That evening Alexis was having her second attack of nerves since putting on her dress when the doorbell rang.
Skye took Alexis' coat off the chair.
"Put this on." Skye instructed.
"Why?"
"It's part of the plan, that dress has to be revealed in the proper way at the proper time, just trust me on this." She added when Alexis looked at her sceptically.
The dress was one she never would have normally worn. She had bought it at Skye's insistence that afternoon and was very nervous at the thought of wearing it out in public. It was red, short and tight, fully showing off her long legs and recently enhanced curves. She had completed the look by wearing her hair up and three inch heels. Grateful for the slight reprieve before Sonny could see her she put on the coat Skye had handed to her.
Once in the restaurant Alexis was forced to take off her coat. She turned around to do so and had it checked before turning around to see Sonny's reaction.
Sonny watched in amazement as she removed her coat. The dress was like something out of a dream. From the moment he saw her this evening he knew somethingwas up, okay two things he amended. The hair, the heels, just when he thought he had seen it all she turned around to face him. It would be wrong for a mob boss to drool in public, right?
Then as they walked towards their table Sonny noticed them, Jason and Brenda were seated at a table just beginning their dinner. Alexis saw them as well and acknowledged them with a smile. Brenda smiled back. Jason was a little busy staring intently at Alexis, or at least certain parts of her. He was brought back to attention when Brenda kicked him under the table. Sonny could resist a smile at that, though he would have to kill Jason tomorrow. Several other men in the room seemed to be focussed on Alexis and Sonny shot each of them a look letting them know she was his. He smiled at the thought, even though he knew it wasn't true.
Alexis sat down at the table satisfied with the evening thus far. Sonny seemed suitably impressed by her attire and the dress was helping her get into character. Tonight was about seduction, sex, and taking back her life.
"Would you like something to drink?" The waiter asked.
"Definitely."
Sonny sat across the table from Alexis trying to remember why he was here, to win back her friendship. It was a difficult thing to remember when all he wanted to do was take her home and run his hands over her body, barley concealed by the dress she had chosen. The Dress ... as long as he lived he would never understand women, or more particularly Alexis. He thought she had thrown him by inviting him to dinner, but then he had seen her. About halfway through dinner he came to the conclusion this was all part of some elaborate revenge wherein she invited him to dinner to torture him with all he had lost. Of course he wasn't exactly thinking clearly since there was no longer any blood circulating up to his brain. Still whatever her reason he was determined to use it to his full advantage and try to renew their friendship.
"So how are you enjoying motherhood?" He asked watching as her eyes lit up.
"I love it. It's funny I never pictured myself having a child and now I can't imagine life without her."
"I always knew you would make a good mother."
"Really, what tipped you off, my complete lack of domestic skills, my 18 hour work days..."
"The way you take care of people, he told her. Your sister, my sister, Zander, Nikolas you're a natural"
Okay this was not going as planned. She had done everything she could to get him interested and all the man wanted to talk about was her maternal practices. The man was just not interested, she needed to do something drastic.
Luckily as she was trying to figure out what to do the waiter came to see if they wanted dessert.
"Do you have strawberry cheesecake?" She asked, struck with inspiration.
"Yes, it's made with the finest fresh strawberries." The waiter told her with an appreciative smile, glancing at her cleavage. Resisting the urge to smack the waiter she turned to Sonny and leaned in slightly.
"Doesn't that sound good?" She asked running her tongue along the edge of her lips.
"Uh, what?" He asked completely unaware of anything beyond the movement of her lips.
"Fresh strawberries," she repeated patiently with a little grin. "We'll have a slice of that, two forks please, oh and extra strawberries." She told the waiter once she realised Sonny seemed to have lost the power of speech.
Okay this was not going as planned Sonny thought. He had done everything he could to make the evening comfortable and friendly but she was clearly interested in only one thing, revenge. She wanted to take him to the brink, and possibly over. Not that he didn't deserve it he admitted to himself. Still he was determined that they still had a chance. He had to show her that they could still be friends before she could do whatever she was planning. Therefore he had to resist her advances and Oh God!
Alexis smiled as the waiter placed the plate in front of her. As per her request the slice of cheesecake had been surrounded by several whole fresh strawberries, one of which she had immediately took a bite from. If the look on Sonny's face was anything to go by she was definitely on the right track.
She's trying to kill me, Sonny kept thinking to himself. It was the only explanation he could come up with for her behaviour. She was trying to kill him with sexual frustration. And based on how he was feeling at the moment, she was succeeding.
"Alexis?"
"Yes?" She asked taking another bite of the strawberry.
"What are you doing?" He asked in a somewhat strangled voice.
"I'm eating, would you like some?" She asked picking up one of the strawberries and lifting it towards his mouth.
What the hell, Sonny thought. If he was going to die he couldn't think of a better way to go. With that thought in mind Sonny bit the strawberry and never looked back.
If he had be would have seen Ned and Faith enter the restaurant and their stunned faces at the sight before them. Alexis had just picked up another strawberry when Ned angrily approached the table.
"What the hell is going on here?" He demanded.
"I should think that would be obvious." Alexis replied coldly. "Come on Sonny, I've suddenly lost my appetite." She said getting up from the table.
"Very nice Alexis, you leave our daughter home alone so you go out on the town with the local mobster and behave like a..."
Anything else Ned was going to say was effectively stopped by Sonny's fist making contact with his jaw. Alexis stopped him before he could hit Ned again.
"In the first place Kristina is in very capable hands, for this the first evening I've left her since bringing her home. In the second place you're hardly in a position to criticise who I spend time with," she told him glancing at Faith. "And in the third place, she's not your daughter, ass."
