Chapter Text
Tap….tap…. tap
It was 2AM at the Hawkes mansion and all the residents were asleep. At least they were supposed to be, that is. For Will who had only been visiting for the weekend, that wasn't the case.
The cracking of small pebbles against his window woke him up, and he considered whether or not it was worth it to investigate. On the one hand, sleep was treasured by him. On the other, however, the tapping would not stop.
Groaning and rubbing his tired eyes that adjusted themselves to the moonlight pouring in, Will slipped out of bed and groggily made his way to the window. He surveyed the outside gardens for the source, only to see that face...that sly little smile that made his eyebrow twitch and his heart skip a beat.
"Right now!?" he mutedly yelled down to her after opening the pane. He gripped his hands on the bottom of the window to lean closer out, feet planted firmly on the ground. "Couldn't it have waited for earlier in the day!?"
Kym stood there in the middle of his backyard, hands dug into the pockets of her tan trench coat. She tilted her head to the side coyly with a pouty lip. "So you're not happy to see me?
"I'm not... not happy to see you. But we said we'd meet when I was back home on Monday."
Their fling began three months ago after a brief encounter. They enjoyed each other's companies, as they should have. That tight knit friendship molded into something more. Small kisses, cuddles for warmth. Things that helped them get through the week, but nothing official.
"I figured you'd be stressed after tonight. I wanted to make sure you were okay," she replied as she walked closer to the windows, scanning the area. Truly, she just wanted to see him too. Her mind plotted her next move while he busied himself with her sudden presence.
There were too many boundaries separating Will from her: the snow on the ground, the timing of her rendezvous, and, of course, the two story difference between them at present. Boundaries weren't hard for her to break, however. Kym wasn't anything if not persistent, especially with him on her mind.
"I appreciate the thought, but couldn't you have called?" Will asked. She was so impulsive; caring, but impulsive. "It's really cold outside, Kym."
Her brown eyes glanced pointedly to the iced down trellis extending from his room and back to his glossy moon reflected eyes. "Is that an invitation?"
"It’s not saf-" he cautiously replied, knowing a single wrong word would start the chain reaction that was her impulse.
She cheekily smiled with a salute. "RSVP sent!"
Like the force of nature she was, Kym grabbed onto the lattice lining up the side of the Hawkes manor without a second thought. She firmly planted her boots into the holes and began to climb. The frost burn would be unbearable later, but it's nothing the calluses she had grown from her marksmanship training hadn't prepared her for.
He ran a hand through his hair, trying not to get too loud in his panic." Kym, you're going to fall!"
"I'm not gonna fall , Will," she snickered as she scaled the side of his wall. "I can even climb with only one hand, see?" Kym released one arm off the platform to wave up at him, flailing it aimlessly and flashing her signature dopey smile.
He felt a certain heat that was fully welcome in the cold rush to his face as he panicked and reached out the window. God, she was so reckless; it drove him crazy. "S-Stop! Be more careful! It's slippery and old! It wasn't made for Romeo and Juliet re-enactments!"
"I've done this a million times with Lauren's house. Trust me, I can handle myself."
Somehow, it brought him both relief and stress as she made her way up to him. While Will loved the small moments he would get to spend with her in secret, this was dangerous. Not the most impulsive of her decisions, but definitely edging on one of the worst. He had no time to think, however, as she suddenly lost her footing.
Kym's foot faltered as the trellis began to shake. She quickly grabbed on with the hand she had let go and began to climb with haste.
"Hold on!" Will called urgently, reaching his entire torso out to grab hold of her. He skidded his bare feet into the ground as deeply as he could to maintain his balance.
As she hastily made her way to the top, he extended his arms out for her. The moment her cold, shaky hands grazed his, he grabbed hold of Kym's arms and dragged her through the small window, her weight toppling onto him as they crashed onto the hardwood floor with a thud.
They paused a moment, breathing out all the adrenaline in their systems before slowly regaining their air. The only sound in the room besides their exhales was the sudden burst of laughter that escaped the woman on top of him, her hand clenched over her mouth to muffle the sound. It was so obnoxious, but her voice was sonorous as always.
Will looked up at her from his flattened heap on the floor, pajamas now soaked by her snowed coat. His expression was nothing short of exhausted and judgmental. He couldn’t even begin to fathom how she could laugh right after almost being seriously injured.
