Chapter Two
She becomes vaguely aware of a familiarly pleasant fragrance. Then her brain kicks in once again and she resumes her concentrated study of that brief.
Suddenly she is startled by the appearance of a gardenia in front of her nose.
“Time’s up!” Sonny announces as he braces a hand on either side and leans over her.
“I know but I just wanted to get these last few notes down…”
“I know but you said an hour and it’s been an hour. Time to put down your pencil.”
Alexis relents.
“You really are a tough taskmaster, aren’t you?”
“Yep!”
She takes the gardenia out of his hand, brings it to her nose, and breathes in the scent. The fragrance has what she is certain is the desired effect – it takes her mind off of her work.
“It’s lovely,” she says. “What’s the occasion?”
“Well, I thought you could use an evening out,” Sonny says. “After all, it’s been almost three weeks since you got out of the hospital…”
“An evening out where?”
“PC Grille?”
“To tell you the truth…”
“You don’t feel like goin’ out…”
“Well…not really.”
“That’s what you said last night.”
“I know,” she says. She stretches up to gently kiss his lips. “Think of what you would have missed last night if we had gone out…”
Sonny smiles.
“Good point,” he says.
“Besides which,” Alexis continues, “you are under no obligation to entertain me, Sonny. You’ve taken wonderful care of me for the past two weeks. That’s more than enough.”
“No, it’s not,” he says. He takes the pencil out of her hand and places it down on the desk. “How about a drive?”
“Okay. Here’s the deal. You give me fifteen more minutes with this brief and I’ll be more than happy to go for a drive with you. Deal?”
Sonny considers her idea.
“Eight minutes.”
“Twelve.”
“Ten.”
“Deal!” Alexis says.
He kisses the top of her head.
“The clock’s ticking,” he says as he stands and walks out of the den.
___________________________________________________________________
The elevator doors open and Alexis steps out. Sonny follows.
“My Coc au Vin is better than that,” he says as he walks past her to his apartment.
“I never said that it wasn’t,” Alexis insists. “But that doesn’t make the PC Grille’s version bad…”
“Boss,” Johnny says. “You have a visitor.”
“Who?”
“Your sister.”
“Really…”
Johnny opens the door and Sonny walks into the apartment, Alexis right behind him.
Courtney stands as Johnny closes the door.
“Sonny…”
“Courtney.”
“I’ll uh…be upstairs,” Alexis says and starts for the stairs.
“You okay?” Sonny asks as she passes.
“I’m fine,” she answers. “Hi, Courtney.”
Courtney smiles.
“Hi, Alexis,” she says. “I heard what happened. How are you?”
“I’m good. Oh and…congratulations.”
“Thank you, Alexis.”
Alexis walks up the stairs, leaving Courtney and Sonny alone.
“Aren’t you gonna say anything?” Courtney asks.
“What about?”
“Look, I’m sure you know that AJ and I got married in St Sofia.”
“And?”
“Will you stop it? I know that you hate AJ and I know that you and Carly blame him for what happened to your baby. But Sonny…I love AJ. He makes me feel so special and…I’ve never had that before – ever.”
“AJ Quartermaine is a drunk and an irresponsible loser whose rich family has been able to buy him out of all the destructive things he’s done in his life. Not only was he responsible for what happened to Carly and the baby. He was also driving drunk and his own brother was thrown through the windshield and suffered brain damage. Now…if that’s, you know, the kind of man you want to be married to then…there’s nothin’ to say…”
“Our father accepts my marriage. I came over here to try and get you to accept it, too.”
Sonny shrugs.
“I accept it,” he says. “What other choice do I have?”
“And you won’t try to do anything to AJ or to hurt him or anything?”
“Courtney,” Sonny begins, “AJ is your husband now – for better or for worse. You made your decision…I have to accept it.”
Courtney studies him uncertainly.
