The moment Jax walked out the door I stopped hanging on to Sam. Like a
puppet being pulled by imaginary strings I was drawn to the window to watch
as Jax walked to his car. Why does watching him walk away hurt so much? I
should be used to it by now. Besides, this time I pushed him out. I have
to. He may have come here with the intention of comforting me, but that
man doesn't know what he really wants. I refuse to let Jax jump between
Brenda and me in the same manner that Brenda played Jax against Sonny. I
don't care that she was his first love. I am his wife. I either get
exclusive rights or he can damn well stay out of my life.
"You know, for a few seconds I thought your husband was going to deck me," Sam said from behind me.
I didn't move. I just starred out the window as Jax got in his car and drove away.
"Skye," Sam touched my shoulder, "you're crying."
I looked as Sam. "I am not crying. I refuse to shed any more tears over him."
"Then what do you call those tiny drops of water running down your face?"
I reached up, touched my face and felt the tears. "Tiny little traitors. Me and my emotions obviously need to have a long talk." I wiped the tears from my cheeks with my hands. "Can you believe the nerve of that man? He waltzed in here and acted like I should just open my arms and accept what few crumbs he throws my way."
"Well, I would say that you got him back in good measure. That man was so jealous I thought he was going to start a fight."
I looked at Sam in amazement. "Jax jealous? I don't thing so. Maybe a little miffed that I'm not at rock bottom, pining over him. But jealous? No, I just stung his male pride by showing him that he wasn't irreplaceable. Besides, you weren't in any real danger. Jax expects his women to come to him. I've yet to see Jax lift a finger to fight to keep someone he loves. It's one of his most annoying traits."
"I have a hard time believing that a highly successful corporate raider wouldn't fight to keep the woman he loves by his side."
"Oh please. From what I understand, four years ago, Brenda bounced back and forth between Sonny and Jax. Every time Brenda ran to Sonny, Jax hardly lifted a finger to stop her. What was it that they told me? Oh yes, that Jax's love was so pure for Brenda that he would rather see her happy with someone else if that is what she really wanted. If you ask my, it's a load of crap. Jax just doesn't like to get his hands dirty like the rest of us. As much as I hated Alcazar, I have more respect for the bastard than I do for Jax at the moment. He at least was willing to do whatever it took to try to win the woman he loved. I may not have agreed with his methods, but I definitely understood his motives."
"I wouldn't count Jax out quite yet. Skye trust me. I've seen that look before. I've even had it on my face a time or two when other men have hit on my wife. It's jealousy. Watching me with you was hurting him."
"He was? Good. That man has done everything possible to shove his relationship with Brenda down my throat."
Sam shook his head. "I've gotten pretty good at reading people over the years. He may be with Brenda, but he still loves you."
"Well he sure has a funny way of showing it."
"Skye, I know that you still love him. I'm just saying that you can get him back. He isn't as immune as he may have claimed."
"Okay, let's assume for a moment that you're right. That I could crook my little finger at him and he would come running back to give our marriage a second chance. What kind of marriage would that be? How long would it be before he gets ticked off and leaves again because I am keeping secrets from him? And you know that with my recent partnership with the WSB, there are going to be a lot of secrets. Or maybe he'll find some new damsel to save and share his bed. Then there is always Brenda, his so-called perfect first love. It didn't even take her a month to break up our marriage. She had his number from the day she re-entered his life."
"You don't trust him."
"I want three things from the man I marry. First of all, I want his love. Second, I expect fidelity. I don't get to have affairs and neither does he. Third, we share the same address. Everything else is negotiable. Am I really asking that much?"
Sam smiled. "I don't thing so."
"Then why it is so hard to find? I don't expect perfection. God knows, I'm far from perfect. But why can't I find that one person who can handle the bad times? Why do I always get stuck with the one's that run for the hills when the road gets a little bumpy?"
"They can't have all been that bad."
"Excuse me, didn't you say that you read my file?"
Sam nodded.
"So you know my history with men. Do you see any of them here?"
Sam shook his head.
"My point exactly."
"So how did it go?" Tori said as she walked into the room.
I smiled at Tori. "I'm returning him to you in one piece as promised. He doesn't have any new dents or scratches and I hardly used up any mileage."
"Ladies, I'm right here and I'm not a car."
Tori walked up to his side and kissed his cheek. "We know you aren't dear, but why don't you park yourself over there while I discuss shopping arrangements with Skye."
"Very funny Tory. Just remember to bring home a big screen TV and I will be happy."
Tori rolled her eyes. "Men. I suppose you want us to sign up for cable while we're gone to."
"Nope. That's not necessary. This place is already hooked up for every channel in existence. I just need the TV. This little thing that they keep in the kitchen just isn't the same"
"Why did you throw out the other TV in the first place?"
"We didn't actually mean to get rid of the TV, but it fell down when one of the guys tripped over a box on the floor."
I couldn't help smiling as I watched Tori and Sam interact. These two have pretty close to the most perfect marriage that I have ever seen. They argue. They take opposite sides on just about every issue. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if they don't do that on purpose. They tease. They flirt. At the end of the day it doesn't matter who did what to whom, they are there for each other. There isn't a doubt in my mind that they would fight against anyone or anything that tried to come between them.
Ring, ring.
"I have it." I picked up the phone. "Hello."
"I would like to speak to Antoinette Quartermaine."
"This is she."
"This is the Mayo Clinic in Manchester Minnesota. I am calling to confirm your appointment with Dr Clifson."
"Yes. I have the date and time of my doctor's appointment written in my appointment book. I won't miss it."
"We also need release forms in order to have your records transferred from the Relnmar Clinic in Switzerland."
"Can you fax them to me? I will sign them and send them back."
"That would be fine."
I gave her the fax number for my computer, thanked her, and then hung up. It wasn't until I hung up that I noticed that Tori and Sam had stopped talking and were listening to me.
"Is something wrong Skye? I heard you mention a doctor's appointment." Tori asked.
"I'm fine. This is just a follow up check-up."
Tori didn't appear satisfied with my response, but she didn't ask any more questions when she saw Sam shake his head.
