A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Life's been super busy.
Fall 2010
Danny moved to the west coast, and Julia moved in with Will. Even though all parties were in agreement, Child Services were involved and there were hearings regarding Julia's best interests. Even though evidence seemed to verify that Will was her biological father, he wasn't listed on the birth certificate. Neither his nor Danny's life circumstances impressed the social workers; they were single and worked full time with demanding high-powered jobs. The fact that Will was her biological father didn't necessarily out weight the fact that Julia had known Danny her entire life being that he had been in Phoenix up until four or five months before her mother passed away.
It was in large part due to the fact that Julia had developed a relationship with Alicia and the fact that Alicia testified that Julia would continue to be able to return from school with Zach and Grace and could stay in their home until Will finished work that the court agreed to grant temporary custody to Will. It was decided by the court that this arrangement would be more suitable than going with Danny, where wasn't a child-care system yet put in place for the hours between when school ended and his work day finished. Even though Alicia was in a sense, currently a single parent herself, being that her brother was helping a lot, both grandmothers were local and willing to help, and the social workers felt that Grace and Zach were well adjusted, properly looked after, et cetera it was decided that this family atmosphere was good for Julia as well as not having to once again switch schools and start all over.
Will did have to make some adjustments like leaving the office earlier whenever possible and bringing work home instead of staying so late in the office and utilizing video conferencing during those hours when he needed to be meeting with partners or associates after hours.
He also had to cut back on dating, especially in terms of bringing women home or going home with them.
Thanksgiving Day
Owen and Veronica were in the kitchen with Alicia, Zach was in the family room watching the game, and Grace was setting the dining room table.
"So, Alicia, Owen tells me we'll be having some additional guests."
"Yes, Mom, we will." She gives Owen a you're-in-trouble look because she's concerned what Owen's told their mother about Will and the fact that Owen conveniently forgot to tell her that their mother would be back in town for Thanksgiving until yesterday, which was well after she'd invited Will and Julia and Jackie, who was also coming because she always came every year, and she was the kids' grandmother regardless of the status of her and Peter's relationship.
All she knew at the moment was that she was glad there were many, many bottles of wine because she assumed she would need them.
"You know Alicia, Owen tells me that Will is one of Chicago's top bachelors."
"Really, he told you that?"
"He did. He also says you two spend a lot of time together."
"Our daughters are friends, and part of his custody arrangement involves my taking a certain amount of responsibility for Julia."
There was a knock at the door and Alicia gratefully escaped to answer it.
"Hi, come in."
"Hi. This is for you." Will handed her a bottle of wine and a box from The Cheesecake Factory. "Will, you didn't have to bring anything."
"And you didn't have to invite us."
Alicia took the wine and cheesecake to the kitchen. Julia and Will joined Zach and Grace in the living room. Veronica and Owen were still in the kitchen having subtly observed the exchange between Alicia and Will. When Alicia returned to the kitchen, Veronica inspected the wine and Owen the cheesecake.
"Chocolate Hazelnut Crunch, good choice."
"This guy's got good taste in wine."
Alicia rolled her eyes as she headed for her room to quickly change from the very casual clothes she had been wearing while she cooked into something more holiday appropriate.
There was another knock at the door. This time Veronica answered as Owen joined the others in the family room.
"Jackie, how nice to see you again."
"You too, Veronica. I didn't realize you would be here."
"I just got back yesterday."
By this point the two women had made their way to the family room.
"Grace, so this must be your friend Julia I've heard so much about."
"Yes, Grandma."
"And you must be her father, Will."
"Yes, nice to meet you Mrs. Florrick."
"Well, it's nice to see you're taking responsibility. Better late than never."
Veronica didn't appreciate Jackie's comment and cut in, "Julia, you know, Zach and Grace weren't planned either. In fact, Alicia and Peter weren't even married yet when Alicia got pregnant with Zach."
Owen started getting concerned with where his mother was going with the conversation. "You know, Mom, I don't think we need to talk about this."
"Owen, stop. They're not little kids. They can hear this."
"Well, at least my Peter took responsibility right away. He didn't wait twelve years."
"Some responsibility. He married Alicia and then cheated on her by sleeping with prostitutes numerous times. And for all we know, that might not even be the half of it."
"Mom!" Alicia had just walked in, and she didn't need her kids to overhear Jackie and Veronica.
Will never knew that the reason, or part of the reason, Alicia married Peter was because she was pregnant with Zach. He was also beginning to understand why Alicia seemed to always tense up at the mention of her mother or mother-in-law.
As long as neither Jackie nor Veronica were steering the conversation, the evening was quite pleasant. Whenever Jackie got the chance, she'd sneak in some snide remark meant to put down Will or make pointed remarks about Peter's imminent return to his family and home. Owen would try to cut off Veronica before she could respond with a biting retort of her own. Will also managed to jump in and change the subject on several occasions. Owen was further impressed, as if he wasn't already impressed enough with Will, at how well Will seemed to deal with Jackie's remarks.
