Chapter One:

[Note: Takes place approximately one month after the events in Season 4 episode 6 and deviates from storylines that take place after this episode.]

Forlorn. That was the word that popped into Rayna's mind as she watched the man staring out the window of the Highway 65 conference room. She was standing just outside the glass door getting ready to enter when she paused to look at the solitary figure standing in the room. He was a handsome young man with dark hair, average build and a slightly stubbled chin. She observed him for a moment more before opening the door and walking into the room. As she did, the man turned away from the window and fixed his gaze on her.

Rayna smiled and extended her hand to him. "Kevin? It is so good to meet you. Thank you for coming in on such short notice. I have to admit I'm a big fan of your songwriting."

Kevin shook Rayna's hand and smiled slightly. "That's a huge compliment coming from someone like you Ms. James."

Rayna's smile broadened. "Thank you but please, call me Rayna. Have a seat."

Kevin sat down in the chair Rayna had indicated as she sat at the head of the conference room table. "Your assistant said that you had some business to discuss with me? Are you interested in me writing some songs for you?"

"Actually, you already have." At Kevin's confused look, Rayna pulled a document out of a folder on the table in front of her and passed it to Kevin. "I took the liberty of drawing up a contract to purchase the songs listed."

Kevin looked down at the contract, and Rayna watched as his face tensed. He turned hardened eyes towards her and said, "These are Will's songs."

"That's correct."

Rayna was a bit taken aback as Kevin huffed in disgust and shook his head. "Will's selling you his songs?"

Rayna decided to tread lightly so she kept her face neutral and adopted a soothing tone. "Not exactly. As of yesterday afternoon, Will Lexington is the newest artist signed to Highway 65."

Kevin's face quickly morphed into surprise. "He is?"

Rayna smiled. "Yes, he is. I don't know about you, but I think it is high time Will Lexington got back out there." Kevin averted his eyes and looked back down at the contract. "I realize that it isn't going to be easy. We have a lot of barriers to break down and some hurdles to jump, but I believe that with the right label behind him and the right support, Will can make a difference. Will's extremely talented and Highway 65 believes in him, which is why we are anxious to get that album of his out there just as soon as possible. Will let me listen to the demos you two did for Luke. There are some great songs on there."

Kevin continued to stare down at the contract. Rayna waited for Kevin to say something. Finally, he said, "So these will be on Will's album? And he'll be the one singing them?"

"That's right."

Rayna waited to see if Kevin would say anything more. When it appeared that he wouldn't, she continued "Why don't you take some time and look that over…"

Rayna stopped speaking as Kevin's hand shot out across the table and plucked a pen from the pen holder. He flipped to the last page of the contract and quickly scribbled his name before turning and handing it back to Rayna.

Rayna gingerly took the contract from him. "Are you sure you don't want to look that over?"

"I'm sure it's fine. Is there anything else?"

Rayna looked at the man in front of her for a moment, more than a little shocked that he had signed the contract so casually. Kevin's features were schooled and showed none of the emotions that Rayna could sense were just under the surface. "That's all we needed."

Kevin nodded as he pushed back from the table and stood up. Rayna's eyes followed him as he walked towards the door and opened it. He hesitated before stepping through. He stood still for a moment before finally turning to Rayna. "Thank you."

Rayna looked into his blue eyes and knew he wasn't thanking her for the contract. She watched as he left the room and passed Bucky in the hallway. Bucky stepped into the room looking back at the retreating figure. "That was quick."

"He signed the contract."

Bucky looked at her with surprise. "Just like that?"

"Yep, just like that."

Bucky moved further into the room his face showing his confusion. "He was in here for five minutes. He couldn't possibly have looked that over in any kind of detail. I mean, I know these contracts are fairly standard but he hasn't worked with us before. How does he know we aren't trying to screw him over?"

Rayna looked out the window and watched as Kevin crossed the street and got into a black car. "That…had nothing to do with money."

