Another Fate

"I'll see you dead before I let you keep me from her."

The words played on a loop in his head as the faint sound of the ambulance siren pierced the air and finally signaled that help was on the way.

"My baby," she said weakly. "I can't leave my baby. Please, God..."

He held her closer, his hand pressing his cashmere scarf against the wound as he tried desperately to slow down the flow of blood.

"I can't leave her."

"You won't," Sonny whispered. "You won't leave her."

Her eyes closed, then flashed open as if she was terrified that to let them fall shut meant she would never wake again. Panicked, she grabbed at his
shirt, tearing off the top button.

"I have to protect her."

Sonny released his hold on the scarf long enough to right the overcoat he'd lain over her, which she'd displaced when she reached for him. He
returned his hand to the wound, his eyes glancing down, his stomach turning at the seeming ocean of red pouring from her.

"No one will hurt her," he promised.

The siren neared and Jason's voice rang out up the pier as he directed the paramedics to where they were needed.

"My baby..." came her voice once more, and Sonny pulled her tightly against his chest, his body shaking from the cold and from the abject helplessness
he felt.

"You won't leave her, Alexis. Just hang on. Please, just hang on."

"I'll see you dead before I let you keep me from her."

The words hadn't tumbled carelessly from his mouth, they had been a calculated, thought out statement of intent, and Sonny had since realized that a
part of him had meant them. His fury with her was beyond reason, and after he'd railed at her for nearly half an hour, the sound of her saying "Please,
let me explain" had pushed him to the brink of insanity.

"Explain what? How you lied to me, how you kept me from my daughter? To hell with you, Alexis! I will be a part of Kristina's life, and you will not get in
my way, do you hear me? I'll see you dead before I let you keep me from her."

The damning revelation had barely been out of Carly's mouth before Sonny stormed out in search of the truth. He didn't know how his soon to be ex-
wife had found out about Kristina's paternity nor, in that moment, had he cared. However she'd gained the information, she hadn't hesitated to use it
to strike back at him after he'd paraded half a dozen witnesses into court to destroy her character.

"You think you're so wonderful? Such an ideal parent? Did you enjoy getting all those people to call your wife a whore in public?"

"They only told the truth," he replied coolly.

"Like you're such a damn saint? I'll call all your sluts in here to testify, too, Sonny, every last one. Hell, maybe I'll even make Alexis call herself to the
witness stand."

Instead of a biting response, Sonny had felt a surge of disgust. Alexis was helping her, though no one understood why, and yet Carly was even jokingly
suggesting humiliating her like that?

"You are the worst kind of whore, Carly. You don't sell your body, you sell your soul... and no one, not Lorenzo Alcazar, not those kids, no one can buy it
back for you."

He turned to leave, sick of the sight of her, suddenly anxious to get home and see his boys. She reached out, slamming her hand down on his shoulder
as if she had the strength to forcibly turn him around. The action itself intrigued him enough to make him stop and glance back at her.

"Well, I've got news for you Sonny. Even if you beat me here, there's one child you'll never get your hands. Alexis will disappear forever before she
let's that happen."

Sonny opened his mouth, but no sound came as pure, crystal clear logic made obvious what had made no sense to him for weeks now. Alexis hated Carly;
thought her barely one step above Helena. She knew he loved his kids, no matter what else she thought of him. That she had ever taken on Carly as a
client had stunned him, stunned half the town. And more than once, he'd seen a pained look on the lady lawyer's face as she glanced around the
courtroom, only to be met with a lethal looking gaze from Lorenzo.

No, it had never made any sense until right this moment... because somehow, the truth that had been made to look like a lie so long ago was the truth
again... and a cruel twist had given that information to Carly, who was using it to blackmail Alexis.
As the whole picture came together, Sonny stepped closer to Carly, grabbing her arm so she couldn't get away. "So let me get this straight. You found
out for the second time that Kristina was mine and for the second time you lied to me about it to benefit yourself? And now... now that Alexis will get
disbarred if she tries to quit you, NOW you throw it in my face to try and score a point?"

The smirk on her face was all the answer he'd needed. Sonny pushed her away from him, spitting on the floor near her.

"Don't ever come near me again, Carly. I'm telling you now, you do, and you'll regret it the rest of your life."

He'd left her there shouting obscenities to his back as he raced to his car. The limo blazed a trail to the waterfront, and then he had taken his fateful
launch ride to the Cassadine estate and confronted Alexis, who wilted instantly under the ferocious ultimatum he had laid at her feet.

"I'm gonna ask you this, and I swear to God, Alexis, if you lie to me again, I will take Kristina from you and you won't see her until she's an adult. Is
that little girl my daughter?"

She had confessed, tried to explain. He had ignored every word, hurling accusations and insults and hurtful words at her with such force, such rapid
speed that when he left she was huddled up in the corner of the sofa, her face buried in the pillows, sobs wracking her delicate body.

He couldn't have been closer to becoming Deke in that moment if he'd actually hit her.

"Sir. You have to let us take her, sir."

The younger paramedic pulled at Sonny's shoulder as the older man moved to put his hands under Alexis' head so they could ease her back down on the
ground. Sonny felt himself being pulled backwards and found Jason was the one guiding him. The two men watched silently as the life-saving emergency
crew did what they could there and then gently picked her up and placed her on the gurney for transport.

"I'll wait for the cops," Jason said. "Go."

Sonny nodded mutely and piled in after the medics. Alexis began to struggle for breath and the doors slammed, the engine and siren roaring
simultaneously as the non-driving medic worked to help her again. Sonny felt utterly and completely useless. All he could do was hold her hand and keep
whispering to her.

"You won't leave her. You can't. Just hang on."

He was saying it to her for perhaps the 200th time when the ambulance came to a stop and the doors flew open. General Hospital workers pulled her
from him and rushed her through the gigantic emergency room doors, and Sonny followed, barely noticing the wide-eyed looks of people taking in the
way her blood coated his expensive clothes, his hands, even his face.

Through two small panes of glass, he could see familiar faces working manically to keep Alexis alive. Monica Quartermaine and Bobbie Spencer were
clearly fighting hard, and the other nurses and doctors in the room followed their lead.

Sonny's focus eventually narrowed and all he could see amidst the hive of activity was her face... her pale, stricken face, her eyes opening and closing
again and again. He could feel her panic. He could see her terror.

She was afraid she was going to die... and if she did, she would be dying for him.

Tears burned at his eyes as he realized how completely unworthy of the sacrifice he was. Since that day at Wyndemere, it had been nothing but yelling
and lawyers and court orders and angry threats coming at him via her defenders Jax and Nikolas. But before then... before Carly had gotten exactly
what she wanted by turning his anger on Alexis, Sonny had started to see the woman he'd known. The woman he missed.

He'd seen her in the courtroom as she pieced together a far better case for Carly than Justus had been expecting. He'd seen her laughing in the
hallways when Jax would stop by with a latte and a joke to ease her tension. And then, one day, quite by accident, he'd seen her as a mother.

The memory was vivid--turning the cool brass knob, the gasp he'd let go of when, instead of Justus, he'd found Alexis in the waiting room he'd been
directed to, her daughter standing up in her lap while her little hands pressed into Alexis' face. They were both smiling, and her voice was full of a
familiar love and kindness that had once been shared with him, but was now given to her little girl instead.

"What do you say when mommy gets home tonight, we take a long, hot bath and then curl up in bed with Lamby and watch our 'Baby Mozart' DVD? Does
that sound like a plan?"

The baby had giggled and leaned in, delivering a kiss to seal the deal. Alexis had laughed and pulled her daughter into her arms, hugging her close.

"We waited so long for our happiness, baby girl. I promise, I'll do whatever I have to do to keep us from losing it."

At the time, he'd credited her words to the recent losses she'd endured and Helena Cassidine’s renewed presence in town. Zander and his father had
never made it out of the Port Charles Hotel, and he knew her well enough to know she hadn't simply mourned a day and moved on. That wasn't who
Alexis was. She was also, for good reason, terrified of her stepmother, and no doubt, she was consumed with fear of the old bitch getting anywhere
near Kristina.

Now, though, he knew it was him she'd been afraid of. She was doing what she had to do by representing Carly in order to hold onto the secret she felt
was necessary to keep Kristina happy and safe.
And away from him.

The door of the treatment room flew open, and a few words being shouted out pelted Sonny's consciousness, wounding him physically as if they were
rocks being thrown by the schoolyard bully. "Massive blood loss," "spinal column," "next of kin." A wave of nausea and dizziness passed over Sonny and
he sank down onto the floor right where he stood.

Why had she come? Why, even after he'd hung up on her phone call?

"Sonny, I'm so glad I reached you. Listen-"

"I'm not in the mood tonight, Alexis. I'll listen to your lies another day."

But she hadn't stopped. She'd sought him out, finding him on the waterfront, running to him, her breath coming in gasps from the physical exertion.

"Sonny, thank God. You have to listen to me, okay? You have to-"

"I told you I wasn't in the mood for this."

"This isn't about Kristina," she yelled. "Lorenzo Alcazar... I heard him, he's-"

The gunshots rang out a half second before Jason screamed the words "get down!" Sonny had no idea where he'd come from or how he'd known they
would need him, but there Jason was, diving over top of them, shielding both he and Alexis with his own body as four more shots rang out.

Finally, it was silent. Jason rolled off them, gun drawn, senses on high alert. He called back to ask Sonny if he was hit.

"No, I'm fine. Alexis, are you..."

He heard her fighting for air and looked down. Thick, dark red was expanding out across her abdomen. He pulled off his scarf and screamed.

"She's hit, Jason. Get help, get help now!"

Why had she come? He thought, as he pulled himself up and out of the way as he heard the group inside preparing to exit the room to take Alexis to
surgery. Why had she cared that someone wanted him dead?

Her eyes no longer flickered. They lay still and shut, the only sign that she was even still alive the mist her breath created in the oxygen mask. Sonny
followed them to the elevator, unable to get close to her through the crowd of medical personnel.

"I'll see you dead before I let you keep me from her."

The elevator dinged, the doors opened and the team rushed in, then the large metal pieces slid shut, closing him out of whatever happened next.

"Please..." he said, his head dropping into his hand. "Please."

*****
"Welcome home."

He'd never imagined that two words could make someone smile so beautifully, but they had, and Jax would never forget that look on her face as long as
he lived.

As he walked back into the house now, fresh from clearing out the last of the unpacked moving boxes, he smiled and surveyed his day's work.

"Not too shabby, Jax. This place is starting to look pretty good."

They had decided he'd move in first to get things settled. It would be easier that way. He didn't mind. The rooms themselves might have been large
and empty when he showed up with his first truckload of boxes and furniture, but he knew before long, this place would be a home... their home.

Every time they went out together, people whispered around them, and Jax knew they were split mostly into two camps: those who knew them and were
positive their "romance" was nothing more than a contrivance and those who couldn't believe what a lucky bastard he was. He, of course, was privy to
the truth, and knew those in camp "b" were the ones who'd win a side pot if a bet were placed.

No one, though, was more surprised by it all than him. The days following the nightmare they'd both survived at the hotel had found her buried in grief
and him desperately trying to sort out his own bizarrely complicated life. It wasn't until he'd seen her standing across Kelly's, her eyes dark and tired,
red-rimmed from crying, that he'd even stopped thinking about his own problems.

"Alexis, are you okay?"

She shook her head and turned toward him. She was dressed in all black, and that's when it dawned on him what today was. Cameron's funeral.

"I'm sorry," he said weakly, "I'm a jerk. I should have..."

"Please," she rolled her eyes and looked down at the floor. "I can't handle another 'should have' right now, okay?"

He could see she wasn't exaggerating. "Okay. Where are you off to?"

"Home. Home to my daughter and hopefully some peace and quiet."

Jax acted on instinct, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Why don't I see you there? Give us
some time to talk."

She glanced up at him, her eyes guarded. "I'm not in the mood to talk about anything important."

"Did I tell you I bought a new boat?" Jax replied, letting her know she didn't need to feel like he'd push or demand what she was unwilling to give. Her
chuckle answered him, and they left the restaurant arm in arm.

That simply, his life had changed. On the launch ride to Wyndemere, Alexis had broken her own rule and caught Jax up on the details of what had gone
down with Zander and Cameron, though she avoided discussing it too deeply, and Jax filled in any blanks she had on what had happened to him during
the fire. By the time they arrived back at the house, the subject seemed to be put to rest, and when she didn't ask him to leave or bid him good night,
Jax took off his coat and settled down on the sofa with Alexis and Kristina.

The next day, he woke up early and took the launch back to the Cassadine stronghold to rescue the Davis’ for breakfast. The day after that, it had
been lunch.

It was two weeks of random lunches and breakfasts and walks and conversations before Jax saw it. There was a familiar fear in Alexis that he hadn't
seen in months... not since she'd faced losing Kristina when the world had thought her insane. He prodded carefully, knowing how much she hated being
forced to open up, and most of his attempts to find out what was going on were rebuffed. But he knew something was wrong, especially when she told
him that the client she kept running off to meet was Carly Corinthos.

"Alexis, what does she have on you?" he asked, knowing it had to be something. If there was anyone on Earth Alexis despised almost as much as Helena,
it was Carly. He also knew she thought the blonde was a terrible parent, so why was she helping the woman fight for her children?

"I'm representing a client I happen to think is getting a raw deal. Why is that so damn hard for everyone to believe?"

When she snapped at him, Jax was even more positive that he was right. Carly was playing dirty pool, not that he was surprised, but whatever she was
using was big-Alexis was terrified, and Alexis didn't scare easy.

"Look me in the eye," he finally said, challenging her, "and tell me that you think those kids are better off with Carly than they are with Sonny."

Her response was a classic Alexis deflection. "You hate Sonny. Why do you care where his kids end up?"

"You're avoiding the question."

"Damn it, Jax, just leave it alone!"

They'd been in his temporary apartment at the Midtown Athletic Club, the place he'd decided to hang his hat until he found a real place to live. When
she'd yelled at him, and there was no mistaking that for anything but yelling, she had thrown her laptop across the couch and stormed into his
bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

In that moment, Jax had known he had a clear choice to make. He could honor Alexis' wishes and back off, or he could sneak around behind her back
and find out what was going on. There was no pretending he couldn't justify the latter with his concern for her, especially considering the reaction
he'd gotten with his questions, but Jax resigned himself to the fact that in the last several years, playing "white knight" hadn't gotten him very far.
When the door of the bathroom had finally opened and she emerged, her face clearly having been washed to try and cover up the fact that she'd been
crying, Jax walked up and took her hands in his.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave it be. But, Alexis, you do know, don't you, that if you need me for anything, I'm..."

"Of course, I know that," she said. "And I do need you, but I just... I need to try to fix this myself."

He may have promised to stay out of her business, but Jax had never promised to keep his distance from her. In the weeks that followed, Jax left
behind his hurt feelings over Sam and his quest for the treasure and instead focused on something far more tangible and real to him... his ex-wife...
who was a treasure he didn't have to hunt for, but simply had to hang onto.

It had taken him all of half a second to fall madly in love with Kristina, who called him "Ja" 'cause she couldn't quite handle the "x" sound yet. And
more and more, Jax thought less and less about the death of his father and the misguided nature of his relationship with Sam. Instead, he was
focused on how many steps a certain curly-haired little girl might take as he and Alexis book-ended the living room and tried to help her learn to walk.
He became a near tenant at Wyndemere as the two of them set up shop side-by-side, Alexis pouring over legal books while he got back to wheeling and
dealing in his portfolio.

He had, he now realized, found himself again during those days. But no matter how deep the connection between them grew, Alexis still refused to tell
him what caused the sad, scared look in her eyes whenever she'd stare down at Kristina while the baby slept. It killed him, but Jax kept his promise
and did not ask her about it again.
Then, finally, the weight of the secret became too great, and she told him-about Sonny, about Carly, about the blackmail-about how absolutely
terrified she was of what would happen if Carly went to Sonny with the truth.

Jax had taken her into his arms that night and promised her he would stand by her no matter what. He'd held her while she cried and begged him not
to be angry with her for yet another lie. Then he'd kissed her softly, reminding her that between true friends, nothing was unforgivable.

But the kiss told him something else, too-he loved her. It wasn't gut-wrenching, insane love like he'd had for Brenda or pure, first love like he'd had
for Miranda, but it was love... real and deep and strong enough, he believed, to sustain them for a lifetime. So he'd thought about it until thinking was
making him as nervous as a 15-year-old, and then Jax had asked Alexis over to his apartment.

"I'm going house hunting tomorrow," he said, the fingers of his right hand lacing through those on her left. "I would like you to go with me."

"I have court tomorrow," she replied sadly. "Yet another visitation hearing for the battling Corinthos’."

"We'll go after court."

Alexis started to protest again, so Jax placed the index finger of his left hand against her lips. "Please... I really want you to come with me."

"Why? I'm not exactly one of those Martha Stewart type women who's all about putting the perfect house together."

"Because the house isn't just for me... I hope."

Her eyes widened and then narrowed suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

Jax laughed. He loved that he had the power to completely take her mind off of the Corinthos family debacle. "I'm up to wanting the two most
important women in my life, besides Lady Jane, of course, to be with me without a mote crossing required to get to them."

When she sighed and looked down, Jax didn't let it unsettle him. Alexis was always afraid of emotional commitments, and that's what he was asking
her for.

"Am I reading things wrong?" he asked. "Am I the only one who feels happier, more complete now that we're spending so much time together?"

"Of course not," Alexis replied, "but, Jax, living together? I mean, are we even officially dating?"

"You didn't consider those proper good night kisses? I'm going to have to work on my technique." He added a wink to get her to smile. It worked.

"They were wonderful kisses, but that brings up a point. What kind of 'living together' are you suggesting here, because we haven't even..."

Jax reached out and pulled her into his arms then, kissing her for all he was worth. "We can fix that," he said, his voice a little breathless after the
kiss. "We can fix that right now, actually."

He stood, sweeping her into his arms as she laughed and hit him in the chest.

"Put me down, Neanderthal."

He pouted playfully and obliged, and they both sank back onto the sofa.

"You know I love you," Alexis began, "but, Jax, neither one of us is fooling the other. I know who still holds your heart. And no matter how much I
pretend otherwise, we both know..."

She sighed, hating how true her words would have been if she'd said out loud the name she left unspoken. Jax reached out, taking her hand again, and
softly kissed her palm.

"Alexis, what are we supposed to do, spend the rest of our lives wishing we could make those loves work? I'm miserable doing that. I don't think it's
working all that well for you either. I mean, is it really so much of a surrender to say, 'hey, I have this stunning, brilliant, sexy woman in my life who
makes me laugh that I'm going to decide to build a future with instead of brooding over my past'?"

"No," she agreed, "I just... I don't ever want you to regret anything, not about me."

"I would never regret choosing to be with you and Kristina," Jax promised her.

The next day, he'd picked her up from the courthouse, weariness clear in her eyes as she stared down the hall at Sonny and Justus then moved her
gaze to Carly and Lorenzo at the opposite end. Jax led her out to the car and then drove her to the house at the top of his list... a beautiful cottage
that sat on the edge of the wooded area just outside of town.

"So what do you think?" he asked after they'd completed the tour and ended up back in the living room.

Alexis was standing in front of the fireplace, her hand gliding over the mantle. She was quiet for a long time, then she turned and looked at him. Jax
felt himself start with surprise when she dropped her purse on the floor, adding her coat to it after she shrugged it off. Then she walked over to him,
a decidedly mischievous grin on her face.
"Remember when I asked you what kind of living together you meant?" she asked, her arms wrapping around his neck.

"Vaguely," he teased.

"Well, I think before we make a definite commitment to a house... we should figure that out."

Hours later, they lay there in the dark of the empty house wrapped up in her coat. They realized on that day that they had enough to build a life on...
love, respect and passion. No, he wasn't Sonny and she wasn't Brenda. But they could be happy. And so Jax drew her into his arms again and looked
down at her and whispered the words that would change his life forever.

"Welcome home."

He'd spoken those words and she'd smiled, and Jax released himself fully to the hope that this decision was the one that would finally give him lasting
happiness-give them lasting happiness. They'd certainly both earned it. It was that new sense of togetherness that had helped them survive the day of
Carly's betrayal... the day that put Alexis' life in a tailspin.

When his cell phone began to ring, Jax began looking around trying to figure out where he'd left it. It was chiming for the third time when he saw it
sitting on the end table by the sofa. Moving swiftly, he caught it just before it went to voice mail.

"Hello, Jax here."

"Jax, its Mac. You need to get to General Hospital now."

Dread overwhelmed him. A moment ago, he'd been wrapped up in the bliss of good memories and hope for the future, but Jax felt it evaporate under
the serious tone of the man he spoke with.

"Is it Alexis? Is she all right?"

"No, Jax, she isn't. She was shot. They rushed her to the hospital a few minutes ago."

He didn't bother to say good-bye. He hung up the phone as he raced to the door, stopping only to grab his keys. The streetlights and road signs
disappeared in blurs as he tore past them, arriving in record time at the hospital.

"Excuse me," he yelled, racing toward the emergency room reception desk. "I'm looking for..."

Corinthos. The man caught his eye from where he stood, his clothes and skin caked with a dark red-brown that Jax knew was blood. Alexis' blood. He
charged toward him, grabbing Sonny's shirt in his hands as he slammed him into the wall.

"What did you do to her, you son of a bitch? What did you do?!"

Jax waited for a countermove or some verbal retort, but Sonny didn't fight back, didn't resist at all. He only stood there, his back pressed flush to
the wall, and stared back at Jax with a shell-shocked expression.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "I don't know why she... she saved my life. Why did she do that?"

Releasing his grip, Jax eased away from Sonny and walked across the hall. He looked long and hard at Sonny, then shook his head.

"Because unlike you, Sonny, she never forgot what you meant to her. Now let's just hope that doesn't mean she forfeits her life."
*****
"He's her father."

It was the only answer that she could give to Luke's question. The only thing that made any sense inside a mind that refused to acknowledge any other
importance associated with Sonny Corinthos.

How she'd ended up here, running along the docks, looking for him, she knew intellectually, and yet all the twists and turns, all the unimaginable things
that had led to it were out of some movie Alexis wished she could turn off and get out of. But it wasn't a movie, it was her life, and she knew she had
no choice but to see this errand of mercy through to the end.

It didn't surprise her that Luke couldn't begin to understand her compulsion to help Sonny. It made no sense on paper. The man she'd once called best
friend and, briefly, lover, was now a virtual stranger... a person so consumed with anger toward her that Alexis often winced at the very thought of how
he looked at her... his expression full of hate and betrayal.

No amount of shock could override what Alexis had always known-trusting Carly was a foolish bet at best-and she had come out the loser. When Sonny
had walked into Wyndemere that day and made it clear he knew the truth about Kristina, there had been no mystery as to how he'd found out. Why
made less sense. Alexis had held up her end of the bargain. Carly had been days away from getting her kids back, at least in a joint custody situation,
and yet still, still her old enemy had stabbed her in the back and put Kristina in the center of Hurricane Sonny.

She had expected a full assault of hateful accusations if Sonny ever learned the truth, but nothing had prepared her for the moment when he'd
threatened her life and she had honestly believed him. Even now, she felt a tremor run through her body as she thought about it.
That should have been it. That should have been the end of Sonny for her. But the heart is a stubborn and loyal friend, unwilling to give up on that it
once held so dear. He had been her world once. And some part of her could not, would not let go of him.

"I want it done tonight."

Lorenzo's voice startled her, but not so much that Alexis couldn't catch herself and move back around the corner of "The Haunted Star's" main deck
to hide.

"You're sure you want him taken out?" the second man asked.

"Carly's sick of him and his threats. Every time she does something he doesn't like, he says he's taking her back to court. Enough is enough. Take
Sonny out tonight."

Fear surged through Alexis both from what she'd heard and from the realization that she was barely concealed. She went rigid trying to keep from
making any movement that might attract attention. So she was caught completely unaware when a hand clamped down hard over her mouth and another
wrapped around her waist, dragging her backwards until she was pushed into an opening, a door slamming behind her as she was released into a
storeroom of some kind.

"Natasha... you do like to live dangerously, don't you?" Luke teased.

"Damn you, Luke, you scared me half to death!"

"You should be scared, Ms. Davis," he drawled, addressing her more formally, but with a twinkle in his eye. "That guy out there could give Helena a run
for her money in the vicious and cruel department. And I doubt he'd think twice about taking out his brother's killer if you give him a good reason."

"How much did you hear?" she asked.

"Enough to know you need to stay out of it," Luke answered. "I'll get a warning to the dapper don to watch his back. You go home to the rug rat and lay
low."

"No, Luke, there's no time for that. He said it's going to happen tonight."

"And I'll get word to him before tonight."

Alexis let out an exasperated sigh and spun around on her heel. Luke waited a moment to see if any more commentary was forthcoming. When none
came from her, he added his own.

"Natasha, I'm not missing anything here, am I? Aren't you like a step away from settling down with that pretty boy Australian and the little one? Why
are you gonna put that at risk over Sonny? It's not like he's been there for you when you needed him to watch your back."

Luke always told it like it was, and Alexis couldn't deny that every last word he spoke was the truth. Despite everything that had happened the last
few months, even after losing her beloved Zander, she was living again. Even Carly and Lorenzo's vengeful blackmailing had finally come to an end when
Carly, unable to stop herself from sacrificing her power for one last chance to rip Sonny's heart out, had told him the truth. It was the only silver
lining to be found in the destruction Carly had unleashed on the lives of Alexis and her daughter.

But there was one thing Luke had asked that had an answer... one that maybe made no sense to anyone but her, and yet it could not be denied. She
turned and looked at him, her eyes glistening.

"He's her father."

Those words had sent her off into the night, first in a frantic race to reach Jason, but when Courtney couldn't tell her where to find him and he didn't
answer the number Alexis had for him, she was left without options.

"Sonny," she said after his gruff reply into the phone. "I'm so glad I reached you. Listen-"

"I'm not in the mood tonight, Alexis. I'll listen to your lies another day."

The line went dead, and Alexis stared down at the device in her hand. Calling him back would be a waste of time. She still couldn't find Jason. As much
as she trusted Mac Scorpio, she couldn't trust the PCPD to do anything, and though Luke would honor his word, there was no way to know if his warning
would arrive in time.

"He's her father."

The docks were foggy when she arrived, but she spotted his car in the parking lot near where his old warehouse had stood. She fought back a vivid
attack of memories from the last time she'd been at that warehouse and instead rushed down the walkway to the stairs that led straight to the pier.
After making a quick mental list of the places he might be, Alexis tore off, rushing from one spot to another until, finally, she saw him walking along
the wooden planks.

"Sonny, thank God," she said as she raced toward him, her chest hurting from running in the chilly air. "You have to listen to me, okay? You have to-"
"I told you I wasn't in the mood for this."

"This isn't about Kristina," she yelled. "Lorenzo Alcazar... I heard him, he's-"

She felt the searing pain in her stomach before she heard the sound. Somewhere someone else yelled for them to get down and she felt hands on her
pulling her toward the ground. Alexis knew their heroics were too late, though. A burning sensation ripped across her abdomen and she tried to scream,
but her breath left her and she choked instead.

Voices... Sonny and... Jason? She couldn't be sure. Alexis felt something press against the spot where all the pain was radiating from, and she moaned,
then she felt something warm laid down over her. There seemed to be so much sound, but she could barely make it out, and her eyes were so heavy.
They wanted to close... just wanted to close...

Kristina's face flashed through her mind, and Alexis jolted awake. Not her baby... dear, God, she couldn't leave her baby...

She began to beg and plead, not sure even if the words were in her mind or leaving her mouth, but someone had to hear her. She could not leave her
little girl.

"You won't," came a faint whisper. "You won't leave her."

Her eyes began to close again, and Alexis moved, flinging her hands out, looking for something, anything to hold onto.

"I have to protect her," she said, begging someone to hear her.

"No one will hurt her," a voice promised.

The cacophony of noises grew... more voices, banging, sirens? It was hard to tell. Alexis held on to the last tendril of consciousness she could as she
was moved from the ground to something softer and then she realized, she was in an ambulance. She was about to try and say something when her
chest suddenly filled with pressure. She couldn't breathe.

"You won't leave her. You can't. Just hang on. You won't leave her. You can't. Just hang on."

The words reached her over and over again, and finally, finally Alexis found the source.

Sonny.

He was holding her hand, his eyes locked to hers, and he was promising her that she would not die and leave their daughter a motherless child.

She prayed he was right.

The hospital smell hit her the moment they were through the emergency room doors, and Alexis tried to find her voice, but it was gone, stolen by the
pain that now seemed to have consumed her whole body. Everything pounded or felt cold or seemed leaden. So she lay there mutely as Bobbie and
Monica and a host of others moved around her, poking her, cutting away fabric, doing whatever they had to do to try and keep her alive.

But could they? Alexis felt her heart beginning to pound.

'God, please,' she prayed, 'please don't take me from my baby. Please.'

A warmth that seemed different from what she now associated with her pain began to seep through her body, and Alexis felt her struggle to stay
awake becoming a losing one. As her eyelids fluttered and finally closed, she thought about Kristina and Jax and the life she had been so close to
having. If she left them, would they understand? Would they be able to see why she'd had to go?

"He's her father."

"Mama, are you?"

Alexis tried to rouse herself in response to her daughter's pleasant morning entreaty, but she was so tired. She couldn't get her eyes to open for
anything, and her body...

Wait, she thought, why can't I... I can't move.

"Mama."

"I'm coming, baby," she called out, but Alexis wasn't sure that was a promise she could keep. Though she had managed to pry her eyelids apart, she
still couldn't get her body to listen to a single command she issued.

