Fighting for a Family: Part 10
" If you are uncomfortable at any time just tell me ok?" Sonny looked at Will waiting for his response, but he seemed to be lost in his own world.
"We don't have to do this, Will, you know that right?" Sonny said.
"Umm… No Sonny, I want to do this." "I was just thinking that Ari is almost a month old, and she is going to meet her mother for the first time today." Will whispered.
"But this isn't your fault Babe, It's hers." "Gabi brought this on herself, and to make matters worse she is still with Nick." "There is nothing that you could have done to prevent this…" Sonny reassured him.
Will gave him a quick kiss and reached back in the car to pull the baby carrier out. "Come here Sweetheart, let's do this."
Sonny took the diaper bag and the travel swing from the car and grasped Will's hand and twined their fingers together before they headed up the walk toward the front door.
When they got to the door Maggie and Adrienne were already waiting outside.
"Here Will let me help you." Adrienne said whisking the baby right out of the carrier and into the house. Sonny and Will both just grinned and hugged Maggie before following her into the house where Adrienne was already in the sitting room fawning over little Arianna.
"Well… It's about time you two brought that beautiful baby over to see us." Victor said as he entered the room.
"Hey Uncle Vic!" Sonny said getting up and giving him a hug. "Sorry it took us so long, we have just been adjusting to being dads."
"Hello Will!" Victor said holding a hand out for Will to shake. Will stood up beside Sonny grasping Victor's hand. "Hello Sir." He said.
"No need for being so formal here, Will." "You are practically part of the family now… like it or not!"
Victor said.
"Funny you should say that Uncle Vic," Sonny said. "I was going to wait until dad was here too, but I am sure he will forgive me."
He grabbed Wills left hand and held it out for inspection. "I asked Will to marry me, and he has made me very happy by saying yes!"
"Well congratulations! To both of you!" Victor said.
"Henderson!" He called, and momentarily the butler appeared in the door.
"Yes Sir, Mr Kiriakis?" He asked.
"Bring some champagne! We have cause to celebrate!" Victor ordered.
"Oh my goodness!" Maggie exclaimed giving them both a warm hug. "I am so happy and excited for you both!" she said happily.
"Thanks!" They both said.
Henderson came back with the champagne and a sparkling grape juice for Maggie and brought them around to each person.
Victor raised his glass, "To Sonny and Will, and little Arianna, many, many years of happiness to you all." He said.
"Here, here." Everyone said clinking their glasses together and taking sips from the champagne.
Sonny excused himself and went over to Adrienne. "Mom?" He said… "You aren't saying much?"
"I am sorry honey." She said. "Congratulations, I am really happy for you, but I am just adjusting to being a grandmother, and now my baby is getting married." "It's a lot of change, for me, but more importantly for you." "Are you sure honey? Really sure?" she asked searching his eyes.
"Mom…. Most people do it in the opposite order that Will and I did, but yes I am sure, Mom I love Will so much, he and OUR daughter here, are my life." Sonny said.
"Then I am behind you 100%." She said leaning over and kissing his cheek.
Adrienne walked over and handed the baby to Victor. "Here you go, you old softie." She said laughing.
Then she approached Maggie and Will, "Maggie maybe you could go up and see if Gabi is up from her nap. I know she would want to see Arianna Grace, only if that is okay with Will of course." She suggested.
"Yeah," Will said, "Actually that is one of the reasons we are here."
"Well you come at a great time, Gabi should be just waking up after her therapy session, and thank goodness Nick is at work." Adrienne said ignoring the incredulous look that Maggie was giving her.
"Great!" Will said.
Maggie clamped her mouth shut, and nodded her head, heading in the direction of the stairs.
"Will, I am really happy for you and Sonny." Adrienne said.
"Thanks!" Will replied. "That means a lot coming from you."
"I know we have had our differences, but I do have eyes and I can see how happy you make my son." "It is obvious to anyone who spends anytime with you at all, how much you truly love each other, and you both have my full support." She finished, giving him a warm hug.
