PG-13 for some sensual imagery.

There are times when a connection between two people has reached the point where it seems so tattered, so strained, that the messages that once passed with ease can no longer make it from one to the other. It happened in marriages all the time, Sonny knew, and in friendships. But what he'd never imagined was that it would happen to his friendship with Alexis Davis.

He'd denied it a long time. For the first few months... from the day she moved out to the day of the debate for district attorney, he'd told himself that the distance between them was temporary. Just as Alexis and he had found their way back to one another after the incident with Zander, they would make peace about this. Yes, it was rockier and more menacing terrain this time... her sister's death, his culpability in that... but they would find a way.

And then Carly had told him Alexis' child was his, that Alexis had lied about the baby... and Sonny's hopes had started to unravel as his wounded pride began to play games with his head. If Alexis would lie about the baby, pass it off as Ned's just to keep it from him, then everything between them had been false. The friendship, the attraction, that night... it hadn't meant anything to her if she would do this.

It became his new mantra... it didn't mean anything to her... and he played the mental tape over and over again to keep him from picking up the phone and calling her as the next several months of Alexis' life unfolded in a series of jarring and painful incidents. Kristina's premature birth, Alcazar's murder, her confession, her loss of custody... every time the whispers reached him, Sonny looked at the phone and thought "just this once..." but every time, the little voice returned and told him "it meant nothing to her."

Twice she had come to see him, looking for his help. Sonny knew both times that there were things Alexis wasn't telling him. Even in the midst of his own downward spiral, he'd been able to see that Alexis was as sane as she ever was... that her so-called "mental illness" was a clever trick of a brilliant lawyer. But he knew then that there was more, something that had been on her heart to reveal that his reaction had kept her from telling. It had happened again when she'd come to see him right after Carly's ordeal with Ric and Lorenzo had ended. Something kept nagging at Sonny, telling him it was there if he just looked harder, but at the same time, that little voice kept reminding him that the woman before him wasn't his best friend Alexis Davis nor his lover. She was that woman to whom none of it mattered.

He'd accepted when she left that day that the connection they'd once bragged about was dead and buried. Gone. Alexis and Sonny would never be Alexis "and" Sonny again, in any form, in any way. He'd been sure of it until his phone rang this morning, his hand reaching up from the contracts he was reading to answer it.

"Hello."

"Sonny, it's... it's Alexis."

He remembered the sound of her sobs in the hallway at General Hospital the night her sister had died. Despite all that had passed since, the echo of that unimaginable fear and sadness in her voice now made Sonny's throat tighten.

"Alexis, what's wrong?"

"Sonny, please, I need to talk to you."

He'd dismissed her twice, once cruelly and once dispassionately, and yet in what was clearly a desperate moment, she was reaching out to him again.

"Come to the penthouse. I'm alone right now."

"I can't. I'm... I'm at GH." Sonny heard her pause as she fought back tears, something he could tell from the sniffles he heard on the other end of the line. "Kristina's in intensive care. I can't leave."

"I'm on my way," he said, standing with the phone still in his hand.

"I'll meet you in the chapel."

The connection was dead, he thought again as he sat in the limo, Johnny driving furiously toward GH. The connection was never real. But his heart hadn't hurt for nothing, it reminded him, for once making its presence felt, its feelings finally coming through with more strength than that voice in his head. Alexis was a proud woman, too proud to come to him three times, hat in hand, unless she needed him. Was it about that thing, the something she could never bring herself to say? Sonny didn't know, but he became acutely aware that this time the message he'd failed to receive twice before was coming in loud and clear. Alexis needed HIM... not just someone, not just help or a favor... she needed him.





15 Hours Earlier

Skye watched the hustle and bustle going on around her, the nurses frantically hooking up an I.V., drawing blood, setting up the portable x-ray machine, but she wasn't listening to anything they said. Instead, she was calling out for Alan, for Monica, for anyone who would tell her where Kristina was and how she was doing. Finally, her "father" approached her, Tony Jones stepping out of the way so that Alan could take his place at her side.

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"Monica and Dr. Navarro are with her now. Skye, I know you're worried about her, honey, but you need to let Tony take care of you."

"I'm fine!"

"You're not fine," Alan said, scolding her slightly. "You were hit by a car, and you may have internal bleeding. Please, honey, just lay back and let us take care of you."

With no other real choice, Skye did as he asked, finally settling back on the stretcher so that the nurses no longer had to fight to hold her down. Closing her eyes tightly, she fought back tears as she tried to figure out the moment it had all gone so wrong... the second when Ned had snapped and thrown them all into the hell they were in now.

[I]"This cannot be happening!" Ned yelled as he slammed down the phone. Skye turned from where she sat at her bedroom vanity and stared at him questioningly.

"What can't be happening?"

"That was the clerk in Judge Harper's court. He's going to grant Alexis' request. She gets full custody, and Kristina has to be returned to her immediately after the hearing tomorrow when he announces his decision."

Her jaw dropped at the news, though given recent events, Skye wasn't completely surprised. Alexis had hired a new lawyer, a family court specialist from Manhattan, and the man was damn good. He'd hired private investigators to dig up Quartermaine bones, gotten Faith Roscoe to testify against Ned, and even managed to get two child psychiatrists to testify on Alexis' behalf. What had hurt them most, though, was the testimony Mac Scorpio delivered. Skye still couldn't believe that she had been stupid enough to threaten Alexis with a false report of her violating the restraining order within earshot of the police commissioner.

Ned had been ranting the whole time her thoughts had wandered, but the words "jet" and "passport" grabbed her attention back.

"What are you talking about, Ned?"

"I'm talking about taking my daughter and getting the hell out of here. I will not let her do this! I will not let her do this to me again."

Skye stood and walked over to him, but when she tried to lay a comforting touch on his shoulder, Ned pulled away and began pacing furiously.

"Do you have any idea what I've been through because of that woman? Do you? The heartache, the public humiliation, what I gave up to protect her child... and not once, not one time, has she ever had the decency to just say 'thank you, Ned.'"

"You really expected that?" Skye asked, somewhat bewildered by his statement. Ned was constantly ripping Alexis apart to her face but defending her whenever Skye tried to bring up her failings. Ned's sudden vicious turn had caught her off guard.

"Why the hell shouldn't I expect it? But no, I knew I'd never get it, not from her. Not from Alexis, who's always got to be the center of the universe, who always has to have it her way, who threw my heart back at me like it was nothing. Well, she's not winning, not this time. I'm taking Kristina somewhere even Cassadine money can't find us. I told her she'd pay for choosing him... and now she's going to pay forever."

