Chapter 72- Skye Runs Away

Rae's first couple nights back home weren't so good. She was still up vomiting and fainted once. Skye was still mad at Myrtle for not allowing her to be there for Rae's homecoming. And that intensified when Skye wanted to take a leave of absence from work to be there for Rae, but Myrtle said she needed to work. To Myrtle's defense, Skye had already taken chunks of time off her new job due to being kidnapped. And while they stopped the pranks, Skye and Kendall were still fighting like teenaged girls which was causing Rae stress. Not to mention, Skye wasn't really doing much to help with Rae's care other than spending time with her and calling Dr. Wolek's office four times a day to complain that he prescribed the wrong medicine since she wasn't healing faster. So, Myrtle thought it best to send her to give Rae a little break. But yet, Myrtle was adamant about sticking to her grounding rules for both Skye and Kendall.

Watching Myrtle set up Rae's feeding tube was too much for Skye. Not that it made her stomach queasy, but she would start to cry because her mother was always so strong, so she'd excuse herself to do chores before anyone noticed her tears.

Tuesday morning, Skye received a couple phone calls. First was from Michael Cambias inviting her out for dinner. But Kendall wasn't impressed.

"How can you go out with Michael!?" Kendall asked. "I met him first!"

Skye set her hands on her hips. "Like I met Jax first?"

"I thought you were dating Ryan Lavery," Myrtle said as she got ready to feed Rae.

"That was one night to make Jax jealous," Skye said.

"If you like Jax, you shouldn't be seeing anyone else until you've sorted out your feelings for him first," Myrtle said.

Skye rolled her eyes. "That was before I met Michael."

"So, you're suddenly over Jax—" Rae squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself for the feeding tube. "—just because you met this Michael?"

Skye turned away so she didn't have to watch the feeding. "It's just Michael is so dark and handsome…"

Kendall smiled. "And he's so charming."

"Charm can be deceiving," Myrtle said as she guided the tube down Rae's nose. "So, I hope this dinner is after your punishment."

Skye frowned. "It's tonight."

"Then you'll have to take a rain check," Myrtle said. "We'll discuss this more later."

Kendall smirked.

"What?" Skye's face went rigid and turned around again, but tried not to look at Rae. "This is Michael Cambias. Son of Alexander Cambias Sr of Cambias Industries."

Kendall shrugged while smiling. "You win some, you lose some."

Skye turned to Kendall. "Oh, you're just enjoying this, aren't you? Michael chose me over you, so you're enjoying watching Grandma control my love life."

Myrtle scoffed. "Of all the childish statements—"

"You're one to talk," Kendall said. "You're basking in reflected glory of other people's accomplishments. You can't even get a better job than a dishwasher and you're a grown woman who's dependent on her mother and grandmother. And now you're going after the man I found first just to get back at me—"

"Kendall!" Rae cut in, wincing at the tubing going down her nose, and her breathing speeding up. "Don't talk to my daughter that way."

"Both of you, upstairs now!" Myrtle said angrily. "I am trying to feed your mother and you're upsetting her. You're not going on that date tonight and that's final."

Skye clenched her jaw. "I am an adult, and you can't tell me what to do!"

"I can when you're going to act like a child and stress your mother out when she's ill." Myrtle's nostrils flared. "Now, go to your rooms. Now!"

Skye groaned and turned abruptly stomping up the stairs. Kendall followed behind her.

Myrtle squeezed Rae's shoulder. "Are you all right, darling?"

"Don't…" Rae exhaled slowly. "Don't be so hard on Skye…"

Myrtle sighed. "Rae, dear, her behaviour is inexcusable. Try to calm down. Slow, deep breaths."

"She's—she's been through a lot."

"And so have you," Myrtle said.

When the phone rang, Skye went to Myrtle's den to answer it.

"Hi, Skye? It's AJ."

"AJ, I'm sorry, but this isn't a very good time—"

"I'm on my way to the courthouse," AJ said. "It's day one of the custody hearing against Sonny."

Skye swallowed hard. "Do you think you have a good chance of keeping Michael?"

"I don't know. But my lawyer says It will look good if I'm surrounded by family. All the Quartermaines are coming. Jason's sitting on Sonny's side just to keep up the act. I'll have Emily, but Alexis says the more siblings the better—"

"AJ…" Skye sighed. "I'm really not supposed to leave the house right now."

"Please come," AJ said. "Elizabeth is going to sit with me. It'll also look good to present a mother figure for Michael. But if the judge sees Michael's aunts there too as well as his grandmother and great-grandmother, it'll help immensely to present female figures in his life. I can't lose Michael to the mob, not again."

"I—I'll see what I can do. But I can't promise anything."

After Skye hung up, she turned to find Kendall standing in the doorway.

Skye groaned. "What do you want?"