A few minutes later Gabi appeared in the door, "Hey Will, Hey Sonny." She said softly.
Then her eyes searched the room and settled on Victor who was across the room and totally engrossed in conversation with a small bundle swaddled in a pink blanket.
"Oh my God, Will…. Is that….. my baby?" she asked with tears forming in her eyes.
Sonny went over and took the baby from Victor, who was none too pleased with him.
He walked toward Will and Gabi, and looked to Will for permission, seeing the slight nod of his head, he laid Arianna in Gabi's arms for the first time.
Gabi had tears falling freely from her eyes as she went and took a seat on the couch, mumbling to the baby in Spanish.
She looked at Will, "she has your eyes, and your nose…" she said.
"And your temper!" Will laughed. "She has quite the little set of lungs when she doesn't get her way." He said.
"And how often is that?" Victor asked?
"Not very often." Sonny admitted, "we have finally settled into a system and we have bottle making and diaper changing down to a science. "
"Yeah Nascar bottle making!" Will said, "interesting stuff!"
"Speaking of bottle making, it should be about time for her to eat." Sonny added.
"I am going to go and heat her bottle." He said as he grabbed the small bag and headed to the kitchen.
Maggie and Adrienne managed to quietly herd Victor from the room, leaving Will alone with Gabi and Arianna.
"Thank you for doing this Will, She is beautiful!" Gabi said emotionally.
"I think you should know that this was Sonny's idea." He whispered to her."And I wanted you to at least see her."
"It was awful Will, they would not let me see her even once at the hospital, they wouldn't even tell me anything, not how much she weighed, or how long she was, not even what time she was born." Gabi said.
"I am sorry, Gabi, I never wanted it to be like this, but Nick was trying to completely cut me out of her life, and I didn't know how to not fight for my daughter." "Please Gabi, finish your counseling and think about your life." "It is a mistake to marry him Gabi, he is not stable." "Please think about it before it is too late." "Despite everything Gabi, you were an important part of my life, you were my best friend, and you are the mother to this beautiful little girl, I will always care about you." Will finished.
"I care about you too Will." She said softly as Sonny came back into the room carrying the warmed bottle.
As if on cue, Arianna began to whimper, and wiggle. "Wow, you guys do have this down to a science." She laughed.
"Do you want to feed her?" Sonny asked extending the bottle to her.
"Thank you" Gabi said taking the bottle and offering it to Arianna.
As Gabi fed Ari, she Will, and Sonny chatted about the challenges of adapting to their new life, and shared with her that they were just now comfortable to let Arianna sleep in the nursery instead of the crib in their bedroom. And how Will had two sets of baby monitors because he was paranoid one set wasn't going to work.
"Well… it sounds like you have settled into a new normal." Gabi said.
"Yeah, its different, but it is a good different, Ya know?" he said bringing Wills hand to his mouth and kissing it just above the ring he had placed there, two weeks ago now.
"Oh Gabi," Will said, you were talking about when she was born, She was 6lbs and 4 ozs, And she was 19 and a half inches long, and she was born at 6:37pm.
"Oh.. she has done some growing then!" Gabi said sadly looking down at her.
Gabi played with her and sang to her until Ari was sleeping soundly in her arms. Gabi just held her and gazed at her, as if trying to memorize every feature.
"Well Sonny," Will said looking at his watch, "We should get going, you have to be at the coffee shop her really soon, and we are in one car."
"Yeah you're right Babe," Sonny said getting up and sitting the baby carrier on the couch so that Gabi could put Ari in and buckle her up.
"Will picked up the carrier. "By Gabi, think about what I said okay?" He said looking into her eyes.
"I will, and thank you both so much." She said sincerely.
Sonny grabbed the diaper bag and the swing again and they called their goodbye's to everyone. They were in the foyer and Will was reaching for the door when it jerked open, and Nick came in looking highly aggravated.
"What the hell are you two doing here?" He sneered.
Gabi walked into the foyer, "They came to let me see the baby!" She said giving him a look that screamed shut the hell up. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the way so Will and Sonny could make their exit.
