This is my response to the 2004 holiday fic challenge at www.justbreathe.tv. Required elements are:

1. A gingerbread house
2. peppermint hot chocolate
3. bubble lights
4. a cashmere blanket
5. it must be snowing

Happy holidays!

Something to Treasure by pretndermp

Alexis shivered as she ducked into the open door of Wyndham's and out of the heavy snowfall. After a quick pause to shake the white wetness out of her hair and off her shoulders, Alexis then eyed her shopping bag from The Corner Bookstore and double-checked that none of the moisture had touched the contents. She smiled realizing the on-the-ball salesclerk had wrapped her treasures inside other plastic bags to be sure the snow didn't get them.

Relieved, Alexis looked up and eyed the busy department store. The heated warmth enveloped her, as did the noise and hubbub. December 23rd was a terrible day to run out for last minute things, and typically she'd have avoided it like the plague, but December had hardly been a month filled with free time for her. The stress of Kristina's illness and the custody trial, not to mention Nikolas' situation had nearly worn her down completely, and it had been hard to find the Christmas spirit. But this morning, she had awakened to come out into the living room and find Ric teaching Kristina how to make paper snowflakes, complete with sparkles, so they could decorate the apartment with them. She smiled anew thinking about it and about his offer to spend the day with his niece so she could have some time to herself.

Time to herself--novel concept--and now that she had a husband to shop for, a necessary one. Kristina's gifts had been accumulating in her spare room closet for months now, but Ric... well, she hadn't planned on having a spouse for Christmas, and so more shopping was in order.

Finally warm enough to shed her gloves, Alexis peeled them off and shoved them in her pocket. At the same time, she pulled out her list. The gift for Kristina to give to Sonny was taken care of. All that remained was the one last thing she wanted to find for her baby girl and a gift for Ric.

Starting with the easiest thing, Alexis headed for the gorgeous Christmas Decorations department. Kristina had enough toys waiting to be unwrapped and Lady Jane had sent boxes clearly filled with adorable outfits. But when they had been walking past a small shop the other day, Kristina had seen a window filled with lights Alexis came to know were called bubble lights. The owner of the toy shop saw how entranced the toddler was and had volunteered that he'd purchased his lights a year or two ago at Wyndham's.

A smile crept over her face as she saw they had an ample selection. Snowpeople, Christmas trees, reindeers--they were all so adorable, and Alexis knew Kristina would probably adore them all. But it was the crystal snowflakes with colored liquid that were guaranteed to make her little girl's eyes light up, and so Alexis selected two of the nightlight models so she could put one on either end of Kristina's little bed.

With that done, an escalator ride to men's furnishings was next in line. Her eyes began to take in the numerous gift possibilities for her husband--sweaters, ties, scarves--so many things and she couldn't seem to key into any of them. In the back of her mind, Alexis felt a slight tremor of concern that she'd come up with an idea for Sonny's gift so easily and that buying something for Ric seemed like such a challenge. But she quickly dismissed the notion there was anything odd about that. She and Ric, while growing closer every day, were still getting to know each other. On the other hand, good and bad combined, she had known Sonny for years. She could still read him in some ways. So that was the explanation, pure and simple.

As she tried to wend her up and down the crowded aisles without being trampled by less considerate shoppers, Alexis felt her mind wander to another set of thoughts that were equally Sonny connected. Ever since the judge had ended their battle by basically giving Sonny the visitation Alexis had sought to keep from him, she had known Christmas would be an issue. He, of course, wanted Kristina with him. Alexis wanted Kristina to be at home, especially after her birthday had been spent in the hospital. Their compromise was that Kristina would visit the penthouse for Christmas Eve, but spend Christmas day in her own home. Sonny wasn't thrilled, but he'd agreed.

Her eyes dropped to the bookstore bag again. He would love the gift, she knew that. He'd love it all the more because it was Kristina's first gift to him. Alexis felt herself choke up slightly at the image that formed in her mind of the little girl's blue eyes turning up to her father's dark ones as she handed him the perfectly wrapped package.

Damn him, she thought, as she put a halt to the mental family movie in her head. As angry as she still was at his selfishness, Alexis couldn't deny that Sonny loved their daughter. But she'd never stop wishing that he loved her enough to change his life so they could both be safe and so that seeing them together wasn't always so bittersweet.

"Need some help?"

The young woman's voice startled her, and Alexis looked up to find a 22-year-old in glasses who looked like she'd just walked out of a J Crew catalog staring at her.

"Oh, um, I'm looking for a gift for my husband."

"Oh," the girl identified as 'Cassie' by her nametag said, "well, what's he like?"

