Julian was escorted into the interrogation room. There were two cups of coffee from Kelly's on the table and his lawyer in the chair opposite the door. Her eyes were clear but she seemed mildly annoyed.

She offered a tight smile to hide it. "Good morning, sunshine. Brought you a little pick me up." Her attempt at banter almost hit the mark but for the slight edge he detected in her voice. Alexis paused for a response but was greeted with silence. "What?"

-"That was my question."

-"Look Julian. I have a full day with the girls planned, so let's just get you out of here."

His cuffed hands awkwardly pulled the chair out and he sat. "That sounds good to me."

-"Great." She opened her bag to pull out a small leather-bound notebook. "So just to review: you don't know where Ava is, correct?" Julian sat silently watching her. She shifted uncomfortably before taking her glasses off. "OK. WHAT?"

-"What aren't you telling me?"

-"Telling you? What are you talking about? Look Julian, I'm here to get you out. If you don't want my help-"

-"Why were you in New York?" She looked perplexed. "Kristina said you were in New York. Why were you there?"

He watched as a flimsy veil of insincerity masked her expression. "For our cover."

He raised an eyebrow. "Our cover? What cover?"

Alexis replied exasperatedly. "The Madeleine cover. Sam needed to know we were working to get her out of prison and obviously I couldn't tell her not to worry because you were in Asia with your boss."

-"Who is dead."

-"Thank God." She paused. "Can we get back to you, now?"

Julian brushed her off. "In a minute. So John Richter is dead."

Alexis put down her pen and tried to feign amusement. "He is counselor. But I didn't kill him."

He smiled appreciatively as he added. "No, you didn't. But there's still the matter of Luke."

Her eyes got hard. "There is. Is he OK?"

-"He's missing."

-"What do you mean he's missing? Where did he go?"

-"I'm not sure, Alexis. I tried to check on him, but he's not at Miscavige anymore."

Julian watched as she took the opportunity to turn the tables on him. "What does that mean, Julian? Is he dead? How could you lose him?"

-"I didn't lose him. He was found, apparently."

-"Who found him? What aren't you telling me?"

-"My men said a small, armed group came to extract him. That they gave him medical care on the way out."

Alexis breathed a sigh of relief. "So he's in good hands."

-"That's a large assumption."

-"Well if they were taking care of him, Julian, they clearly aren't going to hurt him." Her tone was softer. "Look. One problem at a time. We can't find him if you're in here-you're the only lead we have. So let's get you out."

Julian sighed. "They're not going to let me out today, Alexis. They can hold me for 48 hours and it's only been what-maybe 16?"

-"But you don't know where Ava is."

-"And they don't believe it." He stood from his chair. "Why don't you go out with the girls and come back tomorrow. I'll still be here."

-"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

He smiled at her, "Come here."

Alexis hesitated before getting up and walking over to him. She stopped, standing a bit too far away. He lifted his hands above his head and took a step towards her. She was surprised at the gesture as she felt his arms slide down either side of her until he was embracing her with his handcuffs at her back. She looked down, preoccupied with her very muscled prison.

-"Look at me, Alexis." She raised her head until her eyes met his. He sighed. "I never liked chess. I always wanted to throw the board across the room in frustration." She looked confused, and he realized this line of explanation would lead him to places he couldn't discuss. He paused for a beat before changing his approach and looked at her intently. "Do you trust me?"

She averted his gaze. "I trust that you love me. I trust that you love our family."

-"That was a very lawyerly answer. It's a yes or no question."

-"I trust that you would never hurt us...on purpose."

Julian winced. "But I could hurt you inadvertently?"

Alexis wanted to step away but she was trapped. She bent slightly at her knees and turned sideways as part of a half-hearted attempt to free herself. Quickly giving up, she tapped the undersides of his arms in frustration. "Up."

-"No."

She squirmed and tried to blow her bangs out of her face. "Dammit, Julian. I can't talk to you like this."

-"You can talk. You just can't walk away. There's a difference."

-"Ugh." She focused on his collarbone, which was eye-level. Recognizing he was too stubborn to cave, she spoke deliberately. "I don't think you are someone who thinks through all the potential consequences before you act. So while your heart may be in the right place or you're solving a short-term problem…" She let her voice trail off as she tried to look at her shoes, but didn't have enough room to position her head.

Julian pulled her tightly to him and whispered "OK" into her ear. He kissed her temple and lifted his arms over her head. Taking a step back, he looked into her stunned eyes: his move had surprised her. "I want you to know I love you and that what I said about waiting for you? I meant it."

