April
"I never got a chance to tell you this the first time, but if you hurt her I'll kill you."
This is how Owen greets Will when he opens the door to Alicia's apartment. Will looks to have just finished a conversation with somebody on his cellphone because his head had snapped up in confusion when Owen had started to talk.
"Hi Owen," Will says in return, blinking a bit stupidly.
"There's a rodent infestation in my house," Owen replies and when Will only looks more bewildered, adds, "In case you were wondering why I was here answering the door."
"I wasn't."
"Oh. Alright."
There is an awkward pause and then, "I remember our interactions being a good deal friendlier than this," Will says.
Owen cracks, laughing, "I'm just trying to do my due diligence as a brother." He finally gestures for Will to enter. "Come in. Alicia's changing. Lock the door behind you, would you?" He heads back into the kitchen and resumes his previous task of digging through Alicia's fridge. Will follows a few seconds later, shrugging off his jacket and revealing him in jeans and a dark blue dress shirt, buttons undone with a t-shirt underneath. Owen gives him a onceover while sipping his red wine. "Casual," he comments.
"Haven't you heard?" Will replies wryly, "I've got six months off."
"Oh, I've heard. Alicia's not working under you anymore—" he pauses "—at least, not professionally." He grins slyly and then turns to grab another glass from the cabinet. "Wine?"
"Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Red or white? We've got both open. I like red but Alicia prefers white."
"I know," Will says, smiling, "And white's fine."
Owen grabs the open bottle of white from the mini-fridge, pouring as he says, "You have good timing. The kids just left for Peter's twenty minutes ago." He hands Will the glass, eyes the expression on the other man's face, "Unless it's not good timing so much as previously arranged."
Will shrugs, and Owen might not be as good at reading people as his older sister but he can tell that there is nervousness there. "A little bit of both," Will answers.
"Do you plan on telling them?" Owen prods, "Ever?"
Will shifts uncomfortably. "Everything's up to Alicia."
"But you wouldn't mind?"
"I offered once. Before." Will waves his hand and Owen knows it to mean the first time. "To meet them. Formally."
"And?"
"Alicia said it wasn't necessary."
"Hm." Owen stores this information for use at a later date.
Will clears his throat, deftly changes the topic. "So, you have a rodent infestation?"
"Oh, he does not have an infestation," Alicia says, making her appearance. "So melodramatic."
"Rat babies, Alicia," Owen says, "There are rat babies in my home."
She rolls her eyes at him. "Did you call the exterminator?"
"Yes," he replies, "But I won't be able to get back into my apartment until after the weekend. Tuesday morning at the earliest."
"So, what you're saying is you'll be eating my food for the next four days."
Owen smiles as sweetly as he can while watching, with interest, his sister interact with her boyfriend (or lover or whatever). Alicia hadn't kissed Will hello – not that Owen had really expected her to; she'd always been a bit reticent about personal displays – but there had been a light touch on the shoulder.
Alicia had been a bit crabby after work, doing a good job of hiding it from Zach and Grace, but Owen knows her so much better and he had recognised the slightly tense way she had composed herself. Now, he watches as she lets Will cover her hand with his, returning his smile with a more relaxed one of her own. When Will offers her his glass of wine, Owen wonders if maybe he had chosen white because he had known Alicia would want some. It makes the protective brother in him smile, to know that his big sister has somebody who thinks about what she might need after a long day at work, somebody who's willing to take care of her for a change.
"So, what're you guys doing tonight?" Owen asks and then narrows his eyes comically, "Or do I not want to know?"
Alicia glares daggers at him, opens her mouth to respond, and he's saved by her phone ringing.
Will picks it up from the edge of the counter, handing it to Alicia without glancing at the caller id. This small gesture makes Owen certain that he likes Will a whole lot more than he ever did when he had first met Peter (comparing Will to current Peter would be completely pointless seeing as how current Peter fucked hookers and destroyed his sister's life and nothing could redeem him in Owen's book). Owen remembers how Peter had always wanted to know who Alicia was talking to – sneaking a peek at the caller id on her cell or casually glancing at the home phone display in another room – and it had pissed him off to no end.
"Aren't you going to get that?" Owen asks cheekily.
She points threateningly at him before answering into the receiver, "Alicia Florrick."
"Work?" Will asks when she hangs up moments later.
She nods, "Sorry."
Owen can tell she's apologising for having their evening plans spoiled, but not for the fact that she has to go back to work. There's no guilt or shame in her tone and Will's response doesn't elicit any either. Owen adds another checkmark next to Will's name.
"Do you want me to give you a lift? I could wait for you nearby. We could still get dinner after."