"Didn't you say something about furniture shopping?"
Tori took the hint. "You need an entire living room and you can't be happy with the replacement dressers that the WSB sent over. We have some serious shopping to do."
"Don't forget the TV." Sam added. Sam was sitting on the back ledge of the couch. Tori walked over and gave him a little shove. "Hey!" Sam shouted as he fell over the edge onto the couch.
"Don't worry Sam." I said. "We will stop at an appliance store and have them deliver it tonight."
As Sam got back up, he bowed and said, "Thank you my gracious lady. I will forever be in your debt."
"So where are we going?" Tori asked as she grabbed her coat and purse.
"There's this small Amish community outside of town. They do the most excellent woodwork. The detailed carving is absolutely gorgeous. They only use real solid wood. We are talking about the kind of furniture that is made to last generations."
"Sounds expensive."
"I'm putting it on my husband's credit card. He can afford it and after the way he laughed when I burnt all of his things he deserves the bill."
"He laughed?"
"Yes, damn it. I was trying to tick him off, not amuse him. If he thought my getting rid of his stuff was funny, then the bill for refurnishing this place should and will be utterly ridiculous.
Since the ladies went shopping, I decided to check in at the office. "Hi Henri, How is everything?"
Henri looked up from his keyboard in surprise. Henri is a rather interesting man. He has been with the WSB for much longer than I have. Rumor has it that he was a teenager when he was first recruited. Henri apparently hacked his way through some military codes in France and started sending out orders of his own. Luckily the WSB caught up to him before the military did. We offered him a job that he literally couldn't refuse. He has been here ever since. Headquarters gives him whatever he wants. He does whatever we need. I don't think that the man ever spends more than a few hours a day away from that computer. It is his lifeline to the world.
"Hi Sam. I wasn't expecting to see you today. You're getting to be something of a regular here."
"Not by choice. My current assignment is leaving me with a lot of free time. I think this is Frisco's way of giving me a vacation."
"I have to admit, I was a little surprised when he assigned you to Skye. You don't usually get babysitting detail."
"It has its advantages."
"How are Skye and Tori getting along?"
"I was a little worried about that at first. Tori isn't the sort of person who encourages female friendships and neither is Skye. They are both women who are more comfortable around men. They seem to be doing all right together. They are out shopping right now."
"Tori? Shopping? She hates shopping."
"I know. We were eating when Tori volunteered to go with Skye. I nearly choked on my steak. I think that she is making allowances because I'm assigned to Skye."
"AAAAAHHH, keep your friends close and your enemies (or in this case the competition) closer."
"Tori doesn't consider Skye to be competition. Tori knows that I wouldn't cheat on her"
"Sam, you're living in the house of an extremely beautiful woman who is currently separated from her husband. Plus you work in a profession where you only see your wife for a few months out of the year. If I were Tori, I would want you out from under her roof. Since you are assigned to Skye, you can't exactly leave anytime soon."
"This is only a temporary assignment. I'm sure once the funding thing is settled." I stopped when I noticed the look on Henri's face. "Henri, what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing" Henri tried to hide his uneasy look and failed.
"Henri, it is a good thing that they never send you out on assignment. You can't lie worth a damn."
"Please don't press me for information I'm not supposed to give out."
"Damn it all to hell. Tell me he isn't planning to assign me this Sam Gemins identity on a permanent basis. This is all right for a few weeks. I could use the break. I'm used to infiltrating terrorist organizations and surveying smuggler operations. A few months of this and I will die of boredom."
"I'm sure if you talk to Frisco, he will tell you what you want to know."
"Oh believe me, I fully intend to. Where is he?"
"In his office going over the latest intelligence reports on the power struggle over Alcazar's former territory with Terry."
"I thought we had that cleared up?"
"No, all we did was close down the weak links that allowed Alcazar to run rings around our organization. His territory is up for grabs."
"Oh that's just great. Now we are dealing with an international power struggle. Is anybody in the lead?"
"We have a few. Do you remember Cesar Faison?"
"Isn't he the guy that was supposed to have killed those ex-agents, Anna and Robert Scorpio? I though he was dead."
"There have been several times over the years that that he has been reported dead. He is the most slippery bastard out there. He just keeps popping back up. Until someone delivers his body to us, I won't believe it."
"So Faison is going after Alcazar's territory."
"No, one of his apprentices is after it. Some guy by the name of Renquist."
"I don't think that I have ever heard of him."
"Let me refresh your memory. Do you remember the Zendeth incident?"
"Sure, some bastard was testing some new chemical weapons and wiped out a couple of villages in Africa."
"That was Renquist."
"This guy is still walking around free?"
"We don't know what he looks like. For that matter, we don't have a clue where he is at the moment. All we have is the name and that his organization is moving."
"Who else?"
"We have a gun smuggler in Brazil that goes by the name Demon Jeffers. He has been able to hold his own so far. We are still working on getting information on his backers. And we have a new player that's working out of Germany. Everyone just calls the guy Bob. We got someone in his organization. We think that he is American. We already have his picture and we will have his fingerprints by the end of the day. If he's on file anywhere, we will find it. Then there is an assassin in Italy, Joseph Peneli."
"Do any of these guys work for us?"
"Rumor is that one of them does but headquarters is keeping a stiff lip over the identity."
"Great, so we don't know who to back."
"And they don't know who to shoot first. If the news that one of these guys worked for us leaked out, whoever he is would be a dead man."
"Good point."
Just then Terry came out of Frisco's office. "Hi Sam. You're getting to be a regular. Maybe we should get you a desk."
I looked at Terry and growled. "I wouldn't order that desk just yet." Then I turned around and walked into Frisco's office.
Terry looked at Henri and asked, "What's his problem?"
"He's looking for trouble." I heard Henri reply as I closed the door.
"So Frisco, Who's winning the power struggle over Alcazar's territory?"
Frisco looked up at me and said, "So far Demon and Renquist are in the lead. Why?"
"Damn it Frisco, I should be out there doing what I do best. Infiltrating these guy's territories. Gathering info. Not sitting here babysitting."
