The "Everything Changes" 2014 TGW Ficathon

[sweetjamielee]

The "Everything Changes" 2014 TGW Ficathon has come to a close! Thank you to all who participated. This post will remain unlocked so that readers may continue to comment on posted fics. Also feel free to post links to belatedly filled prompts. Hope to see you next year!

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[sportsnightnut]

Will leans back on the headrest, closing his eyes for what seems like an eternity but is realistically only a few seconds. Judge Abernathy’s on one of his sciatica walks, and Diane and Alicia are off trying to find coffee at this late hour.

He’s surprised, then, to hear a tap on his window. They can’t be back already, he thinks, before he opens his eyes to see one of the last people he would have imagined on the other side of the glass.

Grace Florrick.

Will indicates that he’s going to open the car door, so she steps back, allowing him to do so.

“Are you looking for your mom?” he asks, and she shakes her head.

“I was hoping I could talk to you,” Grace says, toeing the line between confident and nervous.

Will has absolutely no idea what she could want to talk to him about, but he nods, agreeing. “Sure. Let’s go inside where it’s warmer.”

They take a seat on a bench in an empty courtroom, and Grace faces him, her hands on her lap, running them over the denim that covers her thighs and knees. It’s a habit she inherited from her mother: she does this when she’s about to say something important.

“Do you remember last year, when my mom couldn’t find me because I didn’t tell anyone I was going to that church?” she asks, and Will nods. “When Kalinda brought me home, and my dad was there? I saw you.”

Will stares at the ground.

“You came because you were worried about my mom,” she states matter-of-factly.

“And I was worried about you,” he adds. “I knew if anything happened to you…” he trails off.

“You love her,” Grace says, staring at him. “I know you do.”

“How do you…?”

Grace shrugs. “I know more than you think. I know she loves you, too. I know that after that day, she tried to make things work with my dad again, and she got sad. She hasn’t looked happy since.”

Will thinks this young woman can’t possibly know all these things. It’s a maturity that extends far beyond her years.

But then he thinks about it a little more, and he realizes that Alicia says everything she can’t say out loud through the expressions on her face. He knows her eyes have often looked dim, sad, remorseful, and it’s obvious her daughter has noticed, too.

“You seem like a nice guy,” Grace says, snapping Will out of his thoughts. “And you make my mom happy. But if you want to be with her, you have to want to be a family. Me and Zach come as a package deal with my mom, you know?”

“I know,” he says quietly.

“I heard you’re Chicago’s sixteenth most eligible bachelor. Do you really want two teenage kids?”

And this makes Will think, too. He hadn’t had the greatest relationship with his own father, and he’s unsure if he can stand in Peter’s place. Peter may have royally screwed up, but he would always be their father, and he’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to do that.

“I can’t be your father,” he tells Grace. “I-Peter-“

She cuts him off. “I don’t want you to be him. Zach and I might have forgiven him for what he did, but he broke our family, Will.” It’s Grace’s turn to stare at the ground. “I’m not asking you to fix it, either. I just…I would want you to be there. For us. For my mom. Love us.”

Will smiles. “I could do that.”

She nods. “I know. That’s why I wanted to come here, to tell you…if you want to be with her, you need to do something. Soon. My dad’s probably going to be elected governor tomorrow, and she needs to know how you feel before it’s too late.”

Grace rises from her seat; she’s said everything she came here to say.

Will stands and holds his arms out to Grace for a hug. She accepts it, smiling to herself. He gives good hugs, she thinks.

“Thank you,” he says as he pulls back, and she nods. His phone buzzes in his pocket: it’s Alicia.

“Hey, where are you?” she asks. “We just got back. Found a 24-hour Starbucks a few blocks down.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“That’s my cue,” Grace says, and she smiles. “Don’t tell my mom I came to see you. Please?”

“Sure,” Will agrees. As she starts to walk away, he stops her. “Hang on. How did you get here?”

“Zach drove me. He’s waiting for me outside,” she explains, and pauses before speaking again. “Worrying about my safety, huh? I think you’re getting the hang of this parent thing already,” she says, a proud look on her face.

Will smiles back.

[hotladykisses]

Aw, I like this Grace much better than the canon one, she seems so much more grown-up and less obnoxious ^^ I wish Alicia could have made another decision than punishing herself for having a bit of fun time and running in circles about Peter.

As far as Will is concerned though, I have no doubt that’s exactly what he wanted, and he would have taken the whole package, would Alicia have let him!

Very nice fic, thank you :-)

[sportsnightnut]

I do too. Canon Grace frustrates me to no end. She has the potential to be way more mature than she is; she's Alicia's daughter, for Christ's sake. Seriously. And yeah, I have this idea in my head of how this whole story would end, where Will would tell Alicia he's able and willing to be everything for her, to love her and her kids, because I completely agree with you--he would've done it had Alicia allowed him to.

Glad you liked it, and thanks for saying so! :)

[withkissesfour]

I wanted this conversation to happen so much and you did it so beautifully. You just captured everything I like to think about how Will feels about Alicia, but also how Will feels about Alicia's children and parenthood and his adequacy and also like this bit: “And you make my mom happy. But if you want to be with her, you have to want to be a family. Me and Zach come as a package deal with my mom, you know?” That is just definitely how it would have GONE DOWN UGH.

[sportsnightnut]

Aww thank you so much for your sweet compliments! Yes, this is exactly how it could have/should have gone down. Le sigh. It's okay, that's why I live in denial-land, where this could be real. ;)

[sweetjamielee]

Aw, this is just lovely -- I feel as though if the kids were this accepting and mature about everything, that Will may not have been so hesitant about being proactive and going after what he really wanted. Very nice!

[sportsnightnut]

I'm with you 100%! This is one of the reasons I always liked Zach more than Grace, because he just "got" it. We didn't see that in Grace until after Will's death, and I think that will always make me sad, because everything could have turned out differently. Alas. This is why fix exists :) Thanks for leaving a note! I really appreciate your compliments!

[schwarmerei1]

I really enjoy Grace Florrick's fanfic appearances, and I think you used her really well here. Thank goodness your Will didn't tell her to "Keep on...keeping on." ;-)

Thanks for writing this!

[sportsnightnut]

Aw, thanks! I like using her in stories because I get to make her as mature as I know she had the capability to be. She's a fun character to work with, too, especially in happier times. And, yeah, I will never stop dying a little inside when I think about how completely awkwardpants Will was with her in that scene. Gah. They had the potential for some seriously adorable father/daughter moments.