This pretty much ignores everything that ever happened on General Hospital after Kristina was born because, really... I just need it to : )  And since I looked at a picture of Ted King today and felt my insides melt... well, Lorenzo wins out this time for the pairing, lol.  And it also sort of allows me to put all of my favorite GH people into one quick little story (except for Jax, who got benched this time because I couldn't make him fit).

Let It Snow -- Alexis/Lorenzo/Brenda/Zander/Cassadines

It wasn't exactly the paradise of their childhood home, but to the Cassadines, the "small" 8-bedroom house in Southampton was the one place on Earth they could gather without eyes prying into their every move or without starting a wave of gossip that would ripple through Port Charles.

There was much to gossip about lately.

Everyone had assumed that the arrival of Lorenzo Alcazar following his brother Luis' death meant a vendetta was about to be waged against Alexis and the Cassadines.  The town had held its collective breath when Stefan Cassadine returned nearly simultaneously, and the waterfront had gone silent as everyone anticipated the coming conflict.

Trouble was, Stefan and Lorenzo hadn't come to town to war with each other.  They had come to negotiate a peace treaty because as it turned out, they were old friends, former boarding school roommates who had done business together numerous times over the years.  Just as Stefan lived with the veil of his brother Stavros' evil doings, so had Lorenzo lived with Luis'.  And understanding how much pain their siblings had left behind, knowing it had cost them each a loved one thanks to Luis' involvement in Kristina Cassadine's death, the two men had agreed that the best thing to do was focus on healing their families and their friendship and move on.

An opportunity to do just that presented itself immediately.  Sonny Corinthos had discovered that he was Kristina Davis' father during the little girl's hospitalization following her premature birth.  Armed with proof that Alexis had lied to him about the child's parentage and falsified the paternity test results with help from Ned Ashton, Corinthos had filed suit for full custody of the baby.

Corinthos was used to getting his way in Port Charles, which was understandable given his power base in the underworld.  What he had no experience with was the futility of attempting to exercise that power against the Cassadine family.

Stefan focused on the system.  He had blackmail files on nearly every judge in Port Charles and on half the state judges serving in Albany.  Using that information, he had been able to frustrate Corinthos at very legal turn.

Lorenzo, who held a large grudge against Sonny for the war the man had waged with his brother, was more than willing to do his part to add to the mob boss' woes.  Using his own criminal empire infrastructure, he began to sabotage Corinthos-Morgan shipments all over the globe, causing money shortages and business crises on a regular basis.

The long and short of it was that Corinthos got the message and dropped his custody suit.  He instead peacefully negotiated a visitation schedule with Alexis... on her terms... and the problems he was having in his business disappeared overnight.

The time spent plotting out just how to protect Kristina from her father's custody challenge had caused another unexpected development to occur, though it was one Stefan endorsed wholeheartedly.

His old friend and his sister had fallen in love.

They were still in complete denial of it, of course, even as they traveled to Southampton together.  They were merely attracted to one another, Alexis often argued, and she deserved quality male company and so Lorenzo was a lover, but she wasn't in love with him.  Lorenzo, who found Alexis' stubbornness absolutely exhausting, admitted to finding her sexy as hell, he didn't see how any man could ever put up with her for the rest of his life.  At least, that's what he told Stefan when he'd inquired, as elder brother, about when his friend intended to make an honest woman out of his sibling.

And then there was his own love life, which had tongues wagging from the dock to the hospital boardroom.

Stefan couldn't say he had ever once glanced Brenda Barrett's way in more than a passing moment of appreciation for what a lovely woman she was.  And Lorenzo had zero use for her, really, given the drama with Luis, even if he knew she'd been victimized as much as Alexis had by his brother.

The only real reason he'd even started spending any time around the brunette was because in the aftermath of Luis Alcazar's rein of terror on Port Charles, it had come to light that on top of withholding the truth about Brenda's medical status, he had been keeping an even bigger, more important secret from her.

She had a brother who had spent his entire life ignorant of even being a Barrett.

Alexis, who had spent most of her life without her little sister, had an enormous empathy for Brenda's situation, and so she had decided that it was their duty to help her find her brother so she had some family to help her recover from being under Luis' thumb.  What no one had expected was for their search to end up back in Port Charles when the birth records Harlan Barrett had worked so hard to hide revealed his son, born from a mistress he had wanted to keep hidden from Brenda's mother, was none other than one Zander Smith, formerly Alexander Lewis.

Stefan knew a thing or two about young men who were wrestling with their identities after having their parentage turned upside down given the upheavals he'd been through with Nikolas, and as Brenda struggled to help her brother come to terms with what their father had done, Stefan found himself offering advice, taking the initiative to talk to the young man Alexis had befriended years earlier, and when she needed it, offering the beautiful young woman a shoulder to cry on when it all got to be too much.

He was as surprised as anyone the first time she kissed him, but not enough to make him miss the flutter the kiss set off inside him, something he hadn't felt in years... not since Laura.

Not that he'd jumped in with both feet.  He was too old for her, he'd grumbled to Alexis when she had teased him about the growing affection she could see between her friend and her brother.  But he was adamant on the point, despite her ribbing.  He was past the point where he wanted to think about starting a family with someone, and Brenda was young and wanted children and it was his job to step aside and let her have that with someone who could make her truly happy.

