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True Part 5 Author's Note: If you're not sure what the Ice Princess is, there is a small part of this story that won't make sense to you. Ask your friends or neighbors who were watching GH in the glory days. They'll tell you. **** That summer, which was the happiest summer Sonny could remember (and he told her so), they decided to teach other things. Sonny taught Alexis cooking (as much as he was able; she was a difficult student), and Alexis taught Sonny poetry. "How oft when men…" Sonny put his hand over Alexis's on the wooden spoon, and guided her stirring. "How oft when men are at the point of death…" "Why are you making me learn poems about death? Why did all these people write about death?" Sonny asked, clutching her fingers with his, wrapping both their right hands tightly around the spoon. "Because it's beautiful! And you said you wanted to learn the great ones. Come on: 'How oft when men are at the point of death / Have they been merry! Which their keepers call….' Hey! Stop that!" Alexis giggled involuntarily, and tried to slap his left hand away where it was tickling her side. Sonny stopped his tickling, but let his hand rest against the indent of her waist. His hand grew hot there. "I know this one already. 'Which their keepers call / A lightning before death.' Which one is this one?" "It's Shakespeare. It's 'Romeo and Juliet.' This is the one you said you wanted to learn!" Alexis raised the wooden spoon from the pot and tasted the sauce by darting out just the tip of her pink tongue. "Mmmm, not bad!" she said, smiling and surprised. "Mmm," Sonny echoed, staring at her lips and thinking about the tip of her tongue. "I only asked you to teach me that one because that was the ballet I took my mother to. Where we met." He leaned forward and put his cheek against hers, then moved her hand so the spoon touched his mouth. "That's pretty good," he said, licking off a few drops of the sauce. "Thank you!" Alexis beamed. "I made it!" Sonny laughed. "I stirred," she retorted, and went back to stirring. "There's a good poem about a first meeting, you know. It starts, 'I wish I could remember the first day, / First hour, first moment of your meeting me; / If bright or dim the season, it might be / Summer or winter for aught I can say. / So unrecorded did it slip away." "I don't have to learn that one," Sonny said. "Why not?" Alexis turned halfway around, and looked a little shocked at how close his face was to hers. All of a sudden, she seemed to realize she was standing practically in his arms. "Because I remember the first moment of meeting you. And I'll never forget it," he said without smiling. Mrs. Cerullo's voice rang out from the hallway. "You kids okay in there? Not burning down my kitchen?" "We're fine, Mrs. C!" Sonny answered for them both. **** A month had passed, and they still hadn't kissed. Sonny was becoming…restless didn't even cover it. All his teachers at school had told him he lacked patience, and now he guessed they were about one thousand percent right. If he had to wait one more night to kiss Alexis… "Wild Nights -- Wild Nights! / Were I with thee / Wild Nights should be / Our luxury!" Alexis leaned back on her elbows and gazed up at the constellations. It was still so warm, at ten o'clock, that they didn't even need coats. "Who wrote that one?" Sonny asked, looking not at the stars but at her face, which was glowing in their light. "Emily Dickinson," she said, her eyes darting around the bright dots, tracing them into shapes she probably recognized from books. "A wild night sounds pretty good right now," Sonny murmured. "What?" Alexis shifted her gaze to his face. "Nothing. Do you have to go home so soon?" "Soon?! It's later than Stefan's ever let me stay out! Besides, I've already called. Jacques will be here in about ten minutes." She threw her head back again and her focused far away on the stars. They were on the stoop in front of the Cerullos', and more than a few of the neighbors were out on their stoops, because that is what is done in Brooklyn in the summers, when even at ten o'clock it's seventy degrees. "Do you ever think of what you might be when you grow up?" "I think of what you'll be," Sonny said. "What do you think I'll be?" "I think you'll make a terrific lawyer." Alexis laughed, but only for a moment. She bit her lip and said, "Actually, I think you're right. I think I'd be a pretty good lawyer. But what about you?" Sonny looked away from her, up at the stars. "I hope you're not working for Joe Scully when I'm off practicing law somewhere, Sonny," Alexis said, sitting upright and staring at his profile. He still didn't look at her. **** "I can't believe it's already been two months," Alexis