Using the 20 Master plots for writers and the Weekly challenge words over on SFF, I'll be writing 20 short fics for General Hospital. Some couples will be canon, while others are some that I've created. There will be OC characters as well. Some of the shorts will probably be worked into full length stories in the future.
Number 4: Siorruidh featuring JaSam is already posted here under the title of Alternate Realities: A JaSam collective
Number15: Blood Bonds is posted on my board Tell Me A Story (TMAS) and won't be posted here due to site guidelines. The Link to TMAS is in my profile if you're interested.
Number 14: Love You In Me featuring JaSam will also be posted only on TMAS due to content. It will be up soon.
Hope you like.
Summary: 20 nonrelated AU/AR shorts involving the characters of GH.
Plot and Week #17: Discovery tears, deserve, fate
Couple: Logan Hayes & Regina Thompson
Rated: R (language)
Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them.
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All This Woman Needs
To know you're there for me, unconditionally, is all this woman needs. - Rissi Palmer
Winter swept into Port Charles early this year with all the vengence of a woman scorned and carrying a sharp pair of scissors aimed for the more delicate area of a man's anatomy. Temperatures stayed frozen several degrees below zero, with the wind chill factor cold enough to freeze the tears the harsh torents whipped from a travelers eyes almost before the wetness could slip down. The weather forcast snow tonight to join the harsh temperatures and the foot of the stuff already blanketing everything as far as the eye could see.
"Looks like a damned blizzard to me," Logan Hayes muttered as he watched the near white out from the kitchen window. As he dropped the curtain, he was already taking mental calculations of things to check before heading up for the night.
Decembers at the little Inn situatated several miles out of the city was rather lonely, most people choosing to visit family and friends rather than sneaking off for a small vacation. He didn't mind. It wasn't like he enjoyed visitors anyway. That was his sister Serena's department. Most of his time was spent making sure Baldwin Corners ran smoothly and none of the guests had reason to nag at him.
After five years he figured he had it down to a science.
When he first arrived in Port Charles, he had been trouble waiting to happen. Dishonorable discharge from the service, getting mixed up with the criminal elements of the city and worst of all butting heads with the father who had abandoned him and his mother before he was born. He wasn't proud of the things he'd done, or the people he hurt during that time and it had taken almost getting killed before he finally hit rock bottom and decided to change.
He might be a stubborn bastard but a bullet in the chest was more than enough of a wake-up call.
Trapped on his back in a hospital bed with no visitors gave him plenty of time to think and re-evaluate his life. Then a miracle walked in. His little sister. He had been more than prepared to turn her and her little olive branch of acceptance away in anger. This was the child that Scott Baldwin wanted and loved. The result of his great love with Dominique Devearaux and friendship with Lucy Coe. The miracle child. He was just the mistake best forgotten.
Even as he took in the tawny hair clustered in short curls around a heart shaped face and warm hazel blue eyes with sweeping lashes that were an exact copy of his, he was ready to push her away. He hadn't counted on her being just as ornery. That, she told him with a Baldwin smirk mirroring his own, was a family trait.
Serena didn't try to worm her way into his life. No, instead she bull dozed any walls he tried to build to resist her. She dragged him kicking and screaming into the Baldwin fold, giving him a family in the process. The afternoon at his Grandparents house for Sunday dinner when he finally realized what she had accomplished, he could only glare at his father as the idiot chuckled at his discomfiture. It seemed Serena Baldwin had the entire family wrapped around her fingers.
Opening the Inn was his Grandparents idea, when they realized how much he was floundering. Serena was already taking business classes in college and looking for something to do with her inheritance. While he was struggling to find some kind of employment that would overlook his sketchy arrest record and marred miliatry background. His family had stood firmly in his corner as he walked shakily out on a limb on a prayer and the sweat of his brow.
Baldwin Corners might not be five star luxury like the Metro Court Hotel owned by the Jacks but it just fine for those middle class and blue collar families he could identify with who were looking for a nice getaway for a special anniversary or a family vacation.
Baldwin Corners had prospered and he was grateful.
Logan heard the scrambling footsteps long before they reached the kitchen and was still surprised by the small ache in his chest the sound inspired. Hands slapped on the swinging door, revealing first the puppy rescued from the humane society, a mixed breed with a auburn coat, floppy ears and large paws that promised he would be huge. Then the four year old who looked so much like he did at that age. A long narrow face with curious Baldwin eyes, and a smiling mouth. Tall for his age and whip cord sharp.
Along with the tug to his heart was the residual anger of how Kyder's mother had shown up at the Inn early one morning with his six month old son and shoved the baby into his arms claiming that it was his turn.