"Mama, are you?"

There was upset in Kristina's voice this time, and Alexis fought to swallow her panic as she called back to the child she could not see.
"Kristina, Mama's coming, okay? I'm coming."

She tried again, concentrating all her energy on just lifting her head, but she couldn't, her leg... but again, no. Not even a finger would respond to her
mental order to move.

A sense of terror began to creep its way through Alexis' being, starting at her heart and seeping out to steal her breath, make her stomach feel sick
and to leave her near hyperventilation as her eyes flitted from side to side trying to figure out where she was.

White... she saw white everywhere. Her arms were laying out so her body was in a "T" like position, and cold... it was cold wherever she was.

"Mama! Mama, are you?!"

Screaming... Kristina was screaming now, terrified because for the first time in months, when she'd looked for her mother, her mother was nowhere to
be found. Alexis felt tears beginning to run down her face as her daughter's frightened pleas continued to go unanswered.

"Mama! Mama!"

"Kristina... oh, God, someone help me. Someone help me!"

"You won't leave her, Alexis. Just hang on. Please, just hang on."

"Sonny?" she called out, his voice echoing inside her head. "Sonny, help her. Please, help her."

''No one will hurt her.''

The words should have brought her comfort, they should have eased some of her fear... but all hope of that evaporated as Alexis' blood turned icy at
the sound of her daughter shrieking in a terrified voice.

"Mama!"
*****
"I'll never forgive you for this."

Sonny leaned against the wall at the far end of the hallway outside the O.R. waiting room, his body exhausted and yet his nerves not allowing him to sit.
He looked down and saw Nikolas and Jax hovering near the entryway of the lounge. Emily and Ned, he knew, were inside.

His was not a welcome presence, and Sonny, acting uncharacteristically, had removed himself, though only far enough to avoid any further dispute with
Jax or Nikolas until they heard something. Alexis had been in surgery for hours... and with every tick of the clock, some set of words, some threat or
dismissive insult that he'd spoken to her came back to poke at his open wound of fear and worry, which seemed to have a limitless potential for growth
and depth.

"I'll never forgive you for this."

The first day of court--that first day that seemed so long ago now--when he'd actually listened to her argue for Carly. Sonny could never remember
being so angry with Alexis, and looking back on it, even what came later, even finding out about Kristina and the nearly two years of his daughter's life
he'd been denied hadn't made him as furious as that day.

What was it, he wondered? Had it been the actual words she said, or was it simply that she was using all that talent and intelligence he'd so long
admired against him? Or maybe it was the worry she caused to start brewing in his gut when he realized that Alexis could be the one obstacle he could
not get around in his quest to punish Carly for her betrayal.

Those questions had been in his head as he'd waited for her that day, his body huddled against another wall, that one the cold cement of the
courthouse parking structure. When he heard the "click click" of heels coming down the stairs, he knew who it was, not only from her footfalls and the
easy, unhurried cadence, but because he'd anticipated that she would be leery of elevators after her experience at the Port Charles Hotel.

"I'll never forgive you for this. For helping Carly try to take my kids."

She stopped cold at his words, then slowly turned and faced him. Her face was unreadable, a small smile something that seemed more automatic than it
was a genuine expression of anything good.

"Then we'll just add that to the mountainous list of things for which we'll never forgive each other, and leave it at that, shall we?"

"I knew you had turned on me," he said when Alexis made a move as if she meant to turn and leave. His words again stopped her. "I just never realized
your hatred of me ran this deep."

"I don't hate you, Sonny. I'm a lawyer, I'm doing a job. It has nothing to do with you."

"The hell it doesn't!"

He felt proud of himself when he saw her face darken at his bark. It was a reaction... it was something. He'd been beginning to think nothing he said or
did could affect her anymore.
"You came to me for help, right? When you were fighting for Kristina." He waited till Alexis nodded, acknowledging his words. "So this is, what,
payback? I didn't help you, so now you help Carly?"

She kept her eyes on him for several beats, and Sonny felt his stomach clench in anticipation of the fight to come. He was bringing up her demons, and
no doubt, she would strike back. He was surprised when she shook her head slightly and shrugged.

"Not that my motives are any of your business, but the plain fact is I know what it feels like to be a mother denied her child."

"Sometimes there's a good reason for that," Sonny volleyed back.

"Oh, yes," she answered, "No doubt if you ask Ned or the Quartermaine’s or Judge Farmer or Scott Baldwin they'll give you a laundry list of the 'good
reasons' they kept me from my child. But it didn't make them right, Sonny, and it doesn't make you right."

"She's a tramp. I don't want her around my children!"

"Well, maybe you should of thought of that before you HAD children with her!"

Sonny felt himself a bit taken aback. He thought to himself, "I can't remember the last time she yelled at me," and then he did remember, and he felt
sick at the recalling of her pain and suffering.

"Look, you and Carly are the adults here, Sonny." Her tone had shifted again... the anger gone in a flash, a sense of reason he remembered well in its
place. "Be the adults. Do what's best for your children, and stop this."

"I don't want my kids near that bastard."

"Then you'll lose them."

His eyes, which had drifted down to the floor as he tried to avoid her good, sensible advice, shot up and locked onto hers as her voice... did he notice
some sadness there... reached him.

"I will not lose my sons."

"The best, Sonny, that you can hope for from all this is joint custody. I know that because I know the law, and you know that because you know me, and
you know that I'm not going to lose... not to Justus, not to anyone. And if you keep fighting her, if you keep making her look at you as an enemy, you'll
force her to take your child-children from you."

Sonny closed his eyes, his head leaning so hard into the hospital wall that his neck formed a perfect "c" curve. He hadn't been listening that day. That
was so clear now. She'd been trying to tell him what the cost was of making the mother of your child distrust you... and she knew that because it was
her. She'd been talking about her, not Carly. But he hadn't heard, and he hadn't remembered.

Not until now.

"Sonny."

Jason's familiar voice gave Sonny a momentary respite from his thoughts. Jason, too, still wore Alexis' blood on his clothes. The two men moved around
the corner to keep their conversation away from potentially prying eyes.

"I'm surprised they let you go so quickly."

"Mac's so glad to have Baldwin away from his department; he's turned into Mr. By-The-Book. Apparently he's running the show from his bed at home."

"How'd you know?" Sonny asked, turning talk directly to the events of that night.

"I called Courtney, and she said Alexis was looking for me. I couldn't think of any reason she would be unless there was trouble. I didn't know where to
look for her, so I came to find you."

"She mentioned Alcazar's name before the shots," Sonny revealed. "She, uh... she tried to call me, I guess to warn me, and I... I hung up on her."

Shaking his head, Sonny turned and rubbed at the back of his neck. Why hadn't he stopped for two seconds to realize that the panic in Alexis' voice on
that phone should have mattered more than his anger? God, he hadn't given her a moment to try and plead her case. And still, even after that...

"You couldn't have known this would happen."

Jason's attempt at consolation was appreciated, but Sonny didn't respond. What was he supposed to say to that? He knew damn well he could have
known, should have known. He'd been pushing Carly and Lorenzo for months... and at some point, his wife's new lover was bound to go back to the street
mentality both men knew was the one thing that solved any problem. But he'd never imagined who might be caught in the crossfire... not this time.

"I sent extra guards to Wyndemere," Sonny finally said. "I want you to check in with them, make sure they've got Kristina covered."
As he usually did, Jason nodded wordlessly at Sonny's command and waited for further instructions.

"I don't know how much longer she'll be in surgery, but get Max over here and tell him that if anyone looks like they don't belong near Alexis' room, I
want to know who they are what their business is. You tell everyone that no one who works for that son of a bitch better get within 50 feet of my
daughter, her mother... anyone!"

"And what about him?" Jason asked, leaving the hated name unspoken.

"Take care of it."

Over the years, Sonny had given the order to take human life more than once. Several times, someone had been able to convince him to take another
course. One of those times had changed his life forever, even if he hadn't known it until that day when Carly's spite had unveiled Alexis' secret to him.
But today, no one and nothing would get Sonny to reverse himself. His guard had been down because his personal life was a train wreck. If Alexis
hadn't come to him, if she hadn't forced the hand of Alcazar's triggerman, Sonny knew he'd be dead. His sons and his daughter would be without him.
He wasn't going to stand by and let it happen again.

The two men did not discuss the fallout that might come from the woman they had both loved in different ways at different times. They were keenly
aware that they were about to do something she would hate them for. Some part of Sonny grieved that, but he felt justified in his actions and he
would not stop them... not for her.

"Corinthos! Where the hell are you?!"

"Go," Sonny said as Jax' yelling reached them. "Call me when it's done."

"I will," Jason said, then he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the deserted corridor that led to the stairs. As soon as he was gone, Sonny
walked around the corner and nearly ran right into an irate Jax and Nikolas.

"You get your goons off my island, and you do it now!"

His few encounters with Nikolas over the years had never been very pleasant. Between the young prince's shooting at Luke's, Nikolas' cover up of Gia's
fault in the accident with Courtney and the disintegration of Sonny and Alexis relationship, Sonny couldn't actually remember a time when he and the
younger man could even be described as friendly. All of that was there behind the scoff Sonny could not hold back and the heated glare Nikolas threw
back at him.

"This whole town may be afraid of you, but I'm not."

"That just proves you don't take after your aunt in the smarts department."

"Corinthos," Jax said, putting a hand on Nikolas' chest to keep him from advancing forward, "we don't need your interference. Kristina is fine. She's
being well taken care of, and she'll continue to be so."

"Oh, I know she will," Sonny agreed. "She will because my men are there to make sure of it."

Jax laughed bitterly. "Yeah, because they did such a good job protecting you tonight, didn't they? You and Alexis."

The statement stung because Sonny couldn't refute it. And another horrible, dark moment of his past with the woman fighting for her life a few doors
away came back to him again.

"Do you even care that you're poison? That anyone who goes near you is risking their life?"

He remembered the way her words had made him feel, the way each and every sound of her voice as she said them pried away the iron-hinged clamp he
kept over that spot in his soul that told him the same thing whenever tragedy struck. That lid had been blown off as he'd listened to Alexis beg God
not to take her from their daughter, but he'd fought desperately not to lose it... not yet. Not until Jax had opened his mouth, and Sonny found a
target to focus his self-loathing on outside of himself.

"You know what? To hell with you, Candy Boy. And you don't want my men on your precious island, Prince? Fine. I'll go get Kristina and take care of her
myself."

As he had earlier when he'd charged into the emergency room, Jax went on the attack. Sonny felt the air leave his body as he was again slammed into a
wall, his shirt choking him, the blond had it twisted that tightly in his hands.

"Like hell you will!"

"She's MY daughter, Candy Boy!" Sonny pulled at Jax' hands as he yelled, and when that didn't work, he raised his knee, kicking Jax in the stomach,
forcing his foe to release him. Jax doubled over, but before Sonny could make another move, Nikolas was on him, two powerful punches delivered to his
midsection as he screamed into Sonny's face.

"You're not going near, Kristina!"

Jax was still in pain, but moving again, and no sooner had Nikolas gotten in his last lick than the Australian landed a blow to Sonny's jaw, which sent his
head back into the wall. Not yet defeated, Sonny pushed himself up with everything he had, tackling Jax around the waist, and driving him into the wall
on the opposite side of the corridor. The impact was loud and Jax was clearly in pain. Sonny stood up and landed a combination that opened up Jax' lip.
He was poised to strike again, his fist drawn back, when Nikolas grabbed him from behind, tying up his arms and leaving him wide open for another blow
from Jax, who was sputtering but able to get in another shot.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Lucky became a human barrier between Jax and Sonny as he ran into the middle of the fray, seemingly coming out of midair.

"I'd say they're beating the hell out of the town mobster, Cowboy. What, don't they teach you to notice the obvious in the police academy?"

Luke's dry wit was out of place in the serious and tense situation, and yet, that was Luke and it surprised no one. He strolled behind Nikolas, his hand
coming to rest on his stepson's shoulder.

"Don't make me have to tell Natasha you're in lockup the minute she wakes up, all right? Let him go."

Sonny jerked his arms and Nikolas released his grip. The two men faced each other briefly, sharing a scowl before Sonny turned his attention to Jax.

"Don't you ever forget that Kristina has my blood running through her veins. You can't change that. Nothing will ever change that."

"Unfortunately for her, I suppose that's true," Jax countered, "but just for the record, Alexis knew if anything happened to her, you'd try something
like this. I have Alexis' power of attorney in case of her being medically incapacitated, and I have temporary guardianship over Kristina until a court
hearing to determine otherwise."

"And I have a court order allowing me legal access to my daughter."

"We'll deal with that on Wednesday... if you're still alive." Jax took two steps toward Sonny, making Lucky start to move between them again, but he
stopped when Jax folded his arms, indicating he was done fighting... at least physically.

"Of course, you're never the one that gets hurt, are you? Not when there's a woman around to use as a shield."

Sonny took the bait and launched himself at Jax, but Luke managed to pull the angry crime lord back and Nikolas and Lucky drew Jax away with talk of
finding a nurse and trying to get information on Alexis. Sonny strained at Luke's surprisingly strong hold until, at the fading of the three men's voices,
his former best friend released him.

Once he was free, the effects of the fight on his body began to register. Sonny's head began to pound and he was sore in ten different places.
Slumping against the wall, he slid down it, sitting on the floor, his eyes closed. He heard the rustling of fabric as Luke mimicked his actions.

"So you feel better now?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sonny snapped back.

"Well, you couldn't beat yourself up... so I'm guessing you said something stupid to get the supermodel and the prince to do it for you."

There was a snowball's chance in hell Sonny was going to admit Luke was right. Instead, he drew his knees up and rested his elbows on them so he could
let his head fall forward into his hands.

"Natasha's not going anywhere. I don't believe much in divine justice, but after everything she's done to keep the two of us worthless bastards out of
jail, alive and still with some chance in life neither one of us deserves... well, I refuse to believe she's gonna pay for that by dying here tonight."

Slowly, Sonny drew his head up and leaned back. He turned slightly so he could see Luke as he spoke.

"For weeks I've spent every minute of my days trying to get back at her for keeping me away from Kristina. I told her she was unfit. I told her she
wasn't good enough to raise my daughter."

"Yeah, well, you're an idiot. Alexis knows that. I doubt she was surprised."

Sonny shook his head, dismissing Luke's attempt at levity. "All she could think about was that baby. She was laying there, bleeding all over the dock,
and all she could think of was whether or not our daughter was safe and that she had to get back home to her."

"That's not all she was thinking about."

This time, Sonny couldn't help but look at Luke with interest. His old compatriot smiled.

"You, Corinthos. She heard you were in danger, and nothing was gonna stop her from finding you. All her problems would have been over, you know, if
she hadn't. You'd be 6-feet under and Kristina would be all hers."

While Sonny thought over what Luke had said, he watched as the other man stood, making his way slowly due to too many years and too many wounds.
Sonny then followed suit, his own achy body protesting at being moved so soon.
"I was with her before she came to you. I told her I'd find you, I'd warn you, but she wasn't having any of that. 'He's her father.' That's what she
said when I asked her why. No matter what's happened, Alexis wasn't gonna let her little girl lose her daddy tonight. You remember that."

Sonny watched as Luke turned and took his leave without another word passing between them. He thought about returning to the lounge, but he wasn't
up for another round with Alexis' protectors and he wasn't about to leave, not while she was still in danger. He began to wander, not paying much
attention to where he was going until he noticed he was at the door of a restricted area.

Rules had never mattered much to Sonny, unless they were the rules of his own code. He looked around him to see if anyone was nearby and when he
saw that the personnel around him were all busy with important things, he glanced at the board and moved through the doorway leading to the
observation level of the OR before anyone noticed him.

"Davis. Suite 4," it had said. An irony if there ever was one. He found the door and tried it tentatively. It was unlocked. He pushed it open, wary of med
students or a stray Quartermaine, but found it empty. Quietly, he closed the door behind him and then he molded himself to the darkened corner that
would let him see down into the room without being seen.

He wanted to pray, but Sonny was afraid to. His prayers so often delivered only more sadness, more pain. Instead he just watched, his eyes riveted to
the room, his attention held by the stillness of her body as Monica and Tony and a doctor he didn't know moved expertly over her, fighting for her life.

"I don't want her to lose her mama, Alexis," he whispered, hoping somehow she would hear him. "I don't want her to lose you."

He was silent after that, his eyes never once leaving her, his mind forgetting to be worried about being found. He stood there, and he kept watch and
he waited to hear that the man who had put her here was no longer a danger to them or their baby girl.

And when he began to feel himself breaking down, when his hope began to fade as the doctors went into their seventh hour of surgery, Sonny put his
fears aside and he prayed... not for himself, not for mercy, not for his guilt to disappear.

He just prayed for her... and he hoped it would matter.

*****
The memories of what had happened, what had put her here on this table came back in vivid detail, and Alexis felt herself weeping. She had gone to
save him, and now...

God, was he even still alive? Was she imagining that she'd heard his voice? Was the soft whisper that kept telling her she wouldn't die a figment of
her needy imagination or was it real?

"Please, he has to be alive. She can't lose us both. She can't."

Kristina's cries continued to play like some terrible looped recording. Alexis' ears and her heart hurt from the pain of her baby so scared, so alone...
and still, she could do nothing to get to her, nothing to make it stop.

She tried to tell herself it would be okay. Jax and Nikolas adored Kristina... they would love her. They would give her the world.

But they weren't her mother and father... and Alexis knew all too well the pain of those losses so young.

"I can't leave my baby," she said, pleading once more. "Don't you hear her? Don't you hear how she needs me? I can't leave her. I can't!"

She screamed... a primal, desperate sound ripping from her throat as her frustration with all of it overwhelmed her. It wasn't until the echo from her
powerful exclamation ended that she realized, for the first time, it was silent.

Kristina had stopped crying.

"Kristina?"

Nothing.

"Kristina!"

"I've got her, Alexis."

She sighed with relief, her eyes running rivers of tears.

"Sonny... Sonny, please, take care of her."

"I will. We will."

"We?" she asked, some sick feeling growing in her that she knew who the "we" might be.

"You and me," he said from wherever his bodiless voice was coming from. "We'll take care of our daughter. Just don't let go."

Alexis had been shaking from the cold, from her fear, for what seemed an eternity. But at his words... at this final assurance, she felt the tension
begin to ease, her breath returning to an easy rhythm. Simple logic told her how insane it was that this voice, these words spoken by him should do
anything to comfort her. Her life was with Jax. He was probably terrified right now, heartsick over her predicament. Why wasn't she dreaming of him?
Why weren't his words of reassurance helping to finally push her fear down?

'You know why,' her heart whispered... but Alexis ignored it. She couldn't hear that... she couldn't believe that.

But she did believe him, even if it made no sense. She would not die. She would not leave her baby.

"And we'll take care of her," Alexis whispered, repeating Sonny's words.
*****
"Not my wife. You won't sacrifice Alexis."

Even if his marriage to Brenda had ultimately turned out to be illegal, Jax regarded himself as having been married four times. Three of those times,
he had married for love. But in the other marriage, he'd found it. Jax knew that marrying Alexis, even for the ridiculous reason they had done so, had
changed his life. He'd thought of her as a good friend before then, but by the time their names were on the divorce papers, ending their French farce
of a situation, Alexis was in his heart, deeply rooted as if she were connected there by blood.

He'd so often enjoyed "playing" married with her, but the night he'd made that long ago declaration to Jason Morgan, Jax hadn't been playing. He'd
never told Alexis, but that was the night he knew, without a doubt, that she would be a part of him forever. Dread had flooded his being as he listened
to Jason implore her to defend Sonny. Jax saw the train wreck about to start... he had known, absolutely, that further involvement with Corinthos or
his devoted enforcer would eventually get her hurt. And as he'd sat there, that sense of foreboding growing and growing, Jax had realized that losing
Alexis was simply not something he could endure. She had become that important to him.

Now, with no pretense involved, she was back in his life. She had given him back a life. He was her friend and her lover and he was Kristina's "Unca Ja"
and he was happier than he'd ever thought he could be when he'd called off his wedding to Brenda last year.

But once again, there was Sonny Corinthos... and again, he had put someone Jax loved at risk. The story was so damn old, so ridiculously frustrating that
all he really wanted to do was put his fist through his enemy's face, but not long after he'd rushed in and found a stupefied Sonny in the emergency
room, Monica had come out to tell them that she and Tony would be working together to remove the bullet, which had fragmented, from Alexis' body.

She'd told them to be prepared for a long wait, but Jax wasn't sure how much longer he could go without hearing anything. The first two hours, he'd
been able to stay busy--calling Alice to get her over to Kristina, putting security around Wyndemere, talking to the police, and finally a phone call to his
mother.

"Mom, please just tell me it'll be okay."

"Of course it'll be okay, son," Lady Jane told him, her voice full of the loving warmth Jax remembered from being a young boy with skinned knees.
"Alexis is a survivor. She's not going anywhere, I guarantee that. But I am... I'll be on the next plane, so you tell Kristina that I'm on my way, all
right?"

His mother's coming gave Jax one less thing to worry about. As much as he wanted to race out to the house and grab Kristina and hold her until Alexis
woke up, he wasn't about to leave Alexis in this hospital until he knew she was out of danger. Now when she asked who was taking care of her baby girl,
Jax could tell her unequivocally that Kristina was in the very best of hands.

While he made his calls, the waiting room got more inhabitants. Nikolas arrived with Emily not long behind him. When Ned showed, Jax assumed Emily
must have told him. The group gathered and hugged and worried... and perhaps making the one good decision he'd make that night, Sonny Corinthos had
stayed away, keeping his distance.

It wasn't far enough, though. As Jax stood in the entryway for the waiting room and looked down the hall he kept seeing the dark-haired man pacing
back and forth in the hallway before he'd stop and plant himself against a wall. The horrible dark stains on his clothes, even from here, were an ugly
reminder of why they were in the hospital.

"Still no word?" Nikolas asked as he approached.

"No. Bobbie said she'd send someone out as soon as she could."

"It's been hours."

Jax nodded and put a comforting hand on Nikolas' shoulder. "I know. But they're fighting as hard as they can for her, you know that."

"Yes," the younger man agreed, "I know. Maybe I'll, um, I'll call Lucky... see if they found out anything else about the shooting."

"That's a good idea," Jax answered. "By the way, my mother's coming in to help with Kristina, so--"

The rest of what Jax had been planning to say was cut off by the ringing of Nikolas' cell phone. Feeling antsy, Jax paced out into the hallway while
Nikolas took his call, eyes darting down to find that Sonny had disappeared from what had become "his" area.

"What?! No, no, Alice, you did the right thing. No, don't let them in the house. Only the guards Jax sent out are allowed inside the estate. All right."

Jax had turned around at Nikolas' alarmed tone and moved back into the archway. When he heard mention of the guards he had sent, Jax knew what
had happened.

"Corinthos sent his mob muscle to the island?"

Nikolas nodded as he closed up the cell. "Yeah. Alice refused to open the door for them, but she said your guy, Warren, says there are at least ten of
Sonny's guys out there."

"Damn it! He knows how Alexis feels about that. Where is that son of a bitch?"

The two of them had stormed of in search of Sonny and found him coming back from wherever he'd skulked away to. What had followed was not one of
Jax' prouder moments... but only because while he'd been acting like a hotheaded teenager, Alexis was fighting for her life. He also knew that if she
ever found out, she'd be appalled. She had stressed to him from the day that the truth of Kristina's paternity had been revealed that he had to
control his temper with Sonny.

"Alexis, you've seen him... the real him. You know that he's going to pull every trick in the book to try and hurt you over Kristina."

"And I'm telling you, we can't fight back the same way. It'll just provoke him more. Trust me, I've seen it firsthand dealing with him and Carly."

"So you're just going to give up?" Jax asked. "You prepared to hand him Kristina and let him do whatever damage he wants to her life?"

"Of course not, and stop acting like this," she scolded. "I'm doing this FOR my daughter, Jax. She does not need to be trapped between two screaming
adults... three if we include you. Have you seen the look on Michael's face when his parents go at each other? That is not happening to my daughter."

"So what do you propose we do?"

"I don't know, but I know I'm not doing that. I'm going to have to fight fire with fire if he drags me into court, I know that, but I will not play this
public, destructive game he and Carly are playing. I will not do that."

When he'd said nothing and instead plopped down on the couch, pouting like a disappointed child, Alexis walked over and sat down beside him, her head
coming to rest on his shoulder, her arms wrapping around his waist.

"I know how much you've been hurt because of Sonny. I'm not pretending I haven't been. I tried to keep this day from happening, but it's here now,
and I can't do anything but try to do what's best for my baby. And I need your help to do that, all right?"

Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "Of course. Whatever you need."

And so he had bitten his tongue. He'd stood by mutely in court while Sonny was awarded visitation rights pending further negotiations or hearings.
He'd said nothing on the mornings Alexis had to prepare Kristina's diaper bag for the day and then hand her over to Sonny for his scheduled visits.
And as much as he wanted to say to her, "to hell with him," every time he held her while she waited for her daughter's return, Jax had never once done
anything but console her and promise her it would all be okay.

And yet here they were... further from "okay" than anyone could be.

Another few hours passed, and Sonny suddenly emerged from wherever he'd been hiding. Jax was almost pleased to see the red in the other man's
eyes. The bloodstained clothes were mercifully gone, though, and Sonny walked up to the waiting room entrance.

"She's out of surgery. Monica will be out in a minute."

Jax said nothing, merely turning and walking into the room to tell the others news was forthcoming. They huddled together in the hallway, waiting
anxiously for the doctor to come out. While they were standing there, Jax noted that one of Sonny's men... Max... had arrived and was stationed near
the nurses' desk. Anger surged through Jax at the nerve of Sonny to try and protect Alexis now when she'd already been hurt so badly, and he was
about to say so when Monica rounded the corner and walked toward them.

"She made it through the surgery, and we're moving her to the I.C.U. right now."

"Monica, is she gonna make it?" Jax asked, knowing it was the one and only question on anyone's mind.

"She lost a lot of blood," the doctor explained. "A lot... we had to give her several units of blood during the procedure. Now as I told you before, the
bullet fragmented on impact. Two large pieces bounced off of bones and ricocheted into her chest cavity. Fortunately, there was no damage to the
heart or the lungs, and we removed those pieces first once we had the bleeding stopped."

Jax felt someone move in close behind him and knew who it was. His muscles tensed and he fought the urge to turn around and tell Corinthos to choke
on every single word of what had happened because it was his fault Alexis was going through it in the first place.

"Tony dealt with the fragments that remained in her abdominal and low back areas because there were some nerves involved and we wanted to
obviously try and minimize that damage. But again, we were very lucky. There was no damage to the spine or the spinal cord because of the location of
the bullet wound. All that being said, the answer to your question, Jax, is I don't know. She's young, she's strong and she was in good health... that's all
working in her favor. But her body is very weak from the blood loss, and we have to watch her very carefully for complications."

"Can I see her?"

The words came from two men simultaneously, and though no one was surprised to hear Jax speak them, they all turned with stunned expressions
toward Sonny.

"You're not going anywhere near, Alexis, Corinthos. You've done enough damage."

Jax stared at Sonny once he finished speaking, daring him to say different.

"You know something, Jax? Last time I checked, Alexis didn't like having other people speak for her. When she tells me I can't see her... that's when
it'll matter."

Sonny turned then, walking off and leaving Jax fuming as Monica's hand fell on his shoulder.

"You can see her in a few minutes."

He nodded without looking back at her, his eyes riveted to the direction Sonny had walked in. His enemy was out of his sight, but definitely not out of
mind. Something in the way Sonny had just spoken told Jax that the struggle between Alexis and him had changed tonight. It was no longer about
Sonny wanting into Kristina's life and Alexis trying to set the boundaries for how that would happen. Sonny wanted to reconnect with Alexis. Whether
it was out of guilt or not, Jax didn't know... but he understood that the rules had just changed. He wasn't helping Alexis fight for Kristina anymore...
he was fighting for Alexis and Kristina... against Sonny.

*****

"Tonight's lead story, reputed Mafia boss Sonny Corinthos was the target of an apparent contract hit, but it was Corinthos' former attorney and
alleged former lover Alexis Davis who was wounded in the shootout..."

It wasn't often news from Port Charles made it to the top of the news hour in Manhattan, but usually when it did, it involved Sonny. She wasn't
surprised at all to hear his name mentioned in the report, and she would have been relieved to hear he was all right had her relief not been squashed by
a feeling of heartsickness at the name that followed.

Alexis? Sighing, Brenda shook her head. Even from Paris, she'd followed the news of what was happening to Alexis. She knew most people would expect
her to hate her former attorney for letting her go on trial for a killing Alexis was, in fact, responsible for. But few people could understand that
Brenda would always consider herself partly to blame for all that had happened to Luis' numerous victims in Port Charles... Alexis especially.

The two women hadn't known each other well before Brenda had decided to let the world think she was dead. And upon her return, however
unintentionally, Brenda realized her choices had already exacted a heavy toll from Alexis. While she had no idea why Kristina Cassadine had been in
Sonny's warehouse, there was no denying who had set the bomb that had killed her or why it had been placed there in the first place. Luis' obsessive
jealousy and destructive vendetta against the men Brenda had loved had left Alexis grieving her sister, terrified for her child and ultimately, fighting
for her life against the Quartermaine’s and the justice system.

She couldn't absolve herself of culpability in all that. Brenda knew she was the one and only reason Luis Alcazar had ever set foot into her hometown...
and therefore the only reason Alexis' path had ever crossed his. And unfortunately, it hadn't ended with Luis' death and Alexis finally regaining
custody of her daughter.

