Author's Note: Hey all! Mouse issue has been resolved but I'm too lazy to play musical floppies. I know, my bad :( Anyway, once again //this// marks italics. Fallout readers, I just thought I'd mention that I am working on the next chapter, but writing trials takes FOREVER. Especially when you're not a lawyer :lol:
starbright: Ack! Me=horrible at keeping up with stories I like nowadays. It's not just you, trust me :p I think I'm probably 100 chapters behind on one story...of course with the amount of times a day the dude updates, that's no surprise! :lol: You just may get what you suggested ;) Thanks a ton!
light*hope: I would //love// to do a picnic! Thanks so much for the fabulous idea :D It'd have to be several months down the road (it being late fall/winter and all) but the idea is adorable! I think Jason probably is going to give her a dance-related present soon enough ;) Thanks for reading!
Anna Bananna: I'm so glad you like it! Glad you enjoyed Carly's cooking scene....I loved writing that!
dreamcatcher6: All your questions are answered this chap! Hopefully you'll have more though...lol. Thanks for reading!
Silent Typewriter: I absolutely love your screenname. I think I've seen you on the LN before, or is that someone else with the same screenname? Anyway, I will not give up on this story. It's not exactly my favorite which is why it takes so long for me to update, but so many people read it that I couldn't possibly not finish it. I owe it to them to finish! So I will...it just may take awhile :lol: Thanks for reading!
carsonjourney: Glad you like, and thanks for reading!
Prepare to fall asleep :p Well, hopefully it's not quite boring enough for you to do that :lol:
Reflection
Chapter Eighteen ~ A Piece of the Past
She pulled away, hardly able to believe he was real. But he had to be. She was outside of Kelly's, in his arms. She pulled back, taking in the older version of him. He still had the slightly disheveled look going on, his hair a little messy, his clothes a little rumpled. She could have recognized him anywhere. "Reuben, what are you doing here?"
He cocked his head to the side, that all too familiar mischievous glint in his brown eyes. "What, not happy to see me?"
She laughed and punched him playfully. "You know that's not what I meant."
"My boss is in town." Reuben explained with a shrug.
Courtney had no idea who Reuben's boss was nowadays. She hadn't seen him for over four years. They'd taken ballet class together after she and her mom moved. They used to be dancing partners, entering all the competitions as a team, and winning most of them. But he wasn't just some old dance partner. He had been her best friend, her rock. He'd endured a not so great home life, and he understood how devastated she was over her dad's "death." He'd gotten her through. But Reuben was older than her, four years older to be exact, and two years after they first met, he turned eighteen and set out to start a life of his own, away from his screwed up family. She hadn't seen him since. The letters had come frequently at first, but Reuben always seemed to be moving, so they'd tapered off until she only got a birthday and a Christmas card.
Despite all the time that had passed, it felt like their friendship hadn't missed a beat. "Are you still dancing?" she asked with a grin.
"Yeah, but it's only a hobby, and I'm more into modern stuff now. You know, the kind of coreographed stuff they do in music videos. Tango!" Reuben grabbed her hands and did a few tango moves with her, making them both laugh, before he continued. "I haven't done ballet since I left Atlantic City. How about you?"
"Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm sort of on a break right now." She thought of Jason, and their dance the previous night, and felt a smile coming. "I think I'm going to start again," she said, and she knew she wasn't just saying it. She was really going to do it.
Reuben was truly thrilled for her. "That's great! Maybe we can get back into it together."
The smile turned into a grin. "I'd love that."
A moment of silence stretched between them, then Reuben reached out and pinched her jacket, rubbing the leather between his fingers. "Pretty expensive stuff you got going on here. What, your mom hit the lottery or something?"
Courtney stared at him, thrown off balance by such an offhand mention of her mother. He didn't know. Of course he didn't know. "What?" She glanced down at his hand, and realized what meant. "Oh, the jacket? It was a gift."
He jerked his head toward the table where the wrapped box still lay. "Recent one, I can see."
"Yeah. My...um..." She blushed, stumbling over the word. What was Jason to her? Could she call him her boyfriend? Wasn't it too soon for that? She decided to just go with his name. "Well, Jason gave to me."
Reuben cocked an eyebrow, a smirk firmly in place. "Jason?"
"Yeah..." she said, trying to come up with a way to avoid Reuben's good-natured third degree. He'd always been a nosy one. "He works for my brother," was all she should come up with.
