Chapter 20

Port Charles

Courtney watched Sonny pace back and forth in front of her perch on the couch. She tried to decipher his mood, but his face was devoid of all expression, and when she tried to ask him what was so important that he had to talk to her tonight, he said, "Not yet, Courtney."

"But, Sonny, what are we waiting for?"

Sonny said nothing, but after a moment, Francis took pity on her. "Not everyone is here yet, Miss Matthews."

Sonny glared at Francis, who appeared unfazed. Courtney wondered why he was mad at Francis for answering her question. "What? Who else is coming?" Courtney suddenly realized she was wearing only a nightgown and robe. "If we're expecting other people, I better change."

She started to rise, but sank quickly back into her seat when Sonny barked, "Stay where you are!" For the first time, Courtney realized that Sonny was beyond furious.

She started to ask him what was wrong, but a knock at the door pulled everyone's attention away before she could speak. Sonny nodded at Francis, who opened the door and spoke briefly to someone Courtney couldn't see. He came back and handed some papers to Sonny, who glanced at them briefly before nodding and handing them back to Francis.

Courtney asked, "Sonny, what's going on? You're scaring me."

He smiled, but it was a cold smile that sent a shiver down her spine rather than reassuring her. "Everyone should be here soon. I'm only gonna explain things once, so for now, you'll just have to wait."

An eternity seemed to pass, although realistically she supposed it couldn't have been very long, before another knock came at the door. Sonny nodded at Francis, who again went to the door. This time, two of Sonny's men pushed AJ Quartermaine in ahead of them. AJ stumbled and howled, "OW!" when his shin banged the coffee table. He righted himself, and when he caught sight of Sonny, he began sputtering with indignation, "Corinthos! I should have known! What the hell's the big idea, grabbing me and dragging me over here against my will? People will miss me! You can't get away with this!"

"Silence!" Sonny roared, which startled everyone so much that they obeyed. He visibly strove to calm himself down.

Courtney asked tentatively, "Sonny? What's going on?"

He turned to her and smiled icily, "Is that any way to greet your fiancé?"

AJ started and his eyes swung to Courtney. She gasped and paled, "Wh-what are you talking about? I hardly know him --"

Sonny interrupted, "Now that's not entirely true, is it, Courtney?" He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small voice recorder, and pressed a button. It took a moment, but Courtney paled when she recognized the sound of her own pants and moans, mingled with AJ's.

"Sonny, I can explain," Courtney started to whine, but Sonny silenced her with a look.

He said, "Father Coates will be here any minute to perform the ceremony. If you don't want to get married in your nightgown, you should go change."

AJ looked like he wanted to protest, but Francis caught his eye and raised a brow. AJ stayed silent, but Courtney wasn't as smart. "But, Sonny," she said, "I love Jason. You promised you would make Jason marry me, because of the baby."

Sonny's voice dripped with disgust. "You think I'm gonna make my best friend – my brother -- marry a lying tramp like you?" Sonny's voice began to rise, his ire growing more apparent with each word. "You betrayed Jason, and you lied to me, and when Jason said it was impossible, I still believed you! And when my wife tried to tell me she had proof you were lying, I yelled at her because I couldn't believe my own sister – my family – would lie to me about something so important! And you expect me to keep defending you now that I know you're a lying slut, when you let me almost ruin the most important relationships in my life by insisting you were too honorable to lie about something like this?" Courtney opened her mouth to speak, but Sonny gave her no chance. "Honorable? What a joke! You don't know the meaning of the word. No, you'll marry the father of your baby – no matter how much of a spoiled little scumbag he is." He turned to pin AJ with furious eyes. "And you! You hate Jason so much that you do stupid things to get back at him for a bunch of old crap that has nothing to do with him. And your family bails you out every damn time. Well, not this time. You will take responsibility for the crap you pull for once in your life." His gaze swung back to encompass both of them. "You have about ten minutes before Father Coates gets here, at which time you will be married, and neither of you will upset the father by letting him think you aren't entirely willing to do this. You both made your bed, and now you'll lie in it."

AJ finally found his voice. "What do you mean, father of her baby?" he sputtered. "She's not pregnant."

