Alexis stormed into the gatehouse and slammed down her purse. "That woman!
Why do I let her get to me?" She muttered through clenched teeth.
Ned came out the kitchen wiping his hands on a dishtowel. "Alexis? What
happened?"
Alexis turned to face him. "Ned, what are you doing home?"
"Brooke Lynn woke up with the sniffles again so I decided to take her to
the doctor. I was just making her some soup. Who were you just talking
about?"
Alexis flopped down on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table.
"Layla. Darling, lovely, adorable Layla!"
Ned sat next to her. "Okay, I can tell you don't like her… who is she? And
does she have a last name?"
"She's Layla! She doesn't need a last name." Alexis frowned. "Actually, I
don't know her last name. All these years of hating some one and I don't
know her last name. Strange."
Ned nodded his head trying to follow along. "Alexis, you're losing me. All
I know is that she's Layla, the one-name wonder and you've known her, and
hated her, for years. Who is she to you?"
Alexis frowned at Ned as if she just realized he was seating there. "Oh,
I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense am I?"
Ned shook his head and grinned at her, his dimples flashing at her. "But
you're so cute when you're being unintelligible. So tell me about Layla."
"Layla is…how do I describe her? She's drop-dead gorgeous and any man that
meets her ends up falling all over himself to please her." Alexis shot Ned
a look. "You will never meet her."
Ned laughed. "You're jealous of her?"
Alexis folded her arms. "I am not jealous of Layla! It's just that…okay,
she came into our lives, 'our' being Stefan, Nikolas, and me, about 17
years ago. Stefan was away on some business trip and when he came back, he
had this…this woman with him. She claimed to be an old family friend but
I…I never bought it. I never trusted the woman. There was just something
about her, I think it was the fact that she calls me Lexi."
"Lexi?" Ned tried not to laugh.
"Call me that and die, okay?" Alexis snapped. "She also calls Stefan,
Steffie, I'd like to see you try that one."
"Okay, okay, okay." Ned smoothed back the hair away from her temples. "Tell
me the rest of it…Lexi. Ow!" Ned rubbed his side where Alexis had jabbed
her elbow.
Alexis hid a little smile. "The thing about Layla is that I always get the
feeling that she's up to something. But I'm the only one who thinks that!
Stefan and Nikolas think the sun rises and sets on her. You should see the
way they adore her. Whatever she says or does is right and there's no way
you can convince them otherwise. They didn't even care that she flitted in
and out of their lives for five years. They were just content to let her do
it. They practically threw Welcome Home parties whenever she showed up on
the island. But the worst part was Helena! Helena liked her! They got along
like two peas in a pod. It was very disconcerting. That's what made me
suspicious of her."
"But Helena's dead." Ned pointed out.
"I know that. But she has a hidden agenda. I can tell and I'm going to find
out what it is. Stefan may be blind to her but I'm not."
~*~*~
Carly had just gotten back to her desk when the phone began to ring. "Right
on time." She muttered. It was a much-needed distraction after the bomb
Sonny had dropped on her. He loved her…right. "J&J Jacks, how may I help
you?" Carly said.
"Carly? I've done a horrible thing."
"Emily? Is that you?" Carly asked. "Why are you whispering?"
"Because in case someone comes in they don't hear me." Emily said as if
Carly should have known that already.
"Okay, where are you?"
"I'm in my apartment…in my closet."
Carly giggled. "Your closet? What are you doing there?"
"I'm hiding from Elizabeth and Sly. I don't want them to hear me."
"Okay." Carly rolled her eyes. You would think that Emily was too old for
silly things like this. "Why are you hiding from them? Does it have to do
with this horrible thing you've done?"
"Yes."
This was like pulling teeth. "What is this horrible thing you've done?"
Carly was getting irritated. Emily was good girl and she liked her but
she'd never had this hard of a time getting information out of her.
"Carly, you're the only one I can talk to about this. I can't talk to Lucky
or Samantha or anyone."
"So I'm you're last choice. Goody. What is it, Emily?" Carly demanded.
"I slept with Nikolas." Emily mumbled.
"What? I don't think I heard you right, did you just say you slept with…
Nikolas? Nikolas Cassadine? Lucky's brother Nikolas? Laura's other son,
Nikolas? Elizabeth's Nikolas?"
"Yes." Emily hissed. "Could you stop saying it so much, please?"
"Sorry, sorry. Did you two use protection?"
"Of course!" Emily swore.
"So, you and the Prince got it on, huh? What's so horrible about that?"
Carly shrugged.
"Two names spring to mind: Sly and Elizabeth." Emily reminded her.
"Oh, yeah those two. Okay, so it was horrible thing. Do Sly and Elizabeth
know about it?"
"No!" Emily shouted. "No, they don't. I know I'm going to have to tell Sly
soon and I don't know what Nikolas is going to do about Elizabeth. She's
going to hate me."
"So…when did this all happen and how? I thought you two were just friends."
"We are…well we were." Emily amended quietly. "It all started out
harmlessly enough."
"It always does." Carly snorted.
"Carly! Could you please?" Emily wailed.
"Sorry, won't happen again. And you better quit shouting like that or
someone's going find out you're in the closet." Carly said. "Go on. It was
harmless and…"
"I should start the beginning. Nikolas had asked Elizabeth to marry him but
she turned him down."
"I didn't know that." Carly gasped. She hated being on the outside of
things.
"Nobody but the four of us and Lucky knew. It was a secret, sort of. As I
was saying. After that Nikolas was feeling down and I was trying my best to
cheer him up."
"Well, I think you did your best." Carly snickered.
"Carly, cut it out."
"Sorry, it's just too easy."
"Anyway, Nik and Liz had sort of worked things out a bit because they came
together to Eve and Chris' dinner party."
"I remember noticing that they were very quiet."
"Yeah, they were. But then yesterday Elizabeth decided that she needed some
sort of space and Nikolas took this the wrong way and they broke up."
"And this is where you come in?"
