Hi all. The plot thickens a bit. No Sexis in this one because Dante is still in Port Charles. A couple of notes: Claudia died in Massachusetts and Michael had nothing to do with it. Hope you enjoy. As always, replies are appreciated. Thanks K.

The Break – Chapter 10

To Dante Falconeri, Christmas and family always seemed to go hand in hand. When he was a kid, cousins, aunts and uncles surrounded him and his ma. And of course, his grandparents were always around. His grandmother filled the house with baked goods and his grandpa helped him take on neighborhood kids during snowball fights. His fondness for having family nearby changed exactly two days before Christmas 2010…when he was called into the office of the new District Attorney.

"Detective Falconeri, we meet at last. I'm Ric Lansing…your uncle." Ric extended his hand, which Dante refused to accept. "So who poisoned you against me already? Sonny or Alexis?"

Dante was not about to get in the middle of his father's relationship with his brother. His and Sonny's relationship was complicated enough without adding Ric to the mix. He deflected. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable about the prospect of the two of working together."

Dante had heard more than he'd wanted to about Ric, not from Sonny or Alexis, but from his own partner, Lucky Spencer. Ric had a reputation for being crafty. So, he figured it would be best to offer Ric as little information as possible. "Why would I?"

"Look Dante, Sonny is your father. I just want to know that if we had to go after Sonny, you wouldn't have a problem with it." Ric moved to the front of his desk and sat on a corner.

"Why are you going after Sonny?"

Ric began to pace. "I don't know, Dante, maybe because he's a criminal who happens to have teamed up with my ex-wife and stolen my daughter."

"I don't understand. Alexis has been catatonic for months."

"Has she? I guess you never heard about how Alexis faked a mental illness to get away with killing Luis Alcazar. How do you know she didn't do it again? Keifer was a kid. Maybe she felt she needed to go the extra mile to make people believe it was an accident." He continued to pace. "You know, I stopped by Shadybrook yesterday and they told me Sonny checked Alexis out to take her on some sort of family vacation. Who takes a catatonic woman on vacation?"

"So, you think Alexis and Sonny are somewhere having a good time laughing at the fact that she got away with killing Keifer?"

Ric smiled before he sat on the edge of his desk. "Maybe. Or maybe Sonny was afraid someone was closing in on what really happened to the dearly departed Claudia Corinthos."

"We already know she jumped from a balcony of a hotel in Boston."

"Did she?" Ric smirked.

"You think Sonny killed her?"

"I do…and I think you know where he and Alexis are. The word around the station is that you're pretty close to your sister and cousin. I can't imagine that you let Sonny take them away from Port Charles without finding out where they were going first."

Dante chuckled and shook his head. "You really are as paranoid as everyone says. There's no way Alexis was faking. I visited her myself. She really wouldn't do it just to keep Sonny out of trouble."

"Oh really? Why don't you look at Sonny's history? Who do you think is the first person to bail Sonny out of trouble? My lovely ex-wife. It's what they do, Dante. I don't know. Maybe Sonny thought the police were able to connect him to Claudia's murder and he decided to take Alexis and the girls on the run."

"Sonny was nowhere near Boston when Claudia died. Of course, I'm guessing you knew that." From the many stories Dante heard about his uncle, he knew Ric was obsessed with all things Sonny, including every woman with whom Sonny had been involved.

"You really think Claudia conveniently disappeared when Sonny decided he was done with her? You met her. Did she really strike you as suicidal?"

"Not particularly. But she had nothing left. Johnny was done with Claudia as soon as he found out my mother was pregnant with my little brother and Claudia and Anthony were never close. Did you uncover some additional evidence I don't know about?"

"No, that's your job. The evidence is out there and I want to make sure you don't have a conflict with finding it."

Dante ran his hands over his face and took a deep breath. "Last I checked, the PCPD didn't investigate Boston's crimes, but if Boston…or the FBI needs my help, I'm there. Are we done?"

"For now." As Dante exited, he heard Ric call out behind him. "Dante, I hope you come to think of me as family, the same way you have with your sister and your cousin."

