Jason Morgan and Alexis Davis, canon

September 2010

Instant Addiction

Part 14

Mature

Alexis smirked as she stared at a wicker basket that sat on Jason's bathroom counter. It was filled with stuff from an expensive bed and bath boutique in Crimson Pointe Galleria. She loved that store.

There was a note propped against the basket with her name written on it.

She opened it: Enjoy.

She smiled. Enjoy. She planned to enjoy every second of this night. Alexis opened up the tooth brush, brushed her teeth, washed her face, fixed her make-up, put on lotion, squirted on some more perfume from the bottle in her purse, and then headed downstairs again.

She looked around the Penthouse. For a second she was thrown back in time. She was at the door, Sonny was in the hall. Popcorn was popped.

If this memory taking over her mind, as real as if she stepped back in time, had happened to her four months ago- the day Sonny married Gia- she would have sobbed herself sick, where no one could hear, and then called Diane to go drinking. But today she smiled. It was a good memory...a memory that led to two daughters (because there would be no Molly if there was no Kristina Adella).

That night when Sonny was at her door, when she lived in this Penthouse, was over a decade ago. It was fine to not feel just the same as she did then. To feel so much more for Sonny, and to know who they would always be to each other. To know that their connection could never die.

But the road had twisted- so many damn times- that they were in a different future than she had imagined back then. And she was happy right now. So the pain had been worth something, after all....worth the hurt because they got the daughters, the connection, the future they didn't expect.

Smiling slightly, she walked into the kitchen to look for Jason. "Hello, can I ask...did you redecorate recently? It looks different around here."

"Maxie did, this week."

"She get inspired?"

"She said it had to be done. I stopped arguing with her. It doesn't change her mind ever." They way he said it left no room for questions but Alexis wondered if she was the reason the place got redone...new woman, new couch and bed and sheets. Maxie was smarter than she looked, really.

Alexis glanced down at the wok that Jason was cooking in. "What are you whipping up?"

He stood there, with just a black, sleeveless t-shirt on and his dark slacks, but no blue shirt anymore.

"Stir fry. You want to help?"

"That depends. How do you feel about dying from food poisoning?"

He let out a short laugh. He didn't laugh much but he really had a great one. He so rarely allowed himself to relax to the point where he let it out, though. "You just watch then."

"Agreed." She looked into the wok. "Looks delicious. Who taught you to cook?"

The second she said it, she knew the answer. Alexis groaned and added "Sonny!"

Jason smiled slightly.

She smiled back. It was a nice moment. One that made her a little nervous. But not so nervous that she couldn't breath. Good nervous. Alive. Aware. She said "I can do something. I can open the wine."

"Wine?"

"No wine?"

He made a face that said: Oops. "I drink beer. There's some bottles of tea too. Some vodka in the freezer...oh yeah and there's champagne."

She raised an eyebrow. "No wine but champagne?"

"Maxie ordered a case. Pay on delivery."

Alexis laughed.

Jason said "I told the guy to take it back but she was here and, you can guess, she started talking a mile a minute till...yeah...he just left and I had all this champagne."

"What did she want it for? Starting her own wine cellar on your dime?"

"She said for celebrations. Yeah...I don't know...that's how she thinks."

Alexis smiled. "I think I like how she thinks....that's scary."

"Hell yeah it is."

Still smiling she said "I'll take the champagne. Thank you."

"There should be something around here to chill it in."

She laughed. "Something? Well...I suppose I can rough it."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, Jason.....I'm having fun so far."

"Good."

The way he said it, with his voice so deep and filled with possessiveness, made goose bumps rise on her skin. This is going to be a phenomenal night, she thought as their eyes held on each other. For a long moment Jason didn't look away.

Smoke rose out of the wok. Alexis yelped "Jason!"

He snapped back to attention. "Shit."

"I thought you said you could cook?"

"I can."

"I can burn too. Anyone can do that."

"I can cook." He dumped out the burnt food and said "I just need to start over. It will be good. Don't worry."

"I trust you."

The wok was forgotten as Jason pulled Alexis flush with his body. Looking down at her, in her jeans that made him watch her ass every time she left the room, he murmured "Thanks," before capturing her mouth in a wickedly, erotic kiss.

XXXXXXXXX

Nadine sat on Ric's couch, with her feet tucked up underneath her, as he drank his scotch. She reached out and let her fingers tangle in his hair. "What's got your smile turned upside down tonight?"