"Right. Nikolas called late last night; drunk off his-well he was very
drunk. He needed someone to talk to and I told him I would go out to Spoon
Island and talk with him. Sly got upset about that because Sly's claims
he's jealous of my relationship with Nikolas. We got in a fight and I went
over to Nikolas mad."
"So what happened when you got there?"
"He was drinking and I started drinking with him and we lost track of time.
The next thing I know I'm agreeing to spend the night there. Just spend the
night, mind you. We're in bed and we're talking and then…well, you know
what happened next. I just can't believe I did that. I just screwed up
didn't I?"
"Well from one major screw up to another…welcome to the human race. It
sucks when things don't go as perfectly as you want them to, doesn't it?"
"Carly, what am I going to do? I came back this morning and Sly's took some
of his things and he's gone! I called his apartment and his roommate hasn't
seen him at all. And what's worse is I saw Elizabeth and she's all gung-ho
about working through things with Nikolas. She's talking about marriage!
And Carly, she wants to do this whole girls night out thing with her, Lark,
and Samantha and I can't do that! I could barely look her in the eye this
morning. What am I going to do?"
"First of all, stop babbling." Carly ordered. "Second, you can come to the
Brownstone tonight… unless you'd rather go to the Quartermaine Mansion?"
"Oh, God, not there. I can't take them tonight." Emily groaned.
"Good, so you can stay the night on the couch, you can stay as long as you
like. Michael will love it. He loves seeing his Aunt Emily."
"Thank you, Carly, you're a lifesaver." Emily sighed in relief.
"Just doing my job." Carly grinned.
~*~*~
"Katarina!" Taggert exclaimed in surprise. He looked around the busy police
station. No one was paying attention. "What are you doing calling me at the
station."
"Marcus, I know about Layla." Said the whispery soft voice on the other
end. Marcus could hear the determination in it. Good old Katarina Ross,
never one to beat around the bush.
"So how's my sweet little goddaughter doing?" Marcus desperately tried to
change the subject.
"Melinda is well, but we're not talking about her. We're talking about
Layla and her total disregard for the rules."
Katarina Ross wasn't an easy person to sway. Once she had an idea in her
head she wouldn't let go for anything. Being a WSB boss had helped her with
the particular…skill of hers. Katarina was hard woman, Marcus had learned
over the years, and the only time she was ever soft was when she was with
her daughter Melinda. How he had ever forged a friendship with his old
boss, he'd never know. She was tough person to get to know.
Marcus sighed. "Okay, so Layla's here. What harm is she doing?"
"What harm is she doing? She's not playing by the book. She's showing
everyone in the Bureau that it's okay to go on revenge missions, which it
is not! This is Blondie's mission, not hers."
"So what do you want me to do, Rina?" Marcus lapsed back into the old
familiar nickname.
"I want you to sit on her until I get there."
"How am I supposed to stop her? You forget I have a life that doesn't
involve the," Marcus looked around again to make sure no one was nearby to
hear him. He lowered his voice, "the WSB anymore. I have a job, a
girlfriend, responsibilities."
"Marcus, you know you're WSB for life. Damn it, you're our Port Charles
source. All I want you to do is keep Layla from searching out Victor until
I get there. I'll handle things when I get there."
"And when will that be?" Marcus asked wearily.
"Some time this week. I'll be bringing Melinda with me, she's been missing
her godfather."
"Melinda too?" Marcus exclaimed.
"Who's Melinda?" Keesha asked from beside his desk.
"Keesha! Uh, hey baby." Marcus broke out his best smile. Keesha continued
to frown. "Hold on a sec, please." He told Rina.
"Make it quick." She snapped.
Marcus covered the receiver with his hand. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
He asked.
"I had some work to do down here and I brought you your lunch." Keesha
dropped the bag onto his desk with a loud thug. "So who the hell is
Melinda? Is she another Layla? Am I suppose to expect to see her waltzing
into our place calling you 'Marcus' and trying to relive old times?"
Marcus smiled to himself. He'd never seen Keesha act like this. Was she
jealous? He was open to the possibilities this presented. But first…
Melinda's my goddaughter. She's twelve…or fifteen, it's been a while."
"Oh." Keesha covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Now I feel like an ass."
Marcus reached over his desk and grabbed her other hand. "It's okay, I
think I like the jealous Keesha."
"I wasn't jealous." She quickly denied. "I was just irritated. I don't like
that Layla woman."
"Layla's just an old friend and ex co-worker. That's all." Marcus lied
sincerely. It was in Keesha's best interest to not know all the details of
his former relationship with Layla.
"Just keep her away from me, that's all." Keesha warned.
"Yeah, jealous Keesha is definitely a keeper." He grinned.
"I'll see you after work okay?" She ignored him.
"I may be a little late. It's police business." He immediately added.
"Okay, but don't be too late, or you'll be seeing pissed off Keesha!" She
kissed him. She waved goodbye and walked away.
"Rina? I'm back." Marcus said.
"Took you long enough." She complained.
"I was talking to my girlfriend." He explained.
"So, you finally settled down huh? Thought I'd never see the day." Rina
snorted.
"You want me to let Layla know you'll be here?" Marcus wasn't about to let
Rina go on and on about his love life.
"Yes, I want her waiting for me. Don't let her out of your sight." Rina
stated before hanging up.
"Now how in the hell am I supposed to do that?" Marcus muttered to himself.
"Talking to yourself, buddy? Not a good sign." Garcia said as he came over
to Marcus' desk.
"What?" He asked confused. "Oh, never mind. So what's up, Alex?"
"Not much, just finished the Vega case. Hey, have you noticed that Mac's
been acting a little funny this morning?" Alex leaned against the desk.
"Yeah, I have." He said slowly.
"I wonder what it's all about. Something happening at home probably."
"Probably." Marcus knew what it had to be. The reemergence of Frisco. It
couldn't be affecting the Scorpio home in a good way at all.
"So I was thinking, maybe we should get a poker game going? Get his mind
off things."
