Will is deep into working on his next book He desperately needed the break from worrying about house-hunting.

Sonny sweeps through the door, ending a conversation on his phone. "Hey. Hear from anybody, today?" Will looks Sonny in the eye and slowly closes his laptop. "Did you hear me? Did any realtors contact you?" A swift shaft of frigid fury knocks the breath from Sonny's lungs. Beneath the anger, Sonny can also feel Will's heartache. He kneels beside Will's chair. "What's wrong?" Sonny attempts to hold his husband's hand, but Will gets up from the chair to sit on the far end on the couch.

"We've been doing this for weeks, Sonny. We've seen every available house in Salem. I chose today to let it slide and get some writing done. I've been neglecting it so I wouldn't miss any phone calls. Now, you come in and don't even greet me as usual. Just with an inquiry about realtors." Will's legs are spread with his elbows on his knees and his hands covering his eyes. Sonny can feel every bit of Will's frustration, anger, and hurt pulsing through their soul-bond.

"Well, Will is certainly not shutting me out, now." He quietly sits on the couch very close to Will. He extends his hands around Will's neck and nuzzles into it. Sonny pulls Will's face to his and they lock eyes. "I'm sorry, babe. How was your day, otherwise?"

Will's face softens and an actual smile stretches across. "It's been good. I'm nearly done with the fifth chapter." Sonny smiles mega-bright as he sends his love and admiration to Will who lays his head on Sonny's chest. Then, he pulls back and sighs deeply. "It's occurred to me that we may have to widen the search, even near the city." The smile drops from Sonny's lips but he nods in agreement.

Sonny has set up "office" at a settee in the square. He hasn't done any work, though, as his copy of Handfasting and the Human Harvest has kept him distracted.

"Excuse me. Sorry if I'm bothering you, but aren't you Jackson Kiriakis?"

Sonny looks up at a man about his age with dark eyes, thick light brown hair, and wearing a dark gray suit, light gray tie, and a pink dress shirt. He stands with his hand out, which Sonny takes in his own. "Yes, I am. But most call me Sonny. Oh, it's Sonny Horton-Kiriakis." He places his left hand over his heart to show the ring.

"Jimmy Duart. We went to Salem Elementary School together." He looks puzzled. "You took your wife's name?"

"No, my husband's name, Will Horton-Kiriakis."

Jimmy's eyes widen in recognition. "Not the same Will Horton that-"

Sonny's face seriously darkens. "Yes, that Will. He grew up away from the sharp tongues of Salem and became a wonderful man," he shows the man the book on the table, "and a popular author."

Mr. Duart holds out his palms in defense. "I didn't mean anything by it. Now that I think about it, I recall that Will really liked watching you play basketball when we played after school."

Sonny grins fondly at the memory. "So, Jimmy. What do you do now?"

"I am a real estate agent. I just put up my website."

"Website?"

Jimmy smiles gently. "Yes. With the decline in the popularity of printed media, we have to turn to the internet."

"My husband and I have been house-hunting for a while now and have found it rather distressing. First, we encountered bigotry. Now, we are tentatively considering broadening our search."

"May I offer my services? I don't care if my clients are male, female, transitioning, intersexed or extraterrestrial." Sonny's eyes twinkle as Duart pulls out his Tablet.

A few minutes later, Duart is putting his Tablet away. "Thank you, Sonny. When I find a place to suit you and Will, I'll be sure to contact the both of you." They shake hands and Jimmy leaves.

Sonny sits down to resume his reading, but with a self-satisfied smile. "That felt so right. Maybe I'll soon have my happy, sexy husband back."

Sonny enters the apartment, carrying a bouquet of white roses and a bottle of wine. He sees the table candlelit and set with his and Will's favorite meals from Penthouse Bar and Grill. He hears the rush of the shower and his mega-watt smile threatens to split his face. "Oh, man. Will is singing. He's self-conscious about it, but I love his voice." He drops the roses in the vase on the table and stashes the wine in the fridge. Sonny rushes to the bedroom to leave his clothes in the laundry hamper.