Sonny raised a brow, then turned to Francis. "Give him the folder." Francis walked over to the table by the door and, without a word, handed AJ the folder Brenda had given Sonny earlier that day. AJ looked through it, his face growing more and more furious as he realized that Courtney had planned to pass his child off as Jason's. Courtney watched him apprehensively.

Finally, he looked up at Courtney, his expression speaking his hatred even louder than his words. "You bitch!" he yelled. He lunged across the coffee table at her, his hands locking around her throat. "You were gonna let Jason raise my kid! You were gonna keep him from me!" He struggled as Sonny's men pulled him off her, prying his hands off her. "I'll kill you! You bitch, I'll kill you!" AJ continued to yell and struggle as Courtney ran sobbing from the room. She slammed the bedroom door behind her and struggled to control herself, but she could still hear a lot of the discussion in the other room. How did it all go so wrong, so fast?

Finally, she heard the men slam AJ up against the wall. Francis said, "Get control of yourself, Quartermaine." At that point, Courtney moved mechanically away from the door and began looking for something to wear. She couldn't believe Sonny was gonna make her marry AJ. She tried desperately to think of a way out of it, but deep down, she knew that Sonny in this mood was impossible to sway. One way or another, he would have her married to AJ before the night was out. And the worst of it was, Jason probably knew everything she had done and everything she had planned to do, and he would never forgive her. She had really, truly lost him.

She sank down onto the edge of the bed and cried.

In the other room, AJ was still struggling with the guards, so Francis spoke again, "The priest will be here any minute, and you don't want to disrespect him. I mean it, Quartermaine, calm yourself down now."

AJ appeared to struggle to bring himself under control. He took several deep breaths, exhaling slowly each time, until finally, he said, "Okay. I'm okay. You can let go now." The men looked at Francis, who met AJ's eyes for a long moment before nodding.

AJ stepped away from the two men, straightening his clothes. He looked at Sonny, his voice sober and icy. "I'll take care of my kid, but I don't see why I have to marry her."

Ironically, AJ's explosion had tempered Sonny's fury, partly because it became clear that AJ had had no idea what Courtney had planned to do to Jason, so his voice was significantly calmer when he replied, "You'll marry her, now, tonight, because I say you will, and you'll stay married at least until the baby is born."

"And after that?" AJ asked. "I gotta tell ya, Sonny, I liked her fine until now, but I don't know that I can even look at her right now without wanting to kill her. I know you don't want to hear that --"

Sonny held up a hand. "In other circumstances, I wouldn't let you badmouth her," he said, "But I can see where you'd be pissed right now, and I can understand why you'd have trouble controlling your temper. But she's still my sister, so I can't let you disrespect her by refusing to marry her when you got her pregnant. If nothing else, it's not fair to the kid." He sighed. "So here's what we'll do. You'll marry her tonight, and I'll send her out of town to have the baby. If you manage to calm down enough to treat her with respect, you can join her. If not, we'll work something out after the baby's born."

AJ said, "I won't be kept from my kid, Sonny."

"I'm not saying you'll be kept from your kid. I'm saying that it's not good for your kid if Courtney feels threatened while she's pregnant, so you need to let me know when you can be around her without letting your temper get the best of you. But hear me on this, AJ, you better be sure you can stay calm around her when you tell me you can, 'cause if you hurt her, I'm gonna have to respond to that."

"I hear you, Sonny, and since I don't want to hurt my kid, I'll agree to this for now. But I want us to be clear that I won't let you or anyone else keep me away from my kid for long."

A knock on the door interrupted whatever Sonny would have said to that. The guard moved to admit Father Coates, who said jovially, "I hear we're having a wedding! Now, where's the happy couple?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Jerry hung up the phone thoughtfully. Once his investigators had been armed with the information from Sam's prenatal vitamins, they had quickly discovered a wealth of information about exactly when and, more importantly, how she had gotten herself pregnant. Now, the only question was how to deal with the information. On the one hand, he didn't want to bother Jax and Skye with this issue, and he certainly wouldn't permit the scheming slut to ruin Jax's wedding. On the other hand, perhaps they ought to be warned about what Ms. McCall had planned. And he certainly would shed no tears if the woman was completely humiliated and disgraced …

What to do, what to do …

Sighing, he decided to do nothing just yet. His investigators were still trying to determine why the Corinthos-Morgan organization was interested in Ms. McCall, and until he knew what that was about, he wanted to keep his options open. If they didn't determine what was going on before the rehearsal dinner, he would take action at that time to ensure that his brother's wedding remained untainted by the little tramp Jax had gotten himself mixed up with.

