Will's POV

I hear the door of our apartment open and the familiar sound of keys being thrown on the desk. My heart jumps up and I am suddenly smiling. I leave the spaghetti sauce I was stirring and walk straight into my boyfriends arms.

"Hi, welcome home", a soft sweet kiss and a tight hug: "Hi, do I smell spaghetti?"

"Yes you do, and I made it from scratch so you better appreciate it."

He smiles and I already know what is coming: "I am sorry but I still have not forgotten the paella you made last week, so I have a healthy dose of scepticism towards your cooking, babe."

Maybe I should be offended, but I cannot even blame him. The paella was a disaster and we ended up eating cereal instead. And apart from that, as long as he smiles like that he can say anything he wants. That smile is my personal sunshine, my reason to get out of bed in the morning, and the only thing that always makes me feel better. He's lifting the lid off the sauce pan and sniffs above the pan:

"This actually smells really nice, I am willing to give it a try."

I gesture for him to sit down at the kitchen table so I can serve dinner. He falls down on the nearest chair and starts playing with the napkin. I place a full plate in front of him and put mine next to him so we can sit close.

"So how was your day at the coffee house?"

"Busy, Karen called in sick and I could not find someone who could come to work at such short notice. So instead of doing inventory and paperwork, I was doing inventory, paperwork and serving at the counter. But it's OK, business is good so I won't complain."

He smiles at me again, and puts his hand on my thigh.

"How about you?"

"Oh just normal, some studying... oh and I cleaned the bathroom!"

I look at him expectantly, waiting for a sweet compliment, but instead I see him flinch slightly and his hand cups his right cheek.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He takes a deep breath and lifts one shoulder while saying:

"Oh, it's nothing, you were saying?"

"It's nothing, right, I can see that... you flinched, what's wrong."

I am waiting for him to answer me, and he knows I am not going to let this go. Nonetheless, he tries to find a way out by complimenting my spaghetti, but I am not going to get side tracked. When our eyes meet we both know that I won and we both smile.

"OK, my tooth aches a bit, and when I eat something hot... or cold it gets worse. But I am sure it will pass, I just have to be careful for a few days, I guess."

"Sonny c'mon, that sounds like you need to see a dentist..."

"No Will, it will be fine, I'll just eat with my left side for a couple of days. It's fine, I'm fine, let's drop it."

"That's just stupid Sonny, just make an appointment tomorrow.

"No Will, there is no need for an appointment."

"Why are you refusing to..."

I stop midsentence, look at my boyfriend and cannot hide the smile that creeps across my face. I cannot believe this. Ever since we met I thought Sonny was perfect, nothing could get him out of balance, nothing could knock his confidence, he did not seem to know what fear is. He was always strong, always in control and always the one I could lean on when I needed it. But here we have it:

"You're afraid of the dentist!"

My hand grabs his underarm and squeezes while I repeat myself. He shrugs his shoulders and tries to pull his arm from my grip.

"It's not that Will, I just don't think I have to make an appointment for this."

He looks into my eyes and even though he tries to deny it I know I am right, and I am sure that he knows that I know I am right. I cannot help but smiling at him, and I cup his face with my hands. I lean forward and kiss him softly on his lips. He sighs and looks into my eyes:

"You don't think I am stupid, or childish, or just sad?"

I definitely don't think that, and even though he knows it, he looks like he needs to hear it from me. I decide that a kiss can say more than a thousand words so I lean in again. This time I go for a real kiss and softly lick his bottom lip. He lets me in and his arms slide around my neck to pull me in closer. When we pull back we're both slightly out of breath. My hands are still in his hair and his arms are still around my neck when I tease him:

"You are afraid of the dentist!"

"Shut up."

I stand up and walk to the desk where he left his phone. I scroll through his contacts and find his dentists number which I write down on my economics notebook since that was lying open on the desk.

"What are you doing?"

"I am going to make an appointment for you babe. Tooth ache is awful and a dentist can fix it. But you are obviously not going to make the call, so I am here to help you out. I will make an appointment for you, I will drive you down there, hold your hand in the waiting room, I am even willing to go in with you and hold your hand through it all. And after all that I will give you a present, anything you like..."

