CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Liam Robertson knelt down beside the couch. He stared at the blonde girl sleeping soundly.

"My Arianna, my sweet baby girl." He thought to himself, "Look how much you have grown. The last time I saw you, you were still sitting on my lap." Liam gently grazed her cheeks with his knuckles.

"What am I going to do about you?" He wondered to himself.


-One week later-

Sami Brady, Lucas Horton and Sonny Kiriakis were taking a tour around the Salem Columbarium. They were trying to find a good location to place their late son's urn.

"I kinda like this one best." Sami remarked as she spotted an idea cremation niche. "Just within my view, I need stretch my head all the way up or bend all the way down to look at our boy."

"Yeah, I agree too." Sonny added, "Plus, it's facing the garden, I'm sure Will would love that."

"Ok if there's anything else, I think we can sign the agreement" The manager of the columbarium said.

"I would love to stay for a little longer but I need to go back to work." Sonny said.

"Don't worry, we will take care of everything!" Lucas assured.


Liam Robertson entered JJ Deveraux's ward. Hesitantly, he took a seat beside the unconscious patient.

"Hey JJ! How've you been?" Liam asked as he looked at his comatose cousin. "Seeing Gabi the past week, she has not been looking great."

Liam pulled the chair he's sitting on closer to the bed before continuing. "JJ, this is my fault. This is all my fault. If I managed to break the fight between you and Ben, you wouldn't be in this position right now." Tears started flowing down his cheeks, "Gabi needs you. Arianna needs you. I need you." Liam pleaded. "I need you to be there for Arianna, to be the father she needs. To be everything that I can't be. Please JJ, I need you to wake up."

What Liam Robertson did not know was that Gabi Hernandez was standing at the doorway, eavesdropping on the entire conversation.


Kayla Brady paced back and forth in her office. She was in a huge dilemma over the past week. Every time she looked at Jennifer, she couldn't help herself but to feel that she was responsible for JJ getting shot. She avoided Jennifer every opportunity she got by burying herself in the office.

"Look at Jennifer! She's a mess right now!" Kayla raised her voice.

"Sweetness, we need to do what we have to do to protect Abigail and Will! This is for the greater good of everyone!" Steve argued.

"I have to tell everyone about this!" Kayla headed towards the door as Steve grabbed her arm.

"No, you can't! Ben is still missing!" Steve objected.

"I can't sleep at night." Kayla confessed.

"Just bear with it for a little longer. We need to track Ben down!" Steve pleaded.

Kayla took out her cellphone as began texting away.

To: Marlena, Sami, Lucas, Jennifer

I need to speak to you urgently, come by the Brady Pub tonight.


Gabi Hernandez had been quietly observing Liam Robertson over the past week. She wasn't sure what to make up of the situation. She could not understand the reason Liam would set Sonny and Paul up on a date. The Will she knew would return to Arianna in an instant and longed for her to call him 'Dad'.

"What isn't he telling us?" Gabi wondered, "Why doesn't he want to tell us his true identity?"

Ever since their conversation at the hospital, Liam kept contact to the very bare minimum. Whenever Liam dropped Devon off, he smiled and greeted before dashing off.

"Why is he hiding?" Gabi questioned.

Gabi Hernandez decided to buy some coffee from the vending machine.

"If only Shawn let me have the DNA results…" She complained as she took the cup of coffee before proceeding back to JJ's ward. She saw Liam leaving the ward.

"Liam!" she quickly paced forward towards him.

"Gabi, it's good to see you." Liam greeted.

"Gosh, Liam you look so tired." Gabi noticed the dark circles around Liam's eyes. "Coffee?" She offered.

"Sure, thanks!" Liam took the cup from Gabi and sipped the hot coffee.


Sonny Kiriakis has been busy over the past week. Apart from work and family, he had been helping Sami and Lucas deal with Will's cremation proceedings. He visited Liam Robertson at his place almost every single day to see how he was doing.

"He's still so moody even after a week. Ben must have really been terrifying." Sonny muttered. Just he looked forward he spotted Liam walking in the opposite direction.

"Liam! What are you doing here?" Sonny rushed towards the blonde to hold his arm with hand while placing the other over his shoulder.

