Sonny and Will weren't home. John knew that much when he and Steve rolled up to the Kiriakis mansion because something in the universe told him. Paul hadn't joined them yet for the confrontation.

"One of the maids saw them packing a bag each. If they're going somewhere, it's not for very long," Brady told his father as he leaned near the car window. "They'll probably be back sometime tomorrow."

"Unless they're traveling light so nobody can find them," Steve countered from the passenger seat. "Brady, we need to find them. Sonny especially. You know what he did to my son."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Dad told me when he called asking me to look for Sonny and Will. I didn't even know they were back together. Last I knew Will couldn't stand Sonny."

Shaking his head, John looked at his eldest child. "Is there anywhere you think they would go? Did Sonny mention any plans?"

Shrugging, Brady just looked clueless. "All I know is that Sonny doesn't like traveling commercial. He's probably gonna take either the Kiriakis private jet or Uncle Vic's yacht. It's hard to say."

"Which one is closer?" Steve asked, frustration in his voice. "We need to find him because if he knows that we know he won't come back."

"The yacht, definitely. It's down at the marina, dock 45," Brandy answered. "I can show you how to get there."

"And the airstrip? What do we do if he's there?" Steve questioned. "We can't be in two places at once."

"I'll call Paul," John told him. "He can get to the airstrip. He knows where it is. He and Sonny used to fly together back when they were an item. I just hope he get there in time."

DOOL

Ciara locked the door and looked at her niece. Claire was sitting on the sofa, reading some stupid book. She was going after Sonny, but before that she was going to kill Claire. The dumb bitch had been untouched until now and Ciara wasn't going to let it happen anymore. Her life had been ruined by Claire and she wasn't going to let her get away with it anymore.

"Oh, hey Ciara," Claire said without looking up from her book. "Have you seen Tripp? He's been gone all day."

"Shut up. I'm sick of your voice," Ciara growled as she reached into her jacket pocket and produced the switchblade she'd used back in the park. "I really can't wait to never hear you again."

"You're finally moving out? I guess God does exist," Claire chirped like a bird with only half it brain formed. She finally looked up from her book and saw her aunt. "Ciara! Are you okay? You're covered in blood!"

"About to be even more." Ciara held the knife up where Claire wouldn't be able to miss it. The other woman screamed out of fear. It was a delicious sound that made Ciara feel drunk. "You've gotten away with too much for too long."

Ciara leapt at the couch and stabbed downward with the knife, but Claire rolled off just in time. The blade sank into a cushion and Ciara grunted as she tried to stand up. Claire looked at Ciara with real fear in her eyes. It was magical. Claire threw her book at Ciara's face as she climbed to her feet, but it missed because Claire had the coordination of a one-legged giraffe.

"Stay away from me!" Claire cried, reaching for something to protect herself with. Ciara didn't give her time and grabbed a nearby vase, smashing it over Claire's head and dropping her back to the floor. It didn't knock her unconscious but it clearly knocked the wind out of her niece. Ciara straddled Claire and held the blade to her throat.

"I've wanted to silence you for so long. Between your horrendous singing and constant bleating about Theo and Tripp, I've dreamt for ages about slitting your throat. And now I finally get to do it."

"PLEASE!" Claire cried as tears rolled down her face. Ciara pressed the knife into her skin and blood began to trickle.

Before Ciara could swipe right across her niece's future, the door to their apartment burst open. Tripp stood in the doorway, keyring in his right hand. He was breathing heavily and stared right at Ciara. "Get off of her!"

Ciara laughed until Claire sunk a broken piece of pottery into her arm. The leather jacket took most of the damage, but it still hurt enough for Ciara to recoil the hand holding the knife.

Turning her attention back to her niece, Ciara began to strike downward with the switchblade. She never connected with her target because Tripp caught her wrist and wrestled her from behind to get her off of Claire.