Marcus rubbed his chin. "Sounds like a plan."
"Great, we'll do it at your place then." Alex smiled broadly.
"No can do." Marcus shook his head. "Keesha and I…she's not up for any
entertaining at our place." He wasn't about to chance Frisco and Layla
popping up at the apartment in the middle of a poker game. He wasn't even
sure of how he was going to keep Layla out of the Cassadine case. "What
about your place?"
"I'm trying to fix things with Carly, so I'm staying there this week." He
didn't even want to dwell on the fact that this morning she'd called out
Jason's name in her sleep. He hadn't confronted her with this information
because he was sure she probably didn't even realize it had happen.
Besides, she would think he was jealous or something and why would he be
jealous of a dead guy? A guy who had been dead for six years. A guy that
Carly still manages to talk about every
now and then.
"So your place it is." Marcus nodded. "How are things with the lovely Miss
Spencer."
"Look, I know you don't like her so why don't we not talk about her, okay?"
Alex said firmly. He'd had his fill of conversations with Marcus about
Carly.
"You love the woman, I understand. No more Carly talk." Marcus stood. "Why
don't you gather up some more players and I'll tell Mac about the game.
How's Wednesday looking for you?"
"Wednesday should be all clear." Alex said.
~*~*~
Later That Day
Maxie was on her way to Kelly's to see Lucky. She'd gotten his schedule
memorized so she knew he was working there. She hoped she wasn't late.
She'd had to go home straight after school since she was grounded and she
knew her mother was there waiting for her. As soon as Felicia took her
mid-afternoon nap, Maxie had climbed out the window.
She was halfway to Kelly's when she saw her father crossing the street.
"Dad? Dad!" She cried. She ran towards him.
Frisco looked up. He was somewhat shocked to see his daughter running
towards him. He was still trying to get used to the fact that she was
half-grown and dressed like someone out of a bad rock video. But he was
determined to over look all that and try to get to know his daughter again.
He'd called Felicia on Sunday and Mac had got on the other line. Neither
one of them had sounded happy to hear that he was back in town. He was
sorry to burst up their happy family but Maxie and Georgie were still his
daughters. They'd tried to tell him that he was just going to hurt them by
flitting in and out of their lives but he believed it was better that they
knew their father loved them even if he couldn't always be there.
"Dad! Where are you going? Were you going to see Georgie and me?" Maxie
asked with a bright smile.
"Uh…" He was actually on his way to meet Layla at the Port Charles Hotel.
She'd told him about seeing Higgins there. "I was just…"
"This is so great." Maxie continued on without waiting for him to answer.
She linked her arm through his. "I've been thinking about you a lot, Dad.
I'm so glad you're back home."
"I…thanks, honey." Frisco smiled. At least someone was happy to see him.
Then another thought came to him. "What are you doing out? I thought
Felicia said you were grounded?"
"I got time off for good behavior?" Maxie lied charmingly. She held her
breath as she waited to see if he would believe her.
"Oh."
"So, were are you living? Maybe I can help decorate it?" Maxie asked
eagerly.
"Honey, I'm staying in a hotel."
"A hotel? You can't live in a hotel!" Maxie exclaimed.
"I'm not living there." Frisco clarified. "I'm only in Port Charles for a
short while."
"But…but I thought you were home to stay?" Maxie felt tears come to her
eyes. She just got her dad back, how could he just leave her like this.
"Maxie, I'm only here because of a case, I…" Frisco trailed off as he
realized that he just should the worst possible thing.
Maxie removed her arm and started to back away. "You were never going to
come back? You were just going to forget about us?"
"No, no, it wasn't like that." Frisco protested. "I was going…"
"Mom was right. You just want to live the adventurous life and not have
anything to do with Georgie and me." Tears started to roll down her face.
"Why did you come back if you were going to leave anyway!"
Maxie didn't wait for an answer. She turned and started to run in the
opposite direction. She ran right into Lucky.
"Oof!" He cried. "Hey!" He looked down and saw that it was Maxie. "Oh, hi
Maxie."
"Lucky…" Maxie sniffed.
Lucky peered at her closely. He could see the tears streaming down her face
turning the black mascara she was wearing into thick black rivers. "Hey,
Maxie are you okay?"
"My father…" Was all she could get out before she started crying earnest.
Lucky took her into his arms. He wondered what could have happened with her
father that could have done this to her. The last time he saw her she was
so happy that he was in town.
Frisco came up to them. He didn't recognize the young man holding his
daughter. "Maxie." He said.
"I don't want to talk to you." Maxie's voice was muffled by the fact that
her face was buried in Lucky's shirt. Lucky knew he was going to have
stains.
"She doesn't want to talk to you." Lucky told him.
"Who are you?" Frisco demanded to know. He wasn't about to let some kid
tell him if he could talk to his own daughter.
"Lucky Spencer." Lucky introduced himself.
"Luke's kid?" Frisco raised an eyebrow.
Lucky rolled his eyes. No matter what he did, no matter how old he was, he
would always be known as 'Luke's kid.' "Yeah, I'm Luke's kid."
"I… I want… need to talk to my daughter." Frisco said firmly.
Lucky looked down at Maxie. "You wanna…?"
Maxie shook her head. "No." She wrapped her arms tighter around Lucky.
"Listen man, why don't I take her into Kelly's and get her cleaned up and
you two talk later. I don't think now is the time." Lucky advised.
"Now just hold on a second." Frisco wasn't about to let some kid tell him
if he couldn't talk to his daughter or not.
"Dad, please." Maxie raised her head from the middle of Lucky's chest.
Frisco sighed. He lightly touched Maxie's back, cringing when she flinched.
"I'll stop by the house later and we'll talk about this, okay?"
"Just go." Maxie demanded. Frisco dropped his arm and walked away.
"Thank you Lucky." Maxie said after Frisco was gone. She reluctantly
stepped out of his embrace.
"No thanks needed. Let's go inside. Your face's a mess."
