Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. The powers that be at General Hospital do. They just don't use them very well. There are some original characters in here as well.

Feedback: Is greatly appreciated. If you like it tell me why, if you don't, please tell me what you don't like. It's how I learn.

Author's notes: A lot of the characters on GH will be in this fic, if you don't see them right away give me time. I like fic's with a lot of characters in them, so that is how I write them.

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What If…

Chapter 10

~Penthouse~

"It's Jason," Johnny said opening the door.

Sonny waved him in, "Just make it happen Alexis, I need those permits, by tomorrow."

Alexis Davis gathered her papers and began to put them in her briefcase, "Sonny that will cost you double. You're not exactly someone the town council likes to deal with you know."

"Alexis isn't that what I pay you all this money for, to work miracles?" Sonny shot back, smiling at her his dimples flashing.

Alexis sighed pulling off her glasses to pinch her nose, "Miracles don't happen everyday, Sonny, and if they did they wouldn't be called miracles."

With that Alexis picked up her coat and headed for the door pausing in front of Jason, "It's good to see you Jason, you have no need of me yet I hope?" she asked.

"Not yet," he said with a smirk, "but the day's not over yet."

Alexis glared at him and Sonny who just smiled back, "Why do I even try? If you call me out of bed again, my rate doubles."

"You have rates in bed?" Sonny teased.

"Corinthos." Alexis shook her head before moving towards the door and opening it, "One day I might not show up when you call at all."

"Yes you will, you like the thrills to much. Give my love to your husband," Sonny said with a grin.

Alexis glared at him, "Next time someone wants to shoot him, let them." She told Johnny brushing past him.

"Tomorrow Alexis," Sonny called after her before turning to face Jason.

Jason shook his head, some things never changed, "You want to finish our talk now?"

Sonny nodded, moving to the bar fixing a scotch for himself, and a water for Jason.

"So why is it you want me here, instead of Puerto Rico where the trouble is?"

"We got rats in Puerto Rico, but their smarter than Carlos was, I'm not sure how many we have down there. This time when we deal with them I want no mistakes, I don't want anyone slipping through the cracks." Sonny answered walking to the couch to sit down.

Jason followed, sitting as well, "Makes sense."

"I rushed things last time, when I found out Carlos was working with Sorel, I just wanted it over, and I wanted him gone. That's why I went to Puerto Rico, to end it once and for all. I should have listened to you then and waited a little while." Sonny brooded into his glass.

Jason kept quiet waiting for his friend to continue. He knew that Sonny had been on edge last December in Puerto Rico, it had been obvious.

"But when we got those threats against Carly, and with everything I was doing to keep Zander alive to testify against Sorel, when I found out about Carlos, I was so angry I just wanted it over. I reacted, instead of thinking it through like I should have." Sonny said finally.

"Sonny, you were always careful with Carlos, you never really trusted him, and you kept a tight rein on him, Sorel just slipped in and found Carlos's weak spot, his greed. Carlos betrayed you, you just did what you had to do."

Sonny set his glass down with a slam, "I should have waited to find out who was in it with Carlos, and if I had we wouldn't have this problem now."

"Sonny we did a clean sweep when we took Carlos, most of his lieutenants were taken out as well; and you know as well as I do that there will always be someone in the organization who wants more." Jason said quietly.

"Well we missed someone, I should have waited, but it's too late now, we missed someone and their trying to step into Carlos's shoes."

"Do you know who?"

"Yeah, it's Rico, but this time, I'm going to make sure I get everyone who's with Rico. I'm not going to move on him until I know everything about everyone down there. When I remove Rico, I want to make sure that if, no when someone tries this again, they will have to start from scratch," Sonny got to his feet and began to prowl the room.

While Jason waited for Sonny to continue he got up and moved to the window to look out at the setting skyline of Port Charles. He heard Sonny take a seat at the table with a sigh, before he continued, "I almost got killed, in Puerto Rico, I almost got you killed, hell the only reason were still alive is because of Rory, I am not going to let that happen again."

