A/N: No one other than Patrick and Jax knows that Dante is Sonny's kid. Dante turned in his badge and though he no longer works for Sonny (he quit) he's still in Port Charles as Dominic Pirelli. Also Ethan lives with the Quartermaines (not sure if that's true or not).
Ch 6.
Michael stopped her on her way into Madison Prep, "I spoke with dad and we agreed that you don't need to keep seeing Ethan."
"Michael, I don't have time for this and I could care less about what you or dad thinks."
"You have no loyalty. He's just using you." Kristina was about to ask him what happened to his face but she had to defend Ethan.
"Ethan isn't using me. And what does loyalty have to do with anything?"
"If you respected our father you wouldn't have gotten pregnant by the drifter, son of low-life drunken gambler."
"Luke is not like that, his is one of dad's oldest friends."
"And he's my uncle that doesn't change anything." Michael retorted
"What ever"
"You do realize that you are pregnant with your cousin's baby?"
"Michael let it go. Ethan isn't my cousin he's yours; we have different mothers in case you forgot."
"How can I forget Alexis brainwashed you, you don't know how to honor thy father."
"What in the hell are you talking about? Anyway that's the bell, bye" Kristina left him outside.
Michael dropped out of school back in March and got his GED. Claiming he didn't want to be a 19 year old senior, but everyone knew the real reason. He was so eager to become a part of Sonny's business that he just didn't care about anything else. He's lucky that Dominic managed to steal state evidence and clear dad or there wouldn't be any organization to inherit.
--
--
"You're sure you don't want to ride with me and Sam."
"I'm sure. Ethan will be here any moment; we'll meet you there."
"Okay be sure to drive safe and wear your seat belt."
"I will. Bye" watching her mother and sister leave. She wondered what was taking Ethan so long.
--
"Where do you think you're going?" Ethan turned to see Tracy waiting expectantly
"Tracy, how are you on this lovely evening?"
"Why aren't you working?"
"I thought you said I wasn't needed tonight."
"That was before, this is now."
"I wish I could help you out but I have somewhere to be"
"Really, somewhere more important than your job at the Haunted Star?"
"Yes, No… I mean I have to um…"
"If we are expected to open on time tonight I need you to make sure that the bar well stocked."
"Tracy, love, I have a date."
"Who's the unlucky lady?"
Ethan thought about this, on one hand he wanted to tell the truth, on another a lie would allow him to leave without further questioning. Then again they would be going out for at least two more months and they did agree to make this look as real as possible.
"Come on she can't be any worse than that scheming Rebecca."
"Kristina Davis."
"Kristina! Alexis' daughter. Is she even old enough to date? No, I forbid it. I won't have another member of this family disgracing the Quartermaine name by getting involved with riff raff and criminals"
"Tracy, she's eighteen. I'm not a Quartermaine and if I'm not mistaken she's royalty not riff-raff."
"You do know her father is Sonny Corinthos, the mob boss."
"Yes, I'm well aware of that fact and we are having dinner with him at his restaurant. The date that I am now late for, so if there is nothing else I'll be going."
"Dinner with that no good thug. Why do I even bother? Fine, go on your date but if you end up floating in the harbor don't think I'll shed any tears."
"I doubt it'll be that bad." Ethan left in his borrowed Mercedes. Edward was kind enough to let him borrow a car.
Ethan hated the fact that Tracy might be right. Sonny thought that he was the father of Kristina's child, he had reason to want him dead but hopefully his Spencer connections and Krissy would be able to save him.
--
"You're late"
"Sorry, I had a run in with Tracy."
"What'd she say?"
"Nothing she just needed me to come in tonight."
"Oh, I'm sorry I should have made sure that tonight was a free night for all of us."
"It's fine. I'll go in later." Ethan held the door while Kristina grabbed her purse and coat.
