a fanfic by SonnyandAlexisGal
Chapter Nine
The thought makes her sad.
The door opens and in bounces Kristina, dressed in her jeans and a sweatshirt.
“What’s next?” Kristina asks as Ned quietly follows her into the apartment, leaving the door open behind them.
“That load is in the new place,” he says. “Is there anything else upstairs?”
“Uh – no,” Alexis says as she makes her way to her feet. “Everything’s gone from upstairs. I…I guess you can start on those boxes near the door.”
“Wait a minute!” Kristina says. “I’m thirsty. I left a bottle of water in the frig. Be right back!”
Kristina disappears into the kitchen as Alexis studies the room around her.
“Alexis?” Ned begins tentatively. “You’re doing the right thing.”
“Thank you,” Alexis responds distantly as she looks around the living room.
“Your baby will never be safe living next door to Sonny…”
“Who just…happens to be her father…”
“Alexis,” Ned says, “I’m trying to find some middle ground here. Can you at least meet me half way?”
“I…” Alexis takes a deep breath. “I’ve…got a lot on my mind right now, Ned. If I’m a bit distant, I apologize. And thank you for helping us move.”
“You’re welcome,” Ned answers. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
She turns to look at Ned. When she looks past him at the open door, she notices Sonny standing there, Max standing next to him and Johnny not far behind – standing at his post, as instructed.
“So that’s it?” Alexis says as she walks to the door. “What are you going to do – keep me here against my will?” She stands in front of him. “I am moving, Sonny. You can’t stop me.”
Sonny’s eyes roam around the nearly empty space in what was once Alexis’ warm and cozy living room and the full impact of what is happening hits him.
Alexis’ eyes make contact with Sonny’s in that instant. She sees a quick flash of the hurt in them before he turns and silently walks away. Her eyes follow Sonny until he is out of sight, Max dutifully following behind. Alexis hears Sonny’s door open and then quietly close.
“Well, I guess that’s it,” Ned says.
Alexis fights the tears that want so desperately to fall from her eyes.
“I guess so,” she manages.
___________________________________________________________________
Sonny walks over to the bar and pours a large glass full of scotch. He reaches into the ice bucket and picks up a couple of cubes, dropping them into his drink. Then he takes a deep breath and blows it back out, trying to keep himself from exploding.
She’s really movin’ out, he tells himself. She’s movin’ and there’s nothin’ I can do about it…
He feels angry. Yet, he knows perfectly well why she’s doing what she’s doing and, on some level, he even understands. But understanding why doesn’t stop the feelings of betrayal.
“Boss,” Max begins, “how do you want the situation with Miss Davis handled?”
She’s taking my baby away, Sonny’s mind continues – the baby that’s supposed to sleep in that crib upstairs...
“Boss?”
“What?” Sonny almost shouts.
“What do you want done with Miss Davis moving?” he asks. “Do you want to put a guard on her?”
“Absolutely,” Sonny answers. “She doesn’t get a say about that. Make sure she’s covered at all times. No slip-ups.”
“Yes, Boss,” Max says. “Anything else?”
Sonny shakes his head no.
“Nah,” he says quietly. “Tell Johnny to stay with Alexis through the day and once she’s all moved in to her new place, tell him to wait there ‘til Francis relieves him later on tonight.”
“Whatever you say, Boss.”
Max walks to the front door, opens it and steps out, quietly closing it behind him.
Sonny picks up the full glass of scotch and gulps down a lot of it as he wanders over to the window and tries as hard as he can to do nothing – nothing at all to stop Alexis from leaving.
One after another, the memories begin to flood into his consciousness – the first time she represented him at the PCPD, the time she asked whether or not he was flirting with her when he knew that he had been, the vague memory of her voice as he lay there with those bullets lodged in his chest, the first time his lips touched hers. He remembers how afraid he was when she was shot – how he wouldn’t leave her side until he knew that she would be alright. He remembers how when she came home from the hospital, all he wanted to do was to take care of her and how she yelled at him more than once that he was smothering her. He remembers how once she was well, he couldn’t help staring at her and wanting to touching her all the time. She had his heart before then but his fate was sealed during the time that she stayed with him – during those weeks when their baby was conceived.
