Chapter 35- Natasha's Army Reformed

Carly's house was definitely pitch black as Danny and Sam walked past it on the way to Jax's house. All the other homes had at least one light on. Thunder rumbled threatening a storm, but they knocked on Jax's door. Lulu answered, and they made it inside before it started to rain.

Rocco looked up from the kitchen table where he was writing in a notebook.

"Hey, are you here to see Willow?" Lulu asked.

"Yeah, we need to talk to her," Sam said.

"She's with Josslyn in her room. Rocco, let's finish your homework downstairs."

Rocco sighed. "Do I have to finish it?"

"Yes."

"When's Dad gonna be home?" Rocco asked.

"You'll be asleep when he gets home. He's working evenings today."

Rocco frowned, but closed his notebook and took it downstairs.

Lulu walked to one of the bedrooms and knocked on the door. "Willow, your mom and brother are here." She followed Rocco downstairs.

Willow slowly walked out and wrapped her arms around herself. "Hi…"

"Hi, Willow," Sam said. "We wanted to talk to you about your conversation with Danny earlier…"

"Okay…" Willow looked over at Danny. "You told her about it?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "Don't be mad at Mom."

Willow sighed. "I'm not mad. I'm just… embarrassed… did you tell him?"

"No!" Sam held her hand and squeezed it. "I would never. Anything personal you tell me, stays between us."

Drip. Drip. Drip. Rain pattered against the window.

Willow smiled a little. "I didn't think you would tell him."

"And don't be embarrassed," Sam said. "You did nothing wrong."

"How did Danny find out though?"

"I overhead you and mom talking the night before the wedding," Danny said.

Willow raised an eyebrow. "You were eavesdropping?"

"It was an accident!" Danny said. "That was when I was making fun of you being in the wedding… I was going to your room to apologize."

Willow sighed. "Okay."

"I want both of you, and Scout too, to know that you can talk to me about anything," Sam said.

Thunder rumbled and there was a loud crack.

Danny bolted to the window. The rain had stopped, but across the street, Carly's house had caught fire! Jax and Carly were standing in front staring at it.

"Whoa…" Danny said.

"Oh my gosh," Willow said.

Mac, Dante, Chase, and Cameron in fire hats and suits darted from the police-fire station down the street… or the village… pulling two large hoses. They pointed them at Carly's house, spraying it down. Carly buried her face in her hands.

Jax prodded her towards his house and they walked inside soaking wet.

"Are you okay!?" Willow asked Jax.

"Yeah. Yeah, we weren't in the house," Jax said. "I was just walking Carly back from her procedure when it started to storm. When we approached the street, lightning struck Carly's house and it caught fire."

Carly pushed away her tears with the back of her hand. "You're sure that Donna wasn't in there?"

"She's at Wyndemere with Bobbie," Jax said. "They're both fine."

Josslyn stepped out of her room and stared at Carly. "What are you doing here?"

"My uh… house just burnt down," Carly said.

Josslyn's eyes grew wide. "You kicked Grandma out though, right? She and Donna weren't in there?"

"No, they're safe at Wyndemere," Jax said.

Carly sighed.

"How did your procedure go?" Sam asked.

"Dr. Maddox thinks it worked," Jax said.

"Yep, I remember all the hypnosis, all the experiments." Carly nodded.

Josslyn clenched her jaw. "Mind-mapping or no mind-mapping, what you did to Morgan… and handing all of us over to the mob. You don't care about anyone but yourself!"

"Baby, that's not true," Carly said.

"And you had Jason completely under your control," Josslyn added. "Had him doing every little thing for us and got mad when he'd try to spend time on his family!"

"I know it's hard to understand, but Jason is my best friend. We're his family. He'd do anything for us and I for him. I still want him to have a family of his own, but everyone has been turning him and my kids against me."

"And there it is." Josslyn shook her head. "Even when your so-called mind-mapping is reversed, you're still blaming everyone else for your problems! As for Jason… best friends are not supposed to be your little pawn getting you groceries or dropping everything to babysit for you. You're supposed to be there for each other and support each other. Not control every aspect of their lives and say who they can love and where they can live. Cam told me how much he and Jake were affected not having Jason there for them! Instead they had to deal with the Francos and the Rics hurting their family. And I'm sure it hurt Sam and her kids too, you always pushing them to be together whether they wanted to or not. You are not the dictator over anyone's lives."

"Okay, I maybe was a bit controlling but—"

"A bit!?" Josslyn shouted.

"But… I was mind controlled to do that," Carly continued.

"And then you kept ignoring Avery and Donna to bring more children into Sonny's family! I know you were planning to adopt Dev and probably more. Why wouldn't you just focus on the children you had?"

