Alexis and Brenda had argued a good fifteen minutes before they'd ended up back in their apartment, suitcases set aside and two women on opposite sides of the spectrum when it came to dealing with their feelings.

Walking toward the French doors leading out to the balcony, Alexis stepped out and shut her eyes letting the fall air hit her face, wrapping her arms protectively around her middle she racked her brain for a reasonable explanation… it was going to be risky trying to convince Brenda she was simply going on vacation… but it was the one that she was about to use.

"Really Brenda, this is ridiculous," Alexis said suddenly, walking back inside.

Brenda stood by the sofa watching her friend intently," Sonny wouldn't think so."

"Sonny has nothing to do with this." Alexis said defensively.

"Oh, doesn't he?" Brenda said, flopping down on the sofa and curling her feet under her," I think your trying to avoid what you think is inevitable."

"And I think your reading way to much into my wanting to take a vacation," Alexis argued rolling her eyes, "why can't you accept the fact I want to get away from Port Charles?"

"Why the big secret?" Brenda inquired, raising a brow," admit it Alexis, your running."

"I'm not running!" Alexis exclaimed, realizing how she sounded she stopped pacing and tried to redirect her approach, she turned to face the younger woman and smiled, " I just need a break…that's all."

"A break from Sonny?"

Alexis sighed," you know Brenda, my life doesn't revolve around Sonny… I have a family of my own; I have friends of my own… I have a life of my own."

"But you have to admit it does make sense… you've avoided his calls, and now you've suddenly got the urge to take a vacation, destinations unknown, don't you think we're worried about you… don't you think Sonny's worried about you?"

"You've spoken to Sonny?" Alexis asked worriedly.

Brenda shook her head," Alexis, I don't need to talk to Sonny on the phone to know that he's scared of losing you… I've been there remember?"

"This is just silly, I'm going out of town for a few days… when Jason talks to Sonny…"

"Why don't you talk to him… you know better than anyone he's not going to accept our relaying messages to him forever."

"I'm going to miss my plane." Alexis said, tapping her watch.

"If you're bound and determined to do this, than I'm going with you."

"No… No, you aren't Brenda… this is something I have to do on my own."

"Fine," Brenda got up and walked toward the phone," then I'll just call Sonny right now and tell them there's an emergency and he needs to get home right away."

"You can't do that!"

"Watch me Alexis."

"Are you threatening me?" Alexis asked both surprised and irritated.

"Call it what you will," Brenda replied shrugging, "as I see it you have two choices, you can let me tag along on this so called trip, or you can go alone and I'll call Sonny."

"I'll be out of Port Charles before he can even get here."

"You underestimate my manipulations Alexis… and besides this is Sonny we're talking about." Brenda quirked a brow, and smiled when Alexis muttered an expletive.

Alexis stood there a good minute contemplating her next move, frustration creasing her brown, and her nerves on edge, her heart was breaking at the thought of hurting Sonny, but there wasn't any other options if she stayed he'd lose his Son and she wouldn't let that happen, " Fine, grab your suitcase, we have a plane to catch."

Puerto Rico or Somewhere over it…

If someone had told Sonny Corinthos five months ago that he'd be asking Jasper Jax for help, he wouldn't have believed them, but here he was co-pilot to the Australian Pilot. They'd spent the last four hours together, Sonny being debriefed on the latest attacks on his business and the war being waged against his personal relationship with Alexis, it was only because of his devotion to Alexis… and Brenda' pleading that he'd finally relented and agreed to let Jax bring him back to Port Charles, when his own jet had been waylaid due to mechanical difficulties.

The last hour had been in silence, Sonny's eyes traveling through the clouds searching for the answer to the question he'd been repeating to himself over and over again, "why wouldn't she tell me?"

"Why wouldn't she tell any of us," Jax replied as he maneuvered the small jet toward Port Charles," Alexis, knows I'd do anything for her."

"Climbing back up on that high horse of your awfully quickly there aren't we Candyboy?" Sonny said sarcastically," besides Alexis knows you're a friend of Ashton's she probably didn't trust ya to help her."

"Like she trusts you? If I'm not mistaken, your ex wife happens to behind this scheme… maybe Alexis thought better of trusting your loyalties, after all, we all know what usually happens when anything involves Carly…nothing."

"Are you saying you think I'd turn my back on Alexis?"

"It's happened before."

"You don't know anything about Alexis and I, so don't act as if you do… do I make myself clear?" Sonny said menacingly, " Carly betrayed me, and there's no getting past that."

Sonny jumped slightly as his nemesis burst out in laughter, he turned slightly, " are you finished?

"Not nearly… do you ever stop and listen to yourself," Jax asked, his laughter dieing down, " where Carly's concerned you've always had a blind eye."

