Just to let you guys know, because I'm "changing fate" by (Sonny) preventing Will's death, I will also add some scenes for different characters- Bo, Steve, Kayla, Hope, Abigail, Ben, Gabi, Rafe, et all. So…yeah. heh.
Rafe and Gabi sat across from each other in Rafe's office. Rafe turned on a recorder. "This is Detective Rafe Hernandez with witness Gabriella Hernandez. Today is October 9, 2015; the time is 10:00 PM. Okay, Gabi, why don't you start at the beginning?"
"Will Horton told me that he was going over to Abigail Deveraux's and Ben Weston's apartment to go over wedding venues." Gabi took a deep breath. "At around 7:30, I came here to the station to talk to you- Detective Hernandez."
"About what?" Rafe asked.
"It's personal. It had nothing to do with the investigation." Gabi shook her head.
Rafe nodded. "Continue."
"I ran into Abigail and JJ Deveraux and we started talking about JJ getting Clyde Weston arrested." Gabi explained. "I then got a phone call from Sonny Kiriakis. He- um, he told me earlier that he's back in Salem. When he called when I was at the station, he sounded freaked. He told me that he's afraid Will Horton, his husband, might be in danger."
"Based on what?" Rafe asked.
Gabi hesitated. "Um…is anyone else gonna listen to the recording?"
"Just Commissioner Brady. And possibly Detective Brady." Rafe shrugged.
"Oh. Okay." Gabi sighed in relief. Caroline is Roman's mother and Hope's former mother-in-law, after all. "Sonny told me he went to visit Caroline Brady at the hospital. He told me that Mrs. Brady had an extremely vivid nightmare about Will being in danger. She saw him in what she described as Abigail Deveraux's and Ben Weston's apartment even though she's never been there before. The outfit she described that Will was wearing is the exact outfit he wore in the dream, even though he didn't visit her today. She also described the red and gold necktie used by the Necktie Killer even though she didn't know a thing about it."
"Wouldn't that just be a coincidence, though?" Rafe raised an eyebrow.
"I thought so, too, but then he told me that he tried calling Will. The call picked up, but then he hung up." Gabi said.
"Could be just an accidental call drop." Rafe reasoned.
"But Will didn't call back. He never does that." Gabi shook her head. "So, anyway, both Sonny and I then realized that Will very well could be in danger. He told me to keep Abigail away from the apartment for as long as possible so he could go over and check things out."
"Did he ever call you back?" Rafe asked.
"Yes. Abigail and I were at the Brady Pub. Abigail was in the restroom when Sonny called me again." Gabi stifled a yawn. "Sonny sounded even more freaked. He told me Mrs. Brady was right- Will was in danger. He just stopped Ben from killing Will with a red necktie."
Rafe exhaled slowly. 'So I was right: Chad was being set up…'
Gabi continued. "He told me Will was unconscious, and then he knocked Ben unconscious- twice. Ben was waking up, so Sonny hung up. Abigail and I ate at the Pub, then we went to go pick up my daughter from the babysitter. I invited her in, because the sitter might offer us hot chocolate. She said no, but, when I kept insisting, she figured out something was wrong."
"So, what'd you tell her?" Rafe asked.
"The truth." Gabi shrugged. "She didn't believe me, of course. So, I just drove her home. I told the sitter to keep my daughter for a while longer. Um, when we got to the apartment complex, she went in without a word. I felt like I had to go after her in case something happened, so I took my purse and followed Abigail to her apartment. When we got there…" Gabi took deep breath and swallowed a lump in her throat. Tears formed in her eyes. That sight was so awful. And if she were a couple seconds slower…
"Gabi…" Rafe said gently. "If you want, we can just finish up tomorrow."
Gabi shook her head and cleared her throat. "No. I'm-I'm fine. I'm almost done, anyway."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." Gabi said sincerely. "Anyway, we got there and Ben was straddling Sonny, about to stab him with a broken wine bottle. Chad DiMera was hanging out the window- which was broken, Will was lying unconscious on the floor in front of the refrigerator, and for some reason Paul Narita was also there. He, too was unconscious. The TV was broken over his head."
'Geez!' Rafe winced. "Go on."
"Sonny came to, looked towards us, and mouthed 'run'." Gabi replied. "I grabbed Abigail, and we ran down the hall. She stopped and told me that she could calm him down, but I told her he is past being calmed down. That was when he caught up to us and grabbed Abigail. I sprayed him with pepper spray, pushed Abigail towards the elevator, Ben grabbed me, started to strangle me, and that's when you showed up."