Kym’s expression softened apologetically. She straightened herself into a straddle on top of him. "Sorry about the crash. You okay down there?"
"Why are you asking if I'm okay, you're the one who scaled the side of my house? Are you okay?" he insisted, eyes full of earnest. Sure, he was stressed and tired, but what if she was hurt and hadn’t realized?
"Never hurt to begin with, Will," Kym cheekily soothed. She leaned down faster than he could process and pressed her chapped lips to his, sweet like honey but cold as ice.
He could feel her serene smile against him, pushing only a moment before pulling back to where she was before, gazing down at him pleasantly as heat dusted his cheeks. He wouldn’t lie to himself and say that he hadn’t wished for it to last longer- not when Kym was so close and resonating an energy he craved.
Will began to sit up, prompting her to move off of him and take his hand as they rose from the ground. Snow and ice fell onto the carpet off of her jacket, surrounding them in a circle of white. The cold should have bothered his bare feet, but he felt warmed by her presence enough to ignore it.
"You still have snow in your hair," he commented, rustling the remaining flurries from her dark locks with a laugh.
Kym giggled inwardly and shook her head like a dog, spreading the snow onto him. Before they became more intimate, acting like this would have been frowned upon or snuffed at, but now Will began to appreciate how quirky and free spirited she was. Those small little exuberant actions were all a ploy to make him laugh.
He admired her for a moment before moving his hand down to the side of her face. Her porcelain skin shivered at his touch, causing him to retract slightly. "Sorry, are you still cold?"
"Nah, not too much. It's a lot warmer here than outside, though, that's for sure," Kym assured him, stripping from her coat and tossing it to the other side of the room like a ragdoll. She gave no warning before going to his large bed and plopping flat on her back onto the soft comforter like a starfish. "Ahh, this is nice though!"
Will pinched the bridge of his nose and walked around the bed to sit up by where her head lied. "I hate being here, but at least the bed is nice," he sighed.
"I wish I had a big rich boy bed. Sadly, that's not my life."
He found himself combing the knots out of her bangs absentmindedly as she talked upwards towards the ceiling. "Your bed can't be all that bad."
"There's a reason we've never been to my house, Will. That bed...it scares me," she emphasized, eyes widening. Kym turned her head slightly to face him. "But either way, I'm here for you, friendo."
The genuine softness in her expression made his walls break down. He slumped forward and held his face in his hands, closing his eyes for reprieve. “I decided to come back to the estate because my father wanted to talk about my job. Another trap I played into. It's always the same; I'm told I don't work hard enough, that I'm slacking, and all from fifteen feet away.”
“He sits that far away from you at dinner?" Kym asked, swinging her legs off the side of the bed and sitting up at his side, propping herself up with her arms extended behind her.
"Some days, I'm glad he does. I work myself to the bone to get the promotion he puts so much pressure on me to get, but it's never enough for him," he murmured, grinding his teeth unintentionally, a small coping mechanism he picked up over the years. "Sometimes I feel like-"
"Like he's setting you up to fail?"
"Right, and it's like I can never have control over anything in my life. I'm just some puppet to the Hawkes name. My sleep schedule, my job. Is there anything else he can control for me?" he ranted before finally blowing off all steam and letting out a sigh of exhaustion.
"Your love life?"
His heart stopped a moment, halted by the words she let out so delicately. "She came again tonight. He invited her," Will started as he wrung his hands together. "My father...he’s so insistent that I marry her. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Neyra, I just-"
With a gentle touch, she laid her hand on the small of his hunched over back. Even just that small connection put him at ease. "You don’t feel that way towards her,”
"Of course I don't, Kym."
"But you could always learn to like her, though, right?" she replied with a weak chuckle, hand grabbing the back of her neck anxiously. "She seems nice enough from what you've told me about her. Hey, she's pretty too, yeah?"
As he raised his head to look at her, he saw the somberness that painted her eyes, clouding the sparkle that he saw just minutes ago. It wasn’t a look of pity, nor was it one of altruism. No, he knew exactly what it was. He would have to be stupid to not have. It was her insecurity.
They both gave in to the urge to kiss and hold each other and spoke nothing more of it, only meeting each other for those short breaks where they were free to soothe each other's stressful lives. Kym seemed alright, at first, with the arrangement; after all, she was the one who considered it a very beneficial source of love situation for cops who didn't have time to romance, but he could see the cracks rise from beneath the surface. The last couple of meetings they had had, her mind was elsewhere, almost as though she was tapering her feelings away.
