A/N: Hi, all! We're baaaack! :) This is a two-part chapter, brought to you by May. Things are about to get interesting...

It had really only been a few weeks since Will and Alicia had their talk about where they stood as a couple. As September swept in, both of them were finally as happy as they could ever imagine, and things were right as rain between them.

Though every now and then, Alicia had reservations about what she and Will were doing. She had secretly divorced her husband and it hadn't gotten out to the press, a fact for which she was eternally grateful, but now she was sneaking around with her boss again.

Not that she didn't enjoy the sneaking around. In fact, she liked it more because she was free from Peter and didn't have to worry about being a cheating wife. It was exhilarating for both her and Will. Even more so than the first time around. Each time they passed in the halls of the firm they'd have to resist a strong urge to sneak into an empty office for ten minutes. But it was getting to be a problem. There were always eyes on them and though no one knew for sure why they were so close at work, everybody had an inkling that they were sleeping with each other. The problem was confirmed when Robyn brought it up to Alicia as they were exchanging information.

"You and Will seem close," Robyn says casually, a little hint of something else in her voice.

"We're old friends." Alicia smiles politely and brushes it off.

"I mean closer than usual. You seem to be spending a lot of time together here at work lately."

"I don't mean to sound harsh here Robyn, but it's none of your business," Alicia says as kindly as she can, because she really does like Robyn-but it isn't her business.

"I'm sorry. Didn't mean to impose." She smiles awkwardly and begins to leave Alicia's office.

"Wait, Robyn?" Alicia calls. The investigator turns around. "Do you know what people are saying, concerning Will and me?" Alicia doesn't want to make it sound like something but she trusts that Robyn wouldn't mention what Alicia asks her to anyone else.

"Oh, um, well some people are just noticing you seem close." Robyn shifts her stance and leans against the doorway.

"And other people?" Alicia asks softly. If her co-workers are saying anything about her and Will, she has to know. Robyn looks behind her shoulders quickly before walking back to Alicia's desk. She takes a seat on the edge of the chair.

"Okay, you didn't actually hear this from me, but a lot of associates think you're sleeping together. I don't think that. Like you said, you're old friends." She shrugs her shoulders. "Except some of the partners think you only became a partner yourself because you're sleeping with Will. I'm not sure who's saying what because I'm hearing it through the grapevine but that's the general gist of it all." Immediately after she finishes speaking Robyn practically darts from Alicia's office, only to avoid more questions.

Alicia sighs to herself. It sounds like such a jumble of things and she doesn't know what to make of it all. She thought she and Will were being careful around each other. She thinks about what Will said a few days earlier, about how since she's a partner now, it's normal to be talking to him a lot more-but now she wonders if that was just a convenient excuse the two of them found so they could be together more often at work.

She doesn't know how to handle it, so she just sits at her desk for the rest of the day, thinking about all that Robyn said. She pulls out her laptop so it looks like she's doing something, but all she really has in front of her is a blank screen.

At the end of the day, she decides to just tell Will that they have to calm down at work and not talk as much, or be around each other so much. And they'll have to stop the frequent and unplanned makeout sessions in the elevator because that leaves them flustered, which she knows people can see when they come out of the elevator.

Alicia nods her head in a silent affirmation to herself; this is the right decision. She packs up her things and leaves her office, but her plan fails almost immediately because as soon as she walks out to the lobby, Will happens to be leaving at the same time.

"Are you waiting for me?" he whispers to her just as they stop in front of the elevator.

"Nope. Are you waiting for me?" she asks back.

"Nope," he says casually, and she can't help but smile to herself. It's still so exhilarating to be so close to him and have the overwhelming urge to kiss him, but she can't because they have to keep this secret. Their hands almost touch as they wait for the elevator to get to their floor and Alicia realizes she doesn't want to go home and tell Will they have to stop.

"Alicia?" She hears Cary behind her and she turns around. "Before you go, I need you to look over a couple things for me. It won't take long."

"It'd better not. I have a surprise for you." Alicia hears Will say under his breath as he stares straight at the elevator in front of him, never moving his eyes, and she smiles. He always wants her, which is good because she always wants him.

"Sure, Cary. Night, Will." she says professionally. Will turns around to offer Cary a nod, and as she follows Cary to his office, she can practically feel Will looking at her ass as she walks away. She puts a little more sway into her hips, which she knows he can't stand.

"What is it, Cary?" she asks as soon as she is in his office.

"I hate to ask, but I need to know if you're still not saying anything-"

"About you leaving with the other fourth years?" she finishes his sentence. She's fed up with that game so she jumps straight to the point.

"Yes. We're making final moves this week. You know, getting office space arranged, and we don't need things to go wrong."

"I'm going to keep your secret." She knows how to do that so well.

"Thank you." he says genuinely.

"Was that it?"

"Yeah, sure. Good night, Alicia."

"Night." She starts to make her way back to the elevator, knowing Will is waiting in his car to take her home. But then, a quick thought pops into her head.

