DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Trial By Jury and all characters are
property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
The Letter
By Ann
"Where did you get this?" Tracey scanned the resignation letter for the third time.
"It was on my desk when I arrived this morning, Ms. Kibre. I assume it was placed there sometime after I left yesterday." The secretary had no idea what was in the envelope that had been addressed to her boss; had she known, she would've fled the room the minute she'd handed the letter over to the ADA.
Tracey glanced up sharply. "She purposely left this for you to give me so that she wouldn't have to face me."
The secretary took a nervous step towards the door. "Do you need me for anything else, Ms. Kibre?"
"No." The secretary practically sprinted to the exit. She'd almost made it through when Tracey's voice stopped her. "Wait! Get me Kelly Gaffney's address. She's not getting out of here so easily."
Tracey's focus moved back to the letter, and the secretary took the opportunity to slip from the room. She'd call Tracey on the intercom with the information.
Kelly stepped from the shower and reached for the towel rack. She quickly patted herself dry and slid into the silk robe, the material clinging to her still damp body. Exiting the room, she headed for her first cup of coffee. She had plenty of time to drink the whole pot if she wanted. She certainly didn't have anywhere else to go.
A knock sounded on the door just as Kelly stepped into the kitchen, and if she hadn't been so miffed at the delay in her quest for caffeine, she'd have realized that the knock wasn't an everyday, friendly knock. No, it was more along the lines of pounding. She opened the door with the intent to getting rid of the person, but instead, was nearly bowled over as the individual pushed her way into the apartment.
"What the hell?" Kelly righted herself and turned to face the intruder.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Tracey whipped the letter from her jacket pocket and thrust it towards her former assistant. "What the hell is this?"
Kelly squinted in an attempt to read the words that were shaking in Tracey's hand. She knew damned well what the letter said, she did write it after all, but she wasn't quite ready to discuss the reason why she'd written it.
"Is that the search warrant for Mr. Tavish's apartment? I thought Chris picked it up yesterday. You should've already received notice of their findings by now." Kelly tightened the sash on her robe, having no idea she'd just succeeded in making the material cling to her like a glove.
"Huh?" Tracey's eyes drifted to the silky curves causing her to falter for a moment, but in true Kibre form, she managed to focus on the subject at hand, or rather in her hand. "That's not what this is, and you know it!" She crumpled the paper and tossed it as hard as she could. Good thing for Kelly, she threw like a girl.
Batting the paper to the floor, Kelly glared at Tracey. "Hey! That was uncalled for!"
"Uncalled for? You can't be serious. I wasn't the one who turned in her letter of resignation through a secretary. You didn't even have the guts to face me."
Kelly flinched but stood her ground. "And now you see why. You're completely unreasonable, Tracey. You just threw my words back at me. If I'd told you face to face, you'd probably have beaned me with a paperweight, or worse, stabbed me with your letter opener."
"I would not!" Tracey folded her arms across her chest and shot her famous Kibre glare, the one that had witnesses and defense attorneys trembling in their chairs. Kelly seemed immune as she checkmated Tracey with her own classic trademark, a widened stance with hands on hips.
The staredown appeared to be moving towards a stalemate until Tracey noticed Kelly's sash beginning to loosen. Her eyes tracked to the knot which appeared to be holding on by a thread, its fight to stay tied complicated by Kelly's fists which added additional strain by tightly grasping the material at her waist. Tracey found herself hoping for a sound defeat of the knot.
Unaware of the reason for Tracey's distraction, Kelly had become uncomfortable at the silence, but more so with the way Tracey was looking at her. She'd never seen that particular expression on the ADA's face before.
"What do you want, Tracey?"
'For that goddamned sash to come undone.' Tracey managed to keep that particular thought from escaping, offering instead, "I want you to go into your room, get dressed, and then come to work."
"I quit, remember?" Kelly motioned to the letter, lying a few feet away. "You had the evidence in your hand before you threw it away."
Tracey looked down at the crumpled paper. "Well, it's been destroyed. So, go get dressed." Dark eyes strayed to Kelly's midline, causing Tracey's thoughts to wage a silent battle against each other. The older woman was at odds with wanting Kelly to slip into her work clothes and forget about the ridiculous resignation and wanting the silky robe to open fully. Dropping completely to the floor would be even better.
"You can't order me around anymore, Tracey." Kelly moved her hands from her hips and gestured around the room. "You're in my space, now."
Tracey didn't give a rat's ass whose space she was in. The sash had finally broken free of its loose confines and had come undone. Kelly's movements had only served to make the opening larger, and Tracey's focus was fully on the firm breasts and shapely figure of her assistant. She unconsciously licked her lips.
Tilting her head in confusion, Kelly couldn't understand why Tracey wasn't arguing. The ADA thrived on conflict, and Kelly's letter had been the perfect catalyst. So, Kelly couldn't help but wonder why Tracey was just standing there, staring at her with her mouth agape, and . . .
Kelly looked down at herself and shrieked. She closed the robe as quickly as she could, startled to find a pair of hands on top of hers. Her head snapped up to find dark eyes peering back at her.
"Kelly, why did you resign?" Tracey's voice was low, and deep, and had taken on a husky tone. Kelly swallowed hard. She'd never been under such close scrutiny from Tracey. In fact, she'd never been so close to Tracey period.
"I … um, that is to say, . . ." Words failed the blonde, her cheeks turning crimson as her eyes strayed to the door.
Tracey had her confirmation. She didn't know why she'd suddenly been able to read Kelly. It was as if a light had gone on, illuminating all the times she'd caught Kelly watching her. At the time, she'd been so involved in whatever case they were working on, she'd just passed it off as her overactive imagination playing tricks on her.
"Is it because of me?" Tracey stepped closer, placing her body almost flush against Kelly's. The resulting shiver made Tracey smile. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid as to not see the signs. Tracey finally stepped away, giving an obviously nervous Kelly her space.
"Kelly, I'd like for you to take the day off; get some more sleep, eat a light lunch, take a long, hot bubble bath, and be ready at 7:30 to go out to dinner. Can you do that?"
Speechless, Kelly could only nod dumbly. Tracey smiled and leaned in, lightly touching their lips together. "Okay, I'm heading back to work. I'll see you at 7:30 sharp."
Kelly stood frozen in her spot as she watched Tracey walk out the door. She wasn't sure how much time had passed before the last several minutes finally sunk in. Tracey had kissed her!
A smile slowly spread on her lips, and she was finally able to put one foot in front of the other as she moved to her wadded resignation. Bending over, she snatched it from the floor and carefully opened it. If she'd only known that resigning was the way to get Tracey's attention, she'd have done it long ago.
Still wearing a smile, Kelly headed directly for the bedroom, and placing the letter under her pillow, she crawled into bed and planned her strategy.
First, she'd take a nap, then she'd take a bubble bath, and then she'd drink a pot of fresh coffee. She was going to be prepared just in case Tracey intended to stay for breakfast.
The End