"Penny for your thoughts," Rinoa offered. She lifted her glass of champagne and winked at the man standing beside her. "Or are you really the ruthless tycoon that everyone makes you out as? Should I be offering a thousand for a precious thought from Mister Jasper Jacks?"
Jax smiled politely. "Miss Lockhart," he greeted. "I hope you're enjoying your party."
"Please, call me Rinoa," Rinoa told Jax. "And I am having a good time, thank you. And you? Are you enjoying the party?"
"It's the best party I've been to all week." Although the statement was true, it was meaningless: it had been the only party Jax had been to all week, and both people were aware of it.
"It can't be all that great, though," Rinoa commented dryly. She leaned over and picked up Jax's drink. She sniffed it for a few seconds. "Ginger ale?"
"There's nothing wrong with ginger ale," Jax said lightly.
"No, there's not," Rinoa agreed. "But there is something weird when a person chooses to drink ginger ale when he can have champagne or wine."
"I happen to like ginger ale," Jax told Rinoa. Although, honestly, he normally would be drinking a glass of champagne instead of the nonalcoholic ginger ale.
"If you say so," Rinoa smiled innocently. "But that doesn't explain why you've spent the entire evening so far here at the bar. That doesn't sound too fun. Unless, of course, you are one of those types of people who hate dancing and like standing around doing nothing."
"Maybe."
"And then," Rinoa continued, "I also couldn't help but notice that you've had your eyes trained in that direction all evening." Rinoa pointed towards the entrance of the ballroom. "Are you waiting for someone, Mr. Jacks?"
"Perhaps."
"Hmm," Rinoa turned back towards the entrance. "A certain redhead, perhaps? My brother's sister? Are you watching to see if she brings her new beau with her?"
A slight grimace came over Jax's face.
"Because that's exactly who I'm waiting for," Rinoa said nonchalantly. "I've been watching for her, too, Jax. I just haven't been as obvious about it as you've been."
Jax didn't even bother trying to deny that he had been keeping an eye open for Skye's arrival. "And why are you waiting for Skye?"
"My mother," Rinoa's voice had a slight note of disdain in it, "doesn't want Skye to come to the party. And my mother has every intention of barring Skye entrance. If I don't watch for Skye, then she just won't be allowed in."
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…The smile froze on Rae's lips. Rae watched crossly as Monica turned her back on Rae and ignored her and treated her as if she didn't exist. Why was Monica still treating her this way, especially since, this time around, it had been Monica's long lost daughter who had come to Port Charles?
"Rae," Alan said warmly. He walked over to his past love, and enveloped her body into an affectionate hug.
"Alan," Rae replied gratefully. After the "session" she had just shared with her daughter, Rae had felt empty and cold. Undoubtedly, the feeling had been emphatic in nature, and Rae had received it only because that had been what Skye had been emitting.
Unbeknownst to them, a furious and jealous Monica glared daggers at their backs.
"How's Skye?" Alan asked hopefully, as he parted from the hug. "Is she coming to the party?"
"Yes, she is," Rae answered. "And she's coming alone." That ought to sooth Alan's fears and worries.
"Thank Heavens," Alan exhaled.
"Alan," Rae said gravely, "we have to talk about Skye."
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…"What a stuffy bore," Rinoa announced as she approached Courtney. "That guy is too busy staring at the entranceway to talk to me."
Courtney hid a smile. Even though Rinoa was in her mid twenties, she often acted like a teenager. "So who's he looking for? Skye?"
"Pretty sure," Rinoa nodded. She glanced around, her gaze briefly resting on Skye's parents deep in discussion. "Where's AJ?"
"He wanted to go up to check on Skye," Courtney told Rinoa. Courtney was actually jealous that Rinoa and Skye had such an attentive brother who looked out for them, yet didn't cross the line in becoming an obsessive control freak like her own brother was.
"Brothers are the best things in the world," Rinoa mused aloud. If only you knew how much better your brother is than you give him credit for.
"Not my brother," Courtney sighed. "He treats me like I'm some sort of pet, like I'm too stupid to make my own choices."
