Title: Lost and Found
Author: Constantine
Fandom: General Hospital and One Life To Live
Pairing: Sonny Corinthos/Téa Delgado
Theme Set: Alpha
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Téa and Sonny fall into something simple and unexpected, but it takes them a while to realize it's love.
Disclaimer: I don't own GH, and I'm not sure who owns what's left of OLTL.
Feedback: Yes, please.
A/N: 50 themes, 50 sentences, 1 story. You can check out 1sentence on LJ for the theme I used.
They meet each other by accident in an out of the way bar, at a crossroads between warm whiskey, cold vodka, and ears unfamiliar with previous sins.
Téa pays for the hotel room; Sonny likes that, kisses the back of her neck before they even make it to the elevator.
Sonny's hands are soft; not softer than Victor's, but definitely softer than Todd's.
He pulls her wrists above her head, grips them tight, leaves bruises that she will secretly rub her thumb against tomorrow.
At four in the morning they order french fries from room service and eat them in bed; it's ridiculous, unlike either of them, needed.
Téa leaves first, umbrella unopened as early morning rain falls into puddles at her feet.
xxxx
For seven days, Sonny sends her chocolate, jewelry, and flowers; for seven days, she sends them back.
On the eighth day Daniella asks her why she's smiling.
When Téa finally dials his number it's entirely too difficult and too easy for exactly the same reasons.
xxxx
Sonny's bedroom is utterly quiet when he licks just under Téa's ear.
He utters her name like rosewood, solid and earthy.
Téa doesn't speak his, just lets her tongue draw the letters down his chest.
xxxx
Diane is a great attorney, but she's out of town, and nobody knows better than Téa the deviant art of setting guilty men free.
The case gets thrown out before Jason or Carly have a chance to show up; Sonny shows his gratitude with an unbuckled belt and a raised skirt in the back of his limo.
They don't stop when the limo pulls up to his house, only pause with hands linked tightly until they're on the other side of the front door.
xxxx
It's weeks later and another four in the morning, but there are no french fries or early morning raindrops, just the knowledge that she's falling for another damaged man.
Certain she is incapable of falling for any other kind, Téa lets her tears fall in release rather than recrimination.
xxxx
"It's too soon," Daniella says, and Téa does not disagree.
xxxx
Téa declines going to the island so they end up sitting on a boardwalk in Brooklyn, eating hot dogs and listening to the Cyclone as it rushes through the wind.
Sonny convinces her to ride the ferris wheel, and while they sit at the top looking over the city, she feels a faint brush with freedom and maybes.
She kisses him and for a split second she's fourteen and forty-three all at the same time.
xxxx
When they finally make it back, Carly sits in his living room, staking claim out of habit more-so than care.
Carly is no Blair, so Téa ignores her and gallantly kisses Sonny's hand like she's the prince, and he the fair maiden.
She walks away, and the sound of Sonny's laughter is fresh and inspired, leaving the dry taste of the past to tumble from Carly's lips.
xxxx
Later that night he lets her cook an old recipe of Carlotta's in his kitchen; he tastes the first bite like a skeptic, the last like one of her abuelita's daily devotions.
xxxx
While they're not looking, Daniella and Michael decide they love each other in a "forever kind of way."
Sonny responds with an impassioned speech about family not just being about blood, but about the bonds they make.
Téa responds by quickly running to bathroom and throwing up.
xxxx
Nine months later Melody Delgado Corinthos screams her way into the world.
xxxx
Starr comes to visit when Melody is one month old.
After one day she declares Port Charles the perfect place for her and Hope's fresh start.
When Todd and Blair follow, Téa desperately tries to figure out why her past always refuses to stay where she puts it.
She has a recurring nightmare that Sonny and Todd try to kill each other only to end up standing on a shining white tiled floor smeared with the blood of everyone they love.
Booming thunder and her racing heart scare her awake, throwing her into a rare panic attack that turns into hysterical laughter when Sonny's remedy is a marriage proposal.
It's only when he starts another speech about loyalty, and love, and the bond of family that Téa realizes he's serious.
xxxx
The wedding is small... Sonny, Téa, and their kids in the backyard with a priest and a coffee flavored flan Daniella miraculously found at some random market near the docks.
They spend their first hours as husband and wife with Sonny and Daniella at the grill arguing about the best way to cook a steak, Starr and Kristina arguing about a band nobody else has ever heard of, Michael cradling Melody and causing fits of laughter to burst out of Hope by making funny faces, and Molly running around trying to capture everything on camera.
It's in that moment Téa realizes bringing a little bit of Llanview to Port Charles is a gift she needed courage to open and the wisdom of past mistakes to appreciate.
She smiles at the rightness of it all, but mostly the sweetness.
xxxx
It takes two years for the innocence of their lives to be washed away by blood.
The last drop hits the floor when a bullet zags through Daniella's arm and completes a journey that started months before with a new rival and a familiar fight.
xxxx
There isn't a single cloud above when Téa tells Sonny he either walks away from the business or she and Melody walk away from him.
Sonny stares at the sky until the bright blue gives way to shining stars.
He thinks about Lily in heaven.
And Deke in hell.
He revisits his life until the sun rises on a new day.
xxxx
It's been five years and Sonny still can't comprehend the size and beauty of the moon glinting over the Southern Alps.
It's been five years and Téa still gets hit with a spectacular wave of awe when she glances out her kitchen window and sees Sonny and Melody laying on blankets, staring up at the stars.
She walks outside and gazes down at their curly brown hair and impossible dimples.
They smile at her, upside down and full of love, lighting Téa from within like an inexhaustible supernova, and the only thing she can do is close her eyes and whisper, "Thank you."
The End.