Seattle

Elizabeth woke abruptly in the middle of the night, her heart pounding hard and fast in her chest. She had no idea what time it was, and at first, she had no idea why she had woken. She sat up in bed and looked around until her eyes landed on the clock.

1:38 am. What could have woken me up? she wondered, and then she heard the shouting, and she knew. She couldn't make out the words, but Lucky's voice – and his drunk, angry mood – were unmistakable. He probably stayed at some bar through last call, and then came here. He was shouting, presumably at Johnny, or maybe he was trying to wake Maxie up from out in the hallway where Johnny was holding him at bay. As far as she knew, Lucky didn't know she herself was staying with Maxie, although she supposed he might have guessed based on the fact that she and Maxie had left together the other night and that Maxie had been helping her pack earlier that day.

But frankly, she doubted he was that smart. So either he wanted to see Maxie for a booty call, or he wanted to find Elizabeth and figured Maxie was his best shot. Either way, she was suddenly glad that Jason had been so insistent about Johnny standing guard. She placed a hand protectively over her stomach and whispered, mostly to reassure herself, "Don't worry, baby, Johnny won't let him near us."

But then she started worrying that maybe Lucky would trump up some ridiculous charge and arrest Johnny, which would never stick, but which would be a big pain in the ass to deal with. She got up and found her purse, and dug around in it in the dim light coming through the window until she found her cell phone. She nibbled indecisively on her lower lip.

Just as she was about to put the phone away, there was a knock on her door. Although it was so soft that it wouldn't have woken her had she actually been sleeping, she still jumped. "Yes?" she called quietly.

Maxie opened the door and slipped in. "I wondered if the shouting woke you up and I wanted to make sure you're okay," she whispered.

Elizabeth smiled and reached out to grab Maxie's hand. "I am, but I'm glad you're here anyway."

Maxie squeezed her hand briefly. She said, "I don't know about you, but I'm really glad Johnny's dealing with him for us." She smiled at Elizabeth. "I bet Lucky's usual bullying tactics will get him nowhere with Johnny." Her voice betrayed her satisfaction with that situation.

Elizabeth said, "I just hope Lucky doesn't try to arrest him or anything."

"Well, if he does, I'll call my dad and tell him that Johnny was visiting us and minding his own business and Lucky was just being a jerk because you wouldn't talk to him." Elizabeth looked startled, so Maxie smiled again and said, "Don't worry, it's close enough to the truth that Lucky won't be able to argue with it without getting himself in a whole lot of trouble. My dad is very protective of me, so it's not like Lucky can tell him we had an affair or any of that."

"Oh." Elizabeth was, as usual, bemused by the way Maxie's mind worked. Just as she was wrapping her mind around the idea that with Maxie's protection, she and her new friends were safe from harassment by Lucky, Maxie changed the subject.

"I was thinking, and you can totally tell me if you think this is a bad idea, but I was just thinking that since you're my new best friend and everything, and since Johnny mentioned that Lucky's probably gonna start harassing me as soon as he realizes you're gone, and he's probably right about that, and since my sister is in school in New York City anyway …" Maxie hesitated briefly before forging ahead. "I was thinking maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to go with you guys when you head back to New York. Just to visit for awhile, you know? Till Lucky calms down and gets the message that you really left him and you really aren't coming back, you know? And I would maybe just spend a few days helping you get settled and then I could go stay with my sister in the city, so I wouldn't be in your hair, although I could visit and come help you out any time you need me to." She paused for breath and asked tentatively, "What do you think? If you'd rather I didn't, I totally understand, since you probably haven't really gotten over the whole affair thing yet …"

Elizabeth smiled, and when Maxie paused for breath, she said, "Does this have anything to do with you wanting to spend a little more time with Johnny?"

