A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews on this story! I have been feeling pessimistic about the chances of John returning on the show lately, I don't know why. But it makes writing this a bit harder, and your encouragement has helped a lot :)

This is an AU story, so the e-mails in this chapter aren't the same e-mails that were hacked on the show. Enjoy!

The conversation with the candidate had been easier than he'd expected. The guy hadn't even seemed to care that much, actually. Which only showed he'd made the right decision, John thought as he put his laptop in its case and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. Just when he was about to leave, his office door opened and the campaign advisor he'd worked most closely with over the past few days came in.

"You can't be serious. You're leaving? We're in the middle of a campaign!" The man started wringing his hands again.

"A losing campaign." John pointed out. That was a safe bet. The election was only three weeks away, and the candidate was six points behind.

"So you're… What, leaving the sinking ship to save your own ass?"

"No." John sighed. "I'm leaving because I want to work with candidates I believe in. And I just can't believe in a guy who tells kids to say no to drugs and then gets arrested for possession himself."

The advisor threw his hands up. "It wasn't his! The hooker admitted…"

"Don't you get it? The fact that there was a hooker in that motel room with him to begin with…" John shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do it anymore. I'm done."

"Wow. The first sign of trouble and you walk out. You know what, Elfman? You're a damn coward!"

"I know." John sighed. "That's why I came here in the first place." With that, he turned and left.

He had no idea where he would go. When he'd told the advisor he was done, he wasn't sure if he was just talking about this campaign or about political campaigns in general. But he'd figure that out later. He was planning on taking some downtime first, maybe even lie on the beach for a couple of days. Unwind, put everything that had happened over the past months behind him.

§§§

"Oh, good morning, Mrs. Florrick. The Governor said to let you go right inside." Peter's secretary said when Alicia walked in.

"Thank you." She knocked on the door to his office.

"Alicia, hi—I'll call you back, Eli." Peter put his phone down and smiled at her. "Please, sit. Can I get you anything?"

"No, thanks." Alicia sat down on the edge of the sofa, uncertain what to expect. He'd called her an hour ago, saying they needed to talk. About the divorce, she was sure, but she hadn't expected this welcome.

Peter sat next to her. "I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," he said, and Alicia was glad she hadn't asked for a glass of water, because she would have surely choked on it. "I overreacted about the interview," Peter continued. He looked at her expectantly.

"Uh… Thanks. Don't worry about it," she said, and he smiled in apparent relief.

"So…" Peter put his hand on hers, making her stiffen slightly. "Let's just let bygones be bygones. No more talk about ending our arrangement. Or our marriage. Agreed?"

"Well…" she drew her hand back and sighed. "I didn't mean to tell you like that. But I really do think it would be better if we divorced. We… Just don't work anymore."

"I see." Peter stood and went to his desk. He leaned on it, hanging his head.

"Peter…"

"The presidential suite, Alicia? Really?" He interrupted her.

"What?" Alicia was taken aback by the sudden coolness in his voice.

"Don't tell me you don't remember your magical night with Will Gardner in the presidential suite..." He turned to her, a sneer on his face, and held up a file folder. "After he was shot, I hired an investigator. I wanted to know what, exactly, my wife had been up to."

"You… What?"

"He dug up some interesting stuff. Tell me…" Peter sat down beside her again. "How long do you think you will last in office when people find out you knew that Colin Sweeney was guilty of killing his wife?"

"Sweeney?" Did she miss something? "What does he have to do with…"

Peter opened the folder, leafed through its contents and slowly shook his head. "You really should be more careful what you write in your e-mails, Alicia," he admonished, handing her a page from the file.

Alicia scanned the contents of the paper. It was a printout of an e-mail exchange between her and Will, in which she asked him what to do about Sweeney telling her he killed his wife. Will, in his reply, advised her to forget about it. This was bad. Knowing Sweeney, he had been joking. She would remember if he ever confessed for real. But taken out of context… She looked at Peter, who gave her a confident smile.

"The second you file for divorce, a copy of this e-mail will be sent to every news outlet in town," he said in a low voice. "They will have a field day with this, don't you think?" He took the printout out of her suddenly cold hands and put it back into the file.

She could only stare at him. He put the file folder down and took her hands in his, and she didn't even try to hide the shudder that went through her.

