At the cabin --

A few days had passed since Alexis had visited the cabin, and Zander was no closer to remembering then he was 3 days prior. He was getting frustrated with himself because he couldn't remember, all he wanted to do was to punish the man who shot and killed his father. Emily sat with him every night trying to keep his mind off of his past the best she could, but it was getting more and more difficult as time passed. The pressure on Zander to remember began to tighten on him, the longer he couldn't remember, the worse it was for the case against Sonny. Emily could see how exhausted Zander had become over the past few days, he wasn't getting his rest at night and Devon kept him going during the day.

Zander had locked up the downstairs tight and turned out the lights, as Emily climbed the stairs slowly, keeping the pace slow till Zander could catch up to her. She led the way to the master bedroom as Zander followed close behind her. His hands latched on her waist and guided her into the bedroom, closing the door behind him by kicking it closed with his foot. She could tell by his demeanor that he was in no way tired to sleep, he had other things on his mind.

Once inside the bedroom, Zander scooped Emily up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He needed to just relax and he knew a night of lovemaking with is wife was just what the doctor ordered. As they lye in each other's arms afterwards, Zander had finally drifted off to sleep. Emily lay watching over him and slowly she too fell asleep.

Flashes of that fateful night sparked in his mind, and Emily felt Zander become restless, tossing and turning against her. She was afraid to wake him, not knowing what he might be dreaming, she had read that waking up a someone in midst of a nightmare could be harmful to those who were dreaming and the person who was doing the waking, so she left him continue for a little while longer.

The memories of that night filtered into Zander's mind so easily, it replaying back to him the events that happened frame by frame.

-dream sequence-

A little boy walk down the stairs to go to the kitchen. As he turned the corner, he seeing the light from underneath the door of his father's office, curiosity in him led him to the light to listen to what was being talked inside the room, all he heard was silence as he placed his ear to the door. He turned away from the study and patted to the kitchen for some milk. He reached up for the jug of special milk his mom always had for him. After taking his drink, he placed the jug back in the refrigerator and walked back towards the staircase. Shouting could be heard now from the study, as he leaned up against the door to get a better listen.

"I can't believe you'd betray me like this Michael! I trusted you with my family, with my life! We've been partners for years and you go and do this to me!" dad shouted at his right hand man, Michael.

"Mr. Smith, it just happened! I didn't know what I was doing, I couldn't control myself, sir!" Michael shouted back.

"You couldn't control yourself? How could you not control yourself, Michael? You disrespected me in the worst possible way someone could! You know what I do to people who betray me, Michael!" dad yelling at Michael, but listening closely enough to hear the gun snap into firing position.

"Tell me something Michael, did my wife beg for it?!"

The room became silent again, but I couldn't tear myself away from the door, and I just listened.

"What am I suppose to tell my child when he grows up, Michael?! What am I suppose to tell Alexander?! Tell me!" dad started yelling again at Michael.

"I don't know Frank, he's your son!" Michael replied.

"That's right he is my son! My son, Michael .. not yours! Mine! I raised him, I provided for him, I protected him from people like you, Michael! I love that child like he was my own! He might of come from a violent act, but he's know that he is loved by his mother and me!"

Things turned from bad to worse as another gun was pulled and cocked.

"You filthy son of a bitch! How could you let an innocent child pay for your crime, Michael?!"

"Alexander isn't going to pay for my crime, Frank .. you are!"

Gunshots rang out ...

-end of dream sequence-

Shots rang out and it startled Zander awake from his dreams.

Emily sitting by his side as he sat up in bed, covered in sweat, his breathing erratic.

"Zander, are you alright?" Emily asked as she noticed he had fear and anger in his eyes. "Did you remember something?" she continued as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand.

He looked at her confused, and distant. His eyes glazed over, he wasn't in the room with her, he may have been physically but psychologically he was someplace else.

"Zander, focus on my voice. Did you remember anything?" she said as she made eye contact with him, she knew she wasn't reaching him.

He began to shake off the nightmare and she saw in his eyes, he was slowly coming back from where ever it was that his dream took him.

"Oh my God, Em!" he latched on to her and squeezed her tight, she could feel the fear inside him, it sent shivers up her spine. Something he remember seriously scared him to death.

Zander pulled back from Emily's arms and shook off the feelings that were left inside of him from the dreams.

"Zander, did you remember something?" she asked as sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah I did." he replied as he glanced back over his shoulder.

She crawled to his side and sat with him. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked as she caressed his back with her hand.

"I just can't believe it." He was shocked to see in his dream what he had once blocked out of his mind for so long.

"Why don't you tell me about it, we can work through it together." she said as he got up from the bed.

What he dreamt couldn't be true, he couldn't be who the dream said he was. It's not possible. He tried to put that part of the dream aside and focused more on the the actual shooting and who the person was who pulled the trigger.

"Zander, what did you see?" she asked hoping to coax him into telling her about his dream.

"I saw everything Em and I heard them talking. I heard the gunfire and saw them leave the study, just like I said before." he replied as she got up from the bed and walked towards him.

"Did you see who it was? Was it Sonny?" she asked again. Zander slipped to that far away place again, and was set back to reality when she called his name a few times.

"Yeah it was Sonny but there's more Em .... " he said as turned into her. "The argument they were having was about me, Em .. it was about me."

Emily pulled him into her as he felt guilt wash over him. His father was dead because of him, not because of some business deal gone wrong, but because of him.

"It's all my fault." he said as they walked back towards the bed and sat down once again.

"This is not your fault Zander, you were 8 years old. You were just a little boy, so don't go blaming yourself." he knew she was right but he just kept thinking about the argument between his father and Sonny. And then it hit him, like a punch in the gut as he remembered more of the argument and why they were arguing over him.

His mind went back and forth between Frank and the man he knew only as Michael, because that's what his dad called him as. "But Frank wasn't my father .... that's what they were fighting about ..."

The more Zander remembered about that night, the tears in his eyes welled as he realized what had actually happened that night, how much he had truly heard coming from inside the study.

"Zander, you lost me again. Frank wasn't your father? Then who was?" Emily asked as he kept slipping in and out to that far away place.

"Michael .... that's what the fight was about." he repeated as he snapped back from empty blank stare.

Emily sighed. "Okay, who's Michael? Someone you knew, a close family friend, who?"

He stared into her eyes and said bluntly....."Sonny."