Many thanks to those who take the time to review and give me ideas on what it is they're interested in seeing; I take everything you say into consideration. I thank you for your patience with the posting of this story.

UNEDITED.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Noticing You, Noticing Me

Deciding to get the car from her father later that day, Sam and Jason made their way instead to her apartment. It had been days since they were alone together; they decided to take advantage of the solitude.

--- "I'm totally going to get her back for that. She seems to forget that I'm a champ in the game of revenge. Can you believe she called me an amateur?"

She had been talking about her mother since she had gotten into the car, and continued as they walked down the hallway toward her apartment. He gave her a blank look that only she could decipher.

--- "What's the matter?"

Without a word, he took the keys from her hand and opened her apartment door. While he was a man of few words and tended to listen rather than speak, he was in the habit of actually answering her direct questions. She frowned at his silence.

--- "Jason?"

He walked into the apartment, and pulled her inside before locking and chaining the door behind them. He leaned his head against the door for a moment; she took it as a sign to continue talking as she removed her jacket and snow-covered shoes.

--- "You know, she told me that she wouldn't intrude on what we have going, but I think this is just her backdoor way of—"

Jason quickly moved to her, grabbed her face and passionately kissed her. He lifted her onto the desk; she was slightly taken aback, but quite frankly enjoyed his dominance.

--- "Hey—"

He shook his head as he placed his finger to her lips.

--- "Not another word."

If she continued to talk about Alexis, he was sure his icicle would melt and quickly evaporate without sign of a puddle. He wanted Sam and Sam alone, no words, no motherly, fatherly, or sisterly woes. He did not want to talk about the business, Maxie, Spinelli, or anything outside of the two people in the room at the moment. He did not want to talk about anything; he just wanted to be with the woman he loved more than his own life.

He pulled her shirt over the top of her head, bending to kiss her shoulder, and her neck, as she groaned in pleasure.

--- "I missed you."

She straddled him as he lifted her from the desk and carried her into the bedroom. He looked her directly in the eyes and kissed her once more.

When he entered the room, he practically threw her onto the bed before pulling off his shirt. She sat up and pulled him to her by his belt buckle.

--- "You know, I think I like having a couple of days away from you."

He ran his hands through her hair as she unbuckled his pants.

--- "You do?"

She stood up as she pulled the pants down.

--- "I do. I happen to like your passion; you're like a rabid dog."

He passed his hands all over her bare top before gently leading her back onto the bed.

--- "A rabid dog?"

She nodded coyly as she leaned in to kiss him, placing her hands right where she wanted them.

--- "I think it's time to give a dog a bone."

As Alexis was getting ready to run out to do the errands she had been unable to take care of the night prior due to the snowstorm, her phone rang; it was Diane.

--- "Hi Di."

Diane smiled largely at her friend's response.

--- "Yes, Lex, I just about DIED last night—"

Knowing her friend, that phrase could go about two different ways; she decided to let Diane define what she meant.

--- "What happened?"

The fiery woman rolled over in her bed, making sure to adjust the sheets on her body.

--- "Well, thanks to the storm, chestnuts were roasting on an open fire—"

Alexis blushed on the line.

--- "So, you got your prized stallion back?"

--- "I'm snuggling next to him right now!"

--- "And you're calling me?! What is wrong with you?"

Diane laid her head on his chest as she listened to the sound of his heartbeat.

--- "Nothing; He's sleeping! I wore him out. Last night was like the night of the living dead; he came to life like Lazarus! Oh, that's his new name. The snowstorm could not touch the amount of pent up—"

--- "DIANE!"

Alexis covered her face as she listened to the woman go on and on about how wonderful the night had been. She loved Diane, but she certainly had no interest in hearing about her wild and crazy sex life of swinging on a chandelier or ceiling fan… or being tied to the bedpost, or anything of the like.

--- "Wow, um, can we change the subject?"

Diane passed her hands all over her sleeping teddy bear; she pursed her lips at Alexis' lack of interest in her night's excitement.

--- "You have something more interesting to talk about?"

She could hear her best friend's annoyance.

--- "YES! I do have things that happen in my life as well, Diane!"

--- "You do?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. She chose to ignore the woman's doubting tone.

--- "I've made a decision—"

Diane quickly sat up in the bed, causing Max to stir in his sleep.

