The Miracle
by Susanne

Chapter 7 - Alexis - The Mother

A few days had passed, and Alexis, Kristina and Grace were beginning to function like a real family, which they in a sense were. Alexis was in the nursery changing Kristina, when there was a knock at the door, and Grace went to answer it.

Grace: "Yes?" She replied, when she faced a man in his mid 30'ies, with brown hair, and who looked familiar to her.

Man: "Ned Ashton! I believe I bumped into you at the hospital some time ago?" He replied, as he shook Grace's hand, while holding a huge teddy bear in his other hand.

Grace: "Grace Robertson. That's right! You're the Ned, who Alexis left at the altar aren't you?" She asked sarcastically, as she considered Ned to be an asshole for having left Alexis alone at the hospital.

Ned: "Excuse me?" He asked, as Grace made him step into the hallway, followed by her closing the door to the apartment.

Grace: "Look…I'm not usually this way with people I've never met before. However…When a guy leaves a distraught woman alone to watch over her baby that tells me something not so flattering about the guy!"

Ned: "Grace, if you're close to Alexis then you also know that she can be quite a handful."

Grace: "That's no excuse for your behavior. Alexis has been played around with by Helena, Stavros and most recently Carly. You'd think that one could expect better treatment from one's friends."

Ned: "Alexis wanted me to just step aside, and let her raise Kristina alone. I wanted to let her see how that would be!"

Grace: "So you being her 'friend' left her alone for 2 months, and even when you heard that Kristina was being released you didn't even bother to visit?"

Ned: "I'm visiting now aren't I? Besides I've seen you with Alexis, and you seemed to be able to comfort her better than either Jax or me!"

Grace: "Well…Unlike you Jax actually has been by at the hospital a couple of times to show Alexis his support. You know what your problem is?"

Ned: "You?"

Grace: "That too, but actually you're so damn jealous of the fact that Sonny was able to touch a part of Alexis you'll never even get within one inch of. Alexis has given Sonny the most beautiful, and precious gift a woman can give a man; a child. And furthermore Alexis has gone to Sonny for support the last 3 or 4 years, not to you, not to Jax, but to Sonny Corinthos. That really must have hurt, huh? So much so in fact you'd keep Sonny's own flesh and blood away from him. You and Carly would actually be perfect for each other; self-centered to the max!"

Ned: "You don't know anything about me lady, and I'm sure as hell nothing like Carly!"

Grace: "You're right I stand corrected. Carly has only been married what? 3 or 4 times, where as you Mr. Ashton has vowed your life to a woman 5 and almost 6 times."

Ned: "I loved Alexis' sister; Kristina very much, and because I said I was Alexis' baby's father I lost her. I have a right to see her!"

Grace: "You made decisions for people, who didn't want them made! You made them for Sonny, Alexis, Kristina, and the baby. You made sure that Sonny would never know he had a child on the way, you made Alexis lie to her own sister, you made Kristina; the so - called 'love of your life' hurt for days, and finally you took away that baby's only chance of a real family. You know what? Sonny might be dishonest, dangerous and egoistical but he doesn't deliberately set out to hurt people, he claims to care about."

Ned: "You don't even know him! And you don't know me or Alexis' sister!"

Grace: "You're right on all the above, but someone I do know is Alexis. I'm probably together with Sonny the only one who's ever really going to know her. Let's just get something straight here Mr. Ashton: you walked out on Alexis in the NICU when her baby was in critical condition to teach Alexis a lesson. I know how difficult Alexis can be at times, but since this baby is her only way of letting her sister's legacy live on you should have stuck by her, but you didn't. You're a self - centered jerk, who I hope will never get even an inch near that baby girl in there. Which is also why I want you to leave this very second, I don't want Alexis to see you…"

Alexis: "Grace…That's quite enough!" She replied, interrupting Ned and Grace's conversation.

Grace: "Lexie, I was just…"

Alexis: "I know that you were just trying to stick up for Kristina and me, and I appreciate that. Would you mind going into the nursery to watch her, while Ned and I talk in the livingroom?"

Grace: "Are you sure?"

Alexis: "I'm positive!" She replied, as Grace made her way into the apartment, and then into the nursery.

Ned: "That friend of yours is some handful!" He replied, as Alexis closed the door, and Ned sat down on the couch, after having placed the teddy bear next to the couch.

