Will

The days of which consuming a few shots of tequila and having an easy avenue for him to think clearly were truly gone before him, he was aware that he shouldn't have taken Cary's advice and celebrated with the team. But it wasn't like he could take it back at this point.

He made his way across the street and back to the office, his ears were buzzing but he was able to walk straight. He smiled at several of his work colleagues and made his way for the office, closing the door, he sighed against his chair and glanced out to where he caught Zach sitting in the conference room, typing on one of the firms laptops, there were a couple of woman hanging beside him, however his attention only seemed to be focused fully on his work. To say that Will was shocked to find that their new finance accountant was Zach Florrick would be a total understatement. Diane had hired him, without Will's consent which caused controversy among other things.

Zach was temporary and considered himself a freelancer, he had every firm to their knees, but refused to participate in any permanent work including Lockhart, Agos and Gardner. He was similar to Kalinda, only less complicated.

The argument that Will had shared with Diane this morning was still vivid in his mind, Will had every right to be upset over the code of conduct that had been breached, Diane explained herself quite sufficiently; exclaiming that if the matter had been brought up earlier, she knew Will would have told her to look otherwise.

He had nothing against the young man, he just knew that there was a line between personal and professional, and he was trying to respect Alicia's family. He was trying to respect her.

However, Diane and Cary didn't understand, and therefore Will was left to deal with it. As if having her son in the only place where he was able to focus wasn't enough of a painful reminder, he had to deal with everything else that came with the struggle of running the largest firm in the country and having a personal life.

Not long after he completed his last set of paper work, the bottle of water that was provided by his assistant now sat empty in the trash can. He sobered the small amount of tequila down his system and felt better about making his way home, but not without stopping to acknowledge Zach's first day.

He stood straight at the class door and took a deep breath for he was nervous enough to feel the sweat bite behind his neck, he remembered the dated promises he and Alicia once talked about, how he would formally meet her children and have a relationship with them. Not once in his lifetime did he ever think this is how it would be, introducing himself officially to her only son as his boss.

Fortunately, there weren't many associates in the area, and they were considered to be the only two in the area.

"Hi Zach," the man in question pulled his gaze away from the computer screen and tensed at the sudden recognition of who stood opposite him. Zach offered a polite smile and nodded, "Mr Gardner"

"Will, please. Call me Will."

Zach smiled and then returned his eyes down to his paper work. So far, nothing was working out and Will suddenly wanted the ground to swallow him.

"How's your first day going?"

"Huh? Oh good," he nodded "Yea really good."

"Not too much hassle from your new co-workers?"

There was a pause before Zach responded, "No, not really. Everyone is quite nice here."

"I'm glad."

"Your finances are in the ground Mr Gardner."

The change of conversation took him off guard. "Excuse me?"

"Last year you spent over a million on renovations, including offices in New York, Houston, and California. You own leases to buildings that you aren't even using, you're sending twenty of your associates to New York for a weekend in the Hampton's?"

"It's for a few clients."

"But twenty? Do you really need to send that amount of lawyers?"

"We have a conference that same weekend in the city. It's important."

"Fine." He wrote something on a piece of paper. "You're planning on opening offices in Philadelphia early next year."

"Yes, once we get our heads around to it…"

"I would hold off on that one. I don't think you can afford it at this point, and even if you could. You'll probably just add more weight onto your shoulders. The firm's income is manageable for the moment, but if you do anything expensive, you'll drive yourself into debt."

" I don't think that's true.."

"No it is. I just had a look at the numbers." Zach smiled at him, it was supposed to be nice, however it didn't seem that way. He definitely had Alicia's attitude, and Will didn't know whether to smile or bury himself into a large hole.

"Well, we should talk more on Monday Zach, it's Friday, and if I talked more on shop I think I'd go insane."

"Yeah sure thing." He smiled, Will nodded and began to make his way for the door, briefcase in hand when Zach called his attention again.

"One last thing, Will?"

"Yes?" he smiled at the young man and walked closer to where he sat, it was the first time Zach had addressed him by his first name.

"The firm donated five hundred thousand, anonymously to my mother's campaign last year. Whose choice was that?"

Will looked as though he were a dear caught among the headlights, waiting to be hit by the force of the third elephant in the room. He stopped, and looked directly at the table, suddenly interested in how the young man had uncovered so much information in one day.

"I.. I don't know what you're talking about."

"I saw the bank-statements, and the signed agreement from both partners. Its okay, I'm not going to tell anyone. I just want to know how you could afford to give half a million to a campaign that doesn't have anything to do with your business."

Will sighed, hopefully for the last time. "We were given funding to use either for our associates or a charity. Our associates have everything they need, therefore we decided to go with the charity idea."

"My mother's campaign is not a charity."

"I know, but we thought it was the best idea."

"Why?"

"Why?" Will repeated, for Zach nodded with quizzed eyebrows.

"Because we support wholeheartedly in what's she's doing."

"Good, that's all I needed. Thanks." The young man turned his gaze back to his papers where he ticked off something.

"Zach, I know you're an adult, and I respect you. But does Alic.. your mom know that you're here."

"Does she know that I work at her old law firm?"

"Yes."

"No, she doesn't. and I don't think it's important right now. She's…. busy." The last word was stretched as Zach's gaze dropped down before he returned back to his work.

Will offered a smile before he left, his mind was running crazy with thoughts, the adrenaline from the alcohol, and the sudden recognition on their finances, plus Zach's face that resembled so much of Alicia, and then there was the mention of Alicia. Alicia, Alicia, Alicia. God, everything was of her these days. The universe refused to give him a break.

As he reached the elevator, he caught Diane waiting and joined her to the ground floor.

"So apparently our finances are going downhill."

"Yeep.. I told you."