Chapter Two:

[Note: Five months later.]

Will fidgetted nervously in his chair as he waited for Rayna in her office. Rayna had asked for this meeting but hadn't indicated what it was in regards to, and his paranoid nature had taken over. Was she about to drop him? He remembered all too vividly the scene in Luke's office when he had been dropped from Wheelin' Dealin'. He fidgetted restlessly again then stood up as he heard the door open behind him.

Rayna breezed into the office with a smile and gave Will a hug. "Hi Will. I'm so sorry to keep you waiting."

Will hugged Rayna back and said, "No problem. I was just sitting here wondering what this meeting was all about. I hope everything's OK."

Rayna walked to her desk and sat down indicating for Will to sit as well. "Everything's fine. I just wanted to check in with you. We've both been so busy lately that I feel like we haven't had an opportunity to talk much."

Will visibly relaxed. "Yeah, it has been a bit crazy."

Rayna looked at him for a long moment. "How are you Will?"

"Good. I'm good."

Rayna nodded slightly before continuing, "You've been at Highway 65 for about five months now, and I just thought it was a good time for us to take a pulse check. Make sure we're both still on the same page, discuss where we've been, where we're going, any issues, that kind of thing. Sound okay to you?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

"Okay, so overall, I think things have gone well. We knew from the start that we were going to hit a few road blocks, which we did, but I think we managed them. The album was a moderate success thanks to Broken Song and Spinning Revolver. They weren't huge hits but they charted better than we anticipated considering there were a few radio stations that refused to play them."

Will winced as he remembered the backlash from a few radio stations in the Heartland and Bible Belt areas of the country that adamantly refused to play his music because of his homosexuality. There was a small part of him that wished he had forgone his pride and let Luke cut Spinning Revolver. It was a great song and deserved to be a bigger hit than it was.

Will looked up when he felt Rayna's eyes on him. She was observing him closely. "It's okay Will. They'll come around eventually." Will nodded as Rayna continued, "How are the concerts going? You've been out on the road now for a few months. Getting any easier?"

Will nodded again, "Yeah, they're definitely getting better."

"I know you were struggling with that in the beginning."

"I was." Will remembered the first time he sang on stage after he came out and how he had completely freaked out when a gay man was pushed to the front of the stage. Rayna had been instrumental in getting him over his insecurities. She had him start out with small venues across Nashville that were more intimate in nature to help get some of his confidence back before allowing him to tackle bigger venues. She had also been the one to finally convince him that he was viewing things all wrong. Will had been so focused on the gay men in his audience since coming out that he saw nothing else. Rayna had a tech videotape the audience at some of his local concerts and made him watch the playback repeatedly until he finally saw the reality. Yes, there were gay men in the crowd but his fanbase was still predominantly women. The further reality was that the gay men had always been part of his fanbase. He just hadn't been consciously aware of them until after he came out when he became hypersensitive to them.

Will knew that he had lost fans due to his coming out, but he had also gained quite a few. The LGBT community had embraced him and thrown their support behind him. They were a vocal community and had been one of the main reasons the album had done better than expected. Whenever he was scheduled to play a club in Nashville, the LGBT community took it upon themselves to spread the word through social media encouraging fans to show up. They even had campaigns on Twitter and Facebook when both Broken Song and Spinning Revolver were released asking fans to call up their local radio stations and request the song. As much as Will hadn't wanted to become the "poster child" for the LGBT community, he had to admit that he owed them a lot.

Will started as he realized that he had been staring at his hands for several minutes while Rayna patiently sat there watching him. Rayna smiled, "You seem deep in thought over there. Anything you want to talk about?"

Will chuckled, "No. I'm sorry. I was just thinking about how far I've come. I need to thank you Rayna for everything you've done for me. You believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. You've been amazing."

"It's been my pleasure. I've been in this business a long time, and, as much as I love it, there are some things that need to change. I'm excited to be a part of that. We still have a ways to go but we've certainly made some progress."

