Author's note: I promised you some Will/Alicia and this chapter it's finally happening. I hope I didn't hype it up too much and that it lives up to your expectations. Also I took some liberties with regards to divorce proceedings. I know that this normally takes way longer than just a few weeks, but I wanted to move the story along (and get Peter out of the way once and for all) so I hope you'll forgive me for this.
Once again thanks to everyone for leaving comments, I really appreciate it!
The minutes tick by slowly, the constant bickering of the lawyers in the room has become little more than background noise. She had tried to pay close attention to what they were discussing for the first hour or so, but she's since lost the will to focus on what they're saying. She just wants this to end, sign the damn papers and be done with it.
She carefully looks across the table and sees the same dejectedness and downright annoyance reflected in Peter. He looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here, and she feels the same way.
They're in the large conference room at Lockhart/Gardner, surrounded by lawyers, paralegals and of course Eli. The hallways at the law office are always busy, but Alicia can't help but notice that the same people keep walking past the glass walls at a suspicious frequency. This is exactly the reason why she didn't want to do this here for all the world to see. If only she could escape the prying eyes just this once. Her entire life has been scrutinised by the outside world for years now, and she's just so over it.
Not that she's making any illusions about the months that lie ahead. Simply signing the divorce papers and no longer being associated with Peter in any official capacity, won't make the press' interest in her private life go away. Especially once they find out about her pregnancy, which they inevitably will at some point. She pushes the thought aside for the moment. She'll cross that bridge when she needs to and doesn't want to get herself worked up about it any sooner than necessary.
She subconsciously smooths down the jacket she's wearing, ensuring it's not bunched up in all the wrong places. Although she's not really showing yet, with her clothes off she just looks like she's slightly bloated, she's hyper conscious of her surroundings and wants to avoid anything that could possibly arouse any suspicion about her condition.
She's snapped out of her stream of thoughts and looks up when David Lee raises his voice to Peter's lawyer across the table. She's unsure of what they're discussing, but her guess is it's some minor detail about the division of assets or something along those lines. She had told David that he didn't need to do this, that she just wanted an easy, simple divorce and that the most important thing was to get it done quickly. But he wouldn't be David Lee if he didn't get her the best deal possible, so he wouldn't hear of it. Neither Peter nor Alicia had put up much of a fight, so it was mostly their lawyers fighting it out between them.
Alicia was surprised that Peter had been so easy about it all. She had expected him to at least try and make her work for it. But perhaps she had been wrong about him. Maybe he had finally realised that even without this pregnancy speeding things up, they would never have been able to make their marriage work. Maybe he finally wanted to move on with his life as well.
At least that's what she'd gathered from their brief exchanges they'd had since she told him she wanted a divorce. Most of their communication went through texts or very short phone calls, usually about the practicalities revolving around their children's lives and not much more than that. But from the way he spoke to her during those brief moments of contact she was able to gleam that he was moving on. He had even said that she could keep using the name Florrick professionally if she wanted to.
Though despite all this she didn't think he had fully come to terms with it yet, but at least he didn't sound too bitter, which was all she could hope for at this point. After all, it had only been a few weeks and these things need time to be fully digested.
"Ok, I guess that's it then," Eli said, who had been acting as a kind of peacemaker between the two lawyers, since neither Peter nor Alicia were what you could call active participants in the negotiations.
"That is, if both parties agree," said David Lee, casting a questioning glance at Alicia.
Alicia nodded. "Sure, just hand me the papers and I'll sign them".
Being a lawyer herself did come in handy in moments like this, because nobody had to walk her through the document and tell her where to sign. Though usually she wasn't of course the client but the lawyer in these cases, but it didn't make much of a difference. Scribbling her signature on all the necessary pages felt liberating, as though she was finally taking control of her life. She suddenly wondered why she hadn't done this years ago, when she had first approached David Lee about looking into the possible outcome if she were to divorce her husband.
Once done she pushed the papers across the table towards Peter. He took them from her without looking up and went through the same motions of putting his signature next to hers on every page.
The lawyers stood up and shook hands. "Nice doing business with you," David Lee said to his counterpart, putting on the most insincere, fake smile he could muster. Before the other lawyer could respond he had turned around and exited the conference room, the other L/G employees that had been present following in his wake.
Within a minute or two the conference room was empty, save for Alicia, Peter and Eli. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.
It was Eli who finally broke the silence. "Well, I think that went rather smoothly. Of course, we have to wait until the judge officially approves the divorce later this week, and then we can make the news public. It's important that we do it on our own terms, so best not to even mention the d-word outside of these four walls. I've prepared a press statement that you can read after the divorce is finalised. I thought it would be a good idea to do it on the steps of the courthouse."
Peter just nodded. "Sure, Eli, just do whatever you think works and make the necessary arrangements."
Eli turned to Alicia. "I could draft a short statement for you as well if you like. But you don't have to. You could just stand next to Peter when he delivers his statement on behalf of the both of you."
Alicia just shook her head. "Oh no, I want nothing to do with this Eli. Peter's the Governor, and thanks to this divorce I'm once again just a private citizen. I won't be a part of your press conference, that's your thing."
Eli started to protest. "It really would look better if the two of you…" but he was cut off by Peter.
"Leave it Eli. Alicia's right, this is my responsibility." He looked up and met Alicia's eyes for the first time since they'd entered the conference room. "You don't have to be a part of this. It's over."
"Thank you," she said, and she really meant it. For a moment they just looked at each other, the finality of what they were doing finally sinking in. The moment was, once again, interrupted brusquely by Eli.
"Peter, I don't wish to be rude, but you have to be in Springfield by 1 and we really need to get going."
"Yes, you're right, we need to go." He looked at Alicia one last time before he left. "Say hi to the kids for me. Tell them I'll come and see them this weekend."
