Will stares at Sonny, trying to come with literally anything he could say at this moment, before finally giving up and laughing. "When you do, can you cash in the fight rain check first? That way we can use the other one for make-up sex. Nice little bonus."

"Sounds like a plan. Do you have to get back right this second, or can you stick around for a few minutes? I need some help handling and unrolling the rug I bought for this room. I was just gonna ask a counter guy, but based on what I'm paying them, I'd rather they do the job I hired them for."

"So now you're a penny pincher? You with the big wads of cash?"

"You don't carry wads of cash if you don't want to get robbed. This way I can get you to actually stick around so I can stare at your face a little longer."

"Clever." In truth, Will actually wants to stay, wants to be here. With him. "Okay, I'll help you with your little rug dilemma. Where is it?"

"Other room." Sonny gestures to the connecting door. "Most of what I've bought so far's being stored in there. I'm gonna work on the library next, so I can clean out what goes in those rooms and that one before starting on this one."

Will moves to the door he opens, then stares bug eyed. Liberace, he thinks, dressed up by a madman with eccentric taste. Tables, couches, carpets, lamps and and what Marlena would call tchotchkes were littered everywhere.

"Jesus, Sonny, when did you have time to get all of this?"

"Here and there. I keep trying to put my foot down, but I never listen. Anyway--" Sonny starts to make his way through the narrow pathways formed by his purchases. "--place is huge. It needs a lot of...stuff. Thought about sticking to the 40s, when the place was originally built. I like to mix it up."

Will spots a hand carved conch shell on top of what he recognizes as a Raoul Lardin side table. "Mission accomplished."

"Check out this lamp." Sonny traces his fingers over the head of a Bradley and Hubbard, crawling with beautiful leafs.

"I've got a soft spot for vintage lamps."

"Sonny, just by looking at all this, I'd say you have a soft spot for everything."

"I know I have a soft spot for you. Found the rug." Sonny pats the long rolled up carpet leaning against a wall. "We can probably drag it, slither it through. Should've kept it closer to the door, but wasn't entirely sold on where I was gonna put it when I first bought it. Now I know."

With their combined strength, they manage to get it on the floor, then, with Sonny bent over and moving backwards, they move it around all the other furniture. Once or twice he has to stop to move a couch, and once more to move a table.

"You know." Will says as they both bend down to their knees, panting slightly, in the smoking room. "In about a month you're just gonna be rolling this thing back up. Nobody leaves rugs lying out during the summer. Too hot."

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

Will sits back on his heels, patting Sonny's face. "Sonny, you'll be thinking about summer well before the end of April. Alright." Will pushes up his sleeves, placing the palms of his hands on the roll. "Ready?"

Both of them on their hands and knees, they fumble along, pushing the carpet, showing off the pattern. Will can only see glimpses of the color and texture, but he can see why Sonny wants it in here.

The flowers and butterflies are soft, blending with a frame that sticks out against an almost turquoise background. Once they have it unrolled, Will gets to his feet to look at the whole effect while Sonny fusses with the framing.

"Why bother having a garden when you have a miniature one right here? I can almost smell th flowers."

"Pretty neat, huh? Works really well in here. I'm gonna use the two Nyle tweed couches in here, and maybe the Queen Anne table. I'll start there, then we'll just keep going."

He looks up at the simple light bulb hanging from the ceiling. "I saw this really nice chandelier. Waterford crystal, Marie Therese. Wish I'd bought it."

"Why don't we see how your couches do in here first?"

"Huh? Oh. Cause they're heavy. I can get Chad to give me a hand with those later. He's supposed to stop by later."

"But I'm here right now."

"Last thing I want is for you to overexert yourself."

Will just gives Sonny a look and walks back to Sonny's makeshift storeroom.

They've just finished putting the second couch in place, and Will's just stepped back to see how it looks, when he hears a baby crying.

Will looks over at Sonny, who looks like he's lost in thought.

"Did one of the counter guys bring a baby with them?" Will asks, and Sonny closes his eyes, sinking down on the couch.

"You can hear it? Nobody else does. The slamming doors, yeah. And the running water, even though nobody's there who could've turned on the faucets. But nobody hears the baby crying."

A chill runs down Will's spine, making him glance uneasily towards the hall. "Where's it coming from?"

"The makeshift nursery, usually. Sometimes it's the bedroom a few doors down from it. Alice's room. But it's usually in the makeshift nursery. It stops when I get close to the door. Chad's been here twice now when it happened. But he didn't hear it. But you do."

