Disclaimer: The Good Wife is not mine

October, 2017, Chicago

"Erg." Alicia groaned as she sat down on the sofa in her corner office. It was dark outside, the interview had been conducted in the early evening in order to reduce the interference on those who were working. Now the sun had well and truly set, and the moon had taken it's place high up in the sky surrounded by twinkling stars. From the large windows of her office she could see the city illuminated by streetlights. Inside the office the light was gentle, it only came from the small lamp on her desk, but she liked it that way. It made the atmosphere of her office less intense.

Finally the cameras were being put away and the crew were leaving. It was safe to say that Alicia Cavanaugh was exhausted – physically and emotionally. Whilst the interview had not been as hard as she had anticipated it being, it was hard enough. Talking openly about her private life, about her feelings and emotions was not something she did, even with those she was closest to. Doing it with a complete stranger, in front of the nation, that did not come easily to her.

Leaning against the back of the sofa she internally groaned at the thought of the work she still had to complete that evening. Deciding she actually fancied getting to bed before the sun rose she sat down at her desk and began making notes on the latest Sweeney case. It was an hour later, with sticky note covered papers that she made her way to Will's office. They were chairing the case together, after all Sweeney was one of their biggest clients.

"Hey." She said, as she stood at the doorway and watched him. Will was sat in his chair, leant back, throwing a ball up in the air and catching it repeatedly. The way that he nearly dropped it when she spoke made her realise that he had obviously been deep in thought. Part of her wondered about what, however she reprimanded herself. It was not her place to ask, this was not twenty five years ago. They didn't have that relationship anymore.

"Hey." He replied, as he placed the ball down and stood up, moving to sit down on the squishy brown leather sofa, and indicated for her to take a seat.

"I brought you the file for Sweeney's latest case." She stated.

"That was quite an interview." He stated, before standing up and retrieving two bottles of bear from the mini fridge that he kept behind his desk. Will opened them using his teeth, and held one out to her. Despite herself thinking that she shouldn't, that she had work to do, she accepted. They clinked the beer bottles before taking a drink of the fizzy liquid.

"Yeah, I guess it was." She said, smiling softly at him. The way his eyes stayed on hers, the way he was looking at her, it confused Alicia a little. There was something in his eyes, something that she could not quite put her finger on. Shaking her head she told herself off. It meant nothing, he was probably just thinking that she had way too much makeup on – which she did. With that thought in mind she opened up the file and began to run through the case with him.

Will Gardner did an incredible job at looking like he was listening. Or at least he thought that he did. Alicia had not seemed to pick up on the fact that he was actually in a world of his own, wondering whether or not they would ever have a future together. "Will, are you even listening?"

He had been caught. "Sorry, I was in a world of my own."

"Yeah I guessed." She laughed, shaking her head. "I was saying that I think our best option is going to be to settle out of court. Sweeney won't do well with a jury, they won't support him."

"No... yeah..."

"Will. What are you thinking?" She questioned, looking at him, her head tilted slightly. By this point they were on the floor, on maybe their third beer of the night with legal papers surrounding them in an organised chaos.

"Why did you lie?" His question was simple, however confusion was written all over her face. "In the interview, why did you lie?"

"I didn't." She stated.

"You did, about us. You never said the real reason we ended, the reason I ended it."

Alicia sighed and took another drink of her beer. "You don't deserve to be put all across the news, to be made out to be something that you're not. Your mother, she was better than that as well."

"Alicia-"

"The media are unforgiving, Will. They are cruel and nasty. The aim of the interview was to put things to rest, not to make new stories." Will looked at her, admiration filling him. Back in Georgetown she had always been the one who looked after everyone when they got too drunk. If he was ill then she would take care of him without a second thought, if one of their friends was struggling with a module then she would be there to help them, for as long as they needed her. Will had always admired that selflessness. The fact she had lied to the media, something she had told him she would not be doing simply to protect him, and his mother's memory – that just told him that the Alicia he had known was still there. She was just wearing an expensive suit, had a different hairstyle and was named partner at a highly successful firm.

"Do you ever wonder where we would be? If we had stayed together?" He asked, looking at her as she bit her lip and contemplated the question.

"Sometimes." Alicia answered honestly, before looking down at the file in her lap.

"We could be married, have our own kids, running a firm."

"It would just have been life, Will. We might not have even made it. We might still have broken up." Her tone was filled with emotion, and despite the fact that he could not see her face because of the curtain of hair, he was pretty sure that she was filling up.

"What about now? What if we tried now? Do you ever wonder what that would look like?"

Alicia remained still, she sat there with her jaw practically on the floor. Alicia didn't know how to respond, she turned to look at him, look in his eyes. There was something about his expression that told her he had thought about it. "I-" Alicia cut herself off, looking down. "I don't know Will."

The fact she had not said no, the fact she had not just completely shut the idea down. Well, it must have gone to his head, because the next thing he knew, he was tilting her head up and capturing her lips with his. Alicia was shocked, however she instantly melted into the kiss, the familiar and yet oh so different kiss. It was wrong, she was newly divorced with two children, but it felt so right. It felt just as right as it had nearly twenty five years ago.

When they pulled apart for air, she looked into his eyes, reading the love and lust that was portrayed in them. The words that were about to leave her lips were taken away at the sound of heels on the carpet outside, a sound that caused them to move ever so slightly further apart. However their eyes did not come off of one another. She stayed looking at him, just as he did at her. Both mesmerised by what had just happened. "That was some interview Alicia." Diane said, from the doorway. Finally the brunette's eyes were torn away from those of her college boy friend.

"I know it wasn't as firm centred as you would have wanted-"

"No, the fact you are going to be on tv will get us some good publicity." Diane said, smiling. She noticed the way that Alicia and Will were sat closer that usual, the way Will looked as though he wanted nothing more than for Diane to leave the room. "Sorry, was I interrupting?"

"No, no we were just looking at the latest Sweeney case." Alicia said, smiling, but still not convincing Diane.

"Oh, good. Will I need to get your notes from the class action deposition." Diane said, and just like that, Will was shaken out of the surreal bliss that the kiss had put him in.

"Yeah, I'll get them for you." He said, standing up and walking over to his desk.

"I'm gonna call it a night anyway, I'm exhausted." Alicia said, moving all of the papers into a pile.

"Alright, I … erm-" Will stammered, making Alicia smirk a little.

"I'll see you both tomorrow." Will just nodded and Diane smiled as Alicia walked out of the glass office carrying the pile of papers and went to dump them on her desk. And as soon as the papers were out of her arms she looked out of the window at the city, and let out a deep breath. Still unable to quite comprehend just what had happened, just what that kiss meant...