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Alexis
and Angels, Unawares Act I
Alexis watched as Luis Alcazar walked away from her, leaving the park just as he entered - unwanted and unfazed. Every breath she took rocked her, she could feel her blood pressure rising as the blood forced itself through her body, through arteries and into muscles, capillaries into organs, gaining speed like a luge rocketing down an ice flume. His words, Alexis knew she should have been more prepared for his words, found the chinks in her armor - her sister and her former best friend - and he used nouns and verbs twisting and slashing like knives, reaching into those parts of her most vulnerable to attack. If it weren't for her daughter, she would have killed him where he stood. Excruciating pain racked her, throwing her back against the tree. What was happening, screamed Alexis into her logical mind, hoping for an explanation but greeted only by her own echoing words. Dear God, it couldn't be! It was too early to go into labor but Alexis felt as if she was exploding from within. This doesn't feel right, she thought as she held her stomach. "Have to sit down, Alexis, have to sit down and think", she murmured aloud. She made her way cautiously to a bench and sat. She searched her purse for her cell phone and remembered that she was holding it when she raged at Alcazar and threw it against the brick wall surrounding the park. "Damn, damn, damn", she cried out, "this is not good". She looked around the park and didn't see a soul. Another wave of pain gripped her and she moaned loudly as she doubled over. Suddenly, a hand touched her and a face appeared in front of hers. "Ma'am, you're in pain. What happened? Can I help?" asked the bearded stranger. "Well aren't you just a smarty-pants? Called that one right. You bet I'm in pain," she spit out through gritted teeth and next grabbed his collar and said, "I'm in labor - too soon - and I'm a lawyer not a doctor but I know something's wrong". Another wave of pain hit her like a ton of cement, she moaned again. The stranger dialed 911 and said, "Emergency? I'm in the Elm Street Park at Elm and 45th Street with a woman in what appears to be premature labor. When?" He turned to Alexis and asked, "Ma'am, when did it start?" Alexis looked him in the eye and said, "Do I look like a Swiss timepiece? Hell, I don't know… about 15 minutes ago or more." She knew this was bad and begged her daughter to hold on. "You are a Cassadine and a Corinthos, too tough and too stubborn to die," murmured her mother as another wave crashed over her and she finally passed out. Sonny jumped from the limo and ran through the doors of the ER. Scanning quickly, he saw Johnny, Max and Francis, all looking white as cotton sheets. 'What happened?" Sonny asked as he walked up to Johnny. "Heart attack, they think. Dr. Quartermaine is on her way to work on him. Boss, it was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life and I've seen a bundle. We were all laughing one minute, next Benny was choking, clutching his chest before he passed out," recalled Johnny, shuddering with every word, "we called the paramedics right away." Sonny looked through the windows of the ER Room # 1 at his friend, probably the closest friend he had now that Alexis was no longer in his life. Benny was more than just the man he trusted with his money, he was more like a father. Sonny trusted him with every facet of his life - well almost. He never could find the words to explain Alexis to Benny - it was too private, much too important. He always knew Benny knew something or at least thought about it but never said anything to Sonny. He had too much honor and knew, in time, whatever would be, would be. Benny, if nothing else, was a fatalist. Bobbie and Tony were working on him and Sonny said a silent prayer that God would not take one more person away from him this night. Bobbie came outside and said, "We are trying to stabilize him but he has a tough fight ahead. Monica is on her way and we will know better when she sees him. Try not to worry, Sonny," she said as she touched his arm. A nurse at the ER station put down the phone and called to Bobbie. "Bobbie, you need to get to OR 6 stat. Paramedics are bringing in Alexis Davis. Dr. Lewis found her in the park, pre-term labor, cared for her until the paramedics arrived," relayed the nurse. "Dr. Cameron Lewis, the new psychiatrist on Gail's team? The one from LA? Bobbie asked, already removing her soiled scrubs. "Yeah, Santa Barbara, I think. Anyway, she and the baby are in acute distress, possible complications. Dr. Meadows wants you to scrub, they are waiting on the pediatric surgeon," the nurse responded. Bobbie looked disconcerted and quickly ran to the elevator. Sonny listened to the conversation, hands slowly clenching into fists in his pockets. No, he cried to himself, not Alexis and not her baby. Too many horrible words still lay festering between them, both too stubborn to make the first move to try and make it right again. He thought about how he'd ambushed her, here in this hospital, making her suffer even as she was hooked to a fetal monitor. What the hell kind of monster was he? It wasn't his baby, but he should never have done that to her, no matter what he was feeling, thought Sonny with shame. I know how important a child is and the pain of losing one. Losing Alexis wasn't acceptable, he had to have the chance to make them right again. Sonny shook his head, looked at Benny through the window. "You know where I need to be, Benny," murmured Sonny and walked over to the elevator. Sonny walked into the anteroom of OR 6 and walked up to the glass viewing area. Standing at the window was a man, about 40 years old, bearded, studying the drama inside. Where the hell was Ned, thought Sonny, probably too busy with ELQ to rush over to the woman he loves and his child. Sonny just couldn't understand how she could have gone back to Ned, especially after what they shared. Was it anger over Carly? Some kind of payback? That wasn't like Alexis who pretty much shoved him back in Carly's direction. She had more self-respect and Sonny knew why she and Ashton didn't work the first time and those problems still hadn't disappeared. The man at the window turned to him. "Are you the father?" asked the man gently. "No, just a friend," replied Sonny regretfully as he looked at a very pale Alexis, hooked up to a bank of monitors, doctors leaning over her. "Friends are important, sometimes even more than family," responded the man. "By the way, I'm Cameron". "Sonny", came Sonny's quiet reply. "The nurse downstairs said that a Dr. Cameron Lewis found her, that you?" "Yes, I was walking through the park and found her. Quite the spitfire…I hadn't heard language like that or been insulted so directly - or with such charm - since my days as an intern," Cameron said with a chuckle and appreciative look through the glass. He