I'd been writing a lot of fanfic and reading a lot of fanfic since the 2024 election. There are two super hard scenes for me to watch as a Sonny/Alexis fan. One takes place on March 28, 2023 when Alexis comes to ask Sonny for help getting Kristina back from the Quartermaine's. I thought I would write an add on to that episode, twist the cannon a little. It probably won't be long. Maybe, 3-5 chapters. Glad I finally get to post it. - Amanda

When Sonny Corinthos walked up to Luke's there was a crooked closed sign on the door. He didn't like being summoned, and he didn't want to be here. The last few days had been hell for him. Carly was hurting because she couldn't get pregnant and was insisting on trying IVF. He couldn't imagine bringing a child into their lives right now while his mental health was spiraling so dramatically. He could barely trust himself to be around Carly. Sonny had to think that the urgency she was feeling had to have been triggered by the paternity test and the few weeks they thought he might be Alexis' daughter's father. Carly would never admit it aloud but she'd always had an insecurity where he and Alexis were concerned. Sonny respected Alexis, she had been his best friend, he took her advice, and when he and Carly divorced his feeling for Alexis had grown into more. Living in limbo and not knowing if Alexis could give Sonny the one thing she hadn't been able to, a baby, had fueled her into wanting to be a mother again.

He banged on the door again, pacing. Why wasn't anyone answering? Then his mind drifted back to Alexis. He thought about, had dreams about their night together more than he would care to admit. The way her skin felt against his, the way he needed her more than he'd ever need another woman and he wished that they could have just stayed on those black satin sheets and kept the world far from them. How safe he felt, how he'd never slept that well in his whole life until the night she was in his bed, and how he promised her that everything would be okay and wasn't able to keep that promise. It was one thing that they'd lost the chance to pursue a romantic relationship that had been just under the surface for so long, but they'd destroyed the friendship that they built together for three years. She couldn't have come to see him at a worse time yesterday. It was the worst episode he'd had in a long time. He knew he needed help, maybe even medicine, counseling. He felt like he was drowning. He took it all out on her. He'd only raised his voice at her like that one time before, a time that he was ashamed to even speak of. She was hooked up on a baby monitor and he told her he would break her. Sonny could see the brokenness in her eyes yesterday. He meant what he said. He knew her too well to believe that she was crazy or was suffering from DID. He could have listened though. She had always protected Michael for him. He'd accused her of trying to persuade him to trade Michael for her daughter, whether newly minted enemies or not, he knew she would never ask. She'd left in tears. It broke him on the inside. In the past, she may have let him see her vulnerability, but she would've never shown emotion like that in front of Carly. Yet, she did. Damn, everything was such a mess.

Finally, the door creaked open.

"I'm gonna need a password."

"You demanded my presence here, Luke. Don't play games with me or I'll leave."

Luke Spencer opened the door gesturing for him to come in. He followed him over to the bar and sidled up to it on a stool, meeting his gaze with frustration.

"What do you want?" He asked bluntly to the man who had once been his partner.

"I need you to help me help an old friend – of both of ours actually. Scotch?"

Sonny nods. "An old friend?"

Luke dropped some ice into a glass for himself and slid a glass of amber liquid toward Sonny whose fingers were already tapping the wood of the bar.

"Luke, what are you talking about?"
He leaned forward, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"My favorite Cassadine princess is drowning, my friend, and I think we both owe her."

"Alexis?" Sonny exhaled.

"That's the one …"

"Alexis doesn't want my help right now, Luke. I can promise you that."

"Huh. Then why did you throw her out of your penthouse last night? She wasn't asking for help then?"

"Luke. Come on. Alexis and I aren't even friends anymore … you know that. Wait. Who told you that she was at the penthouse last night."

"My niece."

"Carly told you?"

"She's not a big fan of Natasha's as you know, but for some reason she was concerned about baby Kristina …"

Sonny looked down at his drink as it could burn away all the guilt he was feeling. He threw back the remainder of his drink. Swallowing hard.

"Do you know why that might be?"

Sonny shook his head.

