Ned Ashton nearly jumped at the vibration of his cell phone. Had something worse happened to Carly? "Excuse me a minute, I need to take this," he said hastily as he stepped towards the door of the executive conference room.

"Hello, this is Ned Ashton," Ned said with trepidation as he pulled the conference room door closed behind him.

"Ned, dear, I am sorry to interrupt you, but I thought that Carly was going to join us for breakfast at Café Mattina," his Grandmother said.

Ned released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Grandmother, I am sorry. Carly hasn't been feeling well, and I was supposed to call and let you know she would be unable to make it, I apologize. I have been very busy getting ready for the board meeting tomorrow."

"Is there anything I can do to help, Ned?" Lila Quartermaine asked.

"I'm not sure," Ned answered honestly.

"Please, dear, if there is anything that you, or Carly, or the baby needs, know that this family will support you. And if what you really need is time off then you let me handle your Grandfather if necessary," his grandmother said.

Ned chuckled and smiled despite the circumstances.

"I am serious, dear. If Carly needs you, that is where you should be. Your Grandfather knows this in his heart as well even if he might not want to admit it aloud," his Grandmother said.

"I love you Grandmother!"

"I love you too, dear. I will keep Carly and the baby in my prayers and you just let me know if I need to help your Grandfather remember what is important," his Grandmother said.

"Umm, Grandmother," Ned said uneasily.

"Yes, dear, what is it?" his Grandmother asked.

"Could you not mention any of this to my mother. You know it hurts her when she feels like she is out of the loop. I should have called her last night, but I just couldn't," Ned said.

Lila Quartermaine released a deep sigh. "I do wish you and your mother could both be kinder to yourselves. I know that the love is there, it always has been. I wish you could both just relax in that," she said.

His grandmother made it sound so simple. Unfortunately, almost thirty years of awkwardness seemed to argue a different position. "It's just complicated, Grandmother," Ned said.

"It shouldn't have to be so complicated, dear. That said, I will not mention any of this to your mother and I will tell Marla that it was my oversight. I hope that will give you the time and space to figure out how to let your mother support you and Carly through this time because I know that is exactly what your mother wants to do," Lila Quartermaine said.

"Thank you, Grandmother, I appreciate that," Ned said. He did appreciate it; he just wasn't confident he would be able to uphold his end of the bargain.

XXXXXXXX

Lila Morgan Quartermaine made her way back to the table she was dining at with Marla Mears Quartermaine. Although Marla had married her husband's cousin Hiram's son Hugh Lars eleven years ago, Lila still wouldn't say she knew her well. Marla had been the reigning Miss Massachusetts when she married Hugh Lars and went on to become Mrs. Utah in 1987. The next year she had given birth to their first child, a son—Craig Thomas Quartermaine. Their daughter, Brynn Elizabeth had been born in June 1990. Lila had a collection birth announcements and annual professional family photos but knew the children even less well than their mother.

"You will have to forgive me, Marla. Carly had another engagement, which I should have remembered. She has gotten so involved with volunteering at Ward House which has been great to see. That is actually how she and Ned got to know each other," Lila said. She had taken a little liberty with her explanation but Carly herself had referenced serving Thanksgiving Dinner there with Ned in 1996 and Carly had helped her order toys for the Christmas Party coming up in December.

Marla Mears Quartermaine's face contorted but then she managed to cover her grimace with a smile. "That is very nice. I am very involved in the Junior League back in West Jordan myself. We adopt needy families every Christmas season," she said.

"That must be nice for Craig and Brynn. Do they like to pick toys for the children? Tracy always wanted to give all the children books, but to be fair she was never very into dolls herself. Her daughter Shannon is making up for that and more," Lila asked.

Marla appeared to contemplate that. "I have no idea. I think they do something at school. I just wrote a large check to the PTA for something last week," she said.

Perhaps because of her earlier conversation with her eldest grandson, that all just struck Lila as sad. Although it sounded like Marla didn't care, Lila refrained from drawing that conclusion because she was sure there were times some people might have concluded that about Tracy and Ned and she knew that wasn't the case. She hoped it wasn't the case for Marla with Craig and Brynn either.

XXXXXXXX

Sarah Webber took another large gulp of her Blue Raspberry Gatorade. Later she would blame it's disappearance from the cupboard on her sister, but in the moment she was too thirsty to care. Fortunately, her Grandmother had eventually flitted off to work after lamenting Dr. Quartermaine's ineffectiveness as a physician. Sarah was just glad she had left!

