd scribbled a few notes. "Okay okay, let me give you the abridged version and then you can take this and do whatever you want with it. Basically the way she explains it is that this was a relationship built on love or whatever but doomed because they were so invested in trying to build the relationship that they forgot to enjoy it and each other. Obviously this Kenzi person is biased towards her friend but she admits Bo's shortcomings were her stubbornness and her impatience early on. This was only spurred however by Lauren's reluctance or inability to adjust her life to make room for the relationship. From what I understand both of them tried so hard to get things right on their end that they let the communication suffer and as a result they were beginning to resent their situation. Bo because she felt alienated by Lauren and the doc because she felt Bo pulling away."

Kate bit her lip as she thought about what he was saying. Ever pragmatic, she knew he was taking the neutral, objective stance on this whole situation. He was looking at the facts presented and making a rational evaluation of the situation, not letting feeling or emotion cloud his thoughts. "That makes perfect sense then. I wish you could see them Leo, this isn't just some blaze marriage that didn't work. It's hard to describe but you know how when you see a couple and know they are each other's destiny…that is what is going on here. This is…it's…this is a love story."

He chuckled lightly knowing he was fighting a losing battle when she got her mind set on something. And that tone of voice she was using told him all he needed to know. "Okay then tell me about that. Because I'm not kidding Kate, this sounds like you are setting yourself up for disappointment."

Kate looked surprised. "Disappointment?"

Leo nodded as if she could see him. "You get your heart set on something turning out a certain way and when it doesn't you're devastated and lose all faith in humanity. And according to Kenzi their biggest problem is themselves. They can't see past their own issues and it's destroying them both."

Kate rolled her eyes. "That's a bit dramatic."

Leo laughed. "That's fact. I'm sorry Kate but I don't know if this is a fixable situation. And your job isn't to play therapist to their marriage, it's to mediate the dispute about their separation. Have you done that?"

Kate frowned again as she sighed softly. "I'm working on that."

Leo nodded his head. "Get it done and get back here Kate."

She sighed and started pacing next to the bed. She knew she needed to get beyond the failed marriage and help them see what was there before it all went to shit. Her gut was telling her not to walk away just yet and she knew she wouldn't rest easy until she did. "I have one more meeting with them then we'll see from there."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Judge Thompson called and wanted an update Kate. You have three more days."

She smiled and nodded at the phone. "I know Leo, and tell Judge Thompson not to worry. I think if I can open the lines of communication things will get better."

He laughed and shook his head. "What are you going to do Kate?"

She smirked as she rubbed her hands together. "I'm just going to help them remember what it was that they are agreeing to give up."

He leaned back and shook his head slowly knowing whatever she was planning would probably backfire. "Okay, well just remember Kate. Three more days. That's it."

She laughed and nodded as she stared at her phone. "Three days Leo. That's all I need."

Leo rolled his eyes as he went back to the game he was playing. Tuning her out was a daily occurrence and he knew whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be groundbreaking but more of a regurgitation of her previous sentiments. She had a habit of getting stuck on one thought and if she felt that she could make headway with them then she would take action towards that, regardless of what warnings she received from him or any other member of the firm. "Okay Kate, three days then your ass better be on a plane."

Kate flipped through her notes and nodded affirmatively. "Done. I'll call you tomorrow." She hung up and flopped down on the bed with a hopeful smile on her face. It may be impossible but she was willing to at least give it a shot before the pair let their relationship go.