"Why am I here?"
"I need a PI."
"For?"
"Oh, just sit…and stop acting like we're enemies!"
"It wasn't so long ago that was the case."
"Ha, ha…we've come a long way from pulling each other's hair over Jason…I'd dare say you're more like a sister to me now."
"Number one - I don't pull hair, I punch faces…and number two, sisters is a stretch - stop it!"
Tossing the tiny, lighted plastic squeeze ball she'd been using to work her fingers before Sam walked in, Carly watched her sidestep contact so it bounced off the far wall and rolled beneath a table. "Just take a seat and help me figure this out?"
"Figure what out?" Sam allowed the teasing smile to wane when she noticed how very worried and upset Carly appeared. "Okay, you've got my attention - what is it?"
"What do you mean? Sam?" When Sam pursed her lips and shrugged her shoulders in puzzled query to Carly's frustration, Carly continued huffily, "We have to do something about them! Obviously we can't leave it to Sonny and Jason, because they're under some kinda spell that keeps them blind to this chick's black heart - so we need to do it!"
"Do what?"
Carly leant back in the chair and cleared her throat, "That's the part I haven't quite figured out yet. You can help me decide." Pushing forward again, she leant across the desk in plea, "You do know we have to do something, right? We can't let them get away with what they tried and what I know in my gut that bitch is still rife to do to us! We have to stick together, Sam…we have to protect Sonny and Jason from themselves!"
"Okay, Captain Stealth…before you go all diabolical on me…what makes you so certain it hasn't been squashed like Jason thinks?"
"Don't ask me that! You were there, same as I was, and you were mighty mad because you saw, same as I did, that she's a conniving shrew, who's not gonna just stop because they asked! We may have found her out before she executed her real plan, but I know firsthand what that little underhanded bitch is capable of. I know this was just the beginning, no matter how much Sonny and Jason think they've convinced her to suddenly play nice."
"I don't want to have anything to do with her, Carly. If I near her again I'm likely to poke her judgmental eyes out! Can't have Jason getting mad at me for maiming his pet doctor."
"Since when are you afraid of Jason?"
"Whatever…we can't go after her without proof. What if she really is over her little tantrum? If we do something to hurt her they'll never forgive us."
"But that's where your skills come in. Your investigations have already turned up so much - just keep going. Find something we can use to get that bitch run out of town once and for all."
"Run out of town? She has family here…we don't own Port Charles…we can't tell her where to live."
"What? When did you get so soft? Don't tell me you're looking forward to seeing her everywhere you go…everytime you take Danny out for ice cream, or drop off your drycleaning? Can you imagine?"
"It won't be any worse than running into the other snakes slithering around here every day. Shit, if I was chasing people out of town I'd start with that vile bitch, who's constantly after my life."
"Elizabeth?" Carly scoffed and rolled her eyes in disgust. "Oh, please, that non threat has been so neutralized you need a new word for it. The way both Jasons totally ignored her the other night…I think it's finally sunk in how irrelevant she is - you can see it all over her. I'm actually starting to feel a little sorry for her - did you hear she made a play for the con too, and got shot down like a skeet? Right outside of Kelly's before everybody! Even a fake Jason has no use for her!"
Sam looked over at Carly, silent as she listened and pictured them together, pleased in the next to find she felt very little about it anymore, one way or the other. Whatever demon she'd fallen prey to that had made her jealous and envious of that relationship during that very dark period of her life, had long evaporated just as it had appeared…quietly and with little notice. Inconsequence. The word echoed each time the woman appeared or someone mentioned her to Sam. Total inconsequence.
"Okay, look - you're about to do something harebrained unless I intervene, so you got it…I'll keep looking to see what else I uncover. Just keep the wacky schemes to a minimum until you hear from me."
Allowing the victorious smile to break free, Carly slapped the desk with both palms and rose from her seat to join Sam, who was already standing, ready to leave.
"Fantastic! They won't know what hit them, and Sonny and Jason will see I was right!"
Moving to the door as she shook her head and smiled, Sam glanced back and jeered, "Sure, Carly…that's what it's about…proving you're always right," then swung open the door and stepped through, "I'll see you in a few hours, Colombo."
As she watched her friend leave, Carly smiled a triumph that emitted from an inner glee. Those two, stubborn as they were, had come so far from months before when they'd both been tap-dancing around each other, afraid to admit to what they both felt, blind to what destiny had always had in store for them. She was so happy to see they'd gotten out of their own way and found the path back to their happiness again, despite obstacle after crippling obstacle. Nobody brought out in Jason what Sam did…and vice versa…and it was good to see them finally remember and accept that.
