Spinelli followed Stone Cold into the coffee house, dreading the conversation he was about to have with Mr. Corinthos, Sir. He had traced the text message, but as the Jackal had predicted, it led back to someone who wouldn't possibly have any means or motive to hurt Mr. Corinthos, Sir, or anyone he cared about. The supposed sender, in fact, was someone he cared about; the number was traced back to his father. Spinelli knew the Godfather would be angry that the Jackal had not been able to find the real sender, but what could he do? He was a hacker, not a psychic.
"Spinelli found the number," Jason said as soon as Spinelli closed the door behind him.
"Great," Sonny said. "Whose is it?"
Spinelli licked his lips and stared at the floor, signaling to Sonny that he wouldn't like the answer. Sonny's blood pressure began to rise.
Spinelli explained the situation and Sonny, who had been stressing more and more over the situation with Zacchara, Trevor, Rick and Kate, exploded. He picked up his coffee cup and threw it at the wall.
"You're telling me my father is the one who sent me the text? What are yah gonna tell me next? Are you gonna say he killed Leticia?"
Spinelli backed away nervously, throwing a glance at Jason. Sonny fumed; the kid annoyed him. He had no idea why Jason trusted him, or was so protective of him.
"He told me this would probably be the case, Sonny," Jason said reasonably.
Jason's calm and reason made Sonny even angrier.
"I thought he was good at-"
"He is! He traced the number and found out who it belonged to; someone hacked into Mike's number and used it to send you that message."
"I am truly sorry, Sir, but there is no way to find out who piggy backed your father's number to send the message; the trace only finds the number, not the person. I mean, it found the person, but not the right one. I mean-"
"I know what you mean!" Sonny screamed.
"Sonny, this isn't his fault!" Jason said angrily. "He did what you asked him to do and he did it quick; you can't blame him if it's not the answer you wanted."
Sonny sighed. Jason was right, of course. The kid had done as asked, and he had been quick about it.
"Thank you, Spinelli; you did good," he said quietly. "Now I need to talk to Jason alone."
"Yes, Sir," Spinelli said eagerly, turning towards the door.
As he opened it, they heard Lulu yell from the coffee house proper.
"Let me go!"
Spinelli was closest, but as soon as Jason heard his next words, he knew what was happening.
"Unhand her, Simian One!"
Sonny sighed and he and Jason followed Spinelli out into the coffee house. Logan was holding Lulu by the arm and she was fighting to get free.
"She's gonna talk to me and you're gonna keep your mouth shut!" Logan snarled at Spinelli.
"Let her go, Logan," Jason said firmly.
Logan and Lulu looked over by the office door to see Sonny and Jason glaring in their direction. Logan hesitated.
"You heard him," Spinelli said.
Sonny thought back to the day Jason had told him about when Logan had beaten up Spinelli and forced a kiss on Lulu. Seeing them both together, Sonny felt guilty now. Logan was bigger and stronger and had military training. How did Sonny expect Spinelli to stand up to that without getting seriously hurt or worse?
"What are you gonna do about it?" Logan sneered at Spinelli. "Are you gonna take another pathetic shot at hitting me again?"
Lulu gave Spinelli a puzzled look. Apparently no one had told her about that. No one had told Sonny either and he looked at Jason with his eyebrows raised. Jason smirked.
"Go ahead, Big Man," Logan taunted. "Hit me. I won't try to stop you."
He released Lulu and she ran to Spinelli.
"Spinelli, no," she said firmly. "He's not worth it."
"But she is, isn't she?" Logan asked. "Why don't you save your Blonde One from the evil Unworthy One?"
"Spinelli, I am begging you as your friend not to do this," Lulu said urgently.
Spinelli kept his eyes on Logan. Sonny was suddenly very curious about what the kid would do.
Jason was worried that Spinelli would have to go to the hospital before this was over; he had to find a way to defuse this situation without humiliating the kid, but without spilling any of his or Logan's blood either. He didn't really care if Logan got hurt; it would do him good to be humiliated by someone like Spinelli, but Spinelli was already having enough doubts about himself thanks to Logan. He had been better since Lulu had seen Logan for what he was and had broken up with him, but Jason knew that Spinelli's inferiority complex wouldn't be resolved overnight.
"Spinelli, I want you to think about something before you do this."
Spinelli looked over at Stone Cold, immensely relieved that his mentor had some guidance and wisdom to offer in this situation. He wanted to hurt Logan for several reasons, but he didn't want to upset Lulu. Hurting Logan wouldn't be worth it if it hurt Lulu in the process.
"Sometimes part of being a man is knowing when not to fight."
