The Good Wife: A Home For My Heart

Chapter 4: Hello, Stranger

A/N 1:The song used in this chapter, and the title name for the story is from the song "A Thousand Years" (Part Two) by Christina Perri ft. Steve Kazee. If I owned the rights to it, I would have a lot more time to write... C'est la vie.

~ The day we met,

frozen I held my breath,

right from the start,

I knew I had found a home for my

heart beats fast,

colours and promises,

how to be brave,

how can I love when I'm

afraid, to fall ~

It was shortly after noon when Zach had finally managed to drag his mother out of the apartment and they made the short walk over to the neighbourhood playground just a few blocks away. It was a warm Saturday afternoon, but the light breeze in the air made the weather simply perfect for a day in the park.

"That's far enough Zachary" Alicia had called out to her son as he came to a halt a few yards away from her in the open clearing of the park. He had been playing with his remote control helicopter for the last few minutes while Alicia sat on a long wooden bench and watched on from there.

"Kay Mom" Zach agreed; staying put where he stood but watching with excitement as he got his helicopter to soar higher and further away with just the press of a lever in his hands.

Alicia smiled as she watched him; seemingly lost in her own world until the incessant chattering between two women walking towards her seemed to pull her out of her daze. The two women just a few years older than Alicia took a seat next to her on the other side of the bench; fresh coffee's in hand from the small cafe around the corner and the inviting aroma caused Alicia to regret not stopping for one herself on the way here. She offered them a polite smile and a nod as they sat down, but didn't bother interrupting their conversation to say a hello.

They gossiped about random events and exchanged details of what the rest of their weekends entailed and Alicia only half paid attention to their conversation mainly out of boredom and lack of anything else to occupy her mind with as Zach stood pretty well in the same spot seemingly more interested in his electronic toy than participating in any actual physical activity. She felt a tad remorseful in that moment, thinking back to what Zach had said earlier about having a sibling to play with. Her response to him was true though; most days she had no idea how she managed raising one child on her own; let alone any more, but she did feel bad for him as he wasn't terribly social yet and had always felt shy about interacting with other kids that he didn't know. The school year was much easier for him as he saw the same kids every day and had created a bond with them, but in the summer he hardly saw them and Alicia was so busy with work this time of year that Zach spent most of his summer with his Grandmother or even occasionally his Uncle who was not only probably too young to have children of his own, but also had absolutely zero desire to either. Yes, the chances of Zach getting a family play mate anytime soon was next to none. It truly was just going to be the two of them from here on out.

"Oh. My. God" she heard one of the women next to her gasp and it startled Alicia slightly as she thought perhaps someone had gotten hurt, or worse. But taking a quick scan over the park, she could see no cause for concern.

"What?" Her friend had questioned, looking around as well.

"Ten o'clock" The woman replied, giving a nod of her head in the direction she was referring to. "Mmmm. Tall, dark and handsome. See him?"

Alicia's curiosity got the better of her as she followed the woman's line of sight until her gaze fell upon a man standing a few dozen feet from them; hands in his pockets as he watched after what was assumingly his young daughter with a broad smile playing on his lips. Alicia couldn't help how her eyes involuntarily rolled into the back of her head as she decided to ignore the two now giggling women and focus back on watching Zach.

What was it with women and Dad's? She had to wonder. These two have children of their own, presumably, and judging by the sparkling rings on both of their fingers, they also have husbands who are father's, of their own. So what is with this obsession of pawing over men in the park like a feeding ground in the wild? Sure, maybe this guy was attractive. He was quite tall; easily over 6 feet with broad shoulders, thick muscular arms, and short chocolate brown hair that had that effortless yet perfectly styled look that few men seemed to be able to pull off. He dressed well, wearing a pair of dark khakis and a sky blue polo shirt that hugged his arms, chest and abdomen perfectly. Okay so maybe he was very attractive; if she was being honest with herself. But she certainly wouldn't want a bunch of men standing around staring and snickering about her if she was out trying to spend time with her child, so why did these women think what they were doing was any more appropriate? And it wasn't like today was the first time either, she had seen it enough times to realize this had certainly become a 'thing'. The single mothers were the worst; Alicia excluded of course. She would hear them gabbing about a Father in the park, but the second a wife came around it was all judgement and name calling. Alicia couldn't wrap her head around it if she tried, so she preferred to just sit alone while Zach played, rather than attempt conversation with the man-hungry desperate housewives that invaded Austin Park on a daily basis.

