Kate silently drove Lucas to the morgue to claim Will's body. Since Sonny and Sami hadn't arrived to Salem yet, Lucas was Will's closest next of kin. They made it to the room where Will's body is.
The mortician showed Lucas to the table. "This is him, correct?"
"Yeah." Lucas swallowed. "Give me a few minutes."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed-"
"Please, just leave me alone with my son." Lucas said more forcefully.
The mortician nodded. "I'll give you a few minutes."
Lucas walked over to the table, barely keeping it together. Will looked so peaceful as if he were only sleeping.
"We have a family history of alcoholism. That puts you at risk, do you understand that?" Lucas demanded.
"Okay." Will just shrugged. "Sorry."
"No 'okay' me!" Lucas replied. "I've been through hell with this! I don't want you to go through the same thing!" He calmed down a little. "Now, if I'm yelling, it's because I'm mad and you're scaring me. Got that?"
XX
Lucas opens the door to his apartment and sees Will, who chuckles with elation. "Will."
"Hey, Dad." Will replied.
Lucas beamed. "Look at you, man. You look great."
"Thank you." Will looked down quickly, then up. "You too-good to see you. Welcome home."
"Come here." Lucas pulled his son into a hug.
XX
Will and Lucas were by the archway. It was the night of Nick and Gabi's almost-wedding. Chad had revealed that Nick was not the father of her baby, and Will admitted that he was.
"What kind of role model can I be, really? I mean, I look at my own family, and..."
"And what?" Lucas interrupted. "What, you didn't get enough love when you were little? Your mom and I didn't do our damndest to make sure you could find your way in life? We didn't do that?"
"I'm just thinking about all the custody battles with me in the middle." Will explained. "I'm thinking about being shipped off to live in Switzerland with Aunt Carrie and Uncle Austin."
"You know exactly why we had to do that."
Will shrugged. "Yeah, because Mom didn't want me around anymore."
"That's rude." Lucas snapped. "Your mother never wanted to do that. Your mother had to sacrifice for you. She had to do that for you at the time."
Will was getting irritated. "Now I'm gonna hear about all the sacrifices that you made for me. Thanks, okay."
Lucas wasn't done yet. "Yeah, you know what? Maybe you do need to hear about all the sacrifices that we made for you, and stop feeling sorry for yourself. We don't do that in this family. We stick together. We have never, ever turned our back on you, not once. I mean, really, what more do we have to do? What more do I have to do to prove how much I love you? Man, I went to prison for you!"
XX
"That laughter-I'm very grateful for that. It's our saving grace in our family. Um... Will-he, uh-he had it tough growing up. And although I can't, uh, fully speak for Sami-I know better-but today maybe we both can agree that... our son, Will, was, uh... the best thing we could have ever asked for. He was a better son than we both deserved. And when he came out to us... Sami had a moment. Sonny came along, and, uh, their relationship blossomed, and then it was my turn to have a moment." The guests laughed lightly. "I guess I just thought that deep down my son was going through, uh, some sort of state of confusion and that he would figure things out. But it turns out that I was the one who was confused. I am really sorry for the way I reacted, and I'm so sorry for the way I treated you, Sonny. It's not the kind of life that I envisioned for my son when he was growing up... but it is better than anything I could have ever asked for. Growing up with two crazy parents like us, despite everything we put you through, you still managed to find the love and happiness that you deserve. And I am just so proud to call you my son."
XX
"What's wrong with you?!" Lucas demanded. "You're worse than your mother."
Back to the present, Lucas suppressed sobs as he grasped his son's hand. "What the hell, man? Didn't your mother ever tell you to lock your doors and windows at night? This isn't how it was supposed to end. You were supposed to grow old, have more children…grandchildren…you were supposed to claim my body. Why? Why did this happen? This isn't fair."
Kate walked into the room. "Hey, there's paperwork for you to do."
Lucas nodded without looking at Kate. "I love you, son. And I'm sorry I never got to tell you that again."
Kate squeezed Lucas' arm as he walked out. She sighed and walked over to the table. "This isn't fair, you know? I'm supposed to die first…then your dad and aunts and uncles…then you." She put a hand to her mouth to muffle her sobs. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have told you to lie to Sonny about the affair. Maybe then you could have told him, you could have worked out your problems faster…you could be in Paris right now with Sonny sipping Bordeaux and eating crepes." She sniffed, kissed his forehead, and stroked his hair. "Goodbye. I'll miss you."
Upon exiting the room, Kate saw Sami arguing with one of the workers.
"I am his mother, you idiot! Don't you see the family resemblance?! How dare you!" Sami was yelling.
Kate rushed over. "Excuse me. Excuse me, this is Will Horton's mother."
The worker backed off and Lucas showed up. "Sami, you made it!"
"Of course I did." Sami hugged Lucas. "Oh, Lucas!"