She was so transfixed by the venom Ned was spewing forth that it took Skye a moment to realize Ned was headed out of her bedroom and toward the nursery. She quickly followed after him, panic beginning to take hold as she looked at the way he was stuffing the baby's things into her bag.

"Ned, where are we going to go?"

"I'll take her to Italy. I've heard it's hard to get kids back from there, and I still have legal custody, so as long as I leave today..."

'I,' 'I'll'... the words jumped out at Skye, and she shivered.

"What about me?"

He never answered her, but the look Ned leveled at Skye told her a truth she'd been trying to deny for months now. She was a convenience... a body to keep his bed warm and a weapon to use against Alexis, but nothing more, not to him.

"Let her try to find me now. Let her go to him and beg for his help because it'll be too late. I'll have what they both want, and nothing they do will get her back... nothing."

Kristina had been watching Ned curiously from where she sat in her crib. Skye glanced over and saw that the normally jovial baby was looking scared and anxious. Her lamby was clutched tightly in her little hands as her eyes continued to follow her father's frantic movements. Then Ned reached into the crib and jerked her out. Kristina began to cry instantly, and Skye watched in horror as this man she had thought she knew roughly secured the baby into the detachable part of her car seat.

"Ned, you're scaring her. Just..."

"Don't tell me how to take care of my daughter. God, you sound just like her."

Skye had eavesdropped once on Alexis telling Cameron how cold Ned could be when he lashed out at her. Skye had dismissed it as what she always considered to be Alexis' exaggerating nature. But now she saw it... she saw the dead way in which Ned looked at her, like she was barely there, and she knew the man Alexis had described.

"Ned, we can outsmart, Alexis," she argued, grabbing his arm and trying to keep him from taking Kristina out of the room. "You must know more things we can use against her, and even if you don't, this is Alexis. She'll screw up again and we'll get custody back again."

He ignored her, yanking up the car seat before he grabbed Kristina's bag and headed out of the room. Warning bells and sirens went off in Skye's mind. Ned was in a rage... him being the wheel of a car was a nightmare waiting to happen, and so she ran after him. Then the deeper, more personal alarm went off, and she picked up her pace. If he got away, if he got off the property with Kristina, then Skye would never see her again, of that she was certain.

Dillon was just coming home when Ned tore past him with Kristina. Skye knew Alan and Monica were in the house somewhere, and so she called out to Dillon even as she followed Ned through the front door.

"Get some help. He's trying to run away with Kristina."

She saw the boy take off into the house with her peripheral vision as she rushed after Ned. Kristina was nearly hysterical, tears running down her face as his anger and his careless actions continued to frighten her.

"Ned, you know she doesn't cry like that normally. She's scared. Just... just please, calm down..."

"Get away from me!" he screamed, pushing Skye back and almost knocking her down. "Kristina is mine. She's not taking my daughter!"

Ned threw open the passenger door and placed Kristina's carrier onto the front seat. Slamming the door behind him, he raced to the driver's side and climbed in. As the engine started, Skye tried to figure out what was going on. She knew something had happened she couldn't begin to understand, some wound between Ned and Alexis that had opened and was causing this rage, but the "what" didn't matter now. Her eyes laser beamed onto Kristina's crying face and Skye realized what Ned had done, where he had set the baby because his mind was too consumed with his vendetta to notice his mistake.

"Oh, God. Ned, don't. Ned, don't move the car!"

The engine gunned as Ned backed up, then pushed on the gas to head out the circular drive. Desperate, Skye did the only thing she could think of doing... she cut him off. The car slammed into her, knocking her to the ground, and for a moment, she couldn't hear anything. Then an ear-splitting scream filled the air, and Skye recognized the pain-filled cry instantly.

Kristina.[/I]

"Alan, please, please find out how she is," Skye pleaded, the sickening sound of the little girl's scream still in her ears.

"All right, I will. Please, just lay still and let them do their work, Skye."

She nodded, and Alan pulled back from her and left the room. When he walked out into the hallway of the emergency room, he felt an instantaneous wave of nausea hit him.

Monica was three doors away talking to Alexis.

*****

Alexis closed the door to her apartment, a feeling of hope brewing inside of her even if she wasn't willing to give into it just yet. Ben Simon, the lawyer Justus Ward had recommended, had put a hell of a case together, and he was certain that she would at least get custodial temporary custody back tomorrow at the final hearing, but Alexis had felt hope before only to have it dashed away by some last minute Quartermaine trick. Until Kristina was in her arms again and finally home, Alexis wouldn't be able to relax.

Even then, she knew it wouldn't be over. Ned would throw out his usual threat, and Alexis knew this time she would have to put up or shut up. Allow Ned to control her or take his power away by telling Sonny the truth... it was time to choose, and despite everything that had happened in the last year and a half, the choice was painfully if terrifyingly obvious.

She knew Sonny would try to get Kristina... perhaps not full custody, but he would fight for his right to be in her life. That would mean Carly and more headlines and more gossip and more stares, and Alexis wasn't prepared for any of it. Still, she knew it was coming. The thought of it filled her with regret, because Alexis knew there had been a time, perhaps even a second chance along the way, where had she just told Sonny the truth, so much of this could have been avoided. The feelings would have been less bitter, less tinged with all the compounded hurt they'd layered upon each other. Now it would be an ugly fight, but as she was with Ned, Alexis was determined she would win it. She wasn't freeing her daughter from one hellish family to trap her in another, but at the same time, part of her knew the time when Sonny would become part of Kristina's life was fast approaching.

Sighing, Alexis went to the desk to peruse her stack of takeout menus and decide on dinner. She also needed to call Alice, who was still anxious to come to work for her when, not if, Alice reminded her often, Kristina came home. But thoughts of food and dinner were put aside when the phone rang before she could begin either of her calls.

"Hello?"

"Alexis, it's Monica."

There was nothing in the tone of Monica's voice that made Alexis' stomach drop. It was the fact she was calling at all. This woman had barely had a civil word for her in months... and that she was phoning now...

"Oh, God, what happened?"

"Alexis, Kristina has been in an accident. The paramedics are here at the house and we're about to head to GH. Can you meet me there?"

"How bad is it?"

"I honestly don't know," Monica admitted. "Just meet us there."

Alexis dropped the phone, grabbed her keys and purse and headed for the door. Her hands were trembling as she started the BMW and backed it up carefully. Even as she turned out of the parking garage, Alexis reminded herself to take care. It wouldn't do her daughter any good for her to end up on a gurney beside her. But that didn't stop the laundry list of terrible thoughts that ran through her mind as she drove, and despite her self-admonishment, a horn blared on Center Street, telling her she had run a red light.
Finally, Alexis pulled into one of the three parking spaces reserved for Cassadine use and raced toward the ER. The moment Amy saw her, she rushed toward Alexis.

