Objection Overruled

[monique_minx]

((Closed for Crystal_Dust and Minx, please PM writers with any feedback you'd like to deliver))

The dawn light creaked over the horizon and splashed across the long conference table, it highlighted all the half empty coffee cups and files stacked high, littered with colour-coded tabs, upon it. Outside, the city had begun its usual hum and inside, Lauren Devereux's team were looking a little worse for wear. She sat at the head of the table reviewing depositions projected onto a large screen. Her junior lawyers were all quiet but Lauren's voice was constantly breaking the din as she handed out assignments to her team.

"Page sixty seven. The phrasing in his testimony doesn't match his affidavit. He didn't 'notice' the data discrepancy - he was told about it. Find out who told him. That's where the leak is." Her tone was even but her mind was racing ahead, she was busy rewriting her opponent's story before they could even tell it.

Another of the junior lawyers left the room to follow up on Lauren's order. Meridian Capital Partners was in deep on this one, Solterra Biotech was only a mid sized pharmaceutical company but they had a solid case. They were accusing Lauren's client Meridian of using confidential R&D data obtained through a third party consultancy to undercut Solterra's valuation before they launched a hostile takeover bid. Now, there was billions in shares at stake, a pending injunction and a Senate inquiry into corporate espionage. Now, it was Lauren's problem.

Worse than that, Solterra hired Gideon Marsh to represent them, he was a long time rival from another firm and a thorn in Lauren's side. He was older by 20 years and just as smug as ever. He offered the longest, beefiest battles to Devereux & Clarke. She had to see him later that day, it turned her stomach to meet with that condescending misogynist yet again. If Gideon couldn't win, he'd drag it out and drown Lauren in paperwork and injunctions for as long as he could. As if corporate law wasn't paper riddled enough. The sheer number crunching was mammoth sometimes.

Another complication to the case had reared its ugly head and had the media clamouring like vultures in the past twenty four hours as well - the key witness had gone missing. He had been a data analyst and Meridian was strongly suspected of intimidation. If anyone was able to prove that, Lauren's case had a hole so big that all the paperwork in the world would never fill it.

Lauren dismissed her team as her assistant Victoria brought her a steaming hot cup of fresh coffee and Lauren took it with a sigh and a grateful smile, "Don't know what I'd do without you, Vic."

"Mmmm crash and burn." Her assistant told her cheekily as she walked back out and Lauren caught herself watching the sway of the young woman's hips before she shook her head.

"She's too young for ya Loz. Too young." She muttered, reminding herself that Victoria was only 24 and she was now 36 having 'celebrated' her birthday only two weeks before.

It had been another dull, uncelebrated affair that Lauren had largely spent at her desk. She'd buried herself further into work since her divorce and that had been two years ago. Their paperwork had cited 'irreconcilable differences', Daniel had filed and Lauren never argued with him. Perhaps that was why their marriage failed, her heart was already half out the door. He always insisted she was emotionally unavailable and she needed to be more human, while refusing to see she already was. He'd been born of privilege, he embodied it, the son of a Supreme Court judge, Daniel Keene never set foot in a public school in his entire life. His ego may well have been bigger than Lauren's rather spacious apartment. At first that confidence attracted Lauren and they were married in three short years but after three more, Lauren could see her intelligence was a threat to Daniel and their home life became a mirror of their work life - an ongoing, courtroom sparring match. Lauren was exhausted with him.

The unfortunate side of Daniel having also been a partner in another law firm meant they still had to be cordial as they ran into each other at certain events. She had to tolerate the fact that he pointedly called her 'Devereux'. She'd always suspected he was sore about the fact that she retained her maiden name during their marriage and although he still didn't confirm it, she felt sure this was about as close to that confirmation as she'd ever get.

Lauren took her coffee cup up and headed out of the empty conference room, leaving the tidy up to Victoria as junior lawyers returned to nab files here and there. Her shale grey pencil skirt brushed at her knees and hugged her sculpted ass like it was made to measure. She always wore a similar pair of low heeled peep toe shoes, they were almost always black. Her matching grey blazer hid the ivory blouse beneath it and she longed to reach her office and take the stiff jacket off for a little while.

She sipped the creamy coffee as she made her way down the hallway, feeling slightly rejuvenated just for moving around and not staring at a screen for a minute. She was contemplating the upcoming meeting with Gideon Marsh and the charity gala she would be recompense to miss in just two weeks time - Daniel would undoubtedly be there charming everyone with some new eye candy on his arm just to rub it in a little harder. Lauren hoped he spent some money on whichever poor woman he selected before he disappointed her in bed later in the evening. Oh the very thought of that brought a smile to her lips.

Lauren shed her jacket, leaving it hanging on her chair before she ambled over to the long grey couch in the centre of her well appointed office and laid down with a sigh. Letting herself shut her eyes as she slipped her heels off and stretched her stockinged feet up and out. Her hand rested half across her eyes and her forehead. She'd never nap at work but it was damn tempting after an all nighter.

 

[Crystal_Dust]

The receptionist never saw her coming.
No one ever did.
That was the point.

Her interview suit was just a shade away from funeral black, and it made her blue silk camisole appear all the darker. her skirt just above the knee, as appropriate, though her heels, black and gleaming, were probably a bit too high. She definitely wore far more jewelry around her wrists, on her fingers, and her supple throat.

Somehow all that metal, all those tiny stones, made no sound at all as she entered the front office of Devereux & Clarke, tablet in hand, with a confidence far in advance of her 22 years.

The receptionist, felt her presence over the desk, felt far more observed than she was used to, at least by women.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm Alanna Drake. I have a meeting with Lauren Devereux. An interview, I suppose you'd say."

