A/N: This is the second to last chapter; it was always stretched out to be 30, just because it's an equal number and I can't go otherwise (crazy, I know.) It has been an utmost joy writing this, seriously! There was a time there where I had lost my muse completely, and without the most encouraging emails, I wouldn't have been able to complete it. I've been asked to write a future reference, so I hope I did it some justice! and thank you!


His gaze shifted from Alicia to the three woman standing before him. He swallowed hard and inhaled deeply. He ignored his sisters and focused on his mother. "Mom.. This is, uh.."

"I'm Alicia." She smiled, the same smile that always managed to take his breath away, he sighed, glad that something was working out.

Alicia stretched a hand out to each one, nodded her head and smirked as she noticed Aubrey's jaw drop. He smiled, knowing that for the first time, his sisters seemed to be dumbstruck.

"And this is Grace" she pointed towards the little girl asleep in her arms, and then gestured towards the boy hovered behind Will's leg, observing the atmosphere with curiosity. "And this is Zachary." The six year olds gaze quickly tired away from the three pairs of eyes gazing down at him and glanced up at Will who offered a reassuring smile.

Zach stepped up, stood before Will's mother and stared up at her through his eyelashes. Will watched with ease as his mother's lips curled up into a half smile and her blue eyes fell soft.

"Hello" Zach whispered, she bent down to his height. "Hello little man. My names Nora, what's yours?"

"Zach" he smiled, instantly. "Zach Florrick."

/

Settling her sick child out of the bathtub, she quickly dried her, pampered her with moisturising cream and half the tub of Vicks vapour rub, before dressing grace into her favourite pair of silk, pink pyjamas. She could vaguely hear the voices of Will's sisters in the living room, she considered the idea of putting Grace straight into bed and joining them, but with the state her daughter was in at the moment, she considered otherwise.

Zach was entertaining Will's mother as he told her the story of how his baseball team won home run, it was amusing to say the least, she couldn't deny that the sight of her son replaying each scene from that day was putting a smile on Aubrey and Sara's features. Will, however, sat hovered in the corner, anxious and tense all in one. It was obvious in the familiar features of his family that they weren't all too pleased with the fact that he had failed to inform them on this new mindblower, but telling them wasn't something that had entered his mind until a couple of weeks ago when he had realised he wanted to marry her. His sisters and mother played much of a part in his life than what the cat did down the road, he hardly saw them, and when he did, it was a Christmas spent in the suburbs of Baltimore, filled with Sara bossing him around, Aubrey annoying him till the end of days, and his mother's cooking. There were many reasons why each Christmas for Will, was spent anticipating his arrival back to Chicago and the law. And he loved them endlessly, but sometimes, they were just a little too much for him to handle.

All eyes fell on Alicia as she emerged from the room with Grace curled up in her arms, he knew she was nervous, he knew she felt guilty for disappearing in the last half an hour, but he also knew that nothing was going to get in the way of nursing her child when it was necessary. As Grace laid eyes on him, her arms unconsciously stretched out in which he happily grabbed her settled her against his shoulder.

"Mommy says your sick?" he murmured in her ear.

She nodded solemnly, and played with the cuff of his shirt. "And you didn't want to stay at daddy's?" he asked, shaking her head, she frowned. "There was heaps of people in daddy's house and daddy was too busy to play with me."

His heart shattered at the way Grace's eyes bowed down in sorrow, running a hand through her hair, he whispered quietly. "Well, it's a good thing you're here now huh? Maybe we can wake up really early in the morning and jump on the bed and wake mommy up?"

The next motion he felt was Alicia slapping his shoulder, "I heard that!"

He smirked to himself, pressing his lips against Grace's forehead, he watched as Alicia sat nervously next to him, and entwined her fingers.

Sara, the obvious one, stared intrigued at the woman before her and smiled, a devilish smirk to her features. "So how long have you known Will?"

Alicia's gaze shifted from him to them, before a smile creped along her lips. "A while." -They both answered, heat forming in their cheeks.

"We went to college together actually." –she continued further. He noted his mother's eyes widen at the small piece of information, before recognition surfaced through her features and her eyes turned to face Will.

She knew.

He knew she distinguished it, it was as though he could read her mind, and she tried to avoid the need to choke on her drink.

Alicia was the girl he used to talk about constantly during spring break, Alicia was the reason he had come home early and broken his relationship off with Helena Linnata. Alicia was the reason he had moved to Chicago in the first place.

"Really?" His obnoxious sister sat on the edge of her seat, he tried his best to resist the need to roll his eyes. "So you've been friends quite a long time then?"