"Monica told me to come get her as soon as you arrived. Just wait here."

A mute nod was Alexis' only response. A moment later, Monica stepped out of the door marked treatment room four and walked up to her.

"Alexis..."

"Where's my daughter? What happened?"

"There was a car accident. Kristina had some bruising to her chest, and Dr. Navarro and I are concerned because there are reduced breath sounds. We've taken x-rays, and well, we're concerned, so we're going to do an echocardiogram."

"Wait, her chest? But her heart... oh, God..." Alexis began to shake as flashes of the NICU and Kristina's first, long desperate struggle for life assaulted her. Monica reached out and put her hand on Alexis' shoulder.

"It could just be a deep bruise that's causing her some discomfort, Alexis. Let's wait until we see the test, all right?"

Alexis nodded. "Can you... can someone please tell me what happened?"

"Why don't I do that?" Alan said as he approached the two women. Monica shook her head in agreement, then looked back at Alexis.

"I'll be out as soon as I know anything."

Alexis desperately wanted to follow Monica back into the trauma room in order to see her daughter, but she also needed to find out what had happened. She fought back one motherly instinct for the other and tried to focus on Alan.

"What did you people do to my baby?" Alexis demanded, her tone full of the resentment she felt toward all things Quartermaine.

"I don't know all of it," he answered, too weary and concerned for his daughter and hers to try and feign a defense for Ned's actions. "Apparently, somehow, Ned found out that you were going to get custody back, and he... he tried to run."

"With Kristina?"

Alan nodded. "Dillon ran in and told us to get outside... by the time Monica and I got out there, Skye was on the ground in front of Ned's car and... and Kristina was screaming inside." He paused, not even sure how to tell her what came next because he knew the image it would put in her mind. "He, uh, Ned didn't hook the car seat into the base, Alexis. When he hit Skye, the seat tumbled over and... and we think Kristina hit the dashboard."

She wanted to scream as what Alan was telling Alexis merged in her mind with the scant bit of information Monica had given her earlier. She wanted to rail at him, at his whole family for letting this happen to her daughter. But all Alexis could do was surrender to the tidal wave of panic that crashed down on her. Alan grabbed hold of her just as her knees gave way, his hold keeping her from sliding down the wall behind her.

"Amy!"

The nurse rushed over from the desk at Alan's call and the two helped Alexis into one of the nearby waiting room chairs.

"Alexis, do you want us to call someone for you?"

She shook her head. Who would she call? Jax was gone, Stefan was in jail and she and Cameron were barely on speaking terms. Alexis couldn't think of anyone she even wanted to come and sit by her side.

"No. Please, can you just go in and check on her?"

"Okay," Alan agreed. "I'll be right back."

Alexis closed her eyes and listened to the sound of first Alan and then Amy walking away. Tears stung at her eyes. What else? What other trials would she and Kristina have to endure before they could just be together?

A hand on her shoulder caused her eyes to flash open. She had expected to see Dr. Navarro or one of the doctors Quartermaine, but instead, she found the concerned and caring eyes of her nephew. Nikolas sank down into the chair beside her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders.

"Emily called me. How are you? How's Kristina?"

"There's no word yet," Alexis answered. Nothing could give her any relief right now except good news and the sight of her baby, but she suddenly felt a little less alone now that Nikolas was with her. Time had put distance into their relationship, but the look on his face now told her that it hadn't diminished his love for her at all. "Thank you for being here."

"I'm just sorry I haven't been here more," he said regretfully. "I let myself get so caught up in all this craziness with Luke and Uncle..." Nikolas let his apology fade, realizing now wasn't the time. "I'm just glad Emily thought to call me given the craziness down at the police station."

"What? The police station?" she asked, her mind too focused on what was happening on the other side of the wall to give much consideration to anything else.

"Mac arrested Ned for endangering the welfare of a child and for assault," Nikolas revealed. "Apparently Edward is throwing his usual tantrum, and Emily and Zander are there trying to keep the peace."

Ned... the mention of his name sent chills down Alexis' spine. What had happened to the man she'd once thought she loved? The man who had promised to protect Kristina? She didn't know, and as of this moment, she vowed to stop caring. Ned Ashton was dead to Alexis... and as soon as Kristina was well and home, her first priority would be making certain that he never laid eyes on her daughter again.

The door of the treatment room opened, and Dr. Navarro, Alan and Monica all emerged. Alan headed down the hallway as Alexis and Nikolas both stood, anxious for the report of the other two physicians.

Dr. Navarro took the lead on the explanation. Pericardial effusion was the likely cause of Kristina's discomfort and the difficulty she was having breathing. Alexis tried not to fall apart as he carefully explained that since the echocardiogram confirmed the diagnosis, they would use a needle to drain the fluid that had formed in the lining of Kristina's heart due to the trauma of her hitting the dash.

"I know it sounds terrifying, Alexis," Dr. Navarro said, "but once we do this, Kristina should feel a lot better, and then we'll monitor her for signs of new fluid formation or infection. If neither of those occurs, she'll be as good as new."

Alexis nodded, her fingers rising to swipe at the drops of moisture she had been unable to keep from trailing down her cheeks. "Can I see her, please?"

"For a minute, then we need to take her up for the procedure. She's a bit lethargic because of how she's feeling."

Warning issued, Dr. Navarro opened the door as Monica headed off to make sure everything for the procedure was being prepared. Alexis stepped into the room, her own heart breaking as she saw her baby girl laying prone on the adult-sized hospital bed inside, her body unmoving as her big eyes turned and looked toward her. The only thing at all Alexis could take comfort in was the instant sense of recognition that flashed through Kristina's eyes and the movement of her daughter's hand as it reached toward her.

"Hi, my sweetheart," Alexis cooed as she walked toward the bed. The two nurses who remained in the room checking monitors and I.V.s smiled politely and stepped back from Kristina to allow Alexis to lean down closer to her. "Mommy's here now, angel. I'm here now, and everything's going to be okay."

Kristina's brown eyes blinked several times and then began to drift shut. Alexis felt herself transported back to those long days in the NICU when all she'd been able to do for her daughter was speak words of love and try to help her feel like she wasn't fighting alone.

"The doctors made you all better before, and they'll do it again. And Mommy will be right here the whole time. I love you, Kristina."

Five minutes later, Kristina was wheeled from the room and Alexis and Nikolas followed as far as they could until finally, they headed for the surgical waiting room. As she had so many times before, Alexis held onto the hope that the contrary natures of her parents would give Kristina enough inherited strength to survive one more medical drama. Her hope was rewarded when Dr. Navarro returned 55 minutes later with the news Alexis longed to hear.

