Chapter 7

Ric did not give Alexis enough time to respond to Sonny's verbal attack. His mind was on Kristina and how much Alexis needed to be able to focus all her thoughts and energy on the surgery that her daughter was about to undergo.

"This is neither the time nor the place, Sonny. You need to back off and leave Alexis alone. You want to get in her face? Fine! But make it some other day, okay?"

"And who are you, Lansing? Her bodyguard?"

"No. Just a friend who understands what she's going through right now and you just need to back off and leave her alone."

"I'd be careful of who you try to push around, Lansing."

Knowing Sonny would not back down Alexis stepped forward and lay her hand on Ric's upper arm. She tightened her grip momentarily and met his eyes.

"Thank you, Ric, but Sonny does not understand the concept of intrusion or privacy. He isn't going to listen to you or I. He is incapable of seeing or hearing anyone but himself." Alexis turned to face Sonny and continued. "Over the past two years we have both effectively taken ourselves out of each other's world. But, you keep antagonizing me every chance you get. Why Sonny? Why can't you just let it go? I want nothing to do with you or anyone around you and you've claimed you want the same where I'm concerned. So why are you here throwing your weight around when it's clearly not warranted?"

She watched Sonny's eyes darken with anger. Just as she was about to take a step back in retreat she felt Ric's hand in the hollow of her back and it gave her the strength to stand her ground. Sonny's response to her question surprised her.

"I just wanted to check in with the new Assistant District Attorney and see if she had any intentions of trying to use her new status in the community to take me down."

Without a hint of fear or retreat, she watched Sonny take a step closer to her, invading her personal space, his face a mask of dark resentment and bitterness. She wondered briefly if he would ever know how much his bitterness and uncompromising attitudes had cost him.

"Sonny, as I've told you countless times before, you are not the center of my universe or any other for that matter. Everything does not revolve around you as you are so intent on believing. I don't know where you get your information, but I have no intention of discussing my career with you today or any other day. Now please, if you don't mind, I have more important issues to deal with today, none of which include your tendency to throw a childish tantrum every time you feel someone stole one of your little building blocks."

Ric watched Sonny's face contort with anger and when his brother took a step closer to Alexis, Ric intervened and pulling Alexis back he stepped between them taking Sonny's next verbal assault in the pit of his stomach as cold dark angry eyes fell on him.

"How about it, little brother? Think if I take Alexis back to bed she'd get rid of that attitude?"

Ric could not have stopped his response no matter how hard he tried. His hands came up quick as lightening and grabbed Sonny by the lapels on his coat and shoved him roughly against the opposite wall. The thud of his brother's head against the brick didn't register nor did the wince of pain that crossed the man's face. All Ric saw was the threat to someone he cared about… all he heard was Alexis' shocked gasp and the shuffle of her feet as she stumbled backwards at the cruelty of the man he held onto. He tightened his hold on the cloth fisted in his hands and wished with everything in him that it were flesh and blood he held with such a death grip.

"Before I forget where I am, big brother and kill you on the spot, I'm giving you one chance to pack up that filthy mouth of yours and get out of here. Somewhere along the line at some time… there had to have been something decent about you in order for Alexis to give you the time of day. You need to go back to that time and find some way to remember that man. Maybe if you do that you'll find some slim chance waiting for you to redeem your worthless soul. Now get out of here before I call the precinct and have someone dispatched to pick up your sorry ass."

Sonny struggled against the hold Ric had on him. Unable to break away he stopped fighting and looked up into rage filled eyes.

"You're awful protective of Alexis, Ric. You two got something going?"

"Sonny, you don't want to make a mistake and give me reason to have you arrested! I can you know. Little thing called harassment if you want me to list the charge."

"Don't you ever get tired of threatening me, Ric?"