Will shifted to his side to face her more easily. He could see her pained expression from her profile. "Kym, I-"
"Look, Will, it's fine," she hushed, voice pepping up to detract from her emotions. She didn't want to worry him. "I knew when we started to... y'know, do whatever we're doing, that it wouldn't last forever."
When she couldn't handle things, her instinct was to laugh. To make a joke. Anything to distract herself from what she was really feeling. For some time it would make her forget, but not him. Will wouldn't let that defense mechanism go unnoticed.
"What are you talking about?" He couldn't conceptualize why she was sounding like she was trying to put an end to things. He couldn't be hearing her right.
"This...this thing we have, I don't know. We're just going around kissing, pretending we're something we're not, but what else is there?"
"What else?" he asked, the pit in his chest weighing down on him like a deep pitch falling into the unknown.
"We're just friends, right? It's not like I'm marriage material or anything. Hell, I'm not even dating material."
"That's not-"
Kym stood from the bed and started to pace the room, shaking her head as the lists of problems flowed from her like babble. "I know I'm not perfect, and I know I'm not her. I'm not regal, I'm not the princess of Ardhalis, and I'm definitely not someone the great ol' Stefan Hawkes would shout praises for. That's why we're just doing this for benefits. I'm just a secret."
"Kym, you don't understa-" he started, getting up to follow her.
"What is there to understand, Will?" she laughed, the question not even registering in her mind. She halted her steps and turned towards him, back to the moon's glow. "This is just because we're friends, isn't it?"
"Please, just give me a-"
"If you want to keep me a secret or stop this, it's fi-"
" Kym! " Will stressed, grasping the sides of her arms within his hands, holding her where he knew she couldn't fly away. He looked straight into her amber eyes, wide with surprise. "I don't... want to keep you secret, I…"
Trailing off, he turned his gaze towards their feet; there was no way he could be truthful if he saw her reaction to his words. He could feel her tense under his hold.
"Just because we have this arrangement doesn't mean I only care about you for that. Do you really think I'd just toss you aside once we’re done?"
"N-No, but-"
"You're the only thing in my life I can control. If he found out about us? About how I feel about you? What if he took you away from me too? I just-I wanted something that wouldn't leave."
"Will, what are you-"
"I wanted something to be my own," his voice cracked as he tightened his grip on her. Will could feel the inside of his mouth dry up with each new reason he spat at her. "I don't want to hide you. I don't want to...to lose you. You're the only person that I...t-that I-"
He turned up timidly to see her, heart beating rapidly. Outlined by the pale moonlight she stood there, eyes glazed over, porcelain skin illuminated by the rays. He felt shameful. He felt guilty. He felt undeserving . Why was he allowed to see her like she is, so effervescent, so crystalline, when he made her feel like her only worth was another lump of flesh to hug when he felt alone.
The way she looked at him was as though she saw right through him, like he were just an apparition. The pity in her eyes, the remorse, struck a chord right in him. His words came out entirely on their own.
"Kym, I love you."
"H-Huh?"
"I love you."
She pulled back at his confession, stumbling behind herself slowly until she hit the wall. He loved her? "You can't mean that, Will," she laughed off. "We're just-"
Hushing her words, he made his way to her, moving his hands around her jaw and tilting her head to his, swiftly closing their distance. All the sounds of the world went silent to her ears when his lips met hers. It was as if all the air had escaped her lungs.
This kiss wasn't like before. It wasn't in passing, it wasn't between pants, and it wasn't temporary. There was an urgency behind it, but he was gentle, soft, as if she were a doll about to crack at the touch.
Kym arched her back and relaxed her hands against the wall, parting her lips for him further and shutting her eyes. It was as though she had been engulfed by a black hole, blind and plummeting her deeper into an abyss she couldn't reach out of. Her thoughts quieted, her mind stopped racing, and all her reserves came crashing down like a broken tower of glass.
"W-Will-"
He lulled her to silence as he revisited her lips that trembled at his tenderness. The second touch she yielded to it, allowing him to prove to himself and her she was more than just a cure for his loneliness. Will’s fingers sank deeper into her skin, sifting through the roots of her hair. There was no look of reluctance clouding her expression, giving Will the slight hope that she might have felt the same.
