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Chapter 9

~L&B Records~

"Ma, why can't you ever think about someone beside yourself?"

Ned quietly closed the door behind him and took in his ex-wife and daughter as they stood, once again, arguing with each other. Brook was clearly upset at her mother, and Lois didn't seem to be aware of it. Or, she didn't seem to care.

"Brookie," Lois said, her voice taking on that slightly belittling tone she always seemed to adopt with their daughter. "I don't see what the harm is in having her here at the studio."

"Of course you wouldn't," Brook shot back angrily. "You would invite Ted Bundy to dinner as long as he flattered you and hinted he'd invest in your business."

"Sweetie, Mr. Alcazar is hardly Ted Bundy."

"He's a crook," their daughter retorted, and Ned felt proud of her that she was able to see that. It was something his ex-wife seemed to be willing to ignore. "Are you so desperate...so pathetic in your blind ambition that you'd take a criminal's money? It wasn't that long ago you left here determined to get Mr. Corinthos out of your business because he was a criminal. How is this any different?"

"Brookie, you don't understand," Lois tried to soothe while still sounding like she was talking to a six year old.

"No, I don't," the teenager said hotly. "You are so vain, so desperate to act like you're young and beautiful. You'd rather men thought you were my sister instead of my mother and I'm sick of you acting like a fool as opposed to a parent."

Brook shook her head and her voice trembled when she spoke again. "Sage Alcazar may have a pretty voice, but she certainly isn't anything spectacular, and she certainly isn't worth all of the fawning you do over her simply to get her uncle's money. It's embarrassing, Ma, and it's hurting one of my friends."

"Brookie-"

"No," their daughter shook her head again. "I'm embarrassed and disgusted by you constantly sucking up to her in hopes of making her uncle like you and agree to give you money. And I'm tired of watching her hurt Georgie and having to keep quiet about all so we don't upset the spoiled, little brat. She purposefully does things, and then threatens to tell her uncle we're upset with her so he won't give you his money, and you fall right into her trap. You bend over backwards to make her happy while the rest of us are miserable."

Ned had been standing out of the two women's view and he continued to keep his presence hidden. He had never been more proud of his daughter than at this moment. Brook could see what was going on with the Alcazars and she didn't approve of Lorenzo Alcazar anymore than he did. Lois merely wanted the man's money, regardless of its dubious connections and Ned knew, based on what he was hearing, that he was going to have to step in again and talk to her. He didn't like Brook's interaction with Sage Alcazar, he infinitely preferred Georgie Jones over the spoiled brat. Maybe if he spoke up his ex-wife would be forced to give up this silly pursuit of getting Brook to sing by focusing on a stuck-up teenager. There would be other ways to get money for the business without having to deal with the Alcazars.

But before he could step forward, Brook defiantly stood up to her mother. "I don't want to be around Sage Alcazar anymore," she declared. "I'm not going to sing no matter what you do, or want, or try to force me into by praising her in hopes of making me jealous. If you want to work with Sage, you do it on your own and without my music. I don't give you my permission to use my songs for that trampy wanna-be."

Lois looked stunned and stepped back as she raised her fluttering hand to her neck. Brook just kept going. "I'll talk to Dad. I know he'll support me on this. You won't be able to use my songs without his permission."

"I do support you," Ned said, finally stepping forward and making his presence known.

Brook and Lois turned at his words. His ex-wife's eyes flashed hurt, anger, and even a bit of betrayal. His daughter looked surprised to see him there, but also relieved and he was mad at Lois for pushing this situation to this point. Walking up to Brook he gently put his hand on her arm. "Why don't you let your mom and I talk? Call Georgie and see if she wants to do something, okay?"

She nodded and turned, leaving the studio without another word, or even a look, at Lois. When their daughter left, his ex-wife sighed and folded her arms over her chest. "Thanks for your show of support there, Ned."

Rolling his eyes at her sarcastic tone he met her gaze with resolve. "Grow up, Lois. Brook's right and you're just upset because she'd not going along with your ridiculous behavior. If Brook doesn't want Sage to use her music, then I'll support her on that. And she's right in pointing out there's very little difference between Sonny Corinthos and Lorenzo Alcazar."

He turned for the door, but gave his ex a parting shot. "Think about what's more important, Lois. Do you want your daughter's respect, or do you want to find the next Britney Spears clone?"

~Kelly's Courtyard~

His foot tapped absently against the leg of the table as Lucky sat drinking his soda. What the warm summer day really needed was a nice cold beer, but he was going on duty in a couple of hours so he was stuck with soda. With his back next to the courtyard wall, he watched as the people of Port Charles went in and out of his family's diner. Dock workers scurried in to grab a quick lunch, and mothers tiredly shepherded their children in after playing at the park, but the person he was waiting for had yet to show up. And that was unlike her.

Elizabeth was usually prompt, although sometimes - he smiled, most of the time - she came rushing in five minutes late while still pulling herself together and apologizing. But to be nearly half an hour late without hearing from her was definitely not like Elizabeth. And even though Lucky told himself that he had called her and asked her to join him for lunch on rather short notice and she tried to beg off, the fact was she had agreed. So he was a bit annoyed she hadn't shown up yet because he was hungry and tired of sitting out in the heat. Good thing he hadn't called her any later than he had otherwise he wouldn't have been able to wait for her.

He turned when he heard the sound of plastic wheels being pushed over the cobblestone, and he smiled when he saw that Elizabeth had finally arrived. Standing, he took the diaper bag from her shoulder and pulled out the chair for her while she parked Cameron's stroller. "Hey, you finally made it."

She frowned and sat down, avoiding his gaze. "Sorry," her words were terse. "It hasn't been a very good day. Cameron's still fussy, and I hadn't even had a chance to get a shower today when you called. I can't exactly dash out the door on a moment's notice just because you have a whim."

Lucky at least had the grace to wince and feel sheepish for being annoyed she was late and for pushing her so hard to join him. "I'm sorry, Elizabeth. I guess I wasn't really thinking about that. It's just, it's been a couple of days since I've seen you and I thought we could have some lunch."

Letting out a tired breath, Elizabeth finally looked up at him. "No, I'm sorry, Lucky. I...it's actually nice to be out of the house. It's just an ordeal to get out the door sometimes."

She tucked her hair behind her left ear and picked up the menu asking what the specials were. Lucky didn't answer though, because his eyes were immediately drawn to the bruise on her face, right above the small cut in the corner of her mouth. She'd done a good job with the make-up concealing it, and if he hadn't just gone through a two-week training course on domestic abuse he might have overlooked it. His eyes darkened and he leaned forward. "Elizabeth?"

"Yeah?" she asked as she adjusted Cameron's stroller so she could push it back and forth with her foot.

"What happened to your cheek?" Lucky asked in a low voice that caused her to snap her head back around to him.

Nervously she freed her hair from behind her ear, letting it fall forward to hide the slight bruise from his view. Her cheeks flushed and she wouldn't meet his gaze. "Don't worry about it, Lucky. It was nothing."

"Nothing?" he asked, his voice full of disbelief. "It doesn't look like nothing to me."

"It's nothing," she snapped forcefully at him. "Leave it alone or I'm leaving. In fact, I think I should go."

"Did Ric hurt you?" he asked before she could stand.

"What?"

"You said you were going to get the last of your stuff from his house this week," he pointed out. "I know he's been bugging you, showing up at Audrey's. Did he...did he do this?"

Heaven help the D.A. if he laid a hand on Elizabeth. Lucky would do everything in his power to bring charges against Ric Lansing. Elizabeth needed to file a police report; he should take her to the hospital. In fact, they should go there right now.

He stood up and reached for his wallet. "Come on."

Elizabeth just stared at him up from her seat. "What?"

"We're going to the hospital," he told her. "We need to have you looked at and get pictures so we can file the complaint."

"Lucky," she shook her head, still not moving. "I'm not filing a complaint."

"Look, just because he's your ex-husband doesn't mean he can get away with hitting you."

"I know that. But Ric didn't hit me," she told him. "That's not what happened. Can you listen to me for a second?"

"Then what did happen?" he pressed.

"Emily hit her."

Lucky turned, surprised at the person that was speaking to him, and at the words. "What?"

"Nikolas," Elizabeth said softly, reaching out as if she could somehow stop his words.

But his brother ignored her and answered Lucky's question. "Emily hit her a couple of days ago. They had an argument and Emily slapped her."

Lucky sank back down in his seat and looked over at Elizabeth who was looking down at her lap. "She hit you? What happened?"

"Emily is out of control," Nikolas spoke when it appeared Elizabeth wasn't going to. "She refuses to accept that I don't want to see her right now and when she heard Elizabeth had met with me-"

"She wanted Elizabeth to talk to you about your relationship with Emily," Lucky cut in. "Right?"

He looked over at Elizabeth and she nodded briefly in confirmation. She had been afraid Emily would react like that which was why she'd asked Lucky to keep Emily occupied the day she first met with his brother. It appeared her fears had been well founded.

"How did she find out?" he asked out of curiosity.

"I told her," Elizabeth replied. "I didn't want her to find out some other way and get mad."

"She got mad anyways," Nikolas said, the Cassadine imperious tone in full force. "Emily accused Elizabeth trying to ruin my relationship with her so that Elizabeth could secure a rich father for Cameron."

Lucky winced, especially when he saw the hurt and mortification on Elizabeth's face. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'll be fine," she said somewhat weakly and unconvincingly.

"Maybe you can reach her," Nikolas told him, and Lucky was surprised. It would probably be the closest his brother would ever come to asking for his help. "I'm sure Elizabeth is no hurry to see her again; I know I'm not. Tell her to stop acting like an immature child and to stop seeking us out to confront us."

"Us?"

Elizabeth looked like she was ready to say something, but Cameron began to fuss in his stroller. Her face and shoulders fell and she stifled a curse as she said, "I was hoping he'd sleep a bit longer."

She stood up and began to gather her things. "I'm sorry, Lucky. But I should go. I'm not really in the mood for lunch anymore."

"That's okay," he assured her. "We'll get together another time. When it's a better day for you, and for Cameron. I'm sorry."

Nikolas stood to the side, and when Elizabeth began to maneuver the stroller out of the courtyard, he fell into step beside her. Lucky saw her grateful smile towards him, and he frowned slightly at it. Nikolas seemed at ease with her, welcomed her presence even, and Lucky wondered what was really going on between his brother and his ex-girlfriend. Pulling out his cell phone, he knew there was someone he needed to call. Emily.

~Park~

Now that she and Cameron were out of the house, Elizabeth wasn't in a hurry to go back. For two days she'd stayed inside because she hadn't wanted to encounter anyone after Emily had slapped her. As she'd predicted, she hadn't been able to hide her bruise from her grandmother, but unexpectedly the older woman hadn't lectured her as Elizabeth thought she might. Instead, her gram listened to her as she talked about Emily and Nikolas and how she was trying to help everyone and only seemed to be making a mess of everything instead.

Instead of judging or lecturing, her grandmother had merely listened to her as she talked about her frustrations and wishes. She didn't know why, but Elizabeth had half-expected her to lecture her on getting involved in her friends' lives. Maybe because some of this made her feel like was a teenager again, or maybe she felt like she shouldn't tell her grandmother she'd run into Jason and he'd given her a ride back to her car. It made her feel a little like the time she was sneaking around while dating Lucky but being attracted to Jason.

It had helped to talk about things with someone who didn't have an emotional investment in the matter or didn't want something from her. But after her confrontation with Emily, she'd decided to just spend time with Cameron. She wasn't going to neglect her son for this melodrama. Plus, she figured it was time for her to start looking for some way to support her and Cameron beyond her grandmother's generosity and Ric's alimony.

"Are you okay?"

She looked over at Nikolas as he walked quietly beside her. Cameron had fallen back asleep as they walked, and she was grateful for the silence and the fact that Nikolas hadn't started pushing her to talk when they left the diner. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry if I was out of line back there," he said. "I...I guess I'm still just angry with both of them. I've seen him looking at her and I just-"

"Wanted him to know what she'd done so he didn't think she was perfect?" she asked.

"That's petty of me, isn't it?" he asked a bit chagrined.

"I'm not going to judge you," Elizabeth told him. "I'm not in any position to judge anybody. I understand when you're so full of emotions, anger being a big one, that you just want to strike out."

She nudged him playfully with her shoulder. "It doesn't make you horrible, it just makes you human. Welcome to the club."

Nikolas gave her a wry smile. "Thank you, I think. So, you're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm not in any hurry to see Emily again," she shrugged. "But I'm fine."

"So, the other guy that showed up," he looked over at her and Elizabeth sucked in her breath as she knew exactly what Nikolas was referring to. "Who is he?"

"Jason Morgan," she answered, focusing on her hands that were clenched around Cameron's stroller handle. "He's Emily's brother."

"He was looking for you afterwards," he pointed out. "Is he your friend?"

"Yeah," she answered simply, not elaborating on the complexity of the truth. She waited for the diatribe on the evils of Jason Morgan to follow, and was surprised when none came.

"Is he the guy Emily was talking about?" Nikolas asked.

She paused and walked over to a bench and sat down, hopefully Cameron would stay asleep if she stopped for a few minutes. "Yeah," Elizabeth nodded. "I've been friends with Jason for a while and Emily...hasn't always understood it. She doesn't like that I'm not helping her as she thinks I should, so she's sure I'm trying to steal you from her. She...she's my friend, but we haven't always seen eye to eye."

"Maybe she'll realize that..." He paused and looked down at his hands. "Maybe she'll realize that it's not your actions, but hers that are causing her problems."

"I'm not sure about that," she said sadly. "She's hurt and she's not thinking clearly right now."

"Then what about her brother?"

Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "I don't think that will work either. Jason's already tried to talk to her, but obviously it hasn't made a difference."

Shaking her head, she grinned at the absurdity of the moment. "You know, I have to say that it's very strange having this conversation with you."

"Why?" Nikolas asked with a frown. "I thought we established the other day we were friends and that I could help you like you helped me. Obviously if you're having a problem with Emily because of her brother I'd like to help you."

"It's not that," she told him. "It's the fact that I keep expecting you to start talking about how bad Jason is and that I should stay away from him and a whole bunch of other things you would always say. It's just weird having you ask questions and not automatically hating him."

"I didn't like him?" he asked.

"You've never been a fan," she confirmed. "It changed slightly when you started dating Emily, but I think it was more that you tolerated each other for her sake. But he's...he's a little more sympathetic towards you right now because he had an accident several years ago and he can't remember anything about his life before that."

"Emily told me that," he said, pursing his lips sourly. "While she was lying to me while trying to get close to me. She thought it would help us bond if she told me about her brother who was damaged like I was."

"I'm sorry, Nikolas," Elizabeth said softly. "I didn't mean-"

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted her, his smile softening the anger previously in his voice. "I'm okay. I wanted to see if you were. Make sure that the guy wasn't another one like Ric."

"No, he's not. And I'll be fine," she smiled reassuringly at him. "Thank you for walking with me and talking. But I should probably head back. Maybe if I'm lucky Cameron will stay asleep for longer than just the car ride."

"I'll walk you back to your car," Nikolas said as he stood.

"That isn't necessary," she said with a shake of her head.

"Yeah, I think I should," he told her and she turned to look over her shoulder, her brows furrowing in worry at the insistence in his voice.

Ric was with Alexis and her daughter, and Elizabeth could tell by her ex-husband's body language that he was turning on the charm on the lawyer. She didn't understand why Ric had suddenly taken an interest in Alexis, because while she was pretty and smart, Elizabeth didn't believe for a moment that Ric's interest in her was based on that. Something deeper always drove Ric, namely Sonny, and she felt that was the case here. The sudden transference of emotion from her to Alexis, after he'd begged Elizabeth not to leave him and promised he was done with trying to best Sonny...it just didn't make any sense. Not without there being something in it for Ric.

But what concern was it of hers? Should she warn Alexis? And on what grounds? Besides, Elizabeth had enough going on in her life. She really didn't have the time or the energy to take this on. Was she supposed to go over there and tell Alexis Ric was using her? Surely the other woman was smart enough to know that; so there was no reason for Elizabeth to get involved.

"Thank you," she looked back at Nikolas. "I appreciate not having to deal with either of them right now."

"Not a problem," he assured her, looking over at the pair who seemed to be oblivious to their presence, and the rest of the park, so far. Elizabeth hoped they could make it out of the area undetected.

For once that day, luck was finally on her side. She and Nikolas made it back to the sidewalk without drawing the attention of her ex-husband or his aunt. She didn't expect, or want, Ric to leave Alexis and come over and talk to her, but she just didn't even want him to look at her, to be aware that she was near. Her skin crawled after any encounter with him, and always left her feeling in need of a hot shower. She was glad she'd been spared that today.

