Note – Short one. That's what she said.
Also, there is a new promo for Mean called "Watch Over Me." It's in my sig at RTN and in the Promo forum at SE. And it's up on my Youtube channel, username Humatheguma.
-Mean-
-24-
Rumors say that you're very sorry;
Oh, no, you're not sorry,
No, you're not.
Don't come up to me and say you like it.
It's better if you say you hate it;
That's the truth exactly.
-- "Tonight I Have To Leave It," The Shout Out Louds
.: The No Name Restaurant :.
Amalia pressed a kiss to Morgan's cheek, smirking at the red lip print she left. "I figure it was only a matter of time. No jail cell can hold Sonny Corinthos's kid."
Morgan laughed and hugged her back, wincing when his older brother clapped him extra hard on the back just for fun. He retaliated with a 'good-natured' shot in the arm that left Michael groaning. "I'm really very grateful. Thank you, everyone, for your support and for being there for my family."
Elizabeth smiled and looked over at Carly a few feet away. The Jacks were standing with Nadine and Nikolas and Patrick, looking as pleased as could be. Their son had been found not guilty of all charges against him that morning, and Scott looked like he wanted to shoot the whole lot of them when they stood up from their seats and applauded the verdict.
The jury hadn't looked very pleased with their sentence, either, leading Elizabeth to believe that the matter had been somewhat out of their hands. But that was neither here nor there. She didn't question the ruling; she was just glad that Morgan walked free.
A large group of them had assembled at the No Name, Morgan's favorite restaurant, for the celebration. Carly and Jax had called up just about anyone that had any remote connection to their family. Jerry stood with Alexis, who had accompanied Kristina to the party, and Molly would be joining them as soon as she could possibly get off from work. Max and Mio were milling around with some of the other guards that worked for Sonny and Jason and had been taking orders from Morgan for the past few months, and the Spencer family sans Lucky was chatting with Alexis, Diane, and Noah.
Cecily was ecstatic over the acquittal and was sitting next to Sonny, talking her half-brother's father's ear off. Mal and Cameron had just gotten off work at the hospital and, with Spencer and his wife, were now gathered around Michael and Morgan, laughing about something, and Amalia and Anna were close on hand as well. Nikolas and Johnny made the trip out to show their support and their collective relief, and even Jerry Jacks was on hand to congratulate his nephew.
The only one missing was Jake.
Elizabeth scanned the room periodically, looking for her son even though she knew he was tied up at work. The poor kid had been running himself ragged for the last few months. He got to work early, he came home for lunch so that they could spend some time together during the day, and then he went back to work and stayed there late into the night. Sometimes he didn't come home; he either crashed on the couch in his office or stayed at Morgan's penthouse, which was closer to the office than their house, because he didn't want to wake her in the middle of the night when she had to be at work early in the morning.
Lost in her thoughts about her son, Elizabeth was altogether unprepared when her eyes met Jason's. He met her gaze evenly, didn't flinch away like he sometimes did when they were in public. At first it surprised her when he did that, but she was slowly getting used to these very subtle signs that they weren't merely good acquaintances.
She smiled, the corner of her mouth hitching up. This was a happy day for Jason. Morgan had been like a son to him since the day he was born, and today was the day that he was cleared of all charges.
He smiled back, but it didn't reach his eyes. And as she watched him, Elizabeth began to see the worry and the tension that remained etched into the lines on his face, at the corners of his eyes and mouth. Though he was out of the stiff suit he'd been wearing to the daily proceedings, he remained rigid and hard, standing there against the bar counter. Her smile slowly faded as they gazed at each other, and Jason's gaze finally flitted to the door.
"Hey, look who finally made it!" Molly Lansing grinned at her friends as she and Jake walked into the reserved room. She had her computer tucked against her side and her other hand was tucked into the crook of Jake's elbow. "Morgan! Free man, walking."
He smiled and swung her around when she hugged him. Jake, who followed her in, kissed his mother on the cheek and shared a look with Amalia before approaching his best friend. Morgan grinned and held out his hand, using it to tug Jake into a hug. The boys clapped each other on the back and separated, grinning.
Carly smiled and looked over at Elizabeth, and there were tears glistening in her eyes. The boys had been friends since they were kids, and it made Carly so happy that her son and Jason's remained just as close as they grew older. Elizabeth smiled warmly back, folding her arms around her middle as the other kids gathered around Morgan and Jake.
