A\N: This Willicia oneshot will be shortish. I hope you enjoy this one, Angels.
Oneshot 4 title: A different dream
Oneshot 4 summary: What made Alicia change her mind about running for State's Attorney?
POV: Third person
Chapter count: 1
It's still pitch black outside when she wakes up on the State's Attorney Election day, unable to fall back to sleep, even with her husband's heartbeat thumping in her ear. She rolls out of his arms. Her husband stirs but doesn't wake up. Slipping out of bed and into a thin robe, she watches the way her husband is sleeping, his chest rising and falling with each breath he takes.
It had been a hard year for the two of them and she had left with Cary and the other fourth years, created a war between her and Will and Will had stolen her client which had ended up with him fighting for his life after getting shot. She had been by his side through everything: his surgery, his coma, waking up from the coma, ending the war between them, therapy, rehabilitation, going back to work, trying to renew their friendship before figuring out how to work as a couple.
He proposed two months after the shooting, in front of Zach and Grace while they were skyping and they got married that weekend with only Zach, Grace, Diane, Cary, Finn Polmar, Kalinda and Carey Zepps in attendance. She walked down the aisle with Cary and Zach on either side of her. After the ceremony, their guests surprised them with a reception at Lockhart/Gardner where both their firms had merged for this occasion. She danced with her husband, her kids, her partners, her old colleagues, hell even Peter came and was dragged on the makeshift dance to dance with her for one last dance by their daughter.
It was Will and Diane who convinced her to run for State's Attorney with the help of Cary, Finn and Peter. She didn't want to give up the law again. "You won't be." Diane said in a reassuring tone of voice. They had all known why she was so reluctant to run for SA: she didn't want to give up Law, not when she'd only been back in it for a few years, and abandon her clients that she had sworn to defend with everything she had. She had thought about it for two months before she agreed to run.
She leaves her bedroom and starts making coffee, looking at the time on the oven. 3:40. Tonight she'll find out if she's the new State's Attorney or if Castro had been reelected. The campaign had exposed some things about her family and her friends but she had faced it all head on, especially when it came to light that Peter had been having sex with an intern while they were married. She wouldn't have gotten through that bombshell without Will, and the rest of her lawyer family. She sits at the kitchen table with her laptop and starts typing up her acceptance speech and her runner up speech. She doesn't know how long she's been up typing and taking sips of her coffee when she hears her husband's footsteps coming from their bedroom. He kisses her head and wraps his arms around her neck, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"You're up early." He says, she nods her head. "What are you doing?" He asks, she sighs.
"Writing my speeches for tonight." She answers, Will sighs. "You only need one speech, Leesh. You're going to win." Will tells her as he picks up her empty coffee cup and refills it for her while also pouring a cup for himself.
"And hey, I was meant to wake up before you and make you surprise Election Day pancakes with strawberries!" Will exclaims as he hands her her coffee. Alicia smiles at her husband, at his thoughtfulness. She stands up, pulling his coffee out his hands, placing it on the table beside hers and wraps her arms around his neck, and kisses him softly.
"We've got the rest of our lives for surprise pancakes, my love." She whispers to him, Will smiles as he picks her up in his arms, placing her on the counter and kisses her deeply.
"We certainly do, because I'm not going anywhere." He replies. She nods, even a year later, she still has dreams where he didn't survive and on those days, she clings to him.
"Damn right you aren't, Mr Gardner." She hops off the counter and walks back to her laptop as her husband starts making pancakes, the thoughts of writing her speeches forgotten as she watches her shirtless husband.
She's in the hotel suite with Will, Peter, Eli and Johnny. Peter, even though he's hurt her so many times, still wants to be a part of her life in whatever way he can. Will hands her a glass of wine while they wait for Cary, Diane, Finn, Veronica and Owen, who are pissed that they weren't invited to the wedding.
"Anything?" She asks Eli who is on his phone. "No, they close the polls in 5 minutes." He answers, Will wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close to him, his lips grazing her hair.
