ABC/DISNEY owns GH. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 53
"Ladies." Spinelli stepped into the sunroom and smiled at the gathered women. Really was there a better place to be than here right now? "I brought these for the Heroic Healer." He presented Nadine with a bright bouquet of flowers.
"Thank you Spinelli." Nadine knew the younger man through Georgie.
"Why are you buying my girlfriend flowers?" Johnny had assumed they were for Liz. He planned on teasing Jason about that now he was just pissed.
"It's normal to bring flowers to the infirmed." Spinelli said in his defense. Walking over he handed Liz a gift bag. "I did not forget you Maternal One."
"Thank you Spinelli." Liz gave her friend a hug. "You got a good one." She said to Ellie who just beamed as she looked at her boyfriend. Inside the bag was a toy for Jake, a box set of Captain Underpants books for Cameron and vanilla scented bath salts for Liz. "Very thoughtful."
"Stone Cold asked me to bring hot cocoa. It is in the kitchen." He wanted her to know his master was thoughtful as well.
"I will thank him when I see him. Have a brownie." Elizabeth thumbed through the books. Spinelli had given Cameron comic books which didn't surprise her.
"Okay, let's go talk." Johnny said breaking up the love fest.
"Very well." He stole a kiss from Ellie which made her blush before following Johnny into the kitchen.
Cody had tried to get his boss to go into the living room but Johnny wouldn't go. He wanted to be where he could see his girl. Maybe by tomorrow when they went home he'd be over this need to see her every minute, but he doubted it. It took almost a week for him to stop obsessively checking on Liz and he wasn't in love with her. "What do you have?" Johnny made himself listen to the hacker.
"Not much." He turned the computer so that Johnny could see the image. "White male, blonde hair, and brown eyes. Roughly six feet tall. The police have requested that we help them by giving them the image."
"What did Jason say about that?" Johnny knew Mac had to have hated doing that.
"He said it was your call." Spinelli informed the Irishman.
Johnny just nodded, because it was his girl who got hurt Jason was placing the matter in his hands. "Can you clean this up any further?"
"As we speak the program is filtering, it just takes a while." When he had a moment Spinelli was going to have to write a better program. What he had now was the best on the market. He would find a way to make it better. "This time tomorrow I will have something better." The young man promised.
"Good work. Give this to Mac." Johnny pointed to the grainy image. "I want to see the clearer image."
"I am on it." The hacker responded. "I will say my farewells to the ladies." He said grinning as he headed back to the sunroom.
Before Johnny could join him Epiphany came in followed by Cody. The former marine kept going to give the two privacy. "Hey." Johnny said smiling. "How are you?" He walked over and gave her a hug.
Epiphany returned the gesture. "I'm fine. I'm not the one who was shot. How is she?" The head nurse nodded towards Nadine.
"Sore." Johnny said looking his friend over. "Have you gotten any sleep?"
"I grabbed a few hours at the hospital. I'm short three nurses so I will be spending a lot of time there over the next few weeks." Alan was already hiring replacements but they needed to be trained and that took time. Very few nurses walked through the door already at the level that Epiphany demanded from her crew.
"Don't let them overwork you." Johnny was worried that Epiphany was hiding behind her job.
"I won't. I've already been to see Dr. Winters." She told her friend.
"I worry." Johnny said not at all ashamed to admit that he was hovering. "You're family Piph."
The older woman felt her eyes sting. "You are too Johnny." He'd proven that when he fired Stan because she was worried her son would get killed working for Jason. He got a nice safe job in California and was killed during a robbery in a convenience store. Johnny had flown out himself to bring the body back. "Let me go check on everyone and then I'm going back to the hospital."
"Who is your guard?" He didn't see anyone come in with her.
"Chris until Nadine comes back. He's sitting on the porch." Epiphany explained.
"Go talk with the girls." Johnny watched as she moved away. He headed to the door, he just wanted to make sure Chris knew what would happen if he screwed up.
Milo was also heading to Jason's house. He was going to pick up Georgie and take her to work. Paulie was her guard today and he was meeting them at Kelly's. Tonight he was hoping she would stay over. Not for sex, but yeah he did want it, but because of Sonny.
Hopefully at no point in the next few days would Milo cross paths with the older man. If he did he might shoot him on the spot. If Max knew what was happening Sonny would be dead before lunch. Keeping his older brother in the dark didn't sit well with Milo but he would follow his father's instructions.
Knowing that there was a contract on his dad pissed the youngest Giambetti off.
The day had started very early with a meeting. Jason and his dad had a video conference and Jason wanted Milo to sit in. That was a sign that his boss respected him, because his dad wasn't pleased. Poppa wanted both his sons as far from this as possible. Jason said he wouldn't be able to look Milo in the eye if he kept this a secret. The wish to keep Max in the dark Jason would respect.
No one was too upset because they knew who the hitter was. Cooper Barrett was good, but Maximus's enforcer Shawn Butler was better. He took his job to protect his boss and the territory very seriously. Already Cooper was being watched. After the meeting with Karpov next week he would be picked up, unless he did something stupid in the meantime.
