He was cutting it close with a client meeting at 9 and court across town at 10:15. Maybe he should have told Diane to look for someone else. He had wanted to end the meeting by 9:45, but the client had come late, and the best he could do was finish up by 9:55. He took a cab to avoid having to look for parking and hopefully save a few minutes, but even still, it was 10:15 as he was walking through the main entrance of the courthouse. Cuesta was usually on time, and Will knew it. He was not going to get off to a good start.
Judge Cuesta was seated behind the bench ready to start.
"Mr. Adelson, where is Mr. - who is it?" He looked down at his notes, "Cary Agos?"
Mr. Adelson wasn't sure what to answer, but as he was about to come up with some sort of a response, the doors at the back of the room opened.
As Will made his way to his place. "Sorry, I'm late, Your Honor. I'm here representing Mr. Adelson today."
"Hello, Mr. Gardner, so good of you to join us. I guess better late than never."
"I guess so, Your Honor."
"And are you ready to proceed?"
"Yes, Your Honor."
Alicia was quite surprised to see Will Gardner sitting across the aisle from her. She hadn't seen him in fifteen years, but hadn't changed much. He looked more mature, that was for sure, especially in his "grown-up" clothes. But he'd always looked good not matter what he wore back in law school, so it really wasn't very surprising that he certainly looked good now. Her musings were cut short by Judge Cuesta.
"Ms. Florrick, ready to proceed?
"Yes, Your Honor."
Will hadn't had a chance to make introductions with opposing counsel, nor had he been informed of her name until Judge Cuesta addressed her. The name clearly rang a bell, and when he now turned and looked for the first time across the aisle, there was no doubt that this was the one and only Alicia Florrick. Of all the people in the world who could have been Canning's newest associate, Will would have never guessed that it was Alicia.
When he had moved to Chicago and discovered that Peter Florrick was in the SA's office (not yet State's Attorney, but an ASA) he had quietly made inquiries about Alicia and discovered that she was not practicing law. He hadn't necessarily expected her to return after Peter's scandal. It seemed ambitious to jump back in after such a long hiatus. But then again, he always knew Alicia to be ambitious, and a good lawyer. She must not have lost her touch after what happened with Cary the day before.
Small talk and catching up would have to wait, There was a case to be fought, and fought it was. They were clearly matched opponents opposing and objecting, catching each other off guard as if one could guess the other's next move. Their confrontation in court was a like well-choreographed chess match between two master players. And although they were adversarial, they each relished the challenge of out thinking the other. They were both transported back in time to late night study sessions and mock trial preps as after fifteen years their rhythm was still in tact. They had been each other's favorite study partner for that very reason. They were each other's best opponent, and when paired together, they had made an amazing team.
There was a weak link in the testimony of one of Will's witnesses. Alicia wiped the floor with that witness on cross. The judge called for a recess and said he would be ready to rule when the court reconvened.
Will walked over to Alicia. "Hey."
"Hey. Since when have you been in Chicago?"
"About five years. You didn't know?"
She suddenly realized that Peter must have known. They had probably had cases against each other. She really wasn't so surprised that Peter never said anything. He clearly never did anything that was contrary to his best interests. "No, I hadn't heard."
"So you're Canning's new associate?"
"I am. And you must be the Gardner in Lockhart/Gardner?"
"I am."
"Name partner. Impressive."
"Yeah, but I have a feeling I just got my butt kicked by a first-year."
"The judge hasn't ruled yet."
"No, but as much as I hate to admit defeat, you won this one."
She wasn't as optimistic as Will seemed to be. She was over analyzing her performance in court and felt she had made one too many errors. Will was good. He always had been. Sure, she'd beaten him before, but it was never an easy win. "I guess we'll have to wait and find out."
Will laughed.
"What?"
"You haven't changed since law school."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You never knew how good you were and were always doubting yourself."
She raised an eyebrow, "And you were always cocky and arrogant."
"So I guess I haven't changed either."
They both laughed.
Will's phone beeped. He saw an incoming call from Diane.
"I've gotta take this. It was nice seeing you."
"Sure. It was nice seeing you, too."
Alicia did in fact win the case, and as much as Will hated to lose, the look of happiness on Alicia's face was worth it. He never had hated losing to her the way he hated losing to anyone else.
He congratulated her on his way out and handed her his card. "Maybe we could catch up sometime outside of court?"
"Sure, that would be nice." She handed him her card as well.
He spent the afternoon doing depositions and it was evening time when Diane found him in his office with his feet up on the desk, chair leaned back, tossing his baseball his mind on Alicia.
"So we lost the Adelson case?"
"That we did."
"And you're the one who said this was such an easy case."
