This is the first story I ever wrote. It is not my work, but I do think it is a good story. There are 2 other stories that combine to make this a trilogy. 'One Moment In Time' is the first. It is followed by 'Through Portals of Time' and finishes with 'Legacy of Time'. As it was written almost 5 years ago, there are characters involved that are now either dead or gone. I have taken liberties and written it an alternate universe type setting. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1
Day was almost at its end as Alexis sat alone in her apartment starring out toward the sun as it slowly sank toward the horizon. It was the time of day she loved the most. It was a special time to reflect on the events of her day, to evaluate each action, each word, each moment. And the questions always came without hesitation, with care and great consideration. Did I take care of business today honorably? Did I care for those who I came in contact with to the best of my ability? Were my words honest and true? Were my actions those that my mother would be proud of?
Alexis Davis measured her day by what she thought would have pleased her mother. Many years were now passed since she lost her mother in a horrible and tragic way. Through those years she trained herself not to think of her mothers death and how it happened. She only allowed herself to remember how she felt in her mother' s embrace. She remembered her mothers touch, how her mother's arms felt every evening when she embraced her before succumbing to slumber. She remembered her gentle voice and laughter as they ran and chased each other around the park. Even now, if she sat quiet long enough and focused hard enough, she could still remember the fragrance of her mother. It was the soothing aromatic scent of a garden full of gardenias.
It was her personal ritual at the close of each day to be where she needed to be in order to watch the sun set and remember her mother. Wherever she was and with whomever, always her mother came first. To be the kind of daughter Kristin Bergman would be proud of was Alexis' most precious and highest priority.
She became a lawyer because of her mother. And even though she never allowed herself to think of the circumstances of her mother's death, it was because of that one event that Alexis decided at an early age she would become a champion of those who could not defend themselves. When she passed the bar and began to build her own private practice she restricted her clientele to those who were unable to defend their personal rights. Alexis made a name for herself in the defense of children. In the few short years since she began her practice, Alexis not only made a name for herself in New York as the city's most prominent attorney; but she was known all over the world as a force to be reckoned with when it came to the protection of children against the horrors of life. Her stellar record stood on its own merit.
She was proud of her legal record. So far she had been able to win every case she accepted and so many children's lives were now changed for the better. But, as it so often happens with those who make their career their life; Alexis was alone. She put so much of herself into her work that there was no time for a social life and she was now suddenly finding herself very tired. She needed a break from her practice. She needed time to recuperate and replenish herself.
Tonight as she watched the sun finally reach its destination behind the horizon, Alexis felt the loneliness more intensely than at any time previous. It wasn't often that she let go and allowed her emotions to escape the confines of the many walls she constructed around herself for protection. There had been so much pain in her life. So much taken from her, so much damage done that the time finally came when Alexis decided enough was enough. She was tired of being a doormat for anyone who chose to use her in that manner. And in that one moment, Alexis chose to close the door to her heart and no one had been able to open it since.
She dated from time to time, but she was very careful about who she chose to be seen with in public. More often than not, dating for Alexis was either a social requirement needed to further the status of a case or at times to squelch the never-ending tabloid scandals that inevitably followed people of influence.
There was a litany of responses she perfected over the years to dodge any questions of a personal nature. But it was the questions regarding family that were stopped before they were barely begun with cool detachment. Alexis dealt with questions regarding her family as if they were no more than insistent droning mosquitoes. They were verbally slapped down and put to rest. And yes, Alexis had family whether she chose to acknowledge it or not.
There was a brother who once too often turned his back on her when she didn't comply with his idea of what was right or proper. She also had a nephew, Nicholas, whom she adored, but was unable to have contact with since her brother, Stephan sent her into exile from the family estate. And then there was Stephan's mother; a woman so heartless and evil that if you ever had the misfortune of being caught in the same room with her, your life became expendable, unimportant. She made it known by every word, every move of her body, every expression of her face, you were nothing; a gnat to be swatted into nonexistence.
Alexis had been on the receiving end of Helena's wrath on more than one occasion during her childhood years. And because of it there were gaps in Alexis' memory. Days she couldn't remember. Scars on her body she couldn't explain. But, she stopped trying to remember years ago. When she tried to remember, her nights became terror filled with nightmares that revealed just enough to cause her to awake screaming in agony with her body dripping with the perspiration of fear.
So, in order to protect herself Alexis set about burying and concealing any thought or memory that might cause her harm in any way. And she did it so successfully that anyone who had every come in contact with her professionally or personally thought her to be a capable, efficient, self-assured, well-rounded woman. Alexis had done a remarkable job of hiding Natasha Cassadine from the world.
No one knew that Alexis Davis reinvented herself the day she was accepted into the Harvard law program. She stepped onto the campus leaving her true identity, and the pain it caused back in Greece on a small island. She never wanted to return and had made a promise to herself that she wouldn't. She kept that promise and here it was 20 years later and whether she wanted to admit it or not Natasha was still just as much a part of her now as she had ever been.