A/N: All I'm gonna say is that I'm glad this year is almost over and that I'm not giving up on this story. Oh and by the way, thanks for reading :)

February 11, 2016

Will was pushing an empty stroller towards his house as Arianna refused to sit in it. She was right beside him, holding his hand while the other one was carrying a Pikachu plush toy that Abigail had bought her. As they neared the door, Will paused and dug through his pockets, looking for his house keys. Arianna pulled on her father's pants leg.

"What is it, Ari?" he asked.

She pointed towards the door. "Bad man."

Will looked up and snorted, before patting her head. "Good girl."

Paul was sitting on the ground beside the doormat. He appeared to be asleep.

Even from where he was standing, Will could smell the reek of the alcohol. Suddenly a thought came to him, and he turned to face his daughter, placing his hands on his knees.

"Why don't we play a game?"

"Ok," she giggled.

"You go to your room and wait until I say it's okay to come out. But most importantly, you have to stay quiet."

She nodded. He tiptoed to the door and tried desperately to put his key in the door of the house without making any noise. Putting a finger to his lips, he ushered her inside.

Once she was far away enough from the door he slammed it shut. Paul didn't budge. Will rolled his eyes and grumbled something about how much his life sucked. Then he marched over and tapped Paul on the shoulder.

"Hey, you need to leave." After a long pause when he didn't respond, he snapped his fingers in front of his face. "Hey, Paul!"

Paul jolted awake, banging his head against the wall.

Will cringed. "Whoops," he mumbled.

Paul's eyes fluttered shut for a moment as he rested his head against the wall behind him. "You came."

Will cocked his head to the side. "Yes, well, I live here so…" He shook his head, realizing he was getting off track. "Why are you even here? And how did you get here? And…why are you looking at me like that?" He questioned as Paul was grinning up at him, his eyes glistening with delight.

"You know, you're really cute when you're flustered."

He smacked his head with his hand, then scrubbed it down his face. "Let's get you inside."

Will wrapped his arm around him, hoisting him up to a standing position. As they made their way inside Paul's phone slipped out of his jacket pocket unnoticed. Once he helped him settle on the couch, he quickly put some distance between them.

"Thanks," Paul said as he eased back against the pillow and relaxed.

"You can't stay here long." Suddenly, Will felt something underneath his foot. "What the hell?" he mumbled lifting his foot up. He glanced down, seeing the phone. He picked it up off the floor. "You see I have to make Ari dinner and then…it's just not a good time right now." he said, as he began scrolling through his phone. "You want me to call somebody? Maybe your dad or…" he glanced down at the phone noting two missed calls from someone named Tyler. "How about Tyler? Is he your friend or something?"

"Fuck no." Will looked at him oddly. Paul hunched his shoulders and stared at the floor for a moment. "No one cares about me." he mumbled.

Will looked him over, frowning. The man before him wasn't Paul. At least, he didn't act like him. It wasn't like him to get drunk like this, but then again he didn't know much about him other than the fact that he used to play for the San Francisco Giants and that he was gay. And the last time he had been that down was when he found out he couldn't play baseball anymore.

The memory flashed before his eyes.

"It's over. I spoke with my surgeon this morning. My arm…it won't heal."

He could see tears forming in his eyes. He stared at him confused and afraid. "But I thought the surgery was a success."

"It is if you want a normal life. A normal range of motion. A normal wear and tear. I'll never be able to pitch again." Paul let out a hard sigh. "My career's over."

Will looked him over once more and sighed. Something's not right.

"I know this may sound a little ridiculous coming from me, but I care about you." Paul peaked his brows and gave him a disbelieving look, as if he were being unnecessarily stupid. "I could have just left you out there to freeze but I didn't." He just shrugged, gazing down at the floor once again. "And John's a great guy. I'm sure he cares about you."

"Are you done yet?" Paul said, his voice laced with pain.

Will sighed, defeated. "I guess I am."

Paul looked up at him, with tears in his eyes. "I never thought I'd say this, but I wish I never came out." He quickly wiped the tear trickling down his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "Shit." he said, feeling embarrassed for letting Will see him crying once again. "Stop crying," he told himself.

Will just stood there not knowing what to think or say.

"I'd rather be living a lie. At least I was happy then," he continued.

"No." Will shook his head. "That's not true."

"It is true! I had friends. A team that cared. A guy who I thought I was beginning to feel a connection to."

"Paul—"

"And now I have nothing," he said quietly.

Will walked over to the couch, plopping down next to Paul. "You have a father, if you are willing to give him a chan—", he paused as Paul was glaring at him. "Look, you obviously came here to tell me something." Paul tried to speak but he interrupted him. "But if you're not feeling up to it now, you can tell me in the morning."

"Does that mean—"

"Yes, you can stay here tonight."

He gave him an uneasy look. "What about Arianna?"

"I'll figure something out."

He nodded.

Will gave him a small smile.

They sat for a long time in silence.

Eventually Will pulled out his phone. Noting the time, he let out a long sigh. "I guess I'm getting takeout." Paul gave him an apologetic look. Will silently cursed himself for saying it out loud. He waived him off. "Don't worry about it."

"At least let me pay for it."

"Well, since you're offering," Will teased, causing him to laugh. He laughed as well.

The laughter stopped and they fell silent as Paul scooted closer to him. "Will I—"

"Knock, knock, knock."

Startled, Will quickly jumped to his feet.

