3/30/11: SORRY ABOUT THE REPOST, ACCIDENTLY DELETED THIS STORY!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Good Wife, or Alicia Florrick and Will Gardner. If I did, there would be waaaaayyyy less complications between Will and Alicia.
A/N: Okay, so after "On Tap" and Julianna Margulies' AMAZINGLY EPIC ACTING (!), I decided to write out my rage of the ending. Alicia and Will NEED good timing!
I Want Good Timing!
Knock, Knock, Knock.
"Yeah?" Will said, not looking up from his papers. Alicia took a deep breath.
"I- uh..." Will looked up, acknowledgement and confusion registering on his face.
"Do you- uh..." She stops to take a deep breath, trying to figure out how to ask him properly. She closes her eyes for a second, trying to compose herself. Her heart was beating wildly; her hands shook with excitement and nervousness.
"I have to ask you a question." Alicia said, very matter-of-fact. You would think something was wrong, except the light in her eyes and the small smile playing on her lips gave her away.
"Sure." Will responded. His face seemed normal now, but his eyebrows were slightly quirked up in interest. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm her nerves. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that exact moment the adjourning bathroom door flung open.
"I hate your towels!" Will's girlfriend Tammy exclaimed. Her head shot up in recognition of Alicia.
"Oh hey! What's up?" Tammy smiled, stopping behind Will's chair. Alicia's mouth had fallen open, but she quickly replaced it with a smile and shook her head.
"Oh nothing, I'll just uh... I'll just be going now..." Alicia stammered. She turned to leave, but Will called her out.
"Alicia, I thought you had a question for me?" He asked. If he had been confused initially, it was nothing compared to the confusion he felt now.
"Oh, right. Um, it isn't as important as I made it out to be. I guess it can wait. This is just, umm, bad timing. Like usual, right?" She gave a dry laugh. Had it been anyone else, they would have thought she was joking. But this was Will, and he could hear the disappointment and nervousness in her laugh; he knew the meaning behind her use of 'bad timing'. Alicia gave a small wave to Tammy, and left the office.
~AliciaFlorrickWillGardner~
Tammy smiled at Will.
"She seems nice. I'd love to get to know her better."
"Yeah... She is nice." Will said, his eyes following her retreating figure, and watching her walk into Diane's office. He pulled himself away from Alicia and looked at Tammy.
"How long have you two known each other? You seem to be a bit closer to her than most." Tammy asked. Will felt panic build up in his chest, but one look at her face told him her question was purely innocent and curious.
"I've uh... I've known her since college. We had most of our classes together, so we knew each other pretty well." Tammy looked impressed.
"Wow, I don't even remember half of my friends from college, let alone talk to them anymore. It must be nice to have such a close friend." Will looked at Alicia, who was standing behind a chair in Diane's office.
"You know, it really is." He replied, staring at Alicia's back.
~AliciaFlorrickWillGardner~
Alicia turned quickly out of Will's office. How stupid could she be? How could she forget about Tammy? Although, she never could've known that Tammy was going to be in his office the- 'Oh God...' Alicia thought. Last week! The day she told Diane about Eli Gold being on the wire taps! His curtains had been drawn that day... And she had heard a noise, like someone tripping. How could she have missed that? They had been having sex in his office! Suddenly, she felt light headed, and she couldn't think. The only coherent thought registering in her mind was 'You need to get out of here now...' Instead of going back to her office, she went to Diane's.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Diane looked up.
"Yes? Oh, Alicia, it's you..." Diane said, giving her a warm smile.
"Come and sit down." Alicia shook her head.
"Thank you, but this should only take a minute..." Diane gave her an understanding look.
"Alright. What do you need?"
"I was wondering now that the Wade case is done, if I could go home early today? I'm not feeling well; I'm not fit to work in this state..." She asked. Diane started so shuffle through some papers, and then looked back at Alicia.
"It doesn't look as if we'll need you for anything else... Yes, if you'd like to go home, feel free." Alicia nodded, and smiled appreciatively. She turned to leave, but stopped, looking straight ahead of her. Diane followed Alicia's gaze and was not surprised to see it land on Will. But Will wasn't alone. Tammy had Will in a passionate lip-lock. She pulled away, and left the office. Alicia's fists clenched slightly, a gesture that had not gone unnoticed by Diane.
"Alicia?" Diane asked. She whorled around.
"Yes?" Diane smiled sympathetically at her.
"If you ever feel... overwhelmed, and need to talk to someone..." There was a pause as Alicia stood silent. She closed her eyes briefly, and then looked back up.
"Thank you Diane." And she exited the office.
~AliciaFlorrickWillGardner~
Bad timing.
