"What do you think is going to happen tonight?"

"Sonny will have his way after a while."

"You sound so sure."

"I know Alexis is stubborn, both of them are actually. But he's also persistent."

"Tell me about it." Kristina looked at her watch. "I need to get going, I have to do some stuff for L&B."

Jason gave her a sideways glance.

"Hey, not all I said was a lie."

He simply smiled. "Do you need a ride?"

"No, it's ok, I'll grab a cab"

"That's silly, I mean, Sonny's limo is still here, Johnny'll give you a ride. Or, if you want, I can get you wherever you need to go," he said motioning to his motorcycle.

"Are you offering?"

"Are you accepting?"

"I've never ridden a motorcycle before."

"There's a first time for everything." He tossed her the extra helmet. "But I'm driving."

~********************~

Her mind was focused on Stefan. She looked out the window trying to capture his face in her mind. It's been so long since she'd seen him. She was anxious to see her brother's face, and hear his voice again.

She looked longingly out the window. 'I guess it's safe to tell her now. No way is this plane turning back,' he thought to himself. He studied her trying to think of a proper opening.

"Why are you staring at me?"

He chuckled as a previous incident weaved its way to his mind.

'Those damn dimples again!' she thought to herself. Their eyes locked for a moment. 'And those damn soulful brown eyes! Look away Alexis. Say something. Stop staring back at him!' A smile crept up his lips. 'That smug arrogant smile. Hmph. He thinks he could read right through me. Maybe he could? Ok, I've had enough of this staring contest. Look away Alexis, look down, up, anywhere but his eyes!'

He watched in amusement as a series of emotions passed through her face. He could only imagine what passed through that interesting mind of hers. 'She seems a but tense. Maybe I should ease things a little before I tell her the truth.' He picked up the receiver and whispered something to the person on the other line. Alexis looked at him curiously and he gave her a wink and that million dollar smile. He hung up the receiver and crossed his legs.

'What is he up to?' Her wandering thoughts were interrupted as a familiar smell clouded her senses. She would know that smell from a mile away.

"Ah. Popcorn. I should've known." Max came out with a bowl of popcorn, a couple of glasses of rum and a folded brown paper bag. "Body guard by day and a willing steward by night," he looked at Sonny and then Max. "You should be billing him extra for this." Max simply smiled and placed the remnants of his tray down onto the coffee table.

"Thanks Max."

"No problem boss."

"You know, if you ever get sick of working for him, I'll take you and Johnny and make it worth your while," she teased to a now blushing Max.

"We'll do Miss Davis." he gave her a curt nod and left the two lovers in peace.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Earn the respect of my men."

"Your men respect me because they respect you and I'm your, well, you know, was your attorney and um... friend."

"Past tense."

"Yeah, but not to the latter."

"Good. That's the only thing that matters."

He looked intently at her as if trying to send her a telepathic message. Alexis was caught in a trance and was unable to respond.

"Your wrong though." His voice snapped her back to reality.

"Excuse me?"

"About my men respecting you. You described their respect for Carly. They did because she was my wife. But with you, they do because of you/"

They held each other's gaze for a moment.

"Past tense."

"Excuse me?"

"Your wife. Was your wife you said."

"Oh. That."

"What did she do this time. Is it the stabbing you in the back thing, because seriously, that one is really getting old."

"It's over between us."

"Right. So what do you have to do this time to woo her back, or she to woo you back?" she asked sarcastically.

"Alexis. It's for real this time, and there's no turning back." He said in a serious tone needing desperately for her to believe him.

"Ok, I'm listening." She shifted her position on her seat, leaned back and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"There was nothing there, and this third time around, I finally realized that there still is nothing, and will never be. I can't be in a relationship where my heart isn't. It's been stolen by someone else." He held her gaze, his eyes telling what his mouth left out. He knew that saying the actually words would freak her out. But somehow he needed to let her know and he needed to see for himself if she felt the same way.

She gazed back at him, numbed by his words and what his eyes told her. She didn't know how to respond. And she was afraid that her eyes would tell what she'd desperately tried to hold back. She said it once, and the moment it escaped her mouth, she regretted it. It hurt too much feeling the way she did. She's had some progress this past weeks and she wasn't interested in going down that route again. But from the look of things, more so, from the look he was giving her, her self-control may fail her once again.

Sonny was a man of many skills, all of which Alexis has witnessed and recently experienced first hand. But his look was deadly. It can anger her, when used to order his men to do something illegal. It can melt her fears as he comforts and promise to protect her from the evils of the world. It can break her heart as he shares a part of his past to her, a past and a life where an innocent boy named Michael once lived. But the deadliest of all stares is the one he is giving her now. The soul-searching stare. The stare that made her open up to him about a part of her life that she wished she never remembered. The stare that lead her to his bed one-passionate night ago. The same stare that stole her heart.

