Ch. 2

“How’s she doing?”

Everyone asked the same question, with the same look on their faces. She was a 6:00 news story now. Everyone in Port Charles had heard what had happen to Alexis Davis. And it seemed everyone was sympathetic.

When they asked how she was doing, did they really want to know? Did they really want to know that she hadn’t opened her eyes? Did they want to know that even if she could, she could barely physically open them because they had been swollen shut from where she had been violently hit in the face over and over? Did they really want to know?

Ric’s every thought has been to beg her to wake up, and he did quietly to her every chance he had. Did they want to know that too?

No clues to who did this to her, only bits and pieces to a seemingly very complex puzzle. Parts of her earrings found, the ones she bought on a weekend trip to New York and one of her dirt filled shoes…

She was taken from her car; her purse, her briefcase, her Blackberry, everything still sitting in the front seat untouched…  This meant they wanted her, not her money, not her things…

The police department has been relentless about finding out who did this to her. She’s loved and respected there. They were determined to find out who did this to her and why… But they have nothing yet… every lead a dead end, every ounce of evidence clean

 It’s as if it all happened the moment everyone decided to close their eyes and turn a deaf ear to the world… did no one see her being taken? Did no know hear her scream?

*************

“Mr. Jacks to see you” Max said appearing in the doorway

“Let him in”

Jax walked through the double doors in to Sonny Corinthos’ living room as Sonny looked at him hopeful

“Any word?” Sonny asked truly hoping Jax had come to tell him anything of Alexis

“Nothing still” Jax said expressionless

Sonny shook his head in disappointment

“Do you need something?” Sonny then asked wondering then why he was there if he had no news on Alexis

He watched Jax physically tense

“I need to know if I should be finding a way to protect Kristina and Molly”

“What do you mean?”

“I need to know if anyone associated with you might have done this to Alexis and if so do I need to find a way to protect her little girls in case they’re in danger, incase they’re next” Jax said bluntly

“Jax, I don’t know who did this to Alexis!” Sonny said defensively

“How do you know? Or better yet how do I know if you’re telling the truth?”

“I don’t know…” Sonny said pausing, his mind rethinking everything speculation he had in the last few weeks “Jax, I’ve been laying low the last couple of months; everything seems to be fine… I can’t, I can’t come up with anyone who would do this to her. She’s the mother of my child but she keeps as much distance as she can from me…”

“What about Manny Ruiz?”

“He was put in a high security prison after breaking his probation”

“And you know he’s still there?”

“Yes”

“And what about his family Would they want revenge on her?”

“I’ve questioned that myself, but she helped him out, she had nothing to do with him going to prison, and I can’t see that being a reason to hurt her… as far as I know Manny would have protected Alexis before he hurt her, out of gratitude alone…”

“Anyone else?”

“What about Helena? Has anyone questioned her?” Sonny asked from his own suspicions

“Helena’s been missing for a while now. And besides this isn’t how she works, she would have just killed her, not had her beaten to near death…”

“I’m not sure if I’d rule her out. She wants Alexis to suffer and she would make sure that happened at any chance she could, she’s proven that” Jax looked at Sonny realizing how much he did or had cared for Alexis. Jax now knew that Sonny Corinthos had studied what Helena Cassadine had done to Alexis in the past… “This might something to through us off. Helena has been laying low. It might be so simple that she noticed that Alexis is happy, with Ric, with her kids… maybe she wants to make her suffer?”

Jax let out a deep breath “There are no leads, the PCPD have nothing, no real evidence… I think pointing the finger at Helena at the moment is too easy. If it is her, I’ll have her found. Until then…”

“I have men out there trying to find out anything” Sonny said interjecting

Jax shook his head “Thank you”

Sonny only shook his head in response

“You’ll update me?” he said his eyes again hopeful

Jax shook his head before walking out

************

Ric brushed her hair from her face, running his fingers gently across her still swollen and bruised cheek

“The swelling, Elizabeth said the swelling should be going down soon. She said it was good to keep you elevated, that it would help…”

Ric took a deep breath, he was trying. Everyday he tried

“You know what? Kristina thinks we should get a puppy. She says she thinks it will make you feel better. I think she’s trying to pull one over on us…” Ric said as the corner of his mouth turned up with the thought of the look on Kristina’s face “What do you think? Alexis? What do you think?” Ric begged

Ric swallowed the lump in his throat

“She wants to know why she can’t see you… She keeps asking what happed to you… and, and  though I give her some round about explanation it’s as if she knows I’m not telling her the whole truth. You know she’s smarter than that. And she can sense when something isn’t right. She knows you… she knows something isn’t right with you when you don’t come home, when you’re not there; she knows something is wrong… I can’t lie to her and I try and tell her you’re sick, but I can’t tell her the truth of why she can’t even see you…She can’t see you like this, not right now…”

Ric rubbed at his eyes before he continued

“And Molly, she knows you’re gone. You can tell when she wants you, that she misses you. She cries, and you know how happy she usually is, but she cries and no one can comfort her. Her face gets so red and her tear stained cheeks… it made me cry Alexis. Holding her, I was holding my beautiful baby girl and I couldn’t get her to stop crying because I wasn’t you…”

“You and I we’ve been through too much, too much in such a short time. But I can’t just let go of you. I feel helpless, I feel like I’ve done this song and dance of begging you to live a ridiculous amount of times and why? Why because of horrible luck, because of some curse you think you’re under, or karma, or God… I just know I can’t let go of you, and everything I have to go through to have you by my side is just another obstacle that I’ll go through for you…”

Ric paused, suddenly letting out a breathy laugh

“I guess you’re thinking you’re winning the ‘you talk more than me’ argument right about now… I just miss you. I miss your voice, your laughing face, every second of you I’m missing right now…” Ric took a deep breath “I know I’m rambling. I just feel so helpless, but I won’t let go, please don’t let go of me”