"You'll win, Leesh, you did a good campaign." Will whispers in her ear as she finishes her glass of wine. The door to the room opens and Diane and Cary enter. She and Will stand up to hug them, she holds onto Diane a little bit longer but the older woman doesn't seem to mind.
"You ready for this?" Her mentor asks once she's pulled away. "No." She replies as she spots Finn entering the room with a bottle of wine. "Hey!" She says, hugging her friend, the man who saved her husband's life while endangering his own. Finn laughs as he pulls her into a hug before shaking Will's hand. Cary comes to stand beside her, his hand on her shoulder.
"Look at me," her partner says, she does. "Win or lose, you'll always be a winner to us, and Gardner/Agos still needs a Gardner to its Agos." He kisses her on her cheek and joins the guys on the couch while she thinks about what he just said.
"Your partner is right, Alicia." Diane suddenly says, she jumps: she forgot that her friend was still on the other side of her. "You're still a winner to us. No matter what." She only nods.
Veronica and Owen arrive just as the announcements come in. She sat beside her husband and her mentor.
Her picture is shown with the number: 87%.
She's the next State's Attorney.
"Oh m y god!" She breathes with a smile as Will pulls her to her feet and swings her around while everyone cheers and clasps for her. Will puts her on the ground and kisses her deeply before hugging her. "I'm so proud of you, Leesh." Her husband says before Diane pulls her into a hug, kissing her head in a motherly way.
Cary swings her around like Will did and she's barely steady before her little brother hugs. "Congrats sis!" Owen drunkley shouts in her ear. She laughs.
Finn, her mother, Eli, Johnny, and Peter hug her, Peter kisses her temple. "I'm so damn proud of you, and I know the kids are too." Her ex-husband says. Zach and Grace are away at college and couldn't get time off much to their displeasure. "Thank you, Peter." She says.
"Alicia, Gardner/Agos have something to say!" Cary calls as he holds an open laptop.
Their firm are all squeezed into the frame. "Congratulations, Alicia!" They all say. She smiles. "Thanks guys, and please be good for Cary." She tells them before the screen goes black.
She holds her husband's hand as they exit the suite, ready to go down to the ballroom to make her first speech as SA. The door closes behind them.
"Does the SA have any objections to her husband kissing her in a hotel hallway?" Will just about asks before her lips cover his in a hungry kiss.
"Thank you for pushing me to run, Will." Alicia whispers just as they reach the podium, a gasp escaping her lips when she sees who's standing at the podium.
Zach and Grace.
"Now we are thrilled to be here tonight, and even more thrilled to introduce the woman in our lives who has done everything in her power to make my and my sister safe and happy, and we know she'll make Cook County safe and happy too." Zach stops talking and lets Grace finish.
"It is our honour to introduce Cook County's new State's Attorney, our Mom, Alicia Gardner!"
Zach, Grace and the rest of the ballroom cheer as she and Will walk out on stage. She hugs Zach while Will hugs Grace. "Me and Grace are proud of you, Mom." Her son says into her ear as she releases her son and embraces her daughter, Grace lets her go. Alicia walks up to her husband who is waiting by the podium and kisses him.
"Did you do this? Get them here for this?" She asks into the kiss, Will nods as he pulls away. "Congratulations Mrs State's Attorney." Her husband says as he grabs her hand.
With her husband on one side of her and her kids on the other side, Alicia Gardner makes her first speech as States Attorney.
With Will Gardner at her side, she knows she can do anything.
Alicia wakes up with tears streaming down her face. Her tears filled eyes land on the photo of a smiling Will Gardner she has on her nightstand.
"Okay." She whispers, reaching out to trace his smile which she only sees in her dreams. "Okay, I'll run. I'll run for you and I'll make you proud, that's a promise."
She will run for State's Attorney, but she's not doing it for herself, or Gloria Steinem, or for Eli or even for the millions of woman her running would inspire, she's doing it for Will Gardner, her fellow lawyer, her best friend, the love of her life who was tragically taken away from her and his murderer wasn't punished for it. She's doing it for Will and only Will.
A\N: Okay so it's not so short but this is my version on why she'd decided to run. I hope you enjoy, Angels.