"She did just fine. We'll move her into a room, and then you can go see her."

Alexis and Nikolas exchanged hugs and Nikolas went off to call and update Emily and Zander. Alexis took the moment alone to place a call of her own, her fear now recessed enough for her to flip briefly into lawyer mode. Ben answered his cell in two rings, and after she filled her attorney in on the days events, he assured her that he would get down to the PCPD and get all the details on Ned's arrest in order to take the information to the judge. He was positive that he could get an order of protection on the off chance that Ned was released on bail at night court, before the judge had the chance to rule on Kristina's custody in the morning.

Nikolas returned from his call, and soon the two of them headed into Kristina's room. The baby was still sleeping, and her body was showing signs of the harrowing few hours she'd endured, but to Alexis, her daughter had never looked more beautiful. The relieved mother settled into a chair next to the bed. Nikolas sat across the room from them, content to simply be there for his aunt and cousin if he was needed. He didn't try and engage Alexis in conversation because he could see that her whole focus was on letting Kristina know she was there at her side. His thoughts drifted instead back to his own life, to his romantic troubles, to Stefan, and to the mess that he and Lucky now found themselves in thanks to his uncle's manipulations.

"Nikolas?"

He glanced at the clock and saw that several hours had passed while his mind wandered and his eyes periodically looked over at his family to see how they were doing. When he turned his attention that way now, instead of the serene, content look he'd seen on Alexis' face every other time, he saw fear.

"Get the doctor. She's burning up."

A flurry of activity followed Nikolas' dash from the room. Alexis was pushed further and further away from Kristina as Dr. Navarro, Monica, Bobbie and two other nurses rushed in, checking monitors and looking for answers. Not knowing what else to do, Nikolas guided his aunt to the far corner of the room where he just held her, feeling powerless and seeing that same feeling echoed in her as Alexis fought to keep herself from sinking into hysteria. Finally, Dr. Navarro turned to them with an answer.

"It looks like she's developed an infection. It does happen sometimes after the pericardiocentesis is performed."

"She was so hot," Alexis said, and the doctor nodded.

"Her temperature is 106."

Nikolas tightened his hold on his aunt when he heard a sob tear from her throat. Her body shook in his arms as he tried to keep her steady.

"We're going to move her to pediatric intensive care and start her on antibiotics," Dr. Navarro explained. "I know this seems terrifying, Alexis, but you noticed the fever quickly and we can start working on getting her better, okay?"

His words were small comfort to Alexis. Every muscle in her body tightened at the idea of her daughter being this sick, suffering this much because of all the mistakes that had been made by so many people. Her own self-reproach began even as she walked behind Kristina's team, escorting her baby to the ICU. So many mistakes... hers, Ned's, Skye's, Sonny's...

Sonny... his name ripped through her heart, literally causing her physical pain as she watched the nurses settle Kristina into her new room through the viewing glass. Sonny had helped to create this perfect child that she loved with all of her soul. Sonny had given her this gift. And now Kristina was desperately ill again... and Sonny still didn't know that she was his daughter.

"Oh, God..." she whispered, "he's never even held her."

Nikolas turned his eyes from the view in the hospital room to his aunt as her soft words reached his ears. "Who's never held her?"

Alexis looked at him with tear-filled eyes. She looked so tortured. "Her... her father. Her father's never held her... he doesn't even know... "

A mask of confusion fell over her nephew's face, but Alexis couldn't regret her admission, not now. She was too overwhelmed with regret to add any more. "Ned's not her father."

Understanding slowly replaced the question in Nikolas' mind. Not Ned... which meant there was only one person it could be. He sighed heavily and moved so that he could wrap his arms around his aunt.

"What are you going to do?" he asked gently.

"What I should have done... what I owe my daughter." Alexis pulled free of his embrace, turning toward Nikolas. He could see the commitment in her eyes. "Stay with her, please. I need to make a call."

*****

The chapel was quiet and unbearably still when Sonny walked in. Alexis was kneeling at the front, her head bowed, her shoulders trembling slightly.

"Alexis."

Her head jerked toward him, but then she looked away. He could tell from her movements she was trying to wipe away the evidence of her crying, and he waited patiently until she stood and turned to face him.

"Thank you for coming."

Sonny nodded. "How is she?"

With a strained voice, Alexis caught him up on what had happened and Kristina's condition so far. Sonny was stunned, not only by Ned's actions but by his own sense of guilt. The haunted look on Alexis' face now mirrored the one he had seen that night at his penthouse when she had first come to him asking for his help. How had he not noticed how desperate she was, even with his own problems looming so large at the time? He knew what the Quartermaines were like from his and Carly's fight with them over Michael. Only bad things could come of her fighting them alone... and bad things surely had been the result.

"God, Alexis, I'm... I'm sorry."

She sniffled, smiling slightly. "I just want her to be well and safe. That's all I've ever wanted, Sonny."

"I know," he said.

"No, you don't know," she countered, surprising him. "But it's time you did."

Sonny cocked his eyebrows, his curiosity obvious. "What do you mean?"

Since that day in the hospital room when Sonny and Edward had ambushed her with the paternity tests, Alexis had stopped hoping that the moment would ever come when she could tell Sonny the truth. She hadn't stopped hoping, on some level, that he would just know. Both times she had gone to him for help, she had felt as if she were willing him to stumble on the truth because she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. But he hadn't "just known," and she had remained trapped in her fear of revealing the secret.

Her worries seemed insignificant now, though, as she thought of the little girl laying upstairs. Her fever hadn't lowered despite the first hour of antibiotic therapy. She was rousing for brief periods, her eyes flashing open, but Kristina seemed unable to stay conscious. Her body was fighting hard, but she needed help. Kristina needed her mother, and now, Alexis knew, she needed Sonny, too.

"I was so angry at you for so long," she began, and Sonny relaxed his shoulders, seemingly settling in to hear whatever she had to say. "I even managed to convince myself I hated you for awhile. But I didn't, Sonny, and I don't. It was never hate. I need you to know that."

A band around Sonny's heart broke, freeing him to feel a painful rush of emotion he hadn't let himself even think of in months. He'd needed to hear that so much, because he had convinced himself she did hate him. That belief had fed the little voice that kept reminding him he meant nothing to Alexis, not then, not now. But even as that negative prodding began to prick at the back of his mind, Sonny's heart rebelled against it. She'd said it herself. She did not hate him. But his relief was tempered by worry as tears flooded over her eyelids and down her face.

"There will never be anything that I can say to you to make up for what I've done. And if I could go back, if I could take it back, I would. Please, please, just try to remember that everything I did was done out of love for my daughter... for our daughter, Sonny."

