Hi all, I am so sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been working on it for a while. So, I hope you like it. As a Sexis fan (too), I had to leave in one cute (IMO) Sexis scene. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Closer – Chapter 7

A kiss seemed like the right way to end a perfect day with a loved one. The problem was that as their lips met, Alexis realized that although she loved Sonny Corinthos; she didn't think she was in love with him anymore.

Moments ago, they'd been bantering about names for the baby, which they'd learned at the ultrasound earlier that day was a boy. She suggested Corbin, after his father, who'd been so excited about his impending grandfatherhood that he was responsible for at least six of the ten pounds she'd gained since her last doctor's appointment. However, Sonny vetoed the idea almost immediately. Instead, he favored either Jason or Morgan. He even went so far as to remind her that both her deceased best friend, Chole and his best friend Jason were Morgans. She quickly dismissed his idea as she realized there was no way she wanted to think of Jason every time she called her baby's name.

"How about Davis?" Sonny offered. Personally, he wasn't fond of the name, but it was a gesture meant to charm Alexis; he wanted to show her that he respected her as their baby's mother. He also hoped to shake any notion she had of hyphenating their son's name as he was sure she would do with her own once they were married. Although he'd not yet proposed to her officially, he still intended to have her as his wife.

"Davis Davis-Corinthos, sounds goofy." One look at the exasperated expression on his face made her burst into laughter. She'd known exactly why he'd suggested the name Davis and couldn't resist teasing him. Her teasing had turned into both of them laughing, which had led to this moment of the two of them kissing.

As their kissing intensified, he felt encouraged that she hadn't pulled away. Now, he boldly tangled his hands in her hair. In one fluid motion, his mouth moved from her lips to her jawline. Nearing her ear, he whispered, "I want you." In his heart, he felt this was the beginning of a move toward what he wanted: his family living under one roof.

Although his kisses felt good, Alexis didn't want to mislead him. Going to bed with Sonny would imply that she was ready to build a family with him and that was the one thing she was fairly certain she didn't want to do. She placed her hands against his chest and gently pushed him away from her. "Sonny, I just can't…"

He ran his fingers through his dark, curly locks before releasing a loud sigh. "Is this about Carly? Because it's over between us…I'm not going back this time."

"This isn't about Carly." Actually, Carly had become a total nonissue for Alexis. Honestly, she'd nearly forgotten about the woman because she hadn't seen her in a couple weeks. Sonny previously mentioned Carly was taking an extended vacation in Florida, which Alexis hadn't found odd until she realized she'd left without Michael. She touched Sonny's hand gently. "It's about me."

"How long are you going to keep pushing me away? I want us to be a family."

It was her turn to sigh loudly. "Sonny, you can be a father to this baby without the two of us being together." She stood and walked toward the door of his Penthouse. In the process, she turned her back to him.

He followed her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he asked, "Alexis, is that what you want? Do you want our son to grow up like we did? Do you want him to grow up wondering whether his father loved him for the rest of his life? Don't you want him to have memories of coming home from school and seeing his mom and dad in the same house?"

Not surprisingly, Sonny knew just where she was vulnerable. As the bastard daughter of Mikkos Cassadine, she'd never been particularly certain her father loved her; particularly, since he allowed her to believe she was some sort of impoverished Cassadine cousin. "Of course I want our baby to be loved. It's just…so much has happened since we were together."

"Is there someone else?" He watched as she struggled for the right words.

"No." There wasn't anyone else, at least, not technically. Sure, sometimes she found herself wishing Sonny would just let her be…like Jason did. And true enough, ever since Kristina learned she and Jason once kissed, she'd been insistent that there was more there than just friendship between the two of them. "It's just after everything that happened between us, I'm unsure that we should be pursing a relationship that can ultimately affect our baby." She paused, before she continued on, "What I'm saying is we're still a very long way from where you want us to be."

Sonny ran his fingers through his hair then flashed a dimple-filled smile. "But we had a good day today, right? I mean with the ultrasound and talking about baby names?"

"Yes," she smiled, "it was a good day." She hated it when he was charming because when he was she became sentimental, which was something she couldn't afford to do with Sonny.

"And you didn't exactly pull away from the kiss. So, I guess you didn't mind it too much."

"I'll live." Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "I guess."

"So," he began as he moved closer to her, "I guess it wouldn't kill you if I kissed you again." Before she could answer, his mouth was inches away from hers.

