Brides Watch Over Thee
Chapter Ten
CFFC#10: A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
~ Benjamin Franklin
Robin Scorpio-Drake had a plan.
It was simple, really, and, when she was done, rather than the traditional two birds, four would be handled with the use of only one stone. The difficult part, though, was going to be getting all those birds to cooperate, especially since she didn't have any bread crumbs in her pockets to lead them with.
Damn wedding dresses.
They didn't have pockets, because, otherwise, she would have packed something to tempt her targets. Beer would have been a good place to start. Not only would it have eased some of the tension that would inevitably arise under the present situation, but it also could have been a bonding point. Three of the four marks drank it, and, the other, if plied with tequila first, would drink anything.
Another option would have been food. She knew that all of them, despite their worldly ways, had simple tastes. Steak and potatoes, tea and scones, hot chocolate and chocolate cake, pears. But she was fresh out of groceries, and, even if she knew how to cook, there wasn't time for such a thing.
The fact of the matter was that she had managed to delay Patrick for a couple hours, long enough to accomplish her mission, but not long enough to woo her little birdies into behaving. Instead, she would have to use sound reason and rely upon their better judgment to see the truth and validity of her argument. The only problem was that, as time ticked by, her plan had already hit a snag.
No one had shown up to the meeting place yet. While two of them were separately aware of what was about to go down in Penthouse II of Harbor View Towers, a third was completely oblivious on purpose, and the fourth, the actual resident of the apartment, was nowhere to be found in his own home. Spinelli had informed her that Jason had yet to arrive back from the wedding, only stopping long enough in the parking garage to exchange his SUV for his bike before taking off like only a man being chased by one too many demons could travel. That had been nearly 45 minutes ago, and Robin knew, because she knew Jason, that, if he didn't check his voicemail and listen to her desperate message, it could be morning or later, and she would be gone before he even thought of returning to town.
But she absolutely refused to let things fall apart now. After everything she had done, her four targets had already come so far, and she was determined to see her plot through to the very end. Yes, the desired results of all her hard work wouldn't be revealed to the rest of the world for months, perhaps even a year or more, but, for the people it would influence the most, the changes the plan would invoke would be almost instantaneously apparent, and, really, that was all that mattered.
She had already convinced both of her parents to help her on her little mission. For their own respective reasons, both her mother and her father were now invested in seeing Jason Morgan with the woman he loved and the children they both adored, and, if, in the process, they could all manage to bring a little peace and harmony to the lakeside hamlet of Port Charles, then so be it. Yes, there would be sacrifices made along the way, but, as a mother now herself, Robin knew it was time she saw the world as it truly was and accepted the fact that, sometimes, not everything turned out the way she wanted it to.
So far in life, she had been pretty lucky. While she had lost Stone, she had found love with him, a love that had been strong enough to sustain her until Jason entered her life. Her second relationship had taught her so many things. Unlike her first romance, loving Jason had shown her how one can love someone but not love everything about that person that made them who they are. Plus, by being with the then enforcer, she had learned how to take care of and love a child. Both Jason and Stone had led her to Patrick, and, likewise, Michael had led her to having Emma.
She was an HIV positive doctor married to the love of her life and mother to the most beautiful, intelligent, sweet little girl ever created out of her parents' genuine and heartfelt affection for one another. She had friends, a family, a career, and, now, with the assistance of others, she hoped to give those very same things to four people who meant so very much to her. And, while, yes, Sonny would always hold a special place in her heart, Robin wasn't completely unaware of the fact that he was, in his very core, a bad, selfish man, a sick man who because of or in spite of his mental illness had robbed so many of those around him of the very happiness he sought so selfishly.
Did it make her a hypocrite to be the one who decided he didn't deserve that joy and Jason did? Probably. But she was willing to pay that price, willing to step back and let the course of events she had put in motion occur around her, consequences be damned. It wasn't the first time she had acted so egoistically, so blindly towards others. As a woman, as a mother true onto herself, all she could do was what she believed to be right. She had done that when she told AJ that he and not Jason was Michael's biological father, she had done that when she had informed Nikolas of the very same thing concerning baby Spencer, and, now, she was about to do what she felt was necessary once more, this time reuniting a family not by outing a paternity but by ensuring the life of a father to his uninformed and innocent children.
