Alexis rolled her eyes.

Her ex-husband, Ric was on the phone badgering her again. Marrying him…no hooking up with him had been one of the worse mistakes of her life.

The only good thing that came out of that train wreck was her sweet daughter Molly, who fortunately only inherited good traits from her father. Alexis had heard warning bells going off inside her head when she agreed to marry the louse. They'd been sparring partners for months inside one courtroom or another and that had rocked her world. She knew she had this thing about matching wits with the men in her life and that excited her…some called it foreplay which made her cringe.

Mostly because it hit its mark with men like Ric…and maybe Ned. Definitely Jerry Jax though her innate urge to see the good in that unrepentant sociopath had been a driving factor as well. Well, Ric had his faults off the bat. He had this fetish, she later called it for wanting to be just like his older half-brother Sonny or gain his approval or undivided attention or something like that. She couldn't ever really figure out what his problem was…except it crowded into their marriage.

She still wasn't sure how that happened. She'd heard the stories about how he'd terrorized Carly, how he'd been obsessed with Liz but his relationship with her including into marriage, seemed healthier in some way.

Certainly at first. He did seem to care for her and love her. She'd gotten pregnant earlier on and he'd seemed excited about becoming a father…only then the affairs started. There'd been Sonny's girlfriend Reese who'd turned out to be an FBI agent investigating the mob in PC…which got messy. Ric slept with her and even openly fraternized with the woman to irk Sonny more than his own wife. She'd been in the later stages of her pregnancy when that had all blown apart.

She'd nearly died giving birth at Robin's hand in the middle of a god forsaken train wreck and thought he'd truly loved her and put his philandering behind her until…

She closed her eyes just remembering it and some of the familiar pain, just remnants of it really filled her involving his fling with Sam.

Another one of Sonny's ex-girlfriends and Ric's stepdaughter. God she and Sam had somehow worked through all that and moved into a much better place.

She sighed into the phone.

"Ric what do you want?"

He paused.

"I need to talk to you about our daughter."

Molly of course. That usually didn't go very well. Though little better than a deadbeat dad, he still considered himself fit enough to check in once in a while and chastise her on her own parenting skills.

"What about Molly?"

He sighed.

"I just read about this mobster coming back to life and starting a war with Sonny."

Oh that, she'd figure good news traveled quickly.

"You mean Julian Jerome? Yes he's back among the living and he and Sonny have butt heads."

Ric paused again.

"I also heard that you share a child with him…"

She knew where this was heading. God help him if he got all sanctimonious on her again.

"Yes…he's Sam's father," she said, "That's why he was able to save Danny's life with his bone marrow."

"That might be but…"

"Hey you didn't agree to being tested as a donor yourself if you remember…"

"I was busy and I wasn't family…"

Poor excuses she thought considering most of the rest of the town had shown up to be tested during the marrow drive.

"Besides what does that have to do with the fact that you involved yourself with another mobster who might endanger our daughter's life?"

She felt exasperation fill her.

"Molly's perfectly safe. Julian understands he's to stay away from my family," she said, "Sam's made her own decision about him."

"That's good…but it's not enough. I think it's time that Molly come to LA and spend more time with her father."

Alexis' eyes widened.

"Spend more time? You don't even have time for her when she does visit you. You spend all your time at the office at that posh firm trying to get partnership and the rest of your time…it's with your flavor of the moment…"

"At least none of the women in my life hang out with mobsters."

"Ric…Molly is perfectly fine with her life here," Alexis said, "She's got school, her friends and her family. You can't just rip her away from her life."

"Alexis…I have to do what I think is right for our daughter. That might mean rethinking the current custody agreement."

"Ric…that's not necessary…"

He sighed.

"I hope not…but if it is, I'll bring a much better lawyer this time…if I decide it's necessary."

She rolled her eyes at his attempts at threatening her on custody again as he prattled on with it.

"Goodbye Ric…"

She clicked off her phone and tried to return to her workload but she knew he was serious about challenging the arrangement simply if he felt like doing it. It'd not amount to much because even if he did win primary custody he'd tire of parenting a teenager in short time.

Ric just wasn't father material. He had all the right equipment to sire offspring and some skill at how to use it but when it came to the messiness that followed…he really didn't want any part of it. Only enough credo as a father to prove to himself he had his brother beat.

That had nearly driven her insane given that she shared a daughter with Sonny too. She hated being caught in the middle of a serious bizarre rendition of sibling rivalry.

She heard a knock on her door and looked up, her eyes widening at the man standing there.

"Julian…what are you doing here?"

He didn't move, knowing to keep outside of the reach of her hand, proceeding carefully. He was a very methodical man, one quality that probably made him a formidable mobster back in the day. Now…she didn't know what he was except a man trying to rewrite his own history with a more successful ending.

Sam and she hadn't originally been part of that of course. She knew he was trying to integrate them somewhere in his life like she'd been trying to find his place in her complicated family.

He pulled a bag from behind him.

"I brought you some lunch from the MC."

She tilted her face.

"Come in and I'll see what you got."

He did and handed her the bag. He had dressed in his business attire, adding a coat as winter had begun to settle in PC.

He took off his coat and made himself at home in a nearby chair as she opened the bag, the aroma hitting her quickly. Cream of broccoli soup and some freshly baked bread.