His kiss spoke to her. Calmed her, but burned her all the same, as she relaxed into the warm hands that held her. When her eyes fluttered back open with a breathy inhale as he pulled away, nose nudging against hers, she met them: those blue pools that thawed her. He looked at her almost like a question as his hands withdrew. Nervous. Scared. Ashamed.
“I-,” Kym started, blinking to register herself back to reality. All the muscles on her face were too spellbound to flex as he moved back with a fluster, eyes still locked to her.
Will felt a ball drop in his heart, his ribs like they were caving in. “I-I’m sorry! That was really out of line.”
She relaxed her tensed shoulders against the wall and knit her eyebrows together in confliction, trying to keep her gaze on him unrevealing. “No, no, it-,” Kym rushed, holding up her hands defensively, "it's fine! I just...don't know what to say. I wasn't really expecting this, y'know?"
"Me to confess like an idiot without thinking? God , I probably ruined our friendship," he chastised himself, gripping his face with his hand.
A short gust of laughter fell from her lips as she watched him act like the same-old William who fretted like things were constantly coming undone. She calmly walked to him, a smile spreading on her face. "You really gotta stop blaming yourself for everything, especially when you didn't even wait for my answer."
As much as she mused on the thought, he wouldn't be her Will if he didn't treat everything so delicately. It was something she liked about him. Something she loved.
"I wasn't expecting you to think you were the one with unreciprocated feelings. It's kinda funny when you think about it, actually."
"Wait, you-"
"Because I've loved you for, I don't know, years of us working together, and you always seemed so put off by me, but now you're the one kissing me like I'm gonna disappear or something. When did you even start liking me, Will?"
He moved to sit and the edge of the bed. "I...I don't know. Some days I just saw you and you were so...lively and fun. For a while I was kind of envious that you looked so happy and acted so carefree," Will leaned back and fell flat on the comforter. "I thought maybe it was because I wanted to be like that, but then I realized I was falling for you. You're so... quirky on the surface, but you have such a good heart and you're so radiant , I-"
Realizing he was rambling, he buried his face in his hands again. Years of pining and stuffing down emotions all pushed themselves up. God, what Kym Ladell did to him.
After a short bit of hesitation, she gathered herself and laid down on her side next to him. "So you like me ? Kym ? The same Kym you always yell at at work? The same Kym you say don't stand on the desk and spit out watermelon seeds! to?" she asked, impersonating his demanding intonation as his ear tips reddened.
Will snorted warmly and looked back to smile serenely at her, feeling the air in the room become more comfortable thanks to her usual dramatics. "Yes, the same Kym who always asks if others are okay when she knows they're not, the same Kym who's secretly smarter than me, and the same Kym who climbed up my house in the middle of the night just to make sure I was okay."
"I mean, any good friend would do th-"
"Kym, " he groaned, but with more fondness than annoyance.
"Sorry!"
He slumped down on his side and reached out to her, cupping her cheek with his hand and musing his thumb under her eye. Her cheeks blossomed at the touch. "You also have this mark that drives me crazy. It's so-"
"Cute?"
"C-Cute? W-Well no, but it’s, I don’t know, endearing ? I like seeing it move when you smile and laugh and talk.” Of course he thought it was cute, but he wouldn't let her know that.
She chortled and smiled that vibrant smile that just flashed fresh in his mind, teeth shining at him and eyes squinting shut. “And you say I’m the weird one in the relationship.”
“Relationship?” he asked instantly, eyes looking like they were going to pop from his head. Had he heard her right?
“Well, yeah? You just confessed to me and I love you back so...isn’t that where we are? In a relationship ?"
She moved so fast. Will's confession was spur of the moment. For once in his life, he hadn't thought of anything else around him and erupted, unprompted, with his own desires. Things weren't that easy, though.
“You would want to be with me despite my arranged marriage?"
"Oh," Kym paused, lips faltering back to a line. "I'll be honest, the whole 'whisking me off my feet and kissing me passionately against the wall' stunt kind of made me forget about that. Leave it to you to crash me back to reality."
"I kind of forgot, too. 'Was too caught up in, uh, that as well."
"Well yeah, since you're the one who did it, but yeah, I...I do."
She looked into his eyes and saw something she feared: reluctance. Had she jumped the gun? And here she was thinking he was the one moving too fast.