"Creating this new network is important Sam. It is just as important as finding out what the opposition is doing."
"I'm not implying that it isn't. But you have other guys who can stay with Skye and play the rich heir ready to part with some of his money for her latest business investment. It doesn't have to be me."
"Sam, it already is. Headquarters already has people tracking down leads for these other guys. You are not the only operative out there who is skilled at infiltrating terrorist organizations. You are needed here. Skye trusts you. You are already known as Sam Gemins. You have been seen. Word has started to spread that you are in town and staying with Skye at her house. People are curious. I can't just switch someone out now."
"How long Frisco? How long do I have to play the rich investor/ex- boyfriend? One month, two?"
"Actually, It is a little more complicated than that."
"I knew it. You're trying to stick me with the role of baby sitter on a permanent basis. Damn it Frisco, this isn't what I signed on for."
"I'm not assigning you babysitting detail. But you are right. The Sam Gemins identity isn't a temporary one."
"Damn it Frisco."
"Sam, hear me out. Skye can run the business end of this but she is not an operative. She doesn't have the necessary training to walk into an upscale party and break into their files without getting caught. She might be able to pull it off once or twice but not on a regular basis. This network is breaking into both the business world and the upscale parties. Skye has the connections to get invitations to most any social situation."
"So do we."
"But none of those people are agents. They are people who we consider to be friendly to our organization that will do us a favor in exchange for a favor. We want someone who is one of us who can get their own invitation. Someone with the necessary background references that will receive their own invitation to the parties. We need her contacts. Even more than that, we need more of our people to be moving in these circles. Yes, part of your job is to keep an eye out for Skye, but your other job is to establish yourself in her society."
"So I'm not going to be stuck in Port Charles looking over Skye's shoulder on a permanent basis."
"Consider this a time to establish your identity before we move you on to greater circles. From time to time, we will pull you out for some of our more dirty assignments in order to keep your skills up to date."
I chuckled. "Thanks. Speaking of identities, I was wondering how my background checks would hold up."
"Everything is in place. Education, resume, financial, and other documentation are now part of your permanent record. Henri has a more up to date file that you should probably take a look at and memorize. Should we expect a background check?"
"Jasper Jacks stopped by today. Someone told him that Skye was raped and he wanted to know if she was all right. He didn't like the fact that I was staying with her. I'm fairly certain that he will be looking into who I am and trying to find my weak spots"
"Why would he care? He abandoned her."
"I don't know why he left, but the man who stopped by the house today wasn't ready to give up his marriage quite yet. I figure that it is probably the same old story. Something went sour with his other romance and now he wants his wife back."
"Damn. I figured that Brenda wouldn't be able to keep Jax's attention forever but I had at least hoped that Alcazar's girl would have held his interest for a few months. You can't let that happen Sam. You have to keep then apart. How did Skye handle Jax's concern?"
"She's angry. She doesn't want to let herself believe that he cares. She is afraid that he just wants her because someone else is paying attention to her. She played up the relationship angle between us to the hilt in front of him. But she still loves him. Why exactly am I supposed to keep them apart? Now that I think about it, you were flirting with her pretty hard when you came by the house. You wouldn't happen to be planning to date her yourself, would you?"
"If romancing her will keep her away from Jax for at least six months, then yes I would. Think about it for a second. They just got married. What do married couples usually do?"
"They go on honeymoons."
"She can't leave right now. She can't go anywhere right now. We are in the process of restructuring and rebuilding. We sure as hell can't tell Jax that he can't take his wife on a honeymoon because she is to busy working for the WSB. Until everything is in place, I don't want Skye anywhere near Jax. When Skye said that Deception was ready to be taken over, she was right on the money. I already had some of my people talk to the lawyers currently handling the company. They are more than willing to sell."
"So basically you don't want Skye to return to her husband because he would take up to much of her time and she would have to lie to cover up what she is really doing. I thought you said that the reason you wanted Skye was because she could cover her tracks. I don't think that she would have any problem selling some story to her husband about not wanting to go away because she was in the middle of building up a company. He is a businessman. He would understand."
"That isn't the only problem. Deception isn't big enough for our needs."
"And the reason that this would interfere with their relationship is because.?"
"Skye plans to expand Deception by raiding some of her husband's holdings."
"What?"
"When Jax moved out he made the mistake of leaving a lot of business information behind. Skye went through many of those folders when she was putting them in boxes for Jax. Some of those companies would fit in nicely with what we need. Skye has already picked out the companies that we should go after. She wrote out a long list of things that needs to be done in order to lay down the groundwork for their takeover."
"Basically you need Skye to stay mad at her husband long enough to take over the companies."
"Some of these we can take by surprise. I don't think that Jax ever really took his wife's business abilities as seriously as he should. I don't think it has even occurred to him yet that when he pissed his wife off, she would attack his holdings. He is expecting a more personal approach."
"But Skye doesn't separate the line between business and personal. He married her. Surely he figured that out. When she thought that he was cheating on her before they became engaged, the first thing she did was strike up a business deal to bankrupt him. Skye puts a piece of her soul into everything she tries to accomplish."
"He apparently didn't learn that lesson the first time around. Skye has plans to take over four of Jax's companies. If we lay the groundwork right, the first three will come as a surprise. Skye feels it is the forth company that we will be fighting over because it will take a few months to raid it."
"Now I see why they have to stay apart."
______
"Well what do you think? Is this large enough for your husband?" We had stopped at the furniture stores first. It didn't take me very long to figure out that Tori didn't like to go shopping. Her idea of shopping was to go into the room, pick out the first things there that caught her eye and leave. It is probably a good thing that the WSB issues everything they need to go with any new identities. I'm fairly sure that if Tori had to go shopping for it, she would go nuts. After an hour of following me around while I looked at things, she had started to get fed up. So after another twenty minutes of her glaring holes in my back while I studied the artistry of the hand carved designs of the furniture, I decided to put her out of her misery. "All we really need to pick up today is a cabinet for the TV we promised to buy and a proper table with chairs for the living room. I can pick up anything else we need later."