That was if those involved ever actually arrived. Once again, she paced the length of the penthouse's living room. Back and forth, her movements were precise, studied, practically a measurement of time in and of themselves. And her dress swung with her, just like a pendulum ticking away the seconds until she altered fate or fate interrupted her alterations.
Yes, Robin Scorpio-Drake had a plan. She just hoped that those it entailed did not let her down by not showing up.
*~*
Robert Scorpio had a plan.
It was simple, really. Use one bad guy to take out all the rest and, then, come out of the entire mess smelling better than a rose. The tactic wasn't a new one. Hell, he himself had employed it at least a few times in the past. However, never before had it been used for such a grand, massive project, and, when everything was said and done, he was going to go down as one of the most ambitious, creative, damn-fine spies the WSB had ever employed.
Oh, yeah, and Morgan would get his happily-ever-after, too. Bully for him.
If the mob boss would have been a man half deserving of his family, he would have figured out a way to be with them himself, not relying upon others to solve his problems for him. But, obviously, he wasn't. In fact, if he would have been any kind of man at all, he wouldn't have gotten himself and the woman he loved and her kids, their kids, into such a whopping big mess in the first place. What kind of fool jumped feet first into Sonny Corinthos' pocket without looking at the quality of the fabric beforehand, he didn't know. Sure, the don's suits were expensive and luxurious, but they were just the fancy window dressings that disguised a ripe den of iniquity and crime underneath. Yes, the kid had just finished ramming his head into a tree, but, really, was that any excuse at all?
Taking the steps two at a time, Robert continued to climb his way high atop Harbor View Towers. The elevator wasn't broken, and he certainly didn't need the exercise for he was in tip-top shape as always, but he had decided to take the stairs instead of the lift simply to help him order and arrange his ideas. Nothing got the old mind ticking faster and better than a little physical exertion. That's why he and Anna had worked so well together back in the day… However, that was a topic for another climb, a much longer one, for, unbelievably, his marriage to the lovely Miss Devane was even more frustrating than his soon-to-be partnership with Jason Morgan.
… Not that the blonde knew what he was about to be involved in.
No, the agent figured it would be better to hit the mob boss out of the blue, to take him by surprise, and then to twist the family knife deep into his heart, black though it may be, in order to get him to cave to his ideas. It wouldn't be easy. Morgan was a stubborn son of a bitch, but so was he, and he had a few more years of experience under his belt available for use if necessary.
But Robert didn't think that his target would put up much of a fight. Despite himself, he had, in fact, witnessed with his own eyes, and he did have perfect vision, thank you very much, just how gone Jason was for the gorgeous Miss Webber, and, once he had purposely ignored all the lies the entire world had been force fed about the nurse's youngest child, he had clearly been able to see for himself that Jacob Martin's father could be no one but Port Charles' very own favorite antihero mobster. Not to mention the fact that Morgan clearly adored his girlfriend's oldest child, the precocious CAW, and it was beyond evident, to the respected spy, that, finally, there was something more important in Jason Morgan's life than his dated allegiance to a man unworthy of his loyalty and devotion.
Yes, the underworld's favorite couple, the much-storied dynamic duo of Corinthos and his lethal lackey, was about to fall, and, when it did, he, Robert Scorpio, WSB agent, father, and now grandfather as well, would be right there to take all the delicious credit.
That was, as long as he kept his favorite ex-wife's bloody hands off of his case, but he had a plan, and Anna, the mother of his child, his greatest love, the bane of his existence, wouldn't know what hit her when he revealed it.
~*~
Anna Devane, once Anna Scorpio, had a plan.
It was simple, really. She was going to use her enemies' weaknesses, their flaws, in order to bring them down, and the first person on her list was the ever over-confident, silky-smooth, misogynistic Sonny Corinthos.
In her mind, he was the key to bringing down the mob in Port Charles, and, with Jason Morgan's help, once the enemy kingpin was removed, the two of them would keep the streets and the waterways as clean of crime as possible. Though it would take some time and some very ingenious maneuvering on her part, she was more than up for the challenge. After all, this wasn't just a job for her this time; this was personal. This was for her daughter, her son-in-law, and, most importantly, her granddaughter, because Robin, Patrick, and Emma deserved to live in a town free of mob shootouts and explosive terrorist situations, and taking down Sonny Corinthos would make that possible.
