Paul ended the call with Will and put the phone down on the table in front of the chair he was sitting in. His heart was racing, his pulse beating a fast rhythm in his veins. That brief call was the first time he had heard Will's voice in nearly three days, and he hadn't realized how much he had missed him. His voice sounded like heaven, just like he remembered it, except that it was more raspy sounding than usual. Was it just his imagination, or did he sound like Will had been crying? He got up and began to pace the floor, walking back and forth between the bed and the chair. Nervous butterflies swarmed in his stomach, fueling his jittery feelings. Will was probably on his way over to give him his decision, maybe even a little goodbye speech and he wasn't entirely sure that he was ready to hear it.
He had no idea what would he do if Will chose Sonny? One thing was for sure, if that happened he was going to have to leave Salem. He wanted Will to do whatever was necessary to make him happy, but he didn't think that he could stand to see Will and Sonny together every day. So if it came to it he would just pack up, give them his well wishes and finish his therapy someplace else.
Wanting someone else to be happy, over his own wants or needs was... well… Foreign to him…. And it may actually kill him, but he would do the right thing for Will, no matter what.
Paul had nearly worn a hole in the carpet in the last half hour since Will had called to say he was on his way. He had imagined ever scenario that could be possible. He needed to get himself under control before Will showed up and thought he had totally it.
Will walked into the lobby of the hotel and went directly toward the bank of elevators on the side. He pressed the call button for the elevator and waited, humming a little song, trying to keep his nerves at bay. When he doors opened he moved to step into the elevator car, and was surprised when his mother stepped off of the car into the lobby.
"Mom?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Will?" she echoed. "I could ask you the same thing."
"Yeah." He said. "Really, what are you doing here, are things not going good with EJ?" he asked, suddenly concerned.
"What?" she said, her head snapping up. "Don't be silly." She added. "I had to come here to have our newest model for the new cologne sign his contract."
"Oh God…." Will said, "Who's the model mom?" Will asked, praying to God it was anybody but Paul.
Sami looked at him like he had lost his mind. "What difference does it make who he is?" she asked suspiciously.
"Mom….. It's not Paul is it?" he asked warily.
"Of course not… " she said… "Why would you"…. She stopped and looked at Will… "Wait… is Paul staying here?" she asked.
"Yeah." Will answered.
"And you here to see him?" she asked.
"Yes….." Will answered her question… looking at her strangely. "Why do you ask?" he said.
"Well…" she said. "I'm just glad to know you are still seeing Paul, I like him."
"Ohhh… Since when?." Will asked.
"Since, I met him." Sami hedged.
"Good, I like him too." Will said. "He's been really good to me and Arianna."
"So you are guys are doing good?" she asked.
"Yeah… well, I mean I hope so." Will said, "I haven't seen or talked to him in a few days."
"Oh so you had a fight or something?" she asked evasively.
"No mom, we didn't have a fight.. I just, well something came up with Sonny, and I had to…." Will stopped talking and narrowed his eyes at her, "You already know don't you." He accused.
"Know what?" she asked as innocently as she could.
"You already know that Sonny asked me for another chance… God… I'm going to kill dad. He is worse than you are, can't he keeps anything to himself?" Will groaned.
"Hold ON…. You father knew about that?" she shrieked.
Will looked around the lobby , seeing it was deserted, he relaxed a bit, and turned back to her. "Well yeah, I assumed he was the one that told you." Will said.
"I am going to strangle him.. He never tells me the important stuff.." she fumed.
"Then how did you know?" Will asked, confused.
"Paul told me." She said distractedly, still puzzling over why Lucas hadn't told her. She had just assumed that he didn't know what was going on.
"What?" Will said. "He came to you? For what?" he asked, his voice rising a notch.
"Will, no he didn't come to me for anything, in fact he told me to leave you alone." She said.
"So he came to tell you to leave me alone?" Will asked getting even more confused.
"What are you talking about?" she asked , getting frustrated.
"You better just tell me the whole story." Will said, not sure how he felt about Paul talking to his mother about anything, let alone their relationship.
"I was going home from having dinner with your dad the other night, I ran into Paul in the park, he seemed sad, or upset or something, so I asked him if he was okay… and he told me that Sonny wanted you back… that's how I knew." She said.
"You left out the part where Paul told you to leave me alone." Will said.
"I was dead set on coming over to tell you that Sonny had alreaday had his chance and you should tell him to go to hell…, I didn't want you make some of the same mistakes I have made… but Paul made me promise to leave you alone and let you make your own choice. He didn't want anyone pressuring you." She said.
"Wow." Will said. "He really said that?"
Sami nodded, "Yeah he also said he loves you…and that he only wanted you to be happy."
"Anybody that would stand up to you.. " Will laughed, "has to be a keeper for sure." He teased.
"So you are staying with Paul?" she asked.
"I'm not answering that." Will said. "I want to tell both of them, before I tell anyone else."
"But I am your mother…." She whined.
"Yeah, my mother with an extraordinarily large mouth." Will giggled.
"William Robert Horton." She scolded. "That is not true."
Will looked at her skeptically, crossing his arms over his chest. "Really?" he asked. "Are you really trying to tell me that you don't have the biggest mouth in Salem?"
