Will was numb, that was a good word for it, completely numb…. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to be feeling. The possibilities were endless. Shock, hurt, anger, sadness, bitterness, hope, happiness, nervousness…. Each one of those things applied to him right now, but he couldn't feel any of them. Mostly all he felt was confusion.

He couldn't really remember how he had gotten home, but he was there. He was lying across his bed, his head spinning, filled with all the things that Sonny had said to him, with the decision that he had to make. With the offer that Sonny had held back until today. Paul or Sonny… Sonny or Paul…. Which one did he really want? Someone was going to be hurt…. It was inevitable, and it sucked.

Sonny wanted him back, NOW…. Now that he had moved on… and there was someone else in the picture that wanted him…. Sonny was offering him his dream on a silver platter. When no one else wanted him, Sonny had been content to leave him alone, and now all of the sudden he felt the urgent need to reopen the wounds of the past… Wounds that were just now starting to close and heal for Will. And it wasn't fair. Not that anyone had ever said life was fair. But Sonny was giving him what he had prayed for every night for months on end…. And all he had to do was reach out and take it. It would be that easy. Could he really walk away now?

He wasn't sure…. But he also wasn't sure that what Sonny was offering, was even what he still wanted… What was it that Sonny had said….. Dreams change. Somewhere along the way, this last couple of weeks his own dreams had changed. Paul had come charging in like a white knight, driving out the nightmare that Will had been living in.

Maybe If he hadn't met Paul, he wouldn't even have to think about it for one second. Maybe it would be the easiest decision he ever made. He could just take Sonny's hand and never look back… but…

He had met Paul, and come to know him and, he had allowed him into his life, into his daughters life. And he had already changed Will so much. Paul had reminded him of his self worth; he had given back a part of himself that had been missing since Sonny had walked away from him. He no longer felt like an outsider peeking into the window of someone else's life. Paul knew his faults and didn't seem to mind them much. It would be hard to imagine that Paul would push him away because of a mistake without giving him a chance, and listening to his explanation.

The same could not be said for Sonny, he had turned a deaf ear to all of Will's pleas. Sonny had torn his world apart. Well. Yeah okay… Truth be told, Will had done that himself by lying. He was well aware of that. He knew the fault was his. But Sonny could have listened to him. He could have fought for their love, if he valued it at all…. But he didn't fight, not at all. It had seemed all too easy for him to walk away. Will was not sure what would happen if he did go back to Sonny. He could go back and things could be absolutely perfect or he could go back and screw up again. What could happen then was scary. Was Sonny going to toss him away again, like a piece of garbage, the way he had the first time? He had to face that possibility and decide if it was worth the risk…. Facts are facts, He is a product of Sami Brady, who is the queen of fucking up every single good thing that ever happened to her, and at least a little of that had trickled down to him. No matter how hard he tried to be a better person, there would always be a small part of him that was prone to disaster, capable of destroying the good things in his life.

His thoughts turned to Paul. He had been something very special from the very beginning. Will had felt an instant connection with him, he was attracted to him from the start. Okay, so that wasn't exactly shocking, front page news considering that he was absolutely gorgeous. But it was more than that, more than a superficial physical connection. He had told Paul more about himself during that first lunch than he shared with most people that he had known his whole life. Paul cared about him, and he had shown that over and over again. He had even encouraged Will to talk to Sonny, to figure out what he wanted. He was amazing with Arianna, and Arianna adored him too. They had already created a unique bond between the two of them.

Paul was more than he could ever have dreamed up for himself, he was ridiculously handsome, caring, kind, honest, chivalrous, the list could go on and on… He would be completely crazy to give that up for someone that had already tossed him to the curb once already… wouldn't he?

Will was pulled from his inner monologue by a knock on the door. "Coming," he called. He had been expecting Paul, Arianna had spent the day with him today, and Paul was supposed to bring her home and Will had asked earlier if he wanted to order dinner in and watch an old movie or something. He had thought he would be fine after talking to Sonny and he and Paul could just carry on… but he wasn't counting on Sonny throwing him that huge curve ball. He wished now that he had taken Abigail up on her offer to watch Arianna. He was surprised to see that it was getting pretty close to Six pm. He pushed himself up off the bed, wondering if it would hurt Paul's feelings much if he bailed on dinner and the movie. He had a lot of thinking that he needed to do.

Will made his way to the door and pulled it door, and was surprised to see Lucas standing there holding Arianna.

