Two dark-headed women stood at the top of the stairs in Sonny Corinthos' new house. They had been talking back and forth for, to the taller woman, it seemed like hours, even days because each moment her daughter was away from them meant not only time slipping away and that they might never find her but the more Kristina would feel afraid and alone.

The conversation had started with genuine concern but now the heat was rising in both of them, both women frustrated that they couldn't get through to one another.

"Sam, please, just tell me where she is!" She begged. Alexis was surprised by the younger woman's strength as she grabbed the top of her coat, pulling her toward her.

"For, the last time! I do not know where Kristina is! I didn't take her!"

"SAM!" Sonny yelled from the doorway of the living room. "Let her go!" LET . . .HER . . .GO. His voice was stern and filled with fury. It caught his former lover off guard and she pushed Kristina's mother away from her. Alexis lost her footing and let out a scream of shock as she tumbled backwards down the stairs of the mansion that was supposed to have been a safe sanctuary for the children of the man she used to know better than anyone else.

"Alexis," Sonny shouted, his voice not quite drowning out the sound of his little girl's mother's head hitting the post ending the stairwell.

"Oh, God," Sam breathed out from the top stair and Ric who had come into the room when he heard the commotion stood stiffly still in shock. By the time he reached the landing Sonny was already hovering over his wife. Sonny was unaware of his presence, in fact all eyes had been on the beautiful attorney tumbling down the staircase. He wasn't even sure if anyone new he was in the room.

"Alexis," Sonny said after gently turning her over. "Alexis, can you hear me?" She was unresponsive. Her eyes closed. "Lex, talk to me!" He pulled his hand from beneath her head. It was covered in her blood. "No, Alexis. I need you. I need you, don't. . ." Sonny realized that someone was standing over him. His eyes met the scrutinizing ones of the brother. "Get help." He said through clenched teeth. "Now."

"She's my wife. . .you hate her. How could you even say . . .?"

"You're wasting time!" He yelled, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket while taking her clammy hand in his. Ric sat down next to them, looking up at Sam who seemed to be frozen in position. He headed up the stairs, planning to make sure she didn't move until he could get a squad car there. She may not have taken his step-daughter, but he would have her pay for injuring his wife. Meanwhile, he could turn away from the picture of his brother's concern for the woman he had come to care for.

Sonny watched Alexis as she slept. He wanted more than anything for her to wake up. The doctors said it might take some time, but they had assured him that she would be fine. Ric had decided to wait with Sam until the squad care arrived and he had seen for himself that she was taken into custody. His pride had been wounded and Sonny knew he was sulking on the inside. When the paramedics had arrived Sonny had insisted on going with Alexis, telling his younger brother that he had betrayed Alexis with his lies and vendetta and that the two were separated anyway. The truth was that he had seen something uneasy between them and he sensed that there was something more to the story of their split. He smiled slightly as he noticed her beginning to stir,

"Son--Sonny?" She asked quietly her eyes squeezing tightly as she was reaching consciousness. He scooted up closer to her, running his hand soothingly up and down her cheek. "I'm right here. Open up those eyes."

"My head is . . .it's pounding." She told him her eyes still shut.

"I can imagine."

"Kristina?" She asked, no hope really held in her voice.

"She's still gone. We'll have her back soon. I promise you that." He told her picking up her hand. "They're questioning Sam. Ric went to the station." She seemed unfazed by the statement. She didn't need him there. "Lex why did you ask for me? How did you know that I would be here and--and not Ric?" She opened her eyes and met his pausing against what he could only imagine was extreme pain from the awful sound of her head hitting the wooden post at his house.

"I heard your voice. It was the last thing I remember hearing at- -at the house," she took a deep breath, "And, mmmm, and--

"You knew I wouldn't leave you." She nodded. He kissed the fingers he was holding in his hand. " Good girl."

"Sonny, will. . .will you help me sit up? I need to tell you something."

"Lex, that's not a good idea. They put a few stitches in where you hit your head and well you were bleeding some, you should stay still." She began to push herself up off the pillow. She wasn't going to listen. "Go, slow." He told her as he helped her into a sitting position and sat down beside her so that he could support her back.

"Sonny, I used to be able to trust you with anything. I need to know that I still can. Because what I'm about to tell you . . .what I'm going to tell you, Ric can never know." She said staring down at the sheets on the hospital bed.

"Alexis, I know I haven't done anything to prove it to you in the last couple of years, I've let me anger, pain, and sadness over loosing my best friend cover-up what I was really feeling. I'm going to do everything I can to repair things between us. You can trust me. I know you have no reason to believe that. . .but you can." She was swaying slightly, and he held her a little more closely to him.

"I'm pregnant, Sonny. It's Ric's baby. I was going to tell him the day that, that we found out about the kidnapping, but . . .He can not find out."

"Why Lex?" He asked, knowing he didn't really want to hear the answer.

"He didn't just lie about knowing you were Kristina's father, he told me that if he couldn't use her to get to you, he'd go after you himself. That if I left him he'd have you killed . . .he didn't want you around her."

"You were trying to protect me. He trapped you like a prisoner."

"But when I found out about the baby I had to make him leave. I don't want this baby Sonny. He's made me into someone I don't. . .I don't even recognize." She laid her head on his shoulder unable to summon anymore strength.

"I still see you Lex. I think you've just been hiding for a little while." He heard her let out a small laugh. "You were so strong. How could you sacrifice so much to protect me?" Her eyes were closed, but she fought and won, opening them.

"You're her Father." She whispered. "I-I love you." His head raised up from the spot his eyes was focused on, on the floor.

"I love you, too. Everything I was tried to push it away, but I never stopped." She smiled as his lips softly brushed against hers. "Lex, Lex you're not pregnant." He said slowly and measured. She read the meaning in his eyes. A few tears slipped from her eyes.

"I'm so awful. I'm so awful." She repeated.

"Stop."

"I said that I didn't want Ric's baby, but I never would've . . .I didn't want it to die."

"Alexis, you didn't know. It was a horrible accident. I know you, I know you didn't mean anything by what you said . . ."

"Sonny, he can't know. He can never know." She said, crying as he covered her in an embrace. He held her close to him, careful of her head.

"Shhhh. Lex, he won't. I won't tell him anything. You're safe now, you're safe with me." He whispered to her. "Lex?"

"Hmmm?" She asked, muffled in his chest.

"Does he have her? Does Ric have our daughter?" He asked her as she trembled in his arms.

"Yes."