Disclaimer: The characters of General Hospital are owned by the Mouse and ABC Daytime. I only let them in to play with all the other people in my head.
Timeline: Around the opening of Club 101…
Chapter One
"Tell me the truth, Alexis!"
"I've been trying to do this for the past twenty minutes. Is it my fault that you refuse to listen?"
Those were the first words he heard as he stepped off the elevator. The heated words came from beyond Alexis' door. He recognized Jax's voice if not his words as he lowered his voice and frowned. Jax was always sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted. Sonny glared at the door. He was torn between letting Alexis handle Candyboy or handling him himself. He turned abruptly.
Alexis was relieved at the sound of door opening. Maybe with Kristina here, she could get Jax to get off the subject of her and Sonny. The fact was, there was no subject of she and Sonny to begin with.
Jax was a dear, she knew he cared for her, but what she did and how she felt was nobody's business but her own. Even her charming, caring ex-husband ought to realize that by now. The fact that he'd been her husband in name only certainly didn't seem to register with him. If she didn't know better, she'd think he was having a jealous fit over the idea of her being with another man. Of course, she wasn't really with another man…as much as her subconscious might like to be. All of these thoughts passed through her mind as she turned. The relief that she had started to feel died away as she saw Sonny standing in the door a sheaf of papers in one hand, a set of keys in the other.
She'd forgotten, she'd given him a set in case of emergency along with a sharp quip about how her key still stuck in the door, all due to him having blown the first lock up, which, by the way, had worked perfectly fine up until said explosion. Thank you very much.
Before Alexis could react, he was tossing the keys at her. Smoothly, her hand reached out and caught them, like she had done the time before that. And the time before that. The comfortable familiarity of the act jolted her and her eyes widened as she slewed them around to Jax. The familiarity of the act wasn't lost on him either. Sonny hadn't meant for it to be. And he wasn't done yet.
"I didn't think you were home yet;" Sonny deposited the papers on her desk before he strolled over to the coffee table and after helped himself to a handful of popcorn. "I just wanted to drop these coffee contracts off with you."
"Do you have to monopolize Alexis' every waking moment, Corinthos?" Jax snarled as he turned to face him. "There's such thing as office hours. She's not one of your beck and call girls."
"I wouldn't term it monopolizing, Jax." Sonny answered him coolly. "Our…. relationship goes much further than client-lawyer, or didn't you know that? You and her being such close friends and all."
He finished the popcorn and sauntered back across the room, past Jax to stand just behind Alexis. So close that he could sense the rhythm of her breathing. She stood with one hand resting on her desk. Sonny leaned into her, deliberately placing his hand down besides hers. Not touching exactly, but the merest wisp of breath separated his flesh from hers. "And for the record, Alexis is nobody's girl. She's a lady. And a friend."
"That's right." Alexis said, finally finding her voice again. "He's my friend, Jax. You're my friend. So can we please not get into anything tonight? Or any other night?" Normally, I'd ask forevery other night, but right now, I'm really tired, so I'll settlefor just this evening for now."
"Alexis, one of the things I love about you is your ability to see past the negative of anything, or anyone and see the positive," Jax said. "But this goes way beyond the pale. Wake up, before this…man… gets you hurt."
"Negative, positive," Sonny murmured so that only Alexis could hear his words, although Jax was all too aware that he was nearly whispering in her ear. "I must be the negative, so that makes you positive, Councilor. Why can't Jax understand that opposites attract...isn't that right?" He let his thumb move almost imperceptibly, in a feather like caress against her hand and felt her breathing hitch for a second, one breath out of rhythm with all the rest and inwardly, he grinned.
From behind, Sonny could catch a glimpse of the smooth curve of her neck, just before it disappeared into the fall of chestnut brown hair and wondered briefly, why his eye were drawn to that spot. Mentally he shook himself. Sonny raised his eyes back to meet Jax's quietly furious gaze. "I would never hurt Alexis. I would die first."
"Isn't that almost what happened already? What if the next time, you're not there to stop the hail of bullets coming Alexis' way?"
She felt Sonny stiffen in anger behind her. Before he could react, she stepped in. "Jax, you know as well as I do that the danger in my life does not all stem from Sonny and I being friends. I'm a Cassidine. We breed and eat our young. Blood ties in the Cassidine clan were and never have been nurturing experiences. Hell, being a Cassidine gives new meaning to the word regicide. They live to rule, and sometimes they kill to rule. Sometimes they just kill. Or have you conveniently forgotten that Helena has threatened my life on several occasions, whenever the whimsy struck her? Or that Chloe was a victim of one of those murderous fancies?"
A shadow crossed his face. "Of course I haven't forgotten Chloe. She's in jail now, Alexis."
