CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE
Things Unexpected
Alexis' mood had lightened by the time she'd arrived home. Despite Stefan's disapproval, she knew that he spoke and acted only out of love and concern for her. She only hoped that she would be able to stop him from actually confronting Sonny. Although it might be interesting to see an Old World - New World encounter, the outcome would probably not be a very good one, either way.
She pulled into her parking space in the Towers' garage and noticed that Sonny's car was in its place. That meant he was upstairs, at home. Wonderful. First she'd change out of her office clothes, and then maybe she'd drop by and see if Sonny was in the mood for company. Since she wasn't planning on going to the office until the tomorrow afternoon, it wouldn't matter how late she stayed up tonight.
She slipped out of the car, retrieving her briefcase and laughing to herself as she adjusted Jax's trenchcoat around her. She hoped he'd gotten home before the downpour had begun. Otherwise, he ws going to be soaked. That White Knight syndrome was going to get him into real trouble one of these days. But it worked out for her. Maybe she'd have it messengered to him tomorrow with an appropriate gift to go along with it. That brought a mischevious smile to her lips.
While Alexis pondered the gift possibilites that she could tease Jax with, she started towards the elevator leading to the penthouse level. Which is why she didn't notice Carly until they were no more than a few steps apart. Alexis nodded, willing to be polite enough, and would have kept on going except that Carly stopped directly in her path. She motioned for the bodyguard to continue on to the car, telling him she'd be there in a minute.
"Well, well, Alexis; it looks like the news reports were right, seems like the storm stranded people in unusual places all over Port Charles."
Whatever was she talking about? Alexis thought; then she saw Carly eyeing her up and down carefully, and realized with jolt of quiet amusement, that Carly had fastened onto the fact that she was wearing a man's coat. She stood there, wondering where Carly would go next. Knowing Carly, there was one place she would defintely try to go. Alexis decided to hand her the rope that she would hang herself with.
"Was that what happened to you?" she asked.
Carly glanced back to the elevators and then significantly at Alexis. "What do you think?"
"I think you're just leaving Sonny's."
"And that's all?"
"Should I think there's more?"
"You're a lawyer, Alexis." Carly all but sneered. "Make your own deductions. A sudden storm, the city shut down.. two people alone, insulated from the storm. I can't think of a more intimate way to spend an evening.. to spend an entire night. You do remember that Sonny has that great big fireplace right in the living room."
"I am a lawyer, Carly." Alexis figured that this had gone on long enough. "And I deal in facts. And the fact is, you didn't spend the night with Sonny and we both know it."
"What makes you so sure?" Carly said scornfully. "Do you really think you have that much influence on him, or that I don't? You'd be surprised at the choices two people alone can make on the spur of the moment. Oh, I forgot - you wouldn't know anything about that kind of passion. You're way too analytical to imagine anything spontaneously.
"Look at you - tricked out in some man's coat! You were out all night yourself - you couldn't possibly know where Sonny spent the night - or with who."
"But I do know where Sonny spent the night." Alexis answered coolly. "He spent it with me. And not in his penthouse, either."
She watched as Carly's face went pale, first with shock, and then flushed red with fury. "You're lying!" the other woman hissed angrily.
"Why would I bother?" Alexis asked her. "I don't have the irrational need that you do to prove anything to anyone. I certainly don't feel I have anything to prove to you."
"Explain the coat, then!" Carly charged her recklessly, her anger making her irrational. "Don't tell, me, a concerned client? Is that what you're going to explain to Sonny? He won't believe it - he'll believe you betrayed him. And where will you be after that. Once Sonny realizes what you've done, you'll be out of this penthouse and out of his life!"
"Because I'm wearing Jax's coat? I doubt it." Alexis answered her. "In my briefcase, I have the papers concerning the Crowne Hotel proposal. No doubt Jax spoke to you this morning about it?" She got her answer in Carly's sudden silence. "Well, after he spoke to you, he spoke to me and we met. Easy enough to prove - even without a court of law."
"Or, there's another way to prove it very easily." Alexis answered "Let's go upstairs and you can ask Sonny yourself, if my word isn't good enough." When Carly didn't move, as she knew she wouldn't, Alexis shook her head. "No Carly, the liar here would be you. And I don't know why you bother." She stepped around her and continued walking towards the elevators. She didn't turn, even when Carly let loose with a tirade of hatred.
Behind her, she heard Carly's voice, mingled with equal parts of hate and fury. "Why don't you just disappear, witch! Disappear back to your bastard Cassadine roots!"
