A/N: I am going to attempt to push the story forward a bit in this chapter, and the next chapter will see a time jump in order to keep it from seeming like Will and Alicia are simply rebounding, and also to give the time to grieve that I think Alicia would likely need (regardless of the nature of her and Peter's relationship, they were partners for a long time)

Chapter Six

"They accepted?" Alicia grinned into the phone, she could hear the smile in Will's voice as he spoke.

"They did." Will repeated, "I won't lie, I think you'll have an uphill battle with some people. David for one, but I think in time they will come around. This is the right thing."

"Should we…what do we do?" Alicia waved Cary into her office and grinned at him, they accepted she mouthed as his eyes widened with some shock, "So all of our requests?"

"Every last one."

"Oh my god, Will…thank you." Alicia told him, "We should…we should celebrate, shouldn't we?" Alicia asked, it was a question for both him and Cary, "Why don't you and Diane decide on a place, and we can go tonight."

"I have a better idea. Just…trust me." Will countered, "I'll send you the details, but it'll be…casual, tell Cary."

xxx

"Will, what are we doing here?" Alicia had played along when Will had suggested they meet in Highland Park, she had given him permission to access the house for a chef and an intimate gathering with the equity partners.

"New beginnings Alicia," Will was dressed casually, which is what he had told everyone about the evening, jeans and a plaid button down, Alicia loved when Will dressed casually, there was something about him that just felt youthful, "we're just going to start fresh, all of us."

"At my house."

"At your house." Will shrugged, "I think after tonight you will know if this is somewhere that you should keep, or if you should let it go. If it feels like home or if it feels like another lifetime."

It had been three weeks since she and Will had last been here, she had come a couple of times since, shown Grace, spoken to her about it, she had told Zach about it, they both seemed thrilled at the prospect of moving there, but Alicia still couldn't be sure. When Will had told her casual, Alicia had picked out a floral wrap dress with a v-neck, it was casual but also put together, the type of thing you wore to an event with coworkers. She and Will were the only two in the house other than the caterers which Will somehow had managed to get together on a moments notice, guests would be arriving any minute. "So, Will, what is new?" She asked as they stood on the back patio which was covered in lights and a bar was set up.

"What is new? I mean other than the merger, I have a case with -" he began.

Alicia laughed, this was typical of Will, he thought the only thing in his life worth talking about was work, "No Will, not work, I don't want to know what is new at work, I want to know what is new with you." She told him, "Everyone wants to talk about me all the time, how I am, and … I just…how are you?"

"I'm good." Will smiled at her, "But…you know, the life of a bachelor. I'm just busy with work."

"Nothing more…personal?" Alicia ventured, "Is a date joining you tonight?"

"Were we supposed to bring dates tonight?" Will laughed.

Alicia shrugged, "This is your party remember, I'm just along for the ride. Plus, I'm a widow, I think most of Illinois would be horrified if I were dating right now." she laughed.

"Funny how that works, you are no longer the First Lady of Illinois, but somehow, the constituents still have an opinion of what you do with your life? I saw the photos going around last week about you being out with Owen and god forbid, enjoying yourself!" Will rolled his eyes, walking to the bar, "Red wine and a scotch, please." he told the bartender, passing the wine glass to Alicia as he returned to his place beside her, "No date tonight…or ever. Not right now, I am…in a relationship with my work. That is what my sister Aubrey tells me."

"How are your sisters?" Alicia smiled, ignoring the comments about the press. Somehow she had been caught having dinner with Owen and it had turned into a story about how she was too happy after the death of her husband, she was sick of talking about it. His sisters, she grinned, whenever Will spoke of them, it reminded Alicia of Owen and how she genuinely couldn't imagine life without him. Even though Will would never admit it, she knew he felt the same about Aubrey and Sara.

"They are…good. Needy, but good."

"Well isn't this cute." David Lee's voice interrupted them, dripping with his usual sarcasm, "Is this a private party or can all partners join?"

"David," Will nodded, "good to see you."

"I wish I could say the same." David focused his attention on Alicia, "Mrs. Florrick." he nodded.

"David," Alicia took a sip of her wine, "how are you doing? I know we haven't spoken since, but I wanted to thank you for coming to Peter's funeral."

"I didn't really have much of a choice." David shrugged, "Diane insisted…for appearances, of course."

"Of course." Alicia nodded, "Do you have a few moments?" she asked him, "To speak? Privately?"

"I'm going to head inside." Will took his cue to leave before David could object.

"David," Alicia exhaled, "I'm looking forward to working with you again. I'm truly sorry for how things happened when I left the firm."

"You're sorry?" David repeated.

"I really can't say much more than that about it. I did what was best for my family and I at the time. I needed…I needed something different, I needed a change. I needed to be away from Lockhart/Gardner."

"You needed to be away from Gardner. Wouldn't that be a more appropriate assessment?" David countered, "I mean, I get it, you called off the divorce. You and Peter came to whatever agreement you came to and you left. Now, here we are, the water is under the bridge and you're back in the fold. Back in the family as Diane seems to think it is. So what now Alicia? You come back to the firm, you make your list of demands, you and Cary, and what? You want it to go back to how it was? Are you my boss now? How does this work? Are you and Will going to fall back into bed together? What happens when it goes wrong again? Will you stomp your feet and leave? Will he? Have you really given this any thought at all?" David fired at her, it was like she was being cross examined as they spoke.