Reuben took a step back. "Whoa. You never told me you had a brother."
She pushed her hair off her face. "I never knew. It's a //really// long story, but it turns out my dad is alive and I have this whole family I never knew about."
"Well, that's cool...isn't it?"
She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is. I always wanted a real family, and now I have one. Though I admit it wasn't exactly the family I dreamed of."
Reuben frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, for one thing, my brother is Sonny Corinthos."
Reuben's eyes widened. "//The// Sonny Corinthos?"
"The one and only. I take it you've heard of him?" she inquired with false innocence.
"Yeah! Who hasn't?"
"Well, I don't think he does business in Asia..." The corner of Courtney's mouth quirked.
Reuben shook his head for a long while, then said somthing that caught her totally off guard. "So whose this Jason to you?"
"Reuben!"
He mocked offense. "What? I used to be your best friend. Doesn't that buy me a ticket to be nosy?"
"No!"
"Come on, tell me!"
"Okay, okay..." She winced, trying to come up with a way to put it. "He's sort of my boyfriend but not really?" she tried.
Reuben tilted his head to the side. "How can he sort of be your boyfriend?"
"Well, it's nothing serious...at least I don't think it is. We've only known each other for a couple weeks. It's not exactly official yet."
Reuben was grinning at her uncertainty, but his expression suddenly changed to one of concern. "Did you say he works for your brother?"
"Yes."
"So you're talking about Jason //Morgan.//"
She nodded. "Yeah, do you know him?"
"No, but I've heard of him." He dropped his voice. "Courtney, do you have any idea how dangerous this guy is?"
Courtney didn't know why, but she suddenly felt defensive. Never mind that she had had the same reaction when she'd discovered what Jason's career was. She knew better now. "You mean, do I know he kills people for a living?" she threw back. "Yeah, I do."
Reuben was completely floored. "How can you be so casual about something like that?"
"What Jason does..." she trailed off, trying to find the words, and they came easier than she thought they would. "It's just his job. He's good at it. He likes it. I don't think he does it because he's fun. He does it because he is so loyal to my brother, and he'd do anything to protect him and his family, because my family is his family, too."
Reuben wasn't convinced. "You'd be better off if you stayed away from him."
Not a chance. "Thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure I'm gonna take it. So what are you doing these days?"
The subject change didn't go over Reuben's head, but he went with it anyway. "Oh, I'm in some boring international corporation stuff. I'm all over the place...literally. My boss is cool. The job is interesting. Pays good, too."
"How about girls?" she asked, an evil twinkle in her eyes.
It was his turn to play innocent. "Girls? What about them?"
"Come on, Reuben!"
"I've dated a few." He shrugged, as if it were nothing.
She was enjoying the turning of the tables, getting to be the nosy one for once. "Are you dating any now?"
"A few."
"Reuben!"
He held up his hands in a hold-off kind of way. "I'm kidding, okay? I'd never double-do my girl and actually //tell// you about it!"
"I'm going to remember that."
"I'm not dating anybody. It's all about the job right now," he said, serious now.
"Well, that's good. As long as you're happy."
The door snapped open, a furious Elizabeth standing there. "Okay, Courtney, if you're just going to stand outside and talk all day, why do you even //work// here?!"
Courtney had to struggle not to roll her eyes."I'm sorry, okay? This is Reuben. He's an old friend of mine. I haven't seen him in years."
"I don't care who he is," Elizabeth snapped. "Just because Bobbie likes you doesn't mean you can get away with dumping your workload on //me!"//
"Fine, I'm coming." Courtney went to the table to pick up the box. She didn't miss the venemous look Elizabeth sent in her direction before she disappeared inside.
"What's Miss Personality's problem?" Reuben scoffed.
Courtney rolled her eyes. "It's a long story. She dumped Jason and now she wants him back but he's not interested."
"Oh. The whole 'if I can't have him no one can' sort of thing?"
Put simply. "That pretty much sums it up."
Reuben nodded, rocking back on his heels. "Well, it was great to see you. I'd love to just hang out sometime."
"So would I. We should go out dancing."
Reuben loved the idea. "We should! You staying here?" He nodded at Kelly's.
"Yeah, I'm upstairs."
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll come by and we'll set up a date some time, all right?"
She grinned. "Perfect."