"Not always."

"Long enough."

"I can't trust Carly."

"True."

"She manipulates people to get what she wants."

"True again."

"We're finished."

"That's the part that's hard to believe, you've always taken her back before."

"I don't need you to believe me Jax, we're not friends and we never will be… but we have two things in common and one of them happens to be Alexis… and I'll be damned if Carly and Ned are going to take her away from me."

"That's the smartest thing I've heard you say since we left Puerto Rico."

"I don't even know why I'd discussing this with you, I agreed to talk to about our deal, but my personal life isn't up for discussion."

"Corinthos, the way I see it this scheme of Ned and Carly's is due to your relationship with Alexis which from what I've gathered is very personal."

"That's between us."

"Not so… face it Sonny people knew something was going on between you two before you did."

"Jealous?"

"Of your relationship with my ex-wife?" Jax asked, flashing a toothy grin, "Alexis is certainly a very attractive woman and I love her… but in a purely platonic way.'

Sonny hated this conversation, "So, who's your source?"

Jax turned his head toward Sonny and chuckled when Sonny waved his attention back toward the windshield, "Not to worry Corinthos, I've been flying about as long as you've been racketeering."

"Comforting… now about your source."

"Skye."

"Skye Quartermaine?" Sonny eyes narrowed at the mention of the redhead's name.

"The one and only."

"Why would Skye help me…she's never made it a secret that she hates my guts."

"Does everything in life have to revolve around you Sonny?"

"Skye isn't the type to sell out her family, unless there's something in it for her… what's the catch?"

"You just don't get it do you… this isn't about Skye double-crossing anyone, she came to me out of concern as a friend."

Sonny nodded, rubbing his index finger over his lips, "pretty big of her, considering you dropped her light a hot potato when Brenda came back."

"You don't want to go there Corinthos."

Sonny raised his hands in defense, then lowering them he cocked his head to the side," I'm just saying…she'd have plenty of reasons to get even with you and we both know she'd be more than happy to go after me… so, how do you trust a person that's made it her life's ambition to lie?"

Jax remained quiet for a moment, "I guess there's no easy answer to that question, the truth is I didn't believe her at first… but sometimes you have to take a risk."

"Risks have consequences."

"Skye's telling the truth…trust me." Jax replied silently saying a prayer that his faith in her wasn't for naught.

Jake's Bar

Skye had every reason in the world to feel as she did now, but she had no idea how she'd ended up, so sad, so bitter and so, so alone at this point in her life.

She was tired of playing the victim, the fool, and the co-conspirator in yet another convoluted scheme that usually ended up backfiring in her face.

Her biggest problem, was having spent so many years plotting her next move, she'd forgotten who she really was at heart.

Sitting on a stool in a pool hall wasn't her typical style, but here she sat staring at a bottle of Vodka she ordered upon entering the bar. Everything in her fought the urge to pour that first drink, her sponsors card in one hand, a glass in the other, she knew good and well that first drink would only cause her to slide back down that jagged hill, she'd fought so hard to climb back up from.

No man, no insult, so misery her family inflicted upon her was worth destroying her life over, so why then did she find herself faltering under the weight of the words her cousin had spewed forth earlier that day in the Quartermaine parlor.

It had come after heavy deliberation to confront him with the knowledge that she was on to the scheme he'd cooked up with Carly Corinthos and Scott Baldwin, she'd overheard them the week before they'd threatened Alexis Davis with their agenda of destroying Sonny Corinthos, even as sweet as the idea was to get even with the crime boss who'd insulted her more than once and hurt her family in more ways than one, it had been Jax's name that had caused her conscience to kick in, and she'd called them on it, when she'd refused to help them, Ned had lashed out at her in the ugliest of ways all the while Carly looked on smugly.

Flashback

Earlier that day in the Quartermaine Parlor

"Looks who'd suddenly found a conscience, "Ned laughed turning his attention to Carly.

"Ned, I'm warning you, if you try to do this, I'll tell Jax every ugly detail."

"What makes you think he'd believe you?" Ned replied, "Once a liar always a liar."

"Ned, this is ludicrous, don't you think Sonny's smart enough to figure out what's going on, he's not going to accept Alexis' sudden change of heart."

"He'll have no other choice, but to accept it… since when have you become an ally to Sonny?"

"I'm not…I loath him… but Alexis is carrying his child, he's not just going to roll over and play dead."

"You need to keep your nose out of this Skye, if you know what's good for you." Carly threatened, stalking toward her only to be cut off by Ned.

"Alexis will never forgive you."

"Let me worry about Alexis, I know her, you don't."