"This looks delicious."

"I thought you might be so focused in your work you might have forgotten to eat lunch."

She nodded, conceding that point and she loved the soup. But…

"Okay Julian what's the catch?"

He looked taken aback.

"You wound me Alexis. There's no more to it than my bringing you some lunch."

She unwrapped her soup and started eating it. Breakfast did seem a long time ago and it was delicious.

"So how's your day going," he asked, "Just another day at the office?"

She glanced up at him.

"Why do you ask? You know I work for Sonny."

He nodded.

"You handle the legal side of his business," he said, "since no one in his organization's currently in a cell."

She put her spoon down.

"Look if you came fishing for more information thinking I'll loosen my lips," she said, "well bud, those days are over."

He fell silent. She didn't think he felt guilty over using her trust in a man named Derek Wells for his own purposes. After all she was a means to an end just as Carly had been in her own way.

"I mean you had a good three months head start on getting what you wanted…"

He sighed.

"I'm not here to get anything out of you…except an acceptance to my invitation."

She felt suspicion flood through her.

"What kind of invitation?"

"Just that you'll have dinner with me," he said, "You told me once that you'd like to ask me out."

She arched a brow at him.

"I offered that invite to Derek Wells and since he's no longer with us, the offer's been rescinded."

He pursed his lips.

"I'm still that person…that hasn't changed."

"Excuse me, no…I think you're a ruthless mobster named Julian Jerome who used an alias and new life given to him by some clandestine spy organization to create mayhem in his old haunt again."

He sighed.

"That's not a very positive assessment…"

She felt exasperated now.

"It's not meant to be Julian. God, is this the day all my daughters' fathers are going to make my life difficult?"

His posture shifted in his chair.

"Excuse me?"

She flushed knowing she'd spoken too rashly. It'd just been one of those mornings.

"Nothing…I just got a call from Molly's father," she said, "Ric Lansing."

He nodded.

"Sonny's half-brother. He's a lawyer working for a prominent firm in Los Angeles right?"

Her eyes flashed.

"You really did your homework didn't you? Well news travels quickly in the age of technology and he got wind of your…rebirth and that you and I share a daughter."

"Oh…so how did he take it?"

She glared at him before opening her mini frig and grabbing a water bottle. She handed one to him and he thanked her before opening it.

"It could have been better. He's taken himself out of the equation but still thinks he has to reassert his rights every once in a while but he's just not into raising a child let alone a teenager."

Julian didn't understand that at all.

"So he chooses not to get involved in his daughter's life?"

Alexis shrugged, after sipping her water.

"I raised Molly like I raised Kristina," she said, "with their fathers choosing not to get too involved in the day to day stuff."

"What about Sam?"

She paused a long moment sipping her water again.

"That's another story…for another day perhaps."

He frowned.

"Why can't you tell me now?"

She sighed, looking away from him a moment.

"I don't trust you Julian with any part of my life or that of my family," she said, "and I don't owe you anything…certainly not after that stunt you pulled with Danny."

"Alexis…"

She put her hand up.

"I'm not rehashing that argument with you again."

"Okay now back to that dinner invite…"

She felt taken aback, not believing he was really angling her for a date after everything that had happened.

"No…like I said…"

That hardly deterred him.

"Oh come on Alexis…it's just dinner. What harm can that cause? Dinner between two people in a public place."

She sighed.

"Why Julian? I've got nothing to say to you while you're holding my grandson hostage and going to war against Sonny…and before you accuse me of favoritism…I've told him I'm keeping out of your caliber comparison contest."

He just stared at her.

"So what's the purpose of dinner? Given that we have nothing to talk about…unless you plan to use me as your personal 411 system again…"

She tried to keep her voice calm but his use of her like that grated at her.

"I mean the night at the party you let it slip that you're not above wining and dining a woman to get what you want to use against Sonny…"

He sighed.

"That was Carly."

She shrugged.

"It's supposed to be different if it's not Carly? I hardly believe that. At any rate I'm going to have to turn your invite down. I think you'd wind up disappointed when you realized I'm no longer a good conduit of intelligence for your…agenda."

"Alexis…I'm not interested in any information," he said, "Why don't we forget all that and just start over?"

She felt a tug inside her, a temptation to do just that with the man in front of her…but no some things couldn't be undone.

"I can't do that Julian. I'm sorry but I can't go down that road again. I can't trust you and I can't let you endanger my family. It's bad enough with Ric…"

She sipped her water to break that chain of thought.

"Did he threaten to take Molly away from you?"

She heard the change in his voice, the urgency and concern. She couldn't buy into it. He just had to leave her alone.

"No…he doesn't want to raise a daughter," she said, "He's fine with just seeing her once in a while."

"A shame…I'd have given anything to be able to raise my daughter…"

She heard the resolve in his voice laced with wistfulness. She understood the feelings for reasons she couldn't share with him.

"Julian…Sam is very hurt by your actions involving Danny. The choice you made between them and Sonny."

"And you?"

She took a deep breath and exhaled it carefully.

"I just accept the fact that I'm attracted to dangerous men but refuse to get burned over my expectations for them any longer…"

He didn't respond. Perhaps he didn't know what to say about that.