Chapter 4

Michael looked at the woman who had haunted his dreams for years. "You're alive."

It wasn't an exclamation or a reproach it was simply a statement. Carly looked at her son, he was grown now and a man. Michael put his hand on his mother, the one who had raised him. "Mom, why don't you go inside?"

Carly shook her head with disgust "What? You call her mother now? What did she do to deserve that title?"

Michael kissed Alexis on the cheek and said "Mom, go inside. I'll take care of her." Reaching behind her, he opened the door and helped his mother inside and closed the door behind her.

He then turned to Carly who was fuming at him, "Take care of me! I gave you life and you side with this whore over me."

Michael ran down the steps of the house and grabbed Carly's arm "We can talk but away from here and not disrespecting the woman who made this house and this life possible."

Jason helped Alexis inside and sat her down.

Alexis put her head in her hands. "She's alive Jason. She'll take everything away from me."

Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, "It's okay. You and Sonny will work this out together."

Alexis started to hyperventilate at the thought of having to deal with Carly again. Jason ran for a paper bag, Sonny had always made sure to keep one on hand in case the situation happened. He shoved it in her face and forced her to breathe. Alexis felt the tears fall down her face as the reality of her situation came in on her. She looked at Jason "The doctor told me today that I was pregnant with twins. I had made my hand on the door ready to come home and tell my husband and our children that we were going to have two children to love and fill our home. Michael has a girl that he's interested in and I'm sitting here watching my life flash in front of my eyes…."

Alexis stood up and began to pace as two sets of feet came running down the stairs. "Hey Ma, how was the doctor's appointment?"

Alexis forced herself to smile at the children, as she felt herself go weak in the knees. "You know I'm not feeling too well, I'm going to go lay down until your father comes home." She looked at Jason with vacant eyes and said, "He is coming home isn't he?" Jason nodded as he felt the air leave his body as he watched her shut down in front of him emotionally and withdraw into herself.

Kristina hung up the phone in shock and turned to her fiancée in bed and said "We have to go over to Alexis's she needs us now."

Zander stood up from his bed and immediately started putting on his clothes. Kristina reached for her shirt and said, "Aren't you even going to ask why?"

Zander smiled at her softly and said "You can't keep anything to yourself; I figure you will tell me when you are ready."

Kristina walked over to him and hugged him tightly "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

Zander squeezed her to him gently and said "Not lately but you can tell me now."

Kristina jumped up and kissed him on the lips "I love you. I don't want you to ever think I take you for granted. If I push too much let me know and I'll back off."

Zander nodded and said, "I love you too. So what's going on with my favorite sister in law?"

Kristina closed her eyes and said softly without emotion "Carly is alive."

Morgan and Kristina sat at the kitchen table pushing the food around on their plates in silence. They exchanged glances with each other every couple of minutes in confusion. What had happened from this morning to now that everybody was up in arms? Dad hadn't come home, Uncle Jason was so worried about Mom that he called Aunt Kristina who he couldn't stand and Michael was nowhere to be found.

"What do you think is going on," a solemn Morgan asked.

Kristina shrugged her shoulders and said "I have no clue but whatever it is must be serious, Dad didn't make dinner tonight. I can't believe Uncle Jason let us order pizza and Mom didn't say a word." Morgan nodded in agreement "I'm worried. I don't want anything to happen."

Sonny chose that moment to come in the door looking refreshed with a smile on his face "At least, someone is happy."

Sonny looked at his daughter in confusion "Why the attitude?"

Kristina ran over to her father as Morgan walked over to him cautiously. "Daddy, what's going on?"

Sonny looked at his child in confusion "What are you talking about?"

Jason chose that moment to come inside the living room after finishing his call. "Sonny, Carly came by the house and upset Alexis. Michael took her away but Alexis is upstairs and pretty shaken up."

Morgan looked at his Dad in confusion and said "Carly? Isn't that my birth mother's name?"

"So you're alive. Where have you been? Missing for 5 years?"

Carly reached out to touch Michael but he pulled back quickly "I now know, what it means to be a part of a family. A real family one that has a mother and father who love each other deeply. They are committed to one another. What you had with my father before, it wasn't right."

Carly grimaced and said, "So Alexis has been filling your head with ideas about what a family is and what a family isn't. Did she also tell you that she slept with your father while we were still married?"

Michael smiled softly and said "Bravo Carly, bravo. Not even two hours back and you are already sticking it to my mother. You heard me my mother. She raised me; she stayed up with me through nights of homework. Never once did she badmouth you even when she had the chance she always glorified you even modifying the memories I had of you because she wanted no she thought you deserved to be remembered by your children lovingly. Now I see what a complete waste of time that was, you don't even have it in you to be gracious about the fact that someone else insured that your kids weren't dead or depressed. You just have to look at the fact that she "stole" my father from you."

Disgusted Michael stood up and threw some money on the table "Carly it would be nice if you saw your mother. Grandma has been inconsolable since your death, she blames herself."

Carly looked at her son in shock and said, "I'm alive Michael. I'm not going anywhere, I know you're hurt now but once you get over it you'll see that everything will go back to the way it was and we will be a family again."