His turn at what? Until he had opened the door, Logan hadn't known the infant existed. He barely recalled the bleach blonde from a blur of alcohol affected memories. Angie, she reminded him angrily. From Jake's. And he remembered the night he went on a binge after breaking up with Lulu Spencer. With a wince, the mental image of himself crawling out of the bed with a world class hangover from next to a woman who probably had looked enough like Lulu while under the influence.
Angie didn't have time to be tied down with a baby that she neither wanted nor asked for. So it was his turn. She had dropped the dirty diaper bag onto the floor that carried everything the baby owned and walked away.
Logan still had moments of pure rage at how carelessly she had tossed their son aside and how throughly she had severed ties with him. Even going so far as to leave town to avoid resposiblity. For hours he could only stare at the sleeping infant in shock, wondering if this was perhaps how his mother felt when he was born. Stunned at the magnitude of the duty he faced. Ashamed that he had almost neglected the child he played a part in creating.
Helpless.
Terrified.
He hadn't even known his son's name. It wasn't the first time, but he was definitely grateful that fate had brought Serena Baldwin to his hospital room that afternoon because the first phone call he made was to the family he hadn't realized he loved so much.
Gail taught him how to change a diaper. Taught him patience. Serena reminded to play with his son and Scott? Well, Scott showed him all the things not to do.
Weeks passed as he cared for the boy, shuffling work at the Inn and late nights with a screaming baby. Until one beautiful spring morning as he stood in front of his bedroom window giving his son a bottle and watching the garden his Grandmother had helped plant into front of the Inn begin to bloom. Until he looked down at Kyder Baldwin Hayes' face and realized how desperately in love with his son he was.
"Daddy!" Out of breath and vibrating with excitement, Logan swept him up onto his hip with an ease that came from years of practice, all the while ignoring his partner in crime nipping at his heels.
"Kyder," he admonished with the lift of a brow, "What did I tell you about running inside?"
The childish face cleared briefly in consideration, then as if realizing he would probably be punished for breaking this number one rule his father always reminded him about, Kyder lay his head on his shoulder giving a wide sheepish grin. "Not to do it?"
"So would you like to tell me why you're running then?"
"Um, 'cause it's portant?"
"Important?" He corrected mildly, "And what's so important that you're running in the Inn?"
"The car that slid into Granma Gail's fence."
XXooXX
Regina Thompson was a woman on a mission.
All of her friends, had they seen that look of determination, would have predicted disaster would soon follow. She would have snarled angrily at them all. This time would be different, she swore silently to herself. The impulse to bury herself away so that she could plot the next course of her life couldn't possibly be a mistake, no matter how many times Nadine and Layla told her differently.
It was going to be an adventure, she told herself doggedly.
Sure, going through her meager savings she had worked hard as a nurse at GH to accumulate might be a bad idea. If things started looking too bad, she could cut a few corners. It wasn't like she hadn't done so before. She could turn off unnecessary lights while at home. Besides after working her shift, it wasn't like she wanted to do more than shower and fall asleep anyway. The thermostat could be turned down to sixty five instead of the usual seventy two degrees. She would simply wear a sweater when she managed to make it home from the hospital.
There were all kinds of ways she could replace the two thousand dollars she removed from her savings account. Even if she had to eat toast for breakfast, skip lunch and have soup for dinner. It was winter. Campbell's Chicken Noodle would hit the spot.
Besides, she needed this break. Her nerves were frayed, she was exhausted making stupid mistakes and being reprimanded one more time by Epiphany would go on her record. The last thing she needed was the Chief of Staff coming down on her again. Layla had mentioned Baldwin Corners as an inexpensive vacation spot where her former on again off again and finally finished again Patrick Drake had taken her during one of their brief on moments. Secluded, yet homey, it was a perfect place for peace and quiet.
Regina used her break to do a quick internet search, took one look at the scenic pictures on the site and made the decision to use her Chrismas time off instead of passing it on to one of the nurses with families.
Besides, even broke, her life couldn't get much worse.
The first sign of trouble appeared two weeks before when the plumming in the expensive brownstone where she lived went nuts. She didn't have water, couldn't flush the toilet and the landlord had shrugged all of it off, mumbling about septic problems.
Nadine, oh wonderful friend that she was, mentioned something about trouble traveling in threes. Regina waved her off, smirking about superstitions.
Seeing that the landlord was going to take his sweet time, she moved in, temporarily, with her boyfriend. Christopher had been a rare find. An EMT who worked just as many hours as she did and understood that her career came first. Chris was her first venture back into the world of relationships after the last one that had ended rather disasterously. An unplanned pregnancy, a broken relationship with her Grandmother, the last of her family and an abortion that still could catch her heart was more than enough incentive to give men a wide berth.
After graduating the nursing program at GH and finally establishing herself as a efficient and trustworthy nurse, the nights alone eventually caught up to her. It was okay going out with girlfriends but even she liked the comfort of a strong pair of arms occasionally. Being alone was different than being lonely. After several more months of guilt and uncertainty, she finally took a leap of faith and ventured back out into the dating pool.