Neither heard the opening of the door. Both jumped when they heard Jason speak, "hey." Alexis immediately felt guilty, but she couldn't figure out why. She took a large step backward. Judging by Alexis's reaction, Jason was certain he'd interrupted something. Though he couldn't pinpoint why, he was suddenly irritated.

"I didn't mean to interrupt." He dropped his head as he wondered why seeing Sonny and Alexis in an intimate position irritated him.

"Oh, you didn't interrupt anything. In fact, I was just leaving." Jason's arrival provided the perfect distraction for Alexis to slip out of Sonny's apartment without the threat of Jason or the guards offering her some sort of unwanted protection. Although she was aware that it probably wasn't the best idea to go walking alone, she needed time to think.

As Alexis walked along the docks alone, she listened to the sound of the water. Some people found the docks at night a little creepy, not Alexis. The water had been the only place she found peace when she was girl in Greece. Its soothing sound always helped her think. Not to mention, she'd always been more of a nighttime person than a morning person.

Recognizing that she had less energy than before she was pregnant; she lowered herself to a bench. She closed her eyes and tried to make sense of her life. Sonny was beginning again to behave as the man she once thought he was. And he was right, their baby needed a family. But, she couldn't help wondering how he could turn his heart on and off so quickly. Carly seemed like a distant memory to him; a few weeks before, she was in the same predicament. "Don't be negative," she reminded herself. She closed her eyes and tried to conjure up images of the good day she and Sonny had shared: the ultrasound, the talk of baby names, and the kiss. The only problem was when she tried to imagine the kiss she shared with Sonny, the kiss she'd shared with Jason a few weeks before came to mind.

She opened her eyes and discovered she was completely surrounded by total darkness. As the cool air chilled her further, she decided it was time to head home. After she walked a couple of blocks, she was struck by the eerie feeling that someone was following her. "Don't panic," she reminded herself mentally. As she rounded the corner into her condominium complex, she was certain she heard footsteps. Quickly, she reached into her purse and pulled out a can of pepper spray. With one fluid motion, she began to spray behind her. She continued until she heard a strangled-sounding voice cry out, "Alexis, stop. It's me."

"Jason?"

Between coughs, he managed, "Yeah." He rubbed his eyes, which only made matters worse.

"Why were you following me like some kind of stalker?"

He recalled the way she'd slipped out of Sonny's penthouse. "Because I thought you wanted to be alone…without any guards."

"Well, I wasn't alone, was I?" She looked at Jason and found he was crouched near the ground and breathing more heavily. Now, she began to panic. "We've got to get you to hospital."

"No," he managed between coughs.

"Don't be stupid, Jason," she snapped as she became frustrated by his male pride, "I might have done some damage to your eyes."

"You want to do more to my reputation?" He squeezed his eyes shut in an effort to do anything that might help.

"What are you talking about?" Now frustrated, she slapped her hands on her hips.

He moved to rub his eyes, only to have her pull his hands away. "Think about what I do for a living."

"You're an alleged mob enforcer."

"Yeah, and I just got taken out by a pregnant woman." This time he reached his eyes before she could stop him. "Ahh," he moaned from the pain.

"At least let me help you upstairs." She positioned herself beneath his arm.

"No." He tried to push her away. "The chemicals are bad for the baby."

"Shut-up!" she snapped at him before she pulled him toward her condo. "Come on."

Kristina's eyes widened as she saw Alexis dragging a half-blinded Jason through the front door. "What happened?"

"Pepper spray."

"Okay, nobody panic. You two have to get out of your clothes." She watched as Alexis looked as dazed as the partially-blinded Jason. Truthfully, she wanted to laugh, but she could see the two usually-capable people were in desperate need of help. "Trust me I used to teach self-defense. You've got to get the chemicals away from your skin. Alexis, you go hop in the shower and I'll get Jason some of Ned's clothes I'm sure are around here somewhere." Kristina ran upstairs to look for the supplies she needed to fix Jason's eyes.

No sooner than Alexis departed, Kristina returned carrying a plastic bag, Pepto-Bismol, water, mineral oil, and a spray bottle. After mixing the Pepto and water in the spray bottle, Kristina began to spray Jason's eyes with the mixture.

