A/N: Sorry it's taken too long, life is still crazy busy, but thanks a ton for being so patient. And on another note, I've decided that Will's mother name is the same from first loves, enjoy.


She slammed the door, purposely, on Will's face as they marched into the apartment. He shook his head in frustration at her behaviour, before leading himself in.

Grateful that the kids were with Peter for the day, he yelled out after her. "Calm down Alicia! Jesus, what did you expect?"

She spun around, rage and fury forced through her features. "Sweeney is my client Will! I brought him with me from Abbot and Associates, I was the one put on his case, and you just walked in and disagreed with everything I had to say because you want a settlement. There's no way I'm letting that happen!"

He puffed in mockery, "I was giving my opinion Alicia! There's a difference. He asked for my opinion and I gave him it. Ultimately, you have no choice but to settle, the judge's view towards him is downsizing each trial and the jury have no sympathy whatsoever towards him. I don't know what on earth gave you the impression that I was trying to takeover, I'd rather choke on blood then work with that creep."

"No! NO! You wanted to get rid of him, you want a settlement because you don't want him near me, you're being hypocritical!"

"I'm being hypocritical?" he gaped in shock, "Alicia, you're the one that wanted the case to settle in the first place!"

"That was before we found out he was innocent! You're being hypocritical because you think by disagreeing with me, you'll get me used to the idea of a settlement. Which you and I both know that we can't form a settlement until we've fought tooth and nail in court."

He laughed mockingly this time, "No Alicia, you're misinterpreting my words. I want a settlement because he's not going to win, and he'll spend the next decade in prison. I'm going to disagree with you, that's what we do, we're lawyers who just happen to be in a relationship, we're going to have disagreements, the trouble is how we deal with them, that's what we do don't we? We fight till the cows come home, and we're most likely going to disagree on a lot of things, but I don't want us fighting over work. That would be pathetic." He was calm now, he didn't know how he managed to be in the time space of several seconds, but as he glanced over at her, the emotions she wore were opposite and she still seem to be mad at him as she took off her coat and undid her hair.

"You know what's pathetic Will? Telling your girlfriend that her case is going to fail nonetheless in front of five of our closest colleagues." She had frown him an icy glare before walking down towards the hall.

He sighed, deeply, and shook his head in defeat. "Leesh, you asked me for my opinion. I was just telling you the truth. That's what you wanted wasn't it?"

Snapping her head back to face him, she said, "I wanted you to tell me that you had faith in my decision. That you thought I'd be able to do it." She marched off into their bedroom without a glance back, causing him to sigh against the couch and run his hands through his hair.

Woman were complicated, he knew that; he lived with three his entire childhood. But this had just reached its peak, Alicia was complex in every way possible. It was one of the reasons he was madly in love with her, when she asked for coffee, she not only simply asked for coffee, it meant that he would have to make sure the temperature was just right, that there wasn't enough sugar of milk in it and that he stirred it exactly ten times to satisfy her. Or when she agreed on participating in a deposition, it not only meant that she would just sit in the background as a manikin, but that she would ask a tremendous amount of questions towards the client. When she would ask him to tell her the truth at all times, she not only wanted that, but she also wanted to be complimented?

It was just all things confusing and baffling to him.

Sighing, he started to figure out a way to distract himself as he heard the water in their en-suite bathroom running, he pondered on assembling dinner for the kids, but then remembered that they were sleeping over at their fathers for the night.

He stood up, made his way towards the room, Alicia was undressing as he walked in and once he made eye contact with her, she scoffed and concluded another glare before slipping her slender singlet over her shoulders and discarding it on the floor, leaving her only in a bra, underwear and stockings.

He found the courage to maintain his eyes on the ground.

He sat on the edge of the bed, "I'm not going to apologize for telling you the truth Alicia, I know I should, but we agreed on honesty, at home and at work. I know you worked hard on Sweeney's case, but I was just giving you my opinion. You don't have to agree on it, and I shouldn't have to lie to you in order to protect your feelings."