Chapter 10

~Bently Office Building~

"Ms. Davis."

Alexis looked up at her assistant who had suddenly, and quietly, appeared in her office. The middle-aged woman who sometimes forgot that Alexis was her boss instead of her daughter in need of a good scolding - or a hot cup of soup - rarely came into her office unless it was preceded by Mrs. Hanley's voice on the intercom. The slightly older woman hated getting out of her chair, so visitors, phone calls and sometimes even requests to sign documents were almost always done through the intercom. Sometimes it bothered the lawyer, but Alexis figured if Mrs. Hanley could put up with her numerous idiosyncrasies, then she could tolerate a few from her assistant. Because Mrs. Hanley was proficient at dealing with clients, judges, and all the paperwork that was needed for both of them.

So for Mrs. Hanley to show up in Alexis' office without any sound out of the intercom was an indicator that something of a very serious nature was imminent. "Yes, Mrs. Hanley?" she asked as she slipped off her glasses.

"There's a gentleman here to see you," her assistant replied and Alexis was equal parts confusion and fear as to what gentleman Mrs. Hanley would not simply buzz her about. "Your...your nephew has asked for a moment of your time."

"Nikolas?" Alexis was not expecting her visitor to be Nikolas. Ric maybe would annoy her, Sonny would be her worst nightmare, Stefan back from the dead wouldn't entirely surprise her, but Nikolas showing up was the last person she expected. He had been furious with her for going along with Emily's deception of who he really was and Alexis couldn't say she blamed him. She never should have done it and had been regretting going along with the lie ever since.

"He's here?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Mrs. Hanley nodded.

Alexis sailed past her startled assistant and walked into the reception area. Nikolas was standing awkwardly in the room and looked up skeptically when she appeared. Reminding herself not to overwhelm him, she smiled tentatively. "Nikolas?"

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. "I was wondering if we could talk?"

"Sure," she nodded and motioned for him to come into her office. Mrs. Hanley slipped out unobtrusively, pausing only long for Alexis to ask her to make sure they weren't disturbed.

She approached her nephew but was careful not to crowd him. "Nikolas, how are you?"

"Fine," he answered in such a manner that it ended all further questions.

"Did you need something?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in question.

"Yes," he nodded. "I wanted to talk to you about Ric Lansing."

That was the last thing she had expected to hear from her estranged, amnesiac nephew. She'd known that if she hadn't asked what exactly brought him into her office they would have stood around in silence after he'd ended her attempts at polite conversation. She didn't know what she'd expected him to reply, but Nikolas wanting to talk about the D.A. had caught her completely unaware.

"Ric Lansing?" she asked in surprised confusion. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Her nephew shifted slightly, an indication he was uneasy with the conversation. "I wondered what was going on between the two of you."

"Going on between us?" she parroted stupidly. "There isn't anything between us except a working adversarial relationship and his ego."

She hoped that sounded plausible. She didn't want to voice her concerns that Ric Lansing seemed to know which buttons of her to push concerning Sonny and Kristina, all the while appearing completely oblivious to it.

"Then why did Elizabeth say she saw him kiss you?" Nikolas asked bluntly.

"Elizabeth saw that?" she squeaked. "I'm sorry if she was hurt. I'm not at all interested in him, I can assure you."

"She wasn't hurt," he shook his head. "She was actually worried about you."

That surprised Alexis. "Worried about me? What on earth for?"

"Because Elizabeth said that despite what Ric Lansing says, her ex-husband is all about Sonny Corinthos. He's obsessed with the man and especially wants to best his older brother. Apparently it was a big part of Elizabeth's marriage with him, especially the second one."

Alexis stood there stunned at her nephew's announcement. First, that Elizabeth Webber had been hurt by the man currently harassing her, and second that the other woman was concerned about Alexis enough to mention it to Nikolas. What really stunned her though was the fact that he had come here to talk to her about it. Alexis thought after all that she had done to him with Emily, that he would never be civil to her again.

"I...I'm not quite sure what to say," Alexis said. "I appreciate Elizabeth's concern and will be careful. I already know that the D.A. doesn't do anything without an agenda."

And now she was even more determined to be careful around Ric. For her sake, and especially for Kristina's. She was not going to take any chances of Sonny Corinthos finding out he had a daughter. Elizabeth's concern had only confirmed her earlier suspicions that she'd brushed aside and thought she was just being overly paranoid. Now she would be doubly cautious and careful around Ric Lansing.

"And thank you for letting me know," she said, restraining herself from saying too much and frightening Nikolas off.

"Okay," he shifted, hooking his hand around the back of his neck. "I need to go."

"Right," she nodded. "Of course. I...uh, I'll see you around I guess."

Nikolas merely nodded and left without saying anything. But he'd left her with a lot to think about regarding Ric. And also with a small shred of hope regarding Nikolas. Maybe if she didn't push him, he might just forgive her and they could begin again.

Jake's

Under other circumstances, Jason would have been slightly amused at the obvious discomfort and distaste on Sonny's face as he walked into the bar. But nothing was normal under these circumstances, and therefore not funny. Not with everything going on with Sam, Carly and the ever-present threat of Lorenzo Alcazar and Faith Roscoe. They had too many upheavals, too many threats to their well-being and well-order. So, for Sonny to show up instead of calling and asking Jason to meet him some place meant that Sonny felt the time couldn't be wasted.

Sonny looked over at Coleman and his narrowed eyes immediately erased the bar owner's curious smirk. While Jason loathed the man who had blackmailed Courtney into stripping, he also viewed the man as a distaste to be dealt with. Coleman didn't overly intrude into Jason's business, and if he came close to the line he quickly scurried back with one well-placed glare and a few choice words. But Sonny, Jason was sure, would like nothing more than to run Coleman out of town, or possibly have him eliminated.

Knowing that it was important to get on with business and not get distracted, Jason ended his pool game that he'd indulged in the luxury of and headed towards the stairs. He knew Sonny would follow him up to his room, and the guard following behind would keep anyone from overhearing. His room was swept twice a day for bugs, so they were relatively assured their conversation wouldn't be listened in on by the wrong people. But neither man spoke until they were in the room.

"What's up?" Jason asked immediately.

"You need to go to Puerto Rico," Sonny said, his face hardened and his voice worse.

"What happened?"

"I got a tip from Mario that Carlos is trying to branch out and usurp me."

Jason's own face hardened. Carlos had been pushing and pushing for a while, but they'd dealt with him several months ago and thought the matter had been resolved. Obviously the quiet had been concealing the truth of the matter. He knew without even hearing Sonny's order that Carlos would never cause them anymore problems. Because he wouldn't be alive.

"If you go down there, it would be more low-key than if I suddenly show up."

"Right," Jason nodded. "Don't worry. I'll take care of the situation."

"I know you will," Sonny assured him. Then he ran his hand through his hair, a clear sign he was agitated. "Our guy in Texas is going to make his confession tomorrow morning. He's being moved into the holding cell tonight since he's scheduled for execution tomorrow."

Jason felt relieved that one problem would soon be resolved. Of course, he didn't expect it to be easy, but this would help ease some of their worries. The murderer in Texas would confess, with full details of the fire, because he had recently accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and he had to clear his conscience completely. Texas wasn't a state fond of postponing carrying out its executions, so the Bailey's Beach Police Department wouldn't have very long, if any time, to question the killer. With a confession on record, they'd have a hard time continuing to come after Sam. She would be able to come out of hiding and stop fearing that she'd have her baby in prison.

"When she's cleared," Sonny continued. "I'm going to tell Carly the truth."

"What?" Jason asked. "You mean about Sam? About the baby?"

Sonny nodded and Jason shook his head. "Sonny, what good will that do?"

"The truth needs to be told," the other man insisted. "I'm not hiding the fact anymore that Sam is having my baby."

"Just because Sam's not in danger of going to jail anymore," Jason stopped and shook his head. "That wasn't why we did this. If Carly finds out that it's your baby, you know she'll take the boys and leave you. We're doing this for Michael so that his family isn't ripped apart again while you and Carly are tearing each other to shreds."

"No, Jason, you decided this whole plan," Sonny shook his head forcefully. "I never asked you to do this. And I'm not going to continue this."

"You didn't have to ask me to do this," Jason's anger was rising. "I would do anything for Michael. I am tired of watching you and Carly use him as a pawn in your fights. Do you really think that Carly will accept that Sam is having your baby? She'll move out; she'll start the divorce again. And Michael will once again be uprooted from his home. All because you have to punish Carly and let her know that Sam's baby is yours."

"She was going to use Michael in order to get the Quartermaine's help to send the mother of my baby to jail! You're right I want to punish her!"

"The only person you'll hurt is Michael!" Jason shouted at him angrily. "Is your pride more important than your son?"

"You let me worry about my family," Sonny growled. "You worry about your job and dong what I told you to take care of down in Puerto Rico."

"You know that I will," he nodded and took a deep breath. "Sonny, please just think about telling Carly. At least...at least until I get back. Maybe if I'm here I can talk to her, help her so she doesn't completely flip out."

"I...I'll think about it," Sonny said after a long pause and a heavy breath. "That's all I can promise. I'll think about it."

Jason knew that was the best he would get out of Sonny and he knew not to push for any more. The best he could hope for was to quickly take care of business in Puerto Rico and then get back to take care of whatever he could back here.

~Corinthos Penthouse~

She was waiting for him when he got back. Carly didn't care if she made Sonny mad, she was angry and she was spoiling for a fight. Leticia had Michael and Morgan out at the park, and then they were going to go to Kelly's for lunch and some Grandma Time. The nanny was under orders to not come back until Carly called her, she didn't want her children to overhear, or interrupt, this discussion.

"Are you going to say something to me?" she asked perturbedly after he'd sat down at his desk and began to look through papers instead of talking to her as she stood leaning against the back of the chair near his desk.

"Hello, Carly," he barely glanced up. "Are the boys around?"

"They're at the park," she snapped back, trying to keep hold of her temper. But she was too far gone. For days she'd been a virtual prisoner in her own life.

Jason had changed his phone number, he wasn't staying at the penthouse, and her guards were under orders to not let her anywhere near Jake's. He'd increased her guard detail and they were watching her so closely that she couldn't lose them. The situation got even worse when Sonny got home and the guards became even more restrictive on her on his orders. Her husband knew her every move, and he was completely unrepentant - almost arrogant - about it. She was sick of it and she was going to let him know it.

"I sent them there so we could talk."

Sonny sighed and she could see his shoulders tensing up. "Carly."

She ignored his warning tone. "No. You're not going to ignore me or blow me off. I'm your wife, Sonny, and I'm tired of the lack of respect you constantly treat me with."

"Well maybe if you'd stopped interfering in my business or stopped trying to run everyone's life the way you think it should be," he said as he angrily spun in his chair to face her, "then maybe I'd respect you more. Sometimes you're worse than Michael. You refuse to listen to anyone when you don't like what you hear, if someone does something you don't like then you try to make them act how you want them to or you sabotage their lives."

He stood and stalked towards the French doors. "You were going to send an innocent woman to prison simply because you don't like her and you want her out of your life. You hate any woman with Jason-"

"He should be with Courtney," she interjected hotly. "I like Courtney."

"But you still tried to run their lives when they were together. What are you going to do when Courtney gets back into town?" he demanded. "Are you going to sabotage her life, try and force her back together with Jason?"

"She still loves him; he still loves her."

"They're divorced."

"We've been divorced before," Carly pointed out haughtily. "They belong together."

"Jason isn't me, and Courtney isn't you," Sonny rejected flatly. "They won't get back together, and certainly not just to please you."

Carly went for the jugular because she wanted to hurt him and prove a point. "You think she's dating Jax because she likes him? She's dating him because she knows it will drive you crazy and make Jason jealous."

"Jason is having a baby with Sam," Sonny said through a clenched jaw. "Whether you like it or not. Not matter how much you wish it were otherwise or try to change the facts, he's having a child with a woman who isn't Courtney. If you ever want back in Jason's life I suggest you accept that fact."

He stalked to the desk and grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. "I'm going out. Don't bother calling Leticia to bring the boys back; I'm going to meet them for lunch. Have a frozen pizza, darling."

Then he closed the door behind him, the heavy thud resonating through the room. Spinning around she stalked to the bar and poured a stiff drink. "Have a frozen pizza," she sneered into the glass.

Tossing back the drink she crossed her arms and glared at the door. "Accept it? I don't think so. I will never accept it, and I will never give up."

Mockingly Carly toasted the door, "Mark my words, Sonny Corinthos, I will never give up."

~Hardy House~

Elizabeth sat down in exhaustion and collapsed back against the cushions of the couch. Cameron was asleep; actually asleep for longer than twenty minutes and a sense of relief coursed through her. She'd been able to take a shower and clean up the kitchen from breakfast while he was down. She'd been feeling so guilty these past couple of days and she was glad to abate that somewhat.

She was grateful for all of her grandmother's help, from Cameron's birth until now. The woman who had taken Elizabeth in as a teenager and cared for her when her parents couldn't be bothered, had once again provided for her. She and Cameron got free room and board, babysitting and years of experience of nursing and maternal care. Elizabeth had gained confidence in her ability as a mother and her strength to handle what came her way because of the timeless wisdom and help from her grandmother.

Even though Elizabeth was receiving alimony from Ric, her grandmother refused to accept any money. She even balked when Elizabeth bought groceries for them, but the younger woman refused to back down. She was not going to live here free of charge; it wasn't in her nature. So she helped out where she could, cleaning the house and fixing the occasional meal with the talents gleaned from her grandmother's tutelage.

A small smile crept across her face as she realized her gram would be surprised when she came home today. The disaster zone that was the house was much better. Toys were picked up and put away, the kitchen was cleaned, laundry was begun; Elizabeth had been quite domestic today. She liked it. Just she and her son together; nobody else. No amnesiac friends, ex-boyfriends trying to seduce their brother's fiancées, or selfish friends who turned and showed their true colors. It all could be ignored, put in a box and locked away for the day. It was a relief not to have to deal with it all.

A soft cry floated down the stairs alerting her that Cameron was awake now. She smiled when she realized her son hadn't woken up screaming, a change from the previous days. She was afraid to hope it was a permanent change from the extreme crankiness he'd been exhibiting, but she was grateful for it today. With a smile she climbed the stairs and entered Cameron's room to find him on his back with just an occasional whimper.

"Hey there, sweetie," she grinned down at him. "You had a good nap, didn't you?"

She picked him up and changed him, keeping up a running dialogue that produced soft coos and gurgles. When his diaper was fastened and his clothes snapped together, she lifted him into her arms. "So, what shall we do, Cameron?" she asked. "What would you like to do for the rest of the day?"

Her son reached for her hair to stick it in his mouth, and she extracted it from his grip as they walked out of the room. "Do you want to read? Should we play? Or would you rather go for a walk?"

Elizabeth smiled at Cameron as they went down the stairs and she pushed her worries aside. Her guilt over not doing enough, for Cameron, for her grandmother and friends, and for not doing more to secure her future. Thoughts of finding a job to support herself faded away. Today was about Cameron; nothing else. Tomorrow the world and the job hunt she was determined to embark on could intrude. Not today. Today while her son was smiling, she was going to enjoy this moment and bury her head in the sand for a little bit longer.

Chapter 11

~Death Row~

Robert Hernandez led the reverend down the long steel corridor to the solitary cell at the end of the row. All prisoners were kept in solitary cells on death row, but this was the special one all inmates were taken to 24 hours before their execution. Al Chase was scheduled to die one minute after midnight tonight. With just less than sixteen hours to go, the prison was on alert for the impending event.

Right now, Robert was escorting the spiritual advisor to Chase. In this age of P.C. strictures and Amnesty International breathing down their throats, he knew enough to keep his views on this event to himself. Robert felt that these last minute turns to religion were nothing more than a crock designed to garner sympathy from the outside world. After the atrocious crimes these men, and even women, committed, they found salvation merely as a ploy to get people to feel sorry for them. How can the big, bad prison kill me when I've found my God?

"Here you go, padre," he said as he unlocked the door to the special visiting room. "I'll go get Chase."

The man entered the room, and Robert went to the prisoner's cell beside it. "On your feet, Chase. Your spiritual advisor's here."

The convict stood and turned around so that Robert could put the handcuffs on him. Procedure had to be followed at all times, which meant any time he wasn't in his cell, he was restrained. When Chase was secure, Robert opened the cell and led him to the other room. He took him inside, secured him and left. A visit with a spiritual advisor was sacred like a visit with a lawyer and guards couldn't hang around.