XXXXXXXX

Nicole Devlin saw her husband's name flash on the caller ID of her cell phone but made no move to pick up the call. There was a reason she had turned the ringer off on her phone and if Bennett had any compassion he would know exactly why. But Bennett Devlin was a sadistic weasel who couldn't be bothered to care about the five-year anniversary of her son's death. He could wait twenty-four hours to dump his latest urgent social engagement on her. Maybe then she would be ready to arrange dinner for twenty or perhaps she would just tell him to ask his latest mistress. She was certain he had one in Port Charles. That would never change. The only difference was that she really didn't care anymore. Perhaps she never would again. That was almost liberating, almost!

XXXXXXXX

Alexis Davis released a frustrated sigh when her cousin Stefan stepped into her office. It might be barely nine-thirty, but she was ready to call it a day. Dr. Tony Jones had been waiting outside her office when she arrived; apparently Carly Ashton had been readmitted overnight and ended up in the SICU. Dr. Jones had made it clear that he didn't care what happened to Carly, but he wanted to make sure that no expense was spared on saving his unborn child. Considering the unborn child that he was trying to claim was presumed to be a Quartermaine descendent, Alexis doubted that was even an issue. She hadn't been quite brave enough to explain that and eventually he had stormed out of her office.

"Were you unaware that Nikolas appears to have taken up residence in the Port Charles Hotel?" Stefan asked.

Alexis realized it wasn't really a question. Or at least not one she was intended to answer. "Is Nikolas staying in the suite you rented for six months in August? If that is the case and he used your access card, then we really can't hold the hotel responsible. Now, if Nikolas actually rented a suite himself, we might have something."

"Nikolas is the Cassadine heir. This dalliance with Ms. Bell is hardly appropriate!" Stefan protested.

Alexis didn't disagree. She just had no idea how to clean up the latest Cassadine mess. That was more unnerving than usual because she had essentially created the circumstance that set it all in motion. If Stefan ever figured that out; she knew he wouldn't forgive her. Perhaps that was fair because if Nikolas was harmed by Katherine, she certainly wouldn't forgive herself.

"Do you really have nothing to say?" Stefan asked.

"What do you want me to say Stefan? I despise Katherine Bell! I thought your dalliance with her was far from appropriate and you told me my opinion was neither requested nor welcome. Apparently, Nikolas has told you the same."

"Nikolas is still a child!" Stefan protested.

"The age of consent in New York State is seventeen," Alexis said. She shuddered as she recalled her conversation with Katherine on the matter. Then she believed that Katherine was baiting her but not actually having sexual relations with Nikolas. Now, she was much less sure of that.

"Surely you are not suggesting," Stefan began.

Stefan didn't finish the statement. Perhaps it was better that way. Alexis thought it might be. "Not to change the subject but contract negotiations with Dr. Locke are at an impasse," she said.

"I thought I had made myself explicitly clear but apparently I need to restate this. Dr. Locke is critically important to the hospital's long-term strategic plan. Why are we still debating minutiae?"

"Because Dr. Locke wants us to pay her half a million dollars and exempt her from call," Alexis said.

"Those are not unreasonable requests," Stefan said.

"You objected to salary increases for the entire department in June. Even if those increases had been approved, Dr. Locke would still be earning one hundred thousand more than either Dr. Baldwin or Dr. Grabler," Alexis said.

"Dr. Grabler is also being compensated by Rose Lawn and Shady Brook. He and his wife reported close to one million in taxable income last year," Stefan said.

Alexis decided not to ask how or why Stefan was viewing the Quartermaine-Grabler family tax return. "I presume a significant chunk of that was interest income on his wife's investments. But if Rose Lawn and Shady Brook really have all the money then maybe Dr. Locke should go work for them," she said.

"I presume she will, if we do not resolve this salary debacle and that is why I am asking you to resolve this," Stefan said. Then he turned and stalked out of her office.

Alexis could only shake her head.

XXXXXXXX

Ned Ashton unlocked his car in the Executive Parking Garage underneath the main ELQ Enterprises Headquarters. He had arranged to meet with fellow attorney Jake Meyers at eleven AM. When he had set up the meeting, he had anticipated that Carly would join him. When he had reviewed his appointments the night before to see if he could cancel anything, he had briefly considered rescheduling the meeting but then he remembered what Monica had witnessed during Carly's previous admission. That made it seem critical that he carry through with the meeting even if it took him away from his wife.

So much had happened since, but it had been less than a month earlier that he and Carly had been staying at one of the Quartermaine Chalets abutting the base of Snowbird. There they had some of the first significant conversations of their marriage. A theme emerged; they would both do whatever was necessary to protect their son.

September 28, 1997

Ned Ashton removed a final suitcase from the GMC Yukon that had been waiting for him at the Salt Lake City International Airport and closed the back hatch. His cell phone rang as he made his way up the stone walk to one of the four chalets ELQ Enterprises owned near the base of Snowbird. During ski season one could ski into the resort from the chalets which made them useful for corporate retreats, client hosting, and even as a perk of being an ELQ Executives. Of course, no one was skiing in September so there was little objection to Ned using one of the units for his working honeymoon.