Julia was a bothered by Jackie's subtle jabs at Alicia. She thought Alicia was so wonderful, she couldn't understand what Jackie had against her. She had wanted to say a thing or two Jackie, but she didn't want to hurt Grace's feelings by being rude to her grandmother or to embarrass her father, who she realized was being very courteous and biting his tongue. She wondered if Jackie had always been this way towards Alicia, and if so, how Alicia's managed to put up with her for so many years.
A while later Veronica and Alicia were alone in the kitchen between clearing the dinner dishes and preparing dessert.
"Alicia, I don't get you. You're letting your cheating scumbag husband move in here with you and the kids, assuming he wins the appeal, while you've got that man out there obviously interested in you. Have you seen the way he looks at you? Not to mention he's not bad looking himself."
"Mom, I'm married. Peter says he's sorry, and I owe it to the kids to give him a chance."
"Alicia, he had a chance, and he blew it."
"Mom, we're not talking about this. It's my decision, not yours."
"Just think about one thing; who do you want to see when you come home? Who do you want to see when you wake up? Who do you want to spend your life with? Just think about that."
Veronica kept her mouth shut the rest of the evening on anything related to Peter, but she kept her eyes wide open to the way Will and Alicia interacted with each other and the way Will looked at Alicia. She couldn't understand how Alicia didn't see it or why she was ignoring it.
Sunday Alicia, Veronica, and the kids went to the Skating Ribbon at Maggie Park. They were just finishing putting their skates on and heading for the ice.
"Hey, Grace?"
"Julia. Hey, I thought you said you didn't know how to skate?"
"I don't - well, I didn't. It's my first time. We've been here an hour or something already. My dad says I learned pretty fast, plus there's a rail. It's really fun."
"Yeah, I told you."
The two girls automatically went off together. At the Ribbon, there's a rule, no more than two people skating together. Veronica, quick on the uptake asked Zach to go with her leaving Alicia and Will as the only two left.
"Did we just get ditched by our kids?"
"I think we did. Don't worry, it happens, especially with teenagers."
"Do you come here often?"
"We used to come more when the kids were younger. We haven't been for a while, and then my mother just got it into her head this morning that she wanted to go skating."
At one point they stopped to watch the sunset behind the Chicago skyline. She had been having such a great afternoon that she'd been fully in the moment and not thinking about life. Now, that were sitting, quietly watching the view, random thoughts floated through her mind, including thoughts about the next day's trial and Peter's possible return home.
Will noticed Alicia's demeanor change from carefree to troubled.
"Hey, you okay?"
She realized she'd let her mind wander and pushed her unwelcomed thoughts to the side, "Yeah."
"Worried about tomorrow?"
How did he always seem to know what she was thinking? "Yeah."
Will wasn't particularly looking forward to Peter's release, but he wanted Alicia to be happy, he wanted Zach and Grace to be happy. If Alicia wanted to work things out with Peter, then that's what he wanted.
She had turned to face him when she answered, and now she was once again looking at the setting sun, watching as sky grew dim. She felt safe. She didn't feel the need to quell her uncomfortable thoughts, but free to voice them.
"It's not that I want Peter to have to stay in prison, but I wasn't expecting him to get released so soon."
"So, you're not ready for him to come home, but you feel guilty for preferring he'd be there longer.
She sighed, "Yeah."
She'd seemed so strong and so sure just a few days ago on Thanksgiving. He realized she had such a strong ability to be able to act whatever part she felt she needed to. When she wanted the world to see a brave face, she could wear one, convincingly. But now, he could see her guard was down. He could see she felt vulnerable and uncertain.
"You don't have to feel guilty for not feeling happy or excited about his possibly getting released tomorrow. You're allowed to feel however you want."
"I know." She was looking down at her hands, particularly the band on her left ring finger. Will reached over placing his hand on hers. "It's going to be okay, Leesh. You're going to be okay."
She looked up at him, care and concern in his eyes. He sounded so reassuring. It gave her a feeling of calmness, even though she still felt there were rough seas ahead, like he was like her anchor in the storm.
"Mom!"
"Dad!"
The moment was gone as Grace and Julia skated over to them. At the snap of finger, Alicia had her brave face back on, no trace of vulnerability visible. The girls stopped to talk with them for a few minutes, long enough for Will to give them money to buy hot chocolates at a nearby snack bar.
Just after they skated off, Zach and Veronica spotted them. Shortly after, they left, but not before kids convinced the adults that everyone should go out dinner at a favorite pizza parlor, which the Florricks and often frequented after an afternoon of skating. Throughout the evening, Veronica couldn't help herself from thinking what a shame it was that Will and Alicia and the three kids weren't all going home together, but she didn't say a word of it to Alicia. It had all been said already, and she knew she was the last person who would ever get Alicia to change her mind about something.
