Sonny left Will's apartment building in a daze. He ignored his car and walked across the street to the park instead. He walked without aim, taking little notice of his surroundings. Will's words reverberated in his head like an insistent marching drum. 'You…made me feel….damaged." It played over and over on some unseen loop.

Suddenly he stopped, feeling sick he dropped to his knees… 'You made me feel like I wasn't worthy of being loved…' Will's words pierced his heart, cutting deep. He leaned over, his hands sank into the cool grass and he heaved, his body wretched until there was nothing left in his stomach.

He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, wiping off the remnants the best he could. Had he really done that? He asked himself. Had he really shredded Will's self esteem, making it worse than it had been to start with? His thoughts flew back to the first few days after they had broken up. Every single hateful word that he uttered to Will, during those days flooded into his mind. The simple answer was yes… he had done that. He had said that Will was no better than his conniving mother. Something that he knew terrified Will. He had said that he must have been born without some important traits like, integrity and honesty. He had really asked Will what kind of person he was.. who could look someone in their eyes and lie to them… not once but hundreds of times. He had said and done every single, vile, thing that he could think of, trying to hurt Will as deeply as he had been hurt.

Sonny collapsed down onto the ground and curled into a fetal position. Why had he done that? He had loved Will, with every fiber of his being he had loved him, just like he loved him right now. Sonny clenched his eyes closed against the fresh pain that ripped through him. Hot tears forced themselves from between his eyelids and coursed down his face. The damn was open and Sonny felt like he was dying inside. He had ruined everything and there was no changing it now.

The sound of his cell ringing in his pants pocket distracted him momentarily, until he decided to ignore it. It wouldn't be the one person that he wanted to talk to, that person may never want to talk to him again. And he couldn't blame him.

His phone rung for a ridiculous amount of time before it fell silent, and then started in again and again. Sonny choked back a sob, and pressed his fist to his mouth to mouth to hold in his screams. He could not get Will's expression out of his mind. For one brief moment he had looked like a scared child again. Sonny had really hurt him, and he hadn't even known how much. Now Paul was going to be the one to help Will pick up the pieces and move on.

A strangled sound escaped his lips, garnering the attention of a passerby.

"Sonny? Is that you?" The voice sounded a million miles away. Sonny recognized it as Maggie's.

"Leave me alone." He moaned, didn't she understand that he just wanted to be left alone.

"Are you hurt dear?" She asked, tugging at him.

"Go away." He tried again, pulling away from her and curling into a tighter ball.

Maggie picked her purse up from the ground beside her. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number. "Justin… I think you need to get down here to the park right away." She said when he answered. She quickly explained the situation to him and then listened to him for a moment."Yes, yes of course I won't leave him, just hurry. I think he has been hurt." She answered, then disconnected the call.

She tossed her phone back into her purse and pulled Sonny's head onto her lap. "It's going to be okay," She said soothingly, as she rubbed her fingers through his hair.

"No…." Sonny moaned over and over again. "It's not okay… it's never going to be okay again. I ruined everything."

"Did you and Brian have a fight dear?" She asked, beginning to get scared. She had never seen Sonny so broken.

Sonny ignored her question, what was the point of telling her that all he and Brian ever did was fight anymore. He had ruined that too. He ruined everything he touched.

Suddenly his dad was there…. "Son…." He said, dropping down beside him. "What happened?"

Sonny didn't answer. He just curled into a ball again.

"Sonny, are you hurt, do you need to go to the hospital?" He tried again.

Maggie got up, "I am going to give you two some privacy." She said, before she walked off.

Justin maneuvered around in front of him, and pulled him up roughly. "Sonny." He said, "I need you to tell me what the hell is going on. Are you hurt at all?"

"I lost him." Sonny said brokenly.

"Who, Brian?" Justin asked confused.

"No!" Sonny hollered. "Will…"

"Sonny, you aren't making sense here." Justin said.

"Will is with Paul Narita." Sonny snapped. "I lost him."

"Okay son… we need to get you home and then we can talk about this." Justin said. "Come on now." He pulled his arm, forcing him to sit up.

Sonny complied and sat up. Justin helped him to stand and then led him out of the park to his car that he had double parked on the street.

They drove back to the Kiriakis mansion in silence while Justin gave Sonny so time to gain his composure and get himself together. When they were there he climbed out of the car and left Sonny sitting there alone in the car.

Sonny sat there for what could have been hours, or it could have been minutes. Time had no measure for him. He was cold, miserable, and hollow on the inside. Eventually he got out and drug himself into the house. Justin was waiting for him in the living room. He indicated that Sonny should take a seat on the couch, and Sonny gladly fell into the cushions.

Justin poured Sonny a generous amount of bourbon into a glass and came over to sit beside him. "Tell me what happened son." He said, handing him the glass…

Sonny sniffled and took a sip, wincing as it burned his throat on the way down. "He's gone." Sonny said sadly, as if it should be obvious who and what he was talking about.