Alicia nodded, "Yes. Shortly after we graduated though, we both moved away, I got married and had Zach and Grace, and I… well… my husband and I divorced and…." He could see that she was clearly uncomfortable talking about it, and began to stumble on her words. Placing a hand over hers, he spoke instead.

"Alicia works with me at my firm."

"That must be excruciating Alicia?" Sara grinned, "Don't you get tired of him?"

Alicia laughed, louder than expected before grinning over at him. "No, but it can get a bit confrontational. We tend to disagree on a lot of things." She laughed again.

"Don't we all." Aubrey murmured

The sound of Grace coughing intensely caught Alicia's attention, with her head nestled in the curve of Will's shoulder, Alicia ran a hand through her hair. "That's it, I need to take her to a doctor." She whispered to Will,

"Are you sure? It's getting late, you can go in the morning."

"She'll be coughing all night, and I won't forgive myself if I wake up in the morning and she's ten times worse."

"I could probably take a look at her." Will's mothers voice echoed the living room, turning to face her, Alicia smiled at her generosity whilst feeling Will's grip tighten on Grace.

"Actually mom, Grace doesn't take well to strangers."

She smiled, slyly. "I didn't go to medical school for six years for nothing William."

She set her coffee mug down, and walked towards them, kneeling down to Grace's height, she faced Alicia.

"May I?"

She nodded her head, smiled up at Will and watched as he exchanged the four year old into Nora's arms. Grace began to squirm, her grip tightened on Will's hand until she felt Alicia's gentle hand run through her hair.

"What is it mom?"

"Well, it would probably aid the situation if I had a stethoscope on me, but, I'm sure, by the way she's breathing that she's developed a chest congestion. I could probably remove the phlegm from her system in order for a good night's rest but you'll still have to visit her doctor in the morning." She spoke to Alicia, nodding her head in response, her eyes fell on her daughters tired eyes.

"Is there anything I can get you?"

Nora smiled up at her, "No, I'm sure we'll be fine. Will, honey, why don't you go and run the shower, let the steam evaporate throughout the bathroom."

Rolling his eyes, he took off towards the room leaving Alicia alone with his family, she watched with ease as Grace settled herself into the older woman's arms. She was shocked, Grace had never taken so well to strangers before, nor did she ever let one touch her, she considered it to be the fact that Nora's maternal instincts must have manifested throughout, or maybe the tiredness of Grace had gotten to her.

Whichever one it was, she was just glad that Grace was in the hands of a trained doctor. She grasped Grace's attention, "Hey sweet girl, Will's mom is going to help you feel much better soon, do you think you can listen to her?"

Grace's eyes glazed over the older woman before her, "Will's mom?"

Without knowing he had returned, Will slid up beside Alicia and bent down to her height. "That's right sweetie, aside from you and your mischief brother, she's my favourite person in the world, and she's going to take really good care of you."

The smile that stretched across Grace's face made Alicia chuckle in amusement.

As Nora took off with Grace into bathroom, she lifted Zach into her arms, who had managed to crash out on the couch next to her and carried him to his bedroom. Placing him on the bed, she pulled the blanket over him. Pressing her lips against his forehead, she began to reach the task of sneaking out without waking him, until she felt his hand tighten on her wrist. Turning back, she saw that his eyes were open, tiredly, as he stared up at her. She smiled down at him, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Mom?"

"Yea?"

"Can you turn my night-light on and leave the door open please?""

Furrowing her brows confused, she ran a hand his dark curls. A few months ago, he had come home one day from a sleep over, and instructed that he was fine with sleeping in the dark, she had naturally rolled her eyes and grinned at the time, and began to ponder on the fact that maybe he was growing a bit too fast for her liking.

"I thought you didn't like having a night light or the door to be left open little man?"

He shrugged, and glanced down. "Sometimes I get nightmares."

"Sometimes?"

"Sometimes." He repeated.

"What are your nightmares about?"

He shrugged, "Tons of stuff." The lack of context caused a grin to form on her lips.

She leant down to press a soft kiss against his forehead, "Okay then. You can always talk to me about them whenever you want." She assured,

Nodding his head he turned on his stomach and began to flutter his eyes closed, she laughed at his adorableness and whispered in his ear, "You're going to make mommy really upset if you keep growing so fast."

He seemed to already zone out in sleep as she switched his lamp on and made her way out into the hall.

She couldn't fathom the amount of minutes that seemed to pass before Nora walked back out alone, her cheeks slightly flustered, Alicia had just settled the coffee machine behind the kitchen counter as her eyes fell on the woman approaching.