Rafe nodded and pressed "stop" on the recorder. "Okay. Thank you for your time."
Gabi nodded. "Are Will and Sonny okay? Do you know?"
"As far as I know, Paul and Chad are in comas, Will has slight brain damage, and Sonny has a mild concussion." Rafe replied. "Ben is being held here, too."
"Um…I think I'll head home. Visit Will and Sonny in the morning." Gabi said, standing up.
"Okay. Call me if you remember anything else." Rafe replied.
"I will." Gabi promised.
XXX
Jennifer rushed into the station like a madwoman. Roman led her to a waiting area where Abigail was. Abigail ran into her mother's arms, crying. Jennifer hugged her daughter. "Shh. It's okay. It's okay, baby, I'm here.'
Abigail took shallow breaths. "It's all my fault."
"Oh, no! No, it is not your fault." Jennifer pulled away and gently brushed away her tears.
"I…I asked Will to wait for the cable guy while I went to find Ben." Abigail sniffed. "He, Sonny, Chad, Paul, and Gabi almost died because of me. Serena and Paige are dead because of me. If I hadn't…"
"Hey, hey. The only person to blame for everything that's happened is Ben." Jennifer said firmly. "You are a victim just like the others were."
"JJ's gonna hate me." Abigail lamented.
"Abigail, you're his sister. He could never hate you." Jennifer said gently. The door opened. They turned to see JJ walking in.
JJ glared at Abigail. "Paige is dead because of you."
"JJ!" Jennifer gasped.
"You're dead to me." JJ said, his voice shaking in anger. He sniffed. "You hear me? You are no longer my sister!" He stormed out.
"JJ! JJ, wait! You don't mean that!" Jennifer ran after JJ, leaving Abigail looking distressed.
"Abigail?" Abigail snapped out of her fantasy and looked up at JJ.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Abigail started crying again.
JJ hugged his sister. "It's not your fault. In fact, if anyone should be at fault here, it's me. I got Ben's dad arrested. Ben went on a murderous rampage."
"You know, we can play the Blame Game all we want, but the fact is that the only one at fault here is Ben." Jennifer spoke up. "Let's just be grateful that no one died tonight."
JJ exhaled slowly. "Are Will and Sonny okay?"
"Yeah. Will has slight brain damage and Sonny has a mild concussion." Jennifer said. She turned to Abigail and linked her arm through hers. "Come on. Let's go home. It's late."
Abigail let her mother lead her out of the room. JJ put a comforting arm around her.
XX
Once at the Horton House, Abigail trudged upstairs. JJ pulled his mother aside. "You know, I have a feeling Eve is gonna blame her for Paige's death."
Jennifer exhaled sharply. "You're probably right. We should probably get a restraining order."
"Yeah."
XXX
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Lucas stepped off the elevator and headed towards Kayla. "Kayla! Where's my son? Is he okay?"
"Will is going to be just fine, Lucas." Kayla said calmly.
"What do you mean 'going to be'? What happened?"
"Will was attacked by the Necktie Killer." Kayla answered.
"How bad?"
"He has slight, temporary brain damage." Kayla said. Justin and Adrienne both stepped off the elevator and headed towards the two. "With medication and physical therapy, he should recover fully. He's resting now."
"Please tell me Chad was arrested." Justin spoke up.
"Actually, it wasn't Chad who attacked Will, Sonny, Paul, Gabi, Marlena; and killed Serena and Paige." Katla stated. "We found out tonight that it was Ben Weston."
Justin just scoffed. "What? You sure Chad didn't just frame him?"
"All I know is that Will, Sonny, Chad, and Paul were all found unconscious in Ben and Abigail's apartment." Kayla replied.
"How is Sonny?" Adrienne asked. "A-and Will?"
"Sonny has a mild concussion. We're keeping him here overnight for observation." Kayla replied. "He's asleep now. As for Will, he has slight brain damage, but he should recover fully."
"What about Chad and Paul?" Lucas asked.
"Wait, why is Paul involved?" Justin asked, bewildered.
"I'm not allowed to divulge that sort of information." Kayla said. "You'll have to talk to John."
The elevator dinged again, and John and Marlena walked towards the group. "Where's my son?"
"He's in a coma." Kayla explained. "He has severe head trauma and internal bleeding."
Marlena gasped. "What about Will and Sonny?"
