Coupled Isolation
Rating: T
Pairing: Will Horton/Chad DiMera

Chapter S I X

"Oh, my god." Will and Chad both stirred at the sudden loud voice in the hospital room. Chad removed his arm from Will and slid to the floor at the sight of Gabi. He looked to Will and sighed, "I will be outside if you need me." He slid past Gabi and left the room, half expecting her to attack him on the way, but she kept her composure.

"What in the hell was that," she asked, closing the door and standing with her arms crossed at the foot of the bed. "Gabi, there is something that I have to tell you. I'm gay." She laughed, but tears began to well in her eyes. "That is ridiculous. You and I..." Will adjusted the bed so that he could see her better, causing him to sit up and the sounds of the bed's mechanics to fill the room for a few long seconds. "I am in love with Chad. I can't believe I didn't realize before now. I do care about you Gabi, but I don't have romantic feelings for you. I was lying to myself, trying to ignore my real feelings by forcing myself into a relationship with someone so amazing that I was almost able to believe it myself."

Gabi walked over to the chair next to the bed and took a seat. She was quiet, but the tears falling from her eyes were evidence that something more emotional was happening inside. "I wondered about you when we first met. But then you seemed so caring like no one else mattered to you. But then you started becoming close to Chad and I felt you slipping away. You would talk about him and your eyes would almost glow. That night that I snuck into your room and slept in your bed you said his name."

"I didn't know. I just realized before he and I escaped. I think I really love him, but I am scared of what this means for everyone else." "Then ignore it. You will start to love me in time. We can start a family and be happy together. We can move anywhere in the world. I don't think I can live without you," she said, as sobs began to escape her composed demeanor.

"I hate doing this to you. I wish I would have realized before we got together, but I didn't." Will looked away from her and focused on the painting of a boat sailing towards a sunset. No matter how many times he tried he couldn't imagine anyone on the boat with him except for Chad. An uncomfortable pain began to develop in his chest and he knew that it must have been how it felt to have your heart break.

"Gabi, you will get over this. You deserve a guy that loves you and no one else. I understand if it hurts too much for us to be friends, but I would like us to be." She reached for a Kleenex on the table and her eyes focused on a machine displaying Will's heart rate. It was slowly dropping.

"Will, do you feel alright?" He nods, though some of his color seems to be missing from when she first entered the room. She quickly reaches over him and presses the call button. A nurse comes onto the line immediately, "This is Alice. What can I do for you?" Will was confused. He watched Gabi until his eyes fell into the back of his head. "This machine says that Will's pulse is 32. His blood pressure is dropping and he just lost consciousness. We need a doctor!"

"Help is on the way," the nurse said, as alarms began to sound. Gabi stands motionless for what seems to be forever until a nurse enters the room, followed by Lexi and another nurse with a cart of medical instruments. "Gabi, I need to know what was happening." "He broke up with me. He started losing color and his heart rate was lowering," she said, talking over the alarms as much as possible.

Lexi hit a button on machine to stop the alarm and she began CPR. "What happened to him? He was fine!" "His heart may have stopped from all of the stress, or an infection could have entered his bloodstream. Charge the paddles and get someone from surgery down here. We are not losing you, Will, do you hear me?" Gabi began go cry as the paddles flooded electricity into Will's body, so she ran out of the room.

"Gabi, what is going on?" She stopped and smacked Chad as hard as she could, but he remained standing. "He's dead. It's your fault he's dead, you bastard." She started to hit him again, but sight of Sami and Kate breaking down behind him caused her to stop. She walked out without saying a word.

Chad ran to the room with Kate, Sami and Stefano quickly behind. "What is going on," he demanded, entering the room. "Chad, you can't be in here," Lexi said, as she injected him with atropine to get his heart started. "Lexi, you can't let him die. Not now!"

"We are doing everything we can. Please, all of you wait outside." A man in scrubs quickly brushed passed them; knocking Chad into the wall in the process, but Chad didn't register any pain. There was only one person he was worried about. The man immediately began an exam as the final pulse caused Will's heart to continue beating.

