Chapter 3: What a Tangled Web We Weave
Upstairs Sarah sprawled across her bed on the phone with Cooper. "They just frustrate me. I wonder if I can convince my dad to let me spend New Years Eve in Port Charles?"
"I thought you said Cristian and Antonio's club was having some big New Years thing," Cooper said.
"Yeah, well, Cris went to visit Evangeline and we're kind of taking a break so I don't think I'll be doing that. Hold on a minute, Coop, someone is eavesdropping outside the door," she said. She got up and opened the door to find the former Jared Banks, and the new Jared Buchanan, sneaking down the hallway. "Hey Jarhead!" she called. What her cousin Natalie saw in this guy she had no clue.
Jared turned around slowly. "Oh, hello, Sarah, Renee sent me up to tell you dessert is ready I wasn't sure which room was yours," he said.
"Right because walking in while I was getting dressed this morning didn't make any kind of an impression on you? I don't want dessert and if I find you sneaking around my room again you will be sorry."
"What are you going to do sic your boyfriend on me?"
"Maybe you don't want to find out," Sarah said before she stepped back into her room and slammed the door.
"Did he really come into your room?" Cooper asked.
"He said he was looking for Matthew's room and they were going to play video games."
"But isn't Matthew's room all the way at the other end of the house?"
"I didn't say he was a good liar."
Cooper laughed but Sarah heard him groan as well.
"Sorry, you're probably still sore right?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, a little, I'm sure it would be worse if Dr. Quartermaine hadn't been able to do it laparoscopically."
"I guess."
"I'm sorry things aren't going well, Sarah. It's probably hard for a lot of your cousins to be back in that house and Asa to not be there."
"Yeah, I guess this is your first Christmas without your mom."
"Yeah, and, honestly, I couldn't go back to London right now."
"Maybe that's why my dad came here. Although I guess Julia was with you and Brenda last Christmas right?"
"Yeah, she was, and maybe for the first time she admitted she missed your father."
"Timing just stinks sometimes," Sarah said.
"Yeah, it does. You're going to be ok though. You should come for New Years Eve. Your dad has some papers I need to sign for Acme just tell him you will bring them up."
"Good plan. In fact, I'm going to work on that now. I'll call you later," Sarah said.
XXXXXX
Sarah took a deep breath as she came down the stairs. She could hear Jessica talking to her Uncle Kevin's wife, Kelly. Kelly was another example of a woman who had married multiple Buchanan brothers. First, she was engaged to Drew but he died before they could actually marry. She did marry Joey, then Kevin, and then there was her affair with Duke, who was both the son of her husband, Kevin, and the father of her son, Zane. But Duke had died and she had stayed in her marriage to Kevin and they were raising Zane together. Sarah wondered if Kelly ever planned on explaining to him that his father was really his grandfather. She shook her head. Yeah, her family was twisted!
As the conversation floated up the stairs Sarah regretted that somehow in a huge house there was only one staircase so she would have to walk through the living room and their conversation to get anywhere. She had gone to a party at Kirk Quartermaine's parents' house and their house wasn't much bigger but they had four staircases. She smiled slightly, her great grandfather had probably planned it figuring he could better trap his children and grandchildren for inquisition that way.
"I can't believe she's doing this to Cristian," Jessica said.
"Jess, maybe this really isn't our issue. They are both consenting adults," Kelly said.
"Jared thinks it's a plot on her dad's part to take over Acme and then use that to overthrow BE," Natalie said.
"Well Cord certainly did seem happy about it. Of course, maybe that's just because Sarah certainly could pick 'em if you know what I mean," Kelly said.
Ok that was enough, Sarah decided.
"Well, at least I end one relationship before I start another one," Sarah said as she came the rest of the way downstairs into the conversation. "I mean, really, can any of the rest of you say that? Jess runs out of a custody hearing for Jamie to go have sex with Nash at a waterfall. Romantic or slutty you take your pick. At least Natalie thought Cristian was dead before she started hooking up with John and all the stuff with Paul Cramer well, I guess it's best if I just don't go there."