--- "A decision? Like THE decision?"

--- "Yes!"

She whispered into the phone.

--- "Did you… you know… with the French guy? I hope you chose him because Mac has all but proven that he needs a tune-up; his stick is defunct, broken, out…of… commission—"

--- "Di—"

--- "God knows that you need a nice strong drill to penetrate—"

--- "DI!"

Diane crawled out of the bed and reached for her robe.

--- "Please, you know that I'm right!"

Alexis shook her head. Diane was just like a sister to her, but there were times where she wondered how they were friends.

--- "Do you want to hear what I have to say or not? Or would you prefer to talk about naming the bats that must fly out of me every time—"

Diane could tell that she had hurt her friend's feelings. Being a witty and sarcastic person, she tended to things that were many times misconstrued and taken to be worse than she had intended.

--- "I'm sorry, Lex; please tell me what happened."

Alexis knew her friend well enough to hear the sincerity in her apology.

--- "Well, I ended up having dinner with Mati and Mac—"

--- "Where were the girls?"

--- "Sam decided to be an ass and say every inappropriate thing she could think of at the table in order to get back at me for spanking her."

Diane covered the phone as she laughed to herself; she knew she liked her best friend's wild and spunky eldest daughter for a reason.

--- "That's my girl!"

Alexis rolled her eyes.

--- "YOUR girl? Really? Hmm, I guess I must have appeared rude by responding to 'Mom,' when she clearly meant you!"

--- "Oh whatever, Lex! That girl knows how to tell a good joke… perhaps you might want to take a few lessons from her."

--- "Okay, back to the story. So, Mati and Mac of course all but whipped out the tape measure to… you know… measure their… things."

Diane chuckled on the line.

--- "It amuses me how you're a woman of a certain age who cannot say PENIS. Embrace it, Lex. Say it!"

Alexis could feel her face burning. Growing up Cassadine, or rather in the Cassadine household, there were certain words that were never spoken; that particular word happened to be one of them.

--- "I know what it's called—"

--- "What what's called?"

--- "What you just said."

Diane was relentless.

--- "What did I just say?"

She sat on the couch and covered her face once again. If she could have reached through the phone, she would have smacked the woman.

--- "Look, my hearing is just fine! Now, BACK to my story—"

--- "Fine… you big baby."

While she was not one to back down, she hated when her friend called her that.

--- "PENIS, Diane, PENIS!"

The red-headed attorney smiled on the other line as she grabbed a goblet and her favorite bottle of wine.

--- "Isn't it liberating?"

Alexis sighed and continued her story.

--- "ANYWAY, as I was saying, they ended up arguing about who wanted me just to get me into bed…"

She knew her friend was about to interrupt her with a sly comment, so she cut her off before she got started.

--- "I swear to you Diane, if you make a comment about me being grateful to take my pick of either one because it's been SOOO long since I've been with anyone, I will come over there just to tell Max about your illicit affair with my washing machine."

Diane nearly choked on her wine.

--- "Well, seeing as you can clearly read my mind, I suppose I don't have to say anything more. Please continue."

--- "Thank you. Of COURSE Mac made another foot in mouth comment about my body."

--- "Ooh, he should seriously consider getting a DNA test on his kid because I sincerely refuse to believe that Maxie isn't his biologically; that child does not know when to stop."

--- "Pot meet kettle—"

--- "HEY! I'm just making an observation!"

Alexis could not fault her friend; Mac and Maxie certainly had a keen ability to say the worst things at the most asinine times. They were indeed a wonderful study on the nature versus nurture theory.

--- "I'll give you that. So I kicked them both out, except Mati obviously couldn't leave since his car is at the hotel—"

Diane got comfortable in her seat, she was waiting to hear her friend tell her about her wild and crazy night climbing the Eiffel Tower.

--- "He spent the night again?"

--- "No, Diane! We talked and I let him take Sam's car to the hotel. I told him that I couldn't be with him because he's too caught up with Alexandra, and she was whom he loved, not me. He doesn't know me, he's living in the past and the things that could have been."

Diane saw the way the two interacted throughout the snowstorm; it was obvious that he was enraptured with her, but for once, she could not get a read on her best friend.

--- "And what about you? How do you feel?"