"Let me check...hm, I don't have you on today's sheet. Let me get her assistant over. Sometimes things get a little out of sync. Have a seat, it shouldn't be more than a moment."

"Of course."

Alanna settled in to one of the plush chairs in the foyer. She appreciated the expense the firm had gone to with it, the decadence of it. It told her they had big dreams, big goals. Which she'd known, of course. Her well manicured nails played idly with one of her bracelets, an ornate, silver thing like braided rope, and small slivers of somthing like jade scattered through it.

True to her word, a woman appeared through the office door promptly.

Alanna rose to greet her, hand out.

"Hi, I'm Victoria, Ms. Devereux's assistant, " she smiled, accepting Alanna's hand briefly, "I'm sorry, Ms. Devereux's calendar doesn't have you. I mean, at all. Not today, tomorrow, next month. Are you sure you contacted the right person?"

Alanna shifted slightly, entering Victoria's personal space, just a bit.

"I'm sure. I'm surprised you don't remember our call," her voice dropped, "We even talked about Affliction."
Victoria's face flushed deep red at the mention of the club. Alanna's smile showed a predatory amount of teeth.

"I'm not sure what you are..."

Alanna's voice became very soft, a hint of tonguetip along sharp teeth.

"Ms. Devereux would tell you that if I showed up here, with that bit of information, as well as the knowledge of how you spent last Friday night, the things you put into your body, and the pretty friend you made, I would certainly have supporting video on my phone, don't you think? It doesn't bother me, but a law firm does tend to be a very conservative place."

From deep red to ghost white.

"But there's no need to make a scene by showing you that. Risking the shame of it all. The vulnerability. The fear. So, let's try and avoid that. And her name? It was Moira."

Watching Victoria struggle through a broad range of emotions, almost none of them pleasant, was something Alanna enjoyed. The visceral reaction to the turmoil made her want to bring the pretty little thing home with her, to keep at the foot of her bed.

It didn't last as long as she would have liked. The girl recovered admirably.

"Of course. I must have forgotten to put it on the calendar. I'll take you back now."

"Good girl," though Alanna chided herself for that bit. But the assistant was hard to resist.

Victoria lead the way, walking faster than necessary, but Alanna followed at her own pace, letting the frightened rabbit suffer waiting for her.

She knocked on Ms. Devereux's office, and opened the door.

"Ms. Devereux, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened, but I didn't put your meeting with Alanna Drake on your calendar. Do you have time to meet with her right now?"

The lawyer raised an eyebrow at her assistant, clearly surprised, rather than upset at the mistake.

"I suppose. I could use the break."

The lawyer rose and gestured to a chair.

"Lauren Devereux, what can I do for you, Ms. Drake? Besides make sure that Victoria has apologized for her uncharacteristic mistake?"

The assistant quitely vanished, closing the door behind her.

"I'm here for an interview, of sorts."

"Administrative staff is handled by HR, and you can't possibly have finished law school, or passed the Bar yet."

"I know, I know, I'm very young, I get that a lot," Alanna chuckled, "Though I actually have done all that. But you have more than enough junior staff here. And that's not the service I offer," she sighed, "I'm always at a loss for how to describe what I do. It's best to think of me as an envoy, or liason. Someone who can take care of things that just don't belong on your to do list."

"Ms. Drake, we do corporate law. I'm sure 'offices' in other parts of town might need questionable resources, but if you know us as well as you imply, you know we are very well respected. We are very by the book."

Alanna crossed her legs, letting the sound of her stockings running together fill the silence. The silence grew deeper as she took a slender chain from her jacket pocket, gold, but with another jade stone hanging from it, and attached it around her raised ankle.

And let her foot just bounce, in perfect time, slowly, the green glinting in the harsh office light.

"I don't think you fully understand what I'm offering, Ms. Devereux. Do I look like a thug to you? Let me prove myself in two ways."

Slowly, up and down. Perfect rhythm.

"First, give me 30 days. If I'm not irreplaceable by the end of that, we part ways."

"And second?"

The younger woman tapped on her table a few times.

"Check your inbox. This is the documentation showing who is leaking information to Solterra."

 

[monique_minx]

[Collaboration of Minx & Dust]

Lauren was surprised but she didn't let on, she was well practiced at hiding surprise and taking sudden and new information in her stride. She blinked from Alanna to her computer screen and opened her email, sure enough there was a bold, priority message labelled: Internal correspondence - confidential source.

Lauren clicked it hesitantly and opened the attachment which revealed raw internal correspondence from within her own firm. Lauren's mask slid for a minute, she'd not anticipated it'd be someone from her firm who was the leak. She'd thought it would most certainly come from within Meridian. Her face flickered back to impassive when she looked back at Alanna.

"You have five minutes to tell me how you obtained this."

Alanna didn’t even try to hide how amusing she found Lauren’s indignation and attempt to exert authority. Her smile was broad and confident.

Up and down.

“So, a couple of things. First, I don’t work for you, yet. I’m not sure what you think your threat means to me, but definitely not much. Second, dial it down. I didn’t do anything illegal, probably not even unethical. This is just what I do.”

She paused. The playfulness slipped from her face, replaced by something much more serious.

“Now, Ms. Devereux, would you like to try that again?”

Lauren wasn't about to rise to the bait Alanna so tactfully laid out but it did impress her. There weren't many 22 year old's walking around with the level of confidence this woman possessed in a professional setting, what they might possess in their pinky finger, Alanna had in her entire being. Lauren was measured enough to acknowledge her competence.

