Author's notes: Lyrics are "Bourbon Borderline" by Gary
Allan and "Surfin' Safari" by the Beach Boys. Rach- thanks, and you're wrong
about Frisco. Luke's starting to be the saner one of the two.
Memories of you surround me
And I'm afraid the tears might drown me
Oh, I think I'm doing fine
Until I cross that bourbon borderline
Frisco followed Lulu back into the ballroom and found the table where Anna, Alexis and Stefan had been seated. At the next table was Nikolas, Gia, Lucky and Livvie Locke, Kevin's daughter and Lucky's part-time girlfriend. Gia's dress was similar to Lulu's, he noticed, but baby blue and minus the tutu material. He sat down next to Alexis, smiling. "Sorry about that," he apologized to the small group.
"What was the crisis Ms. Coe needed help with?" Stefan asked.
"My daughter's boyfriend was arrested," the agent replied indifferently. He leaned towards Alexis. "You know, there is something very wrong about a bunch of middle aged doctors in loud hula shirts."
"Maxie's boyfriend was arrested? For what?" Alexis asked, stunned, ignoring his last statement.
"Possession with intent to sell, a felony charge."
"Couldn't you do anything for him?"
"Nope, nor did I want to," he scoffed. "He's just a little punk and Maxie's better off without him."
"How'd she take it?" Anna asked.
"She hates me," he answered with a smile. "At least it wasn't this dad that got the warrant in the first place."
"Why was Ms. Coe panicking over this young man?" Stefan questioned, although only mildly interested. "Was he performing?"
"He was supposed to be in Maxie and Serena's number, but he's been replaced."
"Bet Lucy went ballistic," Gia said, leaning closer to their table. "She freaked out enough when Livvie and Alison started fighting in rehearsals, then Liz and Courtney turned around and got into it."
Frisco glanced at Livvie, then smiled at Gia. "Hope you're doing something that requires bickering."
She shrugged. "We're doing 'Cell Block Tango'. A little animosity couldn't hurt."
"Which part do you have?"
She grinned devilishly, glancing at her fiancé. "You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic," she quoted to Frisco and Alexis' amusement.
"Well, she's got the Cassadine weapon of choice down," Alexis teased.
The house lights dimmed and the curtains opened enough for Lucy to walk to the middle of the stage. Her light green ball gown shimmered under the lights, it was actually unbelievably subtle for Lucy. She greeted the crowd with a huge smile.
"Welcome to the 9th Annual General Hospital Nurse's Ball!" Lucy said, to the cheers of the audience. "When we started this nine years ago, there was no cure, no treatment, no hope for those with this dreadful, deadly disease. Now, there are several treatments and we are closer than ever to a cure. Tonight is about hope, about celebration and about joy. Tonight will be a night of many surprises and a night to never forget..."
Frisco's mind drifted as she spoke, to another hospital fundraiser, long ago. Soon Lucy faded and he saw his mother on stage, nearly identical pale green ball gown, the same speech urging for donations. The last time he ever heard his mother sing.
She was sick, very sick, but insisted on seeing the fundraiser through. She had to live up to the commitments she'd made before her illness, she had told him, a lesson she had hammered home several times throughout his young life. He quit far too easily in her opinion and she always practiced what she preached, or at least tried to.
As she struggled to get through the exhausting evening, all he could was watch her push herself to keep going.
He didn't know how sick she was until that night. She'd insisted on seeing to the cleanup, but it was too much for her. She collapsed, hitting her head on a table as she fell. They'd rushed her to the emergency room, and left Andy alone with the nurses while his father and brother talked to the doctors. Poor little Andy, the nurses had whispered behind his back, his mother is dying. He rushed back to his mother's room and tried to get someone to talk to him. His father pushed him away as usual, but when Tony, the big brother he looked up to and depended on, told him to go away, he did just that. He left the hospital and wandered aimlessly through the city for hours. If no one wanted him around, he wasn't about to stay. Not that it mattered, he always ended up alone anyway. Unfortunately, his parents had reported him missing. A cop found him early the next morning and returned him to the hospital, where his father was furiously waiting to ground him. Again.