Alexis sighed on the line. She knew that this was going to be a recurring question from all those who knew her and found out about Mathieu. She was confused. There was something to be said about having the first man… boy… you ever loved back in your life after having him taken from you, given birth to his child, had her taken from you, and then told that he died, return back into your life; if someone ever claimed that their heart would not be conflicted because of a circumstance such as that, they would surely be lying. But that was not reason to go back to the person. It was once upon a time when they were children.

Now, here she is, twenty-nine years later, with three beautiful girls who filled her heart with more happiness than she could have ever imagined, and a man whom she had known for nearly two decades interested in developing their relationship into something more. She saw in Mac everything that she had ever wanted in a man; she was not about to drop what could be for a man who was her could have… perhaps some would say, should have, been.

--- "I feel like I made the right choice in moving forward with Mac. You can't go backwards into the future, right?"

Diane raised her glass.

--- "Bon chance, mon amie."

Sam rolled off Jason after having spent the past couple of hours making love; while it had only been two days, she had missed him.

--- "Let's go again."

He kissed her as he let his hands wander about her body.

--- "You do know that we're going to need to get your car back from your father eventually?"

She groaned in pleasure at his touch, but grabbed his hand as it travelled down a secluded southern route.

--- "Don't bring up my father while your hands are… ooooh…"

He had used his other hand as he tapped in the security code into her gated community.

--- "Sorry."

He may have apologized, but he certainly did not stop as the code permitted him access; he passed along the path leading to his destination point. With every movement he made, she felt her feet curl and her knees bend. She pulled him to her, giving him a sultry kiss.

--- "Don't be—"

She breathed hard as she fell back into the bed. She gripped the sheets as she allowed him to work his magic; they did not call him the enforcer for nothing.

--- "No apologies necessary. You never liked to speak anyway… so… ooooh… no speaking…"

--- "Fine."

He passionately kissed her lips before following the Oregon Trail to her goldmine; there he remained until the mine shook and she pulled him back up to her, forcing him to evacuate the area before it began to flood. Just as the moment came, however, when what seemed as though only Moses himself could stop Noah's arc from emerging, her cell phone began to ring. Jason nibbled on her ear as she felt the wave come over her.

--- "Ignore it."

Even if she had wanted to answer it, she could not as her body convulsed, impairing her ability to speak. He kissed her all over her body making her senses wild.

--- "I… love… you…"

He smiled and whispered the words back into her ear as he allowed her to ride the waves that went through her body.

After a few moments, she rolled over and looked into his eyes. There was something hypnotizing about his blue eyes; it was as though looking into them made everything and everyone around her disappear. She remembered a time when those eyes drove her to the point of insanity; she would have done anything to keep them in her possession… in fact, because of them, she did things that she was not proud of as a result of the entrancing power they had over her.

--- "I'm glad we found our way back to each other. I never thought it was possible after everything that was said… that was done."

He pushed her now sweat-filled hair behind her ears. He had never felt a deeper connection with anyone than he did with her. Despite everything that they had been through, if there had been one thing about Sam that he had never received from the other women he had been with, it was acceptance; she never tried to change him. She understood everything that was going on in his mind, and never forced what did not need to be forced out of him. She took him for who he was, the good, bad, and sometimes ugly… even when the ugly was taken out on her. For that he would be eternally sorry.

--- "You are the one person I trust completely, and I am grateful to have you in my life."

Sam snuggled into him.

--- "It's amazing to me how not so long ago, I was alone. I didn't have a family, I treated myself like crap, and allowed others to do the same, but then you came into my life. You changed me. You literally completed me."

He shook his head in disagreement.

--- "No, you did that on your own. I think I may have pushed you in that direction after all was said and done, but you completed yourself and turned your life around. You got a great job, your own place, and mended the relationship with your mother—"

--- "Whom I wouldn't have found if it weren't for you."

She gave him a kiss on the lips; that was the one thing for which she was most grateful. Her family meant the world to her; she would do anything for them. Despite the problems she may have had with her mother in the past, there was never a time where she was not thankful to have her in her life. Having grown up lacking in any maternal love, Alexis' overbearing neuroticism was more than welcomed, even when it bordered on controlling.

--- I'll take that, but you completed yourself; I just gave you some of the pieces."

She nodded in agreement, realizing that he was right.

--- "Nonetheless, I thank you for setting me on the path because I'm happier than I've ever been. And now, we need to get up and meet with my dad; you have a lot of explaining to do before he finds out everything on his own."