"Relax," The blonde gently pulled away from him. "I need some fresh air, that's all."

Liam Robertson had not been acting like himself as of late. He did not shove him away or yell at him, neither had he make any sarcastic remarks. The sudden change had worried Sonny, he could sense something was wrong.

"You shouldn't be out here! You should be at home resting." Sonny gently chided.

"My feet have been itching to take a stroll." Liam replied with a wistful smile.

"And Ben Weston is still on the loose, you should be at home!" Sonny continue chiding.

As hard as he tried, Liam Robertson could not help but be touched by Jackson Kiriakis' concern. He wanted to be annoyed and just yell at him but he just couldn't.

"Snap out of it, you're no longer Will Horton! Remember that!" He kept reminding himself.

"I was planning to tell you this when I go back to work tomorrow but since you're here I thought I will give you a heads up." Liam informed.

"What is it?" Sonny asked.

"I'm quitting." Liam said.

Sonny's heart sank as waves of disappointment flooded him.

"I'm sorry," Sonny let out an embarrassed giggle. "I don't think I heard you right. Did you say you want to quit?" He needed to make sure he didn't hear wrongly.

"I'm quitting by the end of the month." Liam repeated. He noticed Sonny's expression turning from worried to disappointed.

"Really?" That was all Sonny could reply. A part of him wanted to pull his wrist and screamed 'No! Stay with me!' but he knew better. After everything that happened with Ben Weston, there's absolutely no reason for Liam Robertson to remain in Salem.


Lucas Horton received a call from the manager of Salem Cemetery.

"Hello?" Lucas answered.

"Hey Mr Horton! It's Ryan, are you free at the moment?" The manager asked.

"We're at Salem Columbarium." Lucas said.

"You need to come to the cemetery. Something bad has really happened." Ryan urged.


Kayla Brady decided to take a visit to Jennifer Horton's place. In the past week, Jennifer never left the hospital. Whenever she was not in Abigail's ward, she would be in the ICU right beside JJ. It took plenty of convincing from both Steve and Kayla to go home and take a nap.

Kayla entered Jennifer's home before proceeding to the living room.

"Hey Jen! I'm here to tell you that JJ has been transferred to the ward…" Kayla cut herself off when she saw Jennifer completely passed out on the couch with an empty wine bottle on the ground.

"Oh my goodness!" Kayla exclaimed in worry, "I can't believe this is happening again!" She quickly squatted by Jennifer and tried to sit her up on the couch before taking a seat beside her.

"Jen? Jennifer?" Kayla gently slap her cheek a few times in the hopes of waking her up.

"I can't believe this!" Kayla sighed as guilt crept through her veins once more. "I have to tell Sami & Lucas the truth."


Chad DiMera took out a check book from drawer. He took his ballpoint pen up and began writing a check of fifty thousand dollars.

"I want to say I'm sorry for the way I have been behaving." Liam apologizing, "I was way out of line for going crazy on you."

"Don't be!" Chad was surprised upon hearing Liam's apology and resigned tone. "Why are you apologizing? I was the one who had been lying to you this entire time! You have every right to be mad at me."

"No," Liam insisted, "In order to protect me, in order to protect Abigail, you sent me away." The blonde exhaled through his nose. "If anything, I was the one that was useless. If I didn't lose my memory, I would have been able to clear your name, prove your innocence."

"What are you saying?" Chad began rebutting. "You don't have to feel useless. None of this was your fault! You didn't want to lose your memory; we all didn't see that coming!"

"Let me finish," Liam pleaded. "Instead of blaming you and getting angry at you this entire time, I should have been grateful to you this entire time." He began thanking, "You were the one whom gave me a new life. You gave me a new life, a brand new beginning in a brand new city. You put me through culinary school and turned me from the boy who can only flip pancakes to a skilled chef. You gave me a second chance at love, a second chance to start over. And now, I'm at a better place than I was five years ago."

"What are you trying to say?" Chad asked, feeling confused.

"I'm trying to say is I'm done wallowing in self-pity and rejection. I'm done thinking of only myself by you remain worrying about Abby and I." He began stating.

"What do you mean by all this?" Chad enquired.

"It means," Liam took a deep breath through his nose before continuing, "I'm leaving Salem"

Chad's eyes widened.