He didn't mean to make her cry. He didn't mean to make things worse, to make them worry. He didn't what was going on, no one was telling him anything and he was scared. All he wanted was someone to tell him everything would be okay, not to get yelled at told what an ungrateful, spoiled brat he was.
Oddly enough, the only comfort he received that night was a hug from Rita, something his family couldn't be bothered with.
A hand gently touching his cheek brought him back to the present. He glanced around, blinking a few times in confusion. Stefan and Anna's attention was on the stage. Alexis, however, was looking at him strangely.
"You want to tell me about it?" she asked softly.
He stiffened. "About what?"
"What ever you were thinking about. I know that tear couldn't have been for Lucy's joke about losing her dress."
Tear? He hadn't even realized... He took a few deep breaths, suddenly wishing this night was over. "I was just remembering something, that's all."
"Felicia?"
"No," he said with a sigh. "Not Felicia."
"Are you ready to laugh?" Lucy asked the crowd, raising her excited voice over the cheers. "Are you ready to party?" The crowd cheered even louder. "Most importantly, are you ready to spend your money?" A few amused laughs could be heard through more cheers. "Bringing us the sounds of fun, sun, sand and surf all the way from sunny California, Tony Jones and the Beach Bums!"
Lucy quickly exited the stage as the curtains fully opened, no spotlights. Even in the dark, the hula shirts stood out. Seeing his brother on stage, he'd have to thank Skye. His gold lame jacket was much better than those hula shirts.
The sounds of an old Beach Boys classic filled the room as the stage lights came up Frisco tried not to crack up at the sight of his older brother. Hula shirt half open, collar up, sunglasses, hair moussed, surfboard in hand. Several other members of the surgical staff, including Bobbie, were standing behind him, all dressed in similar beach clothing.
"Early in the morning we'll be startin' out," Tony sang. "Some honeys will be coming along..."
Kevin moved to the front of the stage and took over singing duties from Tony. "We're loading up our woody with our boards inside and headin' out singing our song..."
The other doctors and nurses, only a couple of which Frisco knew, also moved forward, dancing and joined in singing the chorus. "Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learning how, come on and safari with me..."
"Come on and safari with..." Alan sang in the background.
~*~
The second Ned Ashton hit the stage for the second number, Frisco went for the bar. "Excuse me," he grumbled to Alexis as he got up.
She followed him. "Don't want to listen to another man sing to Felicia?" she said teasingly.
"What about you? Don't want to listen to Ned sing to another woman?"
Alexis smiled. "Touché."
"Yup." What else was he supposed to do? The guy was singing a cheesy romantic ballad to his woman. Even out in the lobby, he could hear Ned's stupid song. "Wanna go upstairs and have sex?" he suggested jokingly, flashing her only a faint, defeated smile.
Alexis laughed. "Nice try, buster!" she replied, bumping him with her shoulder.
"You have an exhibitionist streak? There's plenty of dark corners around..."
She rolled her eyes. "Knowing my luck, Helena would find us and make a big scene just to humiliate me."
Mentioning Helena was one good way to kill anything but a bad mood. "Knowing my luck, she'd ask to join in," Frisco snorted.
"Oh god, is that why you're so tortured? Satan herself turn her evil eye on you?"
He chuckled. Evil eye was one way to put it. "She just wants me for my body."
"I should say so. It's such a fine body," she said amorously. "But she usually likes her boy toys a bit more submissive."
A perky, female voice interrupted. "Looking sharp, Frisco."
Frisco and Alexis turned to see Bobbie standing behind them, straightening her black evening dress. They smiled happily at her as a man walked to her side. Of all the measly scumbags to show up, it had to be Jerry Jacks... Frisco's eyes widened in surprise, so did Jerry's.
"Oh, Frisco, this is..." Bobbie started to say.
She didn't get a chance to finish the introduction. Jerry cut her off. "I can explain..." he managed to nervously stammer, before Frisco's fist connected with his jaw. He stumbled back, leaving Alexis and Bobbie agape.