Sliding into the shower behind Will, Sonny starts planting kisses on the back of his husband's neck. Will turns around and a broad smile stretches his plump, sexy lips. His arms surround Sonny's neck to pull him into a heated kiss. Powerfully felt emotions run back and forth along their soul-bond which has the usual effect on their bodies.

"Wow, babe. What's brought you out of your funk?"

"Well, I've been spending time writing Kenneth Mitchell and Landon Bailley together and that always makes me think of the two of us. Plus, I got an email from James Duart. Thank you, Sonny. It's made me hopeful, again."

"Any time and every time, Will. So, any particular plans for tonight?" Sonny feels his husband lathering up his body and whimpers at the sensation.

Will brings his mouth close to Sonny's ear, "Well, dinner, of course. I've got the first season of White Collar ready to play. Oh, we are wearing only our Basic Black outfits."

Sonny closes his eyes and moans when he feels Will's fingers wrap around his manhood. He locks eyes with his husband who strokes so firmly with his glorious hands. Sonny gasps as his excitement shoots into the swirling water going down the drain.

~SCENE 2~

Sonny and Will enter their apartment late one afternoon. Smiles grace their faces and are talking animatedly.

"I'm really starting to think Jimmy will eventually find us the right house. That first one today was fantastic but it was virtually a mansion."

Sonny catches Will around his waist. "Yeah. I truly liked the second house, but I still want to live a little closer to Salem. It was nearly on the other side of the city."

Several days later, Will is sitting in Horton Town Square with his laptop on his thighs. He's deep in thought.

"WILL!"

Will looks up and shuts his computer as a huge grin skids across his lips. "Allie!" His little sister runs into his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going home with Daddy for a while. We have a lay-over of several hours and we wanted to see you."

Lucas walks up with his arms spread. He gives Will a tight hug. "How's my son, the writer?"

"I'm great. I'd be even greater if Sonny and I could find a house that completely pleases us."

"A house? Why would the two of you want a whole house?"

"Dad, Sonny and I would like to be able to entertain friends or have our families over for a visit. Plus, we want to have a house with enough room to raise children."

Allie gasps, "I'm going to be an aunt?"

Will nods excitedly. "We're going to look up adoption agencies once we've settled into a house."

"Can you and Sonny afford a house and kids?"

Will stares at his dad in astonishment. "I am a best selling author. Sonny's chain of coffeehouses and the two nightclubs are all successful. Between us, we can already afford to raise at least two children in a house up through college."

Lucas whistles between his teeth. "Wow. I can see that you and Sonny are going to be better parents than your mom and I will ever be."

Will gives his dad and sister another hug. "You and Mom haven't done so badly. So long as the two of you aren't living together." He grins fleetingly and scrubs at the back of his head.

"Oh, right." Lucas agrees sarcastically.

"Come on. I'll treat you two to lunch at Brady Pub."

"Okay, if you insist, son."

Having checked Chad's paperwork at Club Dionysus, Sonny is crossing the bar area to get to the employee doors. "Sonny!" Victor Kiriakis II rapidly approaches his brother with a large margarita in his hands.

"Hey, Vic. A little bit early for that, isn't it?"

"Lay off, little bro. I'm making you money, aren't I?"

Sonny looks at his navy suited brother with calculating eyes. Sonny, wearing a black polo, places his hands in the pockets of his fitted black slacks and simply nods slowly. "Sorry. I guess you are."

Vic takes a sip and relaxes his stance. "What's this about you and Will finding a house and adopting children? Mom is all over Alex and me . . . and I guess Joe to finally settle down and at least get married. You trying to make your older brothers look bad?"

Sonny can't prevent the smile from blooming on his face. "You must not have spoken with Joe, lately. He's proposing to Ashley. So, yeah. You and Alex look pretty bad."

Vic scoffs and turns to walk carefully back to his table. Sonny walks on and pulls out his phone to text his dad about sending a car for Vic.

