A\N: This is chapter 2 of the worlds we never see, I'm not sure how many chapters this will have seeing as it was a long oneshot and as I'm also working on another story and because of my medication, my focus has gone really bad. I hope you Angels enjoy chapter 2!
Will watches as Alicia paces around his office, a coffee cup in her hands. She keeps her eyes locked on the glass windows, waiting for Diane and David to return. "Leesh, please try to calm down." He says. Leesh tears her eyes away from the window just for a second and she glares at him, the glare she used to shoot him at Georgetown a day or so before exams. "I can't calm down, Will. My kids are dead and it's my soon-to-be-ex-husband and soon-to-be ex-mother-in-law's fault! Diane and my divorce lawyer are speaking to the bastard right now, so tell me how the hell I'm supposed to calm down!" She shouts. Will sighs. "It'll be okay, Leesh. You're gonna be okay, I promise." He reassures her, Alicia doesn't respond. Five minutes later, Diane and David enter his office, and Leesh pounces on them, he watches her with a smile hidden behind his own cup of coffee.
"Well?" Leesh demands as soon as the door is closed behind David. David and Diane look at one another before looking at Alicia. "Your soon-to-be- ex-husband is an insufferable bastard, Alicia." Diane says, sinking down onto Will's couch. Both he and Leesh smirk. "That he is, now tell us what happened." She says.
"Well in a nutshell, he called you a bitch, said that you ruined your marriage and that you're wasting your time loving a man who will never love you back." David says with disgust colouring his tone. Alicia drops the coffee cup on the floor, the liquid spilling out, her eyes meeting his own before she turns and leaves the office without a word.
"Should one of us go after her?" Diane asks after Alicia leaves their eyesight, Will shakes his head. "No, I know where she's going and while I don't agree with what she's doing alone, she needs to do it." He tells his partner and colleague before he follows her at a slower pace.
Alicia steps off the elevator and walks towards the door. She hasn't been back here in a month. She opens the door and takes a deep breath as she steps inside.
The first thing she notices is that someone has closed their doors, most likely Robyn, and cleaned out the fridge. She walks deeper into the apartment, surprised that the appliances still work, seeing as she hasn't paid the gas or electric or the rent for that matter in a month, flashes of moments with the kids flash in the front of her mind.
Pizza nights where the ingredients got everywhere, including themselves.
Watching movies on the couch until late into the night.
Speaking about the cases she's working on, without giving them nightmares.
Telling them that her and Peter are separating.
Holding them in her arms as she sobbed over her breakup with a certain lawyer.
Late night talks with Gracie.
The silent looks she shared with Zach when Jackie annoyed both of them.
The smirks she and the kids had to cover up behind their cups of coffee when Jackie scolded Alicia for something or other.
All the things that will never happen again.
Then flashes of memories with Will in the apartment come full force.
Waking up to being kissed by him.
The smell of coffee.
The laughter.
Being held by him after a night of lovemaking.
Sex in the shower.
Making him breakfast in the mornings.
Kissing him over coffee.
Wearing his shirt around the apartment.
Suddenly, the memories hit her all at once and she falls to the floor, her knees banging against the wooden floor, and the sobs she's repressed come bursting out of her, wracking her frame as she sees the ghosts of Zach and Gracie.
A strong set of arms pick her up and carry her over to the couch, sitting down with her on their lap. She buries her head on their chest and sobs, her tears soaking their shirt. She has a vague knowledge of whose lap she's on but right now she can't thank him for following her.
He strokes her back soothingly, kissing her hair occasionally, whispering sweet nothings into her hair while she sobs.
"It's gonna be okay, Leesh." Will whispers. Alicia shakes her head. "N… no it won't. They're dead, they're never coming home. The three people I love most in the world are gone." She says through her sobs, knowing that Will can hear through his shirt.
"Three people, Leesh?" He asks, she nods, her sobs dying down some. "I lost Zach and Gracie a month ago, but I also lost you two years ago when I ended things in your office, then I lost you again a few months ago when you found out about me, Cary and the other fourth years. Why do I lose the people I love? Am I that bad of a person that everyone I love either ends up dead or leaves me?" She asks as her tears come to a stop for the time being.
"I wish you had let me kill your soon-to-be-ex-husband when I first met him." Will growls out before he kisses her hair. She lets a smile onto her lips at his words. "And about those other things you said, we'll address them back at my place." Alicia sighs, gets off his lap and looks around the apartment.
"I don't know what to do. I don't think I can in this apartment again but I also know that I can't stay with you forever." She says, standing up and looking at the place she and her children made a home. Will also stands up and wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her against him.
