All large law firms had been invited to a conference in a luxurious plaza hotel. Now, Florrick/Agos had gone up in the world. It was considered a large law firm. Alicia and Cary were in their shared hotel room; Cary sat on an armchair and Alicia pacing up and down the room, fiddling with her ring. Cary was reading her speech that she was going to present to four-hundred people the next day. He furrowed his eyebrows for a second.

"What was that?" she asked, surveying him.

"What?"

"You nodded. What part?"

"Alicia," Cary answered warningly.

"Okay. Okay," she replied with both her hands up in apology. Once Cary had finished reading it, he leaned forwards and said,

"Okay…"

"You hated it?"

"No, I…"

"Self-serving?"

"No, it's uh-"

"Boring? Okay, sorry. Go ahead," she said eventually.

"It's dry."

"Oh my god, Cary. I spent two weeks on that!"

"Yep and it feels like it," Cary answered, unable to restrain that quip, "You should rewrite it. They don't want facts and figures. They asked you because you were an opt-out mom. You went from an opt-out mom to a partner at a law firm in four years. That's your speech."

Alicia nodded thoughtfully.

"Thanks."

Cary's phone beeped and he checked it.

"Rayna Hecht wants to meet now. Clarke just messaged. He's stuck in traffic and some stupid screen is blasting in his taxi so he can't call. We have to go down now. He said we just have to tell her about the firm. She apparently doesn't care about its size. She just wants one with a future. She's in the lounge."

"Okay," Alicia said, drinking the information in, "Let's go."

"But right after, you have to start rewriting that speech," Cary demanded.

When Alicia and Cary made it down into the lounge, they both examined the chaotic, lawyer-filled lounge for Rayna Hecht. Alicia stopped moving when she saw who she was currently talking to. Will and Diane both took turns to shake the hand of Rayna Hecht as they stood up. Their meeting had just finished. They walked past Cary and Alicia as they left.

"Up in the big leagues, are we?" Will said, addressing Cary. His voice sounded smooth and velvety.

"Good to see you, Will, Diane," Cary replied. Still Alicia said nothing.

"Good luck on the keynote tomorrow," Will said to Alicia, touching her arm briefly. As he walked off, he couldn't help but smirk at the gape on her face.

"Ignore him," Cary hissed into her ear. She inhaled sharply and moved forward. Rayna Hecht stood up and began to walk towards them. Alicia cleared her throat as she prepared for their interview.

"Oh, hey," she said, placing a hand on both of their arms, "Are you the next firm? I'm afraid I'll have to cut this session short. It was nice to meet you though."

And with that she walked off.

"What… What happened?" Alicia spluttered.

"We got rejected," Cary said with a sarcastic chuckle, "I guess you can get to writing your speech."

Alicia stared at her blank page. She had sat there for half an hour in her room without writing a single word. She shook her head and said,

"Anything. Just write anything."

She typed out the word 'Anything'. Immediately, she realised how terrible that sounded and deleted it.

"Back to the beginning," she muttered to herself, "We have to go back to the beginning."

Alicia sat in her prim blue blazer and white blouse, feeling rather proud of how put-together she looked. It had been two weeks since Peter had cheated on her with hookers and gone to prison. The attention from others had started to die down and it was time for her to find a job. Without Peter, she had no money to provide for her family.

The interviewer walked in.

"Hello," Alicia said, extending a hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs Florrick."

Alicia tried not to wince at being called that. After her husband's adultery, she had grown to detest that name.

"So, you know the position you are applying for is a first-year associate?"

"Yes, I'm aware. I've been out of law for thirteen years but I have consulted on many cases in that time."

"Your husband's cases?" the interviewer asked, raising an eyebrow. It was only then that Alicia noticed the group of young associates whispering about her outside of the room.

"That's right," Alicia said with a nod. At the end of the interview, Alicia shook hands with the interviewer again and left. Somehow she knew that she wouldn't get the job. She got into the elevator and pressed the ground floor. A hand stopped the elevator from closing. It was Will's.

*Author's note*

Sorry, for the relatively short chapter. I just thought it'd be better if I got something out rather than nothing.