Part Sixteen
"Are you sure that you want this color?" Carly asked, as she pulled off the cover of the paint can. The two were standing in the middle of the empty living room. The floor was covered in plastic and every window was open, allowing the cold air to drift into the room.
Gia examined the red paint in the can. "I'm sure. Why?"
"Oh I like it." Carly poured some into the paint tray. "I really do. I just didn't know if you liked it too. It's daring…"
"Need I remind you that I painted the kitchen a deep purple." Gia said as she finished putting some tape around the window.
"I remember." Carly groaned. "I got purple paint in my hair. Sonny thought it looked cute."
Gia laughed. The two had finished the kitchen last week. The room was furnished and ready for Gia to cook her first meal. They were starting the living room on the mid-November day.
"I think if we work like this..." Carly thought for a moment. "A room a week…I say mid-December you should be moving in."
Gia felt a tingle of excitement grow in her. She knew that they were cutting it kind of close. The snow could start to fall anytime soon and she wasn't sure she wanted all the windows open when it started to freeze. But she couldn't wait until spring to be in her new home. "Let's get cracking." She dipped her roller into the red painted and started on the wall. "I went to see Lila again yesterday afternoon."
"Really?" Carly asked. "How'd it go?"
"She's is such a sweetheart. We talked for over an hour." Gia said.
"I know what you mean." Carly said. "When I was married to AJ, I used to spend so much time with Lila. She was the only one that seemed to care about me in that house. Alan tried once and awhile but it was always Lila that would listen to me. She is one of a kind. So what did the old man say?"
Gia laughed a little at the nickname for Edward. "I always go when I know he is at the ELQ office. I met him a few times around town. He goes out of his way to be super nice to me. It's so phony and so disgusting."
"Believe me, when Edward is acting nice, he wants something. He probably wants you to bring the little baby by. So he can see the Quartermaine heir…now that he can't touch Michael." Carly just shook her head as she carefully painted around the electrical outlet. "He's such a snake."
"He's not getting his hands on Baby Morgan." Gia declared. "No way, no how."
Carly grinned when Gia said Baby Morgan. It was making things seem so real. Since they had started the house at the first of November the two were becoming closer. She was glad that Gia had suggested it. "You know what, I just realized something. Even though we don't consider him AJ's brother, and I certainly don't consider AJ as Michael's father, your baby is Michael's biological cousin."
Gia had really thought about it before. A smile came to her face. "Yeah, he or she is."
"Of course, since Michael calls Jason Uncle, he would be a cousin to the baby anyway." Carly squealed a little. "I really haven't said anything to Michael about this now. I can't wait to tell him that he's getting a little cousin."
"Of course he would rather hear that he's getting a brother or sister." Gia reminded her.
Carly sighed a little. "I know…and Sonny and I are working on it." She gave Gia a wicked grin.
"Oh it must be so hard." Gia teased.
"It is!" Carly cried, finally finishing the little work. She grabbed a roller and joined Gia in rolling the paint on the wall. "The fertility treatments are supposed to help but so far no little Corinthos. Soon though, I can feel it."
"Hurry up!" Gia cried. "I want someone to chew about swollen feet with."
Carly laughed.
The door separating the kitchen opened and Lucky walked out. "What are you two cackling about? I can hear you loud and clear."
"Girl stuff." Gia shrugged. "Got my cabinet doors on?" When Lucky nodded, she continued. "Good, then you can help us get this room painted."
"Slave driver." Lucky commented, grabbing the third roller.
"If we get it painted before dinner then we might be able to put another coat on tonight." Gia pointed out. She was glad that Lucky had agreed to help as well. When he wasn't working for Deception he was in her house, doing some handy work.
"You've got to promise not to tell Sarah that I am good at this kind of stuff." Lucky pleaded. "She's been eyeing the cottage. I think she wants to redo some of the rooms."
Carly smiled at her cousin. She surprised by the way the two had been getting along. She guessed it was the fact that they were both friend with Gia. "It's our little secret." She stopped rolling for a moment. "That reminds me…I am having a Christmas party."
"Christmas!" Gia cried. "That's over a month away."
"I know, but you got to plan these things early to people don't double book." Carly said. "It's on Christmas Eve. And I want you to come Gia…you too, Lucky. Bring Sarah..."
Lucky gave his cousin a skeptical look. "Are you sure?"
Carly nodded. "I think this year's resolution is about burying the hatchet. I think over the last few weeks we have learned that we can get along. Why not celebrate with us?"
"Sure." Lucky said.
"Great!" Carly said.
