Introduction
The Bartender's Daughter
Most kids can't say their parents chose them. I however, at the age of 21 can most definitely say that my dad.. Well, he chose me.. See, he didn't have to raise me, really, he wanted to. I don't know my real parents, mind you, and I've never once bothered to find 'em, either because to me?
Coleman Ratcliffe, bartender at the bar formerly known as Jakes, well, he's the man I call daddy.
And for my entire life almost, it's only been he and I against the world.
Now, if you're sitting here, reading this, you're wondering one of two things right now.. And neither of 'em are probably good. But trust me.. The cool and laid back jokester that's been keeping patrons of the bar entertained for years now?
That's him. But he's also got several different sides.. He can be protective, he can be strict sometimes, because god knows I needed it when I was a teenager..
But no matter what 'role' or 'side' he's showing, he will always be one thing to me.
Just dad. Plain and simple.
Guess I should tell y'all a little more about how he came to be my dad, right?
I thought so.
See, my real mom, she couldn't raise me, so she left me outside the bar. Coleman found me and bought me in right as a storm washed up into Port Charles.
Funny thing is, he got attached to me I suppose and when it finally occurred to him to maybe tell the cops what'd happened?
He didn't wanna give me up, so he raised me himself and never said a word to the proper authorities.
Lucky for me, my old man was low key enough that he didn't have to answer too many questions. But when we did,we (or he, rather, like I could talk well at the age of 3) usually told everyone my mama died when I was really, really little, nobody's ever really asked too many questions.
Then again, the old man, he believed in me having and being the best, and he didn't wanna surrender me over to the proper authorities, so I spent over half my life in the best boarding schools, learning, traveling, among other things.
So I've maybe lived in Port Charles for a few holiday length stretches, since I was about 3 or so.
Normally, my dad will take time off of work, and we'll use my school vacations traveling, bumming around, basically. We usually go to New Orleans or Mobile.. My old man loves the beach, loves his boat.
And I love the beach and the boat life too.
So I'm guessing by now, you've established that I'm not the average girl who shows up in Port Charles, right?
Nope, not even close. I'm pretty much a country girl or a beach bunny to the core.
My old man's from the South, so that's where he raised me, in the 'house boat' and the riverfront shack we normally went straight to when I got holidays and summers off from school.
I've maybe been to Port Charles 2 or 3 times in my life, and not for very long. It's just never really felt like home, ya know?
Either way, at 21, with my life falling apart all around me, and my father working at the Floating Rib again, for his old buddy Mack Scorpio and Mack's wife, Felicia, as the main barkeep, I'm here now.
Might as well make the best of it, right?
Hell, it's not like life gets any worse.
Just hope that soon it does start to get better for me. It just seems like lately, I've sort of been drifting aimlessly through life with no actual goal or real solid plan.
And then I met Davey and it went to hell in a handbasket. Now here I am, I could be pregnant, I'm on the run to my dad, and not looking to fall in love again, because Davey taught me one thing, and that is that Love Hurts.. Okay, so he taught me two, the second being, "Only trust yourself and your immediate family".
Wonder who I'll run into while I'm staying here? Wonder what messes I'll manage to get myself smack in the middle of. I seem to be good at that.
This is Port Charles, through my eyes. It's my story, from beginning to hopefully happy end. Sit back and hang on tight, boys and girls, it's gonna be one hell of a journey.
CHAPTER 01:
'A Girl Will Always Need Her Daddy'
"Okay, daddy.. Your shift starts in 10.. Where the hell are you?" Emerald Ratcliffe muttered as she slid onto a barstool rested her head a moment against the wooden bar's surface.
She'd really made a mess of her life this time, her father was gonna flip out on her, that much she knew for certain. With an ex hot on her heels, and the possibility that she may or may not be pregnant with said psychotic ex's kid, yeah..
She'd really really had a huge lapse in judgement this time, that much was obvious.
"Are you okay?" a man asked her from the other side of the bar. She looked up and sighed then said quietly, "Just lookin for someone, sir."
