Who: Will Hayes, Olivia Shepherd, various NPCs What: Doyle Hayes is finally going to jail, no matter what they have to do to get him there. Where: Boston, Massachusetts When: Thursday, December 7; afternoon Warnings: Violence Status: Complete
There was something in the air like an electrical charge that afternoon, a sense that things were happening under the surface. It made sense for Will to feel that way; his plans with Olivia were coming to a head and freedom was close enough to taste. If anyone else could feel it he could only hope that they thought that they were imagining it or that they at least didn't understand what it meant. There was no reason for them to feel it. There was no reason for them to know that there was anything happening that was outside the normal routine at all. There were FBI agents setting up not far from the warehouse where Will and his father's men were working, ready for a sting the next day. If they came in now they wouldn't find anything but the shipment that was coming in tomorrow... it was big. Big enough that they couldn't clean it all up in a hurry if Olivia and her team came bursting through the door unexpectedly.
Playing in bigger leagues came with bigger risks. Doyle Hayes had thought that he was accounting for all of them; he hadn't accounted for Will.
It had never been so far to play the game before. Will hadn't expected that. He'd thought that since he'd been playing it for so long it would be harder to break his act than to keep it but there was a part of him, had always been a part of him, that pushed against what he had to pretend to be. There was something bigger than Will had ever shown anyone under his skin that had him almost bursting at the seams. It was like wearing clothing just a little too tight or being stuck in a place just a little too small to be able to stretch his muscles. Life didn't quite fit Will anymore; he'd gotten just enough hope to be able to grow at last into almost what he should have been all along.
When something went wrong it was almost a relief.
"Start clearing the loading docks." Doyle's voice was big and booming; he was a large man. Not larger than Will but it was clear which side of the family Will had gotten his size from.
Maybe he was just getting a head start for the next day. Maybe... but that electric feeling prickled Will's skin. He knew he should keep his head down. One more night of this and it would be over. He'd be free. Kait would be free. He could see Luke again and wrap his arms around the little brother he hadn't seen in years. If Will just kept his head down... "Why?"
"Why?" Doyle's forehead creased. He wasn't used to Will asking questions. He wasn't used to Will doing anything except either obeying or throwing what he still called tantrums, like Will was a disobedient child. "Because I said so. That's why."
"Don't wanna." Will's heart was racing but the nerves just made his speech slower, the parts of his brain that hadn't recovered having to work even harder under the strain of nerves and adrenaline to remember the right words in the right order. "Wanna go to the library."
It was a convenient cover story at least. Will had been going to the library a lot since he'd started plotting with Olivia. He always brought back a selection of colorful picture books, things that suited what his father thought that he was capable of.
"You can go to the library tomorrow," Doyle told him.
Tomorrow? But tomorrow was supposed to be... "Wanna go today."
"I said you could go tomorrow. Damn it, William, do as I say."
"No." Will crossed his arms over his chest and pouted like a child but behind it all his mind was spinning. If his father was willing to let him go for the next day then it meant that the big shipment that Will had thought they were expecting wasn't coming in. And if it wasn't coming in tomorrow that meant it was coming in a different day. Could have been the next day but that didn't explain the urgency or the edge to his father's voice. That meant that the shipment was coming...
Early. The shipment was early and if Olivia came the next day there was a chance that she'd still find enough evidence. There was an even better chance that she wouldn't.
Will turned and started storming off toward the door, eyes scanning the room in front of him as his father yelled behind him. He was making a scene and he knew it. There were going to be eyes on him. Maybe too many eyes for what he needed to do.
He had to take the risk. There wasn't any choice.
It looked like an accident when he ran into Rory. Nothing that Will did was ever an accident. When he needed someone to lose his temper Rory was always his first choice. It didn't fail this time either. "Watch it, retard." Rory shoved him back and that was all that Will needed to jump him, fists flying.
He only managed to get in a few punches while he grappled with him. He didn't even need to get those in. That was purely for his own pleasure. He felt large hands closing on his shoulders before long, pulling him back. "Enough." As old as Will was and as big as he'd gotten that tone to his father's voice still sent a surge of dread down his spine. That was the way his father's voice had sounded before he'd hit him hard enough to ruin his life; Will flinched away.
"No," he bellowed again. This time when he ran it was into the maze of crates that he was supposed to be helping shift. Hidden in his palm was the phone that he'd lifted from Rory's pocket when he'd tackled him to the ground.
