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He ran a hand through his hair, he felt as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders, this was what he disliked most about having so much control over a law firm, the stress of having to make so many decisions that could lead to a two way street.

"Look, I wouldn't ask if we weren't desperate." Diane said to him, leaning against the sofa, he shook his head slowly, deciding where to take this.

"I'm really sorry Will."

Charlotte said as she sat next to him, she was the latest partner that was recently added to the law firm a few weeks ago, he hadn't expected their first dilemma to be this, she had agreed months ago, that she was boldly set, if not driven to the success of moving to Washington in order to begin their next triumph. It was subtle of her to pull out now, when they were only a weak away from beginning what they had been anticipating all year.

He sighed. "So, you can't go?"

She shook her head, her gaze resting on her stomach, her long blonde hair swaying with her movements . "If it were another time…" she trailed off. "I honestly didn't see this coming, and was truly set on moving to DC but.."

He understood it, and waved it off. As a father of three, and a husband, he understood her need to stay. She was having her first child with her first husband, the glimmer in her eyes reminded him of when he and Alicia found out they were pregnant with Nora. And even though, at this point in time, where he was reluctant to think of Alicia, he couldn't stop his mind from traveling there.

"One month Will." Diane interrupted as she sat in front of him, earning his full attention. "One month. That's it, you can stay there for four weeks, all expenses covered, work your ass off, and then come back, everything will go back to normal."

He could hear the plea in her voice, he could also see the desperate need she held in her eyes. If he couldn't do it, she would have to, and she had only recently married Kurt several days ago. The timing was inconvenient at its best.

"You can have a week off work afterwards." She threw in another proposal, she was bursting with determination.

"Take Alicia on a vacation, dump the kids at Disneyland, travel across the border, I don't care. Just please, consider this. Four weeks Will, it will go by so fast, and before you know it, you'll be back here."

He knew, deep down he wanted it, he had always looked ahead when it came to expanding, it made his blood heat with determination, the thrill, the success, the connections, having to explain to his family was the difficult side in all of this. Having to explain it to Alicia, was almost frightening.

"What does Kurt think of the idea of staying in DC with you?" he tried his best at making an ultimatum.

Diane looked momentarily shocked. "Are you kidding? You know more than anybody how much he dislikes democrats, traffic lights, and criminals. Washington is filled with them!"

He smiled at her reaction and shook his head, leaning his body forward, he buried his face in his hands.

"Alicia will understand." Diane said softly. "I remember her father going on about achievement as if it were a virtue. She'll be so proud of you once you've completed it."

"Yes, but I'm not David, Diane." It was true, Alicia had always looked up to her fathers words, they may have had their differences, but nonetheless, she thought the world of him. In contrast, with Will, in the state that their marriage was in, she thought the complete opposite of him and he knew it.

"I would really like to meet your wife Will." Charlotte said, bringing him back to reality. "She sounds really nice."

"She's okay."

"She's amazing." Diane chimed in, "And she's going to support you, I know it, and if she doesn't, she'll come around. We can't pull out of DC Will, too much money has been invested, I don't even want to think of the price we invested with those offices."

Diane's firm manner with all of this reminded him that she was unaware of what had been going on between himself and his wife behind closed doors. She could only assumed when he told her that he no longer wanted to participate in meetings that involved Peter Florrick was an exaggeration to his part, Diane was completely unaware that he could no longer look at his own wife without thinking of her lips connected to Peters, or that the bags behind her eyes told him that he was the cause of it all. He wasn't playing his part in being the best husband for Alicia, he knew that, but unfortunately, Alicia would have to wait, because as far as his mind could reach, he couldn't handle managing the crisis of his marriage and the crisis that involved his business at the same time.

"I'll talk to her."

He sighed as he entered the house, the stress of the day leading onto his shoulders. If this were three months ago, Alicia's hands would be relieving the pain in his neck, he missed her massages, almost as much as he missed talking to her, he knew that the distance between their relationship was his doing, yet, he wasn't sure how to find a solution to it all. Ignoring each other seemed to be the better option.

The house was dimly lit, and silent as he walked through the staircase, taking a mental picture of Zach and Grace asleep in their rooms, when he reached Lenora's room, he knocked lightly before allowing himself to enter. She was usually awake at this time of night, he knew because she would only listen to Alicia when it came to demands on going to sleep.

Her study books were scattered along the bed, her earphones were plugged, music blasting, and she was curled up into a ball as she slept adorably. No matter their age, he would always look at his children being the inner toddlers that they were. He cleared her bed, before removing her earphones, and covering her with a blanket followed by pressing a gentle kiss against her forehead.

He entered the kitchen quietly, the lights were on dim as well, he could hear the television playing in the living room, but it was the sight outside the patio that caught his attention. Alicia lent against the railing with wine glass in hand as her gaze rested out onto the lake. She was indulged into another world, he could see it, her mind wasn't breathing in the same universe as his. The moonlight shone on her face, she wore a pair of jeans and a purple silk blouse that stood out among the moon's radiance, he was always aware that his wife was stunning, to him, there was no other woman on earth that could take his breath away, there was also no other woman that could drive him insane. But in this moment, all he could take in, at this point in time was how her beauty truly struck him.

He stepped out onto the railing, cautiously, meeting her gaze, he registered surprise, followed by what almost seemed as disappointment. Yes, they had been going through some rough patches, but he never assumed to find that she held disappointment within seeing him.

"Hey." He said.

She smiled, dimly, "Hi." Her voice was shallow, and deep as she allowed her gaze to rest on the view once again.

