Chapter Four

SONNY UNTANGLED BRENDA from around his body. "I don't think that would be a good idea." He put some much needed space between us. "I know you're my wife, but you're like a total stranger to me. I don't know you." He added. "It just wouldn't feel right us sharing the same bed, let alone making love with you."

"You may not know me." Brenda turned on the sex as she narrowed the distance between them. "But I know you want me. I've known it from the moment you woke-up in the hospital. I can feel it in the very air that surrounds us."

"You're a very beautiful woman." He walked away from her. "But you're still a stranger to me and it would feel weird making love with a stranger."

"I'm not asking you to make love to me." She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. "All I'm suggesting is that we share the intimacy of sharing a bed together. Nothing more and nothing less." She added. "In the car you asked me where we go from here. I think this is as good a place to start as any."

"I suppose we have to start somewhere." He gave in reluctantly. He turned around to her to face her. "There's a possibility I may never get my memory back, so we may have to start rebuilding our relationship from scratch. So I guess this is as good a place to do it as any."

"That's exactly what I was thinking." She pulled his shirt out of his waist band and began to unbutton it.

Sonny put his hand over hers to stop her. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm undressing you." She replied, pulling her hand away from his and continued unbuttoning his shirt. "It's what we always do before we go to bed. We undress each other. It's like a ritual." She pulled his shirt open then gasped.

It was news coverage about Sonny being gunned down in front of the Port Charles Police Department on Christmas Eve that had alerted her to where Sonny was. She had given up all hope when Jax had committed her to the sanitarium in Switzerland, but seeing the newspaper article on Sonny's shooting had brought her back to life. It had renewed her spirits and she vowed she would find a way to escape the sanitarium and to make her way to Sonny.

It had never occurred to her that he would still bear a hideous scar from his injuries. In the hospital his chest had been covered by a hospital gown. This was the first time she had gotten a look at his chest and there had been no way to conceal her reaction.

"What is it?" Sonny asked, then he looked down at his chest where she was staring. He rushed over to the mirror to look at his reflection. "My god, how did I get this."

"I'm sorry I reacted that way." Brenda scrambled to cover her faux pas. "Every time I see it, I'm reminded of how close I came to nearly losing you."

"How did I get this?" He turned to her, wanting to know.

"It happened on Christmas Eve over a year ago." She told him. "You were gunned down in front of the police station."

"How?" He asked in shock. "Why?"

"Some mobsters were gunning for the local crime boss." She explained. "And you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's one of the reason's we decided it was time to leave the city and move somewhere safe." She tried to get back to where they were before, as she pulled his shirt off his arms. "No where were we before I overreacted to your scar, again."

"I think I'd like to undress myself if you don't mind." Sonny pulled away from her. "I think I'll do it in the bathroom. I'll just go and take a shower, now."

Brenda watched him walking into the bathroom cursing herself for a fool. If she made anymore major mistake like the one she just made this would be over before it even had a chance to begin. Somehow she had to find a way to recoup the ground she had just lost, but how. Then it suddenly came to her. She knew just what to do.

* * * * *

JASON DIDN'T WANT to do it, but he thought he'd better bring Carly up to speed. If he didn't she would no doubt make a bad situation, even worse. He wasn't looking forward to telling Carly that Brenda was alive and she had convinced Sonny that she was his wife. He wasn't sure which one was worse for Sonny. Brenda or Carly.

Jason entered the penthouse and Carly came rushing over to him. "Have you found out anything?" She asked anxiously. "Have you found Sonny?"

"Yeah." He admitted. "I found him."

She looked behind Jason. "Then where is he?"

"Sonny had a car accident." Was all he was able to get out before she went into hysterics.

"Oh, my god." She gasped. "Where is he? Is he badly hurt. Jason, tell me where my husband is."

"I don't know, exactly." He confessed.

"What do you mean you don't know." She snapped. "You said you found him."

"And I lost him again." He steered her to the couch and got her to sit down. "Sonny's fine. He was released from the hospital."

Again she interrupted. "Then why isn't he home." Carly jumped up and began to overreact again. "Is he trying to punish me like he did when he hid out a Loon Lake with Angel Ellis?"

"Carly." Jason spoke to her in a firm voice to get her attention. "The doctor said Sonny has amnesia. He has no memory who he is."

"And you're letting him roam around out there alone." She exploded.

"He isn't alone." Jason told her.

"What do you mean?" She knew she wasn't going to like this. "That bitch Alexis isn't with him, is she?"

"No." Someone a whole lot worst she was, though. "But Sonny is with a woman. Brenda is with him."

"Brenda?" She repeated. "You mean Brenda Barrett? But that's impossible. She's dead. Jax said so."

"Jax lied." Jason snarled.

"But why would Sonny be with her?" Carly fired questions at Jason. "Where has she been all this time. How did she find Sonny when none of us even knew where he was."

"I don't know the answer to any of those questions." Jason dreaded telling her what he had to tell her next. "All I know is that Sonny thinks she's his wife."

"His wife!" She spat. "But I'm his wife." She headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" He called after her.

"To tear Jasper Jacks limb from limb." She declared. "He knew that bitch was alive and he never warned me once. He's going to pay for this."

Jason went running after her.

* * * * *

SONNY KNEW HE was stalling, but he just wasn't ready to turn off the water, dry himself off and go back in there and face Brenda. It was a strange feeling to have marks and scars on your body and not know how you got them. When he had gotten into the bathroom he had taken off all his clothes and examined his body with a fine tooth comb. There were other marks on his body that he had no memory of how he'd gotten them, the most disturbing of all was the faint scars that covered his back. They looked pretty old and if he had to guess, he had gotten them from being beaten. Just what kind of life had he lived?

Suddenly the shower door opened and Brenda stepped under the shower head. "Brenda." He gasped in shock. "What are you doing in here?"

"Showers." She took the bar of soap from him and began to run it over his chest. "Is also something we do together."

"This isn't a very good idea." He told her.

"Sonny." She pouted. "How are we ever going to feel like husband and wife if you keep putting distance between us."

"You called me Sonny." He jumped on that like a terrier on a bone. "My name is Michael. Why did you just call me Sonny?"