"We had a weak witness and the opposition tore him apart on the stand."
"So was it a case of a bad witness or a good lawyer?"
"Both."
"You're in a good mood considering you lost a case."
"I guess I am."
"Do you care to share? Did we sign a new client? Because Adelson's not so happy with our firm right now. It's not going to be good if we lose him."
Will knew he should care about potentially losing Adelson, but he just didn't.
"No new clients, but I did run into an old friend from law school that I hadn't seen in fifteen years. I guess I'm just caught up reliving old memories."
"Well, don't let nostalgia keep you too distracted. We can't afford to keep losing cases."
Diane couldn't help but wonder what sort of "friend" it was that he had run into that he wasn't bothered by a loss in court, to a first-year no less.
"So Canning must have one hot-shot new associate."
"You could say that. If I would have known who it was, I would have prepared better. It always was a challenge to argue with her."
"You've argued against her before?"
"We went to law school together."
"She went to law school with you, and she's a first-year?"
"Yeah, she got married pretty soon after law school, and after she started having kids, she became a stay-at-home mom. (He wondered how much of that was her decision and how much of it was Peter's.) But being out of the law for - actually, I don't know how long, but it must be at least ten years, I guess, she's starting back at the bottom of the totem-pole."
"Well, if she's that good, she won't stay down at the bottom for long."
"No, probably not."
Diane wished Will a good night, and on her way out she wondered if this friend from law school had been more than just a friend. Will had dated quite a number of women in the time that Diane had known him, and she assumed he had dated even more before that, but this was the first time she had ever seen him look like a man in love.
Owen and the kids had made a cake in honor of Alicia's first court win on her first court case, no less. After dinner and cake, Alicia and Owen were once again in the kitchen with a bottle of wine. Owen agreed to one glass this time.
"So let's move on to important stuff. Did you find any good-looking lawyers today?"
Alicia thought for a minute about Will. He definitely fell in the category of good-looking. That certainly hadn't changed since college. "Yes, but I don't think he's interested in men." She walked past him and headed for the sofa.
Owen followed and sat beside her. "And how do you know that? You know, your gaydar has never been good."
"We were friends in law school. He's not gay."
Owen was intrigued and was not ready to let this go. His sister rarely ever told him any details about law school back in the day. All he knew as that she studied a lot, typical, and there was some guy she had nicknamed Mr. Georgetown in her letters. Owen never met Mr. Georgetown, but he never could figure out how his sister ended up with Peter Florrick if Mr. Georgetown was, in fact, a real person and not some sleep-deprived-figment of her imagination. "What makes you so sure he's not? And I thought you didn't have any friends in law school? The only person you ever talked about other than Peter (he made a face) was Mr. Georgetown."
Alicia looked a little bit stunned by that reference. Leave it to Owen to remember something like that.
He caught that look on her face, "Wait, Mr. Good-looking-lawyer-who-isn't-gay isn't Mr. Georgetown is he?"
Alicia was trying to play it cool. "He is. Apparently he moved to Chicago about five years ago, and he has his own firm."
"You know that's so like you. I ask you to find a guy for me, and you find one for yourself."
"I did not find a guy for myself."
"Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself? You want him."
Alicia was getting defensive, and Owen could always see right through her. "I do not."
"Oh, yes, you do. I don't know who you think you're fooling, but you're not fooling me."
"Owen, I'm married."
"To a cheat who's in prison. Which begs the question why you haven't divorced him yet?"
"Owen, it's complicated."
"No, it's not. You go to a lawyer, have him write up papers, have the papers delivered to Peter, and he signs them. It's simple. You're just have some overdeveloped sense of commitment and an inability to kick someone, while they're down that you're keeping yourself chained to that no-good husband of yours."
She knew Owen was right. She knew she had no future with Peter. She didn't want one either. But she didn't know how to just throw away their marriage and end their family. She knew that Peter was the one to ruin everything with the choices he made, but she still somehow felt that if she initiated divorce, she was the guilty party - she would be the one to end their family. She knew she wasn't her mother. She knew that if she divorced Peter, it wasn't the same as when her mother had divorced her father. But she still remembered the hurt she felt when her parents split and she didn't know how to do that to her kids. Having their father sent to prison made her instincts to protect them from pain even stronger. Plus, she had been so busy fighting to survive though the last six months, she still hadn't dealt with the emotional side of everything that had happened. That was mountain she still had yet to climb.
Owen noticed that she was quiet. He started to think he'd said too much. Well, not really, but he didn't want to upset his sister, especially on the day of her big win - big win against Mr. Georgetown. He knew when to push his sister and when to let up.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I just want what's best for you." He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. "I know."