"Do you need anything from here?" He asks her softly. She sighs. She shakes her head. Robyn and Cary gave gotten her enough clothes, toiletries and hair products for at least another week at Will's. "Not at the minute." Will sighs in her ear and releases her waist, grabs her hand and leads her towards the door, Alicia stops at the threshold and sees Zach and Grace watching her, smiling at her as she and Will leave the apartment.
She closes the door on their ghosts, knowing she won't ever be living here again.
She follows Will to his apartment. He's waiting outside the building for her when she parks beside his car. He smiles as she gets out of the car and reaches out to take her hand again like he did at the apartment. Her face feels puffy and itchy thanks to the crying she did.
As soon as the door to Will's apartment is closed, she walks over to the kitchen and finds his alcohol. She pours herself a tumbler of Scotch and brings it over to the couch where she downs it in one swallow.
"Peter's wrong, you know that. He ruined your marriage the second he considered sleeping with someone other than you." Will says, sitting beside her and taking the empty glass from her hand. Alicia scoffs.
"And what about the stuff he told Diane and David?" She fires back. She hears Will sigh but doesn't acknowledge it. "About how I'm wasting my time loving a man who will never love me back? Is it true? Am I wasting my time loving you?" She asks him, Will gets off the couch and kneels down in front of her, taking her hands in his own, and looking into her eyes. She averts his gaze, unable to look at him.
"Look at me," he orders softly. She does, powerless to ignore him, their eyes locking. "I have spent the last 20 years being in love with you. And as for having lost me? No way have you ever lost me. You have never lost me, not once in 20 years and you never will lose me, I promise." Will tells her softly, Alicia exhales, the breath leaving her mouth as she wraps her arms around his neck.
Will wraps his own around her and simply holds her.
He ends up carrying her to bed and tucks her in even though it's not even three in the afternoon. He knows she needs sleep, especially after what happened in the apartment. Once she's tucked into his bed, wearing one of his shirts, he simply sits beside her and watches her sleep.
Sleep is one time she looks peaceful. Like the world can't hurt her while she's sleeping. He strokes her cheek with his finger.
"I love you, Alicia Cavanaugh." He whispers to her before he kisses her forehead and leaves the bedroom, leaving the door ajar in case she needs him.
After he leaves his bedroom, he walks into his living room and finds Diane sitting on his couch with a glass of wine cradled in her hands.
"I didn't hear you come in." He says as he joins her. Diane chuckles. "I'm not surprised." She replies. "How is she?" She asks with a nod of her head to the direction of his bedroom. Will sighs. "She was doing so well then that bastard set her back ten steps." He says with pure hatred in his voice. "How dare he call her a bitch, say it was her who ruined their marriage and say that she was wasting her time loving a man who would never love her back?! He's wrong with everything! I love her, I have for 20 years, she's not a bitch and it was he who ruined their marriage! Do you know where I found her? On the floor of her apartment sobbing her heart out! She asked me is she that bad of a person that everyone in her life either dies or leaves!" Will rants. Diane groans.
"I hate that man. It's bad enough he and his mother were in the car with Zach and Gracie and that he blames the fact that she was with us when they died but when he said that she's wasting her time loving a man who would never love her back, I wanted to strangle him. How she put up with him for 20 years, I have no idea." His partner says. "She's always been a strong girl, she put up with him for the kids, to make them happy." He comments.
A scream comes from Will's bedroom that makes both lawyers look at each other, jump up and go running to Alicia.
Shortly after the car crash that ended the lives of Zach and Grace Florrick, Alicia made the mistake of getting her hands on the report and the crash photos which also had the photos of Zach and Grace. The photos have been giving her nightmares every other night since then.
Having reached the bedroom before Will, who stopped to take the wine glass out of her hands, Diane races to the bed and starts waking up the younger woman, her cries and pleas for her children reach her ears, breaking her heart
"Alicia, wake up, it's okay. It's not real." Diane runs her fingers through Alicia's hair. "Gracie, please." Alicia begs as tears stream down her face, her mascara smudges her eyes.
"Alicia, wake up, it's okay." Diane says as Alicia's eyes snap open. Alicia sits up as the blonde woman sits next to her, wrapping her arms around Alicia's shoulders.
"I witnessed them die again." The younger woman says as she leans her head on her shoulder. Diane kisses her hair in a motherly fashion.
"Their deaths were not your fault, Alicia. We've all told you this so why don't you believe us?" Diane asks, Alicia sighs.
"If I were home, Grace wouldn't have had to call THEM to pick her and Zach up, therefore they wouldn't have been in a car crash and killed. My last conversation with the kids was a fight, they were angry that I was pulling another all nighter. I didn't get to tell them that I loved them one last time, Diane." The brunette woman tells the blonde.