He was being given oxygen through a bag, probably as a precaution, Chad noted. He didn't care what it took as long as the guy he loved was going to be okay. "We reexamined the x-ray," Lexi says to the surgeon, leading him to a light box on the wall with a series of chest scans. A tiny white dot is present just to the right of Will's heart. "There is a fragment just to the right of the heart."

"Good catch," the surgeon said. "We can easily remove that. Where is the guardian?" "I'm right here," Sami said, entering the room. The surgeon produced a piece of paper from a printer within in the room and then handed it to her with a pen. "We are going to have to operate to remove a stray bullet fragment close to your son's heart. The procedure is risky but it has been performed tons of times by me and my team. There is always a possibility something could go wrong, but I feel good about the chances."

"Do whatever you have to do to save him," Sami says, quickly signing the document. "You two help me get him to the fifth floor," the surgeon said. The nurses quickly wheel him away and towards the elevator, past everyone that cares about him, including Lucas Horton that exits the elevator as he prepares to go in.

"What is going on," he says, turning to Sami, "you said he was stable." Sami wipes the tears from her eyes with a napkin from her purse. "He was. A bullet fragment near his heart was missed. They think it will be easy to remove it."

"I'm sorry," Lucas says, immediately knowing that he was wrong to freak out. "I'm sure he'll be okay. Right, Lexi?" Lexi approaches them and puts an arm around Sami. "The fragment is small enough that it will be easy to extract in one piece without the fear of it breaking up. But there is a chance that it could be pushed deeper into the heart muscle which could damage it further. Doctor Wallace and his staff are the best emergency surgery team in the state. They will do everything they can for him."

Chad walks over and sits next to Gabi in the chairs. "Are you alright," he asks, trying to be generous but unsure of the response he is going to get. "I freaked when I saw that his pulse was dropping." Lexi smiles, "You probably saved his life. You called for help as soon as the danger presented itself. If we had arrived later I'm not certain we would have been able to resuscitate his heart."

"I don't want anything bad to happen to him. Even though he isn't my boyfriend anymore." Lucas seems surprised by that revelation. "What are you talking about? I talked to him three days ago and he said you two were thinking about planning a vacation together. She looks to Chad and then back to Lucas. "Things change but people don't." She gets to her feet and heads to the elevator, leaving as soon as it arrives.

"That was weird. I thought they were happy together." Kate starts to say something but Sami quickly covers, "I'm sure Will would want to talk about it when he's feeling better. He might need his father's advice or support." Lucas laughs, "I doubt I'm the one to be giving him advice about women."

"You all are free to head home, if you would like. I will be happy to call you." Stefano looks to Kate and sighs. "We are going to go to the police station and make sure the animals responsible for this are being punished adequately. Please contact us as soon as there is news," Stefano says to Sami. She nods and joins Chad.

"Why don't you go home and get some rest, Chad? You have been through a lot these last couple of days. I will call you as soon as I get some news." Chad shakes his head, "I can't leave him." Lucas, sensing something strange, turns to Lexi, "Isn't there some type of empty room he could rest in until it is needed?" Lexi nods and leads Chad down the hallway.

"That was strange," Lucas says, sitting next to Sami. She plays dumb. "What do you mean?" Lucas sighs, trying to put his finger on it, but not quite finding it. "I don't know. I guess I just find it weird that Chad is so worried about Will. First they had the stuff with Mia and I guess they never really got over it."

"The two have become friends. I'm surprised Will hasn't said anything." Sami lowers her eyes to the floor, quickly realizing that Will didn't mention it because he was probably sorting out his feelings and didn't want to tip off his father. Lucas looks to her, "You know something."

"What? I don't know what you mean." Lucas rolls his eyes. "You forget our history. I have a pretty good feeling for when you are hiding something from me and not telling the truth." Sami finally relents, saying only," Fine. I do know something, but it isn't my place to say anything. Besides, Will and Chad spent a lot of time together in captivity and Will took a bullet for Chad. Maybe he just feels responsible and wants to be sure our son is okay."

