This chapter is a bit blah. But here it is anyway.

He was trying to ignore her. That much was obvious. He had hardly mumbled two whole words to her since they were seated opposite one another on the plane. She couldn't help but chuckle internally at that. If she was the type of person who believed in fate, she would think that she should probably read into the situation.

Thankfully, it felt as though as soon as they were in the air, they were coming back down. However, to add insult to injury, the whole misfit group were staying in the same hotel. They were all stood together in the elevator and she tried not to grimace at Will and Laura holding hands. She could see her thumb moving over his and she felt something inside her drop. It was the first time that she had been given an up close view of their relationship, and she certainly wasn't enjoying it.

She wasn't stupid, she knew he had been distancing himself. It had been what she wanted and asked for after all, but what surprised her was how much it actually hurt. At this point, she wasn't sure if it was because of actual feelings, or because of the hit it was taking repeatedly at her ego, either way, she didn't appreciate the feeling. She scrunched her face in distaste whilst looking once more at their joined hands and looked up just in time to see Will looking at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously having caught her not so discreet gaze.

It was going to be a long few days.

Mere hours later, she paced up and down her room. Her thoughts spinning from Will, to her speech and back again. She gritted her teeth and growled lowly in her throat before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Shaking her hands at her side, she straightened out and headed to the one thing she knew would help calm her; the mini bar.

It both angered and confused her when she opened the door to said mini bar and found it free of all alcoholic sustenance. She should have found it more suspicious that it wasn't there. If she had been in the right frame of mind, she would have questioned it, however, all she wanted was a drink. She marched to her laptop, closed it, put it in her bag and made her way down to the hotel bar. It was relatively busy; predominantly filled with lawyers talking animatedly into their cell phones, unable to take leave from work even when not in their own state.

As soon as the wine was placed in front of her, she took a large gulp and a deep breath. It was surprising how reinvigorating wine could be. She sat for close to an hour typing with a renewed sense of inspiration. The words flowed almost effortlessly, until she felt a presence take a seat next to her. She turned to her unexpected neighbour, thinking that just maybe, she knew who it was going be be. It wasn't however, who she almost expected – and maybe even wanted - it to be.

"Miss Cavanaugh."

She raised a well groomed eyebrow in accusation, not even needed a moment to ponder why this man would be sat next to her, here, in New York.

"You've been sent to spy on me."

He chuckled, and she hated herself for thinking that it was an undeniably attractive sound.

"Well it wouldn't be ideal if your speech tomorrow harmed your ex husbands reputation."

"Well then why isn't he the one talking to me?" she paused. "or even Eli. I actually like him."

"Are you saying that you don't like me, Miss Cavanaugh?"

She laughed, a smirk finding refuge on her red painted lips. "You're tolerable."

He laughed, full and manly and undeniably attractively. There was a lull for a few moments, neither bothering to fill it – until he did. "So are you?"

"Am I what Mr Elfman?"

"Going to damage my candidates reputation?"

"So he's your candidate now?

She watched as Johnny shifted on his stool next to her, allowing him a better view of her face. "It's very likely."

She nodded. It was what she had expected. She was just thankful that she didn't have to have the monotonous job of standing by his side. The constant cameras in her face, the lack of privacy. It wasn't what she was built for. She – not for the first time – felt undeniably thankful for her divorce.

They talked about his candidacy and what it would mean for her as she typed. Surprisingly, she found it encouraged her to keep writing. Her frustrations seemed to be seeping into every other word whilst her pride, ambition and freedom flowed into the ones in between.

Time passed amicably. Words flowed seamlessly. And conversation rolled through in an almost friendly manner. She hadn't noticed any other hotel guests entering and hadn't felt inquisitive eyes glancing at her and the young man sat next to her. Said young man, had however, noticed.

"Your friend is here."

She span to face Johnny, the confusion showing clearly on her face.

"My friend?"

"Will Gardner." He paused shortly, almost studying her face. "He keeps looking over here."

She shrugged her shoulders, trying – albeit unsuccessfully – to appear nonchalant. She did let her eyes wander though, eventually finding him sat with Laura. At that point, he wasn't looking at her as Johnny had stated he had been, he had eyes only for Laura. And that was enough for Alicia to reach for her glass.

She took a swig and savoured it before something clicked in her mind. Remembering what Johnny had just said to her, her mind ticked through multiple thoughts in succession.

"You know his name." She muttered it lowly, but had a feeling that he had heard her and then continued at a higher volume; "You're watching me." She didn't pose it as a question, and Johnny didn't answer it as such. His only response was to shrug his shoulder and take a swig of his drink.

"Not me personally."

"But someone from your camp." He bowed his head in response, confirming her suspicions. "For how long have you been watching me?"

He sighed. "Since before you got coffee with your ex boyfriend over there."

Her fists clenched on the bar, which probably did not go unnoticed by her companion. She could feel her breathing getting erratic and it was taking every ounce of self control that she possessed to stop her voice rising to a volume that would draw the attention of the following days audience.