Alexis shook her head. "You know better than to believe that her being behind bars makes her any less lethal. I'm just not a priority at the moment. And that could change any day."
"Alexis, you've obviously been blinded to what this man is capable of."
"No more than what I know of you and what you're capable of." Alexis said significantly. She watched as Jax had the grace to flush. He could hardly make a claim to sainthood. And she knew more than most just what Jasper Jax was and had been capable of. "What I am capable of is not judging either one of you, because I know, deep down inside, that the two of you are decent, caring -- honorable within your own specific codes -- men and I'm lucky to have you both in my life."
It was a tense tableau that Kristina walked in on. She looked from one face to the other. Not really understanding what was going on, she did have enough presence of mind to get Jax out of there. Alexis shot her a gratified look as she cajoled Jax into leaving with her. The sigh of relief she let loose as the door close behind the two of them was not feigned.
"Did you enjoy that?" Alexis said. She should be angrier with Sonny. She should be angry period. But somehow, she couldn't get that spark going. Maybe it was the way he was flashing those irrepressible dimples in her direction. But she wasn't about to let him know that it was working.
In an attempt to divert herself from the magnetism in his smile, Alexis moved back to her desk and began to aimlessly shuffle through her papers. When she was sure she could keep the laughter from her voice, she spoke. "It really isn't necessary for you to feel the need to defend me from Jax. He would never hurt me. And besides, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."
"I never doubted that for a moment."
Alexis almost jumped. As it was, she spun around, to find Sony close. Too, too close. All thoughts of personal space went out the window.
She took a few steps away from the desk. Or more to the point, away from Sonny. He's watching her with that damned devilish grin again, dimples flashing in and out of his cheeks. He was deliberately trying to get to her. And damn him he was succeeding. In spite of herself, Alexis felt her breathing quicken, and her heart began a rapid tattoo in her chest. Damn him how is it that he can get to me just a smile? As she continues to watch him, Sonny reaches up and casually unbuttons the top button of his collar. That usually innocent gesture, one she's seen a hundred times before if she's seen it once, takes on a new meaning. Breathe, Alexis. Just remember to breathe. She didn't know if she were more annoyed at him or herself.
Don't you take offense at the fact that Candyboy doesn't see you as a woman?"
"Candyboy, as you call him, is well aware of the fact that I'm a woman. He did marry me, remember?"
"How could you tell? I thought that was a marriage of convenience." Sonny paused as though a sudden thought had occurred to him. "Answer me this, Councilor, when you and he were married, he never made a pass at you? Not once?"
"Not once." Alexis said. She watched almost nervous as Sonny continued to advance.
"Isn't that like breach of contract?"
"It was implicit in the agreement…"
"Implicit, is that like...intimate..."
"No, implicit, unspoken yet understood."
"Ahh...that I can definitely get with. You mean like me and you…we're intimate...I mean implicit...unspoken yet understood."
"It was implicit in the agreement that the marriage was in name only."
"So the deal was "
"Not in the way you mean it." Alexis was definitely starting to lose her grip.
"And in what way is that?" That soft rumble again. God, he was almost purring as he advanced on her. Alexis got the distinct impression of being stalked, of being prey. Sonny was intent on getting something from her. Unconsciously, she watched fascinated, as his tongue crept out and moistened his lips. He was close enough so that Alexis could sense the heat of his skin, smell scent of him. The scent of cologne, brandy and power and danger that clung intoxicatingly to him like a second skin.
"Our…friendship. Isn't it unspoken…yet understood?"
Alexis felt flushed; Sonny in her personal space and making things decidedly, uncomfortably personal. She wondered frantically, just where exactly this conversation was heading.
"Candyboy, as you put it, is gone now, Sonny. So you can drop the act."
"Act? What act." His voice had dropped to a delicious purr. His hand strayed to his throat and unconsciously undid the top button of his shirt. . "We have some unfinished business."
"Business?" Alexis unconsciously had been backing up even as Sonny had approached her. The hard surface of her desk bumped rudely against her thighs. Didn't anyone have manners any more?
"Yes, I have an issue I'd like to lay on the table."
The images that brought to mind. Alexis forced her thoughts away. "Just what are you getting at, Sonny?"
"I'm just wanting to clarify things between us." What's between us is my stupid blindness and inability to see what's been right in front of me this entire time, your selfless desire to do what's best for me. You think that's Carly, but, Alexis, as smart as you are, easily the smartest woman I've ever known, you were never so wrong in your life.
"I never received a satisfactory answer to the question."
"What question, Sonny?" Why did breathing have to an issue in moments like this?
"How you feel about me. Our relationship."
"What relationship?"
"Exactly."