Tori breathed out a sigh of relief. "I'm sure that cabinet will be more than large enough for any TV you pick out. I don't suppose that you have the table and chairs picked out?"
There was a lot of apprehension in that question. I couldn't help smiling. Why in the world did she volunteer to come shopping if she hated it this much? I really didn't need help picking out anything. Although I didn't mind having the company, I would have enjoyed it more if she weren't so obviously uncomfortable doing it. "There is a set of table and chairs over there that has a matching design carved into it. I will take those." I went over to the shopkeeper, paid for my purchases and arranged to have them delivered today. "Why don't we go pick out the TV then find somewhere to eat?"
"That sounds like an excellent plan."
I had to do everything I could to not laugh. Tori was so obviously relieved to see an end to this shopping trip. Again, I wondered why she volunteered to come along if she hated shopping so much. "Actually I have an even better idea. We don't actually have to see the TV to buy it. We know what size we need. I will just call up the store and tell them to send the most expensive model they have in stock to the house and charge it to Jax's credit card. May I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Why did you volunteer to come shopping with me when you so obviously hate it."
"I wanted to talk with you and this is the only way to do so without my husband hanging over our shoulders."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I was wondering about your marriage. I understand that you haven't been married that long. What exactly happened?"
"You mean the whole sordid tale isn't in my file?"
"I haven't read your file. I'm not assigned here so unlike the other agents, your life history isn't part of my assigned reading."
"That is a refreshing change. Ever since the WSB entered my life, I have had people stumbling around trying to avoid talking about subjects that they think might be sensitive because of something they read in my file."
"Even Sam?"
"Sam is a little better than most. He categorizes my life as information he needs to know in order to do his job better. Unlike the other agents, he asks more questions rather than avoid anything that others might consider to be a sensitive subject."
"Sensitive subjects kind of like your recent marriage."
"You noticed."
"What happened?"
"For a short period of time, I lived my fairy tale."
"I don't understand."
"My Uncle Stuart is very fond of Fairy Tales. Especially the ones that end with they lived happily ever after. I never believed in them. By the time that I was a teenager, I had lived through to much to believe in happy endings. Everything I went through as an adult just confirmed it. In Jax, I thought that I found my prince. Only my prince didn't want anything to do with me. You see he loved this woman who was supposed to have died four or five years ago. So I did everything I could to get his attention. I lied. I made up imaginary dragons for him to slay. We started to move closer. Eventually he caught me in my lies and pushed me further away. Then I fell into some real trouble and my prince saved me. He wouldn't let me push him away. Despite some rather large bumps in the road, he made me believe in every happily ever after story that my Uncle ever told me."
"So what happened?"
"The evil queen came back from the dead. Her name is Brenda. She showed up on our wedding night."
"You have got to be kidding. She stayed away for that long and she decides to come back from the dead on the day of your wedding. That is just twisted. What kind of sick person comes back from the dead of the evening of there ex's wedding."
"I see it. You see it. Why can't anyone else see it? She claims that she wanted him to be happy, yet she shows up at our back door on the night that he is going to make love to his wife for the first time. That is when she tells him that she is still alive. I found out later that she was even at the wedding. She did nothing to stop it. I still can't figure that one out."
"What did he do?"
"He didn't tell me. He set her up in a cottage. He cancelled our honeymoon. He lied to me about where he was spending his time. I didn't find out until he got shot. Then he decided that he had to end the marriage because he might be paralysed for life. He wouldn't let me see him. He would only see her."
"Oh God, if Sam tried that, I'm not sure who I would kill first, him or the other woman."
"I started doubting everything. I'm not just talking about doubting whether or not my husband loved her or me. When I start doubting people, I question everyone's motives. Brenda was at the top of the list. I started asking how long did she have to live? No one could tell me. So I started asking is she really ill? Was this all some large plot she thought up in order to amuse herself? I still wouldn't put anything past her."
"You tried to find out if she was really dying."
"The medication in her coat pocket turned out to be mild doses of sleeping pills. I couldn't get any answers from Alcazar that I could trust so I went to Switzerland to try to get to her medical records."
"What did they say?"
"I got caught in the act. They kicked me out. But I told this sob story to a nurse and she brought me what I thought was her medical files."
"Let me guess. These files said that she wasn't sick."
"I didn't know what to do with the information. For all I knew, she already knew that she wasn't ill. She had already told me that she could get Jax back into her bed anytime that she wanted. I sure as hell didn't want to go back and tell my husband that he could spend a lifetime with that woman."
"You didn't say anything."
"She married my brother. When I figured out that the marriage was a ruse to try to make me feel more comfortable with her being around my husband, I tried to get rid of her in any way I could. Only Jax found out that I went to Switzerland. Someone hired a fake doctor to go with my fake nurse to tell him that Brenda wasn't sick and that I had broken into the files and found that out three days ago. So he left me for her because I lied by omission. Oh no he didn't just leave me for her, he fucked me one last time first. You know, I was still quite sore from that the night of Alcazar's death."
"Anger sex. I've had that a few times. It isn't necessarily all that bad as long as you have time to recover."
"Mistakes were made on both sides. It takes two to screw up a marriage."
"No, actually that isn't true. It takes two to make a marriage. It only takes one to screw it up. He walked out on you right?"
"Yes"
"Then it was all his fault."
At my confused look, Tori continued. "It takes two people to make a marriage work, not one. People do stupid things. It doesn't really matter why. Sooner or latter someone is going to screw up and hurt the other person in a relationship."
"Oh great. So I'm doomed anyway I look at it."
"In a marriage you need to find a way to work past the mistakes. There is a reason they make you say for better or worse. You're not going to agree with your spouse all the time. It takes two to make it work. Therefore I blame the person who stopped trying and walked out the door."
"When you first arrived in town, you were under the impression that your husband was sleeping with me."
"Those were special circumstances. I thought that the WSB had ordered him to seduce you to get what they wanted."
"He didn't."
"I know that. But even if Sam had, I wouldn't have left him. I would have made his life a living hell for a while, but I wouldn't have left him."
"What if Sam had said that he loved me now and not you?"
