It's a week late, but here's hoping Jen will forgive me in exchange for her belated birthday fic.



Stefan looked at his watch and noted the time as he headed for the banging and grunting coming from the storage room. His plans to scold the offending employee for making so much of a racket evaporated as he saw who the culprit was. When he had returned home from the court hearing, it had been to the news that Zander Smith was in the attic working on an inventory for the upcoming charity auction. Now, hours later, the young man seemed poised to begin opening yet more crates.

He'd been less than pleased when Alexis had informed him of Lansing's decision to hire the boy he still thought of as a street thug. But Stefan couldn't deny that Smith had been hard-working and eager right out of the gate. There was never so much as a grumble about being asked to trudge back and forth across the harbor to ferry documents nor a complaint voiced over the sometimes erratic hours. In fact, much to Stefan's surprise, Zander Smith was fascinated by the world of Cassadine Industries, and though it was Ric he answered to directly, it was a rare day when he didn't pepper Nikolas or Alexis or even Stefan himself with questions in an effort to learn more about the company.

Again, it seemed, his sister's judgment on a second-chance case was proving to be correct.

"Are you planning to work all night?" Stefan asked as he entered the room fully. Zander set down a medium-sized crate he'd been shifting from one pile to the other and smiled.

"No, sir. Just wanted to get a little start here, you know, have a path clear so I can try to get through all these as quick as I can."

Stefan nodded. "Tell me, what do you think so far? The things you've catalogued, what do you make of them?"

"Well, a lot of it's real nice. And, uh, some if it's, like, way old. I don't know, I like a few things, like that painting with the couple and the candles."

"The Chagall," Stefan said, providing a piece of information he knew the young man wanted but was embarrassed to ask for.

"Yeah. That's pretty."

"That was the first piece Alexis picked out for the family's collection."

Zander laughed. "That makes sense. That suits her. Most of this, though... I mean, well, it's hard for me to imagine Alexis growing up around it."

"I'm sure Alexis would concur with your assessment. She's never much cared for the trappings of Cassadine life."

"But all this... you like it?"

Silence accompanied Stefan's walk to the crate where the inventory list rested. He picked up the pages and looked at the list of sculptures, vases, paintings and jewels that would, if they were real and not fabulous copies put in place by Helena, restore some luster to the Cassadine name by pulling dollars from the pockets of the rich for charity.

"Some of it," he said, finally answering Zander's question. "You develop a certain appreciation for fine craftsmanship, for a level of quality that simply equates with the life you're born into. That being said, I doubt any of us will notice they're gone."

"I think that's a safe bet since most of it's in storage."

Stefan chuckled. "Fair point."

He was just turning to leave when Zander's voice rang out once more, stopping him.

"Are Alexis and Kristina home yet?"

A slight smile came across Stefan's face. So it wasn't just an industrious effort that was keeping him here so late. "Tell me, Mr. Smith, my sister is very important to you, isn't she?"

Zander grinned, his genuine affection for the lady in question so obvious that Stefan felt another bit of his resistance to the young man melt away.

"Alexis and Kristina... far as I'm concerned, they're my family. I mean, I know she wants me to work on this stuff with my dad... and I will, but she's the one I can count on."

Stefan nodded. There was a slight pause in the conversation, and then Zander continued.

"She looked so happy earlier, getting Kristina all ready to go out for the day. I haven't seen her look like that in a long time. It was really good to see."

"And?" Stefan prompted, sensing there was more.

"Well, do you think, um... do you think Ric has anything to do with that? I mean, I know the stuff with Kristina is the big stuff, but..."

It was definitely a valid question, and though Stefan was curious to know what Smith's feelings were on the subject just to see if they validated his own, he was more curious about another matter.

"Tell me, do you believe Mr. Lansing's... conversion to the straight and narrow is genuine?"

The younger man shrugged. "Seems like it to me. I wasn't sure until he..." Zander stopped, apparently realizing he might be about to break a confidence. He regrouped and then went on. "I think he's really ready to leave Sonny behind him, if that's what you mean."

The scene at the Port Charles Grille replayed itself quickly in Stefan's mind. Indeed, it did seem Lansing had little patience for his brother's provocations.

"I sincerely hope so," Stefan finally said. "Corinthos has done enough damage to and around Alexis. He'll do no more."

"Good," was Smith's final comment on the subject.

"Well, I should get back to my paperwork. Be sure not to work too late."

"I won't," Zander promised. "I'll be done soon, and I'll try to be quieter."

"Good evening, Mr. Smith."

"Night, Mr. Cassadine."

Stefan headed back out into the hall and to the real estate sales proposals Lansing and Nikolas had put together. He again noted the time of night as he passed by the large clock in the grand hallway. It appeared that Alexis was enjoying her dinner out.

*****

The sound of her laughter had become addictive to him on their trip to New York, and Ric knew now he was a man with a serious problem -- he couldn't get enough.

Alexis laughed at his jokes, she laughed at Gloria's stories and she laughed at Kristina's silly faces, and still he felt something tug at his heart every time he heard it. As the night went on, the music of Alexis' laughter became the soundtrack to the story of his mother's life. That seemed fitting to him, given that were it not for her unexpected presence in his life, he might never have found Gloria Cerullo or the chance to know who Adella was.

The picture was far from complete, but there were so many little things now that, when stitched together by Gloria's animated anecdotes, were the beginnings of knowing the woman his mother had been. Adella Famosa Corinthos Woods swooned over Mario Lanza records. Her favorite color was a light shade of blue. Her first week in the building, Adella had taught Gloria to make croquetas de pollo; Gloria had taught her to make passatelli. She loved walking in Central Park in autumn and Thanksgiving had been her favorite holiday.

His mother was a real person. That was one of the thoughts that Ric kept coming back to. She had done silly, even wild things, made mistakes, known successes. Adella was no longer some unattainable fantasy he had been deprived of.

The night could have been overwhelming, but having Alexis there had given him an openness Ric wasn't sure he was capable of without her presence. Added to that, he'd spent most of their post dinner coffee and dessert conversation with Kristina in his lap and, now, snuggled against him sound asleep. It was hard to hold onto his malice so tightly when there was such light around to counteract its darkness.

And that laughter... every time his mind tried to drift toward that old, hurtful hatred so long associated with his mother, that sweet hysterical music would pull him back to the present.

"If you could have seen us," Gloria said, further embellishing the detail of her current story. "There we were, the drama of the school carnival--knee-deep in popcorn, the popper still overflowing, and here come Lois and Michael, who promptly dropped to their knees, doubled-over, giggling so hard they had tears coming down their faces. Thank goodness Adella had the sense to find the plug, or we'd have probably been up to our eyeballs before those kids went and got us some help."

He was so stuck by the humor in and the humanity of the story that Ric barely flinched at the mention of his brother. It was the first time Gloria had mentioned Sonny all night, and Ric guessed she was testing the waters to see how he could handle it in future yarns. The truth was, he knew he'd have to get used to it. Sonny was a large part of Adella's life, and he'd have no one to blame but himself if he put up a boundary between them now over his brother.

The rational nature of that thought tugged at the sides of his mouth, making him smile even as his laughter subsided. He glanced down and made sure his latest round of guffaws hadn't disturbed Kristina and then Ric looked up at the sound of a throat clearing across the table.

"What's that smile about?" Gloria asked. "Thinking you'd like to get one of those?"

Her head motioned slightly toward Kristina and Ric kissed the top of the little girl's head. When he glanced over at Alexis and caught her staring at him and her daughter, he could've sworn he saw her blush just a little.

"Someday. For now, being this one's honorary uncle is a wonderful job."

"You know, I could've put her down," Alexis said. "I don't know why you bought a port-a-crib if you were never going to let me put her in it."

Now his smile widened. "Well, she's comfortable."

Alexis gave him a wry look and only said, "Uh-huh."

Gloria stood and picked up her coffee cup. "Can I get anyone anything else?"

"Oh, no, thank you." Alexis stood, patting her stomach. "I don't think I could get anything else in here. And much as I hate to say it..."

Ric nodded. "You need to get Kristina home."

"Don't want to push my luck on our first big night out."

He understood her worries even if he thought they were unnecessary. The judge was on her side now... he wanted Alexis to succeed, and now that Cameron had turned the corner, Alexis was well on her way to sole custody of her daughter again. Ric was determined that nothing would get in the way of that. To that end, he couldn't let himself be a cause of stress for her, either.

"Why don't I take her out for you? That way she only has one transfer to the car seat."

"That would be great." Alexis pushed in her chair at the table and turned to Gloria. "Dinner was wonderful. Thank you so much for everything."

"Oh, it was nothin'," Gloria said, waving her hand for emphasis. "Next time, I'll really snazz it up."

Ric liked the sound of that. Next time... he was already looking forward to it.

