"Where ya been?" Sonny asked when Will sat down on the stool in front of the bar. "I haven't seen you in over a week."
"I know." Will said. "Things have been crazy for the last couple of weeks, finals, studying, my thesis was due… " he continued. "Plus work, and taking care of Arianna. I don't know how I am ever going to juggle all of this."
"Hey!" Sonny said. "You will make it through it, I know it is hard but you have your family and they are all pitching in to take care of Arianna right?" He asked.
Will nodded. "Yeah they have been great!" he said. "Oh! And guess what else." He said excitedly.
"What?" Sonny asked, dreading the answer.
"I got a job at the Salem Chronicle." Will said. "It isn't much to start but at least I can work from home, so I can be there with Arianna more."
"And you get a byline!" Sonny said, "That's awesome man!" he said. "I will make you a congratulatory drink he said turning around.
Will was about to protest, until he saw Sonny pick up a large coffee cup and start mixing him a latte. When Sonny brought the drink back over and sat it in front of him, will nodded his thanks and then asked, "So what's new with you?" he said.
"Things are going great, Brian is about to go into his residency in a few weeks, and the club is doing well." Sonny said evasively.
"That's all cool." Will said, having no part of it. "And how are you?"
"I'm fine." Sonny said. "Just working like crazy." Sonny hedged. "What's you first assignment at the paper?" he asked, directing the conversation back to Will.
"I am going to cover the charity baseball camp that John is holding in a couple weeks." Will said. "I think they are going to have a surprise guest there, some big name star, so maybe I can get an interview from him."
Sonny groaned inwardly. "You will have fun." He said to Will. Pasting a smile on his face.
"Will, Sonny." Chad said as he came through the door. "What are you two up to?" he asked.
"Not much." Will answered. "How's it going?"
"Same old, same old." Chad said, "Just dropping in to check on my investment."
"Good" Sonny said, "Watch the bar for a few minutes, I have to run an errand."
"Sure, I guess." Chad said. "But I have a business meeting at Dimera enterprises in an hour."
Sonny nodded, "Come on Will let's take a walk."
Will scrambled off of the bar stool and gathered his things, quickly following Sonny out the door. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"Just for a walk." Sonny answered.
"Everything okay?" Will asked, looking at him curiously.
"Yeah they are good, better than they have been in a while actually." Sonny said, "Recently someone that I … knew a long time…." He began.
"Sonny… Hey!" Paul called across the square, striding right up to them and giving Sonny a 'friendly' hug, even if he did hold him close for a minute longer than would have been considered appropriate.
Sonny stepped back and took a deep breath. "Hey." He said. "Paul this is Will." He said making the introduction, not wanting to be rude. "Will, this is.."
"Paul Narita, Star pitcher for the Chicago Cubs." Will finished for him, holding his hand out. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise." Paul said, shaking his outstretched hand.
"What brings you to our small town" Will asked.
"That's a long story." Sonny said jumping in, trying to discourage Paul from answering the question.
"Well…" Paul said.
"Wait!" Will said excitedly. "Are you participating in the baseball camp for the under privileged kids that John Black is hosting?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes I am." Paul said, "But mostly I am here for physical therapy. You hospital here has a great program."
"Oh." Will said. "Yeah we do have a great hospital with state of the art equipment, which probably seems weird to most people, given the size of our town."
"Some of the best surgeons are here too." Paul agreed.
"Most of my family works at the hospital in some fashion." Will answered.
"You too?" Paul asked.
"Oh..umm no, not me, I am a journalist." Will said.
"I didn't think so." Paul said grinning. "I would have remembered seeing you around."
Will blushed, then looked down to see that they were still shaking hands.
"I'm so sorry." Will said, as he embarrassingly pulled his hand away from Paul's.
"No need." Paul said dismissing the apology, "So a journalist huh?"
Will nodded, "I am actually covering the baseball camp for the Salem Chronicle."
"That's awesome." Paul said.
"You know, I was hoping that I could maybe get an interview… John told me that he had a secret guest coming, I am guessing you're the secret."
"Guilty." Paul agreed.
"I would love to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind." Will said.
"Of course not." Paul answered. "Do you have time right now?" he asked. No totally ready to let Will go yet. He was intrigued. And this guy was seriously HOT, in an 'I have no idea how good I look' kind of way.