"He's..." Alexis paused and thought a moment. "He's smart, funny, full of himself and, uh, he does a mean pretend voice for a toy dog."

Cassie laughed. "How long you been married?"

"About a month."

"Newlyweds, huh? Well, then I suggest you head to the lingerie department, buy the sexiest thing you can find and hire a babysitter. He'll love that."

Alexis felt the blush race up her face and she looked away from the other woman, embarrassed. She had promised a marriage with no conditions, but willful seduction? She wasn't quite ready for that. After thanking Cassie for her suggestion, Alexis headed to the opposite side of the store. There, she saw a table labeled "gifts for the family man" and drew closer to it. A tri-fold hand-carved wooden frame engraved with the words "my family" called out to her. With a few photos added, it seemed like a good gift for a man looking to belong.

Satisfied, Alexis headed for the closest register, certain that the lines were probably equally long at all the others. Twenty-five minutes later, with a new shopping bag in hand, she headed toward the elevator to head home so he could sneak upstairs while Ric and Kristina were still busy with their craft project to wrap up the bubble light nightlights and the frame. And Sonny's gift, she silently reminded herself.

The doors opened with the familiar loud "ding" of the old-fashioned Wyndham's elevators. Alexis stepped inside to head back down to the main level. The doors were nearly closed when she reacted instinctively to a man's voice crying out, "Can you hold that, please?"

Her hand shot out and hit the "doors open" button, and a blur darted through the parted metal sides before she released the button and the doors closed.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," she said.

And then they both looked up.

"Alexis."

"Sonny."

The reality that she was in an elevator alone with Sonny had barely registered in her brain when the car lurched and Alexis suddenly felt herself pinned against the wall by his body. Her hands clutched tighter around her shopping bags while Sonny's bag fell to the floor as his hands came to rest on her arms.

"Please tell me that wasn't what I think it was," she said, her eyes closed in silent prayer.

"I would, but you hate when I lie to you."

Brown eye met brown eye as she opened hers and found Sonny staring right at her. The closeness became instantly uncomfortable, and Alexis pushed him back and walked across the car.

"What is it with the elevators in this city? You'd think getting stuck three times in one year would be pretty damn impossible."

"From what I remember about the pictures in the paper, you didn't mind the elevator gettin' stuck at the courthouse so much."

Her eyes shot toward him as he chuckled at his own comment. When he saw her irritation, Sonny shrugged.

"I'm sure we'll be moving in a few minutes, Alexis. Just calm down."

*****

Ten Minutes Later

"Is anyone out there?!"

Alexis banged her hand against the door and then let out an exasperated sigh. The alarm seemed to not be working and Sonny had said there was no response when he called on the emergency phone. Her patience was definitely about to wear out.

"Hello! There are people trapped in here who have lives they'd like to get back to!"

She banged three more times before she felt his fingers wrapping around her wrist.

"You're gonna hurt yourself. I'm sure Max figured out what's goin' on by now. He'll get help."

It had been a long time since they'd touched--since that day in the hospital, when they had put aside all their anger and fear and shared an embrace of shared hope for their little girl's recovery. The sensation of having his skin against hers rocked her, and reflexively, Alexis jerked her arm away from his hold.

"Look, Alexis, I realize that you hate me, but we can at least try and--"

His words hit her and Alexis felt herself snap inside before she let him see it.

"Will you stop saying that? Would you please, please stop saying that?"

"What?" he asked, seemingly genuinely confused.

"That I hate you," she clarified. "When, Sonny, have you ever heard those words come out of my mouth. Yes, I have yelled at you and been angry with you, but when EVER have you heard me say, 'I hate you, Sonny' or 'I hate Sonny Corinthos'? When?!"

Sonny stared at her a moment, then he shook his head. "You act like you hate me."

"I act like a woman who's angry with you and tired of your double standards and that attitude you have like we're all supposed to just jump through the hoops you set up. But let me make this clear for you. IF I hated you, we would not be having this conversation nor we would you even be in Port Charles this Christmas, because IF I hated you, you would be spending the holidays in a 6x6 cell at Sing Sing because even if it had cost me my law career, I would have put you in prison and left you there to rot. So stop telling me that I hate you, Sonny. If I decide I hate you, I'll tell you myself."

With her rant ended, Alexis turned her back to him, crossing her arms and drawing in a deep breath to try to calm herself down. There was silence behind her as Sonny thought about what she had said. Whether he was enraged or hurt, she didn't know, and for half a second, she didn't care. Then she did care, but she was still too angry to take any of it back.

"Hello down there!"

