Hi all, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm sorry this has taken so long to post. Thanks for continuing to read this story. As always replies are appreciated.

SUN N.Y. – Chapter 21

As if he hadn't had a bad enough day, Jax stopped by not ten minutes after Alexis left. Neither man liked the idea of working together; yet, they were each willing to make sacrifices to save Alexis from the likes of Manning. Dealing with Todd and his spawn was Sonny's sacrifice. Dealing with Stefan was Jax's.

Now, Sonny and Jax sat across from each other at Sonny's dining room table. Sonny watched in amazement as Jax devoured the Rigatoni meant for Alexis. "Candyboy, you act like you've never had a meal before." Sonny's chest poked out a bit. He loved it when people enjoyed his cooking.

Jax savored two final bites then wiped his mouth with the burgundy cloth napkin. "Let's just say the mystery is solved." He smiled mischievously.

"What are you talking about?" Sonny felt a bit impatient. Alexis had left with Todd less than an hour before and now Candyboy wanted to speak in riddles. Sonny drummed his fingers impatiently against the table.

Jax leaned back in his chair and chuckled. "For the life of me I couldn't figure out why any woman would leave me and be with you, Corinthos. After all, I'm taller, better-mannered, more handsome..."

"Don't kid yourself, Jas—per." Sonny over-pronounced to punctuate his objection. "Cooking ain't the only area where I excel." Sonny chuckled to himself.

Jax allowed his Aussie accent to pour out as he spoke, "Well, Corinthos, since you're such a ladies man, I guess you don't need my help."

Sonny dropped his head. Asking Jax for help was more painful than being shot. As Sonny swallowed his pride and began to apologize, Jax had mercy on him; knowing that Sonny Corinthos, the cockiest, most arrogant SOB he knew was going to apologize was enough. Jax found himself impressed at the hoops Sonny was willing to jump through to win Alexis. So, he simply cleared his throat and said, "Why don't we talk about Stefan? It is the reason I'm here." Sonny nodded slowly as Jax continued. "Stefan summoned me to Wyndemere today. He actually wanted me to encourage Alexis to marry Todd."

"Why?" Sonny's face gave no hint at his thoughts.

Jax took a sip of the glass of wine that had accompanied his meal. "He said something about Alexis having been exposed to too much danger when she was around you. He also believes that Alexis and Manning should be married since they are expecting a child."

Sonny stood and collected the plates from the table. "What's wrong with him? Doesn't he know what that guy has done? What he's capable of?" Sonny took the plates to the kitchen.

Jax called out. "He said that between the two of you, Todd was the lesser of two evils."

"You gotta be kiddin' me." Sonny scoffed, as he returned from the kitchen. "The guy is a convicted felon."

"Yeah, but as Stefan reminded me, Alexis was nearly killed when she was with you on Christmas Eve less than two years ago. Now that there's a littler Cassadine to worry about..."

Sonny walked to the bar and poured two drinks. He handed one two Jax, who simply waved him off. "So, Alexis told Stefan she was pregnant?"

"She didn't have to. Todd told him." Jax quickly downed the rest of his glass of wine. "According to Stefan, Todd told him that Alexis was pregnant just before he asked his permission to marry her."

"So, Manning was serious?" Sonny mumbled to himself. He felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. "He actually plans on marrying Alexis."

"You knew about that?" Jax scoffed.

"Yeah, I just didn't take him seriously." Sonny pounded his fist on the table. "Damn." His hands ran over his face until his fingers met his hair. Sonny thought for a moment. "Hey, Stefan knows you hate him because of Chloe. Why did he call you?"

"Apparently, Todd learned of our business deal and Stefan was concerned that we had teamed up to cause trouble for him and his family. Stefan agreed to speak to me on his behalf."

A jolt of anger passed through Sonny's body. He stood and walked to his brooding window. A large sigh escaped his lips. "You know what gets me, is I know Stefan is smarter than this. He must be up to something. "

Jax stood and began to walk to the door. "Tell you what Corinthos, you better figure out what it is before you're living across the hall from Alexis Davis-Manning." He closed the door leaving Sonny standing in silence.

Sonny remained standing at the window. He thought of Alexis, wondering when he had fallen so completely in love with her. Was it holding her close in Puerto Rico? Or was it when he was close to going over the edge that night in the PCPD jail cell? There was just something about her. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Alexis?" His heart leapt a little at the thought it might be her.