His sister's answer gets muffled a little as she wanders back into her room – Will following her – to put on the clothes she had just taken off, but Owen gathers enough to know that she's declined and that it'll be another late night. He sighs at the hours she keeps, grabs his wine and a bag of chips from the cupboard and wanders into the living room. The television is set to the CW when he turns it on, and he quickly changes it to CNN, finding that the news is always more palatable when it's Anderson Cooper reporting.
A good twenty minutes later – and Owen knows it doesn't take that long for his sister to get ready, but as much as he teases, he really doesn't need to know about her sex life – Alicia's head pops into the room.
"Will's gonna stick around," she says, "Be nice."
He grins. "When am I not?"
There are murmured words at the front door and then she leaves and Will returns. "How do you feel about pizza?"
Owen thinks and then, "You know what I could really go for? Wings."
"Pizza and wings, then? I'll treat."
Oh yeah, Owen thinks, He definitely likes Will.
.
Where Alicia finds Owen sprawled out and asleep on the couch, Will is still awake and sitting at the kitchen counter, playing a game on her iPad.
"I thought you would have left," she whispers. She watches as he lets himself lose the game before turning around and pulling her between his legs.
He hugs her around the waist. "I said I would wait for you."
"Yeah, but it's two in the morning." She rests her arms on his shoulders. "You didn't have to."
"I'm a man of my word," he replies, grinning.
She grins back. "I guess that means I have to be a woman of my word, too…" She begins to strip walking backwards into her bedroom, pulling him inside before closing the door behind them.
.
"So, how long have you been in love with my sister?"
Alicia stops midway through opening her bedroom door. She's just finished taking a shower and getting dressed for the day, but apparently Owen and Will have already gotten down to business.
She hears Will groan. "God, isn't it a little early for this?"
"What? I've let you have your one cup of coffee," Owen replies. "You can stir pancake batter and talk at the same time. So? How long?"
Alicia's stomach grumbles at the mention of food, contemplates just walking into the kitchen and interrupting them.
But then Will answers, "A while," and Alicia can't move.
"'A while' like a month? A year? Five years?" Owen goads.
Will mutters something that Alicia can't hear, but that Owen clearly can because he says, "Well, shit." And then adds, "That can't possibly be true."
"Why not?"
"Because that would mean you haven't loved anybody since your second year of law school," Owen shoots back and Alicia finds herself holding her breath because yeah, 'oh shit' is right.
"So?" Will says, as if he doesn't see the point to Owen's question.
"So, I mean, haven't you been in relationships since then? A lot of relationships?"
"Not so much relationships as… relations."
Alicia winces. She's had sex with the same man for sixteen, seventeen years and Will's been going around, free to have relations. Sometimes she wants to go ahead and ask Will how she compares but she's not that insecure and—
"But I've only been in love with your sister."
–then there's that.
Owen's voice comes up again. "Does she know this?" There's silence from Will and she imagines he's shrugging because Owen barges on. "You should tell her."
More silence. Then, "I don't think she's ready to hear something like that."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Alicia curses. Will's right. She doesn't want Will to be right. Goddammit, it's not supposed to get this complicated again this quickly. Why can't they just have great sex?
"It doesn't matter," she hears Owen say, "You should tell her anyway."
Shut up, Owen, Alicia wants to scream.
"She used to call you 'Mr. Georgetown', you know," Owen says, his voice getting giddy as it does when he's revealing a secret.
"What?" Will chuckles.
"Back in the day," Owen explains. "She talked about you. And wrote about you. A lot."
Oh, now Alicia wants to strangle him. She has to put an end to this before Owen goes ahead and reveals just how much Will's feelings hadn't gone unreciprocated back then. And maybe even now. Oh fuck.
Alicia quietly eases her door shut again before purposely knocking her purse against it and making a big to-do in exiting her room. "What smells so good?" she calls out, walking into the kitchen and dropping some files on the counter.
"Your favourite, sis," Owen answers, "Your handy boyfriend is making us pancakes."
"He's making me pancakes," Alicia retorts.
As she goes to pour herself a cup of coffee, she sees Owen catch Will's attention and knows they're exchanging a look over the fact that Alicia hadn't protested to the use of the word 'boyfriend'. Honestly, though, with everything she's heard this morning, 'boyfriend' isn't even close to being a concern.
