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This was inspired by Nikolas' terrible treatment of Alexis back in April.
Sonny was just climbing into the limo after meeting with Benny when his cell phone rang. Part of him wanted to ignore
it. Since he and Alexis had come back from St. Lucia and found Courtney and A.J. married, Sonny was wanting more and more
to just hide away in his penthouse and do nothing. Well, except cook dinner for Alexis. Somehow that always had appeal for
him, and he was doing it again tonight. Ostensibly the reason for it was so they could strategize about the Courtney situation,
but the reality was Sonny just felt better when she was there.
The phone rang for the fifth time and Sonny realized whoever it was would not give up. He flipped open the phone and
pressed the answer button.
"Yeah."
"Boss," Max started, his voice sounding a bit shaky, which threw Sonny and put his senses on full alert, "you
need to get home, quick."
"What happened?"
"Ms. Davis is at your place, and I...you just need to get here quick."
"I'm on my way." Sonny had barely ended the call before his voice, full of agitation and worry, bellowed in
Johnny's ears. "Get us home, now!"
The drive took less than five minutes and Sonny didn't even wait for Johnny to join him at the elevators before he disappeared
on the ride to the penthouse floor. After what seemed an agonizing ascent, the doors finally parted and Sonny literally burst
through them and landed at his front door.
"Max, what the hell happened?"
"I'm not sure. She came back about 20 minutes ago and she just seemed, I don't know, upset. She asked if her sister
was home. I said yeah. She asked if she could go into your place. I didn't think you'd mind."
Sonny shook his head to indicate that he did not mind then opened his door. His eyes immediately fell upon Alexis. She
was sitting on the edge of his couch, her body bent forward, her head resting on her hands.
"Alexis?"
He had purposely kept his voice soft so he didn't startle her, but when she didn't respond, he quickly closed the door
and closed the distance between them. His body made contact with the seat next to her on the couch as his hand touched lightly
on her back.
"Alexis?"
She never looked up, but Sonny didn't need to see her to know that she was in agony. The moment she heard his voice Alexis'
body began to shake with the power of her sobs and she simply turned toward him, burying her face in his chest as he wrapped
his arms around her.
"I'm here, Alexis. Shh. I'm right here."
Her arm snaked around his waist, holding him tightly as she continued to cry. Sonny held her, one hand moving slowly
up and down her back in a sweet and comforting gesture as the torrent of emotions continued. It was only as her body calmed
and her tears seemed to subside that he gently eased her away from him and moved his hand to tip her face up to his own.
"Alexis, what..."
His words stopped dead in the air as he looked down at the ugly purple and black mark on her face. Someone had backhanded
Alexis violently, damaging her beautiful face and bringing on the emotional hell he'd just witnessed. Sonny felt his jaw
clench as the reality of that, that someone, ANYONE, would hurt this gentle, loving creature and his blood literally began
to boil inside of him. Still, his anger was for the guilty party not her, and so he forced himself to take a deep breath
before he spoke.
"Who did this?"
A fresh well of tears sprung to life in Alexis' eyes and they began to stream down her cheeks. She tried to look away,
but Sonny's hand resisted the movement and he moved closer to her, his voice bringing his breath against her bruised cheek.
"Who, Alexis?"
"Nikolas." The word was barely audible, and the pain of having to say it out loud, to admit the truth of her
assailant renewed all of her grief. Sonny felt this and folded her back into his arms as she cried anew.
It was much later, after his private physician had come to make certain nothing in her face was broken, and after Sonny
had forced her to drink a brandy and coffee concoction to calm her nerves that Alexis was able to tell him what had happened.
"He's been pressuring me to try and start a smear campaign against Lucky. He's, Sonny, he's desperate and he's not
thinking. So I went out there to try and talk to him, to reason with him. I told him his brother's love wasn't worth losing.
And he just, I don't even know what happened. Suddenly his hand was up and he screamed for me to shut up and then..."
Sonny could see the raw fear that just remembering the incident was bringing up for Alexis and he moved closer to her,
his hand reaching for hers.
"I might as well have been 10 years old and at Stavros' mercy again."
If just knowing what that snot-nosed little punk had done to Alexis wasn't bad enough, knowing that it had taken her back
to such a painful and fearful time was enough to make Sonny hate Nikolas Cassadine for eternity.
"Alexis." She looked up at his voice, and when his hand reached up to her non-bruised cheek and pressed flat
against it, she leaned into the comforting touch. "No one is ever going to have you at their mercy again. I will not
let that happen, ever."
She closed her eyes and fell silent for a moment, as if considering Sonny's words. Then she lifted her own hand and covered
his as it rested against her face. She nodded as she held his hand firmly in place, accepting his reassurance and his protection.
Moving slowly but confidently, Alexis moved into Sonny, leaning her head against his chest again and Sonny pulled her
close, his arms once more wrapping around her. They didn't say anything else. Instead she reveled in his comfort and he
basked in the thought that she had come to him on her own knowing he would take care of her. Neither really knew how much
those gestures meant to the other, but the bond between them deepened in the hours that passed.
It was only later, after Sonny had carried Alexis upstairs and put her to bed in his room, only after he had surprised
himself by calling Kristina to come sit vigil in his living room, that Sonny went outside and leveled his eyes at Johnny.
