A/N: Hi everyone! Here's Chapter 8, brought to you by the lovely and talented May! :) Tag to 5x10, "The Decision Tree."
two months later
"Your honor, um, before you rule, we have another witness we'd like to call," Will interrupts Judge Dunaway.
"I have ruled. That Mr. Ashbaugh was of sound mind."
"Yes, and we accept your ruling, but there is the matter of undue influence."
Alicia can't believe what she's hearing pour out of Will's mouth. What undue influence? she thinks to herself.
"Undue influence on the deceased?" the judge continues, and Alicia has yet to wrap her head around what Will is trying to do, so she sits and listens.
"Yes. We contend that he was encouraged to draw up a new will by his lawyer, Alicia Florrick."
She's astounded. Completely shocked that Will would even go there.
And then she gets it.
He's losing, and he knows he's losing.
"Your honor! This is offensive!" Cary exclaims, rising from his chair.
Alicia is carefully reminded that Will would only start to play that dirty with her if he was losing against her. She is vaguely aware that Cary is arguing beside her and she sees Will say something back before he sits down, but it's all white noise. She's appalled by his behavior, and she can't fathom why he would go there, especially now.
Will glances over just as Diane stands to argue with Cary, and the look on his face gives her chills that run down her entire spine. Alicia just stares at him, silently asking him how could you? But he doesn't respond, even in his expression. It hurts to see him look at her like that, in such a hateful way.
The judge dismisses their session and Will, with Diane and their client, walks away.
"What's he got?" Cary mutters into her ear.
"A whole lot of anger," she answers, still not quite understanding why Will is being this way. It had already been a hard day of fighting in court. She'd admit to it being tough to get through, but she does what she has to sometimes. Still, it doesn't excuse Will from getting too personal just to get the win he so desperately wants.
Alicia, Cary and Clarke leave the courthouse and stop by Florrick/Agos, which she immediately realizes was a bad idea, because her mother is waiting there for her, along with a thousand other problems regarding their Christmas party. She tries to deal with them all as best she can so she can leave at a decent hour and go home to something better. She talks with Cary, then consoles and apologizes to her mother, and finally, refrains from telling Eli and Marilyn she couldn't care less about their idiotic ethical issues and that they need to let it rest.
Surprisingly, it doesn't take long to get all of that out of the way and before she knows it, she's already driving home. As she parks her car, she tells herself to forget all of the issues of the day before she steps through her front door. She's used to taking it with her to bed, but these days, she knows better than to let it drag her down like a ball and chain.
Leaving it all at the door, Alicia steps through and starts to tug off her coat. She drops her keys in the bowl and leaves her bag in its rightful place, along with her coat. She kicks off her heels and heads into the living room where she can hear the sound of some sports news or something like that on the television. She can't tell the difference, even now, when she hears it all the time.
"Hey." Her voice drags out of exhaustion.
"Hey," he says back, and it sounds apologetic. As it should, she thinks. Alicia drops onto the couch next to him and curls up into his side as he wraps his arm around her.
"Bad day?" Will asks, and she bursts out laughing. Out of pure enjoyment or exhaustion or delirium she doesn't know. Lately it's their own personal joke, and for some reason she still finds it so funny. They fight like hell in court then come home to each other where everything is so peaceful and loving and ask how each other's day was.
"Not so bad," she finally says after recovering from her fits of laughter. "But there was this one guy in court today. He was being an asshole."
"Oh, was he?" Will laughs a little. "That's no good. Sounds terrible."
"It was, but you know what?" Alicia looks up at him. "He was extremely handsome too so it wasn't all bad." Will leans down and places a soft kiss against her lips rubbing the smirk off her face. He pulls away too soon for Alicia's liking, but she rests her head against his chest again, liking the warmth and softness of his sweater against her cheek.
"I'm sorry about all that-" he begins, but she shushes him.
"We're not talking about it, Will."
"I know but just so we're clear-"
"No," she looks back up at him. "I get it. It's not great, but I get it. We do what we have to do, but that life is separate now." Will nods slowly. He does understand, but she knows how he feels about their situation regardless. It's not perfect, it's not ideal, but it works for them right now.
"It'll go away soon enough," Will says softly, and focuses back on the TV while rubbing slow circles over Alicia's back. "Though I should be preparing for tomorrow."
"As should I, but five more minutes, okay?" she says in a low voice, because she's already falling asleep while wrapped up in Will's arms.
"Alright, five more minutes, only because I love you," Will whispers and then presses his lips to the top of her head, and she melts into his arms a little more. "Then we both probably have decision trees to deal with."
"You know me so well," Alicia sighs into him. "I love you, too."
And the next day they're both at it again. Alicia's on the stand, getting questioned by a brutal Will who is taking no prisoners, and though she knows where he's leading her testimony it still stings when he hits the manipulation area. She thinks Will should know better than to get caught up in something personal in Judge Dunaway's court of all places, but it's a good angle he's working, and if she wasn't trying so hard to lead him off the track then she'd almost applaud at how well he's planned this.
