*Meanwhile across town Marlena's apartment*
Marlena is sitting on her couch surrounded by paperwork when :
*Knocking on door*
Marlena gets up, crosess the room and opens the door to see Will standing there.
Will: "Hi Grandma can I come in?"
Marlena: "Of course you can!" They hug each other and Will walks in and Marlena closes the door.
Marlena looks at Will and says "What's wrong Will? You look upset? "
Will: "There's nothing wrong, can't a grandson come visit his favorite grandma without something being wrong?" He tries to grin but fails miserably.
Marlena: "Of course he can but that is not what is true here, So come...sit down ... talk to me." She grabs Wills ' hand and pulls him to the couch and playfully pushes him to sit. Will plunks down and immediately his eyes go to the hands twisting in his lap. Marlena's hand suddenly appears and stops his hands from moving. "Will, come on now...what's wrong? I haven't seen you this upset in a long time. What has happened? Is something wrong with Arianna? Is Sonny ok?" Will looks up with tears in his eyes.."Grandma...I... don't know what to do...I...need to talk something out and you are the only one I could think of and..." Marlena, still hanging on to Wills' hands, looks him right in the eyes and says "You know you can talk to me about anything, If I can, I will help you. Now WHAT is going on?"
Will takes a deep breath and says " I got a new assignment from Sonix. I am doing an interview with a professional baseball player . His name is Paul Norita. " Marlena says:"yes I know who he is. I met him at the hospital. Go on" Will: "Anyway so I am talking to him, asking him questions about his professional life and some personal but only what he says is ok..I am not trying to cause a problem for him. Zoey wants some things in this article I am NOT comfortable with, but Paul has agreed to answer until he doesn't like what is asked. He said better that it come from him than people guessing or making rumors up." Marlena: "Ok..sounds fair to me. So how is this connected..." Will jumps up and starts to pace. "I am getting to that..if you could give me a..." Marlena; "Ok I'm sorry for pushing...go ahead when you're ready" and she smiles at him. He smiles back and rubs his hands over his face..and turns away from her."So like I was saying I was asking him questions about where he had been, what he had been doing in his career" Will turns back towards Marlena "...when he starts to tell me about the places he has traveled...he got this...look on his face as he watched my reactions to what he said...kind of like he was waiting for me to connect the dots or something. I didn't like the look but brushed it off thinking ,I don't know this guy, but I didn't like the feeling I got. So we continued until something he said reminded me of something Sonny told me a long time ago about where he had gone, things he'd done and they were at the same time so I asked if he knew Sonny..." Will takes a deep breath" Grandma...he said he knew Sonny...VERY well...that they had been in a relationship over 4 years ago for over a year. I mean I knew he was gay, he hadn't said but sometimes you can just tell you know? Sonny calls it my gaydar..." He smiles but then the smiles slips away and his eyes tell Marlena she is not going to like what Will says next. Will walks to and sits down by Marlena and grabs her hands and looks down at them...saying nothing for a few minutes. "Will? Can you tell me what happened next?" Will looks up, closes his eyes and says, "Sonny has known Paul was in town since a few days ago. he ran into him at the hospital. Sonny says he was loading the break room with coffee supplies and when he got up and turned around there was Paul. Paul told me that he kissed Sonny when he saw him and that Sonny kissed him back! He said that he kissed Sonny again a day or so later and again Sonny kissed him back. I didn't want to believe it Grandma!" "Oh Will! I don't know what to say!" She pulls Will to her and they hug for a long time. Will finally pulls away and wipes his eyes. "Did you ask Sonny about it?" Will nods. "What did he say? Did he say it was true? Did he explain ?" Will stands and walks to a window, staring at nothing he turns to face Marlena. "Yeah..yeah I asked him. He said it happened. That he was surprised the first time, was stunned to see Paul and it just happened. Paul did grab him and it was so fast. Ok that I can kind of understand?" Wills' look saying it was a little confusing but it did make sense. "But the second kiss Grandma...that I just...I don't know what to think. He said he made a huge mistake and he feels really bad about it. That it will never happen again. His mind has been going in all different directions what with Ari and I being gone for possibly 6 months, the new club going up and all the problems that he is having with it. I asked him if he told Paul he was married." "What did he say Will? Come sit down by me and tell me the rest." Will walked back over and sat back down. "He said he went to Paul's hospital room and told him he was married, that he loves me, that I am a great guy", here Will smiles a little. "He said that he told him