"Who?" Mack Scorpio asked as he looked carefully at the girl sitting in front of him. She looked vaguely familiar, but he said nothing.
He could be wrong, he didn't want to embarrass the girl, she looked like she had a lot on her mind.
"If you're going to drink, I need to see some ID." Mack said as he looked at her again. She looked old enough to drink, but these days, you couldn't be too sure, really.
"I won't be drinking sir, just waitin on someone, really." Emerald said quietly as she stared a hole in the door, willing her father to walk through it, before things got any more awkward.
She knew there weren't many people here in town that actually KNEW Coleman Ratcliffe had sort of taken her in when she was probably about 3 and she didn't want anyone getting curious.
"Who are you waiting on?"
"He's a bartender, his name's Coleman Ratcliffe, sir." Emerald said as she bit her lip and let her eyes dart around the room, nervously, worried that Davey might have slipped in and gotten the drop on her without her knowing it.
She knew he'd been following her for the better part of a week now, they'd had one violent run in already, that if not for a curious person standing outside the mall, she'd have either been beaten within an inch of her life and taken back with him, or she'd have committed murder to protect herself and the baby she could be carrying.
The thought sank in then, became real.
'I'm really gonna do this, be a single mom. There is no way in hell I'm doing what was done to me when I was a kid. This is MY baby, and I will raise it, love it. Even if I do it completely and totally alone.'
"Just curious, ma'am.. How do you know Coleman?"
"Let's just say he's family and leave it at that." Emerald said quietly, not sure why she didn't just say that he was her father, he'd raised her when nobody else wanted her.
Maybe she was still afraid he'd get in trouble about it, even now, all these years gone by since he'd taken her in the night she was left at the back alley entrance of the bar she was now sitting in.
"Okay, like I said, just curious.. The only family that I know of, that Coleman has, is a daughter, I met her when she was probably 5."
Emerald smiled, relieved. This could have been such an awkward situation. "That'd be me, sir." she said softly, her smile a warm one as she squinted then said aloud, "Aww, hell.. I remember you.. Mack Scorpio, right? You had two daughters or nieces.."
"Georgie and Maxie. I think they played with you a little while the day your dad talked to me about you."
"Yeah, I remember, sir.. How are they?"
"Well, Maxie's expecting.. Georgie passed away a few years ago." Mack said quietly as he sighed and then asked, "I'm going to be nosy again, Emerald, right?"
"Yes sir?"
"Is everything okay? You just look like you have the weight of the whole world on your shoulders right now.."
"It will be okay.. Just need to see my daddy, sir." Emerald muttered nervously, biting her lower lip as she added as a quiet afterthought, "Sorry sir.. About Georgie, I mean. She was real sweet to me when she came by with you."
"She used to ask me about you a lot when she was younger." Mack said with a smile as Emerald smiled back and nodded, then asked, "Any chance a girl can get a milkshake? I'm kind of jonesing for one right now.."
"Sure. Just give me a second.. Strawberry, right?"
"Yes sir." Emerald said as she smiled to herself. So the old man had told people about her.. She wondered how much, not wanting to get him into any serious trouble over what he'd done back then, but happy he loved her that much, he was that proud of her.
The doors opened and her father walked in, dropped his tacklebox and fishing pole as he gaped at her. "Em?"
"Daddy.." Emerald said quietly as she ran to him and looked up at him as she added quietly, "I need to talk to you."
Coleman studied his daughter a few moments and then said quietly, "It's bad, isn't it?"
"A little bit, daddy.. I might be in over my head this time."
"What do you mean, darlin?"
"Well.. Remember Davey?"
"As in the little shit I specifically said would never amount to anything, and he was only gonna hurt ya, not to go near him?"
Emerald's eyes dropped to her bitten nails and she nodded then said quietly, "You were right, daddy and I shoulda.. I shoulda listened.. He fooled me, I thought he was a good guy, I wanted things to work out but he did the one thing I won't stand for.."