But she knows him. Though they weren't even in the same room the night before while prepping for her questioning, she knows him better than anyone and was certain that this was exactly where he'd lead things.
"And this manipulation, in your opinion, did it constitute undue influence?" he asks.
"Unfortunately, I think it did."
"And was there anyone else involved with this manipulation?" That's what Alicia was waiting for.
"Yes," she answers, and already she can tell he's a little surprised.
"There was? Who?"
"David Lee," she says confidently.
She's allowed to answer further and Alicia is proud of herself in more ways than one, but when she leaves the courtroom and sees Will swiftly walking toward the elevator she can't help but follow him. She makes sure he enters alone and that no one is watching her follow him, and just as the doors are closing she slips in and hits the stop button.
"Are you okay?" she asks him, concern and dread filling her eyes.
"Alicia, I'm fine. This is work," Will assures her and drops his briefcase on the floor to place his hands on her arms.
"It's getting complicated," she says at almost a whisper.
"It'll get better-it's just for now. It's just this case. It's bringing up a lot of… old things." Will smiles at her and pulls her in for a hug. She holds onto him tightly, never getting enough of that feeling of those arms wrapped around her.
"Have you been thinking about it too?" Alicia asks with a bit of a husky voice, because she definitely remembers what happened in New York a couple of years ago.
"How could I forget?" She notices his grip tighten on her and she squeezes back. Alicia feels him lean down to her ear. "We should do that again."
"Soon, I promise," she laughs into his suit and pulls back from him. "We should get going. Still have a lot to do."
"Yeah. We do," he replies, kissing her. Alicia leans into it and doesn't let him pull away so quickly, enjoying the way he kisses her now more than ever. He pushes her back far enough so he can reach the stop button and pulls it so the elevator restarts. The minute it starts moving they pull away from each other and stand on opposite sides on the small area.
"Look angry," he tells her with a wink.
"I will if you will," she smirks back at him.
"Dinner with Zach and Grace tomorrow night?" he confirms.
"They're looking forward to it. Be at my place by six thirty at the latest," she tells him. "Have a good party tonight," she adds somberly, because there is nothing more she'd rather do than be at one holiday party with Will instead of being at two different parties apart.
"You too," he says, nodding. At that moment, the doors open and he flies out looking genuinely mad, but with a hint of satisfaction on his face.
In that moment, Alicia can't help but think that Will Gardner is the best man she knows.
Alicia hears the knock at the door and wipes her hands dry before she goes to answer it.
"Grace, can you set the table please?" she calls out to her daughter as she passes the living room.
"Sure," Grace answers and immediately gets up from the couch. Alicia opens the door and lets Will in effortlessly because they've done this so much now that it's now almost second nature. He kisses her cheek and pulls of his jacket.
"Hey," he greets cheerfully.
"I know that you know how to use that key I gave you," Alicia tells him while leading him into the kitchen.
"I like seeing you when you open the door. I don't like using the key if you're already home."
"It'd make things easier. Just saying," Alicia reasons with him while getting back to chopping her vegetables. Will makes a move for the fridge to grab a beer and spots Grace setting up the dining table.
"Hey, Grace," Will says, pulling her in for a hug. Grace smiles against his suit jacket as she wraps her arms around him.
"Hi, Will." Alicia can't help but notice how casual everything is now. Her kids are now feeling more comfortable with Will, and she can only credit him. He makes conversation with both Zach and Grace about school, their friends and their interests. He shows that he cares and it's paying off. They're all getting to know each other more and Alicia has hope that they could become a whole family one day.
They sit down for dinner and it takes longer than usual to eat because everybody is talking about something or other, and they're all almost yelling over one another. Alicia realizes that she feels happier than she's felt in a long time, especially after leaving Lockhart/Gardner and all the problems it caused with Will, but she's happy.
Will helps clean up with the kids and they all laugh and hide behind each other as Will chases them down with a dish towel.
As Alicia and Will lay in bed that night, wrapped up in each other's arms like normal, she can't help but wonder when the fighting in their professional lives will stop.
"We could run away to the Bahamas, maybe," Will suggests jokingly.
"We could, but what about our firms and lives?"
"Diane and Cary could handle them both pretty well I think. I know it isn't what we both imagined to be, but we're happy, aren't we?"
Alicia doesn't have to think twice about it. She and Will can't be together in public, but they are happy. He makes her happier than she's ever been, and fighting during the day hasn't changed that one bit.
She reaches over to her bedside table to turn off the light, then snuggles into Will some more, getting ready for sleep.
"Scratch what I said in New York," she whispers. "This is the happiest I've ever been."
A/N: It's way more pleasant to re-watch this episode thinking this chapter is canon!