Alicia

Waking up, she jumped out of bed, feeling the adrenaline rush in the fact that she was meeting Will today, for a second time. She couldn't recall a moment in the past where she felt so nervous, exhilarated, anxious, and happy in one motion, and it was odd to say the least. Her feelings felt so…. clashed.

When she was with Finn he only ever made her feel one emotion, when she was happy, she was happy, when she was sad she was only sad, nothing else clashed into that. Finn hardly made her feel so nervous in the three years she had known him, in fact, there wasn't a moment where he made her feel anxious, their first kiss was filled with passion instead of anxiety, their first date was filled with jokes instead of longing stares, it was different and yet, she had gotten used to it, until now.

She picked out a simple, creamy white slim day dress for the day. It ended just above her knees, scanning her entire front body perfectly, complimenting her curves with the sleeves of the dress cutting at shoulders length with her arms bare and her collar bone exposed. Letting her wavy hair out and complimenting herself with minimal make up she grabbed her purse and made her way downstairs.

Meeting the sight of Liz sitting on the bench with a coffee mug in her hands and the morning's newspaper on her lap, she smiled. "Morning"

"Morning to you too, did you have a good sleep last night?"

"Yes, it was great actually, you?"

"Fine, although, I was a little worried about you. You got in late last night?"

Alicia felt herself stiffen, the tone in Liz's voice concluded that her best friend knew for certain where she had been the day before. Keeping calm, she answered fleetingly, hoping to dismiss it. "Yes, lost track of time."

Feeling the heat of Liz's gaze on her, she brought the mug up to her face and hid herself behind it, still praying that it was half forgotten in the history box. Watching as Liz hopped off the counter, throwing the paper on the table and grabbing her belongings she moved over to press a quick kiss against Alicia's cheek. "Just don't get yourself hurt okay Leesh….. I would stay and chat but I'm running late for work."

"Of course. Go save a life" she grinned, yet the smile distancing as she realised what she meant.

Leaving the house early, she travelled the short distance towards the inner city, stopping at her father's office building, she parked in the garage and made her way up. Still confused as to why there were employees in the office on a Sunday and the reason behind it all.

Knowing that Will was at home and that he mentioned he never worked on weekends, she smiled contently to herself as she knew that the boy she had fallen for years ago, was still the same.

As she reached the exquisite, somewhat surprisingly tranquil offices of Cavanaugh and Lockhart produced. She gazed around the walls, all glass and expensive, the area undeniably clean of course, her father would never withhold a messy environment.

"Can I help you ma'mm?" the receptionist asked,

"Uh, yes…. I'm looking for my father, David Cavanaugh." recognition surfaced through the woman's features as well as a few heads turned as they caught on to her words. "Oh yes, of course, it's very nice to meet you Alicia" the young woman stood up, extending a hand out to her.

She couldn't really distinguish how the woman knew her name but immediately dismissed it as she heard her father's laughter echoing the hallways followed by his body turning the corner and his face lighting up as he saw her. She smiled at the sight of him, he was wearing jeans with an oriole's hoodie, the most bizarre thing she had ever seen, he never had much interest in sports, and she wondered if Will had any influence towards that.

"Alicia" he sighed happily, gesturing his arms out.

"Dad" she smiled, awkwardly.

"Follow me, I just have to get my coat, I'll walk you through the halls" he led her down the corridoors. She threw an awkward wave towards Diane through the conference room before stopping in her tracks as her father absorbed the annoying habit of introducing her to everyone in their way, causing Alicia to throw in her fake pleasantries. It was the woman at the end of the hall that caught Alicia's attention the most though.

"Ahh Kalinda, there you are, I was hoping to catch you on your way out, this is my daughter, Alicia" Alicia's gaze fleetingly wandered over the small woman's appearance, she certainly wasn't a lawyer by her choice of attire.

Kalinda formed an awkward, hesitant smile, "Hi"

"It's nice to meet you" Alicia extended a hand out

"You too, I've heard a lot about you. Your father talks about you quite a lot" she formed a sly grin

Alicia seemed momentarily stunned at her words, glancing over at him, she noticed the slight blush on his cheeks. "Ugh, enough about me. Alicia and Will used to go to school together" he threw in, almost too enthusiastically for Alicia's liking.

"Yes, you've mentioned that too," Kalinda smirked

"Well" Alicia started off, desperately trying to rear off the topic of conversation. "It was nice meeting you all but we really should go." she made eye contact with the man standing before her.