He smiles and we both know what he is thinking about.

"Anything I like?"

"Anything..."

He walks over to me and gives me a kiss on my cheek:

"Thank you, although I still don't want to go... but thank you."

The next day I call the dentist and make an appointment for the following day at 4.00 pm. It is Sonny's day off so he cannot use work as an excuse for cancelling. I smile to myself when I think about our dinner last night. I am still surprised that the dentist is one of Sonny's weaknesses, but I cannot help thinking it is so cute. And since it is only three in the afternoon I decide to give Sonny the good news in person. I grab my keys and phone and drive to the coffee shop.

When I walk in I see Sonny behind the counter serving a middle aged couple some coffee. I like looking at him when he is working. He is always smiling, everyone is greeted with his beautiful smile and a friendly 'how can I help you'. But even though he is smiling today it seems a bit different, I can see he is in pain. I walk over to the counter and wait until the couple walks away with their coffee. His eyes light up when he sees me:

"Hi babe, you're here."

"Yes I am, you alright?"

"Yeah, I am fine"

"How's the tooth ache?"

"You had to ask..."

I smile empathically and pull him towards me over the counter so I can kiss him. Then I tell him about the appointment for the next day and he nods: "OK". He is quiet for a while and then looks at me:

"You are coming right?"

"Of course, I said I would remember? I will drive you down there and I will not leave you side until we are back home."

He nods again and turns around to make me my usual black coffee. I sit down at the table next to the counter and wait for him to come over with my coffee. He puts it down in front of me and squeezes my neck while kissing me on my cheek:

"I wish I could sit with you for a while, but it is quite busy."

"That's OK, and as much as I love having you close to me, I really enjoy watching you from a distance from time to time."

He smiles and squeezes my neck one more time before he turns around to go back to work.

It's an hour before Sonny's appointment and his restlessness makes me want to hug him. He is cleaning up the kitchen, the living room, our bedroom and back to the kitchen. His eyes wonder to the clock every ten seconds and he has been biting his bottom lip for so long now that I am starting to worry about it.

"Sonny..."

He doesn't seem to hear me and continues cleaning the table for the umpteenth time. I never thought he could be this cute. But even though it is cute I do want to make him feel better so I decide to try again:

"Sonny, baby..."

"Yeah?"

"I am sure it will be fine... You won't feel a thing... and you can squeeze my hand."

He smiles a little bit but immediately goes back to biting his lip. I walk over to him, take the cloth out of his hand and throw it into the kitchen sink.

"You are my hero, you know that?"

"Some hero I am... "

I hug him close and enjoyed the feeling of his body so close to mine.

"Yes you are and don't you ever forget it."

And then I decide to remind him of his present and finally I feel him smile for real.

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that... anything I like right?"

"Hmmm, anything."

I look at the clock and decide that we have to go. I take my car keys and hand in hand we walk towards my car. It is about a twenty minute drive and I try to distract him by making small talk. But his answers are short and he is clearly not into it very much, so I run out of topics. While I try to come up with something new he suddenly turns to me:

"Will, I think the tooth ache is gone. I haven't felt it for a few hours. I think I am fine."

The hope in his eyes is adorable, and as much as I would love to take him home and forget about this dentist visit, I have to keep my promise and help him out here. So I smile at him and decide to focus on the positive:

"I am glad you haven't had any tooth ache for while, honey."

"I know, I told you it was nothing. Can't we just cancel the appointment?"

"No babe, I want a dentist to look at it, just to be sure. And if it is nothing then you don't have to worry about it."

I look at his face and I see the disappointment written all over it. He is quiet now as I park my car in front of the clinic. We just sit there for a while and I hear him take a deep breath. I turn my head and wait for him to look at me. And when he finally does I remind him:

"Anything you like..."

