He was going to tell her.

Alexis and Julian stayed silently entwined. She was exhausted. Her battles with the PCPD, Sonny and Julian had depleted her reserves, and she was reluctant to abandon the embrace until she had drawn enough strength for the final act in the tragedy that had been her day. Julian was using the time to shore up his courage, as he planned his best course of action. The facts he was about to impart would leave only a hairsbreadth chance for her sympathy or understanding. The telling would be as critical as the story itself.

She was the first to grudgingly withdraw, recognizing that at some point she would need sleep for tomorrow's war. Alexis moved to the couch and sank in, pulling her knees to her chest. Julian took a deep breath before moving to the single chair where she sat earlier. He wanted her to have the room she needed to react, and he needed a tactical position with easier access to the bar.

-"Before I start, Alexis...It's a long tale. Are you sure you want to do this tonight?"

-"Yup. I don't trust that you're not going to change your mind overnight. We do this now."

Julian looked at the large brown eyes that were his rapt audience. "OK. So here are the rules."

-"Rules?"

-"Yes. Rules." He paused before realizing he was uncomfortable sitting and stood to pace in front of the table. "This isn't going to be as simple as giving you a name, Alexis. You need to let me tell you in my own way. I know you're going to have questions, but can you save them until the end?"

-"Yes. Although you realize you are forcing me to act against my lawyerly nature."

He smiled ruefully and then went completely serious. "I promise you Alexis, I will answer every question you ask me tonight truthfully."

-"No more lies? Omission or otherwise?"

-"Nope." He'd made that decision on the spot. This slow death by a thousand cuts was dooming the relationship. Had he won her back yesterday, he'd just be trying to do it again in a week when the next lie was peeled away. If he was going to spill, he was going to spill all of it and desperately try to rebuild later. It's why he couldn't bear an interruption: he knew every word he said could lose her to him forever and if he had time to think, he's stop before he even got started.

-"Whenever you're ready then, Julian."

Julian moved over to the couch, surprising her as he grabbed her hands and sat down beside her. "I need you to understand the decisions I've made Alexis, and I cannot do that unless I put this in the proper context." She was surprised and nodded in assent.

He continued. "I love my family, Alexis. And I know when I say 'family' it implies a blood relation. Lucas, Sam, Danny—they're my family. Nothing can change that. And then there's you. I love you, Alexis. I haven't said that very often in my life and I know I've barely said it to you. Because I think you always understood where I stand."

-"I do, Julian. I know you love me," she said quietly.

-"Right. But I still need to say it. Because I don't want there to be any question on this later. I love you, Alexis. And not just in a 'the sex is amazing' and 'you make me happy' way. I love you in the way that makes me want to be better. You challenge me. You don't let me rest on what I've already done. No one has ever let you take the easy way out, and the fact that you can sit here today and still give your heart to anyone is a miracle. But you chose me. And that is a gift that I will never believe I deserve but I will always try to. When I talk about my family, I'm talking about you because you're in my blood. Please tell me you believe this. That you understand this."

Alexis hadn't realized how tightly she'd been squeezing his hands throughout his declaration. She rubbed her thumbs along the back of his hands. "I understand."

Julian kissed the back of her hand as he let go and stood and moved to the other chair. The proximity to her was a reminder of what he had to lose, and he feared he would crumble and break yet another promise—one that was barely 10 minutes old.

-"I've made a lot of decisions, Alexis. And they haven't all been great ones. But they were driven by two things: I was afraid that my boss would kill you or Sam or Danny or Lucas. You all made me easy to control."

-"What's the second?"

He sighed. "That you would hate me. That you'd decide loving me was a mistake and that you'd walk away."

-"So why are you telling me now?"

-"You need to know. We can't help Sam if we're on different wavelengths. And because…it's going to come out. I can try and win you back, but each lie pulls you further away from me. The only way I can ever hope to have you back in my life is to have you be able to trust me again. And I have to earn that."

The room was quiet. "Julian, I get it. So let's do this. Let's rip off the band-aid. Who is your boss?"