He groaned in displeasure, praying that Mathieu was nothing like Alexis; he hoped that he did not have to go through the 'stay away from my daughter' battle, part deux. He watched as Sam got up from the bed without bothering to get dressed; he loved the confidence she had in her body. She picked up her phone and checked the voicemail, smiling as she listened to it.

--- "What is it?"

She walked to the foot of the bed and pulled the sheets from him, admiring his naked body. She would have ravaged him in that moment, but she was too giddy.

--- "Come on! Let's take a shower; I just got the best revenge for my mother."

After running several errands, dressed in a pair of old jeans, snow boots, and a sweater underneath her winter coat, Alexis decided to stop for a coffee at Kelly's. It was a miracle that she had survived the previous day's snowstorm without the diner's cup of Joe; she had made it a habit to have at least one cup from the restaurant every single day.

--- "Hey Mike!"

She walked up to the counter and gave her middle daughter's grandfather a kiss on the cheek.

--- "Alexis! How'd you do yesterday in the storm?"

He filled a cup and placed it in front of her.

--- "I was fine! Were it not for your breakfast here—"

He gave her a puzzling look as she sipped her coffee.

--- "Oh, Mac and Mati—"

The face continued. She put her cup down; clearly he was out of the loop. Usually news travelled quickly in that small town, but apparently the storm impeded the spreading of it… or Maxie learned her lesson from the many hours she spent in time out.

--- "Obviously you know who Jason is, so I'm assuming that it's the Mati character you don't know."

--- "Good guess, but I'm going to take a guess and say that all the food Mac ordered was for your house, and the Frenchman that came by not to long afterwards with the order of croissants and fruits was this Mati character?"

--- "How'd you know?"

He waved his hand around the diner.

--- "Lex, Port Charles is but so large; I know everyone who comes in here. When a man who looks like he's just had the weight of the world lifted from his shoulders comes in here ordering half a dozen croissant, fruits, and cheese, I notice!"

Alexis smiled; Mike did at some point serve breakfast to every Port Charles resident. Despite his connection to Sonny and his gambling issues, he was a great grandfather to her middle daughter, and even treated her youngest child as such.

--- "Okay, you have a point; you know all and see all! Mati, Mathieu, is Sam's father."

He was shocked by the news.

--- "Really? Wow, I didn't think you knew who he was—"

--- "MIKE!"

He covered his mouth as he realized how bad that sounded and what he was implying.

--- "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it that way!"

She took his hands into her own.

--- "I know you didn't. I've always known who Sam's father was; he was the love of my life—"

--- "So if he was the love of your life, are you sure that you're not going to string my dad along until you feel like rekindling the love you two once had?"

Alexis turned around to see Maxie standing behind her with her arms crossed. Robin stood beside her, shaking her head in annoyance at her cousin.

--- "Seriously Maxie, that was a bit uncalled for, don't you think?"

The young woman rolled her eyes.

--- "No, not at all! Mac has been single far too long, and I would hate it if he gave his heart away to her—"

--- "My name is Alexis, Maxie, and I'm standing right here—"

She turned to Mike.

--- "I'm sorry, Mike. Thank you for the coffee."

She took Maxie by the arm and led her to a far off table. Having spent an entire day with the young woman and practically biting her tongue to the point of severance, Alexis felt she needed to get to speak to her as though she were one of her own daughter.

--- "Let's get one thing straight, Maxie: I know I'm not your mother, and while I also know that you don't much care fore Felicia, and have very little respect for her, I'm not her; I expect to be respected—"

--- "Alexis—"

She shook her head, refusing to allow the girl to interrupt her.

--- "No, I'm not finished; you had more than enough time to talk yesterday, now it's my turn. I already told you that Mac and I are adults; we will do as we please, regardless of how you may feel about it. My relationship with Mati—"

Maxie was never one to listen.

--- "So you admit, you have a relationship with him?"

Robin smacked her cousin's arm.

--- "Will you let her finish?"

--- "No, she's just admitted that she has a relationship with the French frog! Aren't you concerned with how this will affect Mac?"

Alexis sighed in annoyance at the girl.

