So, I was on a road trip, and we just got back last night. I wanted to do a 4th of July chapter, so...here it is.
Abigail had gone missing.
Over the next couple weeks, the Salem PD and the Hortons searched high and low for Abigail, but she completely fell off the grid. Chad even hired people connected to the DiMeras to try to find her.
Sonny kept a strong front, since Will was beside himself with worry for his favorite cousin. He wanted to fast, but then realized that he couldn't, because of his pregnancy.
The traditional 4th of July picnic drew closer and was almost cancelled, but Jennifer assured her relatives that Abigail wouldn't want them to cancel any fun traditions on her account.
So, thus, the picnic was scheduled for the evening of the 4th. It was barely warm enough to swim in the lake, so everyone was in their swimsuits.
"All right, Ari, here we are!" Gabi exclaimed, holding Ari's hand. They arrived at the lake and set down blankets and tote bags.
"Oh, this is perfect weather for swimming." Sonny said as he knelt down and started pulling out sunblock and an inner tube that still needed to be blown up.
"Hi!" Everyone turned to see Adrienne and (to everyone's surprise) Lucas arriving with tote bags in tow.
"Hey!" Sonny greeted.
"Grandpa! Grandma!" Ari ran to Adrienne and Lucas.
"Hey, there's my favorite girl!" Lucas grunted playfully as he lifted Ari up and hugged her. "Are you excited to swim in the lake and watch fireworks later?"
"Yeah!" Ari exclaimed.
"She has been taking swimming lessons." Will said proudly. He pulled out two inflatable wings and a life jacket.
Lucas stared at his son, half amused, half concerned. "Dude..."
"Didn't I almost drown in the river when I was Ari's age?" Will asked. "Considering she has gone through pretty much everything that I've gone through the first three years of my life, I'm not taking chances."
Lucas was about to say something, but was silenced by Sonny shaking his head warningly. "Okay. Cool."
Jennifer and JJ walked towards the group. "Hey, everyone."
"Hey, Jenn." Lucas replied. He hugged his sister. "Any word?"
Jennifer sighed. "No, not yet."
"Oh. Well, I'm sure she'll turn up." Lucas said.
JJ turned to Sonny. "Hey, Sonny, I have some food in the trunk. Wanna come help me get it?"
"Sure." Sonny stood up and followed JJ to a quiet place away from the group. JJ turned around. "I knew there was something else."
"You're co-CEO of Titan, right?" JJ asked.
"Yes." Sonny replied.
"So, you have probably as many resources as your uncle Victor had when he ran Titan?" JJ asked.
"Not as much as before, but I have quite a few." Sonny replied. "I already called them and told them to search everywhere and report to you, Roman, and Hope."
"Great. Thanks. We need all the help we can get." JJ replied. "I also talked to Uncle Steve. He and John and Paul are going to look, too."
"Paul?" Sonny asked, surprised.
"Yeah, he's a PI now. You didn't know?" JJ asked.
"No. That's good. Good for him." Sonny smiled and nodded. "What do you think could have happened to Abigail?"
JJ sighed. "I don't know, man. She just ran off, no explanation. She didn't come home, she didn't go to any of the places where she would go..."
Sonny nodded, then remembered being stabbed by someone hired by Clyde because Victor tried to have him killed. "I...may be a little paranoid, but do you think it's possible that she may have been kidnapped?"
"Well, anything's possible, but, who would kidnap her? Ben's still in jail." JJ shrugged.
"Clyde, maybe? To get back at her for ruining his son's life?" Sonny suggested.
"Clyde's still in jail, too. And there's really no evidence of foul play." JJ said. "I'll keep this in mind, though."
"Okay, sounds good." Sonny nodded, and started heading back.
JJ cleared his throat. "I still need help with the food."
Sonny smiled, spun his heal and followed JJ to the car.
XX
"You ready, sweetheart?"
Will and Gabi were knee-deep into the lake with Ari, who was in an inner tube. Sonny stood a few feet away, filming everything.
Will spun the inner tube around a few times. Ari squealed in delight. "All right, swim to Mommy, now!"
Gabi waded a few feet and turned around. Will gently pushed Ari towards Gabi. Ari giggled and kicked her little legs. "I can swim! I can swim! Look, Mommy, I can swim!"