"I need to see it. I can't stand hearing a baby cry like that." Will starts up the stairs, and almost as quick as it started, it stops.

For one instant, it's like the whole house has gone silent. Then Will hears the noise in the kitchen, the music from a radio, the men humming as they work.

"That is weird." Will stands on the stairs, one hand on the railing, heart pounding. "I was just thinking about how I wanted to pick up that baby. Everyone always says you should just let babies cry it out, but I don't understand why at all. That's what I was thinking about, and he suddenly stopped crying."

"It's even more weird that you were thinking about picking up your great grandfather. It's Bill." Sonny says when Will turns to look down at him. "I'm positive it's him. Maybe you can hear him because he's your family. Maybe I can because I own the place. I tried to get in touch with the previous owners, to ask them, but they haven't called back."

"They might not want to talk to you."

"Well they can't talk to me at all unless I ask. Does it creep you out?"

Will looks up the stairs again, repeating the same question to himself."It probably should, but no. Not at all. I think it's fascinating. I think--was." Will's cut off as door slams upstairs. "Well, that definitely wasn't the baby." He says, dashing upstairs.

"Will!" But Will's already all the way up there, giving Sonny no choice but to chase after him.

Marching down the hall, Will grabs the knob and flings the door open.

As Will reaches Alice's room, the cold air sweeps in immediately. The shock alone has Will's breath coming out in puffs. Mesmerised, Will wraps his arms around his chest.

"This doesn't feel like the baby." He whispers.

"No, this is angry." When Sonny puts his hands on Will's shoulders to warm him up, the door slams in their face.

WIll jumps--he can't help it. And can clearly hear the nerves in his forced laugh. "Not the best hostess, whoever this ghost is."

"This is the first time I've seen it." There's a hard lump in Sonny's throat as he says it. His heart, Sonny thinks as he takes two steady breaths. "Whoever it is--was--is really, really angry."

"It's Alice's room. Graysons and Hortons are known to have quite a temper when something pisses us off."

"But it doesn't feel like anger from a woman. Definitely not that sweet young woman in the photo downstairs."

"What do you know about women?"

"Excuse me, Abi's my cousin too, and she can be mean when she wants to be. I just meant it feels more...full-force. More aggressive."

"If I was the one murdered and buried in an unmarked grave, I'd be pretty aggressive too." Will forces himself to reach out to grab the ice cold doorknob. "It's not turning."

Sonny puts a hand over Will's. The cold sweeps out again, and the knob turns easily. When thr door opens, there's only an empty room, full of sun and shadows.

"It's just a little scary, isn't it?" But Will manages to step over the threshold.

"Just a bit."

"You know what I think, Sonny?"

"What?"

"I think someone who chooses to stay here, every night without fail, buying furniture to decorate it…" Will turns around and slides his arms around Sonny's waist. "Has bigger balls than anyone I've ever met."

"Yeah?" Taking the invitation for what it is, Sonny leans in and kisses him. "I can put aside another half hour for that sex rain check now."

Will laughs and hugs him, hard. "Sorry, but I have to be getting back now. Monday night's getting closer. But if you happen to be around, at around 3 or 4 in the morning, I might stay awake long enough to…" Will cups a hand between Sonny's legs, stroking the front. "Long enough to give those balls a stretch."

Sonny manages to not whimper, but it's ridiculously close. "Thursday. When you're completely in the clear."

Will's still holding his hand in between his legs, can feel the hardness. "Thursday?"

"When you're in the clear." But Sonny still kisses him, hard, so Will can taste for himself how he feels. "Come out here. We can have dinner. You can stay the night." Sonny pushes Will against the wall. Uses his teeth. "Stay. I want to share a bed with you. Thursday. Tell me you'll come out so we can be together."

"Okay, okay!" WIll pulls himself free. If he lets that go for another minute, Will thinks, they'll never make it to Thursday, and he'll just let them have sex right here on the floor. "I really have to get back. I shouldn't have stayed as long."

Wil looks up and down the hall as he finally steps out of the room. "I don't recall ever spending the night in a haunted mansion. When should I show up?"

"Early."

"I just might do it. You don't need to walk me out." Will shoots him a naughty smile. "Gotta be a problem with all that walking, the shape you're in right now. Stop by the pub if you change your mind."

Sonny raises a fingertip to Will's lips, then kissed him, before letting Will walk away, making finger guns.

Fitting gesture, Sonny thinks. There's times where just one look from Will is as lethal as a well placed bullet.

Long as he holds out till Thursday, he'll eat any bullet fired his way.