Chapter 15: A Matter of Trust

I trust you completely, Alexis, and I'm sorry you couldn't believe that before and you can't believe it now. Sonny's final statement echoed through her head as she passed the two prescriptions across the counter to the pharmacist. He trusted her? Well that didn't even compute logically because he shouldn't. She had let him believe she was pregnant with her dead sister's former fiancé's child. Then she had kept his daughter from him outright for almost four years. She hadn't exactly facilitated him seeing her for almost another three years after that. She had married a man who had tried to steal his son, a man who actually had killed that son's grandfather. He trusted her? She had really thought he was smarter than that.

Alexis knew that Sonny was smarter than that. She also knew he didn't trust her. He had let her believe he had died in October 1999. He had told Ally the truth; Ally had taunted her with that information when she had been dealing with round one of the Corinthos vs. Corinthos custody battle. He had told Jason; he helped him set it up. Lois must have known and somehow Alexis suspected even Brenda had. But she hadn't and Sonny would never understand that a part of her had died then too.

She could accept that Sonny didn't trust her. However, that begged the question could she trust him? Honestly, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was like he said, and it was all about their daughters. She trusted him there and maybe that would have to be enough. With that painful resolve, she sunk down to the bench across from the main pharmacy counter to wait.

Her cell phone pulled her from her thoughts, and she reached into the pocket of her long coat for it. "Alexis Davis," she said.

"Are you alright?" Scott Baldwin's voice came back at her.

Honestly, no, Alexis thought but it almost seemed redundant to tell Scott that. He knew she wasn't and might never be and she just couldn't discuss it more. She hoped he knew that too and would let it go. "Sonny said you had a family emergency. Is everything alright with Serena?"

"Serena is fine, she is spending the night with my parents," Scott said.

"I thought maybe something happened at the football game."

"Yeah, Port Charles got clobbered by Merrimack. Football is really not a good sport for Stallions I guess."

Stallions? Alexis wondered but then she realized they were the school mascot. "So, everything is alright?"

"I pray it will be eventually. I'm a great uncle, Samuel Alan Quartermaine, he's small but he's a fighter."

"I thought Keesha wasn't due until January some time?" Alexis asked. A little over a year earlier AJ and Keesha Quartermaine had their first child, a son -Quentin Albert- Alexis believed. That child had been born at twenty-three weeks, after Keesha was assaulted by a strung out addict, and had only survived moments. From a legal standpoint the fact that the baby had technically been born alive had been significant. Ric had swiftly worked out some misdemeanor plea bargain and prided himself on saving the court's time. But honestly there wasn't really anything to be proud of about the events or their aftermath.

"She wasn't, they did an emergency cesarean for fetal distress. I guess Monica was stuck in the cath lab and Alan has trauma call tonight so someone had to help AJ maintain sanity and it wasn't going to be Edward."

"But the baby is ok now?" Alexis asked.

"He's on a ventilator and he has a chest tube but he's alive. Dr. Harmon seemed optimistic and he's pretty realistic, I think. So, technically, the ER couldn't tell me you had been released but patient information could tell me you hadn't been admitted. Do you need anything? I can have Serena baby sit tomorrow if you need to rest. In fact, I would love to have Serena baby sit tomorrow because otherwise I think she has sleepover plans at Sage Alcazar's house."

"Sonny has the girls this weekend. I guess you'll have to come up with some other excuse to say no to your daughter."

"I think I'll go with the truth. I love you and I'd rather you go to slumber parties where you won't possibly get caught in the crossfire of the next mob war. Maybe I'll suggest that Sage can sleepover at our house," Scott suggested.

"That could work although I've heard from Ally that the amenities are a bit nicer at the Alcazars'. You might need to upgrade to compete," Alexis suggested.

"Maybe I'll just suggest they both sleepover at my sister's house. They have plenty of amenities."

"Good luck with that, I'm sure Monica loves hosting sleepovers when she is post call."

"Monica loves her niece being safe. Seriously, do you need anything?" Scott asked.

Alexis needed a lot of things, but nothing she could ask Scott for. "No, I'll see you Sunday night I guess."

"If you aren't feeling better, just let me know. Kyle already said he would pick up any arraignments from over the weekend," Scott said.

"I'll be fine," Alexis lied.

"Well, take care of yourself, and just call me if you need anything. I'll be around all weekend."

"Thanks," Alexis mumbled before she closed her phone. Scott wasn't a bad friend. He wanted to help; Alexis did believe that. Unfortunately, she also realized she was pretty much beyond help.

XXXXXXXX

Sonny exhaled deeply as he waited for Alexis to return and debated if he should have followed her inside. She had made it quite obvious she didn't want him to do that and he was trying to respect her space. Or he thought he was. He didn't promise he would do it for too much longer though. He supposed figuring out her medical secrets didn't really go along with his plea for mutual trust, but he knew Alexis could be stubborn and unnecessarily independent. It would be just like her to not let anyone in, but he couldn't let her do that. He would give her the weekend to tell him why she suddenly needed to be sure her affairs were in order. On Monday Stan would have a new priority assignment.

Sonny wondered how long she had known something was wrong. He replayed their earlier conversation in his mind. She had mentioned Mark. Did that mean that this had been going on since their marriage? Sonny didn't want to think he could be that oblivious. Except, well, he supposed he could be.