~*~
Courtney slipped into her new leather jacket, her shift finally over. She stood there looking down at herself, smiling at the thoughtfulness behind the gift. That lead to thoughts of Jason's invitation. She wondered where he was now. Maybe he was home. He had said he lived just across the hall from her brother. She wanted to go see him, to take him up on his offer. But wouldn't that come across as a little agressive and presumptuous? Just showing up like that? Yeah, it would, she decided. Maybe she'd drop in on Sonny and Carly instead. And if Jason just happened to be there or to show up...that'd be a different story.
As she went outside, she thought of how wonderful it would feel to be on the back of Jason's motorcycle, her arms around his waist, holding on for dear life, putting all her faith into his driving skill. She'd love to be that close to him.
~*~
Elizabeth glared after Courtney, digging her nails into the rag she was using to scrub down the last of the tables. The twit was smiling. Elizabeth just knew she was thinking of Jason. It disgusted her. What could Jason possibly see in her? Courtney was acting just like a teenage girl with a crush. What was so appealing about that? Nothing that Elizabeth could see. Jason needed a //real// woman. He needed //her.// She wondered how long it was going to take him to wake up and see that //she// was the right one for him, not some dumb blonde. When was he going to realize that she was worth fighting for? That she was more important than his job and his stupid loyalty Sonny?
~*~
Courtney was so lost in thought that she didn't even see the men dressed in black until one of them grabbed her. Instinct took over then, and she fought with everything she had. She tried to scream for help, praying to God Elizabeth wouldn't be petty enough to ignore her, but before she could raise her voice to full volume, a hand clutching a piece of white cloth clamped over her mouth. The last thing she saw were their dark ski masks before the chloroform kicked in and the strength drained from her body.
~*~
Elizabeth had gone back to scrubbing tables. Suddenly, her hand stilled and she jerked around to look through the window again. She thought she'd heard a scream. She saw a flash of black pass by the door. Frowning, she left her rag behind and strode outside.
There was no one there.
"Courtney?" she called.
There was no answer.
Elizabeth made a face. What was //wrong// with her? She didn't give a damn about this Courtney, even if she was in trouble. Which she obviously wasn't. She hadn't really heard a scream, or seen anything. She must have just imagined it.
She turned and went back inside.
~*~
P.S. So, as the story progresses, I need to know what you think of Reuben...whether you'd like him to stick around or not. Anyway...thanks for sticking with me!
starbright: Ack! Me=horrible at keeping up with stories I like nowadays. It's not just you, trust me :p I think I'm probably 100 chapters behind on one story...of course with the amount of times a day the dude updates, that's no surprise! :lol: You just may get what you suggested ;) Thanks a ton!
light*hope: I would //love// to do a picnic! Thanks so much for the fabulous idea :D It'd have to be several months down the road (it being late fall/winter and all) but the idea is adorable! I think Jason probably is going to give her a dance-related present soon enough ;) Thanks for reading!
Anna Bananna: I'm so glad you like it! Glad you enjoyed Carly's cooking scene....I loved writing that!
dreamcatcher6: All your questions are answered this chap! Hopefully you'll have more though...lol. Thanks for reading!
Silent Typewriter: I absolutely love your screenname. I think I've seen you on the LN before, or is that someone else with the same screenname? Anyway, I will not give up on this story. It's not exactly my favorite which is why it takes so long for me to update, but so many people read it that I couldn't possibly not finish it. I owe it to them to finish! So I will...it just may take awhile :lol: Thanks for reading!
carsonjourney: Glad you like, and thanks for reading!
Prepare to fall asleep :p Well, hopefully it's not quite boring enough for you to do that :lol:
Reflection
Chapter Eighteen ~ A Piece of the Past
She pulled away, hardly able to believe he was real. But he had to be. She was outside of Kelly's, in his arms. She pulled back, taking in the older version of him. He still had the slightly disheveled look going on, his hair a little messy, his clothes a little rumpled. She could have recognized him anywhere. "Reuben, what are you doing here?"
He cocked his head to the side, that all too familiar mischievous glint in his brown eyes. "What, not happy to see me?"
She laughed and punched him playfully. "You know that's not what I meant."
"My boss is in town." Reuben explained with a shrug.