~SCENE 3~

Jimmy Duart is driving Sonny and Will to the site of a new listing. It is on the northeast side of town that used to be all farm land. Jimmy turns into the entry of a residential subdivision.

"Melaswen Estates? I haven't heard of it."

"It was opened a couple of years ago, Sonny. Only a few houses have been built here. It used to be a huge farm, but the man who inherited the land sold it to the town."

"We're going to see a new house that hasn't been lived in. What's the story there?"

"A young family had the house built for them, Will. They suddenly found themselves needing to move away before they could move in. It's assumed that there was a job transfer, perhaps a promotion was involved."

The three have seen most of the house. Will and Sonny are most impressed. The more they've seen, the wider their smiles have gotten. When the couple are shown the two rooms that could easily become a nursery and a playroom, they start to hold hands.

"Now, if you gentlemen will follow me, I'll show you the piece de resistance of the property." They follow Jimmy back to the great room with its open floor plan, stainless steel and granite kitchen, and huge fireplace. They head for the back wall which is full of windows and out through a set of French doors. "This terraced patio takes up the all of the backyard. Unlike the rest of the house, the previous owner threw in the all-weather furniture and the entire outdoor kitchen/grilling system." Will and Sonny's eyes widen in appreciation. "Right over there, standing in a bed of cedar shavings, is a playground set with a treehouse deck."

Sonny glances at the other end of the patio and sees a small attachment to the house. "Jimmy, what's that? It has windows but no visible door."

"Ah, to see that, we'll have to return to the laundry room by the garage."

Eagerly, Will leads them back into the house, across the front foyer, and to the mudroom between the garage and the laundry room. Jimmy unlocks a door they had overlooked before. He gestures for the couple to enter ahead of him.

The room has only four features. The far wall holds a fireplace. In front of the fireplace is an all-weather settee with a side table. Most of the space is taken up by a large hot-tub. Sonny and Will turn to each other chuckling and raise their arms in a double high-five.

Sonny grabs Jimmy's hand and pumps it. "Mr. Duart, we want this house!"

As they return to the car, Will notices a construction site in the distance. "Hey, Jimmy. What's over there?"

"Oh. That's going to be Devon Everett Elementary School if it ever gets finished. There's been some financial setbacks." Will sucks on his bottom lip in thought.

After signing the papers to make the offer, the two men get in Will's car. Will makes an unexpected turn and Sonny asks, "Where are we going"

"We're going to the Board of Education offices. I want our potential child to be able to attend Devon Everett Elementary School."

~SCENE 4~

Will and Sonny are standing in the doorway of and looking in at what they hope to make a child's bedroom. It's been painted a pastel lavender with horizontal, wave-like stripes of blue-violet and white at waist height.

Sonny lays his arms around Will's broad shoulders from behind. Will grabs hold of Sonny's hands and sighs forlornly. "The only room in the house as yet unfurnished. We can't choose furniture until we have a child." Will looks at his husband who gives him two pecks on the cheek.

"The rest of the house is done though, babe. Isn't it amazing what our families can do when they are willing to work together?"

A small smile replaces Will's pout. "As long as we hold them accountable for staying in the bounds of our tastes." He chuckles loudly.

Sonny nibbles on Will's neck as his hands begin to roam the front of Will's torso. Will pushes his posterior back until he feels Sonny's firm bulge wedged snugly between his ass cheeks. Will whimpers and slides Sonny's hands between the hem of his indigo T-shirt and the waistband of his jeans. Laying his head back against the side of Sonny's neck, Will whispers, "Hot-tub?" A wickedly sexy grin slips across Sonny's mouth as his eyes twinkle.

In the laundry room, Will pulls off his clothes while observing Sonny as he removes his raspberry-colored T-shirt and light-wash jeans. They stand staring at each other, starkly nude and completely aroused.

"You start the tub, Will. I'll get the wine!" Will spies avidly as his husband streaks to the other end of the house, before turning his own bare and tingling body to the door of the hot-tub room.

TBC

A/N:If so inclined, please comment. It is so motivating for continuing this labor of love.