Author's Note: For the purposes of this story, the children of Carly and Alexis will not be SORASed as they were on the show; they will remain children. There's no particular reason for this other than I'm simply uninterested in writing them. Morgan, Josslyn, Kristina, and Molly might make appearances, but won't impact the plot.
Carly sat back in her chair and waited patiently as Jason absorbed and processed what she had just imparted. She knew many people considered Jason's brain damage to be intellectually impairing, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. His accident might have caused radical personality changes, but the intelligence that had belonged to Jason Quartermaine, that intelligence which had once zealously pursued medicine, now belonged to Jason Morgan.
Jason was very intelligent, but he was also rational, logical, and extremely focused. He might not have always understood the punch line of a joke or the more subtle cues of human behavior, but once given a task, Jason would complete it quickly, efficiently, and ruthlessly. That's what made him so skilled an enforcer. It's why Spinelli called him Stone Cold.
She had known Jason for almost twenty years, and where he was logical, she was intuitive. Thus she was able to read the play of emotions now shifting across his face. He was devastated by Robin's death, she realized. Her loss had resulted in an almost ruination of who he was as a person.
When Carly thought about it, what she had witnessed and had been told, it was Robin who had been his anchor after the accident.
Not Sonny. Not Lucky. Not herself. But Robin.
In Jason's singularly complex simplistic mind, Robin was the ideal of everything good and true. She had been the pinnacle of humanity in his eyes. Their relationship hadn't worked not because they hadn't desperately loved each other, but because Jason never believed himself good enough for her.
In some ways, that was true. Robin had been extremely moral and very self-righteous. She'd always had a clear sense of her own morality. For Robin, there had been Good and there had been Evil; there was black and there was white, and nothing and no one could make her see the shades of gray in which most other people resided.
Jason had done things, mostly to help Sonny and Carly, that Robin simply couldn't accept, and while she had a tentative relationship with Sonny due to Stone, she had never wanted Carly in her life.
Robin had been very compassionate and forgiving, but she had also been vindictive. Carly knew there was no way she could have had the fledgling friendship with Robin that she was beginning to enjoy with Elizabeth. Elizabeth was also moral, but she was more flexible. She wanted people to act humanely and with kindness. She expected perfection of no one but herself and, when she couldn't meet it, she punished herself more harshly than anyone else ever could.
In Carly's opinion, Elizabeth would do better to adopt some of Robin's more negative attributes, mainly the one which refused to allow anyone to walk all over her. Robin might have appeared a milquetoast, but the woman had had a backbone of steel. Highly intelligent and very shrewd, it had been all but impossible to pull the wool over Robin's eyes. If anyone ever managed to do so, it never lasted long. Once burned, Robin would cut you from her life like a balloon.
Her death would change Jason on a fundamental level. For so long, he had used Robin as his moral compass. Though his morality was obscenely flexible given his profession, there were lines even Jason would not cross. Those lines existed in part due to his own internal sense of right and wrong, but were mainly the legacy of Robin.
Carly also saw the tremendous guilt Jason was experiencing. She had debated telling him why Robin had run back into that laboratory, but in the end she knew she couldn't hide the fact Robin had done so to save his life. If she hadn't, he would've learned it from someone else, probably a spiteful Patrick, and then she would have been just one person lying to him. Jason was almost as intransigent as Robin when it came to lying.
She saw the anger in his eyes after she had told him - in explicit detail - that Sam had barred her from his room so that she couldn't tell him these things. She told him exactly what she had witnessed between Elizabeth and Sam before entering his room.
At that point, Carly underwent a heretofore unknown experience: a need to defend Elizabeth Webber. So she did just that.
She lambasted Jason for marrying Sam after everything that bitch had put Elizabeth through, particularly Jake's kidnapping and that appalling scene in the park. What had he been thinking by marrying her, she demanded. How could he put aside everything that woman had done to the mother of his child, she wanted to know. Did he really expect her to believe that he was truly in love with Sam McCall, because, sorry, Brain Damage Boy, no dice.
Jason stared at her in befuddlement. "When have you ever been on Elizabeth's side?"
"Since she became my best friend."
His bewildered stare intensified. "How long was I in that coma?"