With one last wave goodbye they quietly brushed past, Alicia felt herself walking hastily, unafraid to display her desire in leaving as soon as possible. "You didn't have to be so rude" David whispered beside her

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm starving and I have to be somewhere at twelve thirty, can we just get out of here and what is up with this place? It's Sunday morning and people are still working"

"This is Chicago Alicia, not Washington, people work hard, it may be irrelevant to those who live in Georgetown but these people are different." Pausing at halt, she stared in shock towards her father before crossing her arms.

Sighing in defeat, he tried to resist the need to roll his eyes, "I'm sorry," he stated honestly "I didn't mean it in that way. These people, here, they're what I call the billable hours and basically have no life." he tried to resign in some humour.

"No life?"

"Yes, it's a sad concept, but it's the typical lawyer's life, unfortunately. Which is why we should be grateful to have a family, and the lives we live."

"Even a disinterred family like ours?" she smiled sarcastically, leaving him standing there staring out at her somewhat astonished. Shrugging it off, she walked further down the flaunt halls and ignored his intense gaze, it wasn't a desire of hers to cause some conflict between her and the man she loved unconditionally and admired her entire life, but the issues between them were still there, and she was trying her hardest to reign away her emotions towards the past.

As they passed one of the large, rather beautiful parts of the building where an office had a wonderful view from above Chicago, she had naturally assumed that the muscular looking office belonged to her father, that's until he spoke. "You like it?"

"Like it?" she chuckled, "The view is amazing, is it yours?"

Laughing, he shook his head. "No, I wish, I can't stand to be near large windows, you know how much I'm afraid of heights. It belongs to Will actually."

Catching onto his words, her eyebrows raised and her eyes glazed over the area once again. The desk was covered in papers, there was a large shelf of books on the top wall with a few photo frames whilst there was a large sofa in the corner with a coffee table and a few more papers scattered along it. "Really?" she said, still somewhat astonished and amused, knowing that he had probably worked his ass off to get there, she formed a wide grin, shamelessly unable to hide it from the man standing next to her.

The conversation between her and her father between breakfasts was delicate and yet, wonderful, they avoided any conversation regarding the last ten years, which bearing in mind was a good thing. They spoke more about the present. She made sure not to ask much questions regarding Will, knowing that her father could read her like an open book and that if she were to mention something even remotely close to Will, he would know, that something was going on.

She found herself mentioning Finn a few times throughout the conversation though, trying very hard to intrigue him into the conversation, but as expected, he had absolutely no interest in the topic, something she naively expected. As the time neared, and he was called back into the office, she left him with a loving embrace, and rushed off to her car, already feeling the anticipation of visiting Will once again.

As soon as she reached the house she could vaguely see him sitting on the edge of the front patio, with a coffee mug in his hands and smug looking appearance. Shaking her head in amusement she stepped out of the car, straitening her creamy white short dress, she ran her hands through her hair, that same, painful sense of anxiety filling in her body once again.

"Behold the queen of white" Will exclaimed, throwing his hands up mockingly.

She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and grinned widely. "Good morning to you too Mr Gardner"

"You couldn't have picked a better occasion to where a white dress, bearing in mind the fact that we'll be going out near the edge of the lake where you would most likely trip over and fall on a pile of mud" he laughed to himself

Staring at him in horror, she started to giggle to herself "The lake? Seriously Will? That's what you wanted to show me?" she said in mock horror.

Chuckling to himself, he shrugged "Trust me, you'll want to see this" he mumbled to himself before standing up, displaying his attire. Nice, causal dark jeans, with a simple navy blue nike hoodie that complimented his biceps. Shrugging the sight away she gently walked onto the patio.

"Oh yeah, you might want to avoid the heels on our way down, there's plenty of rocks and mud beside the lake" he chuckled to himself

Slapping his shoulder away, she rolled her eyes "Okay, that's enough teasing from now on Gardner, you do not want to mess with me" she glared at him much to his amusement.

Throwing her his gumboots, she stared at him suspiciously making him laugh. "Just put them on, it's not going to hurt."

Rolling her eyes amusingly, she did as told, in contrast to her elegant fitted dress that ended above her knees, it looked horrible. Eyeing him as he laughed at her appearance, she threw him one deep, vast glare, causing him to roll his eyes amusingly making the both of them laugh out loud.

Feeling the smile play on her lips as she followed him towards the side of the lake, she had to bite her lip to contain the wide smile. She stared at him suspiciously as he moved further down the side of the lake, a distance away from the house. "Will, where are we going?"

"You'll see" he smiled, softly.

