Five People Who Knew it Before Alicia
Title: Five People Who Knew it Before Alicia
Author: variousflumps
Pairing: Alicia/Kalinda
Spoilers: Up to 2x23
Rating: PG
Summary: It's obvious to everyone but her.
Author's note: Written for the excellent Good Wife Fixathon.
Owen - He has no idea why Alicia still talks to her, and when he meets her for the first time he has no idea why they even became friends in the first place. She’s rude, uninterested, aloof, arrogant and dull. She has the social skills of a pot plant. He thinks she’s awful. Alicia seems to just ignore her faults and talk to her like she’s a normal person. He’s baffled. She basically broke up a family. What the hell is she doing here?
When Alicia asks her to stay for dinner he’s astounded. And then Kalinda says “Really?” in a surprised, hopeful voice that makes her sound like a kid who’s been asked out by the football hero. “Really,” says Alicia, and there’s a moment where they look at each other…and he knows, right then. He sees it all in Kalinda’s eyes.
Courtney - She leaves her cellphone at work one evening. It’s eight o’clock by the time she realizes, but there’s usually someone in the office until at least nine, and she needs to check her messages, so she goes back into work to pick it up.
She walks out of the elevator and sees Kalinda Sharma in Alicia’s office. She stops walking.
She’s a little scared of Kalinda; most people are. When she first started working here the first thing she heard about Kalinda was that she was cold. She didn’t take much notice of that because the second thing she heard about her was that she was gay, and she’d experienced enough disguised prejudice in her life to make her reserve judgment on the Asian lesbian. Until she met her and found her as frosty as a snowman.
Kalinda’s standing at Alicia’s desk staring at a photo frame in her hand. Courtney watches her for 20, 30 seconds, trying to work out what she’s doing. Alicia keeps three photos on her desk: one of Zack, one of Grace, and one of Zack and Grace together. Why on earth would Kalinda be interested in Alicia’s kids?
She really needs her phone though. She walks as quietly as she can to her desk, head down. She hears Kalinda’s footsteps and a quiet “Goodnight”, and she says “Goodnight” back, grabs her phone, and walks away.
It takes her 30 minutes to walk to her apartment, and she wonders about the photo the whole way.
The first thing she does at work the next day is check the photos on Alicia’s desk. The one on the left is of Zack, the one on the right is of Grace, but the photo in the middle has changed; she hadn’t noticed. It shows Zack, Grace, and a laughing, glowing Alicia.
Cary - Kalinda invites him to a bar one evening, and he goes because it’s her. They get drunk together, and he asks her back to his apartment and is surprised when she says yes, and even more surprised when she kisses him the moment he closes the door.
They’re half-naked in the bedroom when she starts crying. He feels terrible, apologizes, puts his arm around her and asks her what’s wrong. She just cries into his shoulder, deep, heaving sobs, and he feels like a total asshole.
Eventually she stops crying, and he finds her some tissues and puts his arm back around her, amazed when she doesn’t pull away. He asks her what’s wrong again; she doesn’t answer. He asks if he did something wrong; she shakes her head.
He asks if there’s someone else; she doesn’t answer. He asks if she misses Alicia; she doesn’t answer. She lets him hold her for another hour, and they end up falling asleep. She’s gone when he wakes.
Will - He watches her. Her comment about never confiding in anyone had sent a chill down his spine. He cares about her, so he watches her.
She’s fighting with Alicia, he knows that much, and Alicia has told him why. They’re professional, still, but they used to be so close. It was sweet, really, how they used to be. He’d always see them together. If he couldn’t find Kalinda he’d ask Alicia where she was, or just check Alicia’s office. He’d never seen Kalinda like someone so much, smile at someone so much. Attach herself to someone.
And now they hardly speak, and there’s ice in the air. He calls Kalinda into his office and offers to split them up - she can work with the other associates for most of the time, and he’ll brief her on Alicia’s cases.
He’s surprised when she says no, and he tries to convince her that she and Alicia need a break from each other. She says no again, and he’s about to keep arguing when she says “Please.” There’s fear in her voice and her eyes. Kalinda never says please.
(Alicia talks to him sometimes, about Kalinda. How she’s betrayed her, how she trusted her, how stupid she was to ever care about her in the first place. You’re not married to Kalinda, he thinks.)