Chris was exactly what she thought she needed. Kind, generous and certainly attractive. If he didn't make her heart skip a beat or send butterflies fluttering in her belly, it meant she was thinking with a clear head and not jumping in blindly. He didn't push for sex that she wasn't ready for and soon six months passed and they were doing just fine. He was very understanding about her landlord difficulties. "Don't worry about it Gina," he told her, "It's no problem."
Of course she worried. The duplex ate up an entire paycheck in rent and she couldn't even live there! Unfortunately there wasn't much she could do, so taking Chris's advice was for the best, though Nadine's words of doom were secretly wrecking havoc with her subconscious.
Walking in on Christopher and his partner and best friend Eric in bed togther after working the nightshift in the ER for three days straight merely capped off a shitty week from hell. Being asked if she could move out now that he and Eric finally commited to their new relationship had actally been pretty funny.
And a Happy Holidays to you too. Bastard.
"An adventure," Regina glared at the fence and snow out the windshield. "I suppose this is Nadine's three. I'm going to kill her when I get back," she vowed.
The weather that morning was fine before she left for work. She didn't have a chance to listen to the forecast but despite the cold, the sunny skies had promised her drive out later in the evening should face no difficulties. It certainly seemed that way forty five minutes in.
By the time the snow had thickened so badly that she could barely see out of the window, and she turned off her IPod to listen to the radio, she was more than half way to the Inn. It would make more sense to continue forward than to turn around and try to head back to Port Charles.
Fifteen feet away from the entrance and Nadine's curse struck. Sending the thread bare tires on her Dodge Neon into a slide, controlled only with sheer will, into a large white fence. Heart slamming viciously against her chest, she pounded her fists against the steering wheel. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
The sob she hadn't known was locked in her throat broke free as her vision blurred with tears. "What did I do to deserve this?"
XXooXX
By the time Logan snatched on his coat and boots, sat Kyder down in the lobby area with his dog and a promise not to move a muscle, fear had inched down his spine. Serena was back in Port Charles with the rest of the family for the weekend and while the Inn had no reservations, the occasional drop in wasn't unheard of. Yet with this blizzard, a person would have to be desperate or insane to be out tonight.
If anyone was injured he would have to bundle them all up and ride for help in one of the snowmoblies. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
Snow slapped viciously at his face and wet his hair as he trugged through a snow drift. Lifting a hand to shield his eyes, he could make out someone bent over the steering wheel. "Oh, shit." By the time he hopped it to the car his heart was racing, hands shivering from the cold. "Hey, you okay in there?" His fist beat on the side window, getting no response. Wiping a hand across the glass, he could see whoever was inside was female. "Hey! Can you hear me? Are you okay in there?"
After a few more seconds, he watched a hand reach out, then the mechanical slide of the window lowering and the burst of warmth against his face was welcome. "Are you okay?"
What struck him first wasn't her looks. Not that she wasn't something, because man was she beautiful. Thick hair fell in disarray about a black lambskin coat, warm toffee tinted skin and a full mouth made to tempt a man. There was both delicacy and strength in her face, dark compelling eyes that betrayed everything. Her fear, the gleam of tears, and pain that was more than physical. Soul deep, his mother would have called it. And it called to him, reached inside to place he hadn't realized was there waiting and drew him in like a magnet.
"I'm fine." Her voice was husky with emotion, the tension around her hands gripping the steering wheel and knuckles betraying her words. His gaze carefully appraised her, making sure she wasn't injured and he wouldn't be needing medical assistance. "Look, I'm a nurse. I'm okay. My car just slid a bit that's all."
"Slid a bit into the fence," he shot back sarcastically.
"I'll pay for-"
"Don't worry about it," he interruped, feeling like an ass. She was probably scared to death and he was making bad jokes. "All that matters is that you're okay. In case you hadn't realized, it's a blizzard out. What possessed you to get on the road tonight?"
"Long story. Which I will happily tell you inside where it's warm and hopefully in front of warm fire and a cup of coffee," she sighed, finally releasing her hands only to drag them across her face to shove all that lush hair back away from her face. "This is Baldwin Corners right? Tell me I found the right place."
"This is Baldwin Corners, it seems luck was on your side tonight." Her mouth curved, revealing a cute set of dimples. She couldn't seem to help herself as it trembled into low throaty laughter.
"I guess that means Nadine's curse is broken."
"Curse?"
"About bad luck traveling in threes," she managed through her amusement.
"Well, my Mama said that good luck traveled in threes too."
She wiped a hand across her face, her smile filled with warmth, inclining her head in acknowledgement, "Well, I guess you're the beginning of my good luck."
Fin