Jason turned and sat down at the table, "My choice," was all he said, he knew Sonny had made some mistakes, in Puerto Rico, but there was no use in talking about them now.

Sonny looked up and studied his friend for a long time before continuing, "I want you here, because I want Rico and all those little bastards to know exactly where you are. I want them to think that you are setting up shop here again in Port Charles, I don't want them to worry about you going anywhere near Puerto Rico."

Sonny broke off and studied the table before beginning quietly, "I want them to get cocky, because that is when they will make their mistakes. You're a ghost man, as long as Rico has no idea where you are, he's been careful, hell I only got confirmation that it was Rico last week. But one thing about the Carlos and Rico's in the world, is that their greedy and that greed will make them stupid," Sonny looked up then into Jason's expressionless face, "I want them stupid, I want to know who else is stupid," Sonny's eyes lit then in anger, "And then I want them gone."

Jason nodded, "That will work, the word will get out that I'm here, it may take a little time, but your right Rico will mess up, is your source reliable?"

Sonny smiled slyly before taking a drink, "Oh yes, and their loyal to me."

Jason was curious but he let it alone, Sonny would tell him when he was ready, "So how loud do you want me to be? You want me to run into Taggert?"

Sonny snorted, "No even I wouldn't ask you for that Jason, although Taggert will be all over you soon enough, with his usual crap, he's still upset that you found Emily and not him."

Jason just shrugged, Taggert didn't really bother him, although he really didn't want to be arrested again. To tell the truth, he always liked goading Taggart, he was so easy to get riled.

"I think you should move back in your penthouse." Sonny said moving to refill his drink, "I also think that Rory being here with you will really be an asset."

"What does Rory have to do with this?" he asked frowning.

"Well your traveling with a woman, living with a woman, it gives an air of permanence to anyone looking."

Jason got up and walked over to Sonny, "I don't want people looking, that's not why she is here."

"Jason I know that, I know that the last thing on your mind when you are with her is business. But think about it, as long as Rory is here, it follows that you will be here too. She's not from here, she has no family here, and so the only reason she has to be here is if you're with her. So as long as she is here, no one will be looking for you anywhere else. This will help us buy some time when we need to make our move." Sonny said rubbing his hand over his chin.

Jason nodded slowly, he could see the sense in that, he didn't like it but he could see that it made sense, but still, "I don't think we need to move into the penthouse."

Sonny focused on Jason with a sigh, "Jason I want to present an illusion for Rico and the others. I want them to believe you're here for good. Now let's say your Rico, he finds out that Jason Morgan is back in Port Charles, with a woman, yet while his very spacious and empty penthouse is waiting for him, he is staying in a room over a bar. Now if you're Rico what does that tell you?"

"That I'm only visiting," Jason answered shortly, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, before crossing to pick up his water.

"Exactly, besides Jakes is a bit small for two, I bet Rory would love the penthouse," Sonny said with a smile, and he would love to get to know the woman who had his best friend turned around.

"I don't know about that, Rory is kind of unpredictable."

That was just the opportunity Sonny had been waiting for, "She is?"

"Yes," Jason answered with a smile as he thought about her, the smile softened his whole expression. He caught Sonny's smirk out of the corner of his eye and quickly ordered his thoughts, "Carly won't like it."

"Wrong, Carly would love having you across the hall, so would Michael."

Jason sucked in a breath at the mention of Michael's name, it still hurt sometimes, no a lot of the time, that he couldn't see Michael like he used to. He had accepted the fact that he was no longer Michael's father, and that Sonny was raising him like his own, but it still hurt. The pain was less than it had been, but he knew it would always be there. The real reason it was easing at all was because he knew that Sonny and Carly were raising him, Michael was going to have a good life because of that.

"How is Michael?" he asked quietly.

"He's the best, pre-school has been great for him," Sonny answered studying his friend. It was still hard to believe sometimes what Jason had done for him.

When Jason had tracked the arsonist down and got the information to get Carly and Michael away from the Quartermaines' he had given it to Sonny without hesitation. Jason could have used the material himself and got them out, but he gave it over to Sonny without a thought.

