The next morning, Liam walks into the hospital with a thermos of coffee from Viv, along with a bag full of pastries Mo has all but shoved at him, voice full of worry, "Hospital food isn't gonna cut it, Liam, and there's not a doubt in my mind that poor man hasn't left his husband for even a second."

Husband, he thinks now, as he steps in the elevator, pushing the button for Will's floor. God, Sonny has a husband. He almost fell for someone's husband. It's no wonder Will was always a bit standoffish towards him. No wonder he'd always sulked in his room, always left the second he came home after work. He pictures being with a man, taking a vow to spend the rest of your life with that man, then listening to someone else have sex with him.

He bites a fingernail as he steps out. That's not entirely fair, he knows that, because while she doesn't know all the details, they definitely let people assume they were single. As cousins, even, to explain the last name. He felt his heart drop right out of its chest when he heard Sonny say quietly, "Husband.", the devotion in his voice so clear, everyone there had heard it.

He knocks on the door of Will's room, letting Sonny know he's there. His normally neat hair is a mess, unkempt. His eyes are red rimmed, from exhaustion, crying, both, who even knows. He has one of Will's hands in both of his, against his mouth, head bowed in prayer. Neither of them had claimed to be religious, but Liam supposes when the stakes are this high, anyone would be praying.

He notices the band on Sonny's finger, and he's amazed. He's pretty sure he's never seen it before now, wondering if Will has one too-- but he has to, if they're wedding rings. He wonders if Sonny slipped his on right before coming over here, done pretending, ready to announce to the whole world who they are to each other. With what's going on, it probably looks ridiculous to keep up the charade that nobody was buying into anyway.

Sonny looks at him, giving him a tired smile. "Liam. Hi."

"Morning, Sonny." he murmurs, holding up a brown bag of the pastries and hot coffee. "From Viv and Ms. Mo, who send their love."

'Oh thank god. Is that Viv's coffee?" Sonny practically moans. "Thank you. The stuff in the hospital is so weak, I wouldn't be surprised if it's decaf."

Liam smiles, grabbing a cup off of a tray to pour one for Sonny. "You look like you haven't slept." he says softly, sitting in a chair on the other side of Will's bed. "How is he?"

Sonny swallows the coffee with a gasp, "Nothing." he tells him, eyes going back to Will's swollen face. "He's not really responding to anything. Reflexes are getting weaker. He's just…" Sonny can't say it, because if he does, he's going to lose it. "Thank you for the coffee."

They sit there quietly for a moment, listening to the faint beeping of Will's heart rate monitor. Liam has so many questions, wondering if it would be rude of him to take advantage of Sonny's vulnerability to have some of them answered. He's never seen such devotion in all his life, especially between two people that that didn't see it for what it was. Or tried not to see it.

"Sonny." he starts quietly. "I know me and Will aren't really friends, but…"

Sonny looks embarrassed, ducking his head, hair falling slightly in his face. "Liam, he really is sorry. Believe me, he knows how rude he was to you."

Liam holds up his hands in surrender. "No, you don't have to apologize. I'd be rude to the twink sleeping with my husband too, if it were me."

Sonny's mouth forms into sort of a half smile. "It's...not that black and white."

Liam nods, sitting back in his chair. "I know small towns have a reputation for being up in everyone's business but… listen, I really care about both of you, okay? You and me are really close friends, meet for breakfast and everything. And based on the way you talk about him, so is he. Better, even."

Sonny smiles, "That is true."

"What I'm trying to say is, if you want to talk about him. Or, you know, need to, I'm listening. Completely unbiased. I'd love to hear more about anything you'd be willing to share with me about your history. I won't lie. I'm curious, You both have everything on display, and yet nothing at the same time."

Sonny sighs, stroking Will's damaged hand with his thumb. "What do you wanna know?" He doesn't look in Liam's direction as he asks, and it makes Liam want to cry at the vulnerability in his expression, the same vulnerability he noticed when he first met them.

"How did you meet?" Liam pours himself a cup of coffee, then settles back in his chair, ready for the long haul.

Sonny laughs through his nose, almost like a snort, "When we still lived in our home town. God, we were so young. I uh. I was the one that helped him come out."

This startles Liam, almost spilling the coffee in his lap, but doesn't say a word. Jesus, no wonder. No wonder .

"I had just come back to town, after being dumped." Sonny says softly, Will's hand pressed against his forehead. "Will was...a good friend, but when we met, he actually thought I was fooling around with his cousin, but actually she was my cousin too. We got pretty close pretty quick, from all the time we worked on a school website, to this new year's eve party where he kissed a guy the first time. God, that was so hard for me. Watching him struggle with his feelings, not being able to do anything but just let him figure it out. Because I knew I was in love with him, and all I could do was be there for him, like when he was shot."

