Game Day
by Cowgirl

chapter 25 - Time Out

Alexis sat on her living room couch clad in her favorite gray warm up suit, her legs tucked beneath her. She absently stared straight ahead as she chewed on the fingernail of her index finger. She was in deep thought. During the week she had been going over some paperwork when Sonny called.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself . . . you're not in jail, are you?"

"Now why is that the first question you always ask me?"

Alexis chuckled. "Just getting the formalities out of the way. What's up?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line.

"Sonny?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I . . . you know . . . I'm at the grocery store and I wanted to make you something special for dinner tonight and I was wondering if you had any requests."

Alexis smiled and blushed at the way Sonny sounded like a teenager asking her to prom. "Anything you make will be delicious, I'm sure. Surprise me."

"You got it. I'll talk to you later, sweetheart."

"I'll see you later," Alexis said and hung up the phone.

It had hit her right then. She hadn't remembered at first, maybe because of the hangover after the dart incident at Luke's, but she was sure of it now.

"Do you call Jason names like that?"

"Of course not."

"Do you call Courtney names like that?"

"No."

"Then why are you calling me names like that?"

Sonny stopped and looked into her glassy eyes. "Because you are my sweetheart and my baby and my honey, okay?"

Her eyes widened at the memory of him saying those words to her. She had been too inebriated to understand what he had said that night, but when he had called her sweetheart on the phone it brought it to the front of her brain and shocked the heck out of her.

She leaned back on the couch and hugged her knees to her chest, which was pounding like crazy. She tapped a fingertip nervously to her lip. "What the hell do I do now? What do I do?" she said softly to herself. She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear her sister calling her name.

"Aleeexis," Kristina drawled as she gently shook her sister's shoulder.

Alexis blinked and shook her head. "What?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Wow," Kristina stated.

"Wow . . . what?"

"Where were you just now?"

Alexis sighed and waved a hand, trying to appear nonchalant. "Oh . . . just . . . you know thinking . . . it's a habit of mine you may have noticed."

Kristina nodded and sat down next to her sister. "I did notice. What were you thinking so hard about?"

Alexis shook her head. "Nothing really."

Kristina looked closely into her sister's eyes. "You're starting to feel it, aren't you?" she asked quietly, her voice full of concern.

Alexis raised an eyebrow. "Feel what?"

Kristina sighed. "The shift in yours and Sonny's relationship. It's different now than it was when you started this thing and it's getting harder to ignore that fact, isn't it?"

Alexis looked at her sister wondering just how in the world she could possibly know the things that she knew. "He . . . he said something last week that's been bothering me."

"Such as?"

Alexis wrung her hands in her lap and looked down. "He's . . . lately he's been calling me..," she waved a hand. "I don't know . . . pet names I guess you can call them."

Kristina wanted to giggle, but it was a rare occasion that her big sister opened up to her so she fought the urge to express joy at the obvious fact that her sister had found her soul mate and she was fighting it as hard as she could. "What does he call you?"

Alexis stood up and walked around the room. She was embarrassed to be saying these things to her sister. She had never been one for pet names or overly affectionate displays, but here she was knocked on her behind because Sonny was showing her affection by referring to her with a pet name in a way no one but Stefan had ever done when he had given her the name little one so many years ago. "He calls me sweetheart . . . or honey and every once in a while baby."

Kristina stifled a chuckle. "I think that's sweet."

Alexis closed her eyes briefly. "Last week when I decided to get plowed at Luke's, I asked him why he keeps calling me by those names."

"Did he answer?"

Alexis nodded. "Oh, he answered all right. I don't think he thought I would remember what he said, but he said it was because I was his sweetheart."

Kristina beamed. "I think that's wonderful," she said sincerely.

Alexis turned and regarded her with a look of confusion. "But that's not Sonny and me. It's not me."

Kristina stood and met her sister mid-pace. "Being in love can do strange things to a person," she went on cautiously. "It can take a big, bad mobster and reduce him to calling someone by a pet name."

Alexis' facial features froze. "Sonny does not love me . . . not that way," she said very deliberately. "He cares for me, that's true, but he will always and forever be in love with that blonde shrew of an ex-wife of his."

Kristina folded her arms and nodded. "His ex-wife . . . oh, you mean the one that he's not sleeping with? The one he's not currently referring to as sweetheart? The one he doesn't cook special dinners for or spends every waking moment with?"

Alexis looked up and met her sister's smiling gaze. "When are you going to accept the fact that you and that man across the hall are in love and belong to one another?"

Alexis breathed deeply. "I . . . I just don't think you're right about Sonny's feelings, Kristina. I think he really cares for me and that us sleeping together just . . . well . . . I think it's confusing him," she held up her hands in defeat. "Maybe more than even he realizes."

Kristina tilted her head. "And just what does that mean?"

Alexis opened her mouth to speak a couple of times, but couldn't force the words she had to say out. Finally she willed herself to say it. "I think it's time that Sonny and I end this little game we're playing because it's dangerous . . . it's dangerous and I don't want to lose the best friend I ever had," she said as she moved to her desk, picking up a random file. "Now, if you'll excuse me . . . I have a lot of work to do," she stammered nervously and practically ran up the stairs to her room.

Sonny set down his fork and watched Alexis for about the fortieth time since they had sat down to eat. He cleared his throat. "You're quiet tonight," he said casually.

Alexis stopped mid bite and pulled her fork away from her mouth. "I'm always quiet when I'm eating."

Sonny coughed. "I beg to differ on that. Whenever you eat my cooking you're always "ooh this is extraordinary . . . this is wonderful," he mimicked her. "Is it not good?"

Alexis set her fork down on her plate. "Everything is perfect Sonny . . . the food, that is."

"Then what isn't perfect?"

Alexis locked eyes with him and he instantly saw the worry and the confusion in her face.

"What's wrong, Lex?"

Alexis breathed deeply. "I think..," she placed her hand on her face. "Oh, this is
hard."

"Just tell me."

"I've been thinking Sonny and I think you and I need to stop acting as if we're a couple."

Sonny didn't know what to say, he continued looking at her though he could feel his chest tightening.

"This is getting harder and harder for me to deal with."

Sonny stood and moved over to her chair, squatting down beside it. "Did I do something?"

Alexis looked at him. "No, no . . . Sonny, it's nothing you did. I don't know what to make of our relationship and I think I need some time."

Sonny stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Lex, what are we talking about here?"

Alexis stood up and faced him. "I don't think you and I should spend as much time together as we have been."

Sonny nodded. "You want to stop sleeping together."

Alexis nodded. "For starters, yes."

Sonny took a deep breath and was surprised at how quickly tears had sprung to his eyes. "I . . . I thought things were good between us," he said as he nervously picked a piece of lint off the sweater he was wearing.

Alexis closed her eyes. "They were . . . they are . . . the thing is I want them to stay that way." She shook her head from side to side in frustration and gestured with her hands. "Sonny, our relationship is very . . . unique. It took us a very long time to come to the point that we're at and I don't want to lose what we had before we started to sleep together. I don't want that to ruin us."

"I didn't think it was," Sonny replied, his voice cracking.

Alexis took a step away from him and sighed. "I'm just asking you to give me some time to figure out what's going on in my head. I'm very confused right now. Just a little time . . . can we do that?"

Sonny said nothing, his mind was going in too many places at once. On one hand he wanted to grab her and tell her no, he wasn't letting her run away from this. On the other hand he knew he had to give her what she wanted.

Alexis stepped closer to him and raised a shaky hand to his chin. "It's just a little time out from our game . . . okay?" She tilted her head and forced a little smile. "Just think of me as being on the injured reserve list for now."

Sonny smiled and chuckled. "You remembered what the injured reserve list was."

Alexis sighed as a sinking feeling passed through her chest. She stroked his cheek and looked at him through watery eyes. "I remember everything . . . sweetheart," she said softly and briefly touched her lips to his. She stepped back and prepared to leave when Sonny took hold of her upper arms and pulled her to him, hugging her like there was no tomorrow.

They clung to one another for a long time before Alexis pulled back. "I should go."

Sonny nodded. "Okay."

Alexis walked to the door and opened it, turning around and giving Sonny a weak smile. "I'll see you soon."

Sonny nodded again. "Okay," he said and watched her leave just as he lost the battle with the tears that had been threatening to fall.

Alexis stopped outside Sonny's door, her hand still on the knob and took a few deep breaths. "You did the right thing," she told herself and went across the hall to her apartment. Kristina was sitting on the couch when Alexis walked in. Alexis closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

Kristina gave her a sympathetic look. "You broke it off, didn't you?" she said sadly.

Alexis stifled a sob and nodded.

"Oh honey," Kristina said as she stood up and walked to her, wrapping her arms around her sister. "Come here."

Alexis walked into her embrace and gave in to the sobs that wracked her body.

chapter 26