--- "Maxie, I HAD a relationship with Mati twenty-nine years ago when we were kids. Yes, we were madly in love, but again, we were kids—"

--- "So you're telling me that after all that and being separated from each other for years, thinking he was dead, he thinking that you refused him access to his daughter, only to find out that it was your parents who kept you from each other, that there isn't a little part of you who wants to rip his clothes off and start where you left off?"

She covered her face for a moment thinking about the most calm way she could tell the girl what she wanted to actually say to her.

--- "Maxie, [ahem] if Mati and I were to start off where we left off, we would have been mauling each other all day yesterday like rabbits to the point that you would have wished that we let you freeze to death outside in the cold. If we were to start off where we left off, no surface in that house would have gone untouched; the cream in your coffee would have been—"

She stopped when she noticed Maxie's mouth hanging open; that was her intended goal. She was tired of Maxie thinking that she could say and do just about anything to anyone, and the person would have no other choice but to take it. Alexis would never allow her children, even Sam (as was clearly demonstrated the previous day), to talk to her the way Maxie seemed to think that she could.

Robin smiled when she noticed her cousin's shock; she tapped the bottom of the young woman's chin in order to close it.

--- "Now, now, honey, this is Alexis, not Spinelli. Close your mouth."

Alexis covered her mouth as she stifled her laughter; she always liked Robin. She composed herself and looked at the young woman.

--- "Thank you, Robin. Maxie, aside from the other day at the restaurant, I had not seen Mati since I was sixteen. I don't have a relationship with him other than the one we share with our daughter."

--- "But you want one—"

She wanted to get frustrated with the young woman, but she knew that while Maxie was a grown woman, she was still scarred from her mother's abandonment and the toll it took on her father's heart; Alexis could not fault her for wanting to be the keeper of Mac's heart. She took her hand into her own.

--- "Maxie, if I wanted to be with Mati, I would be with him. I love Mati, that's true—"

Maxie was about to interrupt once more, but Alexis but her hand up as she continued.

--- "But, I am not IN love with him. I'm very interested in your father—"

--- "Probably in what he's got in his pants; it HAS been a while for you, hasn't it?"

Robin punched her cousin in the arm for that comment.

--- "MAXIE!

Alexis decided that it would be best to ignore the girl's comment as she would have liked to put her over her knee. If there was one thing she appreciated from her own daughter, it was the fact that she tended to know when she had pushed her to the limit… or at least she figured that much out after being taught that valuable lesson; Maxie clearly needed the crash course.

Nonetheless, she continued speaking as though she had not been once again interrupted.

--- "I'm even more interested in seeing where this thing with him is going. If I thought for one moment that my past feelings for Mati would have an impact on my "relationship" with Mac, I would not pursue this. Right now, I think Mati needs to focus on getting to know Sam."

The young woman crossed her arms against her chest as she noticed the devil walk into the diner.

--- "Well, talk about serendipitous!"

After making a very important stop, Sam walked into Mac's office at the PCPD and dropped a bag onto his desk.

--- "There you go."

He looked in the bag and smiled.

--- "Are you sure about this?"

Sam took a seat; it was strange to be there for the second time in a week and not be there for something she or Jason did.

--- "Mac, I know my mother better than anyone and more than she would like to admit. Now, I have a few things I'd like to speak to you about concerning my mom."

As much as he wanted to object, he decided against it; his daughter was probably somewhere running her mouth to Alexis, if she had not already done so. Actually, considering the havoc Maxie had caused the day before by putting her nose in Sam's business, he figured he owed the young woman a right to be heard.

--- "Alright, I'm listening."

She frowned; she was sure that she would have been met with resistance. She had even prepared a speech to counter his argument as to her right to talk to him about her mother. She was happy that he made her life so much easier… in fact, inadvertently, he had made Jason's life better as it meant a shorter amount of time her would have to sit in the car waiting for her to return; he refused to enter the precinct unless he was there for questioning or under arrest.

--- "Okay, well basically I wanted to make sure that you know that I will not sit idly by and allow you to hurt my mother—"

--- "Sam—"

She put her hand up to interrupt him.

--- "Let me finish. My mom deserves to be happy; she's been through enough crap in her life, some of which has been my fault, and I want her to be with someone who will love her despite her craziness. She's a fantastic woman with so many good qualities, and unfortunately, she has disgusting taste in men… I hope that her attraction to you isn't telling of the kind of person you are. I mean, I don't know you very well aside from your desire to bring me in here for anything that involves Jason—"

--- "I haven't done that in years—"

She pursed her lips as she looked around the office.