"No, you can't leave Salem!" Chad objected, "You don't need to leave Salem for Abigail's sake. This is a stretch!"

"It may seem like I'm helping you and Abigail, but to be honest with you, I'm doing this for myself." Liam confessed. "Looking at Arianna, she was so happy the other day when Kiriakis and Paul had a dinner date. And looking at how happy she was, I can't destroy that."

Chad's heart sank, he empathised with how heartbroken Liam was.

"And seeing Kiriakis and Paul together," The blonde shut his eyes tightly so his tears would not flow down, "I don't know how much more my heart can take." He took in another deep breath, telling himself to stay strong before continuing. "I'm going back to New York."

"Will, you're sure you want to do this?" Chad asked once more.

"If I leave, everyone wins. Arianna and Kiriakis won't have to feel the need to put me first out of guilt and obligation when deep down, they are madly in love with Paul. To them, I will always be Kelly Rowland and Paul will always be Beyonce. I want to be Beyonce, I deserve to be someone's Beyonce. If I can't be Jackson Kiriakis' Beyonce, I will be someone else's Beyonce." Liam firmly stood his ground.

"What does that mean?" Chad wondered.

"It means I'm done playing second fiddle to Paul Narita." Liam clarified, "Furthermore, I now have a son to think about. I don't want him to grow up in such a sticky situation. I want him to have a stable childhood."

Chad nodded his head, understanding his drift. "You still have a contract with Hotel Titan. Let me help buy you out of that contract."

"You don't have to, I can settle that…" Liam gently shook his head.

"Let me do this, to ease my guilt. To make up for deceiving you all these years." Chad pleaded.


"What do you mean by you weren't able to cremate anything?" Sami Brady yelled at the manager of Salem Cemetery.

"Well… when we opened the coffin, something terrible happened." Ryan trembled at the sight of her death stare.

"Which is?" Lucas asked, getting more agitated by the second.

"There was no body in the coffin." Ryan informed.


"Not to worry, I will not leave you guys hanging unattended." Liam assured, "I'm telling you in advance so that you will be able to find someone new before I leave."

Sonny nodded his head slowly in acknowledgement. Then the lightbulb on his head turned on.

"That's it! I know how to make him stay!" Sonny thought devilishly.

"You do know you need to pay fifty thousand dollars to terminate the contract right?" Sonny reminded. "If this is about what happened with Ben I can protect you. I can get a safe house for you to stay in until Ben Weston is arrested. You don't need to leave Salem."

"This isn't just about Ben Weston." Liam replied, "I'm a single father. I have no family in Salem. I'm out here all on my own. I miss home, I miss New York. I miss my family."

"You seem so sure about this." Sonny conceded.

Looking at Sonny's reluctant expression, Liam reminded himself to stay strong.

"Yes, I'm sure. If it is worth fifty grand for me to go home, I'm doing it." Liam nodded.


"How is this possible?" Sami questioned in shock.

"I don't understand either." Lucas agreed.

"It seems that someone has stolen the body." The manager answered, hands trembling upon getting an earful from the blonde lady.

"Yeah, WHY THE HELL WOULD IT BE STOLEN?" Sami yelled. "is the Salem Cemetery that incompetent that they can't even protect corpses from getting stolen? What kind of cemetery do you run exactly! I am going to sue the cemetery for every dime it has!"

Before Lucas could stop Sami from exploding any further, he received a call from Kayla.

"Hey Kayla, what's up?" Lucas answered.

"I'm at Jennifer's place, she passed out after drinking a whole bottle of wine." Kayla panicked.

"Oh crap! I will be there asap!" Lucas informed.


Gabi Hernandez sat by JJ the entire afternoon. She had to go through the proceedings of transferring JJ from the ICU to the ward.

"Why is he still hiding?" That question had been inside her head the entire day. "No, I need to confront him about it." Gabi decided as she stood up and walked out of JJ's ward.

John Black and Steve Johnson were working back in the Black Patch office.

"I have to go soon." John informed. "Marlena told me it's urgent."

"What's so urgent?" Steve asked.

"Apparently, Kayla said she needed to tell her something really important." John replied.

Steve's dropped his pen.

