We're getting closer to the truth...does anyone have a guess? Hint, go back to their early years...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Qs but enjoying the hell out of them right now.


December 10

3:30 am

Alan was sitting in the den in his chair, enjoying the solitude with the fire as the only light in the room. He was staring at the fire with as he remembered the events of only hours before.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Skye's funeral was held in St. Augustine's Cathedral with all of Alan's children attending. The rest of the Quartermaine family, including Ned, Dillon, and Brooke, came to give Alan support. Lee and Gail gave Alan hugs of comfort before sitting down. Friends of the family, including Robert, Anna, and Sean also attended.

Bobbie took Monica aside with the news that her and Noah's wedding was going to be moved back to December 22. Monica protested, but Bobbie remained firm. The Quartermaines lost a loved one, and Bobbie wanted no one else but Monica standing beside her when she married Dr. Noah Drake.

Adam Chandler, along with his wife Krystal, and his children Hayley, JR, and Colby, came from Pine Valley, Pennsylvania to mourn Skye and to check out the family that she had adopted as her own.

Jax attended with Michael, leaving Carly at home. She wanted to attend as Michael's mother, but Jax forced her to stay home, feeling that her presence would upset the Quartermaines. Ned gave his best friend his appreciation when they were alone.

Edward sat next to Tracy, who sat with Luke on her left and Alan on her right. In a rare moment of unselfishness, she put her hand on Alan's shoulder in a show of support. He looked to his sister and gave a silent thank you.

Monica held Alan's hand to show comfort to the man she loved. She knew he was holding it together in public, but in private he was hurting. Alan would only show his pain to her and that was fine with her.

Emily and Nikolas sat on the other side of Monica. His cold had finally run its course. He was trying to be strong for Emily, who felt enormous guilt over the fact that if it wasn't for Skye, SHE would have been the one driving the SUV and would be dead right now.

AJ was flanked by Nikolas and Keesha. Over the last few days, he was flooded with fear about being a good guardian to Lila Rae. Keesha's encouragement helped him realize that he could be a good role model to Skye's daughter. Today, he wanted to keep his emotions in check as the woman he grew to love as his sister was memorialized by friends and family. He was still tormented by the fact that if it wasn't for Skye driving, his other sister would be the one laying in the casket on the altar.

Rae sat next to Keesha, but felt like an outsider. She sneaked wistful glances at Alan, who barely noticed her presence. Her heart also ached for the way things ended with Alan and Skye after the revelation that he was not her biological father. She had little contact with both of them after Tracy and her daughter forced her to tell the truth. When she saw Monica take Alan's hand, her heart broke as her resentment over the fact that she could not sit next to Alan as Skye's mother rose within.

Alan sat, listening to people talk as he held his granddaughter, who remained quiet. Lila looked around the cathedral confused at what was going on, thankfully unaware she was attending her own mother's funeral.

AJ and Emily, along with Jax and Luke, gave moving eulogies honoring Skye. After everyone spoke, Brooklyn stood up and walked to the podium. Accompanied by Ned on the piano, she sang 'So Are You to Me' by Eastmountainsouth.

After the service and reception at the Quartermaine mansion, Adam Chandler demanded Lila so he could take her back to Pine Valley with his family. He decreed that Skye's daughter belonged with him. Shortly after that, he and Alan came to blows in the living room until AJ, Jason, and Nikolas broke up the conflict. Alan received a black eye while Adam got a black eye in return, along with a broken nose and split lip.

When confronted with the fact that AJ was now Lila's legal guardian, Adam promised to fight for custody. AJ came back with the fact that he did not have contact with Skye in the last few years and only wanted her daughter to try to hang on to Skye's memory and to assuage his conscience. Alexis noted to Adam all the reasons he would surely lose a custody battle, namely his history with Skye and his other children, and the fact that Skye had legal documents dictating that AJ was to care for her daughter in the event of her death and/or incapacitation. Shortly after that discussion, Adam was personally escorted out the door by Big Alice and returned to Pine Valley with his family later that evening defeated.

After the Chandlers left, AJ took Lila over to Monica's penthouse, where Keesha and Regan were staying while she was waiting for her insurance check for her house to arrive. Tracy left with Luke to spend time with Lucky, Elizabeth, and the kids, and Edward went to the office. Alan and Monica went up to their bedroom, where he finally broke down in his wife's arms, the events of the day wearing his emotions bare. Monica offered the comfort of her arms and she and Alan made love.

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

Monica came into the den and saw Alan, deep in thought. She walked over to him as he stared into the fire. He didn't notice her presence right away, so she gently caressed his hair. "Darling, are you all right?"

Alan came back to the present and saw his wife's concern. He took her in his arms and pulled her onto his lap so her head rested on his shoulder as each stared into the fire.

Both stared for several minutes before Monica decided to break the silence. "Penny for your thoughts, my love."

"I have been sitting here, thinking about today and the last couple of weeks." Alan said

"I had a feeling that was what was going through your mind." Monica replied knowingly

Alan smiled for a moment. "You know me too well, Darling" He hesitated for a moment, but knew he needed to voice his thoughts to the one he trusted the most. He needed to know if he was crazy.

"Monica, these past couple of weeks have been a nightmare. Sam being hospitalized for exposure to anthrax, AJ almost being killed in a gas explosion, and now Skye, killed in a car bomb planted in Emily's SUV. If it wasn't for Skye driving, Emily and our unborn grandchildren would have been killed."