"Uh, no."

"Well, she thought I might be of some help to your former mouthpiece, your best pal, you know the woman you've been inseparable from for the past two years, and who I might add has kept your ass out of jail more times than I can count …"

"Get to the point, Luke. I don't have much patience these days."

"Carly mentioned that."

"Did you find out what was wrong with the baby? I mean, I'm not really sure how I can help Alexis or why she would want my help. She can't even stand to hear my name."

"That's interesting." Luke said, taking another swig of his drink.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, she sure was saying your name enough when I found her last night …"

"Found her where?"

"The Quartermaines."

"I thought she wasn't supposed to go to the Quartermaines didn't Ned and Skye get some kind of restraining order to keep her away from her daughter?"

"So you have been paying attention …"

"I hear things."

"I went to see Blaze. Thought I might get a sneak peek at Natasha's little girl."

"And?" Sonny pushed his glass back over to Luke, indicating he needed more.

"And I found my former partner in crime, sitting on the front porch in the rain, mumbling incoherently about – you."

"Why was Alexis … why was she …"

Sonny heard a small noise, in fact he thought his ears were deceiving him, the smallest sniffle, but he knew it was real when Luke turned at the same time.

There in the very back of the bar at a table in the far corner sat Alexis Davis. Her hair wavy and wet, a scratchy throw blanket that Luke used when he slept in his office pulled around her shoulders, and there was steam rising from a mug he knew she hadn't touched.

Luke's voice once again dropped low, for Sonny's ears only.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?"

Sonny was in shock. Even when she showed up at his penthouse the day before, her eyes watery, her body weary, he'd never seen her look this completely wrecked, lost. Alexis was staring straight ahead as if her mind was far away and her gaze fixed on someone she longed to see.

Luke cleared his throat.

"Let me give the both of you some space. I'll be in my office if you need me."

Sonny stood walking slowly closer to his former attorney and friend. He looked at her closely. She was still wearing the same grey sweater and black and white scarf she'd had on when she came to his penthouse yesterday. Only, now she was soaked and dripping with water. Her hair which he knew she paid handsomely to have blown straight was now wavy around her face as he knew it would have been if they'd ever gotten the chance to take that swim in Puerto Rico. Two years ago, but it seemed like forever now. She was shivering, but she didn't seem to notice or she didn't care. Knowing her as he did it was highly likely that if she thought her daughter was suffering without her, then she felt content to share in that suffering. The blanket Luke had given her was slipping from her shoulders, and she hadn't taken a sip from what looked to be a mug of hot tea. When he stopped moving, he was one table away from her. Her eyes still held that haunted look from yesterday, as if she could only see her daughter even though she was miles away. Nothing else mattered to her. He knew that she would do anything for her daughter, anything. Her encounter months ago with Luis Alcazar had proven that.

"Alexis," he called softly. "Alexis, it's Sonny. Luke called. He said you were asking for me, I think …"

Her eyes remained forward, her face giving no reaction, and if he hadn't been studying her so carefully he might have missed it - just the tiniest tense and straightening of her shoulders as if she felt betrayed by Luke for sharing the ramblings he'd heard when she was distraught and in pain. The kinds of things she and Sonny used to trust each other with when they were close.

He inched closer, pulling the blanket a little higher to once again cover her shoulders.

"You're freezing. Maybe we can move to a table closer to the fireplace."

She said nothing. Sonny took a deep breath and prepared to do something he didn't do very often. Apologize.

He sat down in the chair across from her. Her eyes still fixed tightly on a point only she could see.

"If you're not ready to talk, maybe you could just listen for a minute."