He felt like a hypocrite at the confrontation he was about to activate, he had barely talked to her for weeks, other than the usual small talk and light pleasantries, he refused the need to allow himself an open conversation with his wife, and yet here he was, on the path of asking her for something that he had never once thought was possible, something that was too big for her to handle, something that could potentially ruin them. He had to constantly remind himself, that he had put his business on hold for years in order to spend time with his family, this was only for one month, afterwards, everything would go back to normal, just as Diane said.

"I have to tell you something" he prodded gently

"What?" she kept her gaze on the lake from a far, causing his brows to furrow. She was more distant now that he was ready to communicate with her.

"There's been a crisis going on with the firm." He began, running a hand through his hair, he stood next to her against the railing and clasped his hands together.

"Diane and I brought in a new partner several weeks ago, she holds clients that weigh over millions of potential income, we had discussed with her months ago the possibility of moving to Washington for several months to get the growing businesses going, at first she was stoked, she was essentially prepared for the move until she broke the news to us, this morning, that she's pregnant, and she and her husband want to remain in Chicago for the rest of her first trimester."

It was getting to the difficult

point of where this discussion was heading to, until she stopped him. "How come you never told me about her?"

He was slightly taken aback by the sudden change in her demeanour, and stumbled on his words as her eyes balled in his. "Uhh… I don't know, why?"

"Don't you think it was important you mention to your wife that you have a new business partner in the office?" She seemed ticked, which only brought him more confusion. He mentally tried to place where she was going with this, but shook it off.

"Well, we haven't exactly been talking for the last…." He stopped, suddenly reminded of how much distance had really been put between them.

"Two months." She said. "We haven't had a decent conversation in two months." He felt his heart shatter into a million pieces at the sight of her eyes casting downwards, in that motion she often did when she was sad. If it were another time, he would have wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back to reality, but unfortunately, it wasn't another time, and he wasn't prepared to allow his vulnerabilities to be shown, not when the image of her with Peter was still stuck in his mind.

"Yeahh…. Anyway. Diane, her hair literally grew grey in the course of a second. A quarter of the equity partners are in New York, handling the business down there, whereas we need the rest with us here in Chicago. She wants me to take over for Charlotte in DC." He jumped straight to it, knowing that she was most likely growing tired, her brows raised in recognition at the new piece of information.

"For seven months?"

"No.. no.. no. Just a month. I… we still have time to think about it, but I wouldn't allow it if it weren't absolutely vital Alicia, you know how this all works. And I know that things haven't exactly been great between us but we'll get through it, we always do." He smiled in confidence, the smile slowly died down as she refrained from agreeing, or responding, but instead moved her gaze towards the gardens in the foreground.

She was travelling to that different universe again, which he was completely fond of now that they hardly spoke, that place where disappearing and overlooking him was how she handled her anger.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I know.. It's a lot to take on. I hate myself for having to do this to you and the kids, but it's just a month Alicia, four weeks, it will fly by in a heartbeat."

"Do you remember what I told you when we got married?" she went off base, taking him by confusion once again.

"What?"

"That day, under the tree. I told you that I refused to be one of those woman who stayed silent beside the arm of her husband, or remained home cooking and cleaning whilst you went to work. Do you remember that?"

He felt his throat close, and nodded his head subconsciously. "I've never allowed you to think that you were ever one of those woman Alicia."

She raised her brow. "Really?" she questioned. "Have you even noticed that for the past week I've taken two days off work in order to take care of Grace, did you even notice that your child was sick?"

The silence that surfaced was her answer. Here was the moment where he would admit to being a coward and she would continue arguing with him.

"Do you have any idea how long it takes me to clean this ridiculous oversized house?"

"If you want a smaller house Alicia.."

"I don't want a smaller house!" she snapped, shaking her head, she sighed.

He wasn't sure on what to do in order to fix the situation, or at least understand where she was coming from. She was complicated, and difficult in the same degree, it was one of the reasons he loved her so much, however, it screwed his head over most times.

"Do you want to go?" she asked, rearing back into the conversation.

He shrugged. "it's important, if I don't…"

"Yes, but do you want to go?"

He knew, that deep down, the excitement was thrilling, he could almost feel his heart ready to jump out from his chest, he could only recall the first moments of joining Cavanaugh and Lockhart and living the loose sensation of the rush and atmosphere around participating in the perception of the law for the first time. He knew that this experience would be somewhat similar, and therefore, he wanted it.

"Yes." He swallowed back the lump of guilt in his throat.

"Okay." She said, gently. Taking him by surprise, surely it wasn't that easy. He expected more kicking and screaming, he expected another argument, yet, he could see that there was remorse behind her beautiful green eyes, eyes that shone beneath the moonlight. He would miss this, he had to capture this moment into a mental picture for his mind when he would stay in DC.

"If it makes you happy, if you want it, then go, but don't you dare think, for a minute, that I am going to be the one to explain it to our children." The fury in her eyes brought him down a little.

"Tomorrow night." She said. "You will finish work early, cook dinner, sit with them and explain why you're going. I will have absolutely nothing to do with it, do you understand?"

He nodded in response, sighing he reached out for her hand and tucked it into his. "I wasn't going to ask you to do that for me Leesh."

"I didn't think you would, but like you said, we haven't had a decent conversation in weeks, all we do is fight, I never see you, and everything is beginning to fall apart."

He brushed his lips over hers into a soft kiss, lessening her need to carry on, he could see that she was growing upset, and refused to see tears forming in her eyes. "I love you." he whispered.

Knowing that this was the moment where she would respond with the same gesture, he opened his eyes to see that she had her gaze rested downwards, patting his chest, she shook her head lightly, shrugged her shoulders in response before walking away. Her heels clicked against the floors as she headed inside.

"Night Will."

I know i keep saying this, but I'm sorry! And for those who were wondering about the time sequence, we are three months facing towards the first chapter. (If that makes sense.) Please review!