She knew from her sister Julia's contacts that Lorenzo Alcazar had managed to get control of the Cassadine family's debts. Brenda didn't doubt that
had been done to secure power over Alexis. Only Lorenzo's unexpected obsession with Carly Corinthos had gotten in his way... and though Brenda hated
the woman and hated what she'd done to Sonny, she couldn't be sorry that something, anything, had gotten between more Alcazar misery and Alexis.

The news the last few months had been a mixture of heartbreaking and stunning. Brenda wasn't surprised that it was Alexis Jax ended up turning to,
but it still hurt to think that their last good-bye was, apparently, really their last good-bye. Her love for him had somehow survived his devastating
treatment of her on their wedding day... but Brenda believed them a lost cause. Of all the women he could have ended up with, she was glad it was
Alexis... and yet still, her heart hurt to think of him happy with someone else.

But when Julia had called her and reported the latest sensational headline from Port Charles, Brenda had been truly stunned. Kristina was Sonny's
child. She was not only floored by that revelation, but by all the other things it implied... that Ned had tried to steal Kristina from her mother knowing
he had no right to her, that Alexis had been so desperate to keep her secret she had risked losing Kristina rather than revealing the truth... they were
heavy tidbits to digest, and Brenda found herself worrying over how Sonny was handling the news and how much this would further deepen the feud
between the only two men she had ever loved.

And now this... Alexis shot, apparently because of something involving Sonny... the strain on what must already be a tenuous situation would undoubtedly
be too much. Brenda couldn't imagine Jax not wanting to tear Sonny to pieces over this, nor was she at all doubting that Sonny was, no matter what had
happened between them, guilt ridden over Alexis being hurt.

When she'd accepted her sister's invitation to come visit and enjoy some getting reacquainted time in New York City, Brenda had done so with a firm
promise from Julia that she would tell no one from Port Charles she was coming back to the States. But that didn't mean the people there she knew...
the people there she felt responsible for... weren't always on her mind. And now...

She made her decision and headed upstairs to pack. She wasn't even sure what she could do to help, except maybe serve as a human barrier to keep
Sonny and Jax from killing one another, but Brenda knew she had to do something. She and Alexis weren't friends, but they had three very important
things in common... Sonny, Jax and the scars Luis Alcazar had left behind. And though she wasn't sure why, she knew she had to go home. She had to
see Sonny and tell him his daughter wouldn't lose her mother. She had to see Jax and tell him she hoped he and Alexis would have a happy life
together.

She had to go home.

*****
She wasn't cold anymore. She was warm... and her body, though still heavy and unmoving felt like her body... like something she was connected to and
had control of again.

'Sonny.' The name went through her mind, her brain recalling the sound of his voice as he had willed her to stay alive.

Tired. She was still too tired to open her eyes or try to talk. But she could feel the warmth of someone else's hand holding hers, and she knew without
a doubt that she was alive.

'I did it,' she thought. 'I did it, Sonny. I didn't leave her.'

Jax squeezed her hand as she stirred, relishing in the signs of life she was showing. He was content even when she didn't awaken because her fingers
moved against his palm and she shifted her head just enough for him to know she was there. But he wasn't prepared for the whisper that slipped past
her lips.

"Sonny."

Jax' eyes fluttered shut and he pressed his forehead against their joined hands, sadness replacing the relief he'd felt a moment earlier. Sonny. Not
that he hadn't known the man was still in Alexis' heart, but he'd been so sure that all the bad between them was too much for her to ever want Sonny
back again, too much for them to ever heal the fissure in their relationship.

Turning his head, eyes now open, Jax glanced over his shoulder and looked at the observation window. Clearly, he'd been wrong, because no matter how
deep the wounds, there stood Corinthos. He'd taken up that position the moment Alexis was brought into the I.C.U., and he hadn't left it for a
moment.

Looking back to Alexis, Jax sighed and resigned himself to the fight to come. But for now, all that mattered was that Alexis was alive.

On the other side of the glass, Sonny barely registered Jax' glance at him. Instead, he was looking for any more flickers of movement from Alexis.
He'd seen her fingers fluttering in Jax' hand. He'd seen her head move just a bit. To him, the slight movements were two of the greatest gifts he'd
ever received.

She was alive. Kristina would not lose her mother. Alexis would not die in his place.

He didn't know what came next. But he was sure that he'd never forget the way she had fought on the docks, in the ER or in that operating room to
stay alive. And he would never forget that it had all happened because she had valued his life enough to try and save it.

The transitional moment had been so clear to her... that beat where all her fear and stress and pain had been turned back in the face of her renewed
sense of hope.

It had been his voice that guided her to it.

The rich tones filled with concern had been her anchor, and even now, as she felt herself finally beginning to emerge from the cocoon of sleep she'd
been wrapped in, Alexis could still hear him.

"You'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

Alexis felt the comfort of blankets wrapped around her, of a warm room--the cold of earlier gone. She could feel the fabric against her skin and the
weight of the layers laying over her.

She felt. She was alive.

Her eyes opened when she mentally commanded them to. Alexis was overcome with relief at that one tiny success. The light in the room forced her to
shut them immediately, and she had to blink her weary lids a few times before she could finally make out her surroundings. A tiny jolt of surprise
registered in her mind as blue eyes rather than brown ones locked with hers. Jax tightened his hold on her hand where he held it against his chest.

"Hi, beautiful."

"Jax?"

The sound of her own voice stunned Alexis. It was weak and soft, barely audible even to herself. Jax leaned closer to her and the hand not holding onto
her for dear life reached toward her head. A moment later, the comforting movement of his fingers playing lightly against her forehead and cheek
made her sigh.

"Just take it easy. You've been through a lot."

The door to the room opened, and Bobbie walked in and came closer to them. Jax glanced back over his shoulder as the door thudded shut.
"Did I just see our patient wake up?"

"Yeah, she finally stopped lazing about," he quipped.

"I'll let Monica and Tony know."

It had been a brief exchange, not more than a few seconds, but by the time the door closed behind Bobbie, Alexis' body had filled with tension. She
wasn't sure what it was, the clunk of the heavy door closing, the squeak of the nurse's shoes against the floor... but something had hurled her thoughts
from the relative peace of the hospital room to the dark docks and to her racing toward Sonny, to the pain and the sound and the confusion and the
terror.

"Kristina?"

Jax responded to the panic in her voice and he stood, moving so he was leaning over her, one hand keeping gentle pressure on her left shoulder to stop
her from trying to sit up.

"She's fine, Alexis. Kristina's fine. Alice is taking care of her."

"You're sure?!" she demanded rather than asked. "You're positive she's all right?"

Pain shot through her as she struggled more against her own body's limitations than his restraint. When she winced, Jax leaned even closer, his body
crouching down, his arms reaching around her so that he was cradling her.

"You know I'd never lie to you about that. Kristina is at Wyndemere, and a few hours from now, Lady Jane will be here to swoop her up and spoil her
rotten until you get home."

Alexis wrapped her fingers into his shirt as moisture trailed down her cheeks. She remembered it so vividly... the terror of laying there on the dock in
a reality where a dangerous man wanted Sonny dead and the world knew Kristina was Sonny's daughter.

"Shh," Jax cooed to her, reminding Alexis of herself when she tried to coax Kristina back to sleep in the middle of the night. "I promise, she's safe
and she'll stay safe."

She nodded as she sank even more into his embrace, the strength she felt bolstering her and helping her to find steady ground again... at least for a
second.

"You won't leave her."

"Please, just hang on."

"We'll take care of our daughter. Just don't let go."

The words were still there, but they were inside her head. And for the first time since his voice had reached out to her, Alexis began to wonder if it
was real.

"Sonny, is he..."

When Jax responded to her whispered query by squeezing her against the wall of his chest even more firmly, her fist tightened its grip on his shirt,
stressing the fabric as she prepared for bad news.

"He's alive. He's... he's been here the whole time."

She sobbed, the sound breaking free before Alexis could even register that it originated from a place of absolute relief. Sonny was alive and what
she'd been through had not been for nothing. Still, the nearness of Jax reminded her of what she'd risked in order to save Kristina's father.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Jax responded by placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"None of that. If it had been Brenda, I'd have done the same thing."

And it was for that, Alexis knew, that she loved Jax so much... his ability to understand she was powerless to stop what she felt for Sonny, no matter
how impossible it was.

Her body tensed as pain shot through her abdomen, and Alexis couldn't stifle a moan provoked by the onslaught. Jax eased her back down to the bed.

"I'll get Bobbie."

"No," she said, grabbing his arm, "no, she... the doctors will be here soon. I'm fine, Jax."

"You're hardly fine," he insisted. "I can see that you're hurting."
She smiled at him despite her discomfort. "I don't think that's unexpected, given the situation."

The flash of a grin passed over his face, but then Jax dropped his head, trying to hide his face from her.

"Hey."

Alexis squeezed where her fingers lay over his arm. When she heard him sniffle, she rubbed her hand back and forth over the same spot.

"Jax?"

Finally he looked up at her. His face reminded Alexis of Kristina when she fell down and was trying not to cry about it. She drew her palm up and used
all of her strength to caress his cheek. The action brought tears spilling over his lower lids.

"I thought I was gonna lose you."

"I thought you might, too, for awhile," Alexis admitted. "But I'm not going anywhere, Jax. I promise."

He nodded, his hand reaching up to press hers even more firmly against his face. They stayed there like that, eyes locked, hands together until the
door opened and Bobbie, Tony and Monica all entered.

"I hear our patient's decided to wake up," Tony stated as they moved into the room.

"Jax," Monica began, her hand touching down on his shoulder, "would you mind stepping outside for a moment?"

He nodded and rose up, leaning over to place a kiss on Alexis' cheek. "I'll be right outside."

"No," she said, shaking her head slightly. "I need you to go home."

Confusion clouded his face. "Alexis, I'm not leaving you here."

Whether it was from her physical state or just pure emotional upheaval, she wasn't sure, but Alexis dissolved into tears, her eyes squeezing shut to
try and stop the flood.

"She's... Jax, I haven't been home, and she's not going to understand. Please, I need you to..."

Her voice broke, and Jax repeated his earlier motion and leaned down close to her, his arms slipping around her.

"Shh. Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll go home and check on Kristina, all right? I promise."

Alexis nodded at his reassurance and began to try and calm herself down. "Tell her I love her okay?"

This time his kiss touched gently against her lips. "Of course I will."

She watched him stand up straight and turn to Monica and Tony. He said something to them, but exhaustion overwhelmed Alexis and she closed her
eyes, too tired to make it out. Even shut, her eyes stung from crying, and she didn't try to open them again until Tony asked her to so he could flash a
light in them.

For the next several minutes, Alexis lay there as Monica checked her incisions and Tony checked various nerve centers for responses and Bobbie
changed her I.V. and checked her blood pressure. When they were mercifully done, the two doctors assured her she was doing fine and that they'd
check back on her later. As they left, Bobbie approached.

"Alexis, you need to try and get some rest now, okay?"

She shook her head, eliciting a concerned look from the nurse.

"Is something wrong?"

"Bobbie, I... is Sonny here?"

The redhead nodded. "He's outside."

"I need to see him."

Alexis could see Bobbie struggling with something, and she didn't doubt that Jax or Nikolas or both had asked her to keep Sonny away.

"I need to see him, Bobbie, please."

After another beat of consideration, Alexis saw the other woman smile. "I'll go get him."

"Thank you."
Alexis' eyes closed on their own as Bobbie headed for the door, but she fought the urge to sink back into sleep. She didn't want to drift off again, not
until she saw him with her own eyes... not until she knew for a fact that he was safe again. But it was a harder task than she'd imagined, just staying
awake, and despite her best efforts, she began to slide into a hazy image of she and Kristina playing together in the sandbox at the park, her daughter
laughing, the sun shining.

It felt warm and good and happy, and Alexis didn't really want to be anywhere but right there in that moment with her daughter. But the sound of the
door catch clicking open helped draw Alexis back into her hospital room and into the reality of Sonny's worried face staring down at her.

"Hey," was all he said.

Her throat tightened as she was overwhelmed by the swirl of emotions the sight of him brought to her--a tumult of relief, anger, joy and fear. It was
all there as it so often was when she saw him, but now it felt doubly strong.

"Lorenzo?"

Sonny shook his head at her one-word question. "Gone."

Her eyes closed reflexively. Alexis knew he would not elaborate nor would she ask him to, but the cold reality that she was relieved at the news he'd
delivered, news that would have once chilled her and turned her stomach, reminded her of all that had happened to the both of them in the two years
since fate had torn their friendship apart.

"Alexis, there wasn't any choice. You know that, right?"

The plea for understanding surprised and touched her, and she lifted her lids, focusing her attention solely on him as she nodded that, yes, she did
know.

"Will you be in trouble?" she asked, unable to suppress the attorney in her.

"Ah, well, you know," Sonny said, shrugging, "the cops will probably ask some questions. But I'll be okay. You don't need to worry about any of that."

She was worried, but she let the point drop. Nothing would compare to him having died, of course, but for them to have gone through all this only for
Sonny to end up paying for defending himself against Alcazar was unthinkable to her.

"I'd defend you."

"I - I didn't quite hear that."

"I know that I said that I would never defend you but after everything that Sorel has done to you, if he ended up dead and you were accused, I would
defend you."

It was almost enough to make her laugh it was so circular. All the things her legal mind had saved him from over the years, all the crimes Alexis had
wished he'd pay for during their estrangement, and this was how it all somehow came back around--her not wanting him to pay for what others would
see as a crime and what she saw as him saving his own life.

"Bobbie said I shouldn't, uh, shouldn't stay too long."

He was nervous, uncertain. Alexis knew it from the way he couldn't look at her for too long without lowering his eyes down toward the floor, from his
hand rubbing at the back of his neck and against his jaw.

"When you... when you see Kristina on Wednesday..." Alexis grimaced, halting her words a minute as pain seemed to ripple through her lower body. She
saw Sonny take a step closer and reach toward her, but he stopped short of touching her, his hands dangling in mid air for a moment before he slipped
them into his pockets.

"I should go," he said, and from the tone in his voice, she finally understood the nerves and the unsteadiness she'd seen in him. He was feeling guilty...
very guilty.

"When you see Kristina," she began again, stopping him from making any movement, "she might be a little fussy. She hasn't been without me in a long
time. Just... just be patient with her, okay?"

His eyes softened and filled with some emotion Alexis couldn't read. This time, when he moved closer to her, he let his hand touch down atop hers.

"I will. I'll, uh, you know, I'll just cuddle with her and Lamby if that's all she's up for."

Alexis felt tears trying to gather again as she noted his intense love for their daughter. All the anger between them never diminished the sense of
comfort she found in knowing that Kristina had that kind of love in her life, even with all the baggage that came with it.
Her fingers lifted, and she turned her hand so that Sonny's palm now lay against hers.

"She'd love that."

Sonny smiled faintly, then he looked away again. She felt the light pressure of his hand disappear as he shoved his fists back into his pockets and took
a step back from the bed.

"All right, I'm... I'm gonna go."

She nodded.

"I just... um, I wanted..." Sonny closed his eyes for a moment, then he opened them and looked at her more directly and intently then he had since he'd
come into the room.

"Thank you."

Alexis managed to hold herself together until he had turned and walked out of the room, but no sooner had the door shut behind him than her body
began to tremble.

'Thank you'... as if she'd had a choice in the matter at all? As if there had ever been a day when she would have done other than find him and try to
keep him alive?

She cried herself to sleep, her body growing sorer by the sob, her heart hurting worse than the spot where the bullet had torn into her body. This was
really where they were, wasn't it? After all they had shared, he was surprised she had cared enough to try to save him, and she had been helpless to
do otherwise.

All this time, all the pain, Kristina... all of it, and they were in the same place again... him not knowing what he meant to her, and her unable to tell him
because she knew it was simply not meant to be.
*****
Jax stepped off the launch onto the dock at Wyndemere and commanded himself to let go of the sulk that had set upon him the minute he'd walked
out of Alexis' hospital room.

Corinthos. He'd known his nemesis was still lurking in the halls, but after seeing Alexis in pain, running into the son of a bitch was the last thing Jax
had been in the mood for. It had taken every ounce of common sense he could muster to bypass Sonny and just walk toward the nurses' station where
he waited for Monica and Tony.

He'd meant what he said to Alexis. Jax knew that if it had been Brenda whose life had been in danger, he would have raced off, heedless of the
danger, to do what he could to save her. It was who he was, who Alexis was. But that didn't absolve Sonny of what Jax considered sole responsibility in
what had happened. The man's life was an endless loop of violence, and it always seemed to snag the most innocent of victims while Sonny remained
standing.

The medical report from Monica and Tony had temporarily suspended Jax' brooding and alerted his concern. While Monica was pleased with her vital
signs and the status of the wound's repair, Tony was worried about a decrease in responsiveness at some of her nerve centers.

"We're still in the first 24 hours, so it's nothing to panic over yet. We'll keep a close watch on her as the swelling subsides and hope we see some
marked improvement."

"And what if we don't?" Jax asked.

"Jax, I know this hard," Tony said, trying to be reassuring, "but really, the best thing we can do is just wait and see. Me giving you worst case scenarios
right now isn't going to help anything."

He understood Tony's reluctance to go into more detail about what could be wrong with Alexis, but it had left a knot in Jax' gut to know that her
chances for a full recovery were already in doubt. And it made his fury at Sonny Corinthos that much more intense... so much so that he was grateful
Alexis had implored him to return to Kristina because absence was the only thing that would keep him from trying to wrap his hands around Sonny's
throat. Seeing his damn guards spread out all over Spoon Island had done little to help cool his fury.

But now he knew he had to push his anger at Sonny and his worry over Alexis to the back of his mind for the next few hours. Jax had a promise to
keep, and he would need all of his energy to fulfill it to Alexis' satisfaction.

He found them in study. Alice had Kristina sitting on the couch, and the little Fisher-Price doctor kit Alan and Monica had sent her for her Easter
basket lay open beside her. Alice had the tiny stethoscope up to her ears, and the little blood pressure cuff was around Kristina's arm. He arrived just
in time to see Alice press the "listening" part of the stethoscope to Kristina's chest.

"So then the doctor will check Mommy's heartbeat. Oh, I bet it sounds just as strong as yours does."

"Shot?" Kristina asked, a little scowl on her face because shots were her very least favorite things on Earth.

"Well, Mommy might need a shot, yes. But I bet if she does..."

That's when Jax decided to make his presence known. "Uncle Jax will kiss her booboo and make it all better."

"Unca Ja!" Kristina called out, her arms reaching up to him. He walked over and promptly scooped her up. Though she was always affectionate with him,
the strength of her hold on his neck told Jax that Kristina's seemingly happy demeanor was probably the result of Alice's tender loving care and little
else.

"She hasn't gotten much sleep," Alice informed him, confirming his suspicions. "She'd go down for about 45 minutes and then wake up looking for..."

Jax nodded. "Well, maybe we can take a nap together. I haven't slept much myself."

Alice walked up to open the Velcro on the toy blood pressure sleeve that still dangled from Kristina's arm. "I hope you don't mind, I just... I thought
maybe if I tried to explain to her what was going on..."

"It was a wonderful idea, Alice. I'm sure it helped. Now I bet you haven't had much of a break all night, so why don't you go get some rest? I'll let you
know when I need to head back out."

"Okay," she said. "I'll see you later, Peanut."

"Bye-bye," Kristina called out, her little hand waving as her favorite babysitter headed out of the room. When they were alone, Jax sat down on the
couch and put her down in his lap, facing him.

"Do you know what I have for you, little lady? I have a great big kiss from your Mama."

Jax leaned forward and Kristina puckered her lips. He made a big production of providing loud smacking and popping noises for the kiss and was
rewarded with the sound of her giggles, but they didn't last long.

"Mama home soon?"

Those big, amazing brown eyes... Alexis gave too much credit for them to Kristina's father. When Jax looked in them, he saw that same spectacular
wonder that her mother's still held, that desire to believe in good and justice, even after all the ways life had tried to steal that hope away.

"Well, Mama's got a booboo, and the doctors are making it all better. But she'll come home as soon as he can. And you know what she told me to tell
you? She said to tell Kristina that she loves you very, very much."

It was the bottom lip that did him in. He could handle the puddles of tears and the sad look on her face... but when her bottom lip started to quiver,
Jax couldn't think of anything to do but pull Kristina into his arms and hold her.

"I know, sweetie, I know. I know you miss her. But I promise you, you're not gonna be alone, okay? Me and Alice and Nikolas and Grandma Jane and..."
His words halted, but Jax realized after only a moment of consideration that this was about reassuring Kristina and not his own feelings. "And, um,
your daddy... we'll all help take care of you until Mama gets home."

Kristina's head popped up off of his shoulder. Tearstains ran down her cheeks.

"Daddy?"

"Mm-hmm," he said, using his thumb to gently wipe away the damp spots on her face. "Your daddy was there with me to check on Mama."

Jax wasn't sure what came next. She was thinking hard, and if Kristina asked for Sonny, he would have no choice but to deliver him. He'd promised
Alexis that he'd never get between the little girl and her father, and he had no intention of breaking his word. But he couldn't deny his relief when
Kristina instead cuddled up against him, her face turned toward him as she settled back on his shoulder once again.

"So what do you say, should we go cuddle up in Mama's bed and take a nap?"

"Uh-huh," Kristina replied, her voice already sleepy as her long night caught up with her. She rubbed at her eyes as she turned so she was resting on
the opposite cheek.

Jax kissed the top of her head just as he'd done to her mother only an hour or so earlier. Then he stood up and carried her toward Alexis' room. He
was surprised for a moment by the volume of packed boxes he found inside. Even though the moving date had arrived, Alexis had kept telling him she'd
never be ready. But it seemed she'd underestimated herself, as usual.

"Boy, you and Mama did good packing. You're all set to move into our new house, aren't you?"

He didn't get an answer this time. Kristina had nodded off in his arms on the way up the stairs and down the long hallway. Jax chuckled softly as he
paused in front of the mirror and caught a glimpse of her pursed lips and tousled hair.

"My little Alexis," he whispered.

Hope of a shower and a change into pajamas vanished for him out of fear that Kristina might wake up if he put her down. Instead, Jax eased himself
onto the bed, toed his shoes off and then pulled the corner of the comforter up and over them.

Though he was glad that Kristina was finally getting some much needed rest, the little girl's swift descent into dreamland left her caretaker with a
problem: his mind simply would not shut down. Now he no longer had an adorable distraction to hold his thoughts at bay, and his exhaustion was proving
too weak to overcome his rambling brain.
Jax knew he should be dead on his feet by now. He'd been awake over 24 hours, having gotten up early for a run yesterday before starting to work on
the house. He shook his head at that concept... 24 hours ago, everything had been fine. Alexis was on the phone with him, joking about how she was not
drinking protein shakes during this cohabitation, no matter how he tried to blackmail her and Kristina had been in her mother's arms and Sonny was a
thorn in their side... but a manageable one. Now it had all been turned upside down.

He knew Corinthos too well, knew how his mind worked. His refusal to leave the hospital was no surprise to Jax, and he knew what came next... guilt for
what had befallen Alexis, an attempt to worm his way back into her good graces by trying to make up for it, and Alexis trapped between Sonny's
constant need for attention and her attempts to start her new life away from him.

It was a situation Jax had sworn he would never be in again. Jax/Brenda/Sonny part three, only this time, the woman between them was Alexis and the
bond of Kristina wasn't something anyone could change.

Sighing, Jax closed his eyes. For years, he'd denied that Sonny had ever really loved Brenda, and he still believed that. He'd thought their relationship
bordered on obsession really, and nothing had ever changed his opinion. But Jax had no doubt that in as much as he was capable of doing so, Sonny had
loved Alexis. It was the only explanation for the heartless way he'd been treating her since finding out about Kristina being his daughter. Not that
some anger hadn't been expected--Jax didn't doubt he'd have been furious at having been lied to as well--but he also reasoned that he would have
come to see it was all done in the name of love for the child involved. But not so with Sonny--he continually threw every reasonable explanation given to
him back in Alexis' face with speeches about betrayal and dishonor.

Jax knew that feeling all too well, because as much as he hated to admit he had anything in common with Sonny, he knew that his anger at Brenda last
year had been all about how much he had loved her, something that made even the idea of her back with Sonny twist his gut to the point that he had
done something he'd never imagined himself capable of... he had lashed out at her in public, humiliating her on their wedding day.

Alexis thought he was insane. She was convinced Sonny had never loved her, but Jax knew she was wrong. And now he knew there was bound to be more
trouble ahead for them because a contrite, apologetic Corinthos was going to be a constant intrusion on their lives... he could feel it. The much-hated
guards circling Wyndemere and the hospital hovering were only the beginning.

But he also gave Alexis full credit. She was holding her own. Sonny had already begun throwing fits about them moving in together, screaming about not
wanting "his daughter" anywhere near Jax. He'd even threatened to drag her back into court again over the issue just weeks after he'd been granted
his first visitation rights. Alexis had invited him to feel free, assuring him that her moving in with her ex-husband to provide a semblance of a stable
home life for Kristina wasn't something she thought the judge would have a problem with. The next day, she had gone shopping with Jax and they
picked out their new bed together, then returned home to install the family-sized hammock he had special ordered for their backyard.

And what would happen to their plans now? Alexis' injuries needed to heal, and no doubt Nikolas would want her here at Wyndemere to convalesce with
a whole staff at her disposal, but Jax wanted nothing more than to take move she and Kristina lock, stock and barrel into the new house this afternoon
so that when she was released there would be no question she was coming home with him.

When she was released...

That thought set off a whole new set of worries for the Aussie as he recalled Tony's concerned tone and Monica's thoughtful expression. The doctors
were worried about something, and Jax wanted to know what it was. He needed to be prepared so that he could focus on helping Alexis deal with
whatever it might be, not on his own sorrow over her needing whatever additional care she could need.

Me giving you worst case scenarios right now isn't going to help anything."

"Worst case scenarios about what, Tony?" Jax whispered out loud. "What the hell is going on?"

His mind turned over and over every possible complication he could think of, but nothing jumped out at him. Jax knew Tony was right... obsessing over it
was useless until someone told him something concrete.

Kristina shifted a bit on his chest, squirming until she was more comfortable, and then she sighed heavily as she sank even deeper into sleep. Jax
smiled at the sound. Her mother made that same sound sometimes when she was sleeping peacefully.

It was thinking again of Alexis herself and not all the problems swirling around them that finally brought some quiet to Jax and allowed his brain to
shut down. At long last, he slept, his arms wrapped around her precious daughter, his dreams filled with the perfect pictures of both their smiles.
*****
He'd hoped it would have a bigger effect. He'd expected seeing Jason walk toward him down the hall, receiving that one nod that told Sonny business
had been taken care of would ease the pressure in his chest. But Sonny had been wrong. Knowing Lorenzo Alcazar was dead had done nothing to ease
the tension that had left Sonny feeling like he couldn't draw in enough air. Jason must have noticed because Sonny felt himself being guided into one
of the chairs that lined the hallway adjacent to the ICU waiting room.

"How is she?"

"Alive. Fighting. Monica seems pretty hopeful. She's, uh... she hasn't woke up yet, though."

"She will."

Sonny nodded. "Yeah, she will."

The rest of their conversation had been devoted to a topic Sonny wasn't remotely prepared to deal with--Carly. Jason had offered to take the heat
bound to come their way due to Alcazar's death, but Sonny refused the offer.

"She doesn't ever have to know it was you."

"Well, I appreciate that," Jason said. "But she'll know. You wouldn't trust anyone else."

The discussion had left them without much resolved. She would come after one of them with accusations and fury soon enough. Jason would remain
public so the police could come looking for him to ask their inevitable questions first. Sonny still had to make a statement about Alexis' shooting, but
Mac seemed to be giving him an unexpected and most appreciated cushion of time before someone showed up to "escort" him downtown, no doubt
purely out respect for Alexis and for no other reason.

Sonny had sent Jason off to double-check Kristina's security; until they were sure there would be no retaliation from Alcazar's underlings, he was
taking no chances. Alone again, he returned to the path he'd been pacing in the halls for hours now. Down the hall to the T intersection, turn around,
peek into the observation window at Alexis, back down the hall past the nurses' station, around the first corner just far enough that he felt too far
away, turn around, head back, peek into the waiting room, continue on. This time, when he got to the waiting room, he saw Nikolas bidding Emily and Ned
good-bye and assumed the prince was staying to help with guard duty to keep him away from Alexis.

Shaking his head, Sonny completed another lap, then another, another. Finally, he stopped in front of the ICU room window, too tired to keep walking,
but not willing to go to the waiting room and be where he couldn't see her.

The slight stirrings Alexis had made earlier reassured him she was really there, really alive, but now he just wanted her to wake up. But what he really
wanted was to be there when she did, to be holding her hand and to say, "I don't know why you did this, but I promise you, I won't forget it, and I'm
sorry I've been such an ass, and please, please, forgive me."

But he wouldn't get to be there because Jax was there. Every time he looked in and saw that blond-haired sissy boy sitting there beside her, it made
his blood boil. Of all the men in the world that didn't deserve Alexis, Candy Boy was at the top of his list.

He ignored the little voice that told him he placed himself one spot above Jax on that same list.

With his frustration growing, Sonny had made the choice to turn away and return to his pacing. Three circuits later, Bobbie was back on duty, and she
looked at him with that "go home and get some sleep look." He shook his head and continued his walk. Nikolas had curled up on the waiting room couch
and gone to sleep by the time he made his way past that doorway.