This was the perfect segue to introduce the concept of Kurt Hummel. She watched something light his eyes. She wasn't sure what it was; perhaps hope, or longing, or a second chance. Whatever it was, Jason now understood that a part of Robin continued in her brother, a brother he very much wanted to meet.
Well, Carly wasn't that interested in sharing her new best friend, so she explained what she knew about Kurt and his life, including his education, occupation, and his friendship with Nikolas and Brenda. The idea behind this was to cause Jason to question Kurt's sanity. He had never cared that much for Nikolas, only putting up with him for the sake of his sister Emily. Brenda had always been a thorn in his side, placed there by Sonny, and while he would probably die to protect her, he wasn't that fond of her.
She also wondered what Jason thought of gay people, especially the fact that Robin's brother was gay. Jason wasn't a prejudiced person; he didn't even understand the concept. He had no hangups about race or gender or religion. He truly believed all people were equal and should be judged on their actions. That said, she didn't think he actually knew a gay person. He knew of her brother Lucas, but had never known him.
"Why would you ask me that, Carly?" he questioned. "It's none of my business who someone sleeps with."
She shook her head and sighed. Sexuality was simply too complex a notion for Jason to understand if he thought being gay was limited to sleeping with those of the same sex.
"Kurt's a doctor," Jason said. "He's Robin's brother and Anna's son. He's friends with you and Nikolas and Brenda. He has a lot of money. He went to some great schools. He's also gay. It's only one part of who he is. It doesn't define him. Why are you defining him by the fact that he likes guys?"
She cocked her head and stared.
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe Jason understood a lot more than that for which she gave him credit. Maybe he understood things better than she did.
Maybe being simple was better, and a lot easier, than so-called non-brain damaged people would ever know.
Holly collapsed on the lounge in Kurt's penthouse hotel room, waiting until the porters deposited her luggage and departed before delving into real conversation. As Kurt called down to Room Service and asked for a proper English tea, Holly looked at her surroundings and admired how well appointed the Metro Court was.
Kurt had initially offered to reserve the other penthouse suite in her name and pay for her stay, but she had balked at the gesture. She had money, enough to keep her comfortable for the foreseeable future, and she wasn't about to take advantage of him. She knew that he had more money than he could possibly spend in several lifetimes, but he would not be spending it on her. She also knew that money was one of the few things he felt he could provide after their years of friendship, never realizing how much she loved him, and that she did because of the person he was, not what was in his wallet.
They settled on her staying in the third bedroom of his suite. He wanted her close and she wasn't going to quibble about money. She'd stay in the room but pay for her own meals and other expenses. The fact that the second bedroom housed his wardrobe was of no surprise to her.
She loved Kurt beyond reason, considered him all but her own son, but he was one of the most frustrating people she had ever known. He was confident in all areas of his life except when it came to how people he loved could love him in return. She didn't understand that behavior and wondered what was responsible for it. From everything he had told her about his parents, he hadn't just been loved, but adored.
No, this upsetting peccadillo had sprung from something else. She didn't believe it was the rape, because Kurt had admitted he had trust and insecurity issues long before it occurred. She was of the opinion that his hometown in Ohio - more specifically, the way he had been almost universally shunned there - was behind this.
Names he had most likely forgotten he had ever mentioned flitted through her brain: Finn; Mercedes; Sam.
She didn't know these people, knew nothing of consequence about them, not even their last names, but she would've liked to have met them. If only for a few minutes.
She wondered when or if Kurt would ever confront her about the murder of Garrett Rothschild. If he did, she would be honest. Yes, she had killed his rapist. She didn't regret it, never would, and would do it again without question.
She smirked with cold satisfaction as she remember a blubbering Rothschild pleading for his pathetic life. Watching said life dim from his eyes had been a singular pleasure.
Once they were finally alone, Holly took the initiative.
"What is that you so desperately don't want to tell me?" she asked with a casual tone.
He hesitated before sitting down primly beside her. He gathered a breath and stared at the coffee table before them. "There is...information I have discovered since arriving in Port Charles that pertains to me personally."
