Courtney stepped out of the hospital elevator and looked around for Carly. She had left an urgent message on her cell phone's voice mail, asking Courtney to meet her here and now that she came all this way, typical Carly- she was nowhere in sight. She sighed and walked towards the front desk to find Bobbie, thinking that she might know where Carly was when Carly herself walked up to her. "Hey," she said, pushing Morgan in a stroller. "Hey sweetie! Oh, how I've missed you!" Courtney said, picking up Morgan and flashing Carly an exhausted smile which she returned. "Thanks for meeting me here, I wanted to see how you were doing but I didn't want to do it over the phone," Carly admitted, trying to read her feelings. Courtney was touched by her concern but there was no way to explain that empty feeling so she said, "I'm fine. And if I'm not- I will be in time."
Carly nodded slowly and debated whether or not she should confide in Courtney about Kristina. Carly had spoken heatedly with Alexis earlier today about whether or not to tell Sonny about his daughter but it had gone nowhere. Alexis still refused to let Sonny know he was the father unless there was no other choice and Carly herself wasn't excited about that prospect either. She did not know what Sonny was going to do when he found out that she had been lying to him all this time. "Courtney, there's something I want-"Carly started but stopped when she saw Courtney's face pale. She turned and followed her gaze.
"Come on sweetie, Uncle Jax is going to take you to go buy an ice cream popsicle okay? Your mom won't ever know, she finally went home to shower. You want strawberry? Grape?" Jax asked playfully, cuddling Kristina closer to him. "Uncle Jax!" she said promptly and caused him to laugh as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. "You're so smart! For that, maybe I'll even let you have two! Just don't tell your mom, she'll kill me," he told her smilingly and carried her towards the cafeteria. He knew she should rest but the poor girl had looked so miserable in her hospital bed that even the koala he bought her (which she had aptly named Jaxers and refused to let anyone take from her) couldn't cheer her up. So he decided to give her what he always used to cheer himself up- sweets. Besides, he had asked Dr. Webber and the man had given his okay.
Spending time with Alexis and Kristina had brightened his day. He was actually feeling a lot lighter now that he had unloaded some of his feelings on Alexis, who had been adamant in her questioning of what happened between him and Courtney. He had been reluctant to confide in her at first because he didn't want to burden her with his problems but she had teasingly told him that she didn't want to wallow in her own misery anymore- she would rather wallow in his. So he told her what happened and she had looked at him sympathetically, given him a hug and then as usual, given him her very logical advice. And that was to let things come as they may and deal with it as well as he could.
Courtney watched Jax's interaction with Kristina and felt her heart ache. He looked so handsome and at ease with her. She remembered when he had been awkward and clumsy holding Morgan not too long ago, before they had made that bet. It was obvious that he adored Kristina and that Kristina seemed to trust and love him just as much. He hadn't even noticed her presence, had focused all his attention on the little girl in his arms. She watched his back disappear around a corner. "Courtney?" Carly asked tentatively, touching her arm. Courtney shook her head and tried to smile. "Sorry, my mind just drifted for a bit there. What did you want to tell me?" she asked. Carly looked at her hesitantly and decided that it was probably better not to tell Courtney right now. She was too preoccupied already. "Nothing. I was just wondering if you wanted to go to get a cup of coffee with me," she lied.
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Alexis stared at Ric in shock. Did he really just propose to her? "Ric, you don't know what you're saying," Alexis said, stepping back. Ric saw her hesitation, knew it was inevitable. They had only begun their relationship and he had just asked her to marry him. "Look, I care about you Alexis and this marriage will work out. You have to tell Sonny that Kristina is his daughter, there's no other choice. He needs to be tested and so do Michael and Morgan if Kristina is going to have any chance at all to make it through this," he said quietly. He had really grown to care about both the mother and the child, and he was willing to do whatever it took to help them through this mess.
"No, there will be other donors. They found one already, didn't they?" Alexis asked, trying to comprehend what he was saying. "Alexis! They found one but that person was killed in a car crash on the way here. You almost told Jason Sonny was the Kristina's father! We have no other choice. I'm offering you marriage- a way to keep Sonny away from Kristina. I will adopt her and then we can fight for custody together. Two lawyers and a marriage can make a much better case," he told her, watching her absorb his words. Alexis closed her eyes and tried to gather her thoughts.
It was ridiculous- marriage to Ric Lansing. They barely knew each other! Granted, she had grown to care for him a lot in the past few months and he had been extremely good at helping her out. She sighed. Her marriage of convenience to Jax had given her a best friend. Perhaps this wasn't so bad a route to embark on. Ric did have a point. If she was in a presented "loving" relationship, she would stand a much higher chance at keeping sole custody of Kristina. In addition to that, she knew Ric would do anything he could to ensure it and as crazy as it seemed- she trusted him. Finally opening her eyes and looking at him, she whispered, "Yes."