Jason took a deep sigh as he felt the pain retreat from his eyes. Soon, he was able to focus again. "I'm fine," he whispered. Kristina handed him some of Ned's clothes and the plastic bag for his existing clothes. She then pointed him in the direction of the shower.

About 45 minutes later, Alexis crept downstairs to check on Jason. He sat on the sofa, clad in a t-shirt, that seemed a little too tight, and a pair of sweat pants. His head was buried in his hands and she could tell he had not yet, fully recovered from the effects of the pepper spray. "Jason, I'm so sorry. If I had any idea it was you, I would have never started spraying that stuff. How bad is it?"

"Don't ask." He sighed. "Why were you carrying that stuff? You could have hurt yourself or the baby."

"I didn't want to take any risks with that Alcazar guy running around."

"You think pepper spray is going to stop a guy with a gun?"

She sat on the sofa next to him and mussed the top of his hair. "Well…"

"Well, I obviously wasn't going to hurt."

She touched the skin just beneath his eyes. "Your eyes are so puffy." The tears began to fall as she felt her emotions spin out of control. "I didn't mean to hurt you." Her attempts to pull herself together resulted in her losing it even more. She knew it was the pregnancy, but she couldn't stop herself. "I'm so sorry," she choked through her tears.

"Alexis, it's okay." He wiped the tears from her face but then continued to hold her face in his hands. Though his eyes were sore and swollen, he tried to hold her gaze. "I'm okay." He watched as she nodded; she choked back tears in the process. It was odd to see her this way: emotional and unguarded. He wanted to make it better; he wanted to make her feel better. Before he could think about the right thing to do, his mouth found hers. He hadn't realized he was kissing her until he felt the touch of her lips against his own. The pain he had been feeling quickly dissipated. Soon, all he could feel was exhilaration from the scent of her freshly shampooed hair and the feel of the contour of her body through her silk robe.

She hadn't expected him to kiss her, but she hadn't fought it either. In fact, she'd probably dreamed of him kissing her ten times since he'd kissed her the last time. Now, she found she couldn't think or breathe and she didn't care. Mostly, she didn't want him to stop kissing her.

Typically, very little frightened Jason, but now he found himself afraid to open his eyes and look at Alexis. He was afraid his mind would remind him that she should be off limits to him. He was afraid that the minute he opened his eyes, he would stop feeling more alive than he'd felt in the last three years.

"Jason, have you seen Alexis…" Kristina called out as she headed down the stairs. She arrived near the bottom just in time to see Alexis spring from Jason's embrace.

"I'm sorry," she whimpered before quickly heading upstairs.

Jason scanned the room for his boots. No sooner than he spotted them, he crossed the room to put them on.

Kristina followed him and almost crashed into his back when he stopped. "You're not seriously going to leave right now, are you?" Jason remained silent and so, she continued, "Alexis is upset; you can't just..." She watched as he made his way to the door without a word Kristina followed him to the hallway. "What is it with you and Sonny that makes you enjoy screwing my sister over? I mean, did the two of you have some bet about how far you could get with her?"

"Shut up," he snapped as he was unable to control his anger any longer. "I don't want to hurt Alexis."

"Then why are you playing games with her? One minute you're kissing her and the next you're walking out on her."

Jason slammed his finger against the elevator button. "She's with Sonny."

"If that's true, then what are you trying to prove by kissing her? Did Carly put you up to this? You kiss Alexis and tell Sonny then Carly can waltz back into his arms? Why would you do that? Are you loyal to Carly above all else? Don't you care about my sister at all?"

"I'm in love with your sister," he practically yelled. Hearing his voice say the words his head dared not think jarred him momentarily. The ding of the arriving elevator shook him from his trance. "I need to get out of here," he mumbled more to himself than to Kristina.

As the door closed, Kristina stood wondering what had just happened and what she should do with her new found information. The last time she revealed someone else's feelings she'd been relegated to the doghouse for weeks. But this was different, wasn't it? Whatever the case, she'd decide what to do in the morning.

By the time Jason returned to Harborview Towers, his mind was clear. He was in love with his best friend's woman. If he couldn't keep his distance from her then he'd have to leave Port Charles. Sonny wouldn't be happy about it, but at least he'd survive it. Jason nodded to himself; this was the right thing to do. He'd tell Sonny he was leaving in the morning. And he'd spend the rest of the night convincing himself it was the right thing to do.