He signed the last sheet of papers that his assistant had just handed him moments before, and signalled for her to come back in with his coffee he had been craving all day. Diane walked in after her, "Thank you." he smiled and waited for her leave with the door closed before he focused his attention on the woman that stood before him. She was in her usual memento of stance, poignant and all, trying her best to look angry but he was nowhere near intimidated, he knew Diane Lockhart long enough to know that she could never scare him, not when they knew each other's intellectual minds like the back of one another's hands.

"Is it true?"

He took a sip of the hot and sweet liquid before throwing a hand up in her direction, as if questioning her temperament. "Am I supposed to know what you're talking about?"

"Don't give me that crap Will. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You and Bond, you're plotting against me."

"Oh my god. You're paranoid Diane."

"I was not born yesterday Will, the tides are changing. You and I haven't been on the same page for weeks."

"You're jumping to conclusions Diane. I'm not plotting against you."

"Save the excuses Will, I've just been in touch with my clients, I know about the phone calls and meetings."

"I have no idea what you're talking about…"

"Just tell me the truth, are you and bond plotting against me!?"

"No!" he raised his voice. She stood there with arms crossed in front of him, clearly not taking his response with honesty. He couldn't believe they had come to this already, things had been flowing easily since his return, the pressure in DC was still high since it was currently void of an equity partner like it should be, but it wasn't his problem anymore. He had agreed to four weeks, and on his terms it wasn't going to be any more than that, the firm could sink underground and he wouldn't move a muscle from Chicago.

"You know what." he gave up and grabbed his briefcase. "I'm not doing this. Tell David I won't be joining him in court this afternoon. I'm going home."

"Oh great Will. Very mature of you to do so while I'm trying to have a conversation!" her words were muffled out by the sound of the door slamming as he made his way out of the office and into the lobby.

He sighed as he dropped his belongings in the main room, undid his tie and grabbed a bottle of water. "You're home early." Owen's voice made himself present in the room, he set the basket of washing he carried on the sofa and joined Will in the kitchen.

"Yea, I figured they could do without me for the rest of the day. How Is she?"

"Still has a runny nose and bad cough. Can barely walk but I think that's more to do with the lack of sleep she got last night."

"Yea I know, she kept tossing and turning. It was a rough night."

"Liz said she'll come over this afternoon with some accurate results."

He inwardly cursed himself for allowing his bad case of the flu days ago to share with her need for kisses and cuddles which ultimately were always too irresistible when it came to her persistency and soft eyes.

He passed Owen and placed a hand on his shoulder, grateful for the love and support that he shared for himself and Alicia. His footsteps were thin as he made his way upstairs and into the bedroom.

He caught his wife shift underneath the layers of blankets , her head rested on his pillow as she tried to untangle herself from underneath the pile of endless white duvet covers. He laughed as he watched her with amusement when anger became known to the household.

"Owen! You asshole! I cant move!."

His chuckle was acknowledge, and soon the weight that was soon pressed on the edge of the bed confirmed her suspicions. He slowly leant his head above her face and smiled down at her.

"Hi."

She fluttered her lashes up at him, confusion hitting her features before a soft smile spread across her cheek bones.

"Hi." her voice was still raspy than usual, her cheeks were flushed from her temperature and her nose was purple but she was still beautiful. He found himself pressing a soft kiss against her forehead.

"I'm surprised that you're here."

"I'm surprised too." he smiled. Slowly untucking the covers, he pulled them above the bed, allowing her body to breathe at last as she propped herself up on her elbows and allowed his lips to brush against hers this time, revealing the sense of anticipation for knowing that they were no longer living under consciousness of anguish and anger but rather relief from distinguishing that their love could just about outlast anything when they put their minds to it.

Also, the notion that he had the rest of the day off was appealing in itself.

He rested his head on her chest, and yawned immediately, feeling the steady rhythm of her heart beating, he relished in the warmth of her cosmological embrace. Even though her virus was potentially that, and her current position was probably not all that comfortable, neither one could never really resist each other embrace, so she remained, and he allowed himself to enjoy the sense of peace before he would have to face reality.

"how was your day?" she asked softly through her clogged voice.

"Horrible.." he muttered.

"Tell me."

He sighed and gradually shook his head.

"Please?" she murmured. "I've endured myself all day through the painful process of having to listen to my brother go on about his last breakup."

