A/N: Hehe … just when you thought we were in a ho-free zone … but don't worry, I have a plan for even more humiliation down the road … Thanks for the amazing feedback, and a special welcome to those who have just started reading the story!

Happy Holidays to all!

Chapter 24

Port Charles

Sam came slowly awake, but didn't immediately open her eyes. She had the feeling that whatever was awaiting her, she didn't want to deal with it just yet.

Her breathing must have changed, however, because she heard movement and then the last voice she wanted to hear spoke.

"Come now, Samantha, there's a good girl. I know you're awake, so you may as well open your eyes."

Still, she lay with her eyes closed for several moments longer, as Jerry's smooth voice brought back the memory of why she had fainted, and she felt again the abject humiliation of that moment.

"Now, Sam, don't be a coward. Whatever else you are, you were never a coward."

Finally, she opened her eyes, and mustered all her bravado into her voice. "What do you want, Jerry?" She looked past him, surprised to find that she was neither in the banquet room at the Metro Court nor in the hospital. "And where the hell are we?"

"I thought you might prefer not to be publicly available at the moment, so I had you brought to my room."

"Since when do you care what I prefer? And how do you know I don't need a doctor? As you know, I am pregnant."

"Don't worry, darling, a doctor is on his way to pay a house call even as we speak. You've only been out for a few minutes. How are you feeling?"

She struggled to sit up. "I don't know what game you're playing, Jerry, but I'm done. After that little scene you set up at the rehearsal, you've obviously won. Jax will marry his little millionairess and I'll go back to … somewhere else," she finished lamely, realizing suddenly that she couldn't go back to Florida. Jax and Jerry had too many connections there, and news of her downfall had probably already spread. She started to swing her feet off the bed, the irony of having wound up in his bed after all not lost on her. She started to laugh.

"I have to hand it to you, Jerry, you certainly know how to destroy a person's life." Her voice was as bitter as her laughter, and she fought to keep from crying. She would cry later, when she was alone. Maybe. All that time wasted; all those plans ruined. And now she had a stupid baby to deal with, and no millionaire husband to support them. God, my life sucks.

His voice was chiding. "Now, Sam, you did it to yourself. I warned you about trying to take advantage of Jax. More than once, as I recall."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I just want to get out of here and get on with my life." She waited for a wave of dizziness to subside.

"Planning to find some other sucker to con?" Jerry asked silkily.

"Obviously, I've got other things on my mind right now. I'm pregnant, remember?"

"Well, darling, some of the best cons women ever invented work best when one is pregnant." He let that sink in, then laughed at the thoughtful expression she must have failed to hide. "That's what I love about you, Sam, darling – you always come up swinging. I must tell you, you made a more entertaining opponent than I expected."

She rolled her eyes. "You never told me why I'm really here, Jerry, and I'm not sure I want the answer anyway." She stood, then grabbed the wall to steady herself as she swayed briefly. "I'm leaving."

"Now, darling, don't be ridiculous. You're in no condition to go anywhere. And besides, I think you might want to hear what I have to say before you disappear." He hardened his gaze. "Sit down, Sam."

She sat, but only because she was tired, she told herself. Aloud, she said, "Look, I just want to forget any of this ever happened. I already admitted you won. Can we just skip the gloating?"

He laughed. "I wasn't planning to gloat – well, not much anyway. That's not what I wanted to discuss with you. I have a business proposition for you."

Sam's reply was sarcastic. "Sure you do. You don't like me, and you don't trust me, so there's no way you want to do business with me."

He ignored that and changed the subject. "Are you aware that I'm not the only one who has been investigating you?"

The abrupt shift in topic caught Sam off guard, and her response came out unbidden. "What? Who else would be investigating me?"

"You don't know?"

"No, I don't know. If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you."

"Well, what have you done lately that might get the Corinthos-Morgan organization interested in you?"

Sam was so stunned that she leaned back against the headboard, swinging her feet back onto the bed. "I have no idea. How do you know they're investigating me?"

"One of their men has been tailing you, and I don't think it was an accident that you had lunch with Mrs. Corinthos the other day."

"I met her in the bar," she said absently. "Maybe the lunch led to the investigation."

But Jerry shook his head emphatically. "No, darling, the investigation was happening already before the lunch date."

"I have no idea what they would want with me, Jerry." Her voice was impatient, and at his skeptical look, she insisted, "I don't! And why are you bothering to tell me this? You've made it perfectly clear that you don't like me."

"That wasn't personal. Just because you aren't worthy of Jax doesn't mean I don't like you. In point of fact, I'm not worthy of Jax, either, so we actually have something in common."

She digested that. It really irritated her that he was right; neither one of them was worthy of Jax. She changed the subject back to business. "So what's your proposition?"