By now Will knew Olivia's number by heart. He punched it in and sent a text that would ruin everything if she didn't make it in time:
> COME NOW. W
He tossed the phone aside as soon as he hit send. There hadn't been anyone that Will trusted for a very long time but he trusted Olivia. He trusted that she would see his text. He trusted that she would understand what he meant and that she would find a way to make it happen.
All that Will had to do was hold on until she could get her team moving.
Just like it was always Rory that Will picked if he needed someone to lose their temper, it was always Niall that they sent to look in on him when he was having a fit. Will had barely gotten rid of the phone in time before he rounded the line of crates. "Hey there, Will. I know you want to go get some more books, huh? How 'bout we get the loading docks cleared and then you go." Even Niall didn't get too close. He was nervous; Will could hear it in his voice and see it in the way that he fidgeted. "That's all your dad wants. Still got plenty of time before it closes, right? Faster we're done the sooner you can go."
Will pretended to consider it before he nodded. "Okay. Long as you promise."
"Cross my heart." The tension draining from Niall's shoulders was almost visible. "Let's go then."
Normally Doyle didn't supervise directly when all they were doing was moving things around; the fact that he broke that pattern meant that he was nervous about this. It also meant that there was less chance of him getting away and going to ground somewhere and that was what was most important to Will. He worked with one eye on his father and the other on the door.
The trucks pulled up before they'd finished clearing everything and Will moved from moving to unloading, his father barking orders.
Olivia wasn't there. Olivia should be close.
Will moved slowly, as slowly as he could. It was suspicious and he knew it; he was changing his pattern just like his father was.
"What's wrong with you today?" Doyle had come up behind him but Will had been watching. Will expected him. "You're almost as useless as you are stupid."
Any other day Will would have bowed his shoulders and taken it. He'd have apologized. He'd have done whatever it took to keep his father from realizing that there was more to Will than he'd ever known. This wasn't any other day.
Will dropped the box that he'd been lugging from the truck back onto the ramp. "I'm not stupid."
He hadn't meant to roar it. There was a lull in the movement in the warehouse, a pause in the general working chatter of 'coming through' and 'put it there' that had been a comforting background hum for most of Will's life. The only sound now was frantic whispers as his father's men tried to explain to their associates, to their fellow criminals, exactly what was wrong with the oldest Hayes boy.
The way that his father's eyes narrowed was dangerous. Will's fists clenched and his heart pounded until it felt like his ribs would break.
"You listenâ"
At that same moment, the sound of a door on the opposite side of the warehouse slamming open could be heard from the loading docks, as Agent Shepherd and her team burst in waving guns and badges in every direction. Olivia had gotten Willâs message only two minutes later, but sheâd worked fast. Having anticipated the possibility of another last minute change, sheâd secured the warrant she needed a day early, the judge had already signed off on it an hour earlier. With no time to spare, apparently, because the second she saw Willâs text, she knew what it meant. It was now or never. She was not going to lose this chance to nail Doyle Hayes for good this time, and it was possible she was worried about what would happen to Will if she took too long, what he might do to try and hold Doyle off until the FBI got here.
It turns out that they got there not a moment too soon.
âEverybody stop what youâre doing and put your hands up, this is a raid!â An agent beside her shouted, so Olivia didnât bother. She was looking for Will, but she didnât spot him immediately, which just seemed to make her more on edge. He could take care of himself. She knew that. She also knew that he would do anything to make sure his father ended up behind bars, including risking his life to make sure that happened. Theyâd had enough conversations about it to know how serious he was, and heâd made her promise to prioritize getting Doyle Hayes put away for good over his personal safety. She wasnât going to break that promise, but the thought of anything happening to Will made her insides twist unpleasantly. If she could get Doyle in handcuffs and make sure Will was safe at the same time, that was exactly what she was going to do.
The agents sheâd brought with her were busy rounding people up and putting them in handcuffs, and the sound of car tires squealing to a halt outside told her that the rest of her team had arrived, blocking off the back exits and the truck that was currently being unloaded. The FBI had the place surrounded, no one was getting out now. As long as Doyle Hayes hadnât slipped away before the rest of the cavalry had arrived, that is. She hoped theyâd gotten here soon enough, but she hadnât spotted him yet. Either of them. Olivia ignored whatever was happening in the warehouse around her, walking at a noticeably faster pace trying to find Will, her heart hammering inside her chest as she quickened her steps.
