A/N: So I've changed the story rating to T because of some language used in this chapter and for future chapters. Read on everybody!

"You what?"

Alicia didn't say anything. She looked at her daughter. She had the most confused and heart-broken look on her face. Alicia looked at her son, who seemed to be showing his complete disappointment in his mother. And she looked at her husband. She saw nothing but rage. He looked into her eyes and it felt like a thousand pins were being stuck into them. The intense and fierce look from him brought nothing but pain. Alicia wasn't crying, nor did she have tears forming in her eyes. She was in a state of shock. It was almost her worst nightmare had come to life.

"Mom?" Grace whispered. Standing still, her feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Grace. I..." She really couldn't say anything. What would she say? Her family just saw her confess her love to someone who wasn't Peter.

"Grace, let's go." Zach tried to move his sister through the hallway and to their bedrooms but she couldn't stop staring at her mother, with huge tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Just that look alone shook Alicia out of her state of shock and she began to feel her eyes fill with tears. She had never in her entire life wanted to hurt her family like this, especially Grace. And she just broke them all into little pieces. Zach eventually was able to move his sister through the apartment and into their rooms. As soon as Zach shut his door, he heard his father yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Will fucking Gardner?! You love him?! Him?!" Peter couldn't hold in his temper. Why would he now? He had always suspected it, but without true proof, he'd brushed it off. But now he had heard it from the source. His wife was truly in love with the man he had disliked for a very, very long time.

"Peter, stop yelling. Don't hurt the kids." Alicia pleaded, and that had angered Peter even more.

"Don't hurt the kids? Really? They just heard their mother confess to loving another man! You hurt them just now, incredibly so! I will yell, if I want to yell!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Peter, please. I didn't mean it!" She was begging, pleading with him, with her face red and flush from all the tears that were in a constant stream down her face. Just because she loved someone else didn't mean she wanted to hurt her own husband, whom she also loved.

"Of course you meant it! You thought you were alone, you said it. You said it right there. You meant it! And I knew it all along."

"No! No, it was never like this. Never." Alicia took and step towards him, and Peter backed off fast. She stopped moving. "I didn't mean it like that, Peter. I'm sorry."

"Stop it Alicia! You said it, and you can't take it back. People can't take back those things!"

"Peter, I still love you. I promise I do. Please, believe me." He looked down and started to laugh, she couldn't figure out why. This was not funny.

"Well how about this. Now you are the one pleading and begging me to believe you when you say something isn't true. The tables have turned. You know what Alicia? I'm not doing this. I cannot be doing this!"

"Please, Peter wait. Don't go! Let's just talk about it!"

"I'm not going to talk about it. Not when it's Will Gardner. We're done talking." And Peter turned around and walked out the door. Alicia tried to walk towards the door to stop him but her legs went weak and she collapsed on the ground in shambles. She wasn't crying, weeping would have been a better term. She never wanted this to happen. She wasn't sure how it happened. All she knew it that moment was that she had to speak with her children, but she couldn't get herself to do it. It hurt too much to try and talk to them now, so she crawled her way to her bedroom and went into the bathroom and locked the door.

"What did she mean when she said she loved him?" Grace was sobbing to her brother about the issue.

"What do you think it meant Grace? She loves that Will Gardner guy."

"Her old boss…"

"Yeah." Zach was sitting in Grace's room while she was on her bed holding a pillow close to her body.

"Dad's really mad."

"Yes Grace, he's really mad. Why wouldn't he be? Mom just said she loved someone else! We weren't even meant to hear it. It was meant to be a secret, just hers. Of course dad is mad at her!" Grace looked at her brother with red eyes and tear stains on her cheeks and a stunned look upon her face. "Okay, I'm sorry Grace. But it's the truth."

"I thought they were happy." She whispered innocently.

"So did I. I thought they were working things out."

Grace looked up at her brother and simply asked, "What happens now?" He just shook his head. Zach had no idea. He didn't know how they'd get through all of this. "Should we talk to mom?" Grace asked him.

"I don't think so Grace. I think this is one of those times where we wait until she's ready to tell us." And wait they did. After close to an hour after Peter leaving, Alicia worked up the courage to speak to her kids. She washed her face and brushed her hair, trying to look more complete and together than she felt. She felt almost empty. She didn't know how to explain it exactly with her kids when Peter cheated, and now she had to do almost the exact same thing but with herself. It would not be easy for her to handle but she had to be truthful with her children. They were old enough now, and deserved the truth.

