Sonny Corinthos looked up from the pictures on his desk to the child sleeping in her play pen. Johnny had erected the makeshift bed for the child when they'd arrived at the coffee warehouse. After Elizabeth had recovered from the initial shock of seeing a picture of a child who looked just like her dead daughter, Jason had asked him to take Isabelle for the rest of the day. Sonny didn't argue because he knew Elizabeth wouldn't be able to take care of Isabelle right now. And on a happier note, he added mentally, he hadn't been spending as much time with her as he liked lately and this gave him some time with her.

The young child with curly blonde hair drew his attention back to the desk. He'd come here to get away from the memories that his penthouse held. Memories of the child and his best friends the day Abby was brought home from the hospital. Instead of returning to their own home, Jason and Elizabeth had come to his so he, Alexis, and Carly could all see the baby outside of the hospital. There were also other memories that he wanted to escape. The afternoon Carly packed up her and Michael's belongings and moved out of their home. They'd only buried Abby—or thought they buried Abby, he silently corrected—two weeks before and the man was still reeling from losing his first goddaughter.

Sonny thought if he could get out of the penthouse, he could be objective about the pictures. He'd be able to convince himself one-hundred-percent without a doubt that his beloved goddaughter, Abby Morgan, was buried in the grave at the Port Charles cemetery that was marked with her name. She was two rows down, three across from his wife Lily and one row in front of the marker Jax had erected in memory of Brenda.

The only problem with his logic was that it didn't work at all.

His mind began to turn over the possibility the child was alive. What did this mean? For three years, they'd been mourning her and she was there the entire time? His best friend was so grief stricken that he'd left for two years to deal with his pain. Elizabeth had cried herself to sleep countless nights, longing to hold her first daughter. Isabelle had missed out on months of knowing her sister.

And then Sonny thought of Abby. Where was she? Was she loved? Who was she calling Daddy? The questions wouldn't end in his mind and he didn't have any of the answers he longed for. Everything was happening so fast that Sonny wasn't sure what happened first. His longed for the little girl in the photograph, wanting to hold her. After Jason had calmed Elizabeth down a little, she tried to explain to him that the child had to be Abby. Finally, they'd called a doctor to give her something to calm down. Just a mild sedative the man had said before he left. Jason had promised to stay with her and Sonny took Isabelle.

Sonny wondered if this wasn't another sick joke from Stryker. The mobster had, after all, been at Abby's grave earlier that week, taunting Jason and Elizabeth about her death. Paying his respects, he had said. The thought made Sonny ill, it was more like stirring up trouble. Was it possible, Sonny wondered, had Stryker found a child with eyes exactly like Jason's, curly hair like Elizabeth's that was the perfect color of wheat. He wondered how much he'd paid her parents to take a couple of snapshots of the child and then dropped them in a FedEx envelope with Elizabeth's name on the front. He'd sent it to Benny to get their attention and to make sure they'd see the pictures.

That was the theory Sonny wanted to believe, but his gut told him, was screaming at him in fact, that Ronan Stryker actually had Abby Morgan all this time. Or maybe Philip Scarcella had her. He knew the old man was involved some how, he just didn't know how.

Maybe that was why Scarcella never came after Stryker, even though he knew he was in Port Charles. Stryker obviously hadn't brought Abby to Port Charles with him, so maybe Scarcella had been keeping her in Chicago. But what Sonny couldn't figure out was the relationship between the two men. Why would Philip Scarcella help someone like Ronan Stryker? Why would they both help someone like Joseph Sorel, who Sonny considered to be lower than slime. None of the pieces fit together and Sonny knew there was something missing from the story. Some key piece of information that would tie it all together. But he knew where he could get it from.

Reaching for the desk phone, he dialed the number from memory. After the fourth ring, voice mail picked and Sonny listened to the other man's message for a moment. When the phone beeped, he began. "Mike, I know you've already talked to Jason and you're meeting tomorrow, but I need to talk to you ASAP. I have some questions and I think you're the guy to answer them for me. I don't care when you get this, call me back."

