WARNING: This is really sad and a main character DOES DIE. I added this because I got some very negative reviews and realized that yes, I should've warned you. I'm really sorry if it upset anyone, I definitely didn't need to. This is not my way of trying to keep Will alive, it's just something I needed to get off my chest and I figured some of you felt the same way. Don't read if you're really sensitive. I understand that you don't like it, but we all have our own way of coping. Once again, if I upset anyone, I apologize.

So basically I had an idea for this and I just had to write it, even though I cried the whole time. I can't imagine something this horrible. Anyway, it's a little different and pretty short, I just needed to get the story out. I actually wrote it on my phone so sorry if it's kind of bad quality but please read if you feel up to it and let me know what you think!

Late that morning, Diane Lockhart stands in the one of the many courtrooms in the Cook County Courthouse, in front of the judge, arguing the case she's surely about to win. "Your honor, my client is a respected businessman-"

A loud bang echoes through the building. Immediately recognizing the sound, everyone in the room screams and ducks out of the way, unsure of the source of the gunshot. Diane, however, remains standing. A look of terror flashes across her face as she realizes where it may be. She hurries out of the courtroom and down the corridor to the next one, pushing past guards to get to her friend. Only a few people remain standing, some are ducked behind benches, along with Finn Polmar. Her friend is standing in front of him and she's only relieved for a split second before she sees Jeffrey Grant. He raises the gun, ready to fire the last bullet. At the last second, Diane surges forward, pushing her partner to the ground before the bullet hits her, sending her down with him. Almost immediately, she's pale-faced and gasping for air. "Diane!" She hears a faint scream, coming from the man hovering over her, clenching her hand. "No!" But the sound soon fades away completely and she's engulfed in darkness.

"Where is she?" Will Gardner asks, bursting through the doors of Chicago General Hospital. "Where is Diane?"

A woman approaches, a sad expression on her face and a clipboard in her hand. "She-she's in there. She didn't make it. I'm sorry."

The woman's words are irrelevant now, Will is already heading toward the hospital room. He throws open the curtain, more angry than sad, until he sees her. Then, dropping the curtain, he runs to her side, desperate to save her, but her face it pale and her heart is not beating. He kneels down beside her lifeless body just as Kalinda walks in. "No," she says, "no, no, it isn't-" She's cut off by her own tears as she keels down with Will.

Seeing Diane like this makes them both tremble, and Will stands up, barely able to move. "It's all my fault."

"Don't say that-" Kalinda says between tears.

"No, it was. If I... If I hadn't put myself in danger she wouldn't have tried to save me and-"

"She tried to save you?"

"Yes."

Kalinda finally catches her breath. "She really cared about you, Will."
"I know", he says, barely able to focus. He'd cards about her too, way too much to let her go this easily, all because of a stupid mistake. It wasn't fair for her to be taken away like this, she was all he had at that firm. She couldn't just leave without a proper goodbye. But he knew she's done it for him. She'd sacrificed herself for him.
He reaches down to hold her hand one last time before wiping away a tear and leaving the room.

Back at Lockhart/Gardner, the partners are in the conference room, watching, waiting. When Will arrives with his eyes glazed over and his shirt spotted with blood, they all gasp. The last thing he feels like doing is speaking to them, but he does. He comes to stand before them, ignoring the questions- "What happened?" "Are you okay?" When he looks up, they're all staring intently at him, waiting for a good answer.
"Diane is dead." He barely manages to whisper the words and only the people in the front hear, but the news spreads like wildfire as people stand there in shock. Will exits the room quietly, almost unnoticed, and enters what was her office, looking out the big windows onto the city that would soon be grieving over the loss of a respected woman.

He still can't quite process what just happened, the only thing he can think is that he's at fault. But deep down he knows that she wouldn't want him to think that- she'd sacrificed her life for him, the least he could do was stay strong and do what she would've wanted for the firm. Though he wants to grieve and never come back to this office again, he knows that she'd want him to work twice as hard, to work to be honored like she was, and when he did, she'd be proud. Nevertheless, he begins to cry again and sits down in her chair. The emotions are consuming him.

David enters with a knock, surprisingly soft, though, and comes to stand beside Will. "I'm sorry," he says, with genuine empathy in his voice. It fades away, though, when he asks "Do you want me to call the clients?"

How he could think this far ahead in such an awful time was beyond Will, but that wasn't even the point. He'd given him all of about five minutes to grieve for the loss of his best friend and he expected to pick things right back up? Will couldn't take it. Hands shaking, he slowly stands up, turns around, and at the top of his lungs, screams "GET OUT!"

David retreats quickly, leaving him alone again, and he doesn't even feel sorry. He will go on, eventually, yes, and he truly knows that he will be okay, but all he wants to do now is be left alone. Something in him tells him that he'll need time.
Sitting back down, he faces her desk and picks up a pen, just as she would sitting here. He puts it down again and spins around to see a picture of her. He stares for a long while before whispering a barely audible "I'm sorry."