Disclaimer: This is my first GH fan-fiction. I do not own the characters, except for one, "Angel Morrissey". She is my creation that I made up to play with my favorite characters. J Angel was actually created by me in 1982 when I realized that there was not one single female on GH who was worthy of Blackie Parrish. LOL. Anyway, I adapted my story to incorporate her with Sonny Corinthos (for the exact same reason I created her in the first place). Please read & review.
Background: This story begins in the summer of 2000. Sonny and Carly have not married. He is facing jail time after being arrested after a meeting with Sorel in the motel room and Alexis has suggested marrying Carly to block her testimony against Sonny. Zander is still on the run from the police with Emily as a hostage, although she's not feeling very much like a hostage.
TRUE LOVE NEVER DIES
Chapter One-Is This My Life?Sonny Corinthos sighed as he closed the door after Alexis Davis, his attorney, left. Remembering her words, 'Carly can't testify against you if you marry her', Sonny ran his hand through his hair, releasing his natural curls from their prison of gel and mousse. As he put his hands in his pockets, a stray lock falling over his forehead, he began to think about his dilemma. Did he really want to enter into another marriage-of-convenience strictly to stay out of prison? He had been down this road before and it had ended very badly.
As Sonny looked out the window of the penthouse, he remembered the night his wife Lily was killed. She had just revealed that she was pregnant with his child and Sonny, in an effort to recommit himself to his marriage, had taken her out to Luke's Club to celebrate. As they were leaving, Lily had offered to get the car since Sonny had had a few drinks that night. Lily looked back at him one last time before she got into the car. As Sonny turned back to bid Luke & Mike farewell for the night, there was suddenly an explosion as Lily started the car. Sonny's whole life blew up in one fell swoop.
Shaking his head, Sonny was sure he could not go through that again. He didn't want to deal with the possibility that one of his enemies would go after his family as a way to get to him. Sighing, Sonny wondered how his life had gotten so complicated. Was this how he had planned his life to go? Sighing, Sonny closed his eyes as he remembered the events of one fateful night 20 years in the past.
FlashbackâFebruary 1980
Michael ran. He ran as fast as he could. He had to get to Angel's house. He felt the safest when he was with her. Angel gave him the peace and serenity that he needed to get through anything.
She lived just next door from him in their Bensonhurst neighborhood but tonight it seemed to take forever before he reached her front door. For as long as he could remember, she was there. They had been friends forever and recently, they had become more. He was in love with her, he probably always had been, but only recently did he realize it.
When he arrived at her doorstep, she answered his pounding almost immediately, as if knowing that he needed her. "Michael? What's wrong?" she asked him, her brown eyes full of concern.
Sonny pulled her into his arms and breathed in her scent. "My Angel," he whispered, as he clung to her.
Angel was scared. Something must have happened for Michael to be clinging to her in this way. He was usually so strong, so in control of himself. Gently, she pulled herself from his grasp to look into his eyes. What she saw scared her even more. Sonny was falling, deeper and deeper into a depression from which even she might not be able to lift him. "Michael, what is it?" she pleaded, "please tell me."
Sonny cradled her face in his hands. "I did something," he whispered, "something that I can't take back."
Angel gently led him into the living room. When they were seated on the couch, she asked him, "Tell me, Michael, you know you can tell me anything."
Sonny looked into Angel's eyes and knew that was true. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. "I have to leave home," he told her, quietly.
Angel paled. "What? Why?" she asked him. But, deep down, she knew the truth. Only one thing could make him leave home. Deke Woods, Michael's stepfather. Ever since the cop had married Michael's mother, Adele, seven years before, Deke had made his life a living hell.
"You know why, Angel," Michael told her, softly. When she nodded, he added, "I don't even know how it happened. It went by so fast. One minute I'm standing there listening to him rail at my mother and the next, I'm sitting on top of his chest and I'm choking him."
Angel sat in silence as Sonny told her the events that transpired when he arrived home just one hour before. As he approached his house, he could hear Deke's voice through the closed door. He was yelling at Adele to get dinner on the table. When Sonny walked in, Deke turned his attention to him asking him where he had been for so long. Adele had tried to come between the two, but Deke had slapped her. That's when something inside Sonny had snapped; he had seen Deke abuse his mother for the last time. With all of his strength, Sonny lunged at Deke, causing the man to fall backwards onto the coffee table. The fight went on for what seemed like an eternity, until Sonny was on top of the big man choking him. Adele pleaded with Sonny to let go and seeing the amount of hatred that he had for his stepfather, she asked him to leave. She was afraid of what may happen in the future. One or the two of them would be killed if Sonny remained in the home. Sonny realized that his mother was right, he had to leave or he would kill Deke Woods. He went upstairs to pack, leaving Deke gasping for air on the floor of the living room. When he came back downstairs, Deke was gone. Saying a tender goodbye to his mother, Sonny left.
Angel was crying when Sonny finished his story. Deep down, she knew that Adele was right. Sonny couldn't stay in that house, but where would he go?
End flashback.
Sonny was jolted out of his thoughts as Carly returned to the penthouse with her usual fanfare. "Thanks, Johnny," she said to the bodyguard, as he helped her carry in her shopping bags. "Why is it so dark in here?" she demanded, as she turned on the lamp on the desk. Seeing Sonny standing by the window, she stopped. "I didn't see you there."
"You were kind of preoccupied," Sonny said, somewhat sarcastically, noting the shopping bags she had dropped on the floor. "It's nice to see that my legal troubles haven't gotten in the way of your shopping."