Alexis: "Grace and I always took care of each other, and that's all she's doing now. She's in a way like Kristina. That's probably also the reason why I've always felt Grace present when she wasn't even there. And like Kristina, Grace is only trying to look out for my best interest, which according to her would be for you to leave us all alone." She replied, as she sat down opposite him on the couch.

Ned: "I'm just as much a parent of that baby as you are Alexis. Maybe not biological, but in my heart I am!"

Alexis: "I want you to hear me Ned: I'll never be able to repay you for sticking up for both my baby and me that day Sonny asked if he was the father. But just because you sticked up for the baby and me doesn't' mean that you get to tell my daughter or me what to do. I know that you loved Kristina very much, but projecting the love you felt for her onto my daughter isn't going to work. My baby can't be a substitute for the mate you lost. I won't let her be, and I'm sorry if this is hurting you but if that's your attitude then I think you'd better follow Grace's suggestion, and stay away from us."

Ned: "I won't be separated from my own child Alexis!"

Alexis: "For the very last time KRISTINA ISN'T YOUR CHILD NED!!" She yelled out loud, as the baby also began to scream in the nursery. Alexis made her way to the nursery, and a few minutes later Grace came out from the nursery.

Grace: "I think you'd better leave Ned!"

Ned: "I'm not leaving until I see my daughter!"

Grace: "Did you miss school the day the teacher's told you about sex? You can only be Kristina's father if you were in fact WITH Alexis in the biblical sense, which you weren't!"

Ned: "Sonny seems to think so!"

Grace: "Well…Sonny obviously flunked math's, otherwise he would also have found out that he indeed is the father of Kristina. Goodbye Ned!" She replied, as she followed him to the door, and shut it close with a bang.

Outside the door Ned stood with his hands in front of his face, as his cell phone rang, which he answered quickly.

Ned: "Ned Ashton, here!"

Caller: "Mr. Ashton, this is your lucky day. My name is Faith Roscoe, and I have a proposition for you. I'll call you later with the details, but if that baby is as important to you, as you let on you won't want to miss my 2nd call!" She replied, before hanging up.

Ned: "I won't let Corinthos win this time around. He might have gotten Michael, but he sure as hell isn't getting Kristina!" He vowed, before making his way out of the apartment complex.
Grace: "It's clear now!" She said, as she watched Ned get into his car.

Alexis: "Who does he think he is? But even though he was out of line, so were you! If that was the way you talked to Carly it's no wonder I haven't gotten a call or visit by her yet!"

Grace: "I just don't see the necessity to beat around the bush. I tell people the truth, and I don't let the people I care about accept a verbal beating. I care about you Alexis, and since I seem to be the only one in your corner at the moment I'm fit for fight!"

Alexis: "Well…Kristina calmed down, as soon as Ned stopped talking so that must be good, huh?" She joked, as the two friends made themselves comfortable on the couch.

Grace: "Absolutely! Can I ask you something?"

Alexis: "Sure, but I can't promise that I'll be able to answer it!"

Grace: "You're sure you can't see any way for you and Sonny to raise that baby together? I mean I get you being afraid for Kristina, but don't you realize that you could at the same time be throwing away your future?"

Alexis: "Look…Sonny isn't harboring any romantic feelings for me!"

Grace: "How do you know that? You can't know the answer to my question before you face your feelings for that man first. Alexis you're my best friend, and I'm saying this with all due respect but you have intimacy problems!"

Alexis: "Huh?"

Grace: "You completely shut down when people try to get close to that heart of yours. And I know that with your crazy history you do have the right, but…This isn't Greece, and Sonny isn't some boogey man like Helena."

Alexis: "Sonny Corinthos used to be my best friend because we were so similar on certain points. We'd both had a childhood without any real father figures. We met our sisters' later on in life, and we had trust issues. But after we were together, and Carly came back it was like a light went on in front of me. You know…I was finally able to see him for who, and what he was. And when Kristina died that light only got stronger."

Grace: "I'm just asking because I don't like someone like Ned going around with so much knowledge without knowing what he's planning on doing with it! He could decide to go to Sonny!"

Alexis: "I don't think so, because then he'd be giving Kristina to him on a silver platter, and even if that was true I don't think that Sonny would believe him. There's so much animosity between the two of them that Sonny would probably just write it off as Ned's type of revenge, as saying 'I've got something you don't'."

Grace: "That's a pretty sick kind of revenge!"

Alexis: "If you only knew, which kind of family Ned comes from you wouldn't be saying that? I'm going to bed - goodnight!" She replied, before kissing Grace goodnight on the cheek, and leaving the livingroom.

chapter 8