The next week was rough, to say the least. Both Will and Sonny had been called upon to testify at Wills moms trial – along with various others.
Will was particularly scrutinized being Sami's son. Things long ago buried from their past dug up again by the Prosecution in an attempt to put Sami away for a very long time. Will held his own though, but it was hard.
Sonny too found it hard. He was put under a lot of pressure on the stand when his turn came around. He was grilled harshly about his relationship to the Bradys. He told it like it was, no two ways about it. It was clear that Sami's defense attorney Justin - Sonnys father, was extremely proud of the way his son handled himself on that stand. A lot of what Sonny had to say he begun to unnerve the Prosecutor, Ms Trask. Cleary unravelling she cut her questions short with him and advised she had nothing further to ask.
It was a closed court room so neither Sonny nor Will could be present while the other gave their testimony. They supported one another from outside the court room in the foyer. They garnered the odd eye roll or clearings of the throats by the Court Room Bailiffs whenever they showed each other any sort of public affection. They could care less.
As the week progressed various other family members and friends were called in for questioning. Things didn't seem to be going in Samis favor at all. That is until almost the very last minute. In a surprising turn of events, the Defense team for Sami had managed to pull someone out of the wood work who could implicate the officer Sami had shot in several scenarios that proved him to be a dirty cop.
A remorseful man who had been on the take with Detective Bernardi for several years – his right hand man he explained - since the shooting had been through a series of personal tragedies of his own and had 'Found God'. He could no longer stand by and watch an innocent woman be sent to prison for something she didn't do. She shot the man, yes. But only to protect Rafe.. Ms Trask was NOT happy. She hammered the man severely attempting to prove the man as a fraud hired by the defense in an effort to free Sami. When confronted with these accusations Justin objected stating they had forensic evidence to prove his story. Dated emails, Text Messages, Photos of the two men together and access to Off-Shore accounts in both his and Bernardis names – all with affluent balances. They also had the missing blade with Bernardis DNA profile embedded on it.
The man in question had been a lookout for Detective Bernardi the night he was sent to harm Rafe. Disguised as Hospital Security the man had managed to gain access to the hospital room almost immediately through all the chaos without suspicion. He explained on the stand when being questioned by Justin that he had obtained to blade Sami had claimed she had seen Bernardi brandishing over Rafe and left with it. When asked why he didn't simply dispose of it he simply replied that he panicked and had hidden it away.
The court was called into a recess and upon returning Ms Trask was asked that in light of the new evidence, did the Prosecution want to proceed with the case against Samantha Brady. Ms Trask, frustrated, infuriated and humiliated conceded that she did not. The case was over and Sami was a free woman. At last. Vindicated and able to go home to her family. The remorseful man was ready to pay for his crimes and would later be held accountable for his actions in the past.
The week had now drawn to a close and after gushing to Justin about his excellent work and thanking him beyond the point of reason Sami and EJ left the Court House. Standing outside and breathing the fresh air in deeply whilst leaning underneath EJ's arm that was strongly wrapped around her shoulders she decided her first point of call was to go home to the Di Mera mansion to her three young children with EJ. The mood in the home was immeasurable. Sami had advised EJ not to mention to Will or Sonny that she was home and free as she had wanted to surprise them with a visit later that afternoon. Her eagerness to surprise th boys was cut short though when just before 5pm the mansion doors flew open and Will came running into the living room scouting out Sami through all the people in the room and throwing his arms around her. Sonny stood back a little to allow them to have their moment.
"Mom!" Will yelled "I'm so happy you're home! I love you, I'm just so happy" Will choked out between gasps of air crying onto her shoulder. Sonny welled up just a little and smiled at them admiringly.
"WILL! How did you ….? Oh god baby, I'm so happy to be home too! So happy! I missed you .. so much!" Sami said as she too began to cry. Their hug got stronger.
"My Dad called us" Sonny said from across the room. Sami looked up over to Sonny and without letting go of Will she ushered him over with her hand and he made his way across to them both.
"Get over here, Sonny! You're Dad, Oh my god Sonny, he was amazing. If it weren't for him .." Sami threw one of her arms around Sonny pulling him into the already established hug and embraced him and Will tightly both together. "Thank God for your Dad, Sonny .. and I missed you too". Sonny beamed, proud of his father, happy for Sami and really happy for Will.
"Aww I missed you too, Sami" He said kindly. After a wee while the three of them let go of each other and stood there. Sonny put his arm around Wills waist and grinned at him.
"Where's Arianna? Did you bring her? How is she? I'd love to see her!" Sami asked looking toward the living room entrance.
"Oh, she's back at home with Gabi. She was sleeping and we didn't want to wake her . She's not been sleeping too well this past week so we thought we'd take her napping while we could get it. You're not upset we didn't bring her?" Will responded hoping that Sami wouldn't be disheartened.
"Of course, of course. Totally right. I've got all the time in the world to see her. All the time in the world" Sami said to the boys with a huge grin on her face.
