The Other Side

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I will be bringing in dialogue and cases from the show, and guess what? I don't own those either! Title and lyrics are from 'The Other Side' by Jason Derulo.

Author's Note: this was one of my favourite chapters when I was writing it, so I'm happy to share it with you. Everyone has given me so much lovely feedback on how much they love the kids, and they're back in this chapter so without further ado, please enjoy and as always I would love to know what you think!

Chapter Four

"How's Will?"

"Peter, don't do this," Alicia sighs, resting her head in her hand as she scans the prison visitors room, looking for anything but him to focus on.

"Mom tells me he's working you hard," Peter continues, sarcasm threading through his voice.

"No, Peter," Alicia snaps. "You don't get to do this. Will is a good man. He's been a good friend to me, and he's been good to our children when he has no reason to be."

"Except to get into your bed," Peter mutters, making Alicia's anger bubble over as she slams her hand down on the table between them, relishing the way he jumps just a little, before recovering. "Oh, come on, Alicia, he's been in love with you for years."

"Maybe he has," she counters dangerously, meeting his gaze head on.

"Mom! This is awesome!" Alicia turns away from the balcony of the box that houses Stern, Lockhart and Gardner's Bulls season tickets the next day, laughing when she sees her son drowning in a Bulls jersey that he definitely didn't arrive in. She dressed him herself, so she would know. "We got hot dogs, and we went right down to the field and it's so cool!" her son continues animatedly, and she can't help the smile that crosses her face as he continues to chatter a mile a minute, spouting any number of baseball facts that she's sure Will has been filling his head with in the forty minutes they've been gone.

The man in question's hand rests on Zach's head as they head down the stairs towards her, and she watches as the boy grins up at him, barely pausing in his rush of words.

"Take a breath, buddy," she murmurs as he barrels into her legs, her own fingers brushing against Will's as she cups Zach's head gently. Zach is all but vibrating with excitement, and she can't help rolling her eyes a little bit because Will's showing every classic sign of not being a parent in getting her little boy this worked up. "Sit down and have a drink for me, okay?" she murmurs. "There's a bottle of water for you right over there. Then you can tell me all the baseball stories you want."

"Thanks, mom!" She can only laugh as Zach bounces over to the water, turning back just in time to see her daughter's face all but light up as Will deposits a miniature Bulls cap crookedly on top of her riotous mass of curls. Grace reaches both hands up to straighten it, her eyes wide with excitement as her mouth drops open.

"You spoil them," Alicia murmurs to Will, raising an eyebrow at him before turning her attention to Grace as she pats her mother's cheeks. "Well look at you, baby girl," she whispers to hrt, watching in awe as Grace flashes her a cautious look before turning back to Will and stretching both arms out to him. Will's jaw drops right as her heart stutters, but she passes Grace over to him before the girl can change her mind. "Say thank you, baby," she whispers in her ear, pressing a smacking kiss to her cheek as Will settles her on his hip.

She's never let Will hold her before.

Zach, her little bundle of confidence, has been more than happy to hang out with Will and all but leapt at him when he offered to take him down to the field, but Grace is so cautious, just like her.

She doesn't give her heart away easily, which has only been exacerbated by Peter's disappearance.

The fact that it's Will she's chosen makes the moment all the sweeter.

"Thanks," Grace whispers quietly, her eyes full of awe as she stares up at Will.

"You're more than welcome, miss," Will murmurs back, tapping her nose lightly and laughing as she goes cross eyed trying to follow his fingers. "Can't have your kids looking like they're not Bulls fans," he adds, turning his attention back to Alicia. She laughs, shaking her head slightly.

And actually she finds that she doesn't mind, not one little bit. Her kids have lived through enough in the last few months that a little spoiling won't do them any harm.

Particularly not from Will.

She takes another long moment to watch him with her daughter, his fingers circling her tiny wrist as he points her attention to all sorts of things on the field in front of them. Grace giggles at everything he says, and she shakes her head. He's a natural, even if he doesn't think he is. And apparently the Gardner charm really does work on the whole Florrick family. Speaking of, she drops to a crouch in front of the chair where Zach is slumped, running a hand through her son's sweaty hair as he lifts happy but tired eyes to hers.

Sometimes he's so confident and so self-assured that she forgets he's still only five years old.

"Hey, my man," she murmurs softly, opening her arms to him as he clambers into her lap happily. "You've had a pretty exciting day so far, huh? And the game hasn't even started yet."

"It's so cool, mom," he murmurs, wrapping his arms around her neck as she settles in the seat he's vacated. "Will knows so much about baseball."

"Mm, you know I used to go watch him play baseball when we were younger," she murmurs, watching his face light up in disbelief.

"Really, mom? Was he good?"

"Yeah, he was pretty good," she laughs softly, pressing a finger to her lips as Will heads over with Grace. "That's our little secret though, we don't want his head getting any bigger than it already is." Zach bounces on her lap a couple of times as the speakers start to crackle, giving her a bemused look.

"You're silly, mom," he murmurs. "Why would his head get any bigger?" She laughs at that, ruffling his hair as Will takes the seat next to her. He shoots her a questioning look as Zach starts to laugh too, and she shrugs a shoulder, shooting him a grin as she pulls her sunglasses down off her head. "Mom?" Zach asks, breaking the connection between them as he rests a hand on her shoulder, clambering onto his knees so he can whisper on her ear. "Do you think Will would play baseball with me sometime?"

