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 18
~Cottage~
"And then Carly had the nerve to tell me that I could be replaced. Me!" Gia said as she stalked around the cottage.
"Replaced" Nikolas asked absently only half listening.
"As If!" Gia cried, "I mean they have built this whole campaign around me. I am the Face of Deception, people see me and then they buy the products, if they tried to replace me sales would fall."
"Fall," He mumbled his mind still working on the problem of Emily. It didn't matter how many times he told himself to stop he couldn't stop thinking about her.
"Right! Carly better watch it, if she doesn't, I might just have to take my Face elsewhere."
"Uh-huh," He fiddled with Emily's scarf, he needed to get it back to her.
She looked at Nikolas and noted his far-off expression he wasn't listening to her as usual, "So then I bitch slapped Carly, grabbed Elton and screwed him in the elevator he was so good."
"Good," Nikolas said nodding his head.
She shook her head and threw a pillow at him catching him in the head, "Nikolas you aren't even listening to me."
"What! Why did you do that?" He turned to look at her.
"Nikolas what is going on with you? You haven't heard a word I said."
"I'm sorry Gia I just had a hard day," He said sitting on the couch.
"You know what Nikolas so did I, and I was trying to tell you about it, my mistake." Gia stormed away from him.
"Gia wait," Nikolas said standing and catching her arm, "I really am sorry. Why don't you start over, I promise you will have my undivided attention," he finished with a smile and sat down again.
"The only time I get you undivided attention is when were in bed together, and even that doesn't seem to happen very often lately." She said bitterly crossing her arms over her chest.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know Nikolas."
Nikolas crossed to her, "No tell me. If you have a problem with our relationship I want to know about it."
"We don't have a relationship anymore Nikolas we have sex," Gia retorted shocking him.
"That's not true. We have more than just a physical relationship, you know I am crazy about you."
"Maybe, once. But now," She said softly shaking her head, "Now it seems like all you really want is to be gone, or rather you want me to be gone."
He stared at her for a minute stunned, before finally bringing a hand up to touch her face, "I'm sorry that you feel like this, it was never my intention to hurt you."
"I hear you saying your sorry, Nikolas, but I don't hear you denying it." She said stepping back from him.
He took a breath "Gia," his cell phone rang cutting off his words, "Gia," it rang again, "just a minute," he said finally walking over to his briefcase and pulling out his phone.
"Hello… Are you okay?… Where are you?… No, tell me where you are… I'm on my way." He said shutting off his phone.
"Nikolas don't even think about walking out on me, not now, this is to important," Gia cried.
"I am sorry but this is an emergency." He said apologetically slipping on his coat, "We'll have to finish this later."
"Nikolas I mean it, you better not leave." Gia said catching his arm.
"I have to, its…"
"What? Or should I say who? Emily, Lucky it doesn't matter there's always someone that is more important to you than I am, and I am sick and tired of it." Gia yelled before turning away from him.
"That's not true." He replied desperately, "You know that I consider you an important part of my life."
"Fine then prove it," She said facing him, "Stay."
Nikolas looked at her, and clutched the phone in his hand, who was he supposed to choose?
~Limo~
"God Sonny why are you in such an all-fired hurry, you hardly let me fix my face before you hustled me in the car," Carly said crossly as she opened her compact to see if the redness in her eyes from the crying jag had faded yet.
"Well we were going to be late. I don't like being late."
"We're only meeting Jason and Rory, it's not like we were trying to impress anyone." She checked her dress again, flicking off a tiny piece of lint that was marring the perfection of her look.
Right, not trying to impress anyone, Sonny thought watching his wife fidget, "Still we invited them, it's wrong for the hosts to be the one that are late."
"Whatever," she grumbled finally satisfied with her appearance she settled back in her seat, "Are you okay about earlier?"
"What? You mean with Jason?" He asked.
"Yes, I know we had talked about it, but I don't think you were prepared for that to happen today." She took his hand, "So are you okay?"
