"Don't end up hating me," Alicia murmured to Will's retreating figure.
"What?" he asked, a slight smile across his face. Alicia looked up in brief panic, shook her head and said rather quickly,
"Nothing, have a good night."
She nodded next, trying to cover her embarrassment.
"Are you sure you don't want some," Will tried again, profering the bottle of wine with a grin.
"No, I'm good."
Continuing his beaming smile, Will walked back into Diane's office to celebrate their latest win. A dull ache pressed itself into Alicia's chest as she failed to tell Will, her boss, her college friend, ex-lover, her everything, that she was about to betray him.
Alicia didn't know if it would have changed anything if she had told him then. The way she had left was abrupt, causing Will's outburst. 'You were poison!' The words still ran through her head most days. It had been two months since and she could not shake the pain in her chest.
Now, she apprehensively sat on the stand, waiting for Will, no, Mr Gardner to present his case against her. She didn't know what he was going to say. She didn't know how far he was going to go. But Alicia had an intense trust that he would not reveal any of the conversations they shared between the sheets. Even if he hated her, she knew he wouldn't stoop that low, knew that he would know that their relationship had been real and that everything she said to him had been true. When her eyes met his, she doubted, just for a second, whether he shared this sentiment.
"Do you want me to take this?" she heard Diane murmur to him.
"No. I'm good. I want to take it."
He cleared his throat and began,
"Good morning Mrs Florrick."
"Good morning to you," she replied coolly yet politely.
"How long have you been Mr Ashbaugh's attorney?"
"Oh, about two years."
"And did Mr Ashbaugh threaten to fire you as his attorney over those two years?"
"Yes."
Alicia managed to keep her steely gaze upon him throughout all of his questions. It was not the secret longing gazes they had shared before but it was certainly something. And it was already making Alicia grow warmer in her tight black blazer.
"And when was this?" Will continued.
"September 23rd, 2011," Alicia answered clearly.
"Could you explain the circumstances?"
His jaw tightened as he spoke. She was sure that only she could see the tension in his jaw. Oh, how she longed to kiss it away. She worried that she had accidentally conveyed this in her gaze as she briefly remembered him doing the same thing to her while she was on a call with Mr Ashbaugh.
"Yes," she said eventually, "You and I were at his apartment in New York City, prepping him for his testimony."
"And was there anything about that night-"
"Actually, I wasn't finished," Alicia interrupted, raising her eyebrows slightly, "Would you like me to finish?"
"Please," Will murmured. To others, it may have seemed like the questioning was going normally, albeit the slight tension between the two, but to Alicia and Will it was a reminder of a faithful night in Alicia's apartment early into their affair where the two latter lines had been involved in an entirely different scenario, with an entirely different tone.
Diane glanced up, still taking notes, and Cary's eyes were fixed onto Will's figure, a tinge of amusement in his expression. They shared a look. Both had been spectators in Will and Alicia's relationship for a long time. This was something entirely different to what they had seen before.
"He was being removed from the board of one of the companies he had created. Mr Ashbaugh thought that he should be allowed to testify about some of the concerns he had over the board members. We argued that it was not essential to the facts."
"And did you change his mind?"
"Yes, I did," Alicia replied, wondering where this line of questioning was going. Will did not show any response to this on the outside but he remembered their night together in a hotel in New York. He remembered the fresh air against their bare backs as they tried to keep warm with just a duvet and each other. As the memory passed, he stepped closer, steadied himself directly in front of Alicia and murmured,
"And did you claim that Mr Ashbaugh was in love with you?"
Alicia tilted her head in disbelief, a heaviness entering her chest and the trust she thought they shared ebbing away. Now, her eyes filled with images of the two of them clasped together on an expensive hotel's balcony.
"This is crazy romantic," Will said, delicately stroking his fingertips against her arm. With a beaming smile, she pressed herself closer to him, drinking in his faint cologne. Her heart felt light for the first time in years. She felt like she could finally exhale. That was when she put her lips against his ear and whispered,
"This is the happiest I've ever been."
Even as she said it, she knew it included the birth of both of her children and her wedding to Peter, but she ignored those events for just a minute so that she could be present with Will, in her happiest moment.
"Mrs Florrick?" Will said. Finally falling out of her recollection, Alicia blinked and looked up to him again. My happiest moment was with you and that wasn't a lie, she thought.
"I did claim that," she said carefully, afraid that if one wrong word were to slip out of her mouth she would break down crying.
"And did you suggest that you," Will started, then gulped, "could use his loveto… manipulate him?"
Alicia could feel her hands starting to shake against her lap. She knew when Will was talking in double-entendres and this was that. He wasn't talking about Ashbaugh anymore. He was talking about himself. She sat in silence for a few seconds, her eyes on him.
"I said it was a possibility," she said eventually, choosing to answer the question as if it had been directed about Ashbaugh.
"And did you manipulate him into signing off on his will?"
And now it was back to Ashbaugh. But there was something Will was still unaware of. It was something that he definitely wouldn't like, and also something that would immediately shock her representation. She hadn't originally decided if she was going to use this evidence but now, given Will's line of questioning, she knew it was necessary.
"Yes," she replied. Alicia barely heard Cary's protests, for she was fixed in an intense gaze between herself and Will.
"Continue," she heard the judge say.
"And this manipulation, in your opinion, did it constitute undue influence?" Will asked, finding it hard to hide his glee at Alicia apparently admitting defeat.
"Unfortunately, I think it did," she responded, trying to sound as demure as she could. Perhaps it would soften Will after the blow she was about to hit him with.
"And was there anyone else involved with this manipulation?"
"Yes."
"There was? Who?"
"David Lee."
A murmur of confusion made its way around the courtroom. Will scoffed, strided back to the table, picked up the most recent will and said,
"David Lee was involved with this will?"
"No," Alicia said, barely keeping her smile off her face, "With the other one."
Immediately seeing what she'd done, Will took his seat and said conclusively,
"Thank you, Mrs Florrick."
Cary protested, the judge ruled in his favour and Alicia shared the details of the manipulation with the court, all while keeping her eyes fixed onto Will's. David Lee had asked her to use her influence to get Mr Ashbaugh to sign off on the will that benefitted his wife, which left that will invalid.
The second court was adjourned, Will was out of the door. Diane was left to pick up his notes and briefcase. Alicia hurried to follow after him, barely having been excused by the judge. Once she made it through the doors, she called out,
"Will! I- Please! Will…"
When she caught up to him, she grabbed his arm and he swivelled immediately.
"We should talk," Alicia suggested.
"Well done," Will muttered sarcastically, moving his face closer to hers, "That was an impressive play. Something you've picked up in your bid for betrayal, I presume?"
"Please, Will, can we talk?" Alicia tried again.
"It's far too late for that. Don't try to talk to me privately again, Mrs Florrick."
He freed himself from her grasp and began to stalk off.
"You mentioned our night in New York," Alicia murmured faintly, "I didn't think you would."
"You severely underestimated me, Mrs Florrick," Will said, turning back, "It was just a night, like any other. Why wouldn't I be allowed to question you on it?"
His words hit her like a knife against her chest. He must have known that night meant everything to her. His words made her feel like she was bleeding onto the courthouse floor. Her knees already felt weak. But as she looked into his eyes with hurt, she saw that he didn't mean it. Instead, behind his callous words, hid an even more hurt and broken man. One that she had caused.