General Hospital Relationship Timeline: Brenda And Sonny

On "General Hospital," Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) finds himself at a romantic crossroads in 2022 as he is torn between his five-time wife, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright), and Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros), the woman he fell for when he spent much of 2021 with amnesia in Nixon Falls, a small fictional Pennsylvania town.

At the time, he didn't know that Nina knew his identity, and he's not pleased with her for keeping it from him, but he also admits he still has feelings for her that just won't go away. Carly can't handle this and moved out, Sonny went off his bi-polar meds, and Nina is trying to save his sanity. 

But there is always someone else out there for Sonny who is just a phone call and a plane ride away. To some fans, she is also the love of Sonny's life. Her name is Brenda Barrett (Vanessa Marcil) and can often be considered the one who got away.

Let's take a look back at the history of Sonny and Brenda's relationship.

Sonny Corinthos was the owner of a strip club trying to work his way up in the mafia world while Brenda Barrett was a recent high school graduate born with a silver spoon in her mouth. 

The pair met one day on the Port Charles docks when Brenda was ready to go on a trip. Sonny offered to carry her luggage, but Brenda declined. 

Still, the attraction was there, and, when they next met at a car dealership, they endlessly flirted. Soon, Brenda's new car was in trouble when she was driving one night and found Sonny shot on the side of the road. 

She took him into her car, drove him to his apartment, called a discreet doctor for help, gave him a blood transfusion, and nursed him back to health. From there, a romance was born.

It was still the 1990s, so glamorous location shoots remained in soap budgets, allowing a variety of characters to travel to Puerto Rico for a big adventure story. That is where Sonny and Brenda shared their "From Here to Eternity" moment on the beach that solidified the fact that they were, indeed, in love.

After returning from Puerto Rico, Sonny and Brenda decided they belonged together, and she moved into his small apartment while Sonny promised her he was going legit and leaving the mob. 

He even seemed to do so when he opened a popular nightclub with Luke Spencer, but Brenda wasn't completely sure Sonny was on the up and up. And he wasn't. 

When Brenda was nearly shot while taking a shower one night, the incident left her wanting to know what was really going on, so some law enforcement friends convinced her to wear a wire. However, Sonny found the wire on Brenda and angrily broke things off with her.

Soon, Brenda started a relationship with singer Miguel Morez (Ricky Martin) that went nowhere, and Sonny started a romance with Lily Rivera (Lilly Melgar), which went somewhere — in that she became pregnant with his child. 

Sonny didn't realize this yet when he and Brenda decided to reunite. He asked to meet her on the pier where they first laid eyes on each other so they could run off, and, when she did, he had to tell her that Lily was pregnant and that he felt obligated to marry her. 

Dejected, Brenda agreed to marry Jasper "Jax" Jacks (Ingo Rademacher), who had been pining for her. In what became known as the legendary "Clink-Boom" moment on "General Hospital," the second Brenda and Jax toasted their marriage, the scene switched to a pregnant Lily getting into Sonny's limo — and the limo exploding, leaving Lily and her unborn child dead.

Since Brenda was not actually in love with Jax, when she and Sonny got stuck together while kidnapped by Sonny's turncoat bodyguard, the pair made love. When Jax found out, he left Brenda, and she and Sonny were finally free to marry. 

Of course, it wasn't meant to be — this time around. Brenda arrived at the church ready to walk down the aisle, but Sonny wasn't there. Instead, in order to protect her, he quietly left town after threats were made on his and Brenda's lives.

When Sonny returned to town nearly two years later, Brenda had been presumed dead in a car crash, and Sonny had to learn to live without her. 

However, Brenda wasn't dead after all, and, when Sonny saw her alive for the first time outside a church with "Amazing Grace" playing in the background, it was a cathartic moment for them and the audience as they finally reunited. 

But not for long. Jax also fought for Brenda, and all the chaos prompted her to leave town once again.

Brenda lived in Europe for several years, where she supposedly had a son who was taken from her. 

When she returned to Port Charles, both Sonny and Jax vied for her affections once again and even tried to help find her son while protecting her from a crime lord named The Balkan. Once that crime lord was brought down, Sonny and Brenda finally wed in 2011, nearly two decades after they first met.

However, the union was short-lived. Brenda wanted to raise her little boy in a safe environment, and she knew she could never find that with Sonny, so she left Port Charles once again.

When she returned for a brief visit three years later, Sonny and Brenda realized that they were better off as friends, which they remain to this day on "General Hospital."

However, if Sonny really does need the love of his life, she is only a phone call away.