about our wedding and the beautiful speech great- grandma Caroline made. I asked him if it was my fault this happened? Did what I do make it ok to do this? Did I deserve this? He said no it wasn't my fault and that I didn't deserve this to happen. But Grandma, I did go to LA, I didn't think about how it would hurt him. All I was thinking about was me!" "Will, it is true that you did all that and that you SHOULD have considered Sonny's feelings in this, but he should have told you he didn't want you to go. If you look back at this, it happened so fast and you both should have done things differently. You know this and so does Sonny. I am not saying what Sonny did was ok, because it isn't, but can you forgive him for this? He hadn't heard from you, no calls , hardly any texts. He was feeling unwanted and not important to you and here was a man, a man he used to love. Showing that he was wanted, showing him that he was worth someones attention. Again I am not, IN ANY WAY , condoning what Sonny did but.." "Yeah, I know what you mean. I can understand, I guess ,how that can happen. Lord knows through my life I have done stupid things because I felt unwanted..and ...that is why I have Ari after all. When we spoke, before I came here, he was as upset as I was but I just couldn't get my head together and I walked out. I can forgive him Grandma. I hope he can forgive me for going to LA and not thinking about how it would affect him." Will looked at Marlena and asked "What do you think? Am I doing the right thing?" Marlena smiled at Will, gave him a hug and said "Sweetie, this is your decision. This is your marriage. If you feel you can truly forgive Sonny for this, and we both know he is an amazing man who loves you above all else, but we also know he is human and things can happen. Yes he kissed another man, but nothing else happened. He told Paul he was married and knowing Sonny told Paul to more or less back off...I say forgive him if you can. This is not an unforgiveable thing." Will looked at her and said "I know. I remember when mom kicked Rafe out because he kissed Aunt Carrie and I told her that that wasn't a good enough reason since nothing else happened and she had cheated on Rafe. Rafe had felt unwanted then also. So I can understand how that can happen." Marlena walked Will to the door . "What are you going to do now Will?" " I am going to go home, kissed my husband and make sure he knows how much I love him, that I forgive him and hope he forgives me and make sure he no longer feels unwanted. I think that is all you need to know...right Grandma?" This was said with a grin and a wink. "Yes , I really don't think I need to know anymore. I am so proud of you Will. You have become an amazing young man ." Will hugged Marlena again, this time harder and longer.."Thanks Grandma. I love you." "I love you too Will. Now go home to your husband and clear this all up." Will left. After Marlena closed the door, she leaned against it, smiled, sighed and said "You have come a long way sweetie. I am so proud of you."
*Back at Will and Sonny's Apartment*
Sonny is sitting on the couch with Ari. Snuggling while he reads her a story. The apartment door opens, Sonny turns a hopeful yet fearful face when he sees Will. "You came home. Where did you go? Are you ok?" Will places his keys on the desk and asks "Is Ari ready for bed?" "Yeah I was just reading to her til it was time..do you want to...?" Will nods and takes Ari from Sonny and walks into her room. Sonny stays sitting on the couch. Not sure what to do. Should he get up ? Should he stay seated? Before he can decide, Will comes back into the room. He walks over to Sonny and grabs his hands and pulls him up. he steps back, looks Sonny in the eye and says. "I went to talk to my grandma about all this. We had a good talk and I have only a few questions for you." "Anything , you can ask me anything Will. What do you want to know?" Will closes his eyes, opens them . "Do you forgive me for going to LA like I did? Without really asking if you were ok with it? Taking Ari away from you and focusing on me and not you? All that happened while I was there..no calls or hardly any texts? Can you forgive that?" Sonny looking surprised yet hopefull "Of course I do Will! It happened so fast and it was a great opportunity for you..I ...understood. I didn't like it but I should have said something to you. Then I was busy here and you were busy there. More effort could have been made by both of us to stay in touch." Will takes Sonny's hand . Places it on his chest, over his heart. Both Sonny and Will tear up. "OK now..Sonny Kiriakis you listen to me and listen good. I LOVE you. I forgive you for what happened. I understand why it happened and I am going to take all doubt from your mind. I love you SO much and I want us to work. We WILL work this out. One question though...Will this ever happen again? You kissing another man?" "NO NEVER! I promise Will! I love you so much too!" Will grabs Sonny's face and gives him a kiss hot enough to steam up any car window. They seperate, grab each others hands, turn out the light and head to the bedroom.
The rest... you all can imagine