"No, Samantha." Alexis said for the hundredth time. "You can not get a pet rat when we move into the lakehouse."
Sam tried giving her mom her best puppy dog look as they rode up in the elevator. When it was clear her mom wasn't going to give in she asked, "Well, what about a guinea pig?"
"No, rodents." Alexis answered as they stepped off the elevator. The moment she was in the hall Alexis got the oddest feeling that caused her to rush Sam towards their penthouse door. As she unlocked the door she glanced over her shoulder at Sonny's door. Something just didn't feel right and it was coming from his penthouse.
Sam was so caught up in trying to figure out a way to convince her mom that she needed a pet that she didn't notice that her mom was acting funny, or that the woman nearly shoved her into their penthouse. "Ok, no, rodents, so what about a rabbit? Rabbits aren't rodents. We could get a hutch, one that's heated, and it can stay outside."
Alexis sighed as she closed and locked the door behind them. "I'll think about it, Sam."
"I still don't see what the problem is about having a pet rat." Sam said as she made her way over to the couch.
"Samantha!" Alexis snapped at her daughter.
Sam looked up at her mother with wide eyes. She hadn't expected her to yell at her.
The look on her daughter's face made Alexis instantly regret snapping at her. She moved over to the couch and pulled Sam into her arms. "I'm sorry baby. Mommy didn't mean to snap at you like that."
"What's wrong?" Sam asked as she allowed her mother to hold her. She could feel Alexis' whole body tremble with tension.
"Nothing's wrong baby." Alexis tried to reassure.
Sam shook her head. "No, something isn't right, what is it?"
Alexis caressed Sam's cheek and gave her a warm smile. Sam could read her so easily, and she wondered if that were a good or a bad thing. "There really isn't anything wrong baby. I'm just feeling a little edgy, that's all."
"How come?" Sam asked.
Before Alexis could answer someone was pounding on her door. Alexis jumped to her feet as she told Sam, "Go upstairs, Samantha, and don't argue with me!"
For once Sam did what she was told without question. Something about her mother's mood told her to follow her lead, despite suddenly feeling scared and wanting to stay with her.
Alexis waited until Sam had run upstairs before going to the door. She checked the peephole and gasped. Swinging the door open she helped Kristina help Zander inside. His shirt was covered with blood, and from across the hall she could hear Sonny's raised voice along with someone else's. "Oh my god what happened?" She asked just as she realized the other voice belong to Joseph Sorel. She closed the door and locked it before helping Kristina get Zander to the couch.
"Sorel." Zander hissed as he was helped onto a couch. "He jumped me on the docks. I woke up in Sonny's place. Payback for leaving, I guess."
Alexis ran over to her refreshment table and grabbed some towels. "Kristina, call the police." She told her sister while she pressed the towels to Zander's bullet wound. "How did Kristina get involved?"
Zander flinched and hissed as Alexis applied pressure. "Sorel thought it was you. He wanted to draw Sonny out." He took a breath to get past the pain. "Sonny finally showed up and convinced Sorel to let us go."
"So they're what?" Alexis asked. "Standing over there pointing guns at each other?" She noticed a look pass between Zander and her sister. She didn't like that look. "What? What's going on over there? Zander?"
It was Kristina who said, "Sonny's wearing with a bomb."
"WHAT!" Alexis yelled.
It was her mother's yell that brought Sam back downstairs. When she hit the landing she saw Zander, her mother pressing towels to his bleeding chest, and her aunt covered in blood. She froze. "Mommy?"
Alexis' head snapped towards the sound of her daughter's voice. "Go back upstairs, Samantha!" When she saw her daughter just starting there frozen in place, her eyes wide and her face pale, she yelled at Kristina. "Get her upstairs!"
But before Kristina could move Sam dashed back up the stairs only to return moments later with the first aid kit and larger towels. She handed the towels to her mother. "What's going on?"
"Thank you baby." Alexis said as she took the items Sam brought her. "Now please, get back upstairs and stay in my room until I come get you!"
Kristina came over and took her niece's hand. "Come on little bit. It's going to be ok."
Just as the teen and little girl got to the bottom of the stairs there was an explosion. The door blew in, the whole floor of the building shook, Sam screamed as she and Kristina were thrown across the room. Thick acid tasting smoke quickly filled the air. Alexis' ears were ringing and she was coughing hard. She'd been thrown back, but once the shock and daze wore off she started screaming, "Samantha! Kristina! Zander!"
"I'm fine." Zander called out first.
"Mommy!" Sam screamed in reply.
"Over here." Kristina couched out.
Alexis made her way over to her sister and daughter. Once she found them she pulled them both into her arms. "Are you two alright?" She squinted so she could see through the smoke so she could look them over herself.