"Your right I don't know Alexis like you do, but I know she's smart."

"To a point."

"She got the hell away from you didn't she?"

"Two peas in a pod aren't we Cousin… Alexis ran to Sonny, while Jax ran back to Brenda Barrett's bed… you realize now that you were never anything more than a fill in… a highly disposable one."

The words had stung, but she remained focused, "your right Ned, he did leave me, but see I have the ability to something your unable to… I know when to let go."

"Letting go? That's laughable coming from you… nobody respects you Skye, your nothing more than a common whore with a bank account."

Skye stumbled back as each word slammed into her, where she'd found the strength was beyond her, but the harsh crack f her palm against Ned's cheek left her reeling.

"Bitch!" Ned roared, " get the hell out of here… go run and warn Jax, it'll be to late anyway!"

End of Flashback

So Skye had left and gone straight to Jax, and it had hurt when he'd been suspicious of her, to her surprise it had been Brenda who'd come to her defense, and who'd urged Jax to hear Skye out, and so he had and after all was said and done he'd thanked her for coming to him. Skye had ended up at the bar, her heart broken with the knowledge that the man she'd loved was little more than a stranger to her now and it hurt, hurt so bad that the tears had come and gone throughout the day… why hadn't she been enough for him, why had he left her alone, and why wasn't she worth being loved?

"Drinking won't make the heartache go away you know."

Skye didn't bother to look up," if you don't mind this is a party for one… go find yourself another customer to play amateur shrink to."

"Pity party it is." The faceless bartender said, slapping the counter and starting to walk away.

"Excuse me?" Skye said, her head snapping up.

The bartender stopped, and turned to look at her, " I saw you sitting there staring at that bottle like it was your new best friend and I thought maybe you needed to talk about it."

"Not that it's any of your business, but this bottle is anything but my friend and if I did need to talk about anything it certainly wouldn't be with you!"

Holding up his hands in surrender, the man grinned, " you're a wildcat when you get mad."

"I'm not mad…just irritated."

"By me?"

"Is there anyone else here?"

"The bottle, the boyfriend, the weather?"

"Take the damn thing away from me." Skye demanded, pushing it toward him.

"Best decision you ever made… drinking never solves anything."

"Sometimes you just want to numb the pain."

"Only problem is… the ache always comes back after the alcohol has worn off."

Skye smiled sadly, "true… anyone ever tell you you're a lousy bartender?"

The man crossed his arms and leaned down on the counter, " Well see, I'm not exactly a bartender, I just bought the place and I'm surveying the building before I start making changes."

"You bought Jakes… well, you've certainly got your work cut out for you."

"Need a job?"

"I certainly don't!" Skye huffed, pushing her read hair back in a dramatic fashion.

"Pardon me, didn't realize I was speaking to royalty… funny a few minutes ago, I saw you sitting here looking as if your world had just fallen apart and I thought I could lend an ear… but I can see now I was wrong… you have a nice life Ms…"

Skye sighed heavily, " Skye Quartermaine."

"Well, Skye Quartermaine, I hope you find the answers your looking for…but take this piece of advice, your to beautiful and have way to much spirit to let yourself be dragged down by self doubt."

Skye found herself at a loss; she really had no one to go to… Jax was off playing hero, AJ was on an extended honeymoon, her Mother was in Llanview, and Alan was at the hospital more than he was at home… she really had no friends to speak of in Port Charles and right now a tall good looking stranger with the most mesmerizing set of Hazel eyes she'd ever seen was offering his full attention… what was a girl to do.

"Well… it starts like this…"

Driving Ms. Davis

Alexis had found herself relenting again to Brenda's persuasion, they'd driven in silence her mind whirring with the last month of her life, and what this would mean for all of them, she was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the vehicle stop and the cab driver getting out.

"What's the meaning of this?" Alexis demanded, craning her neck to see where the cab driver had gone.

"Cab's got a flat tire." Brenda shrugged, glancing over her shoulder to look out the window, "I think we might be here awhile."

"I don't have time for flat tires…. This is just getting way to complicated."

"What's complicated about it… oh wait here comes the cabbie."

The cab driver approached the side door, and Brenda rolled the window down, " I called in a tow truck, it'll be here in about an hour."

"Don't you have a spare?" Brenda asked.

"Nope, this ain't even my cab…"

"This is ridiculous, I'll call another cab," Alexis barked reaching in her purse for her cell phone.

"You ain't going to get any cabs at this time of night."

"This is just great!" Alexis exclaimed, slapping her hand against her leg," what else is going to go wrong today?"

"Lady relax… go get yourself a cup of coffee."

Narrowing her eyes, Alexis cursed under her breath and crossed her arms over her chest.