said, holding Sonny's hand covertly, under the table, at Mauricio's. They had been talking about when she would return to school. "You'll remember to write me? You won't forget about me?" Sonny said, his thumb stroking the silken skin on the back of her hand. Three girls walked into Mauricio's, but it was more like strutting. They wore tight capri pants and shirts cut way low in the front. They approached the table where Sonny and Alexis sat alone. The one in the middle put one hand on the table in front of Sonny and leaned forward, giving him a good view. "You never come by anymore, Sonny," she said, batting her mascara-thickened lashes. "I've been busy, Danielle," Sonny said, glaring at the girl. But Alexis drew her hand away from his, under the table. A few more words exchanged, then Danielle gave a coy smile and, with a glance at Alexis, said, "Come by when you're not so busy," and strutted out the door with her friends. "Your ex-girlfriend?" Alexis asked, arching an eyebrow. Sonny shrugged. "I wouldn't say she was ever my 'girlfriend'…" "Your ex-what, then?" Sonny could feel her pulling up into her straightest boarding-school posture. He could feel a cross-examination coming on. "What does it matter if I've fooled around with other girls?" Sonny said, and he knew it was the wrong thing to say when Alexis rose to her feet and walked stiffly out of the coffee shop without so much as looking at him. "Hey!" Sonny called to her back, which was stomping off towards Eastern Parkway. Alexis turned and waited for him to catch up. Her arms were crossed in front of her. He had learned this was not a good sign with her. He feared her right finger coming up to point at him…okay, there it was. "It matters," she said, pointing, her jaw set, "because I haven't fooled around with *anyone*, and you've probably been with a dozen girls like Danielle, who, even though they never earned the title of 'girlfriend,' certainly earned the right to flash their…*assets* at you in the middle of public places while you're sitting with friends!" Alexis was breathless when she finally concluded, and panting a little. Sonny looked down, muttered, and shook his head. "What was that?" Alexis asked, both arms now crossed securely in front of her slightly heaving chest. "I said, you told me you'd be angry." Sonny raised his eyebrows at her. "What? When?" Alexis frowned. "In my dream. I had a dream where you found out that I'd…been with other girls before you, and I asked you if you would be angry, and you said you would." "Well, you see, I was right! Wait..did you say you had a dream about me? Did you say other girls *before me*? What is that supposed to…?" Alexis's arms were dropping slowly to her sides, and Sonny took advantage of the opening to grasp her hands with his. "You also told me I should make it up to you, and I promised I would." He tried smiling at her, and it worked; she smiled back, just a little, while frowning at the same time. "How are you going to do that?" *Remember this*, Sonny told himself, as he leaned forward and touched Alexis's brown curls and then cradled her soft cheek in his palm and kissed her honey-sweet lips for as long as they could both hold their breath. **** Three weeks before she had to leave, Alexis got to Mauricio's a little earlier than Sonny expected her. He was counting out the money from one of his pick-ups, and there was a thousand dollars in small bills on the table in front of him when she walked in. He saw her gasp, and turn right back around and walk out. He stood and started to chase after her, but Petey restrained him with a hand to his shoulder. "The bag-man doesn't leave until the count is done," Petey said, none too gently. Sonny let him push him back in his chair, and finished counting out. Half an hour later, he found Alexis sitting in the Cerullos' living room, eating popcorn and watching cartoons with Joey, Gino, and Lois. They went to the movies, and Alexis bought more popcorn, which she finished by herself. Neither of them mentioned the thousand bucks she'd seen on the table. **** Two weeks before she left, a large man with thinning white hair, an expensive coat, and five bodyguards marched into Mauricio's, where Sonny and Alexis were playing a hand of poker. "Hey, who the hell are you?" Phil yelled. There was no one who entered Mauricio's whom Phil did not know. "Where is Mr. Scully?" the white-haired man said in a thick accent. "Oh my God," Alexis whispered, her eyes fixed on the man. Sonny looked at her, concerned. Her mouth was hanging open. Joe Scully came out of his office and took in the sight of six tall, broad men looming in the coffee shop. "Who are you? What is this, a shakedown? Nobody shakes me down!" Scully motioned to his guys to pull out