"Grace is in the bedroom with Will and Sara, I managed to get her to cough out most of the phlegm, so her breathing is much more stable."

"How did you do it?"

"A little trick I learnt when Will was a child. He used to have asthma problems, when his chest was clogged, I used to run the shower and wait for the steam to circulate the area before sitting with him and waiting for the coughing to begin. The steam dissolves the mucus within the lungs and it all comes out. Your daughter was much more patient then Will was though." she laughed.

Alicia smirked, "I'm trying to savour her patience. She's growing up a bit too fast and I know she's going to be one of those kids who ask too many questions."

"I've never seen William so adjusted to children, let alone such a…. stable life."

She gazed around the apartment and taking it in, the photos placed around the area, the toys placed in the corner, Alicia's paper work scattered along the dining room table. She was pretty sure the last time she had visited her son this place looked nothing like what it is now, there was barely any sort of healthy food in the refrigerator and that told her everything about his lifestyle back then. Of course, she had always expected her son to be the bachelor type, but never in a million years did she assume that he would catch the woman who he constantly talked about back in college.

She watched as Alicia cleared her throat, "He's…. Will is really wonderful with them, and they adore him more than anything. So, I guess the adjustment came pretty quickly."

She ended it at that, and noted the comfortable silence that began to surface, she placed the cup of tea before Nora and leant on her elbows, grasping her own in her hands. Her mind was going to explode if she weren't to say anything, and the guilt shadowing her mind was getting to her.

She sighed, "I'm sorry about not meeting you sooner. This isn't exactly how I pictured my first time meeting Will's family." She laughed lightly

"It's fine. I'm glad this happened, when Will mentioned that he was dating someone, we didn't actually think that it was such a serious relationship. Eight months is quite a long time for him." She chuckled,

"Eight months is like a century!" Aubrey voiced her presence as she walked in, grasped an apple and sat on one of the stools.

"So, tell us, are you the girl that Will used to talk about constantly during semester holidays or is there another Alicia Cavanaugh out there?" Aubrey giggled to herself, the smile immediately fell off her features as Nora slapped her on the shoulder.

Alicia raised a brow and laughed, "Sorry?"

Aubrey continued, "When Will came home from college on his first holiday, he broke up with his girlfriend, he told her he was in love with someone else. And then I caught him talking to mom about some girl with brunette hair." Aubrey laughed again, she watched with a close eye as Nora gave her daughter a stern look, which wore her a down a little, but that didn't stop the appearance of Will behind the corner. His entire face was completely pink, she couldn't help but giggle to herself.

"Oh Will, there you are. We were just talking about you. You never mentioned Alicia had good taste in tea?" His mother tried to change the subject, he made his way beside the kitchen island, and stood beside Alicia, he glared towards his younger sister before shrugging. "It never really crossed my mind mom."

"Grace is asleep in our room, I thought I'd just leave her there until later on." He spoke to Alicia, nodding her head, she grinned at his tense features and lightly stroked his cheek. "You okay?"

He nodded his head, inhaled tensely and whispered only for her ears. "An aftermath of the wrath of my sisters. Remind me, next time, to buy a gun."

She chuckled quietly to herself, returning her attention back to his family, Sara walked in just in time to catch Will's attention. "I am so glad you got rid of those hideous yellow curtains Alicia, and rearranged the kitchen."

Will rolled his eyes, "Do you even realise what you're saying Sara? Does it not occur to you that this is my sanctuary in which you have absolutely no control over."

"I'm just saying, the last time I was here this place was an absolute mess, just like you were at the time. I'm glad you've finally gotten your life together. I told you the last time that you needed a girlfriend, and you've finally listened to me."

"No, I was the one who told him he needed a girlfriend!" Aubrey cut in,

"It doesn't matter who said it, it's as if it's true!"

"Yea, but I said it!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Nora cut in, sighing, she shook her head. "You two are like kids again."

"Speaking of kids, I should probably check on mine." Alicia, said, giggling to herself, as soon as she exited the area, Will fought another glare towards his sister, who rolled her eyes in response.

"When exactly were you going to tell us that you were dating someone Will! Someone who has two children and you used to fantasize about in college!" Aubrey laughed

"I did not fantasize about her! And I was trying to remain discreet, you live half way across the country, what was I supposed to say? 'Oh hey, I'm dating my best friend from college who just happens to have two children now after six years and is in the middle of a divorce.' Yeah right, I can't even begin to imagine your reaction." He mumbled.

"That's not the point Will, you should have told us."

