It had taken a lot of legwork and a lot of greased palms but Jax was finally able to make some headway. As it turned out the clinic Mikkos had taken Alexis to did in fact deal dirty when it came to the mothers and babies in their care. The clinic was part of an illegal adoption ring. They were getting twice the pay offs from the babies that the young mother's were delivering. Not every baby was a victim but enough were that it had started to raise questions, but no one until Jax was willing to actually look for answers. The director of the clinic arranged with the family of the girl to keep her predicament a secret and then hand the baby off to a well-respected private adoption agency. Because the families whose daughters came to clinic were well off they wanted their precious little mistakes handed off to people just as well off. That's how it was meant to work and did work ninety-five percent of the time. Those other five percent never made it to the agency, even though their families money made it into clinics accounts, no those unlucky five percent ended up with a baby broker and that money had ended up in the director's accounts.

After finding the name Carter Tate and getting the information he wanted from him Jax made sure the police were well aware of Mr. Tate and his business. Alexis' baby, despite what was in her official records at the agency, was not dead, or at least she hadn't died the way everyone thought. She'd been sold off illegally. Thankfully Tate kept names just incase. With the name of the man who had "adopted" Alexis' baby Jax was working on tracking him down. He was using his friend Angel, a PI, and his backup lawyer Diane Miller since he couldn't very well use Alexis. If his best friend's little girl was out there he would find her and if she weren't in the perfect loving home Alexis had been promised, he was bringing her home where she belonged.

Half an hour ago Angel had called to tell him Cody McCall was in St. Louis. She also let him now the name had one hell of rap sheet. Jax had her and all her information on stand by. Jax had been surprised to find out the man had a mentally handicapped son and for the boy's sake he choose not to confront the man in the seedy motel he was staying in. Instead he was waiting for the man at the makeshift office where he was running his latest con on flood victims. The man that walked in was thin and haggard looking with short-cropped hair and devious looking eyes. How did anyone take him seriously?

"Cody McCall?" Jax asked even though he already knew who he was.

The man stiffened. That was not the name he was using on this con. "Sorry, no, I'm James Appleton. You must have the wrong…"

Jax cut him off. "Cody McCall, wanted in several states for fraud and…" When Cody attempted to run Jax quickly caught him and threw him against the wall. "And the illegal acquisition of a child and kidnapping."

"Hey, hey!" Cody protested as he tried to get the much taller foreign man off him. "I ain't no kidnapper!"

"A little girl." Jax said as he pulled Cody away from the wall and then slammed him into again. "Ten years ago you and your wife bought a little girl like she was a chicken from the market. Where is she?"

Cody's eyes got wide. He was a con, he wasn't a fighter, and if things got rough he ran. Which is why he didn't have Sam with him, why he'd left her back in Florida. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Where is the little girl you bought from Carter Tate?" Jax asked again. "I have the proof, Mr. McCall, and unless you start talking to me within the next few minutes so will the police. I've got enough on you to send you away for a long time."

"You send me away and you'll never know where the brat is." Cody replied as he tried once again to shove the bigger man away.

Jax knocked him into the wall again. "Fine, I'll just ask your son."

"You stay the hell away from my boy." Cody hissed as he lunged at Jax.

Jax was quicker and he had the skills to knock Cody on his ass. "Where's the girl?" He demanded while towering over the other man.

Cody gave in a bit and answered, "She ain't with us."

Jax snatched the man by the front of his shirt, pulled him close, and got right in his face as he hissed. "Where is she then?"

"Don't know." Cody answered.

It was clear that this man didn't care about the girl. She had been, just as Jax had feared, a tool in his cons. He was no more a father to her then to a fake passport. She was a part of whatever story he was weaving to pull off whatever con. Taking his cell phone from his pocket he hit speed dial. "Angel, send them in." After he hung up he tossed Cody to the floor and walked away. As he got into his rental car and pulled off cops swarmed the makeshift office. He drove over to the motel where Angel had been watching the room. He knocked on the door. "Danny," He called out. "Cody sent me. Let me in buddy."

Jax hated using the kid but he was able to find out that Sam, that was her name, Samantha McCall, had been left behind in Florida. It was also very clear that the thirteen year old missed his baby sister, and that he cared about her a lot. Jax promised to find her. He also promised that Danny would be all right. After leaving him with Angel, Jax called Diane to set things up to have Danny put in a very good school that specialized in his disability. Jax was pretty much a sucker for kids and couldn't stand to see them suffer in any kind of way.