Ric smiled coldly and cast a glance back at Alexis whose focus was once again on her daughter who still fought the effects of the preliminary anesthetic. She was having too much fun playing with Bobbie who wore a puppet on her hand. He could tell by the way Alexis was leaning heavily against the windowpane that she was holding on by sheer force of will. Looking back at Sonny his cold smile faded. It was time to end this. Alexis needed him and so did his niece. He was not going to take the chance of allowing Sonny to prevent him from giving them what they needed. Letting go of Sonny, Ric stepped back and smoothed the wrinkles out of his brother's lapels.

"Actually I have gotten real tired of threatening you, Sonny. So I tell you what I'm going to do. Next time you get yourself into trouble… I'll send someone else to take care of it. You and I are through. I'm done with you… I don't need the aggravation anymore. So why don't you just turn around and go back where you came from. There's nothing here for you anymore."

In that moment Ric figured a few of Sonny's dormant brain cells kicked in and he took the time to look around and figure out something serious was going on with Alexis' daughter.

"Alexis, what's wrong with Kristina?"

Ric moved closer to Alexis in an attempt to protect her from any more of Sonny's verbal abuse.

"Not that it's any of your business..."

"I wasn't talking to you, Ric."

" Leave it alone, Sonny. There's nothing here for you to threaten, use or abuse. Just turn around and go on about your business."

Sonny looked around Ric to Alexis.

"Alexis?"

"Just go, Sonny."

Hearing the weariness in her voice, Ric laid a hand on her shoulder and looked back at his brother.

"You've been asked to leave. Next call I make will be to the precinct. Have the decency for once in your life to put someone else before yourself, Sonny."

Ric watched Sonny stare at Alexis' back for a few moments more then turn and walk away. He wasn't fooled. Sonny would be back… soon. Moving to stand beside Alexis he placed his arm around her and pulled her closer when her head fell to his shoulder. Her quiet whisper tore at him.

"Why won't he just leave us alone? I can't make it any clearer. I don't want him anywhere near us, but he just keeps coming. What am I supposed to do, Ric? What can I say that will make him understand that he does not have a place in my life any longer? That is the way he wanted it. He chose to take himself out of my life. I don't regret leaving that relationship behind me, if that's what you want to call it. But why should I have to keep suffering for such a gross lapse in judgment."

Ric raised his other arm and reaching turned her around to face him. Putting both arms around her he hugged her close.

"Don't worry about Sonny, Alexis. He is about to find himself locked away for a very long time."

Stepping back forcing Ric to release his hold on her, Alexis looked up with confusion.

"What do you mean, Ric? He hasn't done anything to warrant an arrest."

She watched Ric smile and waited for his answer.

"Mark it down ADA Davis. Note the date and time when the great Sonny Corinthos made a mistake big enough to send himself to jail. We've got a red-letter day staring us right in the eye."

"What are you talking about, Ric? I was here. I heard everything he said. You can't put a man in jail for making sleazy comments."

Looking over his shoulder, Ric noticed Bobbie wave and recognized that Kristina was just about ready to give up her fight against the drugs to stay awake.

"It's going to have to wait, Alexis. Kristina needs you right now. She's on her way to sleep and she needs to see you before she's completely gone."

He noticed the horror cross her face and the guilt that immediately followed. He quickly did his best to reassure her that forgetting for a moment who and what circumstance lay just on the other side of the window wasn't the abomination that she imagined it to be. He lay his hands on her shoulders and turned her around so that she could see her daughter.

"We're here… where we're supposed to be. If I had not noticed she was ready for you, then you would have noticed. It's perfectly understandable given 'his' role in all of this that your attention would be torn. Your fear of him is just as consuming as your fear of what Kristina is facing. We can do this, Alexis. The three of us! We'll be ready for him when we have to be. Let's just forget him for now."

He couldn't read the expression in her eyes. It was one that he wasn't familiar with. She held his eyes with her own for a moment then reached up and caressed his cheek. Her touch was warm and sent an electric current straight to the core of his heart. She then turned without a word and entered her daughter's room. When he didn't immediately follow she hesitated holding the door open for him.