"U-Unless you don't want to, that is. You're probably not ready; you already crashed and burned trying to tell me how you feel."
"Kym, it's not that," Will corrected, turning his body to face her, "it's that I'd have to keep us a secret from him, and I don't want to do that, and I don't even know how long it could last. All this sneaking around, it's just stupid."
"You're telling me. Then why don't you just make us public? If we're together, you wouldn't have to be with her. Why don't you just tell him no?"
"No?"
"Yeah, just...say no?" she questioned, tilted her head to the side, her hair falling with her.
Will sighed at her naivety. "You say that like it's the easiest thing in the world. I'm the one who has to keep my family's name up to status. I'm the one who has to make us not seem... broken. It's on me, ever since he…"
"Will... I know you think the world is on your shoulders and that it'll all fall apart if you let go, but don't you think you deserve to be happy sometimes too?"
"That I...deserve to be happy?"
His lip fell open as the question left his lips. It echoed in him, that small little statement. Happy. He deserved...happiness? For the first time he internalized all the weight his family put on him; that weight he put on himself. Was there even something that made him happy that would stay? Then it hit him.
It was her. She was the one who was his happiness. The one constant that never disappeared, never pressured him, never made him feel responsible for all the tragedies in his life that weren't ever his fault. Kym was only ever there for him, making him laugh with her ridiculous behavior when he was pained, putting herself in danger just to displace his worried thoughts.
"'You doin' okay in there?" she playfully replied, tapping his forehead with her index finger.
"Yeah, I...I just never considered my own happiness before. It never seemed important."
Kym looked at him like he had grown two heads. He was the literal poster child for selflessness. "Never seemed-Will... Will ."
She rested her small palm to his cheek, chubbier than his strong jawline let on. He looked so helpless and confused over the simple topic of self care. "Being happy is extremely important. You know what, that's it. Now that you know I love you, all bets are off."
His lips tightened as his head reeled from hearing those words again. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm going to be with you whether you like it or not. We are officially dating starting NOW!" she demanded with a scrunched up face, her ferocity both for play and intent. Kym spread her arm wide and to the ceiling as though presenting them to the world for all to see despite the fact that they were alone. She always had a flare for the dramatic; she was an actress, after all.
"Kym, we can't just start dating."
"TOO LATE!" she said, wrapping her previously raised arm around his neck and pulling herself closer to him, bodies now only centimeters apart.
"B-But," Will stuttered, trying his best to not give into her tactics, however strong they were. He knew what she was doing, and he wasn't going to buy it. "No, no, no. Not doing this."
She moved herself closer into the curve of his body, nestling her head under his neck. That strong scent of pine invigorated her further, taking no time to nuzzle against him. "Wiiiill, just accept it, okay? You're never getting rid of me now!"
Rolling his eyes back into his head and taking a deep inhale, her newly acclaimed "boyfriend" hesitantly but softly wrapped his arm around her back. "I wouldn't have been able to before tonight, either, Kym. You're not exactly one to give up on the things you want."
He relaxed his chin on top of her head and shut his eyes, trying to enjoy the reverie that was her small form cradled in his own. Every moment of their encounters, in between those meaningless kisses and empty hugs, he had viewed her as small, but now all he could think of was how delicate and precious she was. Resilient, of course, but something he needed to hold; something he needed to cherish and protect.
"Exactly, so let's tell Papa Hawk we're dating tomorrow morning!"
Will's eyes shot open almost immediately. "Are you cra-okay, no, I know you are, but are you serious ? You can't just... tell him that!? I don't even know how I'm going to break it to him. And why are you calling him that?"
"Because it's a fitting name for a helicopter parent, and of course I can. Did you ever even consider what he would say if you told him you loved someone else?" Kym asked tenderly, tracing circles on the small of his back with her hand that laced over his side.
"Why would I? He's so unflinching, he wouldn't even physically accept it and escort you off the premises or something!"
She noticed he began to panic, his hand trembling slightly, and moved back to be at eye gaze before resting her palm on his face. "Hey, it's gonna be okay, Will. You don't need to freak out over this."