"So, you pick on me and Jess but leave out Kelly who cheated on her husband with his son," Natalie said.
"Give me time," Sarah said. "Or we could all just drop it."
"Sarah, we're just concerned. Long distance relationships are hard sure but you and Cristian could make this work if you wanted to. I left Antonio because I was in love with Nash and there was no other way. I think you're just choosing Cooper because it's easier with him," Jess said.
The ironic thing was that Jess actually had a point but not for the reasons she thought. She bit her lip a little wondering what she had been really doing with Cris. It was easy to say it was probably just a rebound relationship and she had totally needed to rebound after Hunter tried to kill her. She and Cris had kissed for the first time right before she left to go to college days after her great grandfather's funeral. It wasn't easier with Cooper because she could see him daily, anyway she had seen more of Cris than Cooper when she was sick, or at least after she had been transferred from PCGH to the hospital in Llanview. It was just that she and Cooper connected in ways she and Cris didn't. Maybe it was because they didn't have feelings for each other maybe that was why it was hard. Or maybe it was hard with Cristian because he still had feelings for Evangeline.
"Or maybe there are enough challenges in life already and you just need to be with the person who makes you happy," Sarah said. Jessica would take it as a statement in support of Cooper but it was more just her new philosophy in life. The reality was that she thought, or hoped, that if Cristian could let go of Evangeline, he could make her happy. She also realized that she couldn't, and certainly shouldn't try to, control Cristian's feelings.
"Just don't go rushing into something you might regret later," Kelly said.
"I'm not rushing into anything I'm just spending New Year's Eve with Cooper," Sarah said. She would probably actually be spending it with Cooper and his girlfriend, Jolene, and a handful of other people. She decided Jessica didn't really need that detail.
"I thought you were coming with us to Capricorn," Jess said.
"No, Cooper just invited me."
"Cooper invited you to do what?" her grandfather, Clint Buchanan, asked as he came into the room.
"He just invited me to spend New Year's Eve with him. It's not a big deal. We'll probably just go to the party at Club 101 which, for the record, is a lot cooler than Capricorn."
"I don't think that's a good idea," her grandpa said. "But we can talk about this more when I come back."
"Where are you going?" Jessica asked.
"I have a meeting in Port Charles tomorrow. I'll be flying out early in the morning," Clint said.
"Are you meeting with Edward Quartermaine?" Jared asked as soon as he entered the living room.
Sarah figured he must have been eavesdropping again.
"I don't really think that is any of your concern," Clint said.
"Well, actually, it's all of our concern since we're all part of the BE board," Jared said smugly.
"He does have a point, dad," Natalie said.
Sarah doubted that her grandpa was going to meet with Edward Quartermaine unless he needed a good cover story. She had a feeling he was going to see either Cooper or Brenda or both. "Well may I fly back with you? Since we ended up just taking one vehicle back again my car is still in Port Charles," she asked.
"Don't you want to stay and visit with your father?" her grandpa asked.
"Actually, my dad has to bring some papers to Cooper so he could come with us. He could do that while you met with Mr. Quartermaine," Sarah said.
"I don't think that is a good idea, Sarah. Anyway, I thought your father was going to overnight mail those papers to Cooper."
"Well, if I went back with you Cooper could help me study for my calculus final. I'm supposed to take it during the semester break but I missed the last like three weeks of class so I have no clue."
"I'm sure Joey or Kevin could help you with that," Clint said.
"Nope I already asked. Kevin was like integrals and derivatives are kind of a big deal but I don't really remember what they are. Joey was ummm religious studies major remember," Sarah said.
"Why are you taking Calculus anyway?" Jessica asked.
"Because my dad thought minoring in economics was a great plan and I need to have taken calculus as a prerequisite for some of the economics upper level courses. Cooper did international baccalaureate so he's basically brilliant," Sarah said.
"Right and that's why he's becoming a cop?" Natalie asked.