"Is it?" Maxie asked, mortified. She covered her face with her hands. Of
all the times to look like this…and in front of Lucky!
Lucky laughed. At least she wasn't crying anymore. He wrapped his arm
around her shoulders making her smile. "Let's get you cleaned up."
~*~*~
Bobbie checked her watch again as she waited for Carly to arrive. Carly was
late which was like her, unfortunately. Bobbie wished that just this once
Carly would get home early or God forbid, on time. Stefan was on his way
here and Bobbie wanted to prepare Carly for it. She peered out the window
for the umpteenth time.
"Hey Mom, whatcha looking for?" Lucas asked as he strolled through the
hall, munching on an apple.
"Carly." Bobbie answered absentmindedly. Then she turned around. "Did you
do your homework?"
Lucas gave a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Mom, all of it. I'm going over to
Jim's for a while."
"Dinner's in an hour." Bobbie reminded him.
"Pizza?" Lucas asked hopefully.
Bobbie laughed. "On a Monday? Not a chance. It's meatloaf tonight kiddo.
Don't dare be late."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "Late for meatloaf? Why on earth would I be?"
Bobbie went back to the window and didn't hear Luke greet Lucas on his way
in.
Luke sauntered into the room. He stood for a few minutes watching Bobbie
stare out the window. She kept fidgeting and checking her watch. She looked
anxious about something, Cassadine no doubt.
"Lose something out there, Barbara Jean?"
Bobbie whirled around. "Luke! W-what are you doing here?"
"It's meatloaf night. Where else would I be?" Luke joked. Then he asked
seriously. "Something's bothering you, little sister. What is it? Victor
get in touch with you again?"
"Victor? No, I haven't heard from Victor."
"So what's got you so antsy in your pantsy?"
"I-have you seen Carly?" Bobbie asked desperately.
"Yeah, she was coming in just as I-hey, I wasn't through." Luke said as
Bobbie flew by him. Well, this is going to be interesting, Luke thought as
he followed behind her at a slower pace.
"Carly! Where have you been?" Bobbie demanded.
Carly put down the grocery bags she'd been holding and knelt down in front
of Michael. She started to unzip his coat. "Nice to see you too, Mom."
Bobbie took a deep breath and tried again. "Hi, Carly, where were you?"
"Yeah, inquiring minds wanna know." Luke said from the doorway.
"Hey, Luke." Carly took the jacket off of Michael who ran to Luke crying.
"Uncle Luke!"
"Hey buddy boy. Give me five." Luke grinned down at his great nephew. They
slapped palms.
"Carly?" Bobbie prompted.
"For heaven's sake, Mom! After picking up Michael, I went to the store for
a few things. Emily's going to be staying over for awhile. Do you need to
know more? Because I can tell you all about my day at work and the very
interesting lunch I had."
"I wouldn't mind hearing about your lunch, darlin'." Luke drawled.
Bobbie folded her arms. "Luke, take Michael to my place. I need to talk to
Carly."
"Oooo, sounds serious." Luke widened his eyes. "Looks like that's our cue
to go, buddy boy. We'll just have to listen at the door." Luke winked at
Michael, who giggled.
"Don't be teaching him about cigars again, Uncle Luke." Carly warned.
"Would I do a thing like that?" Luke asked in mock innocence. He batted his
eyes at Carly, who smothered a laugh.
"Just see that you don't."
"Will do. Scout's honor." Luke swore as he hustled Michael out.
"Hey, you were never a Boy Scout!" Carly frowned. She started to follow
Luke out the door but Bobbie stopped her.
"Carly, there's something I need to tell you before-"
The ringing of the doorbell cut her off. Bobbie glanced in its direction
with a bit of fear in her eyes. Just this morning she'd been very excited
about Carly learning about Stefan but now she wasn't so sure. What would be
Carly's reaction to that sort of news?
"Hold that thought. Gotta get the door." Carly threw open the door and was
shocked to see who was standing before her. "Mr. Higgins? What are you
doing here?"
Bobbie covered her mouth in shock. This was the first time she'd seen
Victor in years. She wasn't surprised by the fact that he hadn't changed
much over the years. The hair was thinning a bit and there was more gray
than black now. The eyes seemed to be harder but it was the same old
Victor. "Victor…my God…" She whispered.
Victor smiled at her. "Barbara, you look well."
"You know Mr. Higgins too?" Carly asked puzzled.
"Actually, the name is not Higgins, my dear." Victor reached out and took
Carly's hand. He pressed a kiss against the back of it. "Its Cassadine and
I am your…"
"Victor!" Stefan's voice rang out from behind him. "What are you doing
here?"
"Same as you I suppose." Victor shrugged. "Visiting my…"
"Sorry to interrupt but what the hell is this? Attack of the Cassadines? Is
Alexis and Nikolas going to come swinging out from behind you?" Carly stood
on her tiptoes and tried to look over their heads.
"Carly, I think you should go inside." Bobbie advised. Victor's appearance
was an unexpected shock that she had to deal with.
"No, this…this is perfect. Dear nephew, your timing is impeccable." Victor
smiled slowly. "It is time to let you know once and for all, Carly is my
daughter."
"I am your what?" Carly choked out. What was this? Some weird twisted
dream? She pinched herself to check. Nope, she was awake.
"Do not listen to him. I am your father." Stefan announced.
Bobbie groaned. This was not going the way it was supposed to go. Bobbie
looked at Carly to see how she was handling things.
"You and…you…" Carly pointed to Victor and Stefan. "You two…" Carly put her
head down and her shoulders began to shake.
Oh God, she was crying. This was worst than she thought. Bobbie touched her
hair lightly. "Carly, honey, are you okay?"
Carly raised her head and Bobbie's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't
crying…she was laughing!
"This is just too…" Carly couldn't finish as she dissolved into another fit
of giggles.
"Hey, let me in on the joke?" Luke asked from the hallway. He stopped short
when he saw Stefan and Victor standing in the doorway. "What on earth is
going on here? I don't think Bobbie's got enough meatloaf for all of us!"