Sonny replaced the phone to its cradle, satisfied with the message he left. He didn't want to believe Mike Villalobos had been holding out key information about Ronan Stryker's relationship with Sorel and Scarcella, but it now looked like a definite possibility. The words Jason had said to him earlier echoed in his ears and he wondered if his partner was right. "Mike, Jason sneered. He didn't even try to hide the annoyance and distrust for the man. "Sonny, I don't trust him." Sonny knew Jason had a better sense about people than he did. Sonny could usually tell when someone was lying, but Jason knew they were a liar before they even opened their mouth. Unfortunately it looked like Jason had been right about Mike too.

At the moment, Sonny couldn't deal with the possibility that one of his men had betrayed him, so he made a mental note to talk about it with Jason later. Knowing he wouldn't get any work done with the photos sitting on his desk, he dropped them back into the envelope and pushed them aside. Pulling out the ledger, he grabbed the adding machine from his desk and began to punch numbers. The coffee warehouse had been booming lately, along with everything else in his life. It even looked like Taggert wouldn't take advantage of being named commissioner to further his personal vendetta.

"You keep telling yourself that Corinthos," he muttered to the empty room. Sonny looked again towards the playpen and smiled at the young child. He knew that she didn't understand what was happening. Isabelle was too young to remember Jason not being there after she was born. If it turned out Abby was alive, Isabelle wouldn't remember a time when she didn't have an older sister. He hoped she wouldn't remember the pain her mother went through when Jason left. When Sonny was a child, he'd prayed for days to not remember what Deke did to his mother and to him. If only he'd been Isabelle's age when his mother had been with the abusive man, maybe it wouldn't affect him today.

Not liking the turn his thoughts had taken, Sonny looked back to his adding machine and again punched in the numbers from the invoices. He worked until a knock on the door broke his concentration. When he looked up, Johnny O'Brien was standing there and he could see Alexis standing behind him.

"Mrs. Jacks is here, sir." Johnny knew his mistake when he'd used the newly married attorney's name. He regretted his slip when Sonny grimaced outwardly and reminded himself that he should always call her 'Miss Davis' when Sonny was around. Just like always.

"Show her in, Johnny." Knowing the attorney was there to talk about Elizabeth, he pushed the invoices and adding machine back into his desk, promising himself he'd get some work done later.

Alexis smiled politely at Johnny when he stepped aside to let her enter. She took in the playpen and swung her gaze around to Sonny. "Why do you have Isabelle?" Her mind raced with possibilities of all the things that happened to Elizabeth after she left. "What's wrong? What happened Sonny?" The catch in her voice told him she was instantly worried.

"It's okay, Alexis. Elizabeth isn't hurt," he tried to soothe her. Tipping his head towards the chair, he insisted that she sit. After she pulled the chair up to the desk so she could use his work surface, he pulled the envelope with the pictures in it and handed them to her. "Those came for Elizabeth today, through Benny. Someone wanted us to see them."

"What are they?" Alexis asked, even as she was pulling them out. She recognized all of the dates and knew the significance they had in Elizabeth's life. When she got to the last picture, she studied it carefully, trying to place the child. When she couldn't, she glanced up at Sonny. Holding the picture up, she asked, "Who is this?"

"Flip it over," Sonny instructed. He watched as the shock registered on her face, then the disbelief and he knew Alexis felt just like everyone else. "We don't know if it's true or not. I've got a guy working on it."

"How is it even possible, Sonny?" Alexis looked through the pictures once more before giving them back to Sonny. "Abby has been dead for over three years. We buried her! Had a funeral for her. She died in the warehouse explosion with Sorel."

"Alexis, calm down." When the lawyer sat back in her chair and seemed to be ready to listen, he continued. "We don't know how it's possible. We just got the pictures today and I don't have any answers yet. We aren't even sure where the pictures came from."

"Stryker," she answered him. "It has to be Stryker. But how did he get Abby?"

"Don't jump to conclusions. We don't know who the child in the picture is, Alexis. Just because someone says it's Abby doesn't mean it's really Abby." Sonny knew that it had to be Stryker, but he couldn't discuss his more illegal activities with Alexis and he didn't know how much he wanted to tell her, but he needed to work this out with someone. The obvious answer would be Jason, but Jason had personal things to deal with. Sighing, he tilted his head up to look at her, "Can we talk, off the record?"

"What do you mean?" she queried.

"I mean, I need you to be my friend right now. Not my attorney, but someone here to listen and give advice."