Sonny shook his head at that thought, he knew that Jason would never have gotten back together with Carly, but he could have been a father to Michael again. Instead, Jason had given him Michael to raise, he still couldn't believe it. One of his biggest fears was that he might let Jason down.

"That's good, I'm glad that Michael's happy," Jason said pulling Sonny out of his thoughts, "but while Carly might like me living across the hall, she won't like Rory living there with me."

"Yeah, I heard that Carly knows," seeing Jason's glance he went on, "she came here, I guess after leaving you at Jakes?"

Jason took a swallow of water, "Yeah she dropped by unexpectedly, I knew it was only a matter of time."

"And?"

"Rory was in the shower so Carly never saw her but she saw enough, well enough for Carly to jump to the conclusion that it was Robin in the shower."

"Robin," now Sonny was surprised, "How, why… oh never mind, it's Carly."

"Anyway I calmed her down and got her out the door before Rory came out."

"Jason you know it's only a matter of time."

"Yes," Jason said wearily, moving back to lean against the table, "Is it wrong to want to keep it quiet for a little while longer?"

Sonny laughed then and walked over to the table, "No, but this is Carly were talking about, and from what I've seen of Rory, quiet is going to be the last thing you get."

"I know," Jason, said pinching his nose, "I've already warned Rory about Carly."

"Don't you think you should have warned Carly about Rory?" Sonny asked.

Jason glanced over at him and waited.

"When Carly was here she was angry of course, but mainly she was hurt because you hadn't told her yourself. She feels like you deliberately kept her in the dark, and that hurt her."

Jason sighed, "I didn't want to hurt her, it's just we don't talk that much when I'm away, and when we do I mostly listen to her, it's kind of hard to talk over Carly."

"How long have you been with Rory?"

"Almost 11 months," Jason saw the look Sonny directed at him and continued, "Yes I could have mentioned it last summer, but there were so many other things happening, Emily, the charges against you, the wedding, it wasn't the right time to mention Rory. I didn't want to hurt her, she was already desperate enough, being scared about her feelings for you, and yours for her," Jason shrugged, "she wouldn't have been able to handle another change just then."

"I know where your coming from Jason, but all Carly knows is you have this major change happening in your life and you didn't tell her."

Jason pushed off from the table and crossed back to the window, "I'll talk to her about it and explain, is she going to be home soon?"

"She left right before you got here, I'll told her she could wait and see you, but she said she had something to do and tore out of here…" Sonny trailed off then. Jason turned to look at him, brown eyes met blue ones and one word crossed both of their minds, "Shit."

Jason was already moving towards the door, Sonny grabbed his coat to follow, "You know Carly won't hurt her."

"It's not Rory I'm worried about." Jason replied punching the down button on the elevator, "You saw Lucky Spencer today right?"

"Yes, I was going to talk to you about that."

Jason waved his words off, "Did he have bruises on his face?"

"Yes."

"Well Rory did that, she's not exactly." He paused searching for the right word, "Timid."

Curiosity aroused, Sonny watched a suddenly active Jason pound on the elevator call button again, and fidget in front of the doors, "How did you two meet?"

Sonny's words triggered Jason's memory.

"Are you trying to tell me," Rory rubbed her finger lightly down his chest and then back up, "That my hand was in your pants and you never even knew it?" Her voice was pitched loud and clear and carried throughout the bar, stilling conversation.

"I'm sure that I've never been accused of that before," She finished her hands on her hips, and she looked up at him with a mocking smile, laughter dancing in her eyes. Laughter erupted around them in the bar, but Jason didn't notice he was too busy looking in her eyes.

"Jason?" Sonny's voice prompted him.

"She," he broke off then tried again, "I" he paused again, "We met." Jason said finally, walking into the elevator followed by an openly amused Sonny.

Johnny got on the car after his two bosses and carefully kept his face expressionless, as he glanced at a smiling Sonny and a glowering Jason. Oh to be a fly on the wall when they met, Johnny thought with a smile when he turned to face the doors, to be a fly on the wall.