"I wasn't asking you to lie to me! I just wanted you to say that you thought I was doing a great job." Watching her scream at him, in their room, half naked, brought back many memories of their little debates at Georgetown, although, she was fully dressed for each one back then.

He sighed, "Well why didn't you just ask that?"

She shook her head, baffled. "That's not the point!"

"Well then what is the point?!"'

"The point is I'm still mad at you! And this discussion is over!"

She picked up her clothes, marched into the bathroom and slammed the door on her way. Shaking his head in defeat, he lent his head down, facing the ground, he ran his hands through his hair and gripped tight. As much as he enjoyed a debate, he hated fighting with her, it broke his heart, watching her rage her frustrations out on him, and then slamming the door on his face had to be the pivoting point to their feelings and emotions towards each other, that strong, propelling connection and love together had many consequences, all to do with stupid disagreements.

He flopped against the bed behind him and ran a hand along his face. Only a couple of nights ago, they had agreed on the possibility on an engagement in the near future, a simple prospect of a wedding for them, declaring their love, and yet, here they were, arguing about some stupid case regarding the famous lunatic Colin Sweeney.

He shook his head, if she wasn't willing to solve the problem, then how were they even going to work on a possible marriage?

He hadn't even noticed the time pass until he heard the bathroom door open, followed by Alicia walking out, freshly clothed and hair still damp, she grabbed her phone and car keys. "I'm going out for drinks with Owen, don't wait up."

He sat up in order to face her and stared at her in disbelief as she slipped into her boots and shrugged into her coat. "Are we gonna talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Alicia!" he gaped in disbelief. Standing, he followed her down the hall into the main room. "You can't just avoid this, we have to talk about it at some point."

"We had an argument Will, that's it."

"So that's it? You're just going to dismiss it completely?"

She sighed, shaking her head, she placed her hand on the doorknob. "If you still feel like it's worth talking about later on, then maybe. But for now I'm going out."

He knew she was right, he also knew he was probably over exaggerating with his next statement, but this was more than just a mere disagreement between them; he was trying to test the waters, see if she was even willing to stay behind and talk it out.

"If you care about our relationship, then you'll stay and will talk it out."

"Like I said, don't wait up." She spoke, a small sign of regret in her eyes before opening the door and leaving him alone to dwell on his emotions.

He sighed against the sofa, and ran a hand through his hair. She drove him crazy, he sometimes wondered if she did it on purpose, there was no denying that she was the reason he sometimes felt like pulling his hair out, but nevertheless, he knew, that even though she drove him up the wall, there wasn't exactly anyone else that he'd prefer to have an argument with.

As he glanced around the apartment, he suddenly felt like a foreigner; he couldn't recall a time where he was actually alone in this place. Photo frames now surrounded the living area that connected off into the kitchen, images of Zach and Grace, photo frames of himself and Alicia.

One image that stood out the most though was the photo frame situated above the kitchen counter, beside the bulletin board. Alicia's arms were wrapped around his neck from behind as they both stared towards the camera lens, wearing a red sweater, her smile was wide and out of character, similar to her laugh. As he picked it up in curiosity, he realized what he had been missing all these months, what the apartment had been missing for so long.

A photo of the four of them; he decided right then and there that no matter how grumpy Alicia was in the next 24 hours, he was going to hire a professional photographer to frame photos of them. It wasn't something that mattered intensely to him until now, but it suddenly dawned on him that there wasn't one single photo of each member who lived in the apartment.

He smiled at the image once again, they looked as though the smiles on their faces couldn't be any more wider, they looked as though nothing could get in between them. Sighing, he placed the photo back down, and quickly scanned through his contacts, emailing his assistant, he informed her to find a list of names of photography company's, followed by reminding her to make sure the local florist sent Alicia's roses in on time to office tomorrow morning.

He smiled at his own mental ability to put a smile on that woman's features without having to even try; since she had started at Lockhart Gardner, he had made sure that a red rose would end up on her desk each Wednesday morning, Wednesday was the middle of the week, and also the same day they had met in Georgetown, the day that had changed his world forever.

