"Meet me at Town Square for the next assignment." Will read from his phone. As he stood there he couldn't help but wonder if this fate was inevitable getting sucked into EJ world. He is a Dimera after all.
"Hey, handsome." Marlena said coming up to Will.
"Oh!" Will said genuinely glad to see the one light in his life (other than Sonny) that was constant and enduring.
"Nice to see you here."
"Hi, Grandma, how you doing?"
"What did you call me?"
"Oh sorry, I mean Doc."
"Oh, thanks, that's much better. Well, you waiting for somebody? You got time for coffee?"
"Uh... yeah, maybe-I got a few minutes."
"I'm not interrupting, am I?"
"Uh, no, no, no, no. Um, yeah, let's do it. I've got time. Let's go." Under other circumstances Will would never have hesitated and would have said yes immediately but he didn't want Marlena to see him with EJ he didn't want to see the look of disappointment that would definitely be in her eyes.
Will and Marlena both got a cup of coffee and settled into a table outside in the square.
"You know you never answered me. Are you-are you meeting somebody here?"
"Uh, I just got-I got a full day."
"You've had a full few days."
"Mm-hmm."
"I'm still waiting for your response."
"What?" Will asked looking at Marlena with honest confusion.
"Our word game. Hello in there."
"Mmm."
"You've got a 62-point word sitting on your queue. Will you please put me out of my misery?" They both had a good laugh at Marlena's pitiful loss.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I-I got, you know, I've got a lot going on."
"You still thinking about leaving Salem?"
"Uh...no. I'm-I'm going to stay."
"I'm so glad to hear that. So now you can find some time to talk to your mom."
"I'm not... you know, I'm not sure how to bring up the subject. "Hey, Mom. Just happened to walk in on you and EJ sleeping together." Actually, you know what, that's not accurate. There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on." Will said with absolute disgust he hated both of them and was only civil towards EJ because he didn't want to go to jail.
"Will, I understand your anger. And it's justifiable. But the only person it's hurting is you."
"You know, you're not the first person to give me that advice." Though he wished she would be the last.
"Because it's good advice. You have to get past this anger, sweetheart. The only way to do it is to confront your mother. Let her-let her explain. Let her apologize to you."
"Nothing she could say could make me forgive her."
"She's your mother. And she's my daughter."
If that wasn't the biggest joke he's ever heard. Sami never knew how to be a good mother or daughter. "A daughter who has blamed you for everything that's gone wrong in her life. She has never given you a chance, so why should I give her one?"
"Grandma, why should I give my mom a chance? She's never given anyone else a chance, especially you."
"That's not so, sweetie."
"How can you say that? Ever since you came back, she's been treating you like crap. And she's tried to turn everyone against you. Grandma, I don't even know how—"
" How I can love her so? I do. I love her with my whole heart. I love her humor. I love her intelligence. I love her spirit. And mostly, I love her because she is my daughter. And she feels exactly the same way about you. Will, I'm as much to blame for not healing this relationship as your mother was. We just let our anger and hurt fester too long. That's why you have to talk to her now."
"I don't think I can do that." And he never would as far as he was concerned he didn't even have a mother.
"Oh, I think you can. It might be uncomfortable, but it's important. It'll make things so much easier later on. Promise.
"William. Will, I thought we, uh, I thought we were meeting at the, uh, entrance. That doesn't matter. You ready to get to work?" EJ said coming up to his table with Nicole by his side. He saw Marlena and plastered a smug smile all over his face.
"Yeah." Will said looking like a deer caught in the headlights. He looked between EJ and Marlena hoping she wouldn't attack EJ.
"What's going on here?" Marlena asked looking absolutely indignant and pissed off.
"Sorry, I, um, I was waiting at the entrance, but then I-I ran into my grandmother." He explained hoping his adoptive father wouldn't get mad.
"It's not a problem. You know how I feel about family."
"Mm-hmm." What a crock EJ didn't care about any family other than his own and he never considered Marlena family they only tolerated each other for Will's sake.
"Marlena, it's lovely to see you on such a glorious day."
"I'm hoping there's a misunderstanding here." Marlena said standing to her feet and ready to do battle.
"William works for me. I mean, he-he's my new campaign intern. I can tell you he's a very valuable member of the team."
"If you'd like to work on a campaign, I can talk to Abe for you." Marlena said making a point to ignore EJ and Nicole.
"Um, he didn't have any openings." Will lied hoping to diffuse the situation.
"I was very happy to help him out. And to have my son working alongside me." Will rolled his eyes he knew the whole comment was only to grate Marlena's nerves.
"I was speaking to Will, if you don't mind."
"I was merely explaining."
'You can merely be quiet." Marlena chastised.
"Sweetheart. Why don't you take a seat?" EJ said to Nicole.
"Oh. Okay."
"I'm sorry. We're having a private conversation. You weren't invited to join us." Marlena said supremely pissed off.
EJ clears his throat "Can I have a look at the menu? I'm famished. What's good here, do you know?"
"Will, you and me. Alone. Now." Marlena demanded.
Will looked to EJ for permission with a scared haunted look.
"You go ahead Will. Don't worry. It's going to take me a while to pick out something to eat. We can talk when you're finished."
"I guess he got his manners from his father."
"Um, I'll be right back."
"Grandma's not happy." Nicole said bewildered she really didn't know what to make of the situation.
"Well, that's her problem. Now, what's good for breakfast?"
"Look Grandma working for EJ's just a job. Seriously. And it's-and it's actually, you know, it's-it's cool. It has-has perks." Which wasn't a lie he really was enjoying the power that came with being EJ's son.
