Chapter 7

A.J. spent most of the night lying wide awake on the sofa. He had no idea how to reach his daughter, and he still needed to find out what was wrong with Keesha. As the room began to lighten with the dawn of a new day, he heard rustling further down the hall, from the kitchen he believed, and decided to investigate. He discovered Keesha standing at the stove, with her walker, heating a pot of water.

"Need some help?" he asked.

She turned and offered him a seat at the table.

"I felt like drinking a cup of tea. Care for one?"

"Sure. I can do that if you'd like."

"I need to do as much as I can for myself."

"I understand."

"Did you sleep?"

"Not much," he admitted. "How about you?"

"I did, but then again, I have medication that helps me."

"Is it too early in the morning for you to talk about your illness?"

Keesha nodded. "Later, A.J. Let's enjoy the quiet of the new day as we sip our tea."

A.J. carried the cups to the table and helped Keesha into her chair before taking the seat next to her.

"Can we talk about Julianna?" he asked, after they'd savored the lemon-flavored brew.

"Of course."

"She mentioned Justus and Dara. Do they know everything?"

Keesha nodded. "Justus is my lawyer and my confidante. Dara is my confidante, too. It helps that they're married. It just makes things easier. Everything is spelled out in my Will, A.J. My stipulation is that you not be kept from Julianna nor she from you, but primary custody of Julianna will go to Justus and Dara. I had to protect my daughter. She needs to be with people she knows, trusts and loves when I'm...no longer...around."

Keesha looked away as unwanted tears filled her eyes.

"I understand," A.J. said, placing a gentle hand on Keesha's forearm.

Grateful she didn't recoil from his touch, he continued. "I know you didn't have to include me at all. I have no excuse for never contacting you, Keesha."

"You were drinking," she said, turning to look at him. But there was no accusation in her eyes. "I know that, A.J., because I called. Several times. I wouldn't have allowed you into my life or that of my daughter's had you continued to drink. Justus told me about your marriage to Carly and your marriage to Courtney whatever her last name is."

"Morgan," A.J. supplied.

When Keesha looked at him in surprise, he nodded.

"Yes, as in Jason."

The irony of that fact did not escape either of them.

"Regardless," she continued, "once I knew about those marriages, keeping Julianna from you became easier and easier. I had just about given up on you completely, when I started seeing your name in the newspaper. I asked Justus to keep track of you again, and he confirmed your remarkable turnaround to me. I still had my doubts, but when I read about the wonderful outreach program you had started and the results it was producing, some of my hope returned. But by then, Julianna was old enough to voice an opinion on the matter of her father. And her opinion was that she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with you. I honored her wish until I got sick."

"How did you get sick, Keesha?"

She sighed as she stared into her tea cup. She knew, sooner or later, she had to talk about herself.

"My father died shortly after I arrived in Philly. I mourned his loss deeply but, of course, I also discovered I had a new life growing inside me. I realized I had a chance to start over. To do or to be whatever I wanted. I felt a sense of freedom. As I said, I did try to contact you, but never succeeded in actually telling you who I was. I started to believe that was for the best. I mapped out a course for my life. I decided, after the birth of Julianna, that I wanted to be a nurse. I was fortunate. I was able to take a lot of the beginning courses at home, so I could be with my baby. At the college, I discovered there were other single moms doing the same thing I was. We networked to help each other study, to baby-sit our kids while we worked, or to just give one another a break if we needed it. With a lot of hard work, I made it through nursing school with my certificate.

"I loved my job until I became infected by a drug user who fought with us in the hospital. My doctors thought they had caught it and treated it in time, but when I started not to feel well a few months ago, they ran more tests and discovered the infection had spread to my liver. They tried to treat it with drugs, but when I failed to improve, they informed me I'm now a candidate for a liver transplant. I'm on the waiting list for a donor, but so far..."

"Wow, Keesha, I am so very sorry to hear this. I can't even begin to imagine what you and Julianna have been going through. But you know what? I have a lot of connections with various medical groups and organizations. Why don't you let me make a few phone calls to see if I can find a donor or at least get you moved up higher on the list?"

"I appreciate what you're saying and what you're trying to do, but it's more complicated than that, A.J. I'm still undergoing tests. My doctors haven't given up on the medication I'm taking. It's a relatively new drug, but it has helped others like me."

"That's fine, Keesha, but why not have all the help you can get? Later on, when the office in NYC is open, I'm going to call a few people who work for me. I just want to make some inquiries. Will you at least let me do that much? Please?"

"Okay," she acquiesced, because she didn't have the energy to fight him. "But you have to know that my doctors *must* be involved in anything you may want to do."

"I understand. I have a great staff, Keesha. A lot of names you would recognize from Port Charles work with me. I know they'll want to do this."

"Please, A.J. Do not tell anybody this is for me. You have to promise me that."

"I promise. I won't mention your name. I just want to help you and Julianna, if I can."

Unbeknownst to Keesha and A.J., Julianna heard a good portion of their conversation when she noiselessly descended the staircase. She had to grudgingly admit that A.J. sounded as though he cared. His concern for their welfare, especially her mother's, seemed genuine. Doubts about how she'd been treating him began to surface. Could she have misjudged him? Was he there because he truly cared about them? Was he tryig to make amends for not being there for his mother when she'd needed him? Did he really want to help them with no ulterior motive, no need for recognition and fame? Did he just want to get to know her as his daughter? And the most important question, as far as Julianna was concerned, was would A.J. really be able to play a part in helping to keep her mother alive?