"Were you expecting someone?" Will shook his head, his voice abandoning him. He turned back to look at Paul, a sudden realization dawning on him. If they see me with Paul, it would look bad.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Are you going to get that?"

"Yes, just stay here," Will told him before quickly shutting the door behind him.

He now stood face to face with Chad. "Hi," he said meekly.

Chad raised his eyebrows. "Um, hi…Is this a bad time?" he said, looking at the door.

"Pfft. No. What makes you say that?"

Chad huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "For starters, you seem pretty keen on keeping me out."

"What! No," Will said, his voice squeaking slightly at the end. "Trust me. It's nothing like that at all, Chad." Chad gave him a flat, disbelieving look. "It's just it's pretty messy in there you know with all of Arianna's toys and what not. What are you doing here anyway?" he said with a nervous laugh.

"I just wanted to make sure everything is alright. You know after your conversation with Paul." He saw Will's smile falter. "You did talk to him, right?"

"Funny you should say th—"

"He's here, isn't he?"

"Yup." He replied.

"So?"

"He hasn't told me yet. He's…uh…he's in pretty bad shape." Will admitted.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"The thing is, I feel like it's partly my fault." Will ran his hands through his hair in pure frustration. "Ugh, why am I such a bad person?"

"You're not," Chad said honestly. "I think you're actually one of the few people in this town who is not a selfish, egotistical jerk." Will snorted, shaking his head. "I'm serious."

"What about everything that happened between me and Sonny."

"What about it?" Will gave him a knowing look. "Yeah, you may have not been at your best then, but it didn't give Sonny the right to just abandon you and Arianna."

Will winced at his words, but said nothing. Eventually, he motioned toward the door. "I should get back."

"Yeah. Of course. Do you want some help?"

He shrugged. "I think I can manage on my own."

Chad nodded. "If you need anything, just call."

"Thanks."

Chad gave him a final nod before walking away.

February 12, 2016

While she watched Paul lay sleeping on the couch, Arianna tilted her head to the side. She had been staring at him for quite some time.

"Leave him alone." Will whispered.

Ariana began to jump up and down, giggling. Paul groaned, rolled over, and pulled a pillow over his head.

"Ari, shh. Be quiet."

Will's voice penetrated his foggy mind. When his brain finally registered his surroundings Paul opened his eyes, looking around the room. Will was now chasing his daughter around the room. He let out a soft chuckle. Then, he gripped his head as he slowly sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the couch.

Will managed to settle her down and she now sat at the kitchen table. He looked over his shoulder at him. "You're up." He motioned him to come over.

Paul stayed seated a moment, then he stood up and walked over to the table. As soon as he sat down, Will handed him two aspirins along with a glass of water.

"Thanks," he mumbled.

Paul popped the pills in his mouth and took a swig of the water. Arianna began laughing again.

"Ari," Will warned, but then started laughing himself.

Paul looked back and forth between the two. "What's so funny?"

Will held out a hand, stopping him. "Okay, don't be mad but Arianna might have covered your face with marker while you were sleeping." Paul shook his head. "I swear to God, Paul, I have no idea she was doing that until it was too late." he blabbed out.

"It's alright." He looked over at her. "I guess this is payback, huh?"

Arianna smiled at him. Then she looked at Will. "Want Cheerios."

"Okay, okay," Will said, shaking his head. "I hope that's alright with you?'

"Nah, I'm not hungry." He eyed him curiously. "Honestly, I'm fine," Paul said, faking a smile.

Once Arianna finished breakfast, she rushed over to the television. Will walked over to turn on the TV and placed a movie in the DVD player.

Paul watched as a talking dog appeared on the screen. Will made his way back to the table then sat down. "Sorry about that. It's her morning routine."

"I figured as much." He rubbed his hands nervously over his knees. "I guess this is it, huh?"

"It's totally up to you. But just so you know, there's no tape recorder this time so no pressure." he joked.

Paul just rolled his eyes and sighed deeply. "I don't even know where to start."

"Whatever's most comfortable."

Paul started fidgeting with his hands. "I was pretty pissed at you after the whole 'incident' so I thought I'd blow off some steam."

"Seems reasonable."

"At a gay bar."

"Okay…what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. And that's not the point." He slammed his hand on the table, causing Will to jump. He blushed with embarrassment and put his hands back on his lap. "I met this guy."

"Tyler?"

"Yeah, him. Let's just say he's not the kind of guy you wanna meet." Will frowned. After a brief pause, Paul sighed. "He seemed okay at first, I think. I don't remember much from that night. But then after a few weeks I got a call from him. He said it was extremely urgent that I call him back as soon as possible. But I never did." Will felt bad for him and put his hand on his to comfort him. "So a few days later he left a message saying that I might want to get myself checked out…that I might be positive." Will stared at him, dumbfounded. "I was being stupid, that night. I brought this on myself."

Will stuttered, "But— I—you—how—"

"It doesn't matter," he argued.

"Paul—"

"I don't want to talk about it, anymore." Paul spat.

"Okay. I have to go." Will said, standing up suddenly.

Paul shook his head confused. "What? Why?"

"I have to make a call."

"And you can't do that here?"

"Then I'm meeting up with T later this afternoon. I have things to do you know." Will said as he began collecting his things in haste. He looked up at Paul as he remained seated. "So you'll have to leave too."

"So that's it? That's all you're go—Screw you, man." Paul said as he got up from his seat.

"That's not what I'm...Look, we can talk about this later."

"No. I should never have told you." Paul said before he walked out of the house, slamming the door extra hard on his way out.