2nd entry for the 2014 the Good Wife 'everything Changes' ficathon on sweetjamielee's livejournal. Prompt: Alicia/Will, physical therapy by anon.

3 months after the shooting, Will is alive and he and Alicia are together. Alicia turned up at the hospital and didn't leave his side until he woke up mumbling her name. The divorce from Peter is done, because in this AU Alicia filed after Hitting The Fan because she found out about Peter and Marilyn having something and started trying to repair things with Will earlier, although I stick with things in New York going the same way as they did in the show and Eli hasn't had a heart attack just yet. Zach is off at Georgetown.

I own nothing recognisable.

Alicia and Grace were practically living at Will's apartment, they had been for the last 3 weeks, Grace liked all the open space and the shorter commute to school from his place while Alicia just appreciated sleeping beside her boyfriend, when she slept alone, these days, she had nightmares that the bullet had killed him and he wouldn't be there when she called. Today however, Will was being particularly difficult and was trying to shoo the girls out of his apartment at 9.45 on a Sunday morning.

"What is wrong with you?" Alicia half-yelled at him.

"Leesh you need to leave."

Grace was looking at him with a mixture of confusion and disgust on her face at how he was acting, he'd given her and her mother keys and let Grace do whatever she wanted with one of the guest rooms, so she couldn't understand why all of a sudden he looked like the last thing he wanted was for them to be there, and it worried Grace because her mother looked ready to cry.

"Grace can you give us a minute please honey?"

"Sure mom." She walked back from the entryway to the living room and sat on the couch staring at the baseball game on T.V waiting for the inevitable shouting she'd come to expect from years of being sent out of the room for her parents to fight.

Back in the hall Will finally looked up from the floor and into Alicia's eyes and he wanted to kick himself as he saw the glassy sheen covering her hazel eyes. "What Will? What's going on?"

"ah dammit, I'm so sorry Alicia, I..I..um..."

"What? You'd better have a damn good reason why you've been acting like an ass all morning and then spent 10 minutes ushering me and Grace out and telling us not to come back for 2 hours! You want to watch the game alone or..." she paused and got a weird look on her face and the tears brimmed her eyes more prominently than before, "or are you changing your mind about this, about me and about this instant family thing," she trailed off and looked down as her shoes and Will's heart wrenched in his chest to think he'd done this to her because of his own idiotic insecurities.

"NO! Leesh, never!" he lifted her chin with his left hand and ran his right one through her now much longer brunette locks, "I, you're going to hit me when I tell you why I wanted you guys out."

She was glaring at him now and he supposed mild anger was better than the tears. "I, um, well, okay, last week when my physical therapist was here, the T.V was on in the background and that story about the divorce was running and he turns back to me after staring at your picture for a disrespectful amount of time, and says 'I'm glad she left him, now I can go for legal advice and maybe do her' and I just didn't say anything, because what do you say to that? Then he left, but he called this morning and asked to move tomorrow's session to today because he has to go to a family funeral tomorrow and didn't want to leave me an extra day, so since you wouldn't be at work like you normally are, I had to try and get you guys to both leave under the, apparently miserably stupid, guise of getting some more of your stuff for this week." As Will looked up at his girlfriend's face he wasn't all that surprised to see she was seconds from laughing hysterically. She leaned her head on his shoulder and continued to laugh at him while her right hand stroked up and down his neck.

"I cannot believe you."

"I couldn't risk you running off with him, he's in good shape and 20-something."

"You're thinking of my former husband, he was the Florrick with the penchant for 20-some thing's," she murmured into his t-shirt. Will couldn't help but laugh at that.

"True, just had to be cautious, don't think I could take him in my still-delicate physical state."

"I think your physical condition in perfect counsellor."

"Mmhhmm, am I forgiven?"

"If you show me just how well your physical therapy is going later tonight?" She grinned up at him and leaned her face closer.

"Okay," he closed the distance and pressed his lips against hers, slipping his tongue over her lips and into her mouth, eliciting a moan, he pulled away reluctantly, "He'll be here in a minute, but you can stay if you like."

"mm, no we'll go, need more clothes anyway," she smiled at him, "but we're not staying out for two hours! You'll just have to deal with him looking at me," Alicia lowered her voice to a husky whisper and moved so her lips were brushing his earlobe as she talked, "just know that I don't want anyone else Will, just you, and I'll prove it to you later when Grace goes out. Grace we're leaving!" she yells over his shoulder.

"Everything okay now?" Grace asks as she walks back into the hallway, surprised at the lack of yelling she had heard.

"Yes honey, I'll tell you in the car." Alicia kisses him gently before spinning around and opening the door, Grace presses her lips to Will's cheek on her way past him and just looks puzzled as she follows her mother out. Alicia turns and winks at Will before pulling the door shut behind them. 5 minutes later his therapist knocks on the front door.

