Alexis looked back over her shoulder as she moved down the alley. Kristiana chose that exact moment to begin whimpering and the sound drew Alexis' attention back toward the precious bundle in her arms.

"Shh, sweetheart, I promise, I'll feed you soon. Just a little bit longer."

Looking cautiously around the corner, Alexis saw her destination. It hadn't been her first choice, but her mind was clear enough to know that had she gone to Nikolas at Wyndemere or if she went near Jax or God forbid Sonny, he would find her, and she would not let that happen.

She looked both ways up and down the street she needed to cross. The coast was clear, and so she moved as quickly as she dared with the baby in her arms. She had never been to this place before, but if it were like most buildings in the area, there was a back door that was rarely shut let alone locked, and she could use that to gain access to the apartment she needed to reach.

Alexis was so intently focused on getting her daughter somewhere safe that she didn't see the man who rounded the corner just as she made her way into the driveway that led to the back of a nearby building. At first, he'd doubted that it was Alexis he saw at all. She wouldn't be in this part of town, certainly not at this hour. Yet he was certain that it was her.

By the time he was even with the driveway, Alexis had disappeared. Acting on impulse, he moved down the path he assumed she'd followed. He stepped to the end of the driveway and looked from side to side. When he saw Alexis struggling to hold something close to her chest and open a heavy door at the back of the apartment building, he ducked back so she could not see him. He looked up, a distant memory echoing for him. Elizabeth Webber's studio was in this building.

What in the world was going on, A.J. wondered? He was almost tempted to follow her inside to find out. But his cousin's wife was no real concern of his, and so he simply reached into his pocket, pulled out his flask, and took a swig of alcohol to settle his thoughts before he turned and walked to where he'd intended to go in the first place.

It took far longer to climb the stairs to Elizabeth's loft than it should have, but Alexis couldn't afford to be careless, not now. She was tired and it was taking a lot of concentration to stay focused, but she was almost to her goal.

Scanning the hallway, Alexis made her move to Elizabeth's door. It was locked. Alexis thought hard about what she should do. She didn't have any credit cards, so using one to pry the lock wasn't an option. She could break the glass in the door, but then someone might hear or see her and call the police, and they might call Ned. No, she couldn't risk that.

"Can I help you, ma'am?"

Alexis spun around, her face a mask of fright. The old man had startled her badly, both her drug-frayed nerves and her terror at being found working in tandem against her. Still, she managed to take in a few deep breaths as the man watched her try to calm down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm the super here. I was just doing a walk-around."

"No, no, it's all right. I'm sorry. You must be wondering what I'm doing skulking around here."

"Well, you don't seem like the type of lady to be around here late at night, no."

She cleared her throat stalling for time. Think, Alexis, think. Then she looked down at Kristiana and she found her answer.

"No, I should be home in bed but, well, do you know Elizabeth Webber?"

"Of course," the man said, "she's a lovely girl."

"Yes, she is, and very talented. She was painting a portrait of my baby
earlier and, well, I think I left her binky here, and she'll only use that one and she's inconsolable without it."

"Oh, no," the old man replied earnestly.

"So I came by hoping Elizabeth might still be here so that I could try to get it back. I'd like to get some sleep tonight." She added a nervous laugh hoping to really sell the rattled mother portrait. Then Alexis watched as the man contemplated what stood before him. Despite the haste with which she'd left the Quartermaine estate, Alexis looked every bit the wealthy, upstanding woman she was. Sure, there were dark circles under her eyes and if he looked closely he'd notice her hands shaking, and if he knew her he'd know she was about 10 pounds underweight right now, but she still looked like a trustworthy rich woman. Alexis fought back tears of relief when the man stepped forward and pulled his keys from his pocket.

"Well, I don't see what it could hurt. I'm sure Miss Webber wouldn't want the baby to be upset."

"Thank you so much." The gratitude in Alexis' voice was not feigned.

The man opened the door and stepped aside so Alexis could walk in. He followed her and turned on the light switch, then stood waiting for her to look for the missing "binky." Alexis wondered what her next move would be when grace smiled on her once more and Kristiana let out a lusty wail.

"Is she all right?" he asked.

"I think she just needs a quick change."

The prospect of a crying baby and a dirty diaper were enough to make the man want to head off. He tipped his head toward Alexis and then motioned toward the door.

"Well, if you could just lock up when you're done, I'd appreciate it."

"I will, thank you. You really did save my life."

Her smile struck him as so sad somehow, and the man hesitated a bit before leaving. He couldn't help but feel like maybe this pretty lady and her baby were in some kind of trouble, but he figured it just wasn't his place to meddle.