When he paused in front of the window again, his heart nearly stopped.

She was awake. Jax was cradling her upper body against him, and Sonny could just see her head moving against him.

She was awake.

He couldn't take his eyes off that room, even though it nearly killed him to see her so close to a man he hated. But the longer he watched, the more
glimpses of her he got... her hair had gone curly from the mist on the docks and the waves lay all over the pillow. When Alexis began to cry, Sonny's
hands gripped the molding of the window. His eyes closed, though, when he saw her body tense with pain.

That's what made him cross the hallway, and from there he watched as Bobbie led Monica and Tony inside the hospital room. The image of Alexis
hurting so badly and seeing the two doctors reminded Sonny of the O.R. and him sneaking into the observatory to keep watch over her. At the time,
he'd been focused on sending all his energy and strength to her, on trying to use whatever force there was to carry a message of survival. But he was
reminded now of the blood and the flurry of metallic instruments and the sheer struggle to keep her alive.

She had endured all of that because she had saved him. He didn't know how he was ever going to let her know what that meant to him.

When the door had opened again and Jax exited the room, Sonny's dark eyes locked with the ice blue gaze of his longtime rival. He felt the power of
Jax' hate surge toward him and he'd prepared himself for another altercation, but it never came. Instead, the blond headed away from him and Sonny
lingered away from the nurses' desk in order to keep a safe distance between them while Jax spoke with Alexis' doctors.

In order to distract himself, Sonny had gone to the payphone and called the penthouse to check on the boys. Joint custody of his sons had been the
one of the side effects of Carly's grandstanding; when she'd revealed the truth about Kristina, Alexis had walked, and his ex's new attorney had been
no match for Justus. He was grateful given the nightmare of the last 24 hours that his sons were in his home with Leticia and a host of guards, far
from Carly's reaction when she learned about her lover's demise.

The boys were still sleeping, but Leticia reported all was well. Sonny thanked her for being there with his sons, realizing again how much of the load she
carried where they were concerned. That was something that no one would ever say about his daughter. The bulk of her time was spent in her mother's
care, and nannies and babysitters were only around Kristina when Alexis had no other choice. It was one of those little details Justus had grimaced at
when Sonny began ranting about getting custody of Kristina--full custody.

"Look, Sonny, I'm going to tell you the truth here. Alexis has a past, so do you. That's pretty much a wash. But the bottom line is, she's a damn good
mother. You know it, I know it, and a parade of people will be willing to get up on that stand and say it. So you need to realize, this is a whole different
situation than the one you had with Carly."

At the time, he'd been too angry to really get the bigger, broader point of his attorney's argument. Alexis was a damn good mother... and he grew ever
more grateful for that as he got to know their daughter and saw all the care and attention Alexis put into raising her.
"Sonny."

Bobbie's voice startled him, lost in his thoughts as he'd been.

"Alexis is asking for you."

It felt like he'd been waiting for so long for someone to say that to him. His former mother-in-law admonished him not to stay long and looked around
cautiously for any sign of someone watching them--an indication to Sonny that Nikolas or Jax or both had asked her not to let him in. But she was
letting him in anyway.

Alexis' eyes had been closed when he walked in, and she looked like she was resting. Sonny was intent on waiting until he got to speak to her, even if it
meant camping out in the chair by her bed. But it turned out she hadn't really been sleeping, and her lids lifted and he saw her eyes and he almost
forgot to breathe.

Everything he wanted to say to her got choked someplace inside him. Sonny knew the actual words, but he couldn't seem to find the right order to say
them in, and instead of the declarations he'd thought hour upon hour about making, he heard himself talking about Lorenzo and saying things like he
should leave and let her rest.

And then the "thank you."

'Thank you...' like those two words could ever convey the enormity of had passed between them on the dock, of the size of her sacrifice. But as he'd
stood there, struggling to find the words to tell her, a sense of unworthiness had washed over him.

He wasn't worth this. He wasn't worth her pain.

And so he said "thank you" and swallowed what he'd really wanted to say.

Nikolas had gone in to sit with his aunt, leaving the waiting room empty for the first time. Sonny wandered in, poured his tired body into a chair, and
began replaying the scene in Alexis' hospital room over and over again, more hours ticking away on the clock without him noticing.

When he saw her, he was sure his exhausted mind was simply playing tricks on him. It was just a flash... dark hair and a familiar gait whizzing by the
entryway. Sonny shook his head, trying to loose the cobwebs the long night had left there.

Then she walked into the room, her bright smile unmistakable and completely real.

"Brenda?"

She bounded toward him as Sonny rose up from the chair and opened his arms to her. Her energy was a sharp contrast to his weariness.

"What are you... I didn't expect to see you..."

"Back in Port Charles again?" she said, completing his thought. "I wasn't so sure you would, but I was in the city and I heard what happened... I just, I
don't know, I felt like I needed to come and make sure everyone was okay."

The reminder of recent events stole the faint smile from Sonny's face, and he sank back down into his seat. Brenda plopped down next to him, her
body turned so she could get a good look at him.

"You're tired."

He nodded. "Long night."

"How is she?" Brenda asked. Sonny felt her fingers dancing along his temple. She'd always done that when she was trying to make him feel better.

"She, uh, she's gonna make it. Alexis, you know, she..."

Sonny had stopped speaking out of fear his words would reveal all that he was feeling right now. He should have known that history had taught this
particular woman how to read him... and Brenda wasn't about to be fooled by his forced attempts at stoicism.

"Tell me."

The wall he'd been using to protect himself dropped. Now the words tumbled out, seeking freedom from the place where he had tried to lock them
away.

"She's hurting bad, and she's scared and she misses the baby, and... I'm just standing there like an idiot, you know, not saying any of the stuff I want
to say, and she... she tells me to remember to be patient with Kristina when I see her. That I need to remember that she might be upset, you know,
'cause she misses her mama."

Brenda nodded. "It sounds like she's an amazing mother."

He broke. God, it was so obvious to everyone else, wasn't it? Even Brenda, who hadn't been here to see all the hell Alexis had gone through to try to
hold onto her little girl.

"She... she almost died trying to protect me last night because she didn't want our daughter to... to lose her father." Sonny doubled over, his head
falling into his hands as the pain of his guilt overwhelmed him. "That's the woman I've been screaming wasn't fit to be my child's mother, the person
I've threatened over and over again because God forbid she cared more about our baby than she did me."

The weight of Brenda's hand dropped down onto his back. Sonny felt unworthy of the comfort she was offering, and he tried to pull away, but her
hands grabbed for his arms and held tight. She didn't let go. He couldn't stop crying.

When he finally managed to right himself and sit back up again, Sonny's eyes were red and burning and his body ached from the strain of his emotional
release. Brenda's eyes were wet as well, but her smile was there to meet him, and though he was tempted to shy away from her after his breakdown,
he knew she'd have none of that, and so he just shook his head and cleared his throat.

"So what happens now?" she asked.

Sonny shrugged. "I gotta make this right. I don't... you know, I don't know how, but I gotta make this right."

"Well, if I can help..." Brenda trailed off and chuckled. "I know this has got to seem weird, me just showing up here."

"No, no, it's..." he said, trying to help, but the reality was, it was weird, and they both knew it.

"I don't... you know, I'm not even sure what happened, I just knew that when I heard your name and Alexis' name and I thought about you and her and
your little girl and Jax... Something just told me I had to come."

"You, uh, you seen Jax yet?"

Sonny saw his question met with a look of apprehension.

"No. Is he, uh, is he here?"

He shook his head. "I think he went home to check on Kristina."

A soft knock against the wall of the entryway stopped any further conversation. They both turned and found Ric Lansing standing there with a
uniformed police officer.

"Hi, um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but, uh, Sonny, Mac's really given all the grace he can here. We need you to come down so we can ask you some
questions."

Time was up, it seemed, and Sonny stood, straightening his clothes a bit. Brenda rose up as well and once again beamed her magnificent smile at him

"So, really, anything I can do to help while I'm here, just let me know, okay? I'm staying over at Regency."

"I appreciate that. I appreciate you coming, Bren. That was good of you."

He opened his arms and she stepped into them. Sonny loved that after everything they'd been through, he could call her his friend. It gave him hope
for the future of his relationship with another dark-haired beauty.

"Um, hey, there is something you could do, if you don't mind," he said as he and Brenda broke their embrace.

"You want a new suit right? God, you're so vain."

Despite his mood, she got him to laugh. "No, I'll live without that, but, um, you know, everyone around here pretty much thinks I shouldn't be anywhere
near Alexis. And if she were to need something or if something..."

"I'll call you if anything happens, I promise."

Sonny reached out and took her hand, squeezing it. "Thanks. Max is here on duty, so if you need anything, just let him know."

"Will do."

He gave her hand another gentle bit of pressure and then released it. Sonny turned and walked toward his brother and the waiting officer. There was
no missing the little glint of anticipation in Ric's eye at having yet another opportunity to try to pin wrongdoing on him, but Sonny didn't react to it at
all. His priorities were too important to let his unfortunate sibling interfere.

He had to protect Jason. He had to protect himself. And he had to make sure that whatever fallout came from the past day's events--from Carly,
from the press, from Alcazar's allies--stayed away from Alexis and Kristina.

Until that was all done, until it was clear, he would keep his distance. But only until then.
*****
"Sonny?"

"Hey."

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Uh, I just found out I'm not going to be a father."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not. While you were gone, Carly and I had a baby. It died before it was born. And I realized right there, there are some things you just can't
have."

"I'm--I'm sad to know that you think you're not meant to have a baby."

"No one gets everything they want, right?"

"Yeah."

"There are things you know you can't have. You lie to yourself, saying you're better off without them, you know. You make excuses. You were always
pretty good at that."

"Yeah. I don't need any excuses anymore. I don't have time for them."

"What do you need, Brenda? Would you ever tell me?"

Brenda stood there outside the ICU, her eyes focused on Alexis' sleeping form and on Nikolas Cassadine holding his aunt's hand tenderly between his
two palms. Her mind, however, was back in that rain-soaked moment outside of GH when both she and Sonny had thought their futures were absent of
hope.

That had changed. She had gotten her life back, and Sonny was a father now. But there had been heavy prices to pay for the fulfillment of their
dreams. Her payment had been Jax, her need to be loved for who she was too strong now to accept his doubts. Sonny, it seemed, had paid by watching
the woman he'd thought he loved choose another man, and by watching the woman Brenda suspected he did love run from him in fear.

'What the hell am I doing here?'

She knew all the reasons she'd told herself she was coming... a debt of honor to Alexis, her friendship with Sonny, her concern for Jax. But Brenda
had a feeling all of that was just the fuel she'd used to cajole herself into coming home.

But why was she home? What did she want? Did she know any better now than she had that day with Sonny in the rain?

"Brenda?"

Her stomach dropped at the sound of his voice. She turned slowly and found his blue eyes fixed upon her and full of questions.

"Hi, Jax."

"What... what are you doing here?"

A chuckle escaped her as Brenda thought of saying, 'I was just wondering that myself.' Instead, she just told him the one thing she did know for sure.

"I don't know. Something just told me I needed to come and check on the people that mattered to me."

His mouth opened and closed without any words coming out. Brenda understood what he was feeling. She was pretty overwhelmed herself at seeing him,
and she'd been expecting it. She was about to tell him that when the door to Alexis' room flew open, and a panicked Nikolas almost ran right into them.

"Jax, find the doctor."

"What? What is it?"

"I don't know," Nikolas explained. "She just, she's in pain, a lot of pain. We need to get a doctor in here right now."

"I'll find the nurse," Brenda said, taking hold of Jax' hand. "You go be with Alexis."

He nodded gratefully and then both he and Nikolas raced back into the room. Brenda ran into Bobbie almost immediately and told her what was
happening. Two minutes later, Tony Jones raced past her to Alexis' side. Jax and Nikolas both moved reluctantly toward the door a few moments later,
shock and fear all over their faces.

"What did he say?"

Jax didn't respond to her right away, his attention still focused on the activity in the room.

"He's gotta examine her, then he'll know something."

Brenda nodded and not knowing what else to do, she reached out for Jax' hand again. This time, she felt him take a firm hold of hers in return. Then,
remembering her promise, she began to pray silently.

'Oh, God," she thought. 'Please, don't make me call Sonny with bad news. Please.'

Surreal didn't begin to explain how Jax felt to be standing outside Alexis' hospital room and staring at Brenda. He'd honestly thought he might never
see her again, and now there she was, everything about her just as he remembered--from the brightness in her eyes to the nearly manic energy of her
body.

And then he heard her voice.

"Hi, Jax."

Just that... just 'Hi, Jax.' It seemed oddly simplistic given the last time they'd seen each other, but he wasn't sure what he thought she should have
said.

"What... what are you doing here?"

He really couldn't fathom why she was there, not just here in Port Charles but here, in this hospital, waiting outside Alexis' room.

"I don't know. Something just told me I needed to come and check on the people that mattered to me."

Her answer shook him. He thought he had a response, but when his lips parted, he realized he had no idea what to say. Who mattered to her--him,
Sonny, Alexis? Why was she here?

Then the world spun on its axis. Nikolas burst out into the hallway, Brenda rushed off looking for a doctor and Alexis was barely able to breathe, she
was in such agony. There had been the swirl of doctors and nurses, her pained attempts to try and describe what was wrong, and then Tony asking him
to take Nikolas and leave the room.

Then there were tests and the frightening diagnosis and the realization that perhaps he had relaxed too soon, believed Alexis out of danger too
quickly.

Just over two hours later, he was sitting in the waiting room again, his eyes checking the clock and the doorway expectantly every few minutes as he
waited for news on Alexis' condition. He paced, he called to check on Kristina and to be sure his mother had arrived at the Cassadine estate safely. He
tried to offer comfort to a worried Nikolas and Emily.

And he thought long and hard about why it was that while he'd been standing there in the hallway outside the ICU, terrified for Alexis, desperate to
help her, the touch of Brenda's hand on his had been the only thing that kept him from falling apart.

He hated himself for feeling that way, even after all this time, even after everything that had happened. He also knew that his feelings right now
probably mirrored the ones Alexis faced all the time... every time Sonny walked into their lives and reminded her of all that had passed between them.

Two days ago, they had been so close to having a life filled with all the things loving Brenda and Sonny had never given them--security, peace, a real
home. Now it all felt tenuous and fragile to Jax, and it wasn't just the physical danger Alexis was in that was making it seem so.

It was one thing to declare that "true love" was something you could decide to give up in favor of a love that you'd chosen because of what it gave to
you. It was another thing entirely to suddenly have it staring you in the face again. But Sonny was back. And Brenda was back. And Jax couldn't help
but feel that the happily ever after he and Alexis had both planned might never come to be.
*****
Sonny had been inside the walls of the PCPD more times than he cared to remember. On a good majority of those "visits," Alexis had either been at his
side or on her way down to rail at the cops on his behalf. Some of his fondest memories of her were from this place... her leaning on the table in the
interrogation room, her glasses in her hand as she gestured, her voice smooth and confident while she explained to Mac, Taggart or any number of
federal agents how it was they had violated his rights yet again.

Then there were the times when she would wait till they were alone, take a moment, and then list all the things he'd done wrong and scold him for
making her job harder. Usually, he ended up laughing before all was said and done, his admiration for her reinforced even when he'd been told off.

But today was the first time he could remember being here to discuss Alexis... or at least, something that had happened to her.

There was no doubt that for now, at least, that was the only topic of conversation on the table. Sonny read the faces of the cops milling about in the
squad room and noted that no one seemed overly excited at his arrival. That told him that at present, Lorenzo was still a non-issue. There was no telling
how long that would last, but Sonny hoped there would be enough time for him to make his statement and get back to check on Alexis. The unknown, of
course, was how long would it take for Carly to start screaming that someone had done something to Alcazar... and how quickly her cries of foul play
would lead to Sonny and Jason.
Pushing thoughts of that eventuality from his mind, Sonny followed Ric into the familiar interrogation room. A tall blond man he didn't recognize
entered after him and shut the door.

"Do you want to call your attorney?" Ric asked, barely keeping a self-satisfied smirk off his face.

"I'm just here to give a statement, right?"

Sonny watched his brother's eyebrows rise slightly as he tried to calculate a response for maximum effect. His manipulative nature served him well.

"Of course. All we're trying to do is get as much information as we can so the person or persons who almost killed Kristina's mother are brought to
justice."

The mention of his daughter drew Sonny's fingers together into a clenched fist--a movement hidden by the table. He fought every instinct he had to
show a response on his face.

"If I'm just telling you the truth about what happened, then no, I don't need to call an attorney."

He knew she'd be furious with him for that, but Justus wasn't Alexis, and while Sonny wouldn't have hesitated to call her back in the day just to
intimidate the PCPD into moving things along more quickly, there was a good chance that bringing in his present counsel would only make the situation
more tense. He knew what questions to answer and what answers to avoid. And he just wanted this over.

"Fine, then why don't we get started?" Ric said as he pulled out a chair to the right of Sonny. The blond man sat down across from the ADA.

"Did I miss something?" Sonny asked suspiciously. "Did you become a police officer when I wasn't looking?"

That annoying little smile slipped back onto Ric's face. "I'm just an interested observer. Detective Henson here will be handling your statement. I just
figure it'll save a lot of time and paperwork if I sit in."

There was no point in responding, so Sonny sighed and turned to face the detective instead. The man had his notepad and pen ready.

"So?"

The policeman cleared his throat. "Mr. Morgan told us that he came to locate you because Ms. Davis had called him sounding concerned."

Sonny waited for more. When nothing else was said he folded his arms in front of him. "Is that a question?"

"Do you know why Ms. Davis was concerned?"

The sound of her voice on the phone came back to him. So did his unwillingness to listen.

"She, uh, she thought someone was trying to hurt me."

"Why would she think that?" the detective asked.

Staying silent, Sonny weighed his options. What he knew of Alexis' motivations was, technically, hearsay, and it wasn't much. Luke had made it clear he
knew something about how Alexis knew Lorenzo was coming after him, but he hadn't told Sonny, and that made it information he didn't really have to
give.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "She tried to call me, but I didn't take her call. Next thing I knew, she showed up on the docks and she was trying to tell me
something, then the shots started."

From his peripheral vision, Sonny saw Ric shift in his chair. So far, his hateful little brother was holding his tongue, but Sonny knew it wouldn't last.

"Did Ms. Davis say anything to you before or after she was shot?"

"She, uh..." Sonny paused. Normally he'd have lied, but he wasn't going to put her in the position of confirming his lie when the police finally got to
question her. "She mentioned a name... Lorenzo Alcazar... but she never got to tell me what about him she wanted to say because she got hit right after
that."

"Do you think Lorenzo Alcazar is the person who shot at you and Ms. Davis?"

Sonny shook his head. "No clue. He hates me. It's entirely possible. Or it could have been something happened between the two of them--Lorenzo and
Alexis--he doesn't like her much either. Could be that, and she was coming to me to tell me about it, and we just got shot at randomly."

"Or maybe Alcazar is just your smokescreen."

Ric's entry into the conversation drew Sonny's attention his way. "What does that mean?"

"Well," Ric began, rising, his hands sliding into his pockets as he stared at Sonny. "It's no secret you've been on a one-man mission to punish Alexis for
keeping Kristina way from you."
"We've had some stuff to work through."

"Yeah, well, maybe you were tired of working through it." Ric leaned on the table, and Sonny had to fight the urge to grab his necktie and slam his face
into the metallic surface.

"Maybe you set Alexis up. Maybe you lured her to the dock. Maybe the gunman was yours and Lorenzo Alcazar is your fall guy."

Rage pulsed through Sonny's body. In order to try and avert what was a clear oncoming explosion, he tore his eyes away from this man who somehow
shared his genes. Detective Henson was looking at Ric in absolute bewilderment. For some reason, that made Sonny chuckle. So far, all indications were
that Mac's new hire was actually an above-board cop. That he was looking at the assistant D.A. now as if he'd grown a second head gave Sonny some
hope that a good guy was finally wearing a badge again in Port Charles.

"I thought I was conducting this interview?"

Ric threw an angry glare at Henson out of instinct. Sonny watched as he caught himself and then turned his face into a mask of professional
indifference.

"I'm just trying to propose a possible scenario."

The heavy exhalation Sonny heard to his left told him Henson's opinion of Ric's scenario, but he understood when the detective had to ask the
question anyway.

"Is he right, Mr. Corinthos? Have you been having issues with Ms. Davis?"

"Alexis and I share a child... we were sorting out our relationship as parents."

"Which is why maybe," Ric said before Sonny could go on, "you decided to get rid of the one obstacle standing between you and full custody of your
daughter."

Every instinct in Sonny was telling him to grab Ric, punch him in the face and shove him out the nearest window. But what Sonny did was think about the
advice he'd be getting right now if the last two unbearable years hadn't happened.

'Don't let him bait you. You stoop to his level, and you're not getting out of here. Just stay smart.'

"Kristina loves her mother, and I love my daughter," Sonny finally said. "But if, God forbid, she lost her mother, I'd have a every damn Cassadine and
Jacks ready to drag me into court and say just about whatever they'd have to in order to keep me from my daughter. So if that was my plan, I'd have
had to take out a hell of a lot more people than just Alexis."

Ric's jaw set into an angry pose. Sonny could see frustration brewing under the surface. Ever since he'd gotten to Port Charles, his younger brother's
every waking moment had been about trying to get Sonny to make a mistake. He'd made many. But not tonight... tonight little brother was going to have
to play alone.

That didn't mean, however, that things in the interview sped up any. Ric told Henson to start over again, and Henson prodded Sonny for every detail he
could remember. How many shots? Where had they come from? Did it sound like automatic gunfire? Did he hear footsteps? Voices? Why had Jason
shown up? And then again and again and again "Why do you think Ms. Davis mentioned Lorenzo Alcazar?"

"I don't know" was Sonny's reply every single time.

Ric slammed his hand down on the table two hours in, and Sonny couldn't help but be pleased that his own frustration was being mirrored back by the
cause of it. He was sick of being here. He wanted to know how Alexis was. He wanted to call the guards and check on their baby.

"So we're really supposed to believe that Alexis didn't say anything else?" came yet another exasperated query from Ric. Sonny sighed and shook his
head.

"She barely got out a word before she got shot, just like I said. And after that, she was a little concerned with trying to breathe."

The words came through gritted teeth, and there was no doubt Detective Henson picked up on the edge in Sonny's voice. He stood and walked over to
Ric, drawing him into the corner. Though their tones were hushed, it was clear they were disagreeing. The two continued to bicker until Henson turned
and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Just making friends all over, ain't you, little brother?"

"He's new," Ric said icily. "He doesn't know what a bastard you are yet."

"Oh, I see." Sonny laughed. "So that's your job, right, to fill him in?"

"Someone's gotta do it."

"Yeah, well," Sonny pushed back in his chair and stood. "I came in here voluntarily, I've made my statement, and now I'm leaving. You got any more
questions for me, call Justus Ward and set up an appointment."

"You're not going anywhere."

Sonny shook his head and then looked over at the man who had become a permanent thorn in his side. "You got nothin' on me. I got shot at, I saw
someone get shot, that's it. I told you what I know, and I'm leavin'."

"You think it would be a hard sell?" Ric's voice dripped with venom. "Do you really think I couldn't convince a jury that you would try to kill the woman
who kept your daughter from you for nearly two years?"

'Just walk out. Just turn the knob and walk out.'

The words sounded with authority in Sonny's mind, warring with his heart, which was telling him to turn around and scream back that nothing would
have ever made him have a gun pointed at Alexis. He wasn't above hurting her, he knew that, but not like this... he would never have done this. But even
as he swore that to himself, his guilt sent one more silent question through him.

'Are you sure?'

Sonny twisted the doorknob and walked out into the squad room. Ric was behind him in an instant, his voice raised.

"That wouldn't play real well for you in family court, would it? Suspect in the shooting of your own child's mother? I don't know, Sonny, I might be
doing Kristina a favor by pursuing this."

"By pursing what?"

Sonny had seen him a moment after stepping into the larger room, but he had obstructed Ric's view, and it was only when Mac Scorpio's voice sounded
that Ric understood he was present. He was sitting in his wheelchair near Henson's desk, his body still too weak to get around for long without the
added help, and his facial burns were still healing, but considering how close the man had come to dying, Sonny didn't think he looked half damn bad at
all.

"Mac, what are you doing here?" Ric asked, shock clearly showing on his face.

"Well, I am still police commissioner, aren't I?"

They had always had their issues, Sonny and Mac, but on the whole Sonny liked him. He found a new level of respect, though, as Mac's tone and
countenance gave away his clear dislike for the assistant D.A.

"Of course you are." Ric's voice had a tremor in it. He'd made a mistake, and he knew it. "I'm just surprised to see you."

"Well, I'm going to be coming a few hours a day for awhile and build up. Today seemed like as good a day as any to start."

A polite but cold smile crept onto Ric's face.

"Well, it's, uh, it's good to have you back."

Mac nodded then let his eyes flicker between the two dark-haired men. "So what was this you were saying, something about a theory you're pursuing?"

Sonny felt his enemy tense. He wasn't sure how much Mac had really heard, but it was clear Ric hadn't meant for him to find out about it.

"Nothing. Just covering all the angles where Ms. Davis' shooting is concerned."

"You on your way back to the hospital?" Mac asked, turning his full attention to Sonny.

"Yeah."

"Give her my best."

"I will."

Henson broke the awkward silence that followed the brief exchange by walking up to Sonny and extending his hand.

"I'll be in touch if I have any more questions."

Sonny returned the handshake and nodded, and the detective walked back into the interrogation room.

"I, uh, I need to get back to my office and check in," Ric said, his voice shaking. "Sonny, I'm sure we'll be speaking again soon."

"I'll look forward to it." The grin on Sonny's face as he spoke couldn't have been any faker.

"Again, good to have you back, Mac," Ric added before heading toward the exit.
"Funny how I know he doesn't mean that," Mac quipped the moment he was gone.

Sonny chuckled. "Yeah, he isn't Mr. Sincerity, is he?"

"You want to tell me what that theory of his is?"

"Not any point. It's a lie, and I'm not worried about it."

Pushing firmly on the wheels of his chair, Mac moved forward, closing the distance between them. "When the city tried to shortchange me on my
benefits, Alexis is the one who stepped in and fixed it. The mayor was practically begging to pay off the bills at GH just to get Alexis off his back. I
owe her."

Sonny looked down at the floor as a sudden onslaught of images of her lying helpless and bleeding in his arms rushed over him.

"I do, too," he said softly.

"Henson said she mentioned Lorenzo Alcazar. Do I need to be worried about her, Sonny?"

It was a loaded question, and Sonny knew he had to answer it carefully. Mac was looking out for his friend, but he was still a cop--a cop who wanted him
off the streets.

"She's not in any danger."

He could sense Mac turning that over, examining it, noting the things Sonny hadn't said. But finally the commissioner nodded.

"Tell her I'll be by to see her soon."

"I will," Sonny promised.

Sonny headed for the exit, his instinct urging him to get out before something or someone alerted the police to there being another subject they
wanted to interview him about. He was shocked to see Jason standing by the waiting limo. He knew without asking that something was wrong.

"What?"

"Brenda called. Your cell was off."

"What?" he asked again, this time more urgently.

"They rushed Alexis in for some tests. She wasn't sure what for; she just said that I should get you back there."

Sonny tore the door of the car open and started to climb inside. Jason's hand on his arm stopped him.

"You can't go."

"What the hell do you mean, I can't go? Why not?" Sonny snapped back.

"Dawson called," Jason told him calmly. "Carly's at Wyndemere."

'The hell... "

Jason rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with her actions. "I don't know. The guards are keeping her away from the house. So far Jax' guys don't know
she's there."

Anger made Sonny's gut clench. The only reason she'd gone there was to use Kristina to provoke him. She'd gone there, not the hospital, not the
penthouse, but to his daughter's home because Carly knew that was an invitation he couldn't ignore.

"Call Dawson, tell him I'm on my way and to get her to the Spoon Island dock and keep her there. She is not to get anywhere near my daughter."

Jason nodded. "I'll go to the hospital, stay until you can get there."

Sonny gave Jason a look of thanks and then climbed into the limo, slamming the door shut behind him. The one thing that frightened Alexis almost as
much as the idea of violence finding their daughter was the idea of Carly being around her. He knew that. Even though he'd dismissed that as
justification for her keeping Kristina a secret, he understood it. The thought that she was probably feeling vengeful and was even within a mile of their
little girl made Sonny's heart pound.

Over and over again, in argument after argument about Kristina and Alexis' decisions about her life, Sonny had sworn that he could protect the baby
from his enemies and from Carly. It was time for him to deliver on that promise.
*****
It had come from nowhere.
She'd felt jolts of pain since waking earlier, but the majority of them had been from her midsection and the bullet wound. This was different. It had
started as a dull ache she couldn't quite describe, and then without warning, she was in agony.

Alexis heard a cry of pain and didn't realize it had come from her until Nikolas released her hand and raced toward the door. By the time he returned
with Jax in tow, her fingers were wound in the sheets of the hospital bed, her face locked in a grimace.

"Sweetheart, what is it?"

The words to try and tell him were in her mind, but Alexis couldn't get them out. Her chest began to ache from the held breath inside, but even trying
to inhale and exhale was nearly beyond her right now. Jax seemed to realize how absolutely paralyzed with pain she was, and he held her hand and tried
to comfort her, his voice issuing a steady stream of reassuring statements. Alexis tried to focus on that, on the words, on his concern, but another
surge of burning torment shot through her, and she felt her body jerk as a second cry tore from her throat.

"Alexis? Alexis, can you tell me what it is?"