“Thank you, Sonny,” she says. She starts for the door. “Tell Alexis that I’m glad she’s okay.”
“I will.”
“By the way,” she continues, “I think Alexis is pretty great – and she’s good for you.”
“I’ll uh…tell her you said that, too. She’ll probably agree with you…”
Courtney laughs and turns to walk out the door.
“Courtney?”
“Yeah?”
“I hope that…I hope that you’ll be happy…”
She stares at him for a moment, a tear beginning to form in her eye. Suddenly she walks over to him and quickly kisses his cheek.
Then she walks out the door.
___________________________________________________________________
Alexis stands in her apartment, sorting through the mail on the desk.
“So how are you really feeling, Alexis?” Kristina asks as she comes into the room, carrying two mugs of coffee.
“I feel good,” Alexis answers. She takes one of the mugs. “I feel stronger and steadier…”
“And how’s Sonny?”
Alexis has a sip of her coffee and crosses over to the sofa.
“Sonny is fine, too…Courtney came by to see him last night.”
“Really? And how did that go?”
“Apparently Sonny told her that he accepted her marriage to AJ and that he wished them well…He seems to be in a very good frame of mind about things lately.”
“I can see that,” Kristina teases. “Do you know that he has been positively cheerful ever since you’ve been staying there with him?”
“Has he?”
“Yes, he has. He acts a lot like a man in love…”
Alexis takes a deep breath.
“Really, Kristina…”
“Really what? He loves you – Sonny loves you, Alexis. He’s made that plain to everyone. Actually…I think that it’s kind of nice. It shows that he has good taste in women – in spite of the Carly aberration…”
“I really would rather not discuss Carly…”
“Has she been by since you’ve been there?”
Alexis shakes her head no.
“And I keep waiting for the inevitable explosion when she does show up…”
“Would she really make that big of a fuss? I mean you’re only over there because you were shot and Sonny wanted to take care of you…”
Alexis just looks at her.
Kristina laughs.
“That was a dumb question, wasn’t it?”
“A little,” Alexis answers. “Carly doesn’t need a reason to make a scene…”
“You’re right, Alexis. Let’s not discuss Carly anymore…Let’s talk about you and Sonny…”
“What about me and Sonny?” Alexis asks uncomfortably.
“How has it been living there with him? You seem…happy…”
Alexis puts her cup down on the coffee table and stands.
“It’s been…good. Sonny is a wonderful cook and he’s been very kind to me and very caring…”
“And very much in love,” Kristina adds. She shrugs. “So now what? I mean, maybe you should just…move in there permanently.”
“Wait a minute,” Alexis blurts. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here…”
“Do you love him?” Kristina asks.
Alexis paces over to the fireplace.
“That’s a very odd question, Kristina…”
“It’s not an odd question, Alexis – not if you love him…” She thinks for a moment. “I’ve done it again, haven’t I? Me and my big mouth...I apologize, Alexis. I know that you’re not exactly comfortable discussing those kinds of things. Let's change the subject. So…when are you coming home?”
“Soon, probably,” Alexis says. “I think that it might be a good idea if I do it sooner rather than later…”
“Does Sonny know?”
“We haven't discussed it,” she answers. “But I’m clearly on the mend and we both knew that my staying there with him was only a temporary situation…Besides I have an apartment that I’m renting and…it’s time that I lived in it again…It’s really quite simple…”
“Fine,” Kristina relents. “Whatever you say…”
Just then, there is a knock at the door.
“That’s probably Ned,” Kristina says as she stands and walks to the door. She opens it.
“Ready?” Ned asks.
“Not quite yet,” Kristina asks. “Come on in.”
Ned walks in and sees Alexis.
“Well, hello!” he says.
“Well, hello yourself.”
“How have you been? You look great!”
“Much better, thank you.”
“Good.”
“Thank you.”
Kristina closes the door.