"I'll always be your friend first and attorney second," she assured him. "Don't you know what you are to me?"

His brown eyes softened as he met her gaze and he knew he could trust her with this information. "You're the same thing to me," he promised.

"Talk to me Sonny," Alexis urged. She sat her briefcase on the floor by the chair and crossed her hands in her lap. Turning her head up, she readied herself to listen to him.

"Do you know who Philip Scarcella is?" He studied her reaction and knew she did. "What do you know about him?"

"Very little," she told him. Alexis closed her eyes, trying to pull a memory from the depths of her mind. "About twenty years ago, after I'd first gotten to the States I did some traveling. Chicago was one of the places I visited and I remember something about Scarcella from there." Alexis paused as she tried to focus on the hidden memory. "But not Philip Scarcella…the newspaper, it was about a woman."

"Philip Scarcella is…well, he owns a restaurant in Chicago and but he's known more for his more nefarious activities."

"He's a mobster," Alexis said plainly.

"Yes. He's a mobster." Sonny smiled at her bluntness. "Tell me more about this female Scarcella. Can you remember what the paper said?"

"She was killed, I think. It was just a blurb that I picked up on. I'm not even sure why I remembered it. Her name was Gabby..Gabriel…Gabrielle! Alexis smiled triumphantly.

"Do you remember anything else?" Sonny pressed.

Alexis closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. She forced herself to concentrate, but nothing else was coming to her. Without warning, her eyes popped open and Alexis reached across the desk and spun Sonny's laptop around. She rapidly started typing.

"What are you doing?" Sonny asked, his eyes wide.

"Checking the online archives of the Chicago Tribune." Alexis looked up at him for a moment before returning her attention to the computer screen. "Here we go…..Gabrielle Scarcella, she'd only recently married Philip. Her maiden name was…" Alexis trailed off, her eyes growing wide.

"Her maiden name was what?" Sonny pressed. "Alexis, tell me."

"Sorel," she whispered. Alexis looked up at him and sighed. "Gabrielle Sorel-Scarcella." Alexis turned the screen so Sonny could see the picture of the woman, her full name boldly printed under the picture.

"As in Joseph Sorel? Scarcella was married to Sorel's mother? Why the hell didn't I know this!?"

"I don't know," Alexis answered him. She looked back to the computer screen and her eyes scanned the type. "They'd just married, she was survived by a teenage son." She scanned the rest of the article. "The name of the son isn't given."

Sonny pushed a hand through his hair, the disbelief written across his face. "I can't believe this, Alexis. All this time…and now, it's possible Stryker and Scarcella have had Abby all along…oh god, what else have we missed?" He slammed the laptop closed in frustration.

"I don't understand. Start with the part where Abby could be alive, Sonny."

"Today after you left Elizabeth's, Benny showed up with a package. In it, there were five pictures. You're holding them in your hands. Each picture is dated, Alexis, all dates that are important to them. Which means this bastard has been watching us for over three years. God, there's no telling how long Sorel had planned this." Sonny raked a hand through his dark locks.

"Sonny, do you know for sure it's Abby?" Alexis asked. She admitted, the child did resemble both Jason and Elizabeth and it seemed possible that this could be the child they thought dead.

"Alexis, we don't know anything," he admitted. "But I know this is the last thing they need. With Elizabeth still pushing the divorce. I'm not sure how much he can take, honestly. Jason's been about to break for awhile now and when he does it's gonna be big."

"I think he already broke. He left Elizabeth, remember?" Elizabeth's words from earlier came back to her and she looked up in shock. "What do you mean ' Elizabeth still pushing the divorce?'"

"Maybe he did break when he left. I'm not sure. And I mean what I say. Jason only agreed because he wants her to be happy. He loves her too much to make her that unhappy."

The attorney dropped her head in disagreement. Alexis couldn't believe this. Neither of them wanted the divorce? If they could just get those two on the same page a lot of issues would probably be resolved. "Elizabeth doesn't want the divorce," she announced. "She never did."

Sonny's eyes narrowed as he studied his attorney. He wasn't sure if this was her opinion or if Elizabeth had admitted to not wanting the divorce. "She stood in my living room," he reminded her, "and told Jason the only good thing about him being back was it was infinitely easier for her to get a divorce."