"Sonny, I--"

Sonny shakes his head, kissing Will's thumb with his lips, "It's okay. He survived with just a scar on his hip. But ever since, I just knew, he was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. As long as we've been together, we always got each other through it. Loving him with everything that I am, because he's everything good in this life. It started off as just really close friends, though. He's the one that got me to settle down, although he'd probably beat himself up for that too, if I let him. But I've wanted to get married and have my own family my whole life, and miraculously, I met the only man I ever wanted to do that with."

"But don't go thinking it was easy. Not at all. We've been through so much together, there's times where I can't believe we made it. In fact, we almost broke up for good when I first found out about our daughter."

"Will has a daughter?"

"Yeah." Sonny smiles sadly. "Our daughter is the only missing piece in our life here. She's Will's biologically, but Will makes it clear she's mine too. And how could she not be, considering I was the one that delivered her. Anyway, it was some time after Arianna Grace was born, same night Will was shot, that I realized I didn't just want to be with him. I wanted to marry him." He stumbles here, looking at Liam, like he's worried about how he'll take that knowledge. But Liam just nods, so Sonny continues, "We suddenly stopped being young lovers in the honeymoon phase, and it turned into...god, we were soulmates. He's never said that word, that that's how he feels about me, but I knew. We were living together, with our daughter and her mom, but it stopped being just about being together, and turned into needing him to be my husband. When I proposed the first time, he said no. But even then, he knew." Sonny smiles from the memory, and Liam's so touched by these memories. "He knew he'd eventually come around and say yes. And he did."

"It's pretty obvious to everyone you're both wrapped around each other's fingers." Liam remarks, sharing a smile.

Sonny's smile gets bigger, as he squeezes Will's hand. "Don't think he doesn't know it. It still wasn't perfect, though. He'd just found a career in investigative journalism, and he was excited. Which is what led to him meeting my ex Paul. And sleeping with him. I don't know how different our lives would've been if I'd stayed to work it out, but I left for Paris, and…"

"You left him." Liam finishes, surprised, when Sonny looks so devastated at trying to finish that sentence.

"Y-yeah. I just didn't know how to be there with everything that had happened. I even had us legally separated. But then he left me a voicemail, telling me he was going to do everything he could to make us right again. As I was packing to come home, I got a phone call from my uncle, who informed me he had been murdered."

Liam can't help but gasp, as Sonny wipes his mouth with his free hand. Liam tries to not pay attention to how Sonny's hands are shaking.

"I'm sorry. I've just tried...so hard to not think about all of those dark times in our past, because it's not what matters now. I tried being Paul for a few years, and I… I honestly had moved on. As far as I knew, Will was dead, and I was happy with Paul. Then the guy that murdered him broke out of the mental institution on the day me and Paul almost got married, and told me Will was alive. Just like that. After two years, thinking Will was gone and never coming back. I didn't even know if he was telling the truth, but I knew I couldn't marry Paul unless I knew for sure."

Sonny smiles to himself, shaking his head, "That revelation led me to flying all the way out to Memphis, where someone had spotted him. I almost left, thinking it was a dead end. I was even ready to fly back to Salem and marry Paul, officially move on once and for all. But then Paul told me he saw Will, knew he was alive. And the second I knew where he was, I was gone. I went straight to him, grabbed him in a hug. I knew then, just like I know now, that I'd never let him go again."

"But it couldn't be that easy, because as it turned out, Will had been alive for the entire two years I thought he was dead, because he didn't remember me. Didn't remember anything. But I knew I had to break it off with Paul, because Will's the love of my life. It took a lot longer with Will, because he didn't remember anything about our life together. He actually wound up dating my ex Paul for a while, even got me to agree to a divorce so he could pursue it. I wanted so badly to say no, begged him not to, but I knew I couldn't do that to him, so I just did it. I signed the papers, and for the time being, we were civil to each other, as civil as two divorced parents could be."

"But that clouded my judgement, so like an idiot, I met someone on a dating app, which led to me doing the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. I slept with him while he was still on my payroll. And he filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against me. And he even tried to make me marry him just so he'd make it all go away. If it wasn't for Will finding out the guy was a con artist, I probably would've said yes. The guy wound up hitting his head in my family's mansion the night before he was supposed to show up in court, so we had to act fast, praying we wouldn't get caught."

"After that, I'd finally accepted that Will was happy with Paul, even had one last drink before saying goodbye. But then, miraculously, I ran into Will. He was at his grandma's wedding, but left because he was clearly upset, so I took him to where the reception was being held, and asked him to tell me what was wrong. I'll never forget this, he looked right at me, and told me he remembered our wedding. He remembered every detail, and from there, he remembered everything else. He remembered loving me, me loving him. When I heard that, I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. But I couldn't, because Will didn't know what that meant for him, or him and Paul. But when I saw him later, he told me how hard he tried to fight it, because he knew what it would mean. But how he felt for me was so powerful. He said I was in his heart, in his bones. And he couldn't deny it anymore. He refused do deny it. He wanted to be with me."

