Chapter One
She was reading over a report on the computer screen when a shadow appeared indicating someone had walked up to the nurses station. She ignored them for a few seconds, then without looking up she asked, "How can I help you?"
"I am looking for Dr Quartermaine's office." The strong male voice had her looking up into some striking blue eyes.
Forgetting all about reading the report in front of her, she struggled to say, "Her office is down th-this hall." She pointed behind her in a daze.
The man in front of her looked familiar with his dark blonde hair and muscular build but she wasn't sure why.
"Give me your name and I will call back to her office to let her know you have arrived."
"Dr. Aaron Davidson, she is expecting me for an interview."
During her conversation with Dr Quartermaine she observed the man's appearance. He was wearing a dark dress suit with light blue shirt. His tie matched the navy blue of his suit. The light blue of his shirt brought out the color of his eyes.
"Dr. Davidson, Dr. Quartermaine asked that you have a seat in the waiting area and she would be out to see you in a moment."
She was attempting to get back to her report when Bobbie Spencer came up beside her.
"Ms. Spencer, will you please help me finish up this report. The latest interruption has been overly distracting." Kathy explained apologetically as she tilted her head toward the waiting area.
"Sure…" Kathy looked up at Ms. Spencer as her voice trailed off. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Kathy, what is that man doing here?" Bobbie was in shock and didn't know who to warn about this first.
"He is here for an interview with Dr. Quartermaine for the opening in pediatrics." Kathy answered. She didn't know what was going on but she was starting to get worried. "Are you alright? Should I call your son or daughter?"
"No!" She snapped as she stared at the man. He looked up at the loud voice but thankfully he looked back down at the medical journal he was reading. "Sorry Kathy but I need to get to Monica's office now before she comes out here and sees him."
Unfortunately as Bobbie was finishing her conversation with Kathy, Monica was already on a collision course with the doctor with her son's old face.
For some reason Bobbie froze and was unable to stop Monica. She watched as Monica reached him and was putting her hand out to shake his hand. Bobbie, finally able to move, rushed over to help Monica into a chair next to the other doctor.
"Your Dr. Davidson?" Monica asked faintly.
"Yes I am." He answered looking at her with concern. "Are you alright? Do I need to call someone for you?"
"No!" Came the shout from Monica and Bobbie.
Both Kathy and Aaron looked at the two sharply.
"Please go into my office. It is the first door on the left." Monica said addressing Aaron. "There is a refrigerator in there with some bottled water if you would like a drink. I will be in after I make a quick phone call."
After he walked away she leaned into Bobbie, "that man really looks like Jason or am I seeing things?"
"You are definitely not seeing things" Bobbie replied. "What do you want to do?"
"If I am lucky I will have a DNA sample and fingerprints on a water bottle after this interview to compare to Jason's. I am going to call Anna to see if she can do a background check through the WSB. I have to make sure this isn't some Cassidine plan to hurt my family again.
"Bobbie, while I call Anna please make sure we can keep Jason, Sam, Carly, Michael and anyone else that shouldn't see him until we know who the hell he is."
Bobbie just nodded her head as she picked up the phone.
Monica plastered a smile on her face as she opened the door to her office. She let out a sigh of relief when she noticed that Aaron had taken her up on the suggestion of getting himself something to drink from her refrigerator. He had just placed the bottle on her desk as she opened the office door.
Aaron turned and stood up placing his hand out to shake her hand again. He noticed she still looked pale and unsteady on her feet. "Do you need to reschedule the interview? I can wait a day or so until you are feeling better." he offered.
"Everything is just fine." She told him or it would be she told herself as soon as she found out who this man was.
She motioned for him sit back down as she went around her desk. She opened up his file that contained his resume and reference letters. She had been ready to offer him a job after talking with him today until she had seen him.
She took a deep breath and looked him directly in the eyes that were identical to her son's eyes and tried to calm herself. This was not going to be easy.
"Instead of rehashing your resume and references I thought we could just discuss why you became a doctor." Monica wanted to keep him talking while waiting to hear back from Anna. She was glad she had saved the electronic versions of his paperwork. It made it that much easier to get it to Anna quickly and get started checking him out.
Aaron knew something was going on with this interview and possibly with this hospital. He had been watching Dr. Quartermaine. She was nervous and seemed a little afraid of him. He smiled at her trying to put her at ease.
"At first it was expected," he began. "My father was a doctor and my mother was his nurse. Then I felt like it was my way of helping people in need. I had a charmed childhood and I wanted to help others that were not so lucky."
"That is very admirable, Dr. Davidson." I noticed you did a stint with Doctors without borders several years back."
"Yes," he went on telling her about his background. She seemed almost desperate for every little detail. I did a year between my internship and going into a speciality."
"Why did you chose pediatrics?"
"I had a childhood friend that was diagnosed with diabetes when we were in Kindergarten together. I was always very invested in him taking care of himself. I helped him keep in control and I wanted to help other children that had other chronic illnesses."
"What kind of practice did your father and mother run?" Monica asked with avid interest.