"There are worse brothers," Rinoa said lightly. "Sonny actually isn't too bad, Courtney. You ought to give him a chance." And with these words, you and Sonny will never think of me as your enemy.
Courtney looked at Rinoa quizzically. Did her brother get his hooks into her also? Was Rinoa now another cult member for the Sonny fan club?
Rinoa smiled innocently. "Trust me, Courtney. There are worse brothers out there in the world."
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…"Skye," Rae said slowly, "is a psychologist's dream come true, to say the very least. She has so many problems, Alan, so many deep-seated emotional problems, that I don't even know how we can begin to help her."
Concern was written clearly across Alan's face. "She won't reconsider seeing that man?"
"That's not even the problem," Rae sighed. "Well, it is a problem, but it isn't the main problem."
Rae pulled Alan's hand, and led him to a more secluded corner of the ballroom. "Our daughter," Rae began, "is a very vulnerable woman, although she hides it impressively well, and has a frighteningly low amount of self-esteem."
"I know," Alan said, his face dead serious. "I've tried to help her with that, and I've tried to show her how much I love her."
"But it's not enough, Alan," Rae said despairingly as she wringed her hands. "Skye's been rejected so many times, so many countless times, that she thinks she's worthless. That no one could possibly love her, unless she pretends to be something she isn't."
"That's ridiculous," Alan burst out. "I've told Skye many times that I love her, no matter what she chooses to do."
"Alan," Rae cried out, "you know as well as I do that actions speak louder than words. Do you think your promise of love can drown out her banishment from the house? Which do you think means more to her, Alan? Your words or your actions?"
"I had to ask her to leave," Alan said morosely. "It was for the good of the family, Rae."
"But what about Skye? What about our daughter?" Rae demanded. "She's part of your family, too, Alan. But yet you rejected her for the others. I know she did things to warrant her banishment, Alan, but banishing her from your house isn't going to help her get any better."
Rae massaged her forehead with her right hand. "After my talk with Skye," Rae said shakily, "I started thinking about the past. About Skye and everything I knew about her. And do you know what I realized?"
"No," Alan replied dully. He knew he wouldn't like what Rae had to say, but he knew he had to hear it.
"On my one hand, just using three fingers," Rae said, her voice cracking, "I can count the number of people who have accepted Skye for who she was. Three people, Alan, just three people, who have never ever rejected our daughter or made her feel worthless or insufficient. And it wasn't you, and it wasn't me, and it wasn't AJ."
Alan knew this much. He had rejected Skye after her role in Emily's accident had come to light.
Rae lifted her right hand's index, middle, and ring finger. "Myrtle Fargate, my mother and Skye's grandmother, Stuart Chandler, Skye's adoptive father's brother, and Lila Quartermaine, your mother and Skye's other grandmother," Rae counted, lowering a finger as she said each name. "Three people, Alan. Of all the hundreds of people our daughter has met, only three people have fully accepted her and made her feel loved."
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…If only one thing could be said about Skye, as she descended the spiral staircase which led to the main ballroom, then it would have to be that the woman knew how to make an entrance. Her entrance wasn't loud, and neither was it ostentatious. But, as Skye Chandler Quartermaine made her way down the stairs, escorted by her younger brother AJ, she was the perfect model of quiet dignity and grace.
Skye knew that, save for a possible select few people, her presence at the party was not welcome. She knew that many of the guests were wondering about her alliance with the mob. And, thanks to AJ, she also knew that Sonny, an enemy to both her and Roscoe, would be watching and judging her moves.
Normally, even for a woman like her, that would have been unnerving. It would have been more than unnerving- it would have been downright frightening. An ordinary person would run away before allowing such harsh judgment to take place.
But Skye was not an ordinary person. And, as Rae had recently discovered, the mental and emotional shields that Skye possessed had greatly increased in strength. To the outer eye, she was the picture of a woman filled with self-confidence. But that was to the naked eye, and the naked eye often missed the truth.
"You think Monica will still make a scene, even though you're with me?" Skye whispered softly to AJ. Her face was set in a serious tone; no smile reached either her eyes or her lips.
"Rinoa's rooting for you," AJ whispered back. "And that's all you need. Monica doesn't want to risk fighting and arguing with Rinoa, not yet, at least."