"Well, you have a good night, then."

"You, too, and thank you again so much."

The man left then and Alexis walked over and put Kristiana down on the couch before rushing over to lock the studio door. Moving swiftly, she changed Kristiana, who in fact, did need a fresh diaper, and then walked over to the door and opened it. She looked around and saw no one, but just in case she said, "Come on, sweetheart, let's go home now," and then she walked a few steps out into the hall. She quickly walked backed inside and shut the door, locking it again.

Once her task was finished, Alexis turned out the lights to make it look like she had, in fact, left the studio. She walked carefully back over to the couch, then pulled out one of the four bottles of formula she had stuffed into the diaper bag. It was lukewarm, not Kristina's favorite temperature, but Alexis figured the baby was too hungry now to care.

As they sat there in the dark, Kristiana sucked down her formula and Alexis held her daughter in her arms tightly as tears began to stream down her face.

"Oh, baby, how did we get here? What has mama done to you, to both of us?"

As if trying to comfort her mother, Kristiana raised up her tiny hand and began to pat Alexis on the chest. The gesture brought a slight smile to Alexis' face as she began to process what had become of her life.

Never in all her wildest imaginings would she have believed that Ned would turn on her; not just turn on her but willingly and maliciously hurt her, but that's what he had done. Him and his, "you need your calcium." That's how it had started. The glasses of milk that she now knew where laced with some drug that had begun to make her judgment cloudy. Suddenly she began to feel confused, light-headed - fear that the baby was in danger had driven her almost mad, but Dr. Meadows had continued to reassure her that the baby was fine.

Dr. Meadows.was she in on it or had Ned been smart enough to drug her with something that the hospital couldn't detect? It certainly wasn't out of the realm of possibility for the Ned who now called himself her husband. Once he'd taken over ELQ the changes had begun to set in, but Alexis had been too busy saving Lucky and Nikolas from themselves and Scott Baldwin to really pay attention.

Then the mob war had escalated and Felicia and Roy had been killed, and fear gripped Alexis so deeply that she started to cling to the only person who seemed to be there for her - Ned. Jax was busy dealing with Brenda's sudden return from the dead and Sonny... well, Alexis had thought then that Sonny was out of her life forever. Ned had been there, caring for her, talking with her... and offering her those damn glasses of milk. God, had he even considered what he might have done to her child with his drugs?

When he'd suggested for the 20th time that they get married for her
"protection," she'd simply felt too weak to fight him on it anymore. It would be in name only, and he assured her that when she felt safe enough to be on her own, he would let her divorce him and walk away. And because Ned was her friend and the man she had once loved, Alexis had believed him.

She had continued to feel ill after Kristiana was born, so ill in fact that she decided to stop working for a while. Ned had been very supportive of her decision, saying that she had ever right to stay home and enjoy "their" new baby. At the time she hadn't taken any notice of his possessive term, but soon enough, she would see just how much she and Kristiana had become possessions to Edward Laurence Ashton.

Kristiana had been five weeks old when it happened. Alexis was in the park, enjoying an unusually warm late winter day and the baby had lain sleeping in her arms. That's when Sonny approached her.

"She's beautiful, Alexis."

The sound of his voice, absent so long from her life, had drawn her immediate attention, and Alexis remembered feeling amazed at how much just hearing his voice and knowing he was so close stirred inside of her. No man had ever meant to her what Sonny had - did - and their meeting that day had only proven it to her once again.

The war was over by then. Alcazar's involvement with the warehouse explosion had been exposed and he was now under indictment for killing Kristina, Roy and Felicia. Alexis had heard via Jax' lamentations that Brenda and Sonny had become friends, but she knew they would never be anything more. Sonny's love for Brenda was now more of a myth than it was a reality. She was part of a less-complicated past that he wished sometimes he could go back to, but nothing more.

As it had been for Alexis, the war proved costly to Sonny, too. Though she would consider it no great loss, Alexis knew that his decision to leave Carly had wounded him to his heart. Sonny, like, she, did not love easily. But the revelation that Carly had found out about Brenda's resurrection and did not tell Sonny the truth had put them on the path to ruin. That her secret had ended up endangering Courtney and Jason - who had both been kidnapped by Alcazar in a power play - only further served to finally rend the connection between Sonny and his wife. Again, via Jax, she knew that divorce papers for the two were pending and Carly and Michael were now living with Bobbie at the brownstone.

All of that had happened away from Alexis, but she had not remained untouched. Learning the truth about Kristina's death had eased her fury toward Sonny and Jason and even Roy. She was grateful she'd had the chance to tell Roy so before he was murdered -- one less ounce of guilt to carry around through her life. She had even reached out to Jason when he came by to visit Lila. He had graciously saved her from a rather bumbling apology and said simply, "You weren't entirely wrong, Alexis. What you said made me think about my life, the choices I make. I'm glad you said it. I'm just sorry you got hurt in all this."

