leep didn't come easy to Sonny. It took him awhile to finally get into a relaxed enough state for sleep to finally claim him and when it did, it was an uneasy slumber. St. Timothy's Church was the last conscious thought he had, as he wondered why a place he never remembered ever being, sounded so familiar to him. Then he was waking in a strange room in a strange bed naked and Brenda was with him in a similar state.

Brenda caressed the inside of his thigh. "You know what I miss most, Sonny." She said in a conversational tone. "The weekends we would spend all day in bed with each other like this playing with each other's bodies as we learned exactly how and where we loved to be touched."

"Is this real?" Sonny asked in confusion. "Or am I just dreaming this."

"This feels more real than reality does." Brenda told him. "But in reality you've been sent back in time and the person you were then is now living in the present and trying to take over your life." She sighed. "Maybe this is the real reality and what we think is the reality is really the dream." Her hand moved over his flat stomach. "When we go to sleep, we all think our minds shut down, just like our bodies do. But that's not really the truth. Sometimes we wake in the morning and remember our dreams. But what if their not really dreams. What if it's just little patches of memory of what we were doing while our bodies were shut down. What if when our bodies sleep our minds experience a whole other kind of reality that we have no memory of and that our dreams are just memories of what really happened to us in this world."

"I didn't think we'd be able to find each other again after last time." Sonny told her.

"I think now that our minds connected in this realm." She told him. "That whenever we're both asleep at the same time we'll be able to be with each other, even though we now exist on two very different plains of time."

"Do you remember what we do together in this world?" Sonny asked. "Because when I wake-up I have no memory of it. Then I have no memory of myself or you, either."

"I remember ever glorious second of my time with you." Her face lit up with joy. "The memories of our time together here is the only thing that's keeping me sane."

"What's wrong?" Sonny leaned up and caressed her cheek the way Marco had done earlier.

"I had sex with Marco Consuelos' tonight." She could see he didn't like that by the way his whole body stiffened. "It's not what you think. I've found the way to bring you home, but to do it I'll need certain things from Marco that he wouldn't willingly give me."

"But you enjoyed it." Sonny guessed. "And you want to make love to him again, and not to get something from him. You want to feel the pleasure he gave you again."

"Yes." She admitted guiltily. "I expected to feel some pleasure, but I never thought he'd be able to make me feel the way only you can make me feel."

"It's the same with me and Belinda." Sonny sighed. "But I've got it easier. I don't remember you or what we shared together when I'm with Belinda, while you remember every moment of us while you're with him."

"Is it just like us when you're with her?" Brenda needed to know. "Or do you feel like there's something missing when you're with her."

He nodded. "Even though I can't remember, I feel it, too." He added. "But in time, I think you'll fall in love with Marco and that feeling that you feel is missing when you're with him will start to diminish and something new will take its place."

"Is that how it is with you and Belinda?" Brenda asked angrily. "Are you falling in love with Belinda and forgetting all about me."

"I could never forget you, sweetheart." He cradled her face in his hands. "But maybe you should forget about me."

"I don't believe this." Brenda pulled away from him. "Are you trying to tell me I should stop trying to get you back and to leave you where you are?"

"It might be best for everyone concerned." Sonny declared. "You can have a Sonny who doesn't carry around the emotional baggage I do. He might be able to make you happy in a way I never will." He added. "And my relationship with Belinda is all I ever really wanted when we first got involved with each other."

"What is that supposed to mean." She was getting even madder by the minute.

"When we first met, all I wanted was sex with a hot looking babe." He told her. "I never wanted to fall in love with you. I never wanted to fall in love with anyone. I saw what love did to my mother and I never wanted any part of it." He added. "And with Belinda there's no chance of us ever being together except for a few stolen moments when we have sex together."

"I don't believe this." Brenda began to pace the floor in fury. "I'm breaking my neck trying to find some way to bring you back, and you don't want to be brought back." She suddenly lunged towards him and screamed in his face. "Why can't you ever fight for us. Why do you always have to fight against us."

"Because I never wanted this." He screamed back. "I never wanted to have some kind of great love like they talk about in the movies or write about in books. I never wanted to fall in love, at all. I never wanted to feel some kind of love that's so strong I have no control over it. A love that has the power to destroy me if I let it, and I almost did when I thought you were dead." He jumped off of the bed and began to pace himself. "You had it right when you referred to it as a force of nature. It's just like a hurricane or a tornado. It's something that can't be controlled and leaves nothing but destruction in its path." He added. "Why do you think I clung so hard to Carly when you came back and I forced myself to stay away from you. The love I have for Carly I can control, it doesn't control me. It doesn't scare me the way my love for you does."

"So," Brenda replied bitterly. "You think you've landed in the perfect situation. You can have me, but because I'm married, you won't ever have to get in too deep with me. Is that what you think?" She waited for him to answer, and when he didn't, she lowered the boom on him. ""Well, I've got news for you, baby. That safe love you think you've fallen into is going to get you killed."

"What are you talking about?" He stared at her in shock.

"In less than two weeks time you're going to die." She told him. "Jocelyn Jerrold is going to find you and his wife in bed together and he's going to kill you both." She added. "Now do you want to stay in the past and do you see why I'm trying so desperately to get you back? If I can't get you back in time, you're going to die and you'll be lost to me forever."

Sonny sank back on to the bed. "Maybe it'll be for the best." He look sadly over at her. "I should have never been born. My life has been one long misery since I was a child. If I die, it'll finally be over and I'll finally have some peace." He caressed her cheek. "But I want you to know you were the only real bright spot in my life. You gave me love and taught me how to love in return. I wouldn't have been able to love the others if it hadn't been for you and the love you gave me."

"That's not true." A tear spilled down Brenda's cheek. "No one had to teach you how to love Stone and you loved him long before you loved me. Or your mother or Robin or Luke or any of the others. That was all you and that beautiful heart of yours that you try so hard to protect from pain. It's because of that heart of yours that I love you so and I can't let you go." She wrapped her arms around him tightly. "No one has ever loved me or made me feel loved the way you do. And that's why I'll never give up on you or us no matter how many times you try to." She held his face in her hands. "I'm not going to stop until I bring you back to me and when I finally have you back I'm going to make you so happy you'll forget all the pain and misery you've ever felt in your life."

"What about Marco Consuelos?" Sonny asked. "He's not as messed up as I am. Doesn't he deserve another chance at life. He might not constantly screw up my life the way I'm always doing. Maybe this is the way it's supposed to be. Maybe a mistake is finally being corrected. Maybe I'm supposed to die in his place so he can live in mine."

"No." She shook her head adamantly. "It's Marco's destiny to die with Belinda Jerrold. It's their destiny to die together, the same way it's our destiny to grow old together. You have to believe that. You can't believe anything else." She cradled his head between her breasts and laid back on the bed. "Poor baby, you never wanted to fall in love, at all, and not only did you fall in love, but it's the kind of love most people dream of finding but never do, and it scares you so much you keep running from it."

"Why did this have to happen to me?" He sounded like he was inflicted by some terrible disease.

"Because you're the person most deserving of a love like this." She ran her fingers through his hair trying to comfort him. "Neither one of us knew much love when we were growing up and this is the Universe's way of evening that out. By giving us a great love together to make up for all the love we were denied as children." She added in a soothing tone. "It'll be all right, baby. As soon as you stop running away from this, everything will finally fall into place for us and we'll both finally be happy."