Chapter 2

She rolled over in bed the next morning to find his side still empty. She sighed as she reached for her robe and headed downstairs. Kristin would be up soon and she had to be in court in 2 hours. She walked downstairs and headed into the kitchen, he was nowhere in sight. She poured herself a cup of coffee before heading back upstairs to get ready for the day. She worried about where he may have gone and what was going through his mind.

His mind was spinning with the cards he had just been dealt. The news that his wife had kissed another was still sinking in. What made it worse was that she kissed Sonny, the one man he despised. The one man he would do anything to keep his family away from. Sonny's life was destructive and he feared it was only a matter of time before something happened to Alexis. He was walking along the docks when he ran into Sonny.

"Ned." He stated coolly.

He couldn't help but feel the anger rise up, knowing Sonny had come onto his wife. "Stay away from my wife."

"We have business, she's my attorney, she's my friend and we are going to see each other." He said smugly, goading Ned even more.

"You know what I mean Corinthos."

"No. I don't Ned. What are you implying?" He said flashing his dimples and laughing slightly. He knew there was more between he and Alexis. He just needed to convince her of that fact. He never did understand what she saw in Ned.

"I know that you came onto my wife. Stay away from my family."

Sonny was taken off guard by the last statement. Ned read the surprise on Sonny's face. "That's right she told me about your advances. Now, I'm telling you to back off. She's married to me and that isn't changing."

"We work together, closely. That isn't changing either, so better get used to it." He said as he walked off.

He went back home. She was sitting at the table looking over paper work with a cup of coffee. "You made coffee?" He asked incredulously.

She looked up startled. She had been so entrenched in work she didn't hear the door close. "I can and I did." She stated simply. Knowing that her skills in that area have never been the greatest.

"And it's drinkable?" He asked walking over to her and resisted the urge to kiss her hello lightly on the lips.

"Hey!" She said hitting him lightly. "I had to make it, you weren't here when I woke up." She said seriously, wondering where he went.

He tensed suddenly, not wanting to tell her about his confrontation with Sonny. "I went for a walk. I needed to clear my head after last night." He sat down next to her and she reached for his hand.

"I'm so sorry. I never should have kept this from you."

"No you shouldn't have, but we can't change that now. All we can do is try to move past this."

"How are you this calm?" She was surprised at how he was reacting. She was half expecting it to be over between them after he heard about Sonny.

"Alexis." He sighed, "I just don't see how anger is going to help us get back to where we were both happy. I'm hurt that you felt you couldn't trust me…..that you felt you had to keep it a secret. Did you think I wouldn't believe that it was one sided?"

"I honestly don't know what I thought…"before she could finish her sentence Kristen rounded the corner and climbed up on her lap. "Good morning, cuddle bug. " She said kissing the top Kristen's head as she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck.

"We'll talk later." He said as he smiled at the sight before him.

"I'll be home in time to go to Jax and Chloe's for dinner."

"Mommy, can't you stay home with daddy and me today?"

"I wish I could baby, but I have to work. I'll be home early though." She said kissing the top of the little girls head.

"You promise?"

"I promise."

She was able to keep her promise and returned home in time to head to Jax and Chloe's for dinner. She knew that she had to try harder to be on time and keep work to office hours only in order to start building back trust in her relationship with Ned.

"Thanks for coming," Chloe said as she opened the door.

"Of course. What's the big news?" Alexis asked as they entered the penthouse and said hello to Jax, who in turn passed them both champagne.

"Well," Chloe started. "We're engaged," She said letting the smile spread across her face.

"That's wonderful!"

"About time Jax finally came to his senses." Ned said jokingly. "Congratulations."

Before the conversation could continue, Alexis' cell phone started ringing and she reached for it. "Don't answer it." Ned stated coolly, causing Chloe and Jax to look between their friends, sensing the tension between them.

"Honey, you know I can't do that," she looked at him sympathetically before answering her phone. "Alexis Davis." She put her glass down and walked over to the corner of the room, touching Ned's shoulder as she did. "Sonny, can this wait? I'm out with my husband." She made a point of bringing up Ned. "I'm not on call 24 hours a day," she added, hoping Ned would overhear her trying to get out of dealing with this situation. "What do you mean they brought you in?" She sighed, listening to Sonny on the other end of the phone. "Ok. For the millionth time, don't say anything until I get there." She walked back towards Ned and looked at him regrettably. She knew after last night this was not going to help their situation. In fact, leaving the small celebration to go to Sonny's rescue would probably make things worse.

"What did Corinthos do this time?" Ned said coldly.

"I'm sorry." She looked at Chloe and Jax "I'll call you tomorrow and maybe we can have lunch." Chloe nodded and then she turned to Ned. "I need to go to the PCPD. I shouldn't be long."