Alexis also knew that the cost of the war for Sonny went beyond the emotional. He had lost almost everything to his fight with Alcazar. He retained some personal savings and enough of his investments to buy a small house on the outskirts of town, but the truth was that Sonny Corinthos had lost everything that had made him who he was. Thinking back to that day in Puerto Rico, when he'd told her about selling papers in the snow and his desire to never have to live like that again, Alexis knew she could no longer hide her caring for this man behind her supposed hate or contempt.

That day in the park as a gentle breeze swirled around them, Alexis and Sonny had found their friendship again. And on subsequent days in the same park, at Kelly's over coffee, even at Sonny's modest but comfortable home, they found that all they thought they had lost in each other was still very much alive.

It was that knowledge that made Alexis realize she could no longer keep
Kristiana away from her father. She saw so much gentleness in his eyes every time he looked at his daughter, and that was without even knowing her true parentage. It was time for the truth to be told, and Alexis had known it.

Unfortunately, so had Ned.

Alexis hadn't known then that Ned was having her followed, that he was seething with rage over her renewed relationship with Sonny. But she found out that last day, the last day her life had resembled anything normal.

She and Sonny had met for coffee and Alexis had almost told him the truth, but she couldn't let herself do it before she told Ned her intentions. Even if their marriage wasn't real, she owed it to him not to embarrass him publicly, and so she decided sitting there listening to Sonny talk about starting a construction business that she was going to tell Ned that very night that it was over.

Only Ned had been waiting for her.

"I sacrificed everything for you, Kristina, my honor, my freedom. I did
everything you asked of me, met every term you set, and this is how you repay me? Going back to Sonny, going back to a life you swore you didn't want? No, Alexis, that isn't going to happen. You are staying here, you are staying my wife and Kristiana will be raised as my daughter."

Alexis had tried to fight him, planning to flee that very night, but out of nowhere Ned had produced a syringe and before she knew what was happening, Alexis was slipping into unconsciousness.

That had been two months ago. The start of two months of sheer hell from which Alexis had thought there might be no escape. Ned had lied to everyone telling them that Alexis was suffering from postpartum depression. Even Jax seemed to believe his lies, and since the drugs he forced on her made it difficult for her to communicate, Alexis had suspected she would be trapped there forever just as Ned had promised.

But to her shock and surprise, the one person she had never considered had come to her rescue. Luke Spencer had appeared in her room one night dressed all in black like a classic TV cat burglar.

"Natasha, I owe you. You kept my son safe for me when I couldn't. Now, I don't know what's going on, but I know something is, and I'm gonna help you get out of this. Is he drugging you?"

How had he known? Alexis still didn't know. But he had and he'd come to her rescue. She nodded and as she did Alexis could have sworn Luke looked for a moment like he might kill Ned himself.

"Tash, I want you to listen to me. I'm gonna find his stash and put placebo in it. So I don't want you to be scared. You're gonna have to keep him believing you're doped up, though, okay?"

Again Alexis nodded. Luke reached out a hand and gently ran it through her hair.

"We're gonna make this right, Natasha, I promise."

That was five days ago. The drugs were still in her system to some extent, which accounted for the shaking hands and the vertigo she was still feeling, but Luke had been true to his word. Only placebo could explain her ability to think clearly again and to form sentences that actually sounded like her thoughts.

Luke had planned to steal her and Kristiana away two days from now when he returned from wherever it was he was hiding Laura, but Alexis had overheard Ned talking about drawing up papers for her to sign that would take away her rights to her baby. Alexis would die before she let that happen, and she knew that the only person she could turn to for help was the only person who would fight just as hard for Kristiana - her real father. As soon as Ned had left for a late ELQ dinner meeting, Alexis had dressed, grabbed the baby, and ran for their lives.

So here Alexis sat in the dark with her baby waiting for Elizabeth. She knew Elizabeth could get word to Jason and through him to Sonny.

"Your daddy's going to take care of us, little one, I promise."




AJ's stop at Kelly's had only served to upset him more. Courtney was there and when she threw back her head and laughed at something Jason said, it was more than he could take. So instead he was on the waterfront wandering. Only something didn't seem quite right to him, and he couldn't put his finger on it. That's when Jax came barreling past him, almost knocking him over.

"Whoa, whoa, where's the kangaroo attack?"

"A.J., I don't have time for you now."

"What's the problem, Jax, Brenda run off again?"