Will nodded his agreement.

"Now that we've covered the past, let's talk about the future. I think it's time we started looking at some new material for you."

Will perked up and became more animated. "That would be great. I've actually done some writing lately. Some lyrics here and a few melodies there…"

Rayna laughed at his enthusiasm. "That's fantastic. I can't wait to hear your songs."

Will cringed slightly. "Well, there's a little bit of a problem with that. You see, I haven't written a lot of songs by myself. I have all these little snippets of things but I haven't had much luck pulling them all together into actual songs."

Rayna didn't seem phased by that at all. "That's not a problem. I'll call in some songwriters to help you with that."

Will clapped his hands in glee. "Great! When do we start?"

Chapter Three:

[Note: Three weeks later.]

Will stood hunched over the piano in one of the Highway 65 sound rooms. Scattered across the top of the piano were pieces of paper in varying sizes from legal to letter to napkin to post it note. Whatever happened to be handy when a lyric or melody struck him that he wanted to jot down. He turned when he heard the door open and braced himself as Rayna walked into the room. He was not looking forward to this.

Rayna walked towards Will and crossed her arms in front of her. "So, I hear things aren't going so well."

Will sighed in frustration. "No, they're not."

Rayna took a few steps closer to Will and asked in a voice filled with concern rather than anger, "What seems to be the problem?"

Will sighed again. "Apparently, me."

"Can you be more specific?"

Will turned around to face Rayna leaning against the piano and crossing his arms in front of him mimicing Rayna's pose. "I don't know. Those songwriters you brought in? They're all great songwriters, but…"

"But…"

"I don't know. Everything they suggested was good. It just wasn't what I envisioned. It didn't sound right." Will looked at Rayna who stood there listening to him patiently. Finally he threw his hands up in the air, "See? It's me."

Rayna smiled at him sympathetically. "This is your music Will. These are your songs. You need to be comfortable with them. If these songwriters didn't work out, I'll find some others."

Will turned back around and leaned on his elbows against the piano. "Somehow I don't think that will help."

Rayna walked over to the piano and stood next to Will. "Maybe you need to work with someone who knows you. How about Gunnar or Avery?"

Will groaned. "Been there, done that, never doing it again."

"What happened?"

"What happened? Avery got so frustrated with me that I thought he was going to rupture a vein. Gunnar got so mad at me that he didn't speak to me for a whole week. For the sake of our friendship, he made me promise him that I would never ask again." Will watched as Rayna tried desperately to smother her laughter. "I should probably just start listening to some demos. I can't write these songs on my own, and I obviously can't write them with anyone else either."

"That's not completely true."

Will glanced over at Rayna with a furrowed brow. "What do you mean?"

"You wrote a whole album with Kevin Bicks."

Kevin. Will quickly averted his eyes as the familiar stab of pain lanced through his heart. It has been six months since Kevin dumped him in that alleyway, and it still hurt as much today as it had then. Wasn't time supposed to heal these things? If Gunnar and Avery were anything to go by, then the answer was no. Avery still seemed lost without Juliette, and Gunnar was still pining for Scarlett (although it depended on the day whether he admitted to that or not). Will realized that Rayna was waiting for an answer. "That was different."

"How so?"

Because I was in love with him and I still am. "It was…easy with him…that's all." Will glanced over at Rayna who looked back at him quizzically. "He just…got me."

"Any chance you two could write together again?"

Will felt his eyes sting with tears as he remembered the look of disappointment on Kevin's face just before he told Will they were done. He stared down at the piano as he said, "I doubt he would want to."

If Will had bothered to look up, he would have seen the thoughtful look on Rayna's face.

Chapter Four:

[Note: Two days later.]

Will walked down the Highway 65 corridor and noticed Rayna backing out of the sound room. "Just make yourself at home. I'll be right back."

Rayna closed the door and turned around. She was slightly surprised to see Will standing directly in front of her. "Will. Perfect timing."

