Chapter 28

Two weeks later, Skye had moved into Sonny's penthouse. She was resistant at first, since she loved her townhouse. Sonny argued that she would be much safer with him, under the protection of his bodyguards, since Whitaker was still on the loose. It was a talk with AJ that finally convinced her to move. He came to her office one day to chat with her. "Hey, sis. Courtney tells me that Sonny's trying to get you to move into his penthouse." She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Yeah. I want to, really I do. But I've gotten to the point where I'm really starting to settle in. I just didn't want to uproot myself yet again. Its more logical for us to live at the penthouse, its safer. I guess I just hate to give up the townhouse. That's what happens when you get to be my age, little bro. You get set in your ways."

AJ grinned. "Well, I could give you this long spiel about how I have your best interest at heart and how I really think you should move in with Sonny for your own safety, blah blah blah. And it would all be true of course. But my real motive is to get you out of the townhouse so I can buy it from you." Skye's eyebrows shot up. "You want to move into my townhouse?" AJ shrugged. "I don't really care where I live, as long as I'm not at the mansion listening to grandfather rant at me every day. Courtney, on the other hand, is getting sick of living at the hotel. She wants a bigger place, one with a kitchen so she can cook me meals. She's getting all domesticated on me." Skye giggled. "Well, I do agree that the townhouse is much better for a young couple than a hotel." Skye paused a moment, considering his offer. "I like this idea more and more. Keeping it in the family. Okay, AJ, it's a deal. I'll move in with Sonny, and you can buy my townhouse." They shook hands.

Skye, Sonny, and Courtney held a meeting in Skye's townhouse to discuss what would go and what would stay. AJ didn't attend because he could care less. This was Courtney's realm and he was staying out of it except to write the check when the time came. Courtney was in love with just about all of the furniture, so Skye decided to let them keep all of it, and she only took a few sentimental items. Which of course made moving a snap. The biggest difficulty turned out to be the cat tree. Skye tried very hard not to laugh at Johnny and Max as they wrestled it into the penthouse, then had to put up with Sonny changing his mind every five minutes about where it should go. Mocha himself was unruffled by the experience. He spent the next 24 hours sniffing every square inch of the penthouse.

The first real glitch in their living arrangement came a few days later. Skye was sitting on the couch, typing an e-mail to her mother on her laptop. Sonny was sitting at his desk, going through some mail. There was a knock at the door, and Sonny said, "Come in." Johnny stuck his head through the door and announced that Mr. Malone had come to speak to him. Sonny asked him to wait outside for a moment. He looked over at Skye. "Skye, I need to talk to a business associate of mine. Its not something you can overhear, so I'd like you to go upstairs until I'm done." She stared at him. "You're kidding, right?" Sonny shook his head. "Legally, it is much better if you know nothing about my business." Skye shrugged. "Okay, I understand that. But I'm in the middle of something here. Why can't you just go down to your office?" Sonny sighed. "It's a waste of time to go all the way down to the warehouse. Much quicker if we do it here." Skye folded her arms. "I don't see why your business associates can't wait until business hours to conduct business. I certainly wouldn't have people coming to my home at all hours to talk about ELQ. This is all very unprofessional." Sonny was becoming impatient. "Maybe in your world, but in mine we do business whenever and wherever we have to." Skye refused to budge. "Then I guess you better build a soundproof office in one of the rooms here, because I refuse to be sent to my room every time someone comes over." There was a long pause as the two of them stared each other down.

Sonny felt the urge to push the laptop to the floor, not because he was furious, but because he had a sudden desire to ravish her. He was surprised to realize that her strong will and fiery determination were extremely appealing. The way her eyes flashed at him made him want to sweep her into a kiss and turn the fire into molten lava. Unfortunately, he had a business associate outside that turned particularly cranky if kept waiting. Finally Sonny shook his head. "Fine, I'll go across the hall and conduct my business over there." Skye smiled triumphantly. "Sounds good to me!" A few months ago, Alexis had moved out of the penthouse across the hall, and into Wyndemere so that she could play a larger role in helping Nikolas run the Cassadine empire. Sonny had not figured out yet what he wanted to do with the penthouse, so it stood empty. Sonny took Mr. Malone over there to discuss business, and then the next day started calling contractors to come and remodel the place into a home office and guest suite for any business associates coming in from out of town.

