Chapter 10- Whac-A-Mole Part 2

Friday was a busy day. Both Rae and Skye started back to work (even though Rae kept counseling Todd while she was off) and it was also Skye's date night with Jax. Alan called each day to speak to Skye and to see how she was doing. Skye also intercepted all of John's phone calls to Rae and kept telling him that her mother didn't want to speak to him.

Skye knew exactly what her first article would be since returning to work. She already had the picture of former lovers holding hands, now she would write how they had to sneak around from their controlling partners while they longed for each other. It would be an anonymous article, of course. She didn't want her name attached to it. She just had to make sure that free copies would be personally sent to John and Stepmommy dearest. Then once they were out of the picture, things would happen naturally between her parents.

After changing into her grey dress and putting on her makeup, Skye headed out to the living room where Rae was sitting with Myrtle.

"You look very beautiful," Rae said, beaming.

Myrtle placed a hand over her chest. "Yes, just lovely!"

Skye rolled her eyes. "You guys are acting like I'm sixteen and this is my first date."

Rae shrugged. "It's your first date that I get to see you off on."

Skye crossed her arms. "I suppose. And I can only guess who your first dates were. You guys probably skipped away from the carnival to meet up with the Ringling Brothers."

"My first date was with your grandfather, actually," Myrtle said. "Ah, Marcello. I was quite smitten with him."

Skye groaned. "Spare us the details."

"Your mother looks so much like him. Dark hair, and he was six-feet tall."

"So, we got his height, you're saying?" Skye asked.

"Definitely not from me," Myrtle said. "I was only 5-3 in my prime."

"Well, I don't think I got any of my genes from you or him," Skye scoffed. "I think I got it all from the Quartermaines, my true family."

Rae squeezed the bridge of her nose.

"Really?" Myrtle grinned. "And how many Quartermaines have red hair?"

Skye frowned. "I haven't met them all yet. But I'm sure quite a few do."

Rae shook her head. "You've only met Alan and Monica. And I've met a lot of them. None of them have red hair."

"I'm sure you missed someone," Skye said. "Dad invited us for dinner on Sunday. I will prove to you that red hair runs in the Quartermaine family."

"He invited you too, Mama." Rae reached for Myrtle's hand.

Myrtle grinned. "I look forward to look on your face, Skye, when you realize you look more like me than any of your relatives."

Skye pursed her lips.

Knock. Knock.

"That must be Jax." Skye hurried to answer the door but groaned when she saw John standing there. "Oh. It's you."

Rae's eyes grew wide and she walked over to the doorway. "John. I was beginning to worry when you didn't return any of my phone calls…"

John turned to Skye and raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Skye crossed her arms. "I think you deserve better than a man who won't call you back, Mother."

"I've called six times in the past three days and each time Skye picked up saying you were too busy or that you didn't want to talk to me," John said.

Rae placed a hand on her forehead. "Skye…"

"And she was also saying how much you were hitting it off with her father."

"Which is true!" Skye defended.

"Skye, if someone calls for me you need to tell me," Rae said. "And I'm only getting along with Alan for your sake. We're going to be co-parents and friends only."

"Actions speak louder than words, Mother."

Rae scrunched her face. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing."

John cleared his throat. "If you're free, Rae, I'd love to take you to the Palace this evening."

Rae smiled. "I'd like that."

Skye pouted.

"I'll just got change," Rae said, then turned to Skye. "Be on your best behaviour while I'm gone."

"I'll keep an eye on her," Myrtle offered.

After Rae headed off to her room, Skye turned to John. "She's just feeling sorry for you. She wants to be with my father."

Myrtle walked over to Skye and pointed her finger at her. "Antoinette Patterson Chandler! That is enough, young lady."

Skye's mouth dropped. "No one ever calls me that. And pretty soon it's going to be Quartermaine legally."

"Oh, shut up!" Myrtle said.

Skye's mouth dropped slightly.

"Your mother enjoys John's company, and she deserves to be happy," Myrtle continued. "Tonight, you are to focus on your date while your mother focuses on hers. Your job right now is to get to know your mother and father separately, not to break them up from the people they love and set them up together. That is not your choice who they date or who they marry, so mind your own business."

Skye gawked at her.

"I see a car pulling up, that must be Jax," Myrtle said. "Now go and have a wonderful time!"

Sure enough, Jax arrived at the door with a bouquet of roses. "Hello, Skye."

Skye took the roses and handed them to Myrtle, then grabbed Jax's arms. "Let's go."