An hour and a half into his 2 hour session he hears keys jingle in the door as Grace pushes it open, yelling to him, "We're back, mom's wearing a potato sack to make you more comfortable!" He hears Alicia's soft laughter mix with her daughter's and smiles even though his arm is killing him.

"I didn't realise anyone lived with you Will." Gary's statement sounded more like a question to Will.

"Yeah, Alicia and her daughter Grace, they're normally at work or school when you're here, just never thought to mention it."

"Well we can take a few minutes to say hi."

Seconds later they came round the corner from the main hallway where the bedrooms were and leaned against opposite walls, tilting their heads and grinning at him like they were plotting his downfall, he supposed they might be if they decided to tell the story of his insecurities to Diane or Kalinda or worse..his sisters. "We thought we'd bring lunch home," Alicia held up the bag of take-out in her hand and Will saw Gary eye her out of the corner of his eye, apparently uninterested in Grace, at least I don't have to kill him, Will thought. Hearing her say home when talking about his apartment was the best thing Will had heard all day, he would've said all week, but she'd said I love you two days ago and nothing topped that.

"Hi, I'm Gary, the physical therapist." snapped out of his Alicia-haze Will looked over to the man and watched him give his best boyish grin, Grace smirked at Will and he knew why when Alicia spoke.

"Oh hello, you're doing such a good job, really thank you, the sex was much more difficult when he only had the use of one arm," and with that she walked into the kitchen with Grace snickering and following along behind her. Will turned back to look at Gary and grinned smugly, because her words implied their very healthy indeed sex life and the poor boy looked jealous and thoroughly impressed all in one.

"Oh man, you're doing the former first lady? Lucky bastard!" he exclaimed and Will could only smile and suggest they were done for the day. Gary high-fived him on his way out said he'd see him Thursday afternoon.

Will wandered into the kitchen to see the girls distributing the food they'd gotten evenly onto three plates. They chatted easily throughout lunch but he noticed Grace looking at him funny when he was putting the trash in the bin by her. He slipped his arms around Alicia's waist but looked up at Grace and mumbled, "Go ahead."

"Are you too highly medicated still? Did even a part of your brain think she'd wander off with the first idiot to show her some attention? She gets hit on by single dads at school all the time and never even bats an eyelid, for a smart guy, you're an idiot," Grace finished, smiling at him placatingly. "I'm going to Connor's, that's still okay right?"

"Yeah honey, it's fine, just not too late okay, you've got school in the morning."

"Can I take the car mom?"

"Mhmm, just drive safe."

"Bye mom, bye Will," and with that she was out the front door.

"We should get her a car for her birthday, Zach's got one, and we pay his air fairs home, Grace is staying home to go to UoC so maybe we can get her a better car?"

" I think that's a very sweet idea, yeah we can look into it." she paused, "While we were at the apartment me and Grace talked, and if it's okay with you, we would both like to move in here with you, permanently." She looked up at him shyly but he just looked at her dumbfounded, scaring her for a minute before her picked her up and spun her around grinning up at her before carrying a giggling Alicia into their bedroom.

Alicia lay on the couch watching some documentary on the large T.V on the wall with her feet in Will's lap as he ran a hand that wasn't filled with a fajitas wrap up and down her shin. Grace entered loudly and flopped down onto the arm chair with a huff. Alicia raised an eyebrow at her daughter who shrugged and motioned to the books in her backpack by way of an explanation. "So did you ask him?"

"Yep, we'll go start packing tomorrow night, and I'll call to get the apartment on the market."

"Are you guys eventually getting a house? Like up by the lake in Lincoln park, I like it up there, it's near to the zoo and UoC."

Alicia and Will looked at each other and and he shrugged as she tilted her head in question, he answered for them, "probably, that'd be nice." he continued to chew the last bite of his late night snack and waited to see if Alicia would voice her opinion.

"I think we should start looking after Christmas, prices are always down in the new year." Grace nodded at her mother and then turned her attention back to the screen like her mother and neither of his girls moved for the next half an hour.

It turned out that by March, almost a year to the day after Will almost died in the courthouse, he stood in front of a moving van, dangling the keys to their newly renovated three story-Lincoln Park house in front of his new wife's face. Alicia's eyes were bright as she watched Grace and Zach, who was home on a weekend break to sort out his new room at home, run out shouting about the pool in the back yard and how their yard backed onto the lakeside private beach, it was an amazing find, Grace's, and was only so cheap because it needed work done, which they'd gladly taken on. Will had proposed, with the kid's blessing, at Thanksgiving visiting Zach in D.C. They'd married two weeks ago and had just gotten back from 2 weeks on a beach in the Bahamas, the kids started directing the movers as to where their rooms were on the third floor and Will was about to start telling them which stuff went to the office and which to the den at the back of the house when Alicia handed him a clear plastic bag and a slip of paper. He looked down and in her neat hand writing were words that changed his whole life all over again, 'I think the room opposite ours would make a great nursery.' Will looked up into his wife's glassy green-hazel eyes as she nodded before looking down to the bag, inside were 8 little white sticks with varying symbols or words but they all had the same result.

