Author's Note: Somebody asked for another one, so here you go. I'll probably do one more on the moment when Julian realized that Sam was his daughter from back at the end of August. That should have me caught up on all the important Julexis scenes.
Of all the people Julian expected when he opened his hotel room door, Alexis was the last person on earth he thought would be standing there. Secretly, he was pleased she had come to him. It spoke volumes that she had sought him out. As she walked past him into the main room of his suite, he couldn't resist perusing her at his leisure. Just the sight of her increased his heart rate and sent his libido racing. Knowing she had given birth to his child made her more appealing to him, not less.
He asked her why she had come to see him. She started rambling on about the front page of his newspaper and what she thought were his manipulations. He let her prattle on in order to let her get it out of her system. That she was spitting mad at him was a given. What fascinated him was that she had crawled back into her own safety zone and was playing lawyer with him. Julian decided it was time to turn the tables on Alexis.
"So is that really why you're here? To tell me what's in my own paper?" he asked. Alexis didn't hesitate to fire back at him.
"What other reason would there be?" she asked him, irritated.
"Well, I thought it might have been about that kiss that we shared last night. So, am I right Alexis? Did you come back for more?" Julian asked. He knew he was being a bit arrogant, but he wanted to put Alexis off-balance.
The look that came over her face was his only warning. He'd seen that look before, in press photos of Helena Cassadine. He knew how evil and demented Alexis's step-mother had been, so when Alexis took on that Cassadine demeanour, he knew he'd pushed her just a little too far.
Even though he'd braced himself, Julian was a bit taken aback by the power of Alexis's slap. Julian also realized two things right away. First, if Alexis had slapped him, he'd definitely hit a nerve. Second, retaliating to her slap wouldn't win him any points in his quest to woo and win Alexis. Rather than hit her back, he chose to be nonchalant about her slap.
"Ouch. Did I strike some sort of a nerve?" he asked casually. She shot back at him right away.
"No. Actually, that felt REALLY GOOD," she stated in glee.
Alexis continued on the offensive, attacking his past in the mob, explaining her reasons for hating the mob, and using the mob to work up to accusing him of doing things that, well, he just might be a little guilty of. He let her argue until he'd had enough. Finding an opening, he tried to appeal to her emotional side.
"Listen Alexis, I care about you. Why wouldn't I? We shared a LOT together, and we didn't even know it. I'll tell you something. I'm good at reading people. When Danny was sick and we were sitting there at the hospital worrying about him, there was something going on between us. It was almost instinctual. So, whatever drew us together in the past, it's still there." Julian softened his voice and moved closer to Alexis.
"Only now, it is more mature, like red wine. Ripe for the tasting." Julian didn't take his eyes from Alexis's. He wanted to see the impact of his words. Her stubborn refusal to accept what was between them was frustrating to him.
"There may have been a connection between us, but when you lied by omission and purposely left out pertinent details about yourself, the wine soured. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to court." With that last jab, Alexis swept past him and out the door of his hotel room.
As the door closed behind her, Julian let out the breath he'd been holding in. There was a dull ache in his jaw from Alexis's slap. Why couldn't she see it and feel it like he did? Why didn't she understand? Julian sighed in frustration.
Winning over Alexis was going to be a lot harder than he had thought. He'd failed to take into account how angry she would be at his deception. However, given her reactions in the last day and a bit, he was hopeful he could make her understand that he wanted a life with her, Sam, and Danny. In fact, his very existence depended on it, because having finally found his family, Julian wasn't about to let any of them go.
