Chapter 7

Johnny was dreaming. He had not suffered through this particular one since he left Puerto Rico with Sonny to start his life over in Port Charles. Everyone who knew the full story thought that he saved Sonny's life. In truth, it was Sonny who saved his. Sure he took a bullet for the man, but up until he met Sonny he had just been existing from day to day with no purpose. Not caring whether he lived or died. Sonny took him in and gave him his dignity back. The dreams finally stopped.

It was always the same dream. He was just a small boy when he found her. She was crying so hard and all he wanted to do was get her to stop. He didn't know how but he knew who did. So he carefully picked up the child and took her home. Nana would know what to do. His dream always skipped time and picked up a few years later. Lexie was four and she adored him. No matter where he went she was always right by his side. The only time he ever became frustrated with her was when she wandered off. Johnny was always having to go out and find her. Then came that last night. It was storming and Lexie was out there. He couldn't find her. He ran and ran, looking everywhere, shouting for her.

He searched every little street in the village. When he looked everywhere he knew to look, he finally looked up toward the big house on the cliffs and knew he would have to go there. He was told to never go there. Nana told him with tears in her eyes that it was an evil place and he was never to go there. But he had to find Lexie. So he went. His dream skipped through time again and he dreamed of holding Lexie in his arms as she died. His last remembrance in the dream was having Lexie being taken from him. Always when the dream came he felt physical pain, as if his skin were on fire.

Alexis heard him screaming before she got to his door and began to run. Reaching the side of his bed she placed her hand on his forehead.

"Johnny? Johnny! It's me. It's Lexie. I'm here. Johnny, can you hear me?"

Johnny faintly heard a voice soothing him. It sounded so much like little Lexie when she teased him. She would call to him 'Johnny, Johhhhnn - -ny come find me. Bet you can't find me. Come find me, Johnny.'

"Lexie? Lexie? Where are you? I'm coming to find you."

Alexis laid her head on his shoulder and listened, as this strong man became a boy again, running and playing with the little sister he had so adored. Her tears soaked the hospital gown that lay over him. She felt him grow quieter as he dreamed of his little sister so she let go of his hand and turned to go check on Sonny.

When she reached half way between the two rooms she leaned against the wall and slowly slid to the floor with her arms draped across her knees and head bowed low. She didn't know if she could take much more. The two men who meant the world to her were both lying in a hospital having been shot. And one of them seemed to be connected to her somewhere in her past. A past she didn't want to resurrect. How did she get to this place in her life? She needed time with her mother and missed her tonight. There wouldn't be any nightmares though. Nightmares were only found in sleep and tonight she wouldn't sleep. She would travel from room to room until she could take them both home. And she would take both of them home one way or another. Alexis slowly stood back up and continued on to Sonny's room. As she entered she found him awake.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm better. How's Johnny?"

"He's resting right now. We had a bit of a scare with him earlier, but he pulled through."

"Alexis, I need to see him."

"I know. I talked to Dr. Jones while you were asleep. You are going to be moved into the cubicle next to Johnny first thing in the morning. They don't want to disturb him tonight."

Sonny took her hand in his and raised it to his lips kissing it gently.

"That's not where those go buster. You're wasting them."

Sonny gently laughed and pulled her closer to get it right. After few moments of cuddling and verbal reassurances Alexis lifted her head and sat down on the stool next to the bed wrapping her hands around one of his and brought it close to her heart.

"Care to tell me what happened?"

Sonny gazed at her lovingly and began to tell her what happened.

"Carly went a little nuts after she signed the divorce papers..."

"A little nuts. Don't you think that's an understatement?"

"Okay a lot of nuts. She was tearing around town causing all kinds of chaos. And it didn't much matter who she took down with her. Problem was she started spreading rumors inside the organization. Things were already strained because I let my control slip, grow lenient, while I was married to her. She demanded so much time and I was always having to clean up the messes she made. The boys lost respect for me. They began listening to her and a few of them thought that maybe they could make a name for themselves by siding with her against me. She's nothing but consistent, and evidently my hiring practices have been slipping lately. I had Max and Johnny bring her to the penthouse this morning. I explained to her that I could still have her put away any time I wanted to and the best thing for her would be to just leave town. I offered to give her enough money to start over somewhere else. She went insane. Next thing I know she pulled a gun and started shooting. That's what happened."

"Sonny, why didn't you call me? I would have taken care of it before she got out of hand."

"Alexis, can't you see what you did when you decided to handle my problem without consulting me? What little control I was left with before you 'handled things' ceased to exist. A woman infiltrated my organization and stopped a take over. While I understand why you did it, my reputation has suffered because of it. They don't trust me now. I have to rebuild the organization all over again from the ground up. That's going to take time and it could very well get dirty."

"And I also understand where you're coming from, Sonny, but I can't help but be concerned about Michael. Where will he be in the middle of all of this rebuilding? I don't regret what I did. It was the only way to accomplish what you wanted legally."

"I know that's how you see it. But, I think if we had discussed it first, maybe we could have come up with a better way to deal with it and still have gotten the same result."

"Sonny, I don't want to fight with you over this. It's done."

"We are not going to fight over it. You're right it's done. You did what you had to do and now I have to do what I have to do. Now, can we stop talking for awhile?"

"Sure, I need to go check on Johnny anyway." Alexis was more than just a little irritated. She knew enough about 'organizations' to know that things were going to get ugly. And Sonny would be right in the middle of it. She didn't want to lose him, but the obvious question remained. How was she going to keep him in her life if he chose to ignore the very law she was sworn to uphold?

"Is that what you're going to do all night. Go from one room to another?"

"Yes. It's what I do. And I won't argue about that either."

"Ok fine, but can I at least have a kiss before you go?"

Alexis knew he was patronizing her. And she knew why. Neither one of them would back down from what they thought was right, nor would they ever see eye to eye on his business. She didn't know where they would end up once the dust settled. All she knew was that right now, in this hospital, she had to be with him. She leaned over and kissed him with all of her heart. She loved him and that was the only thing she was sure of at the moment.