The waiting area is quite full and we soon find out the dentist is running late. It smells like dentist clinics do, and the magazines on the table are out of date. The chairs are uncomfortable and very faintly we can hear the sound of a tooth drill being used on whoever is the dentist chair right now. Sonny is a bit pale and his hands play with his jacket strings. I reach over and grab one of his hand between mine and he lets out a deep breath. We just sit there and wait for the dentists assistant to come over and call Sonny's name. A sweet looking old lady, who is sitting opposite of us, looks at our joint hands. Then her eyes move higher and she looks at us and smiles. She turns to me:

"You better take good care of him."

I smile back and nod in agreement. She looks at Sonny:

"Don't worry, it will be over before you know it."

Sonny nods but looks far from convinced. I squeeze his hand again and shuffle in my chair so there is no room left between us. Sonny seems to lean into me and suddenly he turns to me:

"You are coming in with me right?"

"If you want to...?"

"I want to."

"OK."

"Jackson Kiriakis"

We stand up together, never letting go of each other's hand. The assistant smiles reassuringly and gestures us to follow her into a room where the dentist is already waiting for us.

"Please take a seat Jackson"

I let go of his hand so he can sit down in the dentist chair. The dentist, a nice man who must be in his fifties, asked what the problem is and Sonny explains while pointing at his right cheek. The chair is put in motion and the light is pointed towards Sonny's mouth. I just stand there looking at my beautiful and sweet boyfriend being scared and nervous while an old man is staring into his mouth. And suddenly I think about how much I love his mouth... How much I love to kiss him, from little pecks to deep real kisses. His lips are always soft and sweet, making me feel like I belong somewhere, making me feel loved and wanted. Kissing Sonny is something that I want to do for the rest of my life. It is the dentists voice that gets me out of my daydream:

"Right, I have to treat that tooth because it is infected at the roots. I will give you some anaesthetics so you won't feel it."

Sonny tries to look at me, but I am just out of his sight. Luckily the assistant sees Sonny's wondering eyes and she point me to stand next to the chair. I reach for Sonny's hand and he grabs it tightly. The assistant smiles and the dentist just carries on with his work. I don't like the sound of drills and water suction instruments, but for Sonny I'll do anything. The whole treatment takes about 20 minutes and finally the chair is put back into its normal position. We thank the dentist and his assistant and walk out of the clinic towards the car. His face is lopsided. The anaesthetics are still working and numbs half his face. I can't help but smile when he tries to talk to me and the words come out slightly fuzzy. He gives up and just stares out of the car window, but his hand squeezes my thigh:

"Thank you."

"You're welcome honey."

When we come home Sonny decides to take a nap and I get started on dinner. After the positive comments on the spaghetti I am confident I can make an amazing chicken soup. As a kid my mum would always make me chicken soup when I felt sick and it always made me feel better. Let's hope it will do the same for Sonny. I get started on cutting all the fresh vegetables and make sure there is enough chicken so we don't have to fight over it. When the soup is ready I walk over to our bedroom and sit next to Sonny who fell asleep on his left side. His face seems normal again, the anaesthetics must have worn off. I could just look at him for hours, but I am also hungry so I decide to wake him anyway. I kiss him softly on his cheek and stroke his arm:

"Sonny, dinner is ready."

He stirs but doesn't seem to wake up so I try again with a kiss on his lips.

"Sonny..."

And before I know it he pulls me down on top of him, and then rolls us over so he is on top of me.

"Sonny, I made dinner."

"It smells like soup."

"That's right, I made you chicken soup."

"Do you know why I like soup?"

"Why?"

"Because it is perfect for reheating."

He is heavy on my chest, but it feels nice, it feels like home. He smiles at me, his beautiful smile, the one that makes me forget about everything else. I smile back and lift my head to kiss him. He responds immediately and I feel his tongue sliding into my mouth. His hand are in my hair and my arms are around his waist. When he breaks the kiss he looks deeply into my eyes:

"Anything I like, right?"

"But Sonny, the soup is ready now."

"I don't care."

His lips are back on mine and I find it hard to think. I let him kiss me, touch me and whisper sweet things into my ear. He sits up and pulls his shirt over his head. I look up to him and feel all my hesitation leave me. My hands stroke his chest and arms and finally rest on his hips. I smile:

"Anything you like!"