Tony's voice had replaced Jax', and when she forced her eyes open, it was his face looking down at her. She could feel other hands moving on her and
assumed Monica was there as well.

"Burning."

The single word had taken a supreme effort to get out, and Alexis knew from the look on Tony's face it wasn't enough information.

"Can you tell me where? Just point if you need to."

Her left hand still held a death grip on the sheets and blanket, but her right lay on the bed where Jax had laid it down when the doctors forced him
away. Alexis moved it now, patting it against her right leg.

"The swelling?" she heard Monica ask.

"Probably," Tony answered.

"Do you know what's wrong?"

Jax' voice rang out from the side of her, and though she couldn't see him, Alexis could hear how much her situation was affecting him. She looked at
Tony, her eyes casting sideways in the hopes that he'd understand her request. When he nodded at her, she closed her eyes with a small feeling of
relief.

"Nikolas, Jax," Tony said, "Can you two please wait outside?"

"We'll let you know as soon as we finish examining her," Monica added, boosting Tony's position.

It took a bit for the sound of the door opening to finally come, but it did. A moment later, Tony was looming over Alexis again, her eyes opening to
meet his very concerned gaze.

"Alexis, is the burning feeling constant or is it like one jolt after another?"

"Second one."

"All right, we're going to take you up for some x-rays. I know it hurts like hell, but as soon as we get some idea what we're dealing with--"

She didn't let him finish. "Just stop it. Please."

Tony nodded and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "We will."

The doctors both stepped back and Bobbie and two other nurses came to disconnect Alexis from her monitors and lay her I.V. bag at her bedside. Soon
enough the bed began to move toward the doors. In the hallway, she briefly caught the worried glances of her lover and her nephew, but another
dreadful wave of sensation shot through her legs, and Alexis squeezed her eyes closed again. She tried to calm herself and ease the unbearable
tension in her body by thinking over and over again that Tony would fix whatever this was. He would find the problem, and then he would make it
better.

It was a rational, comforting thought, but the reality of what her body was feeling right now was far stronger than logic. There had been pain after
the shooting, but it was nothing compared to this. After awhile, her body has almost become numb to the bullet wound and the damage it had caused,
but this... every few minutes, it felt like someone had poured scalding hot water over her legs.

While the elevator traveled to the x-ray floor and as they moved her toward the room, Tony tried to explain to Alexis what they were checking and
what they might have to do, but she was unable to focus on his voice. All she wanted was to find some way to quiet what seemed like an unending wail
sounding inside her own head.

She could do this, she told herself. She'd done it before. Year after year, she'd learned to fill her mind with comforting thoughts when Helena's
latest torture left her locked in a closet or alone in the gardening shed. Alexis was well-practiced in the art of holding her fear at bay, and damn it,
she scolded, she could do this.

'Think about Kristina. Picture her face, picture her smile... you can do this.'

Alexis felt herself being lifted off the bed and onto a table that felt hard beneath her. She drew in a deep breath and forced herself to let it out
slowly, easing some of the tension in her body. Quickly, a series of flashes of her little girl came into her mind--bath time, her chasing a butterfly in
the garden, snuggling by the fire. But finally, one scene took over, playing out in vivid detail as the fury of the pain began to weaken in the face of the
happy, beautiful memory, though what it was couldn't have surprised her more.

"Do you know how much I wished for you to be mine?"

Sonny's voice reached her from the courtyard by Kelly's, the place they'd agreed to exchange Kristina. It was the third Wednesday he'd spent with
their daughter since Carly had dropped the bomb on their lives. The first week, after Jax and Nikolas had done little but glare at Sonny in the
entryway of Wyndemere, and after Alexis had walked in on a Sonny/Carly classic fight at the penthouse, they had been able to drop their anger at one
another long enough to decide that it was best for them to do the custody exchanges alone on neutral ground.

Kristina had spent the morning with her daddy today because she had a late afternoon doctor's appointment. She hadn't told Sonny about it because
the tension between them was so brutal, the less time Kristina spent with both of them together, the better. But when she'd asked if he minded
having her early instead of after lunch, he had surprised her by not grumbling at all and saying it was fine. Kelly's was their agreed upon meeting place
that day since Alexis would already be close by after dropping off some contracts nearby.

When she'd walked up, Alexis had never imagined she'd stumble upon such a tender moment between father and daughter, but having done so, she
found herself unable to stop listening or watching the way they were together. Kristina had already fallen in love with him... it was obvious from the
way she watched his every movement and studied his face while he talked to her. And all the hardness and cruelty Alexis was coming to associate with
Sonny vanished in their little one's presence.

"I hoped so much that you would be mine," Sonny continued. Kristina was in his lap playing with the collar of his shirt.

"When I thought you weren't gonna be my little girl, I got sad. And I didn't like to think about you after that, or your mama, because then I just
ended up wishing you were mine again."

Kristina batted her eyes and did the shy head tilt that Alexis knew she used often on Jax to get her way. Sonny was equally overpowered by her
cuteness, and he reached out and tickled her gently, eliciting a hearty giggle.

"But you know what? You are mine, aren't you? This part is mine." He took his fingers and tweaked her nose. "And this one is mine." His right index
finger touched her left dimple. "And this... this is definitely mine," he said, his hand drawing across her mop of curls.

"But this..." Sonny's finger touched now on her right dimple. "That's mama's, isn't it? And these pretty eyes... those are mama's, too, I think."

At the mention of her, Alexis saw Kristina's smile widen. Sonny's did the same in reaction to the baby, and Alexis felt herself on the verge of tears.
He always seemed so hateful to her, so willing to rip Kristina away from her if his mood deemed it necessary to fulfill his stupid "code." But what was in
front of her wasn't that man, and though she couldn't begin to let herself trust it, she was grateful for the small glimpse of who Kristina saw in him
when they were together. Alexis recognized that man, and hoped he would always be the one their daughter grew up knowing.

Sighing, Alexis felt her neck and shoulders relax, more tension fleeing. That day had done so much to help relieve her fears for her daughter, at least
when it came to her bonding with Sonny. She had known then that he would do right by their girl, even if he said otherwise. But that hadn't meant she
was willing to let her guard down at all. His disappointment in her, his constant need to remind her of the wrong she'd done him was back five minutes
later when she'd walked up to claim Kristina. They had a long way to go before either could trust the other ever again.

"Alexis, you still with me?"

Tony's voice reached through her peaceful haze and she nodded.

"Okay, we're going to move you to the MRI. We'll go as gently as we can, okay?"

"It's not so bad now," she told him, her eyes flickering open to find him smiling down at her.

"Just the same, we'll go nice and easy. And then we'll get this fixed up."

Alexis nodded again, her lids fluttering closed. She felt them move her, the pain returning to try and overwhelm her again, but this time, though it was
still dreadful, she managed to fight back the panic. This time she pushed her mind back to the image of Kristina safe and content in her father's arms.

She still had those arms to hold her, she still had her mother to love her. Alexis held onto that and waited.
*****
Brenda stood in the hospital hallway, her fingers entwined with Jax', a comforting look cast at Nikolas and her mind on Sonny. Whatever was
happening, it was bad. She knew that from the expression her former fiancé's face. She had seen that look on his face when she had been falling
apart, her breakdown finally too much to bear. Jax had been as scared then as he was now.

Again, she felt a sort of confirmation of what Alexis had become to Jax in her absence. She tried not to envy that too much. Brenda missed being Jax'
best friend. For a wonderful, brief moment, that had been her place, and even when she'd gone back to Sonny and broken his heart, Jax had remained
true to her. She imagined he felt a bit like he was reliving the past these days. Even though word had it Alexis was finished with Sonny romantically,
there was Kristina to bind them together. Once again, Jax would have to share someone he loved with a man he hated.

"Can I get you something?" she asked, hoping to break the interminable silence while they waited for someone to come out of Alexis' room with news.
Jax shook his head. She glanced toward Nikolas, but he, too, indicated he needed nothing but some answers.

Feeling helpless, Brenda tightened her grip on Jax' hand. Her action drew his eyes to her.

"She'll be fine," he said, his tone proving he was trying to convince himself. "She has to be fine."

"I should call Alan," Nikolas said as he paced frantically. "Maybe she needs a specialist or to be moved to--"

"Tony and Monica are taking good care of her." Jax broke his handhold with Brenda to move to Alexis' nephew. She watched him move to the younger
man's side, his hand on Nikolas' shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "You know they would never let anything bad happen to her."

Nikolas was just nodding his agreement when the door to the hospital room opened. The two men tensed, and Brenda drifted into the background so as
not to get in the way.

"We're taking her for some x-rays, an MRI, then we'll know more." Tony explained. "I'll let you know as soon as we find out what's happening."

Brenda could see that both Jax and Nikolas wanted to hold the doctor there and prod him for more information, but they both saw Alexis jump as her
body was hit with another wave of pain, and neither moved to stop Tony as he and his team rushed Alexis toward the elevator. Both men did, though,
offer her loving smiles when her eyes briefly flickered open.

The flurry of activity ended. Nikolas excused himself to call Emily, leaving Brenda and Jax alone.

"I knew I shouldn't have left," he said, his shoulders sagging. Brenda moved to him and gently rested her hand on his back.

"Jax, you being here--"

"I didn't want to leave. But she was so worried about Kristina..."

"I'm sure she was, and I'm sure she was much better off thinking of you home with her little girl than she would have been with you sitting here,
helpless to stop this."

Jax turned and faced her, his hand rising to rub at the back of his neck. "They told me they were concerned about something... about her nerve
responses not being quite good enough. But they said not to worry yet."

Brenda wasn't sure what to say. She could see how much he was hurting, and it stung her just as it had to see the same thing in Sonny earlier. They
were both so scared.

Thinking of Sonny's breakdown reminded Brenda of her promise. She needed to call him. But what was better--to call now or to wait until they knew
more?

"Oh, God, my mom," Jax said suddenly. "I need to make arrangements for a car to pick her up. Can you... will you stay here in case they come back?"

"Of course I will."

Jax nodded and headed down the hall where he could use his cell phone. Brenda decided if she were going to make a call, now was the time to do it
without upsetting Jax, who no doubt would be displeased with her keeping Sonny in the loop. She moved back to the door of the waiting room, careful
to keep her eyes peeled for Tony or Monica, and dialed a number she imagined she'd know going to her grave. When his message-less voice mail picked
up, Brenda rolled her eyes at her own wasted effort. Of course he wouldn't have his phone on at the PCPD. Hanging up, she dialed in a second number
that had come to be her lifeline during her last stay in Port Charles.

"Morgan."

"Jason, it's me."

There was a long pause, during which she could see his eyes narrowing. "Brenda?"

"Yeah, surprise. Okay, listen, long story, I'll tell it to you later, but I need you to go to the PCPD and get Sonny."

"Wh--wait, Brenda, where are you?" Jason asked, his confusion clear.

"I'm at GH. He asked me to stay here and keep an eye on Alexis. Something happened. She's having some pain and they're not sure what's causing it,
so they took her for some tests. He wanted me to let him know if he needed to get back here, so he needs to get back here."

"Who took him to the PCPD?"

"Uh, his brother showed up with a cop. They didn't arrest him, just said they needed a statement, but his phone isn't on, so go get him, okay? I'll see
you later."

She hung up and rushed back to the hallway outside of Alexis' room. A moment later, Jax rounded the corner and rejoined her.

"I'm gonna have the driver take her straight to Wyndemere so that I don't have to leave Alexis again until we know what's going on."

Brenda nodded. "Lady Jane must love having that little girl to spoil."

A slight smile managed its way onto Jax' face despite the knot in his stomach. "Oh, you know it. Alexis and I will have a little diva on our hands by the
time we get home."

'Alexis and I...' It was so easy, so natural coming out of his mouth.

"I'm glad you have the family you always wanted," she said, hoping the little dagger that was poking in her heart wasn't noticeable in her voice or her
expression.

"Thank you," he answered after a moment spent just watching her, studying her face. The scrutiny made Brenda nervous, and she lowered her eyes and
walked across the hall.

"I... I heard about your father. I'm sorry."

"Mom said you sent a note. That was good of you."

Brenda shrugged. "Your parents were always so good to me."

"They loved you. Love--Lady Jane still loves you."

Jax offered the words kindly, sincerely, and Brenda didn't doubt them. She was still basking it the warmth of them when she saw his eyes scanning the
hall.

"Where's Corinthos? Did he finally get the hint and leave?"

"Um, no," Brenda replied, grimacing slightly. "Well, I mean, he didn't leave, really. He's at the police station. He had to give a statement about the
shooting."

"Oh, well, that shouldn't be too hard. Lorenzo Alcazar gunned Alexis down trying to kill him because he makes people want to kill him. I just thank God
Kristina wasn't with them."

She understood the anger in his voice, the cold look that had suddenly come over his face, but Brenda had too recently seen Sonny's anguish over this
whole situation to just let Jax' statement go unchallenged.

"You know that he never meant for this to happen."

"That doesn't change the fact that it did," he said, his eyes boring into hers, the blue darkening from his intensity. "He's done nothing but bully and
threaten her for months, and she put herself in harm's way to save him. She could have died, Brenda!"

"I know." She took a step closer, her hand falling on his forearm. "I know. And so does Sonny, Jax. He knows she got hurt protecting him. There's no
way he's going to be able to just walk away from that."

"Well, that's what he should do," Jax snapped back. "If he wants to repay her kindness, then she should just back off and let us raise Kristina and give
her the family she deserves."

Brenda knew there wasn't a chance in hell that was going to happen, but she withheld comment. Instead, she wondered how she and the nursing staff
were going to keep Jax and Sonny from killing each other once Sonny got back.

"Jax."

Tony called out as he came around the corner. Jax rushed forward, and Brenda moved with him.

"Tony, what is it?"

"The sensation decrease we picked up earlier, I was right, that was from the swelling. Unfortunately, Alexis didn't respond to meds to help take that
inflammation down."

"So that's what's causing her pain?" Jax asked. Tony shook his head.

"It caused a disk compression that's resulted in something we call Cauda Equina syndrome. Basically, the compression is pinching off some nerve roots,
and that's causing the shooting pains Alexis is feeling in her legs."
"Tony, that sounds pretty serious."

Brenda's comment caused both men to look at her, and Tony nodded.

"It is. If it's not corrected immediately, it can result in paralysis."

"Oh, my God..."

She reached for Jax as his exclamation finished, her arms going around him to steady him as Tony went on with his explanation.

"We're treating it quickly and aggressively, Jax. We're taking her back into surgery to relieve the compression. That should free the nerve roots and
take away her pain."

"But how long is too long?" the blond demanded, his voice panicked. "How long can this go on before there's damage?"

"To be perfectly honest," Tony said, "there's going to be some level of damage. The condition is rare, but it's acute and very serious. But we caught it
quickly and if all goes well, when I say damage, I'm talking about muscle weakness that can be rehabbed in physical therapy. Now they're prepping her,
so I need to get up there. I'll have someone come out and find you as soon as we're done."

Jax managed to say a muffled "thank you" as Tony headed off. Brenda could see how hard this news had rocked him. He was ashen and he looked like
he was barely staying on his feet.

"Why don't we sit down, okay?" She added to her suggestion by pulling him toward the waiting room. Jax didn't resist, not then and not when she
pushed him down into one of the empty chairs.

"I don't want her to go through that," he said, his voice still exhibiting his shock. "I... God, I remember what it was like to be trapped in that bed,
Brenda. I don't want her to go through that."

"Hey, hey, were you listening to Tony?" Brenda again took his hand in hers. "They're going to fix this, Jax. Alexis is going to be fine."

She continued to sit there, holding his hand, trying to reassure him, and it fell to Brenda to update Nikolas when he returned with Emily. The four of
them hunkered down for the wait for news from the O.R., Brenda nervously eyeing the clock and keeping watch on the waiting room door.

Jason would get to Sonny, she knew that. And he would get Sonny here. But how was she going to tell him that Alexis was in the operating room again?

Brenda sighed and leaned back in her seat, her hands pulling through her hair. So far, she was no clearer on why she'd come back here than she'd been
when she got on the plane or in the cab riding to the hospital. Yes, she felt like she'd been a help to Sonny and to Jax on some level, but they were only
part of the reason she'd come here. Right now, it seemed all she could do for Alexis was take care of the two men in her life for her until she was
strong enough to do it again herself.

The flash of black leather caught her eye, and Brenda stood up quickly, so quickly that Jax, Nikolas and Emily all looked at her as if she'd lost her
mind.

"Uh, sorry. I just need to go to the ladies' room. I'll be right back."

She stepped over Jax' long legs and headed for the exit. No, she hadn't imagined it. Jason was standing by the nurses' station waiting for her.

"Hey," she whispered loudly as she trotted over to him. "I said for Sonny to come, not you."

"Nice to see you, too, Brenda."

She playfully slapped his arm. "You know that's not what I meant. Where is he?"

"There was something he needed to take care of."

"Jason, Alexis had to go back into surgery. What the hell is more important than that?"

"Kristina."

It was all he needed to say.

Leaden was the best way to describe how Sonny felt as the launch approached Spoon Island. His feet were married to the deck, pushed into it by the
oppressive weight of his own guilt, his worry over Alexis and his anger at the woman who had basically dared him to make this journey across Port
Charles Harbor. Making the situation worse was the fact that Sonny was flying blind where Carly was concerned. She was clearly pissed off if she was
dragging Kristina into things, but about what? Was this anger over his latest threat to go after full custody of the boys again? Was she suspicious
about Lorenzo? Or was this solely and completely a fit of unjustified jealousy because she had heard about the shooting, heard the names "Alexis" and
"Sonny" spoken together, and had felt the need to do something, anything, to get in the way of them once again?

He heard her before he saw her. Carly was screeching at Dawson about him having "no right to stop her from going anywhere" as the dock started to
come into view. Sonny shook his head. There were a million things he should be doing right now, not the least of which was scouting information on any
of Alcazar's associates who might come looking for revenge. Sonny had to know where the danger, if any, could come from so he could keep it away
from Alexis and his children. But he couldn't deny the reality that Carly could be a threat to them as well--to he and Jason legally--and to Alexis and
Kristina personally if she decided to spew her venom in their direction.

The moment she saw the small craft approaching, Carly turned her angry glare away from the steadfast guard and toward Sonny. He scanned her face
and saw the petulant expression he had become used to since their breakup. Concern and suspicion were also worth noting in the look she was giving
him, but Sonny didn't immediately feel like she had anything concrete to go on. More likely, she was fishing... but doing so with a calculated malice that
had made his daughter's home the location for this latest scene.

"Since when am I not able to get a hold of you when I need to?" she shouted as the launch pilot brought them in and tied off the line. Dawson waited
silently nearby as Sonny climbed onto the dock, but when he mercifully received a nod to give them some distance; the guard didn't hesitate in moving
away. Sonny then put up a hand to momentarily silence Carly as he turned back to the man on the launch.

"Don't go anywhere. Mrs. Corinthos will be leaving shortly."

"I'm not going anywhere until I'm ready to go, Sonny. You don't get to give me orders anymore, remember? And what if there had been some
emergency, something about the boys?"

He ignored her obvious baiting tactic and, with a tight jaw, responded to her earlier question. "The boys are with Leticia, in case you forgot, so if there
had been an emergency she would have done what you should have, and that's find Jason. He'd have told you I was at the PCPD giving a statement
about what happened. I assume you heard by now."

"Yeah, I heard." Carly rolled her eyes and placed her left hand on her hip.

"Your concern is touching."

"Oh, Sonny, come on, you don't really think I give a damn what happened to Alexis, do you? It's not like she'd care if it were me lying in there."

Sonny tried not to snicker at that. As if Carly would ever have put herself in harm's way for him the way Alexis had. "She'd care that my sons might
lose their mother," he added, his tone and his expression full of disapproval. "Which, I guess, is why you came here, right? You’re concerned about
Kristina?"

Since that day in the courtroom, nothing Carly said to Sonny really had the power to hurt him anymore. The moment he learned of her using his child as
a weapon against him and against Alexis, any love for that had remained for her in his heart had died. Seeing the way she was looking at him now, Sonny
understood that the same was true for her... there was no love left... not for him.

"So long as Little Miss Precious doesn't keep you from being a good father to your sons, I don't think much about her," Carly informed him. "Now are
you going to talk to me or not?"

Glancing down at his watch, Sonny tried to quickly calculate how much time had passed since Jason had come to find him. Alexis was probably still in
surgery. He wanted to be there when she got out.

"You have five minutes."

Carly took a few more steps in the direction opposite Dawson, apparently not satisfied with the comfort zone he'd provided them, and Sonny followed
silently.

"You know why I'm here." Carly's voice dropped low and came out as a near growl. "Where is he?"

"Where is who?"

It was a childish avoidance tactic, but Sonny was determined to give away nothing in this conversation. He needed a few more hours to put his house in
order before anyone else came looking for him and asking about Lorenzo Alcazar.

"Don't play dumb, Sonny. You get shot at, Lorenzo disappears. Not a hard problem to solve. So where is he, locked in some warehouse?"

"So that's your main concern? Not how our sons are, not if they're upset at all that someone tried to kill me... just where's your boyfriend?"

"Please... Saint Alexis was there to save you, right?" Carly crossed her arms in front of her and renewed her angry glare. "So what's to be upset
about?"

Sonny scoffed and shook his head. "Sounds like you're almost sorry she got there in time."

Given time to prepare herself to lie, Carly was as good as they came. There was no denying all the times that he'd been fooled by her tears and her
pleas for understanding when not a word coming out of her mind was the truth. But when you caught her off-guard, the lies had to be crafted on the
fly, and the little telltale signs like her eyes widening and lips pursing told you that Carly was improvising.

Those signals flashed in front of Sonny.

'You knew,' he thought. 'You knew he was coming after me.'

It chilled him to even consider it, but now that the idea was in his head, Sonny knew that it was a possibility. Carly had been in a fury when he told her
that he was thinking of seeking full custody again if she didn't listen to Michael's requests that he not be forced to spend time alone with Lorenzo.
The little boy had made himself perfectly clear--Sonny was his father, and he wasn't treating someone else like his "daddy" because it was what Carly
insisted on. Had her anger at him been strong enough for her to stand by and let Lorenzo come after him, Sonny wondered? Or was it even worse... had
she suggested the idea to him in the first place?

"You have to admit, it would have made your life easier. Whoever it was..." Sonny put a great deal of emphasis on 'whoever.'

Her face took on a look of shock that he'd suggest such a thing, but it took time... enough time for him to realize that his suspicions were right on
track.

"Sonny, I-I'm not a bit sorry that it's her lying in that hospital instead of you... I mean, of course not. That is part of why I wanted to see you. To...
well, to make sure you were okay and to, uh, find out what happened."

He considered her words carefully, sensing the untruth in every last syllable. God, how had ever convinced himself that this was the love of his life?

"What happened," Sonny stated coolly, "is that a woman I've treated worse than any enemy I've ever had found out that 'someone' was going to hurt
me, and she risked her life to save mine."

Carly's facial muscles tensed as they contorted into a mask of bitter hatred. She might have thought nothing could make her hate Alexis more, Sonny
reasoned, but saving his life seemed to have accomplished just that.

"As for Alcazar, it's not my job to keep track of your tricks."

Her hand was up and flying before the 's' sound faded. Sonny caught her arm at the wrist.

"How dare you?!" she screamed. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"A man who almost died less than 48 hours ago with a hell of a lot more important things to be doing than standing here fighting with you!" he bellowed
back. "Now you go with Dawson and you get the hell off this island. And, Carly, I swear to God, if you ever, ever think about using my daughter to
provoke me again, I will..."

"You'll what, Sonny?" She spat his name like it was a swear word. "Take my kids? Call me a whore? Cut me off without a cent? How would that be any
different than anything else you've done?"

For just a moment... for an ugly, shameful moment, he wanted to tell her he'd send her to her lover... he wanted her to understand that was how strong
his hatred for her was right now, that he could even consider such a thing... but Sonny was learning the hard way how threats screamed out in anger
could come back to haunt a man. He bit his tongue and forced down the wave of contempt she had sent rolling through him... and he refocused. Sonny
knew his priority had to be getting Carly away from Wyndemere and away from Kristina... and so he released his grip on her arm, and then he stepped
back, taking a deep, slow breath to steady himself.

"Get the hell off this island... now."

The absolute iciness of his voice was not lost on his ex-wife. She sneered at him and then stalked off toward the dock and the waiting launch without
another word. Still, Sonny knew he needed to get moving, and soon. When Lorenzo's death was discovered, Carly would be out for blood.

"Sir?"

Dawson had emerged from his position and was halfway between the dock and Sonny.

"Go with her, make sure she gets back to the mainland, and then send the launch back here. Go to the office, and I'll meet you there. We need to make
some plans."

The guard nodded and started off. He stopped when he heard Sonny's voice once again.

"Dawson, put a tail on her. I need to know where she is every second."

"Yes, sir."

Turning, Dawson continued out to the row of wooden slats and climbed aboard the launch. Sonny didn't move until he saw it pull safely away. Once it was
gone... once Carly was gone... he took a few steps, his eyes focused on the monstrous house in front of him.

His baby was in that house... their baby. Kristina, who was probably beside herself without her mother's soft voice and gentle touch and the feeling of
security that both brought to her life.

He was moving toward the front door before he'd realized he had made a decision to do so. The guards Jax and Nikolas had stationed around the
house eyed him cautiously, and as he reached the patio, two converged on him, cutting off his path.

"Is the household expecting you?" came the inquiry of one guard, his accent revealing his Australian heritage. An old cohort of Jax', no doubt.
"I'm just here to check on my daughter."

The second guard, this one a man Sonny recognized from past visits to Wyndemere, widened his stance, making himself a more formidable physical
obstacle.

"Today is not a day you're authorized to see Miss Davis."

Sonny knew that if he so much as glanced to either side, one of his men would emerge from the now hidden positions where Dawson had stationed them.
A scene would no doubt follow, and he could scream and yell about getting Justus out here with a court order, thereby increasing the tension.

It was the way he'd have handled this situation on nine out of ten days... but not today.

"Look, I'm going to walk up there and ring the doorbell. If whoever's in there with Kristina says now is not a good time, I'll go. "

Stepping to his right, Sonny moved to go around the brown-haired Aussie. The man shifted his body to block him. Though he wanted to put his hands up
and shove the fool out of his way, instead, Sonny switched his gaze to the Cassadine man who routinely patrolled the island.

"You think Ms. Davis would be okay with this?"

Sonny moved to his right again and stepped forward. When Jax' guard began to mirror his action, the other guard's hand rose up to stop him.

"If they tell you to go, you go quietly, or I'll throw you off this island myself."

Nodding his agreement, Sonny continued toward the door and rang the bell. After a moment, the big bolts of the lock moved, and soon Sonny stood
face-to-face with Alice, someone he wasn't at all surprised to see here lending a hand to care for Kristina.

"Mr. Corinthos... hello."

Her caution did not surprise him. Alice was sometimes with Alexis and their little girl when Sonny would arrive for his visits. The tension between the
parents was unmistakable, and he knew that just as Jason was always apt to take his side in the situation, Alice would do so with Alexis. Still, she
offered him a small smile now and she had yet to slam the door in his face.

"I, uh, I had to come out to... to talk to the guards," Sonny lied, not wanting to think anymore about Carly. "I thought I'd stop in and see how my girl
was... if that's okay?"

He watched as she thought about it, and she did so, hard. But after a moment, she stepped back and nodded.

"She's in the living room with Mrs. Jacks and Mr. Ashton. I think she'd like to see you."

Sonny's gratitude was real. She'd have been within every legal right Alexis had from the courts to tell him he could come back Wednesday and that
would have to do.

"Thank you, Alice, really. I--"

"No, no, no!"

A stricken look he imagined mirrored his own crossed Alice's face as Kristina's angry and desperate scream reached their ears. The door slammed shut
as Alice flung it away from her and the two adults raced toward the sound of the very upset child.

"Kristina, you need to eat."

"No! Go away!"

Sonny reached the living room first. The first thing he saw was that Jane Jacks was racing in from the opposite entry, apparently returning with juice
for Kristina. The second thing he saw was his baby's tear-stained, red face, and her little hands batting at Ned as he tried to shove a quarter of a
peanut butter and jelly sandwich toward her lips.

"Kristina, stop it!"

The annoyance in Ned's voice would have upset the worried father on any day, but given the stress that everyone was under, particularly Kristina, it
pushed every button Sonny had. He raced past Ashton, his hands pushing the other man away.

"Stop talking to her like that."

"Daddy!" Kristina cried out, her voice breaking as she reached toward him. "Daddy!"

Sonny quickly released the highchair tray and threw it onto the couch. He didn't bother to wipe a crumb of the mess off Kristina's shirtfront before
he drew her into his arms, staining his own clothes with grape jelly.
"Shh. Shh, sweetheart, Daddy's here. I'm right here."

Her little nails dug into the back of his neck as Kristina latched onto him. Sonny continued to shush her, lightly bouncing his body up and down as he
snuggled his cheek against her own and rubbed his hand up and down her back.

"Daddy's girl can't be upset like that. I can't see that smile if you're so sad."

He could feel heat pulsating through her clothes, her small form flushing with warmth brought on by her tirade. Quiet sniffles and a few whines
provided the sound effects that reinforced to Sonny that his daughter wasn't just acting out... she was very upset and depending on him now to make it
better.

"I was just trying to get her to eat something. Alice said--"

Sonny turned and glared at Ned. "What are you doing here?"

"Everyone else is at the hospital, so I thought I'd come by and try to reassure Kristina that everything is fine."

