Dramatics, Your Honor

This is an ask blog for Will Gardner, of the amazing CBS show, The Good Wife. Now accepting asks, magic anons, and RP requests. Some gifs are mine, but most are borrowed. Current M!A: None

[askwillgardner]

I hope you continue to look over Alicia, Will. Wherever you are. She's really sad without you now. :( If you had one wish for Diane and Alicia what would it be?

I sincerely hope she's less sad in the near future. She's got a firm to run, and if LG can't be the top of the heap, Florrick Agos should be. Diane is easy: she needs to be a judge. She should be. Alicia is a bit more difficult. It's too vague to just wish her happiness. I would want her family to be stable and cared for, because then maybe she could breathe a little easier. So I think that's what I'd want for her. Stability in her family. Whatever that means for her. 

[askwillgardner]

Do you want to see Alicia get back together with Peter, find someone new, or stay single?

I want Alicia to be happy. Genuinely, effortlessly happy. Therefore, I think she needs to leave Peter. I have every confidence that there’s someone else in this world (probably even in Chicago) who’s worthy of Alicia. Peter isn’t. Maybe he made her happy once, but I’m certain he doesn’t anymore. If he were half the man she think he is, he’d see that. 

[askwillgardner]

do you miss taco tuesday? were you a fan of it in the first place?

I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me. 

[askwillgardner]

I want you to look at me the way you looked at Alicia :)))

Many women do, I suspect. 

[askwillgardner]

did you ever want children?

It’s complicated.

[askwillgardner]

do you have any favorite novels? would you happen to know what alicia's is, or care to guess if you don't?

Sports novels. Sometimes autobiographies. But mostly sports novels. The Boys of Summer, Moneyball, The Sweet Science. Books like that.

I can’t say for certain what Alicia’s favorite book is, but for as long as I’ve known her, she’s always reached for nonfiction. She’s the type to actually read Malcolm Gladwell books and take them semi-seriously. (Secretly, though, I’m pretty sure it’s always been To Kill a Mockingbird. But you’d have to ask her.) 

[askwillgardner]

What do you think of all the people who wanted you to hookup with Diane?

They aren’t so misguided, I suppose. Until she actually married, I’m confident our partnership was the closest to marriage either of us assumed we were ever going to get. That said, neither of us is really the other’s type. She likes people who challenge and surprise her, and I can’t do that — we were partners for so long that we could always read each other like a book. 

Diane is the best friend I ever had. We love and respect each other, but we hate each other a little bit, too. That’s what made it work. Our partnership was always too important to either of us to complicate with sex. 

[askwillgardner]

Are you angry at the boy who shot you? Do you hold a grudge against him?

Of course I’m angry. I’m so fucking angry. I understand why he did it. He was desperate and guilty, so he did something stupid. But that doesn’t forgive him. It doesn’t make it right or fair or just or any of the goddamn things the entire legal system is supposed to provide. 

And at the end of the day, that’s the problem with the whole system: it’s the clients. It’s that most of the time, the guilty party has more money and can hire better lawyers. Yeah, I’m part of it. I defended plenty of guilty people. It’s the job. I’m obligated to zealously represent the client. 

But that doesn’t make it right.

[askwillgardner]

what or who brought you to Chicago?

Jonas Stern. When I was with my old firm in D.C. I argued against him in court. I lost (narrowly) but he liked me, so he poached me and introduced me to Diane. Six months later, Stern, Lockhart and Gardner was born.

[askwillgardner]

what are some of you favorite cases?

The malicious prosecution suit we filed against Childs’ S.A. office was pretty fun. That first time we defended Edelstein against defamation was nice and challenging too. I like hard cases and innocent clients. Of course, I also really enjoyed taking cases that pissed people off. Who doesn’t love to be the underdog, fighting real justice? 

[askwillgardner]

is there a song that reminds you of alicia?

This is going to sound really corny but, yes, it's Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love." We danced to it in law school once. It's always been... fitting for us. Or at least, for me. 

[askwillgardner]

What made you decide to leave Alicia the voicemail?

I've left Alicia a lot of voicemails, each for different reasons. Most of them work-related. 

If you're referring to that last one, though, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I didn't really have time to make that call. If the judge hadn't been impatient to get started, it would've been an invitation to talk. I was going to call her right back. I was going to. 

[askwillgardner]

If you were still alive, do you think you and Alicia would have ended up together? Would you be willing to fight through the obstacles just to be with her? :'(

That really depends more on Alicia than it does on me. I was still angry with her when it happened, but I was getting over it. I was almost ready to be something like friends again, although that would’ve been difficult, because our firms were so competitive. 

I showed her before (several times) that I was willing to fight for her. But at the end of the day, the biggest obstacle was always Peter, and she and I both knew that. If she ever left him, I think we would’ve had a chance. 

[askwillgardner]

If you could see Alicia just one more time, what would you do?

Depends how much time I had. I’d apologize for a lot of things. I’d tell her her that I’m okay here, and that I’m looking out for her. I’d ask her to try not to think about me too much. I’d tell her that I love her. That I always have. That I never stopped, even when things were bad between us. But she should stop, because there’s not much point in it now. She should be happy. 

And, of course…

[askwillgardner]

How did you know you wanted to be a lawyer? Also, when?

Honestly? I didn’t really want to be a lawyer until after I was one. My dad wanted it, so I applied to schools. I almost didn’t go. Once I got there, though, I warmed up to it a lot. The law is fascinating, and I’ve always been excellent at arguing. If I had to pinpoint a moment, it was probably my first mock trial in law school. 

[askwillgardner]

alicia and diane were a little shocked when they attended your funeral. do you think you were tremendously different around friends and family from the way you were at work?

I think “tremendously” is overstating it but, yes, I’m definitely different outside of work. Especially around my family. My sisters are a force and I find it’s often easier to just get out of their way. To be fair, though, my family and non-work friends didn’t always have the greatest understanding of who I am. There’s a lot of projecting that happens there. 

[askwillgardner]

So have you met this Jesus guy yet? I hear he's pretty chill. You should seek him out when you've got nothing else to do.

I’d have a lot of pertinent (and impertinent) questions for him if I ever did meet him, but no. He’s not here. I haven’t really… gotten that far yet. It’s a process. Words like “coping” and “healing” and “post-death-trauma” apply, apparently. It’s like a waiting room, I guess.