"She was angry, Sonny!" Alexis cried in Elizabeth's defense. "The man she promised to love forever left her, pregnant with his child, and then thinks he can pop back in with a 'honey, I'm home' and think there won't be any repercussions? Sonny, you're not a stupid man, please tell me you don't believe that?!"

"Who are you mad at Alexis, me or Jason? I'm the last person in the world who thinks Jason deserves a second chance with Elizabeth. But the most important thing to me is her happiness. If she wants him and I know he wants her, then I think they should work it out."

"What did he tell you?" she queried.

"I don't feel comfortable discussing what he told me with you. It's not that I don't trust you or that I think you'll go and tell everyone what he said. It's just trust is something big between Jason and me. I blew it once and I've worked hard to get him put his faith back in me," Sonny explained. He momentarily paused to remember the look on Jason's face when Carly came down the stairs. It was an image he carried forefront in his mind at all times and recalled when he was making decisions that would affect Jason's life. "Jason agreed to the divorce because Elizabeth said she wanted it. He loves her too much to make her unhappy."

Alexis nodded in understanding of Sonny's not disclosing the details of his meeting with Jason. She was bound by the confidentiality clause and wouldn't feel right disclosing those same details had Jason shared them with her. Or the details Elizabeth shared with her about her feelings on the divorce. "Elizabeth is exactly the same. She loves him, wants to work it out, but now she thinks Jason wants the divorce. So she sits back and doesn't say anything about it."

"That's what I thought," Sonny admitted. "They're inside of each other, can't live without the other. But I'm worried what Abby being alive is going to do to them. If it's really her in the picture."

"Abby was the reason they broke up. And if she's home, they won't have a reason to be apart anymore," Alexis reasoned. Even though she knew it wasn't that simple.

"No," he disagreed, "Abby was their test and they ultimately failed. Elizabeth couldn't move past the grief of losing her daughter and Jason couldn't shake the guilt that his work had taken someone he loved so much. All Abby being alive is going to do is prove to them that they failed at marriage. A child isn't a reason to stay together, Alexis. You and I both know that. I'm not sure what Abby being alive is going to do to them, but I don't think all of the aftershocks will be positive."

Not knowing what else to say, Alexis stood and crossed to the long bookshelf he had in the office. Sitting on top of it was a coffee pot with one of his brews and she poured herself a cup, not bothering to add cream or sugar and returned to her seat. Looking up from the cup, she smiled. "How's Marie?"

"Things aren't looking good," he admitted. Sonny recounted to her the details of the argument they'd had, the man who approached her at work, and the things Elizabeth had said. When he finished, Alexis noted the way his face looked worn and she got the odd feeling Sonny felt like he didn't have a friend left in the world.

"What're you going to do?" she asked.

"I keep asking myself that about everything. What am I going to do about Abby? I don't know. About Jason and Elizabeth? I'm smart enough to know they need to work that out by themselves. But the question you want the answer to is what am I going to do about Marie?" Sonny let the question hang in the air while he began to push things around on his desk. The silence stretched between them and he knew Alexis didn't have the answers he needed. "I love her," he admitted.

"Love her?" Alexis choked out. She glanced down and saw she'd spilt the coffee and began to dab at it with a napkin. "Are you sure?"

"I think so. I know the idea of losing her is killing me, Alexis. But that's the way it works, huh? Everyone leaves eventually. I'm tired of this," he sighed. "I'm tired of loving someone and then them leaving me or not being who I thought they were."

"So you throw a pity party?" she joked. "You have no idea how lucky you are, Sonny Corinthos. You have a young woman who thinks of you as a brother, a goddaughter that loves you, a best friend who would lay down his life for you. And you've been loved by so many women that I've lost count. There are three that count, though. Lily, who you married. Who loved you and who you hold everyone in your life up to. Brenda, who I know you loved more than your own life. What was it about Brenda Sonny? Because I don't get it."

"Get what?" he asked. "Brenda was…Brenda. Ask Jax the reasons he loved her and you'll have the reasons I loved her."

"No, I don't buy that," Alexis rejected the idea. "Tell me why you loved her, Sonny."

"She made me wanna be a better person," he said simply. "She's the only person I'd ever walk away from this life for."