He looked at her and sighed, "Honestly? I don't know."

Alexis buried her face in her hands. "Forget it, Julian. I'm tired. It's been a long day. I don't have the time or the energy for this—"

-"I thought you told me you were going to let me finish."

-"Is there something to finish?" She looked up to see him staring at her. He raised his eyebrows. "OK. Sorry. Proceed."

-"I was in witness protection for about five years when I first met my boss. It went pretty much like I told you it had in the past. He told me his name was John Richter."

-"That name doesn't ring a bell."

-"Alexis. Please. No interruptions, remember." Chastised, Alexis tucked her feet beneath her. "Sorry," she mumbled.

-"I didn't recognize the name but he looked really familiar to me. Like I'd met him somewhere before but I couldn't place it. It wasn't until we talked about moving into Port Charles that I figured it out. Well, I mean I didn't so much as figure it out as he told me. He looked familiar to me because I'd seen him in photos when I lived in Port Charles. He was a local legend when I lived here, though I never met him."

Julian interrupted his narrative. "Alexis, this next part is going to take some explaining. I just…I just need you to know that."

Alexis felt a tingling in her spine. "OK."

-"My boss had the same exact face as Luke Spencer. Like, identical. Except he wasn't Luke Spencer. He just had his face and his voice. That's when I found out that John Richter was just an alias. I don't really know what his actual name is."

He stood up and moved behind the table. This was the part he dreaded most—Alexis was friends with Luke and wouldn't take it well. "Do you remember last year when Luke was rescued from Miscavige?"

She sat very still, eyes wide. "Yes."

-"Luke Spencer didn't leave with Scott Baldwin. John Richter did. He's been playing the part of Luke ever since. That man. That's my boss."

Alexis still hadn't moved. The room was quiet. "Can I…can I talk now?"

The feeling of unburdening himself of the weight he'd been carrying did little to elevate Julian's mood. Any elation he may have felt was erased by a new weight: dread. "Yes. You're up now."

Alexis stood and started pacing the room. "I just don't believe it Julian. Luke Spencer can't be your boss."

-"He isn't"

-"I mean he can't be the Luke that I've seen the last six or seven months. He's my friend, Julian. I'd know. And even if he managed to fool me…Lulu? Tracy? There's no way he can fool Tracy, she'd know."

-"He has been off lately."

-"Yes. But that's Luke. He's frequently strange and off. I mean he called me 'Natasha' Julian. NO one calls me Natasha. How would he know that?"

-"He had a source. Someone he could get information from."

-"Who? Who knows that?"

-"The actual Luke Spencer."

Alexis took a few beats. She'd been so focused on how Richter could have impersonated Luke Spencer, she forgot about the name's real owner. "Wait. Where's Luke? God, Julian. Is he alive?"

-"I think so."

-"What do you mean 'you think so'?"

-"Look, Alexis. My boss hasn't exactly been willing to share with me lately. I'm not his most trusted employee. But I do know when he first arrived, he mentioned keeping Luke around while he needed him."

-"What happens when he doesn't need him?"

Julian looked at her. "I'm assuming he kills him."

-"So your boss…if we expose him, Luke will die?"

He jumped in. "Alexis, we can't tell people who he is. He won't just kill Luke. He'll kill Molly, Sam…everyone we love. We can't tell people about this, Alexis. No one."

-"What about Ric? What do we tell Molly?"

-"Nothing, Alexis. Ric is dead. We can't do anything about that. I'm not willing to sacrifice a member of our family to clear a corpse's name."

Alexis winced at the characterization of her ex-husband. But Julian was right. "So this Luke wannabe is your boss. Let's go through this again, and I need all the details, Julian. Don't leave out anything."

Julian spent the next hour walking her through his history with Richter. From the first meeting, to the decision to sell drugs in Port Charles, to the plan to take over ELQ, to finding his boss hovering over a comatose Lucas with breathing tube in hand. He left no stone unturned, detailing the organization. At the end of the conversation, Alexis had a healthy appreciation for the threat they all faced. She felt a twinge as she connected the timing of the increased violence with her decision to submit to her feelings for Julian, but her mind was busy sorting and arranging puzzle pieces and was not inclined to indulge in a period of self-reflection.