"Are you coming, Uncle Ric?"

His breath caught in his throat when she smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm coming." He stepped up quickly… eagerly catching the door as she released it and hurried to the bedside of her daughter. Watching her face as she leaned over Kristina, Ric suddenly felt a hint of envy in the pit of his stomach. What must it feel like to be loved so completely and unconditionally? Would he ever find someone's eyes so wholly focused on him? From the moment Alexis turned her attention from him to Kristina no one else existed and he suddenly wanted to be part of her world… part of the exclusive club that only those she loved and trusted were members of.

"Ric?"

He jumped slightly when he heard her quiet voice. Bringing his attention back to the present he noticed his niece reaching for him. Oblivious to the tears that threatened to blur his vision he stepped up to the small hospital bed and reached for the bundle of gold that held her arms out to him. Careful of the IV that was attached to her small arm he lifted her and drew her close within the circle of his arms. The tears that threatened to overtake him finally slipped beyond his control as he felt Alexis' arm settle around his waist as she laid her head on his shoulder allowing her to stay as close to her daughter as she could before the child was taken away. He felt her tears soak his shirt and he leaned his head over to rest against hers as he heard her quiet choked whisper.

"I don't know that I can do this again, Ric."

"Yes, you can Alexis. We can… together. We're going to wait right here until they bring her back to us and then we're going to wait just long enough for her to recover a bit then we're going to take her home where she belongs."

Kristina reached for her mother and Ric released her immediately into the care of the woman who was quickly becoming more than a friend to him. He quietly stepped away from the two in order to give them some alone time before they were forced to be separated from each other. From the chair beside the window he watched them cuddle as the sun's rays quietly slipped through the window to capture them in its warmth. Nothing in his entire life had prepared him for the feelings that suddenly overtook him. In that small little hospital room, sitting there quietly watching the scene in front of him Ric knew that he wanted more than a home. Ric wanted to be loved and needed… he wanted a family to call his own… not just any family… he wanted this family. He wanted to be a part of what he was witnessing. He wanted Alexis… wanted more from her than just friendship. He wanted to build a life with her… with both of them. He wanted… needed Alexis to love him just as much as he found he was beginning to love her.
Her eyes sadly found his as she laid her sleeping daughter back down onto the stark whiteness of the bed. His heart ached at the fear he saw in her eyes.

Standing he joined her beside the bed and gently took her in his arms from behind as she continually ran her fingers through the soft curls of her daughters hair.
When the interns returned to roll the little bed out of the room he held her tightly as she quietly cried murmuring words of comfort to her. Once the door closed behind them he turned Alexis toward him and embraced her as tightly as he could taking every trembling sob as though it were a bullet right to his heart. He felt her arms close tightly around him as if she could no longer trust her legs to hold her up. Nothing on earth could have taken him from her side in that moment. He would sit with her and wait for as long as it took for Kristina to be well enough to return home. His strength would be hers if she found her own waning.

He felt needed and he held on to that feeling with everything in him. It felt good… it felt right… In the middle of a hospital room, holding tight to a woman he barely knew… Ric was coming alive… his heart was beginning to ache for things he couldn't recognize much less describe. Pulling Alexis closer, he bent his head and lay a soft kiss just above her ear.

"Hold tight, Alexis. Hold on tight. We'll wait right here until our little girl comes back and then… then we'll go home and take care of her until she's well again. We'll spoil her until she's so rotten we'll have to figure out a way to get her unspoiled."

Her muffled chuckle sent vibrations throughout his body and he couldn't help the shiver that passed through him. His face was red with embarrassment when Alexis looked up.

"Are you cold, Ric?"

"No, Alexis. I'm not cold, just tense and a little anxious. You haven't cornered the market on worry when it comes to that little girl."

He felt shame for lying to her. He didn't want to lie. But, now was not the time to try and explain that his body was feeling things for her that he wasn't quite sure how to explain. It was a subject that would have to wait until a more appropriate time.