~Jakes~

"What did you say?" Carly asked surely she couldn't have heard her right.

"I said my name is Rory Nichols," Rory repeated with a smile, this could be fun.

"No you can't be Miss Priss," Carly shook her head, no way was this girl Rory, she liked her, so she couldn't be Rory.

"Well if your looking for the woman who is in town with Jason Morgan, then you've found her. If your looking for a person with a saint complex, try Paris," Oh yes, Rory thought this is definitely fun.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me? What kind of game were you playing," Carly yelled, temper spiking.

"No game, I didn't know who you were until you mentioned Jason's name," Rory answered with a shrug.

"Right, sure you didn't," Carly answered mockingly, "listen you little twit, I don't know what kind of game you were playing, but it was a mistake."

"Carly get a grip," Rory interrupted, "I didn't know you were talking about me. Man how could I? I've been called lot's of things before, bitch, demon seed, witch, among countless others we don't need to go into, but I have never been referred to as a Goody Goody Muffin Face, so forgive me if I got lost."

Carly shook her head trying to clear it, this was not going the way it was supposed to, somewhere she had lost the edge. The thought of that alone sent Carly off, "You knew my name."

"Yeah, after you said Jason's name. How was I supposed to know that you weren't just another easy mark, a rich blonde who was down here slumming at Jakes?

Easy mark, the words burned through Carly's brain, "Jason has pictures of us, you little ingrate."

"Yes of Michael. Which brings me to another point, I met A.J. earlier, and now I've had a good look at you, and I'm confused. How in the hell did you to produce a cute little red-headed kid?" Rory paused studying her, "really the kid looks nothing like the either one of you."

"Well you must be confused a lot shrimp, so allow me to clear some things up for you?" Carly said advancing on her.

Shrimp, now Rory's temper sizzled, Carly was treading on thin ice, "Look Carly, all I knew about you was you were a crazy blonde, who knew you were a fake blonde? Time for a touch up honey your roots are showing." Rory said sweetly.

Carly sucked in a breath to retort, moving in closer to Rory, who moved in as well.

"Ladies, is everything okay over there?" Jake called from the bar.

"Shut up!" Carly and Rory yelled at the same time, never taking their eyes off of each other.

Jake shrugged and turned to Gus, who was at the bar with her, "Hey I'll put $20 on Rory, how about you?"

"Which one's Rory?" Gus asked studying the two women.

"The brunette."

"You're on, the blonde will rip her apart." With the wager made, both turned around to enjoy the show.

"So how do you want to settle this, pool cues at 10 paces," Rory asked, "or maybe just a good old fashioned knock down and drag out fight."

Carly focused on Rory's eyes and saw the humor in them mixed with anticipation. Damn she thought someone who likes to fight as much as I do, she couldn't help but me amused.

"I don't think that's going to be necessary," Carly said speaking icily to stem her amusement, "as long as you listen to me."

"Listen to you? Lady all I've done is listen to you, and you know what I've found out? You don't have a friggin clue."

"Now wait a minute."

"No, I was here minding my own business, when I see a mark come into the room," Rory turned slightly to look at Carly, "here's a hint the marks you," she said before beginning to pace, "I thought here's a chance to make some easy money, no big deal. Then you start talking, you go on and on about some little viper out to trap your best friend, I thought it was funny, to tell you the truth I still do. You obviously have no clue about me or Jason, if you think the he would ever fall for someone like that again."

Carly was pissed and amused, Rory looked like she was pacing her way to China, as she carried on. Wait a minute she wasn't supposed to be amused, she told herself so she glared at Rory, who had finally landed in front of her. "First off you never would have beaten me, secondly…"

"Hold it Blondie." Rory said picking up her cue and crossing to the table, "2 ball right corner." She called before sinking the shot. She walked to the other side of the table, "8 ball in the side," She rammed the stick into the ball sending it flying into the pocket in front of Carly. She looked up at Carly and couldn't help but gloat, "Ding, that's the end of round one," she said with a sly smile, watching Carly's glower get more and more pronounced.