Hope you guys enjoy and will continue to leave your comments and thoughts. I love them all. And thank you for enjoying the annoying Furbaby...I fear her head has grown ten sizes after realizing she is being immortalized in print...

Chapter Twelve

Sonny had been pacing for the last two hours. Normal people were asleep at this time of night but not him. No, his wife wanted to rehash everything he'd told her and had been doing so since they first started talking.

"Lily, love…I love you…but you need to stop. Your kind and generous spirit is just one of the positives that made me fall in love with you but baby, there isn't anything you can do for Elizabeth." Sonny said, trying to appeal to her more rational side.

"Don't patronize me Sonny. I thought this girl needed my help before but now…" Lily said as she turned away from her husband. Men would never understand, it just wasn't a part of their makeup. "Good morning daddy…" Lily said into the phone.

"Oh, for Christ's sakes…really Lily? I tell you something and when you don't get what you want, you turn to your father!" Sonny practically shouted. "You keep this up; I'm phoning your mother…and mine." Sonny said, trying to take back control of the situation. Mumbling under his breath, he said, 'they like me more anyway…'

Hearing masculine and feminine laughter, that didn't belong to his wife, floating through the main room of the penthouse, Sonny whirled around, realizing everyone must have heard him; he'd have to work on his whispering techniques. "Mr. and Mrs. Rivera…I apologize for my wife's…"

"Nonsense Sonny, we are always happy to hear from our girl. Now that everyone has calmed some, want to tell me what's going on?" Hernando said jovially.

"Father…" Lily tried to take control so he and her mother could understand where she was coming from but Sonny beat her to it.

"Hernando...and only acquaintance of mine, who died many years ago, his widow has come to me, asking for protection for her and her…daughter." Sonny began. "Elizabeth isn't her daughter in the conventional way but…anyway, they need protection, so I am protecting but Lily and her beautifully kind heart wants to practically adopted the girl, who is twenty. As it stands, the people who she thinks are her parents aren't and…the whole situation is a mess. I love that Lily wants to save the world, one person at a time but in this case, the young lady doesn't need us in that sense."

"She does too! What can I do to prove to you that we are better equipped with dealing with her and the many issues surrounding her?" Lily shouted, her temper getting the best of her.

"Lily, my love, I love you but you know she doesn't need us as parents. Her birth parents could want to fill the hole this has generated. For now, we need to remember she is twenty years not twenty weeks. Befriend her, shower her in love, be another woman she can trust because as of this moment, mother and father really don't have good connotations. When I know more, we will know how to proceed." Sonny offered, trying to make his headstrong wife see logic but when her heart was involved, logic wasn't her strong point.

"How do you know that the people she thinks are her parents aren't?" Agueda Rivera asked softly.

"Blood tests. Listen, I can keep you all updated to a degree but this woman's life is her own. When it comes to her safety, I am always happy to take advice but at the moment we are in the gathering phase." Sonny said with equal softness but firmly. Lily's mother was the kindest person he had ever met but when it was called for, she could summon enough steel to stand up to any situation.

"Listen to him Lily, we both know he is a kind and fair man, he will do what he can." Hernando said with finality.

Hearing nothing but a grumbling acceptance, Lily ended the call. "You know, it would be nice if they took their daughters side, once in a blue moon."

"Don't fear, they still love you, they just love me more mi Corazon…" Sonny said with his boyish smile and dimples on full display. Before either could say more, they heard a commotion in the hall. "Stay here; I'll see what's going on."

Cracking the door, Sonny saw an odd sight, four of his senior guards arguing. "What is going on?" He asked.

When four sets of eyes all turned towards him, he had a brief moment of panic but it quickly passed. If something was truly wrong, they wouldn't be in the hall arguing about it.

"Nothing…" Marco tried to offer.

"Nothing, really? It is six in the morning. Two of you aren't even supposed to be on duty yet, so I repeat, what is going on?" Sonny asked, his patience was slowly eking into nonexistence. No sleep, arguing with his wife…his threshold for anything else was almost completely gone.