"Ned Ashton," Ned said into his phone as he opened the door of the chalet and set the final suitcase down in the foyer.

"Hey Ned, it's Celia. Part of your wedding present is that I filled the refrigerator and freezer at your chalet, and I personally made sure that the cleaners put fresh linens on all of the beds. My father seems to think that you and Carly were also bringing her mother with you," his cousin told him.

Ned chuckled. Who brought their mother or mother-in-law on their honeymoon? He supposed it wasn't like he and Carly were actually planning on getting intimate but still! "Umm, no, we got married in Florida because Carly's mother hasn't been well. We didn't want her to have to travel needlessly."

"I was hoping my father was confused. I'm glad to hear he is. I wanted to arrange for a nice dinner but when I called your Grandmother to find out what cuisine Carly favored, she suggested pizza. Somehow the fact that your wife is a pizza connoisseur makes me like her already. Again, I wasn't sure how much company you might have with you, so I ordered four pies. They should be arriving in oh, twenty minutes or so and I guess you will have leftovers."

"Leftovers and a full refrigerator. What more could we want?"

"To be honeymooning somewhere other than Utah in the off season? Seriously, Ned we could have rescheduled all of this," Celia said.

"Not easily, October is such a busy month, there are decisions we need to make before the Quarterly Board Meeting at the end of next month, and I needed to be here for the Senate Hearing anyway. Carly understands, and we'll do something a bit more extravagant later. I promise," Ned said.

"If you say so. On that note, if you want to start a little later, we certainly can," Celia offered.

"Nine o'clock is fine. I have one of the corporate SUVs so I can just meet you at ELQ West."

"Ok, well, I don't want to intrude into your honeymoon any more than I already have. I'll see you in the morning."

"Thank you, Celia. I appreciate this and I know Carly will," Ned said. He disconnected the call, then picked up both suitcases from the foyer and headed upstairs. At the top of the stairs, he headed to the far suite. It was slightly smaller than the one he had given Carly and had less of a view of the valley. He was a gentleman after all. A gentleman who didn't share a room with his wife.

XXXXXXXX

"This is amazing!" Carly said as she reached for a second slice of Chicken Ranch Pizza. They were sitting at one of the tables on one of the chalet decks overlooking the valley having the pizza from The Pie Pizzeria that Celia had arranged.

"Grandmother told Celia of your love of pizza," Ned said.

"Celia is your cousin's wife?" Carly asked mid bite.

"Actually, Celia is my cousin Quentin's daughter. Marla is my cousin Hugh Lars's wife. She is the one who will be joining you at the Spa tomorrow."

"I'll try to remember that," Carly said.

"Don't worry there isn't a test or anything," Ned joked.

"Promise?" Carly asked with a wink.

Despite everything, Ned found himself smiling. "I promise," he said.

XXXXXXXX

After dinner, Ned set himself to packing away leftover pizza and loading their dishes into the dishwasher. It needed to be done and it kept him from needing to figure out how he was expected to spend the rest of the night with his new bride. Things were very different than the night after he had married Lois. Of course, maybe that was the point. It probably was.

Ned was wiping down the long granite island when Carly wandered into the kitchen. "Umm, did you need something?" he asked.

Carly didn't say anything at first. Her face seemed to be full of apprehension and insecurity. Ned remembered he had seen that same insecurity on her face when they had both served Thanksgiving Dinner at Ward House the prior year.

"I'm sorry, that came out a bit more rudely than I intended it. I want you to make yourself at home here and seriously if there is anything you need just say the word," Ned said.

"I thought maybe we should talk about how this is going to actually work," Carly said.

Ned nodded uncomfortably. They should talk about how things were going to work. Maybe Carly even had a plan for that because he certainly didn't. "Sure, why don't we go into the North Family room? There is a fireplace in there," he said.

Carly rolled her eyes but then blushed as if she regretted that likely instinctive reaction. "I seem to have forgotten my compass, so I'll just let you lead the way," she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

Ned decided that his best of course of action was to do that.

XXXXXXXX

Ned Ashton took a step back from the fire he had built and surveyed his work. Apparently, his boy scout fire starting badge training had not all been for naught. He glanced to his left where Carly had collapsed into one of the two oversized bean bags placed in between the leather sectional and the fireplace. Although they looked like oversized bean bag chairs, they were called sacs and they were made with foam, not beans, by a local startup who had received some startup capital from ELQ's Venture Capital Division. Ned thought some of the sacs had been sent as Christmas gifts to their investors and then Celia had purchased a few more as a gesture of good faith and commitment or something like that.

Theoretically each of the sacs were supposed to be large enough to accommodate a family of four but Ned was pretty sure that joining Carly on her sac would be an invasion of her personal space. With that thought he settled himself on the oversized sac to the right side of the fireplace. "So, where should we start?" he asked.

