A week had passed and Alexis had been in contact with DA Lansing a few times about Zander's case. She had tried to plead down to a lesser charge, being there was insufficient evidence for a murder charge against Zander. She had gotten Ric's deal down to involuntary manslaughter, but still if Zander would plead to that, it would still be saying he did it, and Alexis felt that Zander shouldn't take the plea regardless of DA Lansing's gift of the lesser charge. Zander was innocent and she was bound and determined to prove it.

Alexis sat on the sofa with piles of law books surrounding her as Zander walked down the stairs. "Finding anything useful?" he asked as he approached her.

"Not really, just giving myself a headache reading all this legal jargon." she pushed up her black rimmed glasses that kept slipping down her nose.

"Well, I'm going out for a little while and leave you here with your reference books." he said as he headed for the door.

"Okay but be back at a reasonable hour. And don't get yourself into any trouble." she replied as she looked over her glasses.

He nodded in acknowledgment and grabbed the set of house keys she had given him before leaving the apartment. She flipped through another law book looking for case files that might prove useful in Zander's case, unfortunately she was coming up empty. But she pressed on, she knew there had to be a precedent set someplace that would fit his case.

Zander walked out the revolving glass doors of the Harbourview Towers and breathed in deeply. He was going stir crazy in the penthouse all the time, he was glad Alexis was okay with him going out once in a while. He headed down the street towards the docks, not really sure that's where he wanted to end up but it was the direction he chose to walk in. He walked down the few steps and noticed a familiar face sitting on the wooden bench and he approached her.

"Emily, isn't it?" he said as he came up to her.

She turned to see who was talking to her and saw it was the guy she had met a week or so earlier in the DA's office. She smiled in return and moved over to make room for him to sit with her on the bench.

"Yes, it's Emily .... Zander, right?"

Zander took a seat next to her and noticed she was reading from a law book she had in her lap. "Interesting read?" he asked.

She looked down at her book and closed it quickly. "No not really." she giggled. "Just catching up on some reading, but it's not very interesting." she added.

"Oh, but I take it you're going to school to be a lawyer?" he asked as he noticed the other books she had with her.

"I hope so, some day. I really want to help people, ya know."

He had wished he had such a beautiful young lady who would of helped him before his life did the downward spiral and he got himself into the mess he was in now.

"I'm sure you'll be a great lawyer one day." he smiled, she certainly looked smart enough and from what he saw the other week in the DA's office, she had the boldness to be a lawyer.

"I don't mean to pry and please tell me it's none of my business but ... if I may ask ... are you in some serious trouble? I mean, your attorney and DA Lansing were in some serious discussions this past week." she asked hoping she wasn't be too forward or too nosey.

"Serious trouble? Yeah I guess you could say that. DA Lansing wants to charge me with killing Sonny Corinthos. Even though I've told him over and over again, I didn't do it. He just doesn't believe me." Zander replied hoping what he said wouldn't scare her off.

"You don't look like the type that would kill someone, Zander." she said as she gave him a once over.

"Thanks but DA Lansing's the one who has to be convinced of that. He says there is enough evidence to charge me, and Alexis is working on proving me innocent."

"Why don't you tell me about it over a soda at Kelly's?" Emily suggested. "I'm buying." she added hoping he'd take her up on the offer.

He looked down at his watch, checking the time. He had a few hours to kill before he had to be back at the penthouse, he figured why not.

"Sure, sounds great." he accepted her offer and he helped her gather her things from the bench.

The two of them walked down the docks towards Kelly's. His eyes focused on her beautiful features, as her auburn hair caressed her face, and her smile made a lasting impression in his mind. She certainly was someone he'd like to get to know a lot better, and she seemed to be interested in getting to know him as well.

Zander and Emily sat in Kelly's getting acquainted for a while, she really seemed to enjoy his company and he made her laugh, which was something she hadn't done in some time. Being focused her studies, a social life was pretty much non existent for Emily, it was school and her job with the DA's office that took up her time. Though she would make time in her schedule to see Zander again. As she talked with him and got to know him better over the course of a an hour or so, she slowly began to realize perhaps what he said was true, that he didn't do what her boss says he did. Perhaps he was innocent......just perhaps there was more to the story.