Originally posted on 02/20/2011

Payback's a biatch

"I had an interesting call today," she said looking up from her paper.

He was washing the dishes, while she was going through a brief at the kitchen table, but she couldn't concentrate on the paper. She'd been thinking of how to bring up the subject ever since she got home, and couldn't resist herself any more.

"From who?" he asked turning his head backwards to look at her.

"It is more interesting what she said," she replied taking off her glasses.

"So it was a woman…and what did she say?"

"She told me to keep an eye on you."

"What?" Kurt asked surprised, then turned off the tap, wiped his hands and turned around to face her.

"Ever heard the name Viola Walsh?"

"I have."

"You have?"

Diane was surprised, just like when Viola called her earlier that day and mentioned Kurt's name. She never thought these two had ever heard of each other, and she was kind of hoping Viola was bluffing when she warned her about him. But it looked like she wasn't.

"Yep."

"How?"

"What do you mean how?"

"How do you know her?"

"I can't talk about ongoing cases with you."

"You know her through an ongoing case? You've met her?"

"I have. But why are you so nervous?"

Diane didn't even realize that she was nervous, she was too busy putting the pieces together. Viola told her she was in town, Kurt mentioned an ongoing case. Despite the lack of information, she thought she managed to figure out what could be going on. Viola must have hired Kurt for a case, him of all the experts, she was sure it was intentional on her side.

"Because I didn't know you two knew each other."

"And I didn't know you two knew each other either."

"She never mentioned me?"

"Should she have?"

"I don't know. I just got this call from her saying she's in Chicago, and that it's payback time and that I should keep an eye on you," Viola is a bitch, she thought as she was starting to realize what was going on. She warned her to keep an eye on him, she wanted to make her jealous.

"Payback time?"

"She thinks I wanted to steal a client from her."

"You what?"

"It happened a month ago. We won the case for her and she wasn't even grateful," She never mentioned that incident to Kurt, she knew how he'd have reacted.

"And she wants to pay you back through me?"

"Apparently," she had to admit, that she hadn't expected anything like that, a payback yes, but nothing like that. Viola is a bitch, she said to herself again.

"And that makes you nervous because?"

"Because she lost millions, and she blames me. She yelled at me in my own office calling me names," She was surprised that it felt kind of good finally telling this to him.

"What names?"

"That's not the point, and why are you smiling? Do you find it funny that someone called me names?"

He was smiling, and she had no idea why. This was the only reaction she didn't expect.

"You are jealous."

Looks like the bitch succeeded, she thought but she tried to deny it. "Of her? No way!" she replied, but she already felt her cheeks starting to burn.

"You are, don't deny it."

"I just wanted to warn you," she said finally, trying to change the subject, when she realized maybe Viola didn't expect that from her. Maybe she thought she wouldn't tell Kurt, just to test him, but somehow she never thought of not telling him. Why would she need to test him? She trusted him completely, but she didn't trust Viola, and the image of those two together made her…jealous, that was the right word.

"Warn me?"

"Of her."

"Of her? She seemed pretty harmless to me."

Diane could imagine Viola playing nice to Kurt, trying to show him her best side, and that thought made her shiver.

"Maybe she is waiting for the right moment."

"For what?"

"For, I don't know, seducing you?" Viola was capable of that, it must have been her only reason to put up this whole act.

"Seducing me?" he asked and started to laugh.

"Yep, looks like she wants to hurt me that badly."

"You are adorable when you are jealous," he leaned closer to her and kissed her softly.

"I am serious, Kurt."

"You know what, come to my farm tomorrow, I'm meeting the vicious Viola there," he grinned.

"You're meeting her in your barn?"

"Yep, I'm showing her an experiment."

"In your barn?"

"Yep."

"Right there, where you said you had feelings for me?"

"Still not jealous?" he asked with a grin.

"A little," she admitted, and she felt she was blushing again.

"So are you coming?"

"To spy on you?"

"If you want to."

"I don't trust her."

"Then come."

"I don't know…"

"Then think about it, and while you are thinking, let me show you that you have nothing to worry about."

He kissed her again, this time with real passion, and after a few seconds she completely forgot about Viola.

o-o-o-o-o

"I'm going with you," she said at the breakfast table the next morning.

He looked at her for a few seconds before he replied.

"You want to hide in the hay in these clothes?"

Diane burst out in laughter, and couldn't stop it for quite a while.

"Who said anything about hiding in the hay?"

"I thought you wanted to spy on us," he grinned.

"I most certainly won't hide in hay in order to do that," she was still half laughing. "Not in these clothes anyway."

"So what is the plan?"