She arched a brow. "Well, I assume that you've been reunited with Brenda and Nikolas, so it can't be that." She paused. "I'm sure your encounter with Helena was unsettling, but you know how to deal with her and are one of the few who is unafraid of her."
She grimaced. "I doubt it's about Paloma."
He grinned darkly and turned to face her. "It may please you to know that your sister is now enjoying Santana's hospitality."
Holly blinked. She had met Santana Lopez only a few times but found her to be a fearsome woman - and Holly Sutton was not one who scared easily. She knew that her sister had somehow offended Santana in a grievous manner, but she had never discovered said offense. Of course, neither had she probed too closely.
She shook her head. How Paloma had turned from being a heroic revolutionary to a grifting, manipulative bitch was beyond her, and, frankly, she didn't care to know the reasons.
She shrugged. "Paloma made her own bed."
Kurt nodded absently.
Holly cleared her throat. "Your diversionary tactics have been noted and disregarded. Please don't act as if I don't know you, Kurt. What is going on?"
"I'm glad you're here," he whispered, hands trembling as they reached out for her own. "I need you so badly right now, Holly."
"Sweetheart, tell me what's happened!" she pleaded.
He bit his lip and gave her the saddest smile she had ever seen. "I guess we're more family than we ever realized."
"What does that mean?"
"You told me that I was the son you never had."
She nodded, impatient for him to get to the point.
"And that Robin was the daughter you never had."
She nodded, this time more carefully. She had no idea what he was about to say, but she could sense its already tremendous impact. She held her breath.
"Robin was my sister, Holly."
Her eyes searched his for an indeterminable amount of time. He was serious. His words were not euphemistic. This was not information in his possession prior to arriving in Port Charles, else he would have told her.
Dear god.
Robin Scorpio, the girl she had helped raise, whom she had loved as though she had birthed her, had been the sister of the boy before her, her son in everything but name.
"Robert?" she whispered.
He closed his eyes and shook his head as his tears spilled over. "Anna."
A thousand ideas passed through her thoughts, but she could grasp none of them. This was...this was absolutely surreal. What were the odds that she would have been so close to Anna's children, regarding them as her own?
Kurt drew in a deep, shuddering breath and, with his eyes still closed, explained. "I went to the hospital with Carly so that she could speak with Elizabeth Webber and I could discuss my new position with Monica Quartermaine."
Holly waited for him to continue, saying nothing, just holding his hands. She knew Monica, of course, and while she had heard of Elizabeth Webber and Carly Corinthos, she had never met them. From what Robin had told her, Elizabeth had been one of her best friends while Carly was something akin to an archrival.
"I t-turned around and there she was," he gasped, eyes flying open as he pried his hands from hers. "My mother. My dead mother. She was standing right before me and looking at me as though she had no idea who I was."
He turned back toward her. "She didn't." He shook his head. "Not at first."
Holly knew better than to interrupt, but pieces were starting to fit together and she didn't care for the overall picture. She did not like Anna Devane. She had never liked Anna Devane. They would likely never be friends.
But...they loved the same people. Robin. Robert. Mac. Kurt.
The one good thing Holly could say about Anna with absolutely no qualms was that the woman was a damned good mother. She had loved Robin with her entire heart and soul. If she was truly Kurt's mother, there was no possible way Anna would have been separated from him by choice, let alone allow any child of hers to believe she was dead, not after seeing what that had done to Robin.
No. This reeked of Faison, which meant that bastard was still alive and still a threat.
That was something to be unpacked later, however. Right now, Kurt needed her.
After several cups of tea and long minutes of angry crying, Kurt leaned back against the sofa and sighed. He felt better, lighter, as he always did when he spoke with Holly, who always was able to put things in perspective for him.
"There are good things, too," he said. "Nikolas, Kate, and Brenda are here, and Carly...I've only ever experienced such an immediate connection once before, but this is nothing like it was with Mercedes. I trust Carly completely, and I know that sounds ridiculous, given how I trust almost no one."
He shifted and turned toward Holly. "But I do her. I trust her with my life, Holly." He shrugged. "I can't explain it."
"You don't have to," she replied. "I've had those connections before. My relationships with Robert and Luke are certainly not what they once were, but I know without a doubt that should I ever truly need the assistance of one or both, they would be at my side without question."
