Sonny's POV

I never thought I find myself here again. My back is hurting from the terrible chairs in the waiting room, and around me are family members and friends. My mother and Will's mother are sitting on either side or Ari and trying to comfort her. Justin is sitting next to EJ and despite everything I realise how close they are. Just like then, my father is sitting next to me and I know Lucas is not far away. I take a deep shaking breath and listen to my father's promise:

"He is going to be OK… he has too much to live for…"

He was teaching a class today, English literature, and one of the students got up, shot him, and walked out of the class room. We hear about so many shootings on schools, but never would I think it would involve him. Again he was shot in his stomach and I can just wait and pray for the best. I see how Ari breaks loose from her grandmothers and she walks straight to me. Despite her 13 years she sits down on my lap and hides her face against my neck. I immediately wrap her up in my arms and whisper:

"He is going to be OK, honey… We just have to wait a little bit."

She nods, but doesn't move and inch. Justin sits down next to me and one of my arms finds its place around his shoulders. I am happy that they come to me while they are upset, but I don't know if I have the words to make them feel any better. My heart is broken and I hate how familiar this all feels. I suddenly realise how small Ari was then and despite everything is smile. Justin looks at me and asks:

"Why are you smiling, dad?"

"Before you were born… actually, is was on the day that Ari was born, daddy was shot too. And I just realised how things have changed since then… how lucky we are to have two healthy children…"

I plant a kiss in Ari's hair and she sits up to look at me:

"Dad once said his best memory of his hospital stay was when you brought him union rings…"

I smile when I remember how he spilled ketchup on his gown and how I took some time to attend to the stain, which was a perfect excuse to feel the warmth of his body through the thin material.

"Do you have a best memory dad?"

My mind immediately goes back to the moment I walked in to take him home.

"Hey…"

"Hey…"

I try to hide my worries over the stupid video mix up and smile at my cute boyfriend. I don't know how he does it but even in a hospital gown he looks irresistible to me. The way his big blue eyes look at me tell me I am not doing a very good job at hiding my worries. Although I really want to keep this quiet, I like the way he knows me well enough to know how I feel.

"What's wrong… I know something is…"

I try to move away from this subject but he insists. Eventually I say:

"I'm telling you nothing is wrong."

"Yes there is… see…"

His eyes sparkle teasingly when he points at my face.

"I knew it… you get wrinkles everywhere when something is bugging you."

I love that he can read my face, and that I don't have to say anything because he knows anyway, just like I can do with him. But I don't want to fill him in on the video thing yet so I say as convincingly as I can:

"No, I'm just bugged because I had to close the coffee house early to take you home. And you are giving me the third degree about something that isn't even happening."

"Alright, alright…"

I can see on his face he is letting it go for now and I am pretty sure at some point he will ask me about it again. HE changes the subject though, and I am happy to follow his lead.

"Thanks though, because I cannot wait to get out of this place."

He pushes the blankets away from him and I see that his stomach is still hurting.

"Well, I brought you some clothes, want me to help you get dressed?"

The teasing twinkle is back in his eyes:

"No no no, you are better at getting me undressed."

It took me all my self-control to not launch myself on top of him, ripping the gown apart and have my way with him right there. But somehow I managed to just walk over to him and lean in for a soft tender kiss after I promised:

"All in good time mister…"

His little happy laugh was enough to promise myself we would have the evening to ourselves, even if I had to kick people out of our apartment.

"Dad… your favourite memory?"

I suddenly remember they want to hear about my favourite memory when he was in hospital years ago. I cannot hide the red that covers my cheeks and I decide this memory might not be the most appropriate to share with our children. So instead I tell them about another moment dear to my heart.

He woke up. He actually woke up and I could sit here forever just staring at him being alive in front of me. He is holding little Ari in his arms and I can feel the emotions written on his face. His mother is fussing over all of us, and for some reason I actually like it. I didn't really liked it when she told Will I delivered the baby though. I wanted to tell him that at some point, when we were together and he would be a bit stronger, but now I have to tell the whole story because he is demanding to hear it. After I finished he turns to the little girl in his arms:

"You are one lucky little lady, you had Sonny Kiriakis looking out for you from day one. Oh my god… I love you…"

I know he is emotional as his voice changes into a whisper. I want to make a picture of this moment and imprint it on my heart because right in front of me is everything I live for. When his eyes look up to meet mine, my heart skips a beat. And when he softly whispers again I can feel my whole life fall into place:

"And I love you…"

His blue eyes are mirrors of his soul and all I can do is lean over him:

"I love you too…"

When I kiss his lips I see how he closes his eyes, and when I pull back I realise how he keep his eyes closed for a little while longer, and perhaps that tells me even more about the way he loves me than the words he just whispered.