On the side of the Hayes' gang, one voice rose over the scuffle: "Burn it all!" If there was one thing that Doyle Hayes had learned from the fallout of the Winter Hill Gang, it was that he could rebuild from nothing as long as he made sure that nothing got pinned on him. It was a lesson he'd taught the first men he brought into the fold and a lesson that they taught everyone hired after. It was Niall again that yelled it out now, even as the cuffs were closing around his wrists.
It was as good as an admission of guilt but Doyle Hayes still had connections in the city. If there was nothing concrete then at least he would get away with it.
As for Doyle himself, he'd turned and fled as soon as the door burst open. His men could learn the lesson that his children had learned a long time ago... you couldn't count on Doyle Hayes to protect anyone but himself.
Will had let himself get distracted by that brief moment of relief at the sound of Olivia's voice, the bright pang of hope that they'd done it. It was long enough for his father to slip away but there was nowhere that he could go that Will wouldn't be able to find him. He knew this warehouse better than anyone.
It would have been best to let Olivia's agents handle it. He didn't even consider it for a moment before he chased after him. He caught up to him in his office, loomed in the doorway while his father shoved as much as he could into bags. "You're staying."
"Get out of the way, William." Somehow Doyle still hadn't realized who it was that he had to thank for the raid on his warehouse. That shouldn't have mattered. Will should have been so happy it was over that he didn't care.
He did care. The last thing that his father should remember before he found himself in custody was that it was Will who had put him there. "Sorry, dad. Can't do that. Setting this up was a real bitch. Don't want to wait another couple decades to do it again." He wasn't speaking any faster; the only reason he got all the words out was that Doyle was too shocked to interrupt.
That didn't last long. Instead of fear, the only thing that Will felt when his father came at him swinging was a fierce joy.
Outside the office, the entire warehouse was quickly descending into chaos. Most of Doyleâs men were already in handcuffs, though a few of them were still resisting. She walked briskly up to the man she knew to be Niall Hayes, sheâd seen his picture enough times when she was going over her files on the case she and Will had been building against them for the thousandth time, and aside from Will, he was the first person sheâd come into contact with in one of Doyle Hayesâs warehouses, now over a year ago. He didnât look all that much different than the last time sheâd seen him face to face, except this time he didnât have a smile pasted on his face like he was trying to fool her into thinking there wasnât anything to find here.
Just taking one look around her told a much different story than the last time their paths had crossed. Theyâd gotten here just in time, they had all the evidence they needed and they had at least a dozen men in cuffs to press charges against. All except the one man that the FBI really wanted. With another quick look around, Olivia still couldnât spot the now uncomfortably familiar face of Doyle Hayes, so she turned to Niall where he was standing with the agent whoâd handcuffed him and glared as he grinned at her. She didnât think he recognized her, but even if he did, she didnât care. She wasnât here for him. âWhere is Doyle Hayes,â Olivia demanded, voice stern and remarkably even despite how frantic she was currently feeling on the inside, now even more worried about Will than she had been a few minutes before. âI know he was here, and we have the placed surrounded, so you might as well just give him up now. Itâs over.â
Niall didnât answer her, but as it turned out, he didnât have to. Sheâd been trained to read body language and to notice small details, so she immediately saw when Niallâs eyes left hers for a split second, a glance somewhere off to her left, and Olivia didnât wait for further confirmation. She took off around the corner at a dead run, not bothering to call for backup and pulling her gun out as she ran. If she knew Will as well as she thought she did now, wherever Doyle was, thatâs where heâd be. The growing sounds of two men fighting the closer she got only confirmed what she was already afraid of once she reached the office.
That first hit was the only one that Will had let his father get.
It had been a good one; Will's cheekbone was red with hints of purple already beginning to bloom. It would be a bruise to rival almost any that he'd gotten from his father in the past... any with the exception of one. "Not so big now that I'm a man. Can't knock me across the room anymore."
From the look on Doyle's face it still wasn't sinking in that Will was bigger than him now. Stronger. If there was going to be anyone knocked across the room it was Will.
"Should have hit you hard enough you didn't wake up, you ungrateful bastard."
"Wish the same thing sometimes." There'd been days that Will had thought it'd be easier not to exist than to be broken like he was. Early days mostly. Before he'd gotten back the parts of himself that'd be coming back at all.