"You, Courtney, and Rinoa," Skye muttered. "Three people, right?" There was no way she was going to stay over an hour for this party, especially since there were only three people who were still on amicable terms with her.
"Well, you forgot dad and Rae," AJ suggested. "Or did you purposely leave them out?"
"What do you think?" Skye replied. From the corner of her eye, she saw Rinoa pull Monica to the side and, in all probability, insist and argue that Skye had a right to be at the party.
"Uh oh," AJ muttered. "He's coming for you."
"Jax?" Skye asked, her eyes never veering off AJ's face.
AJ nodded. "I told you he was watching like a hawk. Rinoa noticed it first, and then she pointed it out to both Courtney and I." All three of them had found it incredibly amusing that Jasper Jacks had spent the entire night thus far by the bar drinking ginger ale and staking out the entrance of the ballroom. Unlike Rinoa, who had masked her surveillance of the entranceway, Jax had been very open about it. "You want me to stick by you, Skye?"
"Thanks, but I'll be fine," Skye said monotonously. She came to the party with only one goal: to show her support for Rinoa.
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…"You rejected her the day you found out that I was pregnant with her, and chose not to acknowledge her existence. I rejected her after meeting her. And then, even though I had found out she was my daughter, I had kept it a secret. One of her enemies leaked the truth to her, and it pained her to think I didn't want to acknowledge the truth and take her in as my daughter," Rae admitted sadly. "And, of course, neither Edward nor Monica have ever accepted Skye. At most, Edward accepted one of her facades, but not her."
"AJ didn't like Skye, either," Alan contemplated. "But then they became allies, best of friends, even."
Rae nodded. "So there's Lila, Myrtle, and Stuart. The three of them have always made Skye feel welcome, safe, and accepted. After some sort of initial rejection, Skye began to trust a few more people," Rae continued thoughtfully. "You, myself, AJ, and her mystery man."
"Mystery man?" Alan repeated. "Who's her mystery man?"
"She never gave me a name," Rae sighed. "And I never pushed her to give me a name. She just didn't trust me enough to tell me, I suppose."
"Who are you talking about?" Alan demanded, a hint of urgency in his voice. Was Rae referring to Jasper Jacks?
"At first I thought it was just a crush, or a challenge she wanted to conquer," Rae admitted to Alan. "But now, I think it was more than that. I think… it might have been love, Alan. I really think she may have been in love with him."
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…Since the night of the accident, Gia Campbell has not had a single drop of alcohol. She knew that drinking in itself was not something to fear, but it was the combination of drinking and driving that she had to be cautious of.
Tonight, Gia was seriously tempted to drink again. Rinoa, the guest of honor of the party, was, once again dancing with Nikolas Cassadine. Gia didn't consider herself to be the jealous type, and, the last time her jealousy had flared, that had only been because of the fact that Nikolas and Sarah had been involved with each other in the past.
She didn't want to be jealous of Rinoa. There was no reason to be jealous of Rinoa. But, yet, she was. Maybe it was because of the way Courtney and her brother, Sonny, had been watching her, Nikolas, and Rinoa. Or maybe it was because of the comments the reporter had made the other night about her being a has-been. Or maybe it was because the media was now making out the long lost daughter of Port Charles and the Cassadine prince as the future Cassadine royal couple.
The jealousy and insecurity in Gia rose. The temptation to drink once again rose with it. But the sight of Liz and Sarah was more than enough to deter Gia from her temptation.
Gia wasn't the only one uncomfortable with the sight of Rinoa and Nikolas sharing more than one dance. Monica Bard Quartermaine, one of two people in the room who knew the truth of Rinoa's parentage, was uncomfortable with the idea of her daughter unknowingly dancing with her half-brother. What if her daughter was to become smitten with the dashing prince? What if he were to leave his fiancée for her daughter? If that were to happen, Monica would be forced to admit the truth of Rinoa's heritage, and then all Hell would break loose.
But what choice did Monica have? If she instructed her daughter to stay away from Nikolas Cassadine, then suspicion may arise. And Monica did not want to admit to anyone, not even her own daughter, that her father had been the most hated man of Port Charles: Stavros Cassadine.