He startled immediately as the sound of the doorbell ringing echoed the quiet apartment. As he made his way towards the door, he wondered if Alicia had maybe lost her keys, that notion was thrown out the window as he released the front door to face three familiar looking woman.

"William." His mother said, grinning widely. Nora, his mother, was the spitting image of Sara, who which bolted straight forth and wrapped her arms around her little brother.

"Willy!" She and Aubrey screeched in excitement.

He swallowed hard as his two sisters squeezed him tight and made eye contact with his mother, who wore a look of amusement as she stared at him.

Oh god.

/

She sat there, twirling her drink with the straw, the silence between her and her Owen beginning to take its course. She glanced around the bar and sighed. She had realized, over the past hour how dramatic she had been with Will earlier on, taking her frustrations out on the man she loved wasn't necessary, she knew that he wasn't entirely innocent in the scenario, but that didn't justify the need to leave him without some type of apology or settlement, no matter how ironic that statement measured at the moment.

"So you just left him?"

Owen was still in a fair amount of shock, she nodded glumly.

"It was just an argument Owen."

"An argument about one of your stupid cases. How's that for a first? God, I envy your relationship!"

"It wasn't just an argument about a case Owen! Will disagreed with me, humiliated my judgement under the supervision of one of my top clients."

"Because you had asked him for his opinion. Will's an honest guy, he isn't going to lie to your face in order to protect your feelings sis. He's not…" Owen paused at the end of the statement, swallowed his drink and shook his head.

She sat up, more aware and raised a brow, curious. "No, tell me, what were you gonna say?"

He sighed, "He's not Peter."

That had struck her, more in a blow of astonishment rather than feeling offended. She sat back, and stared at her cup. When she was married with Peter, he used to agree with all her opinions. It frustrated her to the point of no return, especially when she knew he was lying, most likely trying to avoid debating the topic, or any type of conversation with his wife at all. That was one of the huge differences she and Will had that Peter didn't.

Will enjoyed listening to her opinions, in fact, he craved for them, his favourite hobby was debating her, it was what they both prolonged for a living. And it was one of the many things she loved about him. Georgetown was the same, long, walks in the snow with her best friend was one of the mere things she desired during the week, because she was able to breathe in the fresh air and talk about anything that was on her mind with him. She was never able to do that with Peter, nor did she ever feel the need to share such intimacy's with.

She sighed and supported her chin with her hands as she stared at her brother, realising how foolish she had been, she shook her head.

"I think maybe I over-reacted."

"I think so too."

She grasped her phone out of her pocket, and began to dial their home number. The dialling tone took longer than expected, but when he finally answered, she noticed that he sounded flustered, focused, but flustered, as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Will," she sighed, fully dissatisfied in herself. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Maybe I was over reacting.." she noted Owen give her a questioning glance, and rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe I did over react, but.."

"Alicia it's fine, we'll talk about it later. I.. I have something to tell you something" Just as he finished his sentence, her phone began to bleep, glancing back at the screen, Peter's name flashed across the screen.

She sighed, "That's my phone, Peter's calling, Grace probably wants to say goodnight. Whatever you wanted to tell me, you can tell me when I come home, and more importantly in bed." –she grinned, grinned ever wider when Owen nearly choked on his drink. "I'll be home soon k? Love you."

Before he could respond, she had already hung up. Sighing, he placed the phone back down and turned to see the same three woman seated on the sofa with questioning eyes as they had just recently spent the last half an hour gathering all the photo frames of his girlfriend and her children, displayed against the counter.

"Are you going to tell us who this beautiful woman and these kids belong to or what Will?" he heard Aubrey's voice echo behind his ears, sighing, he ran a hand through his hair.

This was going to be a nightmare.

/

As she drove towards Peter's apartment, she shook her head in frustration. She wasn't all that willing to believe it, but apparently Grace's temperature had increased over the course of the afternoon, and with Peter's new group of campaign supervisors staffing his entire apartment, as usual, Grace had demanded for her mommy when her father failed to give her the attention she needed.