--- "It's only a matter of time."

He never understood what a smart woman, such as Sam, could ever see in a person like Jason. She had changed completely from the time she had come into town; he credited it to her mother's influence. He saw how happy Alexis had been when she dated Lucky; she hoped that her daughter would one day marry him.

--- "Look, you know that as long as you're connected to Jason Morgan and he continues to commit crimes—"

--- "Allegedly—"

He shook his head.

--- "Alleg—You've been around Diane for too long; you almost had me believing and saying alleged as though I really believe that your boyfriend were an innocent party."

She took a deep breath and looked at him. She hoped that this as not going to be a foreshadowing of things to come if he and her mother became serious; rules and guidelines would need to be established as she could see this causing a rift in her relationship with her mother who already made it abundantly clear that she did not approve of Jason.

--- "Mac, we're not here to discuss my relationship with Jason. Now, I could easily be one of those people who try to sabotage your relationship because I want my parents together, but I'm not. I actually see that my mother wants to see where this can go with you, and I support her one hundred percent. So, I just want to give you a few pointers on my mother."

Mac leaned forward. While he had known Alexis professionally for years, he had never known her… intimately… or personally.

--- "I'm listening."

She smiled.

--- "Okay, my mom is very complex, neurotic, controlling, obsessive—"

He cleared his throat.

--- "Um, are you trying to have me date her, or are you looking to scare me off because I've gotta tell you, if I didn't know your mother, you would have scared me off."

She knew that she had not started off correctly; she figured she would try again.

--- "Sorry! That was not my intention at all. Okay, basically what I was trying to say is that my mother likes to be in charge; she had spent so many years being controlled by her family, that now she has the need to always feel like she's in control of the matter… um, like her daughters—"

--- "So I see."

--- "Yes, so if she feels as though she is losing that control, she's going to run. She doesn't take too kindly to change, so don't try and change her. Um… she's never good at taking compliments… actually, she's REALLY bad at receiving them, but give them to her anyway."

Mac was actually shocked by this revelation.

--- "I would never have taken your mother to be someone who was humble—"

Sam shook her head and pointed her finger at him.

--- "And that right there is another problem! I need you to think before you speak. You really have this knack for running your mouth and saying things to my mother that her feelings—"

He never intended to hurt Alexis with the things that he had said; that was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

--- "I upset her?"

--- "She would never admit it, but yea, you know, when you tell her that you're shocked that she can still have children, or that she doesn't have a nice body, which by the way is absurd. My mom looks great for her age and for having had three daughters. But, she's self-conscious about her body, so she doesn't need to be told that it's not perfect. Goodness, she delivered Molly after a train wreck, and she had a portion of her lung taken out, she's got scars that she doesn't like for people to see, and you don't help by saying things like that to her!"

Mac felt horrible. He did not know what it was about Alexis that made him so nervous that he just spouted out things without thinking.

--- "I really don't know what to say—"

Sam smiled as she stood up to leave.

--- "Don't say anything unless you think about it first."

She opened the door.

--- "Look, my main point for coming here, aside from bringing you what you asked of me, was to tell you that if you hurt my mom, I will not hesitate to kill you."

She walked out of the office before Mac could say anything else to her. Some may have taken what she said in jest, but she meant every single word.

Alexis looked in the direction in which Maxie had pointed; there making himself comfortable at an empty table was Mati. She smiled knowing that he was probably there to meet Sam and Jason; she wished that she could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

--- "This is wonderful. Excuse me ladies!"

Maxie rolled her eyes.

--- "Yea, she doesn't have any feelings for him—"

Alexis gave Robin a look; the woman nodded her head. In response, Alexis smacked Maxie upside her head causing the woman to scream in shock. She decided not to bother responding to the young woman's squeal; instead, she took her cup and walked over to the man.

--- "Hi Mati! What are you doing here?"

He stood up to greet her. Even in her most simply attire, he still found her to be a vision; aside from the maturity of age, he found her to be just as stunning as she had been when he first laid his eyes on her all of those years ago.

He gave her a kiss on either cheek, but ensured to have his kiss on her right cheek linger for a moment longer as he took in her sweet smell.