"Yes."
"Sonny," Carly tried again.
"Carly I am okay, it's not like we didn't discuss it. What was said today does not change my feelings for Michael at all. I still consider him our son." Sonny squeezed her hand.
"Good, I'm glad that you understand, I can't and don't want to take Michael away from Jason or vice versa." Her eyes started watering.
"Carly, I would never ask you to, nor would I ever want you to. Look if this was some parallel universe and A.J. were still in the picture I would be sharing Michael with him. But this is Port Charles not fantasy land, so were sharing him with Jason I'm okay with that."
"Good." Carly said before sighing heavily, "So your not at all jealous?" she asked.
He chuckled, "You sound disappointed."
"Of course I'm not." She snapped.
"Carly it would be different if you two had been in love. But besides what you thought at the time, you were never in love with Jason, and he always, always loved you as a friend, so I'm not jealous."
"Still," Carly stopped herself and rested her head on his shoulder. Was it so wrong to want him to feel a twinge of jealousy?
"Of course, if you were to wake up tomorrow and decide that you really are in love with Jason and want to take Michael and go with him, then we would have a problem." He said with a wry grin.
"Well it's a good thing that will never happen." Carly said thrilled at the words, "Because I happen to be completely in love with this control freak I know."
"Really?" Sonny tilted her head up to kiss her, "Anyone I know?"
"Well," She pulled him down for another kiss, "He has the best smile in the world." She kissed him again, "But he also has this annoying need to believe he is right about everything, even when he is wrong." She smiled at his frown, "But to me he is everything."
"Good," Sonny said pulling her to him and felt the car come to a stop, reluctantly he broke the kiss, "We're here."
"Already?" Carly groaned, "Damn'it Sonny you messed up my hair."
"Hey you were the one who didn't stop with one kiss, come on if we hurry you can fix it before Rory shows up," Sonny said when Johnny opened the door.
"I don't care what that little pipsqueak thinks," Carly said taking Sonny's hand and slid out of the car.
"So why did you change your clothes like 20 times, leaving every dress you own on the floor, before coming here?"
"I happen to be a partner in a cosmetics company, I can't go out in public looking bad, what would our buyers think, I certainly didn't do it to try to impress Rory." Carly walked towards the door.
"Right," Sonny said with a smile as he led her into the No Name.
Carly studied the room it was dimly lit with candles on the tables. The room was done in dark tones, deep browns and burgundy dominated the room. There were no booths, only tables with high backed chairs. So this was the No Name, she sighed, it wasn't that impressive.
"Mr. Corinthos, a pleasure to see you again, and to finally meet your charming wife," A man said hanging up the phone at the desk and bounding around to them.
"Mario."
"Your table is waiting as usual, the other party is not here yet, if you would follow me." Mario said leading them to the best table in the room.
"We will have some wine to start and wait for Mr. Morgan before we order," Sonny said seating himself so he could focus on the door.
"Certainly sir, I have made sure that we have plenty of your preferred vintage on hand," Mario chirped turning away, calling out in rapid Italian, to the waiters.
"I wonder if he is related to Elton," Carly watched the man practically skip across the room.
"Now that is a scary thought," Sonny said with a laugh, "speaking of scary thoughts."
"We're we?" She asked.
"Yes, I wanted to tell you that I asked Jason to move back into the penthouse," Sonny smelled the cork the steward had brought for his approval, and nodded at the man to poor his sample.
"That's good, I hope he does," She stopped, her eyes widening, "but that means that Rory will be living across the hall from me."
"Yes if she agrees they will be moving in soon, I wanted to warn you that's all." Sonny sampled the wine and nodded at the steward to serve it.
"I don't know if I like that idea." She swirled the wine around in her glass.
"Why? Don't even try to tell me that you weren't plotting some way to get Jason back in his penthouse, before you heard about Rory, because I know better."