"You said you wanted to see me?"

"I did. I have a surprise for you." At Will's quizzical look, she continued, "I've brought in another songwriter to work with you on your songs."

Will groaned. "I thought we decided to scrap that idea?"

Rayna looked at him conspiratorially with a small smile playing on her lips. "I think this time will be different."

Will couldn't hide his suspicion as he said, "Why do you think that?"

Rayna cocked her head towards the door to the sound room. "Why don't you head on in?"

Will took a few cautious steps toward the door before looking back over his shoulder at Rayna. He had the distinct impression that she was setting him up, but she just stood there looking innocent with that same small smile on her face. He turned back around and reached for the doorknob. Rayna hadn't steered him wrong so far so he just needed to trust that she knew what was best for him. He took a deep breath and walked into the room.

At first he didn't believe what he was seeing. Kevin was standing at the piano glancing over the scraps of paper Will had left there the day before. But it couldn't be Kevin. Why would he be here? Obviously Will's eyes were playing tricks on him. The songwriter Rayna had hired just looked similar to Kevin. However, no matter how hard Will blinked his eyes, Kevin remained in front of him. Then Kevin turned and suddenly Will was looking into familiar blue eyes and the world stopped.

They just stood staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity. They would probably still be standing there if Rayna hadn't closed the door behind Will causing him to jump nearly through the ceiling. Will spun around to look behind him breaking the spell between him and Kevin. He cleared his throat and turned back around towards Kevin and watched as Kevin thrust his hands down into his front pockets. A wave of nostalgia washed over Will as he realized how much he missed that familiar gesture.

Kevin smiled slightly at him and said, "Hi Will."

Will tried to reply in kind but it came out as an unintelligible croak so he cleared his throat again and managed a weak "Hi."

An awkward silence descended over them, and Will frantically tried to think of something to say but his mind had gone completely blank. Fortunately, Kevin spoke up, "I saw you on GMA a few weeks back. It was a good interview."

Will felt himself blush as he took a few tentative steps towards Kevin. "Thanks. Robin's real easy to talk to."

Kevin nodded then averted his eyes. Will continued to move towards him as he realized that Kevin was just as nervous as he was. While Kevin's eyes were averted, Will took the opportunity to really look at Kevin. He was just as handsome as he remembered although he looked tired and Will wondered if he was sleeping okay. "You look good."

Kevin's eyes flicked up and their eyes locked again. Kevin smiled softly and said, "So do you." Another awkward silence fell as they stared at each other. Finally, Kevin turned away towards the piano and the scraps of paper lying there. "Rayna told me you need some help putting some songs together."

Will groaned inwardly and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah," he said as he glanced at the scraps of paper, "it's kind of a mess."

Kevin smiled at him reassuringly and said, "It's probably not that bad. Let's take a look."

Will watched as Kevin sifted through the papers looking them over studiously. Unfortunately, Will's nerves got the better of him and he couldn't stop himself from rambling. "Rayna brought in a few songwriters to help me, but it didn't work out. I asked both Gunnar and Avery to help but that didn't work out either." Will watched as Kevin continued to look over the papers. When Kevin continued to not say anything, Will blurted out, "One of the songwriters told me that the reason it wasn't working was because all this is just garbage."

Kevin instantly turned to him and said sternly, "He's an idiot."

For some reason, Will was ridiculously happy to hear Kevin say that. "Really?"

"You're a good songwriter Will. Don't let anyone tell you differently."

"If I'm so good, then why can't I get all this to amount to anything?" Will said in frustration.

Kevin huffed slightly in impatience, "Look, you just need some organization, that's all." Kevin picked up one of the sheets of paper with notes on it. "A little massaging…" Kevin's brow furrowed as he read the melody written on the page. "A little…TL…C…" Kevin's voice tapered off as his brow furrowed even more.