She took a minute before speaking to reign in an ounce of agitation.

"Stop. Stop watching me. Stop following me. Stop interfering." Johnny opened his mouth to speak, but was swiftly intercepted. "I divorced Peter. His candidacy has nothing to do with me. I agreed to do one interview for you, and that is where my limit is. If I continue to be trailed, if my privacy continues to be upheaved, I will give more interviews; interviews that would make it impossible for your candidate to run for states attorney, never mind president. See to it that your staff, cease all surveillance. I mean it Johnny."

"I can't make any promises, Alicia. Like it or not, you are part of this campaign. I make my promises to my candidate, and he wants you ..." he took a short pause in contemplation and eyed Alicia, "controlled."

Alicia sputtered, unsure of what words to use to vocalist her anger to the highest accuracy.

"I don't even want to dignify that statement with a response."

She glanced over to Will quickly, but it was long enough to see that he was looking in her direction with a stare that she would be sure was concern if he hadn't been so aloof lately. Obviously, her volume had risen higher than she had intended.

She heard Johnny sigh from beside her, which only fuelled her fury. The only thing stopping her from losing her cool, was the fact that she was in the venue for her speech. People she could work with in the future were all around her. Losing her credibility over this, wasn't something that she was even remotely interested in.

"Tell your guy, that if he keeps this up, he will get no support from me. Do something, Johnny. I will not become a cog in his political popularity contest. "

She stood from her stool and exited the bar with a profound sense of satisfaction mixed with an ounce of trepidation. She didn't feel as though she had won. Johnny had made no promises, in fact, he had almost promised the exact opposite to what she wanted. But if they thought they would get away with putting her life under a lens, they would need to seriously rethink their strategies.

She went to bed that night feeling grateful that come morning, Cary would be around for moral support. Business partner he may be, but he had also grown to be a friend who provided unwavering support. She needed that right now. After calling Grace and making sure that Owen hadn't completely corrupted her, she settled into bed. She spent a great deal of time plotting multiple ways to hurt Peter and a smaller – yet still insurmountable – amount of time thinking about how good Will looked, sat opposite his girlfriend, whilst the remainder of her thoughts were split between hating Johnny and fantasising about how good he looked. She groaned and shuffled further down into her bed for the night.

The next morning passed by at a steady pace. Cary had arrived and was even more chipper than she was prepared for. He read her speech, gave it the stamp of approval, squeezed her shoulder in support, and then left her alone backstage to contemplate her existence and ponder why it had ever occurred to her that doing this key note would be a good idea.

She tried to look out into the crowd, however from her vantage point, it was a fools errand. She assumed the stage had been set that way, probably to ward off the nerves of those waiting to take the stage. It had the exact opposite effect. She needed to see what was out there before she stepped out and became completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of eyes looking at her.

She left backstage and guided herself to the back door of the auditorium. She wasn't surprised by the amount of bodies sat with their backs to her, but It still filled her with an ounce of dread. Maybe it was a good thing? She always performed better if she wasn't over confident in court, maybe the same would apply for here. And she hoped so. She found Cary in the crowd and soon after found Diane – who had become an unexpected yet indispensable ally – and Laura. She shouldn't have been surprised when she spotted a mass of brown curls, knowing instantly that it was Johnny, but she was. She had hoped he would have been back in Chicago by now. She scoffed.

As loathe as she was to admit it, she was looking for Will and she was unsure if finding an empty chair between Diane and Laura that he was obviously meant to fill was reassuring of terrifying.

"Scoping out an escape strategy?"

Her hand flew to her chest and she jumped as her heartbeat pounded, the unexpected voice dragging her from he stupor. She would have been angry, if she didn't recognise the timber to the voice behind her.

"My God, Will. Announce yourself before creeping up on women could you?" She turned to Will, and was reluctantly smiling in no time when she saw the laugh he was trying to keep at bay. "laugh it up, Gardner."

He chuckled and she delighted in it, pleased that they seemed to be finding their way, but she couldn't help but get a jab in where she could, still not completely over being slighted.

"So, you're not skilfully trying to avoid interaction with me anymore?"

He had the decency to look a little shame faced, and she would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy that. He raised one hand to his neck and scratched slightly in discomfort.

"I thought it would be easier."

She scoffed, "for who?"

"you, Laura. Me." He smiled apologetically. "You ready?"

Her eyes rolled of their own accord. "As ready as a person can be to be judged by a group of egotistic lawyers."

"I'll try not to be offended by that." They smiled at each other, unguarded, as he started to make his way around her to the door. "you'll be excellent, Alicia. You always are."

And with that, he was gone; making his way to his seat between his lover and his partner.

It was surprising how much his words meant to her; how hearing him say that she could do it, made her feel as though she actually could.

And as she stepped onto the stage and took a deep, calming breath, his eyes were the first that she found solace in.