She was so overwrought, so fearful, that it took Sonny a moment to let his concern for her fall second to processing the words she had said. His eyes widened in disbelief even as something screamed inside him that this was the answer to why she'd kept coming to him for help even when he had pushed her away.

"Ned bribed the lab technician that day. He rigged the test results. Kristina is your daughter."

The truth hit him like a physical blow, and Sonny staggered back from her. It made such perfect sense and yet it was utterly unthinkable.

"I asked you," he said, his voice full of the hurt and shock he felt. "I asked you, Alexis!"

"I know you did," she said, cringing a bit at his raised voice. "I know you did, and I know that I lied."

"I was standing right there, Alexis, right in that neonatal unit with you two feet from her, and you didn't tell me that my baby was the one laying there fighting for her life?"

"No, okay, no, I didn't. But I'm telling you now. Kristina is upstairs, and she's fighting for her life again, Sonny, and she needs you. She needs us both." And she did. Alexis knew it. Kristina needed to know that what Alexis had whispered to her so often was true... that her father would love her no matter what. "I swear, I will tell you whatever you want to know, I will listen to anything you want to say to me, I will take whatever you want to do to punish me, Sonny, but right now I'm begging you, please, please, love her more than you hate me. Please help her to know you because..."

She couldn't finish it, but he knew, 'because they could lose her.' Sonny's anger folded up and tucked itself away inside of him as one thought took firm hold in his mind. His daughter needed him. Nodding, he walked toward her, and despite the intense fury he knew was bubbling deep down in his gut, waiting to erupt someday at Alexis, he pulled her against him, his arms wrapping so tightly around her that it made his muscles ache.

"Where is she?" he whispered, then he eased his hold. Alexis took his hand in hers and he followed as she led him through the hallways and past a sign that read "Pediatric Intensive Care Unit." His stomach clenched at the words. He knew what room Kristina was in because Nikolas was standing outside of it holding Edward and a wheelchair-bound Skye at bay with the help of Monica, Emily and Zander. The old man began hurling insults at Alexis the moment he saw her, but as his presence registered, Sonny listened to the cacophony of voices fade one by one.

"What the hell is that crime lord doing here?" Edward bellowed, and Zander chuckled.

"Yeah, 'cause Quartermaines are such law-abiding citizens. Just ask Ned."

Alexis ignored them both, her hand still grasping Sonny's. She reached for the door handle, exchanging a knowing glance with Nikolas as Monica tried to cut off their entry to the room.

"It's immediate family only, Alexis," she said, her tone more snide than it had been earlier. Alexis rolled her eyes, ready to have the whole Quartermaine family out of her life and Kristina's life once and for all.

"He's her father. Is that immediate enough?"

The expression "you could hear a pin drop" took on new meaning in the hallway as stunned Quartermaines looked at one another trying to figure out if Alexis had really said what they thought she'd just said. Zander, who had always suspected, glanced at Nikolas and the two shared a moment of commonality as the only two people who were actually glad for Alexis that Ned no longer had a claim on the baby. If anyone else had any other reactions, they were lost on the worried parents. Alexis drew Sonny into the room with her and closed the door, blocking out everything else except the man whose hand she still held and the child that lay before them.

"I don't want them anywhere near her," Sonny said, and Alexis knew exactly who he meant.

"They won't be. My lawyer's getting the paperwork. Dr. Navarro is consulting with Monica, but the rest of them won't be allowed in the room."

Sonny gave a small nod, and for a moment, Alexis thought he was going to walk over to Kristina. The impulse seemed to freeze him in place though, and so Alexis squeezed his hand.

"You can touch her, it's okay. We can't pick her up, but we can touch her and be close to her."

Pulling on his hand again, Alexis moved them both toward the bed. She walked to the far side, her grip finally releasing him as he took up a position on the opposite side. Alexis leaned down, her fingers stroking the hair back off of Kristina's forehead. Her heart sank a bit when she noticed that the skin there was still incredibly hot. The baby's eyes blinked open at her mother's touch, though, and Alexis smiled wide in response.

"Hi, sweetheart. Mommy's back, just like I promised. And I brought someone with me to see you. Do you remember when Mommy told you about your real father? I told you that he didn't know about you? Well, I realized I shouldn't be keeping that secret any more, and so he's here to see you, baby."

Sonny had stood virtually motionless as Alexis approached her daughter... their daughter... and roused the baby. Most of his inertia was due to shock--shock at the situation, shock at how weak Kristina looked, and more than anything, the stunning realization that Alexis was really introducing him to their child. He watched carefully as Kristina kept opening her eyes, trying to keep sight of her mother. She seemed to be hanging on every word Alexis said, and he knew instantly that the bond between his little girl and her mother was a deep, unbreakable one.

Kristina whimpered, about as much of a cry as she could manage, Sonny figured, given how sick she was. The sound finally pulled him out of his paralysis, and he duplicated Alexis' pose and lowered his body close to this child that was now his again after having been ripped away by a lie.

"Hey, Kristina," he whispered, and she slowly rolled her head to the side and looked at him before her eyes fell closed once again. "I know you're not feeling very good right now, but, uh, but your mom and I are gonna be here till you feel better." The deep pools of brown that were so like her mother's were revealed to him again, and Sonny felt himself captured by them. His daughter... he and Alexis had created this life together... He gingerly placed his fingers on her arm, sliding them down until he held her small hand. When she turned her palm down against his, Sonny drew his fingers closed over hers.

"God, she's... she's so beautiful." He managed the words despite his trembling chin or the stinging in his eyes.

"You can't see it right now," Alexis kept her eyes on Kristina as she spoke even though the words were meant for Sonny. "But she has your smile. And when she giggles, it sounds like that chuckle you do when you're trying to be cute."

Sonny wiped at his cheeks. "Really?" he asked. The two mutually shared a small laugh, both of them remembering countless instances when he'd tried to use that chuckle against her.

"Really."

Sonny smiled and leaned back in the chair, his hand still holding Kristina's. He had never known what it felt like to have that instant rush of love when a child was born, but he knew he had already felt love for the baby he and Lily lost and that he'd been completely in love with the son he and Carly had grieved together. He imagined, though, that those first few hours of being the parent of a new infant were would be much like what he was feeling now--overwhelmed, amazed, terrified and wonderful. He was a father... this child was part of him. He had a daughter.

All of those sensations were mixed in with the confusion he felt over why Alexis had kept him away from Kristina until now. He had a million questions he wanted to ask, but he knew the majority of them needed to wait. This wasn't a place for them to yell or hash out all the injuries they'd inflicted upon each other. But as he sat watching Kristina in sleep, as he saw Alexis' undeniable love for their daughter, Sonny knew there was one thing he had to know now because he couldn't sit here and not know.