"You know, Alexis, the person whose phone calls you drop everything for… That's the relationship you're in." He stated cynically. Letting anger and jealousy get the best of him.

"Ned, please don't do this now." She pleaded. Watching the concern on their friend's faces.

"Go. I'll see you at home."

She leaned in and kissed him. "I love you. Thank you for understanding." She replied and kissed him quickly again before walking out of the penthouse.

"Are you two ok?" Chloe asked concerned.

"No, Chloe, we're not ok." He sighed. "Nothing seems to matter to her anymore."

"Ned," Jax interrupted. "You know she loves you. Sonny's a client that's all."

"Whatever is going on between you two, you'll fix it. You belong together," Chloe said encouraging him.

"I wish I could be as confident about that as you, Chloe."

Later that evening, she walked in from the station, he was sitting on the couch waiting for her. She silently walked over and sat next to him. He didn't say anything as she took his hand. "I'm sorry I had to leave. I tried to prevent it. You have to know I would have much rather been celebrating with you and our friends."

"I know." He stated simply, not wanting to rehash what happened earlier and letting an awkward silence over take the room.

"Kristen asleep?"

"Yeah."

"Sooo, did you want to talk?" She asked nervously. "We started something this morning…"

He cut her off calmly. "I don't want to fight Alexis."

"Who said anything about fighting?" She asked, inching closer to him, leaning in and kissing his neck. He responded immediately to her advances. Soon their lips met and their hands were each exploring the other, slowly beginning to undo buttons, but suddenly Ned stopped and pulled away. "What? What is it?" She whispered perplexed.

"I can't do this. I can't sit here and pretend everything is ok."

"Ok. So do you want to talk? I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for hurting you."

He sighed, stood up, and crossed the room. "Alexis, I want to believe that."

It was then that she noticed the small, black overnight bag sitting by the door. "Ned." She paused, "What's going on?" She whispered, realizing exactly what was about to happen.

"I think we need some space." He said picking up the black bag by the door.

"Space? Isn't too much space part of the problem, Ned?" She asked, growing defensive.

"What's that supposed to mean, Alexis?" He said, raising his voice.

"I mean that between your tours with L&B and your feelings about my work hours, isn't too much time apart what's breaking us?" She said trying to stay in control, not turn this into yet another full-blown fight.

"Your work hours? You kissed Sonny, Alexis! Let's be honest about what we're dealing with here."

"It meant nothing. Please don't do this." She said as she reached for his arm and he put the bag down. "You're the one who said anger wasn't going to help us fix this. You do want to fix this, right?"

"You kissed him,…and then lied to me about it for weeks. I need time."

"I understand what I did, but leaving? Isn't that giving up? We swore we'd never do that."

"I don't know how to live with this. I thought I could, but tonight the coffee king calls and there you go…again."

"He's a client. That's all he'll ever be. " Her voice started to crack. "Stay. Please, stay."

Watching her break was killing him, but he knew he needed time and that staying in that penthouse was not going to give them the space he thought they needed. "I'm sorry, Alexis, but even I have my limits."

She stood in front of him. "He kissed me, Ned. It was completely one sided and it meant nothing. Nothing." She said adamantly.

"It's the lie Alexis. It's you constantly dropping everything to go to his defense."

"You have every right to be angry."

"How big of you."

"And I know I shouldn't have kept it from you."

"But you did." He stated matter of factly, walking around her and closer to the door.

"It's never going to happen again. I pushed him away. I told him that I love you. What will it take for you to believe that. To believe me."

He turned to face her again. "You know what hurts? That you didn't think I would believe you. That you didn't have enough faith in us to trust that if you came to me and said you wouldn't believe what Sonny did and told me the truth…. You said you were shocked, that it meant nothing. But somehow when it came to me, the incident wasn't worth mentioning."

"I didn't want to hurt you. I thought about it. I did. I wanted to tell you. But I was afraid, Ned. I was afraid you'd be upset."

"Who wouldn't be upset? I've got every right to be upset."

"I was trying to pro-"

"You were trying to protect yourself." He interrupted. "I see the way he looks at you and you made me think it was all in my head. Now, I've got to go. This isn't solving anything." He reached down and picked up the black bag.

"I lied. It was pointless and stupid. But I was afraid, ok." He paused and took a step closer to her. "I'm afraid I'm going to lose you. So please, stay. We can work this out." She begged inches from him. "I love you," she whispered, touching her palm to his cheek.

"I've got to go." He said pained as he turned and walked out the door, closing it quickly behind him. He paused and put his hand on the door before heading to the elevator.

Inside she let the tears finally fall. That morning she had hope that they were going to push past what happened, and now she wasn't sure where they stood. But, she was certain that she wasn't going to give up her marriage without a fight.