“Very well, Ms. Drake. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that your methods are as ethical as you claim. You’ve got my attention. Now tell me what it is you think I need from you.”

Alanna did not say 'good girl', this time.

"You need someone with my gifts, my talents, who isn't quite so chained by legal ethics. The law? Sure. But I'm not a lawyer, as I said. I'm just qualified. What I do know is people. I know language. I know patterns. You found out about the leak, what, 2 days ago? And here I sit, with the name of that person on the very tip of my tongue."

And that same tip ran along her teeth.

"And more than all of that, you need an ally. Ask me, Lauren. Ask me what you want to know, so we can get to the good stuff."

As she spoke, Lauren's gaze drifted just a little, just for a moment, to rest on the glinting green and gold chain that encircled Alanna's ankle. She'd been bouncing it the entire time and Lauren caught herself just before she could lick her lips, it was almost...hypnotic in its rhythm.

She forced her attention back to the young woman across from her, "You know, Ms. Drake," She said in a dry but not unkind tone, "the arrogance would be insufferable - if it weren't so damn effective."

A small breath left her that wasn’t quite a laugh, "Fine. Impress me. Give me the name of your source."

Lauren folded her arms as she placed down the challenge, she couldn't deny this woman had her all sorts of curious and...something else she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Alanna caught the other woman’s eyes following her slow movements, caught them glazing over just a bit, just for a moment.
There wasn’t much to say.

“He went to a lot of trouble to undermine you, and keep his hands clean. Luckily, he’s not very good at it. It’s your partner, Clarke.”

Lauren didn't move but her eyes flickered for a moment. Clarke. She should have guessed. She unfolded her arms and reached for her keyboard, her eyes tearing from Alanna to look at her monitor. She typed a quick command to pull up Clarke's last access log and the screen responded instantly.

"If this is accurate Ms. Drake, you just bought yourself a month." She said evenly.

She clicked a few more times and examined the log with scrutiny before she minimized it and took a deep breath, this day was rapidly turning into some kind of hell. She couldn't even fire her own leak. Her eyes darted back to Alanna again.

"A month," She repeated, "We'll call it...'crisis management'. And you report solely to me. If I respond to this email with an employment contract, would that be satisfactory or would you prefer I use another address?"

Lauren wasn't entirely certain if Alanna would use her own email or a ghost mailing address for her intel, she suspected the latter. This woman was smarter than she appeared by far, Lauren wasn't about to underestimate her again. Lauren pushed a pen and notepad towards Alanna to allow her to write down her information.

"Do you need my private number or...can I assume you already have it Ms. Drake?" This time Lauren did smirk just a little.

 

[Crystal_Dust]

Alanna picked up the pad and moved around to Lauren's side of the desk, leaning back against it. She scribbled down what appeared to be a random string of characters, and a foreign domain.

"This is my email. Anything other than 'administrative' stuff should be sent here. In fact, anything other than that should be sent using this."

She reached into her other pocket and pulled out a cell phone.

"This is a secure phone, with my email, and a secure app for texting. This is how we talk. Understand? We need this level of security."

She slid the device along the desk.

"And, finally, you'll share your work and personal calendars with me."

Lauren opened her mouth, clearly about to object. Alanna raised a finger to pause her.
"No, no, this is non-negotiable. Not only that, but any meeting you go to? I am going to be in, if I want. A lunch? I'm your date. A negotiation? I'm your advisor. You have dreams and goals, Lauren. I'm here to help with those. I want those things for you. But more than that, you are under attack, and you need me to keep you safe. I am at your side whenever I think it is necessary, and no you don't get to decide when that is. That's my job. Think of yourself as having a professional bodyguard, keeping all those pretty curves of yours safe. I'll be as close as I feel is required."

She smiled.

"Now say yes, so you no longer have to be alone."

 

[monique_minx]

Her preparation went beyond anything Lauren had expected and Alanna crossed into her personal space unnecessarily. Lauren brushed the twinge of discomfort aside as Alanna was within a hair's breadth of her arm. And Lauren couldn't help but smell her, it wasn't some deep, obvious inhalation - Alanna was just painfully close and Lauren really couldn't help it. It wasn't some over powering heavy perfume, it was something so subtle mingled with what Lauren thought was just her natural scent. Lauren pressed her lips together a little and rearranged herself in her chair. Victoria often got close enough to her that Lauren could smell her but Lauren had never described the 'candy cane and flowers' scent of Victoria as 'sexy'.

No.

Alanna smelled...not even sexy, she smelled like sex and power and a little bit of contradiction.

It took resistance not to follow her nose.

Lauren distracted herself by collecting the phone from the desk as she slid it to her and then she dropped a bombshell in Lauren's lap which made her sit up straighter. Alanna didn't let her interrupt though, she pushed on into a full spiel about why Lauren would and should let her press herself into every aspect of her business life. If Lauren had to describe it, she felt like Alanna just verbally threw herself in Lauren's lap and Lauren wished she'd do it for real for half a second.

'Too young Loz. Business. Get it together. That's not what she meant.' Lauren berated herself mentally for a moment and zeroed in on the business specific portion of Alanna's speech so she could disregard the rather provocative language.

"You seem very sure of yourself." She said softly as if weighing it up.

Alanna quite possibly touched on the one thing Lauren felt more than ever since Alanna illuminated Clarke's betrayal - she felt isolated. Alone. There was the 'before alone' and the 'after alone' - before, Lauren had been able to pretend Clarke was on her side, part of her team, her business partner. After, she could no longer pretend that she had an ally in him and he had quite possibly been the last man in her world she had hoped she could trust. Fuck men. Or rather, she probably never would again. All of them found a way to absolutely ruin her one way or another - Daniel, Gideon and now Richard-fucking-Clarke.