"I wanted to be completely sure before I got your hopes up, I went to the doctor yesterday, I'm 8 weeks along, we're having a baby Will!" she grinned at him and a tear slipped down her cheek as she took in his stunned but happy expression. He kissed her suddenly and passionately then pulled away to look into her eyes and enjoy the moment of finding out the love of his life was about to make him a father. He pulled away from her a bit, tilted his head up to the sky and proceeded to make a stunning first impression on the neighbours by yelling at the top of his lungs, "I'm gonna be a daddy again!" the 'again' warmed her heart and made the two teenagers on the porch of their new family home smile at their step-dad.

4 year-old Camille 'Millie' Gardner giggled as her daddy twirled her around in the air on the grass lawn of UoC. Her mother looked on with a smile on her face with her eldest cuddled into her side, waiting for Grace to be done talking to her father an d Jackie a few steps away. The trio stepped towards Alicia and Zach and Grace kissed her mom's cheek. "Alicia,"

"Hey Peter, hello Jackie, how is Andrea? Will we see her at the dinner later?"

"She's good, yes she'll be there, the twins too, are you sure you don't mind having this in your backyard?"

"We're sure, it's what Grace wanted."

"Okay, see you three later then," Peter then ushered Jackie away before she could say anything to ruin the clam atmosphere but he couldn't help but stare just a little at Will chasing his young daughter around on the grass.

Later that night everyone was full on the food the combined Cavanaugh-Gardner clan had put on and Peter, his new wife Andrea and Jackie had looked only mildly uncomfortable in the presence of Will's sisters, brother-in-law, niece Lily and mother Evelyn. Owen was currently regaling everyone with a story of Grace peeing in a puddle on a miniature golf-course at the age of three when he and Veronica had been left in charge of her and Zach for the weekend and Alicia's mouth was full of Evelyn's peach cobbler. Said mother-in-law was talking quietly to Millie about her daddy, while said daddy played footsie with his wife under the table as she tried to eat her desert. Will suddenly reached across and pulled Alicia into his lap, luckily she made only the smallest noise of surprise, which only Evelyn and Grace noticed, before she snuggled into his strong chest and picked her fork back up.

Peter glanced over as the movement caught his eye and saw Alicia press a gentle kiss to Will's jaw as she settled against him and couldn't help the wave of jealousy that washed over him. After 5 years and 3 kids that weren't shared between them, he wished he felt differentlybut seeing them together made him regret taking her for granted.

Alicia stood watching her mom and Will's play with Lily and Millie in the backyard while everyone else sat at the outdoor dining table chatting about Grace's move to D.C for law school at Georgetown and Zach's impending move to California for a well paid job at Chum Hum. Will slipped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his chin on her left shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Mhmm, I'm fine, just thinking, just grateful I got my second chance to have a full life with you. If you had.."

"Hey, no, no, Leesh, we're not going there, remember?" he turned his wife around in his arms and held her closer, trying to reassure he that he was there, and this was real, "I didn't die, we're fine, okay? Everything is going quite well if you ask me." He grinned a her as he pulled back just a little and she smiled back at him, her real 'Leesh' smile the one she reserved for him and their kids.

"Will Gardner, you are the most amazing man I have ever known or will ever know, and I really, really love you, I have loved you since you bought me Ice-cream when I was sad that night in the second year of Law School, and I am never going to stop."

He wasn't ashamed to say he teared up a little at her declaration, " You really are feeling sentimental today, I love too, and I'm grateful for this life and our daughter who wouldn't exist if things had turned out differently." At that moment Grace came inside to tell them to bring out more snacks and she just smiled at them as they separated themselves to gather more food to take outside. Grace walked back outside and took her seat next to Diane and Kalinda. "They're being all smushy in the house, because I'm leaving in a few weeks. It's cute."

"Cute, disgusting, same thing right Grace?" Cary asked her as he leaned across Kalinda to grab a handful of cut up hot dogs.

Alicia and Will come out and Millie runs over, "Mommy! Grandma Evie says she's taking me to the zoo with Zach and Gracie tomorrow!"

"I know baby! me and Daddy are going to come and meet you guys when we're done with court, is that okay with you?" Her little girl's eyes lit up and she beamed at her mother before looking to her daddy for his nod of agreement. The contented little girl snuggled into her mother and stole strawberries off of her plate while Will moved his chair closer and allowed his wife to lean into his side as they listened to Lily talk about her school play starring role and her new pet hamster.