She's not lying as much, but she's still lying. She had broken it off with Will in the fall because it had been getting way too complicated at work: Diane had started watching them way too closely and Alicia had been ninety-nine percent certain her boss more than suspected Alicia's extracurricular activities with her other boss. Having to make clandestine plans with Will so they could sneak in some alone time while at work – because, let's be honest, that's where she (and he used to) spend the majority of their day – took a lot out of her. When it worked out, it had been worth it. After all, sex does a fantastic job relieving stress and tension, but Alicia hadn't been lying to Grace either. All the sneaking around had been distracting. Being in the same room as Will had been distracting.
Now, well, there's a separation of Church and State, so to speak. There's work and then there's Will. There's no longer work and Will. Still, this doesn't change the fact that she's started lying to her children again, although, she doesn't like thinking about it like that. She's more… obscuring the truth. She wants to believe that if Grace and Zach were to ever outright ask her about her relationship with Will, that she would tell them. They never would, of course, and maybe that's her cowardice showing.
She knows there are things that need to be said, but the only person she can talk to about this – besides Will, and if she wants to gain perspective, it shouldn't be with the other half of the equation – is Owen. And Kalinda. Because while neither she nor Will had ever told her, Kalinda has ways of figuring things out. But, Alicia's still not talking to Kalinda about anything not work-related. Even though she kind of misses it.
.
Kalinda's eyeing her from across the table. It's late and the buzz from discovering new evidence that could make their case has long passed. This is Alicia's case – she's first chair – and while grateful for all of the help she's receiving from the first-year associates, she's irked that they're still so chipper at this hour. Their eager, young faces remind her that she's not twenty-six anymore, and that's so very annoying.
"Alicia," Kalinda says, "Could I speak to you for a moment?"
The two of them step outside the large conference room. "What is it, Kalinda?" she snaps.
"You're looking a little—"
"—what? I'm looking a little what?"
"Frustrated." Kalinda tilts her head. "Maybe you should take a break."
"We're due in court the day after tomorrow. There's no time for a break."
Kalinda gestures through the glass. "You've been on this case for months and you have half a dozen first years in there checking and triple-checking every document." Off Alicia's glare, Kalinda continues, "You look like you're about to snap at the next person to ask you a question. It's making it a little tense in there."
"Is there a point, Kalinda?"
"I think it might do everybody some good if you were to take an hour." Kalinda deliberately emphasizes her final words. "Relieve some… tension." Somehow Kalinda's already got her car keys, which she now dangles. "Go take a ride."
.
There's a knock on his door and when he answers, it's with a surprised, "Alicia—"
She strides in, shuts the door behind her, and cuts him off. "—I want you." Before he can respond, she's already got her tongue in his month and her hands underneath his shirt.
Yeah, okay, Will thinks. He could go along with this.
He crushes her against the wall, nudging her legs apart with one of his, applies slight pressure. She's working her mouth against his, nibbling on his bottom lip and riling him up. She braces herself with hands on his shoulders as she goes to kick off her heels, hissing when the lost inches cause her core to sink harder onto his thigh.
"I thought you were preparing for court," he says, splaying his hands across her ass. She's rubbing herself against him, trying to get herself off quick and dirty. It's the hottest thing he's ever seen.
"I have to go back," she pants. "I have to go back in later."
He descends on her exposed neck, licking and sucking on her pulse point. She's desperate against him, close but not close enough. "What do you need?" he says into her ear.
"Pants," she says and he releases her, lets her drop to her feet. He unbuttons her black pants, lets that drop too, and then it's back against the wall she goes.
"Like this?" he says, palming her over her panties.
"Mhm." Her eyes are wide and staring as she snakes her own hand down and grips his wrist. She entwines their fingers and then slides them both underneath the now soaking fabric.
"Fuck, Alicia," he gasps as they both work between her legs.
"Right there," she moans, her head falling back and her eyes slamming shut. "Will."
"It's okay," he says, applying more pressure and then more still. She bites her lip, tries to stay silent, and he senses her fingers stopping just as his increase in speed. "I've got you," he whispers and feels her buckle against him, a wave of relief flowing from her body.
His lips linger on her forehead until she finds her footing again. She pulls back and gives him a kiss, chaste and sweet. There's a glint in her eye, though, as she fingers the edge of his white tee.
"When do you have to head back?" he asks, even as he's unbuttoning her pale violet shirt.
When he's completed his task, she bends down to pick up her pants and walks into his living room to drape them both on the couch. He follows her, of course, and when he's close enough, she kisses him again. This time, not so chaste.
She leads with her lips, luring him down the hallway and into his room. She pulls his shirt off, pushes him back onto the bed, and finally replies, "We've got time."
He grabs her by the waist, settles her on top of him. "I like that answer."
.
.
.
A/N: Once again, I'd love to hear your thoughts.