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The
Quiet Before the Storm Part 11 “Alexis,” he said timidly, “If I tell you the truth will you promise you’ll try to really listen to me and not get too angry?” Seeing the adorable look of a scared little boy that he had discarded long ago she couldn’t help but feel for him. “Whatever he has to say must be really hard for him. For his sake and mine I’ll try to keep my cool.” “Sure Sonny. I’ll do my best. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure ‘Kristina’ doesn’t jump out at you,” she said laughingly as she made a throttling motion with her hands. Her laughter only increased when she saw the quick look of fright on his face before it turned into a full-fledged smile, dimples all ablaze. He could tell from her attempt at a joke in such a serious situation that she was going to be okay. As their laughter subsided she let him know, “You really are under no obligation to tell me anything. So whatever you have to say I will be grateful for. There are so many things that went on that I am unaware of these last few months that I’ll be glad if you can fill in any of the missing pieces.” Knowing
that she was telling him the truth he continued on. “Yes,” she said tentatively. “Well, well that woman was you.” “Me? So that’s why Carly was so crazy tonight!” She said laughingly. “Sorry, I know I shouldn’t make jokes about crazy people,” she said with a smirk on her face, she looked at him to see that his facial expression mirrored her own. “So, you were saying?” “As I was saying, when I found out that you were arrested for Alcazar’s murder I nearly went through the roof! I knew that I had to do something to help you, so I decided to call on the help of a mutual friend of ours to see what they could do.” “What friend Sonny? We don’t have any mutual friends. You know that none of my friends would do anything for you. Besides, none of them have enough pull to have helped me anyway, unless you know someone downtown…” Seeing that she was closing in on his secret he tried to explain himself but was quickly cut off. “You didn’t!” Jumping up she began pacing the room again as she had done when he first arrived. He knew she’d be angry over this, but he didn’t make any move to stop her rant. He didn’t think it was in his best interest to make her feel caged in, so he let her be for a while. He could see her grumbling incoherently to herself as she paced the length of the room. After a few moments she spoke loud enough for him to hear. “I can’t believe you! After all I’ve done to keep my credibility intact you go and bribe a judge to keep me out of jail?” “But Alexis…” “After keeping an impeccable record all these years you go and wipe out any semblance of hope to be taken seriously once this whole fiasco is over!” “How will I ever be able to face Judge Griffin again? I mean I know she probably won’t spill the beans about what you did, but my God! Who needs that hanging over their head?” “Alexis…” “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you refrain from using money or muscle to get anything done for once?” Deciding that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with her this way he decided to keep his mouth shut until she finished. After a few more minutes of rambling she finally realized that he hadn’t spoken in a while. With a look of embarrassment on her face she finally searched him out. He was still sitting in front of the fire. Quietly she called to him. “Sonny?” “Alexis?” he said, his back still to her. “I’m sorry. I promised that I wouldn’t get too angry without listening first. It was a gut reaction. You know how I am about my career and being taken seriously.” Sitting down beside him once again she composed herself. “Please continue. I’m sorry that I interrupted.” Looking at her to be sure, he started once again. “Alexis, even if I wanted to, I would never bribe a judge to get you off of anything. All I did was make sure you’d have a sympathetic judge hear your case. There’s nothing wrong with that. Lawyers pick and chose their jury all the time; I just picked a judge who would be the most fair in your situation. I knew that you would never stand for me buying a verdict. It goes against everything that you are. So I made a call downtown to a friend of mine to get Griffin assigned to your case, and prayed like crazy that it would all work out. Thank God it did! And after you were found not guilty, I must admit, I was curious as to what went on during the court proceedings. I knew you wouldn’t like it, but I had to be sure you would be okay. So I did a little digging. When I found out about ‘Kristina’ I decided that the best way to help you was to just be sure that you had the best care imaginable. I made a sizable donation to the mental ward at General Hospital and let things go from there. No one suspected a thing. As you know I give money to GH every year. No one batted an eyelash when I added the extra money to the mental ward. That’s all I did. I promise.” “That little sneak! Well, I guess I can’t be too mad at him. He did help me when he could just have easily left me out to dry. I guess I’ll let him slide on that. Lord knows I have just as many things to apologize to him for. I’ll just keep my mouth shut about that for now.” “Sonny, I don’t know what to say. You talk as if staying in a mental ward for a month doesn’t warrant a batted eyelash. I mean you’re being very understanding about this. Even the few friends that I have all seemed to at least look at me funny for at least a split second when they found out about my stay in the ‘Haha Hut’ as Luke calls it.” “Alexis, why would I do that? Everyone needs a little help every now and then to get their thoughts together. That’s all you were doing. Some would probably say that I could use a little therapy myself. You know, get over my controlling and brooding ways,” he said with a grin on his face. “But that’s totally different! I killed a man!” “Alexis, apart of you that you couldn’t control took over and killed Alcazar. You would never do that on your own unless your life was in danger. You’re as decent a person if not more than anyone I know. I’m not going to judge you by what you did, or by what some other part of you did. I’m just glad that you’re getting the help that you need.” As a tear suddenly let lose from her eye she quickly brushed it aside. Blown away by his understanding of her situation. “Thank you Sonny. I needed to hear that.” He was happy to see that she believed him. But more than that he was glad that she didn’t berate him for invading her privacy. Seeing that she was okay with this for now he continued on. “Besides, I’m through paying people off or ‘using muscle’ as you say to get what I want. This earned him at least a little smile from her. “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Think about it Alexis. Have you heard anything lately in the papers or on TV