I promised an update didn't I? xx
"How much alcohol has he consumed?" the paramedic asked
"I don't know. When I arrived he was already intoxicated"
"Did he seem dehydrated at all? Sickly?"
"He smelt of vomit, and the whiskey was strong, I could smell it from the doorway"
"His blood pressure is above 160, and his heart rate is 110. Is that normal for him?"
"No. Not at all. He's the most fit person I know"
"Right, well, we have to get him to the hospital right away. He needs fluids and a scan."
"He needs to go to rehab"
"NO!" she heard Brad yell from inside the vehicle.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I've spoken to his sister on the phone. She says a facility in Malibu is waiting for him"
"I'm not.. not going back there!"
"You don't have a choice! You have officially screwed yourself over for good!" she yelled.
"Okay Mrs Florrick," the medic shook his head, clearly tired of all the yelling. "I'm gonna need his medical records, do you think you could make a phone call to his doctor?"
She nodded. "I'll look into it right away."
He had waited for her to call, she had responded to his first message of the day, but so far that was fourteen hours ago, and he felt a little isolated at her regular silence in the last few days.
Will wasn't a sentimental man, at least he didn't think he was, until Alicia came into his life, and if twenty five years of knowing her had taught him anything, it was that she was the most confusing woman on planet on earth.
"Macey" he called his daughter from the kitchen. "Your breakfast is getting cold"
She stomped her way into the kitchen, her doll hanging from the edges of her palm, ready to be dropped or forgotten. She crawled onto her seat, took a look at the cup of oats, and rolled her nose in disgust.
"I not hungy"
"Come on young lady. I know you're starving. Eat up"
"Can I have some berries too daddy?"
He grabbed the container from the fridge and placed it on the table for her to pick, he would have done it himself, but he was still struggling to find his shoe. "I'm sorry honey, daddy's in a rush this morning.."
"It's okay" she said, standing on her chair and trying very hard to look as though she could poor her own milk. He watched her with an intoxicated grin on his lips, her self-taught desire to be independent made him proud as a father, despite her obvious spill on the table cloth. Once she was done, she sat back in her chair, flicked a tablespoon in her muesli and watched with clear eyes as a splash of milk split in the air.
"Oopsy" she giggled.
The phone pierced a striking sound in the still kitchen, interrupting their morning banter. He placed his coffee down and took it without looking at the screen.
"Yea?"
"Yea?" she smiled
"Oh… hey"
"Hey"
She clearly was not pleased with his less enthusiastic response to her morning phone call. He heard Alicia sigh from across the line after his stretched silence.
"I'm sorry for ignoring your calls and messages… and emails."
"You're on speaker," he warned, looking back at Macey as she ate through her breakfast.
"Are you at work?"
"No. Home"
"Oh well… Is Macey.."
"She's here"
"How is she?"
"Good. Happy. Grumpy. The usual"
"I miss her"
"She misses you too. She asked for you lastnight, she had a nightmare and she asked for you"
"God.. I just want to hug her"
"How is everything?"
"I'm in Miami.. It's nothing big, I just have to help Brad with something"
"Is he okay?"
"Yea… he he's fine. He just needs a friend right now"
"The last time we spoke you were in DC Alicia, and now you're telling me you're in Miami with your…. Doing whatever. What if something happened to you?"
"Am I still on speaker?"
"Yes" her question, born from the notion that she refused to ever argue with him whilst in Macey's presence, was like a ticking time bomb.
"Well then take me off"
He sighed. "I have to go"
"Wait! Can I talk to her?"
The desperate plea made him feel as awful as he should, Macey was his child, and by defence, was hers too, because she loved her too much for him to control at this point.
It was wrong to use Macey as a weak spot for Alicia, but he had a natural desire to protect something that was already broken, valuable enough to be repaired, but still broken, and he couldn't help but hold Alicia's distance against her.
He felt if he were to deny her, they would only be taking another hundred steps back into the wrong direction, despite her being the one who had taken the first few steps.
"I don't know.."
"Will. Please. It's been one day"
And it had been three days since she had taken the time to sit down and video call him. He hadn't seen her face in three days and he hated her for it.
"We knew this would get tough"
"Why are you ignoring me Alicia? And don't avoid the question"
"I want to talk! I want to talk! I want to talk!" Macey jumped from her seat, stretching her hand out for the phone.
Her gorgeous smile and rosy cheeks moved him around in seconds, he could maybe say no to Alicia but to his daughter it was almost impossible. He gave the phone to Macey, and moved against the bench.
"Hi leesh!" she exclaimed.
"Hey sweet girl!" Alicia's mood instantly lifted, enough for him to imagine her grinning so widely her cheekbones would hurt.
"Daddy said you had a nightmare"
"Not nice" Macey replied. "Hara?"
"Hara is with her daddy right now, but as soon as I get her we can call on the screen?"
"Promise?"
"I promise baby"
"miss you Leesh"
"I miss you more. A lot more. Have you been a good girl?"
"I always a good girl"
"That's right. Has daddy been nice?"
"Daddy give yuck breakfast" both he and Alicia laughed.