Spinelli nodded thoughtfully, then stared at Logan, thinking hard, for several seconds. He was completely unaware of everyone else in the coffee house. Milo was guarding the office door. Coop had come in sometime after Logan had grabbed Lulu. Robin was at the counter and there were several other patrons at the tables. Everyone close enough to see was watching Spinelli, but he kept his eyes on Logan, barely blinking, barely breathing. He recognized the feeling he was having as the one he felt when he was in Cyberspace. It was the same feeling he had when he was finding information for Stone Cold or playing one of his video games.
But this was no video game; it was real life, and he was faced with the possibility of finally being able to pound his hated rival. He thought about the day he had punched Spinelli and forced Lulu to kiss him. He thought about Logan and Maxie setting Lulu up to be humiliated. He thought about all the times Logan had shown no respect for Spinelli, and the one time he had tried to fake being friendly with him to score points with Lulu.
Sonny and Jason watched intently, both sure, judging by Spinelli's obvious fury and the way his glare was intensifying as he looked at the bigger man, that someone was going to be carried out of here in an ambulance within the next few minutes. For the first time, Jason wondered if it might not be Logan instead of Spinelli. Sonny was beginning to wonder if he should have done something to stop this before it got this far.
They were all surprised when Spinelli approached Logan with his hands at his sides. When he was about five feet away, he stopped and stared intensely into Logan's eyes for a second before speaking. As Sonny listened, he noted in the back of his mind, with surprise, that he understood every word the kid said for the first time since they'd met.
"Logan, you are the only person in the world that I can honestly say I hate. You and Lulu and probably everyone else thinks it's because she chose you over me. Oddly, that has nothing to do with it; she was confused and you had her convinced that you were everything she wanted you to be. You probably also think it's because you humiliated me in front of her, but that's only a small part of it. The main reason before was the look on her face. Think back to the day you grabbed her hair and kissed her. Think about the look on her face. Every time I saw you with her, that's the look I couldn't get out of my head; that look of terror and anger is burned into my brain. Now I have even more reason to hate you; the situation Lulu found herself in the other day was entirely on you. Yes, Maxie was a part of it, but she couldn't have done it without your cooperation. You put her in a situation where she felt unloved and alone; the way you humiliated her was worse than anything you could ever do to me. For those three reasons, I should pound you into the ground. But there is one very important reason I should not hit you, and it's not even because Lulu asked me not to. It's because I want to hit you."
Everyone stared at him, confused. Logan looked about to say something sarcastic, which made Lulu want to hit him, but Spinelli spoke again before Logan could open his mouth.
"Ironic, isn't it? My desire to beat you up is the one reason I choose to reject your generous offer. It would serve no purpose at this point, except to give me a brief sense of pleasure and satisfaction. Although it would be a very intense pleasure and satisfaction, there would be nothing heroic or noble in it. I could rationalize and say it's for Lulu, but she already dealt with you when she refused to fall for your lies again and made you leave after you convinced her to talk to you."
He looked from Logan to Lulu, who was watching him more intently than she ever had before. He smiled at her, then looked back at Logan.
"And so, although I appreciate your offer, I choose to leave you alone. You're not worth my time any more than you're worth Lulu's."
He walked away from Logan, towards Lulu, and put his arm around her shoulders as he spoke, keeping his grip lose in case she wanted to pull away. She moved closer to him, smiling proudly. He tightened his grip a little.
"I am going to go up to the counter with my honor, dignity and self-respect intact and treat my friend to her beverage of choice."
He smiled back at her as they walked up to the counter, but looked around, startled, as he heard the watching crowd break into applause.
Lulu grinned at him and pointed to Sonny and Jason. He looked and saw that even they were clapping. He gave Stone Cold the thumbs up sign. This was one life lesson he'd apparently gotten right on the first try.
Sonny motioned for Logan to follow him and Jason into the office as Lulu and Spinelli received their drinks.
"I've known what you did to them for a while," Sonny said angrily. "I mean, I know you beat him up and forced a kiss on her. Jason told me, but I had my own problems at the time and thought it was just a playground fight between you and Spinelli."
"Well, it was," Logan said, glaring at Jason. "Spinelli lied to you like a little kid and you-"
Jason grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
"Did you punch Spinelli?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice.
"Yeah, but-"
"Did you grab Lulu and force a kiss on her?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then tell me, Logan. How did Spinelli lie? What part of that isn't true? You just said yes to both questions, so where's the lie? How did Spinelli act like a little kid?"
"He told you; it should have been between us!"
"I had to drag it out of him; he was venting to me and he said something he wanted to take back, but I wouldn't let him."
"Are you sure he wanted to take it back?" Logan asked in a challenging tone.
"You listen to me, you punk!"
Jason shoved him away and then held him at arm's length, forcing Logan to look at him.
"The Jackal is more of a man than you'll ever hope to be. He just proved that when he decided not to stoop to your level and hit you."
"Think about it, Logan," Sonny said, grinning now at the look of surprise and humiliation on Logan's face when Spinelli put his arm around Lulu and led her to the counter as she smiled at him and moved closer. "Wouldn't having Spinelli hit you be more humiliating than what he actually did? He acted like a gentleman, which is more than I can ever say for you."