The two women exchanged a hug, and then Gloria walked over and kissed two of her fingers, brushing them gently against Kristina's cheek.

"Night-night, little beauty. See you soon."

Alexis gathered up her and Kristina's things, and after Ric gave Gloria strict orders not to touch the dishes, he followed Alexis out to her car. Kristina barely did more than squirm a second or two while she was buckled into her seat, and then Ric shut the door softly and turned to face the woman whose laugh and smile and heart and child seemed to grow more fascinating to him by the day.

"This was really lovely." Alexis' voice was warm and low. "I'm really very grateful you asked me to be a part of this."

"I'm grateful you were here," Ric answered honestly. "You helped me keep my focus."

"How so?"

He shrugged and smiled slightly. "You and Kristina... you just reminded me of what's here in my life now. The past seems a little less scary and less sad when I can do that."

Alexis nodded. "I know how that is. Kristina does that for me, too. And I noticed that 'honorary' uncle catch. Nicely handled."

"I try," he teased, trying to keep his mood light, but it was a struggle. Ric already felt the uncertainty that awaited him in her going. Once Gloria was back at the hotel and he was home alone in a silence absent of that heartening laughter, he would be on his own in trying to keep his darker thoughts at bay in favor of examining the new aspects of his mother's personality he now had to contemplate.

"Ric."

She moved toward him, and her hand fell on his arm. Ric felt his throat go dry as her fingers slid down and she took hold of his hand.

"Your mother sounds like she was an incredible woman who made some tragic mistakes. Not unlike mine. She doesn't at all sound like someone who gave you up and never thought about what she was doing to your life."

Her words abruptly cut off the fleeting sensation of male need Ric had felt and drew, instead, a feeling of a son's longing. He so wanted what she was saying to be true. He hoped it was true. But it was still too soon for Ric to give himself over to that possibility.

"Maybe I'll be ready to believe that someday, but..."

Alexis squeezed his hand, which she still held. "I know."

That same air that enveloped them in New York manifested again. There they were, yet another shared emotional struggle behind them, uniting them, and there he was, a man growing more intrigued by a woman he knew was not ready for him to do more than be her friend.

Ric sighed and let go of her hand, stepping back from the car.

"I should let you get going or Stefan is liable to send a search party out."

She laughed, the sound a bit stilted and nervous. He wasn't sure if that was a result of his teasing or if possibly Alexis was feeling that same déjà vu that he was.

"And he would, too, so yes, I should get going. Thank you again, though. This was... we couldn't have asked for a better first night out on the town."

Her true, uncensored smile was just as beautiful as the magical sound that had kept him grounded all night. And that she was rewarding him with it now when he felt wholly selfish for having needed her so much to get through the evening made him feel like he was receiving a gift meant for someone else. But Alexis' eyes were smiling, too, and they were staring straight at him.

No matter how undeserving he might feel, the gift was his.

"We'll see you tomorrow," she said as she climbed into the driver's seat. Ric came forward and closed her door for her.

"See you tomorrow."

When he walked back into his apartment, he laughed at the cleared table. Strong, stubborn women seemed to dominate his life these days. Ric wandered into the kitchen to find Gloria already elbow-deep in dishwater.

"Don't start," she said as he entered. "Just grab a dish towel and start drying."

"Yes, ma'am."

"The girls get off okay?" Gloria asked as Ric moved to indeed begin drying dishes and putting them away.

"Yeah. Kristina's so sacked out, she barely noticed the move."

"Well, it was a big day for her, from what you told me. It's just beyond wrong that Alexis has had to wait so long to just spend some time alone with her daughter."

"I agree," Ric said, "but there are plenty of people around here who would still tear them apart if they got the chance."

Gloria chuckled. "I wish them luck. Alexis is never going to let that little girl out of her arms again. And with you around, those girls are aces."

Ric smiled as he placed the dry glasses in the cupboard. "You're so sure of that, huh?"

"Oh, I'm positive."

He sighed. It felt good to be believed in.

"You know, I will fight anyone who even tries to hurt them." Ric threw the towel over his shoulder and leaned against the counter. "Did you see her tonight? My God, she is the most amazing mother. I can't believe how happy and bright and loving Kristina is after everything she's been through."

"She adores her mama. You could see it in her eyes every time she looks at Alexis." Gloria gave him a wink. "She seems quite fond of you, too."