Sonny remembers how much he wanted the baby that Carly was carrying and how much it hurt when she lost it. But Carly would never have been the woman he would have picked to be the mother of his child. Lily would have been a wonderful mother but he would never have picked her, either. In fact, of all the women that have ever been in his life, Sonny knows that Alexis is the one. She is the only woman that he would ever have picked to be the mother to his child. Despite what she has always believed about herself, she is kind-hearted. She is nurturing. She is tender. Sonny knows that she will be a wonderful mother and that their child will be very lucky to have her – as he has been.
But you won’t take my baby away from me, Alexis. Sooner or later, whatever it takes, I will play a role my daughter’s life…no matter what…
Sonny hears raised voices coming from the hall just outside. He walks to the desk, puts down his glass, pulls open the front door. He walks out into the hall and sees Mike standing outside of Alexis’ apartment door and Alexis facing him and poor Johnny in the middle.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Mike says.
“I’m afraid this is none of your business, Mike,” Alexis says.
“Mike…” Sonny says as patiently as he can.
“I’m doing what’s best for this baby,” Alexis insists.
“And you’re letting this happen?” Mike asks Sonny, incredulously.
Sonny stares at Alexis for a brief moment and then turns away again.
“Let her go,” he dismisses as he walks back to his apartment.
“Sonny,” Mike begins as he follows, “are you saying that you’re okay with this?”
“If Alexis wants to move then, you know…there’s really nothin’ I can do about it, Mike...”
“I really wish you wouldn’t discuss me behind my back,” Alexis calls after them – to no response.
“You’re just going to stand by and allow this to happen?” she hears Mike ask just before she hears the sound of a door closing.
“Don’t respond all at once…” she mutters to herself. She looks at Johnny. “You heard me, didn’t you?”
He smiles.
“Yes, Miss Davis,” he answers.
“Good,” Alexis says as she wanders back into her apartment. “Just checking…
“I can’t believe that you’re letting her do this,” Mike says.
“What do you want me to do, Mike?” Sonny demands as he sits on the sofa.
“Look,” Mike continues, “you love her. If you let her walk out of your life, Michael…you’ll be making a huge mistake...”
“So is this what you came to see me about?” Sonny interrupts.
“What?”
“You came up here to see me. Is this what you wanted to talk about?”
“Michael…”
“Leave it alone, Mike.”
“Sonny, you can’t just let Alexis walk away like this…”
“Leave it alone!” Sonny yells. Afterward he takes a deep breath and blows it back out, taking control of himself once more. “This is my life, okay? If Alexis wants to leave then, you know…she can leave. I’m not gonna beg her to stay. She wants to go then let her. I don’t need her…I don’t need anybody.”
“You need Alexis.”
“Uh, no. Actually, I needed a father when I was growin’ up but he wasn’t around so, you know…whatever…”
Mike throws up his hands, recognizing Sonny’s tendency to push people away whenever he’s hurt. Now it’s his turn.
“Fine, Sonny,” he says as he walks to the front door. “You obviously want me to go so I’ll go.” He opens the door. “But if you lose Alexis and this baby, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life!”
Sonny says nothing as the front door slams shut.
___________________________________________________________________
Later that night, Kristina walks out of the kitchen and turns off the light as she joins Alexis in the empty living room of PH2.
“Well,” she begins, “I guess that’s the last of it.”
“I guess so,” Alexis agrees sadly as she looks around and hugs the folder she’s carrying to her chest.
“Alexis, I know how hard this must be for you but if it’s any consolation to you…you’ve still got me!”
Alexis looks at Kristina and smiles.
“That does help,” Alexis says. “Thank you.”
“So,” Kristina says, “…are you ready to go?”
“In a minute. I have these papers to give to Sonny and…I need a moment alone…”
“I understand,” Kristina says. “I’ll wait downstairs in the car.”
“Thank you,” Alexis says. “I’ll be right behind you…”
Kristina walks to the front door, opens it, and slips outside quietly as Alexis takes one last long look around at the apartment that changed her life.
Her eyes roam over the empty space where her sofa once was and she can almost see herself sitting next to Sonny on that sofa, sipping cappuccino. She looks over at the fireplace and can almost see herself in a frenzy, breaking Stefan’s present to her, along with that awful bowl and everything else she could get her hands on. She sees herself sitting on that sofa once again, this time with Sonny’s arm around her as she cries and cries.
I can hardly believe that this is happening…
Alexis replays in her head the moment when reputed mobster, Michael “Sonny” Corinthos, Jr. calmly invited himself over to her table at the PC Grille. He began flashing those killer dimples and that massive personality as he tried to charm her into representing Jason in his custody suit. Then she remembers standing there in that living room, amid all of her unpacked boxes and suitcases, clinking champagne glasses with the very same Michael “Sonny” Corinthos, Jr., toasting to the fact that he was now her landlord and was rapidly becoming her very best friend.
