Note: Sorry for the cliff-hanger in the last chapter. The reason why we all write and read fanfic for Willicia is because we want to find a good ending for Will and Alicia, one that Will doesn't die. So don't worry, I am not that cold blooded.

"We will continue on Monday." The judge struck his gavel. The crowd started to leave the court.

"Cary, we can't settle just yet." Alicia said as she walked out of the court.

"But they don't accept our new piece of evidence. Unless you have a better idea to fight this…"

Alicia sighed. "We will find a way." She said as she pulled out her phone. She gasped.

23 missed call from Grace.

Oh my God. She was shaking when she called Grace back.

"Mom.." Grace was crying so hard. Alicia's heart leaped out of her. "GRACE! Are you okay?"

"Mom… mom… you have to come… mom.."

"Come where? Where are you?"

Grace couldn't form a coherent sentence. She was just mumbling and crying. Alicia couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Grace! Grace! Calm down. Tell me where you are, I am on my way."

"… mom…. he was… I…Will...he is… "Grace sniffed, then tried very hard to utter the word "Hospital".

"I am on my way Grace. Grace, tell me you are okay. Baby… Oh my God…"

Alicia probably ran a lot of red lights, she couldn't remember. Never in her life had she been this scared. Her palms were sweaty and cold at the same time. She felt like all the blood in her body just got drained out.

When she arrived at the ER, she saw Peter running into the ER too. Of course, Grace would call both her parents. When they took the elevator to the second floor, Alicia shifted her weight from one foot to the other, tapped her fingers on her leg nervously."I've got 23 missed calls from her, I was in court." She told Peter. "I've got 17, I was in a meeting. Calm down, ok?" Peter said. "Calm? How can I be calm? It's my baby girl…"

The elevator door opened, and she saw Grace. Grace was sitting on a chair, looking down. There was a nurse sitting next to her, trying to calm her down. But the most sickening and shocking thing Alicia saw, was her uniform: it was soaked with blood.

"Oh my baby… Are you okay? Where's this blood from? Are you hurt? Did they treat you? Oh my God… What happened?" She ran to Grace, and peppered her with million questions at once, and patted her body down to find wounds.

Grace was sobbing. "It's not mine, mom, it's not mine. It's not my blood." She shook her head vehemently. Alicia breathed a sigh of relief. "Whose blood is it?" Peter asked. Grace looked at her mom and she said "It's Will's. He… he… saved me… he dodged a bu…. bu… bullet for me…"

"WHAT?" The world suddenly started spinning, Alicia was astounded. She was shocked to the core, as if someone just thwacked her head with a hammer.

"W…. W… What? Will's? I… I… I don't understand… What? Bullet?" she stammered. It was her turn to lose the ability to form a coherent sentence. Her jaw was trembling.

Peter was the calmest of three of them. Of course, Will Gardner was not his family. He took over the questioning "Calm down. Grace, where is he right now?"

"In… in… surgery. They brought him into the OR about half an hour ago." Grace swallowed hard. Then she strained her voice to explain what happened.

"What? Why… why was Will outside your school? Someone tried to kidnap you? Did he get away? Oh my God… are we safe? Zach! I have to call Zach." She was still quivering when she took her phone out from her pocket. She bit her finger nails when the call was connecting. "Come on, come on, pick up, pick up, pick up…"

"Hello, mom?"

"Zach! Are you alright? Where… where are you?"

"Jesus! Mom, take it easy. What happened? I am okay. I am at Patrick's house, I told you we have a project to do. What's wrong?"

Peter told Alicia to put the phone on speaker. "Zach, it's dad. Listen, someone tried to kidnap your sister. She is okay, she is with us now. But I am going to send security to you and take you home, okay? Please don't argue, this is very important. Your mom is freaking out right now. Give me Patrick's address." Zach didn't argue. Peter was the only one who could think clearly and make a logical plan at this point, and so he did. Alicia was silently grateful.

The elevator door opened again - Kalinda. Having no family in Chicago, Will made Kalinda his emergency contact.

She was startled when she saw Alicia and Peter there. "How's Will?"

"He's in surgery, I don't know how he is… Kalinda, the people who shot Will tried to kidnap my daughter. They are still out there. Can you….um… can you…" Alicia started stuttering again.

Kalinda finished the sentence for her. "Say no more, I will find out. Trust me, I will find out." She took her notepad out from her pocket. She asked Grace to describe her kidnapper. Then she turned to Alicia and Peter.

"I need to ask you this: do you have any enemy who would do this? It can give me some ideas where to start."

"I… I don't know… I am a lawyer, I deal with a lot of convicted criminals. Anyone of them could be the kidnapper." She tried to recall her recent cases.

Peter considered this for a while. "I don't know either." He lied. In fact, he knew. He got threat from Don just a few days ago. But saying Don's name right now means he had to tell Alicia. I can't tell Kalinda that in front of Alicia.

"Ok. I am going to see what the police know right now. If you can think of anyone who might want to hurt your family, call me. And please let me know when the doctor comes out. Let me know how Will's doing, okay? It will be alright." Then Kalinda left. Alicia and Kalinda didn't see each other eye to eye. But Alicia knew she could count on Kalinda right now.

"I don't understand…" Alicia turned back to Grace. "How come Will was outside of your school?"

"I called him yesterday. We planned to go to shop for a birthday gift for you. He was there to pick me up. We wanted it to be a surprise for you, so we didn't tell you." Grace was a little bit more calm now. She continued "Mom, I am sorry."

Alicia wrapped her arms around Grace. "Baby, why are you saying sorry? You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I called Will. If I haven't called him, he wouldn't…"

Alicia interrupted her. "If he wasn't there, you would be taken away from me and no one there to save you. I don't want you to think for one second that it is your fault, it's not!" She rubbed her arms. Alicia was bawling.

Few minutes later, Peter offered to take Grace home, and go pick up Zach. Alicia told Peter "Call me if there's anything okay? Peter, can you stay with the kids tonight? And please don't let them get out of your sight. You have to be with them the whole time. At least until we catch the guys. Okay?"

"Of course." Then Grace gave Alicia one more hug, and they bid each other goodbye.

Alicia sat in the waiting room alone, fidgeting with her fingers. She closed her eyes, and she couldn't stop her mind from picturing what Grace described, how Will was shot and crumpled onto the floor. She couldn't even feel the tears on her face now.

He wanted to get me a gift, that means he's not mad at me anymore, right? She asked herself, as if she was trying to console herself. Look at the bright side. That's what Will always say to her when things were bad. That was the only way she could stop the nausea from getting worse.

Three hours later, the surgeon finally came out. Alicia stood up, looked at the surgeon with wide eyes, eyebrows furrowed. "How is he?"