A Drunken Man's Words
by SexisFan

chapter 6

"So, where is she?" Sonny demanded again, his grip on the cell phone tightening.

"Hatteras Island, North Carolina, boss," Benny replied.

"Where?"

"It's a barrier island just off the coast of North Carolina. Lots of tourists and vacationers go down there in the summer. She's rented a house."

"What's the address?" Sonny asked, ready to leave immediately to see her.

"Uh, we don't know that, boss," Benny answered.

"Why the hell not?" Sonny barked.

"She called on her cell phone. We couldn't get a trace. We know from the tap what she told her sister, and that's just that she's on Hatteras Island and doesn't know when she's coming back," Benny explained.

Sh*t, thought Sonny. Well, he was closer to finding her anyway. How big could a barrier island be? And Alexis was somewhere on there.

"We got one other thing on her, boss," Benny continued. "She traded in her car not too far outside of Port Charles. She bought a convertible, yellow, and had her tags transferred. We got that from the DMV."

A yellow convertible? Alexis? Sonny shook his head. That woman was a wellspring of surprises. First Eddie's Angel, and now this.

"Okay, send some guys down there to search the island. How many yellow convertibles can there be on one island? Call me when you have an address." Sonny ended the call without waiting for a response. He was so close to finding Alexis that it nearly stopped his breath. He had to get to her soon. He knew it was important, that if he didn't find her soon he would lose her.

Sonny pushed away thoughts from the rational side of his brain, questions about what he'd do once he got down there. He couldn't think that far ahead. First, he had to find her. Then he had to get there. After that, he just didn't know. He only knew that it was important.

*******

"I figured you two might be down here," the blonde Adonis greeted her, nodding his head toward Quincy, who was quite occupied chasing waves.

"Aren't we always?" Alexis laughed in reply. "So what are you going to be working on today, Beau?" she asked, "Roof? Siding? Or something new?"

The cottage she was renting belonged to Beau Richards. During the off-season, it was his home. But during the summer, he rented out his place and moved inland, taking up residence with his mother in the larger family home his father had built for them many years before his death. It was an interesting arrangement that apparently worked out quite well. Considering the rental rates of vacation property on the island, Beau brought in enough rental income over a summer to support himself for the entire year, allowing him freedom to devote himself to his passion - painting. He apparently made a tidy little sum from his artwork, and with his living expenses covered by the rental income, his art income was all "gravy" as he put it.

This season, though, Beau hadn't planned on renting out his cottage. A late season Nor'easter had left the home with some damage that needed to be repaired. Unfortunately - or fortunately for her - Beau had been busy on the mainland most of the spring, completing a mural that had been commissioned for the opening of a hospital wing. With a deadline to keep him off of Hatteras for weeks at a time, he hadn't been able to get any but the most urgent repairs made to the cottage.

And this was the situation that Alexis had happened into. She didn't mind at all the rough state of the property. She just needed a place to stay, and rental property on Hatteras was often reserved over a year in advance. Alexis was so happy to have a place to sleep at night and a beach to enjoy during the day, she didn't mind one bit the daily visits Beau had to make to complete the repairs on the home. And with the cottage rented to such an amicable tenant, Beau was able to get the work done his home without losing an entire summer's income. It was an arrangement that worked for both of them.

"Well," her attractive landlord drawled, "I wasn't planning on doing any work today."

"Oh? Why? Are we in your way?" Alexis asked.

Beau laughed and shook his head. "The day a pretty lady like you is in my way is the day someone needs to put me down and bury me afterward," he teased.

Alexis ducked her head, feeling herself blush at his flirting.

"Actually," he continued, "I figured I'd just wait for Debbie before I do any more work on the house."

"Who's Debbie?" Alexis asked. He hadn't mentioned a girlfriend before now, but of course someone who looked like him wasn't just up for grabs. She didn't understand Beau's amusement at her question, though. "What did I say?" she asked in response to his gentle laughter.

"You haven't been watching television? Listening to the radio? Reading the newspaper?"

Alexis shook her head. She didn't want anything of the real world intruding on her escape into freedom. She was sticking to her paperbacks and her CDs. News from the outside world could just wait.

Beau shook his head in wonderment. "Hurricane Debbie. It's been moving up the coast for a couple of days now, headed right for us. No point in doing repairs that'll just have to be re-done in a few days," Beau replied matter-of-factly.

"Hurricane?!" Alexis responded, the alarm evident in her tone.

Beau shrugged. "Yeah. It's no big deal so far. She's only a Category 2 right now. Course, she could pick up some strength when she crosses the Gulf Stream. But it'll be a couple of days still before we know what she's doing."

"I can't believe you're so calm about this!" Alexis blurted.

Beau shrugged again. "Storms are part of life out here. They come, they go, and we just deal with 'em. And we make sure we follow the weather," he teased, nudging her with his shoulder.

It was Alexis' turn to shake her head in wonderment. How anyone could be so calm when discussing a hurricane was beyond her.