"Yeah, I think we have a mutual crush." He chuckled and then, seeing the growing stack of dishes, he returned to drying them. "I'm just so glad that this all happened when she's so young. You know, Kristina is never going to have to ask why her mother didn't fight for her because Alexis fought like hell and she won. She's never going to have a list of things she wishes she could say to her mom, or a list of things she wishes she'd heard, like that she mattered."

He'd let his thoughts run away with him as he spoke them aloud, and when Ric paused and looked at Gloria, he was surprised to see her staring at him almost as if she didn't understand what he was saying.

"I don't mean to act like everything you've told me hasn't been important, Gloria. It has. I can't tell you how much. It's just... I'm always going to wish that there had been time for just one conversation, that there had been even just a few minutes when I could have looked Adella in the eye and heard her voice and felt what she was feeling."

"I-I understand, Ric, I do." That familiar maternal tone he'd grown used to filled her voice. "And maybe something, someday will give you that feeling. That... that's gonna be my hope for you."

She leaned in a kissed his cheek, making Ric blush at her attention. After she swiped her lipstick off of his cheek, Gloria slapped him gently on the arm.

"Now, dishes -- dry!"

*****

"Thanks, Johnny."

Sonny walked behind his desk at the warehouse and looked back at his bodyguard.

"Can you ask Andrew to come in, please, on your way to deal with that paperwork?"

He saw a slight look of annoyance pass over Johnny's eyes, but the man said nothing, nodded, and then walked out. The decision to return his longtime bodyguard to his personal detail had been a hard one for Sonny, not because he no longer trusted Johnny would do his job -- there was no doubting his loyalty in that respect. But things had changed irrevocably, it seemed, between them when Sonny had let Carly back into his life. He remembered now how Benny had warned him what that decision might cost him. Johnny's friendship had been one of those things. Seeing that daily hurt, but seeing the looks of frustration his men had shown at seeing Johnny "punished" by being transferred away from primary detail had been even worse. And so they were together again, but the wall between them was evident.

It was especially so now as Sonny sent him away for Andrew's report. He knew that Johnny would balk at him having Ric followed, not because he liked the man but because it involved Alexis. All this time after the fracture of their friendship, and she remained the bone of contention in so many of his relationships.

"Sir," Andrew said as he walked in the door. "You wanted to see me."

Sonny nodded and sat down in his chair. "What's he been up to?"

"Not much. He was in court yesterday with Ms. Davis."

Her name prompted Sonny to put up his hand, halting the report almost immediately.

"What happened there?"

"The judge loosened up the rules on Ms. Davis, I guess. That's what I overheard, anyway."

Sonny fought down the smile that news wanted to bring out of him. "Okay, so after that he went where?"

"A kid's store to buy some baby furniture. Then he went home. He had a female guest arrive at about 4:00, then the furniture was delivered, a highchair and a crib. And then later on, Ms. Davis and her little girl came over."

"Who, uh, who was the first woman who went to his place?" Sonny asked, on edge. They had just all gotten clear of Ric's mess with Faith Roscoe. If that idiot had gotten involved with some other...

"Um, Cerullo. Gloria Cerullo," Andrew said.

The words hit Sonny in his gut. Mrs. Cerullo? Mrs. C.? What the hell was she doing near his brother?

"Is she staying there," Sonny demanded as he stood up, reaching for his coat.

"No, Lansing took her to the Port Charles Hotel late last night."

Sonny was out the door without another word. Ric wasn't going to steal away another part of his life, damn it, he wasn't.

He was downstairs before he realized Alexis was what he thought of as Ric having already stolen.

*****

The concerned, nearly grave tone of Gloria Cerullo's voice had been such a shocking contrast to the happy laughter of her stories last night that it had thrown Alexis for a loop and left her feeling worried about the man for whom they shared mutual affection.

[i]"Alexis, I hate to bother you, but there's something... well, something I need your advice on, about whether or not I should share something with Ric. I was wondering if we could meet before I head home?"[/i]

It was tempting to let her overactive mind conjure frightening or heartbreaking possibilities for what this thing was that Gloria was hesitant to share, but Alexis was trying not to do that. Mostly, she was worried about her friend, about what anything too hard or too painful might do to his fragile feeling of connection to the mother he had never known.

She could see what having that small, tenuous tie was doing for him. Ric had been fascinated by the stories Adella's friend had recounted to him at dinner, his only distraction, really, the demands Kristina put on him to be held and cuddled, which Ric obliged quite happily. It had been an intriguing portrait, actually, seeing him sitting there at the table as Gloria spun tales about she and Adella's adventures while he held his mother's grandchild in his arms.

