Second Chances
by Susanne

Chapter 5 -- Mike and Alexis

The next day Alexis had taken Christopher and Kristina with her to the park to play, and to get all their minds cleared of what had happened 24 hours ago when they'd left their 'home' behind. Christopher was playing at the swings with another boy, while Kristina was playing in the sandbox with another girl, while Alexis sat on a bench watching her children play like they should.

A few meters behind the bench, which Alexis was sitting on, stood a man - namely Mike Corbin, who immediately knew who those children were, and who their parents were too. Mike Corbin had become a grandfather.

Mike had always had a good feeling about Alexis because she'd always been there for both Sonny and Courtney when they'd needed her. And now it looked like Alexis needed someone to help her out. Alexis had put on a black skirt, which reached her to the top of her knees along with a blue top and a matching blue cardigan and finishing off the outfit she wore a pair of black high-heeled sandals.

Voice: "Alexis…" Alexis immediately turned around, and saw a smiling, elderly man, who almost immediately thereafter took a seat next to Alexis acknowledging her presence; Mike Corbin.

Alexis: "Mike…What are you doing here?" She asked afraid that Sonny was nearby too.

Mike: "Relax! Michael is nowhere near this place - where in the world have you been?" He asked, as he noticed two small children playing on the playground, who looked exactly like his son.

Alexis: "Don't tell Sonny that I'm back, OK? Please Mike…I don't want him to know."

Mike: "Alexis…If you don't want him to know you're in Port Charles then why are you camped out in a park?"

Alexis: "We needed to get out of the apartment."

Mike: "We?"

Alexis: "Yes - we!!" She exclaimed pointing in the direction of the two children Mike had just focused on.

Mike: "If Michael sees those two he won't even have to have someone tell him that you're back in town - they're his aren't they?" He asked looking Alexis deeply into her eyes.

Alexis: "I think that you should leave, and pretend that you've never seen me Mike - it's the best thing for everyone involved."

Mike: "I'll take that as a yes - does anyone else know that you're back in town?"

Alexis: "Jax and Brenda, and now you - but I am begging you Mike - don't tell Sonny that I'm back, and especially don't tell him about the twins."

Mike: "Alexis…You know how Michael is. He pretty much controls everybody on his paycheck, and this also means that he has eyes all over this town - eyes that'll recognize you in a heartbeat - why don't you just call him, and tell him yourself?"

Mike: "If anyone knows how controlling and one-minded Michael is then it's me, but by hiding out you'll only make the outcome worse once he does figure out that you're here in Port Charles."

Alexis: "I can't tell Sonny that I am back in Port Charles anymore than Adela could stop you from leaving her and her son years ago."

Mike: "Why are you suddenly bringing Adela into this discussion?"

Alexis: "Because I'm living her life - the only difference is that I don't only have one child, I've got two, and my 'darling' husband isn't a cop - he's a lawyer!!" She exclaimed with teary eyes knowing that she was getting through to Mike now.

Mike: "So…What you're really telling me is that you're on the run from your husband, who's been using you as a punching bag just like Deke did to Adela all those years ago?"

Alexis: "If I go to Sonny now he'll only help me because he wants to remedy what happened to his mother years ago. I want Sonny to help me because he loves me - not out of some strange kind of remedy for what happened a long time ago to a woman I know nothing about."

Mike: "You're probably the only one out of us two, who knows just as much about Adela as Michael does…" He replied sadly, as Alexis went back in time when she'd gotten some information about Sonny's mother out of him.

Sonny: "I took my mother to the ballet once. I'd been out of the house for a couple of years and I was making good money as a numbers runner. And I walked past Carnegie Hall and there was a poster. My mom used to, you know, watch ballet on public television. She used to tell me all the time how, you know, it was…She used to go to the ballet all the time, you know, to…In Cuba when she was a little girl, so I decided I'd take her, and so I bought two box seats. They were for the afternoon when I knew that Deke would be working, so I went to the house and I surprised her. She was so excited, you know…Her whole face changed and she was like 10 years younger and beautiful again and she…She even wore this suit that she hadn't worn since she was…She had stopped working and…So we went to the ballet and she was looking around, you know, and she was like a little kid seeing everything and she…All she kept telling me was how much bigger this theatre was than the one in Cuba. So we get to the box seats and there were all these girls and they all had uniforms."