Michael shook his head sadly and said "Don't you see? That's just it. Nothing will ever be the same again. I don't want it to be because since you were out of our lives, everything has been so much better."

Chapter 5

She was on the edge of their bed rocking back and forth as she tried to figure out a game plan. She knew that Carly would stop at nothing absolutely nothing to get what she wanted. She didn't have the fight in her. Not when she needed to be strong for herself and for her children. Rubbing her hand absently over the twins, she reminisced on her life from just a few short hours ago. God how quickly time changes. One moment she was preparing to spring the twins on Sonny, the next she was face to face with her worst enemy for Sonny's affection and love. The door opened slowly and she saw her sister's head peek in.

She smiled slightly at her and said softly "Come on in. There's always room for you here."

Kristina nodded and closed the door behind her and said, "So I got a call from Jason. A call that you obviously know took me for shock seeing as how we don't get along. He tells me that Carly has once again returned from the dead. After five years. Where has she been?"

Crossing over to the bed, she placed a hand gently on her sister's shoulder and sat down next to her.

Alexis shrugged softly and spoke without emotion "I didn't have time to ask. She just lit into me for stealing her husband."

Kristina rolled her eyes at the insensitivity of Carly and said, "She has to know that Sonny would move on. Even if it hadn't been with you, he would've found somebody else. She couldn't have expected the man to grieve forever."

Alexis looked at her sister and said "I'm not legally married you know. The precedents for these types of cases always side with the first wife and not the second. I need to find a place to live…"

Kristina jumped up in shock "Hell no, they didn't have a real marriage to begin with. You can't leave your home on account of that bitch. The only reason that Sonny wasn't divorced is because Carly didn't sign the final draft of the papers before she died. You have to understand that you are his wife." Alexis shook her head and wrapped her arms around her waist as if trying to shield her thoughts from whatever lay ahead.

Zander stood downstairs watching Sonny pace back and forth. It had been hard to convince Sonny to let Kristina go upstairs first and convince Alexis to talk to him.

Zander cleared his throat and said "I think you did a good thing, sending Morgan and Kristina over to Jason's for the night. I know they are confused by everything that's going on but it's better that they aren't here for this."

Sonny nodded noncommittally and said "Yea."

Zander tried again "Has anyone seen Michael?"

Sonny looked over at him and said "I called him on his cell phone but it was off. I guess he just needs time to digest everything that has happened. He will be the child affected the most; Morgan was really young when Carly died, he doesn't remember her. Michael knew what Carly was like and Alexis helped him so much that he considers the memories of a Carly just that a memory."

Sonny once again looked towards the stairs "Shouldn't she be down by now?"

Zander walked over to Sonny and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Sonny, she has just received the shock of her life. Let her process everything."

Sonny shook his head and said "That's the issue don't you get it? She processes everything too much; I need to be there with her letting her know that it's okay not to process this information. She needs to understand that everything will be okay and I'm not going anywhere."

Michael strolled on the docks looking out over the pier as he pondered the last couple of hours. She was alive and she wouldn't stay quiet. She would put the life of his mother and his new brothers or sisters in danger to get what she wanted. Michael hadn't fooled himself, he know what she was capable of but had always hoped she wouldn't do anyone he loved harm.

He heard someone clear their throat and spun around in shock "Alicia what are you doing here?"

Alicia shrugged her shoulders and said, "I received the strangest phone call. It was from a woman proclaiming to be your mother. She said that you had a really horrible day and could use a friend."

Michael felt the tears threatening to choke him. "She's back and nothing will ever be the same again."

Kristina came down the stairs solemnly and ran into Zander's arms.

Sonny looked at her and said, "What is going on? How's Alexis?"

Kristina stood up and took Sonny's hands in her own "She's dying Sonny. She's slowly closing herself off from reality in preparation for you leaving her. She's withdrawing into herself and she won't listen to reason. I don't know how to help her. She doesn't believe that you won't leave her for Carly."

Sonny pulled away in shock "How can she even think after everything we shared, I could go back to her?"

Kristina smiled and said "She's just shielding herself from what she considers to be inevitable which is losing you and her family."

Morgan felt the tears come down his face as he hung up the phone with his mother. "She's doing bad Krissy. Something happened, when I called her on her cell phone she sounded weird. Like she wasn't all there or something."

Kristina looked at her brother in fear and said, "What's going on? Where has Carly been and why does it affect Mom if she's alive again?"

Morgan rolled his eyes at his sister's naïveté "It means Dad is married to two women. It also means the woman who gave me life is alive."

Kristina stood up and wrapped her arms around her waist searching for warmth "What's going to happen to us? To our family Morgan?"

Sonny entered the bedroom and saw his wife, his lover, his best friend and the mother of his children wrapped in a blanket sitting at the footstep of their bed, and staring straight ahead with no sign of emotion.

"Alexis?"

Alexis' eyes met his and he felt a chill run through him at the look of deadness that resided there.

"She's alive Sonny and she's going to take it all away from me. Once again I'm following in the footsteps of my mother, I'm only the mistress here, and the wife has come home to reclaim what is rightfully hers."

Sonny slid down to sit next to her and pulled her in his arms and held her as she began to sob. Rocking her back and forth he repeated, "It's going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere."