Flashbulbs exploded one after the other in rapid succession. They
temporarily blinded her; she almost missed a step as she mounted
the dais in the Gold Room of the Port Charles Hotel. Luckily, her
nephew Nikolas was walking beside her and grasped her arm to steady
her just in time. It wouldn't do for attorney, Alexis Davis, to
trip and fall flat on her face today. Certainly not in front of
the 35 reporters presently seated before her or the unknown number
of citizens who were watching coverage of this event on the local
Port Charles news channel.
Today had to be letter perfect. Today she was embracing her legacy...and
shedding it at the very same time.
It was a day that was a lifetime in the making.
Nikolas leaned close to his aunt's ear as she reached the glass
podium center stage. "You alright, Alexis?"
She looked at her handsome nephew, ever her avid supporter, and
beamed him a radiant smile. "I am, Nikolas," she assured
him. "Thanks to your support through all this, yours and Emily's."
At that last remark, he cast a loving glance to the side of the
hall where his wife stood smiling up at her husband. His eyes returned
to his aunt. "We're really doing this, aren't we?" he
asked with wonder. "Ridding ourselves of the darkness...putting
the family ghosts to rest for good?"
"Today will go a long way towards that, my love," Alexis
avowed, and was gratified when he kissed her cheek and went back
to the audience to join his spouse.
Alexis grinned at them. And at the little bundle of energy presently
squirming in Emily's arms. Kristina, her raven head lain on Emily's
shoulder and her thumb popped in her mouth. The sight of her child
and her niece and nephew filled Alexis' heart, and she knew she
was doing the right thing. Too many Cassadines had sacrificed happiness
to keep the fortune; several had spent decades trying to wrest it
illegally from other family members' hands-preferably cold, dead
hands at that. Starting today, a new era began for the family. Each
of their lives would be about their own desires, Alexis promised
herself. Starting today...absolutely no looking back.
Now Alexis stood alone onstage: her slender form graceful and erect
in a classically cut Armani suit, her lovely face framed by a fall
of chestnut hair, every strand in place, her dark eyes taking on
a rapier sharp seriousness that befitted Greco-Russian royalty.
Before the eyes of the press, she became Natasha Alexandria Davidovich
Cassadine. For the final time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonny Corinthos was stretched out on his sofa enjoying the quiet.
Lately his life was anything but, and the moments of stillness in
his penthouse apartment came few and far between. With two little
boys, one in grade school and the other just a year old, a certain
amount of noise was to be expected. But in actuality, it wasn't
his two boys who filled the place with chaos; it was Carly, his
wife. He could admit that to no one but himself. But it was nonetheless
the truth.
Now she was out shopping as she did on a regular basis; she'd intended
to leave the boys with him but he'd refused. He already spent quality
time with his children. But his wife...she was a different story.
Even when she was home, she left the boys to be minded by their
nanny, Leticia. Carly was increasingly becoming more self-absorbed-if
that were even possible. She could care less about connecting with
her kids and paid even less attention to running her after hours
club.
Today, he'd put his foot down and had insisted she at least take
the children out with her. It made his teeth clench that he'd even
had to insist. But he was glad he'd done it. Carly's "spoilt
rich wife" persona had gone underground during her recuperation
from her shooting, but now-two months and one Alcazar later-it had
resurfaced with a vengeance.
So Sonny sat reclining against the sofa, enjoying her absence, one
leg on the floor and the other stretched across the cushions, a
bowl of popcorn in his lap and the remote clasped in one hand.
Popcorn. When had he learned to like this stuff?
Dumb question; he knew exactly when.
Best not to go there, he told himself and flicked the remote
to the local news. What he saw before him almost stopped his heart.
A face so tenderly beautiful...and once held so dear...that the
air was knocked clean out of his lungs.
Breathe, his mind told him and he wheezed in some oxygen,
sprang upright knocking the bowl of popcorn onto the floor, and
leaned in to hear what Alexis Davis-former attorney, former friend,
former lover-- was saying to the world.
