Chapter 6

They had gone to the gatehouse and he had showed her the room. They had talked a little and she showed him the photograph. It brought back so many different emotions in addition to the anger that he was starting to feel not knowing he had a daughter. When Kristen said she was getting tired he left her to get some sleep and decided to go for a walk.

Jax had picked her up from the airport and taken her to the Port Charles Hotel. After settling in, she assured him that she was going to be fine and he left. Being back in that town filled her with so many different emotions. She decided to go for a walk and gather her thoughts before heading over to the gatehouse. She knew he was going to be upset, shocked, and overwhelmed. Not just with the news about him having a daughter, but seeing her after she disappeared 16 years ago. She stopped short when she reached their old secret rendezvous point. She stood at the top of the stairs, she didn't expect that he'd be sitting on the bench just a few feet away. She watched him, he looked miserable and her heart started to break for him as old feelings started to surface, feelings that probably never went away. She hesitated, but decided it was now or never and walked down the stairs.

He turned around at the sound of someone walking towards him. He didn't expect to see that it was her. All the feelings that have been floating around in his head all night long had finally surfaced at the sight of her. He was hurt, sad, and angry as hell. She looked into his eyes, she could tell that he was hurting. She wasn't sure what to say. "Alexis." He said coldly. "Well at least you being here saves me the trouble of having to come find you."

"Ned…," she said sympathetically, but he cut her off.

"How could you," he said hurt, she could feel the emotion in his voice. "How could you do this to me!" He said stronger. "You knew! You knew how I felt after what Lois did!"

She knew then that Kristen had found him. Now the question remained was how she found him, they had never discussed him, how did her daughter come to this conclusion? She walked closer to him and reached out to touch his arm, but he backed away. "She found you, didn't she." She stated more than asked.

"It's true then, Kristen is my daughter." His anger faded for a moment, his eyes softening as he asked her.

"If not yours then who?" she said quietly, trying to reach out to him again.

Her last statement ripped into him, the brief moment of civility passed and his anger returned. "I can't believe this! You of all people Alexis!"

"Let me explain, there are things you need to know."

"Damn right there are things I need to know!" He walked past her brushing her shoulder as he crossed to the other side of the Docks still taking it all in. "Did you plan this! Did you plan to keep her from me! Is that why you left!"

She turned to face him again, walking closer, her heartbreaking for the heartache she caused him. "No I didn't plan this. I didn't even find out until after I left Port Charles. I wanted to tell you, I wanted to turn right back around and come home to you."

She pleaded with him, the desperation in her voice for his forgiveness was evident. He heard it, he even saw it in her eyes, but this was the ultimate betrayal to him and if forgiveness was in the cards for them, it was going to take awhile. "Don't lie to me Alexis! If you had wanted us to be a family, we would have been!"

"I'm not lying to you, there were…are circumstances beyond my control Ned." She spoke a little more firmly, starting to get agitated with his unwillingness to listen.

"That's right, when things don't go her way, Alexis Davis likes to play the injured party!" he shouted for all of Port Charles to hear. "Well I'm sorry to inform you, but your not it! I'm the one who lost out on our family! I'm the one who missed the first 16 years of her life!"

"You know me, you know I wouldn't have done this unless there were things that are beyond my control!"

"No," he said firmly. "I thought I knew you, I was sadly mistaken." He walked past her and headed up the stairs of the docks, never looking back. He couldn't take anymore of her lies tonight and he wasn't interested in hearing her excuses.

She stood there unsure of her feelings. His words were so cold, he had a right to be angry, but did she have a right to feel as hurt as she did right now? She felt guilty about feeling the way that she did. In her head she knew when he saw her this fight would break out, but her heart was hoping for something different. She stood there and looked out at the water for a while before getting too cold and heading back to the hotel, but when she was faced with heading back to her room, alone, she chose to go up another few floors to her friends penthouse. She knocked on his door and waited patiently for him to answer.

"Alexis, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to the gatehouse."

She sighed as he opened the door more and let her into the penthouse. "I thought I was and then I ended up on the docks. He was there and Kristen had already tracked him down." She sat down on the sofa and he joined her, he placed a hand on her knee and she turned to face him. "He was so angry, so hurt," she was trying to hold it together, but failing as a few stray tears rolled down her cheeks. "How could I do that to him? I'm awful."

"Your not awful Alexis, you did what you had to do, for Kristen's safety and his own."

"I kept him from his daughter Jax!" Her tears fell freely now as she talked to her friend, her best friend. "After everything we went through before I left, I just should have told him." She looked into her friends eyes, "I just should have told him the truth…about everything."

Jax reached out and pulled her into an embrace "Shh, it'll work out you'll see." He let his friend cry on his shoulder and he couldn't help but feel that there was something between them.

Ned had walked along the docks, trying to calm down before he head back to the gatehouse. He was blindsided twice, once with Kristen, and then with Alexis showing up. He walked into the gatehouse, taking his coat off and placing it on his desk chair. He sighed as he went over to the wet bar and poured himself a drink. He was taken off guard when he turned around to see Julia standing there.

"There you are! I thought I was supposed to me you at the main house?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry," he walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "I got blindsided by some news today," he sighed and they walked over to the couch as he took her hand in his.

"Want to tell me about it?" She asked her curiousity getting the better of her. She had just started to rediscover her feelings for him. Working on the magazine together was causing her to realize what she had lost. She was not about to let someone stand in her way.

"I have a daughter, she's sixteen, actually she's upstairs sleeping right now." He looked towards the staircase, then back at Julia, getting lost in her eyes.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." He sighed, trying to read her shocked reaction. "She came to the main house today looking for me. I had my doubts at first, but then she told me who her mother was…" his sentence trailed and she squeezed his hand urging him to continue. "It's Alexis."

Her shocked expression soon turned to outrage, "That bitch! She knew how much Lois hurt you when she left with Brook!"

"Believe me I'm just as angry, but all I really want right now is you." He said leaning in closer towards her. She did the same as their lips met. The kiss escalated quickly and they soon fell back into their familiar pattern of falling into bed with one another.