Not just early days. Less days now though. None at all since he'd met Olivia.
Doyle squared up for another punch. "Guess I'll have to fix that now."
Will's smile was grim. "Try it." He'd taken the first hit. Anything he did now? It was in self-defense.
The next punch he blocked easily, and the one after it. They didn't budge him at all, not the way that Doyle was used to people budging when he brought his fists into play. He was still a big man, still strong even at his age, but most of all he was a coward. He never punched someone who could take it. Not like Will could.
There was fear in his eyes now.
"My turn." Will was the one to take the next swing and when he hit? Doyle moved.
He lost count of how many blows he landed after that; he was relentless. There was no stopping for his father to get his bearings or to get his arms up for a real defense. Will punched until his knuckles split and his teeth hurt from how hard he was grinding them to the rhythm of his fists hitting his father's body.
Even when Doyle went down Will didn't stop. He followed him to the ground and pulled back for another punch. Doyle's face was barely recognizable but Will still saw the man who'd been his worst nightmare. Doyle wasn't moving but Will could still see him bracing to beat a child.
Olivia could hear the sounds of Willâs fists connecting with Doyleâs face before she actually saw it, but the minute she turned the corner and saw Doyle Hayes on the ground with Will on top of him, she froze. The first thing she felt was a wave of relief seeing that Will was still alive, before the reality of their situation quickly set in and she reacted. Maybe not the way she should have, there were probably a few protocols she skipped over in her rush to get to them and step in before Will did something he couldnât take back.
If she had been thinking more clearly, she might have remembered that securing the evidence they needed and throwing the elder Hayes behind bars was supposed to be her main concern, but it wasnât. When she rushed forward and bodily put herself between them as much as she possibly could to grab onto Willâs arm before he landed another punch, she wasnât thinking about Doyle Hayes. All she was thinking about was Will, and how much she didnât want his fatherâs blood on his hands for him. âWill!â
Crouching down beside him, Olivia barely spared a glance for Doyleâs bloody, broken face. She didnât care how badly he was hurt as long as Will hadnât killed him. If she could just stop Will from doing that, everything else would be okay. The only thing that mattered to Olivia in that moment was that Will was okay. âWill, stop. Itâs over. Weâve got him. Look at me, Will.â She wasnât thinking about how unprofessional it might look when she took his face in her other hand and forced him to look at her. Doyle was already past the point of getting back up again, she just needed Will to focus on her now. âItâs over.â
For a horrible second all that registered for Will was someone grabbing onto his arm and he almost didn't stop.
Just a second though. That was all it took for the haze of anger to clear and him to realize it was Olivia there getting between him and his father. That stopped him cold like nothing else could have right then. "OIivia." The word seemed to drag on his tongue more than it ever had before. Her hands were on his face and the world felt like it was as slow as him for once.
He should probably have called her Agent Shepherd. She was working; she was there to arrest his father and shut down his entire operation. Will should have been professional but every breath felt like razors cutting into his chest and the way he felt about Olivia Shepherd had gone beyond being professional a long time ago. "Not over yet," he told her. It wasn't over until he knew that his father was going to be put away for good and he wasn't going to slither out of this again somehow. There were court cases and Will's fight to get custody of his sister for the last couple of years until she was a legal adult and didn't need him anymore.
There was a deep bitter sense that it still wasn't good enough. His hands were shaking and he wanted to hit him again. He wanted to hit him once for every year, every day, that Will had spent shut off from the world because of his father's fists. He wanted to break something deeper in his father like he'd broken something inside Will.
"He never stopped," he told her. "When he was hitting me, he never stopped until he was ready." And it wasn't fair that Will couldn't do the same.
âI know.â Maybe Olivia could never truly understand what Will had gone through living under his fatherâs cruelty all those years, but she knew Will, and to her heâd never been broken. Sheâd seen in him firsthand the toll of what his father had done had taken on him, but sheâd also seen how despite everything heâd already suffered, Will had a kind of strength and courage about him that was still completely uncorrupted.
It was one of the reasons sheâd first started falling for him.
That truth was even harder for her to ignore while she had her hand on his face and his eyes were on hers. The move was so unconscious on her part that Olivia didnât know where itâd even come from when her fingers automatically reached out to curl around the ends of his hair, his blonde strands long enough that her fingertips had already been brushing against them. It was an act of such bold familiarity that you would have thought she had done it before, but she hadnât. Olivia wanted so desperately to comfort him in that moment even though she knew that wasnât her job. But Will had never been just a job to her.