"Oh, my god. Are you telling me something is going on between them?" Sami tries to laugh off the suggestion, but she knows that even as she does it he gains more suspicious. "That is a crazy connection to make, even for you. What gave you that idea?" "The fact that Gabi is furious with Chad, he is so worried about Will, and the rest of you seem like something horrible has happened."

"Something horrible did happen! My god, you can be so dense sometimes." Lucas laughs, "I won't argue with you there. Fine, I'll wait to talk to Will." "Good," Sami says, "you should probably stay away from your mother until you get the chance to do that." Lucas sighs, "Now I know something is going on between them. I saw you cut her off when I arrived. She looked like she wanted to tell me something."

"I always like to talk over your mother. Otherwise she would think that her opinion is important to me," Sami says. Lucas laughs and turns to Sami, "What do you say we head to the fifth floor? I hear they have better coffee up there." "You have yourself a deal," Sami says, checking her cell phone to see if Rafe has returned any of her messages about Will. To her sadness he has not responded to any of them.

"Chad, the three of us need to have a family discussion about this. I know that you think you might be gay or in love with Will. You are just confused." Will sat in the hospital lobby. Will was about to be released and Sami wanted Chad to know that he was welcome to accompany them to their house so that Will could get settled in.

He didn't anticipate his stepmother finding out about the invitation and ambushing him. Chad looked her directly in the eye. "I am in love with Will. I am bisexual and I don't appreciate you ambushing me like this." He gets up and walks away, but she follows.

"I don't think that you really know what you want. If your mother knew about this do you think she would have wanted this for you?" Chad stops and turns back to her with fury in his eyes. "I wouldn't know. She's dead, remember?" Kate sighs, realizing that she was wrong to ask that. She holds her hands up. "I'm sorry Chad. I just want to discuss this."

"No," Chad says, attracting the attention of Lexi and Sami as they wheel Will towards the door. "You just want to change me because you think my love for Will isn't the same as your screwed up love for my father. You want to change me because you think that Will and I need validation and approval from you, but you're wrong."

"Chad, let's just go," Will says. Chad takes a deep breath and walks outside of the hospital with Sami and Will. Lexi approaches Kate, who seems to be lost in her own thoughts. She shakes her head after a minute, suddenly acknowledging Lexi's presence. "Don't tell me you agree with this."

"Come on, Kate. Chad is the closest thing that he has to a mother now and your acting like this will destroy the respect that he has for you. I know that Will is your Grandson and Chad is your stepson and that you care for each of them. What is so wring with them loving each other?"

Lexi leads Kate to the chairs and they both take a seat. "Lexi, I don't know if this is something that I can accept. I wanted so much more than this for Will. Ever since we discovered Chad was Stefano's child I pledged to take care of him, but I can't accept this lifestyle."

"That is where your wrong, Kate. This isn't a lifestyle. This is love." Kate looks away showing Lexi that there is something extremely wrong with her attitude. "Listen, I have an idea. What about counseling for your entire family?"

"Counseling so that I can change my mind?" Lexi nods, "Maybe. Or maybe it will help Chad figure out that he isn't bisexual and that he is making a mistake. Either way we know that Will is gay. It seems to me you would want these two guys to be happy."

"I do, but this will not be happiness for them. It will be a life of strife and pain. No one will accept their relationship and they will always have to be on the offensive." Lexi thinks for a moment and then she puts her hand on Kate's. "What they need right now is all of their friends and family to tell them that what they are feeling is okay, and that whatever they think or feel they will not lose the people that love and care for them. Think about that."

Lexi gets up and walks away, giving Kate time to think about her opinions and actions. After a few minutes she gets up and leaves the hospital and heads for her car. Once inside she heads home with an idea that could save her family and her position in the town. "I know that I am right," she says to herself, not bothering to pay attention to the red light that she ran. A large ice truck smacks directly into her car as ice goes everywhere. A woman on the street looks at the scene and turns to her husband, "That is just cold." The two of them laugh.

-
I don't dislike Kate...but I have found myself slowly hating her over time.
Sami would say that she deserves to get hit by an ice truck.

Please post reviews and leave comments. I read every one!