There is an invisible cord that ties mother to child ... and in their family, for generations now, that cord has been made of secrets, lies, betrayals and an unbending unshakeable love that survives even death.

Alexis knew this since she was a little orphan girl, and she knows it even better now that she is the mother of a grown daughter.

The day Samantha was born and Alexis held her perfectly formed little miracle, her fighter, her legacy in her hands ... that second in time still remains the most amazing moment of her life.

For a precious few moments she was blissfully happy and nothing else mattered. That a man would come soon and rip her daughter away did not exist in her reality. That they may never meet again or that her child would ache for her, cry for her, be abused, or in pain and Alexis could not save her ... it wasn't real in her mind for just that minute. All that mattered was counting little toes and fingers, kissing her sweet smelling head, and running her fingers through the wispy brown curls.

So every time Sam tests Alexis, like she is now, while they stare each other down in the interrogation room, Alexis lets her mind drift back to the day Sam was born, and lets her heart fill with that all consuming love ... a love that can withstand anything, forgive everything, understand the worst, and always hold out hope for the best.

"I can't believe you are siding with that scum Jerry over me. He set me up!"

"You should have came to me months ago. What were you thinking? Working with Karpov. If he thinks you've turned on him, he'll kill you."

"Then you would be rid of me. Maybe that's all you really want anyway."

The words cut Alexis like a dull knife, one she is used to feeling shoved into her ribs. If only it wasn't so hard to say the things she needs to tell her daughter ... to say the words that make the anger wash away. But whenever she opens her mouth, all the wrong words come out instead. "Don't answer any questions until your lawyer shows up."

"Tell me you believe me, Mom."

Mom. She spits it out like a weapon. With her genes, she was born to be ruthless.

"I don't know what to believe anymore. I just know that you and Jerry are both playing a very deadly game these days. I don't want to see you lose."

"Sure you do. Because that way you can keep pretending like Jerry isn't psychotic. And that's all that really matters to you, right? So what if you have to bury a daughter over it."

Alexis is used to hearing these kind of things from Sam. She knows its her daughter's way of pushing her to make sure she can't push hard enough for Alexis to let go of her again.

Sam doesn't realize the cord that is strung between them is woven tight and its not about to break, not even if Sam takes a hatchet to it.

"I'm well aware of what kind of man Jerry is. I thought you knew that too. Obviously not. So let me fill you in before you really do pay the ultimate price." Alexis sets a file on the table and flips it open. "This is the body of his last girlfriend. He killed her and threw her in the ocean. She washed up ten days later, after the sharks had gotten to her. This is what was left." She bends down until she is very close to Sam and says, "Don't go near him again."

"Because you want him all to yourself."

"Exactly."

With that Alexis walks out of the room and heads straight to Mac's office. After locking the door, she leans against it. "I don't think I can keep this up much longer."

His face is full of sympathy as he walks over to her. "I told you from the start you were risking too much to bring him down."

If Mac really knew just how far she has gone, Alexis knows he would never look at her the same. It's a fear that haunts her. Because, over the last few months, she's grown to love the way he looks at her. "Stringing him along is the easiest way to get him to drop his guard."

"He's dangerous. We can find another way to get Jerry. You shouldn't have to date him and fight off his advances just to build a case on him. That's not how we do things around here--"

"How we do things around here never works. He messed with my daughter. He's mine ... by any means necessary."

His eyes grow dark with hunger. He loves when she gets like this. His mouth slams into hers and she loses her train of thought. The pain from seeing Sam kissing Jerry dissipates into nothingness, and all Alexis knows is that Mac wants her.

He doesn't really know her. Not after all these years. He doesn't know her secrets and lies. Only two people ever really did ... Stefan and Sonny. One is dead and the other is living in his own little world of pain, a place that has no room for her. So here she is, across town, with the lips of a good man who believes in her kissing away the bruises on her soul that her daughter inflicted.

It's a twisted little life Alexis leads, with so many secrets swimming around in her veins, so much she'd like to scream aloud but she just can't find the words that might change everything. So she goes on ... fighting for justice and fighting for her family ... gate keeping ... mothering ... loving and aching and knowing ... that even if she loses Mac, in the end, she will not regret what she has done.

She did it all for love. Love of her first born.

And it's all been worth it.