Alexis stepped into the elevator and let the doors slide shut behind her, cutting off Carly's voice.
A muted blare of Latin music greeted her as she stepped off the elevator. Curiosity got the best of her and Alexis crossed the hall and knocked on his door.
Sonny answered a few moments later. "Hi."
"Hi yourself."
Just then, Michael's head popped up from behind the door. "Hi, Alexis."
"Hello, Michael." Alexis greeted him, then turned her attention back to Sonny. "Well, what's this, an impromptu party?"
"Yeah, Michael and me are having us a night. We're making spaghetti and meatballs."
Michael put his two cents in. "I'm in charge of the meatball making." he said importantly. Alexis grinned and congratulated him.
"Michael, you could probably show Alexis a thing or two about making them, too."
"Are you any good at making meatballs?" Michael asked innocently. Knowing Alexis' ineptitude anywhere near a kitchen, it was Sonny's turn to grin.
And he'll pay for that one later, Alexis thought to herself. But she smiled at Michael and shook her head in apolgy. "I'm afraid I'm not the greatest meatball maker."
"I can teach you how." Michael decided. He looked up at his dad. "Do you think we have enough to share?"
"I'm pretty sure we do, Michael." Sonny was surprised, but happy. He looked up at Alexis. "Are you up for some spaghetti?"
"You have to like spaghetti." Michael declared. "Everybody likes spaghetti. My mom likes it too, but usually when she makes it, it comes out of a bunch of cans. I like my dad's spaghetti better. You will too."
"Well, I guess, I'll be learning how to make meatballs tonight and having spaghetti. Sounds delicious."
Alexis and Sonny smiled at each other.
----
It was late the next morning when Kristina let herself back in the apartment. She leaned over and did a few leg stretches before calling out Alexis' name. She heard an answering call from upstairs.
"Alexis, you really should have come with me on that run." She called up the stairs. "One way to work off that huge amount of pasta we all put away last night."
Alexis laughed as she came down the stairs. "If I remember right, it was you and Michael who had third helpings."
"I couldn't help it... it was so good." Kristina said with a laugh amd a groan. "I know you said that Sonny could cook, but I didn't know that he could cook."
Dinner had turned into a foursome. Kristina had arrived home just as Sonny was welcoming Alexis through the door. Michael had been instantly entranced with another red-head and he and Kristina hit it off immediately. Dinner had been a fun affair. The laughter started as they formed the meatballs under Michael's expert supervision and continued through to from the time they sat down around the table until the end of the meal.
"I thought you were working from home this morning." Kristina said.
"And the morning is almost over." Alexis said. "Actually, I received a call from the office. I have to meet some insurance adjusters and inspectors there about the storm damage. And I have clients who have their own damage claims they want checked." Her cell phone rang out. "Lots of clients." Alexis commented.
At least it as one of her more favorite ones. "Hello, Mason. I assume you got the message from my office."
Kristina made a face at this sound of his name, stuck her tongue out at Alexis and then ran upstairs laughing. As far as she was concerned, Mason was after one thing, and it wasn't Alexis' legal expertise. She laughed at his attempts to woo Alexis - when Alexis chose to share them. Alexis shook her head and turned her attention back to her phone call.
It was Mason. They'd had a meeting scheduled, but with all the rush-claims from her other clients, she tried to beg off. She should have known better. He insisted he would be quick, but Mason insisted on stopping by. Learning that she'd be in the office in the afternoon, he insisted on coming by. "just to see for himself, that she was in good shape."
----
True to his word, Mason was there shortly after two o'clock. "Bearing gifts." he announced as he stuck his head around the door to her office. Alexis soon found out what... a lush armful-sized bouquet of daisies - topped by a brightly colored pocket umbrella.
"Showers bringing spring flowers, or something of the sort." Mason said as he sat the vase down on the edge of her desk. "Although from the look of you, you don't need much cheering up."
"And as always, you know the right thing to say - and do - to charm a woman." Alexis said. She stood up to take in the immense display. Alexis moved the umbrella from the display, smiling at the bright pastelly colors, then bent down and breathed in the fresh airy scent. "Thank you, Mason."
"No thanks necessary." Mason said, his voice suddenly very close behind her. Alexis straightened and turned, and found herself unexpectedly in her arms. "Unless," he murmured softly, "you haad a different sort of thank you in mind."