The voice from above made Alexis turn around and she and Sonny both looked up as the small hatch in the top of the elevator opened.

"Hey, we're stuck in here," Sonny called up.

"That Mr. Corinthos?" the voice asked.

"And Alexis Davis-Lansing," she yelled out, noticing the eye roll her new name earned from Sonny.

"All right, folks, we're trying to figure out why y'all got stuck… so just sit tight, and we'll let you know what's goin' on as soon as we can."

"What do you mean, trying to figure it out?" Alexis yelled. There was no answer. "Hey! Hey!"

"Alexis, he's probably working on the elevator," Sonny said. "They'll get us out as soon as they can."

His tone was gentle and reassuring, which surprised her given how she'd just gone off on him. Alexis nodded and walked back to the opposite side of the elevator, leaning against the wall.

"You finishing up your Christmas shopping?" Sonny asked. The question seemed so oddly normal given the circumstances. Alexis looked down at her bags, then back up at him.

"Yes. You?"

He glanced down at his own bag, which still sat where it had fallen earlier.

"Yeah. Something for Kristina."

"Oh?"

Her curiosity was far more obvious than she would've liked. Alexis felt herself flush slightly when Sonny chuckled.

"Would you like to see what it is?"

There was no point in pretending she didn't want to see. For some reason, she was quite interested in what Sonny had chosen for their little girl. He leaned down and picked up the Wyndham's bag by its handles. From inside, he pulled a medium sized box, which he offered to her.

"No professional gift wrap?" she asked. Sonny smiled.

"I actually like to wrap my own gifts."

That surprised her. She took the box and slid down the wall to the floor to sit down so she could open it without doing a balancing act. She set the lid aside and lifted the tissue paper. A small "aww" escaped her as she fingered the contents--a pale lavender cashmere blanket.

"I'm planning to do a room for her, you know, so she has a place to take naps on her visits and stuff," Sonny explained, adding the last part, Alexis theorized, so she wouldn't think he was bringing up custody again. "But I haven't had a chance to talk to you about what she'd like, so I thought at least for now, you know, she'd have her own special blanket."

She smiled. It was the first genuine smile she could remember giving him in a very long time. "It's her favorite color. She'll love it."

He smiled back and slid down to sit on the floor on the opposite side of the elevator. "Yeah, I noticed how much she loves her little robe and stuff. And that pretty lavender sweater. So..."

The whole situation amazed her. A few minutes ago, Alexis had been ready to shake him she'd been so angry. Now here they were exchanging smiles over the sweetness of a gift for the child they had made together and nearly destroyed each other over. And while she could admit to herself the very idea of Kristina having a room at Sonny's terrified her, that he wanted to ask her advice touched her a great deal.

"She loves flowers," Alexis began as she returned the lid to the box, "and anything that reminds her of Lamby is always good. And as you know, she loves the lavender."

"Uh, Mr. Corinthos, Mrs. Lansing."

"Davis-Lansing," Alexis yelled back up to the mysterious male voice that was coming from their unseen helper above. That earned a laugh from Sonny.

"Sorry, ma'am. We found the problem, but it's gonna take us a little bit."

"Uh, is my friend Max up there?" Sonny called out.

"Yes, sir, he's right out here."

"Can you ask him to call my son and let him know I'll be there to get him as soon as I can? And, uh…" he stopped and looked over at Alexis. "You want him to call Ric?"

Alexis laughed. "And tell him that I'm trapped in an elevator with you? Thanks, but I have the whole day off anyway. Ric and Kristina are having arts and crafts day while I have alone time. So I'll just fill him in when I get home."

Sonny nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"Okay," the man called down.

"Um, I don't suppose you could lower us down something warm to drink, could you? It's getting a little cold in here?" Alexis shivered even as she spoke.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, ma'am. We'll see what we can do."

The voice disappeared again, and Sonny stood, shrugging off his expensive wool coat. When he offered it to her, Alexis looked up at him in surprise.

"You said you were cold."

"Uh, thanks," she said taking the coat and covering herself up with it. Sonny returned to his seat across from her. He idly glanced into his shopping bag and then lifted the lid of another box that sat inside.

"Well, so much for that."

"What?" Alexis asked.

Sonny pulled out the object that had caught his attention. It was a gingerbread house. Or more accurately, what was left of a gingerbread house. When he had dropped the bag to brace her during the elevator's sudden stop, the house had not been protected by its box--and half the roof had collapsed in while one wall had shattered like a piece of broken glass.

"Oh, Sonny, I'm so sorry."

"Eh, I'll just pick up another one. Might as well not let this one go to waste, though. You hungry? The roof looks pretty good."