"Now we can start celebrating," Morgan grinned, looking for the bar tender. "Get him a neat scotch, would you? Manhattan for her, please. Moll, how was the trip down?"
"Absolute nightmare, but I had Jake on the line the whole time, so that helped," she smiled back. "Sorry I couldn't make it to the courthouse this morning. I tried leaving the city last night but a last-minute project came up that I couldn't postpone."
"No worries," he assured her. As an IT consultant that took on freelance assignments, her schedule was entirely unpredictable. "We wouldn't start anything without you guys, anyway."
"How about dinner?" Carly called out, clapping her hands for everyone's attention. "We're all starving, and we're all finally here. It'll be about fifteen minutes, so enjoy your drinks until we herd you into the banquet room. Sonny, come with me."
Her ex-husband followed her out of the room to deal with the kitchen staff and instruct them on courses, and Morgan and Jake moved toward the bar, followed by some of the others.
"I feel like such an outlaw," Spencer grinned, careful to make sure that he was out of earshot of his father and the other adults that might object to his misdeeds. "Who knew jury-tampering could be such a rush?"
"Cassidine's turning dark," Michael joked. "Stock up on blankets, guys – next thing we know, he'll be trying to freeze the world."
Spencer snickered at that while his wife rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She was more than familiar with the folklore surrounding her husband's family. "Seriously, though, I've got nothing on this guy."
Jake shrugged modestly, and with his back toward the other side of the bar, didn't notice Jason and Spinelli casually sidle up, appearing to be engaged in their own conversation as they discreetly listened in. "Wasn't nothing."
"You kidding?" Michael clapped him on the back, resting his arm on his shoulder. "We never would have known how to lean on them the right way if you hadn't picked up their tells during the proceedings. And, of course, the cyber-sleuthing that was conducted. That also helped. Just a wee, tiny bit."
Morgan turned to his best friend, serious now. "Everything's in place for tomorrow, right?"
Jake nodded. Behind him, Jason frowned, wondering what the boys had in mind. "Yeah, that's what me and Moll were working on just now when she was making it into town. Mike, thanks for lending me your contacts, they really came in handy."
"No problem. Whenever you need anything, ask. I'm happy to do it. Now, what about tomorrow?"
"Okay, first things first. Diane was already planning on counter-suing, so she's got that in the works. I dropped the idea of a harassment suit against my pop and Baldwin in her head, and she went along with it for shits and giggles. It won't go anywhere, and it's not like Pop'll be stripped of his badge or Baldwin his office, but it's a good smear tactic."
"Serves them right, the assholes," Morgan muttered, darting a glance at Luke and Lulu in the corner. He just didn't trust Spencers. In fact, that was the side of his mother he hadn't altogether warmed up to: the Spencer side. Damn those genes.
"So we've got Diane busy with that, which is great. Hell, any bad press for the PCPD or the DA's office is great. Sorry, Moll, Kay."
The girls shrugged.
"Thanks to the business contacts that Mike gave us, we've got some profitable alliances in the works that will make the newly revamped Corinthos organization or whatever you call your mob outfit these days look even better. So keep an eye out for those calls – you'll be receiving some worthwhile proposals right and left, and the key is to move on them fast so it looks like you're back to your do-goodery ways, so you're hitting the ground running with this after a wrongful jail stint."
Morgan nodded. "Sounds good. Please tell me these are some really press-friendly projects."
"One of them is a proposal to rebuild the community center for the kids in this town," Jake smirked. "You don't get any more press-friendly than that."
"Great, great. What else?"
"Final order of business." Jake took a sip of his scotch and set it down on the counter. "We've got pieces running in all the papers tomorrow about your triumphant victory, the bogus allegations, fabricated evidence and testimonies, the sheer ineptitude of the PCPD and the rampant corruption in the ADA's office."
"Thank you for the distinction," Kristina smiled sweetly. "That was very nice of you."
"I made sure they noted that specifically," Jake assured her. "After all, I have nothing against your mother professionally. Just that ape, Baldwin. Anyway, yes, we've got pro-Morgan pieces running in all the papers. Tomorrow morning, the people of this town will be relieved that you got off scot-free. The day after tomorrow, they'll be enraged that you were even on trial to begin with. The week after that, they'll be laughing at the thought that anyone ever thought you could hurt a fly."
