ONE

Brielle

My brother was tapping me awake and I groaned and swatted at his hand as the turbulence of the plane had me sitting up and swearing not even a full ten seconds later. "Jesus, can the pilot not fly this thing?" I asked John as he chuckled and shook his head.

"So this is it.. Port Charles.. And you're sure it's safer here?" I eyed my brother warily. When you've lived a life of constant disappointments and betrayals like I had, you don't take people at their word very easily. I've been getting to know my brother for a few weeks now, mostly over emails, texts and Skype calls on occasion, but that doesn't mean he's quite made it into my circle of trust yet.. It's a daunting task for most and not everyone makes it in.

He's getting closer with each day that passes though and I like to think that my real mom would've wanted us to be a family, to get to know each other. After he explained everything to me, I think I understand why she'd chosen to give me up and keep him yet live apart from him for over half of his life and frankly, I can't hold it against her.

I mean she was raped at 16. She had what little innocence she might have had at the time stolen from her by a man who worked for my grandfather.. And then my grandfather tried to arrange a marriage between the two. Thank God my mother had the sense to run to Italy. I only wish that maybe she'd stayed in Italy. If she'd stayed in Italy she might still be alive.

My brother reached out and fluffed my hair and told me to relax.

"That's easier said than done." I grumbled as I reached up for my carry on. "C'mon, kid." he took my carry on and slung it over his shoulder as he started to walk off the plane, "I'll show ya around."

"You don't have to do that… You have a club and a casino to run, John.. Besides, I-I.. I think I'd rather just hang around the house and watch movies." I shook my head, eyes widening a little in fear at the prospect of going out on my own. Luken's words rang in my ears and just the thought of him showing up and carrying out his threat had my hands shaking slightly.

"If you keep hidin, Brie, Luken wins. Nothing's gonna happen to ya here. Guards are at your disposal. Not to mention I happen to be nothing if not a damn good shot, sis." Johnny tried reassuring me and it's like parts of me know he's right.. Other parts of me?

Those parts of me are fucking terrified.

The drive back to the house was quiet. My brother and I aren't really big talkers for the most part. Mostly, I was just wondering how much time I borrowed coming here before the inevitable happened. Johnny broke the silence to tell me quietly, "Hey.. It's gonna be okay, Brie. I mean it. You're home now."

"I know, I just.. I hope I didn't bring my own shit on you."

"It ain't just your shit anymore, sis. It's mine too. We're family." Johnny said as he parked the car and we got out. My brown eyes widened at the sheer size of the house and I tried to imagine what it must have been like as a kid, basically having free run of this place.

The rose garden caught my eye right off the bat and Johnny explained, "Our grandfather, he had a thing about roses.. Our grandmother did too. I think the garden was his way to keep her close after she died." and as he spoke, I got this feeling that there was so much more to the story than he was letting on, instead of outright asking, because I still felt like it wasn't quite my place to, I kept quiet and followed him into the house.

"The butler fixed ya a suite of rooms at the end of the hall." Johnny told me as he stepped out of the room to take a call. I collapsed onto the long suede couch and let out a loud exhale of breath. Being here felt like… It felt like all the weight was lifted yet somehow it felt like it wasn't. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's the only way I can honestly explain it.

Johnny came back into the room and tossed me a set of keys as he told me which was for the house key, which belonged to my mom's old car and where he was going.. Apparently the club he owns just became a crime scene. I remembered him talking about a girl who works there, Evette.. I know he said he feels this weird pull to her or something so I asked him in concern if Evette was okay and he nodded and told me "Yeah.. Thank God she wasn't workin tonight."

"Be careful."

"If ya need anything, sis, call me."

I nodded and at first, I tried to settle in and watch a rerun of Sons of Anarchy, but a growling stomach reminded me I hadn't eaten in at least 6 hours. I'd been about to just go scavenge the kitchen but then Johnny's words came back to me about hiding and letting my ex win.

I think that's what swayed my decision to pocket the keys and slip my favorite red flats back on. Maybe if I did a little sight seeing, let myself get used to the lay of the town.. I mean it made sense, I was going to be living here now and most likely, I'd live here permanently because now that I at least knew I had a brother, I wasn't going to want to get far.. I'd probably better get used to the new town.

I needed to try and start looking for a job anyway. My brother told me to take my time, get settled, but I'm just not used to depending on anyone and I never have been. The sooner I assume some sort of schedule, the better off I'll be.