"Well, Sam, it occurs to me that perhaps I can help you discover what Corinthos-Morgan wants with you."

When he paused, she asked impatiently, "In exchange for what, exactly?"

"Well, darling, depending on what they want with you, if there is profit to be made, we split it 50-50."

"Not that I'm agreeing to anything, but what if there isn't profit to be made?"

"Then, depending on how well we work together, we either embark on another endeavor, or we go our separate ways with no harm done."

"I don't trust you, so why would I agree to this?"

"Darling, it's wise of you not to trust me, as I've never been particularly trustworthy. However, what options do you have? Corinthos-Morgan is dangerous; it wouldn't be wise to try taking them on alone. I, however, have a number of resources available to me that would be useful to you, both in determining what they want and in dealing with them once we've done that. And you are alone and pregnant."

"I still don't see the upside for you," Sam insisted.

"Perhaps a lot of money, perhaps not. If nothing else, Sam, dealing with you has never been dull." She snorted with disbelief, so he continued with a charming smile, "I detest boredom above all things." A knock sounded at the door. "Ah, there's the doctor. Relax for a while, make sure you and the baby are all right, and consider my offer." He walked to the door, and before opening it, he turned back. "Consider carefully, darling. I make a much better friend than enemy, and if you don't join forces with me, perhaps I'll see if Corinthos-Morgan is interested in having me on their team."

He forestalled any response she might have made by opening the door. He ushered the doctor into the room and said, "I'll give you some privacy. I'll be back in half an hour." And just like that, he was gone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Emily sighed as she settled into bed, curling into Steven's side. It had been quite a night. She had been shocked by the way Jerry had humiliated his date, but Skye and Jax had been unfazed. In fact, when she had approached Skye to see if she was all right, she had been left with the distinct impression that none of the evening's events had come as a surprise. Now, she said as much to Steven.

He mumbled something sleepily, so she went back to considering what that had been all about. It was clear the woman had some kind of criminal record, and apparently she had known Jax before he met Skye, and had gotten herself pregnant. She wondered briefly how Jax had learned all this, and how he knew the baby wasn't his.

At least, she assumed the baby wasn't his. Jax seemed like an honorable guy, so she doubted he would be marrying Skye if he was having a baby with another woman. Or maybe he would. Maybe he would just support his kid financially, but still marry the woman he really loved.

Too bad Sonny and Jax didn't get along … if Brenda had been there, Emily would have had someone to compare notes with and figure out what was going on.

The phone rang, interrupting her musings, and she glanced at the clock. 11:32. Her heart pounded with anxiety as she rolled over to look at the caller ID. Calls this late were rarely good news. The number was unfamiliar and long distance. She took a deep breath to steel herself and picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this the Webber residence?"

"Yes?" The voice on the other end was vaguely familiar, but Emily couldn't place it.

"This is Lucky Spencer. Is Elizabeth there? She said she was going to visit you and she was supposed to call and let me know she got there okay." Emily narrowed her eyes, knowing Elizabeth hadn't told him any such thing. He was clearly fishing for information. How dumb does he think I am?

"Lucky? Steven's sister's husband?" she asked disingenuously. She felt Steven stir beside her, so she kept her voice low.

"Yeah, you mean she's not there yet?" Man, he was good – he sounded worried rather than angry. But Johnny had told Brenda about the scene at Maxie's apartment when he had checked in about the jet, and Brenda had told Emily, so she knew he was probably more mad than concerned about Elizabeth's disappearance.

Meanwhile, she would do what she could to protect Elizabeth. She made her tone confused as she said, "Lucky, I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. I've never even met Elizabeth, and Steven hasn't seen her since before we got married. Why would she be coming here?"

"Well, I thought that's what she said. Maybe I misunderstood. Listen, if you hear from her, give me a call, okay? I'm really worried about her."

"Sure, Lucky. Listen, it's pretty late here, so I gotta go. Good luck finding Elizabeth." She managed to keep her voice even, but as she hung up, she almost laughed. Yeah, sure, I'll tell you if I hear from her, you cheating bastard. And donkeys might fly out of my butt. You will never find her if I have anything to do with it. Thank God Jason is with her …

Steven stirred enough to ask, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." She snuggled back down into his arms. And everything really was fine. Jason and Johnny would protect Elizabeth, and Skye would marry Jax without any interference from the criminal con woman. Thinking about it now, Emily realized she had never felt so blessed that her life was, comparatively speaking, so very normal. She kissed her husband's cheek and whispered, "I love you so much." He smiled and mumbled something unintelligible in response.

She drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.

