Chapter 12--Here's the latest installment of this FF story. Hope you like it and thanks for the feedback!
Lulu and Kristina walked down the streets of PC on a mission. Well, Kristina had decided to treat it that way, but Lulu just kept throwing her funny looks as they went to find Jason.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Lulu said, knowing that of course the younger girl had no clue.
Kristina looked up one street and down another.
"I know exactly what I want," she said, "and what I'm doing."
Lulu hesitated.
"Have you talked to your mother about this?"
Kristina suddenly turned on her.
"Don't even mention her name," she said, "if you do, I have to remember that she exists."
Lulu sighed at the anger which marred the teenager's otherwise ethereal face. Accelerated aging had been good to Kristina speeding her through childhood and puberty so fast she had been spared acne and mood swings...some of them anyway.
"She's not that bad," she said, "At least she's there for you when you need her."
Kristina snorted.
"And in my face when I don't."
"She just cares about you," she said, "She should. She's your mother."
"Maybe I'm adopted," Kristina said.
Lulu considered that. It certainly was possible, as very little that could happen was outside the realms of life in PC. After all, didn't Alexis give birth to a daughter and then forget about it for years? Nobody in PC knew who had fathered Sam, the con artist turned mobster moll turned home wrecker turned action hero but everyone had their own theories. Some believed she had been spawned by the devil in some unholy act of conception at the Catholic convent where Alexis had gone to school while others noticed that she bore more than a passing resemblance to a woman who had hung out with PC's own legendary family of the undead for a period of time years ago.
Frankly Lulu didn't give a damn. She just wished the tramp would keep her hands off of her brother, Lucky. Okay, so Lulu wasn't exactly thrilled that Lucky had returned to shacking it up with Lollipop Liz who had frolicked with her ex, Jason on the sofa and had an illegitimate son with him but she was a bit relieved that Lucky had come to some semblance of his senses.
At least he had ditched Sam who had broken his heart after she had maxed out all his credit cards.
"He's probably shooting pool at Coleman's bar," Kristina guessed.
Lulu frowned.
"Weren't you just there this morning?"
"Yeah," she said, "but Coleman kicked me out for being underage," she said, "but if I wait long enough, that shouldn't be a problem."
"True," Lulu said, "I can get you in there. I have some pretty good fake ID."
"Awesome," Kristina said, "We'd better get down there before he leaves."
So Lulu despite her better judgment accompanied Kristina to Coleman's bar.
Alexis wrung her hands as she waited for the next in a long line of PC's rejects to come ring her doorbell. With the exception of dear Robin, every visitor to her house had been a nightmare.
Her phone rang so she picked it up and looked at the Caller ID. She breathed a sigh of relief, which pulled her out of her latest hyperventilation attack.
"Hello, Diane."
"Alexis, I'm on my way back to PC," Diane said, "Max and I are waiting for the jet to be gassed up and then we'll be on our way."
"You're taking Sonny's Gulfstream?"
"Yes, it was so nice of him to loan it to us," Diane said, "It's pretty impressive. It's got two of the most important things, a master bedroom with a ceiling mirror and a wet bar."
"Don't forget the bullet holes," Alexis said.
"They add a nice touch actually," Diane said, "So are you going to be ready to go to court?"
Alexis drew a blank.
"What do you mean go to court?"
Diane sighed, wondering if she should just pick up a man in the airport to bring home to her frenemy to play with for a while.
"Alexis, surely you are facing arrest for the murder of the mayor's floozy," she said, "It's all over the television sets at the airports. Surely the reporters must be beating down your door."
"Excuse me," Alexis said, as she walked cautiously up to her window and pulled the drape aside. She looked out and sure enough, a cadre of reporters holding microphones and photographers were sitting on her front lawn.
"You're right," she said, sinking to the floor, "What will I do now?"
"Just calm down Alexis and go get your paper bag and take a few deep breaths…"
Alexis sighed.
"That won't work," she said, "I need Spinelli to get me some of his happy weed."
"Alexis, that's the last thing that you should be doing," Diane said, "You're PC's ultimate fallen woman driven to murder. That's the vision that the town's residents will see while drinking their morning coffee."
"Oh dear, I wonder if it's too late to think about taking that corporate job in Pine Valley with Chandler Enterprises."
"Now Alexis, we can get the fallen woman turned murderess to work for us after you get acquitted by a jury…"
"I didn't kill anyone Diane let alone the mayor's skanky secretary," Alexis protested, "but then again I don't remember sleeping with the mayor so maybe I killed her and just forgot about it."
"That's a possibility," Diane said, gravely, "But we have to deal with the here and now and that's the fact that you will soon be on trial for murder."
