These characters don't belong to me.

I want to thank my beta Believer123 for her wonderful work! Please read and review.

It was a cool, pleasant day, not warm or cold but something in between, and Alicia was spending this day with Will. Alicia noticed Will getting even more excited after he looked outside the window and saw the pleasant weather, but he wouldn't tell her their destination that day and it was driving Alicia crazy. He had pulled her out of bed early and told her to get dressed with warm clothes and take a rain coat, just in case. Ok, it had meant that they were going to be outside...but what the hell was he planning? In the car, she tried to get the information out of him one more time.

"Please, Will. I'm curious!" She tried her best pleading voice. The one she knew he could never resist.

"Alicia, if I tell you it won't be a surprise. We're almost there." Apparently almost never. As the good poker player that he was, he gave nothing away, to her great annoyance.

As he pulled over and parked the car, she couldn't believe her eyes. It was so unlike Will to do something like this; she had to blink a couple of times to make sure she hadn't fallen asleep during the ride and was dreaming.

"Since when does Will Gardner go to carnivals?" She asked as they were passing the entrance.

"Well, I haven't since that time we went together when we were at Georgetown. I remembered you having such a good time then and after everything that's happened and all the work you've been doing, you needed a break. You deserved a day of fun." He answered smiling.

She smiled back, not only because she loved carnivals – she had been the one to drag him there back then – but because of how sweet it all was: his caring, his idea, and the surprise. He was right; she needed some fun, some not caring, some time away from obligations and responsibilities.

It had been very long since the last time she had been at a carnival – since Zach and Grace were kids – and she wanted to go to all the rides. After laughing in the carousel, screaming at the roller coaster and celebrating that Will had won her a teddy bear, she insisted they went to the ferris wheel. She was having a really great time and being there with him, was like all those years ago in Washington. She felt 20-something again and it was good. She hadn't let herself let go like this in a long time. Just enjoying the moment for a change and Will was good at bringing out that side of her; he had always been.

...

He didn't know if it was the wind up there or the height itself, but 20 years later and yet again she snuggled up to him while at the top of the wheel and it still felt good to put his arm around her shoulders.

By the end of the day he noticed the worry lines on her face had gotten a little lighter, the circles under her eyes a little less evident and her smile more care free. That sight made him happy. Even more so, when occurred to him that he was part of it. He was lost in that thought, admiring that vision when suddenly he felt a cold hand entwining its fingers with his. He looked down at their hands and then up at her, trying to find an explanation, but she was already busy looking for their next destination.

Since that day in his apartment, where they had gotten back together, things have not been easy, but they have been good. They have both been more open and honest to each other, not keeping secrets anymore. Alicia was even more open to him than he had expected her to be after everything that's happened to her. All that was in private, of course, because under the public eye, it was another story. No, they didn't keep their relationship a secret, even the press had printed a couple of pages on that, but she avoided public displays of affection. She has always been a private person, who had not made her life public, but unfortunately, Peter's scandal had. She tried to compensate for it by being extra discreet and he respected that. He let her dictate the rhythm she wanted to take these things. From that moment on he knew it was ok for him to take her hand wherever he wanted, she didn't care what the media and everyone thought of them and the smile he had on his lips transformed into a goofy grin.

As they were leaving the carnival, it was already dark and the temperature had dropped considerably. Alicia put her arm through his in an attempt to get warmer, just like she had done that day of the carnival all those years before and many more during the winters in D.C.

"Thanks, Will." She said kindly and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm happy we did this."

He stopped, stared at her and she got what he was asking without words.

"Yes, I am. Very happy." She answered slowly, looking him in the eyes. "And not only about today."

He pulled her even closer, kissed her fully on the mouth as she could feel him smiling against her lips.

It had been worth the trip to see her be so carefree and happy. He knew she cared and worried so much about her children, always the one putting their happiness and well-being before her own. So it brought a real smile, a sense of happiness and pride to Will to see Alicia so happy and that it was he that made her feel this way. He decided he was going to make her happy like this as often as he could, because she deserved all the happiness and he was more than willing to give it to her.