prepared to go and a hand reached out to touch his arm and he looked at the dark-eyed man before him. "Will they be alright?" Sonny asked. "I honestly don't know. It depends on a lot of things including whether or not they both want to live. Time will tell," Cameron replied with a concerned look as he turned on his heel and left. Sonny turned back to watch them save his best friend and her child. The surgical team worked breathlessly to save this mother and daughter. Most of the team knew Ms. Davis from her work at GH, the rest from the newspapers and tabloids, her defense of Sonny Corinthos and her aborted run for D.A. She had lost a great deal of blood and her blood pressure, first off the charts, was now dangerously low. The baby was in respiratory distress and first thing they did was bring her out. A very loud howl greeted the team and Bobbie whisked her off, placing her in an incubator that was promptly take away by a team of neo-natal specialists. So, I guess that is it, thought Alexis, pretty simple. She watched as the surgical team swarmed over her, feverishly working and she wanted to tell them to take it easy, she was fine. They kept pointing to a monitor behind her and soon the doctors were using paddles on her. "Those are only used …" murmured Alexis. "When someone is in cardiac arrest," said a familiar tinkling voice. Alexis turned and standing next to her was her beautiful red-haired sister. "Kristina, you're supposed to be dead. I buried you - or your ashes to be exact," said Alexis, reaching out to poke her in the arm and touched solid matter. "Well, Alexis, how imprecise of you. You must be slacking off since I went on to my reward. Oh, by the way, I thought you were supposed to scatter ashes, not dump them on people," said her sister, laughing with a glittering smile in her eyes. Mortified, Alexis replied, "You saw that? I'm so sorry, Kristina, I never meant to…" Empathy in her eyes, Kristina touched her sister's hand and replied," I know, sweetie, that day became more than just my memorial. It was your chance to punish those you felt responsible. And you did in ways you will never understand until you are standing where I am and know the things I know, things that are buried in the silence of hearts. But you know now who was really responsible and you have to learn to forgive. You have to open your heart again and really listen to it chime and dance and sing. Like when you were a little girl and you felt joy all the way to your fingertips and toes. The way you were beginning to feel with Sonny." "Don't mention him. He's not the person I cared for and defended and loved. Yes, you were right - I finally admitted it to myself but guess what Kristina, it didn't make me happy. He's become a different person, a dangerous person and even if he wasn't personally responsible for your death, his lifestyle encouraged it and I will not lose my daughter - the niece that bears your name - the way I lost you. I would rather die myself than allow that to happen," said Alexis with finality. They both watched the surgeons work on Alexis. She turned to Kristina and asked, "Is this what I think it is? Are you here because I'm dying? You mean to tell me all those schmoopy Touched By An Angel stories are really true?" "Yep, every last one and while I'm not an angel per se, I've seen enough to know they are everywhere - even Sonny has one, that poor fella must have drawn the short straw for that assignment. There is one right now with little Kristina, watching over her, guiding the doctors that are caring for her. His name is Michael and he's an archangel, the Big Guy sent one of the best and brightest to care for her because she is so special with a great destiny and he won't leave until that destiny is fulfilled. I will watch over her too, tell stories and sing to her in the calm night when only she and angels drifting by can hear me. I will never leave her, Alexis." Alexis sobbed softly as she listened to the sister she loved more than her own life. She felt herself wavering between earthbound humanity and a lightness of being she could not describe. It was so tempting, so fulfilling, as if all the wishes you ever imagined were strung together like twinkling lights on a never-ending Christmas tree and you could circle and caress each one and never reach the end. Alexis looked down at herself, a mere shell laying on a table, her soul and heart watching from above. The wanting to stay with Kristina, to not suffer or worry or hurt again, was almost overwhelming. Her daughter had an angel - a pretty darn powerful one to boot - and she'd be fine. Ned would see to it and Nickolas and Stefan. Then she remembered - what it felt like to lose her own mother. The ache inside that never went away, that woke her in the still of the black night, invaded her dreams and cried out never to be silenced. The hurt she felt and the blame she shouldered, that she was not good enough to be loved. She experienced that loss firsthand and carried its burden still, she would not by her choice to die foist it on her newborn daughter. Suspended between darkness and light, she made the hardest choice in her singular life - she would instead choose to live. Alexis turned slowly to Kristina, a sad resolute smile on her face. Kristina looked back at her and nodded with a smile full of so many things - memory, sadness at parting, true acceptance, unconditional love and pure joy. In death, her sister merely was herself, each loving aspect of her just larger, more brilliant, more heartwarming. God must get a lot of joy from having her around. In that moment of decision with Kristina's loving acceptance, the ice that had formed a crystalline shell around Alexis's heart since the day of her death cracked and shattered to dust, freeing the warmth it had dammed within and it flowed once again filling her with peace and hope for the future. Alexis kissed her sister goodbye, hugged her with all the strength in her soul and quietly, joyfully, let her slip away. Kristina gleefully raised her arms and twirled as her form began to dissipate on the wind, when Alexis heard her say, " Remember, sister, that true peace can only be attained through forgiveness of the heart. Reach into your beautiful heart, search for the truth you have been hiding from yourself, the trust you know can be reborn and do not run away. Run toward it, my sister, embrace it and be happy and above all do not be afraid to choose." Alexis felt herself drift softly like a down feather toward the operating table, her mind filled with images and words and saw Sonny watching through the window, a terrified yet loving expression on his face. Her hand reached toward him as she drifted, whispered to him to have hope. And in that moment, when soul and body were reunited and time began again, she embraced her sister's words and Alexis's heart decided it was time to choose.
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