A/N: I was debating posting or continuing to tweak. Posting obviously won, but I do feel it needs more tweaking.
The following Sunday Will and Alicia were once again preparing for court in her living room. The first week had gone well, but opposing counsel had thrown them a curve ball Friday that they weren't expecting, so they had to put in more time to figure out how they were going to proceed.
Julia was there again also, and like the previous week Grace asked if Julia could stay for dinner, and Alicia invited Will to stay as well. The kids tried to get Will to tell them stories about their mother from college. Will tried to pick and chose his stories well; interesting enough for the kids while not too embarrassing for Alicia. Will asked Zach if he played any sports and was surprised to find out that Grace was the athlete in the family being on the girls' soccer team, and while Julia didn't play anything, she was a big baseball and basketball fan. Will was really surprised by her knowledge of teams, players, strategy, trivia.
After dinner, Will and Alicia get back to work. "Julia's here a lot?" Will asks.
"Yeah, she and Grace are really good friends." A few minutes later Alicia adds in a hushed tone, "She moved to Chicago just before the start of the school year from Phoenix."
Will wasn't sure why she was being so quiet, but whispering back, "So they're both the new girls in school."
"Yeah, that's one reason they became friends, they both didn't know anyone." They went back to reviewing notes. "Her mother died over the summer."
Will's puzzled.
"Julia, her mother died over the summer. She came to Chicago to live with her uncle. He's single, works full time, but he was the closest living relative. It was better than foster care, but now, especially during tax season - he's an accountant - he's not around much, so she spends a lot of time here."
Will noted, "So aside from both of them being the new girls, they've both also had some pretty traumatic family events in the past year." Alicia nodded in agreement. Will questioned, "Why's she with her uncle and not her father?"
"She doesn't have one. Apparently, her father was never in the picture. She's never met him. It seems like her mother never really knew exactly who the father was, or that's what she always told her brother."
Julia seemed like such a regular well-adjusted kid. Will would have never guessed from spending the past two Sundays with her that her life was anything but normal.
About an hour later, there's a knock at the door. Usually, Julia's uncle had waited in the car and sent Julia a text to come down. He'd texted her three times in ten minutes, and when she hadn't come, he'd parked and come up. Alicia answered the door and invited him in. He followed her to the room where she was working with Will, which she had to pass through on the way to Grace's room. Will looked up from his books when they walked in.
"Danny Dixon?"
"Will Gardner?"
"You two know each other?"
"Yeah, but it's been years." Then turning to Danny. "How long have you been in Chicago?"
"About a year; you?"
"Five." Then turning to Alicia. "His sister Katie was a paralegal at the firm I used to work at in Baltimore, and Danny was undergrad at Loyola." He turned his attention back to Danny, "Until both of you went to, where was it? Phoenix, right? You went for grad school and Katie followed you there."
Alicia left them and went to go let Julia know her uncle was there.
"So how's Katie? She's here in Chicago too?"
Danny looked somber. "Katie was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago." He took a breath to compose himself. It was still hard. Everything had happened so fast. She'd gotten diagnosed just after he'd relocated to Chicago, so he felt even worse having not been there. "She died this past summer."
"Hey Uncle Danny," Julia came bouncing over. "I'm really sorry for not coming down. I'd accidentally shut my phone off and didn't get your texts."
Will hadn't totally absorbed the news about his former coworker's death when he put the pieces together that Katie is/was Julia's mother.
Alicia noticed that Will's mind seems preoccupied the rest of the night, but then again, she would be too if she found out about someone, even someone she hadn't heard from in years, had passed away suddenly at a young age.
Wednesday, after they won their case, they went out for drinks. His mind still seemed elsewhere.
"You want to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?"
"Something's going on with you, ever since Danny came by Sunday night and you found out about Katie."
Will was hesitant. Alicia didn't want to push.
"I - I think there's a pretty strong possibility that I might be Julia's father."
Alicia was not expecting that, and it took her a moment to gather her thoughts, but before she posed another question, Will continued.
"Katie and I dated for a short time before she moved to Phoenix. Based on Julia's birthdate, Katie was probably about a month when she moved. She probably didn't even know she was pregnant until she was already in Phoenix." He sipped his scotch. "We weren't officially exclusive, so it's very possible her father could be someone else, but it's' just as possible it's me."
As Will was talking to her, she looked at him, stared almost, and started noting how very strikingly similar his and Julia's eyes were and that they had the same hair color.
"So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know."
Alicia did a double take. She didn't quite understand how he could do anything but try to find out definitively if he was her father or not. She supposed he was the same unable-to-commit playboy he had been in college, but she'd never thought of him as the type to not take responsibility. He hadn't been headed towards marriage and family back then, and he seemingly wasn't now either. Over the past six months, though, she felt that he had matured since college in that respect, but now she was second guessing that observation.