But the thought of her daughter having an incestuous relationship with her half-brother was too much for Monica. Monica resolved to have a talk with her new daughter about men and stealing fiancés from their brides to be.
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…The color of her velvet dress was all too familiar: it was a royal deep blue, exactly the same shade as the dress he had purchased for her from New Orleans. The design and cut, though, were much different. This dress was floor-length, with a slit on the right side that went up slightly above her knee and, at the top of the dress were two simple, thin spaghetti straps.
"I don't want to talk right now," Skye said to Jax as soon as he got into ear range. "I've come tonight simply to offer my support and love for Rinoa. And I don't want to think about anything but that."
"You can't avoid the subject forever," Jax told her softly. "We have to talk, Skye."
"I know. But not right now," Skye replied, her voice devoid of emotion. She had released all her emotions prior to her trek to the party, and she was now devoid of all feeling. Or, at least that was what she was commanding herself to feel like. "I'm not staying for long. I'll tell you when I leave, and then we can talk."
Jax prided himself on being able to read people, their emotions and feelings. He had, in the past, admitted to Skye that he had been staring at her because he had been studying her, trying to figure out who she was. And, somewhere along the way, he had figured Skye out, although only partially. He had figured out why she acted the way that she did, and this in itself had been the farthest any one person had gotten with Skye. Myrtle, Stuart, and Lila had all accepted Skye for who she was, without any questions or doubts. They had never tried to find out why Skye was the way she was, unlike Jax. But the answer he had discovered had only led to more questions, questions to which he had never taken the time to answer. Now, looking at Skye, he knew that she had changed once again, and that the person he had once had her pegged out to be was no longer the person she was now.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," Skye said distantly, "I'm going to talk to Rinoa and give her my best wishes."
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…The question in whether or not she should tell Alan what her daughter had entrusted with did not even cross Rae's mind. Her daughter needed help, and neither she nor Alan knew all the facts. And, until they each started sharing what they each knew, they would never be able to find a way to help their daughter.
"Remember last Christmas," Rae reminisced. "Skye was a changed woman. She wasn't filled with anger, or with thoughts of revenge."
A small smile appeared on Alan's face as he remembered the recent holiday. "She had just taken over ELQ," Alan recalled. "And she was in the best of spirits, and she was confident that she would do a stellar job as CEO."
"Skye was filled with hope and optimism," Rae acknowledge softly. "She was so changed, Alan, that she actually came to me and asked me for my help."
"What did she want help with?"
The smile on Rae's face was bittersweet. "She wanted to know how to make a man fall in love with her. And it wasn't just because she wanted him, but because she was in love with him."
This news shocked Alan to the very depths of his soul. He had never suspected that his daughter had such strong feelings for a man.
"I should have noticed it then," Rae said, her voice filled with self-reproach. "I should have realized that she didn't think he would fall in love with her, and that she thought that she needed to resort to some sort of trick to earn his love." And what had made it even worse was that she had, in the end, suggested to Skye that she wear the sexy gray dress. Yes, Rae had told her daughter that love happened on its own, and that perhaps the man Skye had been so smitten with simply needed time to get over his previous loves. But she hadn't pushed this concept far enough, and had, instead, given her daughter the advice to wear a sexy dress that, although revealing, did nothing to show Skye's true self.
Alan was certain that Jax was the mystery man that Rae was referring to. There was no other man that his daughter had grown close to since coming to Port Charles. Well, no man that wasn't related to her by blood. Without a doubt, Skye's mystery man had to be Jasper Jacks.
"I'd like to wring his neck," Rae said suddenly, fury evident in her voice. "She trusted him, Alan, and she showed him who she was. And, instead of staying by her, instead of proving his love or support for her, he deserted her. He made her feel worthless, as if she deserved nothing more than a mafia hoodlum." Rae's eyes flashed angrily as she thought of her daughter's depressingly low self-esteem.
Alan's eyes scanned the ballroom. He found their daughter standing within a small group of people: AJ and Courtney, Rinoa, and Jax. AJ and Courtney stood close to one another, while Rinoa stood protectively near Skye, and Jax was the outsider, the one trying to make some sort of connection with Skye, but the one who was rebuffed with a simple commanding glance.