Who knew how much my life would change after that?
A tear falls from her eye as she turns and walks to the door. She pulls the door open and turns to look back at all of the memories one last time. She takes a deep breath, steps out and pulls the door closed behind her.
“I’m…almost ready to leave,” she informs the ever-present Johnny. “I just have to give these papers to Sonny. Can you wait here?”
Johnny nods.
“Thank you,” she says as she takes that walk across the hall to Sonny’s apartment. She’s mildly alarmed when she doesn’t see anyone guarding the door.
Her hand is raised, poised to knock.
You can do this, she says to herself. You can.
She knocks on the door.
Inside the dark apartment, an unusually rumpled Sonny sits on the sofa, drink in hand – unmoving – his suit jacket tossed over the back of a chair, his shirt not even tucked into his trousers.
“Sonny?” Alexis calls. “It’s me, Alexis.”
Sonny doesn’t answer.
“Sonny?” she calls again. And then it comes to her. “You are in there, aren’t you?”
Sonny gulps down the rest of his drink. He stands and walks to the bar for a refill.
Alexis can hear Sonny’s heavy footsteps inside the apartment but still there is no response to what she’s said.
“Fine,” Alexis continues. “I had this folder in my files and I wanted to return it to you…”
Sonny stands at the bar and quickly swallows another glass full of scotch before putting the glass back down on the bar. He lowers his head and takes a deep breath. He shuts his eyes tight - trying to shut out the sound of Alexis’ voice and the pain that he feels deep inside.
“Alrighty then,” Alexis says. “I’ll…just slip it under your door.” She bends over and pushes the folder into the space beneath the door. She stands up straight, her eyes filled with tears. “You uh…really should have Francis or Renaldo or someone out here protecting you. It isn’t safe for you to be in there all alone. After all, when I go Johnny will be with me and there’ll be no one here to look out for you...”
Sonny walks back over to the sofa and sits. He slumps in the seat and rests his head on the back of the sofa.
“Sonny, please…”
Still no response.
“Okay,” she relents. I’ll leave you alone…” Slowly she turns to leave but turns back around. “Oh and…I sincerely hope that you’ve made note of the fact that I have simply accepted Johnny’s ongoing presence…and I haven’t given you a hard time about it…” Still nothing. “Well…goodnight, Sonny…Oh and I uh...I left the keys to the apartment inside the folder...”
Just walk away, Alexis tells herself.
She reaches up and touches the door gently.
“Sonny, I…” She lowers her head and lets her hand drop from the door. “Love you…” she whispers to herself. She quickly wipes the tears from her eyes before turning around and heading for the elevator. No need for Johnny to see that side of me, she thinks.
Sonny squeezes his eyes shut as he hears Alexis’ footsteps walking away. The sound stops for a moment, giving him ample opportunity to open that door and to go out to her and to beg her not to leave, to say anything, to promise anything at all if it will make her stay. It’s what his heart wants him to do.
But he knows that he won’t do it. He can’t.
The sound of the elevator doors opening startles him briefly, as does the sound of those same doors closing a few seconds later.
Sonny inhales. His body heaves a deep sigh of resignation as the silence fills the air on the penthouse floor.
A tear is quickly brushed away before it can escape.
Sonny forces himself to stand. He drags himself over to the bar.
He picks up a glass with one hand and the nearly empty bottle of scotch with the other, fully intending to replace it with another bottle and to drink as many glasses of the stuff as it will take to force his body into a deep sleep, allowing him to shut out everything around him. He stops for a moment, noticing for what feels like the first time in a very long time the darkness and the shadows surrounding him.
And the silence.
With all of his strength – with all of the rage inside – Sonny hurls the bottle of scotch in the direction of the fireplace, where it makes contact and smashes to pieces, sending glass fragments shooting out in all directions, scattering all over what had been a meticulously clean living room.
He lets the glass in his hand drop to the floor but it doesn’t break. Instead it rolls harmlessly to the edge of the bar and settles there as he steps backward until he feels the sofa behind him. He gives in - seeming to implode - and allows himself to drop down onto it. He leans forward, holding his head in his hands - unable and unwilling to stop these tears that begin to form in his eyes.
He sits there, alone on the sofa in his now only partially clean living room.
And listens to the silence.