"Did he lay his hands on you?"
Her lack of an answer had the older male growling a little as he said "Where is this little jackass at now?"
"He's following me.. That's not the worst of it, daddy.. You might wanna.. You might wanna sit down.."
"Emerald, baby, just spit it out.. Tell daddy what's up, he can handle it."
"Well, I have to go to the hospital to make sure, but I'm at least 90 percent certain that I am pregnant. And the way I left Davey, he's not gonna just let it lie.. He wants revenge and.."
"You just don't worry about that, okay? Dad's got this." Coleman said as he handed her his apartment key and then said "Go on up, put your stuff down and take a nap."
She shook her head and said "Going up to shower, change and then I'm going to look for a job, dad."
"You are going to take it easy, Emerald, you hear me?"
"Dad, I cannot afford to take it easy. I need a job."
"Well, there will be plenty of time to find one, honey, now go up to my apartment and take a nap. You've been on the road what, a week or two now?"
She gave up arguing and walked out the door of the bar, right as Michael Corinthos III was walking in, sort of at his own crossroads in life.
" Screw it." he muttered as he smacked into the petite and deeply tanned brunette female coming out the door as he was going in.
"Sorry." he said as she gave a slight smile and then said quietly, "It's fine, I shoulda been looking where I was going."
"But I clearly ran into you." Michael pointed out as she shook her head and said "Shit happens, man.. It's okay, nobody's hurt. I'm Emerald.. You are?"
"Michael." Michael said as he smiled a little, feeling a bit more relaxed. She seemed to have this bright cheerfulness he noticed, but her eyes, well, they didn't lie.
Her eyes held fear, sadness and worry. And he saw the fading bruise, wondered what'd happened to her.
It was obvious by her accent, she wasn't from around here, so what'd made her come here?
Before he could say anything else, she was walking up the side stairs of The Floating Rib, and unlocking the door to Coleman's apartment. He raised a brow as he watched her, then looked at Coleman, confused clearly.
"My daughter." Coleman said stiffly as he poured Michael his usual drink of choice then added, "She's just coming out of a bad spot."
His words held a clear and simple meaning.. Keep the hell away from my daughter, Corinthos.
Even an idiot could have picked up on it.
Michael almost said something, but he thought about it, kept quiet.
Upstairs, Emerald straightened up her father's small apartment and unpacked herself, then showered, redressed and got ready to go to the hospital, find out what her future held in store for her.
Was she going to be a mother in a few short months? And if she was, was she already screwing up her unborn child's life by being involved with the man she'd been involved with?
She groaned as she slipped into some comfortable track pants, one of her old sorority t shirts and some converses. "No need in getting all cleaned up." she muttered as she thought briefly about the blond male she'd very nearly fell on top of earlier.
"Wonder what had him lookin like he just lost his best friend." she muttered to herself as she left her father a note explaining she'd gone to the hospital to get a pregnancy test done officially, and then she was going to go and grab some food, because a man was not supposed to live on takeout alone.
Then she set off for the local hospital. And as she sat in the lobby, she sat next to a dark haired man who seemed to be worried about his unborn grandchild.
"I'll pray for it, sir." she said quietly as he nodded, gave her a slight smile and asked, "Do I know you?"
"If you do, it's because of my father.. Coleman."
"Yeah, I remember now. You came around twice, played with my second oldest son, Michael.. I remember because he used to get so mad because you followed him around a lot."
Emerald didn't remember that all too well, but she nodded politely and then he asked, "What are you here for? You're not sick, right?"
"Going to find out if I'm pregnant, sir." she said quietly as she bit her lower lip, raked her hand through her hair nervously.
"Wow, you don't really look that old." Sonny mused as the nurse called her name and she stood, walking towards the office on shaking legs.
An hour later, she sat by the dock, staring at the sonogram she held in her hands in shock, not speaking, just thinking.. Just how was she going to do this alone?
And how badly was she going to mess up at being a mother?