Alexis put herself between the two men, her hands on Frisco's chest to hold him back. "What's wrong with you?" she asked angrily as Bobbie helped Jerry up.
"Yeah!" the Aussie snarled at him.
Frisco lunged for the other man again. "You don't leave your partner, better yet your boss, without cover, you fucking asswipe!"
"You were fine!"
"Yeah, up until they started shooting at me!"
"You got out, didn't you?"
"No thanks to you, dumbass! You were supposed to back me up!"
"I went for more back up!"
"The hell you did! You were just saving your own ass and you left mine in the goddamn line of fire!"
Alexis and Bobbie glanced at each other in confusion. "What on earth are you two bickering about?" the redhead snapped.
Jerry looked at her guiltily. "Remember how I said I had to make a deal to stay out of jail?"
"Yes."
"Well, the deal was with the WSB."
"What!" she shouted.
He cringed and looked around. "Shh... Nobody's supposed to know!"
"Way to go, Jacks. Five minutes here and you've already blown your cover," Frisco grumbled, crossing his arms.
"My cover would've been fine if you hadn't punched me," Jerry shot back.
"Yeah, like it's so difficult to come up with a reason to deck you."
Sean entered the lobby, storming up to the group. "What's going on here?" he asked, looking pointedly at Jerry and Frisco. "I could hear you two inside."
"Nothing," both men grudgingly replied.
Sean shook his head. "Who hit who first?" he asked the two women tiredly.
"Frisco," they replied in unison.
He stared down the younger agent. "My office, first thing Monday morning."
"You don't have an office here," Frisco pointed out softly.
"Then your office, first thing Monday morning." The older man grinned deviously. "We can discuss Jerry's assignment."
"Assignment?" Frisco groaned. "Oh no, you're not dumping him on me! You already saddled me with Rita!"
Sean snickered. "You wanted more personnel. He was available."
"Be careful what you wish for," Jerry added, smiling sardonically.
Frisco glared at him. He had a smartass comment ready, but thought better of it, with Sean standing right there. Last thing he needed was to be chewed out by the boss for one more thing, especially Jerry.
"Does this mean your back for good?" Alexis asked the Aussie excitedly.
Frisco turned back to the bar, tuning out the rest of the conversation. Instead, he finished his drink as soon as it was set in front of him, followed by two more.
"Why don't you take it easy, huh?" Tiffany asked quietly, standing next to him.
He hadn't noticed that Ned's song had finished and that the show had taken a short break. He sighed. "I'm fine, Tiff."
"Really? How many does that make?" She nodded at the fresh drink in front of him. "Four? Five? Six?"
He rolled his eyes. He'd been through this before, Tiffany or Sean eyeing everything he did, everything he drank. It got so repetitious, he was so ready to strangle both of them, even as occasionally he saw them. "I take the fifth," answered, annoyed.
"You're not under oath."
"Then I decline to answer on the grounds it violates my religion."
She put her hand on her hip, leaning on the bar. She shook her head, an impressed smirk on her face. "Religion," she snorted. "Now that's a new one, darlin'."
He forced a grin for his old friend. "Glad you enjoyed it. I'll be here all night."
Tiffany looked back towards the doors and back to him. "We better be getting back in there. Anna and Mac are going to speak for Robin. Don't want to miss that."
Alexis touched his arm. "Gia's going on after them as well," she reminded him.
"Right." Frisco quickly finished his drink and flashed Tiffany one last smile. The 'leave me the hell alone' smile he perfected after Iraq. He took Alexis' hand and returned to their table.
~*~
Stefan had moved to the other table and was talking seriously with Lucky and Nikolas, Gia and Livvie already backstage getting ready for their number.
"Abandon us already, Stefan?" Alexis asked her brother. "A little early, isn't it?"
Frisco sat down, not really caring what the answer was.
"No," Stefan replied softly. "I was asking about Laura."
An explosion erupted outside and resonated throughout the hotel, drowning out any possible response.