They made it to the car and Will put Arianna into the back seat, clicking the seat into place.
"Well that was perfect timing." He groaned.
"You can say that again." Sonny said leaning through the car kissing Will full on the lips. "Love you Babe!" he said.
"Mmmm" Will moaned, "Love you too!"
Later that afternoon, Will napped on the couch while Ari napped in her swing. He was awoke by a soft knock on the door.
Will got up and hurried over to the door, pulling it open he was surprised to see Lucas.
"Hey Will, How is that granddaughter of mine?" He said walking past Will and looking at Arianna in the swing.
"Ari is good." "What are you doing here dad?" Will asked
"I wanted to spend some time with my granddaughter, and check on you." I heard from your mom that Sonny is finally back full time at the coffee house." Lucas said.
Will motioned for him to have a seat and went to grab them some water from the refrigerator. "Things are good, Sonny eventually did have to take his shifts back at the coffee house, but we have settled into a good routine, and I am doing all the class work I can on the computer, and just going to class when it is absolutely necessary."
Will come back to the couch and held out a bottle of water to his dad, Lucas reached out to take the bottle, but grabbed Wills wrist instead.
"Will, is that what I think it is?" he asked, looking at the ring adorning his son's finger. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Oh," Will said, "Well I was going to but I wanted to wait till everyone is here at one time."
"When did this happen?" Lucas asked.
"Two weeks ago," Will said sheepishly.
"Come on man, we have been in and out of here a few times, in the last two weeks." Lucas said "I can't believe you kept it from us this long?"
"Well it wouldn't have been for much longer anyway, Sonny told his family today." Will said.
"So….. tell me all about it." Lucas said.
Will launched into the story about the day that Sonny proposed and how happy they have been.
"That's really great son!" "I am really happy for you." He said. "How did you guys celebrate?"
"Well… we didn't really celebrate, we just haven't had time yet." Will said.
"You should do that now!" Lucas said. "Go on, take your fiancé out to dinner or for a drink… or something."
"No Dad, I couldn't ask you to babysit." "Ari is my responsibility." Will insisted.
"What else am I gonna do?" And she is my granddaughter.. and you didn't ask, I offered." "Go on… get out of here… " He said pushing Will toward the door.
"Are you sure?" Will asked one more time.
Lucas just pointed to the door in response.
Will grabbed his wallet and keys. "Thanks dad, We won't be late. I have my phone if you need me." He said closing the door behind him.
Will walked into Common Grounds, his eyes automatically searching for Sonny, he did not see him anywhere, he went over to the counter and ordered a coffee. When Lauren handed him the cup across the counter he asked, "Where's Sonny?"
"He had to run out and get some none fat creamer from the store." "Apparently Chad forgot to put the order in, and Sonny is pretty grumpy about it, just to let you know." Lauren supplied.
"Umm yeah I bet he is." Will said, "I'm going to just wait for him over there." Indicating the table in the corner.
Will settled in over at the table and sipped his coffee.
About 30 minutes later very frustrated looking Sonny came through the door, he went behind the counter and put the creamers in the refrigerator.
He turned to Lauren, "I'm sorry, I had to go to three different stores to find what I needed." "Geez, I could really just strangle the life out of Chad!" he fumed.
"Bet I can make you feel better!" Lauren grinned.
"I doubt that…but go ahead, give it your best shot!" Sonny chided.
She grabbed his by the shoulders and turned him to where Will was directly in his line of vision.
The stress melted from his face. "Oh My God, Will!" Sonny called, hurrying over to him, "Babe, what are you doing here?" "Where's Ari?"
Will grinned at him, "Ari is home with my dad." "He stopped by, and when he saw my ring, he suggested that we may want to go out to dinner, or drinks to celebrate." He finished quickly.
"Dang it!" "The other barista called out and I can't leave Lauren here by herself." Sonny Whined.
"It's okay Babe… " Will said, "We can do it another night."
"Will you at least have dinner here with me?" Sonny asked.
