The lawyer's chocolate brown eyes remained on the wooden box in front of her as snapshots flipped through her mind. "I met him during my sophomore year of college. He was a pre-med. Wonderful man. He treated me like a queen." She fixed her eyes on Sonny, the sadness painfully evident. "He loved me, Alexis Davis, not Natasha Cassadine. He was the first one, really, to do that. And being the naïve girl I was, I gave myself to him, completely, foolishly thinking we would get married." Her eyes returned to the box, her arms wrapping around herself and squeezing tight. "When I told him I was pregnant, he completely changed. He took care of me, made sure I stayed healthy, but on one condition. That he take the baby, give it to a family he knew would be fit enough to care for it. So I agreed. I mean, what else could I do? I was really just starting my college education, working weekends as a telemarketer. I wouldn't have been able to take care of a baby."
Sonny noticed a tear trickle down the side of her face and his heart broke. "Why now Alexis? It's been-" he looked at the birth date on the certificate, "twenty-one years. What's happened now that you want to find her?"
Alexis looked at him through watery eyes. "I just want to know that she grew up ok. That the parents who adopted her loved her completely. That she didn't have to grow up like me, without love."
Her last sentence completely broke through Sonny's hard exterior. He knew of the childhood she'd survived, and it wasn't all that different from his own. He stood up from the sofa and sat down next to her on the other sofa, putting his arm around her shoulders to pull her to him. "I'll do everything I can to help you Alexis."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Elizabeth dropped into the one chair that was devoid of boxes, consequently her favorite chair. She leaned her head back, inhaling the scent of paint cleaner that was embedded into the navy blue material. Her eyes cracked open to scan the box littered living room. Despite the mess, a smile formed on her face.
"My home," she practiced, seeing how the words rolled off her tongue. Getting up from the chair, she tried it again. "Welcome to my home." She giggled at her own silliness, wrapping her arms around her chest to hug herself.
"Elizabeth Webber, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life."