Twenty minutes later, Sam pushed the door to her mom's house wider, which was already ajar due to the traffic going in and out. When she found an empty living room, she made her way to the kitchen, her eyes immediately falling to a picture hub of activity outside the large kitchen window. Alexis and Molly were seated at the kitchen table, stuffing toys and treats into colorful drawstring party bags. "What's this - didn't the planner say she had the goodie bags covered?" She dropped into the chair next to Molly and grabbed a chocolate covered almond from the bowl before her sister.
"She did." Alexis finished closing a bag and rested it on the pile between them. "These are for the scavenger hunt. Those are always fun - no matter how modern you kids are now."
"I wouldn't know - don't have any childhood references to draw from." Sam popped the almond and grinned glibly at her mom, who always fell for the playful ploy.
"My poor little orphan Annie…I really screwed up with you."
"Yes, but now you get a do over with the best part of me. Where is he?"
"Upstairs with Lucas. They have a surprise of their own I'm told - no girls allowed."
"Danny's words." Molly grinned at her big sister and added a bag to the pile. "I can't believe my nephew is another year older already - he was just born!"
"You can't? He's almost as tall as I am now - I miss being able to lift my baby and walk him around the penthouse in my arms, telling him stories and singing him lullabies. All he wants to hear now is the theme song to Star Wars…I want my baby back…today moves me one year closer to losing him to the world." She reached for another almond and rued, "He's been spending so much time here, and at Monica's lately too - I miss him."
Alexis stuffed a bag with hotrods and shook her head, "Don't even think of cutting my grandma time - we've been having a ball. Besides, you've been extremely busy with the company taking off and putting your lives back together. I much rather he's here with me than with a babysitter somewhere."
"Yea, Sam - it takes a village to raise a child - haven't you ever heard that old saying? It's more than just a saying, actually…it traces back to African heritage, where it was believed an entire village was responsible for teaching a child life's lessons. In Swahili, for example, 'Asiye funzwa na mamae hufunzwa na ulimwengu,' is a proverb that means, 'he who isn't taught by the mother is raised by the world.'
"Really, Molly? So if I don't make the time to teach my kid manners and compassion, he'll learn from this shitty world to be a pig? Way to make me feel better about not spending enough time with him already!" She watched Molly duck from the almond tossed at her head, grinning as she came back up in her seat.
"That's one translation but it also means, you can't be there every minute of his life, so the people you entrust him with, get to pitch in and help mold him on his journey. It's a good thing. We're family and we're all here for Danny…wouldn't have it any other way." She rose from the chair to throw her arms around her big sister, hugging her defensively as she chuckled to the jangle of the silver bracelets she wore on both wrists, "And we're always here for you too, just like you've been for me my whole life. We're our own village, where Danny couldn't be any safer! I love you, sissy!"
Alexis watched the sight that always warmed her heart - her girls related to each other in a way that all sisters should, and Sam smiling through mock irritation, assuring her baby sister she loved her too, made her heart melt, expressly missing Kristina, who had spent the week in New York city but was expected to make it home for the party. The whole family was supposed to be together on days like this very special one.
"Where's Jason?"
"On a case. He'll be here soon."
"Let's hope so." Alexis hadn't realized she'd mumbled the words out loud until…
"Mom!" Molly looked chagrined, her eyes darting from her mother to her sister, who was eyeing her cooly.
"What? I only mean, Jason tends to get too caught up in whatever act of heroism he's performing at the moment to remember little things like parties."
"Nothing is more important to Jason than Danny, and being here for the first birthday he's had since he found out Danny's his son? Just stop it, Mom."
"Sorry - I didn't mean anything by it."
"Yes, you did. But you're wrong. He'll be here." If one of his conquests doesn't develop another crisis only he can solve.
To silence the sneaking demons and her mother, Sam rose from the table and walked out the open back door to stroll the yard that had been transformed into a virtual reality of space travel and time warps. Even the bouncehouse was in the shape of a huge spaceship, flanked on either side by a staff member dressed as a Storm Trooper. The long table near the back gate was laden with everything from lightsabers, to sunglasses with pictures of Han Solo and Princess Leia, to various character ringpops, face masks, and neon lighted noise makers. The treat stand in one corner had R2-D2 cups of popcorn, double D'Qar cookies shaped like the moon with chocolate icing between them, even little bottles of water with Chewbacca labels, resting in buckets of ice, at each end of the table. The centerpiece was a multi-tiered cupcake stand with various flavors, topped with grey icing and edible lightsaber candies. Bring on the sugar coma.
