Alicia walked into the living room startled to see Peter sitting there with Will. She was still in her bathrobe, and had a towel wrapped around her head.
"Peter. What in God's name are you doing here?" she asked.
"I had a guilty conscience after we talked last night. I couldn't sleep. So I booked the earliest flight out of O'Hare this morning," Peter said.
"I have to finish getting ready. Please refrain from killing each other until I come out," she said.
Alicia felt nausea coming on, and wasn't sure if it was because of the pregnancy, or because Peter was sitting in her living room with Will.
She went to the closet and found a pair of black pants, and a white V-neck top. She stared at her stomach in the mirror as she dressed, amazed that there was already a baby growing inside.
She combed her tangled hair, tying it back in a ponytail. She applied a liberal amount of makeup, trying to hide the dark circles, and the bags under her eyes.
Alicia had always felt like her life followed a certain blueprint. Her high school and college grades had been an endless succession of A's. It was expected that she would finish college, finish law school, get a job, and then eventually marry and have kids. She never dreamed she would be here a week before law school graduation. Unsure about the direction her life was taking.
Lately, when she was in a restaurant or somewhere, she would take notice of women with young children. She expected to feel some kind of maternal instinct, but it wasn't happening. These women seemed harried and overwhelmed. She actually felt sorry for them.
Then again, she did feel some kind of instinctive protectiveness toward the baby growing inside her. That was why she hadn't had real coffee in three weeks, and why she had refused to drink tequila with Will last night. She wasn't sure she knew anything yet about being a mother, but already understood the lengths a mother would go to protect her child.
Alicia went into the living room where Will sat in front of the TV, pretending to be tremendously interested in a women's soccer match on ESPN. Peter sat in stony silence.
"Alicia, what the hell is he even doing here?" Peter was asking her.
"Uh, I live here?" Will said.
"This whole thing is none of your business. You need to leave so that Alicia and I can talk about this privately." Peter said sternly.
"Fine. I'll go for a drive," Will said as he switched off the TV, and stormed out.
So do you that often?" Peter asked after Will had left.
"Do what often?" Alicia asked.
"Parade around in front of Will in only your bathrobe?"
"Oh for God's sake Peter, don't be ridiculous. Will and I have lived together for three years. We're comfortable around one another."
A little too comfortable, Alicia. Does he walk around in front of you in boxers, and a tee-shirt?"
"Sometimes, yeah." She wondered what Peter would say if he knew she woke up this morning wrapped in Will's arms, his hands only inches from her breasts.
"So why are you here, Peter? You made it clear how you felt on the phone last night. What else is there to say?"
"Alicia, I truly love you. And I'm sorry about the way I reacted last night," Peter said with the requisite amount of regret in his voice.
"Cut the crap, Peter. You wanted me to get rid of our baby. To sweep it under the rug, and go on with our lives like it never happened. And now you show up here full of apologies?"
"What else are you going to do, Alicia? Raise a child alone when you're barely out of law school? Your family won't support you, you know that. Marry Will? Come on, that's a joke."
He was right. She had no other choice. She knew in his own strange, sad way Peter did love her. Once he got over the initial shock of all of this, she knew he could be a good father. She could still have the suburban home with the with white picket fence, and the rose bushes.
Alicia being Alicia, was already planning in her head. "We'll just have to move up the wedding that's all. We'll plan it for some time this summer, with just our closest family and friends."
Peter moved over closer to her, and took her hand. "This will all work out. I love you, and I promise never to hurt you ever again."
Will drove out of DC until he was deep into the Maryland countryside. He ended up in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Braxton, Maryland.
The town looked like a movie set from the 50's. There was a gazebo in the town square. Main Street contained a family-owned hardware store, drug store, and diner. Children rode their bikes through town apparently free to roam where they liked. There was no parental fear of them ending up on a milk carton.
Will half-expected Sheriff Andy Taylor, and Aunt Bea to come running out of city hall to greet him. Maybe he could move here with Alicia. They'd set up a law practice together here, and raise their children in this bucolic atmosphere, True, neither one of them were really small town people, but they could adjust.
He stopped at a bar at the edge of Main Street called Clancy's Tavern. He ordered a beer, and French fries.
"So you down here from DC?" the bartender asked. He was an older man with white hair, and a ruddy face.
