Cabot & Associates, Wednesday

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex was at work today, except her mind wasn't focusing properly. She'd flip through search results and keep thinking about ...

... unprofessional, non-lawyerly things. She was at work. She was going to work.

Alex gritted her teeth and forced herself to concentrate. She could leave early. She was the boss. But she was going stay at work, just to prove a point.

ocd-free!

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[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Today was turning out to be worse than yesterday, and so Turtle figured it wouldn't hurt to at least get one thing that was bugging her out of the way and then she could maybe deal with all the other crap.

She knocked a little on the door to get her associate's attention. "Miss Cabot?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Turtle," Alex said, trying not to look startled. She was a bit distracted, today, and hadn't been watching the door. She shook her head quickly. "Come in. What do you need?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Um, I wanted to apologize," Turtle said, standing a moment, fidgeting awkwardly, and then sinking into a chair and perching on the edge of it with her hands folded in her lap. "For not coming in on Monday. I went into work, just...the wrong one. I know it's not an excuse and I won't let it interfere with my work again, but I've been a little...out of it lately, but I won't let it happen again."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"The store you run?" Alex asked with a wry smile. "It's okay. You've got a lot going on. Occupational hazard."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle's head bobbed a little, nodding, her frown deep and thoughtful. "I suppose. But it's not like me at all, and I just wanted to assure you that it's not going to become a habit, Miss Cabot."

She was not having a midlife breakdown crisis at age seventeen. Not. Happening. So. Help. Her....

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Everyone has off days," Alex said, sitting up a little straighter. "Especially when you're juggling at high speeds."

She was rambling now to satiate her own curiosity. "If that's the only thing you've dropped, you've still got a high batting average."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"I....guess," Turtle said, and shifted a little again. Started fiddling with her fingers. "Um, Miss Cabot? Can I...ask you something?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex nodded. "Sure thing," she said. "Free consultation, associate to associate. What's on your mind?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Well, Miss Cabot, you're....older than me," and she meant that in the nice way! "And I was just wondering...um..."

There was a lot of uncomfortable shifting going on on that chair.

"Do you...have you found, in the pursuit of a successful career, that you've had to...sacrifice a lot in other...areas of your life?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex was too amused to be offended by the possible implications.

"Sometimes, you have to make your choices," she said, lifting her shoulders. "What matters to you, and what doesn't. If I were married to a schoolteacher and raising three kids in the suburbs, I couldn't be a prosecutor. Someone else could, maybe, but not with the hours I put in. Maybe they'd be happy prosecuting cases here and there and just ... going home, but I have a political future. So you pick what you want. I'd be miserable out in the suburbs, anyway."

She offered the girl a smile. "What are you afraid of losing?"

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Not....losing, really," Turtle said, looking down toward some spot where the floor met the wall as she answered. "More like something I already lost. And you can't take things like that back, I know, I just wonder sometimes if I made a big mistake. Because you have to know when you make a mistake, so you don't make it again..."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"You're still young," Alex said. "I know, everyone says that, and you think they're being condescending. But you've got time. Make some mistakes. You wouldn't actually get to call yourself a teenager, if you didn't."

She was going to take a complete stab in the dark, here. "You could always call him."

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Well," Turtle said with a sigh, part disparaging, part wistful, "I've got to talk to him anyway for a report on how the set-up for the store is going..."

[nofishinmypond.livejournal.com]

So, working out at the gym hadn't done much for his... mood, and neither had the cold shower afterwards. Jack was just going to have to go straight back to his room, in PRIVATE, and...

He completely failed to walk past the storefront. Instead, he rapped on the glass with one knuckle and waved.

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Alex had been in the front room, moving furniture around, because at least that, she could focus on. She raised an eyebrow at the window before walking over to open the door.

"You know," she said dryly, "the amazing thing about stores is that you're allowed to come in. No knocking required."

[nofishinmypond.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I got that," Jack answered, still unsure what he was doing. "I just... wasn't going to stop. But I thought I'd say hi. Soooo... Yeah. Hi."

Jack scratched his head. "...How's the island treating you, anyways? Good times?"

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine," she said, her voice dryly amused. "This island is nowhere near as interesting as New York. But I went to my first slumber party in a couple of decades."

[nofishinmypond.livejournal.com]

Jack grinned at that. "Oh, a slumber party, good. Jammies, spin-the-bottle, pillow fights, the whole deal?"

Oookay, try not to think about things like that.

"Did you play Truth or Dare?"

D'oh!

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"No pillow fights," she said, stepping back and holding the door open in case he wanted to come in. "And I didn't play most of the games. Except 'I Never.' You shouldn't turn down any slumber party game that involves liquor."

[nofishinmypond.livejournal.com]

Jack pulled off his hat, ran his fingers through his damp hair, and nodded at the door. "How gallant!"

He shrugged at her as he walked in. "I make it my general policy never to turn down anything that involves liquor. Unless it's nasty liquor."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Good thing I keep whiskey in my desk," Alex grinned. "Care to join me?"

[nofishinmypond.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hell yes," Jack replied with a sigh. "You wouldn't believe the day I'm having. I just keep..."

He trailed off, not sure he wanted to explain. "Are those new glasses?" he asked, changing the subject. "I like 'em. They're sexy."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Can't focus?" Alex asked. "I can't, either. I'm trying to work and I keep thinking about --"

Her brain caught up to her mouth.

"Legal research," she lied. "On different cases. Older ones. These ... are the same glasses I've always had. Smooth try, though."

[nofishinmypond.livejournal.com]

"Smooth, right," Jack replied. "Look, I didn't mean... I mean, it's not like I'm trying to come on to you, here. I mean, you're hot -- you're really hot -- and you're smart as hell, and that always gets me going, but..." He swallowed. "How about some of that whiskey? At least then if I keep making a fool of myself, I'll have an excuse."

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

First, Alex had to lean against her desk and smirk at him. "You're not very good at this, are you?" she asked, a trace of sympathy in her smile.