When I finished my story I see how Justin crinkles his nose. His eyes quickly find Ari's and as always they team up and make fun of us:

"Wow dad… you two are so cheesy…"

"You asked for it, kids…"

Everyone is laughing and for a short moment the tension seems to be a little less. It is Lucas who comes to my rescue:

"You kids should be happy that your dads are still crazy about each other…"

Ari stands up and gives Lucas a hug:

"We are happy about that… but it is so much fun to tease them about it…"

Suddenly the doctor walks into the waiting room and I stand up. He shakes my hand and smiles:

"All is well, he is very drowsy and will probably sleep a lot in the coming 24 hours…"

I shake his hand again, unable to find words to tell him how grateful I am. He smiles and asks:

"If you would like to sit with him for a while?"

I nod, but before I can follow him I feel Ari's hand in mine:

"Dad, tell him we love him…"

I gather both my children in a big hug and then pull them with me to follow the doctor. When he sees it is the three of us he hesitates. I plead:

"Only for a minute… they just need to see him, and he needs to see them."

Luckily I convinced him and moments later we walk into the room together. The doctors was right, he is very drowsy. But the moment Ari kisses his cheek his eyes flutter open. Just like year ago his blue eyes seem to be even larger when he is in a hospital bed.

"Hi."

He can only whisper but it is the best sound I have ever heard. He smiles weakly at the kids and after they told him how much they love him, it is finally my turn. I just lean in and softly kiss his lips. When I let go I see how his eyes are still closed. He doesn't open them and just whispers:

"Kiss me again… you always kiss me twice…"

I smile and happily press our lips together for a second time:

"I love you babe…"

"I love you too…"

I promise him I will come back after I have taken the kids home and he just whispers:

"Hurry please…"

Then I walk over to Ari and Justin and before they can say anything, I say:

"We will probably hear this for the rest of our lives, won't we… it doesn't get any cheesier than that…"

They both laugh and Ari pushes her arms through mine:

"It might come up at some point…"

I sigh dramatically, but lovingly squeeze her arms against my waist. See looks at Justin and then she says:

"We might tease you with it… but never ever stop being like that…"

Now I am the one laughing and I can easily make this promise:

"Never…"

Will's POV

We are having a fight. A serious one this time about where to celebrate Thanksgiving. I wanted to stay at home, but Sonny agreed to the whole family going to his parent's house, and he didn't even ask me. He has done that more often, making decisions for all of us without asking and this time I could no longer keep quiet. We ended up shouting at each other and he then left to go for a walk. I am sitting at the dining room table and look up when I see our children, now 15 and 13 year old, standing in the doorway. They look a bit unsure of what to do and I just raise my eyebrows. Ari dares to begin:

"We could hear you upstairs…"

I suddenly realise how loud we were and how they must have been sitting upstairs, whishing we would make up. I remember the days I sat in my little room, covering my ears with my hands until my father would leave and my mother would slam the doors. I blush and say softly:

"I'm so sorry…"

They both walk over and take a seat, and I see how Justin wants to ask something.

"What's up Justin?"

"I dad coming back?"

He is firing the question at me and I cannot help but feeling guilty.

"Of course he will come back…"

Ari's high voice comes in:

"Are you going to make up?"

I look at our two worried children and I nod:

"Of course we are, we just had an argument…"

Justin is nervously playing with a pen that was lying on the table and I reach out to take it from his fiddling fingers. His brown eyes are big and sad when he says:

"It sounded like you two didn't love each other… didn't even like each other."

I shake my head and meet his eyes with mine, while I reach out to hold Ari's hand:

"We will always love each other… always."

None of us hear the front door open and we are unaware of how Sonny stops in his tracks before he pushes the kitchen door open further. Instead he leans against the wall to listen to our conversation. Justin is not yet convinced:

"How do you know that, dad?"

"Because I just do, from the moment we met we have loved each other so that is not suddenly going to change because we have an argument…"

They smile back at me and then Ari asks softly:

"Tell us about that, dad?"

"About what…"

"How you two met and stuff."

I am not sure what to tell them or how to tell them and then Justin says:

"Dad once said you were friends first…"

I nod and start telling our children about when Sonny and I first met.

The moment I see them I cannot keep my eyes from the dark haired stranger Abigail is hugging. For some reason I find him attractive, but I push that away while I walk towards them.

"Where is Gabi going?"

"To call her mum, she is in the hospital."

"Oh that is too bad… Sonny… this is my cousin Will, the one I am always talking about..."

"Oh hey dude, how are you… it is nice to meet you after all these years."

He grabs my hand while his eyes find mine. For some reason I feel nervous and slightly confused.

"Yeah… euhm... so you two are…"

I feel a bit worried about hearing the answer because for some reason I really want him to be single.

"Related…"

"Oh…"

The colour in my face is slightly fading. I can't help but thinking that we must be related too and I don't like that.

