Work Text:
Inside an old and rusty jeep, and driving along a dusty road was the last place you'd expect to find two professional women at 7pm on a Friday. However, there the women sat; stony-faced and silent as they chugged along at 60mph.
A dark-skinned investigator tried hard not to be caught staring at the lawyer beside her, but the determined look on Alicia's face was so simultaneously comical and beautiful that Kalinda couldn't tear her eyes away.
"Kalinda."
She snapped out of her fatigue-induced trance.
"You were saying?"
Kalinda's eyes snapped back down to the file in her lap. "Sorry. Robert Nicholson... male... we just need his testimony for the divorce to go ahead."
"Right."
An awkward silence fell upon them once again. Alicia stole a quick glance at the file, and then settled back on her seat.
...
...
Kalinda nearly jumped out of her seat when the lawyer erupted with laughter; an almost manical laugh at the absurtity of their situation. A laugh that cut through the tension and induced a long chuckle from Kalinda herself.
Alicia swung the car into the side of the road, and turned to look at Kalinda.
Alicia stared right into her eyes, and really looked at the woman she once called her best friend.
"Alicia" Kalinda inquisitively whispered, "What's wrong?"
Alicia let out one last snort, and then her face straightened as she delicately uttered "nothing."
Kalinda's heart was pounding as hard as she had ever felt it. The laughter had left a heaviness in the air; one that lingered on the skin and made it hard to breathe.
Neither of them knew who moved first, but all at once their lips had met and were moving against each other's tongues with a ferociousness even Kalinda had never encountered. They kissed as though their soft sighs would be enough to push away any anger or hurt caused by their broken relationship; they kissed as though their tongues held the answer needed to move forwards.
Needless to say, they pulled into a motel for the night. The next evening, when they returned to Chicago, they would tell Diane with suspiciously-rehearsed accuracy that the client had been difficult.