Monica heaved a sigh of relief, grateful that she wasn't the only one pondering these things. "When I noticed you were gone, I laid in our bed, thinking about the same things"

"Darling, I don't want to scare you, but I'm realizing something"

Monica had tears in her eyes, but knew where her husband's thoughts were going and voiced them out loud. "Someone is after our family. But why? Who could be so angry with the family as to systematically try to kill us?"

"Not the entire family, Monica. Us...our children" Monica turned to him in shock as Alan continued. "Ned and Dillon have not been harmed in any way. Brook Lynn…they're all fine. However, our children have encountered harm in some way recently"

Realization came over Monica. "The anthrax. If Sam had opened her mail, she would have infected Jason and the baby later on…."

"AJ was almost killed in the middle of the night from a gas explosion. If it wasn't for Regan waking him up, both would have died, never knowing the danger to escape…" Alan said

Monica continued the thought. "I took Skye to the hospital for her mammogram, and I was called away for an emergency, so Emily offered to take her home. Em would have drove, but she forgot her vitamins, and Skye, noticing she was tired, offered to pick her up at the entrance and drive back to the mansion."

Alan and Monica looked at each other and both got the same thought. Both got out of the chair and raced to the phone. Alan reached it first and dialed a number. After several rings, the phone was answered with profane verbiage.

"Sean, it's Alan. I'm sorry to wake you up, but we need to talk."


6:00 am

Alan and Monica were having coffee as both were scheduled to work early at the hospital. Monica turned to her husband. "Alan, before your father walks in, how do you want to do this?"

Alan set his coffee cup down. "Well, Sean, Robert, and Anna are going to talk to Mac and then use their resources to investigate. Tonight after work, we'll go through the mainframe of the GH patient files and see if we can come up with any names."

"Sounds good. I'm just glad Sean didn't hang up on us when we called him in the middle of the night."

Alan hugged his wife. "Me, too, but he understood after we told him of our suspicions."


Someone was sitting at their table, writing a note. A few minutes later, they walked to the cupboard under the sink, pulled an object out and placed it on the table. The person took a small knife, cut a hole into the object, placed a small wooden stick into it and was gingerly placed into a box. The note is attached through the stick. When the project was completed, the person got up, grabbed the box and headed out the door. The time to deliver it was now. Tonight was the moment of truth.


4:30 pm

A drained Monica entered her office, collapsed in her office chair, and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she looked at her desk and noticed her mail. After leafing through her stuff, she noticed the package on her desk. In her exhaustion, she didn't completely examine the box.

"It must be that new pacemaker prototype I was expecting." Monica said to herself as she began to open the box.

Outside her office, Alan is turning the corner towards Monica's office when he heard "AAAAHHHHHHHHH"' coming from her office. He raced to her office and ran in. When he opened the door, he saw Monica frozen in her chair hugging herself, shaking like a leaf. Alan saw a box lying on the desk as he went to his wife.

"Darling?" Alan asked scared. Monica was silent, but continued to shake. "Monica, what's the matter?"

Monica started to cry and could barely speak above a whisper. "The box"

Alan looked inside and jumped back in revulsion and shock. "Dear God"

Inside the box was a dead rat with a miniature stake through where its heart would be. Inside was a note that stated:

BUTCHER!

Alan turned back to his wife, took her in his arms, and moved both of them to sit on the floor behind her desk. After a few minutes, Monica calmed down. "Darling, are you going to be all right?" Alan asked concerned

Monica wiped her tears away. "Yes, Alan, now that's you're here. I think more than ever that you're right. Someone is trying to hurt our family, to get to us…..no, to me."

Alan began to protest, but Monica silenced him with her finger on his lips. "The package I just received proves it. It has to be one of my former patients. They removed the heart of a dead rat and sent it to me. We have to find this madman, Alan! Before he hurt another one of our kids."

Alan got a stunned look on his face, which Monica caught. "Why are you staring at me?" she questioned.

Alan smiled a small smile. "I'm just amazed"

"At what?"

"Until now, you never considered Skye 'our kid'". She was always 'my kid'"

Monica looked down for a second, then forgetting her terror as she took Alan's hand.

"I admit, Skye and I had our issues, justifiably so, you have to admit. But after Lorenzo tried to kill her and Lila Rae, I saw her vulnerability. She was reaching out. We even had a nice talk the day she…died. I think I was robbed of the chance to get to know her. I won't make that same mistake with Lila Rae. I don't think whoever is behind all of this is going to stop until harm comes to our children…..or you, my love." Monica said as she caressed Alan's cheek.

"Monica, I'm not going to leave you again -"

"Alan Quartermaine, patience was never your strong suit, but have some while I finish my thoughts, okay?" Monica said scolding him.

"Sorry, my darling."

"That's quite all right. Where was I? Oh yes. No one is going to harm my loved ones without a fight from me. Someone is after our family. After receiving that package, there's no doubt in my mind that it was a former patient of mine. So, Dr. Quartermaine, I think we need to do some investigating."

Alan smiled. "Quite right, Dr. Quartermaine. I'm going to grab the laptop from my office. Then we are going to use the power of our titles as Chief of Staff and Chief of Cardiology to access the GH mainframe from the comforts of our home. By the grace of God, no one is supposed to be home until late tonight."

Monica smiled back. "Brilliant idea, Dr. Quartermaine."

Alan waited while Monica collected her stuff and both walked out of her office and headed out.