A throat clearing behind her had her looking up, startled out of her quiet thoughts for a little bit and Michael stood there, looking at her as he said calmly, quietly, "This isn't a good place for you to just be sitting around in."
He should know, after all, he'd been shot a few years prior, in a warehouse, just down the pier from the bench she sat on.
"Why the hell not?" Emerald asked, her voice coming out wary, stiff and maybe even a little cranky. She sighed and raking her hand through long and thick dark hair, she said quietly, "I'm sorry, Michael.. I didn't mean to snap, it's just.. I'm in shock right now."
"Everything okay?"
"Just scared shitless right about now, but other than that? Perfectly fine. I should get going, you're probably right.."
She jogged away and he raked his hand through his hair as he muttered, "I've seen her somewhere before."
The next text he got from his adoptive father, Sonny, pretty much confirmed it.. Apparently, when they were little, and Coleman used to play poker with Sonny, Sonny used to take him to play with Emerald when she was there.
He laughed a little to himself, put it down to coincidence.. It wasn't like she ever really stayed here long anyways, so that's all their run ins were, probably.
Besides, Sonny and Coleman barely talked anymore, and Coleman seemed really, really against Michael even trying to talk to Emerald at the bar when she was on her way out earlier.
He shoved his headphones in, started his late afternoon jog, everything on his mind, yet trying to think of nothing.
Which of course, didn't work.
Emerald had just finished the spaghetti she was making when her father came in from work. "Well?"
"Well what, daddy? Why the hell are there at least 100 pizza boxes in here? I thought you said you were eating the healthy meals."
"Sugar, those have no taste."
"Dad, you're older now, I want you around.. Especially now."
"What?"
"I went to the hospital earlier dad and.. I am pregnant. I'm scared. I'm not even a mother of a month, and I've already made huge mistakes that could get my baby hurt or killed even."
Coleman hugged his daughter then with a laugh said "Ran into Sonny earlier."
"Yeah, so did I."
"We got to talking about you and your little crush on Michael."
"Dad, seriously?"
"What?"
"Dad.. We're both older now, I'm pretty damn sure Michael's too busy helping Sonny run his business or whatever.."
"Actually, the kid works at ELQ. That was a shock to me, actually. I've been gone a lot longer than I thought, apparently."
"Still, daddy, no cupid games, okay? I'm done. I'm completely and totally done with the male species as a whole. I'm becoming asexual."
"Humming now.. Don't want to hear the word sex come out of your mouth again.." Coleman joked as he got plates, then got himself some spaghetti. "You're staying right?"
"Unless Davey shows up here and threatens to hurt you or the baby, dad, yes. If he shows up and threatens to hurt either of you, I'm going into hiding, something. I don't know yet, I haven't figured it out."
"On the road's no place to raise a kid.. Besides, it's my grandkid, I like to think I have a say so in this."
"You do, but I'm not letting you or the baby get hurt because I was an idiot, sir."
She walked into the kitchen area to grab him a beer, herself a Sprite, and he called out, "If you'd at least make friends with Mikey again.. You wouldn't have a damn thing to worry about, sugar."
"Daaaad.. We are NOT having this discussion. Now I'm humming." Emerald said as she walked into the room he sat in, handed him his beer as she sat down, sipped her Sprite slowly.
Everything felt like it was sort of falling into place.. But Emerald had yet to make up her mind if that were a good or a bad thing.
And again, she found herself wondering what on Earth had Michael looking so sad when she'd seen him earlier in the day the two times she'd seen him.
Meanwhile, Michael punched the weight bag in front of him as he pretended not to listen to Sonny's fatherly prodding about his run in with Emerald earlier in the day.
"Dad, just don't, okay?"
"Why not?"
"Dad, really?"
"Okay, alright, fine." Sonny said as he dropped the subject, for now. But given what Coleman told him at the bar earlier, he was a little worried about the kid..
And she had been one of few kids that Michael could actually say liked him, no matter what.
He shoved the stubborn thought he had of playing cupid out of his mind. Michael needed to do this on his own.