She thinks about Cary leaving and how not so long ago, he'd asked her to go with him. At the time, it didn't seem like a good idea. It seemed like a terrible idea. There was no reason to go, and Cary was going behind the partner's backs. Her back. Except now, it seemed like a possibility.

If she left, she and Will could just be happy in private and they wouldn't have to hide anything in the office. Not only that, but she'd be a part of something new and exciting. A brand new firm, which had always been a goal of hers. It could solve quite a few problems.

No, she thinks, I really shouldn't. It's just an easy way out. And Alicia's never taken the easy way out of anything.

She walks through the orange glow of the parking lot and finds Will's car.

"That really didn't take long," Will says as she shuts the door. She leans across the car and kisses him. She hadn't seen anybody nearby, so she decided to take the risk.

"Just a brief he wanted me to look over. It's fine."

"Good. I just want to get home and go to bed."

"Me too."

"I'm too tired these days. All of this conflict with Diane is wearing me out." Alicia reaches over to Will and grabs his arm. He lets go of the steering wheel and holds her hand. She hates how they can't seem to settle on a new name partner after Diane leaves. She wants someone new, but Will wants somebody within the firm because it'll be easier for him to not have to teach someone brand new the ins and outs of how the firm works.

"I agree that you need somebody within the firm. It'd save for a lot of extra effort having new come in."

"Funny you should mention that." Alicia's interest is piqued.

"Did Diane finally side with you?"

"Not exactly. I did decide on someone I would like to run the firm with, though," he says coyly. It had better not be David freaking Lee, Alicia thinks.

"Who?" she asks softly because she's suddenly afraid of whose name Will might say.

"You."

"Me?" Me? Really? She considers it momentarily and laughs out loud at how crazy it seems.

"What? You know the firm. You're more than competent to handle it. I'm sure Diane would say yes and I'm sure I could sway the other partners in your favor." He tries to sell it to her but she doesn't believe him.

"You may think I'm competent but I'm certainly not qualified. I've only been a partner for a few months, Will."

"Come on. Just think about it for a while. We'd make a great team." He quickly glances to her and smiles but his eyes drift back to the road in front of them. There was definitely a double meaning there, and she knows it.

She sits in silence for the rest of the ride home, left with an offer she doesn't know how to process. I shouldn't take it, she thinks. There's too much conflict there. A lot more than she knows Will would like to admit.

Alicia tries not to think about it for a few days, but when she does, all she can think is that it's a bad idea. She and Will are already a great team and she thinks that maybe spending all day, every day together would be too much.

She likes going to work, not seeing Will every second, and feeling excited to go home because she's missed him all day. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all of that.

Cary's offer spins around in her head yet again. If she ever left Lockhart/Gardner, she could really have the perfect and uncomplicated life with Will that she so desperately wants. After everything that had happened in the last four and a half years, uncomplicated was sounding better every second.

It really isn't a bad idea, Alicia thinks as she steps out of the elevator when coming back from lunch with Will. As she walks back to her office she sees Kalinda eye her a little from down the hallway, probably because it's obvious she has a certain glow about her. That sets it in stone for Alicia: she's going to go with Cary. She's already tired of having to hide everything at work, and she doesn't want to get stuck underneath his offer of partnership, no matter how generous it is.

She gently knocks on Cary's door and he gestures for her to come in.

"Hey, Alicia."

"Hi, Cary." She stands there, fidgeting with her hands a little because she's nervous to ask him if she can still leave with him, afraid he'll say no.

"What's up?" he says, half confused that she isn't saying anything.

"I need to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"If you still want me, can I...leave Lockhart/Gardner with you...and start up your firm?" She says each word carefully, and suddenly everything feels like it's in slow motion.

"Uh. I, uh. I guess." He's most definitely confused and it doesn't surprise Alicia. Asking him so fast even surprises her. "Though if you're serious, you still can't say anything to anyone. Not even…" he trails off and she knows he was about to say Will.

And that's why she has to go. No talk from anyone, because her life is private and she likes to keep it that way.

"Cross my heart." She doesn't like that she has to keep it from Will but she knows she isn't about to risk the other associates' jobs for her personal life. Will's going to understand, he'll be fine when I tell him, she thinks, with no idea exactly how wrong she is.

"So… Agos… Florrick?" he asks with a smirk. She freezes as he says Florrick. If she has to keep up the façade that she and Peter are still married, then she'll have to keep the Florrick name.

"It seems it'll have to be Florrick, won't it?" she says, almost laughing at how crazy it is that she'll have to use his name. That's one downside, but the upside is that she has Will now. And if still having to use Peter's name and leaving the firm means she'll have Will, then that's what she's going to give up. It isn't a lot, in the grand scheme of things, and she knows it'll be worth it.

"So we will go with Agos/Florrick, then?"

She takes in a deep breath, readying herself for what she's about to say and how much she'll dislike the sound of it.

"Florrick/Agos is what I think you mean." She smirks, the smallest smirk you can barely see, because she again remembers what she said to Cary months ago.

"So…you're in?"

"I'm in."