Chapter Fourteen
"Good morning," she entered his office first thing the next day, with her coat still on.
Getting back to normal had to mean greeting each other in the morning, even though they had only parted an hour or two earlier. His first reaction was to look at her legs and this naturally made her laugh.
"Yes, I'm wearing skirts again," she underlined the gesture and he couldn't hide his smile.
"Good morning," he replied and she kept on smiling as she walked over to her own office.
She was hoping that this day would finally bring the normality back to their lives, they just shouldn't try too hard and give it time.
o-o-o
"Nice cross," he returned her gesture from the morning later that day, stepping by her office obviously without any particular reason.
They'd spent the last hour on a deposition and she appreciated his acclamation very much.
"Thanks," she replied and took off her glasses as he stepped inside, clearly showing that she was ready to concentrate on him while he was there.
"I'd say we are doing fine, aren't we?" he asked, taking a seat in one of the armchairs at her desk.
"We are," she agreed, smiling at him.
"How long do we have to pretend?" he suddenly came out with the question she wasn't prepared to hear from him there and then.
"I thought we agreed that it's better to keep it secret, for the firm's sake."
"I know, but I've thought about it and it would actually do more good than harm. Hiding something requires effort, pretending is hard, the last days have clearly showed this."
"But we've just gotten the hang of it, today's the beginning, we can do this."
"Just think of how much easier it would be if we didn't have to pretend at all."
"Because everyone would talk about us behind our backs?" she replied without taking the time to think as he'd suggested, she didn't consider his suggestion at all.
"They talk about us behind our backs no matter what. Why don't we just clear the air?"
He seemed very serious about this, so she waited a little before answering him again, she wanted to show him that she at least took him seriously, but she couldn't come up with any other reply.
"I'd rather not."
He sighed and stood up from his seat, clearly not happy with the answer he'd got.
"Sometimes it's really hard to understand you," he said and without waiting for a reaction he just turned around and walked out of her office.
o-o-o
"I'm sorry," she said right after she closed the door of his office that evening.
It took her a few hours to take this step, but she truly meant the apology. She didn't like that he'd ignored her for the rest of the day, just because she hadn't explained her point of view properly, but she tried to understand his side as well.
"We just really have to be sure that this is something we want to make public," she explained as she walked towards his desk,"I mean what if we split up in a few days?"
"Do you want to split up?"
"No," she replied quickly, leaving no doubts about her intentions, "I just think we should be careful not to jeopardize what we have, neither the firm, nor us."
"I don't want to harm the firm and I most certainly don't want to hurt you. I just love being with you and I want everyone to know that we belong together. And I think we do the firm a better service if we spare us from the worries that this hiding requires."
She had to admit to herself that his argument sounded reasonable, not to mention that she very much liked the way he talked about their relationship. She hadn't counted with him being so mature about this whole thing, he actually surprised her. As much as she loved his boyish side, this new side of him was even more appealing.
"Let me think about it," she said finally and he obviously appreciated that she didn't say no again right away.
"I'm saving my most convincing arguments for later tonight," he added playfully and she chuckled as she left his office for the last time that day.
Epilogue
As the doors of the elevator opened for them the next morning she stepped outside first and waited for him to arrive on her side before taking the following step forward. They walked on the corridor together, right next to each other, saying hello to the coworkers who crossed their way until they reached the space between their offices.
Their assistants greeted them as usual and they didn't seem surprised that the two name partners arrived together that morning.
As to what their reaction was when Diane Lockhart and Will Gardner parted with a kiss from each other right in front of their eyes the next moment, the couple never got to know, because both of them just turned to the direction of their own office with a smile on their face and entered without looking back, to start a new day.
THE END
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