Jedi Daniel, printed in large black letters, glared from white streamers that lined every table and gleaned on four main banners at the perimeter of the huge backyard, with tons of black, grey, and white balloons stringed tightly on three sides of each one. Even the garbage cans strewn strategically around were shaped like R2-D2 and circled with balloons.
Laughing out loud, Sam threw her head back when the DJ, set up in the corner near the bouncehouse, addressed her over the microphone to the bounding sounds of Prince through the speakers. Dancing her way to the booth, Sam bobbed her head and clapped her hands together in time to the music, joining to belt the lyrics, "we're gonna party like it's 1999."
"Best DJ in town…you have a skill to fall back on if the GH thing doesn't work out."
Bringing the microphone back up, Brad grinned at his soon to be sister-in-law, "With you as my opening act - can't lose!"
Staff dressed as SE8 droids, milled around getting the last details in place minutes before the army of little boys and girls were expected to fill the backyard.
"Isn't this wonderful? Danny's gonna love it!" Molly exited the backdoor with Alexis in tow and they proceeded to stash the stuffed bags around the yard, in hedges and flowerbeds, behind rocks, in tree trunks and even taped beneath the benches. Watching the whole thing come together, Sam knew her baby was about to have the best party of his little life so far, surrounded by people who made his happiness an everyday mission…and she couldn't feel more blessed. Pleased, she turned to the house to find him, anxious to impart his hundredth birthday kiss for the day…girls allowed or not!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Jason - Jason - help me!"
Before he knew what was happening, Elizabeth ran full speed into his arms, completely panic-stricken, clinging tightly to his t-shirt with both hands. Caught by surprise, Jason looked down at her distraught state, then around the docks for the source of alarm. Seeing none, he started to comfort her, purely out of habit, then caught himself in the action that's never led him anywhere good. Easing gently from the deathgrip she had on his body, he asked her calmly, "What's this?"
Although she couldn't handle the distrust in his voice on top of his rejection, she knew Jason would never ignore her pain.
"He attacked me - he just came out of nowhere and grabbed me from behind." Forcing her way back into the arms he was still trying to move her from, she worked the frantic feelings full tilt. "I was so scared! I was there again - that awful night in the park!" She gripped tighter when he tried again to ease her from him. "You know how horrific…oh, Jason, please don't let him hurt me!"
"Let who hurt you? Elizabeth, there's no-one here."
She couldn't stop him this time, he was forceful when he backed her from him to hold her at arm's length, despite her efforts to move back in. Looking behind her frantically, she saw what he did - no-one!
"He was there - he had me by my arms and I wanted to scream, but I couldn't move. I was so scared!"
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You didn't see a face?"
"No! Yes - but - I don't, I didn't recognize him. I don't know who he is. Jason, please - don't let him hurt me!"
"Okay, calm down. There's no-one else here, so if someone was before, he's gone now. You should go on home."
The doubt in his voice, the disbelief looking back at her from eyes that once held so much love, broke her in two.
"You don't believe me? I can't believe you think I'm making this up." She sobbed in dejection. "Jason, please, I need your help."
He wasn't falling for it. "If someone attacked you, you should call the police. I'll see you to the ferry, but then I have to go."
"What could be so important you'd brush me off like this?"
"My family! I'm not missing my son's birthday for anything. If you feel unsafe, call the police."
"The police?" She could not believe how callously he was treating her situation…someone who rode a constant white stallion to her rescue, under any and every circumstance…he really, really was done? Completely? "What good are they? What can they do?"
"I'm told they protect and serve - which is why you pay taxes. Come on, if you don't want to go to the ferry, you can walk with me to Kelly's and call from there - it's on my way."
"And then you're just going to leave me?"
Looking her dead in the eye so there could be no misunderstanding, he nodded and affirmed, "Yes!" Trying to guide her in the direction, but she stood stubbornly in place, which started to irritate him. "You can wait for them there or here - I'm going home."
"Jason, please. Somebody is after me…I'm getting hangup phonecalls and mysterious notes…and now this. I need you."