"Well, everything is not fine," Jane said before Sonny had the chance. To his surprise, as his eyes darted toward the older woman, he saw she was just
as upset as he was. "I agree Kristina does need to eat, Ned, but there was no reason to bark at her like that, not when she's so upset."

"Jane, excuse me," Ned began, his stance defensive, "but you haven't spent as much time with Kristina as I have. When she gets in her moods, you
can't coddle her."

"She's not in a mood, Ashton." Sonny worked to keep his voice from further upsetting his child. "She's scared, and you're not helping."

The she in question loosened her grip from around her father's neck, but only so she could twist her body slightly and lean her cheek against his
shoulder. Sonny placed a gentle kiss on her face.

"You're just not in the mood for PB&J today, are you, sweetheart? You want Daddy to make you something to eat, huh?"

The small nod against his shoulder was all the answer Sonny needed. He turned his eyes toward Alice, who was already walking toward him, nodding her
approval.

"I can show you to the kitchen."

Following her lead, Sonny began to head from the room with Kristina in his arms. Ned's heated glare stayed fixed on them.

"Alice, you do have a job to get back to at some point."

His huffy tone stopped the Quartermaine housekeeper dead in her tracks. Sonny watched, a little in awe, as she turned and put both hands on her hips.

"Mrs. Quartermaine... Mrs. Lila Quartermaine... specifically instructed me to 'do whatever needs to be done' for Kristina. So if you have a problem with
my being here, Mr. Ashton, I suggest you take it up with her."

The issue effectively closed, Alice resumed her path out of the room and toward the kitchen. Sonny suppressed the urge to smile at Ned being put in
his place and instead, kissed his daughter again and followed after her favorite babysitter.

"So what do you want to eat, baby girl? Some eggs maybe?"

"Omet." Kristina answered.

"Okay, an omelet it is. Let's see what we have to work with here."

Strolling to the fridge, Sonny opened the door and began to scout the contents. He caught sight of Alice moving to the coffee pot and felt his body
react to the mere idea of caffeine. Lack of sleep and lack of coffee were finally catching up with him.

"Mushrooms... you like mushrooms," he said as he retrieved a bag full of fresh ones. "And how about black olives?"

Kristina had finally lifted her head up and started to look interested in her surroundings when Sonny had opened the door. Her face was still a little
red, but the furious expression was gone, and her tears had stopped completely.

"Mm-hmm."

"Okay, olives. And how about some Spinach?"

She made a face. "Yuck."

He was about to tease her about being too much like her mama, but Sonny stopped. She was finally settling down, and he didn't need to remind her
again of the obvious absence that was clearly responsible for her feeling a little lost and agitated.
"Yuck... no spinach. Tomatoes?"

"Matoes," Kristina answered, and Sonny nodded. Using his free hand, he lined up the ingredients on the butcher block. He was just about to try and
negotiate handing the toddler over to Alice when Jane strolled into the room, Kristina's juice still in hand.

"I think I promised someone pear juice. I wonder who that was?"

"Me!" Kristina said, sounding like herself again.

"Can Mrs. Jacks hold you while Daddy fixes your omelet?" Sonny asked. He was met with a questioning look, as if his daughter didn't quite understand
what he'd said.

"Grandma Jane," Jax' mother corrected. "She calls me Grandma Jane. Come here, little one."

With little apprehension, the child went to her "grandma" as Sonny dealt with the reminder that while he and Kristina had formed a clear bond, there
was still a wealth of things he did not know about her... like what she called her "grandma."

"The coffee should be done in a minute," Alice said. "Mrs. Jacks, since you're here now, I am gonna take a little bit to run home and get some things
and check on Mrs. Quartermaine. I'll be back later on."

Sonny caught sight of Jane nodding as he slipped off his jacket and hung it over a chair before he moved to the sink to wash his hands.

"We'll be fine. Tell Lila hello for me, please, and thank her for letting us take up so much of your time."

"Oh, she wouldn't have it any other way." Alice smiled and walked over, taking Kristina's left hand and kissing it. "If you need me before I get back, my
number is by the study phone."

The two women finished their good-byes as Sonny began to dice his ingredients. He listened as Kristina spoke intently to "Grandma Jane" while he
made his preparations. When she stopped to take several sips of her juice, Sonny poured the eggs into the skillet and then finally looked over at Jax'
mother.

"Have you, uh, have you heard anything?"

"She was still in the O.R. last time Jax called," Jane told him, her tone neither cold nor welcoming. "I'm sure he'll call if there's any news."

Sonny nodded as he dropped his eyes and began to tend to his daughter's food. "I appreciate you not, you know, uh, saying anything about my rushing in
there... I just... when I heard her yell like that..."

"Natural instinct... it's understandable. Besides, Alexis seems to believe in your love for this little angel. I don't see that I'm in a position to get in the
way of that."

He stopped himself before "your son wants to" popped out of his mouth. Instead, Sonny carefully folded in the chopped vegetables and finished off
the colorful dish. After finding a stack of child-safe plates in one of the cabinets, he pushed the omelet onto it, cutting up one half into Kristina-sized
bites. When that was finished, Sonny walked over to the coffeepot and saw that Alice had left two cups sitting beside it.

"Coffee?" he asked, holding the carafe up to Jane.

"No, thank you. I think I drank a pot on the plane."

Sonny nodded, poured his own, and took a big gulp of the steaming brew. He recognized instantly that the beans were Corinthos-Morgan... Kona blend.
That made him smile.

"Okay, time to fill up that belly," he said, turning back. Jane carried Kristina while Sonny brought his coffee and the omelet with him and they
returned to the living room. The little girl went willingly back into her chair and smiled as her father sat down on the sofa beside it within easy reach
of her.

"Can Daddy have a bite, too?"

Her curls bobbed as she nodded and picked up a piece for herself with her fingers. Sonny made a big production of taking the bite, earning him some
muffled giggles. Talking and more "Daddy bites" followed, but finally, Kristina was full and Sonny pulled her free and wiped her hands and face before
he stole several belly kisses that left her giggling.

"So I'm gonna go and check on Mama now, okay?" he said, wanting to be honest with her and hoping the mention of Alexis wouldn't bring back their
daughter's sad face. To his great relief, it did not... instead, she stood up in his lap and kissed his cheek loudly.

"Kissy mama."

Sonny chuckled. "You want me to give Mama a kiss for you, huh? Well, I'll do my best."
Kristina kissed him again, then scrambled down off his lap and onto the floor. Her little legs moved swiftly as she headed to the play mat in the corner,
then returned with Lamby in tow.

"Lamby kissy mama."

The beloved toy was pushed into Sonny's arms, and he looked down, not quite sure what Kristina wanted.

"You want Lamby to give me a kiss for mama?"

"No, Lamby kissy mama," she answered, her hands insistently pushing the plush creature into Sonny's chest.

"Oh, you want me to take Lamby to Mama. Are you sure you?"

Kristina nodded adamantly, and so Sonny leaned down and kissed her forehead before standing up with the stuffed animal tucked under his arm. "Okay,
I will deliver him personally, okay? You be a good girl now."

Sonny watched carefully as his daughter raced over to Jane and jumped into the older woman's waiting arms as he prepared to leave. He wanted so
much to just stay there with her and take care of her until Alexis could come home, but he knew that wasn't possible. He had to go out and clean up
the mess that Lorenzo... and he... had made.

"Love you, baby," Sonny said as he started from the room.

"Love you," rang out from behind him.

His heart nearly stopped at the words, but Sonny did not look back again or say anything else. Instead, he raced to get his jacket before he headed out
to the launch dock. The well-loved, slightly battered toy lamb remained tightly in his grasp through the entire journey back to the mainland.

"She'll try to get you to let her use a cup without a lid, but don't give in, unless you want to mop up the floor."

"Chocolate cake is her favorite dessert."

"She likes to wake up on her own from naps. If you wake her up, prepare for a cranky baby."

"Trust your instincts. She's a lot like you... if you're paying attention, she's telling you what she needs."

The phrases were a paltry sampling of the advice Alexis had given him over the first few difficult weeks when he had been overanxious to earn
Kristina's love and their daughter had been confused as to who he was and why he was suddenly in her life. A host of tidbits Alexis had passed on to
him to smooth the way echoed in his head now as he walked along the docks back to his warehouse. The remembered words humbled him. Even when she
had feared him, even when she'd wanted nothing more than to reverse time to when Sonny did not know about Kristina's existence, Alexis had paved
his way into their baby's life. Had he even noticed that before today?

Dawson was in the office waiting for him when he arrived. Sonny crossed the room to his desk, sitting Lamby down on top.

"Jason and I will be tied up for a few days... there are some things I need done, and I'm entrusting them to you."

The other man nodded and remained silent.

"First, keep a man on my ex-wife at all times. If she talks to anyone you think I'd question her contact with, I want to know right away."

"Of course, sir," Dawson replied.

"We need someone on Sage Alcazar as well. She hates Alexis. There's a chance she might try to cause some trouble after all this."

Again, Dawson nodded.

"Faith Roscoe will probably try to use this all to her advantage. Keep an ear out for any activity on her part. If she's only moving on Lorenzo's holdings,
I don't care, but if she makes any noise about interfering in the shooting investigation... or anything that comes of it... we need to shut her down."

"Adam's already out and about to see what he can find out."

Sonny sighed. The last assignment was the most daunting. Normally, it would have gone to Jason, but Sonny didn't want the police to have any trouble
finding either of them when the time came. Dawson took the instructions in carefully, and then left to assemble a team to locate and begin surveillance
on each of Lorenzo's main operatives.

With those tasks complete, Sonny picked up the phone and dialed in seven numbers.

"Justus. Make sure you're available at a moment's notice for the next 72 hours."

"Why might you be needing my services?" the lawyer asked.

"Just be available for Jason and for me. We'll call when we need you."

Sonny ended the call. He was about to start dialing another number when his cell phone rang out.

"Yeah?"

"She's out of surgery," Jason announced. "Tony says it went well."

His eyes closed as a powerful wave of relief washed over Sonny, stealing his breath for just a moment. She'd made it through yet another trial.

"I'm on my way."

Sonny snapped his cell shut and then reached over and picked Lamby up from the desk. He smiled as he pulled the beloved stuffed animal against his
chest. It smelled like Kristina's baby powder.

"It was the first toy I ever bought for her," Alexis had told him. "It seemed silly, buying such a tiny baby such a big lamb... but she's always loved him,
even when all she could hold onto was his ear."

He walked out of the office and toward the car with the sound of Alexis' patient, soft voice in his ears. She'd told him that story in response to
Kristina crying out for the animal the day of his first visitation, and also in reply to Sonny's statement that he'd "get her something else to play with"
when his ego-driven need to give Kristina new, expensive things had blinded him to a simple fact... his daughter loved the toy she had, and it was
irreplaceable to her not because of what it was, but because of what it represented.

Sonny felt shame over that moment--over, he admitted to himself now--so many moments when he had flexed his muscles or raised his voice in order to
show Alexis who was boss, and her only response to those actions each and every time had been to put Kristina first... ahead of her pride and ahead of
her anger at him.

The litany of self-reproaching thoughts was interrupted by his cell phone's insistent ring. Sonny climbed into the limo, shut the door, and then
answered the call.

"Yeah?"

The news on the other end didn't surprise him so much as it drove a final nail into whatever had been his life with Carly.

"No, stay on her. I'll check in later."

Sonny shoved the phone back into his pocket and then looked down at his left hand to find his fingers tightly squeezing the treasure his daughter had
entrusted to him. It was time for him to make his promised delivery and prepare for what was coming.

The limo ride passed quickly, and soon enough, Sonny found himself back at the entrance of General Hospital. He strode to the elevators and made his
way up to the ICU floor, but he held back from the actual unit, instead catching Max' attention from the end of the hall. The guard walked over to him
and they ducked back around the corner.

"Jason still here?"

"Yeah. You want me to get him?"

Sonny shook his head. "No. Who's where?"

"Ashton and Emily Quartermaine are in the lounge. Mr. Jacks and the Cassadine kid are meeting with Dr. Jones in his office."

"Who's with Alexis?"

"Mr. Jacks asked Ms. Barrett to stay with her."

"Good. Okay, look, I need to slip in there for a few minutes. Tell Jason to meet me out front in 20 minutes."

"Sure thing, Boss."

Max and Sonny walked back down the hall together, but Max broke off and steered toward the nurses' station so he could distract the duty nurse
while Sonny pushed open the door to Alexis' room. Brenda noticed him immediately, and she popped up out of her chair and joined him by the entry.

"Hey. Well, I guess Kristina's okay if she's letting you take her friends out for play dates."

Sonny looked at Brenda trying to figure out what she meant. When she reached out and patted the top of Lamby's head, he realized she was talking
about the toy and he smiled.

"Yeah, she wanted her mama to have better company than Jax."

Before his friend could reprimand him for the burn on her other ex, he motioned with his head toward Alexis. "How's she doing?"
"Tony says that she's doing great. Her nerve responses were way better after the surgery."

He closed his eyes and said a quick, silent prayer of thanks. He knew God wasn't doing any of this for him, but he was grateful nonetheless.

"So I suppose you're gonna ask me to let you stay here and cover for you if Jax gets back, huh?"

Sonny lifted his eyelids to find Brenda's bright, mischievous smile beaming at him.

"Something like that, yeah."

"Fine... but once things calm down, you owe me dinner... a big, expensive dinner... 'cause there's no doubt I'm gonna take hell from Jax for this."

'Once things calm down,' he thought... when exactly was that going to be? If the call he'd gotten earlier about Carly was any indication, no time soon.

"You got it. And, Brenda... if I didn't say it yet, thanks for being here."

He felt her hand touch gently on his arm before she left, but Sonny's attention had already shifted to the woman lying motionless in the bed. He made
his way to the chair beside her and sat down. Gently, he lifted her right hand, lowering it down upon the soft, cotton fleece of Kristina's offering of
comfort. When Alexis stirred and blinked open her eyes, Sonny felt his cheeks lift as his dimples emerged.

"Hey, how are you?"

Sonny didn't doubt that she still felt like she'd been hit by a train, but she already looked better to him than she had before. More relaxed, more like
she was healing instead of just laying there waiting for something bad to happen.

"I'm okay. Tired."

"You should be," Sonny said. "And I'm sorry I woke you."

She shook her head slightly. "It's okay."

Alexis started to lift her hand, and it made her aware of the bundle that lay beneath her palm. She squeezed her fingers and drew the stuffed animal
up and onto her chest.

"Lamby."

"Yeah, uh, I... I checked on Kristina, and she insisted I bring him to take care of you."

"Oh, my little sweetheart."

"She, uh..." Sonny felt his throat tighten a bit, and he coughed, trying to alleviate some of the emotion-driven tension. "She's a pretty amazing kid."

"How was she?" Alexis asked, her sleepy voice unable to hide the concern she felt for their child.

"Oh, she's got Jax' mother there now, and Alice, so she's got lots of people lovin' on her and fussin' over her. And, uh, I cooked her some lunch. I... I
hope you don't mind that I went by, but I just..."

"I'm glad she had some time with you," Alexis said, interrupting him. "I'm sure it made her feel better."

She was so tired. Sonny could see it in her eyes, in her face. For nearly two days now, she had been fighting for her life. He'd watched her do it. He'd
seen the sheer force of her will at work in trying to stay alive. It was a strength he'd witnessed in her before, even if he hadn't known it at the time--
but it had been there, in every move she made away from his life, in her desperation to protect Kristina in the hospital, in the lengths she'd gone to in
order to stay a part of her daughter's life when everyone, including him, had left her flailing and alone.

"Remember when I was in here before?"

Alexis nodded, a sad cast coming over her face.

"There was something I should have said... something I..."

Her fingers wound into Lamby's fur. "You already thanked me, Sonny."

His eyes burned as he shook his head. His pride wanted to choke off his words, but Sonny had made himself a promise. He owed her this.

"What I wanted to say to you... what I should have said months ago is thank you... for our daughter. Thank you for everything you did... everything you
do... to make her who she is. Because I can't... I can't imagine my life without her. And I can't believe that I... that I could have died without ever
hearing her say she loved me. But you didn't let that happen. You didn't..."

He was sure his tears had all been cried out in his collapse with Brenda, but then he'd only been beginning to see the things his anger had blinded him
to, only just started to take in the monumental thing Alexis had done for him by saving him. But from the moment he'd heard Kristina's little voice
chime out that easily offered "love you" today, the full impact of it all had hit him... and he knew he had been biding his time until he was here, until he
was with her, before he let himself feel it. He doubled over, his head resting beside her on the bed as he cried.

This was so unfair of him. She had so much to deal with, and he knew it... but his guilt and his anger and his fear weren't things he could share with
everyone else. Brenda, some, Jason in a different way... but this... only Alexis ever could see this. And so for just a few minutes, Sonny let himself be
that man who had once depended on her forgiveness for his survival. And even though there was no reason she should care, Alexis moved her fingers
closer and softly brushed them against his hair.

"Son--oh, God... I'm sorry!" Brenda exclaimed as she pushed the door shut quickly, but remained in the room. "God, you guys, I'm sorry. I got Jax to go
call and check in on Kristina, but he'll be back in a minute."

"You don't have to go," Alexis whispered as Sonny swiped at the moisture still on his cheeks.

"Yeah, I do. I got some things I gotta take care of."

Alexis nodded. She looked at him like she wanted to say something else, but the moment had passed, and so Sonny gave her one last smile and then
turned and headed for the door.

"Look after her for me," he whispered to Brenda.

"Who's gonna look after you?" she asked.

"I got it covered."

Brenda didn't look like she believed him, but she held her tongue and Sonny made his way out of the room. Jax was at the nurses' station on the phone,
his back to Alexis' door, none the wiser of the man slipping away and heading down the hall. When Sonny reached the front entrance of GH, he found
Jason waiting for him near the fountain.

"What's up?" Jason asked.

Sonny looked around to make sure no one was close by. "Someone finds him, nothing can make it back to you?"

There was no need to clarify the 'him.' "Nothing."

"I put Justus on alert. I got a feelin' things are about to get ugly pretty quick."

"Why?"

"Carly," Sonny said, her name bitter in his mouth. "She was fishin' out at Wyndemere. She knows something went down, just not what. And she's pissed
at me, so now she's out to cause trouble."

"Dawson told me you put a tail on her."

Sonny was just about to tell Jason what their man following Carly had reported back when the sound of tires screeching drew his eyes toward the
parking lot. Three PCPD patrol cars were parked at odd angles, lights flashing. A black sedan also pulled up. Ric Lansing emerged from that car, two
folded pieces of paper in his hand that Sonny was fairly certain were arrest warrants for some trumped up charge.

Carly had taken her anger at being dismissed and run straight to Ric Lansing... the only man on earth who hated Sonny more than Lorenzo Alcazar had.

Brenda took one last lap around her hotel suite, then plopped down on the sofa. She eyed the room service she'd ordered that lay spread out on the
coffee table, but ignored it in favor of the remote control. She needed something to get her mind to stop thinking... food hadn't worked, calling Robin
hadn't worked... maybe the TV would.

Patience was not a virtue she'd been born with. Brenda knew this about herself, and the amount she'd had to exercise these last few days had taken
its toll. No sooner had she breathed a sigh of relief over Alexis' improved condition than she'd found out that Sonny and Jason had been "detained"
for questioning. She'd raced from GH to the PCPD and it had taken a royal fit and finally a call to Mac to get her in to see Jason; Ric Lansing wouldn't
budge on letting her in to see Sonny.

"Jason, what the hell is going on?"

He raised his handcuffed wrists and made a motion for her to calm down. Brenda looked around the interrogation room and realized someone was
probably watching. She nodded and sat down across from him.

"Lorenzo Alcazar has disappeared and apparently they think Sonny and I had something to do with it."

She didn't ask if they had. Brenda didn't doubt for a second Sonny had made certain that the Alcazars had hurt his loved ones for the last time.

"What can I do to help?" she asked instead.

"Stay out of it. And try to convince Jax not to tell Alexis."

"What?"

Jason tilted his head when the volume of her voice notched up. Brenda composed herself then leaned closer to him.

"Jax won't want her worrying about this anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal," Jason explained. "But Sonny's adamant that he doesn't want her
anymore involved in this than she is."

"Jason, what if the police or Ric come to talk to her? That guy doesn't seem like he'd pass up a chance to snark Sonny in front of her."

"Talk to Mac," he replied "Tell him that you know Ric will try to upset Alexis and that he needs to talk to her himself... or he needs to send that other
cop, Henson."

"I can try."

"Don't try, Brenda, do it. Please."

And so she had, not just because it felt right to try to keep Alexis out of more drama, but also because of the tone in Jason's voice. He was worried.
She didn't know about what, but Brenda wanted to do whatever she could to help. So that night, Mac had sat in his living room and listened to her talk
about how guilty she felt for having brought the Alcazars to Port Charles in the first place and how she just didn't want to see Alexis hurt anymore,
especially not by Sonny's vindictive brother.

Mac had already made it clear that no one was supposed to go to hospital to question Alexis but him, something he'd arranged with Tony Jones for the
following day. He was reluctant to agree to lie to Alexis, but he had promised that unless she asked him directly about Sonny being in trouble, he would
avoid the topic.

Grateful, Brenda then headed to the hospital. Being in the hallway outside of Alexis' room that night had reminded her of that afternoon, of what she
had seen when she'd pushed the door open to warn them Jax was on his way back. And though she'd only hesitated two beats, maybe three before
speaking, in those quickly passed moments, what Brenda had witnessed had been so powerful it had nearly stolen her voice away.

She'd had two days now to think about it, and she knew it wasn't seeing Sonny so broken down that had affected her... she had seen him hurt before.
And it wasn't seeing Alexis' gentle effort at comfort. It was the combination. His need met with her aid. His open heart met by hers.

Reason had abruptly snapped Brenda out of her brief reverie and she had delivered her urgent message about Jax' pending return. That done, she had
stood by feeling like an intruder on the good-bye that passed between Sonny and Alexis with few words but with so much unspoken emotion Brenda
could literally feel it in the room. Any slight thought she had imagined the intense connection disappeared when Sonny turned to her. His eyes were full
of all the things not being said in that room, and Brenda read them and knew that it was real--very, very real.

"Look after her for me," he whispered.

Brenda had meant it when she asked him who would look after him. Yes, she had seen him hurt, but she could not remember a time when she'd seen
Sonny Corinthos so vulnerable. It was a sight that frightened her more than she might have ever imagined.

He quipped to her that he had it covered. She wasn't sure she believed him. But there was no time to argue. Sonny seemed to need to leave, and Jax
would be back soon. Brenda knew it was best for their paths not to cross here in the room in front of Alexis. So she had stepped back and let him pass,
the door closing silently behind him.

Alone with the woman both her former loves had charged her to "look out for," Brenda had sighed and made her way to the chair Sonny had left empty.
Alexis' eyes were closed, but she was clearly awake, the slight tremble in her body as she tried not to cry giving her away. Brenda felt like she should
say something, but wasn't at all sure what.

"So Kristina sent you a friend?" was all she could come up with that wasn't directly about Sonny. Alexis startled a bit, apparently having forgotten she
wasn't alone. Then she blinked back the moisture in her eyes and lifted the lamb higher on her chest.

"Yeah. Guess she was worried I was all alone."

Brenda smiled. "She sounds like a wonderful little girl."

A smile started to form on Alexis' face, but it disappeared as her eyes dropped and her hand nervously gripped at the toy.

"You must think I'm horrible for keeping her from him."

An unmistakable edge of regret was evident in Alexis' voice. Brenda, though, shook her head and leaned forward, stopping short of reaching out to the
other woman.

"No, I don't. I'm not sure I think it was right... but I understand."

That statement clearly took Alexis by surprise. Her eyes darted back up.
"I know what it's like to love him," Brenda continued. "I also remember how it feels to realize one day that in spite of how you feel, his life has just
become too much for you to live with."

A beat of shared pain and mutual understanding passed between them. Truly, there were probably no two people on Earth who so clearly understood
the pain of loving and losing Sonny as they did.

"Is, uh... is he why you came back?" Alexis asked finally, ending the silence.

Jealous wasn't the right word to describe the tone Brenda had picked up. Resigned perhaps? Disappointed? She wasn't sure. But she knew as she
opened her mouth to answer that she was about to tell the truth--the absolute truth, even if she hadn't known it until right now with complete
certainty.

"No. I mean, for him as his friend, yes, but also for Jax and Jason and, in a way, for you, too. But Sonny isn't mine to love anymore... not like that."

Alexis had nodded slightly, her eyes closing. When they stayed closed and Alexis offered no more conversation, Brenda had curled back into the chair.
She could see how tired her charge still was just hours removed from surgery, and the emotional toll her visit with Sonny had taken probably hadn't
done much to help. Brenda silently wished her sweet dreams about something wonderful... about home and her daughter and the man she loved.

Which is when it occurred to Brenda she wasn't entirely certain who that was, Jax or Sonny.

Ultimately Jax had come back, livid because his mother had told him about Sonny's visit. A sleeping Alexis had kept him from saying much, and Brenda
had decided it was time for her to head back to the hotel and start to get her own head on straight. But then she'd stopped to talk to Max, found out
about Sonny and Jason, and rushed to the PCPD. The rest of her night had been spent keeping her promise to Jason, first by gaining Mac's pledge of
neutral silence. Then it was time to go back to GH to speak with Jax. He'd been an easy sell. Jax' feeling was the less Sonny's name came up, the
better.

The next day had been long and stressful as they all waited to see if Mac would be able to keep the truth from Alexis during her questioning. Brenda
had breathed a deep sigh of relief when the police commissioner was wheeled out of Alexis' room and gave her a nod to indicate that all had gone well.
The same could not be said for what was happening at the PCPD. Ric Lansing was using every legal trick he could think of to keep Sonny and Jason in
lockup and without visitors. Justus had assured Brenda he was doing his best to get them released, but Carly's statement had given Ric enough to make
things difficult.

And so Brenda sat and waited. She sat at GH talking to Jax while Alexis rested or went through tests, and they were both on hand when she was
moved from the ICU to a regular room and her condition was upgraded to fair. Then Brenda sat at home trying to figure out what to do to help Sonny
and Jason. She contemplated finding Carly and holding her head underwater until she admitted she had lied. That idea at least made her laugh. But her
smile would always fade when it hit her that the only thing she could do that might help was the one thing the two men wouldn't want her to do.

Lady Jane had left a message asking her to drop by Wyndemere so they could catch up. Brenda was considering that, but her ringing phone tabled the
notion. She picked up the receiver hoping to hear Jason's voice on the other end.

"Hello."

"Brenda... it's Alexis."

"Alexis... hi." Brenda felt a furrow of surprise and confusion form in her brow, though even over the phone, she was glad to hear the other woman
sounding stronger, more like the iron-willed attorney she remembered. "Is everything okay?"

"I was hoping you could come by the hospital. There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Uh, sure. I'll be there in a few minutes."

True to her word, Brenda grabbed a jacket and her purse and headed for the door. She then hopped into a cab and headed for the hospital. It was in
the car that Brenda thought about how odd it was that she and Alexis Davis, two women who truly barely knew each other, shared so much in common--
the men they had loved, the men who had damaged their lives. She wasn't sure if they could ever get past the enormity of Alexis' lost sister and the
part Brenda had played in that to be friends. She wasn't at all surprised, though, to find that she hoped they could.
*****
Alexis turned her head and looked at the clock.

It was bath time for Kristina. She could picture her little girl happily splashing in the tub, bubbles perched on top of her head and dripping down her
curls.

She sighed. Alexis missed her daughter. She missed doing the everyday simple things that had yet to lose their magic for her after the yearlong fight
to get her daughter back. She missed morning snuggles and bath time splashing and bedtime stories.

There were other things to be missed, too. Even though she had sent him home to spend the evening with his mother and Kristina, Alexis missed the
feeling of being with Jax, not here as he sat watch over her in the hospital, but at home--the easy dinner conversation, the kiss good night, the warmth
of his presence to reassure her nothing could go wrong during the night.

Without thought, her hand moved to the plush symbol of security at her side. Alexis pulled Lamby to her chest and smiled. She hoped Kristina wasn't
missing her friend too much. Even though her first thought had been to send the beloved toy home with Jax, she had held back. Having it nearby
helped, and Alexis was reminded of the day she found the treasure and decided her little girl had to have it. A piece of loving comfort from mother to
daughter now given back--someday when Kristina was old enough, she would remind the little girl of her own kind heart.

Alexis' eyes closed as she thought about the delivery of the token of comfort. Sonny had taken her with him that day on a staggering emotional
journey. His gentleness with her, she remembered that from before... before the implosion and the separation. And his concern for their daughter,
that was something she had always known deep down was within him. But the acceptance he had shown that day, his understanding of her and the
choices she had made was not only unexpected, it was staggering.

"Thank you for everything you did... everything you do... to make her who she is. Because I can't... I can't imagine my life without her. And I can't
believe that I... that I could have died without ever hearing her say she loved me. But you didn't let that happen."

It was truly all Alexis had wanted. She didn't expect his forgiveness or for him to ever say that it was okay for her to have kept their daughter hidden
away from him. But she had desperately wanted him to understand that it had always been about Kristina, not about hurting him or punishing him for
whatever wrongs had passed between them.

But as grateful as she was to have that kernel of knowledge tucked away in her heart, seeing Sonny so overcome had torn at her in that deeply guarded
spot only Sonny Corinthos could seem to touch. She had felt that way, too, when every day had been about the fear that Kristina might be taken from
her forever, that her own baby girl might not know her. Alexis hated that their well of shared pain now also included this.