"Michael," the voice behind the door called out, "It's me."

The tiny feeling of joy disappeared the moment he heard Mike's voice. Whatever Mike wanted, Sonny was sure he was not in the mood for it now. With a long sigh, Sonny opened the door. "What is it, Mike?

"I need to talk to you...it's about family."

****

Alexis was furious. Furious that Todd had backed her into a corner. This man, whom she trusted was now using her loved ones against her. She wanted to hate him. She wished she could ask Sonny to have him beaten within an inch of his life. But the truth was she cared about him deeply, even when he was being a brat.

Before she made him leave, she convinced Todd to make a deal. Specifically, he could forget about a farce of a wedding if she could get him access to his kids without it. Secretly, she wondered if she couldn't use the next few weeks to get Todd to make some positive changes in his life. Changes that would secure him a place in his children's future.

The phone rang. Though Alexis had thrown him out of her Penthouse nearly an hour ago, she knew it was Todd on the other end of the line. "What do you want Todd?"

"I want to know how you plan on helping me keep my kids.

Alexis began to pace as she spoke on the phone. "Well, first you need to establish some roots. You have roots in Llanview..."

"I'm not going back to Llanview."

"Then you need to get a house, or an apartment or something stable."

Todd spoke quickly, nearly cutting Alexis' words off. "Done. What else?"

"You need to make sure that you have someone to look after Starr when you're not able to be around, especially when you're going to be spending late nights at the paper...and I don't mean me."

"Fine. What else?"

"Well, there is something else..." Alexis hedged. She knew Todd was going to hate this one, but it was most important. "But I'll speak to you about it in person...tomorrow morning." Alexis felt she had been tossed a life preserver when she heard the knock on the door. "Someone's at my door, I have to go." She hung up without waiting for Todd's reply.

Alexis opened the door without checking the peephole. It was something she had become accustomed to doing while living in a building with tighter security than Alcatraz. When she saw who and what was waiting on the other side, she nearly fainted.

Todd, Starr and a boatload of luggage stood before her. As Alexis watched in horror, Todd sang out gleefully, "Honey, we're home."

"Wh..Wh...What did you just say?" Alexis stammered. Her knees shook so hard she could feel it in her chest.

Todd gave Starr a gentle push through the doors of PH2. "I said, 'Honey, we're home.'"

Alexis thought of what Sonny might say if he stumbled upon the present conversation. She gently closed the door behind her.

"Besides," Todd continued, "you told me to put down some roots and find an apartment."

"I...I...I didn't mean here," she stammered once again as she staggered to her briefcase and began searching for a paper bag.

"Hey Starr," Todd called out, completely ignoring Alexis' state. "Why don't you run upstairs and see if your Aunt Moonbeam needs any help with Vito." Todd plopped on the sofa as Starr looked around helplessly. After a second or so, Todd realized that Starr had no idea where to find Kristina. "Oh yeah, Moonbeam is the second door on the left at the top of the stairs."

"Whatever." Starr shrugged and headed upstairs. Alexis watched Starr walk up the stairs as she allowed her own breathing to regulate. As her breathing slowed, her anger quickened.

Todd knew he had little time before Alexis caught her breath. So, he figured he better talk fast. "You told me to get roots, I got 'em. You told me to make sure someone could watch Starr when I was at the paper, Moonbeam can do it." He began to pace. "Don't forget our deal, you get me my kids your way or we get married and get them my way."

"Aren't you forgetting," Alexis sighed, "this is only a three bedroom apartment." She braced herself against the desk, since her knees still refused to provide stability.

"Simple, one room for Starr, one room for Moonbeam and one room for us." He noticed how green she looked. "Would you relax," Todd sat beside her on the sofa. "Moonbeam lives with the Musical Moron half of the time and I don't sleep the other half. So, if you're worried about making any more mistakes...."

"I am not at all worried about that!" She snapped at him.

"Whatever. It makes sense for me to move in here; after all we're engaged. And considering that you're knocked up, no one is going to believe you're old-fashioned."

"Engaged?" Alexis's voice cracked. Alexis walked to the sofa and sank into it. She leaned her elbows on her knees in the airplane-sickness position.

"Yeah, because if you can't get me my kids; we're getting hitched. No judge is going to buy us being married if we don't have an engagement."

An odd calm fell over Alexis. The kind of calm that only came when she knew she could frustrate Todd as much as he frustrated her. She sat up straight. "You're right."