"I know what you did. You and Sonny both! You won't get away with it," Tripp said as he dragged Ciara across the apartment and towards the door. "Claire, call the cops!"

They were at the doorway when Ciara slammed the back of her head into Tripp's nose. He instinctively let her go and grabbed his nose which had begun bleeding. Ciara stabbed him in the side of his abdomen and he cried out in pain.

She withdrew the knife and kicked Tripp into the hallway where he hit the wall and sank down to the floor holding his side. She knelt down and made to stab him in the heart but he blocked the blade with the palm of his left hand and punched her with his right.

"You think you get to touch me?" Ciara screamed in disbelief. How had she ever felt sorry for this man? She twisted the blade stuck in his palm and clawed at his face. After tearing the knife free, Ciara stuck it into between two of Tripp's ribs. "You're going to die and then she's next."

Ciara looked to the door and saw that it was closed. She pulled the knife out of Tripp and reached for the handle, finding it locked. She pounded on the door and called out Claire's name, but all she got in response was the sound of heavy furniture moving. A fucking barricade.

"I guess it's just you and me," Ciara said smugly to the bloody mess on the floor that was her roommate. She saw the fear in his eyes and drank it in: he knew he was going to die and it was beautiful.

"And me."

Ciara whirled around and saw her cousin Theresa Donovan standing at the end of the hallway with a stun gun. Had Sonny sent her to finish the job? Seeing the stun gun in Theresa's unshaking grip, Ciara opted to just let Tripp bleed to death. After all, she had to take Sonny down and she wasn't going to let Theresa stop her.

"Another time," Ciara exclaimed as she ran and dove out of the window at the end of the hall. The glass shattered around her and cut into her face, but her leather jacket took the brunt of it. Landing on her side, Ciara was stunned for a handful of seconds. When she felt that she was still holding the knife, Ciara rolled onto her back and retrieved her keys from her pocket. She was going to find Sonny and kill him before he could send anyone else after her, and she was closer to her motorcycle than Theresa was to the building's exit.

DOOL

It drove Sonny crazy that his driver seemed to hit every red light in existence on their drive, but he wasn't in such a hurry as to draw the attention of the police.

"You're gonna like Venezuela," Sonny told Will as he caressed his husband's face. "It's a nation with a rich history and culture. And if you're rich enough you don't have to be fluent in Spanish. English is the international language of commerce. We'll live well and do it together."

"I'm so happy." Will sighed and looked out the window. "I'm going to miss Salem, but my place is with you. Wherever you want to go, I will be there. And I haven't flown anywhere since I left Tennessee."

A motorcycle pulled up next to them and Sonny glared out at the window at the rider. They were so obnoxious and honestly didn't deserve to live. The rider looked over at Sonny but he couldn't see who it was because of the helmet. It didn't matter because it wasn't a real person anyway. Nobody in Salem mattered anymore. As long as Sonny had Will he would be happy. And soon, they would be together in a place where even Sami Brady couldn't touch them.

DOOL

Sonny and Will weren't at the airstrip when Paul arrived, but he watched a small crew prepping the jet and knew it would be only a matter of time before they did. He'd parked a little up the road and trekked back so nobody would see him hiding in the brush. As much as Paul didn't like guns, he was glad his father had told him to grab the one in his trunk. He could see the guns on the hips of the crew.

It was about a ten minute wait before Sonny and Will arrived. Will was draped all over Sonny's arm like a trophy wife. It made Paul's insides twist to see Will like that. While he hadn't wanted the man for himself, there was something disturbing about the way he was doting on Sonny. They looked around the perimeter before the crew began to lead them to the entrance of the jet.

"That's far enough!" Paul shouted, as he exited the brush with his gun trained on Sonny. "You're not going anywhere. Sonny, we know what you did. All of it. You had Tripp raped and framed me for it. All to get Will. Am I right?"