Brenda stifled a giggle and looked at the un-kept cabdriver, " uh, I wouldn't expect at tip if I were you…"

The cab driver smiled, pulling his cap down over his eyes, "that's fine… you better be finding yourself another way to the airport."

"Where are we… wait… Alexis I can't believe I didn't notice this before… we're right in front of Harborview towers."

Alexis who's eyes were shut, suddenly flew open, "What?"

"We can go upstairs and wait until another cab gets here."

"I don't want to go up."

"Why not… it beats sitting our here."

"I have my reasons Brenda."

"Come on Alexis, it's cold out here."

"You're really trying my patience… I agreed to let you come along with me, I'm still wondering how you pulled that off… then I agreed to let you call a cab, but this is to much, if any of Sonny's men see me, they're going to call him."

Brenda smiled, "relax Alexis."

"Jason knows doesn't he?"

"Where did that come from?"

"Well it just dawned on me, in all my delusions of pulling off this grand exodus, I forgot that you two have become rather chummy in a twisted sort of way… you showed up at our door suitcase already packed, meaning that you were aware of my plan which means you told him didn't you?"

Brenda grinned," Well, his names starts with a J… but it's not Jason."

Alexis sighed," Great… well, I guess I should be relieved at least I know Jax won't tell Sonny."

"You don't think?"

"Brenda this is Jax we're talking about, he'd probably fly me out of the country himself if it meant keeping Sonny Corinthos away from me."

"You know him to well Alexis, "Brenda replied, patting her friend's arm, and smiling inwardly, " would you come up with me if I told you Jason was out of town?"

"I would if I believed you."

"Fine have it your way, stand out here like a sore thumb and give Sonny's men ample opportunity to spot you."

"Your not going to let up are you?"

"Nope."

"Fine, we'll go upstairs… but I mean it Brenda, this better be it… because my nerves can't handle anymore."

Brenda waited until Alexis had disappeared through the doors before glancing back toward the cab driver, she winked and he grinned, raising his cap to reveal a set of steel blue eyes.

Smiling Brenda approached the doors," Don't worry Alexis, I've got you and your nerves covered."

Skye's the Limit

Skye had spent an hour spilling her heart out to the leather clad mystery man who'd given her his undivided attention… it was refreshing to feel so free in expressing her thoughts without being judged… but it was also frightening to feel so comfortable with a complete stranger.

He sat quietly, watching her intently as she confessed her sins, and emptied her heart out on the table before him…some men might've been disenchanted with her honesty, but he found it refreshing… he was captivated with her beauty as well, but it was the fire behind those eyes that had caught his attention and had held it since she'd walked through the door.

"I feel kind of funny… after everything I've told you…I still don't know your name."

The man smiled and extended his hand, " Jake…Jake O'Brien."

Skye smiled, and accepted his hand, " well, thank you Jake… for listening to me go on about my problems."

He smiled warmly," no problem… hey, I'm going to close up early, you need a ride home?"

"I'm not in the habit of accepting rides from strangers."

"I think we went past strangers, when you told me about the time you helped bury your ex husband in a friends rose garden."

"I'd thank you kindly not to bring that up again."

"Why not… you could use it to your advantage."

"And how did you come to that conclusion?"

"You're a smart woman Skye… anyone with a brain can see that… you just have to learn believe it."

"I hardly think you have the right to be telling me this… and anyway, not everyone sees what you say you do."

"You don't get it do you Skye… it doesn't matter what they think… it matters what you think of yourself."

"Why are you so interested in what I think of myself?

"I'll admit it, I have my motives."

"I knew it… it was to good to be true, " Skye shouted standing up, " who paid you?"

"You don't trust easily."

"Have you been paying attention… what has trusting anyone ever gotten me… case in point, for some inane reason I trusted you… and now your going to use it against me!"

"It's good to be cautious… just as long as you leave enough room open to trust again."

"Why?" Skye shouted, "I can't believe I'm such a fool… did Ned hire you?"

"Skye, I'm not here to blackmail you."

"Then what's your motive?"

"My motive is… to get to know you better."

"Get to know me?" Skye asked, not believing him.

"Yeah… Man sees a beautiful redhead sitting at the bar looking sad, decides to lend an ear and falls in love all in one moment."

Skye's eyes widened, " Fal.. Fall in love?"

"Don't get worried sweet cheeks, I didn't mean it literally."

Skye sighed, " you had me there for a moment."

"I know… but who knows it could happen."

"Don't count on it."

"What about friends then… you think you could use one of those?"

"A friend… it's been a long time since I've had one of those… what the heck, why don't we give it a try."

"Feeling daring are we?"

"Let's just say… I've got a good feeling about you O'Brien."