Diane curses Peter Florrick in her head before she turns her attention back to the grieving mother. "Zach and Gracie loved you, Alicia, you knew that. It wasn't your fault that your client and ours had an overlapping conflict of interest which led our firms pulling another all-nighter to fix it." Diane says, Alicia nods her head, agreeing with her. Diane smiles.
"Peter was wrong earlier. You are in no way a bitch nor did you ruin your marriage, he did. And Will loves you, we all see that." The older lawyer wanted to kill Peter Florrick as soon as the first words fell out of his mouth, which came as no surprise to her or David.
"I love Will too, I have for the last 20 years, In fact I was going to break up with Peter and choose Will when I found out I was pregnant with Zach. During our affair, I came so close to divorcing Peter and telling Will those three little words so many times, but I couldn't because the kids were struggling with the idea of us being separated, what would a divorce have done to them? I couldn't do it. Then I ended it between us for the kids, I ended it with Will because it was taking me away from the kids. I love him, Diane, I want to spend the rest of my life with him but how can I? Zach and Grace would hate me for divorcing their father and jumping into a new relationship with a man who just so happens to be my former boss, the boss that fired me and started a war with me and my firm. They'd roll over in their grave at the thought of me dating my former boss, and what would Chicago think! And not to mention my soon-to-be- ex-husband and his mother?!" Alicia rants. Diane sighs and curses the bastard and his mother when movement out of the corner of her eye catches her attention before she can begin to even unpack what Alicia has laid out.
Dane smiles when she spots her partner entering his bedroom. They smile at each other before Diane gives Alicia another kiss on the head and gets off the bed, just as Will takes her position. She leaves two out of the three most important people in her life alone.
Will smiles as the two most important women in his life talk before he enters his bedroom, silently planning the murders of Peter and Jackie Florrick in his head, sitting next to Leesh. He takes her hand and looks at her.
"I love you, Alicia Cavanaugh, you know that." He tells her, Leesh nods. "I do know that and I love you too, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life, but I'm scared." Leesh admits. Will sighs.
"Let's just get you through your divorce, then focus on everything else. But if you want, we can tell Diane, Cary, David, Julius, K and Robyn that we want to be together?" He asks, Leesh nods before she kisses him softly for the first time in two kiss is over before it can really begin but Will doesn't care.
"Screw everything else. I love you and I want to be with you. I don't care about anything else. Zach and Gracie are gone and as much as I hate that they're gone, nothing can bring them back, but I have to live for myself, as selfish as that may be. I let you go twice, I'm not letting you go a third time, I won't survive. So if you agree, I want to be with you." Leesh says with a smile. He cups her face in his hands and smiles so wide he's surprised his face doesn't hurt. He kisses her softly.
"I've been wanting to be with you since I first met you at the L1 Orientation pool party when I saw you standing alone. I don't care about anything but you and the others. I love you." He says quietly. He stands up from the bed and scoops her up, her squeals and laughter filling his heart as he carries her into the living with nothing but one of his shirts on her body and his heart in the palm of her hands.
It's been too long since he's heard her laugh.
While Will and Alicia are in Will's room talking, Diane orders Chinese food (knowing everyone's order) and calls Cary, David, Julius, Kalinda and Robyn and more or less threatens them if they don't come for dinner. After dinner is ordered and her team is threatened, Diane calls her husband, who is worried about Alicia, and tells him to come over to Will's for dinner.
Sat on the couch, Diane is watching a movie when she hears laughter coming into the living room and sees her two favourite people coming into the living room, Alicia in Will's arms.
"It's good to hear your laugh again, Alicia." Diane says, bringing her into a one armed hug once Will sets her down on the couch. "I second that." Will says, Alicia smiles before kissing Will lightly on his lips. That makes her smile grow wider, she was wondering how long it's be before those two finally got together again.
A knock on the front door makes them look at her. "It's either the team or dinner. I ordered Chinese." The blonde says, standing up and walking to the door. She's met with Cary, Robyn and Kalinda on the other side of the door. She steps aside to let the younger lawyer and two investigators in. "David and Julius will be here soon. Julius is wrapping up paperwork and David muttered something about Peter Florrick being a bastard." Kalinda says, Diane nods her head.
"Alicia's in the living room, and heads up, she's laughing again." The smiles she gets from the three of them make hers widen as the rush past her to see Alicia. Her heart swells as she thinks about all five of them who invaded her heart a long time ago, especially Will and Alicia.
Cary doesn't know how his partner has done it. Doesn't know how or where she's found the strength to get out of bed, much less go back to work, hell even living, after the deaths of her children.
"Another Disney movie, really?!" Cary exclaims as he flops down on the couch beside Will. "Haven't we watched every movie Disney ever made?!" He asks, Alicia giggles. It's good to hear her laugh again, even if it is just a little tiny giggle. "This was Gracie's favourite when she was a little girl and me and Will watched it a lot in college." Alicia says sadly as she speaks about her daughter.
