"You have another sister?"
"I did she died, giving birth to Jillian." Jax went pale and Alexis realized for the first time just how much he must have loved her.
"Her real name was Elina but I guess she changed it, after..." She stopped suddenly realizing just how much she had reveled.
"After what?" Jax pressed anxious to know every detail.
"Leave her alone Jax, she's obviously upset."
" No its okay Sonny, I can do this. Your right Jax, she was young and beautiful and very sweet," her voice caught a little as she spoke.
"I think we should sit down." Sonny suggested, realizing how difficult this was for Alexis. Once they were all seated Alexis proceeded to tell them about her sister.
"She was the daughter of my father and Helena. I had only been living with the Cassadines for a few weeks when I came across a room I hadn't noticed before. I opened the door and discovered a small child clothed in white and lying on a huge bed. As I came closer I realized the child was a girl, with dark curls and the face of an angel. Stefan told me who she was later but he also told me not to tell anyone else that I had seen her." She didn't want to reveal anymore than she had to so Alexis quickly skipped ahead in her story.
"When she was seventeen she discovered just who and what the Cassadines were. She wanted to escape them, escape Helena and so I helped her run away. I didn't hear from her for almost a year and then she called and asked me to come to Paris. By the time I got there she was in the hospital, there were complications, but they never thought.... She was so happy all she could talk about was the wonderful man she loved but she wouldn't tell me his name." She looked at Jax her eyes pleading for him to believe her. "Then she went into labor... she did get to hold Jillian, she named her, and then something went wrong. I think she knew what was happening, she asked me to protect Jillian from the Cassadines and so I did.
"By giving her to the Whitney's to raise?" Kristina asked gently
"That and other things." All at once Alexis sounded frantic. "Jax, Helena can never see Jillian if she does she'll realize who her mother is and she'll take her away."
"Helena is in prison, she probably doesn't even know about Jillian." Jax tried to reassure her.
"She knows, but she thinks she's my daughter." Alexis told them, thinking about Danniel and what had brought him to town.
"Alexis why do I feel like your only telling me part of the story?"
"Hey what's going on?" Jillian asked from the doorway taking in all the serious faces. "Auntie Kristina, Jax what are you guys doing here?" she asked noticing them as she came further into the room. Jax stood there looking at his daughter and he was speechless, unfortunately Alexis and Kristina were also taken by surprise so that it was left up to Sonny to try to explain.
"Well, they came here to see you and your Mom of course." Sonny assured her gently, "they missed you."
"I missed you too." Jillian said coming over to hug first Kristina then Jax. Jillian was so excited she missed the tears that fell from Jax's eyes as he held his daughter for the first time, no one else did.
"Mom will you braid my hair, Max tried but..."
" Why don't I help with that." Kristina offered leading Jillian out of the room, with Max following close behind.
"So now what?" Alexis asked as soon as Kristina closed the door.
"I have no idea," was the only honest reply Jax could give. Then he thought of something, "you are going to bring Jillian back to Port Charles, aren't you?"
"If I do Danniel will try to take her away from me."
"He can't take her away Alexis he has no legal claim, I am her father." The words were still new to Jax and he savored the sound of them. Alexis looked at Sonny, who seemed to be taking these shocking events in stride, she knew that he wasn't.
"Jax why don't you take Jillian for lunch while I figure a few things out." Jax knew Alexis wanted to "figure things out" with Sonny but the thought of having lunch with his daughter was far too tempting to refuse.
Jax came into the room and watched as his daughter giggled at something Kristina had said. His daughter it was all so new, he wanted so desperately to tell her but he knew that would have to wait. Instead he asked if she wanted to go get some lunch.
"What about Mom and Sonny?" Jillian asked. Jax frowned a little at the realization that his daughter trusted Sonny more than him.
"They're kind of busy talking," Kristina answered so Jax wouldn't have to.
"Well are you going to come? " Jillian asked Kristina.
"Actually I need to talk to Max about some stuff," she replied. Max looked both surprised and worried. Sonny had asked him to keep and eye on Jillian. If she was going out with Jax he should go too, but Kristina obviously didn't agree.