"Alicia, honey… I really don't want to do this." His voice was like honey, soothing and warm. But there was an icy glint in his eyes that belied his words.

"Then don't," Alicia bit out, yanking her hands free. Who was this man? Certainly not the man she'd married two decades ago…

"Well, I'm willing to put this back into my safe, forget it exists. That is, if you forget about that divorce." Peter stood and walked to his desk. He put the folder down and looked at her again, opening his hands. "So, you see—it's really your choice, honey."

§§§

It was only three in the afternoon, but what the hell. It was too hot to lie on the beach anyway. John signaled the bartender to bring him his second beer while he watched the press conference on the television mounted over the bar.

Looked like the campaign advisor that had called him a coward was out of a job too. The candidate had just announced he would be withdrawing from the race due to personal circumstances. Well, that explained why he hadn't really been interested in John's departure.

The bartender put the beer in front of him and John paid for it. Just when he wanted to drink from the bottle, his phone started vibrating. Unknown caller. He rolled his eyes. "Hi, Marissa," he said into the phone.

"Uh… Is this Mr. Jonathan Elfman?" An unfamiliar woman's voice asked.

"Oh. Yes, sorry. Who is this?"

"Janice Stevenson, secretary to Mr. Trevor Rhodes. He's…"

"…The founder and president of the Rhodes Foundation, I know." John frowned. What did the president of one of the largest charity organizations in the country want from him? "What can I do for you, Mrs Stevenson?"

"It has come to Mr. Rhodes' attention that you might be looking for a job."

John looked at the TV. The candidate hadn't even finished the press conference yet. "And if I am?"

"Well, we have an open position for a PR manager. We've been interviewing candidates for the past four days, but when Mr. Rhodes heard you might be available, he immediately asked me to set up an appointment."

"Uh, sure. When?" John had never considered working for a charity before, but it wouldn't hurt to meet with Rhodes, see what he had to offer. Who knew, maybe it was just the change he needed after his most recent experiences in politics.

"Are you available tomorrow morning at ten?"

"I am." That's when it hit him where the Rhodes Foundation headquarters were located. "Wait. You mean in Chicago? I'm in LA right now."

"I know, Mr. Elfman. So is Mr. Rhodes. He'd like to meet with you at our local office in Santa Monica, if that's alright."

"But the job is in Chicago?"

"It is. Why? Is that a problem?"

Was it? John honestly didn't know. All he knew was that it was a good thing that he'd never believed in things like fate and destiny, or he might have thought the universe was trying to tell him something.

§§§

This was actually a waste of very good wine, Alicia thought as she drained her glass and poured another. But she couldn't bring herself to care. She deserved it after the day she'd had. She'd gone straight from Peter's office to her own, planning to talk to David Lee first thing. But then it had hit her that she wouldn't be the only one affected when Peter released the e-mails. Diane and Cary could be hurt by the fallout as well. She couldn't do that to them… But she couldn't stay married to Peter either. Not after this.

Wishing she could talk to someone about her dilemma, she took her glass over to the couch and sank down. But who? Owen and her mother would probably just tell her to go ahead and divorce Peter anyway. They hated him and she had the impression that they didn't care very much about her political career either.

Finn, maybe? No, she couldn't. Not after last night. She winced. Or today, for that matter…

She'd gone up to his office to talk to him this morning. She'd tried to make things right by apologizing again and he had accepted, but she had seen the hurt in his eyes when she explained it wasn't him, it was her. Too late, she'd realized Nancy must have given him a similar speech.

So, Finn was not an option. There was a time when she would have turned to Kalinda, but… Alicia shook her head. No. She'd have to figure this out herself. She just needed to find a way to… diminish the impact of the e-mails once they came out. Because they would come out, she knew. There was no way she could stop Peter from releasing them. The only way to control the damage they would do, was to…

"Get ahead of the story…" She whispered, at the same time realizing that there was someone she could talk to. Someone who would know exactly what to do.

Putting her glass down on the coffee table, Alicia got up and retrieved her phone from her purse. She scrolled through her contacts, found his number and… hesitated. She couldn't involve him in this. Could she?

Then again… what other choice did she have? She dialed the number and tried to calm her racing heart as she waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

Alicia took a deep breath. "John? It's me—Alicia."