Sorry it took so long. Life's busy, you know. You thought this was soon to be over? This story may be short, but not that short.

Nobody died. It was pretty anticlimactic but everybody involved in the events of the previous day was glad nobody had gotten hurt. Well, not exactly.

Christian was on a hospital bed, having been shot in the leg by Rafe. The baby was found in a car parked in an abandoned parking lot near the square, a place that was soon going to be replaced by a new mall. The car had the windows rolled down, so David was in no danger of suffocation or anything. In fact, he had been sleeping the whole time, and didn't show any signs of having been hurt by Christian. A jogger who used to pass by the place had found odd the presence of a car in an abandoned place, so he approached it and saw the baby. Concerned, he alerted the police and soon David was reunited with Rafe.

Ben's conviction was overturned, and the new evidence Rafe and Ciara managed to collect reopened the case. As Ben regained his freedom, the authorities resolved that Christian would have to be processed, for the murder of Jordan, for kidnapping David, for lying about his identity and for the attempted murder of Sonny and Will.

Looking at his left hand, cuffed to the bed, Christian knew it was going to be very difficult to get out of his situation.

The door opened.

Christian looked up to see that Will had just entered his room, and did not look happy at all.

"Hey" Will said, looking at him straight in the eye. "You and I need to have a talk".

Chad entered the living room of the Mansion, rubbing his eye and yawning having just woken up, and much to his shock stared at his wife gaping at an enormous floral arrangement placed on the table., consisting of red and yellow roses, and some baby's breath flowers just for decoration purposes. There was a golden card with something written in cursive, purple letters, and Abigail had not dared to touch it yet. The flowers had been placed in a small wooden pot, and had a white lace made of silk.

"What the hell?" Chad said, confused.

This went unnoticed by Abigail, who was too amazed by the flowers to pay attention to anything else. Her eyes were shining. "Chad, this is so beautiful".

Chad was too sleepy to function correctly. "What?"

"These!" Abigail exclaimed. "I can't believe you had this arranged for me, I didn't even tell you I was gonna come back early!"

Chad opened his mouth to speak, but Abigail ignored him in favor of taking the card and reading it.

"Abby..."

"I love this!" Abigail cried. However, she frowned when she finished reading it. "Wait, why does it have this date? I don't understand".

"Date? What date?"

"This, look" she said, as she gave Chad the card to read it. Chad was finally fully awake, and read it. "Why would it say 'May 2014'? I mean, it can't be about us, you weren't even in Salem at the time".

When Chad was done with the card, he had an understanding expression. "Yeah, this isn't for you".

Abigail raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I mean, it's thoughtful, and I'm flattered you think I could think of doing all this, even that the handwriting is mine, which it's not, but no, I didn't have any flowers arranged..." he trailed off when he saw that Abigail had crossed her arms and was starting to glare at him. He panicked. "...for today. i didn't have any flowers arranged for today".

"Are you sure about that?"

"I totally am" Chad said, making a quick mental note of calling the nearest flower shop for something quick. "This must have came this morning. You were supposed to come home tomorrow".

"Well, I still don't know who that thing is for, or who it is from" she said, grabbing the card.

"Yeah, I forgot to mention, remember when I told you Will would stay here for a few days?"

Abigail nodded. "Yeah. I'm really glad he's innocent and that he's out. But what does that have to do with anything...?"

"The flowers are from Sonny".

Abigail raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Trying to score some points, I see"

Chad grinned. "Are you making fun of your cousin?"

"A little" she admitted. "I would smack Will in the head if he took Sonny back immediatly, after Sonny's been spending time with that guy who turned out to be a total psycho! Yes, I heard the news when I was just getting here. Believe me, I love both my cousins to death, but I'd expect Will to at least make Sonny win his heart properly".

"Oh, he is" said Chad. "Reluctantly, but he is. This was all Sonny's idea".

"Good" Abigail replied. "I hope he treats him good. God knows Will deserves a break after everything, and I think Sonny can do this right".

"I gotta admit, the date has me confused too"

"May 2014... Oh, that's when he and Will got married!" she exclaimed. "Ok, this is a perfect start. He better top this next time".

Chad nodded. "Agreed. Now put that card back where it was so I can give you a proper welcome".

Abigail grinned, putting the card back, and following him to the bedroom.

The golden card shone with the morning sunlight that came through the window, enlightening its message:

People were all around them, but with eyes that had gone intensely blue he whispered:

"I love you".

(Maurice - E. M. F.)

May, 2014.

Christian stared at Will, confused. "What are you doing here?".

"Well" he replied, approaching his bed. "I figured, since you tried to kill us, and almost ruined our lives, not to mention you kidnapped Rafe's baby..."

