Second Chances
by Susanne

Chapter 10 -- The Past >< The Future

Later that evening Alexis had put on some more comfortable clothes in the form of a pair of black, thin slacks together with a shirt with animal print on it, and as a last touch she wore a pair of black sandals. She had just put Chris and Krissy to sleep sensing that some big change was on it's way, as she looked into the night from her apartment in the livingroom. She suddenly realized when she'd last worn this outfit - like tonight there had also been a big change in store for her then, and that had also had something to do with a certain Michael Corinthos Jr.

*** FLASHBACK ***

Sonny: "The night we slept together, you got pregnant, didn't you?"

Alexis: "Uh, excuse me?"

Sonny: "Excuse you for which thing? All those times you said you were fainting and you told me you had the flu? Lying to me about why you were at Mercy Hospital? Moving out of the penthouse to delay my figuring it out?"

Alexis: "Has it ever entered your mind that not everything that I do is any of your business?"

Sonny: "It is my business if it's my child."

Alexis: "This doesn't concern you and…"

Sonny: "Am I the father?"

Ned: "No. You're not the father. I am."

Ned: "You seem as surprised as I was when Alexis told me. It's a very complicated situation and actually, Sonny, we don't really need you here to make things even more complicated. So, you insisted on an answer and I gave you one. We'd really like you to leave now."

Sonny: "Is it true?"

Ned: "I told you. I told you he'd come here and he'd ask and he'd want to know the truth and we'd have to tell him. And now he's going to tell Carly and it's going to be all over town and we're going to have to deal with that. You want the truth? All right, here's the truth. I want Alexis enough to marry her. Enough to want her even when she walked out on our wedding. Enough to let her cry on my shoulder when Carly came back to you. And enough to reach out and hold her one last time, even though I know it wouldn't last because I'm in a relationship with her sister, who's going to be broken-hearted as soon as she finds out, as soon as Carly tells everyone in town, and that's why we wanted our privacy, Sonny, ok? Because there's a third person involved, but it's not you. So, if you'll just excuse us, please?"

Sonny: "Hey. Was one single word of what he said the truth? I saw your face while Ned was talking. You seemed a little shocked, maybe, like you were hearing it for the first time."

Ned: "Sonny…"

Sonny: "Is that…"

Ned: "Sonny, there was a storm, OK?"

Sonny: "I know about the storm and the cottage and the whole thing!"

Alexis: "What Ned said is the truth. It is. And the shock that you saw on my face was embarrassment because I was hearing my private life discussed out loud. Everything he said is true. He's the father of the baby and we want to do what's best for the baby."

Sonny: "All right. Well…Sorry for intruding, making assumptions. I wish you the best."

*** FLASHBACK ***

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Alexis hurried to answer the door so that Chris and Krissy wouldn't wake up.

Alexis: "What do you want Sonny?" She asked the visitor.

Sonny: "We need to talk!" He exclaimed entering the apartment, and proceeding into the livingroom of the apartment. After Alexis had closed the door shut she joined him in the livingroom where she asked

Alexis: "I don't really see that there's anything else we could possibly have left to say to each other?"

Sonny: "If your problem with me is your sister's death?"

Alexis: "I KNOW that Luis Alcazar set that bomb but it doesn't change the fact that you do nothing to protect the people around you, and then the fact that once again a woman is dead because of YOU! And I'm not about to wait around and watch that same fate happen to Kristina's namesake, OK?"

Sonny: "Luis Alcazar is dead now, and I don't know what else to say than that I'll protect you and our children to my best ability."

Alexis: "That's just it! Your best ability isn't good enough! I don't want to be forced to send me children to some exotic island when the next Joseph Sorel or Luis Alcazar comes around. Because that's exactly what will happen Sonny - you know that just as well as I do."

Sonny: "That's the only way you can be protected - by shipping you off to an unknown place for as long as I'm at war with my enemies. No one has gotten to Carly or Michael while they've been at an unknown location."

Alexis: "That's precisely my point! I am NOT Carly, and my children aren't like Michael - he's gotten used to this life - my children are used to live freely without wondering if they're going to be taken from the park by unknown enemies."

Sonny: "No, I forgot! It's so much better for them to be scared silly living with a man their mother considers to be 'picture perfect'."
Alexis: "I may have taken some wrong turns in my life but at least I'm not a murderer."

Sonny: "No? You let John destroy your spirit Alexis! After all these years you're still protecting him - after everything he's done to you!"

Alexis: "At least he hasn't dropped me on a minutes notice because of his ridiculous obsession with a woman, who shouldn't even be allowed to become pregnant!"

Sonny: "I'm not with Carly anymore! How many times do I have to say this to you?"

Alexis: "Like I told you years ago then I don't want to be your consolation prize, all right?" She replied remembering clearly how mad Sonny had made her that day.

*** FLASHBACK ***

Alexis: "Carly…Listen…Your relationship with Carly, aside from the divorce settlement, is none of my business."

Sonny: "That's probably true."

Alexis: "You know, she'll probably always drive you crazy."

Sonny: "Yeah? Well, maybe I don't need it anymore. I used to think living alone, being alone, was the price I'd pay for this life and the things that I do. I believed that my life was too dangerous to let anybody in."

Alexis: "Maybe it is."

Sonny: "Yeah, well, but here we are just the same. And I don't know how it happened. It just happened, you know? So…You're kind of…You're kind of all I have left."

Alexis: "So, that makes me, what, your consolation prize?"

Sonny: "I didn't say that."

Alexis: "I don't have the time, nor am I interested in being, a substitute for everyone who's walked away from you."

Alexis: "So, when all else fails, you call your good pal Alexis, instant attorney across the hall?"

Sonny: "That is not what I mean…"

Alexis: "You're not the only one with abandonment issues. You're not the only one who can't get close to people. Do you know that I hitched a semi at my own wedding?"

Sonny: "Well, isn't that what you're doing now?"

Alexis: "No, I'm just making a point."

Sonny: "I need you in my life."
Alexis: "I'm not quitting as your attorney."

Sonny: "And I'm not…I'm not talking about as my lawyer."

Alexis: "What are you talking about?"

Sonny: "You have a place in my life. Look, I know that I assume a lot and I take advantage of you living here. And I'll back off. If you want me to back off, I'll back off. Whatever you want, just tell me what it is."

Alexis: "I appreciate that."

Sonny: "I trust you."

Alexis: "And that costs me. Do you understand that?"

Sonny: "Well, maybe it's too much. Look, you know, I'm not saying that you're wrong because you want to move out of here. I'm just saying that if I lose you, then, you know…If I push you away, it costs me, too, ok? Maybe more than I thought."

*** FLASHBACK ***

Sonny: "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't see you as a consolation prize? I love you just the way you are!" He exclaimed placing his hands softly on Alexis' arms rubbing them, while Alexis was ready to get a heart attack over him professing his love for her so suddenly.

Alexis: "You what?"

Sonny: "I know that I'm not one to carry my feelings on my sleeve, but one thing that hasn't changed since your time as my attorney is that I still trust you, believe in you, and love you.

Alexis: "There is more to consider here than just the two of us…"

Sonny: "I know - our children; Christopher and Kristina…" He replied looking deeply into Alexis' eyes finding that for the first time her eyes told the truth - he was their father.

chapter 11