They had been sitting there maybe an hour, waiting for Bennett to make an appearance, but so far there had been no sign of him. Sonny was starting to wonder if he was home, even though his car was there. There was always the possibility that he could have caught a ride with someone… or that he had walked somewhere.

The front door of the apartment building opened and he came out, pulling a baseball cap on. He walked briskly to his car and got in. He sped out of the parking lot, barely even looking before he pulled into the traffic.

"Here we go." Sonny said, cranking the car and following him out of the parking lot, but making sure to stay several car lengths behind him. He didn't want to follow too closely, though they were driving an unmarked car. He didn't want Bennett to get suspicious. They followed him across town until he was over on the west side pretty near where Will and Sonny both lived. He pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall that contained maybe 20 or so small stores. Will and Sonny pulled into a parking garage across the street. They sat watching to see what he was going to do until he climbed from the car, and disappeared into one of the stores. They decided to get a closer look.

He went into the health food store and came out with a small white bag.. and then continued into the camera store that was right beside it. Bennett was in that store for maybe 20 minutes before he came out and went directly to his car. He pulled up by the door and loaded several bags into the trunk before he moved it back to another parking space. Will and Sonny watched him carefully from the ice cream shop that they had ducked into.

They sat at the table in front of the window and shared a dish of Vanilla ice cream. Sonny toyed with Will's fingers absently on top of the table. Will smiled at him across the table. "You probably shouldn't be doing that in public." Will teased. Sonny just gripped his fingers tighter. "Anyone who has a problem with it can just turn their heads." Sonny said confidently. "But the Captain said…" Will began. "Yeah, yeah I know.." Sonny said sharply, before dropping Will's fingers. It was at that moment, that Bennett came out of the Camera store. Once he emerged from the car the second time, he walked a couple of doors down to a small sandwich shop and disappeared inside. Sonny got up.. "Come on, this is our chance… he is going to get something to eat" he said. "Let's go see what he bought."

"Sonny…" Will said, grabbing his hand and pulling him around. "I'm sorry." He said as he looked into Sonny's eyes.

"No Worries…" Sonny said, "You are right anyway. It just pisses me off that I have to hide how I feel about you because of that bitch." He looked out the window again. "Come on we have to hurry."

They threw away the remaining ice cream and hurried out of the ice cream shop and into the camera shop. When they go to the counter in the camera store, there was petite blonde waiting for them. "Can I help you find something?" she asked. "Did you just help a customer in the last few minutes, about 5'11 medium build, with sandy blonde hair. He is approximately 35-40 years old?" Sonny asked her.

"I'm sorry?" She asked him, looking confused.

"Did you help the customer that I just described?" Sonny asked again.

She looked at him carefully. "I'm sorry, sir, it is our policy not to discuss the purchases of other customers." She said carefully.

Sonny reached into his back pocket and pulled out his shield, he laid it on the counter. "I'm afraid I am going to have to insist that you talk to me." He said.

"Oh." She said. "What do you want to know?"

"I need to know what he purchased." Sonny said.

"Just a moment…" She said, pushing a few buttons on the register. She printed a receipt and pulled it off of the register, sliding it across the counter to him.

Sonny looked at the receipt and began to read it. Ilford Illfosol-S Developer (Liquid), Ilford Rapid Fixer (Liquid), Rexton hyper wetting agent, photo paper, Ilford Hypam, rapid fixer. Nikon 67 MM Macro filter set. He handed the receipt over to Will. "What would those things be used for?" he questioned her.

"Well most of what he purchased would be used to for photo developing." She said. "And that last thing on the list, it is a close up lens for a Nikon Camera."

"Damn it!" Sonny said. "Let's go." He said. "We can't lose him." They hurried out of the store and Will looked in the direction of his car… But the parking space was now occupied by another vehicle.

"I think we already lost him." Will said. "He must have taken his food to go."

They hurried across the street to their car and got in. Will drove around the parking lot a couple of times, but did not see any sign of him. They drove around the next few parking lots before they started back to the east side of town. They drove around on the east side of town a little while before they eventually gave up and parked back in front of his apartment complex.

"Should we issue A BOLO for him?" Will asked. "Probably couldn't hurt anything for sure."

"Let's check in with Agent Threadill." Sonny said, pulling out his phone. He dialed the number and waited for the other man to answer. When he didn't get an answer he left a message detailing their situation and asked for a return call. After doing that he turned to Will, making sure that he could see the front door of the complex. "So tell me about yourself?" he said.

Will chuckled. "Aren't we doing this a little backwards?" he asked.

Sonny shrugged. "Well we are here, we can't go anywhere, and we can't spend the time groping each other like teenagers again. Captain would never trust us again. So we may as well learn some more about each other."

"What do you want to know?" Will asked. "Ask me anything?"

"Why did you want to work for Chicago PD, when it seems like you could have had a job back home?" Sonny asked.

"That's easy…. Because I wanted to do more than rescue stray cats, and find lost dolls… and because I needed to get out on my own. My family is great but sometimes they are overwhelming." Will answered.

"I know how that can be." Sonny said. "I happen to have the most meddlesome family."

"Sounds like our families are a lot alike." Will agreed.

"What do you like to do when you aren't busy being a cop?" Sonny asked.

"Well I haven't done a lot since I have been here but I really like puzzles and guessing games which is probably why I will make a good detective." Will said honestly.

"Boring stuff…" Sonny giggled. "Let's try this again. What do you like doing in your spare time Horton?"