"I still wouldn't have left him. I would have killed him and buried the body, but I wouldn't have left him."
"I had to listen to Jax say that he loved another woman and I had to watch as he walked out the door."
"You know, I know several very efficient ways to kill someone and get away with it."
I smiled at Tori. "I'll keep that in mind."
"You know, for a few seconds I thought your husband was going to deck me," Sam said from behind me.
I didn't move. I just starred out the window as Jax got in his car and drove away.
"Skye," Sam touched my shoulder, "you're crying."
I looked as Sam. "I am not crying. I refuse to shed any more tears over him."
"Then what do you call those tiny drops of water running down your face?"
I reached up, touched my face and felt the tears. "Tiny little traitors. Me and my emotions obviously need to have a long talk." I wiped the tears from my cheeks with my hands. "Can you believe the nerve of that man? He waltzed in here and acted like I should just open my arms and accept what few crumbs he throws my way."
"Well, I would say that you got him back in good measure. That man was so jealous I thought he was going to start a fight."
I looked at Sam in amazement. "Jax jealous? I don't thing so. Maybe a little miffed that I'm not at rock bottom, pining over him. But jealous? No, I just stung his male pride by showing him that he wasn't irreplaceable. Besides, you weren't in any real danger. Jax expects his women to come to him. I've yet to see Jax lift a finger to fight to keep someone he loves. It's one of his most annoying traits."
"I have a hard time believing that a highly successful corporate raider wouldn't fight to keep the woman he loves by his side."
"Oh please. From what I understand, four years ago, Brenda bounced back and forth between Sonny and Jax. Every time Brenda ran to Sonny, Jax hardly lifted a finger to stop her. What was it that they told me? Oh yes, that Jax's love was so pure for Brenda that he would rather see her happy with someone else if that is what she really wanted. If you ask my, it's a load of crap. Jax just doesn't like to get his hands dirty like the rest of us. As much as I hated Alcazar, I have more respect for the bastard than I do for Jax at the moment. He at least was willing to do whatever it took to try to win the woman he loved. I may not have agreed with his methods, but I definitely understood his motives."
"I wouldn't count Jax out quite yet. Skye trust me. I've seen that look before. I've even had it on my face a time or two when other men have hit on my wife. It's jealousy. Watching me with you was hurting him."
"He was? Good. That man has done everything possible to shove his relationship with Brenda down my throat."
Sam shook his head. "I've gotten pretty good at reading people over the years. He may be with Brenda, but he still loves you."
"Well he sure has a funny way of showing it."
"Skye, I know that you still love him. I'm just saying that you can get him back. He isn't as immune as he may have claimed."
"Okay, let's assume for a moment that you're right. That I could crook my little finger at him and he would come running back to give our marriage a second chance. What kind of marriage would that be? How long would it be before he gets ticked off and leaves again because I am keeping secrets from him? And you know that with my recent partnership with the WSB, there are going to be a lot of secrets. Or maybe he'll find some new damsel to save and share his bed. Then there is always Brenda, his so-called perfect first love. It didn't even take her a month to break up our marriage. She had his number from the day she re-entered his life."
"You don't trust him."
"I want three things from the man I marry. First of all, I want his love. Second, I expect fidelity. I don't get to have affairs and neither does he. Third, we share the same address. Everything else is negotiable. Am I really asking that much?"
Sam smiled. "I don't thing so."
"Then why it is so hard to find? I don't expect perfection. God knows, I'm far from perfect. But why can't I find that one person who can handle the bad times? Why do I always get stuck with the one's that run for the hills when the road gets a little bumpy?"
"They can't have all been that bad."
"Excuse me, didn't you say that you read my file?"
Sam nodded.
"So you know my history with men. Do you see any of them here?"
Sam shook his head.
"My point exactly."
"So how did it go?" Tori said as she walked into the room.
I smiled at Tori. "I'm returning him to you in one piece as promised. He doesn't have any new dents or scratches and I hardly used up any mileage."
"Ladies, I'm right here and I'm not a car."
Tori walked up to his side and kissed his cheek. "We know you aren't dear, but why don't you park yourself over there while I discuss shopping arrangements with Skye."
"Very funny Tory. Just remember to bring home a big screen TV and I will be happy."
Tori rolled her eyes. "Men. I suppose you want us to sign up for cable while we're gone to."
"Nope. That's not necessary. This place is already hooked up for every channel in existence. I just need the TV. This little thing that they keep in the kitchen just isn't the same"
"Why did you throw out the other TV in the first place?"
"We didn't actually mean to get rid of the TV, but it fell down when one of the guys tripped over a box on the floor."
I couldn't help smiling as I watched Tori and Sam interact. These two have pretty close to the most perfect marriage that I have ever seen. They argue. They take opposite sides on just about every issue. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if they don't do that on purpose. They tease. They flirt. At the end of the day it doesn't matter who did what to whom, they are there for each other. There isn't a doubt in my mind that they would fight against anyone or anything that tried to come between them.
Ring, ring.
"I have it." I picked up the phone. "Hello."
"I would like to speak to Antoinette Quartermaine."
"This is she."
"This is the Mayo Clinic in Manchester Minnesota. I am calling to confirm your appointment with Dr Clifson."
"Yes. I have the date and time of my doctor's appointment written in my appointment book. I won't miss it."
"We also need release forms in order to have your records transferred from the Relnmar Clinic in Switzerland."
"Can you fax them to me? I will sign them and send them back."
"That would be fine."
I gave her the fax number for my computer, thanked her, and then hung up. It wasn't until I hung up that I noticed that Tori and Sam had stopped talking and were listening to me.
"Is something wrong Skye? I heard you mention a doctor's appointment." Tori asked.
"I'm fine. This is just a follow up check-up."
Tori didn't appear satisfied with my response, but she didn't ask any more questions when she saw Sam shake his head.
"Didn't you say something about furniture shopping?"
Tori took the hint. "You need an entire living room and you can't be happy with the replacement dressers that the WSB sent over. We have some serious shopping to do."
"Don't forget the TV." Sam added. Sam was sitting on the back ledge of the couch. Tori walked over and gave him a little shove. "Hey!" Sam shouted as he fell over the edge onto the couch.