"I am?"

"Yes. If you live here it will make it easier for me to make sure you get to your therapy sessions in the morning."

"Therapy? Nobody said nothing about me going to some shrink." Todd hopped up and began pacing again. "I don't need some weirdo poking his nose in my business."

Alexis leaned back into the sofa and curled her legs under her. It was something she had learned from Kristina. "I'm sorry. I just thought you'd do anything to make sure you were permanently involved in your children's lives, but I guess I was wrong..."

Todd plopped on the sofa next to Alexis. "You don't play fair."

She offered him a half-smile as a peace offering. "You wouldn't know fair if it bit you in the ..."

"Watch it," he cautioned, "my kid's upstairs." He smiled back at her.

"I was going to say, eye, Mr. Manning."

Todd stood and headed toward the stairwell, "Whatever you say, Alex. Whatever you say."

***

Mike stood in the doorway facing Sonny. "Aren't you going to invite me in, Michael?"

Sonny allowed a long sigh to escape. "Am I going to be sorry?" His had leaned against the top of the doorframe.

Mike dropped his head and said, "Probably." Sonny moved away and allowed Mike inside. A few minutes later, the two men sat facing each other on the dark, velvet sofa. "I don't know where to begin Michael; it's about Courtney."

Alarm appeared on Sonny's face. "Did A.J. hurt her?"

Mike took his hand and waved away Sonny's concerns. "No, no, it's nothing like that. It's just when Courtney and Janine came to town, they opened up a can of worms that I wasn't prepared to deal with. You see, when I was with Janine, she wasn't exactly faithful. I knew it before Courtney was born and I left when I discovered that she hadn't stopped being unfaithful."

Sonny's eyes held Mike's intensely. "What are you saying, Mike?"

"I'm saying Courtney is not your sister. She doesn't know it; I never had the heart to tell her. Her father is a man I caught Janine with the day I took off. Considering all of the things I had done to Adella, it's kind of ironic that I was with a woman like Janine...." Mike's voice trailed off when he realized that Sonny wasn't paying any attention to him. Instead, he smiled a peculiar smile. "What is it, Michael?"

Sonny exhaled strongly. He ran his hands over his face and into his hair. "I don't know. It all makes sense, now. When I looked at Alexis and Kristina, they were so much alike: looks, mannerisms, rambling." Sonny chuckled as he thought of the two women he considered to be his family. "They were different, but the same, you know?" Mike nodded. Sonny leaned back and then looked at Mike once more. "I never got that with Courtney, it never felt like that."

"I'm sorry, Michael, I should have told you from the start...."

Sonny cut him off before he could finish. "Don' worry about it. What you did was pretty stand-up. Courtney needed a father and you were there for her. I'm proud of you." Mike shifted uncomfortably at Sonny's words. "Now, I'm not going to tell her the truth if you don't want me to. But if you don't tell her, you expose her to the danger of being my sister, unnecessarily." Mike nodded. Water formed around the rims of his eyes when he felt Sonny pat him on the back.

"Michael, there's something else. I don't know how to say this, but back when we lived in Brooklyn..." Mike's words were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Sonny stood and stretched. He looked at his watched and realized that it was late. "Hey, Pop, whoever it is, I'll get rid of them." Sonny peered through the hole and was surprised to see Alexis standing outside the door, looking around nervously. He opened the door. "Alexis, hey, come in."

Alexis didn't see Mike until she was fully inside. Immediately, she turned and faced the door. "This is a bad time. I'll come back."

Sonny gave Mike a look, which pled with Mike to make himself scarce. Sonny's warmth had already caused Mike's courage to evaporate, so he gladly took the hint. "Michael, whatever Alexis has to say looks important. We can talk later."

Relieved, Sonny nodded. He opened the door for Mike and patted him on the back once more. Each man said goodbye then Sonny closed the door.

Judging by the scene she witnessed, Alexis guessed that Mike hadn't told Sonny about Taggert. "Everything OK?" She examined Sonny with her eyes.

"Yeah." Sonny led Alexis to the sofa where he sat with Mike a few minutes before. "So, tell me," he said, as they both sat, "was Mike right? Do you need to talk to me about something important?"

Alexis nodded. She braced herself for the aftershock that was sure to follow. "Todd and I…Todd and Starr have moved in next door." Sonny looked as though Alexis' words were Greek. She continued while she still had courage. "Todd and I, we're engaged."