Sonny laughed and waved at his crew, who aimed their own firepower at Paul. He knew he was outnumbered, but he also knew the moment he lowered his gun he was dead. Nonetheless, he wasn't going to let Sonny escape. All he needed was a standoff until his backup arrived. If they arrived. He'd called and told his father about the plane being prepped, but the marina was quite the drive from the airstrip. If someone got an itchy finger it was all over.

"Paul, what are you talking about? The only rapist here is you," Sonny laughed. He pulled Will close to his side. "You're holding a weapon on two people who are just going on vacation, and if you haven't noticed I have more of those than you."

Before Paul could respond, a motorcycle roared into the crowd. The rider jumped off just before it slammed into the crew, causing at least one of them to fire his gun. Paul ducked but the bullet was nowhere near him.

The rider stood up and took off their helmet, revealing a head full of hair. It took a moment for Paul to recognize that it was Ciara Brady, the woman who Sami claimed had confessed to selling Paul a date rape drug. He'd never interacted with her and couldn't understand what she was doing.

"Stay still!" Paul ordered as he kept his gun on Sonny. "Nobody move!"

"Shut up, you stupid faggot!" Ciara yelled back as she pulled out a knife. "He tried to kill me and I'm here to return the favour."

Sonny began laughing again he looked at Paul then pointed at Ciara. "You think I had you framed for rape? You couldn't be more wrong. This is your rapist. Just ask her about it."

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Ciara spat at Sonny as she pointed her knife at him. It was dark, but there was enough light on the strip for Paul to see that she was covered in blood. "You set everything up! I'm not going down for this. You're going to die."

Paul blinked and shook his head, moving his gun from Sonny to Ciara. "What is he talking about? What do you have to do with Tripp's rape?"

"She's the one who came up with the idea. She's the one who did it. Ciara knocked out you and Tripp and then she raped him and framed you for it. This stupid little girl is the real monster here. All I've done is love my husband."

"That's a lie." Paul turned his gun back on Sonny. "I saw the paperwork that she was keeping in her bedroom. I know you took my sample from the fertility clinic. That's how my DNA showed up in Tripp's rape kit."

"Okay, I admit, I may have helped her out, but she's still the one who did it. Everything that happened that night was done by her hand."

Ciara screamed. "Would you two dumbasses shut the fuck up?! You don't matter. Tripp doesn't matter. None of that fucking matters! All that matters is that Sonny dies tonight."

"Stay away from my husband!" Will interjected, finally joining the conversation. He stood in front of Sonny, shielding him from Ciara. "If you want him you'll have to go through me!"

"HAPPILY!" Ciara screamed as she leapt at the two men. A gunshot rang out and Ciara collapsed at Will's feet.

All three men turned at the same time to see the newest entry. Paul's blood ran cold when he saw that it was Ava Vitali. The last time they saw each other she almost killed him. Even though he was armed this time, he was still afraid.

"Drop it!" Paul shouted as he pointed his gun at Ava. She ignored him and kept walking, her gun pointed at Will and Sonny.

"Is what you said true?" Ava asked, her voice cold as ice. She stepped over Ciara, who was bleeding on the ground, and put the barrel of her gun under Will's chin. "She raped my son and you helped her?"

"It's a lie," Will said, sounding scared. "Sonny didn't do any of that. Ciara did everything on her own. She must have!"

Sonny pulled Will back and stepped up to Ava so that it was his throat the gun was aimed at. "You'll find that threatening my husband is bad for your health."

Ava pistol-whipped Sonny and grabbed him by the hair, dragging him away from his increasingly confused husband. Paul shouted again for Ava to stop.

"Oh, do shut up," Ava replied as she pushed Sonny to the ground, She stood over him and pointed her firearm at the back of his head. Paul knew she was going to execute the man if he didn't stop her. "You heard everything I did. As loathe as I am to admit it, I made a mistake that day I came after you. You're a victim in all of this. Do you really want to let these two get away with everything they did?"