"These are all for Michael," she told him, firmly. "He starts school next week." Carly stopped herself. Why did Sonny always make her feel like she had to fight him? "By the way, have you given any thought to taking Michael to his first day of school with me?" she asked him, hoping he didn't want to fight. "You're the closest thing to a father he has right now," she continued, "I mean, since Jason left."
Sonny regarded her. Why was this woman in his life? How did he let her get so close to him? Shaking his head, Sonny knew the answer. Jason. Jason made him promise that he would take care of Carly in his absence. Sonny always lived up to his word. When Carly became pregnant with his baby, he got her out of the Quartermaine house and moved her in with him. For a while, things were normal. No, not normal, Sonny corrected himself, Carly could never be in a situation that was normal. Things were tolerable. They had finally reached a point in their relationship where they didn't fight all the time. They were planning to get married, not just for the baby's sake, when tragedy struck yet again when Carly miscarried after letting AJ Quartermaine goad her into a fight. It had taken awhile for them to stop blaming each other and themselves and had bonded while comforting each other and things finally were good between them again when Sonny's current legal troubles began.
"Well?" Carly asked Sonny. "Will you go with me to take Michael to school?"
"You know I'll do anything for Michael," Sonny reminded her.
"Well, I was just checking," Carly said. She could feel herself getting defensive and decided to avoid an argument with him. Things were stressful enough in the house with the police charges against Sonny pending. Picking up the shopping bags from the floor, she started up the stairs. Stopping at the landing, she turned back. Sonny wasn't watching her; he had already turned his attention to something out the window. What was it about that window? Jason used to stare for hours out of it and now Sonny. Shaking her head, Carly decided that she would never understand Sonny Corinthos.
Sonny was glad when Carly went upstairs. He didn't want to fight with her but with Alexis' words dancing in his mind, he was afraid that he would something to Carly that would hurt her. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to hurt a woman.
Knock-knock. Johnny poked his head in the door. "Mr. Corinthos? It's Mike."
"Show him in, Johnny," Sonny said, turning around to greet his father.
"Thanks, Johnny," Mike said, as he walked past the bodyguard.
Sonny dismissed Johnny and turned to Mike. "What can I do for you, Mike?"
"I came to check up on you, Michael," Mike told him, using Sonny's given name. "Any news on the charges the police have against you?"
Sonny nodded. "Alexis is working on something," he told him, "nothing for you to worry about, Mike."
"You care to tell me anything specific?" Mike asked, knowing the answer already.
Sonny grinned. "Nope," he said, "don't worry about it, Mike. You want a drink?" He crossed to the bar and poured a scotch for each of them.
"I'm gonna worry, Michael, no matter how many times you tell me not to," Mike warned.
"I know," Sonny told him, "but I'm still not going to tell you what's going on." Johnny knocked again. "Yeah?" Sonny called out. Johnny opened the door to announce the arrival of Police Commissioner Mac Scorpio and Lieutenant Marcus Taggert. "Comm. Scorpio, what a surprise. What can I do for you?"
Mac stepped forward. "This time we're not here for you, Sonny," he told the mobster. Before Sonny could ask, he added, with a grin, "we're here to see a material witness-----Carly Benson."
Without flinching, Sonny looked over at Johnny, who was still holding the door open. "Johnny? Could you get Alexis Davis, please?"
Taggert couldn't wait to speak up. "Your mouthpiece won't be needed, Corinthos," he said.
Sonny looked over at the lieutenant. He and Taggert had an antagonistic relationship. Taggert had grown up in Brooklyn, and while Sonny hadn't known him at the time, Taggert had known, and looked up to, Deke Woods. Taggert blamed Sonny for Woods' death and was determined to bring Sonny to the justice he thought he deserved.
Mike didn't like what was happening. "Mac, can you put a leash on your guard dog here?" he asked, "he's just making things worse."
"He's right, Mac," Alexis said, from the doorway, "Taggert can't control himself when it comes to my client."
"All right, Counselor," Mac warned her, silently wishing he hadn't brought Taggert in on this questioning. Changing the subject, he asked her, "Do you represent Ms. Benson as well? Cause if you do, wouldn't that be a conflict-of-interest?"
Alexis looked at Sonny. "He's right."
"What do you mean, 'he's right'?" Sonny asked her, leading her to the side for a private conversation.
"I mean that if I'm representing you, then I can't represent Carly in this case," she told him, adding, "but if you follow the advice I gave you earlier, that wouldn't be an issue."
Sonny sighed. "I'm still thinking over that matter," Sonny told her. "What can you do right now to postpone their interrogation?"
"Not much, unless."
"Unless what?"
"Well, it's a stretch," Alexis began, "but if Carly weren't feeling up to going down to the police station, because of her recent loss, I might be able to postpone the matter until tomorrow."
Alexis was asking that Sonny use the recent loss of his son to bide some time while he could think of something. Sonny thought for a minute. While he was thinking, Carly appeared at the top of the landing. "What's going on here?" she demanded, when she saw the top two people in the PCPD standing in her living room.
"Ms. Benson, just the person we came to see," Mac told her, as he approached her.
"Back off, Mac," Sonny warned the commissioner. To Carly, he said, "go back upstairs, you shouldn't be out of bed right now."
Carly looked irritated. She was so tired of Sonny telling her what to do. "I feel fine," she told him.
"Carly," Alexis stepped forward, "Comm. Scorpio is here to question you about the night at the motel. Are you sure you're feeling up to that?"
Carly looked from one face to the other---Sonny, Alexis, Mac and then Taggert. Then she did something she had never done in her life. She fainted.
(That's all for now. I hope you like it. For all of you ZEM fans, it won't be long until they are introduced into the story. And Angel makes her first appearance in the next chapter, too. So, stay tuned. And remember to review!)