Such an apt name really.

Alanna was asking for a lot of trust she hadn't yet earned but Lauren was very sure of her ability to handle it if she overstepped - Lauren would bury her in a mountain of legalese, it'd make a thirty page injunction read like a Post-It.

She placed the phone down on the desk with a soft clink, "Very well, you'll have access to my calendars....and everything else." She finished but couldn't keep all the uncertainty out of her tone.

She leaned back in her chair, steady again - or at least, pretending to be, she arched an eyebrow at Alanna, "Now, Ms. Drake… is this a professional agreement, or should I be worried about how close you plan on standing when you keep these ‘pretty curves’ safe?”

'Does this qualify as flirting now? I'm probably shit at it...she's not. God, what am I doing? She's 22 and I barely know her...its been a dayyyyy...' Even in her own head, she could hear that word drag out like she was done with all the fuckery.

 

[Crystal_Dust]

Alanna couldn't keep herself from letting out a long, slow breath. She did a little better with her eyes, keeping them from a dirty leer to just an appreciative glance.
"I think you'll find, Lauren, that I don't make those distinctions. My life isn't compartmentalized that way. And I'll be where I want to be, with you, when I want to be."


You want her. You could have her. She's throwing herself at you.
Imagine how good it would feel when she opened her thighs for you, when she wrapped her legs around you, the tips of those heels digging into your ass, the hunger of her mouth locked to yours.
She doesn't know how much she wants you, she doesn't know what you could do to her.

And it was true. The want was very intense.

But 'want' didn't do it for Alanna anymore. 'Want' was candy. 'Want' was a little treat.
Alanna fed on need. Alanna needed to NEED Lauren, and neededd Lauren to NEED her.
Nothing else would do.
Her body, her cunt, they were creatures of want and impulse.
They were children.



She watched Lauren squirm, ever so slightly. That shift of hips that said Lauren hadn't thought about what she was saying, or expected Alanna's reply. This was how you built need. Layer by layer.

"And, of course, you are generally welcome where ever I am. If you feel unsure, or unsafe, or uncertain, you can always come find me."
She leaned in, just a bit, just enough to llet her smell the scent of autumn on her skin, of change and smoke.
"I am now your safe space, Lauren. I don't judge you, I don't reject you, I just accept you, so long as this relationship goes on. That's the service I provide."


You could kiss her, right now. You could ruin her lipstick, bite her lips, make her make such pretty sounds.

But it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.
Ignore your racing heart, your tingling skin, the warmth of your cunt.
Wait for the right time.


It took a supreme amount of effort to lean back, to leave the radiating heat of Lauren't body. Alanna stood up, and moved to the office door.
"You can find me just any old space to work in. I'm not picky, and don't need much. I would appreciate a plush, comfortable chair here in your office, though. I'll be here a lot."

Alanna opened the door a bit.

"So...I'll...I'll see you tomorrow Alanna?"

She paused, but didn't turn around.

"Make sure you let pretty little Vic know about giving me unfettered access to your life, going forward. I don't want to have to apply pressure to the girl."
Another pause.
"And, Lauren? It's 'Ms. Drake'. I'll see you tomorrow."

 

[monique_minx]

The door closed behind Alanna and Lauren took a long shaky breath as she leaned back in her chair.

What the fuck just happened?

She stared at the discarded phone resting on her desk for a long moment, she almost expected it to buzz and then explode but it just sat there silently. Lauren shook her arms out a little as she often did after a tense meeting. Though she could honestly say she'd never had a meeting quite like that one. When she finally composed herself just enough, she pressed her intercom which buzzed and rang.

"Ms. Devereux?" Victoria's lilt echoed through the speaker.

"I...get in here." Lauren intended to fire off instructions but decided there were too many.

"Yes Ms. Devereux." Victoria said and the intercom clicked off.

Moments later, Victoria entered her office with an iPad in one hand and a coffee cup in another. She placed the coffee down on the desk for Lauren and waited patiently.

"Thanks. Uh, what did you rearrange to fit A- umm, Ms. Drake in?" Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly for a moment.

"Uh not a lot, a meeting with Luke," Victoria reeled off the iPad without looking at Lauren, "and you luckily had a cancellation."

Lauren's hand paused on her face, the meeting with Luke was of no consequence - he was a junior associate within her firm and actually she was rather glad that it'd been moved because now that she knew Clarke was up to no good, she had to revise her game plan.

"What was the cancellation?" Lauren asked slowly.

"Gideon Marsh, said he couldn't make it today." Victoria said frankly.

That was bad - if Gideon was dodging her then it meant something was already burning.

"Did he, uh, did he reschedule?" Lauren asked, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"He said he'd call back with a time." Victoria told her, completely ignorant of what it meant.

"Fuck." Lauren muttered under her breath.

Lauren stood up and stretched her arms out behind her, her shoulder blades drew together with the movement.

"Alright, alright, fuck. We can roll with this. I need you to take that email address on the pad and add it to my shared contacts for my schedules, both of them. I also need a standard 30 day employment contract sent to it, change the role to 'crisis management' and add 'Alanna Drake' as the name on it." Lauren was firing instructions at Victoria who was diligently typing it all into her tablet.

Victoria paused and raised an eyebrow, "You're hiring her?"

"Yes." Lauren answered, a little surprised at her assistant at first and then she tilted her head slightly in suspicion, "Why?"

"Oh no, nothing. Nothing. Just...just curious." Victoria muttered and her fingers resumed flying across the iPad.