"And why shouldn't I? I'm supposed to be with Neyra. They planned for me to be with Neyra. I'm sworn to her, or something. And what if he meets you? If he doesn't approve of you, you'll-"
"Force my way back onto the premises to fight your father for dominance with my dueling cane? Absolutely," Kym smirked. "Look, jokes aside, I really... really like you. I'm worried too, but I really want to be with you, and I'm ready to try. Are you?"
"I…"
He considered a moment. He had so much to lose, but also so little. He had never fought against Stefan's opinion or demands before. What would really happen if he tried? It's not as though he would kick him out or cut him off; Will was all he had left as a successor.
Apart from that, he couldn't give up on Kym so easily, either. Within his worries and panics, his thoughts went back to images of her. She'd be on his mind whether or not he went through with it, but it was worth it to see his best friend that made his days a billion times brighter.
"Give me a yes for a kiss?" she bribed, raising her eyebrows in anticipation. "C'mon, I'll even take a subtle nod or some-"
"Okay."
"O-Okay? Just like that!? What happened to Worrisome William?"
After a brief chuckle dusted his lips, he sat up on his knees to face her. "I was already going to say it eventually, knowing your persistence. You just made the decision easier for me."
Will looked so confident in that moment, much more assured than mere seconds ago. The tender look he gave her made the brief lilt of butterflies dancing in her chest flutter like they were on fire. She couldn't help the small grin that tickled it's way onto her lips. It suited him more to sport that debonair smile he always had that made her fall deeper for him by the day.
"Then I...guess we're doing it tomorrow, huh?" Kym assumed, taking his hands and looking down at them.
"You're the one who convinced me. I'm not sure how you'd like me to go about it."
"What's the best time of day for Papa Hawk? Y'know, when he's less likely to be angry, grumpy, or over-all less of a stick in the mud."
He laced his fingers between hers, allowing her small digits to sift to his palms. "Never. Literally never, Kym. My father lives in a constant state of anger. I haven't seen him happy in years."
"Morning it is, then!"
"Yeah...morning it is. But before I forget," Will remembered slowly with a pause. She couldn't catch her breath before he lowered his head down to capture another kiss from her. "I said yes, right?"
As he pulled back, she looked away bashfully, bottom lip puffing out. "Technically, you said okay , not yes ."
"Okay. Then let me say it again."
He came back down again swiftly to her. "Yes."
Heat rose to her face, her eyes widening in surprise. "Yes." Fervor moved to her body, jolts of lightning rippling through her muscles. "Yes?"
She was on fire, and he was the match.
"Yes," Kym urged, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him down with her to the bed, their lips still on each other like velvet to skin. He took no time to straddle his legs around her as Kym felt her way through his sandy blond hair.
Breathily she laughed happily against his mouth before he slipped his tongue to hers, sending shivers up her spine. She was already set off by his confidence, this was taking her too far. They let the first real kiss they had had together play out, both laughing their way through kisses.
After they had no energy to continue, he sighed a sigh of relief and collapsed to her side, gaze circling the ceiling as the room spun. The haze of her still on his lips still made him feel lost, but Kym's steadying breaths that exhaled rhythmically calmed him.
"S-Sorry it was so sloppy. Part of me was kind of nervous, too, since it's the first time since I told you I...a-are you laughing?"
Like the psychopath she was, Kym Ladell was cheekily snickering at him, flat on her back, tired as all hell. "You're such a perfectionist. It was fine, Will."
"Fine!? " he turned to her. "It was that bad!?"
"Not bad at all, Worry-Will," she yawned as she turned to face him. Her expression was relaxed, almost hushed. A placid silence passed, making the chill of the night air seem all the more noticeable to them. Had it really been this cold?
She looked to those blue eyes that held the night sky in their reflection. "I'm glad."
"Huh?"
Kym curled up on top of his chest, an action that made him frozen in the dull heat he was declining from. Sure, they had hugged many times as friends, but never as lovers. Even after all their time together, this was the first time he considered their cuddles so real. Feeling her on top of his chest was a new feeling, but it made him feel whole. It was as if a puzzle piece he never knew was missing had been placed.
"What do you...," he trailed off upon looking at her sleeping face against him, rosy cheeks plump on his chest, wrapping his arms around her. Of course she was asleep. Where had the time gone?
Will laid there, relishing their embrace. He hoped the dream would last forever. He hoped they would last forever. He hoped that tomorrow he wouldn't be woken from this dream, and that maybe, just maybe, he was wrong about his father all along, and drifted off to sleep.