"Who says she'd even want anything to do with me. I don't know anything about being a father. One minute I'm thinking what if I say something and then results are negative? On the other hand, what if they're positive? I'm not sure what's more nerve wracking, finding out you're going to be the father of a soon-to-be-born baby or that you all of a sudden have a twelve-year-old daughter. Even if I am her father, maybe she's better off without me."
Alicia felt guilty for her thoughts. He wasn't trying to escape responsibility; he was nervous, scared, anxious. It was sort of cute watching the usually ever so confident Will Gardner appear anything but.
"Will, you'd be an excellent father." She could see he was full of self-doubt. "I've seen the way you are with my kids. I've seen the way you are with Julia. No one knows what they're doing when they become a parent for the first time. You figure it out as you go. You ask advice from others with more experience."
"And what if she's not interested?"
She put her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to really get his attention. He'd been avoiding eye contact, "Will, look at me. She'd be lucky to have you as a father. Believe me, you'll be an amazing father. I've always thought so."
Georgetown Spring 1994
"Peter, Peter, Peter, that's all you ever talk about anymore," Owen complained. He'd never met Peter, but he already didn't like him.
"You're just jealous because Kevin broke up with you last week."
"I'm not jealous, it's just from what you've told me about him, I don't see what's so great."
"Well, when you meet him, I'm sure you'll change your mind."
Owen was doubtful. "So what ever happened with Mr. Georgetown? You never talk about him anymore."
"Nothing happened."
"I realize that. That's my point. Why not make something happen?" He couldn't figure out why his sister was dating this Peter guy and not Mr. Georgetown. The way she'd talked about him since day one, Owen had been convinced he was Alicia's Mr. Right.
Alicia thought. How could she explain this to Owen? Will was smart, good looking, funny, fun to be around, made her laugh, and he was clearly not one for commitment. It wasn't that he was unfaithful, he just didn't commit to begin with. She was scared to death to get involved with him assuming all she'd be left with was a broken heart. He was planning to backpack through Italy this summer after graduation, while Peter was already starting on his career and was interested in starting a family. He wanted to be a family man, and Will was a party man. If she had even the slightest indication that Will was interested in settling down that would be a different story, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"There's nothing to talk about. I'm sure one day, if/when he's ready to settle down, he'll make a great father and husband, but I'm not waiting for something that might never happen."
"You really think so?"
"I know so."
"So I guess I'll have to speak to Danny about consent for a paternity test as weird as that will be. Hey, I think I might be the guy who knocked up your sister."
"You wouldn't necessarily have to talk to him. I have power of attorney and could consent."
Will looked at her questioningly.
"Since Julia already spends a lot of time with us, Danny asked if he could give power of attorney to me in case of emergencies. He doesn't have any family nearby by, he's still relatively new in town, and I think he just felt more peace-of-mind knowing there was someone else who could help if needed." Even with Peter in prison, she had Owen; her mother, when she was in town; and for better or worse, there was Jackie. She couldn't imagine what it felt like to have the responsibility of children and be completely on your own.
"But this isn't an emergency."
"The language is vague." She took a sip of her drink. "Hey, give me a dollar."
"Why?"
"Just give me a dollar." He did as requested.
"Now, you're my client, and you just bought attorney-client privilege. So, either way, I could use the power-of-attorney or I could talk to Danny about consenting, while keeping your identity anonymous. It will be less awkward this way if the test comes back negative."
"Leesh...thank you."
"Hey, what are friends for?"
Two days later
"Julia, what?"
"Yeah, your mom has some client who thinks he might be my dad, so we're doing a paternity test."
"So when do you get the results back?"
"Wednesday."
"Are you excited?"
"I don't know, Grace. I mean, I don't even know who he is or anything. It's sort of weird to think of meeting a complete stranger and he's your father."
"My mom really wouldn't tell you anything about him?"
"She said she can't, attorney-client privilege or something."
"Yeah, my mom doesn't break rules, so if she can't, she won't."
"I don't know that I want to meet him. I mean, where was he the past twelve years? Why did he skip out on me and my mom? I mean, even if they weren't going to get married or whatever, he could have been around."
"Maybe your mom didn't tell him?"
"Yeah, but don't you think if he really cared, he would have insisted on a paternity test back then and not waited until now?"
"I don't know. I think people are complicated. Like, sometimes I think, if my dad really loves my mom, why'd he sleep with hookers? So because he cheated on her, does that mean he doesn't love her?"
"Do you think he loves her?"
"I always thought he did, but now, I don't know. It just seems so complicated. My mom says that Owen all the time whenever he asks why she's not getting a divorce."
"Well, at least your parents supposedly were in love. I was probably just an accident from some one-night stand."