about me being arrested or of some turf war that includes me?” “Come to think of it I haven’t. But then again as you probably already know I was locked up in a mental ward for a month. Keeping abreast of current events wasn’t that high on my to do list,” she said sarcastically. ‘What, have you and the other mobsters decided to play nice for once?” Seeing the look on his face she immediately regretted her words. “Sonny, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean it. It was just a joke. A really bad joke I guess. Honestly. All those times I called you a mobster I was just angry. I didn’t mean what I said.” “It’s okay. I know you were angry at the time. You had every right to be.” “No I didn’t. That’s one of the things I wish I could take back. Calling you names, pointing the finger at you and blaming you in public. That day at my sister’s memorial service I didn’t want to hurt you. I only wanted someone to blame because it was too hard to actually accept who was really to blame where her death was concerned.” “Alcazar… right?” “Well he was partially to blame but...” “That’s what I hated about the whole situation Alexis. Your sister was killed because someone was seeking revenge against me. I couldn’t take knowing that someone else I cared about could possibly be killed because of me. After the cops arrested you, and I called in the favor, I decided that I needed to make some major changes in my life. I needed to make sure that nothing like that happened to anyone else. Lily, our unborn baby or your sister were enough. No one else needed to be sacrificed for me to finally get it.” “What are you talking about? Sonny that’s a might tall order to fill, even for the great Sonny Corinthos,” she said with a slight smile. “The only thing you could do to ensure that, short of disappearing from the face of the earth would be to leave the mob, and I know that’s not about to happen.” “Stranger things have happened Alexis.” “Not that strange! My family freezing over the world is strange. You and Carly deciding to end things is even stranger. I never thought I’d see that happen. But you…leaving the mob? That’s unthinkable!” she said sarcastically. “Well, believe it or not, that’s what I did.” Seeing the look of shock on her face, he decides to take advantage of her speechlessness and continue on. “I can’t go into the details of the arrangement for fear of putting danger on myself and the lives of my family. But I can tell you this; I am in every way a legitimate businessman. I am the owner of a few dozen highly profitable island hotel and casinos, and I am totally OUT of the coffee business. I still make a pretty penny if I do say so myself,” he said smugly. “Jason bought me out of the coffee business and is running it himself. He too is now also on the up and up. He as well as I realized that when the lives of those you love are in danger, you must do everything you can to protect them. He wanted to ensure Courtney’s safety. I wanted to also ensure my families safety. That was something we both wanted, so we took steps to make it happen.” “You’re serious aren’t you?” “Very.” “I’m sorry if I seem a little disbelieving or shocked, but I am shocked. I’m almost speechless.” “Like that will ever happen.” At his remark he was rewarded with a crimson pillow thrown at his head. Laughing at her move he turned to look at her and saw her own beautiful smile etched across her face. “Sonny, you don’t know how good it is to hear you say that. I always knew you could find a way of getting out. You just had to be determined enough and willing to follow it through. I have always wanted the best for you, no matter what status our relationship stood at. Friend or not. When I was campaigning for D.A. I never wanted anything to happen to you personally. If you think that I hated you for even a minute I’m sorry. I never hated you. I hated your world and what it stood for. I only wanted to stop the senseless killing of the people around me. I only wanted my child to grow up in a place she was safe to walk down the street in, without fear that she would be shot at.” Finally taking a moment from speaking, they each let the others words sink in. They reveled in the truths they had just given each other. “How can I go on not being as truthful with him as he has been with me tonight? I owe him. I owe him big and I know it. I guess its time I bite the bullet so to speak and take that leap I’ve been dreading.” Seeing the serious look come across her face, he became worried. “Alexis, what’s wrong? I would have thought even you would be happy to hear that.” “Sonny, I am happy. I’m very happy that you’ve finally chosen another life for yourself. But that’s not it. There are some things that I need to tell you, and I know that it’s going to be very hard for me. Who am I kidding? They will probably be the hardest things I’ll ever have to tell you.” “Alexis, what are you talking about?” Seeing her look away from him he called out to her again to gain her attention. Seeing her visibly move a little away from him he decided to let her be for a moment. Finally able to speak, she called upon her inner strength to do what she knew she had to do. “Sonny?” “Alexis?” “Sonny, I don’t even know where to begin thanking you for all that you’ve done to help me.” “Okay, if she wants to dance around the issue a little bit I’ll let her. I won’t rush her.” “Alexis, no thanks is needed. Just to know that you don’t hate me anymore is thanks enough.” His willingness to so easily forgive and forget was all at once a blessing and a curse. “He might not so easily forgive me with what I have to say to him now.” “Sonny, let me finish, please. I know that we’ve both done things to each other that we’re ashamed of. And you have been great about everything so far. But I have to tell you some things that may change your opinion of me. It may even take us back to where we were just a few hours ago. I’d hate for that to happen…but it’s a risk I’ll have to take. I know I’m going to sound like a hypocrite when I ask you this. I know I wasn’t able to keep my cool before like I promised. But do you think you could try and listen to me explain a few things to you?…Without blowing up at me? I need to be as honest with you as you have been with me, and the only way I can do that is if I can trust that you won’t start throwing things like you usually do…okay? Can you do that?” Seeing her face pale in the firelight awaiting his answer, he decided he wouldn’t let her sweat it out. “Sure Alexis. I will try to keep my cool. I promise not to throw anything. I haven’t thrown anything in quite a while,” he said with a slight grin. Now was the time to be truthful. Now was the time to let him know the many secrets she had kept from him, for way too long. Now was the time to let the one person she trusted more than anyone in the world, into her heart again.
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