CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
wedding bell blues
This second plane trip was like something out of a bad dream. A mirror image of their previous trip, and a bad one at that. The thrill of anticipation that had been such a part of her before had been replaced by dread. Like something out of tales from the darkside and sadly, of Sonny's own darker side. Alexis had known all along that it existed, but she wasn't often in the presence of it.
But it happened, in unholy living color. First there was the journey to St. Sophia. Most of it which was done in silence. There had been only one exchange.
"You were planning to go with Ned to find AJ and Courtney." It wasn't a question. Sonny's tone of voice was carefully neutral.
"Yes." Alexis knew this: a good defense consisted of never telling more than you were asked.
"So you were going to take care of it?"
"If I could, yes."
"I thought I could trust you."
"I thought I just
proved that you could."
***
She spent the rest of the
plane ride flipping through pages of a magazine and not seeing a single word
while Sonny played an unnervingly silent game of solitaire. That went on until
the pilot announced their descent.
"I got it now."
Sonny looked at her..
"I've been sitting here thinking about our strategy."
"Our strategy…" Sony said slowly. "…Our?"
She took a deep breath and met his stare. Sonny's eyes still dark and still, taking everything in but letting nothing back out. Alexis continued. "Yes, we need to come up with a plan. I mean, if you're going to kill AJ, then the best possible line of defense would be to claim crime of passion. After all, AJ has deliberately gone after your sister in a unmistakable calculated manner. But with us flying down her, it kind of negates the crime of passion defense, it could be argued premeditation.. and we don't want to go there – trust me on that."
"I know what you're trying to do."
"I'm trying to put together the best possible defense for you. Which is what you pay me very exorbitantly to do."
"You're trying to make me think."
"That would be a good thing, you know." Inwardly she breathed a silent sigh of relief as his eyes thawed the slightest bit. They weren't out of the woods yet, but at least, she'd gotten inside that icy silence, at least she'd gotten him to talk. That had to be a good thing. "Thinking, I mean. If I thought that for one minute that you were going down to the islands to kill AJ, I wouldn't be here. I know that you're much too intelligent of a man, despite your temper…which can be formidable… than to do such an unthinking act."
"In her head, Courtney has been beat down by everyone she knows. Her mother, Mike – they played mind games with her head, they played games with her life - and she ain't too fond of me and who I am either. But she doesn't know what kind of snake AJ really is." Sonny gazed out the airplane window. He closed his eyes; Alexis could feel the pain radiating out from him like a physical thing and it resonated through her. Her heart ached for him and yet there was nothing she could do. She watched as Sonny opened his eyes but wouldn't turn to meet her gaze. Putting himself back in control, she knew it.
He spoke again, his voice slightly heavy with carefully reined-in emotion. Someone who didn't know him might not even notice the difference. Alexis did. "If I don't take care of my family, what kind of man am I?"
The kind of man who hurts and hurts and never lets anyone see just how much you really care. Alexis thought. Aloud, she said to him, "Then remember why we're going…this is about Courtney, not AJ. We're here because you want to take care of your sister. No more - no less."
Sonny turned
his gaze from the window and looked at Alexis. He wasn't used to sharing his
pain with anyone. Alexis' eyes so intent on his were open wounds on his heart,
and his pain that there was another woman he couldn't help, couldn't save, tore
open the old scars on his heart, leaving it raw and bleeding. Not trusting himself to speak, Sonny nodded
once sharply, and then turned back to the window, letting himself get lost in
his own thoughts.
After that, everything took on
the aspects of a bad movie. A very bad movie. Sonny had sunk back into an icy
silence that Alexis could feel, despite the tropical heat. They found the hotel
easily enough and walked into and empty suite. Or so Alexis had hoped. They found them in the worst possible
scenario…in bed…and then Sonny, in a wild montage of wrath-filled action, was
at AJ's side, dragging him from the bed he shared with Sonny's sister. Then he
was out on the balcony, hands wrapped around his hated enemy's throat, crushing
the breath from him.