Max stood nearby, ready to take over control of Sonny's door once again.
"Did you find him?"
Johnny nodded. They had only had two brief minutes earlier to talk when Alexis had gone to wash her face, but it had
been enough. "He's at the P.C. Grille."
Sonny turned toward the elevator and Johnny fell in step behind him. Rick was waiting downstairs with the car and they
were at the Grille in a matter of minutes. No one watching Sonny or Johnny stroll toward the elevators would have guessed
the seething fury at work in either man, their exteriors were so calm. Then the doors opened and Sonny's eyes laser-beamed
on Nikolas. He was sitting at a table with Gia, and he was smiling. Sonny felt some long-ago click in his stomach, the one
he remembered from listening to his mother's cries to Deke, and nothing short of a freight train could stop what was about
to happen. Sonny stepped into the room.
Nikolas looked up and saw Sonny headed toward him. His brain registered the man instantly and knew why he was here.
His eyes quickly scanned the room. Marcus was somewhere. Sonny was about to end up in handcuffs if he really did what he
intended. That thought made Nikolas level his eyes on the approaching man.
"Sonny, can I..."
The restaurant uttered an audible gasp as Sonny grabbed Nikolas by the lapels and pushed him over his own chair, away
from the table, and up against the wall near the bar. Gia was screaming, begging someone for help and as if from thin air
Taggart rushed into the room and reached for Sonny. Before his hand even made contact with Sonny's shoulder, the mob boss'
voice growled out toward his long-time adversary.
"You get in this, Taggart, and you will live to regret it. You want to know why Niki boy here is about to get his
due, you go and look at the bruise on Alexis' face and then you try and stop me."
Taggart's eyes flew to Nikolas' looking for answers. And he found them. Taggart could be accused of single-mindedness
where Corinthos was concerned, but he read most people better, and he saw guilt and fear in his future brother-in-law's eyes.
"I'm going call Mac. I suggest you be finished when I get back."
Taggart turned to leave and his eyes fell on his sister's incredulous face. He looked at her hard as if giving her a
warning, then left the room, shocking even himself. Free to continue, Sonny pushed Nikolas harder into the wall and brought
his face closer to the young prince.
"Do you have any idea how much you've hurt her? Do you!"
"I didn't mean for..."
"Shut up!" Sonny's voice echoed in the now frighteningly quiet room. "She loves you, you ungrateful little
bastard, and you broke her heart. And you better be damn grateful because the fact that she does love you is the only reason
you're still breathing right now."
Nikolas had the good sense to feel a small amount of remorse and his eyes looked down. Sonny shook him and slammed him
into the wall again, regaining the younger man's attention.
"I don't know who you think you are, little boy, but you've started something you are not man enough to finish. So
here are the rules, just so you understand them. You hurt her in anyway, emotionally or financially, and I will break you.
You ever make her cry again, I will destroy you. And if you ever touch Alexis again, you ever even think about raising your
hand to her, I will kill you."
Nikolas looked at Sonny's eyes and knew that the man meant every word he said. The part of him that was Stefan and Laura,
the part that had been raised to know that what he'd done that afternoon was wrong, shuddered. The part of him that was Stavros,
however, would not relent. He did not speak, but his eyes leveled a challenge at Sonny. Sonny nodded, recognizing the challenge
and knowing full well he was more than capable of taking it on.
"You remember you started this," Sonny whispered as he stepped back and released his hold on the Cassadine heir.
He walked toward the elevator, ignoring the looks of shock that the patrons of the restaurant threw his way. Johnny again
fell into step behind his boss, his chest wide with pride at how Sonny had handled the situation. If it hadn't been for the
fact that the little creep had hurt Miss Davis, the bodyguard would have felt sorry for him.
Sonny was just about to step onto the elevator when Taggart came back into the room. Sonny glanced over at Gia, who was
tending to Nikolas, and then back at Taggart.
"He raises his hand to one woman, Taggart, he'll do it to another."
And despite their mutual hatred of one another, their mutual disgust of knowing what Nikolas was capable of bonded them,
if only momentarily. Taggart nodded and Sonny stepped into the elevator with Johnny. The moment ended as the doors closed.
Sonny walked quietly back into the penthouse and found Kristina sleeping on the sofa. He bypassed her and headed upstairs.
Alexis was still asleep in his bed, his black satin sheets wrapped around her as she lay curled up on her side, her bruised
cheek turned up to protect it from contact while she slept. Sonny slipped off his jacket and eased down onto the bed behind
her. Alexis sighed and leaned back, her body snuggling against his in her sleep. The movement made Sonny smile, and he leaned
closer, his fingers gently moving through her hair in a comforting massage.
He wasn't sure when it had happened, but Alexis' demons were now his, and he would destroy them as surely as he would
his own.
"Sonny." Her voice was only a murmur, uttered from a still deep sleep, and Sonny brought his lips close to
her ear.
"I'm here. Nothing can hurt you now."
Alexis breathed deeply, letting her body fall even deeper into slumber at the sound of his words because she knew their
truth. It was the ultimate irony, really, after all the warnings about how dangerous Sonny was, she was safe at last, and
she was safe because of and with Sonny.
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