Alicia walked up to Zach's door and gently knocked. She heard a muffled 'uh huh' through the door and opened it slowly. What she saw broke her heart all over again. Grace was cuddled against her big brother sobbing. Zach had his arms around her trying to console her as best as he could. Alicia could feel the tears start again, and no one had said anything yet. Alicia didn't know if she should sit or try to comfort her daughter. She wouldn't know how Grace would feel about it, so she took a seat in Zach's desk chair.

"I'm sorry kids. For all of it. I'm sorry I didn't protect you from this." Grace pulled her head up to look at her mom and wiped away some of her tears.

"Do you still love dad then?" Grace burst out. She wanted answers, desperately, and she wasn't going to dance around it, no matter how much it brought her more pain.

"Oh sweetheart, I will always love your dad. And both of you. I love you more than anything in the world." Alicia said calmly.

"But you love Will too?" Grace looked so innocent in this moment, Alicia thought to herself. She had been so grown up lately but this was such a fragile, young version of Grace. She thought that if they talked about it, it might shatter her and all she'd have was tiny pieces of her daughter, unable to put back them together, but she had to keep going to make it better after it got worse.

"I do."

"How long has it been going on?" Zach chimed in, curious to know. Not angry, or relatively upset. Alicia took a deep breath.

"It hasn't been going on. We've just been talking for a while."

"And you fell in love with him?" He asked.

"I did."

"Are you going to leave dad? What about his governorship? Were you staying with dad just because of the campaign?" Alicia didn't know how her son had questions like these.

"I don't know if I'm going to leave your dad. It isn't because of the campaign or governorship, okay? Me having feelings for Will has nothing to do with it, but I can't hold these feelings back. I'll be honest with you on that."

"Are you not being honest with us about other things?" Grace asked, sobbing again. Alicia knew she couldn't tell them about her and Will's past. It'd be too complicated and hurtful for them. She was protecting them from that, and she probably always would.

"No. I'm honest with you. This is a new development for me. But I need you to know that I don't know how much things will change from here. I have to talk to our dad about it, okay?" They nodded in unison. "I love both of you so much. So much, and I've never wanted to hurt you."

"Mom, you haven't hurt us." Zach spoke. Grace darted her eyes at him.

"Who says I'm not hurt? I don't understand this! I'm hurting right now." She yelled. Zach didn't say anything back, he was stunned at her outburst.

"Grace, I want to help you understand. Just talk to me, ask me your questions." Alicia pleaded.

"I don't want to talk anymore!" Grace got off the bed and stormed into her own room, slamming the door behind her. Alicia let out a long-held breath and held her head in her heads.

"Mom, she didn't mean it. She'll come around soon." Zach comforted. His mom looked up at him and smiled softly.

"I'm so proud of you." He looked confused at her comment. "For handling this situation like an adult. But you don't have to comfort me. What I've done is terrible to you two."

"It's okay, really, mom. People can't help what they feel I guess."

"Are you really not hurt or affected by this? I can't believe I'm putting you through this. I seriously did not mean to." Her tears started to fall from her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. Crying in front of her son was something so devastating for Alicia. No child should see their parent be in such a weak moment.

"Mom, I just want you to be happy. And if being with Will Gardner makes you happy, then be with him. I know I'll be okay and yeah, it'd hurt Grace and dad but you've put us first since I can remember. I just want you to do something for yourself sometimes, and I think this is the perfect time. If you're happy, I'm happy." That was when Alicia broke down. She started sobbing. She moved over to her son and held him tightly, almost so tight he couldn't breathe but he didn't object; he hugged her twice as hard. It was what he could do for his emotional mother.

"I love you so much, Zach. I don't know when you got this wise, and I'm not sure if I like it so early in your life but thank you." She giggled softly and she heard him do the same.

"I love you too, mom." They held onto each other a little longer and then Alicia pulled away. She reached her hand up to his face and stroked it once then let her hand fall into her lap.

"Should I talk to Grace now do you think, or wait a while?"

"I think you should give her some time alone." Zach responded. Alicia usually knew how to care for her daughter when she was upset but this was definitely new territory and sometimes a sibling knew the other one a little better than a parent. So Alicia just nodded her head and left his room to go to her own. She sat on her bed for a little while, feeling terrible for how she hurt her own daughter. She couldn't not worry about Grace. Her daughter was fragile when it came to family issues with her parents. Zach seemed to be very okay with it all and Alicia had no idea if whether he would change his mind about it all, but for now it brought her a little bit of comfort to know she had his support with whatever she chose to eventually do.

At 6 in the evening Alicia decided to get dinner ready. She didn't have a lot of energy to cook anything big so she settled on frozen pizza. She almost had no energy to turn on the oven and stick the pizza on a tray, and that was saying something. When the pizza was done she called out to the kids but only Zach emerged. He took a few slices for himself and some for Grace, who refused to come out of her room. Alicia didn't expect her to, but hoped she would, even if she didn't say anything.

