The Good Wife: A Home For My Heart

Summary: Peter Florrick and Alicia Cavanaugh meet under very different circumstances. Peter is an ASA with a five year old daughter while Alicia works mostly from home, while raising her six year old son. What happens when these two single parents continue to cross paths and how long can they ignore their fate that just maybe, they were supposed to be together? AU.

A/N 1: I wasn't going to post this yet as I only have two chapters finished and I like to have much more done before I start posting a multi-chapter fic; however; it's my dear friend Kiki's birthday and I'm pretty sure she's going to love what this story eventually has to offer, so I decided to start posting.
PS: I think I might try shorter chapters for this fic so I can get updates out more often. Hope that's okay!

Chapter 1: Meet The Florrick's

Peter Florrick sat behind his large oak desk in his study unconsciously tapping his pen against the dark surface while he flipped through a few pages in a case file he had been unproductively staring at for the last half hour. He was looking for something, sure, but what that something was, he currently had no idea.

Heaving a heavy sigh he pushed a hand through his short dark brown hair before straightening up in his chair a little and attempting to refocus his energy on the pages in front of him. He only had a few hours left to get his preliminary notes finished before he'd have to force himself to go to bed.

Being an Assistant State's Attorney for Cook County was an exhausting and for the most part completely thankless job but one he was happy and proud to call his. Sure, the pay was terrible for someone of his legal knowledge and capability, but the few times he considered leaving the SA's office to pursue a more prestigious career in private law firms he could always hear the voice of his father in the back of his mind; reminding him that life isn't about making money; it's about leaving the world a better place than when you found it. Easy for him to say, Peter mused inwardly. His father was a judge, there was never a shortage of money to go around. Still, like it or not, his father would always be the voice of reason in his head that he couldn't turn off. And it was his father who made him the man he was today so all in all, he figured he had nothing to be towards the man other than grateful.

His mind now consumed with thoughts and memories of his late father, Peter nearly thought it was just his brain playing tricks on him when he suddenly heard a small creak of the hardwood floors around him. Confused, Peter looked up from his desk only to see the open doorway to an open hallway in front of him. Long ago giving up the notion that ghosts were ever a possibility, he instead shrugged it off as just a house noise and went back to reading over his work; grateful for the distraction that ironically recovered him from his initial distraction.

A few moments of silence passed before more creaks were heard, only this time they sounded heavier and as if they were coming straight towards him. Looking up again he could see nothing over his desk when suddenly a smile started to pull at his lips.

Pushing his chair back away from the desk he swivelled himself to the right and sat there patiently waiting, staring down at the bottom corner of the desk until he saw a head of soft dirty blond curls bouncing slightly as it poked its way around the corner of his desk and looked up at him.

"What are you doing Gracie?" Peter asked with a small laugh escaping him; his five year old only child a constant source for his amusement.

"Trying to sneak up on you" she answered easily, still on her hands and knees on the floor next to him; her large brown eyes that matched his staring back at him.

"I see" he smirked at her. "And why aren't you in bed where I put you…" he paused to glance at his watch, "nearly an hour ago?"

"I'm not sleepy Daddy" she sighed heavily as she stood to her feet in her yellow footed pyjamas and took the few extra steps to stand next to her father, bringing her small hands up to cover over one of his.

"Come here" Peter sighed as well, lifting Grace up and onto his lap. "Guess you're still jetlagged huh?" he surmised and Grace quickly scrunched her face up at the accusation.

"I don't have jet legs Daddy" she immediately dismissed the notion, folding her arms over her chest for dramatic emphasis and Peter couldn't hold back the small bark of laughter that escaped him.

"No sweetie, not jet legs, it's… Okay look, you know how your bed time is 8:30?" He asked and she nodded slightly. "Okay, well, when you went to go see your Mommy for two weeks in Los Angeles the time is different there, so when you got home today and I put you to bed at 8:30 your body thinks it's still at Mommy's and that it's only 6:30. Does that make sense?" He asked and she blinked a few times in an attempt to understand him.

"So I can stay up because I have jet legs?" she asked and Peter laughed again before pulling her small frame against him and kissing the top of her head.

"No sweetie, nice try though. You have to try and sleep so you can get back into your routine. School will be starting soon so you need to get used to going to bed at a reasonable hour so you can get up early, okay?" He asked and she nodded slowly against his chest as a small yawn escaped her.

"See, you are tired" he smirked.

"But I wanna stay up with you Daddy" Grace whined lightly, her small fingers playing absentmindedly with the dark blue tie around his neck that he hadn't bothered to take off yet.

Peter couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips. He had missed his daughter too so he understood why she wanted to spend all the time she could with him now. Her twice-yearly visit's to her Mother's had always been hard on both of them. Although it gave Peter a chance to focus on nothing but work for two weeks, it was still hard coming home to an empty house at night, not being able to read Grace a story, or tuck her in at night. The last three years it had been just the two of them since he and Grace's mother had divorced and she had moved away for work. They talked a lot about who Grace would live with full-time and both decided it was in Grace's best interest not to uproot her from the home she had lived in her entire life so far. Peter was more than happy with this arrangement because the thought of his daughter living half way around the country was completely out of the question in his mind. He'd fight tooth and nail for custody first and if that failed, well he'd pack up his life and follow wherever his daughter went.

He never knew this side of him had existed before they had had Grace. Although the idea of having a family was always an 'eventual' plan of his, he didn't expect it to happen to him so early in life and so unexpectedly. He and Cheryl were young; he was fresh out of law school, a rookie in the State's Attorney's office and only 26 years old when his long time college girlfriend told him the news that they were expecting. She had just finished school and had received her degree in architecture so putting the brakes on her career to raise a baby was far from what she had imagined her life to be at 22. They loved each other though and so in an attempt to give it everything they had, Peter had proposed and they got married just a few months before Grace was born. Although he had lots of time to prepare; scheduling time off work, painting the nursery, building a crib, nothing could ever prepare him for the first moment he held his baby girl in his arms. It was in that moment he knew his entire life had changed, and for the better. And now, five years later, his world revolved around his little girl and he felt almost lost when she wasn't there, even if it was only a couple weeks out of the year.

"Okay Princess, how about we get you tucked back into bed and we'll read one story and then you have to go to bed okay?" He mentioned, emphasising the word one as he knew that story time with Grace could often turn into him reading her half of her collection in one night.

"Kay Daddy" Grace agreed before reaching her small arms out and clasping her hands behind his neck, letting him know she had no intentions of letting him go or walking on her own to her bedroom.

Peter chuckled slightly before wrapping one arm around her to secure her to his chest before standing up from the chair and carrying her out of the study and towards her bedroom.

He might be able to stand up and serve justice to the toughest criminals in the state on a daily basis, but when it came to his little girl, well, even he couldn't argue that she had him wrapped around one of her tiny fingers.

A/N 2: Would love to hear your thoughts so far. We will learn more about the separation and Grace's custody arrangements in a later chapter, I just wanted this to be an introductory. Up next we will meet Alicia and her son Zach! Stay tuned, and remember, reviews are love! xx