Chapter One

SONNY FELT HIMSELF being shaken awake from a sound sleep and could hear his name being called from what sounded like a great distance away. The voice grew louder and closer as he felt his body being shook again. He finally managed to drag himself up from layers of deep sleep and recognized the voice who was calling his name to be Jason's. "I'm awake." He yawned as Jason pulled him up into a sitting position. "I'm awake. You can stop shaking me now. Where's the fire?" Sonny looked around the room groggily feeling a bit disoriented.

"Sonny?" Jason looked at him in shock. "What's wrong with you?" Jason asked in concern. "For a second there I didn't think y you were going to wake-up. And what were you doing asleep, anyways. Have you forgotten you're supposed to be getting married in less than an hour?" He added in a disapproving tone as he pulled Sonny up to his feet. "Look what you've done to your wedding clothes. Their all wrinkled."

"Married?" Sonny repeated groggily, still not completely awake. "Carly and I are getting married again? How many times does that make it now?"

"Carly?" Jason laughed. "I wouldn't let Brenda hear you say that, even if you're only joking."

"Brenda?" Sonny repeated dumbly. "What does Brenda have to do with anything?"

"Sonny?" Jason narrowed his eyes at him and studied him, as he realized Sonny wasn't joking. "Brenda is waiting for you at St. Timothy's so you can marry her. Then once you two leave for your honeymoon, you won't be coming back." He was speaking slowly to Sonny like he was talking to a very backward child. "You do remember that, don't you, Sonny?"

As Jason continued trying to brush the wrinkles out of his suit, Sonny finally looked down and noticed what he was wearing. These were the same clothes he'd been wearing the night he was supposed to marry Brenda. This couldn't be. His eyes widened in horror when he looked down at his watch and it said the date was the day and year he and Brenda were supposed to get married on. This couldn't be. Then he looked around his penthouse and it looked like it did before the bomb had exploded and the penthouse had been remodeled. This just couldn't be.

Sonny suddenly remembered that conversation he was having with Stone before he suddenly fell into a deep sleep. Something about turning back the clock and doing things different this time. Then he realized Jason was staring at him like he thought he was a candidate for the laughing academy and if he told him that a dead angel sent him back in time, Jason would really think he did belong in a padded cell. So Sonny forced himself to laugh and pretend everything was all right, while suddenly knowing how Dorothy felt when she realized she wasn't in Kansas any longer. "I had you going there, didn't I?" Sonny acted like he'd just been pulling Jason's leg. "So, what are we waiting for?" He headed for the door, hoping Jason would follow without making an issue out of the way he'd been acting. "Shouldn't we both be getting to the church. Neither one of us is going to want to see Brenda if I don't show up at that church and marry her."

As they left the penthouse and climbed into the back of his limo, Sonny realized why Stone had done this to him. He'd somehow sent him back in time to find out what would have happened if he had gone through with marrying Brenda, instead of leaving her standing at the altar. If he wanted to get back to his own time, he was going to have to do what he was sent here to do. Show up at St. Timothy's and marry Brenda.

But the closer they got to the church, the more the doubts that had caused Sonny to leave Brenda standing at the altar, began to seep into his mind. All the reasons why he'd decided he couldn't go through with marrying Brenda came back to haunt him in a blinding flash. What if everything he thought had happened in the future was just a dream. What if this wasn't some harmless dream where he could find out what would happen if he married Brenda but was really reality and the future was the dream? What if he married Brenda and she ended up dying because of him? Could he really take the risk and go through with marrying Brenda? Or should he order the limo to stop and do what he did last time all over again?

The limo pulled up in front of the church sooner than Sonny would have liked. Too late to tell the limo to stop and turn around. Then the chauffeur was coming around to his side of the car and opened the door for him. There was nothing left to do but to get out, but Sonny didn't move as he stared at St. Timothy's with foreboding.

"Sonny?" Jason hissed in his ear. "Are you going to get out?"

"Of course." Sonny said, as he forced himself to climb out of the limo, still no closer to deciding what he should do. As he walked towards the church, he began to flashback on the last time he was there. Before his eyes he could see Brenda pushing the church doors open and remembered how he felt the first moment he realized he wasn't imagining her and she was really there. Then he flashed back on to their wedding night as he stood out in the rain watching her standing in the front of the church doors in her wedding gown. If he didn't go through with marrying Brenda this time, he'd never know what would have happened, but if he did his worst nightmare could come true and she could die because of him.

"Are you all right, Sonny?" Jason hadn't bought Sonny's show a bravado earlier and he was really becoming worried about him, as he continued to act weirder and weirder.

"I'm fine." Sonny heaved a heavy sigh of dread. "Let's just go in there and get this over with." Hardly the words of a happy bridegroom, but Jason decided to let it go.

They greeted people as they entered the church. Mike hissed in Sonny's ear as he and Jason walked down the aisle to the front of the church. "Where have you been? For a little while there, I thought you weren't going to show up."

"You have no idea how right you were." Sonny muttered under his breath. "I'm here now." Sonny looked over his shoulder at his concerned father. "That's all that matters."

The signal was given to start the wedding and they took their places at the front of the altar. Sonny stared wistfully down the aisle to the exit, longing to just run from the church like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. Sonny was fidgeting nervously as the wedding march began to play, then he saw Brenda come marching down the aisle towards him on Edward Quartermaine's arm. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on and she was looking at him with so much love in her eyes for him. She was the only woman he had ever really wanted and by some miracle she wanted him too. She was the only woman he'd ever truly loved with his entire heart and his soul. Then she was standing by his side and taking his hand in hers. "Are you okay, baby?" She whispered in concern.

He took a deep breath and smiled at her a beautiful smile that showed his dimples and shone in his eyes. "I'm fine." He told her. "Now that you're here, everything is okay." And it was. He loved her so much he couldn't bring himself to leave her again. It had nearly killed him to do it once, and he just didn't have the strength to do it again. He suddenly knew the real reason he had sent Jason to her that night, instead of coming to her, himself. If he had come to her and told her he couldn't marry her, he would have never been able to go through with it and would have ended up marrying her. Just like he was doing now.

But everything wasn't okay, a voice shrieked inside of his head, as he remembered the nightmare he had the night before their wedding of Brenda turning into Lily and dying the way Lily had. Wouldn't it be better to let her go, then to marry her and to be responsible for her death? All he would have to do was put a halt to the ceremony, tell Brenda he couldn't go through with this, and walk back down the aisle and out of her life for good. But the thought of doing that made his heart protest that he had already done that and look what had happened. Brenda hadn't been better off without him. Horrible things had still happened to her. Worse things then if he had gone through with marrying her.

Sonny still didn't know what he should do. All through the wedding ceremony Sonny's head and his heart debated on whether to put a stop to the wedding or to go through with it. Finally, the moment of truth came when the priest asked him if he took Brenda for his wife. Taking a deep breath and praying he was doing the right thing, Sonny looked deep into Brenda's eyes and recited his wedding vows to her, only stumbling over the part unto death do they part. Then they were being pronounced husband and wife and he was leaning down to kiss his bride. The deed was done. It was too late to turn back now. They were married and now he would finally know if he'd made the biggest mistake of his life when he decided not to go through with marrying her.