"Where do I sign up to have him handle me like that?" One of the women had muttered to the other as the same man had swooped up the young girl he was with and began spinning her around in his arms; causing the girl to laugh and squeal with delight before he set her down and she had run off to play again. Alicia unintentionally let out an audible huff of annoyance before gathering up Zach's belongings, stuffing them in his back pack and leaving her spot on the bench to go enjoy Zach's company instead. It was one thing to look at someone you find attractive, but another to start vocalizing completely inappropriate comments in a family setting such as this and she had a feeling it would only get worse from here, so best to take her leave now.

"What was her problem?" She heard one of them grumble as she got up and walked away, but couldn't be bothered to stop and acknowledge it so instead she just kept walking.

Looking out into the clearing she couldn't see Zach right away and couldn't help the instant strike of fear that settled in her; as it always did when she thought something may be wrong.

"Zach!" she called out nervously; sighing with relief only seconds later when he quickly yelled back to her.

"Over here Mom!" Zach called out, standing a few yards away near a cluster of tall oak trees and Alicia began making her way over to him.

"What are you doing over here? I told you stay where I can see you" Alicia reminded him sternly as she approached.

"My plane got stuck" Zach moaned; bottom lip already quivering and eyes red with tears threatening to spill at any second as he stared up at the large branch where his red helicopter lay nestled in the leaves.

"Oh" Alicia sighed, hating of course to see Zach upset, though judging by the branch that was almost ten feet in the air, she currently had no idea what she was going to do to get it out of there.

"Well, maybe, we throw a rock or something at it to knock it out of the tree?" Alicia suggested but Zach quickly shook his head.

"No! You'll break it!" Zach immediately dismissed the idea.

"Okay, ummm," Alicia tapped her chin as she looked around for another solution.

"I could climb the tree" Zach suggested with a shrug.

"Absolutely not! Heaven forbid you were to fall, you could break an arm or a leg!" Alicia quickly dismissed the thought and Zach huffed in frustration.

"I can do it Mom!" he insisted, folding his arms across his chest.

"No Zach, you're too small Honey. I'll... hmmm. I'll figure something out" she assured him as she took the few steps over to the large trunk of the tree and started looking it over.

There was absolutely no spot close to the ground where she could even begin to get a footing on the tree so climbing was quickly out of the question. She could lift Zach, but she knew she wasn't tall enough for that either. Another six inches or so might do the trick, but there wasn't much she could do to help that.

Finally, with a small sigh, she turned and knelt down to Zach's eye level.

"I'm sorry Sweetie, maybe we can get you another one, okay?" She tried, and instantly felt her heart beginning to break when his eyes started filling with tears. "Oh, come here Zach" she soothed, pulling him against her as he cried against her shoulder. She knew that particular toy had meant a lot for him, because it was the last gift her father; Zach's grandfather, had given him before he passed away early last year. The thought alone nearly brought Alicia to tears as well as she gently rocked Zach against her and tried to calm him down.

"Shhhh, it's all right Honey" she gently soothed, rubbing her hand in small circles on his back as she held him closely.

"Um, excuse me, Miss? Can I help?" a voice suddenly came from behind her and Alicia nearly fell backwards on her butt as the voice startled her. Turning her head she was surprised and beyond embarrassed to see the handsome stranger from earlier standing there with a little girl not much younger than Zach holding onto his hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. It's just, Grace here told me there was a boy crying over here and I thought, maybe there's something I could do?" he offered apologetically with a small smile.

"I wasn't crying" Zach quickly muttered, wiping his face with his shirt sleeves.