"Enough talk…roll." Gia commanded.
Carly went back to her work. "What do you have planned after this?"
"Well after we get all the furniture bought from the store and in this room, the next step is to paint the hallway. And then the bathroom. Then my room!" Gia grinned at the thought of it. She already had it all planned out. "I want to leave the nursery until the spring. By then, I will have gotten to know the little guy or gal better so I will be able to give the room some of its personality."
"Do you want to know if it's a boy or girl?" Carly asked.
"I really don't know." Gia said. "I kinda of like surprises."
"What about the other room?" Lucky asked. Both he and Carly knew of Gia's plan to turn it into a spare room for Jason.
Gia bit her lip. She had asked Jason what he wanted but he said anything was fine. "I really don't know. You know Jason better than me, Carly. You can do anything you want with it."
"That will change, you know." Carly commented.
"What will?" Gia asked confused.
"You'll get to know Jason really well." Carly said. "We've talked a lot and from what he has said, he intends to spend a lot of time with the baby. Soon you may know him better than I do. I've never seen him around his own child. You'll get to witness things like that first hand."
Gia smiled at the thought. "I'd like that." She said. Jason was true to his word…he hadn't let her down yet. He would either call her or stop by the Brownstone once a day to see if she wanted anything. If the answer was yes, then it was soon gotten for her. She was being to realize that Jason was spoiling her.
"Any headway on Jason and Marcus?" Lucky asked.
Gia shook her head. "My mother and Jason seem to be able to get a long alright. It's not perfect but they are civil. The few times Jason and Marcus have met up you could slice the tension in the air with a knife. Marcus can't seem to see past Jason's role as Sonny's right hand man. He can't see that Jason is a really good man when it comes to this baby. Not everyone would have done this much for me. He's been really supportive."
"I told you he would be." Lucky commented. He was trying to put his anger towards Jason behind him. He hadn't really seen Jason that much since Gia had first announced she was pregnant with his baby but he knew the day would come soon.
"Thanks for telling him where I was when I was staying with Carrie." Gia said after a moment's silence.
"He told you that!" Lucky cried. Hadn't he told Jason not to?
Gia shook her head. "I figured it out."
Lucky just snorted. "Leave it to you."
Gia looked around. "This room is going to look great. With the red on the walls, and the dark hardwood floors. Carly, wait until you see the furniture that I have got in mind."
"Oh I can't wait." Lucky in a high pitched voice, clearly mocking his cousin.
"Watch it!" Carly declared, pointing at him with her roller. Some paint landed on his face, which caused the girls to laugh. "Look at that. A big red spot on his nose." She began to hum "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."
"Lay off." Lucky said wiping some away with a rag. "No wonder I'm insane…stuck in a room with you two."
Gia just laughed and glanced out the window. She saw Rex, one of her very own bodyguards off talking to Johnny, Carly's bodyguard for the day. Gia was still getting used to the idea of being watched. Rex had introduced himself when he first started the job. She hadn't said anything to Jason about it and he hadn't mentioned it to her. She figured it was just a precaution. She looked back to see the two cousins engaged in a shoving match. "Enough fooling around…paint!"
"YES MA'AM." Lucky and Carly said at the exact same time.
****
The day Gia moved the rest of her things into her brand new home it began to snow. It was the first snow of the year. Gia stood outside the door, in a winter jacket watching Sonny, Jason, Lucky and various other men who worked for Sonny loading things into the room. Under Jason's orders she wasn't allowed to lift a thing. Instead she just instructed the men where to place things, as she stood outside in light flurries. One hand was on her stomach, something she did often now.
"I think you're going to love the snow." She told her baby. "I do. It makes everything so pretty." She shivered a little, even though she was bundled up. She walked into her house and closed the door. She felt home.
"Thanks guys." She said as she hung her coat in the nearby closet. "I appreciate it."
Jason was the last to leave. "Do you need anything?"
"I'm fine." Gia assured him. "I'm going right to bed." She touched him on the arm and then disappeared down the hall. She opened the door to her bedroom and grinned. The walls were a light blue, her favorite color. Everything in the room went along with the same color scheme. She crawled into her brand new bed and got ready to spend the night in her brand new home.
****
"Corinthos, Morgan and his workers just left." Mark said into the phone. "One bodyguard stayed on to watch over Miss Campbell. You maybe right. Morgan thinks a lot of her and the baby if he is going to make sure that no one gets at her. She might be the perfect bargaining chip. When do we want to move?"
"Christmas is a week and a half away." The voice on the other end said. "Let them have their Christmas and then we move."