"Alexis."

She was holding Kristina's other hand, stroking the skin softly with her fingers. Alexis looked over at him when he spoke. Sonny sat forward, his elbows coming to rest on the bed.

"I thought we were so close. I thought we could tell each other anything."

"So did I," she said, nodding.

"Then why?"

Alexis sighed, her heart filling with sadness as she thought back to those early days of her pregnancy. 'Why' had a complicated answer, but Sonny had come here and opened himself up to their daughter, reining in the anger and loss she knew must be churning inside of him, to sit here at Kristina's side and let her soak up his strength. He deserved some sort of explanation.

"I have a lot of excuses," she began, her voice quiet because neither of them had made a move to leave their positions next to Kristina. "I have a laundry list. I heard you give Jason the order to beat Zander up, Sonny. I didn't know it was Zander in that moment, but I figured it out, and then you lied to me about it."

"I... I was trying to keep you out of it," he said lamely, knowing that wasn't the real reason. He had hoped desperately she would believe his lie because he didn't want Alexis to know what he'd done. But the lie had only increased the look of disappointment in her eyes when she'd accused him of his crime.

"I was never going to be out of anything involving Zander, you know that," Alexis told him. "And I was angry at you for what you'd done and for not just admitting it to me. So that was the first excuse. Everything sort of piled up from there, as you well know. And what happened to my sister, at the time, it seemed to reinforce all the things I'd told myself about you, about how dangerous your life would be. After all that, it was just too late, or so I thought. You didn't want anything to do with me, and I was already fighting so hard not to lose her to Ned and Skye. I couldn't take you on, too."

He started to defend himself, but his own words came back to haunt Sonny. He remembered telling her she should be grateful he wasn't the father, that if he were, Kristina would be with him and his family... it must have sounded to her like he'd have taken Kristina away just as Ned had.

"I knew there was something," Sonny admitted. "I knew there was something you were trying to tell me, but I... I was... I didn't want to know, I guess."

Alexis nodded, understanding. It was part of another of her excuses. She'd known the position the truth would put him in with Carly and his family. He'd been just as afraid for himself.

"So you were afraid of me. That's basically what it comes down to, right?" he asked. "My life, my reaction... whatever it was, you were afraid."

"No," she answered quickly, then Alexis shook her head. "I mean, that was part of it, but I think I used that to justify a choice I made for a different reason."

Sonny held back the 'why' because he knew she was going to tell him. Their talk had an oddly familiar feeling to it... the give and take that had once been there between them had crept back in somehow. The barriers they'd both raised to survive the last year and a half melted away, and the honesty Sonny saw in Alexis told him that what he remembered was real. It had been there before, even if they had lost it for awhile, and that voice that had taunted him was wrong. It had mattered.

"I... I loved you, Sonny." Alexis' confession came with her eyes closed, but she opened them and looked to him now. "I loved you and I knew you didn't love me back, not the same way. And I couldn't stand the idea that you would choose me out of obligation... I couldn't take that."

The tumultuous emotions of those weeks following their lovemaking and Carly's disappearance were still very much alive for Sonny, though he rarely let himself think back on it. He could easily recall that split loyalty he'd felt between his second chance with Carly and his true affection toward Alexis. He also remembered the panic he'd felt when Jason had revealed Alexis' pregnancy to him. Could he deny that he would have done exactly what she suspected, turned to her for the baby without truly being sure he could give her his heart?

"I know what I did was wrong," she continued, her voice a low, pained whisper. "I would change it if I could, Sonny. I would."

Sonny's right hand still held Kristina's loosely, but he stretched his left across their daughter, offering it to Alexis. After a moment of hesitation, she lowered one of her hands into his.

"So would I."

The two remained there watching over their baby girl until Ben Simon arrived and Alexis left Kristina in Sonny's care while she went to speak with him. The judge had been livid over Ned's actions and had signed the custody ruling without hesitation. Alexis now had full custody of her daughter back again. Restraining orders had also been issued against Ned, Skye, Edward and AJ, though Ned was currently being held without bail. A grateful and relieved Alexis made her way back from the nurses' station to the ICU. Skye was dressed and sitting in one of the chairs right outside Kristina's room. The redhead looked up at Alexis when she stopped in front of her, her eyes filled with a mixture of concern and guilt. It was than that Alexis noticed what Skye was holding in her lap... Lamby.

"I asked Alan to bring it with him. I thought maybe she'd want it."

Alexis accepted the treasured stuffed animal from Skye. "She will. Thank you."

Unsure of what else to say, Alexis started to turn toward the door, but Skye stood and called out her name, stopping her.

"I... I didn't know Ned wasn't really her father."

"I know," Alexis said. "Ned would never have told you, and I couldn't tell you, so there's no way you could have known."

"He hates you, you know?"

Alexis nodded. "I know."

"I was just something he could use to hurt you," Skye admitted. "I see that now."

For a long moment, Alexis stared at this woman who had put her through so much. She wanted to hate her, but there was no room for hate in heart, not when Kristina needed her so much, not when there was so much left to settle with Sonny.

"I'll never understand what you did, Skye. You knew how much I love my daughter. You knew she was my whole life, and you still... but if you hadn't stopped Ned, Kristina would have been gone forever. So thank you for that."

It was as much as Alexis could give. She took Lamby and turned, opening the door to quickly make her way back into the room. She was greeted with a sight that overwhelmed her with a flood of relief, love and a sense of thing puts right. Sonny was sitting in the chair she had occupied earlier, Kristina in his arms as he fed her a bottle. She could see the stains on his face where tears had fallen.

"The doc said it was okay," Sonny said when he noticed her looking at them so intently. "Her fever's down to 102, and she wanted the bottle, so..."

"It is okay," Alexis assured him as she walked over and knelt down beside him, Lamby clutched to her chest. "It is absolutely okay."

There would never be words for Sonny to explain what it felt like when the nurse had set Kristina into his arms. His daughter... and she had looked up at him with such trust, such absolute faith that he was only going to take care of her... it was the most amazingly perfect moment he had ever known in his life.

"They said we can hold her now, just not to knock off the heart monitor." Sonny's head bobbed toward the steady "beep beep" on the screen. "Dr. Navarro said it's strong and steady, though."

"Yeah, this one has an amazing heart," Alexis said as she drew her finger down Kristina's cheek. Kristina smiled, distracted from her bottle a moment, but she soon returned to sucking down the sustenance her daddy was offering her. Alexis just kept watching them, and suddenly the memory sprung on her.