Courtney had no idea who Reuben's boss was nowadays. She hadn't seen him for over four years. They'd taken ballet class together after she and her mom moved. They used to be dancing partners, entering all the competitions as a team, and winning most of them. But he wasn't just some old dance partner. He had been her best friend, her rock. He'd endured a not so great home life, and he understood how devastated she was over her dad's "death." He'd gotten her through. But Reuben was older than her, four years older to be exact, and two years after they first met, he turned eighteen and set out to start a life of his own, away from his screwed up family. She hadn't seen him since. The letters had come frequently at first, but Reuben always seemed to be moving, so they'd tapered off until she only got a birthday and a Christmas card.
Despite all the time that had passed, it felt like their friendship hadn't missed a beat. "Are you still dancing?" she asked with a grin.
"Yeah, but it's only a hobby, and I'm more into modern stuff now. You know, the kind of coreographed stuff they do in music videos. Tango!" Reuben grabbed her hands and did a few tango moves with her, making them both laugh, before he continued. "I haven't done ballet since I left Atlantic City. How about you?"
"Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm sort of on a break right now." She thought of Jason, and their dance the previous night, and felt a smile coming. "I think I'm going to start again," she said, and she knew she wasn't just saying it. She was really going to do it.
Reuben was truly thrilled for her. "That's great! Maybe we can get back into it together."
The smile turned into a grin. "I'd love that."
A moment of silence stretched between them, then Reuben reached out and pinched her jacket, rubbing the leather between his fingers. "Pretty expensive stuff you got going on here. What, your mom hit the lottery or something?"
Courtney stared at him, thrown off balance by such an offhand mention of her mother. He didn't know. Of course he didn't know. "What?" She glanced down at his hand, and realized what meant. "Oh, the jacket? It was a gift."
He jerked his head toward the table where the wrapped box still lay. "Recent one, I can see."
"Yeah. My...um..." She blushed, stumbling over the word. What was Jason to her? Could she call him her boyfriend? Wasn't it too soon for that? She decided to just go with his name. "Well, Jason gave to me."
Reuben cocked an eyebrow, a smirk firmly in place. "Jason?"
"Yeah..." she said, trying to come up with a way to avoid Reuben's good-natured third degree. He'd always been a nosy one. "He works for my brother," was all she should come up with.
Reuben took a step back. "Whoa. You never told me you had a brother."
She pushed her hair off her face. "I never knew. It's a //really// long story, but it turns out my dad is alive and I have this whole family I never knew about."
"Well, that's cool...isn't it?"
She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is. I always wanted a real family, and now I have one. Though I admit it wasn't exactly the family I dreamed of."
Reuben frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Well, for one thing, my brother is Sonny Corinthos."
Reuben's eyes widened. "//The// Sonny Corinthos?"
"The one and only. I take it you've heard of him?" she inquired with false innocence.
"Yeah! Who hasn't?"
"Well, I don't think he does business in Asia..." The corner of Courtney's mouth quirked.
Reuben shook his head for a long while, then said somthing that caught her totally off guard. "So whose this Jason to you?"
"Reuben!"
He mocked offense. "What? I used to be your best friend. Doesn't that buy me a ticket to be nosy?"
"No!"
"Come on, tell me!"
"Okay, okay..." She winced, trying to come up with a way to put it. "He's sort of my boyfriend but not really?" she tried.
Reuben tilted his head to the side. "How can he sort of be your boyfriend?"
"Well, it's nothing serious...at least I don't think it is. We've only known each other for a couple weeks. It's not exactly official yet."
Reuben was grinning at her uncertainty, but his expression suddenly changed to one of concern. "Did you say he works for your brother?"
"Yes."
"So you're talking about Jason //Morgan.//"
She nodded. "Yeah, do you know him?"
"No, but I've heard of him." He dropped his voice. "Courtney, do you have any idea how dangerous this guy is?"
Courtney didn't know why, but she suddenly felt defensive. Never mind that she had had the same reaction when she'd discovered what Jason's career was. She knew better now. "You mean, do I know he kills people for a living?" she threw back. "Yeah, I do."
Reuben was completely floored. "How can you be so casual about something like that?"
"What Jason does..." she trailed off, trying to find the words, and they came easier than she thought they would. "It's just his job. He's good at it. He likes it. I don't think he does it because he's fun. He does it because he is so loyal to my brother, and he'd do anything to protect him and his family, because my family is his family, too."
Reuben wasn't convinced. "You'd be better off if you stayed away from him."
Not a chance. "Thanks for the advice, but I'm not sure I'm gonna take it. So what are you doing these days?"