She laughed and when he extended a piece, she took it and nipped a small bite. "Wow, that actually is pretty good."

He took a piece of the broken roof and took a bite as well. "Yeah, not bad."

They sat there quietly for awhile, the only sound that of one of them crunching on the gingerbread roof or shifting their position slightly.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Alexis had been staring at the floor until Sonny spoke. She looked up and nodded.

"Is it gonna be like this her whole life? Are you gonna stay scared of me forever? Do I have to worry you're gonna run with her forever?"

"I'm not going to run with her, Sonny. The judge was right. What's the point now? The whole world knows Kristina's your daughter. There's nowhere that people won't know the truth, so what's the point?"

"Then how come it feels like, I don't know, like every time I see you, you're thinking about a way to make it the last time?"

She wanted to deny it, but she couldn't. Alexis knew that she probably radiated her tentativeness every time she was around him.

"Because I'm scared, Sonny. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. I'm scared."

An unmistakable tinge of sadness came over his eyes, but Sonny didn't argue with her. Instead he nodded as if to say, "I know."

"Do you remember when... when you said I was ashamed of you?" she asked. Again, he nodded.

"You were wrong," Alexis made the admission looking right at him, hoping he would believe her because if she was going to be honest, she wanted it to count. "I'm not ashamed, not of you and never of Kristina. She's the very best thing that ever happened to my life. It's just... I have been fighting to protect her for so damn long... fighting the whole damn world, it seems, and I cannot just gracefully accept that her life is going to be at risk because you're her father."

"But I told you," he said, his voice filled with defensiveness, "I told you I would do everything I could to protect her. I mean, Alexis, you used to believe that. You used to trust me. Is that so damn much to ask now, that you trust me?"

She didn't know she was going to cry nor did she have any idea that his words were going to force the one single truth out of her that Alexis had been unwilling to acknowledge even to herself.

"I did trust you, until..."

Her voice halted. The reality of how deep her hurt ran overwhelmed her.

"Until?"

It took her a long time to work out the words, not just because they hurt her to say but because she knew they would hurt him to hear, and even now, she didn't honestly want to see him wounded.

"Until Luis Alcazar."

"I was gonna deal with that," he said, his eyes cast down to the floor instead of focused on her.

"When?"

The urge to look anywhere but at him was hard to fight, but Alexis fought it. She had never planned to actually have this conversation and she wasn't even sure how they had gotten here... maybe stuck elevators just made her feel confessional, who knew? But now that she'd thrown her cards on the table, they had to see it through, and she waited for him to finally push down his own fear of where this might lead and he brought his gaze back to hers.

"You used to hate it when I solved problems that way."

"I still do. But he wasn't just a problem. He was a murderer. He killed my sister. He left Kristina and me in the park to die. And then there he was, lurking outside the neonatal unit while my... while our baby could barely breathe."

Her memories of those terrifying first few weeks of Kristina's life were never far beneath the surface, and any slight touch against them opened a well of pain up inside of Alexis. So there was no stopping the tremor in her voice that she could see hurt Sonny to his heart.

"When Sorel came after us, when Helena and Stavros came after me... you tried, Sonny, but the truth was, they got close enough to do harm. But I still somehow believed it when you said you could keep us all safe. And then Alcazar came to town and he hurt Brenda and Jax and he threatened your family and he tried to kill you... and then he killed my sweet, beautiful sister. And you couldn't stop him."

"I would've," he snapped. "I would've, Alexis. Jason was there to stop him once and for all."

"But don't you see," she said, nearly pleading. "Look at how much damage he'd done by then? And I'm not blaming you for that, I swear. I'm just saying that people around you got hurt, not because you did anything wrong, but because someone wanted to hurt you. And I don't want to rob Kristina of knowing you and I don't want to take her away from you, but do you understand? I have to live every day now with the fear that the next time someone wants to hurt you, they're going to hurt our little girl."

This time when he stood, it was to come to her side. She heard him push her bags as her head sank down into her hands. Then she felt his arm slide around her shoulder and instinctively she turned into him.

"I do understand, Alexis. I live with it, too. And, yeah, you know... maybe it is selfish of me to want her so much... but you gave me such an incredible daughter. And I just can't give her up."

Alexis sighed and leaned more against his chest. "I know."

They sat there united in their love and their fear for their child, finally on common ground. And rather than jump on the treadmill of arguments about what he could do or what she wanted, they just stayed in that place of mutual understanding and, for now, let the rest go.

"Y'all about ready to come outta there?"

