The next morning Alexis had a meeting she couldn't get out of and Johnny graciously agreed to baby-sit. At 8.30 am Sasha entered his apartment, a list in hand and Johnny sighed, let the games begin.
"What have you got there?" He asked, knowing it couldn't be good.
"I have a list of Port Charles' most eligible men." She told him proudly.
"But I thought we agreed to go with Taggert." Johnny argued admittedly tempted by the thought of Taggert getting the crap beat out of him. "He likes Alexis, he's single and Sonny hates him, he's perfect."
"I know, but he's also a police officer who has been trying to arrest Sonny for years. Let's suppose our plan goes perfectly and Sonny does get jealous, he may just hit Taggert thereby giving him a legal excuse to arrest Sonny which could of course result in Sonny and Alexis spending more time together but only if she agrees to defend him which is highly unlikely considering she has repeatedly reminded anyone who will listen that she..."
"Sasha breathe." CJ interrupted as he came out of the kitchen, a bowl of cereal in hand.
"...quit." She finished after taking a deep breath. "Besides haven't you ever heard the saying about shooting fish in a barrel, I figure the more fish we have..."
"The more likely Sonny is to shoot one of them?" Johnny finished which earned him a look from Sasha.
"Of course not, it's just that we don't have a lot of time so the more men hanging around the quicker Sonny will get jealous."
"All right let me see the list." Johnny said taking the piece of paper and sitting down.
"Jasper Jacks?"
"He was married to aunt Alexis plus Sonny doesn't like him." CJ explained.
"Yeah but again we run the risk of Sonny being arrested for assault. Keep reading." Johnny did just that and was even less pleased by number two on the list.
"Oh no, I told you there's no way I'm doing this."
"Fine, keep reading."
"Ned Ashton?"
"He is the most likely suspect, I mean he is pretending to be Kristina's father." CJ pointed out but neither Johnny or Sasha seemed keen on Ned so Johnny moved on to number 4.
"Mac Scorpio? Sonny beating up Taggert is one thing but do we really want him to go after the police commissioner?" Johnny asked.
"Sorry but it's not like we were overwhelmed with options. Most of the guys in this town wouldn't make anyone jealous and since you refused we had to make do."
"Not to mention we still have to figure out a way to make aunt Alexis go out with whoever we choose." CJ reminded them.
"Wait a minute, I just may have the solution to all our problems." Sasha told them, awed by her own brilliance.
Over the next few days Johnny called Sonny several times to explain that he couldn't work his shift because he was baby-sitting CJ and Sasha while Alexis went out on a date with (at this point he would name one of the men from Sasha's list being careful to rotate frequently). In reality Alexis had been spending her afternoons and evenings with the kids watching movies, and getting to know each other better. Before long Sonny was, according to Johnny, ready to explode. The time had come for phase three.
At 6.30 that evening Sasha and CJ headed over to Johnny's to make sure everything was on schedule.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." He told them. "Taggert will be there at seven and..."
"Did you say Taggert?" Sasha interrupted.
"Yeah."
"But we agreed on Mac." She told him beginning to panic.
"I thought we chose Ned?" CJ asked looking equally worried.
"Oh no tell me you two didn't call up Taggert and Ned and arrange for Alexis to go out with them tonight?" Sasha demanded.
They both nodded apologetically.
"And you called Mac? Johnny asked though he already knew the answer.
"So aunt Alexis has three dates with three different men all taking place at the Grille at seven. We are so dead." CJ moaned imagining the hours lectures they were sure to receive, not to mention the years of grounding.
"Okay lets not panic, who does your aunt think she's going out with?"
"Alexis?" CJ and Sasha asked in unison remembering, a little too late, the one task they had forgotten to take care of.
"No one told Alexis? Okay people now is the time to panic." Johnny said suddenly feeling nostalgic for the good old days when his job involved dodging bullets and being threatened with prison.
"Wait this may not be bad." CJ said. "Why don't we just tell Alexis that she has a meeting at the Grille then she can go there and pick whichever guy she wants."
"Well it's about the only thing we can do, it's too late to call it off now."
"Wait a minute," Johnny interrupted, "your aunt called me earlier and asked me to baby-sit tonight, if no one told her about the dates..."
"Where is she going?" CJ finished the question as they all exchanged panicked looks.
The three of them headed back across the hall and were surprised to find Alexis dressed up and frantically searching for her purse. Maybe she did know about one of the dates after all.
"You look nice aunt Alexis." CJ told her.
"Thanks, have any of you seen my purse?" She asked distractedly.