With the decision made, I set off for town.

Michael

I was meeting my brother and his girlfriend for food and drinks at the Floating Rib and while I waited, I was watching people as they walked back and forth in front of the bar. I'm not exactly sure why because it hasn't happened in a really long time, but when I saw her, there was this split second flash, almost like a memory, but it wasn't anything in the past.. It was the two of us, standing in the middle of the bar, slow dancing. I could kind of even faintly hear the music playing on the jukebox in the back of the bar if I tried.

Morgan snapping his fingers in my face and Tessa following my intent gaze and promptly saying with a soft laugh, "Oh.. Well, she's a pretty girl." which made Morgan turn to look and then give me a raised brow as he pulled Tessa into his lap and pointed out, "But I got the prettiest girl."

"Uh huh, are you sucking up because you flooded the kitchen of my apartment with soap bubbles?" Tessa was giggling, but I wasn't really paying attention to either of them because the brunette I'd been staring at so intently was slinking past, making her way to the bar.

I grimaced as I shotgunned the beer in front of me. Morgan snickered and I gave him a warning glare. "Wasn't she in one of Johnny's cars?" Morgan wondered aloud and I shrugged. I hadn't seen her when she got out of her vehicle. I'd just noticed her when she walked out of our father's coffee shop with a cookie in her hands, walking down the sidewalk.

I mean not that I was looking that close or anything..

"I don't know. I just saw her when she walked out of Dad's coffee shop." I took another sip of my beer and raised a brow when one of my favorite bands started to play as the jukebox in the back fired up. "Someone else likes this crap?" Morgan scoffed and I gave him an annoyed look as I chuckled.

The brunette with the red flats and the painted on black jeans was the person playing it. It made me more curious about her but there was no way in hell I was about to walk over and ask her name. Over the past few years my luck in dating hasn't been the greatest.

She was walking past our table to go towards the bar again and she dropped her phone. For whatever reason, the red flats and the fact that her phone was covered in a red Life Proof case made me think of Claudia but I quickly shoved the thought out of my mind.

I think that maybe I'll never let myself get past the guilt I feel. I mean I was stopping her from hurting my sister Josslyn that night.. But I killed a person, I took a life and sometimes I feel like a monster because of it.

Karma definitely paid me back and I'm still dealing with that in some ways too.

"You okay, Michael? You kind of looked like you saw a ghost." Tessa asked me with a soft concerned smile as I bent down to pick up the phone that the brunette dropped on her way past our table. "Yeah, I'm fine.. I was just thinking."

Morgan gave a nod of understanding.. Lately we've been talking more and it's actually been helpful for both of us I like to think. So nine times out of ten, he knew where my head went when I saw the red cell phone.. And the brunette in question does sort of resemble a younger version of Claudia, I mean it's kind of weird actually.

She could almost pass for a daughter or a younger sister.. Or a female twin to Johnny.. I chuckled to myself at my pattern of thought because it's completely illogical.

"I'm gonna go give her back her phone." I coughed and stood abruptly, all set to walk over but when I turned around, we crashed right into each other. My beer soaked her shirt and her beer soaked mine.

"Christ, I'm sorry, I… I should have been paying attention." she muttered the words softly, a heavy accent I couldn't help but notice.. Maybe southern? I'm not sure, I just know it's not an accent I've heard often around here. I shook my head and then laughed quietly, taking my hands off her arms.

I couldn't help but notice the flinch and now that she was up close, the hunted look in her eyes that gave her the perpetual look of a startled deer in headlights. Like she was terrified of something.

"It's fine. You, umm.. You dropped this." I held out her phone to her and she took it, the phone quickly disappeared into the pocket of her leather jacket and fingers ending in black polished and badly bitten nails caught in long and thick dark hair momentarily distracting me as she looked up at me.

She gave me this slightly less than scared shitless smile and I asked her if she was okay.

"Yeah.. I'm just jumpy… I'm gonna go now.. yeah, just gonna go sit down." she muttered the last and turned on her heels, quickly walking back to the table she'd moved to sit at.

"That was interesting." Morgan muttered as I sat back down. Tessa popped him on the arm and then asked with a giggle, "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Did you at least ask her what her name was?"

"No.."