It all made sense that Jasper Jacks was the mystery man that Rae spoke of. He was the one that had helped Skye take her place as CEO of ELQ. He was the one that had stood by her side when the truth about Courtney and Janine had been revealed. He had been the one who had forced Edward to drop his charges against Skye and AJ. He had been the one who had given her the strength to make peace with a comatose Edward. And he had been the one who had upset her that night at the Grille, the night that she had made her decision to ally herself with a man like Roscoe.
But what use was the revelation that his daughter had been in love with Jasper Jacks? He couldn't just confront Jax and demand that he fall in love with his daughter. That was preposterous. And neither could he confront Jax and tell him his and Rae's suspicions of the feelings that Skye had for him. That would be incredibly disrespectful of Skye's feelings.
Alan gestured towards the area where Skye was standing. "Do you see our daughter, Rae? She's in the long blue dress, standing with a small group of people."
It took Rae a few seconds to locate her daughter. Rae nodded. "I see her."
"Do you see the group she's with? AJ, Courtney, Rinoa, and the tall blond man?" Alan asked.
"Yes, I do," Rae responded, curious as to where Alan was going with this conversation.
"That blond man is Jasper Jacks, and I'm pretty certain that he's the mystery man," Alan informed Rae. "In fact, I'd bet everything I own that he's the guy. Question is, Rae, what do we do about it?"
"Him?" Rae gasped. Finally, she had a face and a name to attach to the mystery man. But, like Alan said, what were they to do now?
*******
Elsewhere in the ballroom…Together, they would have made a beautiful pair. Together, they would have turned many heads and earned many envious stares. But they weren't together. Well, not really.
Skye and Jax were both leaving the party, but, although they were leaving at the same time, and they were leaving together, they simply didn't look together. It was more than just frigid tension that existed between the two of them. In truth, one was radiating frustration while the other emitted an emotion that was too hard to describe, too hard to define.
"I'll be leaving for Roscoe's in an hour," Skye said curtly, her voice cold and harsh. "So whatever you have to say, make it fast."
He had considered what his words to her would be all night. He had all night to choose his wording, to select his nonverbal movements and cues. But, despite all this planning, the words just wouldn't come to Jax.
"Well?" Skye asked, impatience creeping into her voice.
"Why'd you do it?" The words popped into Jax's mouth, and he spoke them before he had even realized what he had said.
She didn't need him to define the word "it". They both knew what Jax was referring to, and they both knew that the time for this conversation to happen had finally arrived.
"Do you remember," Skye looked up into Jax's Caribbean colored eyes, "the time when you forced Edward to drop his charges against AJ and I?"
A simple nod, and a confused look as to where Skye's questioning was leading to, was all that Jax's face expressed.
"And do you remember the time I told you that an intruder had been outside my window?" Skye continued. "And the time I had AJ lock me up in the meat locker?"
"Yes, yes," Jax said softly, frowning. "You called me a white knight. And I told you I wasn't a white knight."
Skye raised her left hand so that her thumb was right in front of her lips and her pinky finger was closest towards Jax. It was a gesture that Skye had picked up from Rinoa, and it literally meant that she, Skye, wanted quiet so that she could talk. In the past, when she and Jax had been on friendlier terms, she would have opted instead to put her fingers near his lips, and thus signify to him that she wanted him to cease talking. But that had been in the past, when they had been closer, friendlier. Rinoa's way of silencing people, while equally effective, did not demand a closeness between the two people.
"And do you remember the time I became jealous because I had seen you and Carly dancing together?" Skye asked, her voice giving no clue as to what she was now feeling. "It was during Nikolas and Gia's engagement party. I left early, went back home, and you followed me."
"I do," Jax replied. And he remembered what he had said to her, and how she had responded.
"You asked me if I wanted us to be something more, something special," Skye said, a hint of sadness and longing her voice. "Remember?"
Yes, Jax remembered it. And he remembered all the times that both of them had refused to take the initial step, and how each of them had always, so to speak, thrown the ball in the other person's court.
