Chapter 12

Alexis was on her way to New York to meet with Dixon. Since she last spoke to him a lot had happened and even though she loved Johnny, she still needed to know about his past. She had to find out what connection, if any, was between them.

She arrived at Central Park a few minutes early and sat down to enjoy the afternoon sun while she waited for Dixon to arrive. She had only been there a few minutes when she saw him approaching and stood to welcome him.

"Hi, Dixon. How have you been?"

"Very busy. Very busy, indeed."

"I take it you have information for me."

"Yeah and you better sit down. This is going to take awhile."

It took Dixon only two hours to deliver all of the information he uncovered. It only took fifteen minutes for her world to come crashing down around her.

Dixon taped his meeting with her so she would be able to hear it more than once. She slowly, hesitantly accepted the tape from him; turned and silently walked out of the park. She would need to hear it over and over before it completely sank in. She went to her apartment and sat there unmoving for hours.

She didn't notice the shadows creeping across the floor as night fell, nor did she notice when the sun chased them back into hiding the next morning. She sat there as the memories came flooding back. She remembered the days that were absent from her memory, those that had been too painful to remember. She remembered the horrors she was subjected to as a child. She let the memories come one by one. And she grieved all over again. In fact, she realized she had been grieving all of her life. She just couldn't remember why. She did now.

Dixon had told her to call him when she was ready. He had expenses and witnesses to pay off and he wanted to know what she wanted him to do next. She called him twenty-four hours later, finished business with him and was now on her way back to Port Charles. To Johnny. She needed to see Johnny now, to deal with him. Now that she knew who he was. It wasn't Alexis Davis on that flight back to Port Charles. Natasha Cassadine was returning to resolve things with Johnny.

Sonny met her at the airport and couldn't believe it was the same woman he put on his jet two days before. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He walked toward her and began to put his arms around her and was shocked when she withdrew with a strangled cry. "Don't!"

"Don't touch me, Sonny."

Alexis would need every ounce of strength she possessed to get through the next few hours and if she allowed Sonny to hold her she knew she wouldn't be able to hold it together long enough to do what she must.

"I'm sorry, Sonny. But, I need you to listen very carefully and trust that I know what's best right now. I will need you with me the next couple of days. But, I won't be able to get through it if you touch me. You are going to hear a lot over the next few hours and you may just decide that it's too much for you. If you do, please understand that I will not hold any animosity toward you if you decide to walk away. But, please, just don't touch me. I am going to have to remain strong and I won't be able to if you touch me. And before you even ask, yes I do love you but, I have to get through this first. Can you honor my wishes, can you trust me?"

Sonny was terrified. He was looking at her, but this was not the woman he had known over the past 2 months. This was a totally different person. It was very evident she wanted no physical contact whatsoever. He would have to trust her words since he couldn't feel her response to him as he learned to do. He had to honor her request. He loved her too much not to. She had done so much for him and it was his turn to stand by her, whatever the problem was.

"You have my word. I trust you to know best. Whatever you need, you just have to ask."

"Is Johnny home yet?"

"Yes, I picked him up this morning"

"How is he doing?"

"Doc says he's fine and should be able to get back to a semi-normal life in a few days. He's bounced back from this faster than I would have expected him to."

"I need you to do me a favor."

"Name it."

Requesting that he not ask any questions, Alexis told him what she needed and then asked him to take her to see Johnny. She was going to have to be very careful with Johnny. The ordeal he had just been through was enough, but what lay ahead could very well put him back in the hospital. She simply hadn't known Johnny long enough to predict how he would react to what she had to tell him.

Alexis entered penthouse 2 and found Johnny asleep on the couch. She didn't want to bother him yet and she really needed to give Sonny some extra time to do what she asked of him. So she went upstairs to take a shower hoping that the water beating down on her would revive her some. When she finished she walked back downstairs and pulled a manila envelope out of her briefcase and laid it on the coffee table beside Johnny. Just as she was about to stand she heard the door open behind her and Sonny entered.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, I took care of it. Don't worry, just holler when you're ready."

"Ready for what?" Johnny awakened just as Sonny entered.

Alexis turned to see Johnny looking at her with a beautiful smile on his face. She braced herself for what has about to happen, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hi, big brother. How are you?"

"I'm fine but that big ox over there won't believe me."

"Hey, that's my big ox you're talking about."

"Yeah, I know. Just don't go getting mushy on me."

"Johnny, I need to know how strong you're feeling."

"I'm strong enough, why, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you and I want to make sure you're ok first."

"Hey, Lexie, I'm fine. But, you're not; something's wrong. Sit down and talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."