Why do I let her get to me?" She muttered through clenched teeth.
Ned came out the kitchen wiping his hands on a dishtowel. "Alexis? What
happened?"
Alexis turned to face him. "Ned, what are you doing home?"
"Brooke Lynn woke up with the sniffles again so I decided to take her to
the doctor. I was just making her some soup. Who were you just talking
about?"
Alexis flopped down on the couch and put her feet up on the coffee table.
"Layla. Darling, lovely, adorable Layla!"
Ned sat next to her. "Okay, I can tell you don't like her… who is she? And
does she have a last name?"
"She's Layla! She doesn't need a last name." Alexis frowned. "Actually, I
don't know her last name. All these years of hating some one and I don't
know her last name. Strange."
Ned nodded his head trying to follow along. "Alexis, you're losing me. All
I know is that she's Layla, the one-name wonder and you've known her, and
hated her, for years. Who is she to you?"
Alexis frowned at Ned as if she just realized he was seating there. "Oh,
I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense am I?"
Ned shook his head and grinned at her, his dimples flashing at her. "But
you're so cute when you're being unintelligible. So tell me about Layla."
"Layla is…how do I describe her? She's drop-dead gorgeous and any man that
meets her ends up falling all over himself to please her." Alexis shot Ned
a look. "You will never meet her."
Ned laughed. "You're jealous of her?"
Alexis folded her arms. "I am not jealous of Layla! It's just that…okay,
she came into our lives, 'our' being Stefan, Nikolas, and me, about 17
years ago. Stefan was away on some business trip and when he came back, he
had this…this woman with him. She claimed to be an old family friend but
I…I never bought it. I never trusted the woman. There was just something
about her, I think it was the fact that she calls me Lexi."
"Lexi?" Ned tried not to laugh.
"Call me that and die, okay?" Alexis snapped. "She also calls Stefan,
Steffie, I'd like to see you try that one."
"Okay, okay, okay." Ned smoothed back the hair away from her temples. "Tell
me the rest of it…Lexi. Ow!" Ned rubbed his side where Alexis had jabbed
her elbow.
Alexis hid a little smile. "The thing about Layla is that I always get the
feeling that she's up to something. But I'm the only one who thinks that!
Stefan and Nikolas think the sun rises and sets on her. You should see the
way they adore her. Whatever she says or does is right and there's no way
you can convince them otherwise. They didn't even care that she flitted in
and out of their lives for five years. They were just content to let her do
it. They practically threw Welcome Home parties whenever she showed up on
the island. But the worst part was Helena! Helena liked her! They got along
like two peas in a pod. It was very disconcerting. That's what made me
suspicious of her."
"But Helena's dead." Ned pointed out.
"I know that. But she has a hidden agenda. I can tell and I'm going to find
out what it is. Stefan may be blind to her but I'm not."
~*~*~
Carly had just gotten back to her desk when the phone began to ring. "Right
on time." She muttered. It was a much-needed distraction after the bomb
Sonny had dropped on her. He loved her…right. "J&J Jacks, how may I help
you?" Carly said.
"Carly? I've done a horrible thing."
"Emily? Is that you?" Carly asked. "Why are you whispering?"
"Because in case someone comes in they don't hear me." Emily said as if
Carly should have known that already.
"Okay, where are you?"
"I'm in my apartment…in my closet."
Carly giggled. "Your closet? What are you doing there?"
"I'm hiding from Elizabeth and Sly. I don't want them to hear me."
"Okay." Carly rolled her eyes. You would think that Emily was too old for
silly things like this. "Why are you hiding from them? Does it have to do
with this horrible thing you've done?"
"Yes."
This was like pulling teeth. "What is this horrible thing you've done?"
Carly was getting irritated. Emily was good girl and she liked her but
she'd never had this hard of a time getting information out of her.
"Carly, you're the only one I can talk to about this. I can't talk to Lucky
or Samantha or anyone."
"So I'm you're last choice. Goody. What is it, Emily?" Carly demanded.
"I slept with Nikolas." Emily mumbled.
"What? I don't think I heard you right, did you just say you slept with…
Nikolas? Nikolas Cassadine? Lucky's brother Nikolas? Laura's other son,
Nikolas? Elizabeth's Nikolas?"
"Yes." Emily hissed. "Could you stop saying it so much, please?"
"Sorry, sorry. Did you two use protection?"
"Of course!" Emily swore.
"So, you and the Prince got it on, huh? What's so horrible about that?"
Carly shrugged.
"Two names spring to mind: Sly and Elizabeth." Emily reminded her.
"Oh, yeah those two. Okay, so it was horrible thing. Do Sly and Elizabeth
know about it?"
"No!" Emily shouted. "No, they don't. I know I'm going to have to tell Sly
soon and I don't know what Nikolas is going to do about Elizabeth. She's
going to hate me."
"So…when did this all happen and how? I thought you two were just friends."
"We are…well we were." Emily amended quietly. "It all started out
harmlessly enough."
"It always does." Carly snorted.
"Carly! Could you please?" Emily wailed.
"Sorry, won't happen again. And you better quit shouting like that or
someone's going find out you're in the closet." Carly said. "Go on. It was
harmless and…"
"I should start the beginning. Nikolas had asked Elizabeth to marry him but
she turned him down."
"I didn't know that." Carly gasped. She hated being on the outside of
things.
"Nobody but the four of us and Lucky knew. It was a secret, sort of. As I
was saying. After that Nikolas was feeling down and I was trying my best to
cheer him up."
"Well, I think you did your best." Carly snickered.
"Carly, cut it out."
"Sorry, it's just too easy."
"Anyway, Nik and Liz had sort of worked things out a bit because they came
together to Eve and Chris' dinner party."
"I remember noticing that they were very quiet."
"Yeah, they were. But then yesterday Elizabeth decided that she needed some
sort of space and Nikolas took this the wrong way and they broke up."
"And this is where you come in?"