"I presume I move in with you?"

That was one of the few things that Ned had just presumed but was that wrong? "At least in the short term that seems like the best option. The Lilac Park neighborhood has it's own elementary school which is better than any of private schools in the county so I think it is the best place for us to raise your son. I guess we could look at other houses in the neighborhood, but I don't think there is anything on the market now. Property doesn't turnover very quickly."

Carly shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine, really," she said.

Ned wondered about that, but he decided to just move forward. "Ok, I can arrange to have all of your things moved from your room at the Port Charles Hotel. Do you have anything somewhere in storage?" he asked.

"Jason helped me get all of my stuff out of Tony's apartment. He is paying for that room at the hotel so I guess your people can contact his people," Carly said.

Ned shook his head. "I'll call Jason after the movers have completed their task. Onto other practical matters, you mentioned that you were picking up your prenatal records from Dr. Meadows when I saw you at the hospital last week. Were you planning on switching OBs?"

Carly hung her head and then shrugged her shoulders again. "I don't know. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision; I couldn't really imagine delivering at GH because Tony is always lurking around there," she said.

Ned could understand that. He was sure there was a lot he didn't know about how or why Carly and Dr. Jones's relationship had ended. Perhaps he didn't have a right to know but perhaps he did have a right to have an opinion on the healthcare his, at least legal, child received. "I really don't want to make any of this harder for you, but I think you and the baby are both best served if you are able to deliver at General Hospital. If that isn't possible then I think somewhere out of town would be a better option than planning to deliver at Our Mother of Mercy Hospital," he said.

"I don't think Mercy is really an option. I would either need to be a much better Catholic or I would need to be planning to give this baby up for adoption to get an OB there to take me on as a new patient late in the second trimester," Carly said.

"So, then I guess we need to figure out if delivering at GH is still an option. I don't know how your relationship with Dr. Jones ended and I'm not sure that is really any of my business but if you don't feel comfortable then I want to respect that. Dr. Meadows delivered Alan and Monica's youngest, but I think that Monica went to see someone at Columbia for a second opinion and maybe that could be a good option."

Carly shrugged her shoulders but didn't speak.

"ELQ Enterprises has an office tower in Manhattan, and we own a Brownstone in Carnegie Hill near Central Park. We could likely relocate to the city and I could mostly work out of the Manhattan office until the baby comes. Your friend Simone lives in the city, right?" Ned asked.

"Somehow I think your grandfather would hate me even more than he already does if I stole you away for the next three months," Carly said.

Ned chuckled. Carly wasn't completely off base. He didn't see his Grandfather being thrilled to not have him at his beck and call. Lois had pointed out that was why he had hated his music career so much and Ned wasn't sure she was wrong. "I'm sure my Grandfather doesn't hate you," he said.

"Really, or do you just feel you have to say that?" Carly asked.

"Although it may go against his gruff persona, my Grandfather really doesn't hate. He doesn't hate my first wife and she probably gave him reason. So, I think you're pretty safe," he said.

"I've heard about your first wife. Everyone loved her!"

"I think you're probably referring to my second wife, Lois. Everyone does love her and for good reason. But life takes us places and sometimes that changes everything. Unfortunately, it did for us," Ned said. He swallowed hard and then took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Carly said.

Her words sounded genuine, and Ned decided to trust that. "I am too, but I can't go back so I'm going to go forward and we're going to make this work for this baby."

"I wish I could believe that," Carly said.

"Why can't you?" Ned asked.

"Tony threatened to take the baby."

"Don't take this the wrong way but how certain are you that Jason is the father?"

"I had an amniocentesis done for paternity testing. It wasn't done at GH, so Tony and my OB don't know. I told Jason the truth not long after."

"Ok, then the truth is on our side," Ned said. In a manner of speaking, it was. Dr. Tony Jones was not the father!

Carly once again shrugged her shoulders but didn't speak.

"So perhaps that leaves only one other awkward topic…my family," Ned said.

"Your grandmother has always been very kind," Carly said.

"Grandmother is very kind. The rest of the family really are caring but sometimes I think that gets lost when everyone is trying to articulate their point at family brunch. They really do want to get to know you even if their interest may feel like an interrogation. So, if you just say the word I'll try to run as interference as I can," Ned offered.

"Maybe it will be good for the baby to have a lot of family. I never had that growing up," Carly said wistfully.

"Cousins can be a good thing, but I meant what I said before. Just say the word," Ned promised.

Ned released the memory as he pulled out of his parking space. If Carly could do the hard work fighting for her and the baby's life in an ICU bed, he should at least be able to ensure that Dr. Jones didn't cause additional problems after the baby was born. He would take the meeting with Jake Meyers and then he would see if his mother was free for lunch.