Sami narrowed her eyes at him, "Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to point out peoples flaws." She said crossly.
Will snickered. "Yeah Yeah .." he said. "I'm going up to see Paul now, you have a good day mom."
"You're really not going to tell me?" she said shocked.
"Nope." Will said, as he turned and walked toward the elevators.
"Fine, I will just take that as a yes…. Since you are here and not with Sonny." She called after him.
Will kept walking, and waved over his shoulder.
Sami watched him get on the elevator before she turned and stomped out of the lobby. She was going to find Lucas and give him a piece of her mind.
Will was standing in front of the door to Paul's hotel , he wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. He had gotten distracted talking to his mom in the lobby and the nerves had all but disappeared. Now that he was alone and about to see Paul, they were back with a vengeance. Why was he so nervous? He should be fine, he was pretty sure that Paul hadn't changed his mind.
He finally summoned up the courage to knock softly. He could hear a little scrambling around in the room and then the door was pulled open. As soon as his eyes met Paul's the nervousness that had claimed him vanished, like it had never been there at all.
"Hey!" he said.
"Hey!" Paul parroted.
Will grinned. "Sooo…You gonna let me in or shall we talk in the hall?" he teased.
"Oh." Paul said. "Of Course come in." he moved , letting Will enter the room.
"Sorry, it took me so long." Will said.
"I was beginning to think you had changed your mind, and weren't going to show up." Paul said.
"Yeah… sorry about that. I ran into my mom… and she wouldn't shut up." Will said.
"Oh." Paul said. "It's no big deal, I'm just glad you are here now."
" Me too, it's been a rough few days for me." Will said sitting down on the couch. "I know I should have come over and talked to you after I went to see Sonny the other day, but there were a lot of things that were said, that I wasn't expecting and I had a lot of thinking to do."
"It's okay." Paul said, "I understood."
Will looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "You did?" he asked, skeptical.
"Yeah." Paul said, "You deserved the opportunity to make a choice."
Will looked at him wide eyed, "You already knew what Sonny was going to say when I went to see him didn't you?" he asked.
"Yeah, I had a pretty good idea." Paul said. "I've known Sonny for a long time, so it was easy for me to see that the idea of us together bothered him, and I was nearly one hundred percent sure that it wasn't because he wanted me." He rationalized.
"Then why would you encourage me to talk to him?" Will asked.
"Because I wasn't sure if you wanted to be with him or not…" Paul said.
"What if I do?" Will asked, needing to hear the answer.
Paul looked at him sadly. "I will wish you well, and be on my way." Paul said. "I want you to want to be with me… but above everything else, I just want you to be happy." He explained.
Will blinked away unexpected tears. "That's the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me." He said.
Paul looked at the tears that had formed in Will's eyes and he knew the end was coming…
"I wasn't always like this." Paul said, "I used to just worry about what I want and what makes ME happy. But you changed me, made me a better person…. But I do have to tell you that sometimes being the good guy really sucks ..." Paul said.
Will nodded, "Sometimes it ." he agreed.
"Please just tell me what you decided ." Paul said, "Don't drag it out, I don't think I could stand it."
Will looked at Paul, really looked at him, seeing for the first time what the last few days had cost him. Paul no longer had the air of confidence about him. He looked unsure and timid, and Will felt terrible for putting him through that, when all he had ever been to Will was kind and loving.
Will reached out and took Paul's hands into his own, enveloping them.
"How could I leave you now?" he asked. "You have given me nothing but acceptance and love. You have shown me what it is like to have someone love me completely and unconditionally for who I am. Never once did you try to change me. You are my choice… the only choice that makes any sense for me." He said gazing into Paul's eyes.
Paul's eyes filled with tears, tears that overflowed, dripping down his cheeks, dropping onto his shirt like raindrops in a spring shower. "I do love you Will." He said. Finally feeling like he was able to fully breathe… for the first time in three long days.
"I love you too." Will said. "And I'm incredibly sorry that I put you through this. I hope you can forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive." Paul said. "I know it was difficult for you to let Sonny go."
"No….",Will said. "It was hard to let go of the dream that one day Sonny and I would be together, but Sonny hasn't actually been mine to let go for a long time now."
"Have you already talked to Sonny?" Paul asked.
Will nodded, "Yeah, But I don't really want to talk about Sonny right now, if you don't mind... I think I just want to concentrate on us." He said.
"That sounds like a great idea." He said, moving closer to Will.
Will slid his hands into Paul's hair pulling him close, he closed the space between them, covering Paul's lips with his own…. He flicked his tongue over Paul's lips, parting them, sweeping inside, exploring the deep recesses of his mouth.
Paul's eyes fluttered closed, and he sighed into Will's kiss.
When Will came up for air, Paul leaned his forehead against Will's, breathing heavily.
One of Will's hands was twisted in Paul's Shirt, and the other one was creeping up his thigh.
"Who is with Ari?" Paul whispered.
"Abi." Will said, kissing his way down Paul's neck.
"How much time do we have?" Paul asked.
"As much as we need." Will answered, moving his hands to the buttons that held Paul's shirt together.
"God…. I was really hoping you would say that." Paul said, pulling Will over until he was sitting straddled over his lap….