"You and Will have been broken up a long time." Justin reminded Sonny.

"I know." Sonny whispered.

"So is this all because Will has a new boyfriend?" He asked.

"Not just any boyfriend." Sonny said, taking a bigger gulp of the drink.

"You said Paul Narita, in the park, Do you mean the man you asked to marry you. The one that turned you down?" Justin asked.

"One and the same." Sonny said, raising his glass. "He came back here for me, and ended up with Will."

"How did that happen?" Justin asked.

"I don't know honestly." Sonny said, "Will wanted to interview him for the paper, after he got a job at the Salem Chronicle… they had lunch, then dinner, then they were going to spend the night together." He said, his voice rising with emotion.

"Okay." Justin said, "Well I don't Paul, never even met him, but that doesn't sound like something Will would do."

"He wouldn't." Sonny said, "This is all Paul's doing."

"Is Paul, forcing himself on Will?" Justin asked.

Sonny thought about that for a moment….it was tempting to just say yes… but then again….. "No of course not." He said finally, he sure wasn't going to do anything to cause Will to hate him even more.

"Sonny, can I ask you a question?" Justin asked.

"You are going to ask, whether I want you to or not….. so go right ahead." He snapped.

"I guess, I am just not clear if you are upset about Will…. Or Paul." Justin said.

"What kind of question is that?" Sonny asked.

"I think it is a good one." Justin said, "You are going back and forth talking about Will, then about Paul."

"Will was doing fine….. Before Paul came here. He was in school working his butt off, busy being an amazing father to Arianna." Sonny said, why does that have to change now.

"Will was lonely." Justin pointed out.

Sonny shook his head…. "No, he has friends, he went out with them, hung out with me at the club… he was fine."

"That is just what you wanted to see, sure Will was content with life, but there was nothing in his life for him to be excited about, nothing to make life full for him." Justin said, "I'm sorry son, but you were seeing exactly what you wanted to see. Will is lonely, has been lonely for a long time."

"But I was there for him." Sonny said. "And Arianna gives his life meaning. He told me so."

"Yes….But Arianna is his daughter and you are his friend, but You.." Justin started.

"Was." Sonny interrupted.

"What?" Justin asked, confused again.

"Was his friend." Sonny clarified.

"Okay fine, I don't think Will is going to stop being your friend. But for arguments sake we will say 'WAS'." Justin said. "You were his friend, but you have a life, a life partner, you and Brian are getting married in just a couple of months. Don't you think that Will needs and deserves a relationship like that."

"Sure." Sonny said, "Just not with Paul."

"What's wrong with Paul?" Justin asked, "He can't be all bad, you stayed with him for almost two years."

"I never said he was bad. He isn't right for Will. That's all." Sonny said, getting aggravated again.

"Who is right for Will?" Justin asked. He hated to see his son in pain like this, but Sonny was going to end up driving himself crazy.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?' Sonny shouted.

"Who else asked?" Justin said.

"Chad….. Brian…" Sonny said.

"Brian asked you, who you thought was right for Will?" Justin asked surprised.

"Yeah, but it was about him being jealous." Sonny said. "It wasn't a real question."

"Brian is jealous of Will?" Justin asked to clarify, knowing that it was true. He had seen it on occasion.

"Yes, although I don't know why… I have stayed with him, I continue to stay with him." Sonny said bereft.

"Sonny, I think that Brian see's what you try so hard to repress." Justin said, "I think that Brian sees that you are still in love with Will. He may even understand more than you do that you are staying with him out of a sense of responsibility."

"I'm not." Sonny said, "I love Brian, Just not like I loved Will." It felt strange saying it aloud. He had known it the whole time, the little voice in his head mocked him, even as he accepted Brian's proposal. 'You will never love him the way he loves you.' It said. And Sonny had known it was true, but he had to try. Brian had come along and carried him through the darkest time in his life, he owed his life to him.

"Sonny, if you are not totally and completely in love with Brian, you have to let him go." Justin said, "Otherwise this is going to end in disaster."

"No…." Sonny said, "Will made his choice, he is with Paul, and I am going to marry Brian." He said, getting up and crossing the room, He put the drink on the bar. "I have to go, can you drive me home?" he said.

"Of course." Justin said, getting up. He followed Sonny back to his car and drove Sonny over to his apartment building.

When he pulled up at the entrance, he put a hand on Sonny's arm. "Think about what I said son." He said.

"Thanks dad." Sonny said, opening the door, and stepping out.

As he walked into the apartment building he looked down at himself, he was a mess, his clothes looked like he had been sleeping in them for a week he had dried vomit on his sleeve and his eyes were bloodshot and swollen.

Sonny pulled out his keys and opened the door. It was completely dark and silent in the apartment. Sonny sent up his thanks to God that Brian was not home yet and went straight toward the bathroom to get in the shower. He made it almost to the bathroom door…

"Where have you been?" Brian asked from his position on the couch, flipping the light on startling Sonny.