"Something wrong?" Will watched as Kevin stood looking at the paper for a moment more before turning to Will with a look on his face like he was trying to figure out a tough math problem. "Kevin?"

"Hang on a sec." Kevin dropped the piece of paper onto the piano then turned and started rifling through his bag that he had tossed onto a nearby chair. "I've had these lyrics stuck in my head for a while but I haven't been able to find the right music to go with it." He continued to rifle through the bag until finally, "Ah, here it is." Kevin came back to the piano with lyrics in one hand as he picked up the piece of paper with notes on it in the other. His eyes darted back and forth between the two. Will watched as a slow smile crept across his face. He turned twinkling eyes towards Will and said, "I think this might work. Want to give it a try?"

Will smiled back. "Sure."

As Will sang the last note of the song with Kevin accompanying him on guitar, he glanced over at Rayna to see her reaction. He didn't have to wait long.

"That was an amazing song you two." Will smiled and glanced over at Kevin who smiled back equally as pleased that Rayna approved. "I can't believe you already have a song done. You've been in here for less than an hour. You make a helluva team."

Will's smile faltered slightly at the words. He glanced back over at Kevin to see his reaction but Kevin had turned away to put the guitar back on its stand. "Thanks Rayna."

Rayna smiled at him. "I'm going to get outta here so you two can continue to make some magic happen." Will looked at her in shock when she actually winked at him before turning and sauntering out of the room.

A couple of hours later, Kevin sat up and stretched his back with an audible crack. He grimaced and said, "I think I've done as much as I can do today. I'm beat."

Will watched as he stood up and started gathering his things together. "Oh, okay."

Kevin cocked his eyebrow at him hearing the disappointment in Will's voice. "It's been a productive day Will. We've got one song done and we've made some good headway on two others."

"I know. It's just…" Will started before staring down at the piano in front of him.

"It's just what?" Kevin said as he put his paperwork into his bag and threw the strap over his shoulder.

Will hesitated wondering if he should say what he was thinking. "I forgot." Will looked up at Kevin standing there watching him. "I forgot how easy it is with you."

Kevin looked away but not before Will saw the sadness in his eyes. He stood there for several moments his jaw tense, and Will wondered if he would say anything. Instead, Kevin moved towards the door. Will heard it open behind him but didn't hear it close. Finally, he heard "Goodnight Will. I'll see you tomorrow."

Will just nodded as he heard the door close softly behind him.

Will walked into the house he shared with Gunnar and Avery slamming the door behind him. Gunnar looked up from the couch where he was sitting strumming his guitar. "Good thing Cadence isn't sleeping. Avery would have his hands around your neck right about now."

Will looked around the living room and then up the stairs as he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled the door open. "They here?"

Gunnar watched Will take a beer out of the fridge and pop it open. "No, they should be home soon though." Gunnar strummed his guitar as Will came over and plopped down onto the couch hard and banged his feet onto the coffee table. "Hard day?" Will swallowed down almost half of the beer bottle then sighed. "Still having trouble writing songs?"

"Nope."

Gunnar looked at him in surprise. "Really? That's great. Isn't it?"

"Yes…and no."

Gunnar rolled his eyes as he put his guitar down on the coffee table. "Okay, you are going to have to start communicating in something other than monosyllables. Help me out here."

Will sighed again. "Rayna hired another songwriter to come in and help me." Will glanced over at Gunnar who gave him an encouraging look. "We finished one song and made some progress on a couple others."

"Okay, so I got the Yes part, now where does the No part come in?"

Will hesitated staring down at the beer in his hand before finally saying, "It's Kevin."

Gunnar's eyebrows shot up to his hairline, "Wait…your Kevin?"

Will turned hard eyes on Gunnar and snapped, "He's not MY Kevin!"

Gunnar put his hands up placatingly, "Okay…okay…just relax. That must have been…"

"Awkward?" Will butted in. "Yeah, it was. Awkward as Hell."

"And yet you still managed to write a song together."

"Your point being?"