That evening there was a huge dinner at the Di Mera mansion. Will and Sonny. Sami and EJ. The young children. Lucas, Marlena, John, Abe Carver and his young son, Theo. Hope and Bo along with Ciara. Justin – minus Adrienne. Kate managed to make an appearance too, but with hesitation. Truth be told she was there for Will more than she was for Sami but as much as she hated to admit it – and she never would out loud – she was grateful to Sami for what she did and had to go through to save Rafes life. She left after dinner after saying her goodbyes. As the night came to a close hugs were exchanged between everyone and the guests starting filing out of the mansion.
"Well, Mom. We had better get going I guess. I'm…I'm just so happy for you! Happy for the kids. Gosh, happy for me too!" Will said as he was hugging his mother goodbye.
"Thank you honey. Believe me I know what you mean! I'll come by tomorrow if that's OK and see that beautiful little girl of yours... if that's OK?" Sami said as she released Will from her arms.
"Yeah sure of course! I can't wait! Any time is fine coz' I'm home all day tomorrow with her. Gabis got school and Sonny will be at the Club most of the day." Will made a move to the front door.
"Yay, great! Hey Will, why don't you go and pull the car up to the front while I talk to Sonny for a second" Sami asked as she motioned him towards to door.
"Ahh .. OK yeah, sure" Will said cocking his eyebrow up and his Mom. "See you in a bit babe" He said to Sonny as he walked out the door. Sami smiling as she watched him walking away and out of sight. Sonny stepped slowly towards her, smiling but curious.
"So, what's up?" Sonny asked as he hunched his shoulders and slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Well, two .. no three things" she said smiling. "Firstly .. I really did miss you too, Sonny. You're part of my family now. I just want you to know that" Sonny blushed.
"Thank you for saying that. It means a lot coming from you. Being Wills Mom and all. So, secondly and thirdly?" He asked and Sami smiled brightly.
"Secondly, thank you for being there for Will, ya' know, through all of this. I know he's strong and lord only knows what he's been put through in the past and had to put up with from my actions when he was growing up. I guess I'm just trying to say I know he's strong – but having you through all of this .. I can guarantee you helped him through it in a big way" Her eyes widened when she said the word 'big'. Sonny looked a little embarrassed. In a good way.
"Thirdly. I know Will probably mentioned to you that he told me what's been going on with Gabi and Nick over the last few weeks. I guess I just want to know how that's going. Is she still being strange? Has Nick been sniffing around still? I can't believe what they did in your living room!" Sami started to feel a little agitated and Sonny noticed. He put a reassuring hand on her arm.
"Hey, look. Yeah. I know he told you. Nicks been away on business for the past week or so which means we haven't seen him. Gabi has been quiet this week but she hasn't been behaving particularly odd or nasty this week either. I mean this week has been pretty much about you and your case for Will so we've been kind of distracted but I have been watching and haven't seen anything out of the ordinary" Sonny cleared his throat apprehensively and shuffled in his shoes.
"What? What is it? Sonny?" Sami questioned narrowing her eyes.
"Well…" He cleared his throat again. "OK .. this is gonna' sound really stupid…." Sami nodded at him expectantly.
"Uh huh .. go on .." She instructed. Sonny continued.
"Well, last week Will and I were napping on the couch. When we woke up I decided that I was going to fix dinner for all of us and Gabi told us she had planned on going to see Rafe that night with Ari …" Sami nodded again as in to say 'yeah … tell me more'. Sonny went on.
"So after she left, I dunno…Will and I just had this really odd feeling that she was lying and maybe going to take Ari to see Nick and spend that night there. So I...I followed her in my car" Sonny looked down sheepishly and raised his eyebrow to look at Sami.
"You followed her? Go you, Sonny!" She chucked. "and what happened?"
"Honestly, nothing. I followed her all the way to Rafes. Will picked Ari up the next morning from Rafes too and it was clear that they both spent the whole night there. We felt kind of silly after that" Sonny was glad this conversation was almost over.
"Don't feel silly. You were trying to be protective and I appreciate it." Sami replied encouragingly. "I bet Will was appreciative too right?"
"Oh, yeah. He was grateful" Sonny replied as his cheeks reddened at the thought of what followed for the rest of that night. Sami lifted her expression.
"OHHKAAAAYYYY….enough said!" She said cheekily not totally oblivious to what Sonny was hinting at. "Well, thank you Sonny. Keep me posted though OK. Now that I'm home you can count on me if Gabi starts acting up again." She smiled and reached out to hug Sonny. He reciprocated her hug, kissed her on the cheek and left through the large wooden front door a little worried about what she meant by 'you can count on me'.
Will was sitting in the car playing Doodle Jump on his phone while he waited for Sonny. Sonny jumped into the car and leant over a planting a kiss on Wills cheek bumping him in the process. Wills phone made a strange sound and Will frowned.
"Aww.. you made me miss the step. Doodle is dead." He surrendered and smiled at Sonny. "What was that about?"
"Oh nothing, you know – your Mom just wanted to say thanks for everything and all that. Briefly asked about how Gabi has been etc." Sonny replied as he strapped on his seat belt. Will raised his eyebrows and sighed then smiled.
"OK .. let's get home" Will looked at Sonny out of the corner of his eye. "I feel like eating me some … some Sonny" He said as he laughed out loud. Sonny snorted.
"You're too much, Horton. Too much!" He gripped Wills hand and squeezed it and they made their way home.
