A\N: I think I'm going to make this Willicia oneshot a bit longer than the rest of them. I hope you enjoy this 13th Willicicia Fluff and comfort oneshot, Angels. (This is set in season five, after 5x5)
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Oneshot 13 title: Will and Alicia (her shattered heart)
Oneshot 13 summary: Both of their hearts have been shattered, put back together and shattered all over again, but when her heart is shattered for a third time by the same person who shattered it the first time, are there enough pieces for it to be put back together again?
POV: 3rd person.
Chapter count: 1.
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She actually believed him when he said he wouldn't cheat on her again. He looked in her eyes and promised her he would never put her through that again, and she believed him.
She believed he would be devoted to her and making their marriage work.
She had stupidly believed his words.
He didn't tell her either, she found out the same way she did the first time: the news, but unlike the first time, she wasn't alone the day she found out. She was at work surrounded by Will, Diane and Cary, all of them were arguing the withholding of client files when the TV in the conference room had interrupted whatever was playing in the background.
Breaking news: It has been reported and confirmed that Cook County of Illinois Governor Peter Florrick is having another affair with another prostitute. This comes five years after his first affair with call girl Amber Madison. Is this a new affair with the same call girl? What will this new affair do to his marriage with Chicago defence attorney Alicia Florrick, who has just agreed to renew their vows in Hawaii? What will this do to his two children?
Someone turns the TV off after the broadcast. Tears are slipping down her face, she's staring at the screen, unable to think of anything. She can't move, she's frozen in her seat. Her heart beat is pounding in her ears. It can't be happening again, it can't be. He promised me, he promised. Her mind is telling her. But it was confirmed that he was cheating on her again. Did he ever really stop? Another part of her mind asks. She turns away from the TV finally, and stares into the eyes of Will.
Will just stares back at her, not saying anything, no one says anything, not Will, not Diane, not Cary. It's like no one knows what to say. Slowly, Will makes the first move by getting up, breaking their eye contact, and grabbing a bottle of water, sitting in the vacated seat on the other side of her and hands her the water, their eyes meeting again. She doesn't open it, she just holds it, grateful to have something to hold. Once again, it's Will who says the first word.
"Leesh." It's only one word but it's enough to make her break. The tears turn to sobs and Will wraps his arms around him and holds her, rubbing a hand up and down her back, as she sobs. Cary and Diane don't do anything, knowing Will is better at comforting her than they are.
"H... he... promised.. he'd nev... never do it again." Her sentence comes out in gasps. Will just continues holding her.
"I know he did, I know." Will says quietly. She pulls away from him after five minutes, grabbing her phone. She wipes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "I need to do damage control and tell the kids. Oh god the kids." She stands up on shaky legs, gripping the table for support. Cary intervenes then.
"Okay, you're in no condition to drive, I'm taking you home, now, and you're staying off tomorrow." Her young partner tells her firmly. Normally, she'd argue with him, saying that she can drive herself home and that she'll be okay in the morning, but she finds herself nodding and allowing Cary, Will and Diane to lead her out of Lockhart/Gardner to the parking garage. After promising both Will and Diane to call them if either she or the kids need anything, she leans her head against the window, her eyes slipping closed as Cary navigates the route to her apartment building.
That was three weeks ago, and she's not left the apartment since Cary sat her down on the couch with a cup of coffee, and waited with her until Zach and Grace arrived home ten minutes after she did, both in tears and hugged their mother the same way they did when they were younger, curled into either side of her. Her partner hugged her, Zach and Grace, and said he'd call her later to check in on all of them, and left them alone, dodging all the reporters already camped outside the building.
Peter came by a few hours after the news broke and after getting ripped apart by Zach and Grace, then by Alicia, left after 20 minutes of arriving. The three of them spent the rest of the day on the couch in their pyjamas watching movies late into the night, until they all fell asleep on the couch.
Despite not having left the apartment for the last three weeks doesn't mean she's not been working, or been alone. Cary has allowed her to work remotely, and Will and Diane have both been by a few times a week, as has Cary, Kalinda, Robyn, Eli and her brother, and her mother. Her mother has become a permanent resident in the maids room. Thankfully everyone has been understanding and given her space and not pushed her to talk.
Until Zach, Grace, her mother, brother, Cary, Diane, Kalinda, Robyn, Eli and Will staged an intervention when it becomes apparent that Alicia hasn't been eating much, and thus been losing weight, weight she can''t afford to loose.
And who was elected to sit down and talk to her? The one person who knows her inside and out, the one person she loves more than life itself, the one person who she betrayed the most?
Will Gardner.
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Will is invited into the apartment by Grace, who gives him a small smile. She's dressed in her school uniform, her bag slung over her shoulder.
"Mom is in her room. Will, we're worried about her, she rarely eats and if she does it's the bare minimum and it all comes back up, she barely sleeps, she hasn't left the apartment since Cary brought her home, you're the only one who can convince to do anything, so please help her." The teenager begs him. Will looks at the girl in front of her and sees how much she's been affected by her fathers actions again, and now her mothers dealings with the actions.
"I'm going to try, Grace, but me and your Mom aren't in a good place at the minute so I don't know if she'll listen to me." Will regrettably tells the teen who just sighs.
"I know, but you're the only one who she'll listen to. She won't listen to me or Zach, or grandma, or Uncle Owen, she won't listen to Cary or Diane, you're the only one she'll listen to. Please, Will. Help my Mom." She says 'help my mom' in a near whisper. Will only nods his head at Grace who nods back and leaves the apartment, closing the door behind her.
For the first time in 2 years, he's alone with Alicia in her apartment. And it's uncomfortable to say the least.
