Many thanks for all of your reviews. I hope you had a fabulous New Year celebration. I wish you all countless blessings and joy in this new year!

This was supposed to be a TWO-SHOT, however given that I have just moved and am in the midst of unpacking and getting my place together before my first day at my new job tomorrow, I will instead make this a THREE-SHOT so you're not waiting forever. You're welcome.

This is short and unedited.

2

Fathers and Daughters

"Mom," Sam knocked on her mother's bedroom door before letting herself inside. "Hey, can you get Danny dressed while I jump in the shower, please? He keeps asking for 'Gaga.' and pointing to your door."

Buttoning her blouse before tucking it into her skirt, Alexis nodded. "What kind of question is that, honey? Of course I'll help my little man to look even more handsome than he already is!" She looked around for the little boy. "Um... where is he?"

Sam held her hand up. "One moment, please," she smiled as she opened the door to reveal the little boy seated on the floor playing with the car his grandfather had given him. "We have to take precautions with the only boy in our family of women. I didn't know what I'd be walking in on!"

Alexis chuckled. "You know, the way to rectify that problem?" She asked rhetorically. "Knocking and waiting for a response, sweetheart. That usually resolves the 'I don't know what I'm walking in on,' issue." She tapped her daughter's nose before taking her grandson into her arms. "Just a thought."

"Why in the world would I do that?" Sam laughed as she gave her mother's arm a squeeze. "Then we might actually seem like a normal group of people with prudish Cassadine blood running through our veins. Davis girls don't knock and wait for a response - I do believe that is something that you've told us on countless occasions."

"Actually, what I think I've said is, 'As the head of the Davis family, I don't have to knock on the doors in my house and wait for a response.' You girls have taken my words and twisted them to your own liking." Alexis rebutted. "However, yes, I do agree now that we have a boy in the family, I suppose Nikolas and Spencer will need to show him how to be a man amongst women."

"I suppose!" Sam replied in a sing-song fashion as she ran out of the room to get ready.

"So, it's just you and me, kid," Alexis commented to her grandson.

She could not help but to smile whenever she looked at him for so many times, the child seemed to have beat the odds that had been stacked against him. It never ceased to amaze her the profound love she, who had given her three girls her heart, was still able to give to this little boy. In spite of the amount of people in her life, her love never diminished for each member of her family. It actually seemed to grow. She would have given her life to protect these loves of her life.

"Have I ever told you how much I loved you, Dan?" She cooed into his ear before placing a kiss onto his cheek. "You are everything I would have loved to give to your mommy when she was a baby. And it's not to say that you are a replacement for her, but you're such a wonderful addition to this family that I am grateful that I have the ability to watch you grow up unlike the way I was unable to watch her grow up." She smiled when he reached to squeeze her nose. "And even though we're not to fond of your grandfather at the moment, I can't say that I'm not grateful for him because without him, my love, you..." she felt herself becoming emotional, "you wouldn't be here with us. And aside from the fact that that would've undoubtedly broken my heart, I know for a fact, that your Mommy... she would have likely not been to far behind... and I... I don't know what I would've done without her... without any of my girls... or you, for that matter."

Alexis brushed her eyelash to stop the tears from streaming down her freshly made-up cheek. "So, because your grandfather saved your life, I cannot completely shut the door on him... and I'm not saying that because we don't know what the future holds for you. But, I'm saying that I hope that at some point he realizes what he's missing in your life by continuing to do the things he's doing in his life," she sighed. "And what he's missing in your Mommy's life because I want so badly for her to have a relationship with him. I think she needs to have a relationship with her father because God knows I didn't have one with mine and look how well I turned out," she rolled her eyes. "That's something that's been lacking in her life - and I hope will not be lacking in yours-" She lied him down on her bed so that she could change him. "So, let's hope that she and Silas - or whoever else might make her as happy as your daddy made her - will create a new family that'll last forever and ever, hmm?"

"Hey Mom?" Kristina popped her head into the room. "Um, someone is at the door to see you."

Lifting her grandson to a standing position, Alexis slipped on his tiny suit pants. "Who is it, honey?" She absent-mindedly asked for she was not expecting any visitors.

"It's... well... it's Julian Jerome," the young woman smirked knowing from her conversations with her sisters that much to their (mostly Sam's) chagrin, their mother had a very much requited crush on the man with whom she had had her first child. Having met him for the very first time just minutes prior, Kristina could not say she did not blame the woman. "He stopped by with gifts... apparently for the whole family."

