Alicia was upset when she found out Kalinda was leaving Chicago. She was starting up a brand new firm with Lucca Quinn, one of the other public defenders. Now on top of all of this she had to search for a new investigator. After numerous interviews, she settled on Jason Crouse. She looked into his past and found out he was a lawyer himself, but was disbarred due to him punching out a judge.
Jason decided to take her on as a client after he too investigated her and found out she was very thorough and liked what she stood for.
The two of them hit it off rather well and he got along rather well with her daughter Grace, Alicia's office manager who worked out of their apartment. At nineteen, nearly twenty, she was a lot wiser than her age. He also got along very well with Lucca and things seemed to be going rather well. That is until Eli Gold, Alicia's political advisor poked his nose into their business and neither Alicia nor Jason were none too happy about his interference.
Alicia called Jason and even against Eli's advice, she invited him out to dinner. He happily accepted and he met her at one of Chicago's nicest restaurants.
Alicia was waiting at the bar in the lounge area of the restaurant. She was dressed in a swank two piece charcoal gray suit. Beneath the jacket she was wearing a very feminine white silk blouse with a large wide tie around her neck. As always her make-up was perfect, her eye make-up accented her dark green eyes and her full rich lips were coated in a dark red lip-gloss. She spotted Jason as he entered the lounge and she smiled and waved him towards her. She was pleasantly surprised to see him dressed in a suit, it was a first for him and she was impressed that he wore a suit to meet her. She stood and gave him a brief hug and a tiny kiss on his bearded cheek.
Jason was very pleased she greeted him this way and was happy he wore the suit. He slipped his arm around her waist loosely and guided her towards the restaurant, "Shall we get our table Alicia?"
She smiled up at him and nodded, "That would be great Jason, please lead the way."
He approached the host and nodded, "I believe you have a reservation for Crouse."
The tuxedo clad host nodded and replied, "Surely Mr. Crouse, this way please."
They followed them and the host pulled back the chair for Alicia and she slid into her chair. He placed the napkin on her lap and as he moved around to Jason, Jason raised his hand, "No need, I can do it myself."
"Very well sir, you waiter will be Victor and he'll be with you shortly." He smiled, bowed and retreated to his station."
Jason looked across at Alicia, "I was surprised and glad you called and suggested this. I hope this place is acceptable to you Alicia?"
She flashed him a large smile, her gorgeous green eyes sparkled back at him, "Yes, this place is perfect Jason. I'm glad you were able to make it. I think we need to clarify the problem Eli Gold had caused. I in no way condone his actions and wanted to meet with you in a more casual setting to put this issue to rest." He smiled at her and she was happy she was sitting. That smile of his made her knees weak and made her stomach flutter with butterflies.
"Alicia, first of all, you sure get to the problem right away don't you? You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. You know Lockhart/Agos offered me a permanent position, but I turned them down. I didn't want you to fire me, especially what Mr. Gold had revealed to you. Their offer was every lucrative, but I would much rather work for you. I'm freer and like the atmosphere a lot better."
She reached across the table and covered his hands with hers and she felt him tense up slightly. She withdrew her hand, "I'm sorry Jason, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."
He immediately reached out and caught her retreating hand and gripped it tightly so she couldn't retreat, "No, oh no Alicia, I'm sorry I tensed up. Listen Alicia, after what Eli told me, I didn't want to put you in the situation where this simple act of kindness to be misconstrued as an act of sexual misconduct.
She squeezed his hand and her thumb slowly stroked the back of his firm hand. She licked her lips and her eyes met his, "All I can say Jason is, fuck Eli Gold. First of all, we're both adults, although I am married, we are separated and I'm only putting on a show for Peter. I want to clear up something before we go any further."
The waiter arrived and they both ordered drinks and an appetizer. Alicia took a deep breath and returned to her thought she had before the waiter arrived. "I know Eli told you I had you investigated. I would do this to whatever investigator we employed. So please do not take it as a slight. Secondly, Eli told me that you looked into my background and I want you to know I have no problem with that and am impressed you did that. I want you to know who you're working for just as much as whom I'm employing. I just hope you didn't find anything that would make you change your mind about working for us."