A/N: Again, thanks for the lovely reviews, please keep them coming!

"Where have you been?"

She glanced over at Will and then back towards the clock. It was 8.30 at night to which bearing in mind wasn't that late.

"Out" she simply replied and glanced over at her father who wore a look of disappointment. How ironic, she thought to herself.

"Alicia, we've been worried sick about you two" her father spoke up and she tried her best not to scoff into laughter. She held it in considering one of her favourites was accompanying them in the room, Will's mother, but that didn't stop the next words that came out of her mouth.

"Well, hello father, did you forget something….. like apologizing to your own children for abandoning them?" she noted her mother's urge to respond but both Veronica and her father kept quiet. She noted Nora, Will's mother make her way towards her with open arms and she finally let go of Will's hand and dug her face into the crook of the older woman's neck. "I heard what happend, I'm so sorry sweetheart" she whispered into Alicia's ear and she nodded before pulling away. "If you need anything, we're always here"

"Thank you" she replied sweetly and watched her make eye contact with her son.

"Where the hell have you two been anyway? We've been worried" Nora's tone of voice switched back to concern and both teenagers paused briefly.

"We went out and had dinner and just lost track of time. I'm really sorry Mrs and Mr Cavanaugh, it won't happen again" Will apologized whilst Alicia glared at her parents praying that they wouldn't make some snarky remark but as always her father kept quiet with a faint nod whilst her mother smiled sweetly.

"That's okay Will, thank you for bringing her home anyway, we know how Alicia can be stubborn" she grinned and Alicia opened her mouth to defend herself until Nora interrupted.

"Well, I'm glad you two are alright but I think we should go now" –she made eye contact with Will. "Give Alicia and her parents some space" she explained and with a brief goodbye to the others she watched her mother in law make her way outside and followed Will outside to his car. She squeezed him tight as they hugged "Tonight was amazing, I don't regret a thing" she whispered in his ear and he pulled back kissing her lips tenderly.

"Me too" he softly replied and eventually let go before she made her way inside towards the warfare of her parents.

"We need to talk" she heard her father say and for a brief second she was alarmed, her father never spoke in that tone, it was usually her mother who handled the conflict but as she made eye contact with Veronica, as expected her mother looked exhausted, over it.

"I'm sorry" she apologized, truthfully. "Honestly, I lost track of time and if it wasn't for Will I probably wouldn't be here. He was the one that dragged me home"

"That doesn't give you the right to just disappear Alicia, we were worried sick about you" her father replied and she felt anger as well as tears spring in her form.

"Are you serious? You cannot talk, I was practically begging you to stay and not leave but you ignored me the whole time! As if I wasn't there, were you even listening to me?.. No wait, of course not, you were probably thrilled with the idea of getting out of here"

"Don't be ridiculous sweetheart, of course I wanted to stay, I just wanted to give you and your mother some time to talk. You know how much I love and care about you and your brother"

She took in his words and sat against the couch sighing whilst covering her face. She felt her father's soft hands touch her forearm grasping her attention. "We are truly sorry that you are going through this"

"That doesn't help the situation" she adds

"I know" he simply replies and as she gazes into his compassionate and concerned facial expression she realises she's already forgiven him, how could she not?

She wraps her arms around his shoulders and whimpers into his shoulder. "I'm sorry"

"No sweetheart, I'm sorry. I am so proud of you" he says and holds her before eventually pulling away and even the sorrow in her eyes isn't enough for him to stay. "I love you"

"If you love me you'd stay" she whispers and even if she knows inside he's trembling, his strong fatigue on the outside suggest otherwise.

"I do love you, always will and you know it so stop being ridiculous okay? I'm moving into my apartment Monday afternoon, do you want to come over and have a look? Maybe give me a hand with some of the furniture, your brother is planning on coming over after all"

So that's it, it's really happening. She speaks before the tears can reach her voice. "Sure" she mumbles and quietly excuses herself running upstairs. It isn't planned but she jumps straight in the shower because there's a side of her that feels unclean and there's also the concept of just wanting to break down, granted, that's what she does and it isn't until she's dried and pampered herself she yearns to be in Will's arms so that's when she does the only thing she's ever really known to do whilst depressed. Working.

