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I owe Dee some birthday fic and this scene has been bugging me, so here is a little ficlet to say happy belated birthday,
That Girl :)
He sat behind the table, his wrists still bound by the steel handcuffs Mac Scorpio had placed on him hours earlier. Eyes
fixed on the one-way mirror, he wondered what about his fate those on the other side were discussing. That he was the topic
wasn't at all in doubt.
That he felt so little outrage at being wrongfully accused frightened him far more than the thought of prison. He could
survive prison, but his apathy toward his own future was an indicator of what life in Port Charles had cost him. One too
many cuts into his heart, and he simply no longer cared what happened. Prison, freedom, a warm bed, a knife to the gut--it
all seemed so much the same now, and each possibility was as likely as any other given the way he'd been living his life as
of late.
Lorenzo Alcazar had given up, period. He had made provisions to see that his son was taken care of should anything happen
to him and he had dove back into his shady, international criminal enterprises knowing full well the chance he was taking
with his own survival in doing so. When he had gone "legitimate," he had made a great many enemies. In coming
back to the underworld, he had angered the men he'd left hanging a year before. They were gunning for him from every direction…
and Lorenzo was inviting them to come closer, to take better aim.
He remembered the way he'd looked down on his brother for allowing a woman like Brenda Barrett to break him, to leave
him open to poor choices and grievous mistakes. But being judgmental hadn't protected him from duplicating his brother's
destructive pattern. He had fallen in love with a woman who would never love him back the way he wanted. It had cost Luis
his life. Lorenzo was almost certain it would cost him the same.
When the door opened, he expected it to be Mac Scorpio to inform him of what came next, and if not him, John Durant with
yet more posturing. He had never expected the dark-haired woman in the flawless designer suit who instead walked into the
room and placed her briefcase on the table across from him as she stood and locked her eyes with his.
"I can call in a favor and get you a bail hearing tonight. I doubt it will matter, given the charges and your reputation,
but if you'd prefer not to wait until morning..."
Lorenzo felt his brow furrow as he stared at Alexis Davis, momentarily speechless from the shock of not only her appearance
there but the words she had spoken.
"I have an attorney," he finally said, though he felt his voice came out lamely, lacking confidence or conviction.
"I'm sure you do," she said, her eyes dropping a moment as if she were taking a moment to rethink her decision
to come here. After a moment, her dark gaze returned to meet his, and Lorenzo felt himself sit up taller in his chair in
response to the challenge he saw there.
"You don't have an attorney capable of keeping you out of prison for something you didn't do. Unless you want to
go to Sing Sing, I suggest you hear me out."
For the first time in months, Lorenzo felt something akin to actual interest, to real curiosity pique in his mind. If
anyone had told him that Alexis Davis would approach him for any reason, let alone to offer her services as his attorney,
he would have laughed himself silly. But here she was, doing just that, and all he could think to say is, "I'm listening."
Alexis pulled back the chair that rested on her side of the table and slid into it. As she moved, Lorenzo noted that
she'd recovered her figure already from the birth of her second child. He had heard it was a very risky time for her and
that both she and the little boy had barely survived. He had honestly been happy to hear that she and her son were both doing
well. Lorenzo remembered how frightened she had been for her child on the night of the hurricane when they'd all be stranded
at his home. He might not like Alexis Davis, but he respected her love for her children and he had hoped everything would
work out as it had. But that she had an infant and a toddler at home made it even more ludicrous to him that she was here
now, offering to defend him.
"I realize you don't think much of me," she began, "but it's no accident I kept Sonny and Jason out of
prison for so long, and I didn't break any rules or laws to do it. Even the finest police officers make mistakes, and I'm
referencing Mac Scorpio when I say that. The worst make catastrophic mistakes, and there I'm referring to 75% of the PCPD.
There will be ways to poke holes in this case until we exonerate you, and I can find them all."
Lorenzo nodded. "And you think my current attorney can't handle that?"