'We've always had bad timing...'
Two words. Nine letters. It was haunting him. It was true-they did have bad timing. Well, more horrible than bad. Who was he kidding anyway? He was in love with Alicia Florrick. Telling her and having her reject him didn't stop it. Dating girl after girl after girl didn't stop it. Ignoring her certainly didn't stop it. Will knew there was no way to stop his love for Alicia. Pulling out his blackberry, he looked at the time. It was 11:30. He knew that by this time she'd probably be settled into her bed... He wanted to call her, he wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to know what she was thinking. Suddenly, a déjà vu moment hit him.
'When I look at you during the day, I want to know what you're thinking...'
He'd known from the moment he decided to stop pining for Alicia that it wouldn't work. But he wanted to try. He wanted his life to run smoothly; he didn't want all of this 'high school' love drama. But if he had to give up his desire for a smooth life to be with Alicia, he knew he would. Will scrolled to her name in his phonebook and stared at it. He shook his head and remembered her words from earlier in the day.
'This is just, um, bad timing. As usual, right?'
He sighed.
'I'm an idiot...' He thought. Directing his thoughts away from Alicia, he scrolled to a different name and called.
~AliciaFlorrickWillGardner~
Her eyes were red. She was tired, her hair was a mess, and her makeup was smudged. But she didn't care. She never wanted to go to work again. She didn't want to see Tammy, or Will... Angry tears built up in her eyes; she took off her wedding ring and flung it as hard as she could at the bedroom door. She sat on the edge of her bed and sobbed. Unbeknownst to Alicia, her daughter had knocked on the door. She had not received an answer, so she slowly opened the door. Seeing her mother crying (and looking like a complete wreck), she wrapped her arms around her.
"Mom, what's going on?" Grace asked. Alicia quickly wiped her tears away.
"Oh baby, nothing..."
"Mom, come on. You don't just cry for nothing. Is it about dad? Because you don't smile as much when he's around..." Alicia suppressed a laugh. Her daughter was perceptive, if albeit not hitting the mark.
"Something like that baby..." Alicia said giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead.
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Are you upset because of Will?" Alicia froze.
"What makes you think that?" She asked, tucking a piece of hair behind Grace's ear.
"I don't know... I mean, I should be angry, I should hate Will, but all I really want is for us to be happy. For you to be happy." Alicia smiled at her daughter, who was giving her a soft, but questioning look. She took a deep breath.
"Something like that baby..." Grace understood this as her cue to leave. Giving her mother's hand a squeeze, she left the room. Alicia got up and retrieved her wedding ring from the floor. She didn't love Peter, she loved Will. She wanted to be with Will, but when she had listened to that voicemail...
'Look you're right. I don't have a plan. Let's just drop this, okay?'
It had crushed her. But she thought 'Hey! That's what he wants, so I'll do it. Who cares about what I want, right?' To hell with that! She didn't want to be that person who was completely selfless. For once, she wanted to be selfish.
'I did! I even phoned her twice, once I said let's move on, then I phoned back to say- 2518 minimization.'
She had no clue what he was talking about. She'd only got one voicemail. What was this about a second? She wanted to know what it said so badly! But what did it even matter now?
'No. I'm done. I'm over it. And that's good. It's like something lifted. If I weren't her boss, and she weren't married then we'd be having a different conversation, but she's right not to phone. And I'm good with it.'
She was so conflicted. Part of her thought Will really wanted to end whatever there was between them, but part of her thought he was just justifying his decision. Alicia yawned. She hoped that whatever was going through Will's head was whatever made him happy. If that wasn't her, then she was okay with that. But a tiny part of her had high hopes it was her. Feeling her head throb, she climbed into bed. She shut off her phone, knowing that it would probably be less interruption.
~AliciaFlorrickWillGardner~
The next day had been a complete mess for both Will and Alicia. Will had tried numerous times to catch Alicia in her office, but she always seemed extremely busy, or she wasn't there at all. Alicia, knowing that Will was trying to talk to her about yesterday's events, was purposely ignoring him. Kalinda, sensing that something was up, tried to talk to her.
'Hey. Will's looking for you.'
'Kalinda, I'm really busy today. Can you tell him I'll talk to him another time?' She said briefly looking at Kalinda, then back at her work. Kalinda eyed her.
'What's wrong? What happened?'
'What?' Alicia said, feigning confusion.
'You are turning down a meeting with Will. What happened?'
'...Kalinda, not now. I don't have time for this, I'm really busy.' Kalinda raised an eyebrow, then walked out of the office.