"Don't worry Sam." I said. "We will stop at an appliance store and have them deliver it tonight."
As Sam got back up, he bowed and said, "Thank you my gracious lady. I will forever be in your debt."
"So where are we going?" Tori asked as she grabbed her coat and purse.
"There's this small Amish community outside of town. They do the most excellent woodwork. The detailed carving is absolutely gorgeous. They only use real solid wood. We are talking about the kind of furniture that is made to last generations."
"Sounds expensive."
"I'm putting it on my husband's credit card. He can afford it and after the way he laughed when I burnt all of his things he deserves the bill."
"He laughed?"
"Yes, damn it. I was trying to tick him off, not amuse him. If he thought my getting rid of his stuff was funny, then the bill for refurnishing this place should and will be utterly ridiculous.
Since the ladies went shopping, I decided to check in at the office. "Hi Henri, How is everything?"
Henri looked up from his keyboard in surprise. Henri is a rather interesting man. He has been with the WSB for much longer than I have. Rumor has it that he was a teenager when he was first recruited. Henri apparently hacked his way through some military codes in France and started sending out orders of his own. Luckily the WSB caught up to him before the military did. We offered him a job that he literally couldn't refuse. He has been here ever since. Headquarters gives him whatever he wants. He does whatever we need. I don't think that the man ever spends more than a few hours a day away from that computer. It is his lifeline to the world.
"Hi Sam. I wasn't expecting to see you today. You're getting to be something of a regular here."
"Not by choice. My current assignment is leaving me with a lot of free time. I think this is Frisco's way of giving me a vacation."
"I have to admit, I was a little surprised when he assigned you to Skye. You don't usually get babysitting detail."
"It has its advantages."
"How are Skye and Tori getting along?"
"I was a little worried about that at first. Tori isn't the sort of person who encourages female friendships and neither is Skye. They are both women who are more comfortable around men. They seem to be doing all right together. They are out shopping right now."
"Tori? Shopping? She hates shopping."
"I know. We were eating when Tori volunteered to go with Skye. I nearly choked on my steak. I think that she is making allowances because I'm assigned to Skye."
"AAAAAHHH, keep your friends close and your enemies (or in this case the competition) closer."
"Tori doesn't consider Skye to be competition. Tori knows that I wouldn't cheat on her"
"Sam, you're living in the house of an extremely beautiful woman who is currently separated from her husband. Plus you work in a profession where you only see your wife for a few months out of the year. If I were Tori, I would want you out from under her roof. Since you are assigned to Skye, you can't exactly leave anytime soon."
"This is only a temporary assignment. I'm sure once the funding thing is settled." I stopped when I noticed the look on Henri's face. "Henri, what aren't you telling me?"
"Nothing" Henri tried to hide his uneasy look and failed.
"Henri, it is a good thing that they never send you out on assignment. You can't lie worth a damn."
"Please don't press me for information I'm not supposed to give out."
"Damn it all to hell. Tell me he isn't planning to assign me this Sam Gemins identity on a permanent basis. This is all right for a few weeks. I could use the break. I'm used to infiltrating terrorist organizations and surveying smuggler operations. A few months of this and I will die of boredom."
"I'm sure if you talk to Frisco, he will tell you what you want to know."
"Oh believe me, I fully intend to. Where is he?"
"In his office going over the latest intelligence reports on the power struggle over Alcazar's former territory with Terry."
"I thought we had that cleared up?"
"No, all we did was close down the weak links that allowed Alcazar to run rings around our organization. His territory is up for grabs."
"Oh that's just great. Now we are dealing with an international power struggle. Is anybody in the lead?"
"We have a few. Do you remember Cesar Faison?"
"Isn't he the guy that was supposed to have killed those ex-agents, Anna and Robert Scorpio? I though he was dead."
"There have been several times over the years that that he has been reported dead. He is the most slippery bastard out there. He just keeps popping back up. Until someone delivers his body to us, I won't believe it."
"So Faison is going after Alcazar's territory."
"No, one of his apprentices is after it. Some guy by the name of Renquist."
"I don't think that I have ever heard of him."
"Let me refresh your memory. Do you remember the Zendeth incident?"
"Sure, some bastard was testing some new chemical weapons and wiped out a couple of villages in Africa."
"That was Renquist."
"This guy is still walking around free?"
"We don't know what he looks like. For that matter, we don't have a clue where he is at the moment. All we have is the name and that his organization is moving."
"Who else?"
"We have a gun smuggler in Brazil that goes by the name Demon Jeffers. He has been able to hold his own so far. We are still working on getting information on his backers. And we have a new player that's working out of Germany. Everyone just calls the guy Bob. We got someone in his organization. We think that he is American. We already have his picture and we will have his fingerprints by the end of the day. If he's on file anywhere, we will find it. Then there is an assassin in Italy, Joseph Peneli."
"Do any of these guys work for us?"
"Rumor is that one of them does but headquarters is keeping a stiff lip over the identity."
"Great, so we don't know who to back."
"And they don't know who to shoot first. If the news that one of these guys worked for us leaked out, whoever he is would be a dead man."
"Good point."
Just then Terry came out of Frisco's office. "Hi Sam. You're getting to be a regular. Maybe we should get you a desk."
I looked at Terry and growled. "I wouldn't order that desk just yet." Then I turned around and walked into Frisco's office.
Terry looked at Henri and asked, "What's his problem?"
"He's looking for trouble." I heard Henri reply as I closed the door.
"So Frisco, Who's winning the power struggle over Alcazar's territory?"
Frisco looked up at me and said, "So far Demon and Renquist are in the lead. Why?"
"Damn it Frisco, I should be out there doing what I do best. Infiltrating these guy's territories. Gathering info. Not sitting here babysitting."
"Creating this new network is important Sam. It is just as important as finding out what the opposition is doing."
"I'm not implying that it isn't. But you have other guys who can stay with Skye and play the rich heir ready to part with some of his money for her latest business investment. It doesn't have to be me."
