A/N: First, sorry for the long time it took me to update...I have been fighting a bad case of writer's block...hoping it is finally alleviating. Anyway I called this chapter Next Lifetime...after listening to the Erykah Badu song by the same name...it's an awesome song; you should listen! Anyway thanks for the reviews and feedback; you all keep me going. Hope you enjoy.
"But I don't want to get up" Alexis whined pulling the down comforter over her head.
Jax pulled the comforter up from the bottom, "I am going to order Christmas breakfast for us, and then you better be up because there are two girls out there who are dying to open the mounds of presents"
She withdrew the blanket and glared at him, "mounds?"
He shrugged and ran off like a little kid. Alexis sighed; she wanted to hide in bed for a few more moments...she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to not think about the dream Jax had woken her from. She sighed heavily...she had been having these dreams ever since that night...the night Kristina was conceived...she couldn't help them; they just seemed to come. One amazing, fantastic, best she ever had in her life sex and she couldn't shake them. She thought when she had married Ric they would stop; it wasn't that there sex life was lacking, but still those damn dimples crept into her dreams. At first she would wake up, go take a cold shower and crawl back in bed with her husband...at the end when the resentment had already been built she would take advantage of the warm body next to her...closing her eyes and picturing Sonny touching her, Sonny kissing her...Sonny making love to her. But in the end it wasn't. Sonny was just a fantasy, a dream, an illusion...and her future was sitting out on the couch with a pile of presents and breakfast...so she shook it off, put on her robe and went to join them.
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Sonny let the cold water pound on his skull as he tried to shake the dream he had awoken from...even when he had said he hated her he had them...her in his shirt, wrapped in his satin sheets, bodies tangled, touching him, kissing him. Sometimes they were more frequent than others, but they had become a part of his life...ever since the night they came together. One perfect night of passion; the night their gorgeous daughter was created. Even when he was warming his bed with another woman they would still creep in, and he would wake up a sheen of sweat on his body...before he was diagnosed with his condition he would drink them away, now he either went and swam a few laps or took a nice cold shower...and since December weather wasn't exactly swimming appropriate he climbed into his shower and turned the faucet to ice cold. After he would go down to eat breakfast with his wife and his kids...and he would try to forget.
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Jax stared out the window at the falling snow, Kristina had run off with one of her new gadgets and Molly had promptly fallen asleep in the middle of the pile of wrapping paper. Alexis was busy getting ready for dinner at the Corinthos house. He squeezed his eyes shut and suddenly the memory was as clear as day...them on their imaginary sleigh ride...he really believed it could have happened...and in his dreams he always saw a blond haired, blue eyed boy with a curly headed sister to match. Hearing the knock on the door woke him out of his stupor as Sam and Lucky made their way into the living room. This was his life now...
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"MOM! This is so cool" Michael said opening the new video game console.
She smiled as she watched the boys tear into their packages...Sonny was there behind the video camera, the smell of turkey already permeating through the house. It was a happy time, her and Sonny were actually doing well...no lies, no betrayals...and yet still when she looked out at the snowflakes falling and when Jason brought Alana over and she watched the tiny girls blue eyes dance with glee she couldn't help but think that this Christmas was supposed to be different.
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Dinner was a grand affair as usual...a bunch of people thrown together at the Corinthos table. Sonny, Carly, Michael, Morgan, Alexis, Jax, Kristina, Molly, Sam, Lucky, Jason, Liz, Alana, Cameron, Mike, Bobbie and Lucas sat down for an hour and surprisingly it went well and as the day wound down people left. Sam and Lucky went with Bobbie and Lucas back to Spencer house, Liz, Jason and the kids back to the Webber homestead until all that was left was Carly, Sonny, Alexis and Jax with the mixture of Corinthos/Lansing children. In no time Michael, Morgan and Kristina had dragged Jax out to play in the snow. Carly followed only after vowing revenge on Michael for the snowball he hurled at her. Alexis sat in front of the fireplace; the dancing flames warming her as she watched her baby play on the floor with blocks.
"Thought you might like some" Sonny said handing her a mug of coffee.
To that he got the crater like dimples, "Corinthos-Morgan blend...I've missed this" she said bring the steaming cup to her lips.
"Me too" he said their eyes locking.
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Jax dived behind a bush to dodge the snowball Morgan tossed at his head; and when he got up he bumped right into Carly as she slid into his arms. As they straightened out Kristina started to giggle.
"Oh, it's kissy time" she said pointing at the mistletoe hanging on the eave of the porch,
Jax thought of a way to get out of it until Michael piped up, "it is tradition"
That that he nodded, turned to Carly and brushed his lips against her forehead almost feather like. She smiled up at him as the snowflakes started falling from the sky...the kids were suddenly disinterested and started to run around catching them in their mouths...and Carly suddenly wondered why every moment with him seemed magical.
He brushed a snowflake off her nose and pulled a small box out of his pocket, "I saw this and I thought of you"
A small sad smile crept over her face and she opened the box pulling out a snow globe complete with a couple on a sleigh ride...and as they gazed out into the night she could swear she could see two little Nordic twins running around and she sighed...maybe next lifetime.
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Alexis couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Sonny in Armani pants crawling after a giggling Molly making monster sounds. And as he finally tackled her and blew raspberries onto her belly she looked at them...and she wondered...she wondered that in another lifetime; if they had both made different decisions...Molly wouldn't have just been his niece...