"That's it for now. I want to know the minute Gideon reschedules." Lauren said without looking at her.

Victoria nodded, "Absolutely."

After she left, Lauren had time to consider Clarke and his motives behind leaking information to Solterra. His motives behind selling Lauren down the fucking river. She'd come to only one conclusion.

Harrington and Rowe.

They were a multinational legal corporation based in London, they had offices in Hong Kong, Dubai and New York. They'd struggled to break into the market in Lauren's city though and her firm offered them prestige and some ridiculously wealth clients such as Meridian Capital Partners. They'd come to the table more than once with offers that ranged from acquisition to mergers and Lauren had turned them down repeatedly. Richard hadn't. Richard had tried to convince her over and over to go along with it.

Richard was ruthlessly attracted to power but Lauren preferred to be in control of the vision and direction of Devereux & Clarke, to keep their business based on principle and protect their staff. Richard was in it for power and money, Lauren cared for her reputation above that. Richard was an idiot if he thought he'd retain an iota of control after Harrington & Rowe got their mitts on everything. As if Alexander Wynn-Harrington would allow it. She trusted that man about as far as she could throw him.

Lauren could see the plan, she could almost see how Richard had formulated it. If she lost this case, the firm lost their biggest client Meridian and her reputation would be in tatters which allowed Harrington & Rowe to swoop in and save the day. It also allowed Clarke to edge her out of the partnership. What Lauren couldn't figure out was how Solterra and Clarke met and cooperated and why. She had some suspicions and theories but that was worthless without confirmation.

Lauren returned to her desk and her hands started flying across the keyboard - the first thing she did was order a plush grey lounge chair.

 

[Crystal_Dust]

Alanna smiled, ‘Ms Drake’ was going to feel very good to hear, over and over.

She wound her way through the desks of paralegals, assistants, and such, until she got to Victoria’s.

She enjoyed the nervous expression of the woman staring up at her, and Alanna leaned close, conspiratorially.

“Shhh, it’s OK. It’ll be our little secret. But it’s something you need to remember. Anyhow, you are about to get a call, telling you to open every door into Lauren’s life for me. You won’t like it. You’ll feel jealous, and protective. And that’s OK. But I want you to understand that we both want the same things for her. And I want those things for you too, Victoria. I promise. And who knows. Maybe I’ll see you this weekend.”

Alanna waited just long enough to see Victoria’s face go a little pale, then blush. Then she saw herself out.

Outside, the crisp fall air helped keep her present as she let her concentration fade away. Her hyper-focus was such a wonderful ability, but it was also very draining, and she’d been in that mode for hours. She was going to pay a price for that, sooner rather than later. She hailed a cab to take her home.

Getting from the cab to her apartment was like stumbling drunk, a shell of who she had presented to Lauren and her people. But it was the price, and it would pass.

Her apartment was comfortable, full of soft furniture that encouraged you to stay, lighting that said time didn’t matter, and subtle sounds far in the background, a mix of water and wind, but only enough to fill in the silence.

But for all its comforts, it was equally impersonal. As if an interior designer had been called in with a few sentences of instruction, but nothing more. It was welcoming, indulgent, maybe even decadent, but somehow also generic.

Alanna’s life had been one of chaos, change after change after change. And while it felt like maybe she was settling down a bit, she wasn’t ready to believe it, or commit.

She slid onto the sofa, a drink in hand, kicking her heels off, and toyed with that word, ‘commitment’. It wasn’t something she’d had much use for, but things were coming together, and more, images of Lauren kept coming to mind. Over and over. She didn’t realize that her fingers were lightly scratching at her thigh, ruining her stocking. When she noticed, she appreciated the look of it. Victoria would love it. Such a shame she wasn’t here. Lauren had to be handled with intent. Victoria offered a bit more leeway.

Alas.

Finishing her drink, she rose, and slipped off her skirt, padding quietly to the office, and her computer. A few clicks initiated an array of security functions, and opened up a video connection to her people.

An older woman, in her 40s, appeared on the screen. Her chestnut hair was pulled back tightly, which highlighted the streaks of grey. She was otherwise unremarkable, save for her eyes, which seemed inhumanly dark.

“My Doyenne,” Alanna nodded her head slightly.
“Emissary. You look like you’ve had a day.”
“The Scrying Mind takes a lot out of me. Especially when I have to maintain it for that long. And with this being a priority, well, I’ve been in it for 12 hours.” The Scrying Mind was the more esoteric term for Alanna’s hyper-focus, and in many ways, more accurate.
“I can imagine. You’ve shifted out by now, correct?”
“The moment I got in the cab. The only thing on my todo for the night was calling you, Jessica.”
“Good. Did it go well?”
“Perfectly. We were lucky such a vulnerability presented itself. She nearly fell over herself saying ‘please help me’.”
“I’m not sure it was luck,” the older woman smirked. Alanna did as well, knowing that it was very likely the coven had a hand in the betrayal.
“There’s another one, I might drag along. They might help Lauren feel more comfortable, too. If nothing else, I might have use for her.”
“Use?”
Jessica had an annoying ability to make Alanna blush.
“Well, yes, like that as well, but honestly, she’s very organized. Having her around while my brain is mush wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
“Just be careful. Bringing one in can be tricky enough. Keep the Patterns in mind. They’ll guide you.”
“The Patterns and The Path.”
“The Patterns and The Path,” Jessica echoed, and ended the connection.

 

[monique_minx]

By the time Lauren got to leave work for the day, the sun had well and truly set. She slipped tiredly behind the wheel of her dark purple Audi S7 and started her usual commute home. She pulled up to the boom gate and handed Mitchell her pass.