She broke away from his gaze and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "Extra butter."

'She's dodging. She needs some time.' "Um, yeah."

She was surprised that he let this one simply slide, but was grateful nonetheless.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"The ride, for one. And for knowing exactly what I needed...the distraction... from thinking about Stefan I mean."

'Damn, I forgot about that. I guess this is the best time as any.' "Yeah, um... about that, well..."

"Well what? Sonny, do you know something. I mean, is he ok?" Sonny could see the sudden change in mood. Alexis' breathing became labored. He grabbed the brown paper bag and handed it to her.

"Here. Breathe Alexis."

She took the paper bag from him and concentrated on breathing in and out. She was surprised to find him inches from her face.

He stroked away wisps of her hair from her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. He held her face in his hand. "Honey, Stefan is fine."

"How do you know for sure?" she asked through the paper bag.

"Because I talked to him."

"You talked to him?"

"Yes and he's fine. He actually just finished swimming when I talked to him, about two hours ago."

"Swimming? But Kristina said..."

"She lied. Well, we lied, and it's not entirely her fault. I kind of encouraged her to..."

"You what?!" She stood up pacing the small space and counting her breaths in and out of the bag.

"Alexis, calm down... br..."

"Say it Corinthos and so god help me!" In any circumstance, this deadly tone in Alexis' voice would have scared him, but just the sight of her, panicking and frantic while attempting to sound firm and in control put a smile to his face. He knew what Alexis was going through. She witnessed it in him first hand when she helped him through in a similar situation in the jail cell, months back.

"How could she do this to me. How could you do this to me. You know how much Stefan means to me and using him as an excuse for god knows what is unacceptable..." she ended her rant and sucked in some air. But before she could continue, she found herself in a lip lock with the man she supposedly should be hating.

She knew she should pull away. But the man was skilled. And who could resist a good kisser. 'What the heck,' she thought to herself. She became a willing captive and relaxed into his arms as their kiss deepened.

It began as a chaste kiss, him nibbling on her bottom lip and exploring the contours of her mouth. But as she became a participant, he couldn't hold back anymore. The kiss brought out his raw emotion. It's been about a month now since their mouths last touched. He needed this, he wanted it, and have been dreaming about this during his sleepless nights in his PH. And from the way she was responding, he knew she felt the same way.

It was him who pulled away from her. A low moan escaped from her mouth and he quickly placed another kiss to assure her that it wouldn't be the last.

"Good enough reason counselor?"

She opened her eyes to his waiting face. She was still stunned by the whole experience and didn't catch what he said.

"Come Again?"

Sonny captured her mouth again as per her request. It was Alexis' turn to pull away.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Was that acceptable?"

"Like I said, nothing is, when it comes to worrying me to death about my own brother. But the kiss was... tolerable." Sonny mouth formed into a sly grin.

"But nonetheless, this does not change things between us." Alexis quickly added. "You are still involved with Carly and for some ungodly reason, you still are attached to her..."

"Was. Past tense. And to the latter, well, Michael is the only reason why I am attached to her."

Alexis looked at him curiously. He continued on, " I needed to let you know. And I knew after the things that went on between us, I was probably the last person you'd want to talk to, let alone go take a trip with, so... I used Stefan as a decoy, with his and Kristina's approval of course."

"Let me know what? That you left Carly. Couldn't you tell me that back home, I mean, I still do live across the hall and are only a few steps away."

"I can keep telling you what a mistake I've made and how wrong I was... I realize it now."

"That's just the thing Sonny. I told you before that all my life, I'd been lead into believing that I'm not good enough... a consolation prize. That's how you made me feel Sonny, when you chose Carly over me."

"Oh Honey. But I didn't... I didn't... I just..." he let out a sigh. "There's no excuse for what I've done and for what I've put you through. But know this. You were my first choice. I chose you over my business, over my own self-righteous self, over my pride the night we made love. And yes, to me it was, for the first time, making love to a woman I respected and trusted. I wanted you then, and I want you now. I never stopped wanting you Alexis. I didn't know that it was possible for me to feel this way about a woman. I've felt this before but this time around, with you, it's different. It's the kind the word does injustice to. No word, not even anything you can come up with can express how I feel about you." He struggled to say the words fearing that it would scare Alexis away.

"I love you, Alexis." he finally spat out as he wiped away a fresh tear that rolled down her cheek.

The four letter word that Alexis has been longing to hear since the night they made love. A lump was forming in her throat and she saw that Sonny yearned for her to say the same words back.

"Sonny, we're having a baby..."