The comfort her little girl felt with Ric Lansing was generally something Alexis' own feelings reflected. He made her laugh, he made her feel like someone was on her side, he made her stop and enjoy moments instead of worrying about the big picture all the time. Their friendship had fast become something Alexis depended on and that she knew enriched her life by giving her a non-family outlet to share the things that sometimes made her feel silly when she considered saying them to Stefan or Nikolas.

All of those things and a host of other smaller benefits to their relationship were the reason that, last night as she'd been leaving Ric's apartment building, Alexis had nearly choked. Because it had happened again. That "thing" she didn't want to identify had happened again, and while she'd been able to pretend it hadn't been real in New York, a second occurrence definitely implied this was something she needed to be worried about.

There they were again, alone -- or virtually alone because Kristina had been sound asleep -- and again that quiet sense of calm was there that seemed to invite them to move closer, both physically and emotionally.

On their trip to Manhattan, Alexis had easily brushed aside that fleeting sense of something because she'd been worried and frazzled and the good company had relaxed her and made a hard night easier. Gratitude--that was all it had been.

So how did she explain last night? How did Alexis explain that moment when she had taken Ric's hand to reassure him that she understood his reluctance to trust his growing feelings about his mother only to find herself, for one brief moment, thinking he might lean in to kiss her... and hoping that he would.

When he hadn't, Alexis had been relieved. Mostly relieved. Any kind of romantic inkling passing between them was probably just odd chemistry arcing. Two people who shared a similar education and career path and who enjoyed each other's company reading too much into it. The fact that he'd pulled away and acted like nothing had come close to happening only reinforced that. And it was for the best. Ric was her friend. She was his friend. She'd lost too many friends to risk losing another.

Her reasoning was logical, methodical, well thought out--and yet it didn't erase one other indisputable fact about last night and the moment the "thing" had happened again.

When Ric had let go of her hand and stepped away, before she felt relief, Alexis had felt a twinge of sadness.

The sight of the Port Charles Hotel allowed Alexis to push her analysis of all things she and Ric into one of her handy mental compartments so she could refocus on whatever new piece of the puzzle Gloria was about to add to Ric's, or rather, his mother's past. She handed her keys over to the valet and bounded through the door headed straight for the elevators. Moments later, she was poised to knock on Gloria's hotel room door. And that's when she heard him.

"I don't want you talking about my mother with him."

"Michael Corinthos, Jr., I'll kindly remind you to remember your tone, and I will talk about whatever I want to with whomever I want to, regardless of what you want."

Alexis might have chuckled at the way Gloria brooked none of Sonny's nonsense were it not for the subject matter. Somehow he had found out Lois' mother was in town to see Ric and clearly, he knew why.

Another of the connections that had once held her heart to Sonny's snapped at his next words. The break caused physical pain.

"She didn't want him, okay? He needs to learn to live with that."

"Oh, you want to presume to tell me what your mother wanted?" Gloria's voice had raised, but she wasn't quite yelling. "Adella was my best friend, and I know what I know, Michael. And Ric's gonna know it, too, whether you like it or not."

The feeling that she'd become a voyeur to an ugly family fight made Alexis just as uncomfortable as Sonny's words and the topic of conversation. She lifted her hand and knocked on the door. A moment later, Gloria opened it.

"Hi, sweetheart, come on in. Michael was just leaving."

She had tried to avert her eyes from his, but it didn't work. Sonny caught her gaze and Alexis was overwhelmed with a mixture of anger and sadness. What had happened to the man she thought she knew? Could that man really just turn his back on his own brother and so coldly try to keep even memories of their mother away?

"I think you and I need to talk again, soon," he said as he walked closer to her. Alexis looked at him, certain the sudden defiance she was feeling was showing on her face.

"Oh, I know the speech, Sonny. Ric is bad, Ric is evil, Ric doesn't deserve any second chances. You, the great Sonny Corinthos, you deserve as many second chances as you need. But everyone else, the moment we fail, the first mistake we make, the book is closed, the game is over and we should just slink of into the pile of people you deem unworthy. Does that sound about right?"

He stared at her for long enough that she knew he was trying to wilt her strength. Sonny had used that trick on people in front of her before. He'd used it on Alexis. She thought about the look on Ric's face at the table last night and envisioned his mother knee-deep in popcorn. Her shoulders squared and Alexis took a step closer to Sonny.