"He was a OB/GYN. Him and my mother volunteered at a hospital in New York City when I was born They also ran a private practice."
Monica quickly looked through his paperwork for his date of birth and she looked at him with even more alarm than earlier. If that was possible.
Then she asked him "Do you know why your parents moved from New York City to Kansas?"
Aaron got the sense this about more than the job interview now but decided to answer her questions. This was the strangest job interview he had ever had.
"They had just adopted me from one of their patients that decided she couldn't take care of me. They had wanted a child for years but were unable to have one of their own. They wanted to raise me away from the city."
"Moving halfway around the country to do that seems extreme." Monica found herself saying. "Seems New York has plenty of country towns away from the city. Did you ever look for your birth mother? Sorry for getting too personal." she said apologetically. If this was for real this man's life was about to be turned upside down.
"I always knew I was adopted so when I asked about finding my birth mother they said they would look into finding her. I was curious and wanted to know because of genetics. They told me they couldn't find her because she gave the hospital an alias." He didn't understand why he felt comfortable telling her about his past. He noticed she didn't seem to be on edge anymore.
She was just staring at him now in awe it seemed. But that didn't seem right to him. He didn't know this woman and she certainly didn't know him.
All the sudden she looked down at her phone. "Excuse me while I take this call." She went out her office door and leaned back on it. She didn't know how she was suppose to feel about what she might have just discovered. She looked down at her phone and read the text from Anna, "On the surface he looks legit but I want to keep looking to be safe."
Monica quickly sent a message to Brad, "Finish what you are working on and get ready to come to my office when I call you. Get a DNA testing kit ready."
When Monica went back into her office and looked into Aaron's eyes again something told her this was not about the Cassadines but something much simpler.
"I'm sorry for my weird behavior but I am afraid it might get even weirder before this situation is figured out." she looked at him sympathetically. "Dear, I think I know who your biological parents were."
"Were?" he questioned with shock.
"Without going into the details right now, if I am correct your birth mother died when you were a baby and your father died of a heart attack ten years ago."Monica told him hesitantly.
"How do you know that?" He asked her. He didn't know if he wanted to believe her or not. He had went his whole life without knowing and all the sudden he wasn't sure he wanted to know anymore. All the sudden he felt like his life was never going to be the same.
Instead of answering him she walked around her desk and opened a bottom drawer and pulled out a picture frame and handed it to him. The man in the photo looked like him but he knew it couldn't be him because of the woman and baby that were also in the photo.
"This is my son who I adopted after his biological mother died. This is a photo of him with his wife and son. This was five years ago. If I am correct your biological father was my husband."
The first thing Aaron could focus on was that it looked like he had a twin brother. "How soon can we do a DNA test to be sure?" Aaron looked at her with a million other questions going through his mind. He just didn't know where to start. He just kept looking at the photo in shock.
"I was hoping you were going to ask." She looked at him uneasily. "I know Jason will insist on it along with other family and friends. You will find we are a cynical bunch unfortunately. The text I got earlier was from a WSB agent that lives here and I hired her to check to make sure you were who you said you were. Once you hear all of our horror stories that have happened over the last 50 years you will understand better"
Aaron vaguely heard her on the phone discussing getting DNA test ordered while he just stared at the photo. He heard her ask about determining paternity of a child if the possible fathers were twins. He didn't understand the need for such a test but was too overwhelmed by everything he was learning to question her about it. He possibly had a twin brother. He was having problems wrapping his mind around it.
"Can you tell me what he is like?" he questioned when he heard her put the phone down.
"He has led a complicated life." She said. She really didn't know how to explain. "He had planned on becoming a doctor as well until he was in an accident with his brother A.J. He was your brother as well."
"Was?" Aaron questioned.
Monica was relieved when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
Brad came in the room ready to take the DNA sample. Brad just looked at Aaron curiously. He wanted to argue with Dr. Quartermaine about what she was asking him to do. Legally he needed Jason and Sam's permission to do these tests but he liked his job and the chief of staff was Jason's mother. This also concerned is own family since Sam was his sister-in-law.
Brad turned to Monica to ask her if she was sure but she interrupted him before he could say anything "Please make this a priority and get it done as soon as possible."
"I will get right on it." he said as he went out the door. "The first test shouldn't take that long. The second test will take longer. I might have it done tomorrow."
Monica smiled at Aaron, "Now what to do with you until the results come in?"
He didn't know what to say to that. He was confused and didn't know how to feel about any of this situation.
There was a knock on the office door again and Monica jumped up quickly to see who was there. Monica left Aaron sitting still staring at the phone of Jason, Sam and Danny.
"I think we got lucky for the most part." Bobbie told Monica. "Carly is in Austrialia with Joss and Michael is on a business trip for ELQ. And as you know Elizabeth is in Ireland with Cam and Aiden to visit Lucky. I thought you might want to call Jason and Sam. I thought it might seem suspicious if I called them out of the blue asking them what their plans were for the day."
"You are probably correct." Monica agreed. "I will go see them as soon as I get Aaron settlied in his hotel room."