"How did you even know they would be here?" Paul asked, scrambling for some way to delay what was looking increasingly inevitable. Sonny was a monster, but vigilante justice from a mafia princess wasn't the answer. "I didn't even know until I got here!"

"Theresa told me. You remember her." It wasn't a question and Paul nodded. "She's been working for me for weeks. She was my mole in Titan Industries. That's how I learned Sonny has been withdrawing loads of money from the company's discretionary fund. Now I know why."

"That bitch betrayed me?" Sonny shouted as he twisted his head to look at Ava. She dug a high heel into his cheek and forced his head back to the ground.

"She was working for me long before you brought her in. She bugged the Kiriakis mansion for me. She heard your entire conversation with that Sami Brady woman. She heard your plan to leave Salem and told me all about it. It's why I was willing to let your ex here kill you. But then I got a text from Theresa. Your little whore cousin Ciara attacked my Tripp. She stabbed him! That's why I came out here: to deal with the tramp personally.

"But you confessed to helping her rape my son. That's unforgivable. Just be glad I'm granting you a quick death."

Will tackled the distracted Ava. As they fought over the gun, Paul ran to Ciara to check on her. She was alive but bleeding heavily. He grabbed a rag from one of the unconscious crewmen and pressed it to the bleeding hole in her back before raising his gun back on the combatants.

Ava emerged victorious, smacking Will across the face with the the butt of the gun. He grabbed his mouth and fell onto his backside. Ava aimed her gun at Will and smiled. "I was willing to let you live, but you just signed your death certificate with that little stunt."

"Yeah, but he bought enough time to get a weapon of my own." Sonny said as he pushed the barrel of a gun to the back of Ava's head. Paul assumed he had grabbed one from a crewman while he was distracted by Ciara. "Drop it."

"The moment I do that, you're gonna shoot me," Ava observed as she narrowed her eyes. She spoke without turning her head away from Will. "Why would I give up the only leverage keeping me alive?"

Paul yelled at both of them to stop, but they remained concentrated. He fired a round into the air and all three looked at him. "Nobody else needs to die tonight! My dad is on his way with the Salem PD."

"Then we'd better be swift." Sami Brady walked out of the dark, roughly a dozen armed men on either side of her. For her own part, Sami was just smirking. She looked to the two men on her far left. "You two, go get my son."

"You won't touch my husband!" Sonny roared, pointing his gun at Sami. All the men pointed their rifles at him. He was breathing heavily with wild eyes. "Nobody is going to take him from me."

"Just drop it," Ava told him as she pressed her gun to the back of Sonny's head. She looked at Sami and nodded. "The blond one yours? You can have him. As far as I know he has nothing to do with this."

Ava pushed her gun into the back of Sonny's head as hard as she could. Ten men also aimed at Sonny while Paul knelt next to Ciara in complete confusion. After a handful of seconds, Sonny dropped the gun and raised his hands over his head.

"Good boy," Ava said before whacking Sonny in the back of the head with the gun. He crumpled at her feet once again. The mafia princess looked at Sami. "You can't have this one."

"I don't want him. You can do whatever you want with Sonny. All I care about is Will."

"How did you know they'd be here?" Paul asked, drawing everyone's attention. The various men at Sami's command trained their guns on him and he laid his own firearm down. "What is going on, Sami?"

"Sonny did something to Will. He changed him. I'm going to undo it and get my son back. I knew he had Theresa tailing me. I'm not an amateur. My own men were following her." Sami nodded and two men grabbed Will. He tried to fight, but they were stronger and dragged him off into the darkness. "If you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to your twisted little threesome. My work here is done."

Sami and her men followed the other two back into the darkness. Paul looked at Ava and began to reach for his gun, but she turned her attention to him.

"You should probably just leave that on the ground," Ava said as she pointed her gun at the last conscious person on the strip. "See, because I feel sorry for you, I'm gonna let you live, but you and I both know Sonny Kiriakis forfeited his life tonight. You have to understand why I need to do this."