"Just about last to leave again Ms. Devereux?" He asked kindly.

"You know me Mitch, all work and no play." She joked, "How are the kids?"

"Doing great, thanks for asking. Mikayla just started walking." Mitchell told her, referencing his youngest child.

Lauren gave him a genuine, albeit exhausted smile, "That's amazing, congratulations. Lisa must be thrilled, I know she was worried about that."

"Yeah but like I told her, doesn't mean anything. She's 15 months and she was trying the whole time." Mitchell handed her card back.

"Have a good one Mitch!" Lauren told him as she peeled out of the carpark.

It was an uneventful trip and her phone didn't ring at all - which was a miracle in of itself. She let herself in and dropped her keys in the bowl by the door before walking down the hall, turning left and depositing her bag containing her laptop, paperwork, phones and everything else. She opened it and set her phones on the spacious varnished dining table that she'd never actually eaten at so she'd be able to hear them. Then she took her Bluetooth headset off and popped it on charge on the kitchen bench.

She then looked down to the brush at her ankles and smiled, "Hey Clause, how was your day?"

The Russian Blue feline merely purred in response and emitted a sharp 'meow'.

"Okay, okay. I know, I'm late." Lauren bustled around in the kitchen and then set a bowl of food down for the appreciative cat.

She and Daniel had bought Clause together years ago, before they'd even gotten married and Daniel suddenly decided that Clause was Lauren's cat when they split. Lauren didn't argue. Clause was a better man than Daniel anyway.

She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of white wine from it, poured herself a glass and then tossed a cheap frozen dinner in the microwave. She'd order out but the evidence of the previous night was still sitting on the bench, looking at her. She sighed and grabbed the bin, sweeping the leftover Chinese food straight off the bench into it. She couldn't recall why she hadn't done it the night before but it didn't really matter. Clause didn't mind his slightly messy roommate who didn't always get to things straight away.

She collapsed onto the couch with her dinner and wine in hand and flicked on the T.V. It was only on for a beat before the CEO of Meridian Capital Partners appeared on the screen.

"...We want to assure the public that we are equally concerned for Data Analyst Mick Noble's safety and we take the spurious accusations from Solterra very seriously. Meridian is committed to doing everything we can to aid police in locating Mr. Noble alongside Solterra."

She was good. Lauren was impressed with Vivienne Harcourt. The news then cut to the lead detective of the case.

"There is no evidence to suggest foul play at this stage, the investigation is continuing and has the full cooperation of both Meridian Capital Partners and Solterra Biotech. No further questions at this time, please."

The clamouring reporters got noisy and seemed most displeased with his answer. Lauren thought she even heard one mention her firm but she couldn't make out what they'd said. She sighed and turned the news off, taking a bite of her dinner and a sip of wine.

 

[Crystal_Dust]

Alanna took a long, very hot shower. It left her skin feeling very alive and sensitive. She realized that this had been her state most of the day. As she went through her rather extensive application of creams and moisturizers, she smiled at how Lauren had already gotten into her head.
This wasn’t unusual. The bond that needed to be built between Alanna and whoever she was trying to bring into the fold was, by design, an intimate one. She still remembered the professors she’d drawn in, in college and law school. Still saw one of them, from time to time. Still did delicious, dark, decadent things, from time to time. Still made them cry out her name in worship and supplication and surrender, from time to time. The thought of it made her hips move.

But Lauren was the first one she was working alone, and that made her special. The Doyenne would tell her to be careful, to mind her emotions, her desires, her lust. And she would. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t also enjoy the play.

Wrapped in a luxurious robe, back on the sofa with a drink of bourbon, and a deep red polish for her toes and fingers, she listened to the news.
"...We want to assure the public that we are equally concerned for Data Analyst Mick Noble's safety and we take the spurious accusations from Solterra very seriously. Meridian is committed to doing everything we can to aid police in locating Mr. Noble alongside Solterra.
There is no evidence to suggest foul play at this stage, the investigation is continuing and has the full cooperation of both Meridian Capital Partners and Solterra Biotech. No further questions at this time, please."

There was a special amusement at hearing aspects of her work, and the Coven’s, on TV. She didn’t know where Mick was, again by design, but she was confident he wouldn’t show up again until it served her.

She spent an hour meditating, refreshing her mental resources for what would be a long day, tomorrow. Her skills may not have been the supernatural gifts that some described them as, but they were still very draining.

She was still awake, in bed, at 1 am.
Thinking about her.
But only thinking.
She wouldn’t waste her power on self-indulgence.
As much as she wanted to.

In the morning, she dressed in a grey silk blouse, and a long pencil skirt slit unprofessionally high in back, and with her favorite pair of cuban heeled stockings. Her lipstick matched her nails, as did her pumps. Earthy cinnamon perfume wafted from her wrists and bend of her elbows. Unprofessional, and distracting, and demanding attention. Lauren needed to be off-balance, struggling. That would bring out her strength, but also bring her closer and closer to Alanna.

She strolled into the office at 7:30AM on the dot.

“Good morning, Alanna,” said the receptionist, as if she’d been working there for a year.
“Good morning!”

“Good morning, Alanna,” from Victoria next.
Alanna paused, smiled, and very softly replied.
“Good morning, little miss.”
That blush was exactly how she wanted to start the day.

A moment later and she was in Lauren’s office, in Lauren’s chair, feet up on Lauren's desk, reading from her own tablet.