"We could have gotten someone else to tell us that."

Diane sighed while she closed her eyes. "Will.. we've argued about this already, I'm tired. Zach Florrick is the best in Chicago, I didn't hire him because of our connections, I hired him because he's good. So get over your childish dilemmas, this isn't about you. It's about the firm."

Will raised his eyes, "Sorry Miss grumpy pants."

"It's Mrs." She corrected him, much to his amusement.

"I'll see you Monday?" she said

"Hopefully, if I don't survive tonight." Diane laughed and patted him on the back.

"Say hi to Macey for me." she said, he smiled, knowing that he wasn't nearly as ready to go home and face the wrath of her but had no choice.

"I will."


He was so tired he could feel his body melding into the sheets, Owen's apartment was no longer Owen's apartment, it was Alicia's, the scent of her familiar trail circled the entire place. The furniture had been replaced by Alicia's taste, there was definitely a lot of less whiskey and instead more wine. Owen lived in Ohio at the moment therefore he had no idea of his sisters renovation, and Will was prepared to make a run for it when the time came for the brother and sister confrontation regarding the dramatic change in the owners apartment.

The soft feel of her loving fingers trailed patterns up and down his back, his attention needed to be on her, for they hadn't seen each other in a while, but he could barely keep his eyes open. His day was long, filled with a trial that went on forever, followed by having to participate in a deposition in order to support his new junior associate. The thirty minute drive to Owen's apartment was an additional cause to his fatigue. Alicia ran him a bath and joined him, he held her under the warm water, kissed her head while their hands danced in one another's.

"You hungry?" she asked, the concern in her eyes was adorable

"no, you?"

"Kind of"

"I'll go make you something." he began to shift off the bed, she grabbed his arm and forced him back down. Smiling softly when she pushed him down on his chest. "How about a massage first?" she whispered.

"Hmmm."

He slipped his shirt off, leaving him only in a pair of shorts. She rubbed warm sweet almond oil in her hands and began to apply it to his skin, thick handsome muscles flinching before he began to sink into the bed, his eyes closed and he sighed. He knew that she could sense the tense weight upon his shoulders for she recognised it immediately when he walked in the door. She had been busy too, constant traveling as she also juggled her career while seemingly having to adjust to the fact that her daughter was off to college soon.

It was difficult for her, he couldn't even imagine it, he didn't want to imagine it.

And yet here she was, comforting him, when it should have been the other way around.

"How is it that you're forty six and have the body of a toned twenty one year old?" she asked

'I could ask you the same thing.' He thought, but smiled instead and closed his eyes when her hand reached the base between his shoulder and neck. She stretched the ache there and erased the tense spot before he felt a kiss against his hair.

"You seem to be getting better."

"Don't stop, please"

She continued with her dance, added more oil, they talked and giggled about stuff they had encountered over the week. He told her about the most embarrassing time of his week which included Diane and Kurt in a car. He had knocked on the window because his frustration over her lateness had reached its peak, he hadn't realized until later on what they were doing.

She told him about Eli and his latest obsession over her need for wine at each event they attended, she had only done it to tease him and would never intentionally drink during the day, however that didn't stop her from laughing her head off at his red face. She had hugged Eli and told him that she loved him and would never do anything to jeopardise her fake persona.

Will rolled over and looked up at her, the pink blush that went to her cheeks was a sign that his adoration for her hadn't gone unnoticed for she leant down and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. His hands tangled in her hair, she had loose curls due to the moisture from their bath earlier on, she was makeup-free and wore grey mini pyjama shorts with a white tank top. He loved this side of her more than the others, beautiful, free, raw and completely normal. This was only ever seen from a few other people, but was saved for him specifically.

"How about popcorn and a movie?" he said, she nodded and smiled.

"You pick which one" he pressed a kiss against her forehead and made his way for the kitchen, where he came back with her favourite ice-cream and a boll of buttered pop-corn. Very unhealthy but she had been on a campaign bus for the last week eating rabbit food. He had to excite her working diet somehow.

They snuggled in bed, and she skipped past her usual program darkness at noon, knowing that it made her sad because of Grace, he chose some comedy and they ate junk food all night..

That morning, the sunlight that streamed through the blinds disturbed her, her lashes flinched and slowly, her eyes opened to a new day. She had her cheek pressed against Will's back as she spooned him from behind, the laptop from the previous night sat near the corner of the bed. A boll of cake was on the nightstand with melted ice-cream and Will was making cute snoring noises.

He heard her whisper in his ear and smiled. "In 3 more months you can take me for a walk outside the river in the morning and we can hold hands."


He arrived home and parked in the shed next to his other car that he hadn't driven in more than two years. The house was quiet, no parties, no alcohol, no food. Just quiet. The large lake out the back that viewed onto hundreds of other houses offered him a sense harmony. She always said she wanted a house like this. A house where there was a wine cellar downstairs and a large kitchen that was right next to the living room. A place when he could take her for long walks and hold her hand.

He heard footsteps come downstairs and looked up to see Sara. "Will, you need to get your plumber to fix the drain in the bathroom."

"Hi to you too, sis"

Sara smiled as she wrapped her arms around him, "I have to go home now. I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, thanks, you're a lifesaver."

"No problem. I'll tell Lilly you said hi."

She was out the door in a few seconds, he threw his coat off and undid his tie as he made his way upstairs and towards the bedroom. There, he found the one person who had repaired his life together after he broke Alicia's, and taught him everything about love.

She was lying on her back, her book was on the ground and her eyes were closed. However he knew she was awake, and knowingly jumped on the bed to disturb her.

"Hi baby" he whispered

He watched as a smile creeped upon her lips, her eyelids opened and the eighteen month old looked up at her father. "Hi daddy."