He propped himself on the side of the bed, brought their entwined hands to rest above his heart and gazed towards the ceiling. "My assistant got my coffee wrong for the tenth time this week which is fine, unless you've been, in a three hour court session and can barely focus.."

"Aww, poor baby." she teased to which he formed a glare.

"To make matters worse, David Lee is threatening to leave the firm and take his clients. The judge is slowly turning on my case, the partners in DC and New York aren't seeing eye to eye, and Diane thinks Bond and I are plotting against her, we had a fight about it which led to me coming home early."

He felt her thumb trace patterns on his hand as she turned on her side and ran a hand through his hair, he closed his eyes at the feel of her touch.

"I guess we've both had a rough day then."

"Are you okay?" he asked gently

"I'm fine. I don't see why everyone Is making a big fuss. My doctor says it's just a flu."

"A flu that you've had for a week now Leesh, Owen said Liz visited today?"

"Yes. We went for a ride to the hospital and they did some stuff. She said everything looks great." Alicia's smile right then was so irresistible that he couldn't help but lean over and kiss her. It was hard to think that less than a month ago they could barely stand to be in the same room together.

Her lips tangled with his, the kiss delightful and more powerful than the others, when her hand moved to settle in his hair, the doorbell rang and his wife's groan of annoyance made him laugh.

He could hear Owen yell from downstairs that he would get it, followed by murmured voices at the doorstep. He pressed another kiss to her lips. "I'll go see who it is."

"Noo." she pouted before stomping her foot on the bed.

He laughed at that too, and kissed her back to her pillow.

"Now I know where the kids get their temper from."

"Shut up."

He was still smiling when he headed downstairs and found that it was Diane who stood in the living room. She smiled awkwardly at him as he approached. "I came to apologize… and we also need to talk."

/

She walked soberly down the staircase, the house was warm, dim lit with the scent of food cooking in the kitchen. She knew it wasn't Owen, nor Will, and once she approached the kitchen area she found Stacey and Lenora preparing soup.

"Hi mom"

"Hi girls. What are you doing?"

"Uncle Owen asked if we could make dinner and he could take the credit for it."

"He did? Have you done your homework?"

"Yes." she rolled her eyes, both holding a grin. Her gaze was distracted by the sight on the patio. Will and Diane sat on the outdoor table with papers, most likely discussing something to do with the firm. She preferred to stay out of it, until she saw that Diane had noticed her and smiled in acknowledgement.

She gently opened the sliding door, the cold air hit her cheek bones and shoulders. She watched as Diane's gaze settled on her figure, clearly taken aback to see the woman dressed in a pair of sweatpants and jumper with her hair tied back, exposing the paleness that came with her skin.

Dianes gaze went from hers to Wills in a matter of seconds, he tried to ignore the shock in her eyes, he didn't want to acknowledge the fact that Alicia looked as bad as she felt.

"Diane. Hi." she smiled brightly, the two woman hugged briefly before pulling back.

"Alicia. Hi, Its been so long."

"I know. You would think we would see each other often."

Diane laughed as she sat down, Alicia rested her weight on Will's shoulder when he slid a hand around her waist. "How are you?"

"As you can see, sick as a dog. But other than that, I'm fine. Yourself? Hows Kurt? And work?"

"Good.. Kurt is amazing and work is…. everything is great." Alicia could see the lie as Diane cautiously made eye contact with Will but chose for a better outcome to ignore it.

"Did I tell you Grace wants to learn how to fire a gun?" she laughed

Diane had the same reaction. "Really?"

"Yes. I said she would have to wait till she's eighteen. I dont know where she gets these ideas half the time."

"It probably has something to do with the fact that your husband took her to see Kurt when we needed a ballistics expert."

Alicia raised her brows in Will's direction, he was a dear caught in the headlights. "Really?"

"Mom." There was a sound at the door, Lenora was at the door with the phone in her hands. "It's Aunt Elizabeth. Should I tell her to call another time?"

"No honey. I'll be right back." she squeezed her husbands shoulder before leaving, she could feel their gazes on her as she reached lenora.

She picked up the phone and smiled. "So, I was thinking, you and Chris come over for dinner tonight?"

"No.. Uh, where are you? can we meet somewhere. I need to talk."

"What.. Now?"

"Yes."