"My baby" Christian barked.

"Yeah, no, shut up, ok?" Will said. "See, after that little stunt that you pulled, no one in his right mind will ever let you get custody of David. No judge will even let near him, and, you know what? You brought it all on yourself".

Will was already next to Christian's bed. Right next to his bandaged leg, to which he gave a look. "Very nice, how they patched you up. It sucks to get shot, believe me, I know. I wouldn't know how much it hurts to have a gunshot wound on a limb, though, I was shot in the abdomen, right here". He pointed at the spot on himself where he had been shot several years ago, the same day his daughter was born.

"All I know is that when I moved, it hurt like a son of a bitch" he continued. "Now, you obviously can't move. So, I know what else I can do. See, there's something I really didn't like about yesterday. You had Sonny at gunpoint".

"I didn't mean to..."

Will let out a small chuckle. "Um, I'm sorry, I must be confused. I could have sworn I told you to shut up. Wasn't I clear?"

Christian glared at him.

"Hm, I guess I wasn't" Will mumbled. He patted strongly Christian's bandaged leg.

"Ah" Christian gasped in pain.

Will smirked. "Now that I got your attention, I want you to listen and I want you to listen well".

He patted the bandaged leg every time he said a word.

"If you..."

Pat.

"...ever..."

Pat.

"...get close..."

Pat.

"...to Sonny..."

Pat.

"...Ari..."

Pat.

"...David or anyone in general..."

Pat, pat, pat.

"...I will hunt you down and I promise you'll be sorry you were ever born".

He patted the leg one more time and with a little more strenght than before. "Got it?"

Christian's eyes were teary from the pain, and nodded.

Will looked at him with hate, and gave him a small grin. "Good. Now go to hell".

With that said, he left the room.

Just as he was out, he looked up when he heard someone slowly clapping. It was his uncle Steve, only with two good eyes, an expensive suit, and a smirk on his face. Right, that man was not Steve Johnson.

It was Stefano DiMera.

Sonny entered his apartment after dropping Arianna off at school. The previous day, after the whole ordeal with Christian, he had come with Will and made him hide in a closet (Will had laughed at the irony). When Arianna came home, Will came out (again, ironically) and surprised her. Many tears fell, smiles and laughs were present too. Will stayed for dinner, but had to leave to the DiMera Mansion.

"But why do you have to go?" Ari asked sadly. "Are you and Papa breaking up again?"

"No, sweetheart, of course not" Will replied, kneeling down to be face to face with her. "You know I love Papa so much, and we are never breaking up ever again".

"But why can't you stay?"

"Well" Sonny intervened. "Papa is a little mad at himself for not supporting Daddy when he needed it. So he's going to make amends".

That had Ari interested. "How?"

Will chuckled. "Oh, yeah. Apparently Papa is going to woo Daddy all over again".

"Oooh" she said, starting to get excited. "Then you need to leave!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yes, because Papa and I are going to look for flowers and presents and sweets..."

"Oh, I'm not that much of a sweet tooth..."

"... and stuffed animals and pretty things..."

Ari had already stood up, grabbed Sonny's hand and took him to the room where they had the laptop. Sonny gave Will an alarmed glance, but Will just chuckled, and left the apartment.

Sonny sighed happily at the memory. He hoped Will had liked his first present. The next one had to be even better.

"And I know exactly what it's going to be".

"Wow" Will said, as he eyed the man in his uncle's body. "I was actually wondering when you'd be reaching out to me. Not that I'd feel left out if you didn't".

Stefano raised an eyebrow. "Ah, William. Sarcastic and witty as always. I must admit I missed you and your antics".

Will gave him an uncomfortable smile. "Yeah, you in my uncle Steve's body? It's weird. I should go".

He motioned to leave, but Stefano stopped him by putting his hand on Will's chest. "Ah, ah, boy. Come on. I know this is not my most conventional comeback, but you must admit it was smart. And by the way, I'm really happy to see you out of prison. I knew you couldn't have been responsible for what happened to your mother in law".

"Ah, you've thought about me" Will said, pretending to be touched. "I'm surprised you even heard about it. I figured you were too busy plotting your next revenge to even care".

Stefano gave him a small smile, and put his hands on Will's arms. "William, I do care. Because, whether you like it or not, you are family".

"I really don't like it" Will said. He knew he could be honest with Stefano to a certain level, including that kind of situations. He knew the older man appreciated it, even if he didn't like it. Besides, it was better to be cautious. "I only accept it because of EJ and Chad".

"Fair enough" Stefano chuckled.

"Why were you clapping?"