"Yes he was Daddy" the girl immediately challenged, looking up to her father. Kids.

"It's okay Grace" he mentioned quietly towards her before turning back to us. "You know what Sport? If I had a cool helicopter like that and it was stuck, I think I'd be crying too" the man mentioned with a wink towards Zach and actually managed a small snort of laughter out of him which caused Alicia to smile before standing up and straightening herself out.

"Well, it's pretty high up there, we can't figure out a way to get it down" Alicia shrugged. "Zach's grandfather gave it to him, so it's a very special toy" she explained quietly, wrapping an arm around Zach's shoulders and giving him a reassuring squeeze.

"Hmmm" the man began as he looked up to the branch that held the captive toy. "Well you know, you're pretty tall there Sport, I bet you if I got you up high enough, you could reach it, what do you think?" He asked and Zach's features lit up as he looked over to his mother, silently asking for permission.

"Go ahead" she nodded and Zach grinned as he looked back towards the older man before them.

"My mom said okay" Zach explained happily and the man smiled at him.

"That's a good man, listening to your Mother" he pointed out before kneeling in the grass in front of Zach who quickly climbed up to sit on his shoulders and securing his hands underneath the mans chin.

"Okay, here we go, are you ready?" the man asked and Zach nodded eagerly.

"Ready!" he shouted.

The man stood up, holding Zach on his shoulders as he positioned himself under the branch.

"Okay now Son, you're gonna have to stand up on my shoulders to reach it okay? Don't worry, I won't let you fall" he assured him and Zach began lifting first one foot, then the other to the man's shoulders until he was standing up while the man stretched his arms above his head to hold onto Zach's waist.

"I got it! I got it!" Zach shouted excitedly a mere moment later and was quickly brought back down to safety as the man hoisted him off his shoulders and lowered him down until his feet touched the ground again.

"Mom look! I got it!" He shouted once more and Alicia smiled.

"I see that, that's great! Now, what do you say Zachary?"

"Oh, right" Zach giggled bashfully before turning back to the man. "Thank you Mister"

"You're welcome Sport" the man offered another quick wink to Zach.

"Really, thank you so much, we wouldn't have never gotten it out of there" Alicia admitted with a shy smile towards the stranger.

"It was no problem at all" he quickly assured her. "Oh, uh, Peter, by the way" he mentioned, holding his hand out to her. "And this is Grace" he continued, gesturing his head towards the young girl at his side.

"Alicia" she smiled towards him, placing her hand in his. "And my little pilot, Zach" she continued, their hands dropping from one another as the man, Peter, crouched down and held his hand out to Zach.

"Pleasure to meet you Zach"

Zach grinned, taking the much larger hand in his and offering it a firm shake.

"Grace, Honey? Do you want to say hello?" Peter asked of his small daughter and she smiled brightly as she ran in between them.

"Wanna play?" she asked Zach; wasting no time whatsoever and Zach simply shrugged before nodding in agreement.

"Okay"

"Leave your toy here Zach, you guys can go play on the playground" Alicia mentioned, holding her hands out and taking the helicopter and remote from him before placing it inside his back pack and the two children ran off towards the various swings, slides and climbing obstacles a few yards away.

"Well that was fast" Alicia chuckled as Peter stood back up in front of her.

"Yeah, Grace has always been pretty outgoing" Peter mentioned with a shrug. "Probably gets tired of playing with her old Dad" he mused and Alicia laughed.

"Well don't worry, I don't think I'm Zach's first choice for Power Rangers sparring partner either so, I hear you on that one" She smiled towards him and he grinned as he nodded in understanding.

"Do you... Would you like to sit down?" He asked, gesturing towards a bench not far from the jungle gym Grace and Zach were currently playing on and Alicia hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Sure, why not"

A/N: You know the drill by now, if you liked it, let me know! A lot more Peter and Alicia interaction coming up in the next chapter, so stay tuned!
PS: If you haven't seen it yet, my latest A/P video can be found on youtube here: /watch?v=Ega9lKZ-lug