"I'm not sharing."

"You are not sharing the plan?"

"I don't want you to jeopardize it."

"Wouldn't it help if I knew?"

"No, I want you to act naturally, so she wouldn't suspect anything."

"You think I can't act?"

"Not like me cowboy, with decades of courtroom training behind me."

"Fair," he grinned. "So, am I supposed to let her seduce me or not?"

"Not while I'm still breathing," she said with a half smile.

"That was all I wanted to know," he replied, and leaned across the table to kiss her.

o-o-o-o

Their kissing was interrupted by the bell. She got up from his lap, then quickly grabbed her bag, searched for a mirror and her lipstick, while he went to open the door after placing another kiss on her neck as he passed by her.

By the time Viola entered the door, she was sitting in the seat opposite his desk, trying to look professional.

"Diane?" there was a clear surprise in Viola's voice.

"Viola," she said with a smile, and tried to sound surprised too.

"What are you doing here?"

"Mr. McVeigh is our firm's adviser. But what are you doing here? I thought you enjoyed the weather in L.A."

"I do," she said with a smile. "But when work calls."

"I'm sorry, Mr. McVeigh," Diane said, and stood up, looking at Kurt, who had been standing there silently watching the two women. "I think I stayed longer than I should have, I'll call you about the result," she said and stood up.

"I'll have it by tomorrow," he replied.

"It was nice seeing you again, Viola," said Diane, showing the woman her seat, then walked towards the door, and he followed her.

"You are not staying?" he asked, silently, standing in the open door, facing Diane who was already outside, showing his back to the other woman.

"I trust you," she replied, just as silently, putting her pointing finger on his lips with a smile, then left.

Her plan was to show Viola that she didn't care about her threats, she was able to leave the two alone without the tiniest bit of distress. Viola was obviously putting up an act in front of Kurt, and she decided to play along, let the bitch think she didn't care about what she was planning.

o-o-o-o

She was home early that evening, waiting for him to arrive. She trusted him, but she was dying to know what happened in the barn. She didn't get a call from Viola that day, although she'd kind of expected to.

She was sitting on her bed, surrounded by papers when she heard his steps on the stairs.

"Hey," he greeted her with a smile from the door.

"Hey," she looked up, she had her glasses on. He once told her he found her red glasses sexy. "I see you've managed to escape from the arms of vicious Viola," she said, grinning.

"Did you say you used to be friends?" he asked stepping closer to her.

"Well, we've never been too close, why?"

"Because she is absolutely unendurable," he said, and he sounded kind of exhausted.

"Really? I thought you said she was pretty harmless," she was grinning even more.

"That was before."

"Before?"

"Before you decided to show her your claws."

"My what? She started this whole thing," she was trying to defend herself, although she kind of knew it was unnecessary.

"But I was the suffering part," he said sitting down opposite to her on the bed, and he pushed some papers away from between them. Diane looked at him with a questioning eye, so he continued. "I didn't mind her manners before, but now that I knew it was an act, it suddenly became unbearable to me."

"Poor thing," Diane replied with a sympathetic smile.

"She tried to use every chance to touch me, to lean close to me. At some point I even thought she was about to jump in my arms," he was shivering, and Diane couldn't have been happier.

"But she didn't?"

"I made it clear that I wasn't interested. You know how persuasive you can be with a gun in your hand?"

Diane started to laugh, but then she saw that he was still under a kind of shock, so she stopped.

"You were suffering?" she asked with a teasing smile.

"I was," he replied and reached out to take her glasses off.

"How can I help you forget it?" she asked leaning close to him, her lips almost touching his.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," he replied before kissing her.

o-o-o-o

"You dared to steal my expert witness?" Diane couldn't believe her ears, and when she looked up Viola was already standing in front of her desk.

"I did what?"

"He quit."

"Who?"

"Don't play the innocent Diane, you know exactly who I am talking about. You're lover."

"My what?" Diane was enjoying the whole situation, but she was only smiling in the inside. Kurt told her he quit the job, because the experiment proved Viola's client was guilty. She was kind of expecting Viola blaming that on her as well, and she decided to find it amusing.

"Mr. McVeigh is our firm's adviser, my ass," the other woman was clearly angry. "You jeopardized my case."

"You jeopardized your case yourself," she said still calmly. "And don't bother to use the b* word again, I am immune to that."

Viola clearly wanted to say something else, it looked like her head wanted to explode, and Diane found it amusing, although she still didn't show it. She looked the other woman deep in the eye, until the brunette finally turned around and left her office.

Diane reached for her cell phone, and started to type.

"Ding-dong! The bwitch is dead .:D"