/

She arrived at her apartment on time, layers and layers of clothes on her, Will refused to see her out until she agreed to wear warm thermals. Pulling her beanie off her head, she rang the doorbell. Chris opened the door, he looked scared at first as he led her inside and took her coat, she stared at him with suspicion and he smiled almost painfully.

She sat down on the sofa and waited patiently for her best friend to appear. "No. I don't care what it says! I want you to go over it ten more times and then call me okay?" her voice echoed the entire house, she came in with papers from down the hall, her hair was a mess and she was still wearing her white coat from work.

"Liz, what's going on?" she asked softly

As her friend came closer, she could see the tears in her eyes.

Liz sat down beside her, her breathing was unsteady as she looked between the pile of papers. Statistical scales were on one, Alicia's x-ray was one, the others were reports, medical history, screenshots. "Fuck.." Liz muttered under her breath

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second. "What's going on?"

"I ran through your tests. You don't have pneumonia. Your doctor was right, your completely fine."

"So, whats the problem?" she asked her voice quiet and soft.

"Do you know what the brca1 gene is?"

"The what?"

"It's a gene that runs through the family. Your great-grandmother had it, as well as her daughter and then your mother. It's a type of cancer, its normally known only for woman. Breast cancer as well as Ovarian cancer." the last words sung out slowly. Alicia stared at her with suspicion and doubt.

"You have it Alicia. You have the gene."

"So?" she voiced. "I don't have cancer right?"

"No…" she could distinguish through her tone of voice that there was something to be added, her hands started to sweat. "But.. I ran through more of your blood tests we did earlier on. We discovered that you have an eighty nine percent chance of receiving breast cancer in the next five years."

"Eighty nine?" she gaped

Elizabeth's only response was her solemn nod. Her hands found their way to Alicia's as she squeezed with support. "It's going to be okay. Your chances of Ovarian cancer is extremely low, which helps us."

"Oh that's just great Liz. It makes everything better." she said with sarcasm, standing up, she made her way to the kitchen counter and grasped a glass water. The sweat that began to form on her forehead was an obvious sign that this was only the beginning of the huge fall that was about to erupt; she felt like squeezing the glass of water in her hand until breaking point.

"Leesh.. I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to take on…. There's still plenty of time, but we have to start moving."

"What does that even mean Liz?"

She watched as Elizabeth paused with her gaze rested on the ground before she moved to retrieve the pamphlets out of her purse. She sombrely placed them on the counter with great distress. It took a while for Alicia to comprehend what was going on, she opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

"Breast removal?"

"Possibly."

"What are the other choices?"

"None at this moment. Unless you want to wait. Your mom was given 60 percentile in comparison which I found odd.. I thought you would have told me."

Everything suddenly became extremely overwhelming and suffocating even for Alicia's own intellectual mind. "What are you talking about?"

"I had to call her.." she whispered

"You told my mother there's a chance she could get cancer?!"

"What? Alicia, no! I would never do that. She told me." the recognition was too much for her, Alicia sat down gradually on the stool with her head in her hands.

"I asked her if she knew anything about the gene and she went silent. She found out a year ago."

Alicia's gaze went from hers to the ground. She couldn't understand. She couldn't understand how this could happen, she didn't understand why her mother would do this to her, she didn't understand how her best friend could take everything with ease as if she were just another one of her patients.

"Leesh, this Is a good thing. This means we can fight it."

"Fight it? What about my kids Liz? What about Will? What am I supposed to tell them? My whole entire world has just crumbled."

"Alicia.."

"You're lying to me." she stood up and moved to get her coat. "I don't believe you. My mother would have told me"

"You think I would lie to you?" Liz stood offended from across the room

"What am I supposed to do?"

Before she could truly comprehend what she was doing, tears were welling in her eyes and she was sobbing uncontrollably in her arms.

"It's going to be okay, Alicia. Everything is going to be fine." Elizabeth tried to reassure as she held her, the line had been drawn, and she needed actual proof before relying on hope.

"No it isnt."

AN/ So, there were very subtle hints of this happening in the first chapters of the story, I AM sorry, I was conflicted in dropping large hints earlier on due to causing a distraction from the plot. It's all about the flaws, and nothing is ever perfect when it comes to these two. AND I am sorry for the delay, it's the end of semester, so study is INTENSE but I plan on writing plenty during the break. please don't bite my head off