"I went to drop the girl's medicine off before I came home."

"Uh-oh."

"She won't listen!"

"Richard."

"I know you believe I should let sleeping dogs sleep because of whatever Aunt Raylene told you but-"

"Because a sleeping dog never bit nobody."

"That may be true but dating Jason has gotten a woman shot before. Alexis' own daughter. Sam can never carry a baby now because of wanting to date Jason. She's lucky to be alive at all. It will be no different for Alexis. If she doesn't care about the danger, I have to, because someone has to consider the girls in all this."

"And tell me, Mr. Considerate, were you considering those girls on the night you slept with Sam? Where were the girls then, Mr. All About Your Girls, hmmmm?"

"That's not fair. You shouldn't throw back in my face what I've told you and punish me for being honest. I wanted to keep all that, and the rest of my past, a secret but you insisted on honesty. So be fair about it."

"You know I'd never try and rub your mistakes in your face. I'm sorry if you felt that way, even for fraction of a second. What I was trying to say is that....you still loved the girls but you did what you did..."

"And it was a mistake. Like Jason and Alexis are a mistake."

"That's their business. We need to mind our own beeswax." Nadine reached out and took his hand. "Its not that I don't care what happens to Alexis, of course I care. I care like mad crazy amounts of caring! But she's a big girl...let her make her choices...cause she let you make yours....remember? Me."

He leaned over and kissed her. "I remember....you."

"Don't forget."

"Never."

"Richard.....I'm gonna pray that it all works out for Jason and Alexis, that they are happy and safe, and that it all works out for us....because you might be a hard man to pin down...but I want to pin you down. I want to give you this dream come true happy ending that you don't even believe is possible, but I know it is. And I know I can prove it to you....without scheming, either. Or much scheming, at least."

He smiled. "I believe in you. That's the one thing I do still believe in."

Nadine squealed softly in happiness and climbed onto his lap, as he held the scotch away from his body so it didn't spill. She caressed his cheek. "Did I ever mention that I'm head over heels, old fashioned, forever and ever amen..." her voice fell into an emotional whisper "in love with you?"

He smiled and chuckled. "Not exactly in those words, you haven't."

"I am, Richard," she said solemnly.

"Marry me then."

She jumped off his lap. "What kind of proposal was that, you hound dog! I....I...I...can't believe you would...just spit it out like that....where's the romance?! Where's the big moment! I didn't even know you were thinking...of course I hoped you were....but I didn't know. And then you just say....oh," her voice got soft "were you serious?"

He set down his drink and stood up. He swept her off her feet and headed for the door.

Nadine cried "Where are you taking me?"

"To get you a big moment."

"Richard!" she cried happily.

He stopped and kissed her senseless. When she was finally smiling, dazed and quiet, he headed out the door. It wasn't until they were a block away that she smacked his arm and said he better go back and turn off her pot roast, cause if he ruined it he was going to be in so much trouble with her.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"I need to schedule some time with you next week," Alexis told Jason as they sat at his kitchen table, eating dinner.

"Okay."

"We need to go over what is going on with this federal investigation into your business. Diane has kept me up to date, as much as she knows, but I have the distinct impression she doesn't know everything that you and Sonny do." Looking into Jason's eyes, Alexis said "I need to know everything."

"I'll talk to Sonny. We can all sit down. Go over it."

"Rico charges are very serious. You do know, if you go down, then they all go down. From Bernie all the way to Milo and everyone in between-in for a little, in for it all. That's how it works."

He nodded.

Alexis said "So you can't go down. The girls love Milo dearly. There would be hell to pay from them should he get locked up."

"You should meet his mother. She beat me upside the head with her purse before because he got shot in the shoulder. Milo can't get arrested."

"Its cute that you fear Mrs. Giambetti more than you do prison."

"She's not Mrs. Giambetti. Maximus divorced her something like twenty years ago. Then married five more women after her."

"A real player."

"An idiot. That guy ever comes back to town and we're going on vacation that week."

She smiled. "We'll see."

Jason nodded. He could see a future with her. When it was right, it didn't take Jason Morgan long to know it felt right and it should keep going. He had felt this rightness before...and it felt too good to walk away from like he did before when he was so sure that he could live a life of misery for the greater good. This time he wanted a life that felt good....he wasn't dead yet, he was sick of living like a dead man walking.