Sophia - She calls and calls and calls. She’d forgotten what it was like to be touched by Kalinda Sharma; she needs it again. But Kalinda never answers her calls.
When she finally gets a callback, Kalinda agrees to meet. She’s buzzing with sexual excitement by the time she walks in, all confidence and charisma and boots and attitude. But she’s different, tonight. Two drinks in and Sophia knows that she’s not going to get what she wants.
“What happened to you?” she asks. “Something’s changed.”
Kalinda ignores her.
“You can talk to me, K. What happened to you?”
“Nothing happened.”
“But you won’t come home with me?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Kalinda sighs and looks away. “Someone got hurt. Someone married. I’m trying to be good.”
Sophia smirks. “Well that won’t last for very long. Come home with me. You know it’s more fun to be bad.”
Kalinda looks at her. “I mean really hurt, Sophia. I can’t do that again.”
Sophia studies her. “Kalinda Sharma, don’t tell me you fell in love?”
Kalinda smiles at her. “I don’t do love.”
“You don’t do morality either.”
Kalinda stands up and throws some money on the table. “I’ll see you around,” she says. Sophia thinks That didn’t go quite as I’d hoped. She finishes her drink, finishes Kalinda’s drink, and goes home.
Alicia - It’s Owen who tells her. He does it in his usual teasing way, but he makes it clear that he believes it. As soon as he says it she knows it’s true. It just fits.
She spends a sleepless night thinking of her, and then corners her the next day in a meeting room.
“Are you in love with me?”
Kalinda gapes at her, frozen.
“Are you?”
“I…do you…Alicia…”
Alicia takes a step forward. And another. “I think you are. Owen told me you are.”
“I…I…”
Alicia takes a final step forward and kisses her, whisper soft, on the mouth. “I think you are.”
Kalinda gazes at her. She looks a little drunk.
“I think I might be in love with you too.”
Kalinda lights up. Alicia watches, thinks “I did that.”
“Alicia…there might be…a few other people who know. Will, maybe Cary…Courtney.”
“Courtney? Why the hell would Courtney…?”
“I’ll tell you later. Can I have another kiss?”
She can.
Later, when she tells Alicia how Courtney knows, she gets more than a kiss.
Author: variousflumps
Pairing: Alicia/Kalinda
Spoilers: Up to 2x23
Rating: PG
Summary: It's obvious to everyone but her.
Author's note: Written for the excellent Good Wife Fixathon.
Owen - He has no idea why Alicia still talks to her, and when he meets her for the first time he has no idea why they even became friends in the first place. She’s rude, uninterested, aloof, arrogant and dull. She has the social skills of a pot plant. He thinks she’s awful. Alicia seems to just ignore her faults and talk to her like she’s a normal person. He’s baffled. She basically broke up a family. What the hell is she doing here?
When Alicia asks her to stay for dinner he’s astounded. And then Kalinda says “Really?” in a surprised, hopeful voice that makes her sound like a kid who’s been asked out by the football hero. “Really,” says Alicia, and there’s a moment where they look at each other…and he knows, right then. He sees it all in Kalinda’s eyes.
Courtney - She leaves her cellphone at work one evening. It’s eight o’clock by the time she realizes, but there’s usually someone in the office until at least nine, and she needs to check her messages, so she goes back into work to pick it up.
She walks out of the elevator and sees Kalinda Sharma in Alicia’s office. She stops walking.
She’s a little scared of Kalinda; most people are. When she first started working here the first thing she heard about Kalinda was that she was cold. She didn’t take much notice of that because the second thing she heard about her was that she was gay, and she’d experienced enough disguised prejudice in her life to make her reserve judgment on the Asian lesbian. Until she met her and found her as frosty as a snowman.
Kalinda’s standing at Alicia’s desk staring at a photo frame in her hand. Courtney watches her for 20, 30 seconds, trying to work out what she’s doing. Alicia keeps three photos on her desk: one of Zack, one of Grace, and one of Zack and Grace together. Why on earth would Kalinda be interested in Alicia’s kids?
She really needs her phone though. She walks as quietly as she can to her desk, head down. She hears Kalinda’s footsteps and a quiet “Goodnight”, and she says “Goodnight” back, grabs her phone, and walks away.
It takes her 30 minutes to walk to her apartment, and she wonders about the photo the whole way.