Alexis: "What color were they?"

Sonny: "I don't…I don't…I don't remember, but they were giggling and flirting and they kept looking at me, you know. And I just kept thinking, we're…We're so different, you know, because to them this is, like, a fun day in the afternoon. They're going to go back to their rich schools and rich lives and they'll forget the ballet. But to me and my mother, it was like we were visiting another planet. What I didn't know then is that even rich people can hurt as bad as poor people."

Alexis: "I wonder if on any of my field trips I ever looked over from my box at the ballet and saw a beautiful Cuban woman with her son. I don't think so. I would have remembered you."

Sonny: "I'd have remembered you too."

*** FLASHBACK ***

Alexis: "Even if that's true then I still can't subject my children to Sonny's way of life - it's just too dangerous!!"

Mike: "More dangerous than the life you've left behind? Alexis…You managed to do something Adela couldn't - you left your beater but you returned to Port Charles - that has to have some sort of meaning to you."

Alexis: "Of course it has a meaning to me. But I can't go to Sonny and tell him something that I should have told him years ago. Not only will he be furious with me, but he'll ultimately tell me that I got what I deserved from John."

Mike: "Michael would never say that, and you know that. He'll of course be mad in the beginning but once he sees his daughter and son he'll try and forgive you, which he will."

Alexis: "What you did to Adela and Sonny years ago was also terrible, and he's held it over your head for several years now - do you mean to tell me that it get's easier for you every time you look into his eyes that just scream 'disloyalty'?"

Mike: "You're right about Michael not being good with forgiveness but it's different with me. I did something that ultimately cost Adela her life. What you would bring into Sonny's life is a family - the very thing that was taken away from him years ago when Carly left with Ric, and their unborn baby - and now all he has is Michael."

Alexis: "I know what family means to Sonny, Mike. But I am also aware of all the factors, which have played into his life and ultimately took away his family. I mean, just when I think about what happened to Lily and her unborn baby when that car bomb went off."

Mike: "That was very tragic, as was Kristina's death but that doesn't mean that Michael doesn't try his damnedest to protect the people he loves."

Alexis: "I think you're confusing the words 'protect' with 'control'. Ned and Jax always tried to warn me but I just wouldn't listen."

Mike: "Because you loved Michael - and I think you still do. Nothing will erase what you've been through with this John-character but Alexis…Michael isn't like that - he may yell and scream but he'd never lay a hand on you - you know that!"

Alexis: "Yeah…I know…"

Alexis: "What's wrong?"

Sonny: "What the hell do you think you're doing? I trusted you."

Alexis: "Excuse me?"

Sonny: "I told you things."

Alexis: "That's because we're friends."

Sonny: "Yeah, personal things no one's supposed to know."

Alexis: "Where…Where are you going with this?"

Sonny: "I'll tell you where I'm going with it. I'm having breakfast with my sister. I make her an omelet; it's good, she's happy. We're a family."

Alexis: "You are a family."

Sonny: "And then she hits me with garbage from years ago…Personal things I told you."

Alexis: "I'm sorry. I thought that…"

Sonny: "Every last detail, she tells me. That's what my sister serves me for breakfast…My guts on a china plate, compliments of my lawyer and my friend who gave my privacy away."

Alexis: "You…You asked me to help you with Courtney, and I thought…"

Sonny: "You call…You call this help? Huh? You call this help?"

*** FLASHBACK ***

Mike: "Listen…I need to get home but please just think about what I've said, OK?"

Alexis: "Sure! And Mike…Don't tell Sonny - if not for my sake then for theirs!" She exclaimed referring to her children. Alexis knew that it was only a matter of time before Sonny spotted them - and then what?

chapter 06