"Maybe," Carly shrugged, "Alright I was, but things are different now."
"Is having Rory with him, really make you that uncomfortable?"
"No of course not, she doesn't make me uncomfortable," She snapped.
"So what? Are you afraid that you'll always be fighting with her if she lives across the hall?" Sonny asked slowly working on his wife.
"I am not afraid of Rory," Carly retorted glaring at Sonny.
"Okay then I'm confused. Weren't you the one who said that you wanted to see them together so you could find out if she was good enough for Jason? It seems to me this would give you the perfect opportunity to do that, and to keep an eye on her as well."
"Well," She shifted in her seat, she hated having her own words used against her.
"Never mind, I just wanted to tell you. You might not even have to worry, Rory might say no," He said changing tactics.
"Why the hell would she say no to living in a penthouse?" Carly demanded.
"I don't know, Jason said she was unpredictable maybe she doesn't want to see you on a daily basis," He shrugged, "All I know was Jason said he had to find the right time to mention the idea to her."
She's afraid of me; Carly thought with a smile, before quickly masking it, aware of Sonny's gaze, "Well she sounds even stranger than I thought she was."
"Well strange or not, here they are," Sonny said his eyes on the door.
~L&B~
Emily leaned against the locked door of L&B oblivious to the now darkened and drizzly night as she tried to order her thoughts. She stared at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand, what next?
She shook her head, she knew life was hard, but how many more punishments would she be forced to take. She wished she didn't care so much; life had been so much easier when she just didn't care. She had managed to do that once before with the drugs, she had found a way to escape the pain. Losing herself in the nothingness, god even after all this time it still appealed to her.
She slid down the door and sat on the ground, she knew she was heading for trouble her thoughts were beginning to scare her. She had swallowed her pride and called the one person she knew could help her, but it looked like he wasn't coming. She really couldn't blame him. How many times over the years had he had to bail her out of one mess or the other, why would he want to keep helping her? She groaned and rested her head on her knees.
"Emily," Nikolas called approaching her, "Are you okay?"
Emily looked up at him surprised, "You came."
"Of course I did," He frowned down at her, "I told you I would, come on let's go, it's starting to drizzle again.
She nodded her head but remained where she was sitting and studied him, "You're right, you should go, I made a mistake when I called you."
"Emily what are you talking about?"
"I think it would be better if you left. In fact I think it would be better if you re-think our friendship entirely." She said quietly.
He looked down at her stunned, what was it with the women in his life tonight? Had they all gone mad? "Don't be ridiculous, there is nothing to think about, were close friends and always will be."
"Maybe," Emily shrugged and looked away from him, into the night, "maybe I don't want to be friends with you anymore."
He took her words, like he would a punch to the gut, the air went out of him and he dropped to the ground to sit beside her, "You don't mean that."
She sighed but said nothing.
"Emily," He took her hand, "you don't mean that."
She glanced at their joined hands and felt the weight of his stare, "No I don't," she whispered finally.
He took a deep breath and a little of the tension eased out of him, "What's wrong?"
"Maybe you should end the friendship though, people I get close to seem to die or vanish from my life, and I don't want you to be one of them."
"I'm not going anywhere."
She studied the night, the drizzly mist that was falling over them was soothing in a sense. "My mom used to say that when it drizzled it was really baby tears falling from heaven."
"That's nice, I am glad that you and Monica are close again."
"Not Monica, my mom Paige." Emily corrected.
"Oh."
"I wish you could have met her, she was so great, we did everything together. It was Paige and Emily against the world." She smiled wistfully, "I don't remember my dad he died when I was little, I only know what my mom told me about him, but I didn't feel cheated, because I had her." She paused and sighed heavily, "then the cancer came."
He shifted closer, turning slightly to block the wind that Emily didn't even seem to be aware of, she kept her grip on his hand.
"The first time, we were lucky, she was able to beat the cancer, the second time…the second time though the cancer won, and I found myself alone in a strange place surrounded by the Quartermaines."