"Right. Nikolas called late last night; drunk off his-well he was very
drunk. He needed someone to talk to and I told him I would go out to Spoon
Island and talk with him. Sly got upset about that because Sly's claims
he's jealous of my relationship with Nikolas. We got in a fight and I went
over to Nikolas mad."
"So what happened when you got there?"
"He was drinking and I started drinking with him and we lost track of time.
The next thing I know I'm agreeing to spend the night there. Just spend the
night, mind you. We're in bed and we're talking and then…well, you know
what happened next. I just can't believe I did that. I just screwed up
didn't I?"
"Well from one major screw up to another…welcome to the human race. It
sucks when things don't go as perfectly as you want them to, doesn't it?"
"Carly, what am I going to do? I came back this morning and Sly's took some
of his things and he's gone! I called his apartment and his roommate hasn't
seen him at all. And what's worse is I saw Elizabeth and she's all gung-ho
about working through things with Nikolas. She's talking about marriage!
And Carly, she wants to do this whole girls night out thing with her, Lark,
and Samantha and I can't do that! I could barely look her in the eye this
morning. What am I going to do?"
"First of all, stop babbling." Carly ordered. "Second, you can come to the
Brownstone tonight… unless you'd rather go to the Quartermaine Mansion?"
"Oh, God, not there. I can't take them tonight." Emily groaned.
"Good, so you can stay the night on the couch, you can stay as long as you
like. Michael will love it. He loves seeing his Aunt Emily."
"Thank you, Carly, you're a lifesaver." Emily sighed in relief.
"Just doing my job." Carly grinned.
~*~*~
"Katarina!" Taggert exclaimed in surprise. He looked around the busy police
station. No one was paying attention. "What are you doing calling me at the
station."
"Marcus, I know about Layla." Said the whispery soft voice on the other
end. Marcus could hear the determination in it. Good old Katarina Ross,
never one to beat around the bush.
"So how's my sweet little goddaughter doing?" Marcus desperately tried to
change the subject.
"Melinda is well, but we're not talking about her. We're talking about
Layla and her total disregard for the rules."
Katarina Ross wasn't an easy person to sway. Once she had an idea in her
head she wouldn't let go for anything. Being a WSB boss had helped her with
the particular…skill of hers. Katarina was hard woman, Marcus had learned
over the years, and the only time she was ever soft was when she was with
her daughter Melinda. How he had ever forged a friendship with his old
boss, he'd never know. She was tough person to get to know.
Marcus sighed. "Okay, so Layla's here. What harm is she doing?"
"What harm is she doing? She's not playing by the book. She's showing
everyone in the Bureau that it's okay to go on revenge missions, which it
is not! This is Blondie's mission, not hers."
"So what do you want me to do, Rina?" Marcus lapsed back into the old
familiar nickname.
"I want you to sit on her until I get there."
"How am I supposed to stop her? You forget I have a life that doesn't
involve the," Marcus looked around again to make sure no one was nearby to
hear him. He lowered his voice, "the WSB anymore. I have a job, a
girlfriend, responsibilities."
"Marcus, you know you're WSB for life. Damn it, you're our Port Charles
source. All I want you to do is keep Layla from searching out Victor until
I get there. I'll handle things when I get there."
"And when will that be?" Marcus asked wearily.
"Some time this week. I'll be bringing Melinda with me, she's been missing
her godfather."
"Melinda too?" Marcus exclaimed.
"Who's Melinda?" Keesha asked from beside his desk.
"Keesha! Uh, hey baby." Marcus broke out his best smile. Keesha continued
to frown. "Hold on a sec, please." He told Rina.
"Make it quick." She snapped.
Marcus covered the receiver with his hand. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
He asked.
"I had some work to do down here and I brought you your lunch." Keesha
dropped the bag onto his desk with a loud thug. "So who the hell is
Melinda? Is she another Layla? Am I suppose to expect to see her waltzing
into our place calling you 'Marcus' and trying to relive old times?"
Marcus smiled to himself. He'd never seen Keesha act like this. Was she
jealous? He was open to the possibilities this presented. But first…
Melinda's my goddaughter. She's twelve…or fifteen, it's been a while."
"Oh." Keesha covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Now I feel like an ass."
Marcus reached over his desk and grabbed her other hand. "It's okay, I
think I like the jealous Keesha."
"I wasn't jealous." She quickly denied. "I was just irritated. I don't like
that Layla woman."
"Layla's just an old friend and ex co-worker. That's all." Marcus lied
sincerely. It was in Keesha's best interest to not know all the details of
his former relationship with Layla.
"Just keep her away from me, that's all." Keesha warned.
"Yeah, jealous Keesha is definitely a keeper." He grinned.
"I'll see you after work okay?" She ignored him.
"I may be a little late. It's police business." He immediately added.
"Okay, but don't be too late, or you'll be seeing pissed off Keesha!" She
kissed him. She waved goodbye and walked away.
"Rina? I'm back." Marcus said.
"Took you long enough." She complained.
"I was talking to my girlfriend." He explained.
"So, you finally settled down huh? Thought I'd never see the day." Rina
snorted.
"You want me to let Layla know you'll be here?" Marcus wasn't about to let
Rina go on and on about his love life.
"Yes, I want her waiting for me. Don't let her out of your sight." Rina
stated before hanging up.
"Now how in the hell am I supposed to do that?" Marcus muttered to himself.
"Talking to yourself, buddy? Not a good sign." Garcia said as he came over
to Marcus' desk.
"What?" He asked confused. "Oh, never mind. So what's up, Alex?"
"Not much, just finished the Vega case. Hey, have you noticed that Mac's
been acting a little funny this morning?" Alex leaned against the desk.
"Yeah, I have." He said slowly.
"I wonder what it's all about. Something happening at home probably."
"Probably." Marcus knew what it had to be. The reemergence of Frisco. It
couldn't be affecting the Scorpio home in a good way at all.
"So I was thinking, maybe we should get a poker game going? Get his mind
off things."
Marcus rubbed his chin. "Sounds like a plan."