"You know, you've heard her heartbeat before."

Sonny looked at her curiously, then nodded. "At the NICU."

"No, before that," Alexis told him, gaining her another questioning look. "I don't know if you remember, but there was this one day you came to Mercy Hospital looking for Carly, and you heard a baby's heartbeat from the next exam area."

The feelings of that day came back to him, and Sonny did remember the way he'd smiled at the amazing sound coming from the other side of the curtain.

"I couldn't believe that of all people, it was your voice I heard," Alexis continued. "I was terrified that you'd somehow come around and see it was me, and I didn't know what I would do, but later... later I realized that somehow fate had seen fit to have you there. We heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time that day, Sonny, together."

Sonny smiled and looked back at their daughter, who was starting to drift off to sleep in his arms, her bottle still loosely held in her mouth. Together... they had made her together... and Sonny decided right then and there that he wouldn't forget that, not in his anger, not in his hurt, not in whatever struggles came next. Together they had created a life... and together they would find a way to love and protect Kristina from here on out.

Together.

*****

It was dark outside by the time Sonny walked into his office at the new Corinthos/Morgan warehouse and sank into the big leather chair behind his desk. Kristina was out of danger. Her fever was down to 100.2, back within normal ranges, and both he and Alexis had breathed a heavy sigh of relief at the news. Dr. Navarro wanted to keep her a few more days for insurance, but he was confident she would be just fine.

Earlier, when Kristina had fallen asleep after her bottle, Sonny had realized that no one but Johnny knew where he was. He hadn't been ready to leave the hospital, not until he knew his daughter was safe, but at the same time, he couldn't just drop off the radar and worry Carly. Finally, he'd decided to phone Jason and ask him to come down to the hospital.

[I]"Kristina's yours?"

"Yeah," Sonny confirmed. "She's mine, and I can't leave here, not while she's this sick. I'm not asking you to get in the middle of anything, but I need you to, you know, just let Carly know I'm okay and I'll be home as soon as I can."

The two of them had come to the atrium to talk in a less-populated area than the hall outside of Kristina's room. Jason still looked shell-shocked by what he'd heard.

"You haven't told her yet?" Jason asked.

"I can't tell her this on the phone, and right now, I can't deal with her freaking out, okay? Just let Alexis and me get the baby through this, and then..."

"'Alexis and me?'"

The tone of Jason's comment was not lost on Sonny. He rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Alexis is her mother, Jason. I'm her father."

"And she lied to you about that."

"Yeah, she did," Sonny agreed, "but she told me the truth now, okay? Look, I'll deal with everything else later, but right now, my daughter is sick, and I need to get back in there with her, so are you gonna do this or not?"

Jason had agreed and gone home with some story about a last minute meeting to keep Carly from worrying. He'd expected that. What Sonny hadn't expected was the sense of resentment he picked up from Jason or his own reaction to it, which was to be livid with his friend for feeling that way.

Now that Kristina was fully on the road to recovery, Sonny knew he should be headed to the penthouse to find some way to explain all of this to his wife, but instead of calling Johnny for a ride home, he'd started walking and ended up here.

He loved his wife. He loved Michael and he was looking forward to the new baby's arrival. But he knew that his whole life was about to blow up in his face. Carly's hatred of Alexis was already a powerful thing; this would send it through the roof. It would hurt her, hurt Alexis, hurt the kids... there was just no way around it.

But Sonny also knew that it was a situation delayed and not created by Alexis' choice to keep Kristina's paternity a secret. One thing he couldn't deny was that had it happened the day Alexis found out she was pregnant or now, Carly's reaction would be the same. Her insecurities would surface, her anger would provoke her to attack, and he would have to somehow negotiate a space where he could keep Kristina safe from all of it. He hated admitting that, hated that no matter how much he promised to stay with her, to love her, it was never enough for Carly. She was going to hate his daughter... and he wasn't sure how he was going to handle that.

The exhausting and emotional day had worn Sonny down. Leaning back in his chair, he put his feet up on his desk and tried to let go of some of the tension that was beating him down. His eyes drifted shut as he instead focused on the miracle of this day... on the gift of his child and the gratitude he felt that she was getting well, and that he would get to be a part of every day of the rest of her life.

[I]"It's all going to be ok. Don't worry about it."

Sonny snuggled even closer to Alexis, his cheek nestled against hers. He closed his eyes, but sleep was the last thing on his mind. Instead he found himself fascinated by every sensation around him--the feel of the satin sheets against his bare body in some places, Alexis' smooth skin all he felt everywhere else. The scent of the perfume on her neck and the lotion on her arm combined to create a heady sense of intoxication that only added to the light, nearly giddy way that he was feeling.

He'd dreamed it, he'd hoped for it, and once before, in the moonlight of Puerto Rico, he'd thought it might happen... but now it was real. He and Alexis had made love, and instead of confusing him as he'd sometimes worried it might, Sonny felt centered. He had come close to becoming a man he truly didn't want to be tonight, but Alexis had fought for him and pulled him back from the brink. And he knew now, finally, what he really meant to her. She'd shown him a million times, of course, but he hadn't seen. Tonight he'd seen, and knowing that too many words might frighten her, he had done the only thing he could think to do to show her what he saw as possible for them now that they had come to this place. And so he'd kissed her. And she'd kissed him back. And now here they were.

Alexis shifted slightly, moving back against him, and sighed. Sonny smiled at the sound. She was playing possum as well. He understood. He loved that they had been able to still be them, still be friends and talk when their passion had been satisfied after several powerful encounters, but he knew that neither of them was ready to say too much, not just yet. But there was no need for them to talk, he mused, not when they were so good at communicating in other ways.

Turning his face slightly, Sonny planted a kiss on the delicate skin just behind and below her ear. He saw the dimple in her left cheek emerge at his touch. Slowly he created a line of kisses from that first spot down her neck and over the curve of her shoulder. As he marked her with his lips, Sonny brought one of his hands beneath the sheet, touching his fingers lightly against her ribcage. That earned him a small gasp, and made his grin increase ten fold.

Keeping the pressure light, he drew his fingers down her side and over her hip then back up again. He fanned out his fingers over her belly on the next trip down, over her perfectly curved bottom on the way up. The desire that had seemed quenched earlier flared quickly. Alexis moved back against him, and Sonny moaned, his lips burning against her neck as he continued to cover her with heated kisses.