Then he remembered something else. She had collapsed on the courthouse steps when she had been married to Mark. It had been a few weeks after Alcazar's death. She had spent a night in the hospital and then she and Mark had gone to California for a few months. It had frustrated him at the time because Mark had just taken it upon himself to do it. It wasn't that he had expected Mark to ask permission but perhaps Mark should have realized that their little vacation very well could have made Alexis a sitting duck for Lorenzo Alcazar to avenge his brother's death. Perhaps Mark could have realized that Sonny was a little busy dealing with sequestering Brenda on his island to protect her from Ernesto Rivera while concurrently dealing with hearing from both Jax and Carly that he was overstepping his bounds. Perhaps Mark could have realized that he didn't have tons of security to spare to tag along on vacation. Of course, Mark would never think of those things, so Sonny had sent Johnny and Reynaldo to the Napa Valley.

Johnny had told him that he never saw Alexis leave the house. Sonny had believed that when he saw Alexis shortly after they returned. It wasn't exactly a social call, she wanted to question him about Ernesto Rivera's murder. Although he still believed that he was the PCPD's favorite suspect he could see why he looked good for the crime, except he hadn't done it.

August 14, 2000

"Now, just let me do the talking here, Mr. Corinthos," David Gleeb said as they sat in an interrogation room in the PCPD.

Sonny didn't say anything. He had been through three attorneys since Alexis resigned. Well, actually four if he counted Dave, although really Dave was not to be counted on for much. There had been a reason he had fired Dave and went with Raphael Valentine. But Valentine and Jason never got along so that had been an issue. Then Alexis had come along. She was something else, until he let her sister die in his warehouse, she decided she hated him, resigned, and went to work for the DA's Office. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he didn't know how to put it into words. There were not words to express his regret and remorse. He understood that her life would never be the same and he had allowed that to happen. If he could take it all back, he would but he couldn't, and he knew that. So, everything he tried to say just came up empty.

The door to the interrogation room opened and Alexis stepped in followed by Mac Scorpio. She did look pale and fragile somehow in a way he had never really imagined her. He wondered if Mark treated her well; he was a Quartermaine after all. He wondered if Alexis ever remembered when they had been friends. He wondered if she ever missed their friendship or if her sister's death overshadowed all of that.

"Commissioner Scorpio, Counselor Ashton," Dave began as he stood to take her hand.

"Alexis," Sonny said but then stopped short when he saw how cold her eyes were.

"I don't feel first names are really appropriate here, Mr. Corinthos," Alexis said. She turned to Mac. "This should be a formality by now, but please remind Mr. Corinthos of his rights."

Commissioner Scorpio launched into a tired recitation of the Miranda rights. Mac was halfway through the part about attorneys when Dave must have woken up from another micro sleep.

"Excuse me! Is my client being arrested here? I was not apprised of this turn of events!"

"Your client is being questioned about how Ernesto Rivera's body just ended up in his warehouse. No formal charges have been filed, yet," Alexis said.

Sonny noted where she placed the emphasis and inflection in the sentence.

"As you know, Mr. Gleeb, all criminals have rights. Your client will be treated no differently than any other criminal. Mac, if you could finish reminding Mr. Corinthos of his rights now."

Mac resumed his spiel as Sonny watched Alexis pull out a tape recorder and legal pad from her briefcase. She seemed to be in her element, but Sonny still couldn't help but notice how pale she was. He cared, perhaps he shouldn't, but he still did.

After thirty minutes of questions which took over an hour to get through because Dave kept objecting, Sonny was still free to go. Sonny had almost laughed out loud when Alexis told Dave he was overruled, and he actually believed she had that power. Mac Scorpio actually had laughed.

Sonny found himself alone with Alexis while Dave scurried off to some hearing, and Mac had to take an important call, from one of his daughters. Sonny debated his next move as Alexis started to repack her briefcase. He probably should just get up and walk out but somehow, he couldn't quite do that.

"So, how have you been?" Sonny asked.

Alexis flung legal pads into her briefcase more quickly, closed the top and started to stand. Her movement was anything but steady and instinctively Sonny wrapped an arm around her as she fell against him. He lowered them both down to the floor and cradled her head in his lap.

When her eyes flashed open moments later the coldness had faded. However, the pain and exhaustion that replaced it really didn't make Sonny feel any better. "You aren't feeling well, are you?" he asked

Alexis struggled to sit up. "I'm fine, I just stood up too fast and maybe I didn't eat enough breakfast. Mark is bringing me lunch. I'll be fine."

Sonny helped her up from the floor and guided her to a chair. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll bring you some juice. Where were you meeting Mark?"

"In my office, he was going to pick up Kristina from Viola and bring her. You don't need to worry, Sonny, I'll be fine."

But he had worried. He had gotten distracted with other things and other people, he supposed but he had still worried. Then she had married Ric. That was when he had really started to worry.

When Alexis got back into his SUV, Sonny tried not to notice the large bag she was carrying. How many prescriptions did she fill? he wondered. "Did they have what you needed?" he asked.

"Yes, why wouldn't they?"

"I was just making sure," Sonny said. He shook his head and backed out of the parking space. She couldn't shut him out forever. Well, actually maybe she could. He was afraid of that.

When he parked in the parking garage under Sunset Towers, he realized she was hyperventilating again. Had he upset her that much? He reached for the spare paper bag in his pocket and held it to her lips. "You can't keep this all inside, Alexis. You need to tell me what is going on so we can deal with it."

Alexis raised an eyebrow. "I need to tell you?" she ground out in between gasps.

Sonny started to rub the back of her neck. "I don't want to make this harder for you. But I can't help you if I don't know, and I want to help you."

She mumbled something he couldn't understand.

"You know, we used to be friends once. I thought we were becoming friends again, but if you can't let me help you as your friend then let me help you because of Kristina and Molly. Kristina and Molly need their mother."

Alexis didn't say anything, but she allowed her head to drop back onto his shoulder. Sonny wrapped his arm around her and held her as her breathing slowed. Maybe they were finally getting somewhere. He hoped for that.