The Russians would be easy enough. With their international connections, she wouldn't have to employ undercover tactics to bring them down. She'd simply infiltrate their business, dismantle it piece by piece, and then send them all packing in either a body bag or starchy prison blues. Afterwards, she'd move onto her real mark, playing Sonny Corinthos and his Achilles' heel for beautiful women until he practically handed her all the information she would need to take the entire Zacchara organization and everyone connected to it down on a silver platter.
Sure, things would be messy. After all, her own daughter had sentimental if not misplaced feelings for the Cuban, but Anna was convinced that when everything was said and done, Robin would see that her way was the best, and she wouldn't begrudge her mother of either her success or her methods of achieving it. Then there was also the fact that, despite all the missteps and misunderstandings between them, Jason Morgan still felt a connection to his former boss and partner. Luckily, though, it was beyond apparent that his own family was now more important to him than the former one he had sought so diligently to protect for his onetime employer, and that was all the motivation she needed in order to gain the Port Charles' mob boss as an ally.
Once the rival organizations were dismantled, with her help and the WSB's support, she would keep Morgan has the figurehead in charge of the power so many others had fought and died for in the upstate New York town. However, despite all appearances, he would be clean, legit, and a secret operative under her control, and, in return, she would keep his family safe and protected. While Jason would still be able to ride about town like the rogue sheriff he seemed to see himself as, an avenging angel on the wrong side of the law, he would now be doing so with the World Security Bureau's blessing.
Oh, yes. Anna Devane, formerly known as Anna Scorpio, most certainly had a plan, and it was a damn fine one if she did say so herself.
And as the elevator doors opened to the top floor of Harbor View Towers, she stepped out of the lift like an empress, absolutely sure and completely confident of both herself and the job that remained in front of her. Head held high, she turned to approach Morgan's door only to pause when she saw the door to the stairwell open instead, and the head that poked itself out first before the body followed was the very last face she wanted to see, a face that made all her wonderful, perfect, glory-inducing plans come crashing down around her.
At the very same time that she spoke, so did her ex-husband. "What the hell are you doing here," they asked each other, both obviously annoyed and put off by the other's unfortunate, untimely appearance.
As a third voice joined their conversation, both she and her counterpart turned to face the intruder. "Shouldn't that be my question," Jason Morgan wanted to know, jiggling his keys as he walked towards and then ended up leading them towards his front door.
However, before he could unlock it, the entrance swung open, revealing her daughter standing there in all her wedding finery. Hands cocked on her hips, mouth seemingly permanently positioned into a less than pleased expression, Robin chastised them all. "Well, finally. It's about damn time the three of you decided to show up. What took you all so long?"
But no one seemed inclined to answer her. Instead, as if they all three were a part of a bloody choir, the oddly assembled yet united group demanded of the brunette doctor, "what the hell are you doing here?"
Robin laughed at the question. Jason seemed to grimace. Really, was that the only thing the man was capable of, Anna silently asked herself, frowning in his ever-looming presence. She swallowed her displeasure, intent upon keeping her cool, and that horrible, wretched, no-good ex-husband of hers merely pushed his way into the mob boss' penthouse, heading immediately for the sidebar where the liquor was kept, the stupid lush.
Following him and realizing she needed a drink of her own, the super spy waited until the tumbler of scotch was in her hand before she lifted her glass and proposed a toast with the smirking Robert Scorpio standing beside her. "Oh, what tangled webs we weave," she started only to have him join in with her to finish the age old adage, "when first we practice to deceive."
"Sir Walter Scott," a fifth voice joined their group, smiling dopily as he bounded down the stairs. "Marmion," Spinelli finished, obviously quiet pleased with himself and his knowledge.
Gulping her entire finger of burning liquor, Anna winced before coughing out, "let the insanity begin."
At least, with the computer hacker always around, one of them – Jason - would be used to the madness.
Her plan was now null and void, Robert, the interfering louse was now involved, and she was going to kill her daughter. A very Merry Christmas it would be indeed.