So there was no explanation really for how he went from not wanting any part of the growing relationship to making love to her on a beach in Greece when Brenda had joined them on a trip there to handle some business negotiations.

Yes, the Cassadines had done plenty to set off the gossips in Port Charles since the last time Stefan had spent a holiday there, and so when Nikolas suggested they look into buying a home they could use to gather outside of town where their family could have a little peace, Stefan acted immediately and purchased the vacation home, sending several staff members out to furnish and decorate it appropriately.

Using the house in the wintertime was odd for the area, but they were Cassadines and had never really worried about the rules other people followed.  And as the house began to fill up with his loved ones, Stefan decided it would do nicely for just this purpose... a place for his family to rest and regroup and spend time together between the wars and unending struggles with Helena and their other assorted enemies.

Nikolas was undeniably jumpy as he waited for Robin Scorpio to arrive.  He had invited her to spend the holiday with them in part as a surprise for Brenda, but Stefan could sense his nephew's excitement at renewing his connection to his old friend.  It was good to see the light dancing in his eyes again, though, as the younger man took off in the 4-wheel drive to pick up their visitor.

Lorenzo, Alexis and little Kristina arrived with the adults in mid argument over why Lorenzo thought a house was an appropriate Christmas present since he had essentially decided where she would live without allowing her to have any input.

"I didn't buy it without your input.  If you would stop yelling at me and look at the picture, you'd see it is exactly the house that you said you would buy if you were ready to buy a house.  And because I listen to you when you speak, I bought the house you wanted so that we could have more room for our family.  Unless you'd like to see how Kristina manages the obstacle course of toys in your apartment when she starts walking."

Stefan stifled a laugh as Alexis set Kristina down on a blanket with some said toys and then walked over and unfolded the photograph that had been included with the set of house keys Lorenzo had given her that morning.

"You bought the house I loved."

Lorenzo nodded and sighed.  "I did.  Monster that I am, I am forcing you to move into the house of your dreams."

As his sister blushed, Stefan sank down to the floor, laughing as Kristina offered him one of her plush blocks.

"Do me a favor, little one.  Don't grow up quite as stubborn as your mother."

Kristina responded by bopping him in the face with the block.

"Well, it turns out that contrary to my earlier statements," Alexis said, her arms slipping around Lorenzo's neck, "I love my Christmas gift.  Thank you very much."

Lorenzo shook his head and leaned in, kissing her once before he pulled back and looked down at her.

"Do you think maybe if I promise to be a little less argumentative, you could try to be a little less defensive in the new year?"

"Well, I can't promise anything.  But I can give it a try if you can."

With that, the bearded man chuckled and kissed Alexis again.

"I believe we have negotiated peace, at least for today."

Stefan laughed as he stood and greeted them.  A short while later, Zander and Brenda returned from their walk around the grounds.  Stefan tried hard not to lecture when he saw that she looked tired and like her back was hurting, instead opting to go and help her remove her boots as Zander went to catch up with Alexis.

"I know, I know," Brenda said.  "It's too cold to be out for too long, but I just needed to... move.  You have no idea what this is like, having a person inside you, demanding space you don't really have to give.  Sometimes my body feels like it's been taken over by an alien."

Stefan chuckled, pulling off her second boot, and then he leaned closer and placed his hands on the rounded crest of Brenda's pregnant belly.

"She's going to be one beautiful alien," he whispered, and Brenda smiled in spite of her frustration and let her hand fall over his.

"And you were the man who didn't want to start a new family.  She already has you wrapped around her little finger, you know."

There was no denying it.  From the moment Brenda had revealed that their union in Greece had created a new life, Stefan could barely stop smiling.  He was going to be a father, and moreover, he was having a child with a woman who loved him for who he was, a gift he'd been uncertain he would ever really know in his lifetime.

"It's starting to snow again," Nikolas said as he walked in from the kitchen, giving his uncle the signal that Brenda's surprise was waiting on the other side of the door.  "If it keeps up, we may be stuck with each other for a few days until they can get the roads cleared."

"Oh, well," Brenda replied.  "More time to watch Alexis and Lorenzo make up reasons to fight."

"We do not make up reasons to fight," Alexis declared, but Lorenzo slipped his arms around her waist and hastily disagreed.

"You do, but only because you love to make up with me so much."

Alexis was about to mount a fierce counterargument when the kitchen door opened and Robin Scorpio stepped inside.

"Hey, I heard there was a gorgeous pregnant lady here who needed a doctor?"

Brenda's excited scream rang out a second later, and Stefan helped her up so she could rush over and hug the friend who she regarded as her little sister.

"What are you doing here?!"

"Nikolas and Stefan thought we might want to spend Christmas together, and since I missed you so much... I accepted their invitation."

Brenda kissed Nikolas on the cheek and gave a sweet look to Stefan.

"Can you believe how wonderful they are?  Who would have guessed, right?  Ooh, scary Cassadines."

The roomful of family laughed at the face Brenda made to accentuate her point, and though there were certainly some scary Cassadines, the sentiment was appreciated by the ones gathered together here, surrounded by the people who mattered most to them, and for a few days, safe from the drama that so often plagued their lives.