She looked out of the window at the bright sun over head. It seemed so much later in the day than...she looked at her watch...three-thirty, it seemed that lifetimes had passed since that morning. She layed her head back against the head rest and closed her eyes, all she could see was the pained expression on Sonny's face. She wanted to go back to the Penthouse to make sure he was okay but she didn't think she could do anything for him, he was lost in the darkness and he had to find his own way back, she was his friend but she couldn't do that for him. She watched as trees, houses and people, and businesses passed by, the world seemed so normal, so safe, but it wasn't. She placed her hands on her stomach, how could she bring a child into a world that was so unsafe?
They pulled into a small driveway and Alexis looked at the small house in front of her. It was painted light yellow and it looked very homey, on each side of the walk way she could see flowers beginning to sprout as they pushed through the soil. Johnny opened the door and got out and she soon followed. He grabbed a key, inserted it into the lock and opened the door. Alexis walked in behind him and was surprised the place looked so lived in. There was a big white couch that looked like you could sink into it and be lost for days at time. A beautiful wooden table sat in front of it and a gigantic fireplace that had throw-pillows laying in front of it rested in a corner.
Alexis looked around in surprise, she had expected it to look more like Sonny's penthouse, dark and almost brooding. "Can I get you something to drink?" he asked.
"Sure, water would be fine," she replied as she walked towards the couch and Johnny left the room. Alexis was drawn to an array of pictures on the mantle and went over to look at them. They were all of Johnny, he was younger and in every picture he was with a pretty, smiling, blonde woman. Johnny walked in and caught her staring at the pictures.
"Is that your girlfriend or wife?" she asked accepting the glass and sitting down.
"No, I really don't have time for a personal life now-a-days. That's my sister."
"Does she live here with you?" asked Alexis curiously that would definitely explain why the house was so different from her expectations.
"She did once." He stopped, debating with himself on whether to go on. "We were really close, she had this boyfriend who got her into selling drugs, she got hooked and started taking the drugs she was suppost to be selling. Her boyfriend's boss got mad and she got killed. I will never forgive Sorel for killing my sister," he said looking at the picture and touching his sister's face. "I really miss her."
"I'm sorry about your sister," said Alexis squeezing his hand comfortingly
. "It's alright, it happened a long time ago. I'm going to go take that shower now," he said leaving the room.
Alexis let herself relax for a minute but thoughts drifted around in her head anyway. She thought of Carly, they didn't get along but she had admired her anyway, she had a family and she was in love, she hardly ever backed down and never gave up until she got her way. She remembered with a smile how had run off to that island and waited until Sonny showed up and married her. The enormity of it all, that she would never get to know Carly better and that Sonny would have to live without seeing her and holding her and having that love from Carly, made Alexis feel sorry for him. She didn't even realize she had tears in her eyes until they spilled down onto her cheeks. Wiping her face she layed back and soon fell asleep.

Johnny came out of his room fully dressed and walked over to the couch. He found Alexis sleeping and want to the mantle. Grabbing one of the pictures of him and his sister, Melanie, he sat down beside the sleeping Alexis. He looked at her sparkling green eyes and her honey colored hair. She was smiling into the camera with her arm around his shoulders. He could still remember when he found her dead, seven years ago.

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"Melanie? Lanie?" he asked as he came home from where he worked at the docks. Without receiving an answer he started to get worried. She was always home when he got home, outside gardening or drawing, every day after he got there after work they would spend an hour together and then she would get ready to go on a date with that creep. He walked to her room and glancing inside saw that she was laying in bed. She had been tired these last few days so he went into her room to drape a blanket over her, that's when he saw that her eyes were open but unseeing as they stared towards the ceiling. He ran to her and cradled her head as it held limply from her neck. He could feel the coldness of her body but he refused to believe the sister that had been a mother to him, and a friend, was gone. He started to do CPR but nothing worked. He had sat there for an hour breathing for her and pressing her chest but her eyes stayed wide open and her chest never rose or fell by itself. He called an ambulance and they pronounced her dead.
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After that he kept her garden for her, always planting and weeding because it made him feel close to her. Her room was just as she left it but the door remained locked and that's the way he intended to keep it.
He looked over and watched as Alexis layed there breathing in and out. Brushing a strand of her hair away from her forehead he got up and went to the kitchen. Since it didn't look like she would be waking up anytime soon he decided to make her dinner.