"Well, your daddy's never been the greatest breakfast maker, but that's okay, because I'm pretty good at it"
Will laughed and shook his head, restraining from rolling his eyes. "Hey Mace?"
"Yep?"
"I know daddy can hear me, so can you give him a big kiss from me please? Big like the sun, and a really warm hug." Macey putting the phone down, stretched her arms up for him smacked his cheek with a kiss. He picked the phone up and pressed it against his ear, still holding his daughter, he heard Alicia whisper "I love you" and somehow, he understood that she needed him a bit more than he needed her.
"Love you too."
"Everyone is going to wonder why you're sitting in a rehab facility with me" Brad said to her.
"Do you really think I care about what anyone thinks?"
"No" he smiled.
"I really don't know what to say Alicia"
"You can stop apologizing"
"But I can't"
"You said sorry, and then you begged me not to hate you. I'm here for you, I know how this goes, how it feels, and I know who you are. You're not an abusive person Brad, you just.. you know.. you have problems" she shrugged.
He laughed, "I have more than problems, I'm an alcoholic, and if I wasn't an alcoholic I'd be a drug addict"
"Why didn't you tell me about any of this? If I had known.."
"If you had known you wouldn't have considered inviting me on your campaign"
"That's not true" she sat down and looked physically upset. "You saved my life. That night in sudan, when the explosion hit, you covered me with your body and then you carried me everywhere. You didn't have to but you did. I will never forget that"
"I hit you"
"And I hit you right after"
"Yea" he laughed, "you bruised my eye and then told the medic that I walked into the door. I'm still getting used to this side of you"
She smiled, glad that they were back to some level of teasing, despite his regular and uncomfortable unease since the fight.
"Have you called Will?"
She ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes, the sun that basked against her skin reminded her of Will, and she wished that Brad hadn't just put that image into her mind. "Not in a while. I don't want him to know that I'm in rehab with you, he's been through enough lately, with the distance and my snubbing his phonecalls, I think he could use a break"
"Are you gonna tell him? About the fight?"
"No, I like you, I don't wanna see you die." It took her a single glance in his direction to laugh again.
/
"Alicia" Brad called her name, he was only sitting next to her, but she felt as though they were miles apart. She was physically and emotionally exhausted, and the Miami heat was not fitting well with her mood either.
She put her book down and lifted her sunglasses up. "There's this rehab facility in Nashville.. It's not a celebrity one, but they have a really good policy, and I like the way they run things."
"What's wrong with this one?" she asked
Looking at the back of them toward the French doors of his private bedroom, he shook his head almost in disgust. "I don't feel normal here, they treat you like… like you're at a spa. I need to go somewhere else, somewhere more isolated, somewhere normal."
She blinked a few more times, then resigned back into her chair, the sweat beading on the curve of her back mashed to the fabric of her shirt like liquid slime, and she nodded immediately. "Can we leave as soon as possible?"
/
"I can only be here for a day. I have to get back to DC" Alicia told Brad as they were landing.
"Of course. Zahara?"
"Peter said he could have her for another weak, but six days is long enough, and I miss her terribly."
"You shouldn't have to spend so much time away from your kids" he looked down.
"You shouldn't either, but the faster we get you better, the faster you can see yours."
They were introduced to Anna, the manager of Brad's new home. She felt bad for having her agents search the property before allowing her to step foot on it, but the staff were accommodating. The facility was placed outside of the city, it was remote but not distant, enough for him to see fresh again. Brad asked if she would sit in his group therapy, she was sceptic at first, knowing that she would be exposed to different strangers, but she agreed anyway. He looked hopeful, Brad, the scared human being from two days ago had somehow disappeared. He belonged here and she knew it.
They were just about to begin their first group discussion when a woman walked in. Alicia naturally assumed that she was the psychiatrist by her attire. She wore long pants with a white blouse and dark woman's blazer, her blonde hair was tied into a tight ponytail and she wore glasses. Pouring her coffee, Alicia didn't have a chance to look at the woman's face until minutes later when she took her seat next to Brad.
"Morning all. I'm Anna, some of you know me, some of you don't, and that's okay, because by the end of the month I will either be your worst enemy or your best friend." They laughed. "We have been blessed with two special guests today. Brad, who will be staying with us for a few months, and Alicia Florrick of course, who is sitting in here as Brad's friend. It's a pleasure to have you here."
She thanked them as they clapped, the majority of the patients weren't as nice to her as the staff were, for good reasons she supposed.
The second person who spoke was the woman with the blonde hair. She looked strikingly familiar, the face was from another lifetime, her old lifetime, before presidential fundraisers, and even before Peter's gubernatorial race.
"Oh. My. God." She murmured under her breath, those familiar curls and soft nose, only seen in someone else.
"What?" whispered Brad
The woman spoke. "Hi everyone. I will be your advisor for the next six months, any problems you have, you can come to me. My name is Callie Simko, I am from Chicago. I'm a recovering drug and alcohol addict, I've been drug free for a year and half now, and I am here because I'm trying to get my life together before I move back home."
Alicia moved closer to Brad, her breath shaking as she whispered quietly. "I have to go now."