That night, Alicia was unable to fall asleep. Monday morning Alicia was to be in court for Peter's trial. The Wednesday before the Judge had adjourned saying he'd be rendering a decision Monday. Alicia and Peter had agreed to try to repair their relationship. From Alicia's perspective, it was mostly for the sake of the kids and wanting to spare them what she and Owen went through after their parents' divorce.
Her mother's words kept echoing through her mind as she looked over at the empty space next to her in bed. For over a year that spot had been empty. At first, it had been strange to her to sleep alone. Not necessarily to go to sleep alone. Peter had had many, many late nights. She looked around the room at their furniture. It was all the same furnishings as their bedroom in Highland Park, but this was her room. When she looked at the picture of the two of them on her dresser, she felt like she was looking at two other people. She remembered the day it was taken. She remembered feeling happy. She remembered being in love. She didn't feel that anymore. She didn't feel excitement at the thought of him coming home tomorrow. She felt ambivalent. She even felt a bit resentful she realized. She had created this new life, a life she realized she was happy with, a life that didn't include Peter.
First thing Monday morning Alicia went to visit Peter before court.
"I want a divorce."
"What?"
"I want a divorce."
"But I'm coming home today?"
"No. You're hopefully getting released today, but you're not coming to my home."
"Our home."
"No, my home. Our home was sold to pay your legal expenses."
"Alicia, I thought we agreed we were going to work on this - on us? What happened?"
"What happened is I can't - I don't want to. I can't go back as if nothing ever happened."
"Why now?"
"I've done a lot of soul searching the past few days. At first, everything was just such a shock, and then you were sentenced to ten years, and I felt I had time. I didn't need to make any decisions about us, and I needed to focus on taking care of the kids, the legal expenses, finding a job. Now that my life, the kids' lives are more settled, and your being released is more imminent, I've needed to and felt ready to think about and make decisions about us."
Peter was quiet for a few moments.
"Is this about Will?"
""What?"
"You're sleeping with him, aren't you?"
"Excuse me?"
"Mother's told me about how much time he spends at the apartment, how he was at Thanksgiving dinner."
"Then I'm sure your mother's also told you how close Grace and Julia are, which is the main reason Will is around. It's because of the girls. Not to mention that I'm involved in the custody arrangement."
"Yes, but the custody arrangement doesn't include Julia and Will staying for dinner, coming over on the weekends, or including them in our family Thanksgiving dinner."
"He's my friend. That's what friends do, Peter, they help each other, they spend time together. When someone's alone, you invite them to join your family for holidays.
I haven't once even come close to breaking my wedding vows with him or any other man for the last twenty years. You on the other hand, banged hookers eighteen times, sometimes two at a time, and you accuse my wanting a divorce to be because I'm having an affair? This is twisted Peter. Repentance or not, I can't stay in this marriage. You crossed a line, and there's no going back."
"And you think this is best for the kids? What about them?"
"I think they're doing fine and will continue to do fine. If they could adjust as well as they have to your being in prison, then they could certainly adjust to our continuing to live separately with you out of prison. And, I think Zach and Grace will also learn a valuable lesson that there are red lines that cannot be crossed, and crossing them has consequences. I would never want Grace to stay in a marriage with a man, who cheated on her, nor would I want Zach to think that as a husband, he can cheat while his wife turns a blind eye. So yes, I'm thinking about the kids, and more I think about them, the only choice I can live with is for us to divorce."
Peter was silent. He knew it wasn't fair of him to have accused her of cheating on him, the pot calling the kettle black, but that didn't do anything to ease the fierce sense of jealousy he had been harboring for months towards Will Gardner.
He also realized, it was inevitable that they would divorce, but the timing was not good for his career. The news of his release and acquittal would be marred by the news of the divorce.
"Depending on how the public and media respond to my release, I may run in the coming election for State's Attorney. Can we at least hold off on the divorce? If it becomes public now, the media will focus on that instead of the fact that I'm innocent of the corruption charges."
She knew he was right about the media, and she also knew it would have a negative impact on his public image. He had been a good State's Attorney, and as angry and hurt as she was, she wasn't out for revenge. The divorce wasn't about hurting him.
"Okay, Peter. We can wait to make it official. But you're not moving into the apartment, and I'm not going to pretend for the media that we've reconciled. We share two wonderful, amazing children. For their sake, I want us to be able to be civil with one another, married or not. So for that reason, I'm willing to postpone, but I'm not putting on a show either."
"I'm not asking you to. I just want a chance to make a positive impression on the public and media before attention gets focused on the divorce."
