An Accidental Valentine

Chapter 01

Alexis should be glad he waited until after dinner before dropping off his Valentine's Day chocolates for Kristina and Molly, Sonny thought to himself as he drove up to the lake house. He'd called earlier in the day and spoken with both young ladies, promising them a surprise later on. When they protested the wait, he joked with them that he was just keeping in line with what their mother wanted. Dessert came after dinner. That's what their mother wanted. And these days, what Alexis wanted was no longer a problem.

He smiled to himself, even if it was a kind of sad one. He and Alexis had finally gotten to a place where he wasn't the devil incarnate, and she wasn't an overprotective shrew. After way too long, they were in a place where they could put the needs of the girls first and their past second. It was a good place.

A place he was about to lose.

The smile fell from his face. Sonny shook his head. How did everything go so wrong so fast?

What would Alexis call it? His mind searched for the word.

Hubris.

His never ending arrogance. Taking what he wanted, when he wanted. Including a life.

The life of his son.

Sonny closed his eyes against the enormity of that action. And the consequences were no less than he had deserved. The Feds were sure they had him this time. Even though it was for a crime he hadn't committed - Claudia's death - and wasn't that ironic? And his new-found son - Dante Falconeri - wanted nothing to do with him.

So now he would go to his daughter and his niece, give them chocolate and hugs and surprises, hoping for now to avoid their questions and worries. And maybe, just maybe, he could do the same for himself - for just a little while longer.

Before he lost it all.

Caught up in his thoughts while trying to juggle the presents in his arms, Sonny didn't notice that there was another car in the driveway besides Alexis'. He walked up and rang the bell.

The first thing he did notice was that Alexis was unusually flustered when she opened the door.

"Hey, Alexis, I'm not late or anything, so what's with the looks..." His words trailed off as the reason for her agitation became clear.

Mac Scorpio.

Mac Scorpio with an opened present in his hand. Chocolate cookies from the looks of them and a smudge of chocolate at the corner of his mouth.

So who was the givee and who was the giver? Sonny wondered. He didn't realize that his gaze had gone dark.

But Mac did. And he gave back as good as he got.

Behind him, Alexis closed the door, momentarily at a loss for words. Her eyes went from one face to the other, and as she read their equally stony expressions, she moved to stand between them. What was it about men sometime? she thought in exasperation. Enough with the testorone challenges. Sonny - well, she more or less expected this kind of behavior from him - a sense of misplaced possessiveness had always been one of his less-than-admirable traits. But Mac too…? She sighed and mentally shook her head.

Men.

"Sonny… Mac stopped by with a surprise…" she stopped, realizing that an explanation would be somewhat less than helpful at this moment. And after all, she didn't owe him one anyway.

"I can see that." Sonny said. He forced his gaze away from the police commissioner and onto Alexis' face. "But I was expected, wasn't I?" He knew he was sounding like an arrogant ass - but he couldn't bring himself to care. It was like other things were more important. He wouldn't be around to stop anything from happening in the future, but he was here today - and he had every right to be. And he didn't care who knew it - police commissioner included.

"Of course you were. We talked and the girls were looking forward to you coming by." Sonny may not be owed an explanation, but Mac didn't fall into that category. She flashed him a smile before turning back to Sonny. "They said something about a surprise?"

That smile sent Sonny's mind elsewhere for a moment - Alexis? Mac? When did this happen?...before he could process the revelation, Alexis' question jerked him back into the here and now. He shrugged, trying for an indifference he didn't quite feel.

"It's Mike. He wanted to do something with all the kids and I sort of promised I'd help him with his surprise…"

"That's a lovely idea, Sonny." Alexis said - and she meant it. She called out to the girls and a few minutes later, they appeared. Sonny gave them the baskets he'd been carrying, filled with fancy boxed chocolates, plush stuffed animals and several expensive trinkets that he'd gotten them.

Both girls oohed and ahhed over them, thanked him with hugs and kisses and showed even more excitement when he told them what surprise he had in store for them. Well, it was Molly more than Kristina that was excited; from her expression Sonny could tell she was going along more for her little sister's sake than anything else.

As Kristina took Molly's hand as they rushed off to get their coats, Sonny nodded as his gaze followed them, smiling to himself on the inside. That was good. Kristina taking care of Molly would help fill the empty spaces in her heart when everything went down.

That thought was like a dash of cold water in his face. All of a sudden all the warmth in the room seemed to get sucked right out of it, leaving a cold chill in its place. He didn't realize that the cold was all inside of him. He'd been hiding it from everyone in the last few weeks and it was important that he kept doing that now.

Mac had been silent throughout this exchange. "Maybe I should go…: he began.

"No!" The word came from the two of them simultaneously. Two pair of eyes locked for the briefest moment before falling away.

Mac looked from Alexis to Sonny, then back to Alexis again. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure… it's…"

"No problem…" again Sonny and Alexis spoke as one. Startled by the coincidence, two pairs of startled eyes turned on one another again.

And again their gazes retreated as thankfully the girls re-entered the room. Busy chattering while they buttoned their coats, they were the only ones not to notice the sudden air of confusion filling the room.

Sonny found himself glad to leave. He didn't do confusion well at all.

**

But somehow he found himself back at Alexis' house later that night. He wanted to make sure she was alright, he told himself. The truth was that Sonny wanted to make sure that Mac had left - whether he admitted that to himself or not.

He'd come armed with an excuse, just in case he'd needed one. The kids had been baking up a storm under their grandpa's supervision. As a result, Sonny had left with a basket of his own, but his story was that he'd promised to deliver it to Alexis tonight.

That was his story and he was sticking to it.

The house was dark when he arrived, and Alexis' car the only one in the driveway. He made his way quietly to the door. Sonny hesitated, an unfamiliar indecision warring inside. The decision was made then, and he sat the basket down at the door and slowly, quietly moved away.

But he didn't return to his car right away. Sonny stood on the front deck of the lake house and drew in a deep breath of the clear night air. He'd always admired the view of the night skies from Alexis' place. The too-few times he had brought Kristina home after sunset had shown him how beautiful night skies were here, away from bright city lights. And now that it seemed as though he had no idea of how many more of these he'd have left, Sonny had found himself savoring the ones he had now.

He wondered what had drawn him back here… regret or remorse…he didn't know. All Sonny knew that ever since this whole situation had happened - with the consequences of his actions beginning to point more and more to him finally receiving payment for his many many crimes over the years, he'd been filled with an aching need to set things as right as he could before judgment day arrived.

Which was why, he supposed, he'd ended up here. Because here was his biggest regret of all.