Will

The visionary in Chicago these days was ridiculous. He could recall times in the past where everyone lived in piece on the outskirts of Chicago, nowadays there was no such thing as piece. People were running around, stabbing others backsides to reach the totem poles; it was one dynamic he came accustomed to while working at Chicago's most top, prominent law firm in the city, which, judging from the amount of firms Chicago holds nowadays, it was a huge compliment but hardly on his part.

He naturally assumed that working for his ex-high school sweetheart's father would be such an inaccuracy choice but it was the complete opposite. In fact, if anything he had learnt an immense amount of knowledge in terms of the law just by observing him. Everyone admired David Cavanaugh, he was certainly one of the best and never mixed business with family. Which was probably the primary reason of why Will hadn't heard anything regarding Alicia in a little under ten years. He knew it was for the best, but, that didn't necessarily give him the chance to completely dismiss her out of his head, bearing in mind that his former boss often talked about her with his other colleagues, as if she hung the moon which always made Will smile. And then there was the fact that David's office was surrounded with family photos, mainly of himself, Alicia and Owen.

The first few years for Will weren't exactly his best, no, that would be an understatement; It was excruciating, but nothing compared to the first year without Alicia. He partied, slept with numerous girls, lived the wild life for the first six months, trying to live off the grief of letting her go but then came to the realisation one morning as he awoke with a massive hangover and a tornado wrecked apartment that some things had to change. He immersed himself into his study, avoided as much girls as possible and a little over three years he became the best in his class, trying to fulfil his promise to her of reaching paramount so when the time came for him to move to Chicago, he was going to start from there, hopefully building himself into one of the best attorney's in Chicago and achieving the goal she had set out for him, all those years ago.

He knew it was pathetic, but when it came to Alicia he vowed to keep his promises.

"You're going to graduate top of the class" –she started off "You're going to be one of the best attorneys in Chicago and you're going to do probono cases, help the public, -all that stuff. And you're going to work at one of the best law firms in Chicago"

"Okay" he can recall smiling like an idiot.

"Promise?" The grin on her face was undeniable and her flushed cheeks that came with their previous first round of love making made her look exceptional. The sheets that covered her chest caused her porcelain skin to glow, it would always remain in his head.

"Promise."

And that's exactly what he did; the moment he graduated he moved back to Chicago –his home town and spent an interview with Diane Lockhart, accomplishing his first interview, he started off as a junior associate and then by his fourth year, he was offered partnership. He was criticised for being favoured by the equity partners but, he appreciated the fact that he knew, he deserved it more than anyone else. Nepotism be screwed.

It was mornings like this, as he gazed out into the magnificent view of Chicago city from his office that he wished, Chicago wasn't as boring and city like. That was partially the reason he kept the lake house which was on the out skirts of Chicago. After Aubrey graduated his parents moved to Baltimore whilst Aubrey stayed with Sara in New York, leaving Will the only member of the family in Chicago and absorbing the only memory he had left of Alicia.

The house.

He knew it wasn't healthy or ideal, but it wasn't like he could just sell it off, it was a family jewel, been placed in his family from generations before him and he figured he could at least renovate it before selling it.

Which is exactly what he accomplished in the last four years; he did most of the work on the house but the rest was done by professionals, which Will didn't mind because it gave him less time to wallow on the certain memory that the house brought and instead, focus more on his job.

He had the most billable hours than anyone in the law firm had, his usual day routine was arriving to work at seven in the morning and finishing before midnight. He was known for being the young Mr Cavanaugh, as much as he appreciated the comparison, he didn't exactly take it as a compliment. Will made sure to stay clear of having a personal relationship with his former boss, as much as he wanted to sit back and have a drink with the guy, it wasn't appropriate, because he knew that the father would most likely bring up Alicia and the last thing Will wanted was for memories of his first love to surface so he ignored it, and avoided any conversation that revolved around the Cavanaugh family as much as possible.

"Will?" he turned to see his assistant standing at his door with a few folders in her hand.

"The Makenzie case, you said you needed copies?"

"Uh yes, thank you Susie"

"It's Sarah" she corrected, throwing the papers on his desk.

"Uh yes, sorry Sarah" he said, turning to face the view and rolling his eyes.