Rae arrived back in the living room. "Oh, you're heading out? Have a wonderful evening."

"You too!" Jax called out as Skye pulled him towards the car. "You don't want me to speak to your family first?"

Skye grunted as she climbed into the car. "I want to go to the Palace."

"The Palace? I thought you wanted to try the King's Garden."

"I want to sabotage my mother's date… somehow."

"Why do you want to do that?" Jax asked.

"Because I want my parents together."

Jax sighed. "I'm not so sure that will work. You can't force people to love each other."

"But I want John Sykes to be gone."

"Why? Has he hurt your mother?"

"Well…"

"Is he cruel to her? Or is he unfair to you?"

Skye leaned against the window. "He's just in the way."

"In the way of what?"

Skye shrugged. "I just need to fix things."

"Fix things by controlling your parents' love lives? Would you like it if they meddled in your love life?"

She looked over at him. That was a good question, something she didn't know the answer to at the moment. "I'm just looking out for them."

"Well, they're your parents. Nothing wrong with looking out for them, within reason. You care about them."

Skye rolled her eyes. "Don't go that far. I just… I don't hate them."

"All right, well it's good not to hate your parents."

"So, are we going to sit in the driveway all evening or go on our date?" Skye asked.

"I would like to go on our date, yes," Jax said. "But only if we focus on the date and not on your matchmaking skills this evening."

Skye sighed. "Oh, all right."

"And I'd like to take you to Port Charles for dinner. I think you need a night away from all of this. We can eat at Kelly's and then… Do you like arcade games?"

Skye scrunched her face. "Aren't there any elegant restaurants in Port Charles?"

"There are." Jax started the ignition. "But I think this will be a place where you can channel all that negativity without hurting any innocent bystanders."

FargateFargateFargate

"I hope you can forgive, Skye," Rae said as she and John sat down with Myrtle at the Palace Restaurant. "And thank you for letting Mama join us."

"Of course," John said, tucking in Myrtle's chair. "We couldn't just leave Myrtle at your place alone. I did ask you for dinner last minute."

Rae sighed. "That wasn't your fault."

"I understand that Skye is struggling right now," John said. "It's a lot for anyone to process. And to be honest, she's handling it a lot better than I thought she would."

"You think so?"

He nodded. "I can tell already that she cares about you. That's why she's trying to keep us apart. It might not make a lot of sense to us, but I've noticed since I've known her, it's like her language. She's showing that she cares about you and wants you in her life."

"He does have a point," Myrtle said. "And the fact that she asked to live with you."

Rae laughed. "She didn't exactly ask. Not that I'm complaining. I did invite her for the night after the shooting, then she was talking about how to decorate her room and how she needed to get her things from the hospital room as if we already discussed her living with me. It's kind of cute actually."

"Yes," John said. "And I do hope she'll accept me eventually. But we have to be patient with her. She needs to bond with both of you first, and her father. If you don't hear from me though, just come over to see me, because I won't be surprised if she intercepts my calls again."

Myrtle nudged Rae's arm. "He's a keeper."

Rae blushed and reached for John's hand. "He certainly is."

FargateFargateFargate

Jax opened the door to the arcade and when they walked in it was empty.

"Where is everybody?" Skye asked.

"While you were in the bathroom at Kelly's, I took the liberty in calling ahead to make sure we had the place to ourselves after it closed."

Skye laughed. "I love it. I love that!"

He grinned. "I thought you weren't into arcade games."

"Well, I wasn't. But I love the gesture. A man who knows what to do with his money, unlike my nasty, conniving, goat of a father who doesn't give me the time of day and favours Junior and my sis—"

"Okay, okay…" Jax reached for a large black hammer hanging from a machine and Skye's mouth dropped slightly.

"No way…"

Jax smiled. "It's impulse therapy. Whac-A-Mole. Ever played it?"

"Once. With my grandmother… it was so old though; it was falling apart."

Jax turned the game on and the music started. "All right, you can picture your father's face while you go after these little critters."

"Do they all have to be Daddy?"

"They can be anyone you want."

Skye grinned and began whacking them hard. "Okay. Take that… Hayley… Junior… And Althea… and Todd… Blair… Max… Daddy… Mother… Dad…"

Jax laughed.

She turned to him. "You were right… Myrtle was right. This feels amazing. The adrenaline running through me…"

"It's a lot healthier way of channeling your anger."

She nodded, still not quite sure though.