Alexis groaned in annoyance. "I told him I didn't want anything to do with him!" Now having a full picture of Sam's DNA, she now understood her daughter's relentless attitude. She got it from her father. "I don't know what more I have to say or do to help him get this through his thick head. This is ridiculous!"

Handing her nearly dressed grandson to his aunt, Alexis threw on her heels and stormed from the room. "Why couldn't I have had a child with a normal person for once," she grumbled to herself. "Why do I always end up with some relentless man? Is that too much to ask for?"

Her heels clicked loudly enough on the hardwood floor that the man she attempted to keep at arm's length quickly moved from the fireplace mantle that displayed several pictures of her beautiful family. He could not help but be enamored with the woman who had managed to build herself a stable life in spite of all that he had heard about her and her past. "Merry Christmas, Alexis!" He charmingly smiled at her.

"What do you want, Julian?" She asked him. She was not in the mood for small talk. "Call me crazy-"

"Merry Christmas, Crazy," he joked much to her evident dismay displayed by a prominent eye roll. "I aim to please, Alexis."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," she replied. "Again, I'm asking you - begging you, really - what do you want? I'm certain I told you I didn't want you to come back here again."

He held up his hand to reveal the bag her held. "I come bearing gifts for not only the mother of my child-" He chuckled as she rolled her eyes yet again. "But for said child, her child, and the two lovely daughters you had with men I hear are quite undeserving of you."

She scoffed at his comment. "You hear are undeserving of me? Seriously Julian? Have you been drinking?"

"I'd like to have a drink with you... again."

Throwing her hands in the air, she moved to the door. "Do you ever turn off this thing that you like to refer to as charm?" She asked him. "I mean, it's one comment after the next with you."

He raised his free hand in surrender as he placed the bag he held onto the floor. Taking off his jacket, he took a step toward her. "It's the only way I seem to be able to get you to talk to me," he shrugged. "Listen, I know that you're angry with me for all the lies that I told, but I really don't know what more I can possibly do to prove to you that I really am sorry. I wanted to tell you the truth, but-"

"Your vendetta against Sonny got in the way?" Alexis sarcastically asked.

He sighed deeply. Apart from his actual hatred of Corinthos and everything he claimed to be as a mob boss, Julian's biggest regret in deciding to take back his territory was the rift his actions had caused in what could have been his family. Had he known that both Alexis and Sam existed, he would have thought twice about his decisions.

"Would any of this have made a difference if I had been honest from the beginning?" He countered. "Would you have shut me out for the likes of Sonny if I had told you who I was the second I realized who you were?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it once she realized that she did not have an answer for him. She did not know. No, it was not about his vendetta against Sonny that bothered her. Yes, she was his attorney and his reactions to Julian's actions would have a direct effect on her work, but more so, it was the fact that yet again, she had fallen for someone on the wrong side of the law, and that his life was detrimental to those she loved around her. If Sonny attacked and killed Julian in retaliation, it was Kristina's father who ended up in prison, Sam's father in the grave, and Danny's donor (should, God forbid, he relapsed) our of the picture. If Julian murdered Sonny, it was Sam's father in prison, and Kristina's father in the grave. She was in a horrible position between these two men who fathered two of her three children. Unfortunately, she happened to be enamored with the one standing before her.

"That is a moot point seeing as that is not the way things played out," she finally responded. "How I would've felt at any point if you had not turned out to be a liar who is using my grandson as a hostage and a shield from any flying bullets Sonny might even contemplate shooting in your direction doesn't matter since you are actually using my grandson as a hostage and shield, Julian!"

"I think you and Sam should open your gifts," he quietly replied.

"We don't want your gifts, Julian!" Alexis screamed at him. "We only want one thing from you, and sadly, you've proven yourself too much of a coward to actually give it to us." Clearing her throat, she took the final steps toward the front door. "Now, I think you should leave," she said calmly. "It's bad enough I have to see you and your insufferable sister during dinner tonight-"

He smiled widely at her comment. Although he had not expected any such thing, he thought it best than to question her how or why it was to be. "Is Sam going to be with you?" He subtly crossed his arms hoping that her response would be yes.

"She, like the rest of us, are unwilling participants to Carly's bribe," she began. "However, if you come within a single inch of Danny, I will stab you with the nearest dinner knife." When he made to respond, she held her hand up. "And if you don't believe me, ask Lorenzo Alcazar. If you ask the right people they'll tell you I killed him."

And opening the door, she stood with a sly smile on her face. "Goodbye, Julian."