"Oh, you mean the exciting world of coffee?" she joked. "Yeah, because I can see why'd you wanna walk away from it."

"I wasn't a coffee importer then," Sonny reminded her. "Only a low life. But you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do." Alexis smiled at her client, suddenly grateful for the odd friendship they'd seemed to forge. As she'd told Jax hundreds of times, she never meant to be their friends. She never meant to love them, but she did. And she knew that Sonny had two best friends who would do anything for him. "And Carly? What about Carly?"

"Carly wanted to destroy me," Sonny told her. "She wanted to get inside of me and turn my life upside down. Did we love each other? Yes. Was it healthy? No. Do I miss her? Sometimes I do. Mostly, I miss Michael. But having Isabelle back cuts down on that a lot. And Carly lets me see him whenever I want. We've managed to stay friends, but the romance was a bad idea from the beginning."

"What makes Marie different?"

Sonny closed his eyes and exhaled loudly. He knew the question was coming, had been turning it over in his head for days, but still didn't know the answer. "I'm not sure. What made Candyboy different for you? Why didn't you marry Ned? Why didn't you and I ever get together, Alexis?" Sonny's dimples were showcased as he teased her.

"You respect me too much," she answered him quickly. "That's why you and I wouldn't work. The first time you sent me to my room, I'd turn around and tell you where to stick it. And you know it. As for Ned…he changed the rules halfway through the game. I loved Ned Ashton, ELQ guy. If Ned would have stayed that guy, we might have had a chance. But he wanted to be Eddie Maine. And he wanted for me to be Lois, and I couldn't. He's with her now, where he wants to be, with their daughter. I'm happy for him."

"And you've still managed to not answer my question." He looked up at her, seriousness in his tone. "Why Jax?"

"Because I wake up each morning beside him and say a silent thank you to whoever put him in my life." The emotions hit her in a rush, like they always did when she was talking about her husband. "Because when we're together, I positively glow. He likes most of my friends, respects all of them. He cares about Elizabeth just like you do. And even though he doesn't like that I work for you and Jason, he only tries to talk me out of it once a week."

"Is that so?" Sonny questioned. "Hrm… I figured at least twice a week. Maybe even three times. And did you say he respects all of your friends? So we're not friends, huh?"

"Of course we're friends, Sonny. You and I will be friends until the world stops turning. And Jax does respect you. You respect him too."

Sonny snorted. "What gave you that idea?"

"The night you and I left for Spain, you left Isabelle with Jax. If you didn't respect him, didn't trust him, you would have never done that." When he started to protest, she held up a hand to silence him. "I know, I know. It was late, you didn't want to wake Elizabeth. But you still called Jax and that means you don't hate him as much as you say."

"Still doesn't mean I like him," he retorted.

"I'm not asking you to like him," Alexis reasoned. "I'm only asking that you two not tear each other's hair out."

"I don't fight like that," Sonny said quickly. "Besides, I don't fight. Did too much of that when I was a kid, now I have men who fight for me."

"Whatever, Corinthos." Alexis stood and began to gather her things. She glanced back at sleeping the still sleeping baby and smiled. "I need to get home. How much can I tell Jax about Abby?"

"Tell him what you want. I'll call you in a few days when we know something more concrete."

"Okay," she nodded. Alexis sat her briefcase on so she could put her overcoat back on. "You want me to take Isabelle? Or can you handle her?"

Sonny eyed the stack of invoices he needed to get through and counted the phone calls he needed to return in his head. "You sure it won't be too much hassle?"

"No," she shook her head. "Isabelle and Jax love each other equally. I'll call over to Elizabeth's later and see if she wants me to keep her tonight."

"Okay." Sonny pushed back from his desk and began gathering Isabelle's things. "Johnny!" he called towards the door.

The bodyguard pushed through and immediately began gathering Isabelle's things. Sonny transferred the sleeping child to Alexis. "Johnny'll drive you, if that's okay."

"That's fine." Alexis turned to follow Johnny out, but turned before she reached the door. "If you need me…if you need to talk, you know you can call at any time, right? That's what friends do, Sonny."

He nodded his head and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you, Alexis." The door shut behind her and Sonny glanced around his now empty office.

"And then there was one," he murmured to himself. Not dwelling on the thought, Sonny took his seat at the desk and reached for the phone.