Beau cleared his throat self-consciously and looked down at his own feet shuffling in the sand. "Since I'm not working, today, I, uh, thought you might like to come with me for the day. You and Quincy, that is," he smiled, shyly raising his gaze to hers.

"Sightseeing?" Alexis asked, lightly.

"Sort of," Beau teased. "I thought we might take the ferry over to Ocracoke. We could have lunch, go down to the village, visit some of the antique and art shops, see the wild horses. . ."

"Wild horses?"

"Yeah, they've got a section of the island protected as a habitat. In some places, the habitat is near the road and there's fencing up to protect the horses. You can stand at the fenceline and sometimes see them moving around on their land," Beau explained.

"But Ocracoke is an island, right? How did wild horses get on an Island?" Alexis questioned.

"From ship wrecks. Mostly Spanish ships. They brought horses over for their explorers to use as transportation. When ships ran aground or were pulled apart at sea, the horses got loose and swam for whatever land they could find."

"And these are the descendents of those Spanish horses who survived shipwrecks?"

Beau nodded. "Will you come?" he asked expectantly.

Alexis grinned up at him. "Sure," she replied. "Sounds like fun."

"Great!" Beau beamed. "If you want to go get dressed," he eyed the short silk robe she was wearing over her night gown, "I'll make sure Quincy gets back to the house and we'll meet you there."

Alexis smiled and blushed again. She'd forgotten how she was dressed, or undressed as the case may be. "I won't be long," she promised as she turned for the dunes and the cottage beyond.

"You better not be!" Beau called after her playfully, laughing as he heard her call back with a 'Yes, sir!' He watched her retreating figure, admiring the beautiful vision that she made gliding barefoot across the sand. Alexis Davis was some woman, he thought to himself. Too bad she wasn't free. She thought she was, but she was only fooling herself. Beau could see it in her eyes when she spoke of Port Charles. He could hear it in the things she didn't talk about. Someone held her heart. And whoever he was, Beau envied the man his good fortune.

*******

It took no time at all for Alexis to trade her night clothes for a gently form-fitting pair of soft denim jeans, a brightly colored tank top, and a light cotton blouse left unbuttoned and tied around her waist. She ran a quick brush through hair that was already showing the kiss of the sun in the form of auburn highlights. Gathering up her thick mane into a pony tail, she wrapped it with an elastic band. With her new tan deepening the complexion of her skin, she didn't really feel the need to other with makeup other than a light sweep of blush and a touch of colored lip gloss.

Alexis emerged from the bedroom to the aroma of eggs, bacon and fresh coffee. For a second, her heart stopped as she expected to find Sonny serving up breakfast for her. As the sense of deja-vu faded, though, she was relieved (she told herself) to find Beau in the kitchen instead.

"Figured you hadn't eaten since you hadn't dressed. . ."

"And since none of your pans were sitting in the sink full of charred remains of what once was food. . ."

Beau laughed heartily. "I told you to forget about that. It happens to the best of us at one time or another," he reassured her.

"Happens to me all the time," Alexis pouted, taking her place at a plate piled high with a hearty breakfast. "I'm a disaster in the kitchen," she admitted.

"How do you survive in Port Charles, then?" Beau asked, taking a seat across from Alexis.

"Take out from restaurants. And the kindness of strangers," Alexis chirped playfully.

Beau knew that tone already. Whenever her voice got that light and airy, the subject at hand was getting a little to close to whatever had prompted her unplanned "vacation".

So he changed the subject and the two of them finished their breakfast. Actually, it was three of them when one counted Quincy, who managed a full meal on scraps Alexis dropped under the table. In no time at all, they were all piled into Alexis' yellow convertible, a cooler full of drinks and lunch fixings in the back seat, and headed for the southern end of island.

"Thanks for being willing to use your car, Alexis," Beau offered from behind the steering wheel. "I'd promised my brother-in-law he could use my truck today to pick up a load of landscaping stuff and my sister would have killed me if I'd gone back on my word. She's been waiting for ages to get him going on their front yard and if I'd have slowed down her plans at this point she'd have my scalp."

"I'm very happy to save your scalp," Alexis teased, thinking to herself that hair like that on a man would be a sin to waste.

Beau guided Alexis' car along the one main road running the length of Hatteras Island. Meandering past the historic lighthouse, through wooded lands, past roadside shops, and finally across a sandy point of land, they finally reached the ferry landing. The line for the ferry was relatively short, today, Beau informed her as they were able to drive aboard the next departing boat. Once the car was parking, they slipped from their seats and strolled around the deck. Quincy balked a bit at wearing the unfamiliar leash, but soon was so entranced by the gulls descending on the boat that he forgot all about the restraint.

