BRENDA KEPT A vigil by Sonny's bedside, praying fervently that he'd wake-up and be okay, and refusing to leave his side until he did so. When Stone had appeared before her with his offer, she had taken it without a second thought. She'd hoped that taking it would finally answer the questions that were constantly haunting her and she'd finally be set free of Sonny. If Sonny was right and it would have never worked between them if Sonny had married her and they had gone on the run, then she would finally accept the fact she and Sonny just weren't meant to be and settle for what she had with Jax. She would also continue to keep from Sonny something he had a right to know. Unfortunately, so far she'd found out that Sonny had been dead wrong, as usual, and that everything he had feared would have happened if he'd married her just hadn't. Which meant when this whole thing was over she was going to have to tell Sonny the secret she was keeping from him, and when she did neither of their lives would ever be the same. Telling Sonny wouldn't really change things between them, but she had made a promise to herself that if she did this and learned things would have worked out for her and Sonny than she would tell him the truth. It would be Sonny deciding what was best for her that would have cost them the happiness they could have known, and by keeping her secret from Sonny she'd be doing the exact same thing. Of course, whatever feelings Sonny still had for her could turn to hate if he learned what she'd done while she'd been with Alcazar.

Now it all seemed to be a moot point. If Sonny died, she'd never be able to have a chance to tell him what she'd been keeping from him. If she had had any idea that Sonny would end up getting hurt by doing this, she would have never agreed to do it. If Sonny died in this time, would he be dead for all time or would it just put an end to this beautiful dream she'd been living with Sonny?

Maybe it would be for the best, Brenda tried to be objective about the whole thing. The longer this continued, the more she didn't want it to end. If this continued to go on for any longer, she didn't know how she would ever be able to let Sonny go again. She also didn't know how she was going to settle for what she had with Jax or stop herself from fighting Carly for Sonny. After all, she had more right to Sonny than Carly had.

The doctors entered Sonny's room and told Brenda that Sonny was out of danger. But now they were worried because Sonny hadn't regained consciousness yet. They were worried that Sonny could slip into a coma from the head injury he'd incurred. Right now, Sonny's body had shut down to heal itself, but if he didn't wake up soon, he could very easily slip into a coma and if he didn't come out of it, he could be like that for the rest of his life.

Brenda didn't know what was worse? Sonny dying or languishing in a coma for the rest of his life. She thought Sonny would hate being a prisoner of his own body. They urged her that the best thing she could do was to pray and to talk to him. That many coma patients have reported hearing their loved one speaking to them and it's given them the strength to come back to them. So she spoke to Sonny of everything she could think of until her throat was raw and finally it worked and she saw Sonny open his eyes, look at her and smile.

"Brenda?" He looked around in question. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You're awake." Brenda shrieked in happiness, as she jumped on the bed and kissed him passioinately. "I thought you weren't going to wake-up." She rained kisses all over his face. "I thought I'd lost you forever."

"You'll never lose me." Sonny promised, as he returned her kisses with kisses of her own.

She pulled back from him and climbed off of him and sat back down in her seat. "Why did you run out in the street to save Carly's son." Brenda wanted to know. "Why did you even go to the park to see her."

"I don't know." Sonny tried to remember just why he had gone there and it was all gone. "All I can remember is Carly mentioning what a lousy father AJ was to her son and feeling compelled to go to the park and see the he was all right."

"Why?" Brenda continued to question him.

"I don't know." Sonny repeated. "Maybe I felt a kinship to him because of my own childhood. I really have no idea why I felt the need to go and see him and see that he was all right."

Before Brenda could question Sonny further on the matter, Ned stormed into the room. "You!" He spat at Sonny. "You put her up to this, didn't you?"

"Just what is it I'm supposed to have done now?" Sonny looked at Ned in confusion.

"I'd think you be thanking Sonny." Brenda spoke up. "He risked his life and save AJ's son. He could have almost died. All the Quartermaines should be getting down on their knees and kissing Sonny's feet in gratitude for what he did."