"It's going to rain soon Will" she said as she gazed up towards the sky "I don't want to get wet"

"We'll be fine Alicia. Now close your eyes" he instructed

"What? Why?"

"Just close your eyes,"

"Will, what the hell is going on?"

"Alicia" he sighed, giggling to himself. "Will you just listen to me please? Just this once?" he mocked

Rolling her eyes, she took his hand, immediately feeling the warmth in the palm of it that seemed to radiate through her body, sending shivers along her spine. Closing her eyes she smiled to herself as she felt him pull her with him. Making sure that her steps were careful she felt him settle her feet just on the edge of the water, the sea washing up against the edge of the boots.

"You can open your eyes now" Will said softly as he stood behind her. Feeling rather nervous, she flickered her lashes open only to be met with the sight of hundreds of white flocked settling on the water. Swans, seagulls and plenty of herons.

Everywhere.

Will

Nothing prepared him for the movement of her mouth that dropped into plain astonishment before a wide, enormous, contagious smile spread across her features, it was breath taking, it was amazing.

Whipping her head to him he took in the shock in her eyes mixed with the most widest smile he had ever had the privilege of witnessing. Smiling, he gestured his hand out to her, which she gladly took and pulled her up with him onto the small wharf that settled on top of the water, stable enough to hold both of their weights, he assisted her in taking a seat beside the edge as she removed the boots and dipped her feet into the water whilst he took a seat next to her, their hands brushing against each other and a warm sense of comfort surrounding them.

Gesturing both her hands out she gently ran her fingers along the herons feathers in which, surprisingly, the species brushed up against her touch. It had taken him so long to get them to come near him, whereas with her, it was just natural, and they immediately took to her.

"How…. Where did they come from?" she spoke up for the first time, the smile and strong glimmer behind her eyes still clearly visible.

He shrugged "I don't know, they're supposed to migrate back to where they came from but, they've been here for about a couple of weeks."

"Will they stay here?"

"No, they'll go back home" he replied, glancing over at her, he seized in the sight of her eyes closing briefly, inhaling the area into her nostrils before opening her eyes and smiling in bliss. Just by one single action she was able to take his breath away, he began to recognise in just her appearance the young girl he had known all those years ago, how the wind blew her hair, her porcelain skin radiating throughout, the way she swished her feet back and forth in the water and the fact that this, elegant, distant, flashy looking woman who had walked back into his life just yesterday, seemed to be fading away already, reflecting back into the girl that was once madly in love with him.

"It's like a dream," she murmured, shaking her head in bliss before locking eyes with his. "They're beautiful." her eyes never left his.

Smiling over at her, he nodded in response, unable to take his eyes off her intense gaze. "Do you wana feed them?"

"Yeah!" she smiled brightly.

Moving over to the side, he grasped the plastic bag of bred pieces. One by one she threw them out into the water, keeping the remains in the palm of her hand, she fed them to the rest.

Running a hand through its feathers she smiled. "I can't believe you remembered."

Still lost in a short haze, he furrowed his brows confused. "What?"

"The birds, the heron, it was my favourite when I was a child."

Shaking his head in amusement, plenty of memories surfacing through his mind he laughed lightly to himself "How could I forget. You used to talk about every damn bird in the universe."

She loud, loudly, and out of character before letting her eyes meet his once again. It seemed as though they were miles away from each other, but only inches apart, and he couldn't deny the fact that he caught her eyes fall on his lips.

She quickly rotated her head back to the water, avoidance clear in her demeanor before letting the silence between them built in.

"You're different," he heard Alicia murmur, turning to the side he watched as she smiled to herself.

"What do you mean?"

"The way you look," she shrugged "Everything."

"You look different too," he replied honestly "But in a good way."

Chuckling to herself, she glanced down, trying to hide the faint blush before responding. "I guess we've both changed then."

"Yeap."

As he gazed over at her, she seemed to be in an entirely different world, and the bubble that was creating around them seemed suffocating, and yet, it was the most content the two had ever been. "But you're kind of the same though," continued, "You're still stubborn" she grinned "And you really did it."

Furrowing his brow confused once more, he lightly shook his head "Did what?"

"Everything," she shrugged "Earlier on today I visited my father at the firm, he showed me everything, then I heard from the vine that you were one of the best attorney's in Chicago and that you were the head of working probono's and helping the public. I didn't actually think someone could accomplish that in their first four years."

Knowing that she was right, he appreciated the fact that she noticed it. He had worked, long, grinding, miserable hours to reach where he had landed now and yet.

Shrugging his shoulder, he moved his gaze towards the water "I promised you I would."