"Danny, needs me! My son, who turned six today." His annoyance - with her, with her drama, with all of Port Charles who'd seen fit to separate him from his heart - was riding damn high at the constant intrusions. "Danny's had five birthdays that I wasn't present for! Five…that I missed him blowing out his candles…where I have no idea what he wished for…where Sam had to do it all without me. Wild horses dragging you feet first into your latest crisis, real or imagined, will not get in the way of this one!"
When her heart zinged at his avid proclamation, the welled tears spilled her cheek to run her anguish all the way. "You can just turn your back when my life is in danger?"
"I'm not responsible for your personal safety, Elizabeth. I told you - call the police." Her ready tears edged his annoyance a notch when her attempt at manipulation irked him through, and when she still wouldn't move, he shrugged his arms and stepped past her.
"Jason - you got a minute?"
Stopping in barely masked frustration, Jason stilled to the sound of a voice he could do without hearing tonight…but he'd never ignored her before, and given how volatile she'd proven lately, he probably shouldn't start now. Better to keep your enemies really close…though when exactly he became her enemy was still puzzling to him. Turning to face her, he caught cool indifference behind her eyes, despite the feigned warmth in her words, as she tucked her phone in a pocket.
"Robin. What can I do for you?"
Eyeing Elizabeth curiously, she stopped where Jason did, "I want you to know I heard you the other night. I won't insult you by trying to make you believe all is forgiven, or that things are back the way they used to be between us, but I want you to know that I'm trying."
Something in her words made him believe the exact opposite of what was said.
"That's good to hear. Things should never have deteriorated that far but I'm glad you know it was never intentional, on any of our parts. I'm still here for you."
"You mean that?"
"Of course."
"Then do you mind walking me to my car? I left it on the other side of the park earlier, and it's gotten dark since then. I just can't seem to feel safe anywhere anymore."
"You don't have to explain." Stepping to the side, Jason motioned for her to precede him. "Lead the way."
"I never used to be afraid of walking the streets of my own town, day or night, but after everything…"
"This is unbelievable…" when they both looked back at her, Elizabeth pointed to Robin, "…you'll walk Robin, but me you'll ignore?"
"I offered to do the same for you, Elizabeth…it's your choice to stay put." She was facing Robin, who was eyeing her warily.
"Elizabeth, what's wrong?"
"Somebody is after me. Jason won't help, and Robin, I'm so scared." She shivered, lips trembling for Robin's benefit, who glanced over to where Jason was checking his phone irritably.
"What do you mean - who's after you?"
"Some man I've never seen before. He just…attacked me! And Jason doesn't care!"
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Looking at the screen in one palm, Sam raised the drink in her hand to drain the cup, eyes glued to the picture on her phone. The number was not one she recognized and she instantly noticed there was no text with it, just the disturbing picture itself, from some unknown source, unmistakably just taken in the twilight of the passing day, showing her man in the clothes she last saw him wearing, only now also with something distasteful held in his arms.
"That's not work, is it?" Alexis handed her a fresh cup and tossed the one she'd just emptied, "Take a night off daughter. Work can wait."
Taking another swig from the new drink, Sam placed the phone back in her pocket and eyed her mother. "I'm not sure what exactly it is." Her eyes trailed back to where her baby was sabering with a classmate and she smiled, "But I don't care at the moment."
Nikolas, who was standing next to Sam, reached out to clunk his plastic cup with hers, "Cheers to that." They smiled at each other and took a sip, looking back to watch the kids at play. Spencer was in the midst of Danny and his friends, rambling excitedly to Emma over something he withdrew from a scavenger find. "They make everything worthwhile."
"They sure do."
"So, where is Jason…he missed half the party already."
Nikolas had to be the fiftieth person who asked that question so far, and Sam was getting sick of answering. Maybe she should write it on a bulletin and place it in the center of the yard - that way no-one would miss it. "He's on his way." Though he should've been there already from the time he'd called to say he was, Sam now knew what was holding him up. But Danny was enjoying every minute of his space odyssey, and nothing else mattered then.
"Good." Nikolas knew her. He could see something was on her mind, something she didn't wish to talk about. "So how're you, Cousin?"
Sparing the briefest look at his concerned face, Sam smiled and looked back at the boys. "Fine. Living the charmed life, can't you tell?"
Smiling at the hint of sarcasm, he went on, needing to know how she really was. "That's good to hear, but really…how are you?"