"What kind of perks, Will?"
"Um...concert tickets and um—"
"Mmm. My darling, you are working for a DiMera."
"I know. And I've done it before. I worked for Stefano a-a-a while back and nothing bad happened." Marlena never saw Will as a Dimera and always hated him for adopting Will.
"Why don't I call Abe and see if he can get you a job on his campaign?"
"You don't have to do that. Seriously. Seriously, I'm fine. And um, I don't-I don't want to be rude, but, I got to work so, uh, I can't talk right now. But... we'll talk later, okay?"
"William, do you remember that printer on the outskirts of town?"
"The one you sent me to the other day?"
"That's the one. Would you do me a favor? Could you run over there? They have some campaign posters ready for me. Just, um, take them along to the campaign headquarters."
"Okay, on my way."
"Oh, William? Thank you and I love you."
"Yeah." Will said hoping for the first time in a very long time that he could believe those words and be able to say them back.
"He's a good lad." EJ said to Nicole and looking after his son with pride. EJ couldn't be happier he was finally spending time with son and had the women of his dreams by his side. And pissing Marlena off was just a bonus. That self-righteous bitch never thought he was good enough to be Will's father. And since day one Marlena has tried to turn his son against him and if it wasn't for the fact that Will loved her so much he would have dealt with her long ago.
"Hi." Lexie said to Will with and exasperated laugh as he rushed past her without so much as a hello.
"Young people. Always in a hurry." Abe said with a smile
"Yeah." They both laugh. Until they see EJ and Nicole sitting at a table.
"Ah...well. You do have a pair of brass ones, EJ," Abe said barely containing his fury. "Committing atrocities one day and casually enjoying a meal in the square the next."
"I'm just having breakfast and, uh, hobnobbing with the locals. Something I plan on doing quite a lot of when I'm elected mayor. And I have no idea what, um, atrocities you're talking about."
Lexie sighs not knowing what to say to her brother.
"Well, how about hacking? Theft. Plagiarism." Abe accused.
"Well, compared to blackmail, assault, and murder, that probably seems like nothing to you. Right, EJ?" Lexie asked.
"But it's not nothing. I know you stole my jobs plan agenda."
"Instead of spinning these, uh, wild conspiracy theories, why don't you spend some time preparing for the debates, hmm? Or preparing a jobs plan? After all your ineffective years in office, it's probably the least you can do."
"You're not going to get away with this EJ. Not only will you lose the election... but you're going to be living proof, uh, like that old saying. "Crime doesn't pay." Not while I'm in charge."
"Every time I think you can't sink any lower, you find yet a deeper cesspool to swim in."
"Alexandra, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Don't, EJ! Don't. I'm putting you both on notice. I'm calling the debate moderator. I'm letting her know that there's a very good chance that your campaign would most likely try and steal the debate questions in advance."
"I feel sorry for you, Lexie. Yeah, you must feel really insecure about Abe's reelection chances to go to such lengths." Nicole said smugly.
"She's obviously seen the latest polls."
"You got that bump as a result of Abe's plan, not yours." Abe silently snickers as his wife berates EJ.
"EJ knows what the people want, and the people want EJ."
Abe laughs "Well, they won't once they know the truth. Smoke and mirrors can't last forever."
"Well, they don't need to last forever, Abe. Just needs to last until the election."
"You know, EJ... on a few rare occasions I actually thought I glimpsed a real human being inside of you, but I-I guess it was just my imagination. You don't have a soul. You are literally, an expensive, empty suit."
"I'm sorry, Alexandra. I have no idea why you're out of sorts on this one, okay? It's politics, all right? Abraham and I both know you can't take this too personally. The other day, Abraham and I were standing right there. We were having a chuckle, you know? Lexie."
"That's the last chuckle we'll have together. Let's go, Lexie." Abe said.
"Are you all right?" Nicole asked worried that EJ was hurting from Lexie's words. Few people could get to EJ and Lexie was certainly one of them.
"I'm fine. Great. No texts from Will. How long does it take to pick up some bloody posters?"
"Well, the, uh, look on Marlena's face when she found out will was working for you is priceless."
"Yeah."
"I wish I could see the look on Sami's face- I'm assuming she knows."
"Nicole, I know what you're doing, all right? I'm not answering any questions about William, so just drop it. Okay?" EJ couldn't understand why Nicole couldn't just be happy for EJ finally getting his son back and leave at that and after going ten rounds with his sister he was in no mood to do twenty questions.
"I will stop pestering you about Will Horton for the moment... if you're straight with me about Lexie." She said hoping to get EJ to open up.
"Okay. What would you like to know about Lexie?"
"I know you love your sister. So that tongue lashing had a sting. But I think Lexie's outrage really stems from the realization that her husband could lose this election."
"Her husband will lose this election." He said with certainty."
"So you don't care about what she says, then? Because I feel like she meant it. She may never speak to you again."
"I'm not going to lose any sleep about that, okay? She'll come around. She always does."
Will came barreling down the stairs into Horton's Square happy to finally be done work.
"Hey, handsome. Got a minute?" Marlena asked as Will came into the square.
"Um...I guess so. I'm done with work, but no lectures please."
"I promise. You are an adult. You may do what you like and work where you please."
"Thank you for saying that, Grandma."
Marlena gasps.
" Sorry, Doctor Evans."
"Thank you for saying that, yes. The thing is that... I couldn't live with myself if I didn't share with you some hard-learned knowledge."
"What is it?" Will asked cautiously.
"There is something I know... in a way that nobody else that walks the earth could know. That nothing good ever comes from associating with a DiMera."