"Great, we'll do it at your place then." Alex smiled broadly.
"No can do." Marcus shook his head. "Keesha and I…she's not up for any
entertaining at our place." He wasn't about to chance Frisco and Layla
popping up at the apartment in the middle of a poker game. He wasn't even
sure of how he was going to keep Layla out of the Cassadine case. "What
about your place?"
"I'm trying to fix things with Carly, so I'm staying there this week." He
didn't even want to dwell on the fact that this morning she'd called out
Jason's name in her sleep. He hadn't confronted her with this information
because he was sure she probably didn't even realize it had happen.
Besides, she would think he was jealous or something and why would he be
jealous of a dead guy? A guy who had been dead for six years. A guy that
Carly still manages to talk about every
now and then.
"So your place it is." Marcus nodded. "How are things with the lovely Miss
Spencer."
"Look, I know you don't like her so why don't we not talk about her, okay?"
Alex said firmly. He'd had his fill of conversations with Marcus about
Carly.
"You love the woman, I understand. No more Carly talk." Marcus stood. "Why
don't you gather up some more players and I'll tell Mac about the game.
How's Wednesday looking for you?"
"Wednesday should be all clear." Alex said.
~*~*~
Later That Day
Maxie was on her way to Kelly's to see Lucky. She'd gotten his schedule
memorized so she knew he was working there. She hoped she wasn't late.
She'd had to go home straight after school since she was grounded and she
knew her mother was there waiting for her. As soon as Felicia took her
mid-afternoon nap, Maxie had climbed out the window.
She was halfway to Kelly's when she saw her father crossing the street.
"Dad? Dad!" She cried. She ran towards him.
Frisco looked up. He was somewhat shocked to see his daughter running
towards him. He was still trying to get used to the fact that she was
half-grown and dressed like someone out of a bad rock video. But he was
determined to over look all that and try to get to know his daughter again.
He'd called Felicia on Sunday and Mac had got on the other line. Neither
one of them had sounded happy to hear that he was back in town. He was
sorry to burst up their happy family but Maxie and Georgie were still his
daughters. They'd tried to tell him that he was just going to hurt them by
flitting in and out of their lives but he believed it was better that they
knew their father loved them even if he couldn't always be there.
"Dad! Where are you going? Were you going to see Georgie and me?" Maxie
asked with a bright smile.
"Uh…" He was actually on his way to meet Layla at the Port Charles Hotel.
She'd told him about seeing Higgins there. "I was just…"
"This is so great." Maxie continued on without waiting for him to answer.
She linked her arm through his. "I've been thinking about you a lot, Dad.
I'm so glad you're back home."
"I…thanks, honey." Frisco smiled. At least someone was happy to see him.
Then another thought came to him. "What are you doing out? I thought
Felicia said you were grounded?"
"I got time off for good behavior?" Maxie lied charmingly. She held her
breath as she waited to see if he would believe her.
"Oh."
"So, were are you living? Maybe I can help decorate it?" Maxie asked
eagerly.
"Honey, I'm staying in a hotel."
"A hotel? You can't live in a hotel!" Maxie exclaimed.
"I'm not living there." Frisco clarified. "I'm only in Port Charles for a
short while."
"But…but I thought you were home to stay?" Maxie felt tears come to her
eyes. She just got her dad back, how could he just leave her like this.
"Maxie, I'm only here because of a case, I…" Frisco trailed off as he
realized that he just should the worst possible thing.
Maxie removed her arm and started to back away. "You were never going to
come back? You were just going to forget about us?"
"No, no, it wasn't like that." Frisco protested. "I was going…"
"Mom was right. You just want to live the adventurous life and not have
anything to do with Georgie and me." Tears started to roll down her face.
"Why did you come back if you were going to leave anyway!"
Maxie didn't wait for an answer. She turned and started to run in the
opposite direction. She ran right into Lucky.
"Oof!" He cried. "Hey!" He looked down and saw that it was Maxie. "Oh, hi
Maxie."
"Lucky…" Maxie sniffed.
Lucky peered at her closely. He could see the tears streaming down her face
turning the black mascara she was wearing into thick black rivers. "Hey,
Maxie are you okay?"
"My father…" Was all she could get out before she started crying earnest.
Lucky took her into his arms. He wondered what could have happened with her
father that could have done this to her. The last time he saw her she was
so happy that he was in town.
Frisco came up to them. He didn't recognize the young man holding his
daughter. "Maxie." He said.
"I don't want to talk to you." Maxie's voice was muffled by the fact that
her face was buried in Lucky's shirt. Lucky knew he was going to have
stains.
"She doesn't want to talk to you." Lucky told him.
"Who are you?" Frisco demanded to know. He wasn't about to let some kid
tell him if he could talk to his own daughter.
"Lucky Spencer." Lucky introduced himself.
"Luke's kid?" Frisco raised an eyebrow.
Lucky rolled his eyes. No matter what he did, no matter how old he was, he
would always be known as 'Luke's kid.' "Yeah, I'm Luke's kid."
"I… I want… need to talk to my daughter." Frisco said firmly.
Lucky looked down at Maxie. "You wanna…?"
Maxie shook her head. "No." She wrapped her arms tighter around Lucky.
"Listen man, why don't I take her into Kelly's and get her cleaned up and
you two talk later. I don't think now is the time." Lucky advised.
"Now just hold on a second." Frisco wasn't about to let some kid tell him
if he couldn't talk to his daughter or not.
"Dad, please." Maxie raised her head from the middle of Lucky's chest.
Frisco sighed. He lightly touched Maxie's back, cringing when she flinched.
"I'll stop by the house later and we'll talk about this, okay?"
"Just go." Maxie demanded. Frisco dropped his arm and walked away.
"Thank you Lucky." Maxie said after Frisco was gone. She reluctantly
stepped out of his embrace.
"No thanks needed. Let's go inside. Your face's a mess."
"Is it?" Maxie asked, mortified. She covered her face with her hands. Of
all the times to look like this…and in front of Lucky!