"I think you might be able to convince him if you ask really nicely," she murmurs back, cutting Will a conspiratorial look because her son is not as quiet as he thinks. He nods immediately, and she can't help reaching over to press a kiss to his cheek.

"Awesome," Zach whispers, wriggling back around in her lap to watch the action on the field. When she looks to her left, Will mouths the same word at her.

She can't deny the shiver that runs through her body. He's been nothing but completely respectful of their friendship for the last few weeks, but that hasn't seemed to stop her own reactions to him. Shaking her head slightly, she reaches over to tug on her daughter's baseball cap, laughing softly as she's rewarded with a massive grin.

"Did you turn both my kids into baseball fans in less than an hour?" she asks Will suspiciously.

"I plead the fifth."

On days like this, she can't help but think that life is pretty good.

The Bulls make winning look effortless, and the sun has long set by the time they find themselves riding the El back from the game. Grace is spark out, a heavy weight against her mother's chest, and even Zach's baseball questions have trailed off as he slumps against Alicia's side, seated in between her and Will.

Which leaves two adults locked in a moment that neither of them seem to be able to break.

"I'd forgotten the magic of baseball," Alicia murmurs eventually, stroking her fingers soothingly behind Zach's ear. "I've never seen these two so transfixed by something that wasn't on a screen either."

"I can't believe you've never taken them to a baseball game," Will murmurs softly, pitching his voice low enough that it won't disturb the children. She can only shrug a little, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Peter didn't really care for baseball," she tells him quietly. He nods slowly, brushing his fingers gently against hers where they rest on Zach's head.

"How are things with Peter?" he ventures softly, closing his eyes for a moment as she tenses up, memories of the previous day flooding in. "Sorry. I'm sorry. Forget I asked," he backpedals quickly.

"Not good," she murmurs softly, lifting her hand from Zach's head just enough to tangle her fingers with his. "But today is a good day. I haven't seen my kids this happy in a long time."

"Well I'll let you know next time we're not using the season tickets to entertain clients," he murmurs, "if you're free, we'll bring them again."

"I'd like that," she tells him softly. "I used to love coming to watch you play," she adds impulsively, giving him a hesitant smile as her mind flashes back to Georgetown, to sneaking law books up into the stands before he explained the rules to her, and hanging out in the bleachers with him long after the game had finished.

"I used to love it too," he murmurs quietly, and she doesn't have to look into his eyes to know that he's remembering the same thing.

"You know you've made a friend for life in Zach today," she murmurs eventually, when the weight of the emotions and too many memories between them starts to get too heavy. He laughs softly at that, and she can't help smiling at him. "He had a blast Will, and I can't tell you how much that means to me. Thank you."

"I had a blast too, Alicia. He's a great kid. And Grace," he murmurs softly, a little bit of awe still in his eyes. "Wow." She can see in his eyes that he's just as aware of the significance of Grace's actions as she is, and she smiles a little wider.

"I was so worried about her," she whispers softly, running her fingers gently down Grace's back. "You have no idea…" she shakes her head a little, giving him an emotional grin before casting her eyes down for amoment. When she looks back up, there's an almost wistful smile on his face, and she knows instantly what it means. "Something magic about those cuddles, huh," she teases knowingly. He nods slowly, his grin crooked as he glances down at Grace. "These two never fail to make me feel better. Even after the worst of days, all it takes is them throwing themselves at me the second I walk through the door, or reaching up for a hug when I tuck them in, and everything's okay."

"I can see that," he whispers, resting his head on his hand as he watches them. "Our stop is next," he murmurs, reluctant to break the silence as he reaches out to brush a strand of hair from her face. She leans her cheek into his hand for just a second, wanting the moment to end just as little as she thinks he does. "You want me to get Zach while you carry Grace?" he asks eventually.

"You live in the opposite direction, Will," she murmurs softly, curling her fingers gently at the back of Zach's head. "I'll wake him up."

"Like hell you will," he all but growls, fixing her with a stare she only sees in the courtroom. "If you think I'd even consider leaving you to walk home alone with two children, my mother obviously didn't bring me up right. So you take Grace, I'll take Zach and I'm walking you all home. No arguments."

Her heart doesn't melt.

It doesn't.

"So you used the season tickets this weekend?" Diane asks casually, coffee mug balanced in one hand as she leans against Will's door on Monday morning.

"Yeah," Will answers, looking up with a grin. "Great game. Easy win." Diane pauses for a long moment, and Will sees something soft but almost calculating in her eyes.

"You took Alicia and the kids, didn't you?"

"Is that a problem?" Will challenges, meeting her gaze head on.

"Not right now. You let me know before it becomes one, though."

"So the trial prep is progressing well," Peter tells Alicia a few days later, as she sits across from him wishing she were anywhere but there. "Daniel thinks it could only be a matter of weeks before they'll release me."

"That's really good news, Peter," she murmurs softly.

"Alicia, is there a chance for us?"

She can only stare at him for a moment, incredulous. Because he hasn't asked her in so many words since the scandal broke, but now that he has, it almost feels all too clear.

Her heart starts to pound in her chest, and the tips of her fingers start to tingle as she struggles to draw in a breath.

"Alicia, please. I want to save our marriage. Tell me there's a chance."

"You slept with hookers," she whispers quietly. "You slept with hookers when our daughter was three years old. You tell me what you think the answer is."

tbc.