She couldn't believe she had actualy said it out loud, she had wanted to for so long.
Ned saw the shock on Sonny's face before Alexis and immediately seized the opportunity.
"Oh I see you hadn't told him yet," he taunted Alexis. "I guess this kind of ruins your little celebration doesn't it?" He gloated.
Sonny looked over at Alexis and could see the guilt in her eyes but also fear. She was afraid of him, of his reaction. He knew then that that was why she hadn't told him in the first place. He also knew that if he wanted a chance with her he had to prove to her that she was wrong. Slowly he turned to Ned and grinned.
"I have a daughter, whose mother is smart, beautiful and sexy as hell, I view that a pretty good reason to celebrate wouldn't you?"
There were few things in her life Alexis would cherish as much as the look on Ned's face as she and Sonny walked out of the restaurant hand in hand.
Alexis rode next to Sonny in the back of the limo certain she knew what he was thinking. However his first words surprised her.
"What was tonight?"
"Excuse me?"
"This evening, that dress, the way you've been acting, the strawberries... What was it all about?"
It was not what she had expected him to ask and probably the last thing in the world she wanted to explain. Still she felt as though she owed it to him to at least try.
"I was trying to seduce you." She admitted reluctantly.
"That much I get, why?"
"To take control of my life again."
So it was just as he thought, she wanted revenge.
"How far were you going to take it?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You wanted me to suffer, how far were you going to go before you called it off. The limo, the penthouse?"
"I wasn't going to... I wanted to have sex with you." She admitted.
"Why?"
"Okay Sonny I know how much honesty means to you so I'm going to be honest with you. However I need you to listen and not interrupt till I'm done. Last night Skye and I were talking and she thought it would be a good idea for me to sleep with you as a way of taking control of my life. She dared me and I accepted. The truth is that I was a stronger person when we were ... friends. I stood up to people, Ned, Jax, even you. Lately I haven't been that person. I've been letting people make decisions for me, and doing things I know are wrong. Keeping Kristina from is the biggest mistake I've ever made and I am glad you know the truth. The old me would have told you in the first place. I guess I wanted to find that person I used to be and since I last saw her in your company, I thought..." She smiled a little and he couldn't help smile back.
"Can I talk now?"
"Sure."
"You're not going to believe this but Brenda dared me to ask you out, I was trying to figure out how when you beat me to it." He admitted with a slight grin. "The thing is I used to be different too. I listened when someone was trying to help me, okay I listened sometimes, he amended when he saw her roll her eyes. I get why you didn't tell me about Kristina, I know it wasn't to punish me. I left Carly, or rather I made her leave me. I made the wrong choice when I tried to make things work with her. I've made a lot of wrong choices lately. Anyway I've become someone I don't like very much and I've been thinking a lot about before, when we were friends. Things were good then, weren't they?"
"They were for me." She told him.
"I've been thinking maybe we could get back to that somehow." He told her as the car stopped at her building.
She wanted to show him she was willing to try and so she made the first move.
"Would you like to come in, and meet your daughter?"
"I'd love to." He agreed helping her out of the car.
When they opened the door they saw Skye sitting on the sofa Kristina on her lap. As soon as she saw her mother she squealed happily and reached out to be picked up.
"She's been waiting up for you." Skye told her as she handed the baby to Alexis and smiled at the sight of Sonny. "Well, I better get going. Call me tomorrow. Bye sweetie." She said kissing Kristina on the forehead before leaving.
As soon as they were alone Alexis turned to Sonny and smiled.
"Sonny this is your daughter, Kristina this is your Daddy." Sonny and Kristina looked at each other matching grins and matching dimples. After what seemed like an eternity Kristina reached out her little arms towards him and Sonny lifted his daughter into his arms for the first time. Once he was able to hold her he didn't want to let her go, not even after she had fallen asleep.
"Come on," Alexis said leading him to the nursery, "you can hold her in the morning."
"Promise?"
"I promise I will never keep you away from her Sonny. She's your daughter and I want you to be a part of her life."
"And what about your life?" He asked as he laid Kristina in her crib and gently covered her with a blanket.
"That's complicated."
"It didn't seem to be at dinner when you were feeding me strawberries." He watched her blush and put his hands on the sides of her face, slowly bringing her closer until their lips met. The kiss was one of longing, of pent up frustration. Almost as soon as his lips touched hers he could not resist deepening the kiss, moving her hands to her hair and releasing. After what seemed like forever he pulled back slightly. "You know what I was thinking about earlier? That night when you put me to bed, do you remember?" She nodded and then grinned.
"You were drunk."
"Not nearly as much as you thought I was. You did pretty good that night, putting me to bed. You know I haven't been sleeping well lately, I was thinking you might be able to help?"
"In your dreams Corinthos."
"How did you know? Though I gotta say that dress is even better than what I've been dreaming." He told her taking her hand and leading her out of the nursery.
"Skye picked it out." She replied, willingly walking with him down the hall."
"I knew I always liked her."
"Yeah right." She smirked just as they reached her bedroom door.
He took her hand in his and the question was in his eyes. He wanted more than a place in her bed, he wanted a place in her life, and in her heart. He could see the fear in her eyes, the fear of being hurt again. However he also saw desire and he knew she wanted to let him in. So they stood there in silence neither willing to give in. Suddenly Sonny bore a striking resemblance the Cheshire cat.
"Come on Alexis, I double dare you."
"That's not fair," she complained with a smile as she opened the door. "I never could resist a double dare."