A/N: For some reason I was hesitant about posting this fic on here, but I've finally decided to do it. Thanks for everyone who's encouraged this move, you know who you are! 3
I have never been an A/W shipper, but after 4x14 it hit me that Will still has feelings for Alicia and I just feel sorry for him and that's where this fic comes from. Also 4x14 didn't have enough Diane, or things didn't exactly go the way we'd imagined, so I wrote it for my girls on CBC to make them feel better.
This isn't supposed to be a shippy fic for D/W, on the contrary, you'll see what I mean by the end. I'm sorry if Will seems OOC, I just had the idea and ran with it, didn't think too much while writing.
Please read and review!
Alone
"I'm heading home," Diane stopped for a second in the doorway of Will's office to wish him good night, but then she saw him sitting in his favorite armchair with a bottle of Scotch and a half empty glass in front of him, "Did you steal that from my liquor cabinet?" she tried to joke, but she sensed straight away this probably wasn't the right moment for teasing.
"You're heading home?" Will asked as he turned to her and Diane realized he probably hadn't even heard her silly comment.
"Unless you need company," she smiled, hoping to see him do the same but he didn't.
He should have been happy, even though the mock trial hadn't gone the way they had hoped, but they were out of debt, prospering again after almost having lost their firm. But he seemed sad, she hadn't seen him like that for quite a while.
"I'm good," he shrugged and drank the liquid from his glass just to fill it again. She entered his office, walked to his couch and sat down, placing her coat and purse next to her.
"No, you are not, do you want to talk about it?"
He had been behaving oddly the whole day, she had noticed it in court and it had only changed later by the partner's meeting, but now he looked even worse than he had before.
"I just want to drink," he lifted the glass to his lips again and Diane saw how the Scotch quickly disappeared between them.
"I think that's enough," she grabbed the bottle and put it on the ground on her other side, out of reach for him.
"What am I, ten?"
"No, you are a grown man who knows that alcohol is not a solution to any problem."
"You are wrong, I feel better already," he tried to get hold of the bottle under the table and Diane interfered with an attempt to stop him, which resulted in the Scotch bottle tipping over and Will ending up on the ground at Diane's legs.
"Look at yourself, what the hell is wrong with you?" she questioned him slightly angrily.
"Could you just go, please and leave me alone?" Will raised his voice, but his desperation made Diane even more determined..
"No, I can't leave you here like this," she helped him up and back in his armchair and before she could move away he suddenly kissed her. It took her by surprise so she returned the kiss as a reflex first then she quickly broke it off.
"Shit," Will cursed as she distanced herself from him and sat back on the couch, "I'm sorry," he added and Diane didn't really think about it longer than a few seconds, because he obviously didn't do it on purpose and probably wouldn't even remember it later.
"You are drunk," she sighed.
"So what? It happens."
He seemed much calmer now, so Diane ventured to get him to talk once more.
"But why? Finally everything's going well for us."
"Maybe for you."
She heard the sarcastic tone and saw the sorrow in his eyes. There was clearly something he had been keeping inside and she truly wanted to help him say it out loud, to make him feel better.
"Then talk to me," she almost begged him this time.
"No," he said after a short pause.
"Whatever it is you can tell me," she insisted one last time and continued to watch him silently.
His eyes were focusing on the ground and after a few endless moments she finally heard his voice.
"It's Alicia, all right?"
Diane couldn't have been more surprised to hear the reason, she thought his affair with Alicia had belonged to the past.
"What? How?"
"You said she will get over it. Well, she has, but apparently I haven't."
The pain his eyes reflected, when she could look into them again gave Diane an idea of just how hurt he was. She slowly started to put the pieces together and realized there was no other way she could help him in this matter than make sure no one else saw him like that.
"Come on, I'll take you home," she grabbed her coat and purse and reached out for his hand. She helped him up and they walked out of the office together.
"She doesn't love me anymore," he said in a faint voice and Diane truly felt his pain, so there was only one way she could answer his remark.
"But I love you, isn't that enough?" she confessed in a candied voice as if she had been talking to a child.
"You are sweet, I love you too," he replied and snuggled up to her even more.
"Let's go, we need to get out of here."
o-o-o
When they reached her car in the garage she helped him in to the back seat and drove them to her house. She figured it would have been the best if Will stayed there that night. By the time they arrived he had fallen asleep behind her, so she had to wake him up to be able to lead him into the house.
"You can sleep on my couch, you liked it the last time," she thought he would fall asleep again right there, but she was wrong.
"Diane?"
"Yes?" she turned back to him.
"Please don't leave me alone," he asked the opposite of what he had before, it was a proof of his insecurity.
"I thought you wanted to be alone."
"Not anymore," he shook his head and motioned her to sit on the couch next to him so she did.
"All right, so what should we do now?" she hesitated.
She didn't exactly expect him to tell her the details of his heartbreak over Alicia, especially because he knew how much she had disapproved of that relationship, she had made it very clear back then. But now that she saw his condition she kind of regretted having been so harsh with him in the past.
"How did you get over him?"
His sudden question couldn't have been more surprising.
"Him?"
"Kurt. He left, after his trial, I never saw him again. You two were good together," he said and the memory of how differently Will had behaved towards Kurt in the past made Diane smile a little.
"Maybe."
"So how did you do it? How did you get over him?"
"I haven't," she answered after only a short consideration. There was no use denying the truth. She'd also had her share of heartbreaks throughout the years.
"I'm sorry," he looked at her.
"It's fine, it's just…life."
He put his arm around her back and pulled her closer to him. She hesitated first, but then she gave in and tilted her head on his shoulder.
The truth was she didn't want to be alone either.