their heat, but the bodyguards of the white-haired man already had their pistols drawn by the time Scully's crew got their hands in their jacket pockets. "Okay," Scully said, nodding. "Who are you?" "My name is Mikkos Cassadine. I am not here to speak with you. I simply wish you to vacate the premises while I speak with my niece." "Your niece? Who the hell…?" Then Scully followed Mikkos's gaze to Alexis's frightened face. "Here is something for your trouble," Mikkos said, and one of his henchman handed Scully a bulging envelope. "Now, please leave. I wish to speak with my niece alone." "Why don't you just take her outside?" Scully asked, but he didn't refuse the money. "Because Cassadines do not move for others. Others move to accommodate us," Mikkos said simply. "Now, go." The five henchman still had their pistols drawn, and Mikkos had already begun to remove his coat, so Scully waved to his guys to clear the shop. They were out in five minutes. "Can my friend stay, Uncle?" Alexis asked in a timid voice when Sonny was about to leave. It was the first time Sonny had heard her sound timid. Mikkos sat across from the two of them. "What is his name?" "Sonny Corinthos," Alexis answered. "Corinthos? Greek?" Mikkos asked. "Yes. Half." "Alright, he may stay." But he did not make eye contact with Sonny, nor speak to him, nor acknowledge him in any way. "My dear, I have come to New York only to meet with your uncles, Victor and Anthony. But I must leave today. I am going back to the island." "Uncle Tony and Uncle Victor were here? But I didn't see them…" "They have been in a small backwater called Port Charles, upstate. Never mind. You will never have a reason to go there. I am returning to the island today, and I would like you to come with me. Plans have been set in motion; I want you to be safe, with your family." "Where will the others be?" Alexis asked. "It is true that your cousins are not coming to the island. But they have businesses to manage. You do not." Alexis lowered her gaze to the tabletop. "Where will Helena be?" "I promise you, Helena will not be on the island while you are there. I will do everything I can to keep you safe from her." Sonny thought he saw tears in Alexis's eyes. Mikkos took her hand gently. "Will you come, my dear?" Mikkos asked. "I will if you command it, Uncle," Alexis said, in a very low voice, "but if I have a choice, I would like to stay. I like my school here. I don't wish to go back to the island." *Ever.* Alexis didn't say it, but Sonny heard it in her voice. Mikkos stared at her for a few seconds, then sighed loudly. "Very well. Then I will say goodbye to you now." For a moment, it looked as though he would turn away, but then he seemed to focus intensely on Alexis's face. "You know, that you are very dear to me, do you not?" he asked in what was probably, for him, a gentle voice. Alexis nodded, but Sonny could tell from her expression that she knew no such thing. Mikkos lifted a finger and pressed it to Alexis's cheekbone. "You look…just like your mother. I loved her very much." Then, Mikkos rose abruptly, donned his coat, and walked to the door, followed by his bodyguards. "By the way, it will become very, very cold on this coast quite soon. Winter will come early for you this year. Dress warmly. Goodbye, my dear." After he'd gone, Sonny said, "But it's still summer. Winter won't start for months." Alexis looked sad when she said, "If Uncle Mikkos tells winter to come, it will come." **** Sonny kissed her and memorized every curve of her back, every strand of her hair beneath his hands as he kissed her. When he pulled back, he put his forehead to hers. "You won't forget? You promise?" "I'll write every chance I get," Alexis said. The driver was waiting, and they were already late. Stefan was expecting her back at his townhouse by two, so he could see her off. "I'm gonna start writing to you the minute you leave. There'll be a letter waiting when you get there." "Thank you for the letter." Alexis leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "And thank you for this summer." "Best summer of my life." "You keep saying that," Alexis said. He thought he could hear the smile in her voice. "I've never been so happy," Sonny said. Alexis looked over her shoulder at the driver, waiting. "I've never been so sad." "Yeah, me too," Sonny nodded. He watched until her car disappeared around the corner, then he went back into the Cerullos' house and took out a sheet of paper from Gino's school binder. Sonny sat down at the kitchen table and began writing: "Dear Alexis: I learned more poems than you think this summer. This one is by W.B. Yeats, and it reminds me of you: I
whispered, "I am too young,"
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