Lucky laughed. At least she wasn't crying anymore. He wrapped his arm
around her shoulders making her smile. "Let's get you cleaned up."
~*~*~
Bobbie checked her watch again as she waited for Carly to arrive. Carly was
late which was like her, unfortunately. Bobbie wished that just this once
Carly would get home early or God forbid, on time. Stefan was on his way
here and Bobbie wanted to prepare Carly for it. She peered out the window
for the umpteenth time.
"Hey Mom, whatcha looking for?" Lucas asked as he strolled through the
hall, munching on an apple.
"Carly." Bobbie answered absentmindedly. Then she turned around. "Did you
do your homework?"
Lucas gave a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Mom, all of it. I'm going over to
Jim's for a while."
"Dinner's in an hour." Bobbie reminded him.
"Pizza?" Lucas asked hopefully.
Bobbie laughed. "On a Monday? Not a chance. It's meatloaf tonight kiddo.
Don't dare be late."
Lucas rolled his eyes. "Late for meatloaf? Why on earth would I be?"
Bobbie went back to the window and didn't hear Luke greet Lucas on his way
in.
Luke sauntered into the room. He stood for a few minutes watching Bobbie
stare out the window. She kept fidgeting and checking her watch. She looked
anxious about something, Cassadine no doubt.
"Lose something out there, Barbara Jean?"
Bobbie whirled around. "Luke! W-what are you doing here?"
"It's meatloaf night. Where else would I be?" Luke joked. Then he asked
seriously. "Something's bothering you, little sister. What is it? Victor
get in touch with you again?"
"Victor? No, I haven't heard from Victor."
"So what's got you so antsy in your pantsy?"
"I-have you seen Carly?" Bobbie asked desperately.
"Yeah, she was coming in just as I-hey, I wasn't through." Luke said as
Bobbie flew by him. Well, this is going to be interesting, Luke thought as
he followed behind her at a slower pace.
"Carly! Where have you been?" Bobbie demanded.
Carly put down the grocery bags she'd been holding and knelt down in front
of Michael. She started to unzip his coat. "Nice to see you too, Mom."
Bobbie took a deep breath and tried again. "Hi, Carly, where were you?"
"Yeah, inquiring minds wanna know." Luke said from the doorway.
"Hey, Luke." Carly took the jacket off of Michael who ran to Luke crying.
"Uncle Luke!"
"Hey buddy boy. Give me five." Luke grinned down at his great nephew. They
slapped palms.
"Carly?" Bobbie prompted.
"For heaven's sake, Mom! After picking up Michael, I went to the store for
a few things. Emily's going to be staying over for awhile. Do you need to
know more? Because I can tell you all about my day at work and the very
interesting lunch I had."
"I wouldn't mind hearing about your lunch, darlin'." Luke drawled.
Bobbie folded her arms. "Luke, take Michael to my place. I need to talk to
Carly."
"Oooo, sounds serious." Luke widened his eyes. "Looks like that's our cue
to go, buddy boy. We'll just have to listen at the door." Luke winked at
Michael, who giggled.
"Don't be teaching him about cigars again, Uncle Luke." Carly warned.
"Would I do a thing like that?" Luke asked in mock innocence. He batted his
eyes at Carly, who smothered a laugh.
"Just see that you don't."
"Will do. Scout's honor." Luke swore as he hustled Michael out.
"Hey, you were never a Boy Scout!" Carly frowned. She started to follow
Luke out the door but Bobbie stopped her.
"Carly, there's something I need to tell you before-"
The ringing of the doorbell cut her off. Bobbie glanced in its direction
with a bit of fear in her eyes. Just this morning she'd been very excited
about Carly learning about Stefan but now she wasn't so sure. What would be
Carly's reaction to that sort of news?
"Hold that thought. Gotta get the door." Carly threw open the door and was
shocked to see who was standing before her. "Mr. Higgins? What are you
doing here?"
Bobbie covered her mouth in shock. This was the first time she'd seen
Victor in years. She wasn't surprised by the fact that he hadn't changed
much over the years. The hair was thinning a bit and there was more gray
than black now. The eyes seemed to be harder but it was the same old
Victor. "Victor…my God…" She whispered.
Victor smiled at her. "Barbara, you look well."
"You know Mr. Higgins too?" Carly asked puzzled.
"Actually, the name is not Higgins, my dear." Victor reached out and took
Carly's hand. He pressed a kiss against the back of it. "Its Cassadine and
I am your…"
"Victor!" Stefan's voice rang out from behind him. "What are you doing
here?"
"Same as you I suppose." Victor shrugged. "Visiting my…"
"Sorry to interrupt but what the hell is this? Attack of the Cassadines? Is
Alexis and Nikolas going to come swinging out from behind you?" Carly stood
on her tiptoes and tried to look over their heads.
"Carly, I think you should go inside." Bobbie advised. Victor's appearance
was an unexpected shock that she had to deal with.
"No, this…this is perfect. Dear nephew, your timing is impeccable." Victor
smiled slowly. "It is time to let you know once and for all, Carly is my
daughter."
"I am your what?" Carly choked out. What was this? Some weird twisted
dream? She pinched herself to check. Nope, she was awake.
"Do not listen to him. I am your father." Stefan announced.
Bobbie groaned. This was not going the way it was supposed to go. Bobbie
looked at Carly to see how she was handling things.
"You and…you…" Carly pointed to Victor and Stefan. "You two…" Carly put her
head down and her shoulders began to shake.
Oh God, she was crying. This was worst than she thought. Bobbie touched her
hair lightly. "Carly, honey, are you okay?"
Carly raised her head and Bobbie's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't
crying…she was laughing!
"This is just too…" Carly couldn't finish as she dissolved into another fit
of giggles.
"Hey, let me in on the joke?" Luke asked from the hallway. He stopped short
when he saw Stefan and Victor standing in the doorway. "What on earth is
going on here? I don't think Bobbie's got enough meatloaf for all of us!"