He placed a hand on Morgan's shoulder, lowering his voice. "I told you that I wouldn't let this hurt your future. Not when you worked so hard to help me secure mine. I meant what I said. This will not come back to haunt you, I'll make sure of it myself."
His best friend nodded with a smile. "I know. I trust you with this."
"Everyone?" Carly Corinthos-Jacks cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey! EVERYONE!"
She grinned cheekily when the whole room whirled around and stared at her and a smirking Sonny. "Dinner's ready. Follow me, find your seats, and enjoy."
The group waited by the counter, letting the adults mill in first, then Molly and Kristina withdrew, followed by Amalia and Cecily and the Drakes, with Michael and Spencer and Morgan bringing up the rear. Jake checked his watch out of force of habit and finished off the last of his scotch. When he set the glass down on the counter and turned around to head into the banquet room, he found himself face to face with his father and Spinelli.
He didn't like being caught off-guard, and that was exactly what Jason had succeeded in doing just now. Jake had no idea how long his father had been standing there, or worse, how much he had overheard. Thankfully, he hadn't said anything too damning. And he hadn't given away Molly or her part in the dealings, so that was something.
"Jason. Jackal."
His father and Spinelli barely nodded back. Their eyes were hard and skeptical, and Jake had the distinct feeling that they were scanning him, searching him for something. He didn't much care for that feeling; it made him feel like he no longer had the upper hand.
And Jake Morgan had always worked long and hard, agonizingly so, to always have the upper hand.
He squared his shoulders and met his father's gaze evenly and directly, refusing to flinch away. Something glimmered in the older man's eyes, something hard and smoldering and just a little sad, and he slowly realized that Jason knew. At the very least, he knew that Jake had not been an innocent bystander during Morgan's trial.
That was fine. Because Jake didn't regret what he did. He would have gladly done a lot worse if it meant clearing his best friend of a crime he in no way committed and helping him walk free. Jason and Sonny should have done their part, but the two of them were such well-known racketeers that the DA's office had taken extra precautions to make sure that their hands were tied during the proceedings. Yet another sign that it was time to oust the old and usher in the new. Their days in this business were numbered; Jake and Morgan's were just beginning.
He knew that this was pushing Jason too far. He had kept quiet about the shooting on the docks when Jake was seventeen to protect Elizabeth, but this was too much. There was no way his father would consider keeping this from her – because this time, he'd be protecting Jake, not Elizabeth. And since the man couldn't even be bothered to stick around and play the Daddy Dearest part, Jake highly doubted that Jason would stick his neck out to cover his ass.
Not that he wanted him to. He'd quietly accept Jason's help if the man felt like offering it – that is, if he felt like accepting it; otherwise, he'd just ignore him – but he would never again ask him for anything. Not a single damn thing.
His father's hand remained tightly wrapped around a longneck bottle of beer, and the glass made a noise as it slid against the countertop when his grip tightened.
"Congratulations." The corner of his mouth twitched downward, and his eyes remained hard as Spinelli grimly watched on. "You won."
And there it was: the bait. It was an invitation for Jake to play innocent, to deny the allegations just like Diane had on Morgan's behalf when the trial first started. It was an invitation for Jake to shoot off his mouth and keep talking until he talked himself right into Jason's hands, supplying whatever information Jason didn't already have in his attempt to clear himself.
Nothing doing.
It was clear that Jason wanted to talk about this, that he had been stewing over this since he found out, perfecting his plan of attack, and that he probably had a list of bullet points in his head that he had to hit. He would probably start out by saying that the mob was dangerous and that he should know better than to take on the DA's office and the PCPD with so little experience and know-how, and he would end with some self-serving lecture about leaving this to the men that knew what they were doing, and how Jason would hate to have to tell Jake's mother about his involvement in this. Naturally, he'd be treated like a fucking child, and an imbecile at that, and Jason would think it was in the name of good, albeit long-distance, parenting.
But he grossly overestimated how much Jake actually cared about hearing what he had to say.
Jake set his empty glass down on the counter and smiled brightly, certain that his eyes were twinkling in that particularly annoying, all-American way. "I know."
With that, he wiggled his brows at the duo of Jackal and Hyde, as he'd taken to thinking of them, and walked past them to where his mother was chatting with Nadine Zacchara, and escorted her into the banquet room.