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He knocks on her bedroom door twice and waits for her to open the door. After waiting three minutes, he knocks again, firmer this time. "Leesh, it's Will." He says. Alicia doesn't answer, so he opens her door, twisting the knob quietly.
Her bedroom is engulfed in darkness: her blackout curtains are drawn, her bathroom door is firmly closed, it feels like a dungeon to him.
Alicia is curled up in bed, the covers over her. He sighs. Suddenly he feels angry: angry at Peter for doing what he did, again, angry at Alicia for hiding and blocking everything out, angry at himself for causing a war between the two of them. He walks up to her bed and pulls the covers off her, hearing her groan. Her eyes open, landing on his face.
"Will, what the hell?!" Alicia shouts, sitting up and glaring at him. Will ignores her.
"Go get a shower, get dressed then come into the kitchen." He orders her before spinning on his heel and leaving her bedroom, he can feel her eyes burning holes into the back of her head.
He's not being sweet or caring this time. She's gotten used to betrayed and angry Will, and if him being angry is what gets through to her, then so be it.
He opens her fridge and sees eggs, ham and cheese so he decides to make her a ham and cheese omelette, like he did at Georgetown when things between them were do much more easier and simpler, and where they weren't at war with each other.
He makes her two omelettes, knowing she hasn't eaten since yesterday. Ten minutes later when he's flipping the second omelette onto her plate, Alicia comes out of her bedroom showered and dressed in leggings and a t-shirt, her hair wet and unbrushed. She eyes the two omelettes with a wary look as she leans against the kitchen island.
"I'm not hungry." She says testily. Will only rolls his eyes. "I don't care, you're eating." He replies, sliding the plate, and a knife and fork towards her and starts cleaning up the mess he's made. Alicia just stares at the plate.
"Alicia, eat the food." He's starting to get pissed off with her.
"I told you I'm not hungry!" She shouts. He turns around and faces her.
"And I told you, I don't care!" He shouts back. Alicia scoffs, crossing her arms across her chest, glaring at him.
"Why are you here, Will?" She asks him.
"I'm here because we're all worried about you." He answers her question. Alicia scoffs again and rolls her eyes.
"Does that include you?" Will's mouth hangs open as she asks him that.
"W... what? Of course I'm worried about you, Alicia! God, Alicia!" He shoots back, his eyes narrowing, he takes a breath and looks at her.
"Look, Alicia, I know he hurt you again, and I'm sorry about that but ignoring it won't make it go away." He says gently. He saw her face when the news broke, he held her as she sobbed, he saw herself from everyone withdraw three weeks ago.
And he didn't like it then, and he doesn't like it now.
They're locked in a staring contest until she looks away and starts picking at her breakfast, occasionally taking small bites, he added extra cheese because she scolded him once while they were at Georgetown for not adding enough cheese, so ever since then he's made it a habit to add extra cheese to his omelettes when he makes them for her.
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After Alicia has eaten half of her breakfast, they move to sit at opposite ends of her sofa. They sit in silence for an hour until she starts speaking.
"I believed him, I believed him when he said he'd never put me through this again. He was looking right at me, he lied to me, and I fucking believed him. I hurt, Will, I fucking hurt and I want the hurt to go away but it hasn't, and I don't know what to do. I've been hurting for years but no one cares, no one cares that I've been hurting. There are days where I want to never leave my room and let everything collapse around me. I want everything to end!" She's yelling as tears run down her face.
Will feels helpless. He knows it's good for Alicia to let everything out, but she's scaring him with what she's saying. He stands up and walks over to where she's sitting and kneels in front of her, pulling her into his arms like he did three weeks ago. There's not much he can say or do, except try and comfort her and tell her that everything will be okay, eventually. The woman he's been in love with for 20 years is in so much pain and he can't take any of it away.
Alicia sobs into Will for close to two hours but neither of them care: she needs this, and so does he.
His heart has been shattered for the last 2 years, ever since she ended their affair in his office, the day after Grace was found.
He lifts Alicia into his arms and sits on the sofa with her in his arms.
"He broke my heart one, he promised not to do it again. But he did." Her voice is quiet and hoarse from crying but Will can hear her perfectly.
"Want me and Cary to rough him up for you?" He asks, Alicia laughs a little bit. Her laugh is like music to her ears. He hasn't heard her laugh in a long time so it's good to hear it again, even if it's a small laugh.
"No, he'd probably have you arrested or something, not to mention his bodyguards would pounce on the both of you before you could even enter his office." She answers, Will groans dramatically.
"I'm sorry." She suddenly says. He looks down at her where she's put her head on his chest.
"What are you sorry for, Leesh?" he asks, he's confused: as far as he knows she has nothing to be sorry for.
"For betraying you and Diane, for shutting everyone out these last three weeks." She tells him, Will sighs: her and Cary's betrayal hurt like a knife to the back but these last three weeks with the three name partners each worried about Alicia, has healed the knife wound exponentially.
"Leesh, you don't have to be sorry about anything." He says, kissing her hair. "But if you ever feel like this again, call me, or Diane if you can't reach me, or Cary, or anyone. Call us, and we'll come. You're not alone in dealing with this, okay?" Alicia hesitates before nodding her head.
He hates Peter Florrick and wants to strangle him until he can't breath, all of them do, but they can't because he's still technically her husband, the father of her children and the Governor of Cook County.
But what they can do is be here for Alicia and her children as they weather this latest storm Peter has brought about, and within time, maybe Will can pick up the pieces of her shattered heart.
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A\N: This has taken me 3 days to write because I kept toying with other avenues with this oneshot. I'm going to take a break from updating Fluff and comfort until some of my drafts have been published, so I hope you Angels enjoy Willicia oneshot.