But there had been something else... something in the way his shoulders had been set and his head had hung that told Alexis there was more. As
devastating as his revelation had been, it wasn't all that had driven him there to her that day, to the release he needed or to her side for comfort.
She knew this, too, because of that sameness about them. How man times had she tried to use one upset to cover another, only to have Sonny cagily
wend his way through her doubletalk to the real problem? It was what they did. And she was certain there was more at work within Sonny than just
the understanding that his life had nearly taken him from their daughter. But Brenda's warning about Jax had stolen away Alexis' chance to find out
what it was.

For now, she thought, ignoring the implication that she clearly already meant to see him and talk to him again, despite Jax' request.

"What does have to happen? Does Kristina have to be the one..."

"Don't finish that sentence, Jax. Just don't."

It had happened that same night, after Sonny's leaving, after Alexis awoke and Jax' casual conversation turned into a rant about Sonny having the
nerve to check up on Kristina when this was all his fault anyway.

"This was not his fault. You can blame him all you want to, but I chose to go. I chose to find him instead of calling Mac or going to find Jason myself."

"You wouldn't be laying here if he wasn't always surrounded by danger, Alexis."

She shook her head. They hadn't had this fight in a long while, and truth be told, she wasn't up for it now. But that haunted thing she'd seen in
Sonny's dark eyes earlier wouldn't let Jax attack him... not now.

"I made a choice, and I knew what I was doing. Blame him, and you take my choice away from me. And I won't let you do that, Jax."

His lips parted but he seemed to think twice about what he meant to say and after a beat, his mouth closed and his eyes dropped, breaking the visual
link between them. Alexis lifted her hand and waited for his to wrap around it. Finally, it did and he drew her palm up and against his cheek.

"And if I asked you to stay away from him?"

"You already know," she answered softly. His blue eyes disappeared as his lids dropped shut in defeat.

Alexis knew that Jax loved her. She loved him. But they'd never lied to each other, and she wasn't going to start now. Sonny wasn't her future... she
believed that. But he was always going to be "that man," the one she had let in where no one else had been before. She would always tell people it was
because he was Kristina's father--that's why she couldn't just close the door. No one else need be privy to her reality--that no matter what passed
between them, there was no way to turn him out and push him into the world alone without her. It simply wasn't in her to do it. God knew, she had
tried... and failed.

Thoughts of Sonny had plagued her the next day as she listened to Mac's questions and answered them as directly as she could. She remembered the
conversation she had overheard, she remembered the frantic phone calls trying to find Sonny. She could recall the pain of the bullet hitting her. But
that was really all she could tell him. He asked her if she'd ever seen Lorenzo near the pier that night. Alexis honestly replied that no, she hadn't. He
asked if she had heard anything from or about Lorenzo since regaining consciousness.

"No," she lied, determined to say nothing that could hurt Sonny... not when anything he had done or did to Lorenzo now was self-defense. "I haven't
heard anything."

It was much later, after Nikolas had come by to visit and after Jax had reclaimed his smile when Alexis gave him the go ahead to finish moving she and
Kristina into "their" new house that she was left alone in her quiet room, happy to have convinced her loved ones and well-meaning friends that she was
feeling too well to have eyes on her all the time. And it was in the quiet that she realized the entire day had passed without one word from Sonny...
without a phone call, a visit, nothing.
Today had been the same. Jax had come, delivering the welcome news that Tony and Monica had both okayed Kristina coming see her the next day. Ned
had stopped in, though he had left abruptly when a snide comment about Sonny had been met with one of Alexis' patented glares. Luke had even snuck
in behind a monstrosity of balloons so ridiculous, she couldn't imagine where he'd come up with them. Nikolas had called. Lady Jane had popped in
during Kristina's nap.

Everyone had been in contact but Sonny.

She couldn't think of anyone else to ask but the woman she'd called. Thankfully, Bobbie had heard Brenda mention where she was staying.

"Hey."

Brenda's simple greeting was offered quietly, her entry made uncertainly in case Alexis had fallen asleep since they'd spoken on the phone.

"Hi," Alexis answered, waving her in. "Thank you for coming."

That smile that had beamed out from magazines and billboards flashed across Brenda's face, and the younger woman moved to the bedside chair and
sat down.

"You look like you're feeling better."

Alexis nodded. "I am. Actually, I'm starting to get a little antsy, but Tony's not ready to let me try to move around yet."

"Lady Jane said they can bring Kristina by tomorrow."

That brought a smile to Alexis' face, too. "I can't wait to see my girl."

"I bet. I'm sure she feels the same way," Brenda said. "I'm looking forward to finally meeting her."

"I would've thought you'd been out to see Lady Jane by now."

Brenda nodded. "Soon. Anyway, you called, so was there something I can do for you?"

"Yes," Alexis answered. "You can tell me what's going on with Sonny."

She did a good job of trying to cover, but it was clear from the reaction, there was something to cover.

"Look, Brenda, I realize you're all just probably trying to look out for me, but when two days pass with barely a mention of Sonny, when Mac Scorpio
goes out of his way not to mention him during official questioning... well, I'm tired but I'm not that tired. What's going on?"

"You know Sonny's gonna blow a gasket, right?"

Alexis smiled slightly. "I'll deal with his fit, just please tell me what's going on."

She listened intently as Brenda passed on the information she had about Ric showing up and taking Jason and Sonny in and the statement Carly had
given. Alexis did nothing but listen until Brenda commented on Justus' update that afternoon.

"He said that Ric can't keep them longer than 48 hours without..."

"What?" Alexis asked, interrupting.

"Well, he picked them up day before yesterday, so tonight is 48 hours and he said that he'll get a court order to have them released and..."

"Sonny's been in detention for 48 hours?"

The outrage and worry in her own voice alerted Alexis to how instantly upset she'd become, and she had to command herself to calm down when she
shifted slightly and pain shot through her lower back. Her grimace turned Brenda's nervous energy into panic.

"Alexis, should I get Tony?"

"No," she said, head shaking. Alexis took a few long, deep breaths and got herself back under control. "I'm all right. Can you hand me the phone,
please?"

Brenda handed the unit to her, and a number she tried not to dial to often was tapped into the phone. After two rings, the line was answered.

"Judge Griffin. It's Alexis Davis."

There was the expected inquiry after Alexis' health and well wishes for a speedy recovery. After reassuring the judge she was on the mend, Alexis
transitioned into the reason for her call.

"I truly hate to ask you this, but, well, I know you're aware of some of the abuses the D.A.'s office has been accused of, even with Ric Lansing in
charge, and I'm afraid that might be going on again."

Though she honestly did feel better, the effort to be compelling and to gain this favor from her colleague was taking its toll on Alexis. While she
listened to the judge's response, she was barely conscious of her free hand winding into her blanket when a small tightness formed in her back, causing
her pain again.

"It would certainly not be the first time he's pulled strings to play games with his brother at the risk of a lawsuit against the city."

Judge Griffin wasn't in a position to directly interfere in the case. But she could certainly express some concern to the judge Justus Ward would be
appearing before in order to force the D.A. to release or charge Sonny and Jason.

"I appreciate you looking into it. Thank you so much."

Alexis hung up the phone and squeezed her eyes, again drawing in deep breaths until her body felt calm and relaxed again.

"You're sure I shouldn't call someone?" Brenda asked, her voice full of concern.

"No, it's not like before," Alexis assured her. "I'll be fine, really, I just need to... I need to calm down."

"This is why he didn't want me to tell you. He didn't want you upset."

She knew Brenda was right. He had not wanted her upset, but it wasn't a potential arrest he'd wanted to keep from her. Now she knew what the
"something" was that had been in Sonny's eyes when she'd seen him last. It wasn't fear of the inevitable police questions or the investigation; it was
the biting sting of knowing that he'd been thrown to the wolves by Carly. He had known, not only that she had turned on him and run to Ric, but he had
no doubt had the same thought Alexis did the moment Carly's name was mentioned.

'Had she known? Had Carly stood by and let Lorenzo plot Sonny's death?'

The thought chilled her. Even at their lowest... even after her sister's death when she had verbally wished death on Sonny... even then, she hadn't
really wanted to see him hurt. Alexis had nearly shattered when she'd believed Sonny had died, when she had believed him lost to her by the then
unknown Luis' Alcazar's hand. To have taken part in his demise... to even suspect it and do nothing? Was even Carly that heartless?

"I'd have never guessed that... you and Sonny."

Brenda's statement drew Alexis back into the room, to the present moment and away from her disturbing thoughts.

"What?"

"You and Sonny," Brenda repeated, "I'd never have called that, but, um, it kind of makes sense now."

Alexis looked at her like she'd just said the planet was square. "Sonny and I make sense to you?"

A sly smile crossed Brenda's face. "Yeah. I mean, you seem really different... and I know I don't know you that well, but... you guys are a lot alike."

With no idea what to say at having her earlier private thoughts echoed back to her, Alexis chose to say nothing. Instead she leaned her head back
against the pillow and stared up at the ceiling.

"Thank you for telling me about Sonny," she said finally.

"Will it seem strange if I say thanks for asking?"

Brenda's awkward question made Alexis smile despite her continued worry about Sonny. She looked over at her visitor.

"Not to me."

It was an odd and tenuous bond. But they had formed it. For Sonny, because of Sonny or in spite of him... it was there.
*****
Jax stared down into his glass as guilt washed over him. He should've been home with Kristina. He could've been talking with his mother. He wanted to
be at the hospital.

But he was at the Haunted Star drinking a glass of scotch and trying to ignore the burning in his stomach that had been there long before he had his
first drink.

"And if I asked you to stay away from him?"

"You already know."

He had known. She'd never denied that Sonny was still in her heart, and it was dishonest of him to be so hurt by it now. Jax knew that. But he couldn't
seem to stop being hurt.
It was hypocritical and it was unfair. But he didn't care.

It had hit him today while he'd been at their new house talking to the contractors. Tony had told him Alexis would need the wheelchair for several
weeks after getting out of the hospital. Jax wanted a ramp added immediately so that Alexis didn't even have to think about getting around when she
got home. And he had a decorator coming to redo the downstairs bedroom for them until she was well enough to make it up and down the stairs to their
master suite.

He'd been standing there surrounded by boxes and by Kristina's toys and by the photographs he'd already unpacked and placed on the mantle and his
heart had felt so happy... so hopeful... because this was home.

And then he thought, 'until Sonny wants them back.'

Jax could feel in his bones that it was a question of when, not if. He'd known it that night in the ICU when Sonny had refused to take his eyes off
Alexis even if he could only watch over her through the glass partition.

When...not if. He knew it for certain. And he knew despite his desire to do so that it would only hurt Alexis if he fought for her. And so today, standing
there in their house, he'd realized that the life he'd envisioned as his forever was only going to be for a little while. But he'd be damned if he was
giving that up, too. He would love Alexis and Kristina and he would take care of them and let them love him back.

And when Sonny came... he would let them go.

Jax pushed his unfinished drink away and headed for the door. This wasn't where he belonged.
*****
Sonny forced himself to keep his eyes focused on the door of the squad room and the promise of this being over... at least for now. Justus had finally
gotten the leverage to call Ric's bluff and a court order said that Sonny and Jason had to be released if no charges were filed. None were. Carly had
spun a hell of a lie, but there was no proof to back it up.

"This is not over," Ric promised as he strolled up. "I'll find out what happened to Lorenzo, and I'll be looking for you and your lapdog when I do."

He held his tongue. Sonny fought for control for the 2,000th time this week where his brother was concerned and won. But he wasn't sure how many
more victories were inside him. He needed out of here... away from the walls that had threatened to smother him for two days and away from the
choking rage he felt over everything that had happened to him and the people around him.

Jason suddenly appeared through the door coming from lockup, Detective Henson providing him escort. The blond man threw a knowing look Sonny's
direction. He gave a nod in return to indicate that he was all right as Justus joined them all.

"Don't harass my clients again without solid evidence, or the lawsuit will embarrass the hell out of you."

"Save your threats, counselor," Ric shot back. "You'll need all your energy to keep your clients out of prison when I find Mr. Alcazar's body. And I will,
because we all know he's dead, don't we?"

Sonny felt Jason move to his left side. Justus took up a position at his right. And the two men started forward, ushering him along with them as they
moved toward the exit. He went willingly, gladly... grateful to be headed for the outdoors and fresh air.

"He used up all his tricks to keep you this long," Justus said as they reached the steps of the PCPD. "He can't come at you again without something
solid."

"Well, there isn't anything solid," Jason promised.

"Good, that's what I like to hear. Can I give you guys a lift?"

Jason shook his head. Sonny followed suit. Justus wished them a good night and headed off to the parking lot. Sonny looked up at the darkening sky
and the first few stars starting to show above.

"We need to talk about it."

Sonny nodded at Jason's words. "I know. Not now, though, okay? I just need a little time."

"Carly won't give us much."

"Yeah, I know."

Jason walked off without saying more. Sonny walked in the opposite direction. He moved through town drawing in gulps of air and letting them out
slowly as he convinced his mind that he was really outside again... really free of the walls and the bars and the unending noisy torment of the lockup.

The rest of his demons were traveling with him... but he refused to acknowledge them tonight. They'd still be there tomorrow, waiting for him.

He knew where he was headed. There hadn't been any thought required, his body had simply gone toward her. So he walked to the building... walked up
the stairs... walked through the hallways and walked to the door of her room.
She was asleep. Beautiful, serene, and mercifully at peace. He could see she was really getting better, stronger, even over just these few days he'd
been gone.

Kristina's toy lamb lay on the bed beside her, just within reach of her relaxed hand.

He moved silently through the room and sat down next to her. The weight of all his mistakes sat on his shoulders, pushing him down into the cushions,
sticking him there. His choices had done this... robbed him of her friendship, stolen away two years of his daughter's life... his choices, not hers.

It had been so much easier to blame it all on her.

Leaning forward, Sonny eased his hand beneath hers. Her palm felt warm against his skin.

Tonight there was no mystery why he was here, why he had sought her ought. Without her, he had made bad decisions, and he was facing one of the
biggest of his life. He didn't want to be wrong again... not when it could ruin his life and his sons if he chose incorrectly.

He wouldn't ask her to tell him what to do. He wouldn't need to. Being here would help him think. It would make him remember what it could cost him if
he made the wrong choice.

Alexis' fingers wrapped around his hand, drawing Sonny's line of vision to her face. Her eyes were open, looking at him with a complete sense of
understanding.

"Are you okay?"

Sonny nodded. They both knew he was lying.

"Sleep," she whispered, her hand squeezing his.

He felt his cheeks pull up as her welcome to him powered a smile through all of the chaos inside. Then he leaned over, his head cheek pressed against
their still united hands, and did as she'd told him. He slept and prepared to face what lay ahead.

"What that?"

"That's a starfish."

"That one?"

"That's a jellyfish," Alexis explained as she crouched down beside Kristina, who was fascinated by the interactive children's display at the aquarium.

"Pretty," Kristina said.

"Mm-hmm, it is, but you should never touch one, because they can sting you and it hurts."

"Owie?"

Alexis chuckled and leaned over, kissing the little girl on the top of her head. "Yes, definite owie."

Sonny stood back, just watching them, enjoying that this was no longer a fantasy but a reality for him... a day spent with Alexis and Kristina together...
Alexis healthy and strong, walking along with Kristina's hand in hers, and him a wanted part of it all.

"Daddy, see 'phins now?"

He smiled and walked over, taking her other hand. "Okay, dolphins now."

As they started forward, Sonny's eyes caught Alexis' for just a moment. They were bright, content, happy... the way he loved to see them.

It made him proud that she could look at him again with those eyes.
*****
She loved moonlight.

Kristina loved to sit with him and stare out the window and spin stories about the moon, even after a long day at the New York Aquarium.

"And you know what was in the box?" he asked, continuing tonight's tale.

"Nope."

"Wings. Kristina's mama and daddy gave her beautiful silver wings, and they had special magic sparkles all over them. And know what that magic did?"

"What, Daddy?"

"It made it so Kristina could touch all the stars because her wings had so much magic, she could fly up high in the sky. And then when she needed to
rest, she could go where?"

"Kristina's moon house!"

"That's right," he said, laughing. "Kristina's moon house. And what's in that house?"

"Mommy and Daddy and Lamby and Kristina's puppy!"

Sonny turned his gaze to the doorway and saw Alexis peeking in, her own brown eyes rolling. Ever since Sonny had mentioned the puppy in the moon
house, Kristina's one and only gift request was a floppy-eared, wet-nosed friend. Mama had been the lone holdout on bringing the new family member
home.

Kristina yawned and snuggled back more against Sonny's chest. He knew it was about time to wrap up tonight's story and put someone to bed.

"And at the moon house, when Kristina is sleepy... what does Daddy say?"

"Night-night. Love you."

His daughter repeated his words from memory. He had said them to her every night since this house had become their home.

"Then Mama comes in," Alexis said as she entered the room, "and she scoops up her little girl and she kisses her and kisses her."

Which is what Alexis did as Sonny handed their not-so-little baby over and mother and daughter exchanged goodnight kisses. Kristina squeezed her
mother's neck tightly and planted a loud kiss on her cheek before Alexis laid her down in her bed.

"Night-night. Love you," Sonny whispered.

"Love you," Kristina answered back just before her eyes closed and she hugged Lamby against her chest.
*****
She loved firelight.

Alexis loved to lie in his arms in front of the fireplace and just be together. Sometimes they talked. Sometimes they were absolutely silent. All that
mattered was that they were together.

"I think we should take a week off."

She chuckled. "You do, huh?"

"Yep," Sonny answered, "I do."

Turning in his arms, Alexis rested her chin on his chest. "And what would we do on this week off?"

"We'd, uh, play with our little girl."

"Uh-huh."

He let his hands move up and down her back.

"And I'd cook lots of very good meals for you."

"Mmm. That sounds good," she said, practically purring.

Sonny brought one of his hands to her face and he caressed her cheek.

"And then, well, we'd stay up all night making love... and then sleep in late."

Alexis leaned forward and kissed him. Gentle pressure, a firmer demand, then the feel of her mouth yielding to his when he asked for more.

"That sounds a lot like what we do every day," she said when the kiss broke.

"Smart aleck."

She laughed and Sonny took that moment to flip them over so she was beneath him and their bodies were flush together. The humor and silliness faded
away quickly as passion took hold, and when he felt her fingers working at the buttons of his shirt, Sonny's heart pounded in his chest in anticipation of
what was to come--the wonder of her, the scent of her skin, the way she made him feel.

"I love you."

The words passed his lips easily, sincerely. He remembered the days when those words had nearly hurt him to admit to anyone. But he adored saying
them now... to her... to their little girl.
He thanked God for them every day.

Sonny lifted his head up, jerking awake. It took him a moment to recognize where he was. The reality of it starkly compared to the overwhelming sense
of calm and contentment he'd awakened with. The hospital, the room... Alexis' room. The memory of the last several days pushed away whatever
remnants of his dream had lingered past his waking.

His eyes focused on her sleeping form. She was still resting soundly. Her hand remained held in his just as it had been when he'd drifted off to sleep a
few hours earlier.

He sought out the clock and found it was nearly 6 a.m. Time to get home and get ready to deal with all that lay in wait for him.

Gently, Sonny released Alexis' hand, her fingers laying long against the blanket where he set her palm down. He felt the urge to lean over and kiss her
good-bye, but he fought it. That wasn't his right.

Shoulders squared, Sonny then stood up and headed out of the room. He decided to walk home rather than call his driver. The air would do him good,
wake up him, clear his head.

But as he walked, his mind didn't want to be cleared, and instead it sought to avoid any thought having to do with today by searching for some memory
of the images that had filled his head in sleep. Nothing vivid would come, and normally, Sonny would have given up and written it off as a dream not
worth remembering. But each time he tried to dismiss the exercise, something in his gut told him not to give up.

There was something there... something worth remembering... worth holding on to.

Brenda hadn't heard footsteps approaching her door; in fact she hadn't heard any sound until the small envelope was pushed beneath said door and
into her room. It was pure chance, actually, that she was standing in a position to see it, but see it she had. The petite brunette bounced over and
pushed the portal's handle down. Jason was just turning to make his way down the hallway. His blue eyes shot back toward her.

"Letter bomb?" Brenda asked as she leaned down to retrieve the envelope. She caught Jason rolling his eyes in response to her joke.

"Ha ha. You're so funny."

She smiled as his tall, lanky frame came into the room.

"I seem to remember you never waking up before 10 a.m.," Jason quipped. "What's the special occasion?"

Now it was Brenda's turn to roll her eyes. "I promised Alexis I'd be at the hospital by 9. She's having a special visitor today, and she needs to look her
best."

She saw Jason eye the clock and take note of it being 8:22. "Well, I won't keep you. I just wanted to find out how things went, you know, with Alexis,
and to let you know Sonny and I were back home if you needed us."

It was probably the flick of her eyes that gave her away, or maybe it was her sudden need to move across the room. Either way, Jason got it.

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened," Brenda shot back defensively.

"Someone told her. What--Ned? Did Ned go in there and--"

"No, Ned didn't do anything."

Jason walked toward her, pinning her in place with the piercing power of his eyes and the gentle touch of his hands on her arms.

"What happened?"

Brenda bit her lip, lowered her eyes and jumped. "I told her."

"Wh--Brenda!"

"Don't get mad!" she spat back. "Do not get mad."

Jason clearly was mad, but he took a deep breath and steadied himself before he addressed her again. "All right, I will [b]try[/b] not to get mad."

"That's big of you."

Jason glared at her teasing remark. Brenda raised her eyebrow in defiance.

"Tell me, please, why you would tell Alexis we were in lockup when I specifically asked you not to let anyone tell her?"
"Well..." Her voice faded as she paced away from him, hands on hips as she formulated her argument.

"Someone held a gun to your head? A woman with a bullet wound managed to force you into a confession? What?" Jason asked, his displeasure evident
despite the silly statements.

"You know, Alexis isn't stupid, Jason."

"Uh, yeah, I know that, Brenda, but--"

"No, no buts!" The simple truth was going to be her defense. "Alexis can see how heartbroken Sonny is over what happened to her, she knows he's
worried sick about her and Kristina, and nearly two full days go by and she hears nothing--not a phone call, not a message from you, nothing. She also
knows that the man who is responsible for what happened to her and what almost happened to Sonny is nowhere to be found. You think she can't
connect those dots, Jase?"

"So you just decided Sonny and I didn't know what we were talking about?"

"No." Now Brenda was intent on the conversation rather than afraid of it. She wanted Jason to get this; to see how tuned into Sonny Alexis was, the
same way it was becoming clear to her that Sonny was keyed into Alexis' feelings. To that end, she took Jason's hand and pulled him toward the couch.

"Wh--"

"Just listen, okay?"

Jason straightened himself up out of the heap he'd fallen into and looked at her. "Okay, I'm listening."

"She knew. She was worried about him and she wasn't buying any deflections. Do you know how sure Alexis was that Sonny was in trouble, Jase? She
called me. Well, she got Bobbie to dial the phone, and then Bobbie gave her the phone and--"

"Brenda!"

"But still, she called! And she asked me to come down there 'cause she knew something was wrong."

"All right," Jason said. "She knew. She asked, you told. What happened after that?"

"When she found out Sonny was in lockup, Alexis kinda... well, she freaked a little. So she called a friend of hers and asked them to take a look at Ric's
grounds for holding you."

He sighed. "So we got out before the 48 hours were up because of Alexis?"

"Yeah."

"Even though we wanted to keep Alexis out of this?"

"You didn't see her face, Jason. She clearly knows what being in a cell does to him."

His hard expression broke. "He just really wanted to keep her from being in this anymore, you know? I... this really got to him, Brenda. He can't seem
to shake it."

The mood had suddenly become very serious, and Brenda reached over and let her hand fall atop Jason's. His eyes darted to hers sharply when she did,
but he left his hand where it lay beneath her much smaller one.

"He will," she said, trying to reassure him. "They both will once they can sit down and talk without half of Port Charles wandering in and out of the
room."

A small grin broke out on Jason's face. "Sonny will probably still be a little upset that Alexis found out."

Brenda narrowed her eyes. "I'm guessing this isn't the first time you two tried to keep something from Alexis, right?"

Jason nodded.

"How did that work out?"

"Usually with her finding out and getting mad at Sonny and me for keeping secrets from her and her saying she wouldn't be our lawyer anymore."

"And that would be my point, exactly!" Brenda stood dramatically and headed for the bag she'd been double-checking when Jason showed up. "So how
can you possibly be mad at me for not being able to keep a secret from her when you can't either?"

His chuckle was soft, but it was enough for her to know that Jason had forgiven her.

"What's all this?" he asked.

"Uh, girl stuff--hair brush, barrettes, a little makeup, some fabulous lotion from Paris," Brenda said, prepared to go on with her list until Jason stopped
her.

"All right, okay, I got it. So Kristina gets to come today?"

"Yeah, which means I finally get to meet her."

"She's a great kid."

Brenda couldn't miss the softness that came over Jason's whole face as he said those few words. There was no doubt he meant them.

"I don't doubt it considering who her parents are."

"So, like, are you two friends now?"

She paused and considered Jason's question. "Not yet, but who knows? We clearly have the same taste in men, not counting Ned or you... hmm, well,
maybe we're not that similar, but--"

Jason laughed, his head shaking from side to side. "Can you ever just answer a question with a simple yes or no?"

"Yes," she quipped, winking at him.

"All right, I need to go meet Sonny. Do you have plans later?"

"No."

"Well," Jason started toward the door, "if I decide my ears can handle it, you want to grab something to eat?"

"Yes."

"Brenda?"

"Yes."

"Are you doing that on purpose?"

"No."

"Brenda!"

Giggles rained out of her, and for the first time in a long time, Brenda Barrett felt like... herself. Not a version of her designed to meet someone's
expectations, not Sonny's Brenda or Jax'... just herself.

"You'll tell Sonny she forced it out of me, right?"

Jason nodded. "Yes, I will. And he'll get over it. It's not like Alexis hasn't done the same thing to him two dozen times."

Brenda smiled and opened the door. "I think he likes it."

He didn't respond, but she sensed Jason's agreement in his silence. He stepped out into the hall and glanced back at her. "Tell Kristina hi for me."

"I will."

His long strides carried him down the passageway toward the elevator, and Brenda watched him go. Then she went back to her preparations so she
could head for the hospital. She couldn't wait to meet this little girl who had stolen Alexis' heart and melted Sonny's.
*****
Sonny eased his way down the stairs, his fingers working the buttons of his silk shirt. Post shower and in fresh clothes, he felt as if he'd reclaimed a
small amount of the control that had seemed to drop away so suddenly in his world. Now he had to face this day--one where he had to find some way to
balance his humanity with his need to protect himself and the people he loved more than his own life.

He finally got now what that meant. He'd said it enough times, declared his love for his wives, his lovers, his children, and he'd thought he understood
the responsibility that put upon his shoulders. But Sonny had realized in the past few days that only recently had he begun to see what real love was.
Real love was to want what was best for that person even when it was not in your own self-interest. It was doing without thinking of the consequences.
It was him grabbing Alexis the moment he heard gunfire without caring what happened to him. It was Alexis facing a monster like Luis Alcazar for the
sake of their child. It was, Sonny knew, a woman coming to try to save your life when you had done little in recent memory but try to destroy hers.

That lesson needed to come into play today. He could not drop his sons into the middle of a tragic drama just to protect himself from Carly. He
couldn't make a mistake that left his boys and his little girl without a father. They all had to come first. He understood.
Eyes moving over the living room, Sonny took in the scatter of toy cars and plush animals and the baby doll accessories that had somehow never made it
back into the toy chest. The penthouse was so quiet now. He knew that Leticia had had no choice in returning the boys to Carly's while he was in lockup.
And he knew that Kristina was being well-taken care of in her mother's absence. But the sound of his children's voices and their mumbled questions
and their silly laughs played out in his head as he looked down at the reminders of their presence in his life.

How would he ever explain this week to his kids? Michael was only getting older and smarter. When he found out that Kristina's mother had been shot,
that it had happened when someone tried to kill his father, the boy would want answers. He would want to know who and why. What, Sonny asked
himself, was he supposed to say? He had fooled himself for years now into thinking he'd never have to answer those questions, but he'd been a man
holding on to an illusion of his own control. Violence had found its way near his children more than once. Now he was left to wonder how he would ever
make his oldest understand how a man could hate you enough to try to kill you.

The knock at the door surprised him. Jason wasn't due for another half hour. The door opened and the guard stepped inside.

"Luke Spencer to see you."

Sonny was surprised but nodded to indicate that it was all right to let Luke in. The familiar head of blond, thinning hair poked inside the door just
after the guard exited.

"Safe to come in? I'm low on body armor today."

It wasn't a very funny joke and they both knew it, but it was just "Luke" to try. Sonny gave him a weak smile.

"I heard you got out last night. So they got nothin'?"

"Nothing," Sonny confirmed.

"I been keepin' an ear out. You might want to pay some extra attention to O'Connor and Nelson, but otherwise, everyone seems to get they should
leave this alone."

For a man who was no longer "connected," Luke still knew more people in the underworld than Sonny figured he'd ever met himself. O'Connor and
Nelson had both been around for awhile, but they dealt mostly in guns, and that was something that held little interest for Sonny. It made sense that
they might be thinking of trying to flex their muscles now that Lorenzo, who'd likely given them most of their business the last few years, had been
taken out.