Gunnar shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe there's still something there."

Will shook his head in disgust. "You think just because we wrote a song together that there's something THERE?" Will said using air quotes to make his point. "Just like there's something THERE between you and Scarlett?"

"That's completely different." Gunnar said as Will gave him a disbelieving look. "Okay, so it's the exact same thing. But we're not talking about me and Scarlett we're talking about you and Kevin."

"There is no me and Kevin."

"Then why did he say yes?"

Will turned to Gunnar in confusion, "What?"

"When Rayna called him? Why did he agree? He didn't have to. He had to know it would be awkward. Why didn't he just say no and avoid all that?"

"How the Hell should I know?" Will spat petulantly.

Gunnar shrugged. "Suit yourself. But if it were me, I'd want to know the answer to that."

Chapter Five:

[Note: Next day.]

Will watched as Kevin put the finishing touches on their latest song. Kevin put down his pencil and added the sheet music to the growing stack beside him. "Three down." Kevin turned to Will with a soft smile. "At this rate, we'll have a whole album's worth in just a few days."

Will blanched at the thought of his time with Kevin being over that soon and wondered if there was any way he could stall things. Other than insulting Kevin's songwriting this time around. He was deep in thought when Kevin said, "How about this one next?"

Will looked up and immediately snatched the piece of paper out of Kevin's hand and placed it back on the piano. "Not that one."

Kevin recovered from his shock and quickly grabbed the piece of paper again keeping it out of Will's reach when Will tried to take it from him. "Why not this one?"

"Because." Will said as he tried to grab the paper from Kevin again. Kevin gave him a look that Will had grown accustomed to from when they wrote together before. It clearly stated that others may let Will slide with that kind of answer but Kevin wasn't one of them. Will huffed in exasperation. "Because…that one's done."

Kevin glanced over at the paper in his hand before turning back to Will. "There are only lyrics on here. There's no music."

"Is too." Will said childishly. Kevin glanced back at the paper again, then back to Will, then down at the other pieces of paper spread across the piano. "It's not there." At Kevin's questioning look, Will finally blurted out, "It's in my head okay?"

"Any reason why we can't get it down on paper?" Will just fidgeted on his stool. "Will?"

"It's stuck. I can't get it…out." Will finished lamely.

Kevin just sat and stared at him for a few moments before saying, "Define stuck."

Will heaved an exasperated sigh. "You know when you have something on the tip of your tongue but you can't quite reach it?" At Kevin's nod, he continued, "Well, that's the melody to those lyrics. It's right there on the tip of my brain. I can almost hear it, but every time I try to latch onto it, poof, it's gone. It's frustrating as Hell. So I'd rather not work on that one. I'll finish it eventually. If I don't go insane first."

Kevin sat staring down at the piano thinking as Will sat dejectedly on his stool. Several minutes passed before Kevin finally looked up at Will and said, "Do you trust me?"

Will just barely stopped himself from saying with my life before thinking better of it and simply saying, "Yes."

"Come with me," Kevin said as he slid off his stool and walked towards the couch against the wall. Will followed him wondering what Kevin had in mind. "Take a seat on the couch." Will did as he was instructed and Kevin sat directly across from him on the coffee table. "Close your eyes." At Will's befuddled look, Kevin smiled. "This is where the trust part comes in. It's okay Will." Will closed his eyes. "I want you to take three deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth. Feel yourself relax as you do that. Now concentrate on my voice."

That's easy. Will loved the sound of Kevin's voice. Especially when it was like it was now, all soft and breathy. It reminded Will of how Kevin sounded when they talked in bed late at night after making love.

"I want you to let all your thoughts go so that your mind is a blank slate. Picture your thoughts as balloons…let the strings slip through your fingers…watch the balloons drift up into the sky…up and up and up. The only thing you hear is my voice."

Will felt himself letting go, listening to Kevin's voice, getting caught in the soothing sound, wishing he were back in Kevin's bed, basking in the glow of being in love for the first time.