"Um, where are you going?"
"Oh, I'm sorry I thought I told you. I'm having dinner at the Grille. You did say you could baby-sit, right Johnny?"
"Oh, um, yeah." He replied trying to smile casually.
"So who are you having dinner with?"
"Jax."
"Jax? Who called Jax?" Sasha whispered angrily in the direction of Johnny and CJ but both looked as surprised as she was.
"Four dates." CJ mouthed silently realising his aunt was going to have her hands full even before Sonny arrived.
Alexis triumphantly reached behind the chair and pulled out the missing purse, unaware of the disaster that was awaiting her.
Taggert sat at the table wondering what one earth he was doing here. He had been more than a little surprised when Alexis' assistant John had called him, he didn't even know she had an assistant. Apparently Alexis had some legal matters she wanted to discuss with him and rather than meeting in the police station she invited him to join her for dinner. Despite his confusion Taggert willingly accepted, after all he had been trying to get the nerve to ask her out for over a year.
Mac sat there, watching Taggert nervously play with his napkin. He also appeared to be waiting for someone. In truth Mac was a little nervous himself. It's not that he hadn't thought about the possibility of dating Alexis. In fact he had considered asking her out more than once during their frequent run ins when she had been defending Sonny. Now that she had quit he had practically jumped at the chance to meet her for dinner when her assistant, Sadie had called. Funny, he didn't know she had an assistant.
Ned looked at his watch again, Alexis was nearly ten minutes late and still hadn't called. He was beginning to get worried, after all CJ Capwell had told him that it was extremely important that he meet Alexis this evening. He said that his Mom was upset over the way she had left things with Ned and wanted to have dinner to talk things over. Apparently Alexis had been afraid he would refuse which was why she had the kid call. It seemed kind of weird but Alexis hadn't been herself lately, then again maybe she had and he just didn't know her as well as he thought he did. Oh well at least he could hear her out.
Jax glanced from Taggert to Mac and then over to Ned all sitting alone at a table set for two, come to think of it so was he. Of course he knew his date was on her way. Alexis had called a few minutes ago to say she was running late, something about a missing purse. He was eager to talk to her, to get the real story behind the husband and three kids rumour that was going around town. He was sure there was a logical explanation behind it all, after all this was Alexis, logic was practically her middle name.
Alexis walked into the Grille and saw Jax sitting down at a table waiting for her. She also noticed Ned, Taggert and Mac also sitting down, each of them was alone. Upon seeing her each of the men greeted her with a welcoming smile. She smiled awkwardly wondering when she had become the object of so much friendliness. Her confusion grew as each of the four men stood and began to come towards her. They had only taken a few steps when it became apparent they were all headed to the same destination.
Alexis approached the group of confused men.
"What's going on here?" She asked nervously, wondering if Mac and Taggert were there to arrest Jax or possibly Ned. "Is there a problem?" She asked again when no one answered.
"Not that I know of." Mac said wondering about the presence of the other three men.
"So then what are we all doing?" She asked though she had a bad feeling she already knew the answer. The men looked at her then at each other.
"I thought we were having dinner." Mac answered.
"No, we're having dinner." Ned said.
Taggert and Jax kept quiet but it was fairly obvious they were all in the same boat.
Sonny took in the sight before him and frowned. Alexis was standing in the middle of the Grille surrounded by all his least favorite people. According to Johnny she had been out with each of them recently. He felt an overwhelming urge to throw something but given the number of times Alexis had lectured him on his temper that was probably not the best way to handle the situation. Instead he figured he would calmly walk over and request a moment of her time. Only after she refused would he throw her over her shoulder and carry her away from the sea of testosterone she was currently drowning in.
"Alexis, can I talk to you?" Sonny asked as he came up behind her.
"Let me guess, you are here to have dinner with me?" She asked completely frustrated.
"Are you asking me out?" Sonny asked grinning.
"In your dreams."
"What's going on here, you decided it would be easier to see them in groups now?" He asked his anger over her suddenly flourishing social life resurfacing at the sight of the four men.
Alexis looked at the five men before her and despite the awkwardness of the situation she couldn't help but smile. To think not that long ago she had figured she would never have another date in her life and now she had five, all at the same time. Her smile soon irrupted into a giggle, and then a full laugh.
"Sorry boys there's just not enough of me to go around." She told them still laughing.
"That may not be a problem." Taggert told her in little more than a whisper.
"Why not?" She asked sobered by his tone.
"Because there now appears to be two of you."
Alexis spun around and cme face to face with... herself.