I'm back! And not with such a long wait this time.. I hope to keep that pace up, but I'm not making any promises as I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter to be honest. But, it's up now and I can only hope you'll like it..

Again, thanks to all my great reviewers! It really is the best feeling to know people are actually reading your story and appreciate it enough to leave a thought. I cannot thank you all enough and sincerely hope you'll keep them coming!

Sonny was sitting behind in the car, squeezed in between Joey en Vic. Deep in thought he totally missed whatever story Justin was telling his boys from behind the wheel, mostly trying to keep the conversation going. Justin never was a big talker, but today he seemed to want to reminisce every family memory they had. They just came back from a final fitting for their suits and unsurprisingly to Sonny all the Kiriakis' men decided to go together. Ever since the awkward situation at their arrival, the rest of the family seemed very keen in keeping the atmosphere as light as possible and desperately acted like everything was insanely normal. Which made things awkward in its own, but everyone seemed to agree the big elephant in the room was best ignored. Sonny had a slight feeling Adrienne had something to do with that, since she'd been very overbearing ever since that afternoon. She quite clearly thought it was best to keep Sonny and Alex apart, or at least to make sure they were never alone together. Which in Adrienne's case mainly meant she followed him around everywhere he went with silly excuses and drove him absolutely crazy. Sure, Sonny loved his mother and he loved she had this loving need to protect her family, but he loved her the most in small doses.

And the worse part about it all is that he still had to endure everything without Will. Oh, how many times he had texted Will with a cry for help and how patiently had Will let him vent on the phone at night. Let him tell him all about the look Alex had had on his face whilst telling Charlotte Ari was Will's daughter instead of theirs, the way Alex had avoided all direct conversations with him after that, the way the rest of the family was watching him like a hawk. Most of the time just talking about it made Sonny feel better, but he felt the familiar warm feeling in his chest when Will would simply respond by telling him he loved him.

Luckily, he smiled slightly at the thought, Will had finally arrived today. It did bug him he hadn't been able to pick him up from the airport and had to make do with a simple text telling him they'd arrived safely, but just knowing he was going to be able to finally hold Will again soon made this car ride better.

'Sonny, where's your head at?' he suddenly heard Vic ask, pulling him out of his happy thoughts.

'Will' he answered without thought, and bit his lip when he felt the atmosphere stiffen up, 'I mean..'

'Guess they landed by now, right?' Alex then surprisingly interrupted him with a question. Sonny looked at his brother for a second, before he finally could shake the surprise off and form an answer.

'Yeah, he just texted me everything went smoothly and they are waiting at home' he spoke softly, 'he's looking forward to meeting all of you'

For a moment, silence felt the car again. Alex then looked back from his front seat and Sonny saw the slight hesitation in his eyes, 'that's good to hear' he then spoke softly, clearly thinking about every word carefully, 'that they landed safely I mean'.

Awkwardly, he rubbed his neck, before letting out a sigh, 'I mean, and that he's excited to meet us' he spoke quickly, ' I mean..'

Sonny gave him a slight nod, before Vic next to him started laughing, 'Very smooth Alex' he said with a sarcastic smirk, 'is that the same way you won Charlotte over?'

Sonny couldn't help but grin relieved as Vic started teasing his brother, when he felt Joey putting his hand on his shoulder, 'And of course we're very excited to meet Will too' he reassured his little brother with a private whisper, 'Anyone who can make turn our daredevilish baby brother into a domestic type should be quite special'

And then, finally they arrived safely back at the house. Sonny almost bolted through the door and entered the living room. He barely acknowledged the other family members there, his mom, Victor, Maggie and Charlotte, but just walked straight into Will's waiting arms. For a minute he just held him silently, before he felt Will's grip loosen a bit and reluctantly took a step back.

Will seemed to understand his need for closeness as he immediately grabbed Sonny's hand as reassurance, before focussing on the people behind Sonny and greeting them with a shy smile.

Joey stepped up as the first one and put out his hand 'Will, it's nice to finally meet you' he spoke with a serious tone, while the twinkle in his eye gave away the act, 'I'm Joey, also known as the sane one of the bunch'

'Right you are, bro' Vic interrupted, stepping up next to his brother, and shaking Will's hand next, 'I'll make sure Will knows not to take you too seriously.'

Will couldn't help but smile at the interaction between the twin brothers, and how at ease he immediately felt despite the current affairs, when he felt someone shift behind them. Justin subtly coughed, making Joey en Vic look up. Will saw Alex shift again, biting his lip slightly and clearly feeling a little uncomfortable. He felt Sonny's grip on his hand tighten, probably without Sonny doing that on purpose, when Vic suddenly pulled out his arm as Alex made no intention of breaking the silence himself. 'And this is guy is Alex, as you might've guessed already' he said with a broad smile , 'The one who caused this nice reunion, though we still can't understand why someone would want to marry him'.