"Yesterday, when you came to see me. I was in the middle of breakdown. Not just an anger episode where I drink a little too much, and chuck a few glasses of expensive crystal against to watch everything that's shattering inside of me … be forced outside of me. I'd been drinking, yeah, but I was down in the pit again Alexis. I have been for a while. I would never be able to fully admit this to Carly because she'd probably just make it into a fight, but this - this has been spiraling for … I felt it coming since … since I went back across the hall that day. When you told me to go be with my wife. When I realized as much as we talked about being honest with one another and protecting the relationship we built, that it was going to crumble. Pieces of me have been shattering at falling into the pit since you resigned … moved away … since we became all harsh words and trying to burn each other down. The n-night we made love. I felt so peaceful and happy. For the life of me, I'll never understand what the both of us ever did to deserve to be hit so hard by - by …" Sonny froze for a moment almost unable to say the words because he knew they reminded him too much of Alexis' sister and that bomb had been the explosion that made sure everything would remain rubble. There would be no rebuilding. " … by the universe."

Alexis didn't move her body, but she became present in her eyes again. Her dark gaze focused on his own. She was listening.

"After the funeral, I came home, and I believed every word you said to me. Carly said you were ranting out of grief, but I knew it all was true. When I yelled at you in your hospital bed, threatened to expose your weaknesses, to break you, it was like I was hovering over my body watching someone else, Alexis. I went on a two day bender in my penthouse. Drank myself to sleep both nights. I knew how much you loved your sister. I felt honored that you came to me, trusted me to protect her, and we went through that together, you know. You getting to know her again while helping me be a brother to a sister I never knew I had …when Courtney came to town." He stopped, dropping his head down. She just waited in silence.

"I think there was something inside of me that just tore when the paternity test came back. I wanted Kristina to be mine, and then, she wasn't. We were ripping each other to shreds. You were coming after me in the press. I always knew you were the best lawyer I'd ever seen, but I wasn't prepared to be on the other side of that fire, that prowess. Then, there you were yesterday, storming past my guard like you still lived across the hall, asking Carly to go upstairs so we could talk … I'd done it for you myself so many times in the past. Alexis, Carly isn't pregnant. She wants to be … the doctor is unsure if we can have a baby after the fall she took when AJ pushed her down the stairs, and she lost our baby. She wants to try IVF. I don't want to bring a baby into the darkness that I'm in right now. That's what we were talking about when you walked in."

He saw her eyes water a bit. Was it empathy? Was it the memory of how harsh he'd been to her? He couldn't be sure.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you. I shouldn't have lost my temper. I'm in a bad place. I didn't want you to see me like that. I didn't want to be reminded on top of everything else that this is where we are now … that you have to be scared to ask me for help and that there would ever come a time when I would rage at you in that way." He gently lay his hands on top of hers, but she slowly pulled them from underneath the weight. Sonny shook his head.

"I'm so sorry. I just wanted to tell you that. To tell you that after you left Carly asked me how I knew that you were lying about the DID. I couldn't tell her that I still know you. That I can still look in your eyes and see what you're thinking and feeling, but I did tell her one truth or at least I thought it was a truth at the time. I said that I knew that you were afraid of losing your child, but that you weren't afraid of losing yourself. That you don't fight every minute to keep from sliding into this bottomless pit. That you don't know what that's about. That I would've recognized it. But, Alexis, please, please look at me …"

He waited until she took her eyes off her hands and met his gaze again.

"I was wrong. I see you sliding now. And I'm so very sorry."

"I shouldn't have come yesterday. It was a mistake." She whispered, her voice shaking with the slight chattering g of her teeth.

"You should - you should be able to come to me. It's why this is all so fucked up. Don't you get it? How did we even get here?"

She sighed, fiddling with the edges of the blanket and pulling it tighter around her. Her eyes still empty and bruised with exhaustion.

"If - if anything happens to me, I need you to make sure Kristina is safe, happy, that she manages to have a good life …"

He was confused and a bit shocked by her words, but he felt the despair and the hollowness in them forever.

"Alexis –" He took one of her hands in his and this time she didn't immediately pull it away. "Ned won't have Kristina forever. This is temporary."

