Possible Story Titles: What Lies Beneath….

Premise: AU Future fic between Craxis and Sexis
Note: You'll notice that I haven't created Jerry out of James Craig, simply because I don't want to...I'm living in my world this way.

Summary: When Alexis's wedding day unravels before her eyes, who helps her pick up the pieces but the man who shattered her heart?

Prologue

Present Day

The silence in the church was deafening as a single voice spoke up when the priest uttered, "Does anyone here have any reason why this man and woman should not be united in holy matrimony? Let them speak now or forever hold your peace."

Alexis stared at the man standing beside her who sent her a wink and a calming smile and once again she was assured of her decision to unite her life with the man who had helped her through the horrors that she had been forced to live through for the last couple of months. From her brush with death, the kidnapping and death of Ric, he had been by her side offering her his shoulder and his support and she could give him no less than all of her even if she felt conflicted about her decision.

"I have an objection."

Alexis flinched as she heard the voice of the man that had been haunting her dreams for the last months with his demanding presence in her life. When he had been told that she was interested in someone, he had immediately swooped in and demanded her attention, her full attention and even though she was flattered her heart was still too wary of the man who claimed he now wanted custody of it again. Alexis turned around with a tear as she looked at the man in front of her and uttered his name on a whispered breath, "Sonny."

Sonny stared directly into her eyes and she felt as if she were standing naked in front of the altar, all of her thoughts and emotions lay bare for the man standing in front of her. The one who though she tried to fight would never be far from her life and her heart. She shook her head hoping that this was a dream, just a figment of her imagination that made the man in front of her real and not the hope that he loved her even an fifth of the amount she loved him….but as she saw him start to approach she realized that it was no longer a figment of her imagination but the hot blooded man standing in front of her with purpose in his eyes. Alexis turned to her side and looked at her daughter Sam who was staring at Sonny in shock as her mouth fell slowly open in a sign of shock, "Sonny, this is my mother's wedding day. Don't do this now; it's not fair to her or James."

Alexis smiled as she heard her daughter stand up for her in a simple manner and she was grateful and hoped that her words would get through Sonny but she was unfortunate as Sonny uttered her name again, "Alexis, you can't do this."

Alexis looked at her fiancé, James Bronson and felt a wave of empathy. She didn't want to disappoint him, not after everything he had done on her behalf. She owed him her life, the life of her daughters and she would be forever grateful. Whether that gratitude could be marked as love, it will still too soon to tell but she knew that whatever it was, she couldn't hurt him.

Alexis smiled at him, hoping to emit that she wasn't unsteady of her decision, she handed her bouquet to her daughter and turned around and looked at the few guests that were in the church who were once again privy to the emotional turmoil in her life, "Sonny, this isn't the time or the place. James and I are about to be married, we've already said our goodbyes. Let this be please."

Sonny walked forward and reached for her hand but James stepped in front of her and she put her hand on his shoulder and said, "James, I can handle this, Sonny is just confused."

Sonny scowled as he listened to Alexis apologize away his behavior and said, "Alexis, the only one confused here is you. You aren't marrying this man, not now not ever, isn't that right Mr. Craig? It's over, Nikolas has the antidote, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Alexis felt the room start to spin as Sam looked at her mother and Sonny turned to the few occupants in the church and said, "There will be no wedding here today…..Everyone can go home." Sonny stared at James with deadly intent in his eye as Alexis stepped in the middle of the two men looking back and forth wondering what was going on while James stared down Sonny in a stance that frightened her. Her normally calm and composed fiancée was staring down the mob boss with the same deadly intent that he was being scrutinized with and that's when she realized that something had happened, and that whatever the outcome may be that a wedding wouldn't occur today.

Alexis didn't know what possessed her to listen to Sonny but she ushered Viola, Mike, Sam and the few friends that she had invited out of the church. After the priest walked out she walked forward keeping in mind that she probably looked like a harried bride, five minutes before her wedding but now she was anything but. A deadly, calm had settled over her after hearing that her husband to be carried a different name than the one she always knew him by and said, "James, what is Sonny talking about?"

James, Mr. Craig turned to her with a smile as he held out his hand and Alexis automatically reached for it when Sonny grabbed her and pulled her to his side refusing to let her go even while she struggled in vain, while he simultaneously removing the gun from his jacket pocket and pointing it at James.

Alexis gasped in shock as she struggled against her restraints in Sonny's arms to protect her fiancée but watched as a cold, calculated stare fell over the face of the man that she had been intimate with and about to marry as he pulled out a gun and expertly pointed it at Sonny and said, "Alas, it seems our game is up is in not Mr. Corinthos? You have the woman I love in your arms and I'm not going to let you take her from me. It appears that you may hold all the cards in this game but it's not over until I say it is."

Alexis felt the tears start to fall from her face as she shook her head in disbelief at the man who went through a metamorphosis in such a quick instant, "James, what is happening? I don't understand."

Sonny squeezed her to him and said, "Sweetheart, why don't you follow Sam and take the girls to the penthouse, I'll meet you there."

Alexis looked at Sonny as if he had lost his mind as he released her from his hold and pushed her behind him and James said, "Nice try Mr. Corinthos. Alexis, stay here this concerns you. Since Mr. Corinthos decided to out me of what was to have been my wedding dear, it appears the need for masks are no longer required."

Alexis stepped forward as she gasped and said, "Then you are this….this Mr. Craig? The same one who was responsible for the blow-up the Metro Court, and the man that tortured my family?"

Craig flinched as he looked at the look of betrayal, and deception that were resident in her eyes, "Alexis…."

Alexis opened her mouth as she felt the room start to spin and she started talking to herself rapidly, "I was going to marry a murderer, a murderer….How could you do this to me?"

Alexis launched forward at him screaming her indignation, "I trusted you, my god. I let you in my life, my home; you were near my children…..You….you..."

Sonny pulled her into his side as he kissed the side of her face and said, "Alexis, sweetheart it's going to be okay. We are going to walk out of here and Mr. Craig is going to jail for everything he's done to you and your family…."

Alexis looked up sharply and spoke, "Nikolas? You were threatening Nikolas weren't you? And what's this about an antidote? That's why he acted so strangely…..that's why he dropped Emily from one day to the next….why didn't he say something?"

Sonny exhaled and said, "Do you want to tell her or should I Craig? Either way you are not getting out of here with her, she stays with me….I'm the only man that loves her."

Craig smirked as he looked at the man in front of him who was boldly denying the very real threat he still poised to this town. He leveled the gun at Alexis and watched as a similar transformation came over her that he had adapted only moments before, except in his case this transformation wasn't for the better. She was shutting down on him, the one thing he had always begged her not to do when they were together.

Alexis walked purposefully in front of Sonny meeting Craig eye to as the gun was pressed into her chest left an imprint and Sonny tried to move her but she had become immobile as she stared at the man that she had let into her life, her heart and her bed, "Go ahead shoot."

Sonny reached for her and said, "Alexis are you crazy? This man will actually shoot you."

Alexis ripped her arm out of his grasp and said, "It doesn't matter anymore, does it James? You destroyed everything I had, you took my trust, my affection and you used me for your sick game."

James shrugged and said, "The end justifies the means don't they say? But really, Alexis is this need for chivalry and sacrifice on your part necessary? I mean I know that you love the troubled mobster behind you but that doesn't mean that you are required to give your life up in exchange for his."

Sonny watched the power play between the two and wondered how the game had become, this deadly, this quickly.