"I've never been on trial for murder before," Alexis mused, "I mean I've killed a person here and there but I've never been prosecuted. Wait a minute, how can I be prosecuted. Aren't I the DA?"
"Alexis, you have to check your calendar to make sure you're still the DA," Diane said, patiently, "Your status is day to day."
"I know," Alexis said, "I wasn't the DA on Tuesday because I was a defense attorney or some other reason but I was on Wednesday."
"Alexis, I just want you to sit tight and don't talk to anyone about anything until I get back into town," Diane said.
Alexis gripped the phone tightly.
"Okay," she said, "Please hurry."
Alexis hung up the phone and went to the kitchen to make herself some tea that had been included in Robin's care basket but ran into the liquor cabinet on the way so instead, she took out some bourbon and poured herself a tall glass. Before she was able to sit down on the couch to kick back and enjoy it until the PC's version of keystone cops came to pick her up, the door bell rang again.
Kristina was still walking to the bar with Lulu to hunt down Jason when she saw him standing by a tree. No, he wasn't exactly standing, he was beating at the tree's trunk with his fists yelling some unintelligible words.
"Oh look, it's Michael Corinthos," she said, pointing him out to Lulu.
Lulu looked at the angry young man with dark brown hair and a lanky build.
"Didn't he used to have red hair," she said, "We used to call him Carrot Top."
"I don't remember," Kristina said, "but he sure looks upset."
Lulu sighed.
"That's from being shot by one of Sonny's mobster enemies," she said, "He was in a coma for at least a year and after Dr. Patrick rebuilt his brain, he came out of it angry at everyone."
"Maybe we should go over and say hi," Kristina said.
Lulu didn't look so sure.
"He might hurt us," she said, "Oh he won't mean to do so but they had to lock him up when he stayed over at Carly and Jax' house."
Kristina ignored Lulu and walked slowly towards Michael after tossing her hair back behind her shoulders with her manicured fingers. As she approached, he sensed her presence and turned around to face her. She hid her trepidation with a smile and he just stared at her.
"Michael, how are things going?"
He looked at her and shrugged.
"This tree pissed me off," he said.
"What did it do to you," Kristina asked, confused but fascinated at the same time.
"It got in my way," he said simply, then picked up a stick and started hitting it.
His raw anger which shone brightly through his animated face intrigued Kristina, appealing to her darker side that she had inherited from the unholy brew of genetic material belonging to the Corinthos and Cassadine family lines. Michael might be volatile due to his brain injury but his heritage consisted of mainly Quartermaine and Spencer blood that while an eccentric combination would probably prove to be less lethal in the long run.
"Michael…"
He stopped hitting the tree and turned around to face her.
"What," he said, "Kristina's your name right? You're my sister."
She nodded, though technically they weren't blood relatives. It was difficult to explain to others exactly how they were related.
"I know you," he said, "in fact, I have something to tell you."
She leaned closer.
"What?"
"You…I… we're supposed to go on the run together," he said.
Her jaw dropped. No, it couldn't be, she screamed inside. She had waited her whole life to be prepared for her rite of passage into PC's greater society by successfully completing her Summer on the Run but her partner was supposed to be some hot looking guy who reeked of danger and lust and drove a fast car, not her brother!
"It can't be," she said, weakly suddenly needing to sit down.
She would be the laughing stock of the town if word got out. Far from raising the bar for the ritual even beyond where Luke and Laura had set it, she would fade into obscurity as the poor little girl who was so pathetic at attracting men that only her skinny assed brother wanted to do the summer on the run. The whole sorry saga would be scribbled on the walls of every women's bathroom in town.
"Kristina, did you hear me," Michael said, putting down the stick.
"Yes," she said, faintly, "I just don't want to believe it."
His face filled with some of the anger it had before.
"What the hell are you complaining about," he said, "You should be honored to be paired with me."
She stamped her stiletto heel.
"I don't want my brother," she said, "I want a real man…like Jason."
And the minute that name slipped past her lips, Kristina knew she had hurt her brother deeply. He just gave her one forlorn look and then picked up the stick to start hitting the tree again. She and Lulu slunk away, their hearts heavy.
"You handled that well," Lulu said with a sigh.
As they headed off to continue their search for Jason, Michael watched them go. Depression competed with the rage that had set up residence in his blood. How could his own sister look down at him? He would show her, he would show everyone…if he could just get some better threads, a cool haircut and an awesome set of wheels. With his current allowance, he knew he couldn't get far either so he'd have to go out and get a job as a mobster messenger or something respectable. He had a lot of work to do and not much time to do it.
He didn't notice the shroud of fog that had swirled into the area, surrounding him while filling the air with a seductive scent. A blond woman wearing a trench coat stepped out of it.
He turned around and his eyes widened as he took in the blast from the past who purred to him…