Will nodded. "Of course."
Sonny went off and made them a couple sandwiches and grabbed some chips from behind the counter. He brought them over and brought some bottled water over before taking the seat across from Will.
"Sorry, but this is the best I could do." Sonny said.
"This is great," Will said.
They sat there talking and laughing over their sandwiches. Just taking time and listening to one another.
Sonny realized that he has been sitting there for almost two hours. He looked around and saw that while he hadn't been paying attention it had gotten a little busy. He got up and kissed Will quickly. "I'll be back babe."
For the next hour Will watched Sonny, the easy smile he had for all the customers, and the fluid way his body moved as he glided around filling orders and wiping tables. Will loved the natural grace that Sonny moved with.
Those thoughts led Will's thoughts to the graceful movements above him as they make love. The last time they had, wait Will thought, that can't be right…. Can it? Was it really nearly two weeks ago? Umm yeah I remember now, it was the morning after Arianna had been awake almost all night long. When she had finally fallen asleep, with the Sun streaming through the windows, they had decided they needed a shower to wake them up enough to get through the next few hours. Could that even be counted as making love? It was really more of a quick romp in the shower. And while it had been earth shattering, it was also 15 minutes tops. Will was completely lost in his own thoughts. He had not seen or heard Sonny approaching him.
"What are you thinking about over here?" Sonny whispered in his ear. "Your cheeks are a quite attractive shade of pink!"
Will looked up to see Sonny standing beside him, bar mop and tray in hand, waiting expectantly for an answer.
"Nothing!" Will stampered.
"Nah-uh!" "It was something!" …"Tell me!" Sonny answered. "Please?" he threw in as an after thought, knowing full well that Will could never say no when he said please.
"UGGGHHH" Will said "You don't play fair!"
"Spill it!" Sonny grinned.
"Fine!" "I was just thinking about the last time….." Will said softly.
"The last time what Will?" Sonny asked.
"You know, the last time we ah…..You know in the shower." Will said quietly looking around to make sure there was no one close enough to over hear their conversation.
Will could tell the very second that Sonny got the drift of what he was talking about, even before he was finished with his sentence.
"Oh hmmm, that would have been 11 days ago, in the shower….. yeah the shower!" he said looking Will right in the eye.
"WOW!" Will said, "Well hopefully in the future we will get more skilled at incorporating private time into our lives whenever possible."
Sonny thought for a second and then took a quick look around the coffee shop, suddenly he noticed that it was empty except for Lauren, and Ben who Lauren had been dating for the last month or so. Sonny glanced at his watch, hmm 9:30. He made a split second decision.
He walked over to the door and flipped the lock, and turned the sign to read closed.
"Lauren, I know you worked a lot of extra time while I was out when Ari was born, why don't you get out of here and go do something fun." Sonny said. He grabbed her sweater off of the rack and then went behind the counter and got her purse, he shoved them into her hands, and then ushered her and Ben towards the door.
"Sonny, we don't close for an hour and a half, and I have to clean up still." Lauren protested.
"No worries Lauren!" "We are closing early tonight, and I will clean up for you this time." Sonny said. "See you tomorrow!" He unlocked the door and waited for them to exit.
"Okay then Goodnight!" "Bye Will!" She called over her shoulder, Still looking confused, but Ben was chuckling as he pulled her along behind him.
"Will stood by the table he had been sitting at. He watched Sonny shut the door and turn the lock again, then he closed the blinds.
"Did you decide that we can go out and celebrate after all?" He asked hopefully.
"Well…. Not exactly.." Sonny said. "We can certainly go out if you want, and it is completely up to you, but I was kind of thinking that we are sort of wasting a prime opportunity for some of that private time you were just talking about."
"Here?" Will asked catching on to Sonny's idea.
"Why not?" Sonny said, crossing the room and pulling Wills body flush against his.
"That is of course unless you really do want to go out!" Sonny said nibbling on Wills lips between each word.
"No here's good! Will whispered… "Here is definitely good!"
TO BE CONTINUED!