"I didn't give you a clear answer then," Skye's voice dropped to a husky whisper, "or any of the other times the topic arrived, but my answer had always been yes."
Her eyes had never been clearer, never more open or revealing to the person she truly was inside. The words she spoke didn't contain the faintest scent of a lie, and for the first time, especially since they were in such close proximity to each other, each knew what could have, should have, and would have been.
Skye turned abruptly, her red hair brushing against Jax's face. When she turned back to face him, the honest eyes and truthful lips had vanished, only to be replaced by deceiving eyes and a smile as fake as the one on Barbie.
"But it never would have worked between us," Skye said loudly, her husky and nostalgic voice gone. "So one night, I was walking along the docks, wondering just what I would do next in life, when this man came along. And he said he wanted to be everything I wanted, Jax. He said he would be my white knight, and that he would protect AJ and I from Sonny. He said he would help me take Sonny down." Skye swallowed her tears away. "He said he would be everything I wanted him to be, Jax, and, really, isn't that all anyone needs in life? He and I were a perfect match. He had what I wanted, and I had what he wanted."
With each passing second, the truthfulness and openness of her words were replaced with words of deception. She didn't want people to know who she was, and Jasper Jacks was no exception.
"So you wanted to know why I did it," Skye said, "and I just gave you a reason why. But if you… if you don't believe it, I can give a few other reasons. You want more reasons, Jax, as to why I did it?"
Skye didn't even wait for his reply. "I did it because I thought that if I allied myself with Roscoe, then you'd start paying attention to me again. That you'd have to resume your role as my white knight and save me from the dastardly mob guy."
Skye licked her lips, a half maniacal smile on her lips as she got more and more into her web of deceit. "Or maybe I did it because I'm a crazy, sadistic bitch from Hell."
Skye held up three fingers. "Three reasons, Jax. Take your pick. Or maybe it's a combination of the three. Or maybe it's none. But I guarantee you this, Jax. Ask anyone who knows me, or ask anyone in this town, and, if they're honest, they'll tell you it's one of these three reasons."
Somewhere enmeshed in this mostly one-sided conversation had been the truth, but Jasper Jacks was not sure where it lay.
"We both know that most of the words that come out of my lips are lies," Skye said sadly, bitterly. "AJ once told me that the most believable lies always have some truth to them. Somewhere in everything I said to you tonight, was the truth, Jax. With some lies garnishing it on the side. It's up to you on which parts to believe are the truth, and which are lies."
Skye Chandler Quartermaine was cutting all ties. She knew that crossfire between Sonny's gang and Roscoe's group would start at any given time. She had no plans to continue seeing AJ, her grandmother, or any of the other Quartermaines in a regular fashion. And neither did she want to see Jasper Jacks anymore. She had made her bed, and she intended to sleep in it.
"I am the Queen of Lies," Skye told Jax. "And you and everyone else in Port Charles are better off without me in your lives." A nostalgic half-smile, a soft kiss on his right cheek, and she was gone, heading for her car and the path she had chosen. He, on the other hand, was shocked to a silent stillness. Was she planning her greatest manipulation yet, or was she telling the truth? What was the truth?
*******
Port Charles Airport…"Port Charles," Erica Kane announced. "Right on schedule."
Chris Stamp tightened his trench coat around his body, and then picked up his briefcase. "For the last time, Erica, are you sure you can get Skye Chandler Quartermaine to cooperate with us?"
"Of course, Chris," Erica said earnestly. "She and I shared an adventure once, and we've become better friends because of it. She'll trust me and help us."
*******
Carly's home…Carly growled in annoyance at the pile of toys littering the living room. Michael had never been this messy before, and Leticia had always made sure that the house was neat and orderly. So why in the world was there such a mess today, of all days?
First, she had been snubbed by being the only person who hadn't been invited to the party thrown for Rinoa. Well, the only person who owned her own business, at least. Business had been slow, and rumor had it that Rinoa Lockhart was looking to open a rival nightclub in town.
What else could go wrong?
Before long, Carly Corinthos would find out.
Leticia was lying on the ground, bound and gagged. When she regained consciousness, she would relay the story of how little Michael Corinthos had been kidnapped.