Alexis laughed as she watched Beau hold out crackers for gulls that would fly right to his hand, hovering inches from his grasp, before snatching away the coveted treat. After some cajoling, Beau convinced Alexis to give it a try. At first, she was too timid, repeatedly pulling her hand back behind the railing when a gull approached. But after Beau took her hand in his and held it steady over the water while she offered her prize to a few squawking beggars, she found the nerve to feed them without pulling back. It was thrilling, and a little scary, to hear and feel the beat of the birds' wings so close to her own face.

The gulls were insatiable and relentless. When the sleeve of saltines was empty, Beau guided Alexis and Quincy to the opposite side of the boat, away from the hungry hoard. Leaning against the railing, they looked out over the water of the Atlantic.

"Tell me about this island," Alexis asked.

"Well, it's the southernmost of the barrier islands that make up the Outer Banks," Beau offered. "There's one town on the island, an old fishing village on the southern end. You already know about the wild horses."

Alexis nodded.

"And Ocracoke was kind of the home base for Blackbeard the pirate," Beau related, smiling as he saw Alexis' eyes widen just a bit.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he replied. "He was killed right here in these waters, in fact. Beheaded. And legend has it that he was so evil, that even after his head was cut off, his headless body swam three times around the island before finally succumbing to death."

Alexis listened to his tale with unconcealed interest. When he finished though, she surprised him by laughing out loud. "Sounds like Blackbeard was a Cassadine. My family," she explained with a laugh that covered more than a bit of pain.

Soon the ferry reached the island, and the merry little party was off on their adventure. It was a wonderful day, as good as any that Alexis could ever remember having. They pulled over at one of the wild pony observation stations, and leaned against a line of fencing talking about nothing in particular, falling silent only when a slight movement in the distance alerted them to the presence of the horses. Then silently they stood, even Quincy remaining quiet, while a trio of ponies wandered to within a stone's throw of them before suddenly taking off in a wild gallop across the clearing and disappearing into the trees. Alexis was thrilled. She'd never seen anything so wild and beautiful in all of her life.

After watching the ponies, they drove the length of the island, stopping for a picnic lunch on the beach. There, Quincy was set free from his leash and allowed to run as free and playful as the wild Spanish ponies, while Alexis and Beau rested in the warm sun in comfortable silence. From there, they headed toward the village on the southern tip of the island. Along the way, they stopped at a couple of antique shops and Alexis happily made several purchases which were safely tucked away in the trunk of her car, making her very glad that Beau's brother had needed his truck.

Finally, they made it to the village. Parking the car, Beau helped Alexis out before leading her on a quiet walk along bustling tree-lined lanes. They stopped at an ice cream shop and bought ice-cream cones, a simple little slice of normal life that Alexis could never recall experiencing. With Alexis' cone piled high with three different flavors of ice cream, they resumed their walk through the town. Reaching the docks, Alexis again had a fleeting sense of being suddenly back in Port Charles. For a second, the scent of the wooden wharves left her expecting to see Sonny at any moment. When her brain registered the fact that Sonny was hundreds of miles away from her, she felt a distinct pang of disappointment - something that she quickly turned her attention from.

There was a buzz among the fishermen on the piers, and it caught Beau's attention. Inching closer to the men engaged in animated conversations, they learned that Debbie, the hurricane, had picked up speed. She was approaching the Outer Banks mush faster than expected and evacuations were likely to begin the next day.

Alexis couldn't help but feel a stab of fear as she sensed Beau's heightened state of energy.

"We'd better head back," he said to Alexis apologetically. "If the storm is coming up this fast, there will be a lot of preparations to make before it hits."

Alexis wasn't about to balk. "Of course, you have to get your mother ready and get off the island," she replied understandingly. She was surprised when Beau laughed lightly.

"Oh, we're not going anywhere," he answered. "Mom has ridden out every hurricane for the past forty years. There is no way she'll leave the home my father built for her."

"But. . ." Alexis began.

"She'll never go, so neither will I. But I do have to get the houses ready and make preparations to minimize the damage. And you'll have to get packed to leave, of course," Beau answered.

But Alexis wasn't so sure that she wanted to leave. The thought of a hurricane was frightening, but if Ella Richards in her 70's was riding out the storm, surely Alexis could, too. And truth be told, she was more afraid of leaving Hatteras for her real life and facing Sonny than she was of facing a hurricane. But now was not the time to mention any of this to Beau, for surely he would object. And Alexis didn't want to argue. But she was certain that she wasn't going anywhere when Debbie came calling.

********

Sonny jumped when his cell rang.

"Yeah, whatta you got?" he asked tersely.

"They covered the whole island, boss. Not one yellow convertible on the whole place," Benny answered.

Sonny swore violently. "Look, she's on that island, damn it! You have them look again. And tell them to keep looking until they find her car and can give me an address! The next time this phone rings, I want to know where I will find Alexis. Do you hear me?"

Benny took in his boss's screaming and nodded mutely on the other end of the line. This was no time for words. All Sonny wanted was action. Alexis Davis must be found, and found quickly.

Or else.

chapter 7