--- "Alexa—Alexis, hi! I'm here to meet Samantha and her boyfriend. I bought her car; she will drive me back to the hotel because Jason has to go to work afterwards—"

Alexis rolled her eyes, but refrained from speaking. He marveled at her for another moment.

--- "You look beautiful."

She blushed at the compliment.

--- "I look like crap, but you're sweet to not admit it and lie to me. I mean, I haven't even showered yet! My heart feels as though it's going to shoot out of my throat, I don't have a stitch of make-up on, I had to come into town because I had a deadline to meet—"

He shook his head as watched her ramble; she was still the same as she was when they were younger.

--- "I think that without make-up, you are just as, maybe even more, stunning that you are when you have it on. I like to see you without the suit, and the briefcase; you look very… normal… magnificent."

She took a sip from her cup to hide her blushing cheeks.

--- "Um, thank you."

She looked up and noticed her daughter entering the diner with Jason sluggishly following behind her.

--- "Looks like our girl has arrived!"

He turned around to see the best thing he had ever created with the woman he had and continued to love; he stood up to greet her.

--- "Ma belle, ca va?"

Sam frowned at her mother sitting at the table, but greeted her father first. While she did not know a word of French, she assumed he was asking how she was doing.

--- "Hi Dad, I'm fine, thanks. Um, you remember Jason?"

He gave his daughter a kiss on either cheek before extending his hand to Jason.

--- "It's nice to see you again."

Alexis quickly drank the remainder of her coffee.

--- "Alright, I will leave you three to your lunch!"

She pulled Sam to the door, leaving Mati and Jason awkwardly staring at one another.. She wrapped her arms around her daughter and whispered into her ear.

--- "Honey, I hope you have a wonderful time with your father. I love you."

She attempted to pull away, but Sam held onto her so that she could whisper back.

--- "I love you too, Mom. Um, don't worry about the girls tonight, we're going to have a sleepover at my place so you and Big Mac can enjoy your evening together."

She wanted terribly to tell her mother what to expect of her evening, but she was certain that if she did not hear about it that night, she would certainly, the next day; she was patient.

--- "Aren't you a sweetheart?"

Alexis gave her a kiss on the cheek and cupped her face. She wanted to say something, but she simply looked into Sam's eyes; they were her father's eyes. She really was a beautiful combination of her parents.

--- "Bye, honey."

Sam frowned slightly at her mother's strange behavior, but smiled.

--- "Bye, Mom."

When she arrived home, she looked at the clock and realized that she only had an hour to get ready for her date with Mac. She did not know why she was so nervous, it was not as though she had never been on a date before. Then again, she tended to date homicidal maniacs, and apart from Mathieu, Mac would be the only person she was interested in… well, she was not interested in Mati like that anymore, but he was a mere example of two men she was at some point, or currently interested in that did not make a habit of killing people, or making a person feel like killing him (that would be Ric).

Considering how things turned out with Mati, she seemed to shy away from the good guys; she supposed it was because she felt that if she was going to get hurt, she might as well date the type whom she would assume and not be shocked to be hurt by. It hurt too much to go with the guy who purported himself to be kind and gentlemanly, but only stomped on her heart when she needed him the most.

After stepping out of the shower, Alexis' phone began to ring. She grabbed it and smiled to see that it was Mac calling her.

--- "Well, isn't this déjà vu?"

He frowned on the other line.

--- "What is?"

She balanced the phone on her shoulder as she quickly placed her robe on; if this were anything like the morning days prior, she would expect her middle daughter to walk in at any moment screaming like a banshee for the horribly blinding sight of her undressed mother.

--- "Me stepping out of the shower, you calling me."

He leaned back into his chair and smiled. He was happy that she had decided to see things out with him. They had known each other for years, yet nothing had ever developed between them. It was not that he was not interested in her, but there was always something going on in their lives that stopped one from noticing the other. There was her representation of Sonny, which he never understood; his raising of his three girls; her Cassadine family issues; his relationship with Felicia; hers with Ned; his raising his three girls; her attraction to Sonny; his raising his three girls; her mourning her sister's death; he trying to remain sane as he focused on the two girls remaining in his household; Stefan's death; her finding out about Sam; her cancer; defending her daughter's murder charges; battling Ric for custody of Molly; Georgie's death.