Robert went back to his post to wait out the visit. He watched the monitors that showed the hallways and the outside exercise yard where Jose Ibarra was having his daily exercise hour alone. When he glanced at the monitor that showed the outside of the visitor's room, he was surprised to see the reverend standing outside motioning with his hand for someone to come. The man didn't look frantic, but Robert still arrived quickly.

"Padre?"

"My parishioner would like to speak to someone," the man said immediately. "He...he mentioned a murder in South Carolina he wants to unburden himself about."

Robert raised his eyebrows at the news and sighed. This day was about to get a lot more interesting.

~Bailey's Beach Police Department~

Sheriff Bill Russ stood over his fax machine and waited impatiently. The warden from a Texas prison had called saying a death row inmate had confessed to setting a fire that killed a woman in their town years ago. The details seemed to match up with the Evelyn Bass case, and he wondered what this meant for them.

He had aggressively gone after the victim's daughter, Samantha McCall aka Sandra McIntire, as the prime suspect and was frustrated that the Port Charles Police Department seemed to have lost her. The sheriff had brushed off her claims of innocence as it being what every criminal who doesn't want to go to jail says. But had he really looked for anybody else, or had he been so determined to prove it was Ms. McCall because of her history as a con artist and the fights she'd had with Evelyn in town? When she'd been convicted in abstentia, he'd made it his goal to find her and when he did, reputed mobsters had blocked his access to her and then whisked her away into hiding. He took that as proof that the conviction had been correct. But had he merely looked at her, taken the account of her stepfather, a man of the community, and simply decided she must be guilty?

The machine in front of him began to whir and he took a sip of his coffee. He tried to remain patient, but only made it until two pages had been printed until he grabbed them and began to read. It started out with a synopsis of the man's claim before moving into the details of the account. Eagerly, he grabbed each page as it came out of the machine and read it. The convict's arrest record was long, and grew in violence as time passed. And he had been in South Carolina around the time of Evelyn's murder. The pieces could fit.

When the machine was silent and he'd read through the pages two more times, he picked up the phone and called the D.A. Then he called the warden in Texas to see if the execution could be delayed until someone could fly out there and interview this Al Chase. But given Texas' eagerness to carry out executions, he wasn't hopeful that they'd wait. They'd probably say the man had confessed; it was Bailey's Beach's problem to sort it all out and see if the right person had been convicted. He sighed and shook his head, things were about to get really messy.

~Park~

For as large as Wyndemere and Spoon Island were, Nikolas had found himself feeling trapped. He was restless and had to get off the island. Now, as he sat in the middle of the park, he felt better. He realized that what he'd really needed were people around him. His house was so large that he felt overwhelmed by it. He never saw anyone except for a servant who would try to be unobtrusive as possible if he happened to be in the room the employee was working in. He found himself missing, and wanting, human interaction.

Nikolas knew that Mary had lied to him about his life, and sometimes he had felt stifled by her constant hovering over him. Yet he'd grown used to having her around, to her listening to him talk about his work painting the church. He missed his conversations with Elizabeth. He missed talking to her, and not just about his life. Nikolas knew that she had a son and her own life to deal with, but he wished it didn't seem like she was avoiding him.

He hadn't seen her since the day he ran into her and Lucky at the diner. Her fight with Emily still seemed to weigh on her and she'd pulled back. Elizabeth hadn't returned his call and he didn't want to push her, yet he was concerned about her, and he missed the friendship he'd developed with her in the short time they'd talked.

"Nikolas?"

The soft voice startled him and he looked up, surprised to see Mary standing to the side. He immediately stood, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Mary? How...how are you?"

Her smile was nervous and a bit uncomfortable. "I'm alright. I've been seeing a grief counselor at the hospital; talking to her about Connor."

"That's good," he nodded. Hopefully by talking to someone it would help her accept and deal with her husband's death. After going through with the delusion that Nikolas was her husband, he knew she needed some help. "Has it helped?"

"It has," she told him with a nod. "I know Connor is dead and that he won't be coming home. It's hard. I miss him so much, but at least I can now accept that he's gone." She paused and shifted on her feet. "How about you? How are you doing? Have...have you remembered anything?"

He shrugged. "I'm okay. I haven't remembered anything, just vague feelings sometimes. I've been talking to someone I used to know."

"Emily?"

"No," he answered harsher than he'd intended. "No. Her name is Elizabeth. She was out of town for a while so she didn't know about the accident."

"So she didn't lie to you?" Mary said sadly, yet knowingly.

"No," he shook his head. "She didn't. She's helping."

"I'm glad for you. I hope..." she trailed off and shrugged. "I hope you remember, Nikolas. I'm...I'm sorry for what I did."

He didn't want to be bitter or mean for all the lies she'd told him, all the time he'd wasted believing a lie when he could have been getting help, so instead he merely said, "I'm glad you appear to be doing better. I wish you all the best."

"Thank you," she said and turned and walked away.

There were times he knew it would be so easy to be angry with her, to lash out, yell and scream. But he'd done that already, and he'd realized that she was just as lost as he was. It was awkward to be around her, though. He'd lived with her, slept in the same bed with her, had sex with her, all trying to please her and make her happy, only to find out that the reason nothing seemed familiar was because he didn't know her at all. Yet, he'd found he couldn't just turn his back on her and be cold to her. All the same he couldn't help admitting that he was glad their encounter had been brief.

"Nikolas? Nikolas, is that you?"

He turned and bit back a groan with a frown as he heard the voice behind him. "Emily?"

~L&B Records~

Brook walked into the record studio with Georgie beside her and smiled when she saw who was present. Just as she'd hoped, her mom, Sage and Dillon were already there. Talking about Sage's upcoming video and how wonderful it would be and how it would make the teen snob a star. Georgie tensed and Brook knew her friend was uncomfortable being there. Dillon had been making strides in showing Georgie he cared about her, but he still had a lot to make up for. And how he reacted to her now with Sage being in the room would be very telling.

"Brookie," her mom smiled and she wanted to groan. Her mom had been acting just the same as she had before the fight her dad walked in on. She figured Brook hadn't meant what she'd say; well, Brook was going to show her the truth.

"Hey, Ma. Is Dad here yet?"

She shook her head, looking a little nervous in the smile that covered her face for Sage. "I wasn't aware your father was coming today."

"Brook asked me to join you today," he said as he walked into the studio. "She thinks that our earlier conversation didn't have much of an effect."

"Brookie?" her mother tittered, more nervousness in her voice as she looked around at the other teens in the room, especially Sage. "Maybe we should discuss this at home."

"No, we're going to discuss this now," she said. "Especially since it involves Sage."

"Me?" the conceited teen asked with a wicked grin. Brook could tell that the self-centered snob was enjoying watching this fight.

"Yes, you," Brook told her. "My mother is an empty-headed kiss-up who is so desperate to save her stupid, little company that she's sucked up to you and your uncle. What she doesn't realize is that none of your peers think you have any real talent and we're sick of your attitude and your behavior. So I don't know who she's planning on marketing this record to. The teens, or the horny old men?"

"Brook," her mother snapped at her. "That's enough, young lady. I'm still your mother and we will discuss this later."

"Unfortunately, you are," the teen agreed. "But we'll discuss it now. You don't own my music, and I told you that this spoiled princess couldn't use any of it. So there are no songs for her to record or shoot a video for unless you've found new ones."

"What?" Dillon asked as he stood beside Georgie who was watching the proceedings quietly.

"I'm sorry, Dillon," she told him. She knew how much he loved filmmaking, and she was sorry to take this dream away from him because her mother couldn't respect her wishes.

"Brookie," her mom pleaded.

"No," she shook her head. "Dad said he would support me. I don't want Sage to sing my music. It's as simple as that."

The other girl glared at her. "Do you think my uncle will support your mother's two-bit little company when he hears about this?"

"My ma is still willing to kiss your butt and make you a star," Brook shrugged. "You'll just have to use someone else's music or write your own. Why does it matter if it's my music? You don't even like me and you ragged on my music every chance you got. You're just upset because I won't treat you like my mother does. And because you won't have an excuse to throw yourself at Dillon and try to seduce him again since you don't have a video to shoot."

"Okay, okay," her father said as he stepped forward for the first time into the conversation. "Brook, why don't you, Dillon and Georgie go get some lunch. I think your mom and I need to talk with Sage."

"Alright," she agreed. She knew she had caused enough trouble, and damage, and she wanted to get out of her mother's sight and fury. She turned to her friends and nodded towards the door. Georgie immediately agreed and started across the room, hardly even noticing if Dillon was behind her. Dillon looked around the room, and then followed after his girlfriend.

Brook looked at her father and gave him a quick hug and then left the studio. She didn't need to look at her mother to know she was mad, so she didn't even look at her. All she wanted to do was to get away from here and let her dad deal with her mom and the spoiled brat who looked primed to throw a major tantrum.

When she got outside, Dillon and Georgie were waiting for her, staring in disbelief. "What was that?" Georgie asked. "You never said anything about that when you asked me to come with you today."

Brook shrugged. "My ma didn't think I was serious the other night. I needed to force my hand, and I needed other people around to make it happen."

"Well, you did that and more," Dillon agreed as he put his arm around her shoulders. "Of course, I don't envy you having to deal with her tonight. I knew that look she gave you, it's that look of mothers everywhere when they're going to explode in private."

"I'm not going to deal with her," she shook her head. "I'm staying with my dad for a while; my stuff is already over at his place. So let's get out of here before she comes out and I have to deal with her.

~Elm Street Pier~

Emily couldn't believe it. If it wasn't one tramp, it was another. Nikolas would spend time with Elizabeth, protect her from Emily, and listen to anything she said, while turning his back on his fiancée. And now he was talking to the woman who had kept him locked away in her house and married him under false pretenses while lying to everyone. What was it about these scheming tramps that he would talk to him and not her?

Well, she wasn't going to let him leave without answering her questions. He owed her an explanation and she was going to get it. Which was why she had followed him all the way from the park even though she could tell he was unhappy with her.

"Why won't you give me another chance?" she pleaded with him as he waited for the launch to arrive. "You were talking to Mary. I saw Alexis earlier at Kelly's and she said you came and talked to her. Why won't you talk to me?"

"Because you won't be satisfied with just talking," Nikolas snapped at her. "One talk will lead to you wanting more, and then you'll want to go out on a date or something because you'll be thinking we're getting along so great. And then you'll want me to propose to you again, and set a wedding date, and then you'll be redecorating my house. You won't be satisfied until I give into everything you want."

He looked away from her, his jaw hard and taught. "You are a spoiled rich kid who thinks that if you whine enough you'll get your way. You want to know why I talked to Alexis? She apologized to me. You know why I talked to Mary? She apologized too. And you want to know why I'll talk to Elizabeth and not you? She doesn't push me. She lets me set the pace."

"I can do that, Nikolas," Emily assured him. "I can help you remember. I would do anything for you because I love you."

"You love the image," he shook his head. "The fairy tale you've had in your head since you were a teenager. All the time you were telling me about our magical first kiss you neglected to tell me you were high on drugs at the time."

Emily gasped and stepped back as if she'd been struck. "Who told you that? Is that what Elizabeth said?"

"Elizabeth doesn't talk about you because it upsets me," Nikolas said bluntly. "Nobody told me. I..."

He trailed off and looked into the distance, his eyes softening as he looked into the past.

"You remembered that?" she asked in excitement. "Nikolas, that's wonderful. You should call your doctor and tell him. Let's go right now."

He stepped away from her grasping hands. "See, this is what I mean. I don't know how I know that. I don't remember the kiss; I just know you were high. So if you lied to me about that, what else have you lied about? Were we really even engaged?"

"Of course we were," she cried. "You loved me. Love me. You just have to remember."

Nikolas sighed and shook his head. "The only problem though, Emily, is that how am I supposed to forget your behavior now if I ever remember this fairytale love?"

"You can't believe that. You can't mean that," she shook her head.

The launch arrived and Nikolas looked over at the boat. "I don't know, Emily," he sighed. "But every time you ambush me, every time you push me and refuse to give me any space, I never want to have anything more to do with you."

When he turned and walked away, Emily could only stand there as her heart plummeted to her feet. Everything that people had warned her about seemed to be happening. She couldn't believe it. She was losing Nikolas. As the boat pulled away from the dock, she shook her head. No, she refused to accept it. She was not going to let him slip away from her. He'd loved her through his marriage to Lydia and her marriage to Zander, they would survive this too. It was just a matter of finding the way.

~PCPD~

Mac hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. Unbelievable. Yet it wasn't really that hard to believe; things like this seemed to be the norm in Port Charles. When the fax machine stopped whirring, he picked up the papers, put them in a folder and walked down the hall where he knocked on the D.A.'s door.

"Come in," Ric called out.

He walked in and sat down wearily in a chair without even being invited. Tossing the folder on the desk he answered Ric's silent question. "The sheriff from Bailey's Beach called. Seems an inmate in Texas confessed to the murder of Samantha McCall's mother."

The D.A.'s eyebrows rose as he reached for the folder. "Really?"

"He's scheduled to die just after midnight tonight; he's a Born Again and wanted to die with a clean conscience. Named the town, the circumstances and admitted he set the fire. Said he read later in the papers someone had died. The warden called the sheriff. The details matched the McCall case."

"How convenient," Ric said drolly. "Death row confession. Texas isn't willing to delay the execution so it can be investigated, right?"

"They're not inclined to, no," Mac shook his head. "The guy's got an arrest record that puts him in the area at the time. Robbery, break-ins, assaults. Texas says that's good enough for them."

"So, South Carolina is stuck with a confession from a convicted killer and the sheriff's vendetta against Sam because he knows the husband of the deceased. Add to the fact that Sam's pregnant..."

"That's pretty much it," the commissioner agreed. "The sheriff said their D.A. will investigate it, but he's inclined to accept the confession in light of circumstantial evidence against Sam. Her verdict will most likely be vacated and she'll be free."

"And the mother of Jason Morgan's baby doesn't go to jail and gets to come out of hiding," Ric said scornfully.

Mac could only shrug his disgusted agreement. "As you said, it's convenient."

"You going to investigate it?"

"A suspicion?" he scoffed. "You know Justus would file a lawsuit against us claiming we're harassing his client. You know as well as I do that we won't find anything and frankly it's out of our jurisdiction. Even if it wasn't, the department doesn't have the resources to go on another wild goose chase against Corinthos and Morgan."

Ric leaned back in his chair and shook his head in disgust. "They always seem to get away with it, don't they?"

Mac merely raised his eyebrows at the man across from him. "You used to be his lawyer."

"Keep me informed about what Bailey's Beach decides," the D.A. dismissed him. "Then I suppose we'll have to inform Jason since he more than likely knows where she's at despite his denials."

Mac stood and gathered up the folder. Another day, another crime Morgan and Corinthos got someone out of. Some days Mac wondered why he even bothered.

Chapter 12

~Kelly's~

Emily sat at a table near the door, sipping a soda and waiting. In the two days since she'd seen Nikolas and Mary and then argued with her fiancé, she'd been doing a lot of thinking. She couldn't believe it when he told her that her behavior was turning him off. Jason and Elizabeth had both told her that she needed to step back, to stop crowding him or he may not like her anymore after he regained his memory. She'd blown them off, thinking they didn't know what they were talking about. Jason and Lucky were different from Nikolas; they'd see.

But now she was listening. She'd step back and give Nikolas some space, but she refused to give up on him. She wasn't going to avoid him, she was going to strategize. And that meant she needed some help, which was why she was here.

The bell above the door rang and she looked up in anticipation, but her face fell when she saw Elizabeth come inside pushing Cameron's stroller in front of her. She hadn't seen the brunette since that day on the pier and Emily wasn't sure what to say to her. She was still mad at Elizabeth, not entirely believing that the other woman wasn't after a ride to easy street, but figured she would at least have to act like she was trying to make up with her friend. Especially if she expected Nikolas to believe her.

"Hello, Elizabeth," she called out, with hopefully what was a pleasant smile. "Do you need any help?" The other woman stiffened, then continued to enter the diner. "Thanks anyway," she shook her head. "But I've got it."

Elizabeth stood there awkwardly for a minute, then tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm just going to order something and take it home. Cameron's going to need a nap soon."

"Could we talk while you wait for your food?" Emily asked a little hesitantly. She expected Elizabeth to be reluctant, but eventually to give in. The other woman was like that. "Sure," she said after a few minutes, her voice less than enthused. "Just let me put in my order. Would...would you mind watching Cameron?"

Emily nodded, "Sure."

Elizabeth parked the stroller by the table and headed up to the counter to place her order. Emily looked over at the boy who was awake and seemed content to play with the plastic keys Elizabeth had attached to his carrier. He looked to be happy at the moment, and as Emily observed him, she could see Zander in his features and felt a little sad that her ex-husband had never lived to see his son. She leaned forward in her seat and wiggled her fingers at the little boy, smiling when his eyes seemed to brighten and he squirmed in delight in his seat.