"What are you doing with her?" Will asked , catching her as she lunged for him. "Hey Angel." He said kissing her forehead. She wound her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. He directed his attention back to His dad. "Where's Paul?" He asked.

"I ran into them in the park. They were over there eating ice cream and playing. Isn't that right Ari." Lucas said tickling her side. "You were having a good time with Paul huh?"

Arianna giggled, "Ice Cweam!" She said nodding happily.

"So you just took her from him, and he let you have her?" Will asked still confused.

"Can we go in? ... And I will answer all of your questions." Lucas said.

"Oh yeah!" Will said , moving aside. "Sorry..."

They moved out of the doorway and into the living room. Lucas closed the door behind him, went over and sat down on the couch.

"So I was cutting through the park on the way back from dropping Ali off with your mom and I saw Paul playing with Ari there on the playground, I figured you must be there somewhere too, so I went over to say hi. When I didn't see you, I asked where you were and Paul said that you were with Sonny." Lucas explained. "He said you two were trying to settle things between you."

"Yeah, I went to see him, to talk about the past, you know when we broke up, and the months after that... " Will said.

"Why would you do that?" Lucas asked , "All of that is in the past and besides, I thought things were going good with Paul. You seemed really happy the other day."

"They are and I was…" Will said. "But you know that Sonny was my first love."

"And he walked away from you..." Lucas said. "Don't forget that."

"I know he did." Will said. "But he says he still loves me."

"What now? He still loves you now! Sucks for him..."Lucas said snidely.

"And for me too." Will said. "I didn't want to have to choose between them, I loved Sonny, I begged God for another chance with him. What if this is my sign that we are supposed to be together?"

"Come on man… The choice is obvious Will, wake up." Lucas said, snapping his fingers in front of Will's face. "Don't let Sonny mess this up for you. He wasn't professing his love before Paul was he?"

Will shook his head no... He knew Lucas was right, Sonny hadn't given him a second thought before Paul had shown up, but now all the sudden he was in love again. "I know but getting Sonny back has been all I have wanted ever since he left me." Will said, indecision warring in his mind.

"Okay, I get that." Lucas said , "Sometimes though, people don't love you….. until you don't love them anymore." He gave that a minute to sink in. "I know how you loved Sonny, and I know that you suffered a lot when you two broke up… But he had his chance. Give Paul a chance. He deserves it, and you deserve happiness."

Will looked at him. "Thanks dad." He said, hugging Ari close. "Now why do you have Arianna?" he asked, remembering that Paul was supposed to be the one to bring Arianna home.

"Oh yeah… Paul asked if I would mind bringing her home. He said he thought today was going to be emotional for you and he had a feeling that you may not be up to having him over tonight." Lucas said. "And judging from the way you look, he wasn't wrong."

"Yeah, he knows me almost better than I know myself." Will agreed.

"People like that don't come around often son." Lucas said, standing up, "I have to go, and you need time to figure out what you want. Make a smart choice."

"Thanks." Will muttered, "Thanks for bringing Arianna home, and for the pep talk."

Lucas shrugged. "I've made a lot of mistakes…. I just don't want to see you repeat any of them." He said, heading for the door.

After the door closed behind Lucas, Will looked down at Arianna.. "What are we going to do baby girl?" he asked. He pushed all the thoughts from his mind… all the thoughts of responsibility, all the guilt about hurting anyone… he discarded every single thought about what ANYONE else wanted. Then he closed his eyes, and concentrated on one thing…. And that was what he wanted… Once he did that the decision was practically made for him.

Paul walked into the hotel room and tossed the key on the bedside table. He wasn't sure that he had done the right thing by chickening out and sending Lucas to take Arianna to Will. But he wasn't ready to hear that Will was going back to Sonny.

He knew Sonny well enough to know that Sonny wanted Will, and he would pull out all the stops to get him back.

Paul was sure that Will really cared about him, but Sonny had been his first love. He knew from experience that getting over a first love could seem as if it were an insurmountable obstacle. Will had already been having a hard time with it. He had held Will as he cried over Sonny. He hadn't thought all that much about it, not until he had heard the rumors at therapy… They were all soo proud of their great Med student that had gotten the internship at John's Hopkins and was working out of town for a few more weeks….. Then he had seen Sonny at the hospital, looking like hell, talking to Will and he knew that spelled trouble.

He had wanted to give Will space to make his decision. He didn't want to pressure him, rush him or crowd him. He just hoped Will didn't drag it out. He loved Arianna more with each passing day, and her dad wasn't far behind. The longer it went on, the harder it would be to let go…