XX
Sami walked over to Will's body, breathing heavily and sobbing silently. Losing your child is the worst thing that could happen to you. She leaned against the table and held Will's hand.
Austin held the newborn Will out for Sami to see. Sami smiled and laughed. "It's our baby. Austin, it's your baby." She held Will in her arms. "Hi. Hi."
XX
"You say that you can count on me, Mom. Why can't I count on you? Huh? Why do I always feel like I'm the adult in this relationship?"
Sami whirled around. "I am not blaming you. Okay? I know better than anyone the mistakes that I have made."
"Mistakes?" Will exclaimed in dismay. "Mom, you've made messes. Messes that I am tired of cleaning up. Look, you want to know why I'm so angry with you? It's because you keep destroying the only real family that I have ever had."
XX
Will walked through the debris of the explosion in the warehouse. He saw EJ and his mother hanging over a ledge.
"William, get up here!" EJ cried.
Will nearly flew up the ladder to the ledge. He flung himself towards EJ and pulled him, then Sami up. Sami and Will sobbed a little in relief and hugged each other.
XX
Sami just found out that Will was the real father of Gabi's baby. She confronted him in her apartment. "Well, when you talk to Gabi, make sure you figure out what her agenda is."
Will was confused. "Her agenda?"
"Oh, she has one. She definitely has one, that girl. She had an agenda when she tried to make sure you gave up all rights to your baby." Sami rambled on. "She had an agenda when she lied to me about it from day one. And she definitely had an agenda when she was saying that you were the one pushing her to have an abortion.
"I'm sor-why- why were you talking to her at all?" Will asked, not wanting to believe the worst of his best friend.
"Because I wanted to lay the groundwork for you to have rights to your child. And now the rest is up to you. If you want those rights, you're gonna have to fight for 'em. And you better do it soon." Sami replied.
Will sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, what part of "I'm not going to talk to you about this" do you not understand?"
Sami wasn't about to give up. "This is your child we are talking about here."
"Yes, Mom, that's right. That's my child. My child. So maybe you should do less talking and more listening to the father of said child." Will replied.
"I would love to listen to you talk." Sami replied. "Right. Right. I am talking, I am doing the talking, because I care... because I love you, and I don't want to see you get hurt. And because I can see by your face that this hasn't sunk in for you yet, because it's not real yet. You haven't heard...the heartbeat. You haven't seen a sonogram. And I know you haven't because, if you had, this baby would already be the most important thing in your life. I'm begging you not to make a decision until you know exactly what it is that you're giving up. Please. Please get the right advice."
XX
"What happened to my sweet little boy?"
Sami swallowed and blinked away tears. "I failed you. That's what happened. You know, I…I've always imagined that when I had kids…they wouldn't have the same life I did growing up. I would always be there for them and put them first. And now…now I realize I did the complete opposite. Your life was so much worse than mine. I just…you were more like me than I ever would have imagined. But…I'm just…I'm just glad that unlike me, you were never…violated…and that you will never experience the loss of your husband and child. And I am so, so sorry. I'm sorry I never got to tell you that." She broke down completely and started wailing over Will's body.
XXX
Adrienne took a deep breath as she parked her car near the private runway where the Kiriakis jet would land. These past twelve hours had been a nightmare- first Sonny calls her out of the blue asking for her to pick him up at the airport, then they find out Will died. She couldn't even bear to imagine what Sonny, Lucas, and Sami were going through. Poor Sonny has had a rough year: loses his second club because his friend screwed him over, finds out his husband cheated on him with his ex-boyfriend, gets stabbed and nearly killed, been lied to and manipulated by his husband, his parents got divorced again, he had to leave behind his beloved stepdaughter, his grandmother has cancer, his mother has the breast cancer gene, and now he's coming home to bury his husband. Has he even forgiven Will yet? Adrienne jumped slightly when her cell phone rang.
"Hey." She greeted.
"Hey." Justin replied. "Is he here, yet?"
"No, um…Lee called a while ago and said they had to stop somewhere in Ohio because of weather, so it'll be a few more minutes." Adrienne replied. "How's the investigation going?"
"We have every law enforcement in the state on the hunt for DiMera." Justin spat out that name with extreme distaste. "I cannot wait to throw his ass in jail, I swear…"
"Wow, you really don't like him right now." Adrienne noticed.
"He made our son a widower." Justin stated. Adrienne could hear him slamming his briefcase shut. "This is personal."
Adrienne smiled wryly. "You'll have to get to him before Sami, Lucas, and Kate do."
"Oh, I will." Justin said, nodding. "Count on it."
Adrienne swallowed a lump in her throat. "I just…I don't get it. I'm the one with all the health issues…and my mom and Caroline…why…why were we spared when Will- a perfectly healthy young man- wasn't?"