Freed from her cage, Alexis stood bereft. Between the shocking loss of his nearness and his odd declaration, she felt lonely-unsure of her footing. Did he think she was leaving? Was she? Unsure of an appropriate response, Alexis just whispered, "I know."

He walked over and cupped her face with his bound hands and kissed her passionately yet briefly. "Go see your girls."

In a trance, she walked over to her bag and put her notebook away. "I'll be back tomorrow."

-"Yup. I'll see you tomorrow."

His words weren't particularly reassuring, but she needed to regroup. She felt insecure and asked in confirmation, "We'll talk tomorrow?"

-"Yup." Alexis made her way for the door and stopped at his, "Hey." She turned and lifted an eyebrow. "I trust you, Alexis."

-"Did you tell her?"

-"Why would I do that, Scorpio? We have a deal."

His former boss smiled, "So you think she's hiding something."

-"Quite the opposite. But I know that's not gonna convince you. So if you need to use me to get to her, I say game on."

Robert looked at him pensively. "What do you get out of it?"

The prisoner shrugged his shoulders as he grabbed the bars of his cell. "Look, this is your idea. I love her, you know that. I think this whole scheme is a waste of time because as soon as she finds out Ric wasn't guilty, she's not going to want anything to do with me. But for some reason, you seem to think she'll look beyond it. And as you're going to free me of the mob once and for all, why would I NOT do this?"

-"Because she's guilty. Because you'll have to turn her in or spend the rest of your life behind bars, Julian."

-"There's no way Alexis is guilty. And if she is guilty, if she's been playing me the whole time? You bet your ass I'll put her behind bars. I'm not a sentimental guy. If she fucks me over, I have no problem doing the same."

-"I wonder if you'll feel that way when the time comes."

Julian rolled his eyes. "Look Robert, this whole thing is your idea-not mine. I'm happy to figure my way out of my criminal enterprises all on my own. It just so happens that you're offering a shortcut. If you have reservations, there's the door. But you'll have to do the walking out because I seem to be locked up at the moment."

-"Nah. I'm good, Julian. We have a deal. You're a hothead, Jerome. And I'm counting on that to work in my favor."

-"Well, now that we've settled that, you should probably call Diane."

Alexis sat in a robe hovered over her phone, feverishly shooting out an email as Kristina joined her in the spa's waiting room.

-"How can you even look at that right now? All I want to do is float away."

Her mother smiled at her, "Just confirming our afternoon plans."

Kristina clapped her hands together. "God I love Davis Girl days."

Sam emerged and joined them in the room. She rolled her eyes and in one swift movement grabbed her mother's phone as she made her way to an empty chair. "Do you see that?" She nodded towards the sign forbidding cell phones.

Alexis shrugged. "I took it as a suggestion."

-"Mom. You promised us-"

-"I know, I know. I was telling Kristina I just needed to confirm some plans for this afternoon." She extended her hand as a silent request for her phone's return. Sam sat immobile. "Samantha. I'll turn it off and put it away. I promise."

Kristina watched her sister and mother in a standoff. "Mom, give me your glasses." Alexis handed them over. "Sam? Give her her phone."

-"Krissy, we discussed this," Sam protested.

-"Right, but she can't use her phone if I have her glasses. You know she can't see."

-"Um...'she's' sitting right here." Alexis made a face. "So this is the plan? Render me blind this afternoon? Fine. Keep the phone Sam, just turn it off. Kristina, I need those back so I don't walk into a ditch."

Kristina handed the glasses back to Alexis as Molly bounced through the door. Sam smirked, "Wow. This is you relaxed?"

-"It. was. amazing. I love Davis Girl days. OK. What's next?"

Sam piped in, "Shopping. That's the order: massages, shopping, movie."

-"You forgot food, Sam."

-"No I didn't, Krissy. It's a wild card. We fit it in as needed."

Alexis sat back. "The order's a little different today. We have a stop to make before we go shopping."

-"Can't we do the stop after shopping, Mommy? Pleeeaassee?" Molly begged.

-"Nope. Gotta do the stop. It facilitates the shopping."

Sam rolled her eyes. "OK, Mom. We didn't all go to Yale. What do you mean it 'facilitates the shopping'?"

-"It's a surprise. I thought that after a month of shitty-sorry girls-terrible surprises we could have a good one."

Molly and Kristina squealed, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

Sam started laughing. "OK, Ok. I give up. I could use a surprise. Just let me check on Danny?"

Alexis nodded. "Yup, let's all get dressed and then meet out front. I need a shower."

Kristina announced, "OK, ladies. Synchronize our non-existent watches. Out front in 45 minutes."

-"That's an hour in Kristina time," Molly snarked. "So we'll meet outside in an hour, but Kristina *you* get out there in 45 minutes."