"I might not always be here and …"

"Alexis, where are you going? Hey, what are you talking about …"

"I just don't want to live like this anymore, Sonny. I've tried so hard. I've lost my mother, Chloe, my sister, Stefan, you …" she added so softly he almost didn't hear her, "My daughter was the one thing keeping me from being completely alone. I can't – I can't – keep going like this …"

She let herself give into the tremors from the combination of the cold and what she just admitted to outloud. She was in a darker place that he believed her to be … much darker …

"Please don't talk like that. This isn't you. You're just going through a hard time. It'll be –"

"No, no." She said, shaking her head. "You're never allowed to tell me that things we'll be okay ever again."

For a moment he was back in that bed with her, the one with the black satin sheets with all the candles lit around the room. It was the night that he asked her if this is what she thought would wreck things between them. The night he made her a promise he didn't keep.

"She's better off without me."

Sonny felt his own eyes begin to water.

"You know that's not true."

"Do I?"

"'Lexis, can you tell me why you went back to the Quartermaine's after you left my house. Why were you sitting out in the rain when Luke got there?"

Sonny listened as she took a deep breath, staring out the window, into the night as if she were remembering it all.

"Earlier, before I got up the nerve to come and see you, I'd gone to my scheduled 30 minute visit with my daughter. Only Ned was in some ELQ meeting, and he left Skye in charge. She said Kristina was sleeping and that I would have to come back. I asked if I could just look in on her. She refused."

Sonny saw the pain in her eyes and knew that anger was boiling in his own but he pushed it down.

"But Kristina woke up crying and when Skye brought her downstairs she was warm when I held her, not just warm from sleeping, but she had a fever. She was pulling on her ears. Skye insisted I leave. I was upset, and she said that even though Kristina had been asleep during my scheduled time to visit her. I still had to go. She was reaching for me and crying. And that - that bitch wouldn't let me hold me baby." Alexis wiped at her eyes, turning back to him.

"Ned came in then and said for me to leave, that Kristina was upset and I needed to go … I could come back next week at my court appointed visit. I told him she needed to see a doctor. He said there were plenty of doctors in the house and he would have one of them look at her."

She put her face in her hands, gathering herself.

"It's the first time she's ever been sick since she came home from the hospital. I watched her fight for her life for weeks in the NICU. Barely 2 pounds when she was born early that night Alcazar left me in the snow. It was a month before I could even hold her for the first time. She had heart surgery when she was so tiny. I'm her mother. I just wanted to be with her. Her poor little ears. She was reaching for me, Sonny. They wouldn't let me hold her."

She finally took a sip of her tea. He knew it was more of a stall tactic than a longing for warmth.

"That night after you kicked me out of your penthouse, I went back. I just thought if I could be close to her somehow. Ned was walking her around the house, trying to soothe her. Every time he came into the foyer near the door I could hear her crying in pain. So, I just sat there, my back against the entrance, crying with my daughter, and letting the rain pour on me. When Luke showed up, I made him promise to go inside, to check on her. He finally convinced me to come here."

"You were asking for me?"

"Not exactly."

"Then, what Alexis?" Luke said you were saying my name.

"I messed up, Sonny."

"Alexis, you killed Alcazar in self defense. While I hated that you let Brenda and Jason have to go through a trial for something they didn't do, I wouldn't have blamed you if you had stabbed him on purpose. He put that bomb in my warehouse. He threatened your baby."

"No, that's not what I meant."

"What?"

"That's what I was saying when Luke found me at the Quartermaine's in tears. Over and over like a mantra. I messed up, Sonny. I messed up. I messed up, Sonny."

"How did you mess up, Alexis?"

"I tried. I tried to tell you more than once before I moved. But the first time, Carly answered the door in just your shirt. The same one … she wouldn't let me see you. Then, you had Jason beat up Zander. I have never felt more vulnerable, humbled, and maybe a little bit ashamed, but I pulled myself up, and I drove over to your penthouse. I tried to tell you."

Her words rang in his head. Sonny, we need to talk about Kristina …

He'd been too lost in his own pain to listen.

"Tell me what, Alexis?" His breathing was coming quicker, his heart starting to race.

"You just kept screaming at me …"

"Alexis, what were you going to tell me?"

Alexis leaned forward, cupping his face gently in her hands.

"Sonny, look at me."