She's spread out on her bedroom floor in her pyjamas, her hair tied up with homework books and papers spread around her figure. She managed to complete this month's assignment and half of next month's when she finds herself completely exhausted. She lays on the floor and her thoughts start to drift off to four hours ago when her and Will were in their own little bubble. She never expected it to be quite amazing as it was, then again she never once thought that she would be so in love with someone before. She was disturbed by a light knock on the door and knew exactly who it was so she kept her eyes closed. She heard her mother chuckle at the sight of her "Alicia?" –she kept quiet. She felt Veronica's footsteps walk towards her and then felt her mother's soft touch.

"Come on sweetie, get in bed and get some sleep" she opened her eyes briefly and climbed in bed with the assistance of her mother in which she ignored whatever Veronica had to say. There was no way she was going to forgive her for the incidents of the past day. She dug her face into the pillow and felt her mother kiss her on the forehead followed by a brief pause as if she were staring down at her. "I love you, sweet dreams"

As she heard Veronica shut the door she opened her eyes and felt tears spring in them; she felt like she was being a complete spoilt brat, her mother was trying to reach out to her and she kept pushing her away. She often thought if it were the other way around and she had a teenage daughter the last thing she'd be doing is letting her go out with her boyfriend but that was a conversation needed for when the day came. She laid there for another fifteen minutes until she decided to gather her baring's and made her way down the hall towards her parents room. She knocked lightly on the door and opened to find her mother reading a book in bed, she noted Veronica's curiosity and instead climbed inside the bed and snuggled up to her side in which she opened her arm and let Alicia rest her head on her shoulder. "I'm sorry" she whispered and closed her eyes as she felt the soothing gesture of her mother's hands rubbing her arms. It was an odd feeling, her and Veronica were never as close as she was with her father but then again; she's recently learnt that her father is not all that she thought he was.

They lay there for a while in the awkward silence whilst she feels her mother's lips placed on her forehead. "Will and I had sex" it comes out abrupt as if she's been contemplating it for the past several minutes and feels her mother tilt her head to make eye contact.

"What?"

"Me… and Will, we had sex"

"When?"

"Today" she simply replies and hears the older woman sigh

"And it was your first time?" her question is expectant and Alicia lightly shakes her head.

"No"

"What?!" her questions comes out more abrupt then the first one and she suddenly feels like sinking into a whole.

"It was me and Will's first time together but not necessarily….you know, our first time"

"So you're telling me that you've already lost your virginity, but not to the guy you love?"

"Yes" she replies quietly and feels Veronica sigh.

"When did you lose it and with you?" this time she asks softly, more calm and it makes Alicia feel ten times better.

"Peter, and around the beginning of the year but we only did it once and I regret it"

"Why do you regret it?" she asked and evidently Alicia didn't expect that question and shrugged

"Because I guess I wanted my first time to be with Will but it's okay because this time it just felt right and I don't regret anything. And we were safe and everything if you were wondering…"

"Well you better have been safe, I'm not ready to be a grandmother yet" she says making her giggle before falling back into a comfortable silence.

"Did you tell him about Georgetown?" her mother's question takes her off guard mainly because she's never had much interest in her and Will's future.

"Yea, he was really really happy for me"

"But you don't sound so happy for yourself" she adds causing Alicia to sigh and shrug

"Will's not coming to Georgetown, he didn't get accepted"

"Well that's a bummer"

"No kidding."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know" she replies and feels tears well up in her eyes.

"You two are going to figure it out, you always do. Even with those little arguments you have, you always end up making up" her statement sends a broad smile spread across Alicia's face as she recalls the memories and apparently, so does her mother.

"I remember that night you came home and slammed the door in Will's face in which he was arguing with you over the door the whole time. He sat outside on the front porch for what seemed like hours; wouldn't even accept your fathers invitation of waiting inside.."

-And Owen sat outside with him" –she interrupted and continued "I finally came outside in my warm clothes and caught my brother and Will sitting in the cold drinking hot chocolates." She giggled "I was being such a bitch that night"

"You've always been.." her mother paused and Alicia propped herself up raising her eyebrow. "I've always been what?"

"Don't get me wrong sweetheart, you're beautiful and have an amazing nature but you can sometimes be a little brat, I think you get it from your father characteristics, no offence to him"

"How nice of you to say mom, at such an appropriate time" she mumbled and sloped back on the bed. She felt her mother shrug before moving over and pushing a strand behind Alicia's ear. It was similar to the motion she was all too familiar with which came from her boyfriend. It was when she felt her mother pinch her on the shoulder that she pulled away and stared at her in shock. "Ow!"