"I want you to picture yourself walking on a country path surrounded by nothing but green grass and trees and flowers. The sun is warm on your skin and you can smell the flowers as you walk by. As you walk along the path, you feel a soft breeze. There's a melody in the breeze. It's very faint. You can barely make out that it's there at all but as you walk along the path it starts to grow louder. You can just make out a note here or there. Not quite the whole thing. As you walk, it softly gets louder and louder until you can finally start to hear the tune. The music is so beautiful that you can't help but hum along as you walk."

Will could hear the music. It was faint but started to grow louder and, just as Kevin said, he couldn't resist humming along to the tune.

Will paced back and forth across the floor. "Do you have it yet?" he asked impatiently.

"I can only write so fast Will."

"Right." Will watched as Kevin charted out the melody on the sheet his pencil working swiftly across the page. Finally, he stopped writing and handed the sheet to an anxious Will. Will grabbed it and read across the page, softly humming as he did so. His face burst into a huge smile as he whooped with glee. "This is it! This is the song that's been stuck in my head." Kevin just smiled at him. "You're amazing. You're some kind of…I don't know…song whisperer or something."

Kevin laughed out loud. "Hardly. It's just a meditation technique that's all. No big deal."

"No big deal? Are you kidding me? Do you know how long this thing has been stuck in my head? How insane it's been driving me?" Impulsively, Will lurched forward, grabbed Kevin around the shoulders and pulled him into a fierce hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Will felt Kevin's body tense and suddenly the atmosphere around them changed. Will closed his eyes and reveled in Kevin's body against his own, basked in the heat radiating from him, absorbed his scent. Slowly he pulled back, the side of his face softly grazing Kevin's. He opened his eyes, his face mere millimeters away from Kevin's. Kevin's eyes were closed as Will leaned in and softly brushed his lips against Kevin's.

Kevin gasped and pulled back with a strangled, "Don't." Will let Kevin go. They stood in silence for several moments before Kevin finally said, "I should go."

Will watched as Kevin started gathering his things and putting them in his bag. Will noticed that Kevin's hands were shaking. Gunnar had been right. There was something still between him and Kevin but for some reason Kevin didn't want to acknowledge it. Suit yourself. But if it were me, I'd want to know the answer to that. "Why did you say yes?"

Kevin stopped what he was doing and half turned back towards Will. "What?"

Will took a few steps towards Kevin. "When Rayna called you to tell you that I needed help writing songs. Why did you say yes?"

Kevin turned back away from Will. "I wanted to help you."

"Why?" Will waited for an answer but Kevin remained quiet with his back to Will. Finally Will couldn't stand the silence any longer and yelled at him. "Tell me!"

Kevin spun around and yelled back. "Because I couldn't help you then."

Will just stood there. He wasn't sure what to say to that. Kevin's shoulders sagged and his eyes were suddenly shiny with unshed tears. In a soft voice filled with anguish, Kevin continued, "You were drowning Will. I walked away because it hurt too much to see you like that." Kevin blinked causing a single tear to roll down his cheek. In a voice barely above a whisper, he said "I loved you too much to watch you drown."

Will couldn't speak. The emotions churning inside him were too overwhelming for him to even process so he reacted purely on instinct alone when he lunged at Kevin, pinned him to the wall and kissed him with everything he had.

It didn't take Kevin long to start responding to Will's kisses in kind. Everything after that devolved into a lust filled haze for Will. He remembered clothes being tossed aside as they stumbled towards the couch, coming together in a tangle of arms and legs. Their love making had been fiery, intense, passionate, neither of them being able to get enough of the other.

Will watched silently from the couch as Kevin pulled his jeans up and started fastening them. Kevin had been silent in the aftermath, and Will wondered if he had regrets. As Kevin bent down to snag his shirt off the floor, Will got up from the couch and stood behind him. He wrapped his left arm around Kevin's shoulders and snaked his right arm around his waist pulling Kevin back into his body. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Kevin's shoulder. "You okay?"