"Stare all you want. It won't make you right. Ric has a God-given right to know who is mother was and where he came from."

His brown eyes momentarily disappeared as he blinked in response to her direct challenge. Alexis wasn't sure if he was shaken, shocked or just so flat-out angry that he decided to walk way before he made a scene in front of Gloria. Whatever it was, he tore his eyes from hers and headed for the door. She thanked God for the reprieve, because her own words were already screaming through her mind asking her how she could stand there and fight for Ric's chance to know Adella when she was denying that same right to her own child when it came to her father. It wasn't a question Alexis could deal with... not yet, not today.

"Michael."

Alexis turned and watched as Sonny stopped when heard Gloria's voice. He pivoted back around, and as her earlier annoyance vanished from the older woman's face, Sonny's eyes softened.

"I love you," Gloria said, then she moved forward, her hands coming to his cheeks, and she kissed his forehead. "I'll always love you. But I'm gonna do what I have to do, Michael. I'm gonna do what I think Adella would want me to do."

He nodded, the mob boss momentarily brought to heel by perhaps the only person on earth he still feared, not because she could take his territory but because she had access to a part of Sonny's heart he had closed off, but not until after Gloria Cerullo had gotten in.

"Come home soon," Gloria said as she stepped back. "I'll make a ziti and we'll catch up."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Give Carmine my regards."

"I will."

Sonny left without looking her direction again, and Alexis cleared her throat as Gloria closed the door behind him.

"I know, I know," Gloria said as she threw her hands up. "He can be the most frustrating man on the planet, and he's dead wrong about this. But he's always gonna be that curly-haired little boy with scraped knees sitting on my stoop."

Alexis smiled despite her lingering disappointment in Sonny and her own troubled heart. It still mattered to her that someone remembered that little boy for him.

"All right, enough about him. Sit, please, be comfortable."

Gloria motioned toward the sofa in the room, and Alexis crossed to it, sitting down as the older woman joined her.

"I'm sorry to drag you over here."

"No, no," Alexis said, reassuring her. "It's fine, and I'm glad to see you again before you head home, but you sounded a little worried. Is everything all right?"

"I'm not sure." Gloria laced her fingers together and set her joined hands in her lap. "Something Ric said last night... well, it struck me as a little strange."


"At dinner?"

"No, later, when we were cleaning up. He was talking about how he wished he would've gotten the chance to talk to Adella at some point, how it would have meant so much to him if she'd somehow tried to explain things to him."

Alexis nodded. "I understand that. I went years without knowing who my father was, and then for a long time after I found out, I wished so much to know what he felt about me, if anything."

"Did you ever get that?" Gloria asked.

The memory of Jax and the precious document from Greece made Alexis smile. "I did. I know that he loved me, and it made all the difference in the world."

"And I think it would for Ric, too. Or rather... it should've."

That rather cryptic comment made Alexis furrow her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Adella loved that boy, Alexis. She loved him, and she wanted him, and giving him up nearly killed her. I told her that she should write it down for him."

"Did... did she?"

"Yes," came Gloria's reply. "Yes, she did. But from the way Ric sounded... Alexis, I don't think Trevor ever gave his son that letter."

One topic of conversation Ric steered clear of was his father, and Alexis had gotten the impression on more than one occasion that the elder Lansing had taken his disappointment in Adella out on Ric for most of his life. It didn't surprise her at all to imagine that his great act of payback against the woman who had chosen Sonny over him would be to deprive Ric of the one piece of tangible proof that his mother had loved him.

"My god... things might have been so different for him if he'd..." Alexis shook her head in total disbelief. All these years of the resentment just building up, and all this time..."

"I know," Gloria said. "When we were talking and I realized... I mean, before I thought maybe he misunderstood or maybe he just, you know, was so hurt that he couldn't see things clearly. But he's all that and more if he never saw the letter in the first place."

Standing, Alexis paced across the room, her mind racing. She understood Gloria's dilemma now. Chances were that Trevor had destroyed the letter the day Adella had handed it to him. Telling Ric about its existence only to follow it up by saying it was gone seemed a level of cruelty worthy of her own torturous Cassadine relatives.

And that's what made her think of it... Helena would not have destroyed the letter. Helena would have stashed it away somewhere, placed it with a trusted employee or minion so that someday it could be used to hurt when an enemy was most vulnerable. Alexis had no reason to believe that Trevor Lansing was on par with Helena in the cruelty department, but it was possible.