The first thing she does at work the next day is check the photos on Alicia’s desk. The one on the left is of Zack, the one on the right is of Grace, but the photo in the middle has changed; she hadn’t noticed. It shows Zack, Grace, and a laughing, glowing Alicia.
Cary - Kalinda invites him to a bar one evening, and he goes because it’s her. They get drunk together, and he asks her back to his apartment and is surprised when she says yes, and even more surprised when she kisses him the moment he closes the door.
They’re half-naked in the bedroom when she starts crying. He feels terrible, apologizes, puts his arm around her and asks her what’s wrong. She just cries into his shoulder, deep, heaving sobs, and he feels like a total asshole.
Eventually she stops crying, and he finds her some tissues and puts his arm back around her, amazed when she doesn’t pull away. He asks her what’s wrong again; she doesn’t answer. He asks if he did something wrong; she shakes her head.
He asks if there’s someone else; she doesn’t answer. He asks if she misses Alicia; she doesn’t answer. She lets him hold her for another hour, and they end up falling asleep. She’s gone when he wakes.
Will - He watches her. Her comment about never confiding in anyone had sent a chill down his spine. He cares about her, so he watches her.
She’s fighting with Alicia, he knows that much, and Alicia has told him why. They’re professional, still, but they used to be so close. It was sweet, really, how they used to be. He’d always see them together. If he couldn’t find Kalinda he’d ask Alicia where she was, or just check Alicia’s office. He’d never seen Kalinda like someone so much, smile at someone so much. Attach herself to someone.
And now they hardly speak, and there’s ice in the air. He calls Kalinda into his office and offers to split them up - she can work with the other associates for most of the time, and he’ll brief her on Alicia’s cases.
He’s surprised when she says no, and he tries to convince her that she and Alicia need a break from each other. She says no again, and he’s about to keep arguing when she says “Please.” There’s fear in her voice and her eyes. Kalinda never says please.
(Alicia talks to him sometimes, about Kalinda. How she’s betrayed her, how she trusted her, how stupid she was to ever care about her in the first place. You’re not married to Kalinda, he thinks.)
Sophia - She calls and calls and calls. She’d forgotten what it was like to be touched by Kalinda Sharma; she needs it again. But Kalinda never answers her calls.
When she finally gets a callback, Kalinda agrees to meet. She’s buzzing with sexual excitement by the time she walks in, all confidence and charisma and boots and attitude. But she’s different, tonight. Two drinks in and Sophia knows that she’s not going to get what she wants.
“What happened to you?” she asks. “Something’s changed.”
Kalinda ignores her.
“You can talk to me, K. What happened to you?”
“Nothing happened.”
“But you won’t come home with me?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Kalinda sighs and looks away. “Someone got hurt. Someone married. I’m trying to be good.”
Sophia smirks. “Well that won’t last for very long. Come home with me. You know it’s more fun to be bad.”
Kalinda looks at her. “I mean really hurt, Sophia. I can’t do that again.”
Sophia studies her. “Kalinda Sharma, don’t tell me you fell in love?”
Kalinda smiles at her. “I don’t do love.”
“You don’t do morality either.”
Kalinda stands up and throws some money on the table. “I’ll see you around,” she says. Sophia thinks That didn’t go quite as I’d hoped. She finishes her drink, finishes Kalinda’s drink, and goes home.
Alicia - It’s Owen who tells her. He does it in his usual teasing way, but he makes it clear that he believes it. As soon as he says it she knows it’s true. It just fits.
She spends a sleepless night thinking of her, and then corners her the next day in a meeting room.
“Are you in love with me?”
Kalinda gapes at her, frozen.
“Are you?”
“I…do you…Alicia…”
Alicia takes a step forward. And another. “I think you are. Owen told me you are.”
“I…I…”
Alicia takes a final step forward and kisses her, whisper soft, on the mouth. “I think you are.”
Kalinda gazes at her. She looks a little drunk.
“I think I might be in love with you too.”
Kalinda lights up. Alicia watches, thinks “I did that.”
“Alicia…there might be…a few other people who know. Will, maybe Cary…Courtney.”
“Courtney? Why the hell would Courtney…?”
“I’ll tell you later. Can I have another kiss?”
She can.
Later, when she tells Alicia how Courtney knows, she gets more than a kiss.