All Veronica could do was giggle, "Remember that? I used to do it to you when you were five years old" she giggled

"I know, and I didn't understand then!" they both lightly chuckled before falling into a comfortable silence until Alicia finally spoke up.

"You know what I don't understand about you?" she asked softly, barely a whisper

"Why I'm divorcing you father" she guessed and Alicia contemplated on that for a moment.

"No, well yeah… But will save that for another time." She finished and glanced over at her mother who was staring at her expectantly. "You never liked me as a kid" she stated "I mean you like me now, but you never really liked me"

"I liked you" she said clearly shocked but Alicia could recognise that she was evidently right.

"No" she states honestly "We never did anything together. I think you liked Owen, and I was a likeable kid. People liked me" she said sadly and heard her mother sigh deeply.

"If we could do it, all over again" she threw her hands up in the air and Alicia smirked as she could distinctively smell the aftertaste of martini on her mother's lips. She wasn't all that surprised, her mother liked to drink now and again.

"It doesn't matter anymore" she replied honestly and moved to the side in which her mother wraps her arms around her form.

"I probably have no right to say this, considering you're too stubborn to listen to me" –her mother giggled "And I've never paid much attention to your personal life but I don't want you having sex until you graduate. I know you're eighteen and all that crap but I want you focusing on school"

"Okay" she yawns tiredly

"Okay?" she said clearly shocked and Alicia nods "Okay"

Will

He walked inside his house with his mother following him from behind and was met with his father sitting expectantly in the living room.

"Will, son, we need to talk" –that never sounded good.

He felt his mother sigh before sitting next to her husband and gesturing for her son to take a seat. He sat opposite staring suspiciously. "This relationship, with the Cavanaugh girl"

-"Her name's Alicia" he cut in more sharp than necessary.

"Right, Alicia. She's a great girl isn't she?" his father said and he furrowed his brows suspiciously. He didn't know what this could possibly be about but he figured it wasn't the sex talk, after all he already endured that experience. He nodded his head with a smile forming on his lips.

"She's a great girl" he replied.

"I agree, and I heard she got accepted into Georgetown?"

"Yea she did, fantastic isn't it?"

"Yep, that is fantastic, I'm happy for her" he said hesitantly making Will raise an eyebrow; he really had no idea where this was going.

"But I think you two need to take a break. Your grades aren't high enough and I believe you're not focused enough, Harvard is currently looking into your grades and your acceptance into that college should be your main priority. I'm not lecturing you Will, and it doesn't have to be for long, just a little break"

"A break? As in break up with her?"

"Yes, just for a while son, she'll understand, school for you right now, is important" his mother said and he shook his head dumfounded. "What? I thought you like Alicia?"

"I DO like Alicia, I love her. She's a great girl, I just think you're a bit distracted at the moment"

"You think that or dad thinks that?" he asked sharply and watched his father sigh.

"Will, you're not listening properly. We're not asking you to stop the relationship completely, just for a month or so, think about it, it could be good for the both of you" his father replies and he tries his best not to scoff in mock laughter.

"No way. I'm not breaking up with her and by the way, this just looks like you're the only one who wants this not mom" he states and watches his mother sigh while shaking her head.

Before she can reply his father speaks up and gathers his bearings in that intimidating way Will hates. "I don't think you have a choice William. We are telling you to DO this"

"No, NO, you ARE telling me, don't bring mom into this, I know you. You're selfish, you'd prefer me to squash Alicia down in order to climb higher, that's just who you are" he stands up and begins to walk out until he catches his father's next words from behind his back.

"Your mother and I are talking to you, you haven't been excused"

"I am not dumping her because you think I need to focus more on school. If you just had a little faith in me than maybe I would have gotten accepted into Georgetown; instead of making me apply for every damn law school there is out there. I am not breaking up with her, I LOVE her!"

-"You don't know what love is!" his father shouts back and he shakes his head ready to start yet another argument, except this one is probably where the other shoe drops. His mother sternly interrupts their little tirade.

"That's enough!" she shouted and shook her head in frustration. "I am over the both of you! Will, go to your bedroom, now."

He could hear them arguing downstairs even among his shower and then as he got out he sighed in frustration and shook his head in anger. He felt like punching a hole into the wall. His parents –mainly his father- had gotten to his head. He heard them arguing for over 30 minutes but couldn't find the heart to care anymore. He plugged his earphones and Walkman in and blasted the music. There was just no way he was going to break up with her, even if his father had ultimately, gotten to his head, as always.