What was unusual about their conversation was Luke coming to Sonny with the information at all. They'd finally become civil with each other after
years of stress and distance. They weren't friends again so much as they were two men who remembered now they had liked each other a great deal
once upon a time. But of course, that was without factoring Alexis into the equation. Luke hated Cassidine’s on general principle -- even his own stepson
-- but he liked Alexis. He couldn't help it. Maybe it was because she was the outsider of her own family, the unwanted one. Maybe it was just her legs.
Sonny wasn't sure, but he knew Luke was here trying to help save his ass for Alexis, end of story.

"I'll keep an eye on them," Sonny said. "Thanks for the info."

Luke nodded. "Little Bit's okay?"

A warmer though still small smile pushed its way onto Sonny's face. "Yeah, she's, uh, she's good. She gets to go see her mama today."

He'd found that out when he left the hospital this morning and called Wyndemere to check on his daughter. "Grandma Jane" hadn't needed to tell
Sonny how excited Kristina was about going to see her mother. He could hear her happy voice in the background singing about her visit to mommy.

"All right." Luke moved toward the door, his hand reaching for the knob. "If I hear anything else, I'll let you know. Meantime, you stay clean, brother
man. Natasha's got enough on her plate without trying to get you sprung from the pokey."

Truer words had never been spoken. Alexis had her recovery to worry about. Just another reason, Sonny knew, that he had to handle all of this just so.

Luke made his exit and Sonny glanced at his watch. Jason would be here soon. He only hoped Jason would understand the choice he'd made and accept
the only solution that Sonny could come up with.

A hot cup of coffee had just made its way into his hands when his best friend and second-in-command walked into the penthouse door. Despite all that
was going on, Sonny picked up on a sense of amusement that he rarely saw in Jason. He didn't question it nor did was he surprised when the younger
man offered no explanation.

"You get some sleep?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. I, uh, I went by and checked on Alexis. I crashed over there for awhile."

Jason probably already knew that via the guard who reported directly to him, but Sonny felt the need to say it anyway. He wanted to stay grounded to
that sense of right and wrong within himself that he identified with Alexis' presence in his life.

"Brenda's going by this morning, I guess, to help with Kristina and stuff."
Sonny sipped at his coffee, the explanation for Jason's less than grave mood given. Brenda mostly annoyed Jason, but every now and then, she just
made him laugh. It was odd to Sonny that somehow that didn't bother him.

"Um, by the way," Jason continued. "You should know that, um, well, Alexis found out we were in lockup."

"What?" he asked, his tone a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "How'd she find out?"

"Brenda says she figured it out. And so Brenda felt like she couldn't keep it a secret anymore."

"Jason, I thought you told her--"

The younger man put his hand up. "I did. But you know how Alexis can be. She knew if you hadn't been by to see her or at least check up on her,
something was wrong."

Sighing, Sonny nodded. "All right, all right. Did she get upset or what?

"Actually, she, uh... she called a friend of hers and apparently that's why we got out when we did."

It was so like her. Even when she'd refused to be his lawyer, even during the time she had resigned before, Alexis could never stand to see his rights
trampled on. What he may or may not have done to Lorenzo aside, she knew him and she knew how careful he was when it came to covering his tracks.
Alexis had probably guessed that his brother was grandstanding by dragging him in for questioning.

And she also knew what being in that 5'x7' cell did to him. Sonny was sure Alexis remembered those moments in the PCPD lockup as vividly as he did.
Even in the darkest of times between them, he'd never forgotten how she had helped him hold onto his sanity that long ago day.

"Anyway, Brenda's worried you're gonna take her head off when you see her. So don't, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Sonny promised. "I guess, you know, it's good that she spilled the beans. We'd probably still be in lockup if, you know, Alexis hadn't
stepped in. Hell, Ric could have made up something else to keep us longer. As it is, he already made me miss out on my visit with Kristina."

"Are you gonna get to see her again this week at all?" Jason asked.

The question was one Sonny had posed to himself several times while he'd been pacing the holding cell, counting off the minutes. In weeks past, he'd
have ordered Justus to go before a judge and force Jax and Nikolas to let him have another day with Kristina. But he didn't want to do anything that
might 'cause her distress, not after what she had been through. Kristina needed to know now that she was safe, that her mother was getting well and
that life would go on as it had before.

"Probably wait till my regular visit," Sonny finally answered. "I need to settle all this, see if we can shake the cops. It would be just like Ric to pounce
on me again when I've got Kristina with me. I can't let that happen."

Jason's silence acknowledged the very real possibility of the horrible image that had plagued Sonny in recent days--he and Kristina playing and
laughing, only to have half a dozen PCPD uniforms approach and surround them. The terrified look on his little girl's face was probably nothing in the
nightmare compared to what it would be in real life. He could not let that happen.

"You want the guards to stay at the hospital?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. Sounds like we might have to strong-arm O'Connor and Nelson from what Luke heard. Better to be cautious, I think."

Jason pulled out his cell to call Max and check with him about the guard rotation at GH. Sonny took several sips of his coffee, slowly prying up and
pushing away any remaining thoughts in his mind but the discussion he now needed to have with the man who had brought Carly into his life.

"Done," the blond man said as he snapped his cell phone shut.

"Then that means there's only one thing left for us to worry about, really."

"Carly." Jason's voice carried resignation within it.

"Yeah."

There was a weight in his friend's eyes that set itself upon Sonny's shoulders, increasing his sense of responsibility ten-fold.

"Whatever she said to Ric, he obviously can't back it up with anything," Jason observed.

Sonny and Jason had only had a brief moment before their arrest for a quick exchange of information. When the D.A. had shown up with the warrants,
Jason had looked over and whispered one word. "Carly." A nod was all Sonny had been able to give as confirmation before the cops were beside them.
Now it was time for Jason to know the rest.

"Yeah, it's, um, it's not just that, though. She knew." The confession hurt as much to vocalize as it had when Sonny had realized it two days earlier. "I
threw it out there that she seemed disappointed Alexis had tried to warn me. She got that... you know, that 'Carly caught in a lie' look. I'm not sure if
she put him up to it or if she just knew it was coming, but either way..."

Jason drew in a breath and closed his eyes, his head shaking in disbelief, but he didn't defend her or tell Sonny he was wrong.

"I think I know a way to deal with it."

The younger man's shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowed.

"Another way..." Sonny quickly added, heading off Jason's fears. "Carly is Michael and Morgan's mother. I won't lose respect for that even if she was
willing to see me dead and didn't care about what would happen to my kids."

Jason relaxed some, but the wary edge that was normally part of his personality returned full force.

"What do you want to do?"

Eyes closing a moment, Sonny mentally ran through his plan once more. There were no guarantees it would work, given her volatility. But Carly wasn't
stupid -- and he hoped she would see how dangerously close she had come to forcing him into a far more serious reaction than what she was about to
face.

"I need to see her alone," Sonny said. "And I need to know she's clean -- no wires, no tails. If you'll take care of getting her to the meeting, I'll take
care of the rest."

Jason hesitated. Though Sonny understood the momentary flash of distrust, it still hurt.

"Where and when?"

"The office, sooner the better."

With a small nod, Jason turned and headed out the door. Sonny waited until he was gone, then he picked up the phone and dialed.

"Justus. Yeah, I need you to draw up some papers for me, right away."

He gave his attorney the rest of the instructions he'd need and cut off the strong argument Justus tried to make against his present course.

"I know what I'm doing," Sonny declared. "Just get the papers to me as soon as you can."

With his play in motion, there was nothing left to do now but wait. And so Sonny moved to the sofa and sank down onto it. And surrounded by silence,
he waited.
*****
"What do you think?"

Alexis fixed her eyes on the mirror Brenda moved in front of her. Despite what she'd been through this week, the attorney saw herself in the mirror.
Eyes a little dulled by the dark circles Brenda had managed to partially cover up, cheekbones a little more prominent from the toll her struggle for
survival had taken over her, but the woman staring back at her didn't look as weak or sick as Alexis feared she might.

Leaning back against her pillows, careful not to move too much or to displace the ponytail Brenda has painstakingly brushed her hair into, Alexis smiled
her approval. "I think you're a miracle worker."

Brenda laughed and started packing up her supplies. "No, no, no. You just needed a little color. Other than that, you look great. And I bet Kristina won't
care what you look like so long as she can hug the life out of you."

Alexis' dimples appeared at the mention of her daughter. She was so happy that Tony and Monica had agreed her little girl could come today. She was
also eternally grateful to Brenda for her help. The last thing she'd wanted was to look sick and scare Kristina more than she must already be.

"Everyone keeps telling me she's doing great. I just really need to see her with my own two eyes."

"I bet she feels the same way about her mama," Brenda said.

Moving gingerly, Alexis reached as far as her sore midsection would allow, just making contact with Lamby's ear. She pulled the beloved stuffed animal
up and onto her chest.

"I'll miss your company, Lamby Pie, but it's time for you to go home and take care of our girl, okay?"

Brenda giggled at her make believe conversation and Alexis chuckled herself as she played with the lamb's ears. She felt better today -- really better.
Tony had even let her raise the bed up some so she was in a more seated position. Now with her hair done and with fewer pain meds flowing into her via
the IV, Alexis felt nearly like herself.

Except, of course, when she tried to move her legs. Then Alexis would feel a surge of panic run through her body as she tried to remind herself what
both her doctors had told her. Time -- she just needed time. The swelling had to go down, she'd need some rehab. But she was going to get better. Her
legs would recover more sensation every day as she healed from surgery. She would get better.
"Um, Alexis, just so you know" Brenda moved her bag from the foot of the bed to the floor and took a seat in the chair next to the bed before she
continued. "I told Jason that I told you about him and Sonny being arrested. I figured it was probably better for Jason to tell him than for him to
hear it from someone else."

Alexis dropped her eyes a moment as her teeth grazed her lower lip. "He, uh, he was here last night."

"Sonny?"

"Yeah, he... we didn't talk. He just... was here."

When Brenda didn't question her further, Alexis felt an odd sense of easement. She wasn't sure how to explain how absolutely relieved she'd been to
open her eyes last night and see him sitting there beside her. It made so little sense to her when you applied logic. His presence should have been
anything but comforting given the conflicting emotions he caused for her every time she saw him. She'd gotten used to it on some level; the mix of
fear and nostalgia and unease and longing and regret. And caring... always, there was the caring that nothing he did could kill inside her.

She had gone to sleep last night troubled by visions of Sonny pacing inside a cell, his jacket tossed aside, his shirt collar undone just so he could feel
like he could breathe while the walls drew in inch by inch over every minute that passed. Alexis had wondered more than once before the truth of
Kristina's paternity had been revealed if someone sending Sonny to prison would be the answer to keeping her daughter safe from his life. She'd
considered helping that along a few times. But then she'd remember that sense of desperation that had radiated off of Sonny in the PCPD lockup that
day when talk of rolling green hills and the ballet had somehow gotten him through.

Alexis would remember and she would know that it was the one line she couldn't cross.

And then last night she had opened her eyes, and Alexis had seen Sonny beside her, tired and troubled but there with her instead of off hurting
himself and instead of trapped in the PCPD lockup, and it had sent that strange relief through her, and today she knew that if she questioned the why
of it too deeply, it might speed her into corners of her heart she wasn't yet ready to visit. So she played with Lamby's ears and sighed softly and then
she looked up at Brenda, who had sat quietly letting her have her moment of reflection.

"Thank you for helping me get ready."

That winning smile again bloomed on Brenda's face. "My pleasure."

The door eased open then, and Jax' blond head peeked inside.

"Ready?"

"Get in here!" Alexis commanded.

The door opened fully and Jax stepped inside, closely followed by Lady Jane and a rather stoic looking Kristina. But her expression changed the
moment she saw who was waiting for her inside the room.

"Mama!"

Whatever pain Alexis still felt, whatever exhaustion continued to pull at her and anchor her to the bed evaporated at the sight of her baby girl.
Kristina's dimples caved in her cheeks and her eyes absolutely lit up as she extended her arms and tried to leap from her Grandma Jane's arms into
her mother's.

"Okay, okay, Little One, but remember, hug mama gently, okay?"

"Gentle, gentle," Kristina parroted back as Jane placed her on the bed and Alexis opened her arms. The little girl, who knew what 'gentle' meant from
the times her mother had let her touch the baby animals at the petting zoo, sat down beside her mother and leaned in against her body.

"Oh, my baby!" Alexis said, her voice catching. "I missed you so much. Did you miss Mama?"

Kristina pulled out of the hug and extended her arms as wide as she could. "So much."

The other adults laughed, the sound reminding Alexis that they were still there. She brushed her fingers against her daughter's cheek then pointed,
drawing Kristina's eyes toward Brenda.

"Sweet Pea, this is mama's friend Brenda. Brenda, this is Kristina."

Brenda gave a brilliant smile and leaned forward from where she sat, extending her hand. "Hello, Kristina. It's nice to meet you."

Kristina let the new grownup take hold of her hand and gave a small grin back, but after a beat, she went coy and turned back into her mother, hiding
her face.

"Are you a shy girl now?" Alexis teased. "That's okay. I bet you'll want to talk later, won't you?"

"She'll be a chatterbox," Jax promised. "Little Miss just needs some time with her favorite mommy."
"Well, of course she does," Brenda said, standing up. "And I actually really need some coffee. I saw a cart downstairs, so I'm gonna grab a cup. Can I
get anyone else anything?"

Jane picked up her purse. "I'll come with you. I can never decide what I want till I see the menu."

After Jax declined any morning caffeine, his mother and his ex-fiancée left the room. Alexis looked up at him as she nuzzled her chin against the top
of Kristina's head.

"I can tell you've taken excellent care of my angel. Thank you."

"It was my pleasure," he responded genuinely. "And I did have a lot of help from Mom and Alice."

"Did you get to play with Alice?" Alexis asked.

Kristina, now a bit more comfortable with fewer eyes on her, leaned back, relaxing against the pillows with her mother. "Play doctor."

"You played doctor with Alice?"

"Mm-hmm. But no shots!"

Alexis laughed, one hand lying over her abdomen as a kind of reminder to take care, her other resting on her little girl's arm as she hugged her
daughter closer.

"No shots, indeed."

For the next little while, the three of them laughed and talked together, Jax prompting comments from Kristina as he brought up moments from the
last few days her mother had missed. It was a lovely bit of normalcy, aside from the setting, and Alexis soaked it up. So many mornings in weeks past,
this was how her day began, with her daughter and her lover and easy, sweet conversation.

Eventually, Kristina grew a touch restless, and Jax gave her a kiss and moved her to the end of the bed where she could sit with the electronic touch-
key book he had packed in her backpack. Alexis shifted into a slightly more comfortable position, her focus still on how good it felt to just be so close
to her baby again.

"I know how much you two have missed each other, so I thought maybe she could nap here. One of us can stay and let her use us for a bed," Jax said,
chuckling.

Alexis nodded her agreement. "I'd love that. We can nap together."

"You getting tired?"

"A little," she admitted. "But I'm okay for now."

The door opened and Brenda and Jane returned, both holding coffees. This time, Kristina brightened at their presence, and she waved and chimed "hi"
to them as they came inside.

"Hello, Kristina," Brenda said. "Your Grandma Jane told me she has some juice and cookies in your bag for you. You want a snack while we have our
coffee?"

"Mmm, cookies!" was all the reply needed.

Normally, Alexis would put her foot down about cookies before lunchtime, but if today wasn't one meant for a bit of indulgence, she didn't know what
would be. She did, however, chuckle when Lady Jane also pulled out a banana and handed it to Kristina "while she looked for the cookies" in the
backpack. By the time the cookies were found, the healthier snack had been eaten, and Kristina proudly showed her empty, sticky hands off for the
adults to inspect.

"That must have been a very good banana," Alexis commented. Kristina nodded, then reached out for the chocolate chip cookie Jane offered to her.
Before she took a bite, she extended it in her hands.

"Bite, Mama?"

"Oh, thank you, baby. Mommy's okay, though. You enjoy your cookie."

Jax leaned close to Kristina as she drew the cookie to her lips.

"May I have a bite?"

Kristina's answer was to take as big a bite as her little mouth could handle out of the cookie and then to giggle, chocolate rimming her lips.

"Hey!" Jax exclaimed as he feigned outrage.

It was little more than a harmless joke, but when Kristina reared backwards to try to pull her cookie away from Jax to continue teasing him, her body
rocked up against Alexis' leg. She couldn't stop the grimace that took over her face anymore than she could hold back the yelp that drew every eye in
the room toward her. Jax rushed to the unoccupied side of her bed.

"Alexis, are you okay?"

She made him wait for an answer as she took a deep breath and tried to let the tremor of pain pass over her. "I'm okay... just give me a minute."

Kristina's cry was the next sound to echo in the room. Alexis looked over at her daughter and saw the puddle of tears spilling over her lower lids.

"Oh, honey, Mommy's okay. I'm okay."

Brenda was closest to the little girl at that moment, and she moved quickly, scooping Kristina up in her arms, undeterred by the fact that her outfit
was about to be stained with chocolate.

"Kristina," she whispered, "want me to hold you so you can kiss your mama?"

Her little head nodded against Brenda's shoulder, and the brunette came close to the bed so Kristina could lean out and Alexis could ease forward a bit
to give her daughter a reassuring kiss.

"Mommy's just still getting better, honey," Alexis explained. "So sometimes my owie still hurts."

Kristina pointed back toward her mother's legs. "Owie?"

"Yes," Alexis confirmed, then she pointed to her abdomen. "Owie there and owie here. But see? Mama's better now."

Lady Jane came over and wrapped up the rest of Kristina's cookie, which she'd lost all interest in, and then wiped off Kristina's chocolate-covered
face and hands along with the remaining drops of moisture on her cheeks.

"Mama hold now?"

Her little voice was still unsteady, and Alexis couldn't stand it. She turned to look at Jax.

"Can you help me scoot over a little so she has more room?"

He nodded and Alexis wrapped her arms around his neck as he placed his around her waist and under her knees and gently moved her a bit more toward
his side of the bed. Once she was settled again, Alexis turned back to her little girl and put out her arms.

"Come here, Monkey. Come lay down with Mommy."

Brenda placed Kristina back on the bed, and the toddler stretched out beside Alexis, her arm reaching over her mother.

"Better now?" the worried mother asked.

"Better," came Kristina's answer.

Alexis reached for Lamby, who had fallen to the side of her and been largely ignored since Kristina's arrival.

"Guess who's been looking forward to seeing you besides Mama?"

The bright little eyes looked at her expectantly, and before Alexis could continue, Kristina filled in the blank herself.

"Daddy?"

Alexis was taken aback. She looked down at her daughter and debated what her next move should be.

"Did you want to see Daddy, too?"

"Mm-hmm. Daddy coming?"

She could feel the change in energy in the room as Jax deflated at the mention of Kristina's father. Alexis handed Lamby to her daughter, then she
turned to look at Jax apologetically and found his blue eyes tinged with sadness. He shrugged his shoulders, resigned to what was going to happen next.

"Well, sweetheart, I'm not sure what Daddy's doing today, but we'll call him, okay?" Alexis promised as she turned her attention back to her daughter.
Kristina smiled.

"Yay! Call Daddy."

Alexis looked over at Brenda and mouthed "can you call him?" Brenda nodded and started to pull her cell phone out of her pocket as she headed out
into the hallway to make the call. By the time she was out of the room, Jax had walked to the end of the bed.

"I'm, uh, gonna go work at the house a bit, if you're okay here with Mom and Brenda."

He was hurt and Alexis knew it, but she didn't know what she was supposed to do or say about it. Kristina loved him, but Sonny was her father and she
was falling in love with him and she missed him. Still, Alexis couldn't ignore how hard this must be for her friend and lover. Jax was again "losing" a
lady's heart to Sonny, and she knew it stung.

"We'll be fine," she replied as she extended her hand to him, drawing him back to her as he took hold of hers with his own. She pulled him closer and
kissed him.

"We love you."

"Love you, too." Jax kissed his fingers and reached over Alexis, placing them against Kristina's cheek. She blew him a kiss back and waved.

"Bye, Unca Ja."

Jax waved back and headed for the door, though he stopped to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. When he was gone, Alexis looked over at her
former mother-in-law and said the only words she could seem to think of.

"I'm sorry."

Jane smiled warmly and shook her head. "My son's a big boy, Alexis. He knows he can't get in the way of certain things, no matter how much he wishes
he could. History can't be changed."

Alexis wasn't sure which history Jax would want to change--she and Sonny, who Kristina's father was or his decision to try to build a life with she and
her daughter despite the looming shadow of Sonny Corinthos in their lives. She was about to say as much to Jane when the door opened and Brenda
returned.

"Kristina, your daddy says he'll be over after you and your mommy take a nap, okay?"

"Sleepy, Mama?" the little girl asked as she clutched Lamby against her and looked at her mother.

"A little bit, honey. You want to try to go sleepy with Mama?"

"Okay."

"Well, you two go ahead and rest," Lady Jane said as she reached for her bag. "I started on a blanket for a certain little girl's new room."

As Lady Jane set up her knitting on her lap, Brenda produced a stack of magazines from her own.

"And I have a ton of bad fashion to catch up on."

There was clearly no point in arguing with either woman. They were both determined to stick close in case she needed help with Kristina, and Alexis
knew she might need it. She gave them both a smile and then snuggled down into the bed with her little girl so they could rest up for their visit from
Kristina's daddy.
*****
Jax had said he was going to the house, but first he needed to walk and clear his head. Accepting that he was going to lose Alexis and Kristina to Sonny
eventually had been hell. Having a reminder slap him in the face so soon had left him hurting and wishing again he could think of something to make
things different. But he knew there was nothing that could change this.

He'd come to the waterfront because he usually did his best thinking here, staring out at the water, his mind cleared by the fresh air. Not that there
was much to sort out today except to remind himself that he'd made a choice and he had to live with the consequences of it. He was choosing not to
walk away from Alexis until she told him she wanted Sonny. It wasn't fair to make her feel bad for his choice. So he knew this would be his struggle
for the time being--carrying his own baggage and keeping it to himself.

The hurried footsteps behind him on the steps to the pier couldn't help but draw his attention. Jax laughed when he saw Sonny coming toward him. Of
course. God forbid he should be on the waterfront and not run into Sonny.

The mob boss slowed his pace as he got closer.

"You got Brenda's call?" Jax asked. Sonny nodded.

"Good."

There wasn't much else for them to say to one another, and so Sonny started to walk on to wherever he'd been going.

"You know you don’t deserve them, don't you?"

The question had practically jumped out of his throat. Jax just couldn't stand that this man he hated so much was going to end up with anything as
beautiful as Alexis and Kristina in his life.

"I know."

The reply nearly knocked Jax flat on his back. Gone was Corinthos' normal posturing, his arrogance. There was just the truth as, apparently, they both
saw it. But that was the end of it. Sonny walked off and Jax stood there, staring after him.
*****
Sonny walked through the main entry of the warehouse and found Justus there waiting for him, ready to start arguing.

"Justus, really, I've made up my mind. You got the papers?"

"This is a mistake."

"I hope not."

The lawyer handed over a single file that contained the two documents his client had asked for. Sonny flipped it open and read over the contents.

"You realize how much power you're giving up here?" Justus asked.

"It only looks that way," Sonny answered. "You gotta trust me on that."

Justus shook his head and picked up his briefcase. "I hope you're right."

Sonny offered a thank you and watched as Justus left. He then turned and headed up the stairs to his office. He opened the door to find Carly sitting
in a chair, her back to him, and Jason leaning against the desk. Jason's eyes lifted from Carly to him. The two men exchanged nods and Jason headed
out of the office, closing the door as Sonny took up his former position by the desk.

Carly looked scared. Sonny had only instructed Jason to make sure she was free of wires and couldn't have been followed here. He didn't know what
his friend might have said to her or how he'd gotten her here. And he couldn't say he was disappointed that she looked afraid, even if he also felt
ashamed that he could think that way.

"You're gonna listen to me now, Carly, and you're not gonna interrupt me or try to argue with me because nothing you say will ever matter to me again.
Do you understand that?"

He saw her hands squeeze the arms of the chair before she nodded her silent agreement even as her eyes lowered to the ground.

"I don't care anymore if you asked Lorenzo to take me out or if you just knew and didn't try to stop it. Bottom line -- you were ready to see me dead.
You know it, I know it and Jason knows it."

The mention of Jason made her look up at him. He saw something flicker through her eyes that told him she'd heard some harsh words from her best
friend.

"You may not have cared that our boys would lose their father, but I do give a damn about them losing their mother. So I'm going to tell you how things
are going to be, and you're going to do what I say."

Sonny's absolute confidence riled her. Carly sneered at him.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, Sonny, but--"

"I am a man who would've destroyed anyone else who did to me what you did to me! And if you think your boyfriend is gonna help you, think again."

The cold rage that had filled his voice ended Carly's defiance. She had no doubts now what had happened to Lorenzo, if she'd held onto any.

"What are you going to do to me?"

He stared at her hard for a beat before shaking his head in disgust. "Nothing. I'm not going to do anything, Carly. Because I won't have any of my
children suffer because I was foolish enough to ever love you."

Sonny walked around to the other side of the desk and sat down to put some distance between them. He then took the folder Justus had given him and
put it down in front of her.

"There are two documents in there. You're going to sign them both. One amends our custody agreement so you can take the boys out of state to live so
long as you maintain the visitation schedule in it. The other says that if you move back to Port Charles, if you can be traced to any trouble I have with
law enforcement or if you fail to honor the custody agreement, you forfeit your alimony and I get full custody of the boys."

Her face curled up in confusion. "You expect me to sign this?"

"Yes, I do. Because every time I see you from now on, I'm going to remember that you wanted me dead, Carly. And that ain't gonna be good, not for
either of us. This is the best solution."
"You don't have any proof I did anything."

Sonny leaned back in his chair and fixed his eyes on her. "I don’t need proof. I know you."

Carly crossed her arms violently in front of her. "So where do I get sent off to? The island, so you can make sure I can't cause any trouble?"

"You go wherever you want. Pick a place. I'll get it set up. You and the boys will have 24-hour-a-day protection, everything you need. Provided you do
what I tell you to. And make no mistake, Carly... I may not be willing to hurt you, but if you try to keep me from my boys, you'll find out how easily I can
make you wish you were dead."

Her eyes held his a moment longer before dropping to the papers. When she reached for the file to pick it up, her hands were shaking. Sonny drew a
pen from his desk and extended it toward her.

"Sign it."

They really had come full circle, Sonny realized, as he waited for her to give in and take the pen. They were ending as they'd begun, filled with hate,
her thinking he was a bully and him thinking her the worst kind of faithless woman.

Finally Carly took the pen and signed the documents. She closed the file folder when she was done and slammed the writing instrument down on top of
it.

"I want a house in Miami. And it better be the very best."

"I'll take care of it." Sonny took the file in hand and stood up. "In the meantime, I suggest you go stay with Bobbie. Lorenzo's house is going to be
crawling with cops now that you've gotten Ric involved in this. And do not talk to my brother again, Carly."

She stood, her face a mask of fury and her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I hate your guts, Sonny. Do you know that?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice hard to hide the hurt she'd caused him. "I know it.

She turned and left and Sonny moved to the bar to pour himself a glass of water. His hand shook as he grasped the pitcher, and he had to work hard to
actually get the liquid in the glass.

He wanted a real drink. He wanted to numb himself. But he couldn't.

"Sonny, Kristina's here at the hospital, and she's asking for you. Alexis asked me to call and see if you could come by."

Brenda had said, what, two dozen words total? But the power in them Kristina was asking for him, and Alexis had responded to that by saying he could
come to them.

He might want to numb the pain in his heart over Carly, but he wanted to feel the joy he felt over that quick phone call too much to do it.

Putting down the glass, Sonny walked to the door and walked downstairs. Jason was waiting for him.

"Can you get these to Justus?" Sonny asked, handing the file to him.

Jason took the papers and nodded. "You okay?"

"I will be. I'll catch up with you later."

With that, Sonny headed out into the crisp air. He headed for the limo, too anxious to get to his destination to walk it, and climbed inside. Minutes
later, he was in the elevator at GH headed up to the only place on earth that held any interest for him now.

Brenda turned and put a finger to her lips as he walked in. He glanced toward the bed and saw that Alexis and Kristina were still sleeping.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Hey," he replied, his voice lowered.

"Since you're here, I'm gonna go down and grab some lunch, okay? Jane went to go check on Jax, and then she'll be back."

Sonny nodded and then leaned in and kissed Brenda on the cheek.

"Thank you for looking out for them."

"No problem."
Brenda winked at him, then grabbed her bag and made her way out. Sonny crossed to the bedside chair he had slept in the night before and sat down,
happy and content to watch the absolute beauty of his little girl and her mother asleep. If they'd been in any bed but a hospital one, the scene would
have been perfect.

Kristina's curly head turned and she rubbed at her eyes before opening them. She looked down and saw Lamby, looked to her right and saw her mother,
and then she looked out towards the room. As her eyes fell on him, Sonny leaned forward and smiled.

"Hi, Sweetheart," he whispered.

"Hi, Daddy."

Sonny put his hands up to her and Kristina sat up, reaching for him. He picked her up and brought her over to sit in his lap in the chair, Lamby tagging
along from the death grip she held on the toy's ear.

"I missed you," he told her and she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Missed you, Daddy."

"She sure did."

Alexis' voice was sleepy. Sonny looked over to see her shifting slightly in bed to try to alleviate some discomfort she was feeling.

"I'm glad you called," he said.

She smiled and reached out her hand, which Kristina took and held onto tightly.

"I'm glad you could come."

Someday soon, he'd tell her about today, about the decisions he'd made and the actions he'd taken. But Sonny decided that could wait. He just wanted
to sit here and be with their daughter and will Alexis his strength so that she could get well and get home.

For now, it was all that mattered.