Another quick glance read the worry in his eyes, and Sam knew the query was genuine. "Really - I'm fine. Busy more than usual, but I'm not complaining - I'm doing what I love to do and my family is healthy and happy. I have no complaints."
"I'm sure if you looked you could find one?"
"What's the use of complaining? I'd much rather do something about it."
"About what?"
Sam looked at him again, realizing he was really asking.
"Anything at all. Inaction has never been my style, so if something bothers me I find a way to make it stop…you know that."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Elizabeth gripped the cup between tight fingers as she sat in Kelly's waiting for Lucky. She hated to call him for anything but when Jason wouldn't give her the time of day, she'd had no choice but to walk with them to Kelly's, where he hadn't even watched that she got safely inside, just went on his merry way. Anxious knees bobbed beneath the table as she wracked her brain to figure her way out of this latest mire. She could never tell anyone her role in what was now befalling her. How had every single thing gone so horribly, horribly wrong for her, when she wasn't the one who was supposed to be suffering and miserable right now!
The beep of the phone on the table drew her eyes to the text that turned her blood ice cold!
'You set me up! You wanna play? Let's!'
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Stepping through the open back gate, Jason stopped just inside to survey the bustling yard, filled with friends celebrating his little boy, hyped up on sugar, milling against the sound of music and laughing chatter. He'd never been one for parties or packed gatherings, but his chest was threatening to burst with the pride it filled with at the sight. These people had all come together for his son, to rejoice in his birth and laud his existence…aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, friends…they all took the time to be there, to exalt his special, special, little man.
He watched where Danny was at play, surrounded by his friends and cousins, laughing and happy, zipping multi-colored lightsabers through the night, and it struck Jason once more how powerful his feelings of love and pride and joy were for the little boy who filled him all the way through. He loved him so much! Danny was a part of him…the tiny atom that grew more each day, never losing a light that radiated through his always innocent smile, his dazzling blue eyes, his quiet reservation and sweet disposition. The perfection of the combination of him and the woman he loved, made each day worth living and their lives so very full. The little miracle he once thought would never be, was right where he could hug and hold and breathe him in every day, bestow the love of a father to his son, impart the lessons of life and supply the tools to serve him through its inevitable battles. The little boy who made him smile and laugh with just a gesture or a word, who made his day, simply by being, was the everything every father should aspire. A most precious gift from the one woman who lit his life and gave his love purpose.
When his eyes found where she stood with her cousin and sisters, Jason felt the giant thump in his heart that flipped into a somersault. She was radiant, her smile as bright as the lit night, and as he watched her tuck a dark strand behind a delicate ear, his already full heart bubbled right over. He loved her so damn much! She was perfect to him! Not only the beacon that guided him home, but the hearth that warmed it and the grounding that kept him sane. Kind, sweet, resourceful, cunning, strong, sleek, funny, irreplaceably the most beautiful thing in the world. And she loved him. Despite all the shit he'd brought to her life with the baggage from hell he lugged constantly, she loved him unlike anything he's ever known. What an idiot he'd been, thinking at any time he could've had any life worth living without her. When he thought of each time he'd tried - once for her, once for a son that wasn't even his, once because his damaged brain had lost her…the stark difference between then and the time they spent together, loving, respecting, honoring that rarest, unmatched, uninhibited importance that lived between them…he was urged to knee and thank God she never gave up on him and pray she never would!
With a urge he'd never again fight, his feet moved him to her side, where oblivious to everyone present, his arm circled her waist to pull her slowly to him, his head descending to accommodate lips that hungered to taste her. When he locked her in and drank from her welcome to his kiss, a soft groan left his throat and his hold tightened, as he allowed his kiss to bestow the heavenly feeling of being in her arms at the end of a long, long day that knew no happiness until he'd found his way to her.
"Well…hello to you too." Smiling when she was finally able to take a breath from his sweet, sweet kiss, Sam looked in the face of her heart, her eyes catching instantly the emotions awash in his own…love, adoration, peace, satisfaction…and everything else faded to black.
While she couldn't wait to hear what newest catastrophe, real or contrived, had sent Sleezabeth Webber to his arms and the photo of it, to her phone, for the obvious reasons of making her jealous or angry, or both, she knew she wanted to enjoy her man and their son more. She wanted to cut his cake, to laugh with their friends, to open his presents and die in the joy of seeing his, a helluva lot more. Guess she could wait afterall.