"Miss Lockhart requested for you as well" she said before leading herself out. He made his way through the short distance from his office towards Diane's and as he glanced through the glass wall of his other ex-boss that was now his partner, he could easily see David having somewhat of a heated conversation over the phone and from the words Will caught he could only assume it was an argument.

Will was sure that that man was too old and exhausted to be adding more stress onto his shoulders; it was the reason he felt rather relieved that David Cavanaugh was resigning, even though he knew he would miss the man's jokes and presence, the guy was in his sixty's for Christ sake and wasn't exactly getting younger. In fact, he had already experienced a few mild heart attacks but Will tried to avoid it, and carry on with his life after all, his life was completely different nowadays. Without Alicia's presence was for the good.

As he stepped into Diane's office, unannounced he could easily see the concern in her eyes as her gaze was fixed on her partners office before her.

"What's going on there?" Will said, nodding off towards his former boss whose face was all red across the room, clearly angry at whoever he was talking to through the other line.

Diane sighed "He's talking to his daughter" he noted Diane leave it at that, followed by a hesitant, suspicious observation as she eyed him up and down, as if waiting for the other ball to drop but Will had learnt over the past four years how to perform the perfect poker face.

Will was clever enough to know that David had probably mentioned something to Diane about his daughter and Will's relationship back in the days. After all, the two partners were very close, almost too close, Will noticed. But stayed clear from his working partner's relationships.

"You wanted something?" he changed the subject. The conversation changed automatically into work, discussing a case and the preparations for court the next day. He'd notice now and then how Diane's gaze seemed to rear off his towards the back of his shoulder and he'd follow it only to be met with the same sight of David's frustrated features through his office, but this time, as Will and Diane both walked out of the office in preparation for court he noted through the glass wall, his former boss hang up on the phone abruptly before throwing it on his desk. It was unlike David Cavanaugh to lose all irritation and rage, in fact, Will admired the fact that he had the ability to hold it in without bursting.

"What happened?" Diane asked David's assistant, knowing that she had been walking in an out and must sure have heard the conversation. Will tried to back away from the conversation; he prided himself on having the ability to ignore anything regarding the personal dilemmas of his work colleagues but the next words that came out of the young woman's mouth had directly taken him.

"His daughter, Alicia, she's getting married and he doesn't like the fiancé, in fact, hasn't even met the fiancé so he's pretty pissed. She's flying here from Washington"

Will was sure that he felt his heart pulsate in short beats. Alicia? Getting married? Even the sound of her name in his head brought back tons of memories; memories that he had surfaced beneath the ground, discarding for so many years. He noted Diane motion for him to get a head start on court, he slowly backed away but not before diverting his eyes to David's form and the sight of Diane placing a hand on his shoulder in a sense of comfort.

He slowly made his way towards the elevator, his eyes falling on the ground and his mind sinking into some place else. He had never forgotten Alicia Cavanaugh, nor would he ever forget who she was. How was it even possible to forget your first love? He had always assumed that they would meet again in some distant place in the future, with their new lives and he would smile at her with joy, and remember how they spent a summer beneath the trees.

Except how could he do that if he was still in love with her? How could he just let her go without rationalising it, maybe this time was different, maybe bad timing wasn't their worst enemy anymore, no, he knew that part weren't true. Life wasn't that simple anymore and bad timing had just taken to its worst from finding out that she had already found the ability to move on.

But that didn't discard the fact that she was coming back, here, to Chicago after spending so many years away from home. She was finally visiting the place where they pledged and then eventually drifted apart and even if, she wasn't exactly arriving back to the neighbourhood they grew up in, because as far as he knew, Veronica had sold the house years ago after Owen graduated and Will no longer had the courage to visit that place ever again, he knew, he had a gut feeling that the moment she was going to arrive off that plane, the familiar aroma and trail of Chicago air was going to hit her nostrils like a bird meeting it's long lost feathers.

Who was he kidding? He'd never get over her.

I swear, the fact that Alicia's fathers name is David, has nothing to do with David Lee! I just oddly, couldn't picture his name as anything else and David just kept circulating my mind so, please discard David Lee having anything to do with this story. Next chapter is all Alicia, and I promise, it's much longer!