Stefano grinned at him, in his own creepy, terrifying way, which in Steve's face it was even worse. "I saw you inside with that man. I'm assuming that's the one who lied about his identity and almost killed, uh, what's his name...?"

"Sonny".

"Sonny, yes. You must have been furious".

"I wasn't that mad" Will lied.

Stefano gave him a knowing look. "I saw you, William. You gave him a warning, didn't you? Let me guess, do not come anywhere near my family or else? And then, the leg where he was shot. I can only imagine, it was right there, the opportunity of inflicting pain to that bastard and make him fear you, and you just could not resist".

Will was looking at him in shock. The man must have known him better than he thought.

"I can tell by the look in your eyes that I'm right" Stefano said. "Ah, William. You are a true DiMera".

"No, I'm not" Will said, chuckling in disbelief.

"Yes, you are" Stefano insisted. "I took you under my wing all those years ago, and it seems that more than just my knowledge has stayed with you".

Will scoffed. "You are crazy. I'm not a DiMera. Even less, like you".

Stefano didn't look offended at all. "Oh, son, you've been a DiMera ever since Elvis married your mother the first time. Once you become part of the family, there's no going back".

"Lucky me" Will deadpanned. "Look, this was fun, but I really should go".

"Wait, William" he said. "At least, before you go..."

Stefano took out two small flasks out of his pockets, and offered one to Will. "Let us have a toast. For your freedom".

Will stared at the flask Stefano was offering him, and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not drinking anything you have to give me".

"Ah come on, William" Stefano chuckled. "You are a smart boy. You know it would be foolish of me to try amd hurt my own family. I know you think I'm a monster, but I'm not that bad".

He looked at Will in the eyes. "You know me better than most people, William. You know I mean no harm to you".

Will hesitated. Of all his experience with Stefano DiMera, he had been pretty decent. But then again, he had hurt people he loved in the past. How could Will trust somebody like that?

"William" Stefano said softly. "Just one toast".

"I want the other one" Will said quickly.

Stefano seemed to be taken aback, but nodded anyway. "Very well".

He offered him the other flask. Will stared at it, and took it with trembling fingers.

Stefano gave him a satisfied smile, and raised his own flask. "To you, may you get back everything you lost, and live a happy life with your family as you deserve".

Will gave him an uneasy smile as he raised his flask too, and drank.

"Hey Will, Sonny left something for you, you must have missed it" Chad said, as he left a voice mail over the phone. "I mean you left pretty early and I woke up like an hour ago and saw it... Anyway, call me back, Jennifer wants to talk to you about working for the Spectator again".

"Hey" Abigail said as she entered the room, having just gotten out of the shower. "Was that Will?"

"That was his voicemail actually" he replied. "It's weird. He almost always picks up the phone".

"Maybe he's in a meeting" she suggested.

"It's Sunday" Chad smiled at her. "And I don't think people schedule meetings at this hour".

"Oh, Chad, are you worried?" she teased.

Chad huffed. "No, I just don't want him to get in trouble".

Abigail frowned. "Trouble? What do you mean trouble?"

"Well, my father is still out there".

"What, you think he's gonna hurt him?"

"Not exactly" Chad said. "Father has always been fascinated with Will, you know, he says he cares about him, but you've seen how he's always after his family, especially the Bradys. I don't know, knowing Father, anything is possible".

"Will is not gonna fall for his tricks" Abigail said. "He's too smart for that".

Chad nodded, as he went to open the door, for the bell had just rung. "I really hope you're right".

"Hey" Sonny greeted once Chad opened. "Is Will here? I wanna see if he saw my present".

"He hasn't" Chad replied, letting him in. "For some reason he went out early today, but he's not responding calls or messages".

"That's weird, he always does" Sonny said. "You don't think he's hurt, do you?"

Chad and Abigail looked at each other. "We think maybe my father is after him".

"Stefano? Why the hell would Stefano be interested in Will?"

"Chad was explaining to me that they have quite the relationship" said Abigail. "Apparently Stefano sees Will as a son or something like that".

"He was married to Kate, and EJ is married to Sami" Chad added. "He's basically family".

"And considering nobody else wants to be involved with him, he's gonna try to reach out to Will".

Sonny looked at them in disbelief. "I find quite strange that Stefano would try to do something with Will, to be honest. Don't get me wrong, but isn't he supposed to be reaching out to people who are closer to him?"

"I'm just being cautious" Chad replied. "Will just got out of prison, so he hasn't been able to truly experience an encounter with the new Stefano DiMera, who, in Steve's body, is more dangerous than he's ever been".

"Ok, let's say Stefano does get to Will" said Sonny. "What happens?"