She'd never really thought about children, especially as young as she was, but recently she had been. After surviving cancer and thinking she'd lost Nikolas forever, all she'd wished was that she'd had Nikolas' baby before he died so she'd have a piece of him with her forever. Now all she wanted was for him to remember who he was, who she was and the love they had together so they could start a family.

"Thanks for watching him," Elizabeth said, sitting down. She leaned back stiffly in her chair and fiddled with the hem of her skirt. "So..."

Emily knew since she had asked if they could talk, she was the one who needed to speak. "Thanks for agreeing to sit with me. I...I wanted to apologize, Elizabeth. I'm sorry I yelled at you and slapped you. I've..."

She trailed off and took a breath trying to work up some moisture in her eyes. She needed Elizabeth to believe her so that if she talked to Nikolas he would hopefully think Emily had listened to him and was changing. "I know I've been a little out of control lately. I was so anxious for Nikolas to remember that I didn't give him the space he needed so that could happen. I was jealous of you because he was talking to you and refused to spend any time with me."

"Em," Elizabeth said softly. "I'm not trying to steal Nikolas from you. I know how you feel about him...and I don't feel that way. I never have. I'm just trying to help out a friend."

Emily nodded in agreement, even though she didn't fully believe Elizabeth. "I know. I've realized that now. And I'm glad that you're there for him...that he has someone to talk to."

They fell silent, a little more comfortable this time, and Emily could see that the other woman seemed to believe her. She needed that for her plan to work. If Elizabeth stayed away from her or thought that Emily would push for her to talk to Nikolas about them, then she'd never say anything about her meetings with him. If Elizabeth felt more comfortable, maybe she'd slip and mention times she was getting together with Nikolas.

"Here's your order, Elizabeth," Penny smiled as she approached their table with a brown sack. The waitress stopped at the stroller and leaned over it, cooing at Cameron. "Oh, he's so adorable. You have to bring him back in."

"I will," Elizabeth smiled as she took the bag and reached for the stroller. "Some day when it's not the lunch rush."

Looking over at Emily, Elizabeth shifted a bit uneasily. "I need to go."

"Right," she nodded. "I'm glad we could talk. I really am sorry, Elizabeth. Here," she smiled. "Let me get the door for you."

She stood by the door as the mother and baby headed towards the parking lot. That had gone pretty well; Elizabeth might just believe her. Her self-satisfied smile grew when she saw Lucky enter the courtyard and walk towards the diner. Part one of her plan had begun, it was now time to work on part two.

~Corinthos Penthouse~

A knock sounded on the door and Sonny looked up a moment before Max opened it and announced, "Mac Scorpio."

Standing, he buttoned his coat and wondered why the police commissioner was here and not one of his flunkies. "Send him in."

"Corinthos," Mac greeted after he was inside. "I was actually looking for Jason, but I can't seem to find him."

"He's not here," Sonny shrugged. "Can't say when he'll be back. You know how the coffee business is."

"Yeah," the commissioner smirked. "Seems to be a common theme with you guys. I just wanted to let Morgan know the good news."

Sonny lifted a brow in question, but gave no other reaction. Whatever brought Mac by, though he had a good idea it had something to do with Sam and her conviction, he wasn't going to give anything away. Mac just shook his head and continued. "An inmate in Texas confessed to the fire the murdered Sam's mother. The D.A. in Bailey's Beach has accepted the confession and the conviction against Sam has been vacated."

It worked. Sam was actually free. Inside, Sonny was smiling. "She always said she was innocent. You and that backwater sheriff seemed determined to haul her off to prison."

"Well, good thing for her the inmate wanted to clear his conscience before he was executed," Mac raised his eyebrows. "Now Morgan can bring his girlfriend home and his baby won't be born in prison."

"He'll be happy to hear that. But that's assuming he knows where Sam is."

"Somehow," Mac said as he turned for the door. "I imagine he'll find her pretty quick once he hears the news. Just thought I'd pass it along."

The police commissioner left and Sonny allowed a smile to grace his face, his dimples deep with his pleasure. Sam was free. She could come home, they could take care of her and the baby, and despite what he told Jason about thinking about it and waiting, he was going to tell Carly the truth. That was his baby Sam was carrying, and he wasn't going to have people thinking otherwise. Maybe it would be best if Jason helped out with her, especially at first, but it was important that the truth was known.

"So," Carly's jeering voice carried down the stairs, breaking the moment as she stomped into the living room. "You and Jason got the little tramp free. And Jason will bring her home and she'll live right across the hall from you. How convenient for you. Maybe you and Jason should work up a chart for sharing her. Maybe alternate nights or something. After all, Jason won't really mind, right?"

Sonny shook his head and brought his hand up to massage his forehead. "Crass as always I see, Carly."

"It's the truth," she sneered at him. "I bet you won't even wait for Jason to get home before you bring her home and start taking your turns."

"I'm going to the warehouse," he announced as he turned for the door. "I don't know when I'll be back."

"Of course," she smiled evilly. "After all, I'm just your wife. Why worry about her when you've got your whore to pick up."

He slammed the door behind him and ignored Max except to say, "Call and say I'm coming down."

"Yes, Mr. Corinthos."

When he was on the elevator, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Carly knew how to push his buttons and he had to keep a hold of his temper. Without Jason around to buffer them, it was bound to get pretty ugly. When he got down to the garage and into the car, he was going to call Jason. He needed to find out what was happening in Puerto Rico as well as letting him know about Sam. It was time they got a little bit of good news in this whole mess.

~Pier 47~

"Is everything in place?"

"Yes, Mr. Alcazar."

He smiled as he looked out the window of his office and across the harbor. Their plans were in place, and they would strike against Corinthos and Morgan tomorrow. His, and others', previous attempts had always failed because they thought small. They always struck locally, on Corinthos' home turf and that was where he was strongest.

This time, he was going for a multi-level attack. Morgan may be in Puerto Rico, but with their inside man and the extra assets he had in place, Corinthos' enforcer would have a tough time. It might even be deadly, if Lorenzo was lucky. He was planning on stealing the shipment from Sonny as it approached the harbor, and combined with everything else he had planned, he would cause a major disruption and big problems for his rival.

"I'm having an evening with my niece," he informed his employee. "So unless something catastrophic happens, there will be no calls. I promised her an uninterrupted evening."

The other man nodded with a small smile. "I understand completely. Enjoy your evening, sir."

"I intend to," he smirked at the double meaning. An evening with Sage and a comprehensive strike against Corinthos.

Picking up the phone he decided to call his niece. She had been upset the past couple of days, and he knew that after this first strike was made against Corinthos he was going to have to deal with Lois Cuerrello. She seemed to be anxious to work with Sage, but maybe she just wanted the money he could provide. Her daughter and Georgie Jones were jealous of Sage's talent and were making things difficult for his niece at the studio. He wasn't going to let that continue. Sage wanted a career and if Lois couldn't make that happen, then he would take Sage to someone who could.

"Hello?"

He smiled at Sage's bubbly voice as it carried through the phone. "Hello, Sage."

"Uncle Lorenzo!"

"I was calling about tomorrow."

"You're not backing out, are you?" she challenged, even as disappointment tinged her voice.

"No," he assured her. "I'm letting you know that everything with my deal is complete and we are definitely still on for tomorrow."

"That's wonderful," she squealed. "I'll call and have everything ready for dinner tomorrow night. It's going to be great, Uncle Lorenzo. Thank you so much for this."

"You're welcome," he smiled into the phone, pleased he could make her happy in light of everything. "I may be a bit late tonight, so don't wait up for me."

"Okay," Sage giggled. "Bye, Uncle Lorenzo."

Hanging up the phone, Lorenzo was pleased with the way tomorrow would go. It was all a matter of timing, and this time he had it right.

~Hardy House~

Audrey smiled as she walked through the door and took in the sight before her. Toys were spread out across a blanket on the floor; Cameron had obviously been enjoying himself earlier. Judging by the baskets of folded laundry on the coffee table, Elizabeth had been hard at work while her son had been playing. Taking a deep breath and smelling the tell-tale aroma of one of the casseroles she had taught Elizabeth how to make, Audrey realized her granddaughter had been very busy this afternoon.

Cameron had obviously had a good day today; Elizabeth wouldn't have been able to do so much if he'd reverted back into his crankiness from weeks earlier. Audrey was glad for that; Elizabeth had enough on her plate without having an overly fussy - borderline colicky - baby. It was a tough thing to deal with and the young mother had done her best to comfort her son while trying to keep her own sanity. But when these moments of peace and calm came along, Audrey knew how they could be just pure bliss.

She was just worried that Elizabeth was trying to do too much during these good days. Her granddaughter felt that she was taking advantage of the generosity Audrey had shown her, and so she'd insisted she had to do more. Laundry, cleaning and what cooking she could manage, she did it all despite her grandmother's objections. She'd also insisted on looking for a job. Audrey told Elizabeth there was no rush on things, but the younger woman was insistent.

But that all seemed secondary right now, and her grandmotherly worry abated slightly. Because Elizabeth and Cameron were experiencing one of those bliss moments. They were stretched out on the couch, both asleep, Dr. Suess' Horton Hatches the Egg open and hanging off the edge of the couch. Cameron's mouth was in that perfect pucker, lips slightly part as his cheek was pillowed on his mother's chest. Elizabeth's hand rested securely on his back and any time the little boy made even the slightest shift, she would tighten her hold on him.

Audrey's smile remained in place as she quietly put her purse and bag down and crossed the room. She checked the dinner and realized that Elizabeth couldn't have been asleep very long based on the status of the meal. Both mother and son must have worn themselves out and simply fallen asleep during storytime. She could remember those days of catnaps with her baby when the day's events caught up with them.

Confident that dinner was under control, she headed back out into the living room and picked up a basket of laundry to take upstairs. She placed the clothes, most of which were Cameron's into their rooms, before heading into her own to change out of her hospital attire. As she put her hospital badge on her dresser and stepped out of her white, sturdy shoes, she wondered if Elizabeth had given any thought to the nursing program Audrey had mentioned to her granddaughter the other day.

When the younger woman mentioned she felt she needed to find a job, Audrey asked her if she'd given any thought to schooling. With everything that had gone on in the young woman's life, she'd never graduated with her art degree. She'd gone in starts and stops, always seemed to have something else happen where she felt it was just easier to drop out rather than fail the courses she simply didn't have time for. Audrey felt that education, any education, was important. She'd mentioned Elizabeth's art degree, or maybe even looking into a different field. She loved nursing and medicine, and she wasn't offended when Elizabeth hedged and wasn't overly enthusiastic about the nursing program Audrey mentioned as an option. She'd also suggested Elizabeth could look into a graphics art program or something similar if she wanted to stay closer to her love of art, yet find something more marketable now that she had Cameron.

Audrey could tell she'd given the younger woman some ideas to think about, and she wondered if Elizabeth had looked into any of the programs today as she said she might. She wasn't trying to push her granddaughter, she certainly didn't think Elizabeth needed to be any hurry to find a job or push herself too hard, but she understood Elizabeth's desires and why she felt as she did and Audrey just wanted to be supportive. It simply wasn't in Elizabeth's nature to do nothing or feel like she was getting charity from others. Audrey just hoped she could convince her to take her time and not rush into something because she felt she should take care of Cameron or help her grandmother out.

When she went back downstairs to get the rest of the laundry, she saw Elizabeth was awake and sitting up slightly on the couch. Audrey smiled and the younger woman wiped her eyes and smiled back. "Hey, Gram," she said softly. "Have you been home long?"

"Not very long," she shook her head.

As she reached for the blue laundry basket, Elizabeth frowned. "I'll get that, Gram. You should sit down and take a break."

Laughing lightly, she smiled. "Darling, I'm quite capable of carrying the laundry upstairs. You did enough this afternoon. I'll just take these upstairs so that when Cameron wakes up he's not tempted to pull them down and ruin all your hard work. Then we can sit down and talk for a bit before dinner's ready."

"Okay," Elizabeth smiled. "Maybe Cameron will allow us five minutes of talk that doesn't consist of Baby Einstein."

~Puerto Rico~

Jason hung up the phone after talking to Sonny and sighed and as he scrubbed his hands over his face before spearing his fingers through his hair in frustration. He had a bad feeling settling into the pit of his stomach and he didn't like it. Between the news from Sonny back home and the situation here in Puerto Rico, things were not good and Jason didn't like it. He needed to be here and deal with the treat from Carlos in order to keep the business together and not open up Sonny to future attacks, but he could tell his friend was cracking and things were threatening to blow up in Port Charles.

He'd urged, almost begged, Sonny once again not to do anything rash regarding Sam. It was great news that she'd been cleared of the murder charges against her and could come out of hiding, but Jason felt it would be better for her to remain at the safe house until he got back. Then he could act as a buffer between everybody, especially Carly who was going to go ballistic when Sonny told her the truth about the baby as he was insistent on doing. Jason was hoping Sonny would calm down enough to see the wisdom of his suggestion, but he didn't think his friend would hold off. Once the older man got in this mode, he just steamrolled over every suggestion in his desire to have everything how he wanted it. And Carly's antagonism wasn't helping anything either.

As much as Jason worried about the possible time bomb waiting to blow up back home, he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't there, and wouldn't be able to get back there for several days. He also had to focus on the situation here. Carlos was pushing the limits, not showing an inclination on continuing with Sonny's rules and Jason didn't know if it was a rogue move, or if he was being backed by somebody. Either situation carried risks and dangers that he didn't like. To make the situation more frustrating, he couldn't seem to get Carlos into a meeting. Every time he tried to reach or meet with his employee the other man evaded him.

It was time to get serious and get down to business. He had a meeting tonight with Mario in the hopes that the informant who first told Sonny about Carlos would be able to help Jason meet with the other man. It was time to put pressure on Carlos and let him know that if he continued to push his position, and his luck, against Sonny that it could be detrimental to his health.

Making sure his gun was secure against his side and his backup was strapped to his ankle, he proceeded out of his room. He wasn't going to take any chances at this stage of the game, and while Carlos wasn't going to be there tonight, it didn't mean Jason was going to walk around Puerto Rico without significant backup.

Chapter 13

~Safe House~

When the door opened, Sam glanced up, wondering what the guard needed to tell her. It seemed that the only time she had contact with other people was when the guards passed along a message from Sonny or Jason. Instead, she was surprised to see Sonny walk him. He had only come out to see her a few times since they'd moved her after being ambushed by Carly, and she wondered what had brought him today. Standing, she tugged at her shirt, then protectively cradled her growing stomach as she faced him.

"Sonny," she licked her suddenly dry lips. "What are you doing here? Did...did something happen?"

"Yeah," he nodded, his head down and her heart sank. They weren't able to get her cleared. She would have to spend the rest of her life hiding out. Her grip around her stomach tightened and tears burned the back of her eyes. But then he raised his gaze to meet hers and she gasped when she saw his dimpled grin. "You're cleared."

Her eyes widened in disbelief and those tears turned from disappointment to joy. "What? You mean my mother's murder? I'm cleared?"

He crossed to her and helped her sit back down on the couch, holding her hands in his. "Yes. We found an inmate on death row to confess. He did it a couple of days ago. Since your conviction was based on circumstantial evidence and his confession knew all the details of what happened, they had to accept it. The verdict's been overturned."

Sam leaned back against the cushions and closed her eyes. She was free. The charges against her were gone and the police in Bailey's Beach believed someone else had killed her mother. Because they'd never believed the fire was accidental or maybe set by her step-father, they'd been insistent on pinning it on her. But it didn't matter now, because it was all over. Now she didn't have to fear hiding out forever so she wouldn't be sent to jail. The threat of giving birth in prison no longer hung over her head and it was such a relief for it to be gone.

"So, what happens now?" she asked, focusing on the way Sonny was still holding, even lightly caressing, her hands.

"You get to come back," he told her with a smile.

Frowning, she hedged a bit. "Back? To Jason's place? I thought you said he wasn't there right now. I'm not sure I want to go back there and be subjected to Carly without Jason around. You told me how she wanted to put me in jail because she's so jealous thinking this baby is his."

"I know, but I wanted to talk to you about that," Sonny said, his tone sounding a little heavy.

"What's going on, Sonny?" she asked, a little worried by his demeanor.

"I'm going to tell Carly," he told her.

"Tell Carly?"

"About the baby." He let go of her hands and rubbed his fingers across his mouth. "That I'm the father."

That surprised her and she was sure it showed clearly on her face. "You are? I mean...really? I...I thought you agreed with Jason that this was best."