She noticed the way his hands were shaking, and after a moment the hand on his face dropped to cover one of his, like heâd done for her in the park with that horse. It looked like at least one of Doyle Hayesâs eyes was already swollen shut but even if he did see, she didnât care. âI know, Will, but you donât want to do this.â Her tone lacked all of the stern professionalism it should have had and instead was soft and soothing, as gentle as her hand on his as she slowly started trying to pull him back. âAll we have to do now is take him into custody, but to do that I need you to let him go. Can you do that for me?â
There was part of Will that did want to do it; it would be easy to push Olivia aside long enough to get a few more good blows in. That was all it would take. If he got in a couple more hits at just the right place then Will knew that his father would never wake up and they'd never have to face him in court. He'd never have to see him again. He could justify it like that, he could say that he was protecting Luke and Kait from having to deal with all the fallout that would still come their way no matter how hard Will tried to protect them. He could tell himself that all he wanted but he'd still know that it was that he wanted his father dead and he wanted to be the one that did it.
That part of him was the part that was most like his father and that was what leached the tension from his shoulders at last. It left all at once, in a rush that felt almost overwhelming. He stared at Olivia, still wild-eyed and panting with the effort it had taken to take his father down and the effort it had taken to hold himself back. Olivia's hand on top of his was the only thing grounding him at all. "Yeah. Yeah, Iâ"
He could do it because he knew that the only way he could get through Olivia to get back at Doyle was to hurt her and that was one thing that he'd never do. He could do it because he didn't want Olivia to have to end her day by taking him into custody for murder instead of arresting his father. Mostly he could do it because Olivia believed in him the way that no one else ever had. Not even Will himself. There wasn't anyone else in the world that Will could have stopped himself for like he could when Olivia asked him and that was why he let her pull him away without a fight.
Once they were far enough away he slumped forward until his forehead rested against Olivia's shoulder, shuddering. He couldn't stay like this and he knew it; he had to move away from her before someone else came to check on where she'd gone but for right then that firm pressure felt like the only thing that was holding him up. He was a puppet with the strings that had been jerking him around his whole life finally sliced and she was the only thing that had ever made him feel free before.
For a split second Olivia wasnât actually sure that Will was going to back down. In that moment she was afraid sheâd have to resort to more drastic measures in order to extract him from the broken, bloody form of his father still lying crumpled on the floor, barely moving if at all. If sheâd had to, she would have reminded him that his brother and sister would be a lot worse off without him if he ended up going to jail for his fatherâs murder, but she didnât want to manipulate him like that, even if she fully believed it. Will didnât deserve to end up in prison for killing his father, after everything Doyle Hayes had already taken from him over the years. There was no way Olivia was going to let that happen if she could help it.
When she felt Will give in and really let her pull him away, Olivia finally relaxed, the momentum of that and taking more of his weight causing her to lose her balance so she sort of collapsed onto her backside as they both scooted a few feet away from where Doyle was laying still on the floor. She wasnât worried about him trying to go anywhere, considering the way he looked, and she was a lot more worried about Will. Heâd just been through hell, and she needed to make sure that he was okay. Not the actions of a responsible, emotionally detached FBI agent, but Olivia had never claimed to be either of those things.
The slump of his forehead into her shoulder took her by surprise, but she was quick to respond, immediately wrapping both arms around him in a fierce hug as that huge wave of relief that she hadnât gotten here too late washed over her again. She wasnât sure what she would have done if she hadnât gotten to Will in time, and if anything had happened to him... âItâs okay. Youâre okay,â Olivia whispered, seeming to be reassuring herself as much as she was maybe trying to reassure him of that, not at all concerned with any blood that she might be getting on her right now. She pressed the side of her head to his temple without thinking and breathed in deeply, waiting for her own heart rate to slow back down.
As much as she knew they had to, she couldnât bear to separate herself from Will right then. No one was coming yet, though they likely would be any second now, and finding Olivia in this kind of position with an informant would almost definitely earn her a disciplinary meeting with her superiors. Didnât stop her from holding onto him as long as she possibly could while he shuddered against her, angling her head into his until their foreheads were just barely touching and she closed her eyes briefly. âWe did it.â
His breath was nearly a sob. "We did." The thing he'd been working for since before he'd even been a grown man, it was done. It didn't make everything okay. It didn't make him okay but it meant that he was going to be. There'd never been a chance for Will to start growing toward okay before and he wasn't sure how he was going to get there now but the sounds of shouting and scuffling outside and his father lying on the floor behind them meant that he was going to have the time to find out. Someday. Eventually. Once he got finished with all the other things that were going to come piling in on him now that this one was done.