The bartender's name was Charley, and will ended telling him the entire story involving himself, Peter, and Alicia.
"She wants the kind of stable family life she herself never had as a child. I get that. I just do not think Peter is the right person to give her that."
"Buddy, I don't know you, and I don't know this other Peter guy. But I'd say if she's already engaged to this guy, and pregnant, it's probably time to move on," Charley said.
He eventually became too drunk to drive anywhere, so Charley called him a cab, and he checked into a bed and breakfast run by a nice woman named Nancy. When he got to his room, he picked up the phone on the bedside table, and called home. No one answered. He assumed Alicia and Peter had gone out, or were involved in something that prohibited them from picking up the phone.
"So, we're all having dinner tonight, if you want to join us? Just Peter and me, my mom and stepdad, and my brother," Alicia said.
"Dinner with Peter, and your folks? I'll pass. My mom and sister want me to show them the White House, and the Washington Monument, and all that crap." Will answered.
Georgetown Law School graduation had been that morning. Alicia and Will were in the apartment they had shared for three years. She was packing up the remainder of her things. She was driving back to Chicago tomorrow to begin her new life there.
Will went to the fridge, and took out a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne, and poured two glasses
. "To the class of 1994. We did it! Here, I got you something, It's for the baby, actually."
He handed her a plain white box with a red ribbon in the center. "Sorry, I'm not much for wrapping presents."
She opened it to find a tiny Cubs cap, with a matching jersey.
"Will. This is adorable! I assume you know somehow that it's a boy?" she asked.
"Little girls can become Cubs fans, and have their hearts broken year after year just like little boys. Maybe I can be a part of the kid's life. Uncle Will. I can take him to ball games, and teach him to play hoops," Will said.
Alicia knew Peter would never allow that. "Thank you for the gift, Will. And thank you for being there for me that night. I think I would have complexly lost it. You are the best friend I've ever had."
They promised there would be no tears, Of course there were.
Will received a wedding invitation in the mail a month later, along with a letter from Alicia. She had passed the bar in Illinois. She had a job, and was planning a wedding for Labor Day weekend, Her letter sounded hopeful, and full of promise.
He didn't attend the wedding of course. He wrote back, stating he had a golf outing that weekend with some of his fraternity brothers. He spent the weekend alone in his apartment, drinking himself oblivious.
He stayed in the apartment in Washington when fall arrived, commuting to his new job in Baltimore.
A girl with long dark hair rented Alicia's old room. She was a third year law student, with friends, and a life of her own. One night she had a party, and they both got plastered drunk. He almost slept with her, but stopped himself before that happened.
His life was spiraling out of control, and he felt powerless to stop it. He was drinking way too much, and spending too much betting on football and basketball games.
In January of 1995, he got a phone call from Owen Cavanaugh, Alicia's brother.
"Will Gardner? This is Owen. Alicia's younger brother. She wanted you to know she had a baby boy. Zachary Peter Florrick. She had an emergency C-section, and had a rough time. But she's fine, and the baby is healthy."
"That's great, Owen, Thanks for letting me know," he said without apparent emotion. Silently, he said a prayer thanking God that Alicia was okay, and asking him to make certain little Zachary did not turn out to be like his father.
Two Years Later
Alicia stumbled downstairs to the den. Both of her children were blissfully asleep. Grace had been crying non-stop for two days, and Alicia was beyond exhausted.
She went to the computer in the den, and opened her E-mail, hoping from a message from Him.
She made sure she deleted every thread of conversation she had with Will. She wasn't sure why. It wasn't like it wasn't anything would result from E-mail.
There was a message from him, sent yesterday.
To:ZachandGracesMom
How have you been? There's some stuff going on here I can't really say a whole lot about. I think it's time to leave Batimore.
Alicica wrote:
Sorry I haven't written back Grace is teething, and finally stopped crying. So where do you think you'll go?
Try rubbing bourbon on her gums, that what my mom says worked for me. Here's the thing. I might be coming to Chicago for an interview in a few weeks. Think you can get away for a few hours?
Alicia stared at the E-mail, unsure what do or how to respond.
To be continued….
Sorry about the way this ended up, but if Alicia ended up with Will instead, there wouldn't be a show, LOL! I was thinking about doing an AU story where Will and Alicia run a practice together in that small town. We'll see.. Thanks for the nice reviews everyone!