"I never thought it was best," he corrected and she remembered back to that day in the hospital when he and Jason fought over Jason switching the test results. "I just went along with it because I didn't know what else to do. I reminded Jason of that last night."

"Last night?" she echoed. "So why now?"

"Because when the police came yesterday and told me that you were free, that the verdict was vacated and you wouldn't be going to jail, it just solidified in my mind my decision to tell Carly the truth. Regardless of whether Jason thinks I should wait until he gets back. I'm tired of acting like I'm ashamed of you and this baby," he told her sincerely making her breath catch in her throat. "I'm not ashamed of either of you, and by letting Jason say he's the father makes it seem that way. In trying not to hurt Carly and Michael, I ended up hurting you and our daughter. There's no perfect way to do this and unfortunately people are going to be hurt, but I need to tell the truth. We all deserve it."

When Sonny said things like that, when he looked so sincere and meaningful, Sam was reminded of all the reasons why she had fallen in love with him. She had known that giving her heart to him was only going to get her hurt in the end, but she wouldn't trade the moments she'd had with him for an easy time with her heart. Especially now that she had a baby coming. But she knew that Sonny's family was important to him, and while she didn't care about Carly and wouldn't care about her being smacked in the face with the truth, there was also Michael to think about.

While Jason was a reticent man and hard to get to talk, she knew how special the little boy was to him. She'd heard just enough to learn that the young child was going to be hurt by this news, and that was what Jason had tried to prevent. Would Carly make good on her earlier threat and take the boys and leave Sonny? She didn't want that to happen to him, no matter how much it thrilled her when he said he planned on telling the truth.

"Sonny," she said after taking a deep breath. "I don't want your family to be hurt. Especially Michael. I know he's going to be very upset."

Her ex-lover rubbed his hand over his face wearily. "I know, and I wish I could spare him."

"Then don't tell them," Sam shook her head, deciding that the fact that Sonny wanted to tell the truth was good enough. "You and I know the truth about our daughter. Let's just leave the situation as it is. Jason will never keep you from your daughter, but he'll help us out. You'll get to keep your family."

"It would be easy," he nodded, "but I can't. I'm always getting on Carly's case when she doesn't tell me the truth about things. This isn't business, this is personal. And it's the coward's way out to stay quiet and let Jason fix my problem. You're my family, not Jason's. And I need to tell everyone that."

She let out a sigh and knew she wouldn't change his mind. She also knew that everything was going to get really ugly. "So what do we do? I...I don't think I want to be at Jason's when you tell her; it's not going to be a good situation."

Slowly he nodded his head. "I agree. I don't know how this is all going to work. Should you stay with Jason? He's gone for a little bit right now, and his job does take him out of town, or keep him gone at nights...I don't know how you feel about being alone in his penthouse, especially if Carly stays. I can get you a place to stay, you'll have guards, it just has to be that way. I just want to take care of you and our baby, Sam."

Giving him a soft smile that she hoped wouldn't completely overwhelm him with the love she felt for him, especially right at this moment, she said, "I don't know. Let's think about it for a few days. Let me think about what I want, okay?"

"Okay," Sonny agreed with a nod. "For tonight, though, let's move you to a safe house that's closer. That way I don't have to travel so far to see you."

Her smile brightened and she nodded, leaning in to hug him. When his arms rose up immediately with no hesitation to wrap around her, she wanted to cry. She didn't know what would happen between them, but she could feel the emotions he had for her, even if he didn't vocalize them. As helpful as Jason was, as she knew he would be, he could never make her feel this way, and she was glad to be back in Sonny's arms. Even for a little while.

~Kelly's~

Dillon smiled as he leaned back in his chair. Georgie was beside him, her hand resting lightly on his knee as she leaned forward to talk to her sister and Brook Lynn in a semi-whisper. He could hear what they were saying if he strained, but he didn't push it. Let them have their girl talk. While things weren't completely better between the two of them, he was pretty sure he was starting to convince her he was sincere and serious about their relationship. He'd only seen Sage a couple of times in the past few days, but since Lois was so intent on placating her and keeping her at the label, which meant finding songs for Sage to sing, she didn't have a lot of time to try to talk to him.

He was glad for that because he didn't want to hurt her any more than he knew he already had. He knew that Sage acted out sometimes because she wanted attention, and any attention - from anybody - was better than none at all. He'd done the same thing sometimes, hoping his mom would stop with all her meetings and boyfriends and spend time with him. Sage just wanted the same thing, and he felt sympathy for her. But he'd finally realized that he couldn't help her out if all she wanted was to be selfish. Because he wasn't going to risk hurting Georgie, just because he felt sorry for Sage.

Lucas walked out of the kitchen towards their table, carrying a tray with sodas and milkshakes along with baskets of fries. He set them down and then claimed his chair between Maxie and Brook. "Here we go. The snack of teenage champions everywhere."

"Teenage champions?" Maxie rolled her eyes at her cousin. "Champions of what?"

"Summertime laziness and snacking," he replied. "Come on. We're teenagers. We're supposed to be lazy over the summer and reinforce it to the adults that we eat nothing but fatty, unhealthy foods so they can feel all important and lecture us about work ethics and proper nutrition and how we have it so easy compared to their day."

"All those summer diabetic camps you went to as a kid warped your brain, you know that?" Georgie shook her head.

"Lucas," Bobbie came through the door and looked at the group sitting at the table. "I thought you were on duty."

He looked at the rest of them as if to say See? before turning to his mom. "Penny said she'd cover for a bit unless we got really busy."

"Alright," she sighed, looking around the mostly empty diner. "Unless we get busy you can sit with your friends. I'm going to work on the books for a bit. Luke has threatened to stop by and help with them, so I better make sure they're in order. And I'm heading home early because Carly called and asked if Michael and Morgan could come over and stay the night."

"Just Michael and Morgan?" Lucas asked, looking down at the table and toying with the straw in his drink. "Or is Carly coming as well?"

"Just the boys, and Leticia, even though I told Carly we'd be fine on our own."

"Alright," he shrugged. "Michael's cool, we can play the latest video game I got. You better get working on those books before Uncle Luke shows up."

Dillon couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, despite the tension that had entered the group as Lucas talked about his sister and his nephews, at the thought of what kind of help Luke would inflict on the books. He knew that Skye was constantly telling him to leave the books for The Haunted Star alone and stop his special form of accounting. Bobbie looked over at him, then at the rest of the table, and smiled before heading into the back.

"So," Dillon said as he leaned forward and changed the tone at the table with the glint he purposefully put into his eye. "What should we do tomorrow? Georgie and Maxie don't have to work at the hospital. Mac can't really complain about me if we're all together as a group."

"Well," Brook said as she lifted one shoulder. "Since I've been staying with my dad, we could hang out there. He's going to be home tomorrow and I'm sure he'd tell Mac that he'd watch us if we wanted to go out on the lake or something."

The five teens looked at each other and they all nodded their agreement. It sounded good to them, probably because nobody could really think of anything else to do. Brook smiled briefly and said, "I'll call my dad so Georgie and Maxie can tell Mac tonight."

"Thanks, Brook," Dillon smiled at his niece and friend. He knew she liked both girls, but that she was also doing this to help him spend time with his girlfriend. Probably because she didn't want there to be any chance of Sage to accidentally bump into him. She just smiled back knowingly at him, and then stood to head to the corner where she could get some quiet for her call.

Lucas watched her, his gaze long and appreciative, then looked back at the rest of them. His grin was large and Dillon knew it wasn't all from the thought of a day spent with them. He was probably imagining Brook in a bathing suit, he knew that's where his mind had gone as he glanced at Georgie out of the corner of his eye. "Excellent. A day at the lake. Our teenage persona will be solidified and there's more than a month left before school starts. I'm going to go ask my mom before she gets too upset over the books."

~Corinthos Penthouse~

"So, did you bring your little tramp back with you?" Carly pounced as soon as Sonny walked in the door. "Is she all safely tucked into bed over at Jason's just waiting for you to join her tonight?"

He closed his eyes briefly and sighed. He should have known after walking out after their argument when Mac left yesterday - especially after he hadn't returned home last night because he just couldn't face her so he slept at his office at the warehouse - that she'd be waiting, angry and itching for a fight. And he knew that the night would turn even uglier when he told her the truth. It was going to be a struggle to keep his temper under control, and he wanted to do it so that he could hopefully avoid a huge fight with his volatile wife.

"Sam is not at Jason's," he said wearily. "You can go ahead and check if you don't believe me."

"Oh, I'll check alright," she spit out and stormed past him on her way out the door.

He shook his head and headed for the wet bar, pouring himself a drink as he shrugged out of his suit coat. Looking up at the stairs, he headed up them towards his room. The house was quiet and when he checked in Michael and Morgan's rooms he wasn't surprised they were empty. Carly must have sent them out with Leticia so they wouldn't be here for the confrontation she was obviously waiting for. He wondered where they'd gone and if they would be back soon, or if she'd planned this all out and sent them to Bobbie's for the night. He wasn't sure which option he preferred.

Dropping his coat on the bed, he took a sip of his drink. Sam was now settled in a closer safe house, and they both were happy about that. He could tell the relief that had swept over her when he told her the news about the verdict. He imagined she would sleep better tonight with that weight taken off her. Not liking that he couldn't spend more time with her tonight because he didn't want to postpone the inevitable with Carly, Sonny promised her that he'd come back tomorrow or just as soon as he could.

He could tell she was trying not to overwhelm him with her emotions or her gratitude that he'd gotten her free, but he could see it. He knew that Sam had come to have strong feelings for him, even love him, and he felt guilty that he hadn't developed the same level of emotion towards her. They said in the beginning that they weren't looking for love - and he couldn't give it to her with everything going on in his life at the moment - but he knew she'd fallen for him anyways. She'd told him she had, even though she tried to hide just how strong it was, and he wished he could have given her the same.

Even before she became pregnant with his child, he had wished it was under different circumstances that he'd met Sam. She was spirited and strong and he felt a great deal of attraction towards her that wasn't just lust. If he'd met her a different time in his life he probably could have fallen deeply in love with her. Maybe he should explore that again, now that everything was about to explore with Carly. Especially when he'd recognized that the relief he felt on the way home that Sam and Jason would no longer have to pretend they were in love was because he was starting to feel jealous of the affection she was showing Jason in order to convince everyone else.

The door slammed downstairs, announcing Carly was back, and he winced at the sound as he came out of his musings. Before anything could possibly happen with Sam, he had to deal with Carly. Tossing off the rest of his drink, he turned and left the bedroom. She was pacing across the living room when he came down the stairs, undoing the top buttons his shirt, and walked towards the wet bar.

"Where are the boys?" he asked her as he poured another tumbler of bourbon.

"Leticia took them to my mother's for the night," she all but snarled at him from across the room. "I wasn't sure if you'd bother coming home tonight, or if you'd spend it screwing Sam behind Jason's back. But in the event you did come home, I didn't want them here for this."

"Carly," he sighed as he turned to face her. "Don't start with that."

"And why not, Sonny?" she demanded. "After all, you clearly don't care about me. Maybe you'll have a little more consideration for your friend; consideration you won't give your wife."

Taking a deep breath, and a deep draw from his drink, Sonny told himself to calm down. He hadn't told her the truth yet, and he knew when he did it was going to get even uglier. He couldn't let her draw him into a nasty fight.

"Carly, I know that you're upset and that you're hurt. I'm sorry that I hurt you, I never meant for any of this to happen."

"The fact remains that it did," she snapped, "and you're not helping things by not letting Sam go. She's with Jason now, she's having his baby. I hate it, because I hate her more than anything, but I hate that you are still so involved in her life. Sometimes you do more for her than Jason. It's like you can't let go of her."

"I can't," he admitted quietly, yet it carried in the room.

"Why?" she demanded, spitting the word at him. "Because you love her? You...you..."

She trailed off and looked at him with large wounded eyes and she looked like she choked down a sob. "You do wish she was having your baby, don't you?" You hate that it's Jason's baby. It burns you up inside, doesn't it?"

Sonny took a deep breath and knew the time had come. "It burns me up to pretend."

"You're going to try and steal her away from Jason, aren't you?" she accused him. "You don't care that it's Jason's baby or that you'd steal another family from him. You want her back."

"It's not Jason's baby," he said. His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the room none-the-less.

Carly stopped her mad pacing and stared at him. All angry movements, all angry words just died for the moment as she stared at him with a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "It's not Jason's baby?" she repeated, not believing the words.

"The baby is mine," he admitted, and then braced for the explosion.

"You lied to me!" she yelled at him, pure fury shooting out from her body. She took a step towards him and raised an accusing finger. "All this time that you wanted honesty from me, and you were living the biggest lie of all!"

"That wasn't how it started," he said heavily, knowing that nothing he said would make a difference, but having to try anyway.

"Oh," she scoffed. "So you didn't go to Jason and ask him to claim the baby as his so that you could move your mistress into his house? What better way to keep your little tramp close by for a quickie than to let everyone think the baby was his? Man, how hard did you have to beg him to do this favor for you?"

"I didn't ask him," Sonny shot back at her. "He was the one who switched the test results. He did it so you wouldn't leave me and so Michael wouldn't be hurt again."

Carly shook her head and snorted her disbelief. "Jason doesn't lie."

"Maybe he took lessons from you," he sneered at her. "He's the one who did this, Carly. It was all his idea."

"So why now? Why suddenly tell me now? Jason getting too close to your territory? Moving in on your woman? Can't have that now, can we?" Her voice was acidic and she just kept picking, just kept attacking as she moved forward.

He stepped back, needing to get some space, needing to get her out of his face so he could breathe. Crossing the room he poured another drink and took a deep pull from the tumbler. But Carly couldn't let up and followed after him like a dog yapping at his heels.

"So what now, Sonny?" Her voice wasn't as innocent as her question and he turned to face her, merely raising an eyebrow.

"What now?" she repeated on a sneer, now that he was facing her. "Is Sam going to move back in with Jason and be at easy access for you? Will you ask Jason to give her the penthouse so she's all alone? Will you buy her a house? Kick me and the boys out and move her in here?"

"No," Sonny ground out. "I'm not kicking you and the boys out. You're my family...but Sam's baby is as well."

He turned and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know what's going to happen, Carly. I know that people are going to be hurt, no matter how much I try to prevent it. But I had to be honest; I couldn't keep lying."

"Oh how freaking noble of you," she laughed bitterly, mockingly. "You don't want to hurt anybody. Too late. It's going to hurt somebody. This time I'm not going to make it easy for you. I'm not going to take the kids and run, you're going to have to choose."

"Carly, don't do this," Sonny sighed, sensing she was ramping up and if she kept at it, it was just going to end badly. "You're hurt, you're angry, and you're trying to punish me. I understand that, but don't do this tonight."

She shook her head angrily at him. "Oh no you don't. You aren't going to make me the bad guy here. You were the one who lied, Sonny. I didn't get pregnant with another man's baby and try to pass it off as yours. So if I want to be angry, I get to be angry. And I'm angry! And I want you to choose."

"Carly," he narrowed his eyes. "We are not doing this tonight."

"You have to choose, Sonny," she pushed him, advancing on him and he turned away, running his hand through his hair again. "Who's it going to be?"

"I'm not doing this, Carly," Sonny growled low in his throat before taking a drink. "I won't let you push me into this. I am not going to choose between my children."

"Too bad," she snapped. "You can't have everything your way. You have to choose. Do you want Sam her baby or me and the boys?"

"I want my children!" he yelled. "All of my children. I'm not turning my back on any of them."

Carly nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. Then when Sam has the baby bring it over here and we'll raise it."

"I am not pushing Sam out of her own child's life. No matter how many times you try to eliminate her," he growled as he took another drink, emptying the glass.

"Then you have to choose," she pressed, closing in on him again. "Sam or me? Who's it going to be? Your wife, or your lover?"

"Carly, it's not that simple. We're all going to have to work through this, together."

"No," she kept on, angry and refusing to back down even the slightest bit. "You have to choose. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Who's it going to be?!"

"Shut up!" he snapped as he turned his back on her, trying to bury the rising anger that came from her constantly pressing him, advancing on him. He swung around with his arm raised to yell again. "Just shut-"

His words died in his throat on a sudden wave of nausea and disbelief. It all had happened in slow motion. He turned around, angry and ready to confront Carly, but he hadn't realized that in that brief moment she had stepped even closer to him. His hand holding the crystal tumbler swept up and connected with her face, and she stumbled backwards under the force. Stunned, she couldn't get her footing and she fell backwards into the wet bar, crashing down with crystal all around her.

"Oh, no. Carly," he rushed towards her, stunned, yet afraid to touch her. "I didn't know you were there. I didn't mean... I never meant to hit you. You have to believe that, Carly. Let me help you up. Are you hurt?"