"Sonny is my cousin too, his parents are my uncle Justin and aunt Adrienne…"

I feel immediate relieve as I realise we are not related, but I am confused:

"But I thought you name was Jackson…"

"Well it is, but there are so many Jacksons in my class and in my family, so everyone started calling me Sonny…my parents hate it though…"

I disagree with his parents. I like how he is called Sonny because I think it suits him much better than Jackson. His smile, his face, and the happiness that radiates from him makes me think 'Sonny' is just the right name for him.

"I'm so sorry… it is nice to meet you."

I grab his hand again, not sure if it is to make up for my confusion or whether I just want to feel his touch again.

It is Justin interrupting my story about our first meeting:

"Was it love at first sight?"

"Well… I don't know about love… but I really, really liked him and wanted to see him again."

It is quiet for a while and then I continue:

"You know… at that time I didn't want to believe that I liked boys. So I wasn't ready to fall in love with a boy… I had to come to terms with myself first."

Ari nods and smiles:

"Great grandma Marlena once told me it took you a while."

I frown and look at her:

"Why do you discuss that with great grandma Marlena…?"

She shrugs and explains:

"Remember that essay I had to do about finding yourself? You said I might want to talk to great grandma Marlena about that and I did… and I don't remember how we got to you, but somehow we did…"

I am not sure what to think of that and she must see that from my facial expression. She stands up and hugs my neck from behind while kissing my cheek:

"Don't worry, all she said is that it took you a long time, but that one day you said to her you were a gay man… at the coffee house… and how you two went for some ice cream at the Horton Square."

I smile when thinking about that memory and then Justin asks:

"So did you tell my dad?"

I nod and my smile gets even brighter.

"I did… I went to the coffee house, while he was closing up and I pretended to come over just to help him. And he asked me how my day went and I just listed everything I had done including coming out to grandma Marlena."

"So what did he say…"

"Congratulations."

"That's it?"

I hear the unbelief in their voices and shrug:

"Yeah, what did you expect…?"

Ari starts giggling and says:

"Well he always says he loved you from the very first time he saw you… he could have said something about that…"

I frown:

"Well when I told him I am gay didn't automatically mean I was in love with him…"

"But you where…"

"Yeah, but…"

"Wow, even then you two messed up big time."

"Hey now…"

As always they manage to team up against me. We all laugh and I shake my head:

"I will not tell you anything else then, you're just making fun of us…"

"Just one more thing, dad…"

When I see Justin's brown eyes focused on mine I know this going to be about the fight we had today.

"Did you fight like today before? Because if you did, then you obviously made up and I don't have to worry anymore…"

I nod almost immediately:

"Oh we fought, especially when we just started going out and Sonny didn't like Ari's mum very much... And we once fought in the park and then grandpa EJ saw us and told us to behave ourselves…"

"And you always made up?"

I smile happily:

"Always, we always made up…"

"OK, I'll go do my homework then… and let's hope dad comes home soon."

The kids walk up the stairs and I then I hear the kitchen door being pushed open. He is standing there with his coat still on.

"Hi."

"Hi."

He walks towards me, but avoids my eyes when he holds still in front of me. I hold my breath when he softly says:

"You know… when you came out to me I really wanted to tell you how much I loved you… I really did… and when you hugged me I didn't want to let you go…"

"Sonny?"

"I was behind the door and didn't want to interrupt… or maybe… maybe I just needed to hear you talk about us for a while…I don't know."

I reach out and hug him close to me. His arms lock around my waist and his softly whispered I-love-you sends shivers down my spine. With a deep sigh I whisper:

"They were worried we wouldn't make up anymore…"

"Yeah… we shouldn't make them witness our arguments again."

I nod against his neck and softly kiss his skin.

"I'm sorry I said to my mum we would spend Thanksgiving there… I will cancel it."

I shrug:

"Let's ask the kids what they want and then decide."

He squeezes my waist and I smile:

"You know, we should let them know we made up again…"

I try to pull back but his arms are tightly around me when he whispers in my ear:

"I remember previous make up sessions and they were much, much better…"

His hands find their way under my shirt and I feel how he softly sucks on my earlobe.

"Sonny…"

It is only a weak whisper of resistance, and I let him kiss wet trails across my neck and cheeks. After he opened the second button of my shirt and my lips have found his we suddenly jump apart when we hear two voices:

"In the middle of the living room, dads? Really….?"

In shock we look at our children, but then Justin smiles while pulling his sister behind him up the stairs again:

"Let's forget what we saw and just be happy they made up…"

I am still in shock when I feel Sonny's hands buttoning up my shirt. He smiles:

"It'll have to wait for later…"

His kiss is a promise of what is to come and I just lean in and whisper happily:

"Can't wait."

Someone asked me to include memories of Sonny just after Will was shot. I have done a fic on Sonny's feelings about that before which is called scars. So here I went for some scenes when Will was awake again.

Thank you all for reading. Please leave a review as it is nice to hear what you think!