-"So I know what we know. Let's just make sure we're clear on what we don't know."

-"Sure."

-"We don't know Richter's real name or why he hates Sonny. We don't know why he chose Luke's appearance or where the real Luke Spencer is. We don't know where the fake Luke Spencer is right now. And we don't know why he's holding Sam's freedom hostage."

-"There's probably more we need to know, but those are the key gaps, yes."

Alexis looked at the clock. It was a little after 3 am. Her brain was wired, but she needed some sleep. She was going to have to fight tomorrow to prevent the PCPD from filing charges, and failing that to get bail for Sam. She would need her wits about her, and anything else could wait at this point. Well, almost anything.

-"Julian. This is important. Have you done anything lately that your boss is pissed at you for? Are you meeting with him anytime soon?"

-"Nothing Alexis. Well, other than killing Mickey. But he seems to be letting that slide for the moment."

-"Or he's not and that's why Sam is in jail."

-"Maybe. But I think we're in the midst of a détente. He knows I have a limit now. I don't think he's holding the gun as retribution—I think it's for something he hasn't asked me to do yet."

-"Promise me something—if there's a request or a deadline, come to me first. Don't do anything on your own. Let me get our girl home first and then we'll deal with this threat."

-"Alexis, if I tell you about a crime that's going to happen, it will implicate you."

-"You're kidding right? Julian you just outline a massive criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, drug dealing, murder and God knows what else. I'm already guilty of participating by not saying anything. The only thing you can do for me now is NOT waste this sacrifice by holding something back."

Julian walked over and put his hands around her face. "OK. I promise, no more secrets." He was too afraid to kiss her lips, so he focused on her forehead, trying to reclaim those moments of connection they had the night before. But Alexis didn't sink into it, instead she sighed wearily and withdrew. "Julian, I'm tired. I need to go to bed."

He nodded and stepped away. "Is there anything I can do? Alexis, I don't wait well—I'm not built for it. I know I said I'd do nothing for three days but…" His thought drifted off.

Alexis gave him a slight smile, "No. You are not a patient man. I'm going to be spending the better part of tomorrow fighting to get Sam home. So there are two things you can do for me."

Julian perked up, happy to be given an assignment. "First, I don't want this apartment empty. I don't trust that whoever stole that gun isn't going to break in here and plant evidence. Can you stay here? Or at least make sure it's covered by people that aren't Richter's?"

-"I can do that. What's the second one?"

-"Well, I don't know that you can do both. The best thing that could happen for us is that we have an alibi for Sam." She looked a Julian hard: "A REAL alibi, Julian. But again—"

-"I know. I can't use my boss's men."

-"Yup. And we can't buy one. I need an actual person who saw Sam at the lake house." She mumbled, "And it would also be very helpful if the gun didn't appear tomorrow." She started to make her way up the stairs. "I'm off to bed. You can stay…on the couch if you want. I know it's late."

Julian wasn't sure if he should be hopeful at the invitation or crushed by the casual way it was issued. He needed more. "Normally, I'd go home Alexis, but I don't like the idea of you being here alone."

-"Me neither. Let me get you some linens for the sofa."

-"I'll be fine. I'm suddenly so tired, I could sleep standing up."

Alexis went up the stairs and grabbed a pillow and blanket. She thought back to the last time a mobster slept on the couch in this apartment. And then she smiled, realizing that Sonny probably wasn't the last one—she was fairly certain Jason had earned a few nights on the furniture during his marriage to Sam. Alexis wasn't sure why she found it funny; she chalked it up to a lifetime of trying to find humor in the darkest of circumstances.

She descended the stairs to find Julian shirtless and held the bedding to him in outstretched arms. Julian took the offering, letting his fingers linger over hers. "Thank you. Good night, Alexis."

Alexis felt a flush and moved quickly before he saw the telltale sign of how he affected her. "Good night Julian."

Great. Now she was never getting to sleep.