"I will," Alicia nodded. And with that she was left in the conference room on her own.
Diane looked up when she heard a soft knock on her office door. Alicia was standing on the other side and she motioned for her to come in.
"I just wanted to say hello before I left," Alicia said as she walked in.
"So it's done then?" Diane asked. "How do you feel?"
"I'm not sure," Alicia said earnestly as she sat down across from the older woman. "Of course I'm relieved that it went smoothly and that were able to pull it off on such short notice. But I never thought I'd feel kind of, I don't know, sad about it. Though that's probably not the right word."
"Melancholic maybe?" Diane suggested.
"Yeah, I suppose that's it. I'm convinced that it's the right decision and that I should've done it sooner, but it still feels odd that the moment's finally here."
"I guess it would be strange if you didn't feel that way. After all, you were married for nearly twenty years and you have two children together. That's a whole chapter of your life that's now ended," Diane said. "But it also means that you can now look to the future."
"You're right," said Alicia, a smile now appearing on her face. She got up again and reached out across the desk to take Diane's hand and give it a soft squeeze by means of thank you. "See you soon?" she asked, shooting the other woman a meaningful look, knowing full well that they couldn't discuss it in her office.
Diane nodded. "Yes, I announced to the partners last Friday that I'm going to retire, and I've given them my two weeks' notice. So once that's all taken care of I'll have a lot of free time on my hands. Which means I'll see you soon," she emphasised.
4 days later
Alicia was hiding away in one of the bathrooms at the courthouse and was probably checking her emails for the fifth time in about twenty minutes just to help pass the time.
Today was the day the judge would sign the final judgment for the dissolution of her marriage to Peter, and by trying to make sure she would make it on time she had actually arrived far too early.
At first she had sat down in the main hallway, but noticed that she was drawing too much attention to herself. In the eyes of other people she was, after all, still the First Lady of Illinois. She also didn't want to risk running into anyone she knew and have to avoid awkward questions about what she was doing here, because she didn't have any court dates planned for this week.
So that's how she came to be in a bathroom on the first floor, which she knew not many people frequented and was therefore a pretty safe bet as a hideout. It was also a place her and Will had snuck off to on more than one occasion, she remembered with a smirk.
3 months earlier
They were on opposite sides in a court case again and they were both fighting hard and relentlessly. This time she hadn't stooped so low as to wear the same outfit she'd worn when, as she had reminded him that other time, 'he had banged her for the first time'.
Although, she thought, it would add an interesting element to his cross-examination. But she decided against it. She was torturing him enough by making him pretend as if they still hated each other. She would have to talk to Peter soon, but he was never around and she still hadn't figured out the best way to approach the subject.
The judge called a recess for lunch and the people began to file out of the courtroom. She was still packing up her things when her phone buzzed. It was Will.
Meet me in the bathroom.
She didn't need to be told twice; she knew exactly which one he meant. She headed over to the bathroom and had barely made it through the door before he threw himself at her, pinning her up against the wall and kissing her hard. She eagerly responded to the kiss, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in closer.
"Who knew a good cross-examination could be such a turn on," she said teasingly between kisses.
"Certainly works for me," Will growled as he trailed a line of kisses from her jawline down to her neck.
Alicia could tell where this was headed, the evidence of his arousal firmly pressed against her lower belly. She had to muster all her willpower to push him away. "Will, we need to stop."
"Not just yet," he murmured, continuing to suck on that spot on her neck that he knew drove her wild.
"No I'm serious, anyone could walk in on us at any moment," Alicia insisted, trying to sound more serious and not too out of breath, the tell-tale sign of her own arousal.
Will finally pulled away and looked at her. "I hate this. How much longer do we need to keep up this pretence?"
"Peter's going to be in town this weekend for a fundraiser, I'll try and talk to him then. But I want to do this properly and think things through, so that I'm prepared for every eventuality."
Will laughed and shook his head. "You're such a lawyer."
"I promise I'll talk to him soon. I hate the fact that we're apart just as much as you do," Alicia assured him.
They stood there for a moment, their foreheads touching but not saying anything.
"We can't be seen leaving this toilet together," said Alicia.
"You go first. I uh, I'm going to need a moment for this to calm down," Will said, gesturing down at the rather obvious bulge in his trousers.
Alicia laughed and gave him a peck on the lips. "Ok, I'll see you back in court later."
Glancing down at her watch, she realised it was almost time for her appointment with the judge. Peter would probably be there by now, waiting for her. She put her phone away, took one last look in the mirror to straighten her clothes, and headed out.
Peter was indeed already waiting for her by the judge's chambers, with Eli loitering nearby. He was probably busy setting up some last-minute things for the press statement later.
She was glad there weren't too many people around. Usually the arrival of the Governor brought with it a buzz and a throng of people all wanting to know what he was doing there. Luckily that wasn't the case this time, and most people just went about their business as the two of them slipped relatively unnoticed into the judge's chambers.
The whole ordeal was over quick and only lasted about fifteen minutes from start to finish. They went over the parameters of custody and visitation, which was rather unnecessary since Zach would go off to college after the summer and Grace the year after, but since they were technically minors it was part of the protocol. Since both parties were in agreement there wasn't much left for the judge to rule on, so he quickly approved the dissolution of their marriage.
Before they knew it they found themselves outside chambers in the hallway again, which had suddenly become a lot busier. Alicia didn't really have the time to say anything to Peter before Eli interjected. "Most reporters are already gathering on the steps outside, eager to know what's going on. I think you'd better get out there quickly and make the statement before they start snooping around inside, trying to get information."
Peter nodded and allowed himself to be whisked away by Eli. Alicia watched them go and then quietly slipped out of a side entrance and headed towards her car.