In Florida Jax's hunt slowed a little. The girl could be anywhere. He figured Cody had taught her to stay under the radar, but just in case he let a few people in the right places know who he was looking for, and thanks to Danny he even had a photograph. Sitting in his hotel room Jax looked at the battered Polaroid. The big dark eyes, the smile, the dimples, the wavy dark hair, it was like looking at a smaller version of Alexis. The little girl was on the small side and he wondered if that was just her build or if she were malnourished or something. When his cell phone rang he answered it while still looking at the picture and thinking of Alexis. "Jax."

"Hey you."

Jax smiled at the sound of Alexis' voice. "Hey you. I was just thinking about you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." He put the picture in his pocket. "We need to talk when I get back. Its important."

After speaking with Alexis for a while Jax called and checked in with his contacts. One had something for him. Two missing kids from a group home, one of which matched the kid he was looking for right down to the first name. Jax headed over to the home to talk to the adults there. On his way out with a little more information then he had before speaking with the people inside, Jax was surprised to find he suddenly had company. "Luke?" He asked as he eyed the older man who was leaning on his renal car.

"Jax." Luke greeted. "Saw you head inside and that got me to wondering, what would you be doing here? Then I thought this is just to big a coincidence, the two of us here, at this time, asking questions at this place, with two missing girls on loose. So, who's the little tyke hanging out with my runaway niece?"

Jax blinked. "Niece?"

Luke smirked. "I'll tell you my family secrets if you tell me yours?"

"They're not mine to tell." Jax said as he pushed past the man.

Luke was a smart man. He knew that Jax would do anything for the people he loved and right now he loved Alexis. "Is she another Cassadine sibling?"

Jax ignored him for the most part. He couldn't help but shoot him a rather nasty, almost daring look that said to back off, before slipping into the car.

The fieriness in the normally even-tempered man's eyes was all Luke needed. It was the kind of look that said he'd hurt someone for the person he was thinking about. Luke thought back and slowly it started to click. The way she was with Niky boy, with Luke, the flash of something in her dark eyes when he told her Laura was having another baby, a little girl. He got into the car as and looked at Jax. "She's Natasha's girl."

Jax turned to glare at the man. The dangerous look of a man protecting the woman he loved.

Luke held up his hands. "I care about Natasha and you know it. The sleaze bags in there said that my niece took off with a little girl, a girl who's age would date back to when Natasha was in boarding school. I can't imagine Mikkos was happy with that." When it looked like Jax might beat him and enjoy it he shifted the one sided conversation. "I'm looking for my niece. Bobbie was around the same age and in the same predicament, for the most part anyway. I'm guessing you're looking for the girl. We might have better luck working together."

"Bobbie's daughter?" Jax asked. Luke nodded. Jax liked Bobbie so for her sake he agreed. "Alright."

Several days later Jax was walking into Alexis' penthouse. He looked a little defeated but not hopeless. He and Luke had tracked the girls north to New York and to his surprise, though not so much to Luke's, to Port Charles. Apparently despite being raised by someone else Luke's niece was a natural Spencer and the older man took great pleasure in that. He didn't seem bothered what so ever that there was a fifteen-year-old girl and a ten-year-old girl out there alone somewhere. What where they doing for money? Food? Shelter? It had Jax feeling very uneasy.

"Hey!" Alexis said brightly when she came into the room to see Jax standing there. She walked over and kissed him. "When did you get back?"

"Just now." Jax replied. He hugged her tight and then led her over to the couch. "Alexis, we need to talk."

"Uhoh." Alexis said lightly. "That's a pretty serious tone for you." She reached up and caressed his face. "What's wrong?"

Jax swallowed against his suddenly dry throat and licked his lips. He took her hand as he said, "Its about your daughter."

Alexis froze. She stopped breathing, she stopped moving, and for a moment even her heart stopping beating. Then she exploded. She ripped her hand from his and jumped to her feet. "Excuse me?"

Jax licked his lips again. "You're daughter Alexis. I know…"

"KRISTINA!" Alexis yelled as she turned towards the stairs.

The redheaded teenager came running downstairs. "Alexis? What's wrong?"

Alexis advanced on her sister with such anger and hurt in her eyes that Kristina backed up a step. "You told Jax! I shared that with you and only you in a moment of weakness, Kristina! That was something between you and me, between me and my sister, and you broke that trust!"

"Alexis please!" Kristina said as her sister continued to yell at her. The look in her sister's dark eyes was crushing and tears welled in her own eyes. "Alexis! I… I just wanted to help… I though if you knew…"

Alexis was still going off without breathing. Jax finally got up and reached out for her. He grabbed her arm and forced her to turn to look at him. "I found her."