"Will has slight brain damage, Sonny has a concussion." Kayla explained. She gave the room numbers for all the men except Chad, then walked off.
John exhaled slowly. "I'm just wondering how the hell my son was dragged into this mess."
"Silly question. It was Chad DiMera." Justin said as though it were obvious. The elevator dinged once again, and Stefano wheeled into the waiting area. Justin turned and lunged for Stefano, but Lucas, John, and Adrienne held him back. "My son almost died because of your son!"
"You have no proof, Kiriakis!" Stefano shot back. "You're lucky you're both still breathing. First you work with my son Elvis against me, now you're railroading my youngest. Be very afraid."
"Oh, you did not just threaten my family!" Justin struggled against John, Lucas, and Adrienne, but they pulled him back. "I can't wait until I nail both your asses to the wall!"
Lucas stifled a snicker. Stefano glared at Justin. "You just try, you foolish, egotistical…!"
"All right, break it up, you two." Kayla walked back to the group.
Stefano turned to Kayla. "My son. Where is he?"
"He's in a coma. He suffered a fractured skull. There's no telling when or if he'll wake up." Kayla said. "He's in there, if you wanna see him." She pointed to the room behind her.
"Thank you." Stefano wheeled into the room.
"I better head to the station." Justin sighed. He turned to Adrienne. "Let me know when Sonny wakes up."
Adrienne nodded. She turned to Lucas. "I'm glad Will is okay."
"Me, too." Lucas nodded. "I need to call Sami."
"Okay. I'm just gonna go be with Sonny." Adrienne said. She walked off.
John turned to Marlena. "I'll call Tori. I know you'll want to be with Will, so, I'll be in Paul's room."
Marlena nodded. "Okay." They walked off.
Lucas headed to one of the chairs and sat down. He dialed Sami's number. "Hey, Sami. Um…first, you need to know that Will is okay. But, he's in the hospital. He was…attacked. Someone tried to strangle him."
XXX
Justin sat in a chair in Rafe's office. "Okay, make my night. Tell me you have evidence of Chad trying to kill my son."
Rafe sighed and took out the recording. "I'm showing you this because I trust you. Don't make me regret it."
"I won't." Justin promised. Rafe nodded and pressed play. By the end, he exhaled slowly. "So Chad somehow brainwashed Ben to do all these killings."
"Really? That's what you got from Gabi's statement?" Rafe raised an eyebrow. "Look, I know you hate the DiMera's, but, come on. Even you have to admit, it doesn't look like Chad did this."
"It's not like the DiMera's haven't brainwashed people before!" Justin shrugged.
"So, Stefano brainwashed someone to frame his son for murder and then put him in a coma?" Rafe asked, still not believing it.
Rafe took a deep breath. Justin was really getting on his nerves. "When Will and Sonny wake up, we'll interview them as well. They were there first, so, we'll know once we talk to them."
"Good. I'd like to be there for that." Justin replied.
"Okay. See you tomorrow." Rafe sighed as Justin left, and he rubbed his face in his hands. 'This is gonna be a long weekend.'
XXX
Sonny woke up to sunlight streaming through the window. Groaning slightly, he opened his eyes to blink away sleep. Memories of the night before came washing over him, and he shot up, straight. "Will!" He cried, then groaned again as that action caused a shooting pain through his head. He slowly laid back down. Adrienne walked into the room, holding a cup of coffee.
"Sonny?" Adrienne set her cup on the nightstand, and took his hand. "Hey, how are you feeling?" She stroked his hair.
"Fine." Sonny replied. "Where's Will? What happened to him?"
"He's fine, honey." Adrienne said calmly. "He has slight brain damage, but he should recover fully."
Sonny exhaled in relief. "I need to see him." He threw his covers off and swung his legs over the bed.
"No, no. Honey, you need to lie down." Adrienne stood up and gently grabbed her son's shoulders.
Daniel entered the room. "Whoa, Sonny, I know you're adventurous, but let's just take this one step at a time. You need to rest."
Sonny sighed. "How's my husband?"
"Will is fine. I just checked on him. He's still sleeping." Daniel replied. "How are you?"
"Well, my head hurts a little." Sonny replied.
"You suffered a mild concussion." Daniel said. "I just need to do a quick exam." He touched the sides of Sonny's head. "Let me know if it hurts." He felt around Sonny's skull. Sonny groaned lightly when Daniel touched the side. "All right, there's some internal bruising there. I'll write you a prescription of antibiotics, then you can go."