"Damn it, Michael, seriously? She was checking you out." Tessa was scolding me, for a second she almost sounded so much like my little sister Josslyn or Kristina that I couldn't help but laugh. Morgan laughed too and then sipping his beer he suggested that Tessa did have a good point.

I was just about to work up the nerve to go over and ask what her name was but when I looked over at the table, she was gone. I frowned for a minute or two and then shrugged it off. And to get it out of my mind, the strange feeling I got when I saw her, I got my brother to play me in 3 rounds of pool.

But for whatever reason, even when I'd gotten back to the Quartermaine mansion that night and started to get ready to go to sleep and get ready to get up and go to work early the next day, I still couldn't get the look in her eyes out of my mind.. Or the way she resembled Claudia so much.

"Stop it, Mike. Go to sleep, damn." I grumbled, annoyed with myself by this point. Shoving my head beneath the pillows, I finally managed to get to sleep.

Brielle

My tour of Port Charles ended at my real mom's gravesite and I sat down on the marble bench beside it, looking at my hands for a few minutes. "I forgive you, mom.. and I understand why you gave me up when I was born.. I've been talking to my brother a lot and he's tried to tell me everything about you but I just… I wish you were here right now. I could really use some kind of maternal guidance… something… who am I kidding.. I could use a fucking spine." I admitted as I shook my head in disgust with myself.

That guy was handsome and he seemed to be really sweet and just a little awkward.. It's weird but when I walked out of the coffee shop by the bar I went in earlier, I saw him sitting in the window and for a few seconds I just.. Stared.

Probably blew that when I made a complete ass of myself earlier when we smacked into each other while I was looking for my phone. I'm so sick of flinching and having a miniature panic attack every single time someone touches me like he did to steady me and keep me from falling on my ass after we bumped into one another. I hate that Luken's done that much damage and I was sitting here in a cemetary in the dark venting to a dead mother I never even got to meet.

Somebody murdered her. Just thinking about it had me feeling bitter all over again. I wiped at my eyes and bunched my knees up, resting my chin on them, wrapping my arms around them. "I'm damaged, Mom."

It was weird, what happened next.. It's like I felt this cool breeze next to where I sat on the bench.. No, I didn't see her ghost but I got this calming feeling… I felt pressure, almost like I was being hugged?

I scoffed about it, ghosts are not real.

I just wanted to think that somehow my mom was listening to everything and hopefully, she wasn't judging me harshly. I mean John, he told me she was this amazing and bad ass woman. She didn't take anyone's shit.

Me? I let everybody walk all over me. And I loathe that about myself.

My brother cleared his throat from behind me. "Figured you'd come out here." he was sitting beside me and he asked me if I'd gotten anything to eat. "Earlier I got ribs at that bar by the docks.. I still got some left if you wanna go back home and split them."

"Yeah. Let's get goin. This place gives me the creeps after dark. Kinda why I only come by when it's daylight." Johnny chuckled as he admitted it and I nodded, shivering a little. " It's not so bad.. Kinda peaceful." I mused as we walked to our cars and drove back to the house.

Once we'd eaten and I'd gotten settled into bed, I started to doze off and for once, instead of tossing and turning and listening to every single creak or noise of the darkness around me, I dozed off easily.. I think I slept better that first night at my brother's place than I had in a few years.

I felt safer for the first time in a really long time and I'm not sure why because I'm actually the most scared I've ever been right now.

Tomorrow I'd try to apply for work at a few more places. I need to start settling into a routine, I need to start trying to put the past behind me. I need to get stronger.

Now I just have to actually try and do all of this.

Something tells me it's going to be harder than it sounds but I need to approach this as an adventure and not something to be afraid of for once.. Like I used to do before I got mixed up with Luken and I let him break me down, let him make me afraid to be myself.

FOOTNOTE:

As previously stated in the footnote of my other stories, if you want to know more about Brielle, check out my user bio in the next hour or so and her information will be posted. you should probably read my user bio just to be safe to find out everything you need to know about my little alternate universe Altered Realities because trust me, it will be helpful.

Obviously, this is Michael and Brielle's story. Morgan and Tessa and Johnny make appearances in this chapter and yes, there are hints of the paranormal now and then, but it's mostly symbolic. As far as Michael's weird vision, I'm going off of a cool kinda mini story arc that they dropped for him right after the head injury. the gist of the angle i believe was that he developed some kind of ESP like ability. i'm going to read up on it a little more but there may be hints of it making an appearance here and there.