Sonny watched the exchange in confused silence. What the Hell was going on, they had both all but forgotten that he was still standing there. "I hate to break up….. whatever this is…" he said clearing his throat. "But I have to get back to the club." He said.
Will and Paul both turned to Sonny. "Oh I am so sorry." Will said, embarrassed again.
Will turned back to Paul. "I don't think I can do it right now." He said. "Can I give you my number so we can get together later on?" he asked.
"Sure." Paul grinned, holding his phone out to Will.
Sonny knew that grin. "Ummm, no Will, actually you two go ahead, and I will catch up with you later this evening." He said. He really didn't want Will giving his number out to Paul.
"You sure?" Will asked.
"Absolutely." Sonny answered.
"Okay then, thanks." Will answered.
"Paul." Sonny said, nodding in his direction. "See you around." He gave them on last look before he hurried off.
Paul watched Sonny as he took his hasty retreat. If he didn't misread the situation, Sonny has some sort of feelings for Will. He would just have to figure out what was going on there.
"So where did you want to conduct this interview?" He asked, turning to Will.
"How about we go to the Brady Pub and grab a burger while we talk?" Will asked.
"Sounds great!" Paul answered, "Lead the way."
"So, what do you need physical therapy for?" Will asked. "If that isn't too personal, I mean."
"Not at all." Paul said, "It's going to come out sooner or later anyway."
"What is?" Will asked.
"I threw out my arm." Paul said. "I had to have surgery."
"That's too bad." Will said. "Hopefully you will make it back to the team before the end of the season, God knows I love my Cubbies, but they aren't doing so well this year." He teased.
"Thanks for saying that, but I won't be going back at all." Paul said.
"You are going to another team?" Will asked surprised. "They would be crazy to let you go, or trade you are whatever?"
"No, they aren't trading me or anything, but my pitching career is over, my rotator cuff is completely gone." Paul said.
"Wow." Will said, "That really sucks."
"Yeah." Paul agreed, "It does, but I guess I had a good run."
"Are you kidding me?" Will asked as they walked into the pub, "You had one of the most noteworthy careers ever in the Cubs organization."
Paul actually beamed at the compliment. "Thanks." He said.
"Just calling it like I see it." Will said as they found a table in the corner and sat down.
Caroline walked up to the table. "Hey Will." She said, "Who's you're friend?" she asked.
"Hey Grandma, this is Paul Narita." He said introducing her, knowing the name meant absolutely nothing to her.
"Hi Paul, nice to meet you, I know what my grandson here wants, what can I get you?" she asked.
"I will just take whatever he is having." Paul said.
"Good choice." She said turning her attention back to Paul. "How is my great granddaughter?" she asked.
"She's good Grandma, she grows a foot every day it seems." He said.
"Have you taken her to see her mom lately?" Caroline asked.
"Not in the last couple of weeks." Will said. "But I plan to take her really soon."
"Good." Caroline said. "It's important for her to maintain a relationship with her mom."
"I know." Will said. "I will make sure that I do the right thing for Ari, no matter what it takes."
"I know you will sweetheart, you are an amazing father already." She said walking off.
Paul listened intently to the conversation, surprised to realize that Will was a father. He had been 100 percent sure that Will was interested in him. His radar must be off…
"So you are a dad huh?" Paul asked.
Will nodded. "Yeah… long story, but Arianna is the best thing that I have ever done."
"I got time." Paul said encouraging Will to tell him about his daughter.
"Oh No you don't." Will said, "I am supposed to be interviewing you."
"Fire away." Paul said.
"Well…." Will said considering his question. "What are you going to do now that you can't play ball." He asked.
Paul was quiet while he mulled over his answer. "I am not sure, really, but I was thinking that I may look into being a pitching coach, or maybe I could do some commentating or something, I am sure there are several things that I am well qualified for." He finally said.
"Absolutely." Will agreed, as his grandmother appeared at the table with two glasses filled with soda.
"Here you go boys." She said, "Your food will be up in a couple of minutes."
"Thank you." Paul said politely.
"How much longer do you have with your therapy?" Will asked.
" About another four to six weeks." Paul answered.
"Are you going to stay with the Cubs if possible?" Will continued.