"Good job, sweetheart!" Gabi said encouragingly, clapping. She caught the inner tube. "All right, ready to go back to Daddy, now?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay. Wheeee!" Gabi spun the inner tube and pushed her towards Will. A wave runner sped past nearby causing a few waves. The inner tube tipped over, sending Ari into the water. "Ari!" Will, Gabi, and Sonny all rushed towards Ari, and turned her right side up. Ari was crying and coughing. Gabi pulled her out of the tube, hugged her, and rubbed her back. "Oh, it's okay, mama. You're okay."
Will sighed and turned to Sonny. "Tell me you got that jerk on tape."
"Will, it was an accident. I'm sure he just didn't see us." Sonny assured him. He fished the inner tube out of the water, and they all headed out. Adrienne and Lucas rushed over with towels.
"Wow, that was crazy." Adrienne commented. She gave a couple towels to Will, and one to Gabi. Will took the life jacket and wings off of Ari, and Gabi wrapped her daughter in the towel and started drying her off. "Is she okay?"
Gabi nodded. "She's fine. Just a little shaken up."
"Well, she's never going swimming again." Will decided.
"Will, come on, it was a one-time thing." Sonny assured him.
"You ready to go back in, mama?" Gabi asked Ari.
Ari shook her head. "No."
"You'd rather play with Grandpa, right?" Lucas asked, smiling. Ari smiled and nodded. "All right! I have a few puzzles for us to put together."
"Okay, let me get her dressed first." Gabi replied. She took Ari to the car to change her into a red, white, and blue patterned dress and a streamer ponytail holder.
Ari played with Lucas and Adrienne, then they all had a barbecue, and talked and laughed. They gathered at Town Square to watch the fireworks as Katy Perry's Firework started playing. Ari danced along to the music and Lucas and Will filmed her. Will sent the videos to Sami and Marlena for them to see.
XXX
Later that night, Sonny crawled into bed. Will was sitting up, writing on a notepad. "Whatcha doin'?"
"I am writing down baby name ideas." Will replied.
"Ooh. Show me." Sonny scooted closer.
"Well, I want our boys to be named after someone." Will said. Sonny was confused about that. "My mom and I were named after someone, Ari's named after someone, Allie and Johnny are named after someone, you're named after someone...I wanna continue the tradition."
Sonny chuckled softly. "Okay."
"But, I also want them to have a name of both Irish and Greek origins."
"So, we'll give them middle names." Sonny suggested. "What do you have so far?"
"Well, for Greek names I have Adonis, Balthazar, Costa, Drew, Hector, Icarius, Ilya, Jerome, Jason, Leon, Myron, and Maximos." Will said.
"Whoa, that's a lot of names." Sonny commented. They chuckled.
Will nodded. "Mm-hmm. For Irish names, I have Aaron, Adam, Darrin, Dean, Dylan, Evan, James, Kevin, Liam, Rory, Ross, and Ryan."
"I like Dean, Darrin, Adam, and James for our Irish baby." Sonny said.
"Okay." Will crossed off all the names except the ones Sonny listed.
"For Greek names...hmm. I like Leon and Maximos." Sonny replied. "But...Alexander is a family name. My grandfather's name was Alexander, which is also my dad's middle name and my brother was named after Alexander. I kind of want to continue that tradition by naming our baby Alexander."
"All right. That's fine. What about middle names?" Will asked. "I would like to have one of the boys have my dad's name- Lucas."
Sonny nodded. "Okay. Alexander Lucas Horton-Kiriakis."
Will laughed. "Yeah!"
"For our Irish baby, how about Darrin Jackson? We'll call him DJ for short." Sonny suggested. Will's face fell. "What? Oh...you're thinking of Daniel and DJ Wear?"
"No, actually. I haven't even thought of Daniel since his memorial." Will replied. "I was actually thinking of my uncle DJ. He died when he was a few months old."
"Oh. Poor Marlena." Sonny said. "This is perfect: we'll name him after his great-uncle who only had a few months to live and after his papou. Is Marlena gonna be okay with that?"
Will chuckled softly. "Well, she named my mom after her late sister, so, I'm sure she'll be fine."
Sonny smiled and nodded. "Okay. Sounds good."
They kissed and fell asleep in each other's arms.