For a long time she didn't say anything. They just looked into each other's eyes.

Then she spoke softly, her voice still hollow, but sure … "You knew how much I loved my sister. You knew how hard I fought to keep her safe. You knew that I would never, ever do anything to purposefully hurt her. You knew."

He tried to shake his head free, but she held firm.

"Somewhere inside, you knew …"

"Ned said … the paternity test …"

But he'd never heard the words come out of Alexis' mouth. She'd never corrected Ned, but she'd never said the words.

Suddenly her trembling hands were gone from his cheeks, and she slid a manilla envelope, damp but not ruined, over to him.

"Open it," she whispered.

His own hands shook as he opened the envelope. He could barely pull out its contents.

First, there was a thin piece of paper almost like a receipt that had some numbers on it and on the bottom it read, Quantitative Blood Pregnancy Test: Positive and there were a handful of sonogram pictures. First the baby looked like nothing more than a blurry peanut, then in each photo more and more like a beautiful, healthy growing baby, and he shook his head, emotions overcoming him as he read the top of the last thing in the packet. A document. The header read – Birth Certificate State of New York. He continued to read. Kristina Adela Corinthos Davis. Mother: Alexis Davis. Father: Michael Corinthos, Jr. He dropped it onto the table, staring back at her. Her face now covered in tears, a mirror of his own.

She expected him to be angry. Expected him to lash out at her, but his first words in response were gentle and filled with emotion.

"You named her after my mother?"

She nodded, slowly.

"I knew how much she meant to you."

"I have a daughter."

"We have a daughter, Sonny."

"Ned …"

"Ned has always tried to control my life. It's why we never worked, as you know. He thought he was helping. He knew how scared I was to bring a baby into a world of danger. After you left, I slapped him. Told him he hijacked my life. It's the lie that killed my sister. She went to your warehouse to tell you that day. After she died, he wanted to take revenge on you. He slowly saw Kristina as not my daughter who he was helping protect, but something that belonged to him. Something he could take from you like you took his fiance. I told him that he was taking rights that weren't his … I went to tell you …"

She choked on a sob.

"I messed up." She said, "If only I had told you from the beginning …"

He knew he had a choice at this moment.

"I knew you would sacrifice yourself and put my happiness first. I know you. You thought pushing me toward Carly would make me happy. I should have fought for you. We both messed up, Alexis. But we can both do what's right for her now."

"I had my license suspended. I was tried for murder. I lost her to him. He won't let me near her. "Only you can get her back now, Sonny. I told you, she's better off without me."

He pushed a curl behind her ear, letting his hand linger on her head.

"Please, don't say that."

He knew she'd given up on herself, and that he was any part of that hurt him more than anything.

"Listen, I need you to trust me. I know you have no reason to trust me the way you used to, but if you can just give me this one chance to prove –"

"I have to …" She whispered.

"Okay. I'm going to go talk with Luke and make a few phone calls. Let me put some things into motion, and I promise you, you will have our daughter in your arms by midnight tonight. And no one. Not Skye. Not Ned. Not even me. No one will take her from you again."

"I promise." He repeated, squeezing her hands in his. He pulled her up with him, placing a small kiss on her cheek.

"Come sit by the fireplace? Okay? You don't want to get sick."

Alexis let him guide her to a chair by the fireplace, keeping eyes low as to not glance toward the painting of Helena that Luke enjoyed throwing darts at from time to time.

"Listen, I'm going to hold up my coat, close my eyes, and I want you to put it on and let me button it up for you. You cannot stay in these wet clothes."
She did what he asked, no arguments. No, I'm fine.

He was scared this might have been the pit Alexis couldn't crawl out of, but he felt some of the darkness he had let shadow him, lifting. He was finding purpose in helping Alexis, in finding out he had a daughter that needed him.

He buttoned each button one by one and helped her sit back in the chair, she looked small and fragile. Sonny ran his hands up and down her arm to soothe her and bring some warmth back into her body.

"I'll be back in a bit."

She simply nodded, staring into the fire.