One step at a time. Breathe in, breathe out, handle what's in front of him. With their foreheads pressed together and Olivia's breath warm against his face he could focus on the space between them and nothing else. That was something he could handle.
Even though he knew just as well as she did that they couldn't stay there for long Will still closed his arms around her and held on for a moment. There were a lot of things about how he felt about it that he couldn't process right then but one that he could was how overwhelmingly grateful he was for this woman and how glad he was to be right there with her with all of it over. If Olivia Shepherd hadn't walked into his father's warehouse one day then he never would have been here. It never would have ended and Will would have had to run away for good knowing that he was leaving all of this rot behind him to drag more and more people in.
It was Olivia. All Olivia and that was what made him finally pull back with a sigh. "Cuff him. He's yours." Then, because that didn't express how much he meant it, not completely, Will added, "I want it to be you that does it." It couldn't be anyone else but Olivia, no matter how many people she'd brought with her. In the end Olivia was the one that saved him and Will needed it to be her that finished it the right way.
Willâs arms around her felt good, and familiar. Not in any way like she actually knew how they felt before today, but in a way that it just felt right, like nothing else ever had. She couldnât fully wrap her head around how she felt about that in the moment, but it was there, nearly spilling over with her relief that sheâd gotten here before anything happened to him. Will was mercifully in one piece, and theyâd actually finished what theyâd set out to do today after that first e-mail from him, now over a year ago. Everything else could wait.
Olivia nodded, forcing herself to detach from him before anybody else walked in on them with their arms around each other. She would have a lot of trouble explaining that to anyone, and she wasnât keen on trying to do that when there were more important things to take care of in the moment. âOkay.â
She heard the sounds of police car sirens and the honk of a fire truck, which meant the local officials had arrived, and Olivia breathed another sigh of relief. âStay right here. Theyâll come take a look at you soon.â She had a suspicion that most of the blood on Will wasnât his own, but she wouldnât be satisfied until someone with a medical license told her that he was physically intact. He wasnât getting out of it.
Pushing herself steadily up from the ground, Olivia crossed over to the limp, pitiful body of Doyle Hayes just as a few other agents came rounding the corner to join them. She could see that he was still conscious, barely, but that was enough to read him his rights. Olivia stooped down and grabbed him by the shoulder, turning him roughly onto his stomach and crossing his arms behind his back as she slipped a pair of handcuffs out of her jacket pocket and closed them around his wrists. âDoyle Hayes, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of lawâŚâ
Will could have argued that he'd know if he was hurt badly enough to need to be looked over but it had been a long time since there'd been someone who both cared whether or not he got some kind of medical care and who felt like she could order him around; it settled warm in his chest and almost made him forget that he wanted to kill his father before anyone in prison got the chance to. He nodded and eased himself down to sit on the floor, knees bent and arms hooked around his shins. He was tired to his bones and he trusted Olivia to take care of everything.
Trust. That was a funny concept. There hadn't been anyone for Will to trust in so long and how he was handing his father over to Olivia because he trusted completely that she'd make sure that everything that Will wanted for himself, for his siblings, got done. He trusted her to make sure that he'd never bother them again. Maybe Luke was right. Maybe part of it was because she was beautiful and everything that Will had ever thought he would like in a woman.
Most of it was that she was the kind of woman who would throw herself between him and a man who deserved to die because she wanted to protect him and then order him to stay put until he'd been checked over. He couldn't wait for Luke to meet her and see for himself what Will had never found the right words to explain to his little brother: Olivia was just as much of a hero as the woman inside her head. Sword or no sword. Overcoming her fear of horses or a fully fledged Horse Lord. The only reason that even here and even now Will found a hint of a smile on his face while she went right on making sure the world spun the way she wanted it to.
While Olivia read his father his rights and a few other agents finally started making their way through the rest of the building far enough to come through the office door, Will closed his eyes and started preparing himself to be the man that he'd only ever been inside his head (and with Olivia) to the rest of the world. If she could be brave enough to trust him then Will thought that he could be brave enough to take down the last of his walls for good.