Before she could react, Mason brushed his lips againsst hers. When she didn't respond, he merely smiled and stepped away. Alexis thought it would be an awkward moment as they stood there regarding one another in silence. But Mason was the first to break it with one of his indefatiglble smiles and a shrug.
"You can hardly be surprised at that." he said. "I've made no secret about the fact that I'd like to get to know you better than either just a client or a friend." Mason looked at her closely. "But I can see it's all been for naught."
The twinkle in his eye gave a lie to the sadness in his voice. Which was more real? Alexis wondered, and not for the first time. What lay beneath his always smiling expresiion? He'd never made it a secret that he'd wanted something other than a client-lawyer relationship. Had she led him on somehow, without even knowing it? Alexis searched her memory.
And Mason, reading her expression, laughed at her. "No, my beautiful lawyer, it was nothing you did, I promise. Nothing except be yourself." He walked away from her and sat himself down on the couch. "I wonder why I've never really had a chance... could it be your heart already belongs to someone else?"
"I'm not accustomed to discussing my personal life with my clients.." Alexis began.
"I thought we were friends, Alexis." Mason chided her."I'd apologize, if I thought it would soften your heart."
"Or if you really meant it." Alexis said. She should be angry with him, but somehow she couldn't quite get there. "But Mason, we may be friends, and I've appreciated your efforts to be one, but we're not on the level of friendship you obviously think we are."
"I made no assumptions, I only acted on hope. You can't blame a man for trying. I tried, I failed."
"And now that you've failed? - and you have failed, let me make that perfectly clear."
"I bide my time and remain in your good graces by doing so." Mason replied. "And just so you know, you're being as clear as glass. And as transparent."
"Transparent?"
"I know very well that there's someone else who's putting that sparkle in your eye. If it isn't me, who is it? I promise not to tell." Mason leaned forward and gave her a large conspiratorial wink.
"Who would you tell - if there were anyone to tell?" Alexis said, laughing at him in spite of herself.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." Mason said. "See, I have you laughing, principessa. So I know that all is right with the world again. As long as I can make you smile, there's hope."
Alexis shook her head. "You are hopeless - but I'm sure I've told you that before."
"A hundred times, at least. But I am hopeful - not hopeless. If you would only let me take you away from all of this, the marvels I could show you. The secrets you could learn."
Once again, Alexis didn't know whether he was joking with her or not. With Mason, she'd learned, one just never knew. She was saved, by the bell. Her telephone, to be exact.
It was Kristina on the other end. Her words spilled out in a torrent. "I hate to call you at work, I know you're busy but..."
"It's all right, Kristina." Alexis immeditaely picked up on the worried tone in her sister's voice. "What is it?"
"Stefan called." Kristina told her. "He was going to come by, but then I told him you were out seeing clients. Then he asked about Sonny. He asked a lot about Sonny - and you. I didn't quite know what to say - or not to say." Kristina paused for a second. "I'm sorry, Alexis." And Alexis could hear the fuill load of contriteness in Kristina's voice. "I didn't mean too, but I think he got more out of me then I meant for him to!"
"It's okay, Kristina, don't worry about it. I should have guessed he would come to you and warned you." Alexis said.
"It's...just that I'm not very good at lying and deception."
"Don't apologize for not being a Cassidine." Alexis reassured her. "That's one thing Stefan and I just recently agreed on...that your lack of Cassidine scruples. And we're both glad of it.. and of course, it's pure Stefan that he would find a way to use that fact." Alexis smiled in spite of herself.
"It's just that he's feeling protective over you, Alexis." Kristina insisted. "Big brother and all that."
"And as a typical Cassidine male, he believes he knows what's best."
"He loves you, Alexis."
"And I love him.. I always have, even when he was being his most exasperating. Like he is now."
"Well I think you're going to be more exasperated."
"Why is that?"
"If I'm not mistaken, Stefan changed his mind and decided to go have a little talk with your Mr. Corinthos."… Kristina paused. "Someone's at the door. Hold on."
Alexis heard muffled voices on the other end of the line. When Kristina came back on the line, her voice had changed and a thrill of unease went through her.
"Alexis... "
"Kristina...what is it?"
Kristina's voice had gone trembly soft..."Alexis...Alexis... you'd better get home...please come home...oh please hurry... the police are here... they... " Her voice failed for a long moment and Alexis' blood inexplicably chilled in her veins . "... the police are here. There was an explosion down n the docks. Stefan's car and driver were there... They think he was in the building when it blew up.."
