A few days later, Jason told Spinelli he was going to see Elizabeth to discuss their future. Spinelli waited hopefully for him to come back and say he was finally going to take the chance and be happy with his true love. But when Jason got back, he told Spinelli that Lucky wanted to continue as Jake's father and that Elizabeth had accepted and Stone Cold had agreed.
Spinelli couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had never felt more frustrated in his life.
"You can't be serious! After all that, after the truth comes out like we hoped and we're back to this? That's ridiculous!"
"We've been over this a hundred times, Spinelli!" Jason said angrily.
"Of that I am well aware, but-"
He stopped and took a breath. Part of his frustration was due to the fact that he was about to become a single father. Stone Cold was separating himself from his child and the woman he loved. Spinelli didn't have a choice where the woman was concerned, but he couldn't imagine being separated willingly from his son or daughter. But he needed to discuss this calmly.
"I'm honored that you share your confidence with me, but please honor me by heeding my advice? You and Elizabeth are in love, right?"
"This is not about me; it's about Jake."
"I know you wanna keep him safe, but Mr. Corinthos, Sir, has kept his kids safe for-""
Don't even get into the whole 'Sonny keeping his kids safe' speech! Leticia was strangled. Those kids could be a target. We don't know that, and if Sonny could protect them, they could still end up damaged like Johnny Zacchara. Elizabeth doesn't want that for Jake and neither do I."
Spinelli said nothing. He wanted to come up with an argument supporting Jason and Elizabeth's union, but couldn't. In this business, there were just too many unknown factors. Spinelli wasn't worried about connecting his child to the business; he was only their tech support and had learned to be content with that. Stone cold and Mr. Corinthos , Sir, killed some of their enemies, which made targets of the people they loved.
"The work I do for Sonny is all I know," Stone Cold said quietly. "It's too late for me to get out of the organization, but I can choose not to inflicted on Jake."
"Then, Stone Cold's choice is sadly made," Spinelli said, resigned.
"You know what the problem is? I never thought about the future; I never thought about what I'd have to give up."
"I wish I could convince you to claim your son and build a future with Elizabeth, but I admit your reasoning does have a certain irrefutable logic."
"I chose this life. You don't' have to choose this life, Spinelli. Think about other options while you can because the longer you stay in, the harder it is to get out."
Spinelli understood his point, but his loyalty prevented him from thinking about leaving. He knew he and Stone Cold would not stop being friends if Spinelli decided to leave the organization, but Spinelli was accepted and valued here. Mr. Corinthos, Sir, didn't like him very much; that was true, but Stone Cold had never once judged him unfairly. Stone Cold never thought he was weird or crazy. Aside from limited experiences with guns, explosives and picking locks, Jason had taught him things that had helped him to grow as a person. If not for Stone Cold, for example, he might have gotten sick after mixing vodka with orange soda. He never could have found Lulu on his own after she had hitchhiked that night. Aside from his association with Stone Cold, Spinelli didn't consider himself a true part of the mob. His weapon of choice was his computer and his battleground was cyberspace.
"Stone Cold's friendship has been an honor and a privilege for the Jackal," he said after a few seconds. "You accept me as the unique individual that I am very much like Mr. Corinthos, Sir, trusts you and although my work is of a less physical nature, I think I've been of some use. Yes?"
"Absolutely, but you're a genius. You can work anywhere; you don't have to work here."
"But working for Stone Cold has been both rewarding and inspiring. Some of the things I've learned, I could never have had access to them elsewhere."
Before Jason could answer, someone knocked and Spinelli went to Kelly's, leaving Stone Cold to talk to Lucky.
Later, a conversation that had started out great with Lulu turned sour when she mentioned The Warped One, then when Logan showed up. Lulu had approached him with the subject of Johnny, but when Spinelli told her something she didn't want to hear, she invited Logan to join them, knowing that was the quickest way to get rid of Spinelli.
"Why don't you join us and tell us about your day?" Lulu asked Logan.
"I don't need to be here for this," Spinelli said, standing up and leaving.
He knew The Blonde One didn't mean to hurt him, but that didn't change the fact that she did. She would always apologize later, but there were times when Spinelli couldn't help wondering how many times this would happen. He didn't want to stop being her friend; he loved her. But there were times when he found himself wondering if she really wanted his friendship, or if she just wanted someone who would agree with whatever she said, even if he thought it could have an adverse affect on her. He couldn't be the kind of person who would pretend to be OK with something she was going to do that could cause her harm; if he could have been that person, he would never have knocked her out to keep her from going after Zacchara the night of the ball. If he had been that kind of person, Zacchara might have killed her and it would have been his fault.
He sat in the Coffee House for a while, continuing his research for Stone cold. A few minutes later, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Georgie standing there, looking concerned. He hadn't known it, but she had seen him at Kelly's with Lulu and wanted to try to make him feel better after Lulu had again, without a single thought to his feelings, treated him like a toy that she could take out and put away whenever she felt the need.
"What's wrong?"
"I fear The Blonde One is interested in The Warped One, Johnny Zacchara.""
"What about Logan?"
"I don't know, but either one of them could hurt her; The Unworthy One already has, more than once."
"Spinelli, I'm sorry, but Lulu makes her own choices and she should have to live with the consequences. You shouldn't have to be forced into being her conscience. Why should you try, anyway, since she never listens to you or anyone else who cares about her?"
Spinelli was surprised. Wise Georgie had never spoken so harshly of Fair Lulu before. As guilty as the thought made him feel, he had to admit that she had some valid points.
"But what kind of friend would I be if I didn't at least try to get her to see reason?"