"Don't touch me!" she shouted desperately at him and he stood up as if struck, scurrying back. He hadn't meant to hit her. He never would hit a woman. A sick feeling washed over him as he remembered his mother lying on the floor, bloody and beaten by Deke.

"Carly." His voice was broken and hoarse.

"Stay away from me," she commanded him as she picked herself up gingerly off the floor. "Just stay away from me!"

Then she skirted around him, running out the door. All Sonny could do was watch her go. He couldn't have moved, couldn't have gone after her; his feet were rooted to the floor in disbelief over what he'd done. He'd just hit his wife. He'd just turned into Deke.

Chapter 14

~Harborview Towers Garage~

Carly stepped out of the elevator and headed towards the fleet of cars housed for Sonny's organization. She knew the guards would try to stop her from leaving, or offer to take her where she needed to go, but she wasn't going to have it. Sonny could take his orders and shove them. He'd hit her. Her husband had hit her and sent her into the mini-bar. She was bruised, she was cut, and she smelled like booze. She wasn't going to stay here.

She needed Jason. She wanted Jason, but she knew from overhearing Sonny's conversations with the guards that Jason was out of town. She didn't have his new phone number, because he hadn't given it to her. If he had been in town she would have disregarded the fact that she wasn't welcome at Jake's because she knew he would help her when he saw her. But he was gone and she wanted to cry with frustration because of it. However, she wasn't going to show any tears in front of Sonny's men, she was still too angry for that.

"Mrs. Corinthos?" The guard - was his name Hank? Did it matter? - looked at her with confusion and concern.

"I need a car," she said, infusing all the power and command she could into her voice. "Now."

"Mrs. Corinthos, Mr. Corinthos didn't tell us you needed a car," he said, nearly shaking with fear over talking to her. Must be a new hire.

"Give me a car," she growled at him. "I don't care what Sonny has or hasn't said."

"Maybe I could call a driver," he suggested and turned for the phone attached to the wall.

Carly wildly struck out, her blows desperate and frantic. All she wanted was to get as far away from this place as quickly as possible. "Give me a car. Now. Give me a car! Just give me a car!"

The guard raised an arm to protect his face and quickly reached for a key. "Okay, okay, okay. Here. Take this one."

She grabbed the keys from him and quickly scrambled away. She had to get out of here, she needed help. Most of all, she needed a friend.

~Quartermaine Terrace~

The air was warm and muggy as Lucky stepped out of the house and onto the terrace where Reginald said Emily was waiting for him. He didn't know if it was from the close proximity to the lake, or if a summer storm was approaching. He didn't like the oppressive feel to the air that made breathing difficult. Although part of that could just be his unease about meeting with Emily.

"Hi, Lucky," she smiled at him, as she sat forward in her chair and place her drink on the wrought iron table before here. "I'm glad you're here. Would you like a drink?"

"Sure," he shrugged as he sat down. If she wanted to act like they were just friends visiting and catching up, instead of what was really going on, that was okay with him.

They sat for a little while, as sounds of crickets and birds singing in the night floated over to them from the garden. He'd been contemplating this moment ever since Emily approached him at Kelly's the other day. He knew she loved Nikolas, and he certainly hadn't intended to develop feelings for her after they thought his brother was dead - yet he had. He'd fought his feelings, told himself that they were wrong and certainly not what Emily needed right now, but the heart doesn't always listen to the head.

He'd hoped, maybe foolishly, that if he spent time with her, that her feelings towards him would change. Especially the longer Nikolas didn't remember her and pushed her away; his hope was that by being a constant presence in her life Emily would see him as a viable alternative. An attractive difference from his moody and sullen brother. He'd expected her to be reluctant, but he'd just about realized he'd underestimated her loyalty and resolve.

When he'd called her that day after talking to Elizabeth and Nikolas, it was because he was concerned about her. Sure, Lucky was concerned about Elizabeth - she had been hurt - but she also had Nikolas. His brother seemed quite willing to be her champion and advocate. Emily also told Lucky that Jason had come upon the fight and hadn't been pleased with her attitude and the fact that she slapped Elizabeth. So Lucky had no doubts that the enforcer had gone looking for her to see if she was alright.

But what about Emily? Who was really listening to her and making sure she was okay? So he'd called her, to give her someone to talk to, someone who would listen to her without yelling at her. And all the while, he hadn't been able to stop hoping that this time she'd see him differently.

"Lucky?"

His head snapped up and he looked at her. Emily seemed to be watching him in question and he had the feeling he'd missed something. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" she asked, gesturing at his full glass of ice tea he was stirring rather vigorously with his spoon.

He let go of the spoon and dropped his hands into his lap. "Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her. "It's just been a long day at work."

"Hmm," she murmured before taking a sip from her glass. "So I suppose you wouldn't want to go for a walk down towards the lake. It's a little quieter there."

It was quiet there on the terrace, but what he knew she really wanted was privacy. Especially as they discussed her request.

When he'd run into her that day at Kelly's, he hadn't expected what came next. She had decided to make Nikolas think she was stepping back. She was going to stop pressuring him, begging him to remember her and take her back. If she saw him she would be kind and polite, but not overbearing. Lucky thought that sounded like a good plan, because he knew it was hurting Emily each time Nikolas rejected her after one of their encounters. It was the next part of her plan that made Lucky uncomfortable.

She wanted Lucky to play her boyfriend. She wanted to make her fiancé jealous by publicly making appearances with his brother. Emily thought that if Nikolas saw her with another man it would make him jealous and awaken his memories. Maybe he'd remember watching her marry Zander and the feelings he had for her back then.

Lucky wanted no part of the charade. Because he was a selfish man. As many times as he told himself to give up on the fantasy that Emily could come to love him, that she would never give up on Nikolas, he couldn't let go of his dream. And he wanted Emily to come to him on her own. He wanted her to decide that Lucky was the better brother and he was the one she wanted to be with. That meant she couldn't possibly confuse a sham with her feelings. Which was why he didn't want to pretend to be her boyfriend, that was too much like what she'd done with Nikolas. He wouldn't repeat it, no matter how much he wanted her.

When they reached the lake, they wandered out onto the dock and just existed with the quiet. He knew it wouldn't last, but he enjoyed the sound of the waves lapping gently at the shore and the wooden pylons, holding onto it for just a little while. However, based on the way Emily was shifting on her feet and twisting her fingers together, he judged the silence was going to end soon.

"So," she said as she lightly cleared her throat. "Have you thought about it?"

He walked to the end of the dock and braced his elbows on the wooden railing. He'd thought about it alright, and he knew she wasn't going to like his answer. "Yeah," he sighed. "I did."

"And?" she asked, her voice getting a demanding edge to it.

"I don't think it's a good idea," he told her.

"Why not?" she demanded. "I mean, you've been after me for months, trying to get me to forget about Nikolas. Have you gone all noble suddenly?"

He turned away and hid his wince of her pathetic description of his behavior with a sigh. "Because Nikolas won't believe it. A week ago you were still throwing yourself at him and slapping Elizabeth because you thought she was trying to steal him away from you. And now suddenly we're dating?"

Turning around, he leaned against the railing and saw she hadn't really thought about it that way. "But I've got to do something," she pleaded.

"Your first part was good," he told her gently. "But we can't suddenly go from friends to dating. To make it believable we'd have to take it slow."

He knew that would get her interest and intrigue her. "Slow?" Emily asked.

Time of them being together, of her accepting his attention under the safety of innocent friends and maybe she'd begin to view Lucky differently. And if it didn't, at least it would look more realistic to Nikolas if he gave in and agreed to pretend. "Slow," he repeated. "Friends. We spend more time together as you're trying to come to terms with what Nikolas has told you. And over time, you weren't really looking for it, it just happened."

At least he hoped it would.

"Lucky," she beamed at him suddenly. "That's perfect! We have to spend lots of time together in public. Hopefully in places Nikolas will be so he can see us. Then it will seem natural."

"Yeah," he nodded, not telling her he hoped they didn't run into his brother very often. Maybe he'd talk with Elizabeth and find out where she and Nikolas would be so that he and Emily wouldn't be there.

"It'll be perfect," she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. He hugged her back and hoped it really was. It's just that his perfect was different from hers.

~Alcazar Penthouse~

It had been a wonderful night. Uncle Lorenzo had been home at his promised time, the dinner had arrived at it's promised time and was steamy hot, and Sage could tell his surprise and pleasure over the meal was genuine. There had been no interruptions, and when she put the first DVD in, she had begun to relax. While she knew that Armageddon might not have been his first choice of movies, she also knew that he had a secret love of Steve Buscemi's acting and was enjoying himself. She'd caught him laughing once or twice, especially at something Rockhound had said.

He seemed content with his glass of scotch, but had taken the occasional handful of popcorn. Sage was enjoying her little junkfood binge, and she couldn't help but smile as she watched him lean forward and grab a couple of mini chocolate bars from the tray on the table. When he sat back and began to unwrap the first one, she shifted and leaned up against him.

"Thank you, Uncle Lorenzo," she said in pure contentment.

He put his arm around her and drew her close, placing a kiss on top of her head. "I'm sorry I haven't been around very much. I know that you haven't been very happy with what's going on at the studio."

She tensed slightly, stiffening with anger at that brat Brook Lynn. She refused to let Sage use her music, and nothing Lois said would change her mind, especially since Ned was backing his stuck up daughter. Angered, Sage had claimed she didn't care and the music wasn't that special anyways. But the other teen's music was good, and Sage didn't like any of the other songs Lois had suggested.

"It's not been very good," she admitted, taking her eyes off the screen where Ben Affleck's A.J. was dancing the animal cracker across Liv Tyler's stomach.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, looking down at her. "I was afraid Lois Curello wasn't the best person to handle your career."

"Can we talk about it after the movie?" she asked, turning back to the TV because she didn't want to miss the scene where the guys were about to board the shuttle and Grace jumped up on A.J. and kissed him, not caring that her father was watching.

He chuckled and kissed her head again. "Of course. Wouldn't want to miss anything important."

They settled back into watching the movie, Uncle Lorenzo laughing again as Rockhound went a little loopy up on the asteroid. Just as Bruce Willis was climbing into the tube to go back to the surface of the asteroid and sacrifice himself, telling A.J. to tell Grace he loves her, the unwelcome sound of a knock on the door was heard. Uncle Lorenzo looked over at the structure and Sage groaned, grabbing his arm. "No. You promised."

"I'm sorry," he sighed as he stood up and she reached for the remote to pause the movie. "They know not to knock unless it's an emergency. Let me see what's going on. Maybe I can get rid of whoever it is quickly and then we can finish this up."

They were pretty words, but Sage didn't really see that happening. An emergency that made his men dare to interrupt their night wasn't going to be handled quickly. She huffed and leaned back against the couch, resigned to the end of her perfect evening, but vowing that when he left, she was going to finish her movie and play the explosion extra loud just to show the guards how annoyed she was. But her sullen mood turned even more sour when her uncle opened the door.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Alcazar," the man on the door apologized somewhat nervously. "But she said it was very important."

She? Sage looked over at the door. Who was here? She doubted Lois would be showing up; more likely would try to avoid her uncle for fear of losing the Alcazar money. And he wasn't dating anyone since Carly Corinthos had screwed him over. So, who would show up claiming it was important and couldn't wait?

Her uncle's voice was weighted with surprise and carried through the room when he blurted out, "Carly?"

What was she doing here, Sage seethed as she glared over at the door. The mob wife had hurt her uncle when all he had done was love her. Carly Corinthos wasn't worthy of Uncle Lorenzo's love. She led him on and then threw him away to go back to her husband who shot her in the head while she was giving birth. Worst of all, she'd nearly gotten Uncle Lorenzo killed. And now she showed up here and interrupted their movie night? The bottle blonde had some nerve.

"I didn't know where else to go," Carly choked out, her voice quivering.

"What happened?" Uncle Lorenzo demanded as he opened the door. "Come in, come in."

Sage turned off the movie, knowing she was going to get kicked out of the living room and sent to her bedroom. Glaring at the door, her eyes widened in surprise when the older woman came inside. Carly's face was bruised and bloodied, and judging by the state of her clothes, something had happened to her. And not something good.

"What happened?" her uncle repeated as he ushered her into the room and over to the couch.

"It all happened so fast," Carly murmured, sounding shaken and unsteady.

"What happened?" he asked again, as he poured a drink for her.

Carly's eyes widened when she saw him come towards her carrying it. He stopped where he was and looked at her, then darted a look over at Sage. She knew the look that crossed his face. Her eyes narrowed at him slightly, but then she turned on her heel and silently stormed from the room. He was going to get an earful from her later.

She didn't go far, though. She stopped in the hallway out of sight, but was close enough to listen to all that was said. Sage had to know what happened, because if he got sucked back into Carly's world she was going to fight her uncle on it.

"Corinthos did this, didn't he?" her uncle demanded.

Carly made a sound in her throat, almost a whimper, and Sage wished she could get closer to see what was going on, but she didn't dare. She knew her uncle would shuffle her off, possibly out of the apartment completely. Here she was out of sight, and very likely already out of her uncle's mind. Once again, Carly Corinthos showed up and Uncle Lorenzo became totally focused on her. Sage was a mere afterthought or annoyance.

"Carly?" her uncle asked again, his tone softer this time. "What happened? Let me help you."

"It just happened so quickly," she said, her voice shaky. "We...we were fighting."

"You and Sonny?"

"Yes," she confirmed. Like that was a big surprise.

"About what?" he asked.

"Sam," Carly responded, her voice suddenly bitter and harsh. Full of fire and venom.

"Sam?" Uncle Lorenzo queried. "Why? What happened?"

"Sonny said he couldn't lie anymore. My great, wonderful husband was once again lying to me and decided he could no longer go on with it." She scoffed, "More like he was mad at me and just wanted to punish me by letting me know that Sam's baby wasn't Jason's but his."

Oooh, juicy gossip, Sage thought. If she really cared about Sonny Corinthos and his personal life, but she didn't. Her uncle, however, did; and he would care about this information.

"Sonny's the father?" he asked, his voice showing that he was indeed intrigued.

"Yes," Carly bit out. "And now that she's no longer wanted for a murder conviction, he's going to bring her back and make her his mistress again. I'm sure of it. We fought about her."

"And that's when he hit you?" Uncle Lorenzo asked, his voice now soft and supporting, full of concern. Sage could hear the love he still had for the blonde.

"Yes," she whispered. "He turned and didn't know I was right behind him. He swung his arm out and hit me. I...I fell backwards."

"Into the bar?"

She whimpered her confirmation through noisy tears and for a while there was no more gossip. Carly cried, and her uncle comforted the hurt and frightened sounding woman. Sage leaned against the wall and folded her arms. If her uncle turned this comfort into a make-out session and took the woman into his bedroom, she was going to have to lock herself in her bedroom and blast her music through her headphones. After she was done being sick. She shuddered at the thought.

"Carly,' he said, his voice soft and tender. "Of course I'll help you."

"Oh thank you," she cried out. "I didn't know where else to go. Jason was out of town and I didn't want Michael to see me like this so I couldn't go to my mother's. I was afraid you would turn me away."

"No, no," Uncle Lorenzo soothed. "I'll help you. We need to get this documented; we need to call the police so you can make a report."

There was a pause and then Carly demanded. "Who said anything about the police? I'm not calling the police."

Sage closed her eyes and bitterly shook her head. Of course Carly wasn't going to call the police. Especially not on Sonny Corinthos. She would protect the man who once again hurt her, but she expected Uncle Lorenzo to comfort her until she decided to make up with her husband.

"You're not?" her uncle asked, his voice hardening.

"He didn't mean to hit me; I know it. I just need a place to stay right now. I can't go to my mother's because of Michael and Morgan. The hospital will call the police and the hotel isn't rebuilt yet after the fire. I just need some help."

There was a creak of the leather couch and then the sound of her uncle's footsteps on the wooden floor. "I should have known. Corinthos shoots you in the head, he gets off. He hits you, finally turning the emotional abuse into physical abuse and you're still defending him. Of course you won't call the police. After you heal and he's apologized giving you flowers and gifts, you'll go back to him. Won't you?"

"No," Carly insisted. "I'm not going back to him, but that doesn't mean I'm calling the police. There are things you don't understand, Lorenzo."

"You're right, Carly," he replied, his voice hard. "I don't understand what you want from me."

"I want a friend," she pleaded.

"No," Uncle Lorenzo bit out. "What you want is to hurt your husband. He hurt you by telling you Sam's baby is his, so you run here so you can hurt him by telling him you were with me."