"I can't let you." Paul gritted his teeth and tried to think of what to do. Ciara was bleeding to death and Ava was going to kill Sonny. Despite what they had done to him and Tripp, Paul didn't want them dead. They had to face their day in court. "Killing them isn't the answer."

"Then what is? My son can't be unraped, Paul!" Ava lowered the gun back down to Sonny's prone form. "You know what they did to Tripp! What they did to you!"

"He wouldn't want this," Paul argued, trying to appeal to what he hoped was Ava's humanity. "You never came back for me. Tripp told you to leave me alone, didn't he? He didn't want me dead because of him. If you kill these two then he'll have to live with that the rest of his life."

"That's if he survives. She stabbed him, Paul! She tried to kill my Tripp. He might not survive! Don't you care?!"

"I do care. I care about what will happen to him when he wakes up. He'll hate himself, Ava. He'll blame himself for all the carnage that happened here tonight. Because that's who Tripp is. He cares about others. He came to me, you know. He came and told me about Sonny, about what he did to us. This isn't what he wants and you know it."

Sirens in the distance began to blare. Ava looked down at Sonny and then back up to Paul. He could sense her conflict.

"Get out of here, Ava. Your son is going to need you. You can't do that if you're in prison."

"What will you tell them? The police?"

"The truth. But I won't mention you until I have to. Give yourself a head start. The longer you wait the closer they are to catching you."

Ava nodded at Paul and walked away from him. Just as Sami had done with Will, Ava disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, Paul returned his attention to Ciara. She still had a pulse but it was weak. He used both hands to hold the rag in place until the police could arrive. He hoped they had an ambulance with them.

DOOL

When Tripp woke, he was in pain. His side burned, his left hand was killing him, and his chest was on fire. Using his good hand, he gripped the side of his hospital bed to try to stop the shaking. Instead, he just caused the entire bed to begin shaking.

"Nurse! He's awake!" Tripp heard his father shouting and looked to his side. Steve was in the doorway to his hospital room demanding someone come to take care of his son. He turned back to Tripp and was beaming. While it made him feel better, it didn't do shit to alleviate Tripp's pain.

Soon enough, a nurse came into the room and adjusted Tripp's IV. He guessed they increased the morphine because he began to feel much better. He still felt his injuries, but they were a dull ache at worst.

"Is she okay?" he asked his father.

Steve nodded his head and continued to smile. "Claire's fine. She's with her grandparents John and Marlena. You saved her life, you know. You're a hero."

"Being a hero sucks," Tripp said with a chuckle that turned into a very painful cough. Apparently, morphine worked best if one didn't move. "What about Ciara? Did they get her?"

"Her and Sonny. She's here in the hospital, actually, in a secure wing recovering from her own surgery. Paul said that your mother... That Ava shot her. The doctors saved her life, but Hope said they don't know if she'll be able to walk."

"She's nuts, Dad. Like, certifiable."

"I know. Paul told us that's she's the one who actually attacked you that night. She and Sonny confessed to everything. He's in lockup, though Victor is probably hiring a team of lawyers to defend him in court. The DA said she's going to fight a bail request tooth and nail. He already tried to flee the country once."

"That's good." Tripp knew he would care more later, when he could actually concentrate, but at that moment he was just happy the danger was over and that Claire was safe. "How is Paul? You said he told you everything. How did he find it out?"

"He was there, Son. Paul is the reason Sonny didn't get away and Ciara didn't die." Steve sighed heavily. "He's actually here, you know. He's been here since I got here. We rode together after the police cleaned up the scene at the Kiriakis private airstrip. He's been worried about you. We all have."

Closing his eyes, Tripp thought back to how just a couple days before he hated Paul and blamed him for all the horror in his life. He knew better now, but that didn't change how harshly he had treated him. Tripp needed to make it right.

"Can you send him in? Just him. Paul and I need to have a long talk. We've needed one for awhile."