Jax looked at A.J. with irritation. "No, Alexis is missing. You'd know that if you were in contact with your own family."

"Missing?" A.J. asked curiously. "She just finally got smart and left Ned, you mean."

"Look, A.J., Alexis is sick. She might hurt herself or the baby if we don't find her. Now if you see anything call me, call your parents. Do something useful."

With that Jax headed off into the night. A.J. waited for him to leave before a smile broke out on his face.

Maybe tonight was payback time.






Alexis started when she heard the lock on the door being worked from the outside. She looked down at Kristiana, who was now sleeping peacefully, and let out a long, deep breath. Finally, Elizabeth was here and soon Sonny would be, too.

The door opened. Someone stepped inside and turned on the lights. It was A.J.

Alexis' mouth opened in shock and horror. Oh, God, she thought, please don't do this. Please don't do this to my baby.

"You look surprised to see me, Alexis. Guess I wasn't who you were expecting, hmm?"

A.J. closed the door and locked it, then walked across the room. When he saw Alexis back up as close to the far end of the couch as she could, he stopped.

"A.J., please, please don't tell anyone I'm here. I'm begging you, please."

"The great Alexis Davis begging. Now that's a sound I never thought I'd hear. No, I thought I'd always be the one begging.begging you to understand how much I loved my son, how much I wanted to be a part of his life. Guess things are different now, hmm? So, tell me, why are you running from Nedly?"

Alexis said nothing. A.J. moved to the end of the couch opposite her and sat down.

"Alexis, if you don't tell me, I'm gonna call him right now." He pulled out his cell phone for emphasis.

"He's trying to take my baby," Alexis said quickly and a little too loudly. The baby whimpered and shifted in her arms, but soon quieted again as Alexis soothed her with gentle rubbing against her back.

"You mean his baby, don't you? I mean, Alexis, fathers do have rights. I know you think I don't, but really, we do."

Alexis sat there watching him, considering the anger that was rising up off of him in waves. Then she looked down at her baby - at the child she would give her very life for were it demanded. Tears began to form in her eyes as she looked up at A.J. once again.

"A.J., I'm so sorry. I didn't know.I.I thought it was the right thing at the time, but I swear, I didn't know what a mistake it was. I know you would never do anything intentionally to hurt Michael, at least I do now, and I'm so sorry I helped keep you away from your son."

He couldn't believe he'd actually heard the words come out of her mouth. She was apologizing, saying she was sorry for her part in taking Michael away?

"You're sorry? I'm supposed to believe that?"

"My only defense, A.J. is that I didn't know what it meant to be a parent. I didn't know loving a child could change everything about you. You said you wanted to change for Michael and none of us believed you, but I know now that you meant it. I know it isn't worth much, but I am sorry."

Alexis meant every word of what she was saying to him. She had constructed a web of lies, breaking off all contact with the man she loved for the sake of her child, and even the thought that Ned might try to take her baby had sent her whole world into a tailspin. That she had actively helped do that to another person, even if she'd felt justified at the time, it was almost as painful to her as the last few months had been.

He wanted to hate her. A.J. sat there looking at her holding her baby and he wanted so much to hate her and to punish her for his own pain. But suddenly A.J. realized that the only reason Alexis had been able to help Jason, Carly and eventually Sonny take Michael away was that he'd given her fuel with which to burn him in court. His drinking, burning down Jason's warehouse, his stupid, illegal business dealings, it had all come back to haunt him and cost him his son. Certainly he had been wronged, but he had also done wrong, and the truth of that came crashing down upon him in one sudden wave.

A.J. stood and looked at his cell phone. He flipped it open and dialed a number before Alexis could react.

"You need to come to Elizabeth Webber's studio now."

That was all he said, then he hung up the phone. He turned to see Alexis' terrified face staring back at him. Realizing why she was frightened, he crossed to her and showed her the LCD screen of the cell phone. The single word illuminated read, "JASON".

Alexis dissolved into tears and suddenly A.J. had his arms wrapped around her. She was so overcome A.J. had to work at not squeezing the baby between them.

"A.J., thank you, thank you so much. I know you had no reason to help us."

"I had every reason, Alexis. You reminded me tonight that being a parent is about fighting for your child no matter what. I'm going to start doing that again. Maybe, just maybe, I might still be able to be a part of my son's life."





Three Months Later

The warm breeze in Milan ruffled the trees and her hair as Alexis stood on the porch of the guesthouse she and Sonny were sharing. Correction, she, Sonny and their daughter.

This small home that stood just a few hundred yards behind Stefan's villa had served as their salvation, as a place to heal, and as the place where their family was truly born.