Sage held her breath and wondered what he would say next. She hadn't expected him to say no to Carly Corinthos, she didn't think he was capable of it. "I'm not getting involved in this again," he sighed. "You want to hurt Sonny, find someone else to do it. I'm not doing this again."

"Lorenzo," she pleaded with him.

"No," he said. "If you aren't going to press charges, then I don't think I can help you."

"So I have to turn in my husband for you to be my friend?" she demanded shrilly, having the nerve to sound hurt.

"I think you should go, Carly," he told her. "Take a chance with your mother. Or I'm sure Corinthos has a doctor on his payroll and numerous safe houses. I think you'd have better luck with one of them."

"Fine," Carly huffed out, and she obviously stood up. "I should have known you wouldn't help me. You only want to hurt Sonny; you don't care about me. You never did. You just used me."

"I think you're confusing me with yourself," Uncle Lorenzo said dryly. "I think it's time you left, Mrs. Corinthos."

"Fine," she jeered. There was a shuffle and then the door slammed shut.

Sage stood in the hallway, her eyebrows raised. Uncle Lorenzo had stood up to Carly Corinthos. And the ungrateful, selfish shrew really needed a lesson in how to treat people, especially Uncle Lorenzo.

~Puerto Rico~

After last night's meeting between Jason and Mario, word must have spread to Carlos that his time was limited unless he had a change of attitude. Despite Jason being more senior in the organization, the man had evaded him. And when he finally called Jason on the phone and agreed to a meeting tonight, the man told more lies than Carly. Sonny had wanted Jason to try and draw him out to find out what Carlos' plans were. If it was a rogue move, or if the man had a backer. Jason was confident the man had a backer, and tonight he was going to find out who exactly it was. One way or another Carlos would talk.

Jason was done playing around. It was time for action; which was the whole reason Sonny had sent him down here instead of coming himself. Jason had double-checked his weapon and the area where they were meeting, because the sudden change of heart from being elusive and hiding to suddenly wanting to meet left Jason more than a little suspicious.

As he walked towards the restaurant, his eyes scanned the street and the sidewalk. He saw his men already in place, and several men that he suspected were new hires loyal only to Carlos. It was just a matter of who twitched first and what Carlos said when they met.

When it happened, the man wasn't very subtle. One of Carlos' men reached underneath his jacket, and Jason immediately reached for his own weapon. He stepped to the side and his eyes searched for Carlos, knowing the man wouldn't be far from the impending gun battle. He was just too cocky and arrogant that way. Jason's men would take care of the others; he was not going to let the traitor get away. Like all rats, as soon as the battle started, Carlos was already trying to slink away. Jason followed after him, dodging bullets as the battle raged on around him. Carlos was not going to escape. Not on Jason's watch.

"Carlos!"

The man turned around and seemed a bit surprised that Jason had gotten that close to him. The enforcer had his gun trained on him and didn't give him any time to react. "Sonny sends his regards, and relieves you of duty."

Carlos laughed, even as the bullet pierced his heart. It wasn't until the bullet struck Jason from behind that he realized why the other man hadn't been afraid to die.

Chapter 15

~Puerto Rico~

Jason groaned as he reached for the phone beside his bed and dialed. He was supposed to check in with Sonny last night, but thanks to a bullet, he hadn't been able to. Their doctor had insisted on pain killers after the surgery to dig the bullet out, and he'd wasted the night in a drugged stupor. He was fighting his way out of a narcotic fog this morning, and he'd already sent the doctor running when the older man tried to dope him up again just a few minutes ago. He had things he needed to do, he couldn't spend the day drugged and asleep.

He dialed Sonny's cell phone, not knowing where his friend might be this morning and this would be the quickest way to reach him. He just hoped Carly wasn't too close by because she would raise Cain if she heard he was on the phone and didn't get to talk to him.

"Corinthos."

"It's me," he breathed out.

"Jason. What happened? You were supposed to call last night."

"I couldn't," he said in a tone that would cut through Sonny's agitation and get him to listen.

There was a breath let out over the line and Sonny seemed to calm down. "What happened? Are you hurt, Jason?"

"One of Carlos' men shot me," he told Sonny. "After I killed Carlos. One of our guys got me to the doctor, and I was out after he dug the bullet out of me."

Sonny let out a string of dark curses and then demanded. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"I'm okay," he said. "But I'm going to be down for a couple of days. Our men are pulling Carlos' files and records and I'm going to go through them. Tell Greg I'll send him what account numbers I find so he can run them."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Sonny asked, concern thick in his voice. "This can wait until you've rested up for a couple of days."

"I can't spend my entire time sleeping, and I can look through papers," Jason argued, even though he did feel tired from the blood loss. It was important they find out who Carlos was working for and to get the situation down here taken care of. The sooner he did that, the sooner he'd be able to get back to Port Charles. Because he knew there was a powder keg waiting to blow back there.

"Jason," Sonny said in all seriousness. "Business is not that important. If you try to do too much too soon you'll just be out of commission longer. Let me send Greg down there to help you. Let me send Max, too, if you want."

"Send Greg," he conceded. "The other guards here are fine, but we could use an accountant."

"I'll send him down as soon as I hang up," his boss promised.

Jason leaned back against the pillows propping him up in bed, telling himself that when he got off the phone he'd just take a short rest. "How are things back there? The prisoner...he should have confessed by now, right?"

"He did," Sonny confirmed. "And Sam's conviction has been vacated. I told her and moved her to a safe house closer to town for now. We have to figure out what to do permanently now...since I..."

"You told Carly," Jason groaned. He knew Sonny wouldn't wait, even though he'd hoped. "How bad was it?"

~Corinthos Penthouse~

Sonny swallowed thickly and hoped Jason couldn't tell he was about to lie. "It wasn't good," he admitted, figuring to tell as much of the truth as he could. "She was pretty angry. She...ran out last night."

"I knew she was going to do that," he friend groaned. Probably with a combination of physical pain and frustration. "I wish you would have waited."

"Well I didn't," Sonny snapped. He didn't want a disappointed lecture from Jason, especially when he'd spent the entire night castigating himself for hitting Carly and being angry that Jason hadn't called. He'd never once considered something might have happened to the younger man. "So there's nothing you can do about it."

"Where did she run to?" Jason sighed.

"She ran to Alcazar,' Sonny admitted, angry at the betrayal that had been Carly's first instinct. Run to the man she'd lived with and slept with after Morgan was born. But he also knew she wouldn't have run there except for him losing his temper.

"What?!" Jason exploded.

"He must not have fallen for her tears, though," Sonny bent the truth. "Because she didn't stay long. She went to Bobbie's where she'd sent the boys."

He'd actually been very surprised when the guards following Carly had reported she had left his rival's penthouse after only a short time. Given the obvious bruise that had to be in sight, he couldn't believe that Alcazar hadn't insisted she stay. Maybe he'd turned her away, maybe she ran on her own. Maybe the international arms dealer had been quicker than Sonny to realize that Carly was nothing but poisonous trouble.

"Listen, Jason," he said, putting more conviction into his voice than he felt. "You can't worry about this. I know you care about Carly, but she went to the Quartermaines and was prepared to use Michael. She's mad the baby's mine, she's mad about the lies. But she'll calm down and we'll talk, like we always do. Maybe it's time we stopped expecting you to fix our marriage for us."

Of course, the only reason Sonny was so insistent that Jason leave this alone was because he didn't want his friend to find out he'd hit Carly. When the younger man returned to town he'd find out, but maybe by then Sonny would be able to convince Carly it was an accident. And then she'd be able to convince Jason and keep the younger man from killing Sonny.

"Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Yeah," he lied, forcing a smile into his voice. "We're fine here. Or...we will be when Carly calms down and she and I can talk. You just worry about getting better. That's the most important thing."

"Alright," Jason said tiredly. "But call if you need anything."

"The thing I need most is for you to get better," he told his friend. "You get some rest."

He hung up the phone and rubbed his hand over his tired and unshaven face. Things just kept getting worse, and given his luck, he didn't see it changing any time soon.

~Quartermaine Lake~

"Hey."

Lucas blinked, pulling the world back into focus as he heard the soft voice beside him. The sun was bright, even with his metallic Ray Ban Predators, and he squinted at the reflection coming off the water. He looked over at Brook who was sitting beside him in her black tankini with red piping at the edges that had been playing havoc with his mind. When they'd made plans yesterday to come here, he'd envisioned this moment, Brook in a bathing suit and wet. And he cursed that he wasn't able to appreciate and enjoy it fully.

All because Carly had shown up with yet another crisis due to Sonny Corinthos. He hated his brother-in-law, and at times he even hated Carly, for all the drama they inflicted on each other and therefore everyone else. They had a way of overpowering every unfortunate soul around them, and they kept on doing it. Right now, though, he really hated Sonny. Because the slime had hit his sister, and scared his nephew by seeing his mother bruised and bleeding and crying.

He tried to push those thoughts away and enjoy the beautiful day, and the beautiful girl, before him. He smiled his most flirtatious smile, "Hey."

Apparently his smile fell flat and failed to hide his mood because Brook leaned closer and frowned. "What's wrong? You've been quiet all day. I thought you'd be out there doing cannonballs with Dillon."

"I'm okay," he shook his head.

"Jones, you're a terrible liar. But if you don't want to talk and would rather just sulk over here like a little boy," she got up and turned to leave, "fine."

"I'm sorry," he said, not even knowing if she would stop and hear him. "I just...last night pretty much sucked."

Maxie had been walking by with a plate of melon balls and cheese puffs and she stopped and detoured to his chair. "Lucas? What happened? Is Bobbie okay?"

"Mom's fine," he assured his cousin.

"Is it Michael or Morgan? Did something happen to them?"

He shook his head. "No. It was Carly."

"Carly?" Brook questioned when he looked away and clenched his hands into fists on his thighs.

"What happened?" Maxie asked softly.

"What usually happens with her?" he asked angrily. "Sonny."

By now Georgie and Dillon were climbing out of the water and making their way to the group, drawn by the serious looks shared between the three and the obvious distress Lucas was in. Georgie wrapped herself in a large blue and white striped towel and looked at her sister, then back to Lucas. "What happened?"

"Carly showed up at the house last night," he said, then looked away. It was easier to say, somehow, if he was looking out over the water. "She was... Sonny had hit her."

"What?" Dillon snapped, standing up straight. "He hit her?"

"You should have seen the side of her face," he shook his head. "It was already bruising and swollen."

Everyone was silent for a minute and then Brook spoke tentatively. "Ma's known him for a long time... She wanted his mob money out of her company, but she always said he was a decent person. She...she never said..."

"Supposedly this is the first time he's hit her," Lucas scoffed. Then he sighed. "No, it probably is. Carly's too much of a drama queen to keep something like this from Mom. She'd have been over at our place crying about it if it had happened before."

"So what happened?" Dillon asked. When Georgie and Maxie both shot him a glare he held up his hands. "What? You know we're all thinking it; I'm just honest enough to ask."

Lucas wasn't bothered by the question and he said, "Supposedly they got into a fight about Sam McCall."

"Jason's girlfriend?" Dillon's brows creased in question. "She's having his baby. Grandfather has been trying to figure out how he can get Jason back into the family because of her."

"It's not Jason's baby," he shook his head sadly; he wished that it was just because of what happened. "It's Sonny's."

"What?" everyone gasped in reaction.

"Yeah. Jason said it was his so Carly wouldn't take the boys and leave Sonny. Sonny told Carly the truth last night because he didn't want to lie anymore." Lucas remembered his mother's shock and Carly's angry ranting as he'd stood in the kitchen eavesdropping on them in the living room. "Carly thinks he told her to punish her for going to Edward Quartermaine to try and get his help to send Sam to jail."

Dillon sighed and shook his head. "What'd she promise to give him in return? He wouldn't do anything to help Carly without some kind of incentive."

"Access to Michael and Jason's baby."

"And since the baby is really Sonny's," the Quartermaine male surmised.

"It pissed him off to say the least," Lucas nodded.

"Wow," Brook leaned back in her chair and shook her head. "I'm surprised you're here."

"Why not?" he shrugged harshly and bitterly. "I'm not needed at the house. Carly and I aren't that close and my mom's totally focused on her right now. Sure, I'm sorry it happened, but what could I do except sit around and be in the way? Actually, I was relieved to get out of the house and come here; Mom didn't really even put up a fight. I'm sorry I'm being a downer, though."

"No, no," Maxie said quickly. "It's okay. That was a pretty big event last night."

"So what is she going to do?" Brook asked, putting her hand on his bare shoulder.

He shrugged and her hand slipped away. "Probably the same thing she always does. Fight, yell, divorce him, try and keep him away from the kids. Her usual."

"Brook, Dillon?"

They all looked up as a distant voice carried to them on the wooden dock. Emily Quartermaine came around the bush-lined path and smiled. "Hey. Cook wanted me to let everyone know lunch was ready up on the terrace."

She paused and looked at them all huddled together intently and frowned slightly. "Is everything okay?"

Brook stood up and smiled. "Yeah. Everything's fine. Thanks for letting us know about lunch, we were all starving. 'Specially Lucas here. Boy's always thinking with his stomach, you know?"

~Brownstone~

When Bobbie answered the door and looked like she would gladly, and gleefully, castrate Sonny if only he would hold still long enough for her to get her scalpel, he knew that he was not going to have an easy meeting with Carly. If he even got to see his wife at all. He didn't bring flowers or jewelry, because it felt like it cheapened and trivialized what had happened. Turned it into the cliché of wife beater shows up with flowers to apologize and promise it will never happen again. He wasn't going to do that.

He did want to talk to Carly and apologize. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but she knew the history of Deke and his mother. If he could just explain to her how sick and awful he'd felt since that night, maybe she'd believe that he really had not meant to hurt her. But first he had to get through his mother-in-law.

"Hello, Bobbie," he said softly, not at all cocky or demanding. "Is...is Carly here?"

"Yes," she said succinctly and with pure, undiluted hatred. "But she doesn't want to see you and I don't blame her."

Sonny sighed and hooked his hand behind his neck to massage the stiff muscles. "I know she's hurt," he looked down at the concrete steps and brown shoes he wore, "and she's angry. But I...I feel horrible. I...there's no excuse, but I never meant to hit her. And I wanted to apologize to her."

He looked up and locked eyes with his wife's mother. "I never would want to hurt her like that. I'd rather cut off my hands. I just want to tell her that. And then I'll leave."

"I'll pass the message along to her," Bobbie folded her arms over her chest.

"You're not going to let me see her, are you?"

"No. My daughter does not need you in her life, now or ever," she answered bluntly and with malice. "I never thought you would resort to violence against a woman, but I was wrong. Your son woke up when Carly got here and he wanted to know who had hurt his mother. He was sure that his daddy would find the person and make them pay. How do we tell him it was his father that made his mother hurt and cry like that?"

Sonny tried to swallow around the fist of guilt and disappointment that had closed in his throat. Michael had been exposed to the same horror he had a child. He felt like a monster all over again.

"I really think you should leave," the older woman told him disdainfully. "I'm not calling the police because for some reason Carly still insists on protecting you. But if you push her I will call her father."

Then she shut the door and left Sonny standing there knowing John Durrant would love nothing more than to come after Sonny any way he could. And hitting Carly was a wonderful opportunity.

~Harborview Garage~

Emily sat in her car and just shook with anger. After overhearing Lucas down by the lake, she had left the mansion and driven over here. She had to talk to Jason, or Sonny. Oh, she had a few choice things she wanted to say right now to Sonny Corinthos. Once again the selfish bastard had stolen a family from her brother.

Lucas must have misunderstood Carly, because Emily was certain it had been Sonny who came up with this whole plan. He had come to Jason and asked her brother to pretend that Sam's baby was his. Sonny knew Jason was loyal and would do whatever he asked, especially in the name of family. By having Sam living across the hall from him, Sonny got to have the best of both worlds. He had Michael and Morgan and Sam's baby all at handy reach.

Forget that Jason would probably become attached to Sam and the baby as they lived with him and he watched her grow bigger. Forget that Jason would once again be hurt. All that matter to Sonny was that he had his children close by, and had everything the way he wanted. She hated him sometimes.

Getting out of the car and heading into the elevator, Emily tapped her foot the entire ride up to the penthouse level. She needed to talk to her brother and see how he was feeling. She also felt a little used because she had done so much for him and Sam because she thought Sam's baby was his own. Turns out it was just another Carly situation and her brother had to be feeling hurt. He'd just had another child ripped away from him.

She hated Sonny and his selfish nature that demanded her brother do the older man's every bidding. She hated Carly and her insecurities as well as her selfish nature that made Jason feel like he had to do anything and everything to take care of her and her children. She hated Sam for agreeing to this whole scenario and taking advantage of her brother's generosity. What happened to the strong, independent woman who had refused to let Jax rule her life and set her up in a comfortable hotel room? And she also hated Jason for letting the Corinthos family rule his life like this.

