Alexis turned around to see Derek standing there just like he had been doing the night they first met. Only then he'd been using some cheap pickup line on her that…she'd heard before but somehow when he had used it on her.
Something familiar about it…but then they'd been at it over him bumping the article on Danny's bone marrow drive. She almost felt badly for coming on so strong but not really. She was fighting for her grandson's life and Derek Wells would just have to get over it.
She didn't know how to respond now that he'd caught her in the act of calling him attractive. But he stood there, smiling and waiting.
"I said that?"
"I heard it, now what did you mean by that?"
Alexis looked at Mac but he put up his hands.
"I'm just the bartender," he said, "but I'll be here if you need me Alexis."
He shot Derek the look before he left. That just amused him.
"I don't think he likes me."
Alexis smiled.
"Mac's just like that. He's a friend of mine…been so for years. He's an ex-cop."
Derek gestured to a nearby table.
"I'm ready to try something off the menu," he said, "why don't you join me and you can answer my question."
Alexis bit her lip indecisive. Damn she'd really walked into this one with him. But he did attract her and Sam had cajoled her with some useful…metaphors about it. But she went and sat across from them taking her wine with her.
"I…okay I think that you're attractive but I'm sure you must get that a lot from women so it shouldn't be such an issue."
"So you find me attractive then?"
Her eyes blinked.
"Well yeah…from the way you look and…when…."
He chuckled.
"Hey you walked in on me…without knocking I might add."
She sipped her wine.
"True…that was rude of me but you seemed perfectly fine with it."
"Why shouldn't I be?"
She settled back in her chair not sure how this was going. God, he sure liked getting under her skin and making her squirm. Was this one of his games, he talked about playing while they'd been babysitting Danny?
"No reason...I mean you seem comfortable enough in your skin and that's a good thing, useful in your line of work I imagine."
He nodded.
"Indeed…do I make you uncomfortable Alexis?"
She shook her head.
"No…maybe a little bit. I just came off of a relationship with a man…"
"Shawn…at the hospital…I take it you broke off with him?"
She looked at her wine glass.
"Yes…well I gave him a choice, Sonny or I and he made his choice."
"Then he should live with it and move on," Derek said, "He should respect you enough to do that much."
She sipped her wine again.
"I don't know why but he didn't always treat me as if I could make my own choices," she said, "He keeps telling me how wrong I am about everything…including him.
"You're better off without him."
"I think so," she said, "but he's seeming to have a little trouble with that. His foster son is friends with my daughter Molly so it's been awkward."
"I see. I can make you forget about that…starting with dinner."
She smiled.
"Not much on the menu tonight. I think Mac's making Buffalo wings back there with ranch sauce."
He leaned forward.
"Sounds good to me…and then we can go for a walk on the waterfront."
She looked at him dubiously.
"You ever been on the waterfront?"
Sam watched Ava waltzing through the hospital not knowing why she was there. The blonde witch had made it clear more than once not to poach on her turf which meant Silas. But Sam had tried to pull away from her relationship with the enigmatic doctor already. She liked him particularly the way he'd thawed in the past few weeks during the crisis with Danny but more recently, well since the anniversary of Jason's death she'd decided to be more cautious. It had nothing to do with not being able to let go of her late husband. Really it had more to do with her and the tremendous growth she'd been through in the past year. She'd mourned him, she'd walked around feeling like the living dead still holding onto her memories of him because if she didn't, if she let go for one second, they'd float away forever.
She knew now that wasn't logical, maybe silly but it'd taken months to realize that when she had been forced to stand on her own two feet because she had a son to raise.
But now the blonde woman wearing the blue dress caught her attention and what was she doing talking to Ellie? Sam had been aware of gossip that Ellie had been the center of a screaming match in GH but hadn't paid much attention to it.
She knew the red headed lab tech had hurt Spinelli and that'd been enough.
"Hey Sam…"
She looked up and saw Carly. That made her wary since the two of them hadn't really ever got along well as long as they knew each other.
"What is it Carly?"
The other woman smirked.
"I hope Danny's doing well…from his transplant."
"Very well Carly…and I know that you've been telling everyone how close we are…that we're practically family."
Carly licked her lips.
"Well we are aren't we? I mean we've had our differences but at the end of the day…"
Sam rolled her eyes at the woman.
"Whatever…"
"Besides I only told Derek Wells that," Carly said, "He's helping me with my marketing campaign."
Sam pursed her lips.
"I'll bet…well you sure work fast don't you?"
Carly recoiled, her eyes flashing.
"What do you mean by that?"
Sam put her hand on her hip.
"I mean that you're kind of the welcoming wagon in PC when it comes to men and that it didn't take you long to go after Derek."
Carly narrowed her eyes.
"What is it to you anyway? I mean he's only a bone marrow donor for Danny. It's not like he's anything but some nice random stranger who helped you out of a jam."
Sam folded her arms.
"He's been very nice to my family…my grandson and my mother," she said, "I just think that he's not really your type."
Carly snarled.
"Where do you get off on telling me who my type is and who it's not," she said, "You might have been married to Jas but I was his best friend. We had history way before he even met you."
Sam just looked at her not taking the bait.
"You win Carly…okay? Not that it matters because he's dead. But you should really just leave Derek alone. Go hang out with Franco…you know the man who terrorized your best friend not to mention what he did to your son."
Carly looked like she might slap Sam but she knew better.
"Why you…"
Sam listened to her and she didn't know why she said anything but somehow…watching Derek with her mom…somehow it just seemed the way it was supposed to be.
She couldn't explain it better than that.
Alexis and Derek ate plenty of chicken wings. He had some beers while she stuck to her wine. Not too many glasses of it, she knew she had to be careful. Mac wouldn't keep serving her if she looked like she'd had too much.
Their seats had moved closer and they'd actually been chuckling over some stories he'd been telling about his career in the publishing industry when he'd started out writing articles in college. She knew he'd been in Europe and that more than likely an Ivy League school had been there somewhere.
"Harvard…was a great experience. Though the MBA program was intense."
She nodded.
"Yale was pretty tough but for the first time in my life I felt free," she said, "After going to that really strict school in New Hampshire."
"You never went back."
More a statement than a question.
"No…I was homeschooled after…Sam was born," she said, "and my tutor made sure I was ready for how rigorous it would be. I threw myself into my undergrad work…didn't socialize much which annoyed my classmates."
"Not at all?"
She shrugged.
"Like I said, I learned my lesson in high school," she said, "I think I just wanted to forget about that side of it for a while…which I did but I never forgot her."
"Sam…"
She nodded.
"The anniversaries were the hardest…but I got through them."
"I can imagine…"
She shook off the past and smiled at him.
"What about you? Did you do a lot of barhopping or partying at Harvard?"
"I played sports," he said, "which meant both of that. We traveled to Yale for a match once."
He flashed then to when he'd encountered a young woman who'd been accosted by a man. She'd worn sadness around her like a cloak while he'd walked her to the dorm. She'd been quite pretty. His brow knit as he remembered.
"Did I say something wrong?"
He shook his head.
"Not at all. It's just that…"
She waited for an answer but he just smiled. He thought then like he had before how she'd react if he told her the truth. It'd just gotten so complicated adding the Jerome to the Julian.
He'd almost done it a half dozen times but…in the middle of a mob war, was it wise to expose family? No, he decided not so he just kept his secret.