"Sam, it already is. Headquarters already has people tracking down leads for these other guys. You are not the only operative out there who is skilled at infiltrating terrorist organizations. You are needed here. Skye trusts you. You are already known as Sam Gemins. You have been seen. Word has started to spread that you are in town and staying with Skye at her house. People are curious. I can't just switch someone out now."
"How long Frisco? How long do I have to play the rich investor/ex- boyfriend? One month, two?"
"Actually, It is a little more complicated than that."
"I knew it. You're trying to stick me with the role of baby sitter on a permanent basis. Damn it Frisco, this isn't what I signed on for."
"I'm not assigning you babysitting detail. But you are right. The Sam Gemins identity isn't a temporary one."
"Damn it Frisco."
"Sam, hear me out. Skye can run the business end of this but she is not an operative. She doesn't have the necessary training to walk into an upscale party and break into their files without getting caught. She might be able to pull it off once or twice but not on a regular basis. This network is breaking into both the business world and the upscale parties. Skye has the connections to get invitations to most any social situation."
"So do we."
"But none of those people are agents. They are people who we consider to be friendly to our organization that will do us a favor in exchange for a favor. We want someone who is one of us who can get their own invitation. Someone with the necessary background references that will receive their own invitation to the parties. We need her contacts. Even more than that, we need more of our people to be moving in these circles. Yes, part of your job is to keep an eye out for Skye, but your other job is to establish yourself in her society."
"So I'm not going to be stuck in Port Charles looking over Skye's shoulder on a permanent basis."
"Consider this a time to establish your identity before we move you on to greater circles. From time to time, we will pull you out for some of our more dirty assignments in order to keep your skills up to date."
I chuckled. "Thanks. Speaking of identities, I was wondering how my background checks would hold up."
"Everything is in place. Education, resume, financial, and other documentation are now part of your permanent record. Henri has a more up to date file that you should probably take a look at and memorize. Should we expect a background check?"
"Jasper Jacks stopped by today. Someone told him that Skye was raped and he wanted to know if she was all right. He didn't like the fact that I was staying with her. I'm fairly certain that he will be looking into who I am and trying to find my weak spots"
"Why would he care? He abandoned her."
"I don't know why he left, but the man who stopped by the house today wasn't ready to give up his marriage quite yet. I figure that it is probably the same old story. Something went sour with his other romance and now he wants his wife back."
"Damn. I figured that Brenda wouldn't be able to keep Jax's attention forever but I had at least hoped that Alcazar's girl would have held his interest for a few months. You can't let that happen Sam. You have to keep then apart. How did Skye handle Jax's concern?"
"She's angry. She doesn't want to let herself believe that he cares. She is afraid that he just wants her because someone else is paying attention to her. She played up the relationship angle between us to the hilt in front of him. But she still loves him. Why exactly am I supposed to keep them apart? Now that I think about it, you were flirting with her pretty hard when you came by the house. You wouldn't happen to be planning to date her yourself, would you?"
"If romancing her will keep her away from Jax for at least six months, then yes I would. Think about it for a second. They just got married. What do married couples usually do?"
"They go on honeymoons."
"She can't leave right now. She can't go anywhere right now. We are in the process of restructuring and rebuilding. We sure as hell can't tell Jax that he can't take his wife on a honeymoon because she is to busy working for the WSB. Until everything is in place, I don't want Skye anywhere near Jax. When Skye said that Deception was ready to be taken over, she was right on the money. I already had some of my people talk to the lawyers currently handling the company. They are more than willing to sell."
"So basically you don't want Skye to return to her husband because he would take up to much of her time and she would have to lie to cover up what she is really doing. I thought you said that the reason you wanted Skye was because she could cover her tracks. I don't think that she would have any problem selling some story to her husband about not wanting to go away because she was in the middle of building up a company. He is a businessman. He would understand."
"That isn't the only problem. Deception isn't big enough for our needs."
"And the reason that this would interfere with their relationship is because.?"
"Skye plans to expand Deception by raiding some of her husband's holdings."
"What?"
"When Jax moved out he made the mistake of leaving a lot of business information behind. Skye went through many of those folders when she was putting them in boxes for Jax. Some of those companies would fit in nicely with what we need. Skye has already picked out the companies that we should go after. She wrote out a long list of things that needs to be done in order to lay down the groundwork for their takeover."
"Basically you need Skye to stay mad at her husband long enough to take over the companies."
"Some of these we can take by surprise. I don't think that Jax ever really took his wife's business abilities as seriously as he should. I don't think it has even occurred to him yet that when he pissed his wife off, she would attack his holdings. He is expecting a more personal approach."
"But Skye doesn't separate the line between business and personal. He married her. Surely he figured that out. When she thought that he was cheating on her before they became engaged, the first thing she did was strike up a business deal to bankrupt him. Skye puts a piece of her soul into everything she tries to accomplish."
"He apparently didn't learn that lesson the first time around. Skye has plans to take over four of Jax's companies. If we lay the groundwork right, the first three will come as a surprise. Skye feels it is the forth company that we will be fighting over because it will take a few months to raid it."
"Now I see why they have to stay apart."
______
"Well what do you think? Is this large enough for your husband?" We had stopped at the furniture stores first. It didn't take me very long to figure out that Tori didn't like to go shopping. Her idea of shopping was to go into the room, pick out the first things there that caught her eye and leave. It is probably a good thing that the WSB issues everything they need to go with any new identities. I'm fairly sure that if Tori had to go shopping for it, she would go nuts. After an hour of following me around while I looked at things, she had started to get fed up. So after another twenty minutes of her glaring holes in my back while I studied the artistry of the hand carved designs of the furniture, I decided to put her out of her misery. "All we really need to pick up today is a cabinet for the TV we promised to buy and a proper table with chairs for the living room. I can pick up anything else we need later."
Tori breathed out a sigh of relief. "I'm sure that cabinet will be more than large enough for any TV you pick out. I don't suppose that you have the table and chairs picked out?"