 

[monique_minx]

That morning, Lauren rolled out of bed and went about her routine - she brushed her teeth and showered, dressed herself in a pair of tight black pants that hugged her ass in a way she rather enjoyed but still looked professional and complimented it with another ivory blouse and matching black blazer. She did her hair, leaving it in loose waves and coupled it with a light amount of natural make up. She fed Clause and then proceeded to pack her bag with all of the paperwork she'd left scattered about her coffee table.

She grabbed her travel mug of steaming hot coffee and headed out to her car. Her commute was uneventful save for a single fender bender accident she passed by on the other side of the road.

"Good morning Ms. Devereux!" Mitch beamed at her as he took her I.D card to scan her into the parking lot.

"Mitch, you can call me Lauren you know? Feels weird when you call me Ms. Devereux like a client or another attorney." Lauren chuckled.

"Oh I know, I just love your last name better, it's so much more...exotic." Mitch grinned and handed her card back to her as she rolled her eyes.

"Suit yourself. Have a good one Mitch, see you later." Lauren called to him as she peeled away from the boom gate.

She'd miss him when the building finally upgraded that boom gate and automated it - for the time being though, Mitch's job was safe as they didn't want the large expense.

Lauren ambled off the elevator and into the foyer of her offices - Devereux & Clarke held the entire 6th and 7th floors of the building though the 6th floor was relegated to staff only so clients only knew about the 7th floor.

"Good morning Ms. Devereux." The receptionist smiled brightly at her.

"Good morning Ashley, you look lovely today." Lauren complimented the 28 year old woman who was her literal switchboard.

"Oh you're too kind!" Ashley said.

"Fridays make me happier than Mondays I guess." Lauren joked as she kept walking.

"Morning!" Victoria said hurriedly as she rushed to Lauren's side.

"Anything from Gideon?" Lauren asked anxiously, forgetting the pleasantries with her assistant.

Victoria shook her head reluctantly, "Sorry, no."

Lauren sighed, "Alright, as soon as you hear anything then. What's my first appointment?"

"Luke. Cause I had to reschedule him yesterday."

"Oh good, good. Yes, I need to discuss how we manage the files from here." Lauren had mulled it over all night and decided to create a locked system Clarke would be prevented from accessing so any new information would be stored there internally - of course, it wouldn't prevent him questioning the staff if he really wanted to but Lauren was confident he wouldn't go to such effort.

Victoria nodded and peeled off from her just as Lauren reached her office and opened the door. She stopped in the doorway upon seeing Alanna at her desk with her feet up on it rather relaxed. Lauren wasn't quite sure how to take that at first, no one had ever had the audacity to do that before.

Her lips split into an amused smile, "What's next, Ms. Drake? My parking space or my reputation?"

She entered the room and set her bag down on the couch before turning fully to Alanna again, "If you're intending to audition for my job then you might want to start with arriving ten minutes late and carrying a lawsuit."

She quirked an eyebrow, glancing down the length of Alanna's legs all the way to her pointed heels. Lauren licked her lips as she subtly admired Alanna's form. Perhaps that was the reason Lauren left the comment until last - because she had to say it, not because she wanted to and in any other setting, she could have avoided it altogether.

"And feet off my desk...unless you plan to shine it with those heels."

 

[Crystal_Dust]

(Combo post)

Alanna had definitely not missed Lauren’s wandering eyes. Of course, that had been the entire point.

“No, no, I’m quite happy with my current job. And I use a car service. I was just making myself comfortable since my own chair clearly hasn’t arrived yet. And I wanted to make sure I was here in time for your meeting with…,” she made a display of checking Lauren’s calendar, “Luke, apparently.”

With grace, she slipped her legs from the older woman’s desk, and gave her back her chair. Moving from behind the desk, Alanna passed by Lauren close enough for them to share perfumes, but not quite breath, and took a seat that would place her behind and to the side of where she assumed Luke would end up.

“Don’t mind me, of course, I’m just going to observe, take some notes, and be here should you need my help,” she crossed her legs, the jade anklet almost shimmering in the light, and smoothed her skirt. She smiled and returned to browsing her tablet, allowing a few moments of illusionary privacy for Lauren.

Luke was punctual, if nothing else.

“And you would be…?” he asked.
“Alanna Drake. I’m just here to help Lauren with whatever needs helping,” she replied, charming and non-committal.

Luke was also talkative.
Which suited Alanna just fine. Markedly less so Lauren, it seemed.
Alanna started a recording, and then set about observing, while the other two went on and on.
It was a background hum, almost soothing.
And it allowed her to slip into her state of concentration. Her perfect focus.

She watched every expression and reaction of Lauren’s.
She returned to bouncing her adorned leg in perfect, hypnotic time.
She sent inscrutable smiles to her when she caught her eye.

Lauren’s throat was a masterpiece, she decided. She’d found herself staring at it as much as the woman’s eyes and lips. She thought she could almost see her pulse throbbing underneath the thinnest layer of warm, soft skin.
It was distracting, and not what she should have been focusing on, but she couldn’t help it.
She didn’t even notice how her tongue kept running along the edge of her teeth.
She saw something in her that even Lauren, for all her success and confidence, didn’t see. Something she couldn’t name, but absolutely wanted.
She was going to be such a perfect acolyte.
Alanna decided some alone time might be necessary if she was going to spend so much time with this precious creature.

As far as Alanna was concerned, Luke could have talked for another hour.

Alanna was unbelievably distracting despite the fact that she wasn't talking or really sitting in on the meeting with Luke. Every time there was a lull in the conversation with Luke, Lauren couldn't help but peer past him at the young woman. She found that mystifying and frustrating all in one hit. She was bouncing that foot again and it was starting to send Lauren's imagination wandering.