“I’m sorry,” Alexis says. “Do you have plans for tonight? I don’t want to get in the way…”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Kristina says. “I always have time for my big sister. You could never be in the way…”
There is another knock at the door.
“We’re busy all of a sudden,” she says before opening the door.
There stands Sonny.
“Hi, Sonny,” she says.
“Kristina,” Sonny says. “I’m sorry to interrupt but…” He looks across the room at Alexis. “I got a kind of a…legal situation…I need to talk to you about it…”
“Oh,” Alexis says. “Of course…”
“You never get tired of having Alexis at your beck and call, do you, Sonny?” Ned hisses.
“Ned…” Kristina says quietly.
“Let’s see now. First there was Brenda and how a few of your associates shot at her when she was in the shower. That same night, Stone was shot. Alexis, Emily, and Zander were caught in a hail of bullets right in front of the police precinct. Oh, and let’s not forget what happened to Lily…”
Sonny takes a deep breath and stands patiently, staring at Ned, fully prepared to endure his latest tirade.
Still something feels different this time. This time he’s listening.
“Ned,” Kristina says, “please stop it.”
“What will it take, Sonny? I mean, what will it take before you finally get out of Alexis’ life once and for all? She has already been shot because of you. Does she have to die, too?”
“Ned,” Alexis says, “that is enough! I do not need you defending me or deciding who I can and cannot spend time with or trying to control my life. ” She glares at Ned as she walks past him and over to Kristina. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight,” Kristina says. “Sonny, I’m sorry…”
Sonny shakes his head.
“You don’t have to apologize for Ned, Kristina,” he says. “You’re not responsible for anything that comes out of his mouth…”
Alexis gently grabs his hand and walks out the door and toward Sonny’s apartment.
Sonny stares at Ned for another moment before following.
Kristina closes the door behind them, shaking her head.
“Was all of that really necessary?” she asks.
“I’m sorry,” Ned says. “But I can’t keep my mouth shut and just sit by while Alexis blindly follows Sonny around – doing his dirty work – not after he almost got her shot and killed…”
“In the first place, Ned, Alexis doesn’t blindly follow Sonny around. And in the second place…Forget it…”
“I don’t want to forget it,” Ned insists. “What?”
“Alexis loves him, Ned,” Kristina says. You’re going to have to find some way of coming to grips with that…”
___________________________________________________________________
Sonny lies in bed, staring up at the ceiling and waiting for Alexis to come out of the bathroom.
No matter how hard he tries, he can’t get it out of his head – the image of Alexis lying in an ever-widening pool of her own blood, the sight of her in the emergency room being worked on by Tony Jones, how pale and vulnerable she looked in that hospital bed.
Kristina said it before. Ned said it tonight. And they were right. Sonny tries hard not to think about it but the facts are the facts. Alexis isn’t safe around him. No one that he loves is.
And Sonny does love Alexis. He didn’t really know how much until he almost lost her. And now he knows that he would do anything to protect her.
Anything.
“I thought you’d be asleep,” Alexis says as she walks over to the bed and crawls in next to Sonny.
The sound of her voice brings him back.
“Well,” Sonny begins, “I almost was. You took a little long…”
“Sorry,” she says.
Sonny watches her as she snuggles close and rests her head on his shoulder.
Alexis notices.
“What is it?” she asks. “Is something wrong?”
Sonny shakes his head no.
“Just thinkin'…”
“What are you thinking about?” Alexis asks.
“You,” he answers. He turns his body toward her and drapes his arm around her. “Just thinkin’ about you, that’s all…and how much I missed you…”
“I was just in the shower…”
“I know, I know…” Sonny snuggles closer to her, savoring the warmth of her skin on his. “I still missed you…And I don’t know what I’d do without you…”
“Well, as luck would have it, I don’t think that you’ll ever have to find out. I’m not going anywhere…”
Sonny smiles.
“Is that a promise?”
She pulls his arm more tightly around her.
“It’s a promise,” she says.