Chapter 9
"I can't decide if I'm mad at her or glad she's on our side."
Alice stood in the doorway having overheard the entire conversation between Alexis and Gale.
"What do you mean, Alice?"
"Just doesn't seem right somehow that a body is so needful that she feels honor bound to force herself on others. At least, that's what a lot of that sounded like to me. Reckon we ought to really get her goat and tell her about 'Dobson'. She might think twice about wanting to force a relationship that you may not want."
Alexis chuckled for a moment then grew serious.
"She has information, Alice; information that she had to have help in obtaining. What she knows could cost us our home. And even as the thought runs through my mind, I have to stop and remind myself that she's known this information for quite a while it seems, and hasn't used it against us. But rather has shielded us from whoever or whatever was coming at us that we didn't see."
"So why didn't she offer up what she knew when she found out about it? You know, be honest enough to let you know that we might have trouble coming. Seems to me she's taking liberties that aren't hers."
"Actually, I think I understand why she didn't tell us what she knows. I think she believes that if we knew about what was threatening our livelihood here, we would probably pack up and leave the island. I think she needs a family to belong to just as much as you and I did. With Kale gone, all she has is TK. You and I both can understand that kind of loneliness. Alice… she may have saved us from having to deal with Ned or more to the point, Sonny. She willingly put herself in harm's way by dealing with a possible threat to us. We can't allow her to do that again. I have to talk to her. I have to know what she shielded us from and try to explain why she cannot put herself in the middle of my past and me again. I've lost enough people I care about. And she's been more of a friend to us than we have been to her. I have to fix this, Alice."
"Yeah, I guess you're right? But, if you don't get through to her about us doing what we have to for the wee one, then I will."
Alexis smiled and with a teasing light in her eye replied, "That reputation you've acquired over the years of being a real hard-ass would fly right out the window if anyone ever caught sight of you playing Barbie dolls with Kristina; you big softie."
Alice drew herself up erect and with her most menacing voice whispered, "You wouldn't dare snitch on me. Besides I'd have to return the favor by taping that sound you make every morning when you're taking a shower. What is that anyway? Is that your idea of 'singing'?"
Alexis laughed heartily and teasingly slapped at Alice as she moved past her reaching for the phone on her desk and quickly dialed.
"Alice, you are simply priceless. Hello…. Gale? Alexis. Look, I have a chilled bottle of cabernet that I would like to share with you…. I think we need to talk. I owe you a debt of gratitude and a huge apology… I won't take no for an answer, Gale. Meet me on the beach in an hour… please. Good. Thank you and I'll see you then. Bye."
Turning to face Alice again… "Well that's that. We knew that someday my past would have to be dealt with one way or another. I guess this is the first round. Would you mind keeping Kristina occupied while I'm out? I don't think I want her to accidentally walk up on a conversation she's not ready to hear nor am I ready to defend to my 10 year old daughter."
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An hour later, Alexis sat staring out over the sea waiting for Gale to join her. Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute and it was hard to focus enough to decide just how much she should divulge or what she could safely tell and still keep them all safe.
"Hi."
She turned at the sound of Gale's voice behind her and quickly flashed a smile of welcome toward her.
"Hi, Gale. Thank you for coming."
Gale sat down beside Alexis and looked toward her shyly.
"I'm thinking I made a royal mistake this afternoon, Alexis and before you go off on me, I wanted to apologize. I had no right to come at you like that and I'm sorry. I told you in the beginning my mouth tends to get me in trouble at times and well today was the perfect day for it…"
"Stop, Gale. You're going to pass out if you don't take a break.
Alexis laughed gently recognizing the panic in Gale's voice. It sounded so familiar to her… a sound that miraculously had been absent from her own voice for several years now. Filling two glasses with wine, she handed one to Gale then lifted her own toward hers…
"Here's to a little truth between friends?"
"You mean you're not insanely angry with me?"
"How ironic you should use that particular word to describe me."
Alexis breathed deeply and let her eyes drift over the horizon as the vision of a horrifically red wig played before her. Feeling Gale's questioning eyes on her she returned her focus to their conversation.