"And that was it. We've been together one way or another ever since. Even when my ex showed up and blackmailed me to marry him, we were in it together. But everything I am, my soul, my life, it's all his. There's no life I could ever live without him, no life I would want to live without him. He's my husband, for all the days of my life."

At some point, Liam had finished his coffee and poured another one, and now he gulps it all down at once, to cover up the tears threatening to choke him. He never knew that kind of existed. He didn't know it was possible for two people to find a profound love like that, the kind of love that only exists between two soulmates. It's never happened to him, and nobody he knows has ever had it happen to them. That's not to say his parents don't love each other, or anyone else. But they don't need each other the same as Will and Sonny. Like there's only one person that can make you smile, that can get you to follow them to the ends of the earth. The yin and the yang, the hidden depths underneath it all.

He sets his cup down, watching Will, this man, this beautiful person that he'd written off again and again. Not on purpose, but he just didn't catch his attention the way Sonny did, and he hates himself for it. Liam looks at Sonny's clenched jaw, the soft cheekbones as he leans forward to press his mouth against the back of Will's hand, dead silent, like now that Sonny's finished talking, he's completely checked himself out, completely forgotten Liam is even there, completely unashamed of anything he just revealed.

Liam clears his throat, and Sonny looks up, startled, which confirms Liam's suspicion. He completely turned his entire focus onto Will, forgetting Liam was even sitting next to him. It only makes Liam smile.

"You know something?" Sonny suddenly says, a small grin spreading on his face, and Liam's completely shocked by how beautiful it is, how it looks like the weight of the world has been taken off his shoulders. He knows he's never smiled at him like that. It's blinding, and right away, he can tell just exactly how it is they're so completely owned by each other. If it was his main goal in life to make this man happy, just for the promise of being on the receiving end of one of those million watt smiles, he'd do anything. "If anyone can understand why you fell for me, it's Will. He didn't blame you for that, for anything."

"Me and Will… were just taking the time to work things out, get back to who we were before all the drama almost broke us. We were together, but we weren't, and just… I noticed you the second we came into town, and I was very clear about that. He didn't say no. And you didn't know about anything we'd gone through. We said we were cousins because we didn't know if, if we'd be able to recover from what we had to do to get here. If Will could ever forgive me for taking us away from his daughter. If we could actually be together without another bombshell dropping on us. But somehow we did, and I… Liam, I'm so sorry. But I'm always going to choose him, be it today, or years from now, at every ultimatum, no matter what. That's a lesson Will's only now just learning, but now that he's accepted it, he knows that's how it's always been, how it's never going to change. We're always going to come back to each other, will always want to come back to each other. It's not fair to us or anyone else, but that's how it is, and I wouldn't change any of it, and I hope neither would he."

"Good god, Sonny. Don't apologize for loving your husband." Liam smiles, waving off his apology. It helps to hear it, hear the conviction in his voice, the words, the kind but firm look in his eyes. It helps to let go of any remaining regrets so he can actually find someone else, someone he can actually have. "You were never meant to be mine, not really."

Sonny gives him a sad smile. "No, I wasn't. But what I was getting at was… there might actually be someone you're close to who could be, if you let them. Someone who's not my biggest fan, who's overprotective of you, someone who came to the hospital for my husband despite not liking me, because you asked her to." Liam's heart starts pounding, as he looks at Sonny, confused. "Someone who made coffee for me, who's not a big fan of Will's because he doesn't return the feelings of a man she thinks of as his son, just because you asked."

"Viv?!" Liam screeches. "You can't be serious, Sonny. Viv is my best friend. He's my confidante. My safe space."

Sonny's eyes go back to Will. "I know the feeling very well."

Liam shakes his head, scoffing, "No, it's not like that. There's no way in hell. She's too good to want to be with a train wreck like me."

Sonny scratches his face, a knowing smile on his face. "If I've learned nothing from being in love, after all this time, it's that regardless of every bad thing you think you are, it's the person that's always right there to quiet the thoughts, who's still there after everything..."

Liam covers his face with his hands, hiding the smile that insists on forming on his face. Before Will and Sonny came to Melas, everyone was always asking when they'd stop playing chicken, but they'd stopped ever since. He'd thought people had stopped, but if Sonny can still see it, then maybe. Maybe Viv never stopped looking at her the way everyone but him can see, and just the thought alone is both a comfort and terrifying.

Liam shakes his head, resting his hands on Will's bed. He reaches across for Sonny's hand, and after a moment, Sonny lets him take it.

"Sonny." Liam says carefully, stroking his hand with his thumb, out of the overwhelming rush of affection for him, this wonderful, kind, caring man sitting quietly by the bed holding the love of his life. "I don't know if Will's going to make it. But I do know if there's a way for Will to beat this, to wake up, he would do it. Will do it. For you, because of you."

Sonny squeezes Liam's hand tightly, and he moves his eyes down to his lap to hide the fresh tears that came to the surface.

"He has to come back to me." he exhales. "Please, let him come back to me."