The funny thing was, everyone had noticed that something was up. Derrick, who had noticed the tension very early on between Will and Alicia, had been shooting looks at Diane as if to say: 'Talk to him!' So she had.
'Will?' Diane asked, sticking her head inside his office.
'Hey Diane. What's up?'
'Have you seen Alicia today?' She asked, in what she hoped was a genuinely interested tone.
'Why are you asking me?'
'Oh well... I was just wondering... I was going to, um, talk to her about something.' She said, smiling in hopes it would cover her slip up.
'Okay- Oh, wait! Diane, why don't you call her to your office, I've been needing to talk to her too, but she's been really busy...' He suggested. Diane smiled internally. 'They are so obvious...' she thought.
'Sure thing Will.' Diane agreed, then leaving his office.
As it turned out, Alicia had declined Diane's request, hoping they could reschedule. She had said it was because she was 'busy'. That was a lie. She just didn't want to go anywhere near Will's office. At the end of that day, both Will and Alicia left the office feeling heavy hearted.
~AliciaFlorrickWillGardner~
She had the house to herself. Peter, wanting to 'bond' with the kids had taken them to the mall for a shopping spree. Alicia sat on her leather couch, bare feet propped up on the coffee table, drinking a glass of red wine. Soft jazz music was playing throughout the house, and she'd even dimmed the lights and lit candles to create a relaxing mood. She sat quietly, waiting for her pizza to arrive. She smiled to herself. 'Pizza,' she thought. 'How classy.' She laughed. 'Well, I'm not all class.' Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. She grabbed some cash and made her way to the door. She opened it, and her face fell.
"Alicia." Said Will, making sure one foot was past her door frame.
"Will... what are you doing here?" She asked breathlessly.
"We need to talk. Can I come in?"
"Well, I don't-"
"Please?" His eyes pleaded with her, and the shield she had built melted.
"...Okay." She ushered him inside and poured him a glass of wine. They sat down on the couch and were silent, staring at each other.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Alicia asked, breaking the silence.
"The other day, you had something you needed to ask me. What was it?" Will asked. He could tell she was uncomfortable; she was blinking a lot and looking at her lap. Finally, she raised her eyes to his.
"I don't think we need to talk about it, okay?" She said, tears starting to well up in her eyes.
"Alicia, don't play me for a fool. Please. I can tell that something's bothering you. Let me in." He exclaimed, gently taking her hands in his. But she pulled away.
"Will, no. It's not important, and I don't want to talk about it." Now he was frustrated.
"Dammit Alicia! Stop toying with me! Why can't you just choose! You can be my employee, or my girlfriend. Stop flitting in between! You're driving me crazy!" Tears were falling down Alicia's face, and she started to yell too.
"What the hell do you want from me? You tell me you want to be with me, and then you tell me you want to drop it! And then I hear on the Wade tapes that you left some mysterious second voicemail that I didn't even get-"
"What?" The drop in Will's loud tone frightened Alicia.
"I said I found out you left me more than one voicemail. I only got one, the one that said to 'drop this'." Alicia responded.
"... How is it that you only got one? I left two. The second one said- I thought you-" Will looked confused. He stared at Alicia.
"Will? What did the second voicemail say?" She whispered. He took a deep breath. 'It's now or never' Will thought.
"It said I wasn't going to drop this" Will said, grabbing her hands, "and that I've loved you since Georgetown. You didn't say anything, so I thought you didn't want me..." Alicia's eyes were wide with shock.
"Oh my God... Will, I'm so sorry... I can't believe it-And now you're with Tammy-"
"No, I'm not." He smiled. Her world stopped.
"Excuse me?"
"I said I'm not. I broke up with her last night." The room went silent. Alicia's head was processing all this information.
"Will?" She asked quietly, but hopefully.
"Alicia?"
"If you still want me..." She said, a small smile tugging on her lips.
"Yes?"
"I'm here." Will's face broke into a grin.
"It's not going to be easy."
"I know."
"The press will be in our faces, my kids will be angry, the divorce with Peter will be messy-"
"Alicia!" Will exclaimed.
"Yes Will?"
"I know." He leaned in close to her, so their foreheads were touching.
"Alicia Florrick?" Will smirked.
"Yes Will Gardner?" She smirked back at the formalities.
"I love you. I'm in love with you. I'm going to love you forever-"
"Shut up and kiss me already!"
"Don't you love me too?" He teased. She smiled and whispered in his ear:
"I love you too Will. Now kiss me!" He happily complied. Being there together made them happy to finally be on the same page. They'd both gotten what they'd wanted: good timing.
THE END
A/N: I hope you enjoyed! We AW shippers are in desperate need for AW fluff... (; Please review!