"In order for you and Aubrey to come here and stir up a mess? No thanks."

"I really am beginning to get a headache with all this fighting, I shouldn't have to feel like I need to parent a company of adults!" Their mother said, creating the dead silence that soon fell.

He sighed, "Sorry mom."

"You seem happy." She noticed, "I'm glad you've found someone who makes you happy."

He smiled, faintly. "I am happy. She makes me happy." He pauses, thinks about all the little moments he's shared with her, when she fights regularly with Owen and he has to be the one to pull her off when she starts physically attacking her brother, or bath times with Zach and Grace, waking up in the morning to the sound of her breath against his neck, watching her verbally attack counsel in court. It was moments like those that meant everything to him.

"So…" Sara started as Alicia re-entered the room. "Have you two considered having another pod of children yet?"

Almost on impulse, he felt Alicia tense, her body slowly sunk down and it was as though he could feel the anxiety fill within her.

"Sara!" Nora slapped her against the shoulder, "That is unbelievably rude!"

She shrugged and gestured her hands out in defence, "What? I was just asking a question!"

He instinctively grasped Alicia's hand and rested it on his knee, he knew the topic was still hard for her, he knew that losing their unborn baby still resonated through the both of them; they were reminded of it every day, and it was still something that made them feel queasy. He knew the possibility of trying for a baby anytime soon wasn't in the books, he supported that, he understood it, and was willing to do anything in order to make her feel comfortable. Introducing his family to her seemed to throw that off completely.

"Not at the moment." He replied, hesitantly.

She began to trace soft circles along the palm of his hand. "But that doesn't mean it isn't an option for the future." She replied, watched as a smile spread across Sara's features.

"I can't wait to see Will try and change a diaper." She laughed. He shook his head in annoyance and made eye contact with her, raising a brow, he questioned. "Is that me?"

She nodded, "Trust me, you'll be in charge of all of that mess."

Later on, when things cleared up, and his family began to descend, Nora hugged Alicia tightly at the door and whispered into her ear. "Thank you."

She didn't have to be a genius in order to figure out the meaning behind her words, she knew that there was more behind the small acknowledgement and appreciation to the new life that Will now has, the new life that his family was unaware of until today.

She sat propped up against the head board of their bed, book in her hands, as soon as Will appeared from the bathroom, dressed in his pyjamas, she set the book on the nightstand and watched as he crawled over to her. Catching her gaze, he sat on his knees and pressed his lips to hers, the kiss was soft and fleeting but conveyed everything. Before he could pull away though, she cupped his face and brought his lips to hers once again.

Looking him in the eye, she stroked his cheek. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

He laughed, "Don't worry about it. I can neither confirm nor deny that you were extremely sexy as you stood half naked in my room whilst screaming at me."

She smiled at the connotation behind his words, the blush that seemed to form on her cheeks as she recognised the meaning behind his words. She followed him as he scooted down into the covers, once she laid comfortably in his arms, he ran circles along her arm as he gazed towards the ceiling.

"I'm sorry about what my sister said earlier on. She has… no boundaries."

She smiled softly and played with the cuff of his night shirt. "It's okay. She wasn't to know.."

"I know, but, still, my mom was right, she was being rude."

She glanced up at him through her lashes, "She's your sister. I'm not going to punish her for it. She's oblivious to it all Will, so Is everyone else."

Except for several other people of course, all including Kalinda and Diane, Veronica and Owen and above all else Peter, as he is the father of his children and deserved to know about that short period of time that his children were also apart of.

"My mom wants us to visit during Christmas holidays." He laughed, "I told her it all depended on our schedules, and if you'd feel up to it."

She smiled at his reluctance, and pondered on the idea before glancing up at him. "I think that would be a good idea."

He seemed surprised at her response, raising a brow, he questioned. "Are you sure? We don't have to if you don't want to."

"No. I want to, the kids have never been on a plane before. And we could probably visit Georgetown. I can't even remember the last time I was there."

He chuckled and played with her hair, entwining his hands with hers, he nodded in response. "Okay, we'll do it then."

There was a long, comfortable silence that enfolded between them, his eyes began to drift shut and he felt his breathing slow down. The warmth within having the woman he loved in his arms brought him more joy than anything, it generated a smile on his lips each time he were to fall into unconsciousness each night, and regardless, the smile was still there come morning.

"Yes." She whispered in the dead of night, furrowing his brows confused, he felt her finger trace patterns along his chest.

"Yes?" he questioned half curious, half straining the need to keep his eyes open.

"Yes. I will marry you."