And then there was Courtney, screaming the words that halted them all in shock. "Sonny, no…please! He's my husband!"
A very bad movie. With extras, as it turned out: cue entrance: the appearance of Skye and Jax. Her presence there with Corinthos was instantly noted by Jax…his eyes were sparkling with anger Another storm on the horizon, Alexis thought to herself.
But she had to calm the storm at hand first. Somehow Alexis has managed to get Sonny out of the room for a short time before things got worse. How that could happen at this point, Alexis didn't know, but then again, she'd thought that when Sonny had his hands around AJ's throat and then things had definitely taken a downturn for the worse when Jax showed up. And she wasn't about to wait around and find out what else could go wrong either. She tried to take Courtney aside and talk to her, but she proved to be just as infuriatingly stubborn as her brother.
AJ attempted to turn the sudden influx of guests in his honeymoon suite into an impromptu wedding celebration, complete with wedding cake and champagne. Alexis managed to talk to Sonny off to one side as AJ spoke with his sister and Jax, one arm possessively around the waist of his new bride.
"You did the right
thing, you know." Alexis said to him out on the balcony. If she didn't get him
away from both AJ and Jax, something bad was bound to happen. Sonny was too
much in control, She eyed him carefully. After speaking with Courtney, he'd
seemed resigned if not overjoyed, but for some reason, little warning bells
were still going off in her head. "You've got to let her make her own mistakes.
She's young, but she's also a grown woman. There was no way you could have
stopped her from marrying AJ if that's what she wants to do. Fighting her now
will only drive her away from you. And when she realizes what mistakes she's
made, I'll be there to help her out of it. But you did the right thing."
"Did you know he
offered to trade Courtney for Michael?" The anger he'd buried for his sister's
sake blazed in his eyes momentarily. "Oh yes.. and you say I did the right
thing." Sonny said, his eyes went to the back of AJ's head. "Then why does it
feel like a knife in my gut?"
She
had no answer for that. Alexis wished she could take the hurt from him. Without
thinking, one hand came up to briefly touch the side of his face. His eyes
softened momentarily. "I know, Alexis." Sonny said, in one of those moments
when they could read each other's mind. "I'll be all right. You just gotta let
me deal with this in my own way." He
turned away from her, staring into the night sky, lost in his own thoughts. Knowing it was the best thing to do, Alexis
backed off and gave him space.
She met Jax at the balcony door. He barely spared her a glance and it was obvious from his determined expression that he seemed intent on speaking with Sonny.
"This isn't a good time, Jax." She said, barring his progress with her body.
"Have you taken on bodyguard duties as well, Alexis?" He said, looking down at her. Jax was not a happy camper. "Except for Courtney, we all know that AJ married her for all the wrong reasons. The question is, what is her brother going to do about it?"
"Accept it…so leave him alone to do just that. Look, everything is a done deal. What are you going to do now? Go out there and pour fuel on the flames? You want to precipitate the very actions you're afraid will happen?" she asked. Her voice firmed. "If not, then leave him alone. It's enough for right now, that he accepts this marriage."
"Does he? Perhaps I'd like to hear that from his own mouth."
"Jax, you know I love you, but I am not going to stand here and watch the two of you go at one another. It's been a long, exhausting night for all of us. Leave it alone…please?"
As always, Jax found it hard to refuse Alexis. "Only because you ask. But you owe me, Alexis."
"Feel free to collect anytime." Grateful, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. Then glanced over his shoulder. "And you'd better go tend to your own traveling companion before there's another situation on our hands."
Jax turned and looked in Skye's direction. Standing with her brother and his new wife, she was nonetheless watching the two of them very intently. "My turn to save your ass, Alexis."
Alexis glanced at Skye and then back to Jax and her lips quirked themselves into a reluctant smile. "It's yours I'm worried about…"