When he thought about everything, it seemed that her life was by far more interesting than his; but as he sat on the phone with her, he realized that even with the craziness in their lives, he had noticed her. While he was raising his girls, he saw a young goal-oriented woman who had had so much loss and suffering in her life, yet through it all remained calm and collected, raising three beautiful girls of her own. He noticed her and he hoped that she had noticed him as well.

--- "Hmm, I guess I can scratch asking what you have on right now; I have a pretty good idea—"

She chuckled on the line.

--- "You're a funny man, Commissioner, funny indeed."

--- "I try—"

--- "Now, what can I do for you?"

He laughed aloud into the phone.

--- "That's a loaded question Ms. Davis; are you sure you want me to answer that?"

She had noticed him. She noticed a man who was not only passionate about his job and keeping the streets clean of the likes she had defended, represented, bedded, and even married. She saw the unequivocal love he had for his three girls, none of whom were biologically his, yet he took in when their parents were either unable to care for them, or had been presumed dead. She noticed him.

She walked into her closet and began looking through her clothing.

--- "I suppose I don't want that… well, not now! Anyway, I'm glad you called me, perhaps now you'll be so kind as to tell me where it is you're taking me?"

--- "Sorry, but that's for me to know, and for you to find out when we get there."

--- "Will you at least tell me how I should dress?"

He smiled as he imagined her annoyingly attempting to find something to wear… that was exactly what she was doing.

--- "Just normally."

She groaned in agitation on the line; she had no idea what normal was.

--- "You do realize that I've just been told by my daughter that I need to loosen up and stop wearing power suits everywhere? That's normal to me, Mac."

He loved how he could empathize with her over their adult daughters; Maxie hated the way he dressed, and made it her business to use his credit cards to purchase closing she deemed more fitting for him.

--- "Well, if that's you, Lex, then be you. I want you to be comfortable because what we're doing, you may be very sore—"

--- "WHAT?"

--- "Well, it's obvious that it's been a while since you've done this."

She took the phone from her ear and stared at it for a moment; she was not sure if she had just been around the likes of Diane and Sam for too long that she was misunderstanding what he was saying… or implying.

--- "Um, I'm going to go figure out what to wear; if I'm overdressed—"

He knew she was getting uncomfortable on the line.

--- "Don't worry Lex;if you're overdressed, there's an easy solution for that. Now get ready, I'll be by to get you in an hour."

He hung up the phone before she could say anything more on the topic; he needed to make a few phone calls to prepare for their date.

Alexis looked at her phone in agitation.

--- "Great! That was incredibly helpful and not to mention insightful, Malcolm Scorpio. You're so useful! I see why the PCPD is so efficient! UGH!"

She threw the phone out of the closet and onto her bed. She continued to flip through her clothes.

--- "Is he serious? First Samantha tells me I need to loosen up and embrace my sexuality… and get a stripper pole, and now this fool won't tell me where exactly he's taking me. I swear, they're working in tandem to make me lose my mind. I suppose that considering the amount of snow on the ground, he wouldn't be expecting me to wear an evening gown… Well, duh Alexis, it's only four in the afternoon… And I seriously doubt that he'd be taking me anywhere where a suit would be necessary; if he did, I think I would have to stop dating him on the spot."

She pulled out a pair of jeans and a nice form-fitting sweater.

--- "This had better be suitable because if it's not, I'm going to have to force him to eat my cooking as torture for being a complete ass."

She put her chosen outfit on the bed, and began working on her hair and make-up. She decided to go for the natural look, so she applied a small amount. She pulled her hair into a nice ponytail.

--- "I think this looks rather normal? I'm quite proud of myself!"

She finished dressing just as the doorbell rang. She looked at her watch as smiled.

--- "Hmm, nice to know he's prompt."

She walked out of her room and opened the door to find him standing in a pair of jeans, sweatshirt and his coat.

--- "So, are you ready to go?"

I think I vomited in my mouth several times during the writing of this chapter. Those who chat w me on a regular basis or follow me on twitter are well aware that I am NOT a JaSam fan in the least bit. My allegiance is to Sam; I can't even say I tolerate Jason because I don't. However, since you JaSammers want him, you got him on recurring basis... Oh happy day for you.

Just PLEASE remember that this is NOT a JaSam story; it is a Sam and Alexis story on finding love (in the general meaning, not only romantic).

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next update.