CHAPTER 49
Carly was glad the minute the ELQ jet landed back in Port Charles. As lovely as the town of Llanview seemed, her instincts were telling her to get out. She had had enough trouble in her life with Sonny, around mob wars and enemies unseen, she didn't want to get hip deep in any of what Blair had told her. She just felt bad for the other woman and her family.
All in all, Morgan hadn't made a comment on the meetings or the trip at all on the flight home. When they got in the car at the airport, Carly instructed the driver to drop her son back at the house and then afterwards, to take her to ELQ. Morgan gave her a look but she told him, "I just want to catch AJ up on what went down with BE."
She was at AJ's office not a half-hour later and breezed right past his secretary, who never even had the chance to intercom AJ about his visitor. "Hey," she said. "We need to talk."
AJ, who was on the phone, ended his call. Part of him was a bit ticked by her barging in, but then he remembered, this was Carly. She had no qualms about using her master key at the MetroCourt to enter guests' rooms and cut up their possessions. Besides, he was eager to hear how the deal went. He was sure she'd be as tenacious to acquire The Palace Hotel as she was to fighting for custody of her kids.
"I'm not getting in the middle of that deal," she informed him firmly, her tone leaving no doubt in her mind.
AJ's jaw hit the desk. "What?" Her statement utterly shocked him. He knew all the mechanics of the proposal they had put together. It was very generous with compensation, retention and other sundries. He was sure the Buchanans would jump on it.
Carly took a deep breath as she sat down across from him, her hand rubbing her stomach. "When we got to town, I went looking for Blair," she began. "We had struck up a friendship, of sorts after she came here because of Starr's accident, and after you told me she and Todd had gotten remarried, I thought I'd congratulate the happy couple." From the tone of her voice, it sounded like something had happened. A moment of panic passed over AJ. "You remember when he looked like he was going out of his mind trying to win me back? Nanny cams in stuffed animals and stuff like that?" AJ nodded. "He may have actually." She looked at him, holding his gaze for a minute. "AJ you cannot tell anyone what I am about to tell you."
AJ had been intrigued by what she was beginning to tell him but became immediately concerned when she said that last instruction. He nodded, gravely.
Carly began to give AJ a rundown of her first few months knowing Todd Manning, from why he had come to town to the night of Starr's concert, including the baby switch. She went into detail about how she had helped him plan a romantic dinner for him and Blair and his proposal and ultimate reject by the other woman. She told AJ she had tried to get him back to dating other woman and how he had seemed to latch onto her, even though she was dating Johnny Zacchara at the time. Todd had been there for her when Sonny's fiancée had reverted to her alternate personality and announced that she was already married to Johnny. Their friendship had taken a turn after that, of which she said, "I look back at it now and remember not even being that comfortable with it. I mean, this was a guy who had just proposed to a woman he had been married to multiple times and who had rejected him. It felt like he just needed to fill a hole with the nearest person to him."
"And you were there, but you'd just be second place," AJ remarked. It wasn't said with malice or sarcasm, but all the same, he knew the place Carly hated the most was behind the frontrunner with the men in her lives.
"Yes," she admitted. "And I knew it. On New Year's Eve, he kept looking at his phone for Blair, about something going on with Starr. She was still on his mind. Hell, after we slept together, he swore that he wouldn't give her a second thought if his ex walked in the door."
"What did you say?"
"I believed him. At least, I thought I did. But something about it, it didn't ring true. And then, he was all middle school, "let's go steady", talk like that," she said. "There's someone going after his family. They laced drugs his daughter was taking, they took a shot at Blair and they kidnapped his brother while making Todd think he killed him."
AJ's eyes grew large. "For real? That sounds more like paranoia. He told you all that?"
"He wasn't there. He's been gone for over a month, trying to find his brother, who has been apparently kidnapped again. Blair hasn't heard from him in weeks, as they they ordered that he can have no contact with his family," Carly told him. "I know it sounds crazy, but, because of all of that, I can't take a chance. Llanview's too much of a hotbed with this stuff. I'm pulling out of the bidding for The Palace."
"Carly…"
"Me and my kids were in the line of fire too many times when I was with Sonny. And I am scared that they could take aim at Todd or Blair or Starr and end up hitting Morgan or Joss or even you," she said to him. "Just being in Llanview…" She shuttered at the thought and AJ embraced her.
"I get it, I understand what you're saying. Okay, we'll say we re-examined it and decided the acquisition was not, not in our best interests," AJ told her.
"And we tell Michael and Morgan the same thing. Also, um, we say that with the baby coming and the distance…" she added.
AJ nodded and put her arms around her again. He was surprised by how much she was shaking. Carly didn't do scared, not from what he remembered. "Hey, it's okay. Look, I'm sorry I put the idea in your head to begin with."
Carly smiled at him, a shy one that reminded him of a friend her remembered from long ago, one who sat with him in GH while he waited to hear how is sister was. "It was actually sweet of you to bring it to me in the first place. Made me remember a time when we did try to work together for the betterment of ourselves in the business world." They were still standing close, in each other's personal space. It was a closeness she would usually leap back from, but now, she was thankful for it. "What time is it?"
AJ looked at his watch. "Almost five," he told her.
"I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. Let's go home to the kids and see what they want from Kelly's," she suggested.
