"Shh," Sonny said in a stage whisper to the kids as they barreled through the pool house doorway, which was now doubling as Brenda's office.

"Hey guys, you can disturb me anytime," Brenda informed Michael, Glory, Morgan, and Robbie as she kissed each of them on the top of their heads.

"Mama, may we play outside?" Glory asked.

"Yes, but I have to be able to see you from my window, okay?"

The children nodded and ran outside.

"How did you get your job back so quickly?" Sonny inquired.

"Erica knows a mother's love knows no bounds," she replied, recalling Erica's tale about her daughter, Sonya.

"Ah."

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "We've done this already," he told her, turning to face the window.

Brenda walked over to him. "No, not about that. I'm sorry for not understanding why you left. I understand now that you left to keep me safe and if you had done it any other way I would have scoured the earth for eternity looking for you." She paused. "I don' agree with your methods but the necessity of them I understand. And I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time about it." Kissing his cheek, she laid her head on his shoulder.

He sighed. This woman by his side kept on surprising and amazing him. She was a full fledged woman, no longer was she playing at being a grown woman. She stood by his side with no fears. This Brenda Barrett now legally Brenda Devane Martin had been through some wars and emerged as a victorious warrior. Though the costs of those battles were evident in her eyes and spirit. He hated that she had been damaged, but in a perverse way it made him feel less guilty about loving her, wanting her. He didn't feel as if he were dragging her into the depths of hell by loving her. She had already been to hell and saw the evils that lurked there and still she wanted to be with him, beside him.

Capturing her face in his hand, Sonny lifted her head and ravished her roughly, not giving a single inch. And she was with him every step of the way. She had grown more passionate, more sure of herself in there time apart. He, Sonny Corinthos, had finally met his match, his queen. He slowly gentled the kiss and then eventually ended it with a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. "Why didn't you take the boys?"

"You would have had no one," she said breathlessly.

He digested her answer that he gauged to be truthful, but she was leaving something out. "You never would have made it with Michael."

She chuckled. "That's why you’re in the coffee business and I'm in beauty. There are many different shades of brown and many red highlights that look natural on brunettes."

Inwardly he gasped, she had considered taking Michael and Morgan. He didn't know what he would have done if she had. His baby had thought of all the angles. "Thank you," he murmured in her hair.

Snuggling into his arms, she nodded.

"I will move heaven and earth to keep our family together," Sonny vowed.

"I know and so will I. I love you."

"I love you."