Chapter 6

Will sat on his couch scrolling through TV channels, hoping to find something interesting to watch. He had just dosed himself up on painkillers.

And Josephine was reorganizing his apartment.

She had come and helped get him home, even though he had insisted that he didn't want her help. Even though he knew that Alicia would be mad, he had decided that he had wanted to get back to the calm of his own home.

"Will, what is this?" He heard Josephine ask behind him. He turned around slowly on the couch and saw his older sister holding a dog that was hollowed out for the purpose of being a piggy bank. She had an odd look on her face.

"What's wrong with a ceramic dog?" Will asked.

"It's filled with cigars," Josephine said monotonously. Will turned back to the TV, nodded to himself, then said to his sister without looking at her, "Yeah, that's my backup stash in case I ever feel like I need one. Please put it back where it was."

Josephine sighed, then followed Will's instructions and set it back on a shelf above one of his kitchen counters. She sighed again as she saw the disaster that was his kitchen area – the whole counter was strewn with old mail, newspapers, some legal documents, and dirty dishes.

"How can you live in such a dirty apartment?" she asked her brother.

"Cleanliness in my living space isn't one of my top priorities," Will replied sternly, still looking at the TV. He had turned to a rerun of an episode from NCIS from a few seasons ago. In this particular episode, a train driver had mysteriously steered his New York City subway train into a dead end, but only he had died because there was no one on the train. Will didn't normally watch crime mystery shows, but for some reason he was finding it moderately interesting.

After about 30 minutes of watching NCIS and half-answering Josephine's numerous questions about his stuff, he felt his phone vibrate next to his leg. He looked down and read the caller ID: Alicia Florrick.

He looked up at the ceiling for a few seconds, sighed, made sure that Josephine had left the room, and turned the TV off as he hit Answer. Here we go, he thought, starting to get worried about what Alicia might say.

He put the phone to his ear. "Hi Alicia," he said, trying to sound positive.

"You left me hanging at the hospital, and you can say is hi?" Alicia replied angrily. She sat in her car in the parking garage at Chicago General, feeling extremely mad. "And you let Josephine take you home? You said that you wanted space from her! That's why you asked me! Why didn't you at least me know?"

"Alicia, I'm sorry. Sometimes I can't win a battle with her."

"I wouldn't think that you, of all people, would be unable to win a battle of wills with your older sister," Alicia replied, realizing afterwards that she was being slightly inconsiderate. "Sorry, Will," she began again, "I just don't like being left hanging."

"I know, and I'm sorry," Will replied. "I hope you understand that I just wanted to get back to the peace of my own home."

"I get that," Alicia sighed. "Where is your sister now?"

"Still here," Will said quietly, and looked back at the kitchen area. Still in the back, Will thought happily to himself. "She's reorganizing my apartment."

"Seriously? That's a little nuts," Alicia said.

Will chuckled. "She found my backup stash of cigars and almost had a hissy fit."

"Wow. Does she not like them or something?"

"Her first husband was practically addicted to them. Ever since she got out of that marriage she can't even stand to look at them."

Alicia's eyes widened. "So, Josephine's on her second marriage now?"

"Yes," Will said. "She finds it crazy that she and Clara have gotten married and I haven't. She keeps telling me that I need to settle down and live a married life."

"There are many ups and downs to marriage, I can tell you that," Alicia said with a smile. "But, of course, you should be free to do what you want with your life. Don't let her control you."

"I've been resisting her control for the past fifteen years by not getting married," Will replied. "Part of me is just resisting her to annoy her, and another part of me just doesn't want to yet. But now that I've had my life flash before my eyes, I think maybe the future holds some changes for me."

"Well, I look forward to what the future brings for you then, Will," Alicia said hopefully. "I won't trouble you anymore, and I've got to get home anyways."

"Wanna come over for dinner tomorrow? Or just takeout? The doctors said I have to rest up for the next few days."

"I would love to, but I've got to go to a governorship-related dinner tomorrow with Peter. First Lady's duties," Alicia said. "But maybe sometime next week. Can you drink wine?"

"They said to stay away from coffee, but they didn't say anything about alcohol," Will said, satisfied with the realization that he wasn't banned from drinking everything.

As Will was about to respond, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, and saw Josephine walking back into the kitchen holding a large pile of dirty laundry. He turned around quickly and said to Alicia, "Look, I've gotta go now. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Is Josephine back in earshot?" Alicia asked.

"Yes," Will replied. "Talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," Alicia replied. "Good night." She pressed End on her phone and put it down on the passenger seat. She realized she had been talked to Will for a while, and she was still sitting in the parking lot. Whoops, Alicia thought to herself, wondering what Zach and Grace were thinking by now. She drove quickly out of the parking lot and headed for home.

Will looked down at his phone to press End, but Alicia had already – his phone was in process of going back to the contact page. As he heard Josephine walking over, he locked his phone so she couldn't see Alicia's contact page on his phone.

"Who was that?" she asked.

Will had already anticipated this, so he responded, "An old friend just checking up on me." He smiled sarcastically.

"Don't tell me it was Alicia," Josephine said as she tilted her head, then continued, "Because she needs to back off. Is she always that forward?"

Will gave Josephine an angry look. "Josie, don't talk badly about Alicia. I've known her for a long time. She hasn't had the easiest time the last five years."

"Oh, so you two are close then? Why is that?"

"We worked at the same law firm for four years. When you work at the same law firm as someone else, you see a lot of each other," he said, knowing in his soul that it was a severe understatement.

"Why have you never told me this? If she's a lawyer, she would be a good match for you! And don't call me Josie! I'm not a kid."

Will sat up, suddenly feeling stiff. "Right now, I feel like you're trying to control me, so you're making me feel like a kid. Did I try to control you when we were kids? No! When you asked for space when we were teenagers, I gave it to you! Why can't you give the same to me?"

Josephine screamed, "Stop it, Will!" She paused, then began again, "Why didn't I know that you and Alicia worked at the same law firm?"

"We don't keep in touch very much, remember? You apparently forgot the last fifteen years when you got the call that I had been shot."

"Just because I didn't keep in touch does not mean I don't care about you!" Josephine yelled.

Will stood up as quickly as he could without feeling dizzy. He was starting to feel pain from his bullet wounds again too. "You know what, Josie? I can't stand yelling anymore right now because I am drugged, tired, and want to sleep. So get out before I yell even louder."

Josephine, shocked, stood up from the chair that she had been sitting in. "What about your meds?"

"I'm not a baby. I can take five pills by myself, thanks." Will took a swig of water. "And don't take anything that you want to clean on your way out. I like my apartment – every single messy part of it."

"Oh my God! You are unbelievable," Josephine uttered as she collected her things and headed for the door. As she put her hand on the handle, she turned to Will, who was still standing, and said, "Look, Will, I am trying to help you here. Next time, don't come whining to me telling me that I never tried to help you. Because I have tried. Good night." And with that, she opened the door, walked out, and slammed the door shut behind her.

A couple of seconds later, Will put his glass of water down on the kitchen counter, and then went over to his apartment door as if he was heading out somewhere – and then remembered that he couldn't drive for at least a week. Darn it, he thought. And then he came up with a better idea.

He took all of the pills that he had been instructed to take in the evening, then picked up his phone and told Siri, "Dial Diane Lockhart." Siri responded quickly, dialing Diane's cell. After a few rings, she picked up.

"Hi, Will, are you alright?" she said anxiously.

"Considering the circumstances, I'm great thanks," Will began. "Look, I don't want to go out, but I fancy some company. And I was just thinking about how I wanted to catch up with my law firm partner, so…fancy a beer?"