"That was AJ?"

"Yeah… what's it to you?"

"It's the custody hearing of his son?" Kendall asked.

Skye nodded. "He wants me there, but I'm grounded, so…"

"You have to go," Kendall said. "It's important that you're there. I'll cover for you."

"You will?"

She nodded.

"I just wish Grandma would stop treating me like a child," Skye complained. "I am capable of making my own decisions."

"Then go."

"You know, what? Yeah, I'll go. And maybe I'll go stay at my dad's since she clearly doesn't want me here! I'll sneak out the back door then."

FargateFargateFargate

Erica paced back and forth outside of Joe Martin's office babbling nervously. She'd already been waiting twenty minutes and he still hadn't arrived. She groaned when David Hayward walked up to her instead.

"Erica?" he said. "Are you all right?"

"No! I am not talking to you about this again. I remember how you and Jackson both shrugged this off last time and I'm not going to lose this time!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I need to see Joe right now!"

He sighed heavily. "He's in the ER and probably won't be out for hours. What do you mean you're not going to lose?"

"Oh, don't pretend you don't remember how you dismissed me last year and said someone else's life is more important than mine!"

"You mean when you experienced anxiety last year and I had to leave to tend to a patient with an atherosclerotic aneurysm?"

"You see? This is why we're over. You always put others above me!"

David shook his head. "Erica… what's wrong? My shift is over so I can listen to you."

"I want to talk to Joe!"

"Joe is unavailable right now," David said. "If you'd like you can wait for him or you can talk to me."

"But there really is something wrong with my heart and I can't breathe."

"Okay, come to my office and I will listen to your heart and to anything you want to tell me."

He led her to his office and pulled out his stethoscope as she sat down.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I was up all-night last night. I haven't slept since before Kendall was kidnapped."

He nodded. "Your heart sounds fine. So, you're worried about Kendall?"

"How is my heart fine? I have so much pressure in it."

"That happens when you have anxiety, and it can be easily mistaken for a heart attack when you haven't experienced one. What is making you so anxious? I remember last year it was when Myrtle found out Rae was her daughter and you thought Myrtle was going to leave you. Is this about them? Or Kendall?"

"A bit of both."

"All right, let's start with Kendall," he said. "From what I've heard, she's home safe. What's bothering you about her?"

"Well, she moved in with Myrtle, Rae, and Skye after I invited her to come live with me. And since then, she's been showing affection towards Rae. Holding her hand and kissing her cheek."

"And that bothers you because you would like her to show affection towards you instead?"

Erica lowered her gaze. "I don't know. I don't know why it bothers me."

"Have you ever tried to show affection towards Kendall?"

She shrugged. "A bit when she was a teenager. I mean we hugged a few times, but I also slapped her and called her every name in the book after she brought Richard Fields back to town. Oh, and I hugged her after she was rescued."

"Could it be that Kendall is trying to make you jealous?"

"That's what Myrtle said."

"And is it working?" he asked.

"I don't get jealous."

"Erica…" He smiled at her. "You were clearly jealous of Rae last year."

She frowned. "All right… maybe I'm a little bit jealous."

"Is there anything else bothering you?"

She paused for a moment before she finally spoke. "Myrtle is very focused on Rae right now. She's very ill and I don't even know if she's going to survive."

"So, you're feeling jealous of Rae when it comes to two people who matter to you. Are you still afraid you're going to lose Myrtle to her?"

She looked up at him very seriously. "That's not it at all. That might have been the case before, but not now."

"Then what's bothering you about it?"

"I—I… do you promise this will stay between us? You won't utter a word to anyone, especially not to Rae?"

"Erica, I haven't even seen Rae in over a year," he said. "But yes, it will stay between us."

"Okay…" Her eyes started to tear up. "I'm not afraid of losing Myrtle… I'm afraid of losing Rae."

He leaned forward and reached for her hands. "I have never known you to bond with any female other than Myrtle, Opal, and Bianca."

"And my mother," Erica added. "You mustn't leave out my mother. I wish she were here right now. I need her. I miss her."

He nodded. "And your mother. Well, it's only natural that you'd be feeling anxiety after your daughter being kidnapped and now that your new friend is very sick."

Erica let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around herself. "This is all just very confusing."

"Well, I think you're realizing a few things here. You're realizing that you want more with Kendall and it hurts that she'll hold Rae's hand but not yours. And you're also realizing that you care very much about Rae and you don't want to lose her. She's no longer a threat in your relationship with Myrtle, but on the contrary, you're building a new relationship with Rae now. And I think these feelings even apart from Rae's illness scares you. But you don't need to fear it."

Erica pushed away her tears with her thumbs. "I'm just so confused."

"You don't need to be. Just keep trying with Kendall and maybe tell Rae that you care about her. I bet that would mean a lot to both of them right now.