"I had been close to Monica, when my mom was still alive, but when she died I pulled away from her. To me it was like Monica was just there waiting in the wings for my mom to die." She glanced at him, "Kind of like waiting for her cue, the part of Emily's mother will now be played by Monica Quartermaine."
She shook her head, and tightened her hold on his hand, "Eventually I realized that that wasn't the case that she wasn't trying to take my mom's place, because of that she did eventually become my mom."
She was quiet for a few minutes lost in the memories, and he was quiet as well he didn't know what had brought this on. It seemed like she was trying to explain something to him but he couldn't figure out what.
"I didn't like it here at first. Everyone yelled and fought. I went from my mom and me, to the Q mansion and it was unreal. Alan tried hard, he used to pretend he was Sydney the bear to make me laugh." She remembered with a soft smile, "Lila loved me immediately and Jason Q and A.J. were the perfect, overprotective older brothers, that every little girl dreams for, Ned coached me on how to fit in, and Edward, well Edward was his usual crusty self. They tried to make me welcome in their own way, but it was so loud and overwhelming to me."
"Then I met Lucky and Foster, his dog. Lucky was the first friend I made here, and he made it easier for me. Sly Eckert, Lucky's cousin helped to, but mainly it was Lucky and Foster. We even ran away together when I thought I didn't want to stay with the Q's, I never had a friend like Lucky before, and I depended on him."
Nikolas listened and worried, he was trying to make sense of this, she was talking like something had happened with Lucky. He didn't want to interrupt her though, so he kept quiet and listened.
"Things got better at the Q's for awhile, and then we lost Jason, and everything got crazy. My perfect older brother was suddenly replaced by an angry man who wanted nothing to do with us. I lucked out though, he decided I was one of the chosen few to be included in his life." She paused, "after that things were different at the mansion, and then there was Lucky. In a sense I lost him too, I lost him when he lied to everybody about Laura being killed."
His hand tightened involuntarily on hers, as he remembered when his mother had faked her own death and kept it a secret from everyone including him.
"I'm sorry Nikolas, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories, I'm just trying to explain. When I thought Lucky had lost her, I tried to help him, but he shut me out, and because of that and everything else I got close to Matt, and Matt led me to drugs. Suddenly there was a way out for me, a way out of my head and the pain that I felt. I didn't have to feel, I didn't have to argue I could just escape." She let go of his hand and got to her feet.
"Eventually though the drugs weren't enough to make me feel better, trying to fly off a roof doesn't help either," Emily said hugging her arms to her, "But with Dorman, using my diary against mom, and then OD'ing Matt, everything got crazy. I lost Matt. I know you think he got what he deserved, but Matt was my friend when I didn't have anyone else.
"I was your friend then." He said watching her.
She turned and shook her head sadly, "No you weren't, we were acquaintances at best. Other than the fact that I had a raging crush on you and kissed you once when I was high, I was barely a blip on your radar."
He shifted at the accuracy of her memory, he didn't like thinking about the person he was then and how he must have hurt her.
"It's okay Nikolas, I was just making a statement, not an accusation," she glanced down at the paper that was still closed in her hand. "Anyway not long after that I lost my dad for awhile to the drugs. A.J. decided to live in a bottle, you with Katherine, Elizabeth dying, Jason leaving, Lucky changed and was gone, Juan. Oh I know I ran him out, but do you see the pattern here? Everyone leaves, I am so tired of losing the people I care about," Emily turned to face the night. "I just don't want to care anymore."
"You will always care Emily, your heart is to big not to."
"Well I'll harden it then, I won't let anyone else in and that way I won't be hurt when I lose them," she argued her voice taking on a desperate note.
"You can try to do that, but what about the people that you've already let in, were not going anywhere."