The following Wednesday, Alicia was sitting across from Will in his office to deliver the results of the paternity test.
"So are you going to open it?"
"As scared as I am about possibly being her father, I think I'm more scared that the test will be negative."
She wasn't used to seeing Will so insecure. She could tell he'd spent the week trying not to get his hopes up to avoid a potential big disappointment. She remembered the home pregnancy test she'd taken with Zach. Those few minutes had seemed like forever, and here Will had waited an entire week. And whereas pregnancy had taken her by surprise a bit earlier than she'd planned, this was something Will had apparently been longing for for some time.
"You open it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." He got up pacing with his baseball in hand.
She opened the envelope, took out the papers and started trying to make sense of the medical terms. It wasn't as straightforward as Clearblue Easy to read the results. He was now standing behind her chair as she determined the meaning of the results. Since he was behind her, he couldn't see her face light up before she began to speak. "You're a match."
He didn't absorb it right away. He looked a little stunned, like he really had prepared himself that it wasn't true.
She stood up and turned to face him handing him the papers, "Your DNA matches. You're her father."
He took the papers from her, his features a mix of excitement, apprehension, hopefulness, disbelief. He looked through them and then turned to face her, a mix of happiness and shock, "I'm a father."
When Alicia got home, Julia was there as usual.
"Hi, girls."
"Hi, Ms. Florrick. You have the results?"
"Yes."
"So?"
"Maybe we should go in the other room."
"It's okay. Whatever it is I'll end up telling Grace anyway, so you can tell me whatever it is in front of her."
"Okay." She sat down with the girls. "The paternity test results are positive."
"So it's for real? This guy is my dad?"
"Yeah, and he's really interested in meeting you."
"So why isn't he here?"
"We decided that I would tell you, and let you decide if you're interested in meeting him. He doesn't want to pressure you."
"So, will I have to live with him?"
"Only if you want to, and obviously after you two have gotten a chance to know each other. You can stay with your Uncle Danny as long as you want and you for sure can have a say in how much your father will be a part of your life, but he really does want the chance to get to know you."
"So what can you tell me about him?"
"Well, you actually have met him. Your father is Will Gardner, my friend who was here the past two Sundays."
"Really? He's pretty cool." She hadn't any clue what to expect and the anxiety had been growing. She really had thought Will was a nice guy. Hadn't crossed her mind that he could be her father. The whole thing felt a little less overwhelming now that she wasn't meeting someone totally out of the blue.
"So what do you want to do next? Do you need time to think about it?"
"So he wants me? I mean, he wants to be like father and daughter?"
"Yeah, he does."
"Would it be okay if he came over here?"
"Sure. I'll invite him to come for dinner."
Will arrived about a half an hour later. Zach was doing homework and Alicia asked Grace to help her in the kitchen, leaving Will and Julia to themselves. They were both a bit nervous and found it awkward.
"So I guess you knew my mom."
"Yeah. We worked at the same law firm in Baltimore for a few years before she moved to Phoenix. I knew your uncle also."
"So she never told you about me?"
"No. We didn't really stay in touch after she moved."
"Do you think she knew you were my father?"
"I don't know if she knew for sure or not."
"Are you mad at her for not telling you?"
"I didn't even really think about it that way. I don't know what her reasons were. She was probably already in Phoenix when she found out, and I was still in Baltimore. There could be so many reasons why she didn't say anything. I do think it was unfair, but there's no undoing or redoing the past."
A few minutes later Danny arrived. After dinner Alicia, Danny, and Will sat together to discuss legal and practical matters. For the time being, Danny would remain her primary guardian, Alicia would continue to have power of attorney, and Will and Julia would meet several times a week to get to know each other.
Danny liked Will. He hadn't always liked all of Katie's love interests or fling interests or one-night stand interests, so he was grateful that the man who turned out to be Julia's father was one that he liked. Everyone was concerned that Julia be comfortable with the arrangements and that shouldn't feel that anything is being forced on her.
Although, Will and Julia did spend time together one-on-one, they spent a lot of their time with Alicia, Zach, and Grace. It just sort of happened that way. Julia would go home after school with Grace. Will would come by after work to pick her up. Alicia would invite them to stay for dinner. By then, it would time for Will to drop Julia off at Danny's.
After tax season, Danny's scheduled lightened up, and he was leaving work earlier. In the meantime, Will and Julia's relationship had grown and they naturally were comfortable spending more time together. Julia's moving in with Will or him applying for custody still hadn't been discussed until early June when Danny found out he was up for a promotion that involved a transfer to the west coast, where coincidentally, a former long-term girlfriend from Phoenix had relocated six months ago. It was good for his career and it seemed like there was a very strong possibility that he and his former girlfriend, whom he felt like was the one-who-got-away, might rekindle their relationship. However, moving would seriously affect Julia.
