An
awkward silence ensued for a moment, one that they both wracked
their brains to fill. Acceptable topics for people negotiating past
two years of silence? Past an awkward love affair and an even more
awkward break up?
Work, she'd talk about work. Hell no, she rejected mentally.
He's a mob boss. Nothing to talk about there.
Weather? How dull.
Loved ones? No, I could give less than a damn how Carly is.
To her relief, it was Sonny who filled the void. "Saw you on
the news yesterday. You and Nikolas, you did good."
Alexis flashed a rather surprised look his way. "You watched
that?"
"Most of Port Charles probably caught it," he replied.
"Starting orphanages and AIDS clinics...admirable. But I'd
expect no less from you."
Alexis shook her head. "I am flattered, but we really couldn't
keep those residences going anyway. It made sense to give them away."
"Don't be modest, Alexis," he told her. "Given your
financial trouble, you and Nik coulda sold them for some ready capital.
I know it takes a mint just to heat Wyndemere."
Alexis blushed shyly in reaction to his glowing praise. But after
a moment, she realized what he'd said. Her brow furrowed.
"Wait, how did you know I'm living at Wyndemere?" she
asked him.
Now it was his turn to blush, a ruddy hue creeping under his olive
skin. "I-I hear things about you from time to time," he
muttered. "I'm sure...even though we haven't been in contact...that-that
you've heard things about me."
"Mmm," she murmured noncommittally. She would never admit
that she scanned the paper daily for news of any cases against him,
that she'd made Cameron report on Carly's condition every week of
that woman's hospitalization...that she'd followed the trial when
Sonny had been accused by Alcazar of attempted murder.
And then in the midst of her guilty thoughts, his voice intruded.
"If you need any help with this--what do you call it, Operation
Shelter?-- just let me know."
"No!" she said maybe a shade too forcefully, because even
her baby who'd been mesmerized by Sonny Corinthos for a solid ten
minutes broke her stare to look up at her mother in surprise.
"No," Alexis repeated in a more modulated tone. "Thank
you, but I'd rather not take donations from...you know...sources
that could be...well, frankly from people who could be connected
to..."
"You'd rather not take dirty money from a criminal?" he
finished for her, and something about the quietness of his tone
caused her to look back at him and meet his eyes. She had expected
to find anger there, resentment, bitterness, and even wounded pride.
That she could have fought, could have parried easily with one of
her million dollar, multi-syllabic retorts. What she found instead
was hurt in his dark eyes. Unmistakable pain. That she couldn't
respond to.
She watched his hand slip beneath his overcoat to unconsciously
stroke the old bullet wound on his chest. She knew that there was
just a little area of skin that still bore the livid raised scar
tissue from the shooting. He rubbed at it sometimes when he was
agitated. She bit her lip knowing her words were the cause of his
agitation.
"I just thought...you know...the cause means a lot to me because
of Stone and Robin," he told her, his voice like a rasp of
sandpaper against wood. " I thought I could be of some help,
but if-if my giving isn't welcome then never mind. That's cool."
His tone said that it was anything but cool. And she was bathed
in guilt so heavy her shoulders fell. She felt like a slug. She
hated it when his eyes dimmed like that, got that look in them.
That self-damning look. The one that reminded her of a lost little
boy.
But she knew that those thoughts were dangerous. Hadn't her desire
to redeem him earned her the worst pain of her life two years ago...when
he'd loved her for a night and then run back to his wife?
In the end she had no words to make what she'd said right, so she
simply averted her gaze. "Kristina, we have to be going now.
Say goodbye to...to Sonny."
Kristina's face so instantly contorted into a frown that it was
comical. "Don't wanna," she murmured.
I can identify with you, Little One, her mother moaned internally.
There was a time when I would stare at him when he was sleeping
just for the pure pleasure of it. At that bittersweet thought,
she swallowed convulsively and forced herself to the present. He
was still sexy as hell and had a magnetism that seemed to hone in
on her and draw her in close even when she thought she hated him.
But that power wasn't going to win her over again. Never again.
Sonny knelt once more and tugged the edges of Krissy's hood tight
around her face. "Bye now, preciosa," he said softly.
"You go with Mama, and you be good to her like I told you."
And then Kristina did the unthinkable. She tilted her head to one
side, flashing an endearing little smile, and asked her daddy for
a hug. Sonny gladly obliged. And Alexis' suffered her third mini-stroke.
Then the bell on the door of Kelly's tinkled merrily again as people
entered with bags of goodies and lots of noise. One jarring voice
rang out above the fray.
"Sonny! What are you doing here...and whose kid is...?"
"Carly..."
Alexis lifted her eyes heavenward. Come on mini-stroke number
four!