There was a lot of apprehension in that question. I couldn't help smiling. Why in the world did she volunteer to come shopping if she hated it this much? I really didn't need help picking out anything. Although I didn't mind having the company, I would have enjoyed it more if she weren't so obviously uncomfortable doing it. "There is a set of table and chairs over there that has a matching design carved into it. I will take those." I went over to the shopkeeper, paid for my purchases and arranged to have them delivered today. "Why don't we go pick out the TV then find somewhere to eat?"
"That sounds like an excellent plan."
I had to do everything I could to not laugh. Tori was so obviously relieved to see an end to this shopping trip. Again, I wondered why she volunteered to come along if she hated shopping so much. "Actually I have an even better idea. We don't actually have to see the TV to buy it. We know what size we need. I will just call up the store and tell them to send the most expensive model they have in stock to the house and charge it to Jax's credit card. May I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Why did you volunteer to come shopping with me when you so obviously hate it."
"I wanted to talk with you and this is the only way to do so without my husband hanging over our shoulders."
"What did you have in mind?"
"I was wondering about your marriage. I understand that you haven't been married that long. What exactly happened?"
"You mean the whole sordid tale isn't in my file?"
"I haven't read your file. I'm not assigned here so unlike the other agents, your life history isn't part of my assigned reading."
"That is a refreshing change. Ever since the WSB entered my life, I have had people stumbling around trying to avoid talking about subjects that they think might be sensitive because of something they read in my file."
"Even Sam?"
"Sam is a little better than most. He categorizes my life as information he needs to know in order to do his job better. Unlike the other agents, he asks more questions rather than avoid anything that others might consider to be a sensitive subject."
"Sensitive subjects kind of like your recent marriage."
"You noticed."
"What happened?"
"For a short period of time, I lived my fairy tale."
"I don't understand."
"My Uncle Stuart is very fond of Fairy Tales. Especially the ones that end with they lived happily ever after. I never believed in them. By the time that I was a teenager, I had lived through to much to believe in happy endings. Everything I went through as an adult just confirmed it. In Jax, I thought that I found my prince. Only my prince didn't want anything to do with me. You see he loved this woman who was supposed to have died four or five years ago. So I did everything I could to get his attention. I lied. I made up imaginary dragons for him to slay. We started to move closer. Eventually he caught me in my lies and pushed me further away. Then I fell into some real trouble and my prince saved me. He wouldn't let me push him away. Despite some rather large bumps in the road, he made me believe in every happily ever after story that my Uncle ever told me."
"So what happened?"
"The evil queen came back from the dead. Her name is Brenda. She showed up on our wedding night."
"You have got to be kidding. She stayed away for that long and she decides to come back from the dead on the day of your wedding. That is just twisted. What kind of sick person comes back from the dead of the evening of there ex's wedding."
"I see it. You see it. Why can't anyone else see it? She claims that she wanted him to be happy, yet she shows up at our back door on the night that he is going to make love to his wife for the first time. That is when she tells him that she is still alive. I found out later that she was even at the wedding. She did nothing to stop it. I still can't figure that one out."
"What did he do?"
"He didn't tell me. He set her up in a cottage. He cancelled our honeymoon. He lied to me about where he was spending his time. I didn't find out until he got shot. Then he decided that he had to end the marriage because he might be paralysed for life. He wouldn't let me see him. He would only see her."
"Oh God, if Sam tried that, I'm not sure who I would kill first, him or the other woman."
"I started doubting everything. I'm not just talking about doubting whether or not my husband loved her or me. When I start doubting people, I question everyone's motives. Brenda was at the top of the list. I started asking how long did she have to live? No one could tell me. So I started asking is she really ill? Was this all some large plot she thought up in order to amuse herself? I still wouldn't put anything past her."
"You tried to find out if she was really dying."
"The medication in her coat pocket turned out to be mild doses of sleeping pills. I couldn't get any answers from Alcazar that I could trust so I went to Switzerland to try to get to her medical records."
"What did they say?"
"I got caught in the act. They kicked me out. But I told this sob story to a nurse and she brought me what I thought was her medical files."
"Let me guess. These files said that she wasn't sick."
"I didn't know what to do with the information. For all I knew, she already knew that she wasn't ill. She had already told me that she could get Jax back into her bed anytime that she wanted. I sure as hell didn't want to go back and tell my husband that he could spend a lifetime with that woman."
"You didn't say anything."
"She married my brother. When I figured out that the marriage was a ruse to try to make me feel more comfortable with her being around my husband, I tried to get rid of her in any way I could. Only Jax found out that I went to Switzerland. Someone hired a fake doctor to go with my fake nurse to tell him that Brenda wasn't sick and that I had broken into the files and found that out three days ago. So he left me for her because I lied by omission. Oh no he didn't just leave me for her, he fucked me one last time first. You know, I was still quite sore from that the night of Alcazar's death."
"Anger sex. I've had that a few times. It isn't necessarily all that bad as long as you have time to recover."
"Mistakes were made on both sides. It takes two to screw up a marriage."
"No, actually that isn't true. It takes two to make a marriage. It only takes one to screw it up. He walked out on you right?"
"Yes"
"Then it was all his fault."
At my confused look, Tori continued. "It takes two people to make a marriage work, not one. People do stupid things. It doesn't really matter why. Sooner or latter someone is going to screw up and hurt the other person in a relationship."
"Oh great. So I'm doomed anyway I look at it."
"In a marriage you need to find a way to work past the mistakes. There is a reason they make you say for better or worse. You're not going to agree with your spouse all the time. It takes two to make it work. Therefore I blame the person who stopped trying and walked out the door."
"When you first arrived in town, you were under the impression that your husband was sleeping with me."
"Those were special circumstances. I thought that the WSB had ordered him to seduce you to get what they wanted."
"He didn't."
"I know that. But even if Sam had, I wouldn't have left him. I would have made his life a living hell for a while, but I wouldn't have left him."
"What if Sam had said that he loved me now and not you?"
"I still wouldn't have left him. I would have killed him and buried the body, but I wouldn't have left him."
"I had to listen to Jax say that he loved another woman and I had to watch as he walked out the door."
"You know, I know several very efficient ways to kill someone and get away with it."
I smiled at Tori. "I'll keep that in mind."