"Okay Okay…" Will said, getting an evil look in his eye… One that caused a sinking feeling in the pit of Sonny's stomach. "Well I used to like puzzles and guessing games, but lately there is this guy that I have been spending my time with and the last thing on my mind has been puzzles." Will teased.

"Oh really?" Sonny teased back.

"Yeah!" Will said, licking his lips, "Lately the only thing that I can concentrate on is how badly I want to fuck this guy on every single surface in my apartment."

Sonny swallowed his groan. "Hmm, seems like you really like this guy."

"Yeah, I think I do." Will answered back.

"Well he would be a fool not to adore you." Sonny said winking at Will.

Will just smiled at him… Sonny had to work to get his mind back on the conversation. "So how old were you, when you came out to anyone?" he asked. "If that isn't too personal?"

"Not at all." Will replied. "I was actually a junior in high school, and the first person I came out to… was my girlfriend, believe it or not."

"Wow!" Sonny said, "Seriously?"

"Yep, right before prom too. You know how they always have the voting for the king and queen. Well everyone was voting me and Miranda, they wanted us to be king and queen, and she was so happy and excited. But I wasn't interested in any of that, being prom king could not have been farther from my mind. I was too busy spending all of my time daydreaming about my very male psychology teacher. That's when I knew though, that Miranda deserved better than what I was giving her. I was using her as a crutch because I didn't want to tell people that I was gay. So I sat her down and told her my secret, she was mad at first, but it all worked out in the end, and she and I were able to maintain a friendship. I especially felt better after she told me that she had been dating me to get to know my best friend better. She had a huge crush on him, and they are actually married now." Will said. "But even after telling her, I still didn't tell anyone else, not even my family until I had graduated high school." "I just spent most of my time at home alone, which is of course why I got so good at puzzles and stuff. People thought that I was depressed, but it was more like I was scared."

"That is one crazy story!" Sonny said, "But I am glad that you and Miranda were able to be friends.

"Me too! Now what about you?" Will asked…"Is there a crazy story in your coming out process?"

"NOOO nothing like yours, mine is more traumatic… well not for me, not so much anymore, but I still wonder…" Sonny said thoughtfully. "I grew up being shuffled from boarding school to boarding school, there was one that I went to that was particularly bad, the people there were all nasty and mean and I begged my parents until they finally moved me to an all boys school. I was 14, just before turning 15 and all of my friends thought that being sent to an all boys' school was the worst punishment on earth, even worse than staying at the school I hated. Funny thing was it didn't bother me any at all. I already knew I was gay, but I had never uttered a word to anyone. I met the first boy I ever truly loved there. His name was Josh and he was really great, that first semester that I was there we were inseparable. He was my first love and my first kiss… to name a few. We went everywhere and did everything together…. Until his parents came for a surprise weekend visit. Josh introduced me as his boyfriend and his dad went ballistic, they pulled him out of school on Monday and I never saw him again. His phone was disconnected, all of the letters that I wrote to him came back marked returned to sender, never opened. Then one day out of the blue I got a letter from him, telling me that while he never regretted being with me that he had made a terrible mistake thinking that he could live like that. He asked me to please not write to him anymore and said that he hoped I would find happiness one day." Sonny finished.

"I'm so sorry." Will said "Sonny, that's horrible to have your first love ripped away from you like that."

Sonny looked at Will and smiled sadly.. "It took me quite a while to get over that… And once I did I felt worse for him than I did for myself. His family basically either forced him or shamed him into living a lie. Anyway I am okay now, and for the first time since Josh… it seems like happiness may be in reach." He whispered grabbing Will's hand and squeezing it.

"I am happy to hear you say that!" Will said, squeezing his hand in return.

Will glanced past Sonny just in time to see a cab pull into the lot over at the apartment complex. "Hey Sonny." He said motioning for Sonny to look as Bennett got out and gathered a couple of small bags. Nothing like what he had purchased earlier. He said a few words to the driver and handed him a bill then the driver sped off.

"Where do you suppose his car is?" Sonny asked.

Will grinned… "I hope it is at the impound yard or the evidence yard being checked over."

Sonny looked at his watch. It was past 5 pm already. He picked up his cell and dialed Threadgill's number again, realizing that he had gotten lost in conversation with Will and he had never had a return call. Agent Threadgill picked up on the first ring. "Kiriakis…. Tell me you have got something?" he said. Sonny recounted the entire day to him. He started with the tail to the other side of town, the list of purchases and the fact that they had lost him… and finished with the fact that he had come home in a cab.

"Son of a Bitch" he muttered. "He is either damn smart…. Or he has someone on the inside of this investigation." "I am sending you some relief about 7pm for tonight but I want you back on him before the sun comes up." Threadgill said.

"Yes Sir!" Sonny said. "But you do have the car, right?"

"No, we don't have the car and apparently neither does he… he either stashed it somewhere or he sold it…. Or worse yet he set the damn thing on fire." Agent Threadgill said, his frustration was evident.

"Alright Sir, we will report in if there is anything else." Sonny said ending the call.

He looked at Will as soon as he finished. "They don't have the car either. They are sending relief but we need to be back out here before daylight in the morning."

"Alright." Will said, "We can go and get some shut eye and maybe we will have a break tomorrow."

"I hope so…." Sonny agreed. "Your place or mine?" he asked.

"Huh?" Will said. "Are we sleeping at your place or mine?" Sonny asked again.

"We both know if we stay at the same place… there is not going to be a lot of sleeping going on." Will teased him.

"Yeah, but sleep is over rated… don't you think?" Sonny said winking at him.