Maxie grinned sheepishly, "Well, that wouldn't hurt, you know? But the rest of it is true, too. Really," she insisted when Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

Elizabeth laughed outright at that, and abruptly decided that it would be good to have Maxie around for sheer entertainment value. After all, the woman could make her laugh when moments earlier, she had been bordering on panic. "Maxie, if you want to come east with us, you should." Maxie squealed with excitement and hugged her, so she added, "As long as it's okay with Jason and his friends."

"Oh, don't worry about that. They have a whole plane at their disposal, so I'm sure they won't mind. Johnny will probably be relieved. He was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle Lucky, until I explained to him about my dad. Come to think of it, he didn't seem to happy to hear my dad is police commissioner. I wonder what that's about." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged and said cheerfully, "Oh well, I'm sure they'll be happy to have me along. That way they won't have to worry about me breaking down and telling Lucky where you went."

The shouting, which they had both been studiously ignoring while they talked, suddenly got louder, and then there was a loud thump, and finally, silence. The women looked at each other for a long moment, wondering what to do. Finally, Maxie gave voice to both of their thoughts, "Do you think we should go see what's happening?"

Elizabeth answered cautiously, "As much as I'm tempted, I doubt Johnny would be happy if we did that." She paused, then added, "When you came in, I was just debating whether I should call Jason. What do you think?"

"I don't know." She thought about that for a minute. Finally she said, "Jason would probably be pissed if no one told him. He's really protective of you, in case you hadn't noticed."

Elizabeth blushed and said, "Yeah, I noticed. It's kinda hard to miss. He keeps saying I'm family, but he was actually kind of protective before he even knew that …" Her voice trailed off and she thought about that. "Maybe it's because –" she abruptly stopped. She wasn't sure she wanted Maxie to know about her pregnancy yet.

"Because?" Maxie prompted.

Elizabeth sighed and said, "Because I remind him of his sister, and he kinda got the idea that Lucky was abusive …"

Maxie interrupted, "Lucky is abusive, Elizabeth." At Elizabeth's surprised look, she said, "Okay, I'll assume he's never actually hit you or anything, but look at how he treats you – like you have no mind of your own, like you should be totally dependent on him for everything, with no friends or family or money or independence. Look at how you have to hide in order to get a little time away from him. Look at how he described you to me, for God's sake. I'm just gonna take a wild guess here that he describes you that way to other people, too. And I don't even want to think about how he talks to you – just think about what he said to you the other night! He said you're nothing without him. If that's not abusive, then I don't know what is, Elizabeth. You're doing the right thing getting away from him, and the sooner you realize he's an abusive jerk, the better off you'll be."

Elizabeth was stunned by Maxie's comments. She hadn't really thought about it that way before, but she realized there was some truth to what Maxie said. He did insult her constantly; he was always finding fault with whatever she did. And he really had managed to keep her under his thumb and isolated for a long time. It was all about him having all the power and all the control in their lives. She said slowly, "I never really thought about it that way. It didn't start out like that, you know." She paused and looked at Maxie. "In the beginning, he was sweet and caring and fun, you know? But I guess everything changed eventually. It took a long time, though, so I didn't really notice it until …" she trailed off again.

"Until?" Maxie prompted after a moment.

"Until he wanted me to get pregnant," Elizabeth hedged. "And all I could think was that if we had a baby, I'd never get away." She shook her head abruptly and changed the topic. "It's been quiet out there for a while. Should we call Jason or should we check on Johnny?"

Maxie said, "How about you stay here and I'll check on Johnny? That way Lucky won't see you, and if I'm not back in two minutes, you can call Jason – or maybe it would be better to call my dad."

"At two in the morning?" Elizabeth asked skeptically. "Won't he freak?"

"Yeah, I guess he might. So if I'm not back in two minutes, call Jason. But lock the door behind me, in case Lucky's still standing and Johnny's not. Although I doubt a drunk Lucky could take on a sober Johnny and come out on top. Did you notice Johnny's muscles?"

Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. "Okay, get out of here, and don't stop to flirt with Johnny, 'cause in two minutes, I'm calling Jason, and I'd hate to drag him over here for nothing."

Maxie flashed her a thumbs up sign and disappeared. Elizabeth locked the door behind her and settled in for the longest two minutes of her life – or at least since she had waited on a home pregnancy test almost three months ago.