"The one thing that I can say without hesitation is that my sanity has definitely been tested on numerous occasions, but I can say with complete honesty that I have remained sane throughout my life. I may not have acted in the manner that those around me would have liked, but I've also never been one to simply stand by and let life just happen. At least I didn't before settling here on the island. I understand where you were coming from this afternoon and you were absolutely correct in your assumption of me. I wasn't being honest when I answered you earlier. So we'll correct that mistake right now. I don't trust easy. It is a learned response from years of trusting the wrong people. There are a number of stories I could tell you that would explain my actions over the past 9 years, but protecting you and TK is just as important to me as protecting my daughter and Alice. All I've ever wanted is to live a peaceful life with my family safe around me. Until I came here 9 years ago, that kind of life was an impossible dream… a dream that was only realized once my eyes closed in sleep at night. I cannot give you all of the details you want, and given what you've already done on my behalf, frankly deserve. I won't put your life or your quality of life at risk. But, before I can share anything with you I need to have a few of my own questions answered first. Can I ask you to be more honest with me than I have been with you, Gale?"
Gale looked straight into the depth of Alexis' eyes and finally found what she had been searching for since the first day they met. There was a door finally opening to her and she was ready to do whatever she could to keep it open.
"You want to know how I know all the things I know about you and who's been searching the islands for you."
Alexis froze. Someone was searching the islands? What happened? How did they it was get so close without her knowing? Sonny? Ned? Her heart stilled… 'Are you out there looking for me, Cameron?' A light touch on her arm startled her and she dropped her wine glass.
"Oh…. Damn. I'm so sorry, Alexis. I didn't mean to scare you. It's okay, they're gone. I told you, I took care of it."
Alexis finally found her voice.
"What? What did you take care of, Gale?"
"We had a visitor about a year ago. You were on one of your mysterious trips to the bay and when I saw a strange vehicle coming up your drive. I flew around the back of the house and went in the back door. I suspected something was up because it wasn't one of the rentals from the airport and you never have company unless you're the one bringing someone home… and it's never a grown up, just one of the kids for Kristina to play with. I just felt like something was wrong and decided to stick my nose into your business… just in case. When he knocked on your door, I answered it. He looked real confused for a minute and then asked if you were home. I told him that I didn't know anyone by that name. He scratched his head a couple of times and started talking to himself like he was getting real panicky, so I acted real curious like and asked him if anything was wrong. He said he just needed to find you fast and warn you about a guest that just flew in. That's how I learned about the guard at the airport. He and I sat down for a couple of minutes and he showed me a picture of the guy that flew in and I told him I'd take care of it and make sure you knew he was coming. I also told him not to admit that he left his post to come out here because it would look bad for him as a security guard."
"I wondered why I was suddenly assigned a different guard. But, the explanation I received seemed legitimate, so I let it go."
Alexis now understood that Stephan possessed more insight to her life on the island than he was willing to admit. Which meant that she would have to use the long-distance radio to contact him in order to find out just what kind and how many inquiries had been made into her whereabouts.
"Go on, Gale… please."
"The guard left and about an hour later another vehicle came up the path and I recognized the guy from the photo the guard showed me. I put on my best smile and again answered your door. He was rather handsome until he opened his mouth."
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'I'm here to see Alexis Davis… get her for me'. Well you know what that kind of attitude did to me. So I told him off in no uncertain terms. Said he had no right barging into 'my' home upsetting my boy at suppertime and if he didn't leave pronto, I was going to call the police."
Alexis groaned.
"Gale, please tell me you didn't pull TK into this."
"Sure did. I had just enough time to run to my place, get him and a little of my personal stuff to lay around on the desk and make it look a little more like my ragged place before he showed up. So when he busted in and started rifling through things on the desk all he saw was my stuff and TK playing with his soccer ball in the den."
"Can you describe him to me, Gale? Do you remember what he looked like?"
Gale reached into her back pocket and brought out the photo she forced the guard to leave with her and placed it in Alexis' hand.
Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed at the familiar face that stared back at her from the black and white photo. She felt the panic begin to rise and fought it just as she had when she first learned that Sonny knew about Kristina. 'Breathe Alexis. You're still here. No one has found you yet. Breathe.' Her breathing slowed and the panic subsided quieting the ringing in her ears enough to hear Gale calling her.
"Alexis. Alexis, it's okay. He left. I was able to convince him that no one lived on the island by the name Alexis Davis."
"How, Gale? He is a very persistent man?"
