September 19, 2005
Just the Two of Us
"There is enough room in this tent for the two of us." Sonny grins till he turns beet red knowing she loves to be there for him though she'd never admit it. He opens the tent and crawls inside, but Alexis crosses her arms and refuses to follow him.
"Sonny, I have no problem sleeping in the house. Do you have a guest room in there?"
"Please. Stay out here. Please." He begs with his hands clasped together.
Between his flashing dimples and the clouds forming above them threatening rain, she caves in and crawls into the tent.
"It's cozy in here. We should have invited Kristina." She observes as she crosses her legs and pushes herself away from him into a corner.
"Yea. But that wouldn't be romantic." Sonny grins and fends off her hand smacking him across the face.
They drop into complete silence again and listen to the last bird stirring before nightfall. The wind starts to pick up prompting shivers in the abrupt cold.
"You slept in here the whole night huh?"
"Yea. It was hard getting to sleep though."
"I know. I sensed your restlessness. And then voices in my head started talking to me…"
Sonny's eyes light up with wonder. "They talk to you too? Those voices?"
"Probably not the same ones that talk to you. I hope not. Then I'd have to admit that I'm crazy. And I'm not." She catches herself from revealing her mechanical thoughts.
"I wouldn't think you were crazy Alexis. It's ok to share voices. Do you have names for them?"
Goosebumps form on her skin and she tries to hide them by crossing her arms in shame of what goes on in her head on a daily basis. "No. No names. Just voices. Male. Mostly male."
Sonny tries to drag out her thoughts. "Past relationships?"
Alexis tries not to show her frustration with Sonny's questions, but she barely holds back the cynicism. "No. Can we talk about something else Kevin?"
His couch never felt so comfortable even with his watchful eye beaming on her. Lying down peacefully, she looks him over in his black turtleneck, brown corduroys, and matching blazer. He puts the tip of the pen to his lips and waits to hear something from her.
"Alexis. You're not paying me for a nap." Kevin smiles through his sarcasm.
"I know." Alexis sits up and takes a couple of deep breaths. "It's really hard to get rid of them. They were both so important to me."
"I know. It's been, what, a year?"
"Yea. At least. And it was all my fault. I can't even blame Sonny for what happened."
"But he should take most if not all of the blame for anyone that dies around him."
"Yes. He should, but he can't. His spirit is weaker then you think it is. He does that whole repressed thing."
"I wouldn't know. He refuses to step foot into my office. He wanted sworn testimony on his debilitated mental health and he got it. He didn't get it because I wanted to lie for him. He got it because he has a serious mental disorder that he refuses to acknowledge."
"Kevin, am I crazy to believe that they still exist?" Alexis questions with hopes of a positive response.
"Kristina beats other children with her shovel." She tries to hold back laughter from her recounts of Kristina and her bullying saga, but Sonny brings it out of her with a chuckle of his own.
"Plastic shovel? I'd doubt they're effective. We could get her the real thing from Home Depot."
"No. She'd probably take you up on it." An idea pops in her head. "Are you busy?"
Sonny lets out a grunt. "Yea. I got a full plate. What you need?"
"How about you make Kristina a sandbox?"
"Why a sandbox?"
"Because she doesn't want to share and I don't want her to have to share if she doesn't want to."
A smile fills his face and he thinks in relief that she's there helping him get through the night. "That's not the way to be Alexis. Sharing is a good thing."
Alexis gives up on the conversation and lies back in her corner. Sonny makes his romantic move but he's stopped with a stiff arm. He hovers over her waiting for the approval while she looks up at him with a grin. "You're going to sleep on the other side of the tent. I don't like to share either. Night night."
"Oh. So it's gonna be like that. I share my tent and you don't want to share. Ok. That's cool." He lies down inches away from her and focuses his eyes through the netting at the stars strategically placed in the sky. He draws pictures linking the blurry white line from one star to the next. "Why weren't these out last night?" He questions in his head.
The rain stars to pour erasing his pictures from the sky. He looks over at Alexis drawing pictures of her own. Immediately she sits up startled. "I can not believe you're touching me there."
Sonny sits up confused. "What? I'm not touching you."
They both look down at the culprit tunneling through a hole in the tent with its long tail fluttering behind its escape. Alexis jumps out of her skin with a scream that'd make God tremble. She busts through the canvas of Sonny's tent, and hauls ass across the lawn to the limo. The rain bears down on Sonny through the hole. He jerks down what's left of his backyard home and looks around the darkness for Alexis. "Alexis! You broke my tent! My momma gave me this tent!"
Alexis fidgets with the lock of her apartment door. "Stop whining. I will buy you a new tent. You can sleep here tonight." She looks back at Sonny soaking wet and pouting about the loss of his tent. She notices the door across the hall shut. "Go inside my apartment. I'll be in."
"Where you going?"
"Across the hall." She points towards the other apartment and prays that he doesn't become suspicious. Luckily the lines under his eyes show the lack of need to know anything other than sleep. He stops his questioning and goes into her apartment.
Jiggling the knob to the door her heart starts to race. She turns it in every direction hoping maybe her thoughts of it really being locked are wrong. Viola walks off the elevator and notices Alexis fumbling with the door.
"Alexis? I thought you were staying with Mr. Corinthos? I dropped Kristina off to her sleepover with Brooke Lynn."
"No. It didn't work out. Who locked this door?"
"Oh. I did."
"Why?"
"Alexis. You live in New York City. Crime is high and you leaving that door wide open is not a good idea. Don't you have important documents in there?"
Alexis' stomach starts to turn and she rushes to figure out an explanation. "Just do me a favor and don't lock this door."
"I'm sorry. I have the key right here." Viola unlocks the door not sure of how to take the reprimand. "Are you ok Alexis?"
"Yes. Don't be alarmed. Sonny is in my apartment."
"Ok."
After waiting a moment for Viola to disappear across the hall, Alexis opens the door to Lorenzo sitting in his recliner enjoying his nightly glance of the newspaper. "Natasha. I've been waiting for you. Where did you go?"
"You will not believe what happened to me this evening? Were you here when Viola locked the door?"
"No. Ric and I went for coffee. There must be some youngins above us because we couldn't get much done on that case because of their party. You need a drink or something? You look flushed."
"Sure. What do you have?"
"What do you want?" He walks over to the bar and picks through his different selections.
"Something strong please. I was fondled by a rat."
"One day he's a needy case and the next day he's a rat. Can we get consistent on how you feel about Sonny?" Lorenzo sticks out his tongue at her in jest.
He finishes tiding up his bar and hands Alexis her drink, subsequently, throwing himself back into the comfort of his chair. "So. How was the fondling experience?"
Alexis finishes the last of her drink. "It was a real rat you jerk; in Sonny's ghetto ass tent he calls a house. You know where the hell I can find a Superman tent for a really big boy?"
Lorenzo doubles over in a laughing fit. "Logic! It screamed at me…" He continues to laugh barely able to speak. "When does it end Natasha?"
Alexis tries to hold in her annoyance. "Can you be serious for a moment?"
"Yea. Serious now."
"I really want to disconnect myself from him if at all possible. He just needs something to do. He really likes Home Depot."
"Too bad you'd be getting the bill."
"True. Hey where is Ric tonight?"
"You're obviously not thinking about him or he'd be here."