"Yeah, I think so." Kristina replied as she looked at her trembling niece. "What about you Sammie?"
Sam nodded. "I think so too."
"We're still getting you both checked out." Alexis told them as she moved them over to the couch.
"Alexis!" Jax yelled out. He'd been coming over to see them when he saw the police, paramedics, and fire department. He rode up in the elevator, which surprisingly still worked, with the paramedics. "Alexis!"
"In here!" Alexis yelled back. "In here! We have a gun shot to the chest and we were all in the blast!"
Jax rushed in, took note of the damage, but focused on Alexis and the girls. The paramedics came in behind him and went right to Zander. Everything was in chaos. More paramedics, police, firemen all came up and were going between the two penthouses. Everyone was asking questions but the only thing Alexis had on her mind was getting everyone to the hospital. Finally after one more cop asked her what happened she snapped into lawyer mode and chewed them all out, telling them they could ask their damn questions once everyone had been seen by a doctor.
While Zander was in surgery with Monica, Alan and Steve looked over Alexis, Sam and Kristina. Despite the fact that the girls were thrown across the room they came away from it with some heat blisters, bruises and cuts, while Alexis managed to sprain her wrist. Alexis, being the slight neurotic she was, had no problem when Alan said he'd like to keep the girls overnight for observation since they'd both hit their heads when they landed. Alexis, being the slight control freak she was, put up a bigger fight when he wanted to admit her as well. She needed to be able to stay with her girls and check on Zander. She was fine, she hadn't hit her head, and if something did happen she was in a hospital, she didn't have to be in a bed to be watched.
Alexis was standing in the hall waiting for the nurses to finish settling the girls into their room when she saw him suddenly appear. He stood there with his hair disheveled, his clothes rumbled, and a bleeding scratched on his face. He looked like he'd just come from having rough sex, not from an explosion he caused. The fact that Sonny was unscathed only made Alexis' anger worse. She walked up to him, her emotions playing out in her eyes like a film on a screen, and when she reached him she hit him as hard as she could with the hand that wasn't in a sling. "What the hell is wrong with you!" She screamed. "My baby was in that apartment!" She hit him again. "You set off a fucking bomb with my baby across the fucking hall! You sick fucking bastard!"
Everyone in the hall was stunned. No one had ever heard Alexis go off like that before, and no one had ever seen Sonny take it. She went to hit him again but Jax ran up and grabbed her. He held her close and glared at Sonny as if he were trying to make his head explode.
"Are they ok?" Sonny asked as he looked into Alexis' eyes as if she hadn't just been whaling on him.
Sonny's calm tone shocked Alexis enough for her to spit out, "They're fine, not thanks to you."
"Zander?" He asked, still using that calm, distant tone.
"Still in surgery." Alexis replied. She shook her head as angry tears rolled down her dust and dirt tinted cheeks. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Sonny didn't have an answer to that. All he said was, "I'm sorry."
Alexis watched in stunned anger as he walked away. She'd seen the hurt, concern, and regret in his eyes, but this had been the last straw. His erratic and insane behavior had put her child and her sister in danger. Alexis Davis was done with Sonny Corinthos.
Once she was calmer and back in control of her emotions Alexis went into the room that her daughter and sister were sharing. She went over and hugged Kristina before going to Sam's bed. As soon as she sat on it the girl crawled into her lap. "Hey my little princess." She said soothingly. "It's ok. Everyone's just fine."
"What about Zander?" Sam asked as she clung to her mom.
"He's still in surgery." Alexis said honestly. "But he's in good hands with Dr. Quartermain."
Sam closed her eyes for a moment but as soon as she did she could see Zander bleeding on the couch and the blinding light of the explosion. Her eyes flew open and her body trembled. She felt her mom hold her a little more tightly and that helped. It helped even more when her mother softly sang to her. Her mother wasn't much of singer but the old song made Sam feel safe and comforted. When she was feeling better she said, "Mommy."
"Yes baby?" Alexis replied.
Sam smirked. "I like when you sing to me, but you should keep your day job and leave the singing to Yaya and Krissy."
"You little wise cracker." Alexis teased as she laughed.
"She has a point." Kristina replied while laughing as well.
Alexis looked at her sister and then her daughter and gave off a little prayer of thanks that her girls were all right. She wouldn't know how to live without them.
As soon as the girls were asleep Alexis set about cutting all ties with Sonny. She'd gotten sucked into his world on a legal whim, and then they'd become friends, but friend or not he was not a person she wanted in her life anymore. Her and the girls were tainted by his world just by living in Port Charles; she wasn't going to be the reason they drowned in it.