"Oh, you bet," Alexis answered to their faceless rescuer's question. She wiped her cheeks and stood up, preparing to hand Sonny back his coat. When he stood up to join her, his foot kicked at the bookstore bag, and the contents spilled out across the floor. Before Alexis could stop him, he leaned down and began to retrieve them.

"'¿Qué color es éste?,' '¿Cómo me siento?,' 'Mis Animales.' These--these are all in Spanish," Sonny said as he looked up at her.

"They were supposed to be a surprise. Kristina's giving them to you for Christmas so you can start helping her learn Spanish. If you want to, I mean. It seemed like something you might want her to know."

He finished returning the books to the bag and stood up and handed it to her. "I'd like that. I'd love that."

Alexis smiled and took the bag. "Well, just remember to act surprised when you open your gift."

Sonny laughed and took his coat from her hands. "I will. Promise."

"All right," the man above yelled down. "I'm gonna close this up and we're gonna move you back up. Hold on."

A few moments later, the elevator bell rang out its "ding" and the doors opened. Max was standing outside with the store's manager and the man Alexis assumed had been their savior, an older gentlemen with a nametag that said "Hank" beside him.

"Ah, hello there, ma'am," Hank said as they stepped out of the elevator. "I believe you asked for something warm to drink, didn't you?"

The man turned around and picked up two to-go cups from the Wyndham's coffee shop. Alexis took one and sipped at it. Peppermint hot chocolate. It was heaven.

"Thank you, Hank," she said. "And thanks for the rescue."

"Sorry that took so long," the manager said as he stepped forward. "Hope you folks weren't too inconvenienced."

"It was fine," Sonny replied. "Max, can you do me a favor and go grab another gingerbread house? Mine didn't fair so well."

"Sure, Boss."

Max headed for the bakery as the manager offered another apology. Sonny and Alexis both reassured him that they were fine and all was well, and in order to finally get away from the man, Sonny offered to walk Alexis out to her car. She accepted so as not to abandon him with the overeager manager and with their purchases and the warm minty cocoa in hand, they headed off.

The snow had stopped falling, but the town was blanketed in white. It was beautiful and Alexis smiled and turned to Sonny as they reached her car.

"Do you still hate it?"

"What?" he asked.

"Snow."

Something passed over his eyes... perhaps shock that she remembered that conversation... and he flashed his dimples at her.

"I'm learning to live with it."

She smiled. "Well, maybe after Kristina's January checkup, we can take her out to play in it. I promised to teach her how to make snow angels as soon as the doctor says it's okay."

His eyes lit up, and she knew without a doubt where that expression of pure joy she loved to see on their little girl's face had come from.

"It's a date."

He reached for her keys and out of an old, almost forgotten habit she handed them to him. Sonny opened the door of her car and then took her bags and placed them inside.

"So," Alexis said, "2:00 tomorrow, right?"

"2:00," he answered. "And I promise to act surprised when I open her gift."

"Okay. See you then."

Alexis climbed into the car as Sonny held the door open.

"See you then."

He shut the door and watched as she drove off, then Sonny strolled back toward the department store. He had never guessed he'd run into Alexis today, and in fact, he'd been tempted to turn and leave the store when he had caught sight of her. There had been so much anger and unpleasantness between them. The thought of another encounter like that...

But then he'd seen her looking at the bubble lights, and the look of wonder on her face as she tried to pick out just the right one to delight Kristina had reminded him of her face on a long ago night in Puerto Rico, when they had both been able to leave the world and its complications behind for a few precious hours.

The rest had happened on a whim. His words to Max, the chase to catch up to her as she moved to the elevator--it had been a dash of madness that could've backfired miserably. But it hadn't.

"Hey, Boss, I got it," Max said as he walked out of the store and met Sonny on the street, the new gingerbread house in the box in his hands. Sonny drew the box containing Kristina's Christmas gift out of the bag he held and tossed the bag and the broken house into the trash.

"Thanks, Max. And your uncle?"

"Hank says thanks for the Christmas bonus. And not to worry, the manager is all bark and no bite."

"What did he say caused the elevator failure?" Sonny asked.

"Some story about a bad circuit. So it worked out okay, huh?"

His wild impulse had led him to turn to Max and ask if his uncle still worked maintenance at the store. Max said sure and when Sonny had hatched his plan, even though the guard had looked at him like he was crazy, he had obediently gone off in search of his uncle with 5 $1,000 bills in hand. Now Sonny had a date to make snow angels with his little girl and her mama and he knew what things to decorate Kristina's room with and he was going to teach his little girl how to speak Spanish with the books her mother had bought them. And he knew, finally, that Alexis did not hate him.

"Yeah," Sonny said as they walked toward the limo. "It worked out just fine."

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