-"Whatever," Kristina rolled her eyes before immediately brightening and announcing, "Davis Girls...break!"

Alexis navigated as Sam drove through downtown and into the historic section of Port Charles. She turned onto a tree-lined street before she pulled up to an old Victorian set on a hill, surrounded by a brick wall that flanked a wrought-iron gate. Alexis jumped out of the car and punched numbers into the code box, opening the entrance. Sam pulled in and Alexis jumped back into the car.

Molly was the first to ask, "Where are we?"

Alexis smiled, "You'll see."

The SUV crept up the driveway, passing a well-manicured lawn with large leafy trees. The shrubbery came up to the front of the house which was skirted by a large wraparound porch. Sam parked and they all piled out of the car.

-"Mom," Kristina asked, "Seriously. Where are we? Who owns this house?"

Alexis shrugged, "Let's knock on the door and find out."

Sam climbed the steps and rang the bell. There was no answer.

-"I don't think they're home," Molly noted.

-"Hmmm." Alexis looked thoughtfully at the a small box next to the door. She lifted the lid, put her thumb on a pad and typed in a code. The door unlocked. "Looks like they are home."

-"Huh?" Kristina was puzzled and looked at her mother, as Molly entered the house.

Sam was the first to get it. "Holy shit! Mom, did you buy a house?"

-"I did."

Where the lakehouse sprawled, the new house towered. Alexis gave them a tour, showing each her room and the room for Danny. Her enthusiasm shed the concerned looks on the faces of her daughters so by the end, they were giggling at the size of the cook's kitchen. They made their way to the only furnished part of the house: an enclosed porch. There was a bottle of champagne waiting for them on a sideboard, and a large comfy seating area that overlooked an enclosed yard with a treehouse and swings.

Molly was the first to broach the topic. "Mom, this is amazing. I mean it's gorgeous, but…"

-"But what?"

Sam stepped in, "You didn't need to buy this, Mom. There's no rush. We're fine at my house."

-"When did you even find the time?" asked Kristina.

Alexis lifted her hands in mock surrender. "OK, OK. One at a time." She sat on one of the sofas. "I've been looking, and then this came up a couple of weeks ago. It was under contract, but the deal fell through. So I had Jax get an investigator to look it over. I was going to run it by you girls, but the last few weeks have been so awful...and this is so perfect. I jumped on it."

Sam nodded. "I know but...Mom we're fine in the penthouse."

Her mother smiled. "We're not 'fine,' Sam. We're homeless. I just wanted an anchor. Somewhere we could regroup together when we needed to. With the chaos of the last six months, I wanted us to have roots. Now we do."

Molly spoke delicately. "Mom, who has roots here?"

-"We do. The only people who will ever live here or even have the code are Davis girls...and Danny of course."

-"Of course," Sam nodded. "But Mom...I'm not leaving the penthouse."

Alexis was flustered. "No, I never meant to imply that. I just...I just wanted a place that was safe so no matter how far you traveled or what risks you took there was always a home waiting for you with people who love you. I wanted us to have that." She was choking up so she took a deep breath. "I have three, strong independent girls who are smart and brave. And you will win so many battles, but you'll also lose some. I want you to know you will always have a place to rest up and fight again."

Kristina smiled and grabbed her mother's hand. "Mom, you are...amazing. And I love this house. But you didn't have to do this yourself. We don't have to rush into this."

Alexis was baffled, "Why are you fighting me on this? If you don't like the house we can just resell it…"

-"No, that's not what we're saying," Sam jumped in. "We've just been really worried about you, Mom. Between losing the lake house and losing Nikolas...and then this thing with me...I don't know how you've been doing it. We just...we want you to talk to us."

Alexis closed her eyes and relented. "I won't deny that the last few months have been life-altering. Or that there were times where I never wanted to get out of bed. But you can't give up. You can't live like it's never going to be better, because then it isn't. We needed a fresh start." She pointed to the sideboard. "Do you see that champagne? This is a celebration. We're still here. Sam, you're not in prison. Molly, you didn't blow up with our house. Kristina, you came back from school a woman. I don't know how I would have made it without you. We should drink to the fact that we're here and stronger than ever."

Molly nodded sadly. "It feels wrong to celebrate now, though."

-"I know. Tomorrow is Nik's memorial service. And then we'll have his funeral. But just for today, let's breathe before we let the sadness in again, ok?"

The were interrupted by a doorbell. Kristina took it as an opportunity to change the mood. "Our first guest! Who could it be?"

Alexis laughed. "Pizza delivery. We need to break in 'Davis Manor' right."