It was only 6.30 or so but Alicia retired to her bedroom and got ready for bed. She wasn't hungry in the least so she hadn't eaten anything. Tired, upset and stressed were putting things mildly if anyone asked Alicia how she felt. She felt like she would never get to sleep, but also like she would sleep for a thousand years if she did happen to fall asleep. She felt absolutely drained emotionally and she had to be at work early the next day, so she got dressed in flannel pajamas and climbed under the soft covers. Realizing her phone was still out on the kitchen counter, she pulled herself out of bed and slowly moved to her door. As she opened it she saw a motionless Grace.

"Grace?" Alicia saw her puffy-eyed daughter look up at her.

"I'm sorry , mom." Was all she said and she reached around her mother to give her a big hug.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry. I'm just so sorry." She stroked Grace's hair and held her tight. Grace pulled back and just looked into her mom's eyes. Alicia pulled her over to the bed and they climbed in together, Grace resting against her.

"I didn't mean to make you feel so bad mom."

"No, I didn't mean to upset you. I can't imagine how you're feeling but I know it isn't good. You know you can talk to me about anything. This is especially no exception. Talk to me, Grace."

"I just don't understand. I thought you and Will were fighting against each other, and now you love him?" Grace had the right questions, Alicia thought. These ones were more about Alicia and less about Peter, different from Zach's questions, but they were easier to answer.

"We were fighting, yes, but recently we patched things up. We've been friends for a long time, Grace."

"Since law school, right?"

"Yes. We were best friends back then, and our friendship has lasted a long time and I guess we couldn't just erase all that."

"You said a few years ago that you thought you were attracted to each other. Do you love him now because of that as well?"

"I not sure. Maybe. Maybe it's from that too. We've just been talking lately and it happened. I can't hold back feelings, Grace."

"But you still love dad? I don't get that. I don't get how you can love two people." Alicia wasn't expecting this conversation to be so serious and heavy, but she had to let her daughter know everything because it was the right thing to do. She'd always put her kids before herself, no matter what.

"I do still love your dad. We've been through so much and I will always love him. He'll always be in my heart, okay?" She felt Grace nod her head. "But things also change. There have been times when Will was there for me and no one else was."

"I'm always here for you."

"I know, sweetheart, but there are times when I need an adult too. A friend."

"Like when dad went to prison, Will gave you a job? Things like that?"

"Exactly. He was there for me when I felt like no one else was. So it's just life, and I felt comfortable around him. Like I was myself again. And over the years, I think I was just slowly falling in love with him without knowing, but I know now."

"You don't know if you'll leave dad?"

"I don't. I have to think it through and also talk with your dad. I have to know what he's thinking."

"He's really mad."

"I know he is, but he'll calm down eventually." Grace turned into her mother and started to hug her again. Alicia held her so close, like she would never let go and let her daughter into the big and scary world to get hurt by a boy for the first time, or the second, and maybe a third time.

"I want you to be happy. Do what makes you happy, mom." Grace said, half muffled.

"I just want you to be happy too." Alicia kissed the top of Grace's head and felt her eyes swell with tears. Both Zach and Grace wanted her to be happy. She wondered if she didn't seem happy in front of her kids. She was generally a happy person, very happy. She started to question her own happiness.

"Can I join in?" Both Grace and Alicia looked up to see Zach leaning on the frame of the bedroom door. Alicia held her hand up and waved her son into the room. He moved around the bed and got into it on the other side of his mother. Alicia wrapped her right arm around Zach and held her children close.

"I love you two so much."

"We know." Zach replied.

"Just this once, for old times' sake, do you want to share the bed with me?" Alicia asked.

"I'm not leaving." Grace said.

"I guess I'll stay too." Zach commented.

"Good. But it's only 7. Should we watch a movie together?" Alicia offered.

"I'll go get my laptop and something to watch." Zach said as he got back out of the bed.

As they all settled down into the bed to watch Identity Thief, Alicia thought back to her own happiness. She wasn't happy that her family found out she loved Will. Definitely not happy that Peter just walked out of the room not even wanting to discuss it. She wondered about the last time she was truly happy, with no worries in the entire world. That weekend in New York with Will came to mind. The words came flooding back to her mind, 'This is the happiest I've ever been'. It was the happiest she had ever been, and to the present day it was still her happiest moment. She couldn't have been speaking the truer truth if she had tried.

Except she did try. Her kids had fallen asleep against her and in the few moments before falling asleep herself, she realized something.

She was happy with Peter. Unbelievably happy. She had everything she wanted and more.

But she was even happier with Will.