Chapter 31- Girl on the Rock

"Got the Jello, Cookie?" Alexis asked after Danny, Scout, and Leo changed into their pajamas. "Got the water, Leo?"

Leo held up the water glass.

Scout lifted the green Jello a little and nodded. "Is Grandpa sleeping again?"

"He is, but not like before," Alexis said. "He still needs lots of rest, and as time goes on, he'll sleep only as much as we do."

Alexis pushed the door open to their bedroom. Julian was sound asleep.

"Julian…" Alexis gently shook his shoulder. "You have some people who'd like to see you."

Julian slowly opened his eyes and smiled. "Lex…"

Alexis lifted his hand and kissed it.

Scout walked over to the bed. "Grandpa, we brought you Jello."

"Oh, hi Scout." Julian sat up a little.

Scout looked up at Grandma. "Does he need help eating it?"

"I think I can feed myself," Julian said.

Alexis lifted Scout onto the bed, and Scout handed him the Jello.

"Mmm," Julian said eating a scoop of it. "This is delicious."

"Here's some water, Dad." Leo placed the glass on his bedside table and sat on the other side of the bed.

"Thanks buddy," Julian said.

"Danny and Scout are sleeping over tonight," Alexis said.

Julian gawked at her. "Please spare me the details as to why…"

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Our daughter is married. They need alone time."

Danny scrunched his face. "I'm with Grandpa. Please stop there."

"Well, Jonah and Lexie are sleeping over too," Alexis said. "But Lexie isn't here yet and Jonah is spending some time with Lucas before bed."

Julian smiled. "I never would have guessed that I'd have so many grandkids one day. Did I miss anything while I was out?"

Alexis nodded. "You've actually missed a lot… Sam and Molly moved out."

Julian stopped eating and frowned. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Lucas and Kristina still here then?"

"Yes, for now anyway. Nikolas and Ava are staying too."

"I'm not surprised there either," Julian said.

"So, are you feeling better?" Leo asked.

Julian nodded. "Just tired."

"Even after sleeping for weeks on end?" Danny asked.

"Apparently." Julian yawned. "When can I start back to the army?"

"When Patrick says you're ready," Alexis said, wiping some Jello from the corner of his mouth with her thumb. "Then I'll lead this island again too."

"You haven't been leading it?" Julian asked. "Who has been?"

"Nikolas."

"All right." He turned to Danny. "Enjoying your new house?"

Danny shrugged. "It's okay."

Julian yawned again.

"Okay, it's time for Grandpa to sleep, and time for the rest of us to sleep," Alexis said. "And Molly should be dropping off Lexie any minute."

"She's my cousin, right Grandma?" Scout asked.

Alexis sighed and stroked Scout's braids. "Yes. You were so excited when she was born. Jonah is your cousin too."

"Scout doesn't remember much before V-Town," Danny said.

"That's okay, Cookie," Alexis said. "Okay, say goodnight to Grandpa."

GHGHGH

Leo fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow, which made Danny groan. And his snoring didn't help. Annabelle the second curled up at his feet. Danny laid there for hours and when he closed his eyes, he could see Alessandro's face, then the V-guards, then Shiloh with Willow and his eyes shot open.

Danny rolled over. Look, just stay away from me and I'll stay away from you. I know that's what you want…

But that wasn't what he wanted. He cared. He really did.

A scream broke him from his thoughts. But Leo continued to snore. He jumped out of bed. Alexis ran through the hallway in her nightgown, to the bedroom across the hall. He inched closer to the doorway. Scout was bawling her eyes out as Alexis held her in her arms. Jonah and Lexie sat up beside them in the huge bed.

"Grandma, why is Scout sad?" Lexie asked.

Alexis rubbed Scout's back. "She had a bad dream."

"Oh." Lexie frowned and patted Scout's back. "It will be okay, Scout."

"My daddy makes me warm milk when—when I have bad dreams," Jonah said. "It scares the bad guys away."

"Oh, do you think it would help if we got some warm milk?" Alexis asked.

"I think so," Lexie said seriously. "I don't want bad guys here."

"How does that sound, Cookie?" Alexis asked.

Scout nodded. "Okay."

"All right, let's be super quiet though." Alexis helped all three of them out of the bed. "Everyone else is sleeping—oh hi Danny."

"Are you okay, Scout?" Danny asked.

Scout shrugged.

"We're getting warm milk so the bad guys will stay away," Jonah said.

"Want to join us?" Alexis asked.

"Okay," Danny said. "Can't sleep anyway."

They headed down to the empty kitchen and Alexis got the milk out and started to warm it on the stove. "How come you can't sleep, Danny?"

"No reason," Danny said.

"Daddy also gives me ice cream when I have bad dreams," Jonah said.

Danny scrunched his face. "Uhh…"

Alexis crossed her arms. "Oh he does, does he?"

"Uh-huh," Jonah said. "Then we play with my Legos and my trains."

"This was at your house back in V-Town?" Alexis asked.

Jonah nodded. "A much bigger house than our new house. But smaller than yours. But my mommy always got mad when I peed my bed."

Alexis sighed. "Did she get mad a lot?"

He frowned. "She's scary."

Alexis knelt in front of him and touched his chin. "She's not going to hurt you or scare you anymore. And you have a lot of people that love you."