Sonny hadn't said a word since Jax left the room and Alexis sat patiently waiting for him to speak. Finally he did.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine," she replied, far more interested in how he was.
"So Jillian in the biological child of Jasper Jax and your sister, now that's one I never saw coming." He almost appeared to be smiling as he said it.
"Are you upset?" Alexis asked.
"At you? Why should I be? You didn't know she was Jax's kid and you didn't tell me about you're sister because you wanted to protect Jillian, I understand that." Alexis was so relieved she threw herself into his arms. He took the opportunity to kiss her and...
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Yeah?" Max peeked his head in the doorway nervously,
"Um, Mr. Jax just took Jillian out for lunch. Did you want me to go with them?" Sonny looked at Alexis before answering,
"No, it's okay." Max quickly ducked out of the room, allowing Sonny to pick up where he has left off.
Jax sat across the table from Jillian watching her eat. He had missed so much of her life, her first words, first steps, first day of school. He was determined never to miss out again.
"Aren't you hungry?" She asked.
"What?"
"You haven't eaten anything, aren't you hungry?" Jillian asked again.
"Oh yeah sorry," Jax replied picking up a slice. "So Jillian, do you like it here in Puerto Rico?"
" I love it, especially the pool at the hotel, its huge." Jillian replied enthusiastically. Jax made a mental note to buy a house with a swimming pool in Port Charles as soon as possible and then continued in his quest to know his daughter.
"What else do you like to do, besides swimming?"
"Well the plane ride here was lots of fun." Jax was thrilled, she liked flying, he would teach her, maybe he could get her own plane, a little one. Alexis would have a fit.
"I like animals," Jillian continued, "Mom says we might be able to get a dog someday although we can't have one in the penthouse." Once again Jax's mind raced with possibilities, he would buy his daughter an entire zoo if it would make her happy.
Max and Kristina sat on the couch trying to ignore the fact that Sonny and Alexis had been in the bedroom for a really long time.
"Are you hungry" Max asked at last. "We could order room service."
"Sounds good to me." Kristina readily agreed anxious to have something to do.
"What do you want?" Max asked picking up the phone to order.
"Lobster and french-fries please."
Max did a double take certain he had heard wrong.
"What?"
"Lobster and french-fries," she repeated, then added, "it's a long story."
"You can fill me in while we wait." Max ordered the lobster and french-fries for Kristina and a hamburger and fries for himself, as well as some food for Sonny and Alexis. He thought about asking what they wanted but decided against and just ordered a few things at random, hoping they would like something. "So?" He questioned as soon as he hung up the phone.
"Well my mom and I used to travel a lot, and for a while the only thing I would eat was french-fries. My mom kept trying to get me to try something new but I flat out refused. Finally one day she insisted I order something new so I ordered lobster with a side order of fries in case I didn't like it. I loved it, but ate the fries too and it became my new regular." Max laughed while looking at Kristina, "I bet you were a cute kid."
"Hey, I'm still cute." Kristina replied indignantly,
"Yeah you are," he stated suddenly quite serious. Kristina looked at Max noticing, not for the first time how sexy he was. He leaned towards her slowly until his lips were just inches from his. She was so beautiful, he couldn't help himself from leaning in a little more and allowing their lips to meet.
"I hope we're not interrupting anything?" Sonny's voice asked from the doorway of the bedroom. The kissing couple instantly drew apart and saw her sister and his boss watching them with looks of utter amusement.
"We were, um, just... talking"
"Really? That's an interesting approach at conversation." Sonny replied laughingly.
"And what were you guys discussing that took so long?" Kristina asked knowingly.
"How about if we establish a firm no questions policy on either side?" Alexis asked in full lawyer mode.
"Agreed!" Max and Kristina spoke at once.
"We ordered room service, including some stuff for you since we didn't know when you would be finished... your conversation." Max stated uncomfortably.
"Great, I'm starving," Alexis said enthusiastically and then blushed at the look Sonny gave her.
The four of them at in a comfortable silence for the most part. By the time they had finished Jax arrived with Jillian. Alexis announced to everyone that she had decided it was time for all of them to go home.