"Okay." Both Sonny and Adrienne said simultaneously. They chuckled. Sonny said "Thanks" to Daniel.
"Sonny, the police are gonna want to talk to you about what happened last night. Are you okay to do it?" Adrienne asked.
"Yeah." Sonny nodded. "Can you please check on Will for me?"
"Of course." Adrienne stood up and left. She called Justin and got his voice mail. "Hey, Justin, it's me. Sonny's awake. He's being released soon and he's okay to be questioned by the police."
XXX
Meanwhile, Sami and Lucas sat at Will's bedside. Sami took a deep breath. "So, there's a serial killer on the loose- or was until last night?"
Lucas nodded. "Yeah."
Sami smiled in spite of herself and shook her head. "I wish I'd known. I could have given him a few tips on how to escape from serial killers. Remember when I was attacked by the Salem Stalker?"
"Oh, yeah." Lucas said. "I also remember you thinking that it was me that was attacking you."
Sami chuckled. "Yeah…sorry about that."
"It's okay." Lucas replied.
"You know, I came back here because today is the one year anniversary of EJ's death." Sami sniffed. "I can't believe we almost lost Will. The kids already lost their father…they can't lose their brother, too."
Lucas put a comforting hand on Sami's shoulder. "I know. Thank God Sonny showed up in time."
Sami nodded. "Maybe there's hope for them, after all."
"Maybe." Lucas stood and sighed. "I'm gonna get some breakfast. You want anything?"
"Bran muffin. I'm trying to watch my weight." Sami replied.
"Coming right up." Lucas left and almost ran into Adrienne. "Hey."
"Hey!" Adrienne and Lucas hugged. "How's Will?"
"He's okay. He still hasn't woken up yet." Lucas replied. "How's Sonny?"
"He's awake. Daniel's actually releasing him right now." Adrienne replied. "We're gonna go to the station so Sonny can give his statement."
Lucas nodded. "Okay. I'll text him as soon as Will wakes up."
"Thanks." Adrienne said.
XXX
Sonny and Adrienne drove in silence to the station. Sonny pulled out his phone to check for messages. He got one from Paul asking if Will died, if they would be together. He bristled and put his phone away.
"What's wrong?" Adrienne asked, noticing her son's expression.
Sonny exhaled slowly. "Just a text message from Paul. He asked if Will got himself killed, would we end up together as soon as he's dead."
Adrienne scoffed and shook her head. "I can't believe he did that. Just when I thought he was a different man now. I'm sorry, baby."
"It's fine." Sonny said through gritted teeth. "I guess Will was justified in his extreme paranoia about Paul."
"I'll bet he'll be glad to hear that." Adrienne smirked.
"Yeah."
Adrienne parked by the door of the police station. "Okay. Last chance: are you sure you're ready to be questioned?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Sonny said, determined. They climbed out of the car and headed inside to Rafe's office where Justin waited with them.
Justin hugged Sonny. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Thanks, Dad." Sonny pulled away.
"Sonny, please have a seat." Rafe gestured to a chair. Sonny sat down, and Rafe pulled out his recorder. "This is Detective Rafe Hernandez with key witness and victim Sonny Kiriakis. It is 10:00 AM on Saturday, October 10, 2015. All right, Sonny. Start at the beginning."
"Well, I came home to my apartment here in Salem at about 6:45 last night. No one was home, and I saw that Will Horton's roommate, Gabi Hernandez left Will a note saying that since Will was at Ben Weston's apartment going over wedding venues, she was taking our daughter to the sitter. Since I knew that Will would be preoccupied, I decided to run a couple errands before going to visit him. I went to Club TBD and ran into Paul Narita, and told him I was back in Salem to make things right with Will. I then, went to the hospital to visit Caroline Brady. When I got to her room, she woke up from this nightmare. I tried to calm her down, but…" He hesitated. Everyone will probably think he's crazy.
Rafe sighed and pressed stop. "Sonny, Gabi already told me that you said that Caroline had this weird and vivid dream about Will. The only people who will know about it are the people in this room plus the Commissioner."