"I first showed him the phone book and then I showed him the island's 'Log of Locals'. You know the list I'm talking about. It's the one you didn't want your name in no matter what the law of the island was. That was the first time I pulled a little magic trick and one of the things that Kale zeroed in on. He couldn't figure why you were so adamant about not wanting to register yourself as a resident of the island if you weren't hiding from somebody or wanted for some crime or another. And the only other person who was never required to have their name in that particular book was the previous owner of the island."
Lifting the picture a little to draw Gale's attention back to it, Alexis asked, "and he bought that story?"
"Well, not right off. For some reason he seemed to be having a little problem with accepting the fact that he could have been wrong about you living here. He spouts off a few more questions and I finally made up a story about a woman who lived here a couple of years ago that absolutely refused to have her residence registered and she left after a while. He asked what the woman looked like and I told him I didn't remember a lot about her, but her companion was a rather big red-headed woman. Geez, when I said that his face went blood red and I thought he was going to bust something. Then he asked me if they had a baby with them and I acted like I was really thinking hard trying to remember then finally told him I thought so, but I just couldn't really swear to it since it was so long ago. He slammed out of the house and left without looking back. I called the guard a little later to make sure the guy left the island and he said yes that the ticket he bought was for a one-way trip to Greece."
Alexis was dumbfounded. How could she have missed everything surrounding the entire incident? Had she gotten so comfortable within her sheltered existence that she was now vulnerable again? She stood up in frustration and walked toward the surf stopping close enough to let the in incoming waves wash over her feet and breathed deeply a couple of times. The turmoil immediately began to settle and she turned back toward Gale.
"How did you know it wasn't someone I would have wanted to see?"
Gale grinned sheepishly and rose to join Alexis.
"Well, that part of it might just be the one thing I did that could bring that line-crossing thing into play. When the guard left, I searched your home for any pictures you might have lying around and whether or not the face on that picture in your hand matched any in your home. The fact that there are no pictures of anyone outside the three of you in your home, except for the one on your nightstand became another of those tidbits I've been collecting. And since the guy in this photo was not one of the two on your nightstand, I figured he didn't have any rights to be busting into your home. So, I took care of the situation the best way I knew how."
Alexis nodded and looked back out to sea whispering her thoughts just loud enough for Gale to overhear.
"You probably saved me from losing Kristina again."
"AGAIN?" Gale cried.
The sad smile that Alexis allowed at Gale's outburst showed the first sign of unease that she felt since moving to the island. She knew she wasn't mentally prepared for any fight that came her way now. Too many years of living without threat and without fear had dulled her instincts. She made her way back to the blanket and sat down waiting for Gale to join her. There were so many questions and points of debate crashing against the walls of her mind. She needed time to work through it all and put it all into some sort of perspective, but also needed to enlighten Gale a little as well. Alexis decided to hi-light her reasons for moving to the island instead of telling Gale the whole story. The less Gale knew the better off she would be where the issue of safety was concerned.
"Kristina was born under very complicated circumstances. Because I felt that her safety was in danger, I made a decision to allow someone other than her father to take on that role and the whole mess spiraled out of control. The man I looked to as a suitable substitute father… well suffice it to say that he disappointed me in more ways than I can say. As it happened, he ended up with custody of Kristina through some illegal maneuvering of the justice system. I was left doing whatever I could think of to try and get close enough to just lay eyes on her. It didn't help matters that he attached himself to a woman whose sole agenda was to steal Kristina from me by ingratiating herself so firmly into his life that he lost sight of what was right and wrong. I ended up here on the island because it was the only thing I could think of doing in order to finally be able to make a home for my daughter with people whose sole concern was her welfare… what was best for her. She deserves a chance to grow up without constant chaos around her." As the import of what she was revealing to Gale fully hit her she lowered her head and whispered, "She deserves more than what I had."
Hearing the words leave her mouth, Alexis was suddenly aware of how weak her voice sounded and it sickened her. This was not the Alexis Davis who stood her ground and fought to survive her youth nor was it the determined take-no-prisoners attorney who fought for the civil rights of anyone she felt was being abused.
Gale's eyes widened as she witnessed the reemergence of the Alexis Davis who survived the loss of her mother and sister… survived the attempts of Helena to end her life… survived the trauma of being raised a Cassadine… and survived every emotional upheaval that came at her from so many different directions that it would take a lifetime to sort them all out. She was a survivor. It was what she learned best from her 46 years on this earth. Gale saw the steel return to Alexis' eyes.