"It's just…we aren't sure how to deal with a slight…hitch. I mean, I've never seen something…I mean…how can one…you know and then there is the appointment and what we should do and…it's all very confusing…you know?" Johnny said, making absolutely no sense and confusing even those in the know, more.

"I don't know, hence why I am standing in the hall of a building I own, asking!" Sonny exclaimed.

Francis, deciding he needed to take the reins, began, "Look, it really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things; it's just, Elizabeth is exhausted, she hasn't slept more than a few minutes since they got here. I guess nerves and whatnot and now…well, she's sleeping, deeply and…you see, we don't know if an appointment will help her…well of course if they can do something, it will help but see, we were kind of hoping you could use your pull with the hospital to have her appointment changed to tomorrow so we don't have to wake her from her first, restful sleep in months, possibly years…and then there is the fact that she's…well, you kind of have to see that for yourself, because it is almost more baffling, well, not more per se but…"

"Do you guys get together to ramble and see if you can say absolutely nothing in an entire conversation that leaves so many holes…What is it that I need to see?" Sonny finally asked, pinching the bridge of his nose, a habit he had picked up from Jason.

"Can you come down to their apartment?" Marco asked, keeping his comment short and sweet…

"Let me tell Lily that I'll be back…" Sonny offered, re-entering his penthouse.

"Sonny, is everything okay?" Lily asked, stepping into his open arms.

"Everything is fine querido; the yahoos have just lost their last brain cells. I need to run down to Ms. Johnson's apartment, why don't you try to get some sleep and if that doesn't work, when I get back, I'll try to turn your brain off the old fashioned way." Sonny said, waggling his eyebrows.

Her melodic laugh followed him as he stepped back into the hall and just before he shut the door he heard her reply, "Count on it amante, I guarantee it is going to take just that to shut my brain off."

"You know, I hope when I find the right one, some day in the far and distant future, we'll be as nauseatingly sweet as you and Mrs. Corinthos." Johnny said with a smirk.

The one thing to be heard as the elevator descended one floor was the sharp smack that was delivered to the Irishmen's rather large melon.

XxXxXxX

Sonny knocked softly before entering, if Elizabeth's was still asleep, he didn't want to risk waking her but as he stepped into the apartments living room, Sonny lost his breath and all thoughts.

There, in front of him, snuggled together on the couch…Jason and Elizabeth and a…cat? What the hell? "Epiphany…you said she doesn't like to be touched, did you not?" Sonny asked, shocked didn't quite cover it.

"I did and she doesn't…I don't know what…Her entire life, the slightest sound, inside or out, she wakes, startles almost…hell, that cat of hers, it likes to race around the house and pounce on things, play with toys and every noise, wakes Elizabeth…" Epiphany said, just as flummoxed as the Sonny.

"If that's a shock, Jason, he sleeps maybe two or three hours a night or every other night. For some strange reason he doesn't need as much sleep as the rest of us mere mortals. I caught him asleep in his office one day…I quietly uncapped a pen to leave him a note, the noise probably wouldn't have even registered on any device, yet he sprang up like he was in the middle of an earthquake…and not to be a busybody but Jason…I don't think he has ever slept with a woman, sex yes, sleep no…"

"So…what do we do?" Epiphany asked, glancing at the two and 1/3 on the couch and back to him but no sooner than her gaze would flit to him, than her eyes would dart back to those on the couch to linger for a time.

"I'll call Dr. Quartermaine, she'll happily reschedule Elizabeth's appointment with her till the next day and I'll see if she can help me get Dr. Drake to do the same. I can't see it being a problem but since they are both sleeping so peacefully, especially considering he was supposed to be home and in bed, that is the only reason his parents discharged him…this isn't a big problem. Maybe with some decent sleep they will both feel better." Sonny said, shaking his head, still completely awed at the sight before him.

Placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, Sonny bid her adieu. "Francis, can you stay inside…" Sonny asked as the small group of men exited the apartment.

Understanding his boss's line of thinking, he simply nodded his head and went back inside.

XxXxXxX