"Right." Dante said, curtly before he closed the door.

After his conversation with his "Uncle Ric," Dante could barely focus on his cases. He sunk his head deep into his hands.

"You look like you just met the new D.A." His partner, Lucky Spencer, smacked him on the back.

"Yeah."

"What did you think of him?"

Dante smirked, "I wanted to punch him within a matter of minutes."

Lucky began to laugh. "Then you're really going to love him when you hear what I'm about to tell you."

"What?" Leaning back into his chair, he closed his eyes and tried to relax.

"It seems your Uncle Ric has a thing for your girlfriend."

"Claire?" He opened his eyes to see if his partner was joking.

"Did you get a new girlfriend since this morning?"

Great. Lucky wasn't kidding. "How did you find out about that?"

"I walked in on him asking her out for drinks. Seems like you have a family gene that makes the three of you attracted to the same women." Lucky patted him on the shoulder, before he added. "At least it's not your brother."

Nodding, he knew Lucky was right. Things got ugly when a woman got between brothers. Not only had his partner undergone an ugly breakup with his ex-wife courtesy of his brother, but from the stories he'd heard, four women had come between his father and his uncle. And Alexis was the only one to have children with them both. He smiled, knowing that Claire would never go for the likes of Ric. She was astute and he was certain she would see through his slick exterior.

Just then, he looked up and he noticed Claire walking by chatting intently with his uncle Ric. As they passed his desk, neither Claire nor Ric acknowledged him. Instead, he heard Claire tell Ric that she didn't know Alexis very well. Then she asked him if he really thought Alexis would fake catatonia for eight months just to get a way with a crime…or worse to take the attention away from Sonny's involvement with Claudia.

They passed his desk once more. Still, she failed to acknowledge him. Then he heard the unbelievable: Claire agreed to meet Ric for a drink after work. Had he been anywhere but his place of employment, he would have caused a scene…maybe.

A few minutes after Claire left with Ric, his desk phone rang. She was demanding to see him. And he was more than willing to oblige her request, especially given that he had more than a few choice words for her right now.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Close the door detective."

After closing the door, he asked, "What the hell was that? Did I really hear that you were planning to meet Ric for a drink?"

"You did." She began to straighten the papers on her desk. "Are you going to stand there and pout or would you like to know why?"

He simply stared at her. Why should he answer her questions? She was the one who was supposed to be his girlfriend and yet she was still flirting with another man.

"Oh silent treatment. I think I've seen Sonny do that in the interrogation room."

"If this isn't important, I'm going back to my desk."

He watched as she smiled. Typically, he loved her smile, but right now, he hated her amusement. She moved closer to him and began to toy with his collar.

"Because I know how much you love your little sister and her little sister, I thought I should find out what your Uncle Ric was up to. Seems that he doesn't believe Alexis was really catatonic after she killed Keifer. If he can prove it, he's going to have her charged with perjury. He's also trying to get a Federal prosecutor to look into Claudia's death, seems he wants to pin it on Sonny."

Smiling at his own ridiculous jealousness, he decided to tease her. "You didn't have to play Inspector gadget on my behalf, I already knew that." He toyed with a strand of her hair.

"Did you know he was planning to fly to Puerto Rico on Christmas Day to surprise the girls?"

"He can't do that. It's going to ruin their Christmas."

"It will…which is why I'm going to have a drink with Ric and try to convince him to give the girls some space...and you are going to head to Puerto Rico without me to give your sister a heads up…and…"

"And? There's more?"

"Yes. I know you told Lucky about us, but I think we should keep our relationship quiet with everyone else. "

"So you can get information out of Ric?"

"Yes."

"I don't think so. I don't want you around that guy, he's shady and he might be dangerous."

"I'll be fine." She kissed him. "I'll even go have dinner with your family to smooth it over."

"Ma. This will be the first Christmas I've spent away from her. She's going to be pissed."

"Yep."

He was suddenly furious. Why did he have to spend Christmas cleaning up Sonny's messes? "If Sonny planned this whole thing with Alexis, he won't have to worry about Ric; I'll arrest him myself."