"Like I said, I was under mind control. Just like Jason. Just like Sam. Just like Sonny. But people were still trying to keep us apart. We can be together again."

Josslyn shook her head. "Nope. No, we can't. I'm staying here with Dad."

"But Joss…" Carly stepped closer to her and tried to stroke her hair, but Josslyn pushed her arm away. "I love you. I always will."

"Then prove it," Joss said. "If you really have changed, then prove it by taking care of Donna. Stop trying to control us. Stop trying to steal Avery. Just focus on Donna!"

"Well, I'm not going to stop trying to see you," Carly said. "You're my daughter."

Knock. Knock.

Dante and Cam walked in.

"Hey, so we put the fire out," Dante said. "But unfortunately, we couldn't save your house. It'll have to be re-built."

Josslyn ran over to Cameron, took his hand, and slipped her shoes on. "Let's go for a walk… please. I need to get out of here."

"Sure," Cam said. "Are you okay?"

"Let's just go." She turned back to Carly. "And you better be gone when I get back!"

The door closed behind them.

Carly pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You can go to Wyndemere," Sam suggested. "Be with Bobbie and Donna."

GHGHGH

Danny was really excited the next day. He would be going to work with Drew to help out with the army.

They walked into Nikolas' office, where he sat with Spencer, Jason, Alexis, and Julian in his wheelchair.

Alexis smiled and hugged Danny. "Good morning, Danny."

"Hi Grandma," Danny said.

Julian winked at him.

"All right," Alexis said taking a deep breath. "We've decided that I will re-claim my position as leader of Spoon Island."

Spencer frowned.

"But Nikolas will be next in… command, I guess you can say."

"Yes," Nikolas said. "We've decided that Aunt Alexis' title will be president of Spoon Island and I will be vice-president. And Spencer will be my assistant."

Alexis nodded. "We'll work together at keeping this little society going, while Julian, Jason, and Drew build up our army to defend against Valentin and his army. We've already started issuing pay to the doctors, nurses, and those who've been working in the kitchen since we first came here using the money in Wyndemere's hidden vault. Others who have just started working will receive their first pay after two weeks. After those two weeks, we'll officially start charging for food and the few businesses that are starting up will as well. Father Coates wants to start a church to give people hope but wants it to be non-denominational. So, we'll be building a small one as well a small grocery store. Kristina's going to continue her new clothing business from the castle, and as I already stated, she will be charging everyone after two weeks. I am paying her in the meantime." Alexis cleared her throat. "So, for the army, Julian will be Supreme Commander once he's fully recovered. In the meantime, Drew and Jason will continue making all final decisions. When Julian is recovered though, Drew and Jason will be second in command. The Generals."

"What can I do?" Danny asked.

Spencer glared at him.

"You can shadow your dad and Jason for now," Alexis said. "Then between them and Grandpa, they can decide how you can help."

Danny sighed. "Okay."

"Well, our troops should be here soon," Drew said. "We'll start on some more training."

"I'm thinking we'll start on some push-ups and then do some laps," Jason said.

"I want to come out to watch," Julian said.

Alexis groaned. "Okay, fine. As long as you stay in your wheelchair and ask someone to bring you in when you get tired."

Julian rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom."

"How many are in the army?" Danny asked.

"Not many at all, Danny," Jason said. "We need to recruit more people."

Drew frowned. "So far just Max, Milo, Scott Baldwin—"

"Scott Baldwin!?" Danny scrunched his face.

Jason sighed. "We didn't have many options for recruitment. And lawyers aren't needed at the moment. I wanted to recruit Michael and TJ, but both of them want safer jobs to keep Wiley and Lexie safe."

"We have a lot of doctors and nurses though," Julian said. "The army is what's going to keep everyone safe. I'll talk to TJ."

"And Michael…" Danny said, his eyes wide. "Don't get me wrong, he's a fun teacher… but we need more manpower in the army."

"Who would replace him as the high school teacher, though?" Julian asked.

"I could ask Diane," Alexis said. "She's smart."

Danny scrunched his face. That didn't sound fun…

"We also have Curtis," Drew added.

"Jake could join too," Danny suggested.

"I'll talk to him and Elizabeth about it," Jason said. "We should consider recruiting Chase and Dante. I'm not anticipating too much crime on the island outside of attacks from V-Town. But if there is, then they could always leave."

"And Jax hasn't decided what he wants to do," Alexis said. "You could ask him."

"I can join in on some training sessions," Nikolas offered. "My main focus will be helping Aunt Alexis, but when they time comes, I will be prepared to fight."

"All right, we'll work on all that," Drew said. "In the meantime, let's get training Natasha's Army."