A couple of days later, Skye went to the shooting range for some target practice. She had a good session, hitting her mark far more often than not. She pulled off her earmuffs, sighing in satisfaction. "You're a very good shot Ms. Chandler-Quartermaine." She looked over and saw Taggert coming out of the next booth over. "Did you start practicing when you got engaged to Sonny Corinthos? Wise decision, considering his lifestyle." She raised one eyebrow. "Actually I learned how to shoot a gun a long time ago. My life has been in danger on many occasions unrelated to Sonny." Taggert leaned against the wall. "So you're used to being a target, then? Sonny chose well this time. If you aren't afraid for your life, you'll be less likely to run to the police for help. A shame, really. Your mother must feel quite conflicted." Skye narrowed her eyes. "Leave my mother out of this." Taggert narrowed his own eyes. "She's a fine woman. I met her when Commisioner Sykes was being sworn in. Her future husband is now the top law man in the city. And her daughter is engaged to the top law breaker." Skye winced inwardly. His words mirrored her thoughts of a few weeks ago. "Everyone involved is quite aware of the irony of the situation." Taggert folded his arms. "Look, you don't seem to give a damn about the position that Sykes is in, but I do. He's my new boss, and I have a lot of respect for him. The press tried to eat him alive at his swearing in. It must have been humiliating for him that they were implying Sonny would now have an influence on the PCPD." Skye clenched her jaw. "I happen to think he handled it very well, much better than you would have. You probably would have said something like, 'Sonny is scum and I plan to crush him like a bug.' John was much more insightful. He said that he was the one who would be influencing Sonny. He thinks it would be much more productive for this town if Sonny went legit, as opposed to just throwing him in jail to rot."

Unbeknownst to Skye, Sonny had walked up behind them around the time that Taggert mentioned Sykes and the press. He was about to announce his presence, but he noticed that Taggert saw him, and seemed to have no intention of alerting Skye that her fiance was there. Sonny realized that Taggert was hoping Skye would say something to hurt Sonny. He wasn't comfortable with the unspoken challenge, but he kept silent anyway as they continued their conversation. "Do you think that Sonny would go legit?" Skye shrugged. "I don't know. That's up to Sonny." Taggert pressed on. "But you would like him to go legit?" Skye sighed. "Of course I would, it would make life a lot easier. But whether he does or he doesn't, I'm still going to stand by his side." Taggert smirked. "A regular Tammy Wynette. Why would you do it? The man's a criminal. I know you've had your share of run-ins with the law, but it's a way of life for Sonny. Why stand by someone like that?" Skye shook her head. "The file Sonny has on my own activities is pretty thick. I've done a lot of boneheaded things in my time, both legal and illegal, and often crossing the line into unethical. Yet knowing all this about me, he still fell in love with me. He still asked me to marry him. My question is why would I walk away from someone like that?" Sonny finally spoke up. "The answer is, you wouldn't. Not that I would let you go." Skye whirled around, her eyes widening. Seeing the pleasure in his eyes, she relaxed and came to hug him. Sonny smirked at Taggert. "That was a valiant attempt at getting my fiancee to betray me. Can't say I'm sorry it didn't work." Sonny and Skye walked off, leaving a frustrated Taggert in the shooting booth.

When they reached the parking lot, Skye asked him, "So what brought you to the shooting range?" He cocked his head. "I wanted to take you to lunch." She smiled her acceptance, and tossed him her car keys. He told his limo driver to head back to Harbor View Towers. They decided to head to Kelly's. Skye had discovered one day that they had the best meal-sized salads. When they were on the road, Skye glanced over at Sonny. "So what did you think of what Taggert and I were saying about John Sykes?" Sonny's face was unreadable. "I agree with Taggert that Sykes is in a difficult position. And I agree with you that he is handling it admirably. He is a man worthy of respect because he sees his adversaries as people, not objects. Of course, sometimes that backfires. I gave Joseph Sorel way too many chances, and it almost cost me everything." Skye took a deep breath. "I'm glad you took his statement from that perspective. I was hoping you wouldn't see it as an arrogant attempt to control you." She glanced at him again. "Do you think his desire to reform you will backfire?" Sonny's lips twitched. "In other words, you're dying to know if I plan to go legit with his help?" Skye bit her lip. "Well, what kind of relationship would we have if we didn't share our thoughts?" He did smile this time. "I agree we should be honest with each other. The answer is no. I tried it once before, and it is a nightmare I don't care to repeat, even if I would have the help of the venerable John Sykes." Skye sighed. "I won't lie and say I'm not disappointed. I'm sure I'll disappoint you on more than one occasion. But I will say that I understand where you're coming from. And I meant what I said to Taggert. I will stand by you."