In Peter's own naïve, point of view though, Grace was still adamant in her need to feel uncomfortable surrounded by others, her reason for wanting to come home, but Alicia knew her daughter more than that, and as much as she enjoyed the idea of running home to Will and spending a night under the covers, making up for every last argument they had ever shared, she wasn't going to let her child think that her father wasn't the only one who didn't pay enough attention to her.

The moment Peter opened the door, she knew exactly what was disturbing her youngest, the rush of people hastening the apartment, and papers flying around was sure to be unsettling. "It's for my debate in the morning." He explained, "Grace is in the bedroom."

She quickly brushed passed him, without giving a single greeting and made her way into his bedroom. The sight of her daughter splayed out against the large king sized bed caused her to sigh. She ran a hand through her hair and instinctively felt the sweat melt into her hand. "Momma?" Graces raspy voice tied to her ears.

"Yes baby, you sick?"

Grace nodded, sadly before reaching her arms out. Seizing her into her arms, she let her rest her head on her shoulder and lightly patted her back. "Sore throat" Grace mumbled. "I come home with you?"

"Of course, momma's going to make you feel heaps better, and after, Will can give you heaps of goodnight kisses." she whispered into her ear and smiled as she felt Grace grin against her neck. Walking back out into the main area, her eyes roamed the room for Peter, finding him in the corner talking with Eli Gold, she ignored the many gazes of the people in the room and spoke only to him. "I'm taking Grace with me, she needs to be settled."

"Is she okay?"

"I think so, I'll handle it from now on. Where's Zach?" He led her to the living room, she found her son propped up against the sofa, his eyes fluttered tiredly and he looked uncomfortable amongst the countless papers surrounding him.

"You wanna come home with mom baby?" he nodded, almost instantly before grabbing the hand she reached out. As Peter met them beside the door, he handed Alicia their bags, placed a kiss on each sibling's foreheads and faced Alicia's clearly disappointed features.

He sighed, "You know how these campaigns are Alicia. This is the busiest time of the year. I tried taking care of Grace but she just kept crying for you. I'll make it up to them."

She made sure to lower her voice, but shifted closer so that he could understand. "They need structure Peter! They need a routine when they're with you, they need stability! We're already pulling them in an out of homes twice a week, they need to be given the attention they deserve at the moment. You of all people know what it feels like to have separated parents at a young age. Screw your damn campaign, and start focussing on our kids, because at the end of the day, they'll be the ones visiting you in a rest home once you're old. Not your damn campaign supervisors!"

"Don't take them away from me Alicia, they're all I have."

"I'm not taking anything away from you Peter, I'm just saying, screw your head back on, read a bedtime story to them for once, show them that you love them. With each time you get more distant, is another broken piece that I have to pick up afterwards. I won't let you break their hearts again Peter, I won't stand for it."

Her voice was barely stable as it shook, she didn't want to seem vulnerable in front of him, so nodded off, and followed downstairs, tucking her children into the car, she smiled as both toddlers fell asleep almost immediately.

As she reached the lobby of their apartment building and then the front door, she didn't have to unlock it with her key as Will already pulled it open. She couldn't fathom the expression that he wore, nervous seemed to be a great starter, until his features turned confused as he noted the two heavy children in her arms.

"What happened?" he instantly grabbed Zach, causing less load on her shoulders, she shook her head, dismissing it.

"Leesh" he started off, she noticed the hesitancy in his voice, and once she observed him fully, she recognised the panic, anxiety, as well as delightment in his features.

"What's wrong?"

"There's uh… remember when I told you that I told my sister through the phone I was dating someone?" –she nodded her head.

He inhaled deeply, "Well, um, she told the rest of my family and they decided to visit." He paused. "and, they're here." He blurted out.

Her eyes widened in horror, "Here?! They're here?"

He nodded, "Down the hall, approaching now exactly."

As soon as her head turned to the side, she was met with the sight of three, beautiful, different looking woman nearing them.

"William, aren't you going to introduce us?"