A/N: Lunch breaks seem to be productive these days. This one is another one of my experiments. It's all dialogue which is way out of my comfort zone and I have included both Diane and Kalinda. To all wonderful Diane and Kalinda writers out there, I hope I didn't damage them too much. This is after Will discovers that Alicia is leaving L/G.

"It's a rite of passage, you should know that."

"What is?"

"The first backstabbing."

"Didn't we already have that with Stern?"

"Nope, this is from people we hired, it's different."

"So it is."

"We do our best when we are in trouble, Will."

"We are not we. You are leaving."

"It's not certain and even if I do, it's not for a while. In any case, you'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

"I don't partner up with just anybody. I have standards."

"I thought I did too."

"Here, drink this."

"I thought you were coming to me to give me a hug."

"It wouldn't solve anything."

"And scotch does?"

"No, but it's fitting with your brooding mood."

"Right, it makes sense."

"I am not sure what else I can do for you tonight."

"You can explain to me how I let all of this happen."

"How WE let all of this happen. I trusted her completely. I couldn't imagine she would ever be going with Cary."

"Yeah, but it's more than that."

"So you fell in love with her, Will. I fell in love with a 2th-amendment-enthusiast, gun-loving Republican."

"He is not married and he loves you back."

"Your love for Alicia is not unrequited."

"I don't know if that makes me feel better or worse."

"Why?"

"I guess that if she loves me back... that's something. But then if she does love me back, how could she do this?"

"I wish I had an answer for you."

"I think I do."

"What?"

"She wants to go on a Will-cleanse. The only way she can regain control of her decisions is if she gets rid of me altogether. I'm not unfamiliar with the impulse."

"How does that make you feel?"

"How does that make me feel? I have never met shrinky Diane before."

"Let me introduce her to you. She is no different than the other Diane and wants an answer to her question."

"Well, Dr. Lockhart, let me think. The woman I'm in love with chose to abandon her role as partner in a booming firm, poaching clients in the process. She prefers betraying her forever-friend that took a chance on her when nobody else would rather than give in to her feelings for me. How am I supposed to feel?"

"..."

"Aren't you supposed to say something like "the answer is within you, Will" like all the TV-trained shrinks?"

"I don't watch TV. And now that I think about it, neither do you, so how would you know? Have they introduced psychologists in sports-casting?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if they did, but no. During my suspension, I had a lot of time with Dr. Phil."

"I had forgotten."

"Do you know I could have stopped it?"

"What?"

"The suspension. The whole investigation on me. Wendy Scott-Carr wanted dirt on Peter. I could have avoided it all. The brand-damage to our firm, maybe even our bankruptcy. I'm sorry, Diane."

"Well, if you had made a deal with her, I wouldn't have had the chance to become a Supreme Court Justice, would I? You don't have to be sorry with me."

"When you put it that way... But I do have to apologize, either way. It was all for her and clearly it was misguided behavior."

"It's not a flaw."

"Excuse me? Am I still speaking to Diane?"

"You put someone else's interest before your own. We have been lawyers for so long, Will. At times, we forget we used to be men and women."

"Let's put it like that."

"She'll regret it, you'll see."

"Now you sound like a romance novel or maybe even a fanfiction."

"A Vampire Diaries one?"

"What?"

"I had to fire my housekeeper because she was writing Vampire Diaries fanfiction on my computer. The ridicule factor, you know. She was a great worker. I fired just her because from time to time she fantasized about hot sex on a pick-up truck between two characters of this Vampire show."

"..."

"See, at least I made you smile. If I don't get the nomination, I'll have put her out of a job for no reason. And even if I do, she has three kids. Ex-post, a lot of decisions might seem stupid. By all means, drink and be sad, but don't be sorry for being Will Gardner. I kind of like that guy."

"We have had a great run, haven't we?"

"Yes, and Will, whatever happens, you'll have either your partner or an Illinois Supreme Court Justice on your side."

"I thought Justices were supposed to be impartial."

"I thought law-partners were supposed to want to oust each other."

"You're right. We have done it all wrong."

"Another smile, that scotch really must be working. I'll go now."

"Changing the guard?"

"Yes, I assume Kalinda would want to talk to you."

"Thanks Diane, for everything."

"It's what friends do."

"I'm sorry."

"You know, the day of my dad's funeral me and my sisters we were never alone. There was always someone with us. Apparently it signifies that people care. So K, what are you sorry for? My loss?"

"For pushing the two of you together. I should have realized it sooner."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. It was all me. I should have treated her like a normal employee from day one. Then tonight it wouldn't be like this."

"You couldn't, Will. Not with her, it's who you are."

"When you had your little walk-about for three days, you said to me "I discovered I never have to confide in anyone". You saw it already. I should have listened more closely then."

"I was wrong, I should have always chosen to confide in you. And you can do the same with me."

"Can I? You won't use it against me?"

"I promise on my book of secrets."

"I have loved her for so long and it never occurred to me that I couldn't trust her."

"You'll get over it, Will, you always do."

"Will I? Don't you ask yourself what is the point of it all, K? I will have to work nights again for the next months to make up for the clients that they stole and for what? So that I can be backstabbed again? So that I can fight forever with her and Cary?"

"You do it because you're Will Gardner, the law is who you are."

"You're missing something in your sentence there. The law is all I am. I asked her to talk, the night of the elections. We had kissed again and she seemed so conflicted. I told her "To hell with bad timing, we talk". She was right not to talk. What she did makes everything clearer."

"She was afraid."

"I know, she has always been terrified of losing control. I have made all the excuses in the world for her. She has kids, she has a commitment, she has the press, she cannot take decisions on the fly, she is Alicia, she is going to take everything seriously. But they weren't excuses for her. They were excuses for me, so that I could keep loving her and still have some dignity."

"Do you remember Nick Savarese?"

"Should I?"

"It was a client of ours. Alicia and Cary handled him. He was my husband."

"What?"

"Yep, my husband in my previous life. And he could be dangerous and I should have gotten rid of him a long time ago but I loved him for way too long."

"What made you stop?"

"He hurt Cary."

"Ah, that makes sense. Do you think that what she did will be enough for me to stop?"

"You are the only one that can answer that question."

"I hope so."

"I'll help you get through this."

"Really, how?"

"I'll be your wing-woman."

"You'll be my wing-woman?"

"Yep. I can draw friends away, male and female."

"I had never considered it before."

"I'm a woman of many talents, Will. You know that."

"But no married women anymore."

"I learned that lesson too."

"Thank you Kalinda, for staying."

"Will..."

"I don't want to know why. For tonight, it is enough that you're here."

"Cary, Alicia and Robyn think that they can be the only dynamic trio in town. They haven't seen me, you and Diane against them."

"No, they haven't."

"Come on, pour me a drink, we'll make a toast."

"To what?"

"To confiding in the right people."

"I'll drink to that."