"I don't know." Justin said softly. "I guess…that's just life. It sucks sometimes.
"Yeah." Adrienne saw the jet about to land. "Oh, hey, the jet's here. Um…we'll talk later."
"All right. See you."
Adrienne hung up, sighed, and climbed out of the car. Sonny stepped off the airplane, jetlagged and looking as if he aged twenty years quickly. His eyes and nose were both red from crying. Adrienne blinked away tears of sympathy for her son and held out her arms. Sonny nearly knocked his mother over as he fell onto her shoulders and broke down sobbing. Adrienne rubbed Sonny's back soothingly. "I'm so sorry, baby. It's okay. I'm here for you." They pulled apart, climbed into the car, and drove off.
"I wanna see him." Sonny said quietly.
Adrienne nodded. "Okay."
"It's all my fault." Sonny sniffed. "I should have gone to LA with him. Then…then we would have stayed until our anniversary…then we wouldn't have all those problems…then he would have gone to Paris with me."
Adrienne squeezed his hand gently. "You didn't know what was going to happen."
"Still…" Sonny swallowed and wiped away tears. They were silent the rest of the way to the morgue. Sonny took a deep breath to calm himself as he approached the receptionist. "Excuse me, my husband Will Horton was brought in here last night. I'd like to see him."
The receptionist typed something on the computer. "You're Sonny Kiriakis?" Sonny nodded. "All right. Go down this hall, take a left, and it's the fifth door to your right."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. I'm sorry for your loss."
Sonny and Adrienne headed to the room where Will's body was. The mortician walked out of the room. "Hi. I'm Sonny Kiriakis."
"The deceased's…friend?" The mortician asked.
"Husband, actually." Sonny said with a little vindication in his voice.
"I'm sorry, but, I'm afraid your request has been denied." The mortician replied. "That is, unless you have his parents' permission-"
"He does." Everyone turned to see Lucas walking up to them. "It's the love of his life we're talking about here. He has permission."
The mortician sighed in resignation. "Fine. Just don't do anything weird."
"Oh, don't worry. I draw the line at necrophilia." Sonny smirked, nodded, and walked into the room. Lucas and Adrienne stifled chuckles.
Sonny walked in and saw his husband laying on the table covered with a sheet.
Abigail, Will, and Sonny were at the pier. "Sonny, this is my cousin Will, the one I'm always talking about."
Sonny smiled at Will. "Oh, hey, dude, how are you? It's nice to meet you after all these years."
Will was a little wary. "Yeah. Uh...so you two are..."
"Related." Abigail replied.
Will felt slightly embarrassed. "Oh."
"Sonny's my cousin too." Abigail replied.
X
"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. It's nice to meet you." Will smiled and shook Sonny's hand.
Barely keeping it together, Sonny walked to his husband's side. His hand was cold and hard. He remembered all the times when he and Will hugged, kissed, and made love.
"I love you more and more every day. And I know that we're gonna have an amazing life together. You, me, and Arianna Grace."
"Will Horton…will you marry me?"
"Will, how am I supposed to live without you? Can you explain that to me?"
"You romantic idiot. You really think I'd let you go to prison for me?"
"You cheated on me."
"I'm leaving, Will."
"It's taken me a long time, but…I forgive you."
Sonny felt sobs rising through his chest. He squeezed Will's hand and held it to his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry it took so long for me to forgive you. If I had…called even a day earlier…" He couldn't finish. He took deep breaths. "I love you. I promise…Arianna Grace will know you. I'll always be a part of her life. I know I can never replace you, but I will be the best father to her as anyone."
"Excuse me, we need to embalm him now." A morgue worker with a slight Italian accent opened the door and stuck his head inside.
Sonny nodded and cleared his throat. He kissed Will's forehead. "I love you. Goodbye." Sonny left the room and hugged his mother again.
Lucas cleared his throat quietly. "Sonny, I just want you to know that you'll always be a part of this family. We'll hang your ornament on the Horton Christmas tree every year…you're a Horton now and forever."
"Don't forget the Bradys." Sami spoke up, walking up to them. "You'll always be a Brady, too."
Touched, Sonny's eyes welled up with tears. He hugged both of them. "I love you guys."
"Oh." Sami sniffed. "We love you, too."
XXX
Abigail was exhausted. Not only were her pregnancy hormones in overdrive, but she just lost one of her favorite cousins. Her best friend and confidant. She blinked away silent tears as she lay on Ben's chest. "Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"If our baby's a boy…I want to name him after Will." Abigail said. "Kind of…honor him, you know?"
Ben nodded. "Sure. William Clyde Weston. It has a nice ring to it."
Abigail chuckled. "Yeah…"
Ben sighed quietly. 'Sorry, Will. But you knew too much. You had to be sacrificed to destroy Abigail's love for Chad.'