Alexis stopped dead again. Several long seconds passed before anyone in the room even breathed let alone spoke. Finally Alexis asked, "You… You found her?"

"I tracked her down." Jax told her. "I know who she is. I just don't know where she is yet."

"What the hell does that mean?" Alexis demanded as she threw her arms in the air.

Jax started at the beginning. Kristina watched as her sister sank onto the couch as she listened to what happened to her baby girl. Tears welled in Alexis' eyes and her body trembled. Even though she was still a little leery of her sister's fury Kristina sat beside her and put her arms around her as Jax explained about Cody McCall and the Florida State group home. He told her about Luke and saw a new flash of anger over his sharing her secret with the man. "He helped, Alexis, Sam's with his niece." He then explained what he knew of Bobbie and her experience. Finally he ended by telling her, "They're here, Alexis. Caroline, Bobbie's daughter, tracked her down and Luke and I think they're here. He thinks she's the one who's been leaving Bobbie these little notes about her adoption, to get Bobbie's attention or something."

Alexis took it all in but she was feeling really overwhelmed.

Jax could tell Alexis was drowning in all the sudden information so he pulled the picture out of his pocket hoping that it would give her something to cling too. He handed it to her.

Alexis gasped. Without a doubt she knew she was looking at her little girl. She was looking at her own eyes, her own dimples, and so many of her own features looking back at her from the battered picture. She was beautiful. Even in the Polaroid she could still see the same light she'd seen in the eyes of that newborn little girl she held in her arms ten years ago.

"Alexis." Kristina said carefully.

Alexis held up her hand to stop her sister. "You had no right."

"I know but…"

"Jax," Alexis said cutting her sister off. "We need to find her. She's only a little girl."

"We're looking." Jax promised. "I already have one of my lawyers setting things up for when we do. If it's what you want you'll have her back, Alexis."

"If its what I want?" She repeated as she looked at him as if he were out of his mind. "If its what I want! Its all I've ever wanted!"

"I'll find her." Jax promised. "Alexis, I will bring her home to you, I swear."

Alexis nodded and then stood up and headed for the stairs.

Jax and Kristina watched as Alexis went upstairs and then looked at each other. There were huge tears in the teenager's eyes. "She's just in shock, Kristina."

"I didn't mean to hurt her." Kristina said softly. "I wanted to do something for her, to repay her for what she's done for me."

"She's your sister, Kristina, you don't have to repay her for loving you." Jax comforted her. "And once she's gotten over the shock of all this and shorted out all the emotions that's come bubbling up she'll talk to you about it."

Kristina nodded as she wiped a tear from her cheek.

Jax leaned in and kissed the top of her head. "I'm going to go down to the police station and talk to Mac. You gonna be ok?"

Kristina nodded. "I'll be fine. Go bring her baby back to her."

Later that night Alexis knocked gently on her sister's bedroom door before walking in. "We need to talk."

Kristina nodded as she sat up. "Alexis, I never meant to hurt you. I just thought if you knew about her you'd feel better about it."

"I know you were just trying to do something special for me." Alexis replied as she sat beside her sister on the bed. "But I'm still hurt that you shared something so private."

"I'm sorry." Kristina said as she dropped her head.

Alexis put her finger under her sister's chin and tilted her head up. "I love you, Kristina, and even though I was hurt its turning out for the best. She needed me, Krissy, and I wouldn't have known if you hadn't have told Jax and sent him to find her. Thank you."

"I love you too, Alexis." Kristina said softly. "I never meant to break your trust in me."

"I know sweetheart." Alexis told the teen. "I shouldn't have gone off on you like that. Its just that I've held that so close for so long it just felt deeply personal to let it go, to share it and have it out there for someone else to know." Kristina's whole body relaxed when Alexis pulled her into a tight hug. "We're ok, Krissy."

That night Alexis kept waking up to the sound of a baby cry. For months after her daughter was born the sound of her first cry haunted her both in her dreams and during her day. She would be sitting in one of her classes with the only sound a ticking clock and suddenly she'd hear that phantom cry and Alexis' whole body would ache, her heart would pound in her chest so painfully that people asked is she was ok. As time passed the sound of the cry drifted away but now that she knew her daughter was close and that she needed her she could hear it again. Getting up from her bed she slipped on her robe and padded downstairs to the kitchen for some tea. While she waited for it to brew she went to stand by her terrace doors. "Where are you little one?"