He nodded.
She hesitated and then decided to move in for the kill. "What do you know about Anna? I don't mean what other people have told you. I mean what have you discovered? I'm sure by now you've launched your own investigation."
He grinded his teeth but nodded. "Carly told me what she knew. Patrick tried, but I distracted him. Santana compiled a complete dossier for me which I've perused with great zeal."
"Those are just words," Holly said. "I know her, Kurt. I've known her for the majority of my life."
He nodded. "I know."
"Then do me the courtesy of listening to what I have to say. I'm sure you know that Anna and I are not friends. You can trust that I'll be honest in my assessment."
He nodded again, this time with more caution.
"Summarize what you know."
"Anna Devane is a former secret agent of the World Security Bureau who is now an independent contractor. She was partnered with Robert Scorpio, who she secretly married. She was presumed dead but later surfaced while you were married to Robert, bringing her daughter Robin with her, a child Robert never knew existed."
Holly nodded.
"Anna relocated to Port Charles, eventually becoming the chief of police after Robert's tenure. She and Robert were abducted by a man called Cesar Faison, who held them captive and brainwashed Anna. He rigged a boat explosion and Anna and Robert were presumed dead. Robin was raised by Robert's brother, Mac Scorpio, the current chief of police, and you.
"Anna was discovered alive in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, where she had been brought by her twin sister, Alexandra, a physician who later married Hungarian count Dimitri Marrick..."
Holly startled. This was the first she had ever heard about a twin sister. Good lord, how many of them were there?
"Robin went to Pine Valley and met with Anna, who was struggling with her memories, most of which had been erased by Faison's efforts and the explosion. Anna finally did remember her life with Robin and they renewed their relationship. Anna remained in Pine Valley for several years, eventually becoming their chief of police, and marrying Dr. David Hayward. They had a child, a daughter Leora, who died in infancy."
Holly's eyes became the size of saucers. Anna had lost another child?
"Anna divorced Hayward and left Pine Valley, becoming a freelance operative. She has often returned to Port Charles to visit with Robin. Those visits had become more frequent since Robin gave birth to Emma."
Emma. Robin had become a mother. Holly wanted nothing more at this point than to disappear into her bedroom and sob for a good number of hours, but she had to make her case now, while Kurt was still vulnerable and open to her words.
"Those are the highlights," she said. "Let me tell you the story."
The jetlag had finally caught up with Holly and, after several hours of conversation - well, Kurt had mostly just listened - she had retired to bed.
And he had listened.
He knew Holly had told him the truth as she believed it. He knew she was no great fan of Anna and had no need to whitewash their relationship. She had presented a fair and balanced picture of the woman she knew.
Kurt now truly believed that someone had taken his mother from him. That person would pay, and pay dearly, but he was not yet ready for his own reunion with Anna. He needed to process these feelings, these emotions that were surfacing which he had believed had been dealt with long ago.
He also wanted to talk to other people about Anna. The first on his list was Mac Scorpio, but that would keep until after Robin's funeral.
However, there was one other person he knew personally who could give him some insight into his mother, a person he hadn't even been aware knew Anna until he'd read Santana's dossier. He trusted her and, though she could be quite like Carly when it came to other women, he believed she would be honest with him once she heard his story.
He checked his watch. Knowing her, she'd still be at work.
He reached for his phone, dialed the number from memory, and waited for the call to go through.
"Good evening," he said. "Kurt Hummel for Erica Kane."
Despite her claims to the contrary, Holly wasn't sleepy.
Instead, she found herself lying in bed, wondering how Anna would react when she discovered who her son really was and why he was in Port Charles.
She had the sense that someone had directed Kurt here, wanted him here for some reason, and the only reason she could suss out was Anna.
Someone was after Anna and was using Kurt to get to her.
Faison? Possibly, though other enemies couldn't be discounted.
It could have been one of Anna's former colleagues, perhaps someone in the WSB. Someone who knew that Kurt, in addition to being a forensic pathologist, was also a GNET agent.
She didn't know what Kurt's assignment in Port Charles was and she would never ask, but she suspected he was here to assassinate someone.