"So you want no further files shared on the public servers? We can use this one you've set up only." Luke broke into her thoughts.

"Ahem, yeah, yes. That new server is locked for only Meridian's legal team so even other lawyers at Devereux & Clarke can't see it. That's the way I want it, we've had too much information draining through like a sieve and I want it locked down completely Luke." Lauren didn't mention Clarke to her subordinate, that was entirely her problem to solve.

Luke nodded, "No problem, okay."

He tapped away at his tablet and somehow Lauren's eyes dragged back to Alanna for just a second before she brought her attention immediately back to Luke. Luke then went over several files with her and debriefed her on their progress and what was next. Lauren merely nodded and finally he excused himself.

Alanna stayed quiet for a bit, still drinking in her ‘boss’. She caught the older woman sneaking peeks, which was more than amusing, and exactly what she wanted.

“So, I imagine you have some things you’d like to discuss, especially about your partner. You just have to decide how you’d like to proceed. Or maybe there are other things you’d rather I tended to. I work for you,” she said, breaking the silence.

 

[monique_minx]

[Collaboration of Minx & Dust]

The subtext was there, barely veiled. The more time Lauren spent with Alanna, the more she noticed it in everything the woman said or did. Like an unspoken power struggle that Lauren not only felt she was losing...but one she wasn't entirely certain she wanted to win. Then there was the familiar guilty stab that visited upon her whenever she remembered how young Alanna was.

So why did Lauren feel like she was the one out of her depth here?

"You seem to have a gift for deciding how to handle me, professionally speaking, of course." Lauren's lips curved just slightly, "So go ahead, handle it."

She gazed at Alanna for a heartbeat too long and asked her, "Tell me about Clarke."

“I wish to god it was something interesting, but it isn’t. It isn’t even misogyny. He just doesn’t like you, and thinks you overshadow him. He doesn’t have a great mind for the law, and he has all the charisma of a bowl of Jell-O. He’s great at the business side of things, which is why your offices are doing so well, but that doesn’t get him praise or attention.”
She shrugged.
“You, however, have an insightful mind, a level of confidence that commands a room, and you form strong bonds with the people who work for you. You have some rough edges I can help with, but you are a world class lawyer, and he is not. And that’s just killing his ego. He can’t just cut you out, so he’s pushing you to fail. That solves his ego problem, and his desire to get rid of you. You have a few choices how to proceed, and I’m happy to work with you in whatever path. And I promise, you are in a place where the world is just waiting for you to truly show up. You are amazing, and I'm going to hold your hand while you do it all.”

“World class lawyer, is it?” Lauren murmured, arching a brow. “If you keep talking like that, I might start letting you handle my public relations too.”

She smoothed the line of her pants leg, smiling faintly. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, Ms. Drake. Even if you seem to enjoy making me blush.”

She wanted to hold this moment, appraising Alanna beneath long lashes of intrigue but she also had business to tend to.

"Do you know how Clarke approached Solterra then? Or did they approach him?" Lauren twirled a pen between two fingers thoughtfully.

Alanna smiled at the flirt, as much for the success it showed as for the flirt itself. More and more she was finding herself very attracted to this woman. It was becoming difficult to focus on her agenda. Difficult in the best ways.

“You’ve found me out, Lauren. I’m here strictly to make your heart race for me,” she smiled in the most devious of ways. A flirt, a tease.

She rose from her chair, taking long, slow steps with her eyes on Lauren, smouldering and hungry, until she could lean back on her desk, and let her voice drop so there was no chance of being heard.

“The short version is that Solterra approached him. The long version is much more interesting, at least to me. Clarke was looking for an excuse to get rid of you, right? But that’s not very easy to do. So he had to set you up. Turns out, there’s a damn network for this sort of thing. Very hush hush, very much only the top level people. I don’t know how Clarke got to be a part of it. I don’t even know how he learned about it. I could barely tell the thing existed, it was like seeing patterns, but not the force behind them. That absence…I don’t know how to explain this…but the absence had a shape. Once I saw that, I had enough to figure it out.”

Alanna took a moment to catch her breath, she was legitimately excited about the whole thing, and how challenging it had been. She also wanted to see how that landed. It was annoying how much she wanted to impress the older woman. How obsessed she was becoming with her.

“He dropped a word or two into the ear of someone, and it eventually made it to the lawyers at Solterra that he could be compromised, but not why. They reached out. So here we are.”

Lauren paused her pen mid twirl and clicked it just once, "You make conspiracies sound almost romantic Ms. Drake."

Was she breathless or was it hotter in the room? Alanna seemed to have some mystifying effect on her respiratory system whenever she closed distance with Lauren.

"Absence with shape..." Lauren murmured the phrase back to Alanna, "You really should have gone into law, that's almost how we describe motive."

She cleared her throat, "I have to assume Gideon Marsh is aware of all of this by now which I would guess is why he cancelled on me..."

'God, she looks so soft...focus, Lauren!' Her eyes followed the curve of Alanna's neckline before sweeping quickly back up to her eyes.

"I suppose that would put he and I on near equal footing...thanks to you." Lauren inclined her head slightly and dropped her pen on the desk, "But I can hide everything about this case for now, driving Clarke off is another matter entirely. If he's willing to sabotage this case, I have to assume that he will not stop here which makes our ongoing partnership unsteady at best."

She'd have liked to throw a few choice curse words in there if she was honest but Lauren was doing her utmost to control her temper in light of this betrayal and remain as professional as possible. She crossed one ankle behind the other beneath her desk and sighed, leaning back in her chair.

"Any ideas?" She asked Alanna.