Emily had been so happy to hear that Sam was having Jason's baby. She didn't think Sam was the most perfect woman, especially after bouncing from Jax to Sonny and sleeping with both men on the same night, but she was willing to overlook it because the baby was Jason's biological child. And she wanted her brother to have that, to have a baby no one could take away from him. Emily's loyalty was to Jason, and so she was willing to overlook the woman's flaws because of the baby. But now Sam was just another person who had used her brother.

As angry as she was with the situation, Emily was also worried. Jason was now in great danger of falling into Elizabeth Webber's trap. She was certain that when the tramp heard about Sam's baby she would go after Jason as a meal ticket and father for Cameron. Jason seemed to be taken with her, and Emily had no doubt Elizabeth would try to use that to her advantage. As much as Emily wanted Nikolas free from the little homewrecker's clutches, she didn't want Jason to be Elizabeth's next target.

When the elevator arrived, she turned and marched to Jason's door. She was going to give her brother a few choice thoughts, and then she was going to find Sonny Corinthos and do the same.

Chapter 16

~Courthouse~

"Hello, Counselor."

Alexis took off her glasses, folded them and held them primly in her lap before looking up at Ric. She kept her face neutral, not showing the irritation she felt at another run-in with Ric Lansing. After talking with Nikolas nearly a week ago, she'd done her best to avoid the D.A. If she did have the misfortune to talk with him, she kept her answers short and claimed she had a meeting to get to.

She didn't trust the man. Not after kidnapping Carly Corinthos and locking her in a house, not after what he had done to railroad Nikolas earlier this year, not after turning on Zander because he wanted the rights to Zander's child, and certainly not after what he'd done to his own wife. The D.A. was obsessed with bending any law to get what he wanted, and he was beyond obsessed with bringing down Sonny Corinthos. After her sister Kristina's death, and after her daughter's birth, Alexis wanted Sonny out of her life. And being friendly with his brother was not the way to do that.

But Ric seemed to have a reason just beyond his revenge for suddenly trying to insinuate himself in her life every time she turned around. It was sudden, it was out of the blue, and it didn't make any sense, unless she gave into her paranoia and the horrible thought that he had somehow found out about Kristina's true paternity. It was just too horrible of a thought to contemplate and she wanted to believe he was doing all of this because she was Sonny's ex-lawyer and he figured she was a woman scorned or something equally Harlequin like that.

Yet, as she thought about Ric's behavior, and forced herself over the past few days to be harsh and impartial, she was afraid it could be true. He knew Sonny was Kristina's father. Or maybe he merely suspected as others before him had done, and was trying to rattle her cage and bait her into making a mistake. She refused to give into it, and she wasn't going to give him anything to go on and use against her. After all, she was a Cassadine. She'd already made the error in giving Carly power against her when, in a moment of weakness during the hotel fire, she'd admitted the truth. She wasn't going to do again. She had to protect herself and her daughter.

"Hello, Ric," she said indifferently. She was waiting for a hearing so she couldn't leave the courthouse to get away from him. She would just have to show boredom and mild annoyance and hope the man soon tired of his game and left.

"Here for a meeting?" he smiled at her.

She ruffled her papers. "Yes. Can't ever be too prepared."

The D.A. sat down on the bench beside her, obviously ignoring her hint for him to go away because she was too busy to talk right now. "How's your cute little girl?" he asked. "Is she in daycare or does she have a nanny?"

She slid him a sideways glance. "My daughter is just fine, and why are you concerned about her care and education? I've made decisions for her based on careful consideration."

"And Ned helped, I'm sure," Ric said smoothly, but there was something needling about the statement. "As her father, I'm sure he had his own preferences and opinions."

"Of course," she nodded, looking back down at her papers. She forced herself not to clench her jaw and show her annoyance at his invasive questions. "Why all the questions, Ric? Thinking about adopting, or did you find a new woman to lock in your house until she was ready to give birth?"

His jaw snapped shut and she stood and gathered her attaché case. "I don't know why you think that we're friends and can sit around talking about our families. I find your questions rude and presumptive and highly inappropriate from a man of your position and office. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to prepare for."

Then she turned on her heel and walked into the empty courtroom. She'd put him on notice, she just hoped she didn't come to regret possibly angering him.

~Kelly's~

Lois pulled open the door to the diner and an immediate smile bloomed over her face when she saw who was sitting inside at a table. "Hey, stranger!"

Jax looked up from the papers spread out in front of him and his own smile nearly blinded her. He stood and stepped to the side as he walked towards him. Kissing her cheek warmly, he reached for a chair for her. "Hello, Lois. How are you doing?"

She sighed, deflating slightly. "Brookie's been a headache lately, but that's for later." She playfully smacked him on the arm. "What are you doing here? I thought you had convinced Courtney to go away with you so she could give you an honest chance without all the gloomy guses of Port Charles being against you. Don't tell me she told you she was giving up."

"No," Jax shook his head slowly. "Courtney got a phone call a couple of nights ago from Carly. There was some kind of emergency and she wanted to come back and help her friend. We got in this morning and she went over to see Carly. So, I've decided to start my latest business venture."

"What's all this?" Lois asked as she trailed her long, pink fingernails over the myriad of papers and folders. "What venture?"

"I'm going to rebuild the hotel," he smiled. "Tracy has been dragging her heels over construction and plans and I got a tip that the city was putting the land up for sale. So I snapped it up and I'm finalizing plans so construction can start before Tracy realizes what happened."

She leaned back in her chair and smiled at her friend. "You just bought the Port Charles Hotel out from underneath Tracy? Oh, I would love to be there when she finds out. She's going to be apoplectic."

"That's half the fun," Jax drawled with a roguish grin and a wink. "But it's been nearly five months since the fire. She had plenty of time," his voice dropped slightly to a husky tenor, "even before Lila's death. So I'm taking over and I'm building a new hotel. I'm going to name it Metro Court."

Lois rolled her eyes at him. "You haven't changed a bit, have you? Name a hotel after a woman and you think she'll just swoon all over you."

"Courtney doesn't swoon," he said. Then he waggled his eyebrows. "But I'm sure hoping this will help soften her more than she already has."

"She's a good girl," she said sincerely. "And you, my friend, certainly deserve all the good and happiness you can have."

"Okay," Jax's face grew serious and he shuffled his papers together as he closed the folders. "What's wrong? You've been bright and cheerful, but you look like you're ready to cry."

"Way to flatter a girl," Lois rolled her eyes. "I sure hope you don't use those lines on Courtney or it's no wonder she rebuffs you."

"Lois." He gently laid his hand over hers and pinned her with his gaze, all joking and mirth aside. "What's going on? You mentioned something about Brook?"

She sighed, and she hated that it sounded watery. Telling herself that she would not cry, she began to tell him about her fights with Ned and Brook over Sage Alcazar and Brook's music. Add in Lorenzo's call yesterday where he expressed his extreme displeasure because his niece was unhappy, and that he was threatening to pull out the only money keeping her company afloat and she was border lining on miserable. She'd spent the rest of yesterday searching for a song they could purchase that would launch Sage's career.

"I finally found just the right one for her to sing," she beamed. "But the writer wouldn't come down on the price, so I had to spend more than was budgeted. Now I'm pretty sure I can get Dillon to shoot the video for free, I'll just promise to pay him double for the next one, but I now have hardly any money for the graphics we'll need for the single's cover and the publicity we'll need."

She rubbed her temples, her bracelets jangling on her wrist, and said, "The graphic artist I was planning on using charges too much and now I'm not sure where I can get one who does good work, but for the price we can pay."

"Have you thought about contacting the PCU's Art Department?" Jax asked, his business sense automatically kicking in and looking for solutions. "Or there's a graphic design school here in town. You could contact them and say you're looking for an intern. They would get school credit, while working for you for free."

"Hmmm," she tapped a finger on her chin. "That's an idea."

"Or," he said, suddenly brightening, "there's a local artist who's worked for the company before. Elizabeth Webber has done things for the Nurse's Ball, and she worked for Chloe Morgan back when Ned joined the record company and her design one."

His eyes dimmed slightly before he looked down. "Chloe liked her, said she did good work. Ned probably would say the same. He probably knows how to get a hold of her...she's a friend of Emily's I believe."

"I'll have to check into it," she nodded decisively. "Maybe if she's local and has worked for L&B before, she'll start out at less pay until we can increase it. And if she won't, then I'll check with the schools."

If she did all of this, then maybe Lorenzo Alcazar would see and believe that she was committed to his niece and finally give his money to her company.

~Corinthos-Morgan Warehouse~

Sonny sat in his office, the muted sounds of forklifts and workers barely making it through the heavy steel door that separated him from the chaos outside. He had forms and invoices in front of him his secretary told him he needed to go through, things that had to be signed and initialed, and they were nothing but a blur before him because he couldn't concentrate on anything. Not when his life seemed to be falling down around him.

Carly still refused to see him or listen to his apologies. Each day that passed he became more worried that he couldn't repair this breach between them. He hadn't seen his kids, Bobbie kept turning him away and his wife hadn't spoken to him since she ran out of their penthouse three nights ago.

And as bad as he felt about the whole situation with Carly, he knew that eventually she would calm down and they would talk. What worried him most was the situation down in Puerto Rico. He hadn't heard from his partner since Jason called two days ago and told Sonny he'd been shot during the meeting with Carlos. Greg had gone down there to help out, but the work was keeping them busy and he wasn't going to make them waste their time giving daily reports when they had nothing.

When the phone rang, he was startled out of his thoughts and he scrambled for the receiver. It could be Carly, it might be Jason, but he really hoped it wasn't a call about another problem with a shipment. He knew Alcazar had messed with the shipment the night he fought with Carly. Santacruz's cargo was destroyed, they didn't have time to replace it by his deadline, and a big customer went elsewhere for his product. And was very unhappy about it. Sonny knew Alcazar was behind it, but they hadn't been able to prove it.

"Corinthos."

"It's me," Jason said without preamble. "We found something."

"What?" he asked, immediately intrigued and hopeful. It was the first good news they'd gotten in this whole mess and he latched onto it firmly.

"The source of his money. It's a holding company in Ireland named Kilkerry Imports. Carlos definitely had a backer. Greg's on his way back to do some digging into the company. It sounds familiar to him and he thinks he's got something on it back there."

"That's good news, Jason," Sonny admitted, the tone of his voice clearly conveying how good the news truly was. "With the shipment being hijacked, Carlos and everything else going on...this is good."

"Yeah," his friend breathed in agreement.

"How are you doing, Jason?" he asked, not liking how tired the younger man still sounded. "What does the doctor say?"

"I'm getting better," Jason said, but nothing more.

"Jason, don't BS me. Don't go all stoic now. You were shot. I don't care that you've been shot before. I care about now. Now that you've found the company name, I want you to stop pushing yourself. You can't heal if you aren't sleeping. I want you back here 'cause I could use your help, but I'm not jeopardizing your health. Understand?"

"Okay, okay," he groaned on a muffled laugh. "I'll get some rest. I should be back in a couple of days."

Sonny just shook his head, knowing he would have a hard time convincing Jason to stay longer so he could heal properly. He'd try again later, but for now he'd take the concession his friend gave him. "Alright, Jason. Get some rest and I'll talk to you later."

Jason hung up and Sonny leaned back in his chair. They finally had something to go on, and hopefully once Greg got back he'd be able to work his research magic. The man wasn't as good as Benny, nobody would be able to truly replace the man, but the young accountant was definitely worth what they were paying him.

~Park~

"You make brownies."

He'd been waiting to spring that piece of information on Elizabeth, wondering if it was even true, and if it was, then what her reaction would be. She looked over at Nikolas, her eyes wide with surprise, and she just stared. Maybe he'd been wrong, or he shouldn't have said anything. The two of them were enjoying a nice afternoon together, talking about his past, and he feared he'd brought it all to a halt.

"You remember that?" she asked, a laugh mixed with awe escaping her parted lips.

"You mean it's true?" It was one of the first tangible things he'd remembered, aside from Emily being high.

"Yeah," she smiled, and he relaxed at the fact that it was indeed true. He also liked that she hadn't suddenly acted like he'd remembered everything and pushed him to tell all.

"It's about all I can make, or could make," she laughed self-deprecatingly. "My grandmother has been giving me lessons since I want to be able to feed Cameron something other than take out when he gets older. But that used to be my speciality."

"Tell me," he requested, curious about the story behind the memory.

She let out a breath and leaned back against the bench. "It involves Emily."

He weighed the soft warning in her words, but trusted that she wouldn't try to push his relationship with Emily. She hadn't done so in all their time together and he knew she wouldn't do it now. She would just tell him about the memory. "It's okay. I want to know about your brownies."

"It was the four of us," she began. "Lucky, Emily, me and you. Lucky and I were dating and you and him had put aside the whole Spencer/Cassadine feud and were truly being brothers. Emily was Lucky's oldest friend, my friend, and...we all just clicked. We used to call ourselves the Four Musketeers."

She laughed and her eyes were clearly seeing a vision from the past. "I used to work at Kelly's and after the diner closed for the night, we'd get together and eat dinner. I would make brownies for dessert."

Folding her arms, she tipped her head back with a wistful smile. "Pretty much any occasion, I'd make brownies. I learned how to make fudge just to have a little variety."

"You love chocolate," he murmured. "Drinks, desserts...the more chocolate the better."

She turned and her blue eyes were wide again. He swallowed and shifted. "Right?"

Elizabeth's smile was easy and reassuring. "Yeah, I love chocolate. Can never have too much chocolate. I especially love hot chocolate."

"I don't know how I know that," Nikolas shook his head. "It's not like I really remember. Like I don't remember the dinners together. But it's just a feeling, something I just know; like I did about the kiss with Emily."

"That's okay," she told him. "Nikolas, I'm not going to push you. But the fact that things are starting to come to you...I think that's a good sign."

She looked away and bit her lip and he knew enough from their recent time together that was a move she did when she was nervous or unsure. He just waited, she'd either say something or she wouldn't. He could always ask, but he knew it was better not to push too hard, too soon. "Have...have you talked to anyone...about these memories?"

Now it was his turn to look away as the past came back to him. But his was more recent, and more bitter, then Elizabeth's. "I haven't," he admitted. "Mary didn't want me to talk to anyone, for obvious reasons. Emily dragged me to see a doctor...again for obvious reasons. When the truth came out I was so angry at everyone that I stopped going."

Shrugging slightly, she said what he knew she was going to. "Maybe it would help to talk to someone now. Even someone new if you don't want to see the doctor Emily took you to."

He wasn't offended or angered by her suggestion and Nikolas found himself agreeing. "Maybe I should talk to...a professional. But I hope this doesn't mean we'll stop talking."

She laughed clear and easy and turned to lightly push on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm not pawning you off on someone else; I haven't grown tired of you."

His laughter joined with hers and his eyes danced with mirth across the park. The laughter died though, as his eyes arrested on a pair walking along a path across the park from them. Neither person was unfamiliar to his short life since the accident; sometimes he couldn't get away from them. But what surprised him the most was the way their arms were twined together.

Elizabeth's laughter trailed off when his did and she curiously followed his locked gaze. He glanced over at her and could see she was just as surprised as he was, possibly even more. She shook her head and looked at him. "I..."

She turned away and went back to watching Lucky and Emily walk along the path across the park. Their arms were no longer linked together, but they were walking very close, their shoulders practically touching and their heads tipped towards each other. They were casual, yet animated with something inside them, and they appeared somewhat intimate. However, there was something that just seemed...Nikolas wasn't sure how to express why it felt off.

"She staged this," Elizabeth murmured so softly he nearly missed it.

He turned and asked, "Why would you say that?"

"Less than a week ago I ran into her at Kelly's and she apologized for slapping me. She said she realized she was acting out of control and she was going to step back and let you have your space. But I never got the feeling she was giving up on you.

"And this..." she waved her hand in front of her. "If we didn't know them, didn't know her we'd think there was something going on between them. That they were boyfriend and girlfriend, lovers...something deeper than just friendship."

"Is there?" he asked. "I mean, isn't there at least on his part?"

"Even if there was, Emily's behavior seems wrong."

"So you think she set this up?" Nikolas asked, knowing she would be honest without being petty.

Elizabeth shrugged. "It just seems...wrong. I don't know how else to describe. It looks right, but it's not."

He narrowed his eyes as Emily and Lucky disappeared around the bend in the path. Elizabeth was right, the whole scene felt wrong. Even staged, maybe. He wondered if the woman who claimed to love him could really set out to deliberately make him jealous. And yet, the feeling came to him that Emily wasn't above using someone for her own purposes.

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