There was also another possibility, one that Alexis understood far better. Perhaps Trevor had kept the letter, not out of malice, but in search of "the perfect time" to make the revelation of its existence. How many times had she herself looked for the perfect time to tell Sonny about Kristina? How often over the coming years would she look at her little girl and wonder when exactly was the right moment, if it ever came?

One large benefit to being part of a family fascinated by background investigations was that Alexis had a place to start looking when it came to Trevor Lansing's history. A phone call to Stefan and a quick scan of Ric's background check confirmed that it included a listing of his father's past businesses and their dispositions. The estate had been handled by a Manhattan attorney named Archie Beckam.

"Do you think there's a chance the letter's really still around?" Gloria asked as Alexis hung up the phone after jotting down the notes her brother had provided.

"It's worth a shot. Apparently Ric's stepmother passed away before his father, so per Trevor's instructions, his attorney sold everything and established a trust fund for Ric. It's possible that the letter was part of the estate paperwork and for some reason, it just never made it into Ric's hands."

"Or it could be gone?"

Alexis nodded. "Which is why I think your instinct is right. I think we should know one way or the other before we tell him. I'd hate to get his hopes up and then not be able to find it."

"Agreed," Gloria said. "So what's next?"

"What's next is I get on a plane and go to Manhattan and meet with one Archie Beckam. Might as well go directly to the source."

With her purpose clear, Alexis headed downstairs for her car and to head home to change. The idea of being able to do something so meaningful for Ric after everything he had done to help restore her relationship with Kristina had Alexis energized. She only hoped that at the end of her journey, she could offer him the same kind of closure and comfort that Mikkos' words had once given her.

Thinking of comfort reminded her of someone else very important, and though Alexis knew Kristina had one uncle at her beck and call for the day, she decided to see if perhaps she could provide her little girl with two.

"Ric Lansing."

"Hey," Alexis juggled her cell phone as she tried to find her valet ticket. "How goes your morning?"

"Not bad. I met with the potential buyers on the textile mill sale, and I'm drafting a report to bring out to Stefan this afternoon."

"Ah, so you're coming out to the house?"

"I am, plus I need to check on Zander and the auction cataloguing."

Alexis grinned. "Well, can I convince you to bring some play clothes and spend a little time with Kristina this afternoon while I run an errand into the city?"

"Why are you going to Manhattan?" he asked.

"Some paperwork we need from an old attorney," she answered, not lying, which she did not want to do. "I know what I'm looking for, so it'll be easier if I go myself rather than sending someone else."

"Are you sure, because I could go for you if you'd rather not be away from Kristina?"

"Unh, unh, unh, remember, I'm working on normal... letting her bond with everyone else... besides, I'm going to have a car on standby in case the damn fog rolls in again."

Ric laughed. "Okay, well, you know I can't resist a chance to build block towers with my best girl, so the answer is yes, I will be happy to."

"Excellent. I'm rushing out of town as soon as I get changed, so if I miss you, I'll see you when I get back, okay?"

"I'll plan on evening coffee."

His voice came through the phone full of openness and warmth and a genuine desire to be there when she got home. And though it didn't count as a recurrence of the "thing," Alexis felt herself swoon, just a little.

Friend... friendship... doing errand for your friend, she reminded herself.

"I'll talk to you later, and thank you."

Alexis ended the call and climbed into her now waiting car. Despite her teasing with Ric, very few people could have gotten her to take a whole day away from Kristina for anything other than urgent business.

But Ric had become one of those very few people, and she determined to be honest with him one way or the other when she returned home, and to help him face whatever it was that she found.

*****

Sonny was on his second drink when Johnny knocked on the door of the warehouse office. He barked out a "come in" and didn't turn around because he was not in the mood for the look of disapproval that would undoubtedly be on his bodyguard's face.

"Skye Quartermaine is here to see you."

That made him turn around. "What?!"

"Should I send her away?"

Nine times out of ten... hell, nine hundred ninety nine out of a thousand, Sonny would have said yes, send her packing. But he needed a distraction, and he needed it badly. Gloria's refusal to stop seeing Ric had stung more than he wanted to admit, and Alexis' clear support of his brother only intensified the bereft feeling his talk with Ric the day before had caused. His brother was no longer stealing parts of his life, he was seducing them away with his charming lies, and it made Sonny sick.

"Send her in."

Drink in hand, he strolled behind his desk and sat down as Johnny stepped back out into the hallway. A few moments later, Skye entered, her designer clothes doing little to hide her shaking hands and nerves.