"Sounds like an idea," he replied. He shut his computer down and grabbed his things. He told his secretary he was leaving for the night. Before they turned to leave, he held out his hand and Carly grasped it, walking out together, fingers intertwined.
Morgan knew there was more to his mother's reluctance with the Palace deal and wanted to question her on it the whole time they were flying back. But she was at least giving the appearance of looking busy and barely paid him any mind the whole time. Once they got back, she had dropped him off at the house, turning around fast to talk to AJ.
Morgan didn't actually mind that. He noticed Michael's car was there, so he knew his brother was home. This, he thought, was a good time to talk to him about his encounter with Starr Manning.
Morgan went right upstairs and threw his bag in her room before heading for the kitchen, figuring Michael and Joss were having a snack. When he turned the corner, he saw that he was right. Joss saw him and ran to him.
"Morgan, you're home!" she yelled as she threw herself into her brother's arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Then she looked around. "Where's Mom?"
"She had to talk to AJ about something, Squirt," he told her. Then, he looked up at Michael. "Hey, bro."
"Morgan," Michael nodded his acknowledgement. "How did everything go in Llanview?"
He scrunched his nose, trying to indicate his confusion. "It went…weird. I'm sure Mom will fill us in when she talks to AJ," he replied. "On another note, I met Starr Manning."
Michael tried not to react. "She's back from LA?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Yeah. Nice girl. I caught her up on your doings," Morgan told him, but Michael didn't seem interested by it.
"She gave me something, Michael's girlfriend," Josslyn told him.
"Yeah, what did she give you?" her brother asked.
By way of an answer, she ran upstairs, returning a few minutes later with a stuffed frog. "She told me his name was Fred the Magic Frog and if I tell him something, he'll give messages to people who aren't here."
"Really? That is so cool," he replied. "Look, I need to talk to Mikey, okay? Mom and AJ will be back soon and I'm sure Mom is going to want to get something to eat. Why don't you get washed up?" he asked her.
She looked back to Michael, then said to Morgan, "You two need to talk grownup stuff, right?"
Morgan chuckled. "Yeah, Squirt, we do," he replied. It seemed Joss wasn't anywhere near stupid for a little kid as he thought. It was something he really should remember. But Joss left and Morgan turned to Michael.
"So, really, how did the deal go?" his older brother asked.
"I don't think Mom liked the idea after the meeting," Morgan admitted.
"What do you mean?"
Morgan began to relay seeking out and finding Blair Cramer at her club and finding the other woman in tears in the VIP longue. "After that, Mom seemed uncomfortable with the whole thing. And, I mean, we met with the CEO and his wife who, quite honestly, looked like she was sizing Mom up."
Michael parsed through his memories. "The CEO is Clint Buchanan?"
"No, actually, it seems Buchanan had a nervous breakdown or something. His son, Cord, took over for him in the meantime."
Michael remembered that name for some reason. He thought it through until it hit him. "Cord's wife is Starr's aunt. I remember Starr and I comparing crazy family trees once and she told me Tina and Todd have the same parents, as well as another brother, who Todd killed. And there's an eldest sister that has the same father as the other three."
"You and Starr compared families? Was hers as screwed up as ours?"
Michael was suddenly reticent to bring up the jumbled relations Starr had told him about, but decided that if he didn't say anything, Morgan wouldn't let it go. He went into the whole story of how Starr's grandfather had an affair with his daughter's college friend and from that, there were the other three children. He went on to explain how Cord, Clint's son, had married Tina, who was his stepmother's sister.
Morgan's eyebrows went up in amusement. "Old man and college–age mistress? I think we have found something to top you and our former stepmother."
"Morgan," Michael sighed in disgust.
"We're mentioning Brenda again?" AJ's voice asked as he and Carly entered the kitchen.
Carly scowled at the topic, but Michael tried to wave her off. "We were just talking about Starr's whole family…thing." Michael wanted to change the subject quickly. "Morgan didn't think the meetings went well. What happened?"
Carly glanced at AJ before answering, "You know, this deal is going to take months to iron out and I'm sure by time it'd done, I'll be ready to give birth and there's the distance. I mean, it's eight hours by car! I can't be running back and forth." She shrugged her shoulders. "Plus, Tea Delgado, their lawyer, still doesn't like me for letting Todd stay at the MetroCourt when he came here."
"So you've met Tea before?" Morgan asked.
"Yes," she said. "She had her son the same day Danny was born. It was a terrible tragedy. He was stillborn and the babies got switched. Heather had some vendetta against Sam and convinced Todd that the baby wasn't wanted, Tea, being a lawyer could give him a good home…it was a big mess." She reached for both of her sons' hands. "Look, there will be other deals, I'm sure. But right now, I want to keep my business close to home."
She could see that Michael understood her reasoning but since Morgan had had a front row seat for the whole trip, he was likely to be more suspicious of her motives. Thankfully, before he could continue, Joss came running back down. "Mommy, you're home! I thought you'd be back tomorrow."
"Well, the meetings ended early so we wanted to get home because we missed you," Carly said as she lifted Joss onto her lap. "And, AJ and I were thinking, we should all go to dinner at Kelly's. How does that sound?"
Joss cheered, her sons smiled and she looked up to see AJ, beaming at her like she had never seen before. It put her fears at ease after the turmoil she had felt for the past forty-eight hours. Although she felt awful for what Blair and her family was going through, Carly knew that, at least, her family was safe from whatever it was that was threatening Llanview.