Bloomington

Early the next morning, Johnny spoke quietly as Jason came into the living room of the suite. "Elizabeth was not happy about being stuck here all evening." Spinelli was in the shower, and the women hadn't come out of their shared bedroom yet, so he kept his voice low.

Jason sighed, keeping his voice equally soft as he answered, "Yeah, she made that pretty clear before we left. 'Don't you dare think you can keep me prisoner here' doesn't leave much room for misinterpretation."

"Yeah, well, once we calmed her down about that, she started asking questions about what business you and Spinelli were doing." Johnny grinned at the memory, and when Jason raised an eyebrow, he explained, "She wanted to know what kind of business gets done at night while dressed like a ninja."

Jason sighed again. "What did you tell her?"

"I told her it was none of her business, and if she really wanted to know, she should ask you herself. She said she would. Maxie probably will, too – she pestered me about it for the next hour. Oh, and Elizabeth also wanted me to tell you that you shouldn't expect her to always do what you tell her."

Jason rolled his eyes. Was this supposed to come as a surprise? She never did what he said, at least not without a fight. "Did you tell her to tell me herself?"

"Yeah, but she said if it came from multiple sources, you might actually get it." Jason couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped him as he imagined her telling Johnny that. She really was adorable.

The two men paused as Spinelli joined them. Johnny asked, "How did things go last night? You got back late."

"Fine," was all Jason said, so Johnny looked inquiringly at Spinelli.

"The surveillance mission was successful, as we have identified some apparent weaknesses in the protection arrangements at the office of the healing arts. One or two more nights of surveillance should be sufficient to ensure that the patterns are habitual on the part of security personnel." He paused, frowning pointedly at Jason, and added, "Unless Stone Cold inexplicably decides the Jackal should watch the same personnel do the same things for a week, and then never enter the premises to secure the required information and specimens." Jason glared at him, so he hastily added, "Although Stone Cold clearly had excellent reasons for behaving as he did in the Emerald City," Under his breath, he added, "not that the Jackal has any idea what those reasons might have been."

Jason pretended not to hear him, saying only, "I want to be done and out of here in two days, three tops. Spinelli and I will be busy with the surveillance and the retrieval, so Johnny, you're responsible for keeping Elizabeth and Maxie safe."

Johnny groaned, "Are you sure you don't want to switch, Jason? You can stay here with the ladies, and Spinelli and I'll take care of business." At Jason's look, he said, "Okay, fine, but there's no way I'm gonna be able to keep them cooped up here for two days. I'm not sure I can keep them here for the rest of today. I told you what Elizabeth said about –"

He broke off as the door opened and Elizabeth came into the room, asking brightly, "What did I say about what?" She shut the door quietly behind her.

Johnny started to answer, but Jason beat him to it. "Don't you remember?"

She frowned and said, "I say a lot of things, and I remember them all. I just don't know exactly which one we're talking about right now."

Jason gave her a charming smile. "Apparently I shouldn't expect you to always do what I say."

"Oh, right," she grinned back. "Well, that's true, you shouldn't. Especially if it means sitting around in a boring hotel room all day."

Jason sighed. He realized he was being irrational in wanting to keep her safely in the room, so he grudgingly said, "Okay, well, I guess as long as you promise to stay with Johnny and do whatever he says, you can go out."

"Why do we have to do what Johnny says? Why should he be in charge?"

"Johnny is there to protect you. He's not gonna tell you what to do except if it's an issue of your safety, so I need you to promise to listen to him."

"I don't know why you're so hung up on my safety, Jason. Lucky won't be coming after me. I'm not in any danger."

"Can you please just humor me?" She started to frown, so he added, "I need to focus on business so we can all head home, and I won't be able to do that if I'm worrying that you'll make it harder for Johnny to protect you. So please, either stay here or listen to Johnny if you leave. Please." He grinned, remembering their conversation yesterday about the importance of saying please.

Her eyes sparkled and he wondered if she was thinking about that, too, but she said only, "All right, all right, you win. I'll listen to Johnny. But he better only boss me around if there's a safety issue." She gave Johnny a warning glare. He smiled innocently back at her.

Jason said, "Good. Thank you. Now, Spinelli and I have to go. We'll see you back here for dinner."

"Wait, you're gonna be gone all day?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't sound happy about that at all.

"Yeah, I'll be tied up all day. Look, I really have to go. You have my number if you need me, but otherwise, Johnny will look out for you and I'll see you for dinner."

She nodded, but she still didn't look happy. "What kind of business are you doing, anyway?"

"Can we talk about this later?" he replied. "I really have to get going now."

"Okay, fine, you can tell me about it at dinner."

"Fine." He headed toward the door.

Great, he thought, Now if only I can figure out what to say by dinnertime.