"Oh no! She's gonna tell them everything!" Steve panicked.

"Aunt Kayla, we got here as soon as we can." Sami walked energetically with a bounce into Jennifer's place.

"Where's Jen?" Lucas asked.

"She's upstairs. I managed to wake her up a little so she could go back to her room to take a nap." Kayla answered.

"I can't believe she's back to alcohol again." Lucas sighed.

"Both of her children are in the hospital, it is a big blow to her." Kayla empathized.

"Hey Kayla, we're here!" Kayla heard Marlena's voice. She turned around only to see her husband standing behind Marlena and John.

"Steve what are you doing here?" Kayla questioned in shock.

"To stop you from making a big mistake." Steve answered plainly.

"Kayla, you have gathered all of us here to tell us something. What is it?" Marlena questioned.

"Apparently, you called us because Jennifer is back to drinking?" Lucas suggested.

"Yes, that's exactly what this is about." Steve answered. "I was hoping we could find a way to cheer Jennifer up. From the looks of it, she a wreck!"

"No, that's not the reason why I have brought you all here. I'm here to tell you something much more serious than this." Kayla informed.

"No sweetness, we can't." Steve objected gently.

"We have to tell them. They have the right to know." Kayla barked.

"But now isn't the right time!" Steve argued.

"Then when?" Kayla raised her voice even louder, "If we let them know from the start, JJ wouldn't be in the hospital and Jennifer would go back to being an alcoholic mess!"

Steve saw the sadness in his wife's eyes, concealing the truth was killing her, she could not do it any longer.

"Will is still alive." Kayla confessed.


Liam Robertson stared at his son sleeping soundly.

"When Devon goes back to New York, I think it's time to buy him a bed." Liam decided. His train of thought was disrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

Liam proceeded to the entrance to open the door.

"Gabi!" Liam greeted, "What are you doing here?"

"I need to speak to you, NOW!" Gabi gave a death stare as she proceeded inside.

"What seems to be to the matter?" He asked while closing the door.

"I want to know where did you first learn German." Gabi interrogated.

Liam's eyes widened but he did everything he could to keep a strong front.

"What do you mean? Why are you asking this all of the sudden?" The blonde giggled.

"Still acting dumb? Fine." Gabi nodded her head slightly in anger, "Ok let's go on to the next question. How do you know so much about literature? You can name quotes from EM Forster?"

"What are you talking about Gabi?" Liam shrugged his shoulders, putting up a strong front.

"Tell me why do you know anything about EM Forster?" Gabi raised her voice.

"I saw a few quotes online?" Liam shrugged his shoulders innocently.

"What about my history in prison? How did you know about my relationship with Nick? How do you know about Paige's death?" Gabi fired away more questions.

"Whoa whoa whoa…" Liam tried to calm her down. "It's a small town, people talk. And didn't I tell you Kiriakis told me about it before?"

"Ok, very well then, since you told me Sonny said all these things," Gabi took out her phone and began dialling Sonny's number. "Why don't I call Sonny now and clarify this entire situation?"

In the heat of the moment, Liam snatched the Samsung away from Gabi.

"No you can't!" Liam hesitated.

"Why do you know all these things?" Gabi questioned. "Tell me, why do you know all these things."

Liam remained silent, unable to answer anything.

"Are you going to tell me or do you want me to spell it out for you?" Gabi barked.

Chills came running down the blonde's spine as his fears elevated.

"No, it can't be." Liam told himself.

"Yes, it is!" Gabi snorted. "Remember this morning when I offered you a cup of coffee? I took that paper cup and Arianna's toothbrush for a paternity test. And guess what, it was a 99.99 per cent match."

The blonde's face turned completely pale.

"You are," Gabi revealed, "without a doubt, Will Horton."


A/N: Hey! Sorry for the 1.5-month hiatus. I'm back after a crazy period of school and projects.

I have been watching a lot of Destiny's Child (You know… the group Beyonce was in) performances lately and I thought of this great reference. I think I'm gonna make this the memorable quote of the series or this fanfiction.

Anyway, 2-3 more chapters to THE MOMENT WE'VE BEEN ALL WAITING FOR! Stay tuned! :D

Please Read & REVIEW! :D