5
Authors Note:
Thank you for the people who have clicked to follow and favourite this story, I'm glad people are enjoying it so far.
For the review that Lee Lee gave, I was unable to respond here but did on twitter which was
"Thanks for the review, I can't seem to answer it there, so I will answer it here, Yes Wilson is end game. I understand because I see all your posts about the other ships being boring to you, but in the story they are needed to lead them back onto the path of Wilson"
The usual, characters are not mine and they belong to Days of our Lives and the Italics are for flashbacks/memories.
This chapter seemed to be a harder one to write and I apologise now there is a "Paulson" flashback and the sad "Wilson" flashback also didn't intend for it to be Sonny-centric = S
Chapter 3
Sonny panted as he carried the last box out of the storage cupboard and placed it with the other two by the bed and sat on the corner of the bed. He stared at the dented boxes that held the last few memories, trinkets and belongings that he had once shared with Will. He hadn't looked in them for so long, the last time was the day he proposed to Paul after being released from prison.
In a way it was his one last farewell to the miracle that he had hoped for but knew wouldn't come true, he thought back to that day;
"In that case, this is a better setting."
"For what?" Paul enquired
"The question I was going to ask you at the police station, before my dad walked in."
Sonny laid still, on-top of Paul in bed; he took a breath and said "I was going to ask you to marry me."
Paul shocked "You wanna marry me?"
"I want this to be our life forever, when I was locked away, you were the one who got me through that knowing that you would never give up on me, you gave me a reason to, to fight for this so I could come back to you. So I will properly ask you, Paul will you marry me?"
"Yes, yes" Paul excitedly responded and kissed Sonny.
Sonny ran his hand through his hair, the last few months had been a rollercoaster of emotion for everyone, but looking back, he knew he hadn't been fair to anyone, most of all himself. The guilt panged at remembering the words and this time he repeated them out loud "knowing that you would never give up on me, you gave me a reason to fight. Unlike what I did to Will and us, I gave up and chose not to fight for him."
Sonny rose and opened the bedside table drawer and pulled out the blue coffee tin, the final piece that he knew he had to let go. He opened the lid and saw the three pieces of paper inside and pulled them free and opened each one at a time.
"2012 get Will Horton to fall in love with me" he smirked remembering the time that Will read this out loud to him and he then looked at the other "2014 - To marry Will Horton". The last piece was something he had never shown anyone or even read again after he wrote it; he tentatively opened it and read "2016 - For my husband to be alive". He solemnly folded it back and dropped it into the tin.
New Year had been and gone and with Will being back he hadn't added a new resolution, but thought now he would, he tore a bit of paper and wrote "2018 - For Will to remember me."
He folded the paper and placed it in the tin with the others closed the lid shut and dropped it into one of the boxes. He closed his eyes and wished on every god, deity or miracle for his resolution to be true; instead he proceeded to move the boxes to his car to take to Wills.
Sonny went into autopilot and wondered if taking them to Wills was a good idea or if he should leave them with someone else. But he was already half way there to the Martin Guesthouse and there was no point in prolonging the inevitable, he knew he would see Will around Salem, being a small place and because they had Ari.
He pulled into the parking area of the Martin house, the last conversation he had with Will begins to run through his mind;
"Can I come in?
"Sure, yeah."
Sonny comes in and Will closes door and puts the book back in box.
"What brings you by?"
"I wanted to see what Brady told me was true."
"If what was true?"
"That right after you moved out of my place you moved straight to Paul's."
"I didn't move in with Paul. "
"But you're under the same roof."
"Yeah because my cousin owns this place and he gave me a great deal and with no job right now I need a great deal."
"Ok, if money was the problem you could have just stayed with me."
"why? Because that is who I am, I'm a guy who leeches off someone I don't..."
"That you don't what? Love anymore."
"This is what I need to do Sonny; this is where I need to be."
"Here?! Not... how about Marlena's what about your dad? What about your dad, he just got out of rehab."
"Nice perfectly safe incubators you know filled with family pictures and walks down memory lane until one day I wake up and oh I remember the Will that I used to be but that is not what I want."
