Chapter Seven

Diane arrived an hour early at the firm for Will's interview. It wasn't intentional, but her previous meeting had ended sooner than planned and she thought there was no harm in spending more time at the place she still called her second home. She was a little disappointed to see her husband wasn't alone in his office, since she had planned to surprise him. But he seemed to be in a deep discussion with a blonde woman who was sitting across from him at the desk, with her back towards Diane, so she couldn't tell who she was at first.

When Diane saw and heard them laugh she couldn't help feeling a little weird watching them through the glass door, as if she was spying on her husband. And that was the moment Will noticed her and she saw the happy surprise on his face. And when the woman with him turned to check who Will was looking at Diane recognized Gillian, their new hire and let out a relieved sigh. For a few seconds she'd almost felt a pang of jealousy observing her husband having fun with another woman, but fortunately it passed quickly.

Now that they had both seen her standing there, it would have been rude not to go inside, even for a few minutes, so she entered the door.

"Hey, you're here early," Will approached Diane to greet her with a kiss on the cheek, while Gillian also stood up and said hello.

"I know. My meeting wrapped early. But I don't want to interrupt yours," she sent an apologetic look towards Gillian.

"We were just discussing court strategy for Monday," Will explained. "It will be Gill's first day as first chair in the Reed trial."

Yesterday Will had only been thinking of promoting Gillian to first chair, he had apparently made up his mind rather quickly, but Diane trusted his judgment.

"Congratulations," Diane smiled at the other woman, who seemed to have proven herself during her first week very well.

"Thank you, I'm so grateful that you've given me this opportunity," Gillian replied, returning Diane's smile.

"Keep up the good work," Diane said encouragingly and shifted her gaze on Will. "I'll leave you two to it, I'm going to see if Elsbeth is in and I'll be back later."

"Okay, she is. I'll give you a call when we're done here," he promised and Diane left his office with hurried steps.

She didn't look back as she walked down the corridor, she didn't want them to think she was watching them, but the image of the two of them laughing entered her mind again for some reason. Will had said that he and Gillian had gone to law school together, but judging from how at ease they were with each other they had probably been more than just simple classmates.

"Diane, what a nice surprise," Elsbeth greeted her friend with a wide smile and a warm hug, distracting her thoughts quickly.

"Will's giving an interview soon for the campaign and I managed to get here a little earlier," she explained with a smile, happy to see the redhead.

"It's good to see you. I like your hair," Elsbeth noted, making Diane smile at the compliment that came so naturally from her friend's mouth. "How are you doing? How is the campaign? I heard about Judge Adler, I did not see that coming," Elsbeth babbled, not leaving Diane enough time to reply to her questions.

"Me neither, I had no idea she has such ambitions. She will surely be a tough rival," she admitted knowing Vicky would fight her with everything she got, but Diane was up for the challenge.

"But you are tougher and you are used to the rivalry with her, it will only be on a slightly different platform," Elsbeth reminded her, keeping her cheerful spirit.

Diane had been forced to tell her colleague and partner about the core of the disagreement between Vicky and her to prepare her what to expect in the judge's courtroom and it had only gotten worse since Vicky had been elected Chief Judge. She had found creative ways to use her newly gained power for her personal agenda against Lockhart/Gardner.

"I told Eli everything about our past, so he can be prepared," Diane responded confidently. Instead of worrying about her opponents, she had to have trust in herself and the people who worked for her. Eli hadn't been pleased about what Diane had disclosed, but there was nothing Diane could do about it.

"It's not like she has anything on you, she just likes to keep grudges, that's her problem," Elsbeth declared when she noticed a document on her desk that diverted her attention.

"Exactly," Diane replied, even if she guessed that her friend wasn't paying attention anymore. Elsbeth took the piece of paper in her hand and observed it closely for a while, then shook her head and placed it back on her desk. "So, how are things here?" Diane tried to catch her attention again. "I heard the Grey depos are going well."

"Yes," Elsbeth said slowly, "we have found two new witnesses, the judge approved, so we plan to depose them next week. I think they will soon offer a settlement we won't have to say no to," she finished with a satisfied grin on her face.

"I'm glad to hear things are going smoothly. What do you think of Gillian?" Diane turned the focus of the conversation on a subject that especially interested her, but she hadn't wanted to open with it.

"She is a fast learner and she tries to fit in. It helps that Will's so supportive of her. He already promoted her to first chair," Elsbeth provided all the information she had, even if it was nothing really new to Diane.

"I heard," she nodded and held herself back from asking any further about Gillian and Will

"You have nothing to worry about, we have everything under control," Elsbeth reassured her, without noticing that it wasn't exactly the business Diane was concerned about, but she intended to keep this to herself for now.

"Good to know," she smiled at her friend, trying to suppress any other feelings. She had to trust that if anything more was going on, Elsbeth would surely tell her about it. And Diane couldn't exactly find a reason to stop her husband from being friendly with a coworker, even if she was a recently divorced beautiful blonde woman he had known for a long time, and she was also a few years younger than Diane.

"Do you have time for a coffee? I could use one," Elsbeth interrupter Diane's chain of thoughts.

"Sure, why not?" She accepted, putting an end to her inner paranoia.

She had no reason to act like a jealous wife, since Will had never given her a reason to feel that way. She probably only felt a little threatened by Gillian, because of the circumstances, how she got to work with Will now instead of her. But Will had admitted last night that he'd missed her, and Diane had no reason to doubt his words, especially after how last night had ended. Her husband loved her and he proved it whenever he had the chance. And she already started fantasizing about how he was going to prove it again and again during their weekend getaway.

o-o-o

Mandy Post checked her notes not for the first time and Diane didn't miss how her lips curled up for a few seconds. The lawyer had been observing the journalist throughout the whole interview, but tried to do it unnoticeably. When Mandy had arrived and seen both Diane and Will in his office, the way she had greeted Diane, her tone and her not so genuine smile had suggested that she hadn't liked that Diane had been present during her husband's interview, but it had only made Diane want to be there even more.

Will had taken the questions well so far and when he had talked about how happy their marriage had been for the last eighteen years Diane hadn't missed the unvoiced jealousy in the brown eyes of the raven-haired woman, even if she'd tried her best to hide it.

Mandy pretended that Diane wasn't even there, she had never once turned to her and always focused her attention on either Will, her notes or her digital voice recorder that was lying on the coffee table between them. So far the questions had been the same ones Diane had expected and Will had been on his politest behavior. He had answered all of them patiently and sometimes he had turned to Diane seeking her approval, which she had found cute.

"How are you coping with running your firm alone?" Mandy's next question sounded just as harmless, but Diane couldn't shake off the thought that the reporter had something up her sleeve that she had yet to uncover.

"It's been only a week and I'm not really alone. We have a great team here and we know we can count on Diane if we need her," Will glanced at Diane for a second, who did her best to hold back a smile.

"I heard you hired a new associate to replace your wife."

Diane felt an imaginary needle sting her, as she heard how Mandy phrased the question, making it obvious that she had intended to stir the pot.

"Not to replace her," Will pointed out quickly and put his hand on Diane's guessing what she must have felt inside, while she tried to keep her poker face in front of the other woman. She didn't want to let her get to her. "We needed another experienced trial lawyer," Will corrected Mandy tactfully and squeezed Diane's hand gently.

"I see. And Mr. Gardner is it true that Gillian Howard and you used to date in law school?"

A/N: I'm sorry about the cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist. I'll try to write the next chapter faster ;)