The subject change didn't go over Reuben's head, but he went with it anyway. "Oh, I'm in some boring international corporation stuff. I'm all over the place...literally. My boss is cool. The job is interesting. Pays good, too."
"How about girls?" she asked, an evil twinkle in her eyes.
It was his turn to play innocent. "Girls? What about them?"
"Come on, Reuben!"
"I've dated a few." He shrugged, as if it were nothing.
She was enjoying the turning of the tables, getting to be the nosy one for once. "Are you dating any now?"
"A few."
"Reuben!"
He held up his hands in a hold-off kind of way. "I'm kidding, okay? I'd never double-do my girl and actually //tell// you about it!"
"I'm going to remember that."
"I'm not dating anybody. It's all about the job right now," he said, serious now.
"Well, that's good. As long as you're happy."
The door snapped open, a furious Elizabeth standing there. "Okay, Courtney, if you're just going to stand outside and talk all day, why do you even //work// here?!"
Courtney had to struggle not to roll her eyes."I'm sorry, okay? This is Reuben. He's an old friend of mine. I haven't seen him in years."
"I don't care who he is," Elizabeth snapped. "Just because Bobbie likes you doesn't mean you can get away with dumping your workload on //me!"//
"Fine, I'm coming." Courtney went to the table to pick up the box. She didn't miss the venemous look Elizabeth sent in her direction before she disappeared inside.
"What's Miss Personality's problem?" Reuben scoffed.
Courtney rolled her eyes. "It's a long story. She dumped Jason and now she wants him back but he's not interested."
"Oh. The whole 'if I can't have him no one can' sort of thing?"
Put simply. "That pretty much sums it up."
Reuben nodded, rocking back on his heels. "Well, it was great to see you. I'd love to just hang out sometime."
"So would I. We should go out dancing."
Reuben loved the idea. "We should! You staying here?" He nodded at Kelly's.
"Yeah, I'm upstairs."
He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll come by and we'll set up a date some time, all right?"
She grinned. "Perfect."
~*~
Courtney slipped into her new leather jacket, her shift finally over. She stood there looking down at herself, smiling at the thoughtfulness behind the gift. That lead to thoughts of Jason's invitation. She wondered where he was now. Maybe he was home. He had said he lived just across the hall from her brother. She wanted to go see him, to take him up on his offer. But wouldn't that come across as a little agressive and presumptuous? Just showing up like that? Yeah, it would, she decided. Maybe she'd drop in on Sonny and Carly instead. And if Jason just happened to be there or to show up...that'd be a different story.
As she went outside, she thought of how wonderful it would feel to be on the back of Jason's motorcycle, her arms around his waist, holding on for dear life, putting all her faith into his driving skill. She'd love to be that close to him.
~*~
Elizabeth glared after Courtney, digging her nails into the rag she was using to scrub down the last of the tables. The twit was smiling. Elizabeth just knew she was thinking of Jason. It disgusted her. What could Jason possibly see in her? Courtney was acting just like a teenage girl with a crush. What was so appealing about that? Nothing that Elizabeth could see. Jason needed a //real// woman. He needed //her.// She wondered how long it was going to take him to wake up and see that //she// was the right one for him, not some dumb blonde. When was he going to realize that she was worth fighting for? That she was more important than his job and his stupid loyalty Sonny?
~*~
Courtney was so lost in thought that she didn't even see the men dressed in black until one of them grabbed her. Instinct took over then, and she fought with everything she had. She tried to scream for help, praying to God Elizabeth wouldn't be petty enough to ignore her, but before she could raise her voice to full volume, a hand clutching a piece of white cloth clamped over her mouth. The last thing she saw were their dark ski masks before the chloroform kicked in and the strength drained from her body.
~*~
Elizabeth had gone back to scrubbing tables. Suddenly, her hand stilled and she jerked around to look through the window again. She thought she'd heard a scream. She saw a flash of black pass by the door. Frowning, she left her rag behind and strode outside.
There was no one there.
"Courtney?" she called.
There was no answer.
Elizabeth made a face. What was //wrong// with her? She didn't give a damn about this Courtney, even if she was in trouble. Which she obviously wasn't. She hadn't really heard a scream, or seen anything. She must have just imagined it.
She turned and went back inside.
~*~
P.S. So, as the story progresses, I need to know what you think of Reuben...whether you'd like him to stick around or not. Anyway...thanks for sticking with me!