After setting the alarm and locking the door got into the car. As Ethan pulled out of the driveway Kristina turned to him, and places a hand on his forearm, "Thank you for doing this."
"No problem."
The drive to Polluzo's was silent.
After they parked the car, Kristina found her voice "Maybe we should leave, we don't have to do this."
"Everything will be fine. Jason and Sam will keep your dad in line, and I doubt your mom will let things get out of hand."
"You're right, but if things do start to go wrong can we leave early?"
"What ever you want"
-
"I was just about to call you. What took you two so long?" Alexis asked as Ethan helped Kristina out of her coat.
"Sorry Ms. Davis, that's my fault I was running a late."
"But we're here now. What's for dinner?" Kristina added
"I made ravioli stuffed with shrimp topped with a parmesan sauce and a four cheese tortellini with grilled chicken and artichoke, tiramisu for dessert."
"Sounds great Mr. Corinthos, I didn't realize you were the chef." Ethan said, taking his seat beside Kristina.
"It's a hobby of mine." Sonny answered then signaled the waiter. After their meals were served, everyone looked nervously around the table. The air was thick with tension. No one knew if Sonny was really as okay with everything as he seemed.
"So Ethan, Kristina, have you decided what you're going to do about everything."
"I already told you dad, we're not getting married, and abortion was never a question."
"No I meant are you going to be staying with Alexis or…"
"I've already told Kristina that she could stay as long as she wants."
"Thanks mom, but I'd rather have my own place. We've been looking at apartments online." Correction she had been looking for apartments online, but most of them were out of her price range. She was going to have to find a job.
"You won't be moving in with Ethan?"
"No sir, I doubt she'd want to stay with the Quartermaine's"
"You don't have your own place?"
"Never had reason to, also I wanted to be closer to my father."
"Yeah, um, how is Luke these days."
"He's good as far as I know; he's out of town for a bit."
"If you're looking for a place you could try Harbor View Towers, we have a few vacancies." Jason suggested
"I don't know that seems…"
"That's a great idea. That way if ever you're in danger Jason is only a few floors away. The building itself has a state of the art security system and a doorman" Sonny said nodding; he looked pointedly at Alexis hoping she'd go along with it.
"Your father's right. The towers would be a great choice."
"We'll have to check our budgets."
"Don't worry about I owned the building"
"No thanks dad. I meant what I said about wanting to go it along. I will find a nice place that fits my budget." Kristina answered and Ethan agreed. If this relationship was real he'd feel bad about having Sonny pay his bills.
The rest of the evening went surprisingly well. Conversation centered on talks about potential neighborhoods and place for Kristina to look for a job.
"That went well" Kristina said as they pulled into her driveway
"As well as could be expected."
"What are we doing? I really want this to work out but it just feels off."
"The lies get to us all at some point. I'm sure your dad could help with Kiefer."
"Sure if I wanted him dead! If dad found out about what Kiefer has done, he'd kill him. No questions asked. As much as I hate Kiefer a part of me still loves him. I know our relationship was unhealthy I just …"
"You can't help who you love."
"I wanted to end tonight on a positive note." Kristina said upset about bringing Kiefer up.
"We can." Ethan reaches into his pocket for a deck of cards and proceeds to teach her the basics of poker. Half hour later they were still sitting in the drive.
"So it's like Yahtzee with cards"
"Yeah kind of."
"How about we try this again another night?" She nodded. Getting out of the car Ethan opened her door. Helping her exit the vehicle he placed his hand on the small of her back and guided her toward the door.
"Thanks again for helping me out."
"You don't have to keep thanking me" Ethan reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment each of them wondering if this agreement was going to end up hurting them both.
Ethan leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Good night"
"Goodnight" she said watching him walk back to his car. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course he wasn't going to kiss you. He's not interested in you that way. This isn't real he's only with you because you're paying him.
Kristina made her way to her room before throwing herself onto her bed. She couldn't help the tears. She hated feeling unwanted.
--