"You're right," she sighed, sitting next to him. "I just hate seeing you get hurt every time you try to be her friend. You don't deserve that, Spinelli. You're a great friend and Lulu has no right to hurt you just for being honest."
"She always apologizes; she doesn't mean it."
"I know, but then she just goes right back to the same behavior."
He said nothing.
"Have you ever talked to her about it?"
He shook his head.
"She'll just get angry and I don't wanna hurt her."
"But it's OK for her to hurt you?"
He was silent again.
"Spinelli, friends are honest; you know that already. If you don't tell Lulu how you feel about how she treats you, then you're not being honest. If you let this keep going the way it is, you could damage your friendship just by your silence alone."
Georgie felt a pang of guilt for not taking her own advice, but she still couldn't bring herself to tell him how she really felt. She had already lost Dillon to lulu and Spinelli still had some romantic feelings for her. She knew that instinctively, in spite of what he'd said the night she'd brought over the chicken soup. She didn't think he even knew it; she thought he honestly believed what he'd said about accepting the fact that he and Lulu would never be anything more than friends. She had asked herself frequently over the past few months what the worst thing could happen was and decided that it would be for him to become romantically involved with her, but then to have Lulu become available and have him choose Lulu over Georgie.
He smiled at her. She felt a rush of relief, having been afraid he would be angry with her for speaking against Lulu.
"As always, Wise Georgie's advice is sound. You're right. I will talk with Fair Lulu and be completely honest with her. My romantic feelings for her were one-sided, but I don't think the friendship is. She's said a few of the things you did herself, the last time being the night of the ball, before she found out-"
He broke off, looking guilty.
"Before she found out what?"
"Well, she was trying to leave so she could go after The Demented Denison of Darkness and I had to knock her out with a strategic blow to her blonde head in order to keep her from rushing impetuously into danger."
She stared at him in surprise for a few seconds, then said, "good for you."
It was his turn to look surprised.
"Spinelli, I like Lulu; I really think she's basically a good person, but she's also a stubborn little brat, and there are times when she's even downright obnoxious."
Spinelli couldn't argue with that, no matter how much he wanted to, so he kept quiet.
"If that's what it took for you to keep her safe, then I'm really proud of you for having the courage to do that, even if you knew it would make her mad at you."
He smiled. Georgie always had a way of making him feel better.
"So what happened when she regained consciousness?"
He told her about his concern for her and her telling him what a good friend he was, inadvertently causing him to feel even worse about knocking her out. She had admitted to taking him for granted and getting angry with him for sharing his opinions. She had told him she knew how much he cared about her. They had hugged, and that was when Nadine walked in and accidentally told her, thinking she already knew, that Spinelli had been the one to knock her out. Lulu had gotten angry, of course, and Nadine had tried to defend Spinelli, which seemed to make The Blonde One even angrier.
"That's exactly what I mean, Spinelli; you would do anything for Lulu, even if it hurts you, and she takes advantage of that. She knows you'll always be there and she keeps pushing you and pushing you. It's not fair; no one deserves that kind of treatment. From everything I've seen, you've been a much better friend to Lulu than she's been to you. I'm sure you're right and she doesn't mean to hurt you, but you need to let her know when she's being unfair. You don't allow yourself to get angry with her and that's not fair to you either. It's not only unfair, but it's unhealthy. You're entitled to your feelings, Spinelli, and Lulu has no right to act like you're not."
He sighed.
"The Jackal is not good with confrontations."
"You don't have to confront her; just ask her to meet you so you can talk and tell her how you feel about how she treats you."
For the second time that day, one of Spinelli's conversations was interrupted, this time by his cell phone. It was Jason, asking him to come home and access Johnny Zacchara's police records.
"Thank you as always, Faithful Friend, for your sage advice," he said before leaving. "I know that Fair Lulu has a lot going on with her brothers and father, so as soon as she can make time for the Jackal, he will talk to her about the kind of friend she wants me to be, as well as the kind of friend I want her to be."
Good luck," Georgie said, giving him an encouraging smile.
As she watched him leave, she thought of Maxie. Georgie was always honest with her about her feelings about her behavior. Spinelli was right to call her the Bad Blonde One, but Maxie didn't care that she was bad. She did what she wanted and didn't care what it did to others, unless it affected her. Her latest stunt had caused her to lose Coop and that had made her feel bad because she wanted him. ""She should have thought of that before she made that stupid bet with Logan," Georgie thought angrily.
But Lulu was a good person; she just made mistakes, but she did learn from her mistakes, in most cases. But when someone who cared about her tried to give her advice, she did just the opposite of what they advised her to do. It was like she was trying to prove them wrong and do exactly what they didn't want her to do just so she could tell them they couldn't tell her what to do. Everyone had been right about Logan, but here Lulu was, giving him another chance to hurt her. Now she might be trying to get involved with Johnny Zacchara, a mobster whose propensity for violence equaled, if not surpassed, Logan's.
Georgie's frustration increased. Did Lulu want to get hurt? How many times did she have to put herself into a dangerous situation before she grew up and started acting responsibly.
Georgie stood up. She had to be in class soon and she had just remembered she had left her history book at home. As she left the Coffee House, she hoped Spinelli would be able to get through to her. Maybe if Lulu realized she needed to be a better friend, she would become a better person and start paying attention to the feelings of the people who cared about her. Maybe after Spinelli talked to her, other people's feelings would matter to her more than being able to do whatever she wanted just to spite them.
As Georgie got into her car, she had no idea of the horrifying turn this day was about to take. What she found waiting for her at home would change Georgie's life, and the lives of several people in Port Charles, forever.