Milo had requested permission to go home. Both Jason and his father said no. His leaving would tip everyone off so he had to stay in Port Charles. They then launched into planning Maximus's "death." After Sonny's second meeting, once Cooper was picked up, the head of the Giambetti family was going to be gunned down. With him out of the way Max would go home and take power. Sonny, since that was who Milo believed set this in motion, would see the way to coming back as being clear would make his move. Jason promised Milo he could be there when the older man died.
Milo couldn't wait. So in the meantime he would work and spend time with his girl. They had a date tomorrow and he knew they were going to have fun.
"Hello." Claudia was in her room at the mansion getting ready for the day. Not that she had any real plans. Port Charles was boring and once she was in charge of things they would be leaving. Why her father thought he could achieve anything from this backwater town was beyond her. So what if there was a harbor? Access to water could be found up and down the eastern seaboard. She needed to be near a major city. Somewhere they had decent shopping and no snow. Claudia shivered she hated snow.
"Sonny has changed the timing of his meeting with Karpov." Ian informed her. They had the Russian under surveillance. His lawyer Sasha was a woman scorned. Why the man thought he could sleep with her and move on was a mystery.
"To when?" Claudia wasn't upset that Sonny hadn't called her back. He would be hers in the end. That skinny model didn't worry her at all, the retired mob boss craved power too much. Brenda Barrett couldn't give him that.
"Sunday afternoon. It seems he wants to be able to make his choice sooner." Ian was in his apartment. He was leaving for work shortly. The blood he took from Robin had given him nothing, and he couldn't get to the doctor for a full body scan, so he sent the samples out to be analyzed. The results should be back any day now.
"After that meeting he won't have a choice to make." Claudia said grinning. "My father will be the only game in town." Now she didn't need to sleep with Logan. She couldn't take another bad session of sex so soon. Sonny hadn't been the stallion he thought he was. "You can work with this?"
"It won't be a problem." He assured her. "Would you like to tell Jerry or should I?"
"I will tell him." Claudia said pulling her favorite red heels from the closet. Telling Jerry was a courtesy, she'd get around to sometime after Ian pulled the trigger.
"Fine, I need to go. Let's try to get together soon." He did miss her.
"Yes." Claudia could use the release. "I will call you." She said hanging up. Feeling much better she got dressed and headed downstairs.
Jerry listened to the conversation and made a note of the change. Sonny was still going to die, it would just happen sooner. That worked out well for Jerry. He just learned that Nikolas Cassadine was not returning to Port Charles. He had signed Emily out of her rehab clinic as was taking her to Europe to get sober.
Jerry planned on following. Jax didn't needed him here, and he wanted to be gone before the bullets started flying. He could check on his guest and maybe get a front row seat to what Cooper was going to do. That would work out well. Maybe Bobbie would like to go with him. It was last minute but with the shooting at the hospital the ER was currently shut down. It shouldn't be too hard for her to get time off. Having a companion would be a wonderful cover.
Picking up the phone he dialed Jax's number. He would tell his brother that work was forcing him to leave town sooner than expected. Then he would call Bobbie and see if she was free. After that he would book his flight out. On a commercial plane. The last thing he would do before going to pack was call Ewan. The doctor would need to know to be ready tomorrow and he could keep an eye on things in Jerry's absence.
Carly was fuming as she drove away from the guards' station at Jason's house. She'd been refused entrance. Not because no one was home, but because she wasn't on the approved visitors list. That had to be Elizabeth's doing. There was no way Jason would bar her from his home.
She wanted to tell the guard that he could go fuck himself, but she managed to restrain herself. Her new lawyer had been very clear about the fact that she had to be a model citizen until the trial was over. There was no telling what Jax might do and her flipping out on someone else would give him ammo. So instead she had turned her car around and drove away.
Carly could do this. Her boys were counting on her. She might not be the best mother in the world but she would be damned if Jax got to raise Sonny's sons. She'd have her ex-husband kill Jax first. It was something he'd get a lot of pleasure from.
Still sitting back and playing nice was starting to chafe. Brenda was still here, and Carly really did believe the model was waiting for Jax. Kate Howard seemed to be turning up around Jax a lot lately. She was doomed to disappointment. Jax never noticed anyone else when Brenda was within sneezing distance. But the thing that left a really sour taste in her mouth was Elizabeth thinking she was the Queen Bee. That would change, once the newness of the baby wore off Jason would fall back in line. When that happened Muffin would either suck it up or walk. Carly wouldn't mind sharing as long as Jason came when she called. Keeping him close would help in sure her secret didn't get out.
Pulling into the driveway of her home Carly took a moment to relax. Her lawyer was pressing for a quick trial date to get things started. So this part of her life should be over soon. Instead of getting out of the car she started the engine again with a wicked grin. Jax was still paying off her credit card, so she was going to have one last shopping trip on him.
Thanks for the reviews, the follows, and the favorites!