"Stefano's been known for using fear to make people do what he wants" Abigail said. "If they resist, he uses force".

"I really don't like the sound of that".

"Considering Will isn't responding, Father may have done something to him" said Chad.

"Ok, we are getting way too ahead of ourselves!" Sonny exclaimed. "Maybe he's meeting somebody or went to the prison to see Ben. Fortunately, I know someone who can tell us where he is or what he's doing".

Stefano entered his hideout with a smug smile on his face. He had a plan, he always did. Many people had been disloyal to him in his absense, many of them believing they had seen the last of the Phoenix and doing as they pleased with his resources and his name. It was time for revenge.

The board of DiMera Enterprises had betrayed him. For he was dead, they believed themselves free of his power and did what they wanted with the company, including hiring many useless people as leaders of it, stopping its growth and making a joke out of it. It would be so easy for him to reveal himself, claim back what was his. But he was in a new body, and the story of his essence being implanted in it was too farfetched to be believable to the members of the board, no matter how true it was.

So Stefano knew he needed to take them out, one by one. And he had the perfect ally for it. no one would suspect it was him, and the power and money would be his and his family's once again.

"Ah, dear William" he mused. "It's going to be such a pleasure working with you".

Stefano got out of a room, having had a secret meeting with his most loyal ally, Dr Rolf, and walked towards the elevator. As he passed by another room, he did a double take and stopped to see. Inside was a young man on a bed, handcuffed, and next to him was Will, who looked very much angry. Stefano had heard what had happened the previous day. How that man had been responsible for a crime another man had been accused of, and how he had been exposed just as the other one was in the process of being executed. And to prevent being captured, he had had Will and Sonny at gunpoint.

Being Stefano who he was, he figured he had to take action. After all, that man had threatened to hurt a member of his family, and that was something he was just not going to accept. But, when he approached the room, he saw through the window what he never thought he would see.

Will was talking, and touching roughly the man's bandaged wound. He saw as the man flinched and gasped in pain, until the point of actually crying. Stefano couldn't help but feel pride.

Stefano needed revenge on his enemies. And he needed someone ruthless and not suspicious to do the dirty work.

"Well" he said, as he took out a flask and a small bottle with a strange liquid in it. He poured it in the flask. "I know exactly who will help me".

"I'm telling you, it was so creepy!" Will ranted as he paced back and forth in John and Marlena's loft. John was looking at him, having heard Will's story of how he had met Stefano earlier that day.

The first thing Will did after his encounter with Stefano was run to the loft, hoping to see John and tell him everything. He knew that John would be interested, the man was occupying Steve's body and Will knew John was looking for a way to neutralise Stefano and bring Steve back.

"But you aren't feeling anything strange right now, are you? Like nothing was laced in that drink he gave you?" John asked.

"No, nothing at all" Will replied. "In fact, I..."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Both Will and John turned to the door as someone outside started pounding on it.

Will looked at John quizzically, and went to open it, jumping back just before Sonny managed to accidentally punch him in the face. "WHOA, WHAT THE HELL!"

"AH! Will!" Sonny exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "My God, where have you been, we were so worried!"

"I was gone for a few hours, that's pretty... Toxic" Will joked, hugging him back. "Sonny, let go of me, I can't breathe".

"Sorry" he said, letting go.

"Sonny, what's going on?" asked John. "What got you so desperate?".

Sonny looked at the door, embarrassed, and rubbed the back of his head. "Chad told me he and Abigail believe Stefano was after Will".

"Yeah, yeah, Will was just telling me he met Stefano this morning".

"He got to you?!" Sonny asked, horrified.

"Yeah, he just wanted to talk to me" Will said, deciding to omit the part of Stefano offering him a drink, to not worry Sonny. "He wanted to say he was happy to see me out of prison".

Sonny sighed in relief. "Thank God you're alright".

Will grinned at him. "You could have called, you know?"

"We all did!"

"No you didn't..." Will said, checking his phone and frowning when he saw Chad and Sonny's lost calls. "That's weird. I must have not felt my phone".

Sonny sighed. "I take it you did not see my present either".

"What present?"

"Remember what I told you yesterday? I'm making good on my promise".

Will raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really? Then I should go see it".

John shook his head. "How did you know Will was here, Sonny?"

"I didn't" he replied. "I was actually looking for Marlena".

"Oh, she's with a patient now" said Will.

"Yeah, and nothing's wrong" John added, joining his hands together. "If anything happens, or if Stefano approaches, you know what to do".

"Call you, I assume" Sonny said, as he and Will went to the door to leave.

Will grinned at him. "Of course".

With this COVID-19 thing going on, please, everybody be careful and take your precautions.

Please comment and thanks for reading!