Cary reaches out and takes his partner's hand, the one that isn't tangled with Will's. "Was Will a consented party to this movie viewing in college?" He asks teasingly, Alicia smiles. "Well, after a few threats of blackmail and a few kisses, he was persuadable into watching it." She states, kissing Will. Will smiles into the kiss before breaking away.
"Objection, you threatened to burn my The Rolling Stones concert tickets if I didn't watch it with you." Will counters back, Alicia rolls her eyes. "But I didn't burn them, you still went to see them a week later." She counters back with a dazzling smile.
The doorbell rings but they ignore it, knowing Diane will get it.
"Dinner's here!" Diane says, the smell of Chinese wafts through the apartment as she carries it into the kitchen. Cary watches Alicia lean into Will as she watches the movie.
When Diane gives them their food, they head back into the living room, Robyn un-pausing the movie, just as the front door opens and the arguing voice of David and Julius enter the apartment.
"You can't serve him with a lawsuit!" Julius is saying, David snorts.
"I can if he's being a jackass and blaming his soon-to-be-ex-wife for the deaths of their children and plans to tell the press about it." David fires back.
"HE'S WHAT?!" The sobbed yell from Alicia startles all of them. All eyes are on the lawyer in Will's shirt as she stands up. There are tears streaming down her face as she looks at David.
"Please tell me he's not telling the press that I caused the deaths of Zach and Grace? Please?" She's begging, they can all see it. "I'm so sorry, Alicia." David says quietly. "Haven't my babies suffered enough? Why can't he just let them rest in peace?!" She shouts before she goes running out of the room, sobbing. They hear a bedroom door slam closed.
"I'm going to kill him." Growls Will before he runs after Alicia, leaving the rest of them alone.
"Why the fuck would he do this?" It's Robyn who asks. David sighs as he sinks down on the couch. "My guess is that he didn't like the visit we paid him earlier." The Family Law lawyer says with a look at Diane.
"What visit are you talking about?" Cary asks, his partner was doing so good. "You paid that bastard a visit?!" He's furious.
"If we didn't, Alicia and Will were going to visit him and it was going to be worse than the press being lied to, Cary." Diane says. Cary sighs.
"Why were Will and Alicia going to visit him anyway?" Cary asks, interested.
"Peter said that Alicia was the one that ruined their marriage and that she was wasting her time loving a man who would never love her back." Diane informs the group.
"That's a damn lie, all of it! He worships Alicia, he made a deal with David just so she'd get hired and has been a friend to her when she had none thanks to that bastard!" Julius exclaims from his seat. Diane and David nod. "We've all known that they love each other, hell the kids knew that. I think the clients and lawyers we've gone up against know that. Why can't he just accept it? The kids and everyone else did." Julius says.
"Leesh, you can't!" Will says as his bedroom door opens and the sound of his voice and heels reach their ears.
"The hell I can't, Will. I've had it up to here with him blaming me for their deaths when it was him who was drunk at the wheel, fell asleep and crashed!" Alicia counters back as she enters the living room, dressed in jeans, Will's t-shirt, a leather jacket and heels with her purse slung over her shoulder, bypassing everyone with Will following her. "And everyone is going to know that he's inadvertently a murderer, as is his mother!" She shoots back as she walks towards the door. Will grabs her waist and pulls her to his chest before her hand can open the door.
"Hey, Will, let me go!" She shouts, struggling in his hold. "Yeah, like that's gonna happen." He says sarcastically. "Leesh, you can't, you'll be as bad as him if you do it." Will tries to reason with her. "Then I'll be as bad as him!" She fires back. "Leesh, please don't do this." Will pleads, Alicia's fight to get out of his grip relents once she hears his voice. "Fine, I won't tell the press anything but, why would he do this? Why can't he just let the kids rest?" She asks tiredly as Will picks her up and carries her to the couch, sitting down with her in his lap, stroking her hair as she sobs.
"You'll be okay, Leesh, I promise, we'll make you okay." Will whispers.
Cary silently thanks whoever is watching in the sky that Will is in Alicia's life.
A\N: Chapter 2 is complete, chapter 3 is almost complete. Forgive any mistakes I've missed, I've tried to catch them all but I'm not perfect. I hope you Angels have had a good week. I don't know how many chapters this story will have or how it will end but I do know that it's a Willicia story and that they do end up together. I'm already planning my next Willicia oneshot in my head, and no it's won't be a Happily Ever After between them, so keep and eye for that as well as the new chapter of my White Collar story Neal's hope and a few other stories from different fandoms.
Have a good weekend Angels.