"Uh, Sonny... thank you for seeing me."

He nodded. That was his only response. He didn't invite her to sit and he didn't do anything to make her feel more comfortable.

"Um, look, I know you and I have a... well, a little bit of a history."

"Uh-huh."

Skye ran her right hand through her hair. The gesture reminded Sonny of something Alexis would have done during one of her nervous rants, and his hand clutched his glass more tightly.

"Okay, so we don't like each other," she continued. "And fine, we don't. But charity is charity, and so for a good cause, you know, you talk to people you don't necessarily like, right?"

"Is this, uh, supposed to be buttering me up for a check or something? 'Cause I probably already gave at the office. And no, I don't like you. I don't like liars who turn on their family and I don't like people who try to take babies from their mothers."

He flashed his trademark grin at her and Skye rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, I'm not real fond of people who steal babies from [b]my[/b] family, but I'm willing to overlook that because the children at the hospital are more important."

"Oh, I see," Sonny teased, "so you're doing your penance for what you did to Alexis by sucking up to daddy at the hospital, and you need something from me? That how it works?"

"Look, I'm trying to do something useful for a change, okay? And yeah, maybe part of it is to make up for what I did, but the bottom line is, it's only going to help Alexis because her family's donating most of the auction items for the fundraiser, and--"

"Wait, wait, wait." Sonny stood, his interest changed suddenly from a distraction from Alexis to a way to get close to her... just to get another shot to warn her about his brother, of course.

"So this fundraiser involves the Cassadines?"

Skye nodded. "I'm organizing it with Stefan, and their family is donating all kinds of artworks and jewelry. I mean, it's obviously an attempt to clean up their name a little bit after the last year, but--"

Sonny stood and walked around his desk, sitting on the edge. "And what exactly is it you need from me?"

"We're doing a casino night, and I can't get access to any tables. From what I hear, you're the only person we might be able to--"

"Consider it done." Sonny waved his hand and then reached behind him, grabbing his drink. "Whatever you need, just give a list to Johnny. I'll get you tables, dealers, the works."

"R-really? Just like that?"

Sonny smiled. "Just like that."

As he called his equipment wrangler and instructed Johnny on helping Skye assemble her inventory, Sonny would say repeatedly that he was helping out a good cause, supporting the hospital where his children's doctors worked. It sounded perfectly legitimate.

But Sonny knew deep down that he was only helping Skye so that he could, when it suited him, throw his weight around, and if that's what it took to get Alexis to listen to him, for him to find a way to show her how insane it was for her to trust Ric, then he'd smile and play benefactor... and he would wait.

*****

She looked every bit the high-powered attorney she was, despite her present standing with the state bar. Her navy Armani suit was tailored to perfection, and the confidence that had carried Alexis Davis through hundreds of court appearances took her to the door of Beckam, Weitz and Weston.

It had taken one phone call to Archie Beckam's secretary with the names Davis, Cassadine and Lansing in the mix to garner Alexis an immediate appointment. Another benefit to having infamous family ties.

"Ms. Davis."

A man of about 65 with graying hair and a distinguished air stood, his hand extended, as Alexis was shown into his office.

"Mr. Beckam. It was good of you to see me so quickly."

"Well, I have to admit, I'm more curious than anything. I had read that Richard had taken a job with Cassadine Industries. I never expected to be receiving a call from one of the heads of the empire, though."

Alexis chuckled and took the seat Beckam offered her. He returned to his own chair.

"I hardly consider myself one of the heads of the empire. My brother and nephew are the business titans. I just file the paperwork."

Now Beckam laughed. "I think we both know that's hardly the case. But at any rate, what is it I can do for you?"

"Actually, I'm here to discuss Ric."

"Has there been some problem with Richard?"

"Oh, not at all," Alexis assured him. "We couldn't be more pleased with his addition to our company. No, this is regarding his father's estate."

"Well, Trevor's been gone for some years now. All of his property except for the Martha's Vineyard house was sold off according to the terms of his will."

"This isn't about that kind of property, Mr. Beckam. It's about a more personal component of the estate."

"Perhaps if this is about something personal," Beckam stated, "Richard should come here himself."

Alexis shook her head. "I'm acting as his agent in very good faith, I assure you. And there's nothing of monetary value in the piece of property in question. Pure sentiment."

"What exactly are we talking about, Ms. Davis?"

"A letter, Mr. Beckam, a letter from Ric Lansing's mother written to him that he seems to have never received. Do you know anything about that?"

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