Alicia

I promised you I would. How could she compete against that one? She had made him promise that he would do his best in law school for his career but after the breakup, and her leaving for college, she had naturally assumed that their previous conversations and promises were immediately discarded along with their relationship, obviously she wasn't such a great judge of character.

She didn't quite know if he was playing her but if the way he was currently looking at her didn't get her going below a zero limit radius.

They remained beside the lake for what seemed like hours, talking, laughing, feeding the ducks, and so she stayed longer than anticipated;it wasn't like she was going to turn his offer of staying for dinner anyway, so she stayed, and she didn't feel one ounce of regret or disappointment.

Finn hadn't entered her mind at all.

Even when Will had helped her up from the water earlier, her fiancé wasn't in her head when she clearly wasn't prepared for the warm hand that glided over her fist and coaxed it open to entwine their fingers. She considered pulling away, maybe declining dinner, but as she seized one more glance towards their hands, her heart melted.

She made eye contact with him, he seemed confident, but he also seemed as nervous as she was. She squeezed his hand tight, and in return he pulled her closer as they walked hand in hand back to the house.

As they reached the porch, their hands still entwined like glue, they watched as the sun began to set above waters, and she couldn't deny the feeling of her heart beating rapidly from the tingling his touch seemed to give her.

"Dance with me." He whispered,

Staring up at him in puzzlement, his eyes were now hazel, from a result of the sun's reflection, and his skin was radiating, as if a pod of diamonds had spilled on him.

She swallowed, nodded her head and let him spin her around, it was a slow spin, within their fingers, which brought an unknown smile to her lips. There was no music, which made it all the more romantic, but as he wrapped a hand around her slender waist and made sure their fingers were still intact, she breathed in his scent and gazed deeply into his eyes.

He began to hum a slow, song. They swayed, ever so slowly in circles, it didn't take her long to realise that the song he was humming, was the same exact song she had played for him, years ago, during her revelation on the piano. And it was as though he suddenly knew every single tune to the song, each melody, each key, it matched perfectly.

"Will" she whispered, her heartbeat increasing, she suddenly felt like it was going to explode.

"Mmm?" he hummed, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Dinner."

"Five more minutes."

Her other hand found its way to his chest, right above his heart, and her corrections were right. His was beating almost rapid as hers if not faster. Her heart melted, and without knowing, her head found its way to his shoulder. She rested the side of her head against it, and stared out towards the lake as he continued to move in a circle, no matter how horrible he sounded at humming the song, she thought it was the most beautiful sound ever tied to her ears.

Friends. That's what she convinced herself on what it was over the course of dinner. Friends rekindling their long-time connection together. Except, she had an idea that that part wasn't true, and that maybe Liz was right.

Maybe it was impossible that one could never really forget their true love, or in this case, fall out of love for that person.

They agreed to meet again for a third time, on the Friday afternoon which was four days away, causing her to wonder what she was going to do with all that spear time. Knowing what life was like as a lawyer, she understood it but insisted that he make it up to her. She had naturally rolled her eyes and laughed as he had mentioned that he was going to make her participate in a game of baseball on the front lawn. She knew it was a bad idea, but the idea of letting him pick her up onto his shoulder and spin her around twenty times like he used to back in high school, made her smile.

Feeling his deep gaze on her from behind as he walked her towards her car, she turned around as she opened the door and smiled at him through her eyelashes. She knew it was foolish, she knew it was absolutely absurd but she couldn't help it; tilting up in her heels she pressed her lips against his cheek, a chaste, brief small kiss that she would usually give a stranger, but she knew, deep down it was more than just a kiss.

It was everything, and it may not have made up for the loss of time, but his skin was still soft, his cheek was still everything she had ever imagined.

"Thank you for today Will, I really am glad I came."

Nodding his head, he offered her a reassuring smile before opening the car door, letting her in and slipping his hands into his pockets. She stared at him through the window, his eyes were tender, soft and loving. She couldn't help but mirror his emotions, and then she drove away, the smile still laced on her lips.

The smile was still there as she walked through the door of Liz's home, letting the familiar smell of Chris's cooking formulate her nostrils she walked through the living room, seeing Liz and her daughter propped up against the sofa with Emily sleeping peacefully into her side, she leant over the couch and placed a kiss on her god daughters head, startling Liz.

"Oh there you are! I was wondering where you had gotten to."

"Hey Leesh, come try this," Chris yelled out to her through the kitchen, carrying a spoon of what looked like tomato soup.