As their passion intensified, hushed cries and soft pleas filled the room, though he wasn't sure which of them the words came from. Of all the times they had joined together tonight, of all the times they might still, Sonny knew that something incredible was happening between them. For perhaps the first time in their lives, they had both known absolute surrender... and Sonny marveled that it had taken him this long to realize that it was the balance of his want for Alexis and his trust in her that had made it possible.[/I]

Bolting awake, sweat pouring down his face, Sonny jolted himself out of the memory that had taken over his sleep. He had kept that night locked away for so long now... and yet the power of it was still clear. God, what would have happened, he wondered, if the next day had unfolded differently, if there had been no accident and Alexis had come to him eight weeks later with the news of the child they had made?

Sonny stood and walked into his private restroom. He leaned over the sink and splashed cold water over his face. He couldn't think about the way things might have been... he could only deal with what was. He was married to Carly, they were expecting a child, and he and Alexis were Kristina's parents.

Shaken a bit by the effect his "dream" had had on him, it took Sonny a few minutes to fully regain his composure. Once he felt in control of himself again, he grabbed the phone and ordered Max, who was now on duty, to come and pick him up. It was time to go home.

*****

Sonny gave Michael a hug, then pulled on his suit jacket and headed for the parking garage. So far, the little boy seemed not to notice the dark mood that had descended on the house, but Sonny suspected if it lasted much longer, Michael would start asking questions. He wasn't sure yet what answers to give, but he knew that one truth would have to be told to Michael sooner rather than later, and that was who Kristina was and her place in Sonny's life now.

Carly wasn't going to make that easy. Her reaction had been exactly what Sonny had expected. She railed against Alexis, calling her a hundred different names. She had ranted about how Alexis had let the Quartermaines keep his child away from him... IF Kristina was his, of course, because she was determined that Alexis was lying. Sonny listened, he countered, and he tried to remain patient. Her whole world had just been turned on its ear, he understood that. But Carly had crossed a line with him that the two had yet to make peace over.

[I]"So provided Alexis has managed to tell the truth this time, I want the same thing Ned had. If Kristina's yours, she lives here and Alexis can't come anywhere near her."

"Excuse me?" Sonny said, too stunned to really have a bigger reaction.

"We have a family here, Sonny, you, me, Michael, the new baby. If you have this other child, then it belongs with us, and it needs to be away from Alexis and her psycho behavior."

Sonny moved from where he sat on the couch to stand eye-to-eye with Carly near the fireplace. "Kristina has spent enough time without her mother."

"What about the time she spent without her father? You're not just gonna let her off the hook for this, Sonny. Please tell me you're not..."

"What's between Alexis and I is between Alexis and I," he bit back, his voice raising, coming out far angrier than he expected. Carly's eyes went wide at the sound, and Sonny took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. "Kristina has been fought over enough, Carly. Now I'm not saying I understand what Alexis did completely, but she loves our daughter."

"Your daughter," Carly said emphatically. "Kristina is your daughter. You had a right to know about her, to take care of her. My God, Sonny, if Kristina had been here with you, none of this would have even happened. Ned might have been driving the car, but this whole thing was Alexis' fault."

Some habits die hard, and Sonny's normal reaction to intense fury was always to break something before he took some other physical action to relieve his anger. His arm swept over the mantle, knocking the candleholders and picture frames to the floor.

"Don't you say that!" Sonny ordered through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare say that, and I swear to God, Carly, you throw that crap at Alexis, and I'm... we're gonna have a problem. I know you're hurt, and I know you're mad, but don't you ever say that again. Kristina's alive and here because Alexis sacrificed everything for her... and no matter what, I won't let you or anyone else act like she doesn't love that baby. "[/I]

As the limousine headed toward GH, Sonny tried for the hundredth time to imagine how this might all work out so that everyone was okay. He couldn't. In fact, all he saw were the dozens of obstacles that lay in front of him as he tried to protect all of his children and both their mothers. His anger at Carly had surprised them both, but in retrospect, Sonny understood his reaction. Something had crystallized for him as he'd tried to explain the whole situation to Carly. He realized how much Alexis had given up doing what she thought was best for Kristina, starting with him and including, very nearly, her freedom. Whether he liked how she'd done it or not, Alexis had been exactly the kind of mother Sonny admired... and he wasn't about to let anyone take that away from his little girl.

He walked into the hospital room that had been Kristina's for the last two days and found his very happy baby all dressed and ready to go home. Alexis was sitting on the bed, Kristina in her lap, Lamby held tightly in Kristina's grasp, one of the stuffed animal's ears in her mouth as she noshed on the soft fabric.

"So you guys ready to go?" he asked, and Alexis smiled.

"We are all ready to go. I can't wait to finally have her home."

"I bet." Sonny leaned down and kissed his daughter on the top of her head. Kristina reached up and touched his face with her fingers as she continued to chew on the lamb's ear. "Well, let's get going."

Alexis stood and handed Kristina to him. Sonny still got his look of awe on his face every time he took the baby into his arms, and even though she loved to see them together, Alexis still felt a surge of guilt that she had kept this from him for so long.
So far, he hadn't made her pay too much for that. They had agreed to table much of their discussion until Kristina was safely home. But she hoped that what had happened earlier today would ease their way a bit.

"I had a meeting with Judge Harper this morning. I gave him the accurate paternity results, and I told him that I expected you to petition for some access to Kristina. He recommended that we work with a mediator. What do you think of that?"

He was stunned. He had spoken to a lawyer about what he should do once he knew Kristina was out of danger, but he'd been planning to hold off on making any moves until he and Alexis had tried to talk things out.

"I didn't expect you to do that. Tell anyone yet, I mean," he said honestly.

"I know, I didn't expect it myself," she confided. "But I just got to thinking that, well, I know us. We can both be so stubborn, and maybe if we have someone else helping us work on the details, we won't lose track of all that on the days we don't get along so well."

"Us, not get along?" Sonny's teasing tone was accompanied by a full-watt smile. "Has that ever happened?"

Alexis laughed and stepped closer. She took Kristina's hand and brought it to her lips, kissing the chubby fingers. "I just want to do what's best for her, Sonny. I just want our daughter to be safe and loved every day of the rest of her life, no matter what mistakes we might make. We can do that, don't you think?"

'Our daughter'... the power of those words was immeasurable. Sonny might have a war to fight on the other family front in his life, but he knew in that moment that he and Alexis were both committed to making things in theirs work. It would mean making sure that they didn't repeat the mistakes of their pasts, that they fought the temptation to hide from one another just to avoid facing their hurts or their real feelings. And most definitely, they had to be sure that the connection between them, the one that had come so close to disappearing, was never put in danger again.

Of course, Sonny thought, looking down at Kristina's broad smile, the connection between them now was concrete... flesh and blood and dark eyes and soft, baby skin... and he knew the last task would actually be the easiest. This bond was one they would both die to protect.

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