Logan felt his face turn red with anger and embarrassment. There was nothing he could do to save face in this situation. Spinelli had bested him. He couldn't hurt him because Jason would kill him and Lulu would hate him even more than she did already. He knew his chances of getting Lulu to give him another chance were slim, but he still believed there was a way. But his hopes had been dimmed by her reaction to what Logan thought of as Spinelli's copout. Why had she reacted that way? The guy had refused to hit someone who had grabbed her; he had failed to take the opportunity to pay Logan back for beating him up in front of Lulu. On top of that, Sonny and Jason were praising Spinelli for walking away from a fight? Logan thought they had a very dim view of manhood if all it took for Spinelli to prove himself was to give some long speech about why he should and shouldn't hit someone and then walk away.
"I've been thinking about what you said that day, Jason," Sonny said suddenly. "You said Logan was a punk and you wanted him out of the organization. You didn't think he was reliable and you have great instincts. He not only grabbed an innocent girl in my coffee shop and tried to pick a fight with someone who was trying to defend the girl; I mean, that was bad enough." He paused and glared back at Logan. "But there's something I can't get out of my head anymore than Spinelli can get the look on Lulu's face out of his. You left my children unguarded. You've proven three times that you're not reliable; once to Jason, once to me and once to both of us."
Logan began to feel afraid for the first time.
"You have two choices," Sonny continued. "You can either be out of Port Charles by the end of the day, away from my organization, and back in "Texas so I can be sure you won't go to Zacchara, or you can be taken out and shot so I can make sure you don't go to Zacchara."
"There's another option," Jason said quietly.
"What's that?" Sonny asked, interested.
"We could tell the authorities where to pick him up so he can go back to the military, be court-martialed and then be sent to a military prison."
Sonny looked a question at him.
"I had Spinelli dig up some information on him after he left the kids unguarded. I told him not to tell anyone, especially Lulu. If the army finds Logan, he's in serious trouble."
"What's it gonna be, Logan? Exile, death or prison?"
"I'll be on the first plane to Texas."
"I have a better idea. Jason, I want you to go with him on the jet. I want you to make sure he goes where he says he's going?"
"Go pack, Logan. I expect to be in the air in two hours."
Logan glared at both of them before running out the door.
"I don't think Sonny and Jason are very happy with Logan," Lulu said happily as Spinelli drained his orange soda.
She had just seen him running out the coffee house door like his worst fear was chasing him.
Spinelli looked in that direction and grinned.
"If the look on Stone Cold's face when they brought him into the office is any indication, I'd be willing to bet my laptop that the Unworthy One is no longer part of the organization."
"You'd win that bet," Sonny said, coming up behind them.
He put his hand on Spinelli's shoulder.
"I owe you an apology."
"What for?" Spinelli asked, surprised.
"I think that situation could have turned out pretty bad if you hadn't had the sense to stand up to him without hitting him. I think I gave you the wrong impression when I told you to man up. Somehow you got it in your head that being a man meant being like Logan. I'm glad you came to your senses before you did something dangerous."
"I don't know that I wouldn't have hit him if Stone Cold hadn't said what he did about knowing when not to fight."
"The way you talked to Logan," Jason said, stepping up beside Sonny, "the way you talked to him and showed your confidence and managed to walk away without hurting him or getting hurt yourself, that's why you're the Jackal and not a grasshopper. You get what I mean?"
Spinelli nodded with a proud grin. Lulu and Sonny looked puzzled, but didn't ask. The important thing was that Spinelli understood.
"I gained a whole new respect for this kid today," Sonny told Jason and Lulu. "Any other guy would have been afraid Logan would sucker punch him or attack him from behind, but the Jackal here just puts his arm around his friend and walks up to the counter like nothing ever happened."
Spinelli's grin was somehow both proud and sheepish, Lulu thought. Jason smiled at Spinelli. The Jackal, for his part, decided not to tell them that he had been afraid of that, but had known that Stone Cold had his back.
"Your next orange soda's on me," Sonny said, taking his hand off Spinelli's shoulder and going to the counter. "What about you, Lulu? What are you drinking?"
Lulu and Spinelli looked at each other with surprised grins. Spinelli was surprised to realize that somehow what had happened today had made him feel more confident and more able to accept the fact that Lulu might never fall in love with him. He had told Stone Cold that he would always be Lulu's most loyal and trusted friend, and he had meant it. But now he found it didn't hurt as much to think she might never choose him as her boyfriend. He would be on cloud9 if she did, but if all he could ever be was her friend, that was good enough for him, and he would eventually find a girl who would love him as much as he loved her. As he thanked Mr. Corinthos, Sir for the orange soda, he smiled at all three of them. No matter what the future held, Spinelli was happy living in this moment.