"So you don't want to remember?"
"I want to be the man I am right now I don't want to put my life on hold, hoping that maybe I will remember something I might not ever and that's why I am here that's why I am on my own its it's time for me to move on."
"And leave me behind?"
"I hate this band you know that, did Paul give you this?" Holding up a CD
"It was in the stuff that mom packed for me not that I remember any of it."
"Something else you don't remember - -" Sonny said whilst holding the book.
"I did read the inscription it's very sweet."
"I gave you this the night I proposed and I still feel the same way about you Will, every word."
"I know, that's why I had to move out its' not fair to you to give you hope for a future when I don't, I don't feel that way."
"Is hope a terrible thing? Right that is what they say."
"I was going to wait til later to give this to you but, since you're here" Will handed Sonny a large enveloped and when Sonny pulled the paper out, all he could say was;
"Divorce papers?"
"I'm sorry, but if we are making a break it should be a clean one. "
"Well that didn't take long."
"I know this is hard."
"Is it? Is it hard, because you don't seem to have a problem getting on with your life?"
"Everything is in order; it's a straight forward no fault divorce as soon as you look it over and sign we can file."
"Just like that so easy, just a wave of a pen and poof we never happened!"
"We did happen Sonny and I am sorry I can't be that… I am sorry I can't be the man that you love "
"One day you are going to remember our life together, was it perfect? No but we did love each other, you me and Ari and you're gonna remember that and when you do, you're gonna realise what I wrote in that book is true" Sonny walks around Will and out of the door.
Sonny lent against the now closed door and tried to compose himself and calm his breathing before leaving the Martin house.
Sonny sat in the car, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter before wiping away tears that had started to flow freely. He knew this wasn't going to be helpful if he went to see Will in tears, so he sat there a little longer and composed himself, he didn't want to argue with Will, it was a civil I think you should have these, sort of conversation rather than I desperately miss you and I am sorry.
He got out of the car and left the boxes first, there was no point lugging them all the way up to his room if he wasn't going to accept them. Much to Sonny's luck he didn't bump into anyone in particular and reached Will's room with ease. He stood in front of the door took a breath and then knocked three times. Sonny anxiously shuffled his feet waiting for the door to open, but nothing happened. Sonny waited a few more seconds before knocking the door again but a little harder.
This time Sonny looked across the hall and wondered if he should try Paul, Sonny shook his head trying to deter that thought from forming in his mind. He tried one more time without success. He dropped his head and solemnly left the building and back into his car. Sonny wasn't sure that he wanted to take the boxes home; he had been impressed that he managed to get himself this far of letting go.
He thought for a minutes and the light bulb moment sprang to him "Marlena." He proceeded to speak out loud coaching himself for the next task ahead "I have to go speak to her anyway, this is a perfect way to cross two things off my list." He turned the key into the ignition and drove to Marlena's town house.
It didn't take long for Sonny to arrive at Marlena's and headed to her door, he left the boxes in the car in case she wouldn't accept them but also because Sonny wanted to speak to her firstly about a therapist. He knew he needed to do this, not just for himself but for Will as well, if he was going to accept this was his life now he needed to completely understand his actions in the past and move on from that to be a better person. That was his go to line if anyone would ever ask, deep down he wanted to be a better person for Will, so Will could fall for him the way he should and not for Paul.
He knocked twice on the door and anxiously waited. Sonny seemed to have lost sense of time, what he thought was ages was barely a minute when Dr Marlena Evans opened the door and surprisingly said "Oh, Sonny, hello."
"Hi Marlena, I wonder if I can come in and speak with you for a moment please?"
"Of course dear, come right in." Marlena invited Sonny in and then offered him coffee "Take a seat, would you like some coffee?"
Sonny took a seat on the sofa and accepted the offer of coffee. Marlena disappeared for a few minutes to bring out a new pot of coffee and Sonny scanned the apartment, landing on the photo above the fireplace of Will and Sonny's wedding. Marlena soon returns with a tray possessing cups and the coffee pot and a few biscuits. She makes light work of pouring the coffee and offers the sugar pot to Sonny who declines.