She leaned back in her chair and shrugged. "Do you want to take the chance that he can't? You have a son who very
much cares whether or not you go to prison. He's beside himself right now."
"So Diego asked you to come here," he said, something finally making sense. But then Alexis shook her head.
"No, I saw him outside when I arrived. He's worried sick about you because he knows you didn't do this."
Hearing that his son was outside the interrogation room, that he was upset, it pushed a button in Lorenzo. He stood and
paced a circle on his side of the room, then he stared hard at the one-way mirror.
"He shouldn't be here. Diego should not be involved in this."
Alexis stood and crossed her arms as she drew his attention back to her.
"He's your son. He wants to fight for his father. The same way you'd fight for him if he were the one in this room,
wouldn't you?"
She was right, of course, and the surety with which she spoke unnerved Lorenzo further. He stalked away from her, giving
her his back.
"Why the hell are you here?"
Her heels clicked on the floor as she strolled nearer to him, but she did not come within his line of sight.
"You're right, I have other things I need to be and should be doing. My children certainly would appreciate my being
home more, especially now that I'm a single parent again. I have a law practice to build back up and a house to finish furnishing
and clients who aren't alleged international arms dealers who would probably prefer I keep my distance from you."
Lorenzo had heard about the end of the Lansing marriage. He had never thought much of Ric Lansing, even back when he
had worked in the Alcazar organization. It wasn't a surprise at all he'd been foolish enough to let an affair with a woman
like Reese Marshall destroy his family. But every single reason Alexis had listed, though valid, wasn't the main reason Lorenzo
was baffled at the attorney's seeming determination to help him. He turned and found her leaning against the table, waiting
for him to speak.
"And I happen to be the man who has repeatedly threatened you, who has damned you to hell more than once and who
should probably be wondering if this is some elaborate attempt on your part to help get me locked up forever. So tell me
straight out, Ms. Davis, why are you here?"
She stood up to her full height and took another step toward him.
"Because in spite of what you might think, I have never looked at you and seen a duplicate of the man I killed, Lorenzo.
I have never seen the cold, dead hatred in your eyes that I saw in Luis', nor have I seen the indifference to everything and
everyone around you that he showed from the moment he came to this town. You have, by word and deed, proven again and again
that you can set your hate aside to be a human being. And I know without hesitation that no matter how angry you have been
or how hurt you are, you would never try to kill Carly. Sonny, yes. Reese for the part she played in all this, maybe--but
never Carly. That's not who you are."
Again, he found himself at a loss for words. How was it possible that out of everyone in the world, this woman could
see his innocence?
"The police don't seem nearly so convinced," he said.
"They've been wrong before. They're wrong now. And I can prove it if you give me the chance."
"They told me Carly is in a coma. She may never wake up." He felt his throat ache as he said the words, his
love for his former wife still there despite all the hurt and anger. "She may never be able to tell us who really did
this."
"And we may never know," Alexis said as she walked back to the opposite side of the table and stood behind the
chair. "But we can find a way to prove it wasn't you. And believe me, if I doubted that for one second, I wouldn't
be here."
She had given him an answer that made sense, that explained away most of the logical objections for her taking on his
defense. But still, Lorenzo felt he was missing one piece of the puzzle. He moved back to his own chair and leaned on the
table, his eyes boring into hers.
"How can you be so sure I didn't do it?"
Alexis' gaze held firm with his, and without flinching, she answered.
"I can tell the difference between a man who doesn't care what happens to him and a man hiding a guilty conscience.
And I know which one you are."
She broke the bond their eyes had formed and pulled the chair back. After she had sat down, Alexis opened her briefcase
and pulled out her glasses and a yellow legal pad.
"Shall we get started?"
Lorenzo nodded and sat down in his chair. Someone had tried to kill Carly and framed him for it, and his broken spirit
had almost let him lay down and take the blame. But now he felt ready to fight, to defend himself and declare his innocence.
The woman who had ended his brother's life had just inspired him to save his own.
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