"I would like to." Paul said, "But I would consider any offer, if there are any made." He chuckled.
Will chuckled along with him. "You are going to have more job offers than you know what to do with?" he said.
"We will see." Paul said.
"Is there anything else that you would want to do?" Will asked, "Besides baseball?"
"No." Paul answered quickly, "Baseball has always been all I ever wanted to do. In fact I gave up a lot to pursue my career." He said.
"Are you sorry?" Will asked.
Paul looked Will directly in the eye. "Yes, in a way."
"What do you mean?" Will asked.
"I gave up someone that was very special to me, to follow my dream." Paul said. "After my surgery, while I was healing and waiting to start my therapy, I got to thinking that if I had not given up that special someone then I wouldn't have to go through all of that alone… but then I realized that If I hadn't given that person up, then I would have never had a career to begin with."
"I don't understand why you had to give up your girl to follow your dream." Will said.
"Who said it was a girl?" Paul asked.
"Well… you said someone special." Will said, "I assumed you were talking about a girlfriend."
"Here we go," Caroline said, sitting two plates filled with burgers and thick cut fries in front of them.
"Thanks Grandma." Will said, smiling at her.
"Go on.." Will encouraged as soon as she disappeared again.
"I was actually talking about my boyfriend." Paul said.
Will's eyes flew to Paul's. "Oh." He said surprised.
"Surprised?" Paul asked.
"Yeah." Will said, "How come I never read about this anywhere?"
"Are you kidding me?" Paul asked. "A gay baseball player? I never told anyone because I didn't think I could have my career if it ever got out."
"So you gave up your boyfriend so you didn't get discovered?" Will asked.
"Noooo…" Paul said drawing out the word. "My boyfriend asked me to marry him, and like an asshole I refused because I wanted to be an all star pitcher.… so he said he was tired of living in a closet and settling for stolen hours in a hotel room. He walked away and never looked back."
"And you pressed forward?" Will asked.
Paul nodded, "I threw myself into baseball even harder, I let it consume me." He said.
"Did you ever see him again?" Will asked.
"I did recently." Paul said. "He told me in no uncertain terms that there is no room for me in his new life."
"Wow." Will said. "Sounds like he was pretty hurt when you two broke up."
"I'm sure he was." Paul said. "I know I was, but it is all over and behind us now."
"Do you still love him?" Will asked.
"I thought I did." Paul said. "Now I am not so sure, I think maybe I was just nostalgia that led me to seek him out."
"Do you think he still loves you?" Will asked, "Maybe he said that he has no room in his life for you because he is scared of being hurt again."
"That could be possible I guess, but he is so close to having the life he always dreamed of… with someone else of course." Paul said. "I would never want to ruin that for him, if that is what he truly wants."
Will picked up a French fry and nibbled on it thoughtfully.
Paul took advantage of the lull in the conversation and took a bite of his burger.
Will considered what he wanted to ask next and realized that he had practically been grilling Paul about his personal life and he had absolutely no idea how much of it he could put into print.
"Sorry for the interrogation." Will said sheepishly. "I got so involved in the story that I forgot to concentrate on getting things that I can write about."
"It's okay." Paul said, "I completely see why you are a journalist. I have never talked about myself that much in my life, and certainly not to a reporter."
Will grinned, pleased with the compliment. "So how much can I print?" he asked. "I am assuming that you don't want me to write about you being gay, but what about your surgery, and your therapy, do you want people to know that your career is over."
Paul was quiet for a few minutes, this could be a sure fire way to make sure he spends plenty of time with Will. "You can write about my surgery, and my recovery for starters, then later you can write about the end of my career, after I make sure my team and my agent are all on board with me going public… then if that goes well, I will even let you write my coming out story… how does that sound?"
"Fantastic!" Will said, flabbergasted. "It was much more than he had ever dreamed he would get."
"Great." Paul said, "Now you know everything there is to know about my personal life, at least as it pertains to the last several years. I think it is only fair that I know about you."
Will eyed him warily. "What do you want to know?" he asked.
"I am not near as good at asking questions as you are, so I am going to trust you to tell me about yourself." Paul said.
"It's a long boring story." Will warned him.
"I got all the time in the world." Paul said, sitting back getting comfortable.