Sonny nodded in understanding. "Okay." Rafe pressed play and gestured for him to continue. Sonny cleared his throat. "Mrs. Brady kept going on about Will being in danger. The apartment Will was in, the clothes he was wearing, and the necktie the man in her vision approaching Will were very specific. Will was in Ben Weston's apartment. Mrs. Brady has never been there before and she hadn't seen Will yesterday, and she had no idea about the Necktie Killer. Something in my gut told me that what she was saying was true. So, I headed to Ben Weston's apartment. I tried calling Will, but the call dropped and he didn't call back. I then called Gabi Hernandez and told her about what I was doing and asked her to keep Abigail Deveraux as far away from the apartment for as long as possible. When I got to the apartment…." Sonny took a deep breath. "I heard Ben Weston say 'You shouldn't have come here, Will. You should have just stayed away!', and ran in and saw Ben straddling Will, strangling him with a red necktie. I threw Ben off of Will and knocked him unconscious. Then I called the police and did CPR on Will. He came to long enough to tell me Ben was behind me. I knocked him to the ground, then called Gabi and told her that Mrs. Brady was right. Will was in danger. So, then, I told Gabi to keep Abigail away for as long as possible. Ben woke up, so I hung up and asked why he was doing this. Chad DiMera showed up, and said it was because of him- Chad. Ben pretty much confirmed it by saying 'So, what if I did?'. Then Chad and Ben got into a fight, which ended with Ben throwing Chad out the window. He started towards me, but then Paul Narita burst through the door holding a gun. Ben attacked Paul, got hold of the gun and pulled the trigger. The gun was empty. Ben hit Paul over the head with the gun and threw him against the TV set. I tried to hit Ben over the head with a wine bottle, but, he was too quick. He knocked me over the head with the bottle. When I came to, Ben was holding the broken bottle over his head about to kill me, when the door opened to Gabi Hernandez and Abigail Deveraux standing in the doorway. I turned to the women and mouthed 'run' to them. They ran, and Ben started to go after him, but I grabbed his ankle, causing him to fall. I slipped back into unconsciousness, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital bed."
Rafe nodded and pressed stop. "Sounds like you all had quite a night."
"Yeah." Sonny chuckled humorlessly.
"Wow. Chad is a good actor, isn't he?" Justin mused.
Sonny whirled around and glared at his father. "Did you not hear a word I just said?! Ben attacked us and tried to kill us. Including Chad!"
"He was probably brainwashed by the DiMeras!" Justin argued back.
"We have a specialist in with Weston," Rafe jumped in. "to determine whether or not he was brainwashed or hypnotized into committing the murders and attempted murders."
"And how do you know that this specialist isn't working with the DiMeras, hmm?" Justin folded his arms.
"Ever since Bernardi, we've been testing our officers to see if they're moles." Rafe explained. "Dr. Hudson passed. He's legit."
Someone knocked on the door again and walked in. "Excuse me, Detective? Here's the report."
"Thank you Barnes." Rafe replied and took the report. Barnes left.
"Read it." Justin said tersely. "Out loud."
Rafe sighed quietly, opened the report, and cleared his throat. "'Suspect shows no sign of being brainwashed or hypnotized. Shows signs of obsessive behavior to a Chad DiMera. Started crying and saying over and over again "he made it so I had to do it". Sounds to me like Ben acted of his own voilition."
Justin sighed in frustration and turned around. It really was looking like Chad was innocent. …And he may have inadvertently endangered his family for nothing. He turned around with a look of guilt. He swallowed. "I was wrong."
Rafe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "We all make mistakes, Justin."
"Chad didn't really give you any reason to doubt him, Dad." Sonny spoke up. "In fact, if I didn't know him, I'd think he did it, too."
Justin swallowed and nodded. "Sonny, I'm sorry. If I wasn't so hell-bent on destroying the DiMeras, you and Will wouldn't have been in the hospital."
"I don't blame you." Sonny said sincerely. He sighed. "Since I'm done here, I'd like to get back to the hospital to be with Will."
"Okay. Be sure to ask if he's okay to answer questions." Rafe nodded.
"I will." Sonny and Adrienne left.
XX
Sonny walked into Will's hospital room. Sami and Lucas had already left. He sat at his bedside and held Will's hand. "I'm sorry. I should have taken you with me to Paris. I should have told you from the very beginning about Paul. Maybe none of this would have happened."
Sami, Lucas, and Marlena walked in. "Hey."
"Hey." Sonny smiled, still holding Will's hand. Will started to stir. "Ooh. He's waking up."
Everyone crowded around Will, whose eyes fluttered open. He smiled as he looked around. "Mom…Dad…Grandma." Sami, Lucas, and Marlena all smiled at him. Will turned to Sonny and gave him a confused look.
"Who are you?" Will asked Sonny.
Damn amnesia! XD More to come soon!
