Alicia sat on a table in a diner opposite the hotel. She was drowning her sorrows in glasses of beer. They didn't have anything stronger so she had to drink multiple beers to get into a drunk state. She wasn't quite there yet. She was on her second beer - or her third. She wasn't really counting.

On the other side of the diner, Will was led by the waitress down the long hall filled with tables. She led him to a couple's table right next to Alicia's. Alicia flicked her eyes up in recognition, too tired to put on an angry face.

"Is there another place I could sit?" Will asked politely, but the waitress had already gone to serve the next customer. He sat down uncomfortably and cleared his throat. Alicia's eyes traced his jawline and then she looked straight into his eyes. Her eyeliner and mascara was heavy, probably freshly put on after her failure of a speech.

"It was across the street," Will explained, even though Alicia didn't ask for one. Internally, she was panicking. She could not cope with one more interaction with Will where everything went wrong.

"I'm almost done," she said, her accent coming out stronger than when she was sober, "I won't bother you."

Will watched her rapidly-emptying glass and wondered how many beers she'd had already. He picked up the menu and said to the waiter,

"Scotch, no ice, please."

"They only have beer," Alicia grumbled, unable to resist butting in. The rational part of her brain blamed it on the alcohol.

"Beer," Will said instead. Alicia looked straight forward into the wall with her arms crossed. She looked unbothered to many people but inside her turmoil was increasing. A few minutes later and she finished her beer while Will ate a hamburger, eyes lowered.

"It's hard to get drunk on beer," she said, monotone.

"Maybe, you just gotta try harder," Will suggested. Alicia waved her empty glass to the waitress who cried out,

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."

"She doesn't like me and I don't give a flying crap," Alicia said.

"Flying crap?" Will said mockingly, with a chuckle.

"Go to hell? Is that better?"

"You're in a bad mood," Will commented, eating some chips.

"I just had three hundred people walk out on me," Alicia said in response.

"It looked like four hundred," Will said, mentally applauding himself for such a good reply. Alicia turned to him with a look of disgust on her face. Will noticed and glanced at her for a second but then turned his eyes back to the burger.

"You were in the audience?" she asked.

"No," Will lied, not wanting to admit he'd been one of the fifty who stayed for her to finish her speech, "I was outside, talking with Elsbeth. Saw the rush of people. Ridiculous amount of people leaving. You must have said something so terrible that they all had to get out immediately."

"Why do you hate me?" Alicia asked, sounding tired of the whole mess.

"Hmm," Will said, taking his time with the answer, "I don't like you. 'Hate' is probably too strong."

Alicia kept watching him. "Why?"

Her eyes flicked down to his hands and back up to his eyes.

"You're serious?" Will said, eyebrows raised. Alicia could read into his expression.

"Because of that?"

"Three weeks. Three weeks you were scheming," Will kept his voice casual but underneath his heart was being repeatedly stabbed by turmoil.

"That wasn't my fault. I wanted to leave right away."

"With my clients," Will prompted.

"Wow… It just never ends," Alicia said, her mouth agape.

"Don't ask the question if you don't want the answer," Will said harsher than he intended. Alicia didn't keep her eyes off him. Instead she fixated on every feature of his face. Will's eyes met hers and for a split second, he let his hurt and care for her slip through. She pretended not to notice.

"What?" he asked.

"We could never make it work."

Will watched her carefully for about a minute before saying,
"You're linking two things together I never did."

Alicia blinked at him while he took another sip. The waitress plopped Alicia's fresh beer on the table with a sharp thud.

"Thanks a lot!" she said sarcastically.

"If you wanna say 'bitch', say 'bitch'," Will suggested.

"Bitch," Alicia continued, then returned back to their discussion, "So, you're saying if I were any other partner leaving, you would hate me the way you do?"

"I'm saying if you were any other partner, I'd be just as upset and competitive as I am now."

Alicia scoffed and raised her eyebrow.

"I don't believe you."

"That's your right," he said casually.

"You're enjoying your pain too much."

"Yep."

"So, you're going to fight me on every client, every case?"

"I will be your competitor," he said, the tiniest smile curving on his lips, "You're up for it. You're a big girl."

"Okay. I guess it's something."

"It is something…"

Alicia got up and left money on the table. She picked her coat off of the chair and put it on. As she was walking out, she didn't notice but Will had also finished his meal. He waited a few minutes so that he was sure she had left before leaving as well. To his surprise, Alicia was still outside, on her phone.

"I've had a few," she cringed. "Oh, nevermind. I'll be over in fifteen minutes."

"I thought you said you were leaving soon," Will said, making her jump, "And yet here you are."

"Well, you're just a quick eater... Let's shake on it," Alicia suggested.

"What about me being a quick eater?"

"No. On us being competitors."

She offered her hand out and he took it.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Alicia," he murmured under his breath as they shook hands, "You drive me insane."

"What was that?" Alicia asked politely, not managing to catch a single word.

"Nothing," Will said, "It's okay. S'not important."

They were quite close already, their faces only a few inches apart. Alicia felt herself lean forward ever so slightly, but Will retracted his hand and moved away.

"See you around, Alicia," he said, facing away from her and looking at the ground.

"See you, Will."

Alicia couldn't help but revel in the fact that he had said her first name, instead of the dreadful 'Mrs Florrick'. The name had become so sickening to her ears. She watched as he walked off towards the hotel. They had gone from friends, to lovers, to ex-lovers, to enemies and ex-friends, now finally at competitors. Alicia thought it sounded a lot more positive than the other labels there. She walked back to the hotel, hands in her pockets and a lightness in her heart that she hadn't felt for a long time.