"I can't believe you can even think that after Uncle Bo and Drew and everything," Sarah said.
"Well you have to admit it isn't rocket science, Sarah," Jessica said.
"Good point," Natalie agreed.
"So, what? Unlike you, Cooper could actually make it through the police academy, not compromise crime scenes, and, well, actually do the right thing even if it didn't benefit him personally," Sarah said before she fled up the stairs in tears.
XXXXXX
Natalie Buchanan cringed at Sarah's departing words and the painful memories they brought back. She had lost a lot, her fiancé, her career, and a portion of her uncle's respect, when she tampered with evidence at a crime scene. In the moment it had seemed like the right thing, the only way to protect John. Of course, it hadn't been and, ironically, John hadn't even been Spencer Truman's killer.
"Ok who said what to her now?" her brother, Cord Roberts, asked as he came in from the kitchen just in time to catch his daughter sprinting back up the stairs.
Natalie looked down at the rug. Without lifting her eyes, she glanced to her right and noticed Jessica's eyes were also downturned.
"That wasn't a rhetorical question. Listen, I realize that we're only family when it's convenient, girls, but it's time you leave my kid out of this," Cord said.
"Cordero, they didn't mean anything," their father said.
"So then tell me what was said?" Cord said.
"Natalie just put down Cooper's career choice," Jessica said.
"Hey! You were the one who said it wasn't rocket science," Natalie protested.
"Well it isn't," Jessica said.
Cord just shook his head and started up the stairs.
"I'm sorry, daddy. I really didn't mean anything," Jessica said.
"I know you didn't honey. Sarah is just really sensitive, that isn't your fault."
Natalie was quite sure that their father didn't think anything could ever be Jessica's fault. Jessica was his perfect little princess.
"So, about this meeting?" Jared asked.
Natalie noted the way her father bristled at Jared's question. She understood that her father hadn't exactly approved of Jared when he was her boyfriend. He seemed to approve even less since he had learned he was his brother.
"What about it? I realize that you're new at this but we don't typically bring the whole family to negotiate new deals," Clint Buchanan said pointedly.
"But wouldn't whatever you are negotiating with ELQ require support of the board?" Jared asked.
"This is more of a fact-finding meeting," her father said. He walked over to the bar and refreshed his glass of scotch.
"Fact finding?" Kevin asked as he came into the room trailed by their other brother Joey.
"Well, as you know, we need to secure more drilling sites for BE. We really need to look back into the ELQ parcel in White Pine, Nevada. Your grandfather had a deal on the table at the time of his death."
"So, it's taken you four months to follow up on that? No wonder our stock is dropping," Jared said.
"There wasn't actually a deal on the table. It was pretty resoundingly turned down in July. Edward Quartermaine isn't going to sell us those oil rights because Celia feels that drilling there would be an environmental nightmare," Cord said as he came back down the stairs.
"Celia is just one person, and she's not the CEO!"
"Is Sarah alright?" Jessica asked.
"No, but right now all she wants to do is talk to Cooper so I'm giving her some space," Cord said.
"Maybe she's pregnant with his kid? That would explain the break up with Vega and the tantrums at the drop of a hat," Jared suggested.
"Listen, Jared, we may share some DNA. You may even opt to take the Buchanan name but if you ever say something like that about my daughter again you might want to watch your back," Cord said.
Jessica gasped. "You think she's pregnant? Oh, that would be bad! I wonder if Cristian knows, I mean it could be his I suppose."
"Uh, Jess, why don't we wait and see if she's actually pregnant before we get all excited," Joey said.
"Well Cristian kind of has a right to know. I mean what if it's his baby?" Jessica asked.
"Again, lets make sure there actually is a baby before we start dredging up some secret paternity scandal," Joey suggested as he started for the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Clint Buchanan asked.
"Oh, I figured maybe Sarah would talk to her favorite uncle," Joey suggested turning back and starting up the stairs.
"He's her favorite uncle?" Jared asked.
"Well it is certainly not you, Jared," Cord said.