"Don't you tell me what I should do." He pointed his finger in Brenda's face. "Not especially after what you've done."

"Stop yelling at my wife." Sonny tried to sit up and get out of bed.

"Don't you dare." Brenda rushed over to Sonny and pushed him back down on his back. "I almost lost you. Don't you dare try to move out of that bed until you're completely well, again."

"Then make him leave." Sonny spat back. "I'm not going to just lie her while he's attacking my wife."

"Are you so sexually obsessed with him." Ned spat at Brenda. "That you'll do anything he tells you to do?"

"Just what is it I'm supposed to have done." Brenda wanted to know. "Then I'll give you a yes or no answer to your question."

"This." Ned shoved the rolled up newspaper he'd been clutching in his hand in her face. "This is what you've done."

Brenda didn't need to look at it, she knew very well what it said. She'd been so worried about Sonny, she'd forgotten all about it. "Sonny had nothing to do with this." Brenda told him. "I did it all on my own."

"I don't believe that." Ned shook his head in denial. "You would have never done this on your own. He had to make you do this."

"You left me with no other choice." Brenda spat back. "I went to you and ask you as my friend to stop doing to Sonny what you and your family and all your friends were doing, and you wouldn't do it. Instead you tried to get me to leave Sonny." She added. "So I decided to give you and everyone else in this lesson a taste of your own medicine. You won't let Sonny forget his past, well I won't let you or any of your crowd forget about theirs."

"Just what have you done, Brenda." Sonny asked, as he grabbed the newspaper out of her hand. Then he read it and began to laugh.

"It's not funny!" Ned snarled at him.

"No." Sonny replied, trying to get his mirth under control. "And Cerullo and no one who knew her thought it was funny at the time, either. But every word Brenda wrote is true. So what's your problem."

"Lois forgave you." Brenda interjected. "After you married her and Katherine Bell at the same time. She let you forget your past, and gave you another chance, but you won't do the same for Sonny." She added. "How does it feel, Ned."

"I don't know you anymore." Ned declared. "I don't want to know you anymore."

"The feeling is mutual." Brenda replied. "When you refused to treat Sonny decently out of friendship for me, I didn't want to know you anymore, either."

"Then consider us strangers, Mrs. Corinthos." He said the last like he was calling her a dirty name, and in his mind that's exactly what he was doing.

Brenda watched him walk out the door, then turned to Sonny. "Are you mad?"

"How could I be." He smiled at her. "I told you to just accept the way they were treating me and that you couldn't do anything about it, but you wouldn't listen to me and went out and did something."

"Then you're not mad about what I did?" She wasn't going to give up until he told her how he felt about this.

"Mad?" He laughed. "How could I be mad when you're going up against your friends for me." He added. "I'm not mad, I'm proud. I've never been so proud of you in my life."

"Then you won't mind having a wife whose a tabloid reporter." She smiled.

"Not if you don't mind losing your friends because you married the wrong man." Sonny smiled back. "You do realize you'll probably never be invited into the Quartermaine Mansion again because of what you've done."

"I don't care." And she meant it. "If they can't show me the respect of treating my husband decently, I don't want to step one foot in their house."

"The Quartermaines have always meant a great deal to you." He reminded her. "You thought of them as your unofficial family."

"I know." She climbed back on the bed and laid down beside him. "But I no longer need an unofficial family. I have a real one, now."

"So." He ran his fingers through her hair. "Is this going to be a regular thing."

"The editor said if the response was good." She snuggled up closer to him. "He'd make it a regular column."

"Oh." Sonny laughed. "I'm sure the response will be good." He added after a moment of silence. "So, whose next on your hit list."

She thought about that for a moment. "How about Edward Quartermaine: The Man Who Would Be King." They both dissolved into laughter as all their troubles just rolled away from them.