Kevin leaned into Will placing his hand on Will's left wrist and squeezing slightly. "I'm okay."

Will rested his chin on Kevin's shoulder. "You've been quiet." Will waited for a response but Kevin didn't say anything. "Tell me what's wrong."

Kevin sighed. "I'm just wondering if getting back together is the right thing to do. I mean, I abandoned you when you needed me the most. Left you sitting in that alleyway." Will hugged him trying to reassure him and let him know that he didn't need to feel guilty about that anymore when Kevin said something that shocked him. "I'm no better than your Dad."

Will's head came off Kevin's shoulder. "What did you say?" Will spun Kevin around to face him. "You are nothing like my Dad."

"He threw you away like garbage on the side of the highway. I left you in an alleyway next to a dumpster. Don't tell me you can't see the similarities." Kevin countered.

"That's were the similarities end." Will placed his hands on Kevin's shoulders. "Kevin, my Dad threw me away because he couldn't accept me as I am. I wasn't the man he wanted me to be. You have done nothing but support me. You've pushed me to be honest with myself. To stop pretending to be something that I'm not. You love me…the real me. My Dad can't. You're nothing like him. Surely you see that?"

Kevin looked up at him bashfully. "I'm completely overthinking this aren't I?" He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm overreacting. I need to get out of my own head."

"Yes you do." Will said then playfully pushed Kevin's shoulder. "Stop trying to be me."

Kevin laughed. "Right…that's your thing…I forgot."

Will laughed too. "So…"

"So…"

"We're back together?" Will said hopefully.

Kevin nodded. "Kinda looks that way."

Will smiled as he stepped up to Kevin and placed his hands on either side of his face. "I love you Kevin."

Kevin smiled back at him and said, "I love you too Will."

Will sauntered into the living room where both Gunnar and Avery were sitting with a huge grin plastered to his face that he just couldn't contain. Avery looked up at him suspiciously, "What's up with you?"

Gunnar turned around and his face lit up with a knowing smile, "Uh huh, uh huh…I knew it."

Avery looked back and forth between the two of them. "Knew what? What happened? What'd I miss?"

Will's smile got even bigger. "Will has spent the last two days songwriting." Gunnar said as he stood up and started bouncing on his toes.

Avery glanced between the two of them again. "That's it?"

"With a certain someone." Gunnar said cryptically. At Avery's befuddled look, he winked at him and said, "HIS someone."

Avery just shook his head and stared at him. "His what? What are you talking about? Can't you just speak like a normal person?"

Gunnar rolled his eyes and spoke to Avery like he was a slow child, "Think about it."

Avery turned his confused stare to Will who still stood there with that ridiculously happy grin on his face. Avery hadn't seen him that happy since… Avery's eyes flew wide open as he gasped sharply, "NO!"

"There it is." Gunnar said triumphantly.

Avery stepped over to Gunnar's side and leaned in. "We are talking about Kevin right?"

"Right."

They stood there side by side watching Will who did nothing but grin foolishly. "Back together?"

Gunnar nodded, "I'm thinking yes."

Avery narrowed his eyes. "Sex?"

"Definitely."

"How long is he going to just stand there grinning at us?"

"Probably awhile."

Avery waited a few beats before clapping Gunnar on the shoulder and moving towards the stairs. "I need to go check on Cadence."

Gunnar stretched and yawned exaggeratedly. "Yep, time to hit the hay." He followed Avery up the stairs leaving Will alone. Will stood there thinking about how happy he was that he and Kevin had found their way back to each other when he heard loud thumping. He grunted as he was hit with a bear hug from both sides then grimaced as Gunnar landed a wet sloppy kiss to his cheek. "We are ridiculously happy for you Will. You're lucky. Not everyone gets a second chance with the person they love."

"That's for sure." Avery added. "So do us a favor? Don't screw it up."