Marlena sits further back into the sofa and asks "How are you Sonny?" Sonny who had slightly lost himself watching the coffee swirl in his cup glanced up and apologised "Oh, sorry what did you ask?"
Marlena smiled and re-asked her question "I asked how you were doing Sonny?"
"I am as good as I can be thank you; the last few days have been, more difficult than usual."
Marlena just nodded and asked "How is Arianna with everything happening with Gabi, she must be noticing something is going on."
"She is ok, she has been asking for her mom a lot which is expected, but there are a lot of people who are helping look after her and keep her distracted, I think she would really like to see her dad again, would you suggest it the next time you see Will, not sure it would be wise for me to see him at the moment." Sonny dropped his head and stared into his coffee once again.
Marlena could see the pain on Sonny's face, she knew about the divorce when Will called her over to his room quite urgently. "I will do that Sonny, although I haven't seen him for a couple of days. I am sorry to hear about the divorce."
Sonny looked at Marlena and asked "Were you surprised though? I know you had reservations of Will moving in with me, you think I was pressuring him?" Sonny placed the coffee cup down and rose and started to pace the room, hands dragged through his hair.
"I'm sorry, please don't answer, I think I already know the answer. There was a reason I came to see you, two actually…" Marlena went to respond but Sonny continued "It's not about Will; well it is but not the way you think…. Marlena do you have some contacts for a therapist?"
Marlena placed her cup down and walked to Sonny "A therapist?"
"I know things have been messed up well before Will returned and I have tried to make the right decisions but clearly I don't and perhaps I need to speak to someone who is unbiased in the situation and can help me."
Marlena placed her hand on his shoulder and reassured him "Sonny, it is ok to speak to someone; you have been through so much, you never had proper closure with Will because of his death and now that he is alive again."
"Closure? Marlena I was coming back to be with him, I realised I was just sticking my head in the sand and hurting Will like that, I loved and love him." Sonny sighed and staid quiet for a moment and then said "The other reason was I have a few boxes with Will's things I did try to leave it at his but there was no answer, could I leave them with you, I will have to do a couple of trips from the car with them?"
"Not at all Sonny, I will get you those names and numbers for you." Marlena softly spoke, Sonny smiled and nodded and left to get the boxes. His first trip was quick and he left the box to the side whilst Marlena was flipping through a rolodex of names, stopping occasionally to write the details down. The second trip, Marlena was on the phone, her brow furrowed Sonny not wanting to disturb just gently placed the box down and went for the last box the lighter of the lot.
When sonny returned with the last box he overheard Marlena talking a little louder "And you are sure he is ok Kayla?" Sonny stopped in the doorway with the door open whilst Marlena continued her conversation "Is Will awake? I will come over as soon as possible." Marlena jumped when she looked up to see Sonny had lost grip of the box and the contents was now strewn on her floor and his face paled.
"Marlena I am so sorry, Will is hurt?" He bent to the floor to gather the things which he noticed were all of Will's journal things, in particular that of Paul Narita when was greeted with the front cover of one of the Sonix magazines.
"Kayla can't for sure know, but Will has been admitted and he is unconscious, John and Paul are there now… I am so sorry Sonny but I need to head out now."
"Yes, sure, errr…" Sonny hesitated and then quietly asked "May I join you, I just need to see for myself, I will be quick and leave him, I won't cause any more stress."
"I'm sure Will would appreciate it Sonny." Sonny furiously grabbed all the papers on the floor and dumped them into the box, there was one last magazine that had slid under the table, when he picked it up, Sami and EJ DiMera's faces reflected back with, bold black marker pen circled around Will Horton name. Sonny closed the box and stood opening the magazine article where there was more scribblings in the margins, he recognised the handwriting, it wasn't Will's…. It was Paul's.
Marlena called after Sonny if he was ready and he called back yes and quickly closed the door behind him to head to the hospital with more than one question flying through his head, what was wrong with Will and why had Paul annotated the magazine….
©lil_aber_lisa Truth Revealed 2018