Steve nodded. Though Tripp could tell he didn't want to go, his father left him alone. He pushed away his memories of the attack, of Ciara trying to kill him, and silently waited until Paul came in. When he laid eyes on the man, that familiar fire in Tripp's chest burst to life.

It was weird for Tripp to feel alive due to Paul's presence, but he was glad he felt anything through the haze of drugs and pain.

"I'm glad to see you pulled through," Paul said as he sat in the seat furthest from Tripp. Even though Tripp wanted him closer, he understood. "Your dad said you wanted to see me."

"I do." Tripp looked into Paul's eyes and everything he'd ever felt about the man rushed into his face. The lust, the desire, and the fear all mixed into one, they coursed through his veins. "I heard I have you to thank for Sonny and Ciara being in police custody."

"I didn't do much. It was a clusterfuck last night." Paul grew suddenly self conscious and began wringing his hands. "Brady, my brother, he brought me a change of clothes last night. I was covered in Ciara's blood."

"Because my mom shot her." Tripp didn't see any blood on Paul at all, but he could see where his hands had been scrubbed raw. "I'm sorry she tried to kill you. You didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve any of this. I'm sorry."

"You're the last one who needs to apologize." Paul stood up and apprehensively approached Tripp. "You suffered the most of anyone. Sonny had you raped because of me. Will viciously attacked you because of me. Ciara almost killed you."

"And Claire," Tripp interjected, thinking back to his roommate. He had been willing to die for her but he no longer felt anything for her. When Tripp thought of Claire he felt nothing at all. He looked into Paul's eyes and warmth coursed throughout his body.

"She's okay, thank god. She said you saved her life. Thank you for that." Paul knelt next to Tripp's bed and gripped the side. "I'm really glad you're alive."

"Right back atcha." Tripp winked and used his good hand to make a finger gun. Paul chuckled and shook his head. However, Tripp wasn't done. "It's weird, isn't it?"

Curious, Paul tilted his head. "What's weird? Aside from absolutely everything."

"Believe it or not, despite everything that has happened, my biggest regret is that we never had that date. I know it's fucking bizarre to say that because for weeks I believed you had raped me and even pressed charges, but I do. I ruined your life with a lie that Ciara and Sonny fed me. But I want to go back. I want to go back to before everything happened and we were excited about each other."

"We can't," Paul said, standing at his full height. "Everything that happened... It's not possible to go back."

Tripp's heart sank into his chest. Paul continued, still not looking down at Tripp.

"We can move forward, though. If you want. The whole town is going to talk. The press is going to have a field day. It could even be worse than when the whole story first broke. I'm ready for it, but I don't know if you can handle it. It's ugly being the center of attention."

Reaching up, Tripp used his good hand to grab Paul's shirt. Surprised, the older man looked down. "Before I met you, I was already persona non grata in Salem. My name was dragged through the mud when the charges were announced and my name was leaked. My own roommate tried to kill me. Believe me when I say I'm tough enough. I can handle it."

Smiling, Paul leaned down and hovered over Tripp, their faces inches apart. "This really is weird as hell. You know that, right?"

"Just kiss me already," Tripp ordered.

Paul did. He kissed Tripp softly and gently. Both of their eyes were closed, but Tripp released Paul's shirt and grabbed the back of his head. The kiss became more intense. It became wilder. Tripp released weeks of frustration onto Paul's lips and breathed through his nose so they wouldn't have to break apart.

Any concern he had about the rape, any lingering feelings from when he believed Paul had been the one to assault him, they were gone. Tripp pulled as hard as he could on Paul's head, twisting his fingers into the other man's hair.

Finally, they broke apart. Both breathed heavily and just looked at each other. The only sounds to be heard were Tripp's medical equipment and their lungs filling and emptying.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked, standing back up and laying a hand on Tripp's shoulder. "That didn't hurt, did it?"

Tripp laughed. "That was fucking great."