"He's trying out new recipes" Liz rolled her eyes

Moving towards the kitchen, the amazing scent of fresh, tomato soup evacuated her nostrils bringing a sudden memory of the day she had helped Will in making soup for Aubrey when she had the flu. Over the past ten years she often wished that all those, frequent memories didn't exist so she wouldn't have to live with the shame.

But now, she craved for the memories as if it were her only substance.

Nodding her head in approval as she took a sip of Chris's homemade recipe, she leant against the kitchen island and poured herself a glass of wine from Liz's ridiculous overpriced wine maker before turning her attention back to her best friend who was walking towards her, trying to hold a very heavy nine year old. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Finn called a few times today, I think he's a little worried about you, he said something about forgetting to return his calls."

Alicia swallowed tensely, feeling a huge wave of guilt wash through her. Finn. She had completely overlooked about him, and that didn't justify the fact that she had promised him she would call him each night since she left. Feeling the enormous sense of guilt and disappointment stab through her, she dialled the familiar number.

With a few dialled tones, the line was finally cut with her fiancé's deep voice cutting through the line.

"Hello?" the lack of sleep in his voice was clear.

"Hi," she whispered, biting her lip nervously

"Hey" he replied hesitantly, distant.

"I'm sorry for missing your calls, things have been… hectic around here." literally.

"No, no, it's fine, I was uh, I was just wondering how you were?"

"I… I'm fine, you?"

"Good….. Although, I feel like a complete idiot because I must have called over a dozen times." he chuckled lightly to himself.

"I know, I'm sorry, how are things over there?"

"Fine, I think…. What about you? Has your father accepted me into the family yet?" he chuckled, though, clearly anticipating an answer.

Covering her face with her hand, she shook her head in disappointment; she hadn't even put up much of a fight against her father on the topic of Finn, her mind had been elsewhere, focused on somebody else and yet, she hadn't even spent enough time with her father, let alone the rest of her family to get them used to the idea.

Sighing, she shook her head "Not really."

"You'd tell me if something was wrong right?" The tone of concern in his voice was obvious through the other line.

"Yeah, of course" –she lied. "Look, hun, I gotta go, I love you and I'll see you soon."

There was a moment of silence through the other side, knowing her fiancé all too well, she knew that he recognised, something was definitely off. "Finn... I love you. You know that right?"

"Yes" he replied, more confident "I know, I'll call tomorrow, sweet dreams."

"Sweet dreams," she replied, waiting for him to cut off, she sighed against the couch, feeling the sudden tears pool in her eyes, she shook her head in disappointment. Half disappointed in herself, half disappointed in the fact that her own fiancé, the guy that she had just only recently, accepted to marry, hadn't even crossed her mind once in the past two days.

"You're thinking too much." She was interrupted by the sound of Liz's voice approaching, a cup of jasmine tea in her hands.

She stared up at her friend as she sat next to her and handed her a cup of jasmine tea.

"Where were you today?" There was no judgement in her voice, no shame or disappointment except for a clarity of softness, she supported her, and she just wanted the best for her.

"I don't know what to do Liz."

"Stop visiting him." She said it as if it were the simplest thing anyone could do, except it wasn't.

"I never should have told you that he lived down the road."

Alicia shook her head. "I would have found out anyway, I'm surprised I hadn't recognised earlier, how difficult is it to recognise the driveway to the house that you and your boyfriend first had sex in." she mumbled to herself, recognition surfaced through Liz's features she gazed down at her in shock.

"That's the house?"

Alicia nodded, "It's a long story, a story that I don't really wanna relive at the moment."

"What are you gonna do Leesh?"

She glanced down, thinking thoroughly before sighing. "I don't wanna hurt Finn any more than I already have. So, I think I should maybe go home."

Liz glanced down in disappointment, before smiling faintly and placing a hand on her shoulder, "Whatever you do, we're here."

"I know." she smiled softly, wrapping her arms around Liz's shoulders, she squeezed her tight. "Thanks for not judging me, I love you."

"I just want you to be happy Alicia." Liz murmured, Alicia knew the meaning behind her words though, she knew that there was more to what she meant, she often wondered if Liz and her father had the same mind. They both wanted the best for her, they both wanted her to be happy, and they both knew, that if done, she could be her happiest with Will.

A/N- thanks to those new readers and followers. I can't guarantee the next update to be anytime soon. I don't want to bore you with excuses but to put it in simpler words, it's tennis season for me, and I have to start training for games in the summer and all that jazz, blah, blah, blah. I have an idea that you all wont be disappointed with the next chapter though so hang in there... please.