Alicia had expected something similar to this, and she knew it was because she had hurt David. Things had been complicated between them, she and David had an interesting dynamic, but she knew that he cared for her, and that in his own weird way, he had her best interests at heart. "David, my husband just died recently. My decision to come back to the firm has nothing to do with any personal relationship that Will and I had in the past. Cary and I were offered a merger, and we did it, we chose this based on what we believed was best for us, and all of our clients in the long run. We don't have any intention of leaving."

"And Will?"

"My husband just died a few months ago David." Alicia repeated, "Will and I are in the past."

xxx

"So you think you want to live here?" Cary asked, the night was winding down and it was Diane, Will, Cary, Alicia and a handful of other equity partners still lingering.

"I don't know." Alicia admitted, "I mean, given how much wine I've had to drink, I might have to stay here tonight if you don't want to share an UBER." she laughed. "It's so big."

"It suits you." Cary told her.

"Does it though?" she looked around, "What about this suits me?"

"It's formal but a little bit on the modern side, it seems like a place you have Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas morning…all of those seem like things you probably do with your kids, are they not?"

"My kids are basically grown." Alicia sighed, but he was right, this was a place, much like Peter had suggested that she could imagine her kids, her grandkids, all of them coming home to.

"Do you want to keep it?" Cary asked her, a question he had never really asked her when they had discussed it in the past.

"I think I might." Alicia admitted, "It would be a fresh start, that is for sure."

"Then keep it. Get rid of the apartment, and if you decide in a few years that you don't want it anymore, sell it. The property is sure to inflate in value, think of it as an investment."

"How mature of you." Alicia laughed, she could see Will and Diane walking over to join them, "Just us?"

"Just us." Diane nodded, "this was fun." she looked to Will, "Thank you for putting this together. I'll be honest, I don't think I would have considered you for a member of the social committee." she winked, "But this is what we needed. A fresh start."

"A fresh start." Alicia repeated, smirking as she did, "Thank you Will, Diane is right, this was wonderful."

"I just made a few calls." Will buried his hands in his pocket, seemingly uncomfortable with the praise coming from two of the women he cared most about. "My ride is going to be here any minute. Alicia, is it ok if I get my car tomorrow?"

"Can I hitch a ride with you?" Alicia asked, she knew that Cary was being picked up by a friend and Diane was going in the opposite direction of her.

"You're not staying here?" Will was surprised.

"Not tonight." Alicia told him, "But…" she paused and looked at Cary, "I think I will be staying here soon."

"Let's go." Will nodded, putting a hand on the small of her back and leading her to the front door, Cary and Diane following a few steps behind them. Alicia locked the door as Cary got in the car of a woman, Alicia wasn't sure she recognized her, but that was nothing unusual for Cary, and Diane said her goodbye's and drove away. "This is us." he nodded to the SUV pulling into the driveway as he pushed his phone into his pocket. Ever the gentleman, Will opened the door for Alicia after confirming the name of the driver. "It's going to be two stops, is that alright?" the driver nodded as Will and Alicia buckled their seatbelt and watched as the house faded out of their view. "So, I guess we work together again."

"Who would have thought this time it would be you wanting me back?" Alicia smirked as she thought about how Will had hired her when she was desperate for a job in the midst of Peter's scandal.

"I'm glad things are…good again." Will admitted, "I wish that we didn't have to go through everything else. But I'm glad we're here now."

"Me too." Alicia closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headrest.

xxx

"I'm in court today." Alicia told Grace as she poured her coffee in a travel mug, "Are you alright if I'm not home until late? Do you want me to call Uncle Owen? Or Grandma?" It had been two weeks since the merger was finalized and Alicia was splitting her time between both offices and court, she felt like she was barely home, but she was finally back in the habit of being in court regularly after Peter's death.

"Mom, I'm fine." Grace rolled her eyes at her, "What case is it?"

"I'm hoping it's a simple, just entering a plea for an assault charge."

"Did they do it?" Grace asked.

"They did." Alicia nodded, she had been a bit more particular about the cases she had taken since Peter had died. Cary had done his best to keep most hardened criminals away from her, but Colin Sweeney always ended up on Alicia's plate. "He did." she corrected herself. She and the ASA had worked out a plea bargain for Mr. Sweeney's latest poor life choice, and she hoped that the judge would accept the plea and call it a day. "After court I have a meeting with Will and Diane at my office, and then I will hopefully be home for dinner."

"Don't worry about me, Mom. I have homework anyway."

"You promise you would tell me if you needed something, right?" Alicia sighed, between work, Peter dying, and Zach moving, she was pretty confident that she was failing at the whole parenting a teenager thing.

"I'm fine Mom." Grace told her again, "Do you think we're going to move, back to Highland Park? To the house from Dad?"

"Do you want to?" Alicia asked.

Grace paused to contemplate it for a moment, "I think I do." she told her, "I know that things weren't perfect when we lived in Highland Park, but ever since we came here…everything has been upside down."

"Grace, we've lived here for years." Alicia tried to listen to what she was saying.

"I know Mom, but this…I don't know, it just felt like a place we were passing through." she admitted, "I talked to Zach, and I think we would both like it if Highland Park was our home again, even if we are off at school or whatever."

Alicia nodded, "Well then…sure." she agreed, "We'll move. I will give notice here, and we can start moving our things over whenever you're ready."

"Really?" Grace grinned, the two of them were now moving towards the door.

"Really." Alicia nodded, she was sick of waiting for later, waiting for some big moment to guide her decisions, so for the first time in a long time, she was being impulsive, doing what felt right, even though it didn't quite make sense to her.