Jason had come that night within minutes of A.J.'s call and in less than an hour, she was in Sonny's arms again. He had been frantic with worry about her during the months she'd been "ill," and as she revealed to him the truth of what had caused her incapacitation, Alexis had watched Sonny's eyes darken with rage.

"Why would he do that to you, Alexis? What could Ashton want from you so badly?"

And that's when she had told him the truth - about their little girl, about the lies she had told in the name of protecting their child, and finally, the greatest truth of her life - that she loved him with all her heart.

Any fears Alexis might have had that her revelations would push Sonny away were extinguished quickly. He pulled her into his arms and through his own tears echoed her words of love. And though he was no longer the boss of the underworld, he promised her that he still had a few tricks up his sleeve to ensure that no one would ever harm them or their daughter again.

A few phone calls later, and Stefan had a private plane waiting for them in Manhattan. They flew to Milan immediately. While they were in the air, Sonny called Jax and let Alexis fill him in on the full extent of what Ned had done. Sonny then called Luke to not only thank his old partner for helping Alexis, but to enlist his aid in one final piece of business that needed to be conducted "the old-fashioned way."

A week later, Sonny had returned to Port Charles. Jason and Luke had greeted him at an abandoned mine shaft out in the hills. Ned was there, tied to a pole, his mouth gagged. Jax had helped set up his former friend and that had enabled Jason and Luke to grab up the Quartermaine heir and drag him out there. Alexis still wasn't sure of all the details, but when it was over, Ned's signature was on their divorce papers and he had also signed a legal declaration that he surrendered all claims to Kristiana Chloe Davis. The Corinthos was added to her name the day Sonny returned to Milan.

Once Jax had finished apologizing for not figuring out what Ned was up to himself, Alexis had begun to use her friend as her eyes and ears in Port Charles. It was through Jax that she learned that A.J. had been sober since the day after finding her at Elizabeth's studio. She also learned that A.J. was working two jobs and was steadily rebuilding his relationship with Courtney. When A.J. had made it 60 days without slipping, Alexis knew it was time to talk to Sonny.

"Sonny, we need to talk.about Michael."

He had not been pleased, but she'd forced Sonny to hear her out. He had
argued, of course, his hatred of A.J. was probably never going to disappear, but Alexis believed it could dissipate given the right set of circumstances. And so once he'd ranted and raved as much as he could, Alexis pulled him close to her and looked right into Sonny's eyes.

"Are you happy, Sonny?"

He smiled at her and said, "Happier than I've ever been in my life."

"And A.J.'s the one we have to thank for that."

The truth of her statement stopped any further argument dead in its tracks, and though it took a good deal more talking over the next few weeks, finally, Alexis won her case as both an attorney and a mother. And now she stood on the porch watching as Stefan led A.J. down from the main house toward their little hideaway.

"Sonny, he's here."

At her call, Sonny walked out of the house, Kristiana in his arms, and Michael at his side."

"You're sure about this?" he asked her, his eyes still showing uncertainty.

"Yes, I'm sure," Alexis replied as she took Michael's hand and leaned down so she was eye to eye with him.

"Michael, remember what we talked about last night, you, me, and Sonny?"

"Yes, that Sonny would always love me and Mommy would always be my Mommy and that it was okay to love other people, too, like you."

"That's right. And remember we talked about one person in particular, right?"

"Yes," Michael said nervously, "my real daddy."

"You ready to meet him again? If you've changed your mind, it's okay. He'll understand."

Michael looked out at the man who was walking toward him. Part of him was still scared to do this, but he'd heard Alexis talking about how A.J. had made things okay for her and baby Kristiana. That had to mean he was an okay guy, and so Michael looked back at Alexis and smiled.

"No, I'm ready."

Alexis stood up and cast her eyes toward Sonny. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll be right back."

With that, Alexis took Michael by the hand and led him out onto the lawn toward A.J. Soon they met up with him and A.J. leaned down and shook Michael's hand. Sonny watched as he shifted Kristiana to his other arm. Alexis stayed with them a bit, talking, easing the way for them, and only when Michael reached out and took A.J.'s hand on his own did she turn and head back toward her own family with Stefan at her side.

Sonny watched as Michael and A.J. strolled off toward the gardens. He then looked down at the beautiful little girl in his arms. Lies had stolen Michael and A.J.'s first chance to be together. Lies had almost cost him his own daughter. And though he still had doubts about A.J., Sonny accepted that perhaps this was the way things were meant to be. The lies had tried to dictate all their paths, but the truth had won, and as Alexis stepped into him and wrapped her arms around both him and their little girl, he simply accepted that destiny had finally played its hand.

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