Justus
sat in silence on Alexis’ sofa processing the story he’d
just been told. The single word the attorney had uttered since Sonny
had wrapped the tale: “Damn.”
Then he heaved in a deep breath and seesawed a mystified look between
the two of them. “So why am I here?”
“We were kinda hoping you had some ideas,” Sonny said.
“I mean, we know you worked with the Justice Department some
time back and…”
“Nah, I mean, whose side am I on?” Justus clarified. “I
gotta wonder why you guys are sitting here strategizing together.
You two do realize that you’re on opposite sides of this thing,
right?”
“No, actually, we’re not,” Alexis said. “We
talked a lot before you got here. And we each want the same thing:
for the other one to stay out of jail. We just don’t know exactly
how to do that.”
“That’s because neither one of you is David Copperfield,”
Justus quipped, “and it’s gonna take magic…or a miracle…to
accomplish that.”
He spied the crestfallen expressions on each of their faces, and
he sighed and relented a bit. “It’s not totally hopeless,
but when the feds want somebody this bad, they’ll do almost
anything to bag ‘em. You have to think out of the box to get
out of this one.”
He took a pad of paper from his brief case and noted down the date.
“As of right now, I am the attorney of record for you both.
That’s so I can’t testify to anything that Alexis says
from here on out. Agreed?”
Both Alexis and Sonny nodded.
“Now let’s get down some ideas: anybody considered running
for the border?”
Sonny cast Alexis an evil look, and Justus laughed. “Just kidding,”
the attorney said. “Trying to lighten the mood, guys. We should
look at precedents in the case law, Alexis. You know, other times
when a mob guy—‘scuse me Sonny—has gone up against
informants in his own family or organization.”
“Well, you can look up an old case of mine cuz this has happened
to me before,” Sonny said making a wry face. “Remember,
Lexis?”
She nodded. “Carly thought she’d help Sonny with one of
his enemies and ended up implicating him in a huge FBI mess. It
was awful. The FBI had a couple of made guys as witnesses. So they
needed somebody outside the organization to make a stronger case.
Hence, they tried to force Carly to testify against Sonny.”
“But they couldn’t right?” Justus noted, pencil flying
across his legal pad. “Cuz you can’t compel a wife to
testify against her husband.”
“Well, this was before Sonny and Carly were married. In fact,
I came up with the idea that they marry in the first place to save
Sonny from prosecution.”
Justus greeted Alexis’ words with complete silence; she looked
up him quizzically. “What?”
“They married and the case fell apart?” Justus paraphrased.
“Ye-es,” Alexis replied slowly, obviously confused by
the stupefied expression on the face staring across at her.
“A wife can’t be forced to testify against her husband,
right?”
“I think we’ve established that, yes. What’s up?”
He simply stared at her unblinking for what seemed like an hour
then looked at Sonny, a grin spreading across his face. “History
may just have to repeat itself.”
“What are you talking about, Jus—”
Alexis’ voice trailed off as she froze like a deer in headlights
staring at him. “Are you suggesting…You’re not saying…that
the only way out of this is to…I—we—he’s already
married!”
Sonny shook his head. “Technically, I’m not.”
“What d’you mean ‘technically I’m not’?”
Alexis flashed. “That’s like being a little bit pregnant.
Either you’re married or you’re not. You live with her!”
“For Michael,” Sonny answered softly. “We—after
her thing with Alcazar and then Sam being in my life…we went
forward with the divorce. We settled the custody stuff, as you know.
And now…though I live there with her…I am not married
to her.”
Alexis’ mouth was open so wide a truck could have driven in.
It was so cute, Justus smiled despite himself. She swung her disbelieving
gaze back to him.
“It’s true,” he informed her. “I filed the papers
myself.”
Justus watched Alexis. She seemed to let their words sink in for
a moment before she launched herself to her feet and began pacing
the room. “Well, so what if he’s single. I cannot—I
will not—marry him. I mean, that’s just ridiculous. No
one will buy the mobster and the lawyer getting hitched after all
the fighting and squabbling we’ve done!”
“Why not? Fighting and squabbling is what me and Carly are
known for and we been married I don’t know how many times,
Lex.”
“He’s got you there, Counselor,” Justus responded.
Alexis shot him “the Cassadine look of death” and kept
arguing her side. “This is absolutely, positively impossible
and should be taken off the table as an option right now because
no one in his right mind could actually buy Sonny Corinthos and
Alexis Davis in a marriage. That idea ascends to new heights of
ridiculousness and—and--and I, for one, cannot be party to
any plan that includes such a doomed proposition in the first place—”
“Breathe,” Sonny told her as she came to the end of her
lung capacity and had to sit down on the couch before she fell down.
Sonny leaned over towards Justus. “Asthma,” he explained
deadpan expression in place.
“Sonny,” Alexis wheezed, “this is not on the table,
right? You agree with me? Right?”
He looked at her and shook his head. “Apparently we have found
the one option which—for Alexis—would be worse than prison:
becoming my wife.”
She heard the sarcasm in his tone judging by the glare she sent
his way. “I didn’t say that. I’m simply saying that
we need to explore other more…viable and less…disruptive
options before we settle on something this…drastic.”
“So not only am I undesirable but disruptive and drastic as
well,” Sonny muttered to Justus. “Gee, she really knows
how to stroke a guy’s ego.”
“Just stop it, you two,” she commanded in a tone that
reminded Justus of his sixth grade teacher. “We have to come
up with some real ideas. Now let’s forget about the nuptials
and get down to work.”
Justus held up his hand in a mock salute as Alexis huffed back to
her seat. But he couldn’t help but notice how agitated the
woman had gotten in the last few minutes.
Did she know she was protesting too much? Did she know that anyone
with eyes could see that she was scared witless to be caught in
a marriage deal with Sonny? Could it be all that animosity they’d
been spitting for the past months Justus had been back in town was
a cover for some other deeper emotions?
He grinned to himself and received the look of death from Alexis
again. So he cleared his throat and turned to business.
It was to no one’s surprise an hour and a half later that they
had to return to the plan that had made Alexis hyperventilate. Each
eventuality they had mapped out had come with too great a cost for
Sonny, Alexis, or the both of them.
Justus rubbed his neck wearily as he stared at Alexis’ obstinate
posture at the end of the sofa. Folded arms, foot tapping, eyes
on the opposite wall. She was infuriated.
“There's no guarantee it'll work, Counselor, but marriage is
still the best choice you’ve got,” he told her. “I’d
sleep on it and then make a decision. But in my opinion, this is
what you need to do.”
He stood to his feet, stretching, and reaching for his briefcase.
“I’ll be in touch when Dara gets some info on the case…oh,
man, Dara’s at my place. She is gonna kill me and hide the
body.”
Sonny stood and showed him to the door. “Thanks, man. I appreciate
you coming over on such short notice. Tell Dara I’m sorry.”
Justus gave a look of chagrin. “I don’t think I’ll
mention either of your names when I get back…if she’s
even still there. See ya.”