*************

I’m not sure how much time has past. My days and nights all seem the same. There have only been a few people here to “see” me. I haven’t recognized their names or voices yet. They still seemed to have me confused with “Alexis.” I wish I could tell them they’ve mistaken me for someone else…

He’s been here with me the whole time. My fear was to be left alone, he promised me or Alexis or… he promised he wouldn’t leave me, her until I or she was better. He has kept his promise

The moments he does step away from me I feel empty and unprotected as if he was my shield to the world. I don’t even know who he is but the way he touches me, the way he cares for me, the way he makes sure his voice is my constant companion… I can’t help but feel empty and unprotected without him…without Ric

He holds my hand when he talks to me; he tells me lots of things that I sadly know nothing about. Everyday he tells about two little girls named Kristina and Molly. I’ve tried my best to remember but I have no idea who they are. At first, when he spoke of Kristina I thought he was speaking of my baby sister. But I knew right away that was impossible, my baby sister, Kristina is dead. Helena took her…

He describes the little girls as beautiful and tells me of their personalities and the way they sound when they laugh. He tells me what their wearing each day and a different story about what they did the day before. Some things so simplistic as a silly joke Kristina has told or how Molly may be crawling soon…

He seems enthralled with these little girls and I can’t help myself hoping each day he has a new story about them. I’ve grown attached to them, fairytale or not. Maybe Kristina and Molly are his children? He gloats over them as if they are… Maybe they are his children, maybe this Alexis person’s?

***********

Dr. Monica Quartermaine was making her rounds. She made her rounds the same time everyday varying within’ 10 to 15 minutes… Ric knew this because he had been there for two weeks now and everyday he was there when Monica walked in…

“We’re taking her off some of the medication today.” She said scanning over Alexis’ chart “We’re hoping it will have and effect on her waking up…”

“You think she’ll wake up?” Ric asked almost sounding surprised as he looked at Monica from his chair

“We’ve been monitoring her brain activity. She seems to be aware of things around her, reacting to voices, when people touch her… And though she may be in a bit more pain we want to lower the doses of her the medication we’ve been giving her, hoping that will allow her a better chance at waking up”

“So she’ll be in pain?”

“Ric we wouldn’t do this if we didn’t think it was best for her”

“I don’t want her to be in pain” he said sounding almost as if he were panicking

“I know but we really do think this is the best thing to do for her right now”

Ric ran his hand across Alexis’ arm “How long does it take for the medications to start wearing off?”

“It shouldn’t be long; she hasn’t had any new doses in a while”

“Will I know when they do?” he asked helplessly

“There may be signs. Her heart beat may become more rapid, more brain activity… at least this is what we hope will happen”

“Is this torturing her?” he asked blankly

“Shocking her system, yes”

“Torturing her on purpose”

“Ric we would never, I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her or make her uncomfortable if I didn’t feel it was the best diagnosis”

“So we just wait for the pain?”

“In simple terms, yes”

Ric once again made sure he made contact with Alexis, touching her where he hoped not to hurt her

“You’re going to be in a little pain ok” he whispered “But I’ll be right here”

Monica patted Ric on the shoulder “I’ll be back to check on her after I make my rounds. If you think she needs anything before then…”

“Thank you” Ric said never taking his eyes from Alexis

He waited for Monica to leave him there with her before he reassured her once again

“I’ll be right here; I don’t want you to be in pain… I love you and I’ll be right here”

*************

When he squeezes my hand it takes the attention away from the pain I have in my lower body. I focus on the pain constantly. My mind feels like it dwells on every place that aches… when he holds my hand, when he touches me it diverts my attention

My cheeks feel as if they are burning and it feels as if I can feel my blood running through my body

I’ve felt this way when I was unconscious before, I felt like I could feel my blood running inside of me… just like I could hear my heart beating or not beating for that matter…

But before the pain wasn’t like this, it’s getting slowly more and more intense. My fingers are tingling, my arms, my legs, even my face hurts

How could I go from feeling no pain at all? How could I go from hearing his voice talk to me, to feeling him touch me, to such intense pain?

I want to wake up from this horrible dream. Whatever is happening to me I can’t take much more

Please help me! You said you would be there for me and I need you now. I need you to help this pain go away…please Ric. Ric can you her me? Please…

**************

“Something happened! She moved. I saw her move!” Ric said startled as he was pushed away from Alexis’ bedside

“She’s having muscle spasms in her left leg” Dr. Drake said as he took note of the monitor in front of him

“Is it working?”

“She’s reacting Ric” Monica said looking back at him

“That’s good, that’s good. You said you wanted her to react to the pain… that’s what’s happening?”

“We think so. Her brain activity has been at its highest. She’s reacting…”

“Shouldn’t she be opening her eyes? Why isn’t she?”

“Ric this means she’s reacting to the pain. It means that the pain, is stimulating the brain… this is a good sign… a very good sign”

“So what now?” Ric asked as he watched the doctors and nurses file out of the room

“More waiting I’m afraid” Monica said disappointed herself “She may have more muscle spasm so prepare yourself for movement in her limbs…”

“You’re saying don’t get my hopes up at the slightest move she makes?”

“I’m saying watch every move she makes because one movement could be a spasm, the next could be her waking up”

“You believe she’s going to wake up?”

“I can’t say… but Ric her having a reaction to the pain is a good sign, it’s a good sign she’s fighting…”

Ric shook his head “She’s stubborn”

Monica gave him a slight smile

“I’ll just wait for her then” Ric said as he sat back down in the chair beside Alexis

End Ch. 2