Will had to smile at Vic, who certainly knew how to clear the mood and smiled slightly at Alex. 'Nice to meet you' he said.

At first, Alex just nodded, before he finally took a slight step forward and put out his hand, 'It's nice to meet you too' he then said, as Charlotte walked over to stand by his side.

For a moment, they stood opposite from each other and Will felt Alex observing him silently, 'So how did your exam go?' he then suddenly asked, surprising the rest of the family around him.

Will looked up, 'I think I did okay, thanks' he answered, feeling Sonny's grip lessen slightly making him feel a little more at ease, 'How are the wedding preparations?'

'They are great' Charlotte answered, 'We're just arrange the last things now. I don't know if Sonny told you but I asked him to order a suit for you today'

Will wanted to shake his head, but then felt Sonny squeeze his hand slightly making him look up, 'I ordered your suit' Sonny then told him with a slight smile, and Will felt a lot better seeing that Sonny could smile again.

'Please tell me you didn't get anything out of the ordinary?' Will suddenly asked with a frowned eyebrow, receiving nothing but a teasing smile from Sonny before Justin put him at ease.

'He got a simple blue one' he told him, making Will heave a sigh of relief. Sonny pulled up an eyebrow at that response, but kept silent as he saw Adrienne approach them in the corner of his eye. Clearly she had waited on the background for a second, making sure everything played out okay before stepping up.

'I think there's someone else who'd like to be introduced' she spoke softly, while holding a wide-eyed Ari in her arms. Sonny felt his heart swell at the sight of his babygirl and couldn't help but take her out of his moms arms eagerly and pressing a kiss on her forehead.

Ari let out an enthusiastic squeal, which made everyone laugh. Sonny grinned proudly, 'This is Arianna' he said in general, 'And clearly she really likes being the centre of attention, don't you baby girl?' Ari bobbed up and down enthusiastically, clearly feeling at ease immediately in Sonny's arms.

'She's a real cutie' Charlotte spoke first, before Joey and Vic approached, observing the baby girl in Sonny's arms.

'She's gorgeous' Vic said, grabbing Ari's hand in his carefully, 'And she's clearly very fond of you'

Sonny smiled proudly, 'That feeling is very mutual' he reassured his brother with a wink, before grinning at Ari, 'right, Ari?'

Will couldn't help but just grin goofily seeing Sonny interact with Arianna effortlessly, and feel proud when he saw the looks he was getting from his brothers.

'I bet you missed that one' Joey then spoke with a knowing smile, 'But do know I expect on holding her after you're done catching up'

'She sure missed him for one' Will couldn't help but inform them, before putting his hand on Ari's back and putting a small kiss on her head and shooting a loving look at Sonny, 'She definitely missed her papa Sonny' he spoke in a lower tone, aimed directly at Sonny.

'Pa pa' they then heard a sound in between them. For a second, Sonny didn't even register it, slightly mesmerized by the look Will just gave him, when he heard some gasps around him and focussed on his baby girl, who was still squealing enthusiastically.

'Did she just..' he then heard Adrienne say, as his mouth was still unable to make any sound, 'Did she just call him papa?'

'Papa' Arianna again repeated effortlessly, clearly proud of her new ability, 'papapapa'

Sonny felt a lump in his throat, when he saw Will smiling knowingly, 'When?' he finally asked, while keeping Ari close against his chest.

Will smiled broadly, 'Two days ago' he answered, 'I guess she was missing you. I sure was, and I was talking to her about you and showing her pictures and she just..'

'And you didn't tell me?' he let out, 'her first word'

Will bit his lip, 'I wanted to be able to memorize the look you have right on your face right now' he explained, before frowning slightly, 'is that okay?'

Sonny couldn't help but nod with a broad smile, as he mindlessly leaned forward and kissed Will, 'I love you so much' he spoke, before getting back to his surroundings as he saw Will's shocked face.

They quickly pulled apart and looked up guiltily, as Will shot a quick look around the room. He saw both Adrienne and Justin smiling broadly and even received a wink from Joey when his eyes finally set on Charlotte and Alex. He observed that Charlotte silently had taken Alex' hand in hers, softly stroking it with her thumb just as he'd do with Sonny's hand to calm him down.

A few seconds passed in silence, the only sounds coming from Ari who was still gurgling happily when Alex finally was the first to speak up, 'I guess Charlotte and I better go and freshen up a little bit' he announced quietly, but keeping his eyes from his family members, 'We'll see you at dinner'.

And before anyone could really respond, both of them left the room quietly. Will felt Sonny's broad smile fade slightly and wordlessly put his hand on his back.