Danny's chest felt heavy. Images of Nelle putting Cameron in the freezer… interrupting his swim meet… carving into Willow's arm.

"I think I'll head up to bed," Danny lied. "I'm getting kind of tired."

Alexis looked up at him. "Okay, buddy. Sleep well."

Danny headed out of the kitchen and took off. He felt like he couldn't breathe. Why did he and all his cousins have to go through so much? He pushed open the front doors. He needed fresh air. He moved far away from the castle and into the village. He kept going, until the reached the other side of the small island. He plopped down on a rock and stared out at the waves.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Now he was imagining things. Must be his memories of watching the Little Mermaid with Scout before V-Town because it looked like a mermaid sitting on a rock in the middle of the lake. But he squinted his eyes again and his face lit up. It had to be her.

He dove off the cliff and met the cold water. He came up for air, then swam towards the rock. He reached out, and another hand grabbed his. He pulled himself onto the rock with the help of the other hand.

"It's about time," Angelica said.

Danny breathed heavily.

"It's been weeks!" Angelica said. "I thought you'd think to look for me sooner."

He grinned and leaned forward kissing her.

She pulled away and crossed her arms. "Why didn't you look for me?"

He frowned. "I just… I don't know. I've been focused on my family, I guess. But I've really missed you."

"Well…" She looked at him. "I guess I've been somewhat focused on family too. Took your advice and I've stopped being mean to Thadeo. Turns out he's a smart kid. Sorta."

"That's good." But he sighed. "I should take my own advice. I haven't been so nice to my sisters."

She raised an eyebrow. "You? Not be nice to your sisters?" She laughed. "I don't believe that for one second."

"It's true. I keep picking fights, throwing my socks at them, and lying to Scout."

"At least you don't beat them up," Angelica said. "Not like Matteo."

He sighed. "I should still be nicer to them. Is Matteo still beating you up?"

"Nothing I can't handle." She held her head high.

"I guess I'm not much better than him."

"Hey now," Angelica said. "You're nothing like him. I wouldn't choose to be around someone like him."

"So, what's going on over in V-Town?" Danny asked.

"I wouldn't know. I haven't been there since we left. Neither has Father and Uncle Francesco. But they do have meetings everyday with the Thick-headed V and that even dumber Peter."

"Have you heard any of their plans?"

"Nope," she said. "I need to keep my cover. I'm hoping Father will invite me in to a meeting one day. Hard to say. He's always tried to protect his little Cupcake from his business, so who knows. He doesn't care about Matteo or Thadeo though."

"So, Thadeo is part of the meetings?"

"Heck yeah." She leaned back on the rock. "They always have the boys at the meetings. Luca and Rafaele are always there too. They're building up the next generation."

"Do you think you can earn Thadeo's trust?" Danny asked.

Angelica raised an eyebrow. "This is Angelica Marchesi you're talking to. I can do anything."

"Okay, well if you earn his trust, maybe you can get him to tell what they say at the meetings. Then you can tell me."

She smirked. "Does that mean you'll meet me here again?"

"I don't sleep anyways. We can meet here at night."

"I like the sound of that." She pushed him into the water, then jumped on top of him.

GHGHGH

Danny managed to dry off, at least mostly, as he walked back to the castle. He really did miss Angelica and seeing her again definitely give him more pep to his step.

He headed upstairs to his grandma's wing and passed Nikolas and Ava's room where Donna was playing with Avery and Nikky. At the end of the hallway, he saw Bobbie Spencer talking to Alexis.

"Why did you need to see me, Bobbie?" Alexis asked.

"It's about Carly," Bobbie said. "I want her to have a procedure done but she keeps refusing. I'm worried about her."

"Of course, she's your daughter."

"She barely pays any attention to Donna. Her only purpose is to get Jason, Michael, Josslyn, and Avery to live with us. Michael and Josslyn are both mad at her, especially how she's been acting since Morgan and Sonny died. As her next of kin, I'd like to issue a forced procedure on her since she's not in her right frame of mind."

"Wow… Well, I understand. The mind-mapping has affected my family too," Alexis said. "I'll talk to Nikolas about it. He's technically still leading this island."

"I know back in Port Charles when Franco had Drew's mind-map, the courts refused Elizabeth in forcing a procedure on him. But you and Nikolas can make up new laws. If you really want, we can have Andre and Kevin examine her, but I don't want to wait too much longer."

"I don't think we'll need to have her examined," Alexis said. "We've all seen the things you've mentioned. Nikolas!" Alexis called down the hallway.

"Yeah?" Nikolas peeked out the door.

"Bobbie would like to have a forced procedure done on Carly," Alexis said.

"Hmm…"

"She's not in her right frame of mind," Bobbie said.

"What do you think, Aunt Alexis?"

"I think she needs a procedure done," Alexis said.

Nikolas nodded. "Then let's authorize it."

Danny headed into Leo's bedroom as Leo was sitting up all groggy, Annabelle the second on his lap.

"Is it morning already?" Leo groaned.

"You're just waking up?" Danny asked. "You fell asleep at like 9pm!"

Leo stretched and yawned.

Danny rolled his eyes. "It's 10am now!"

"Hmm… I usually sleep longer than that."

Danny plopped down on a chair. "Must be nice."