"I'll shut them out, they'll leave soon enough. I can escape I've done it before," She whirled around to face him her eyes desperate. "Do you know how easy it would be to slide back into that groove? To slip a needle in my vein and escape? Do you have any idea how tempting that sounds to me, especially now?"
Horrified Nikolas shot to his feet and took her arm, "What are you saying?"
Too much, she thought shaking her head, "Nothing, never mind, I'm just having a bad night, forget about it."
"No way in hell." He said pulling on her arm and dragging her to the door.
"Nikolas you can let me go, I'm not going to get high, I promise." Emily said trying to tug her arm free.
"Get inside," He unlocked the door and switched off the alarm, "Now," he ordered when she stood in the doorway.
She moved inside and sat on the couch watching Nikolas slam and lock the door before turning on a few lights. She was surprised, he seemed almost out of control, and Nikolas was always in control. She heard him muttering to himself as he pulled off his coat and threw if on the floor, it sounded like Russian or Greek but she couldn't tell for sure.
"I want you to tell me what is going on with you and I want you to tell me now." He said stepping in front of her.
"Nikolas I already told you…"
"Bullshit!" He interrupted.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise, he never cursed, "W-what?"
"I have stood by for weeks and watched you pull away from everyone as you tried to work through some problem on your own. I didn't want to force the issue to I tried to give you enough space, and waited for you to come to me on your own. But I am sick to death of it. You are my best friend and something is ripping you up and I want you to tell me what it is." He ordered.
"Nothing is wrong with me."
"Don't lie to me." He sat on the table in front of her, "I have tried being the patient friend when all I really wanted to do was shake the truth out of you. But I am through with that my patience ends when I hear you talking about doing drugs in a longing voice. You are not leaving here until you tell me what is going on with you."
She shivered at the tone of his voice, he sounded so determined and authoritative right then she knew he meant every word.
He saw her shiver and cursed under his breath belatedly noticing that she was sitting there in her damp coat, he got up from the table and went to a closet to pull out a blanket for her.
She watched him work the buttons of her coat open and pull it off of her, his face was set when he drew the coat over her arms, and draped the blanket around her shoulders. "I'm not one of your subjects that you can order around," Emily tried to sound defiant but it came out as anything but, angry at herself she tried again. "I don't have to tell you anything, it's not like you can force me to."
His eyes locked on hers, he leaned closer to her so their faces were only inches apart, "Don't bet on it."
Her eyes widened at the threat in his words, "What do you think you could do to me?" she asked huskily, her nerve endings going haywire because of his nearness.
His eyes darkened when Emily nervously licked her lips, without a conscious thought he gripped the blanket closed over her chest and brought her closer and pressed his mouth on hers.
Her eyes were open in surprise at his unexpected maneuver but they drifted closed when he caressed her lips with his. He increased the pressure on her mouth and she opened for him, and brought her hands up to rest on his back. She had no idea what madness had come over Nikolas but she was going to enjoy this for as long as she could, she moaned in pleasure when his hand framed her face and his tongue explored her mouth.
He heard her moan and felt her hands move over his body and groaned into her mouth at her touch. Who knew she would be this sweet, this giving, he felt like he could kiss her forever and never tire of it. Who would have thought that Emily would be the one to make him feel like this? Emily, his mind latched on her name and he pulled away breaking the kiss abruptly.
She opened her eyes slowly, still dazed by his kiss. Nikolas saw her expression and wanted to kiss her again, reluctantly he brought his hands up to pull her arms free of his neck. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have kissed you," he said finally.
At his words the euphoria Emily was feeling crashed and she jerked her hands away from him, letting go of the piece of paper she still had clutched in her hand. He was sorry, he had just given her the most intense moment of her life and he was sorry. Emily pulled the blanket around her and looked away from him so he wouldn't see her tears, could this night get any worse?
~No Name~
"Interesting décor," Rory commented slipping off her coat, "I think it was a wise choice not having booths."
"Why?"
"Well if anyone decides to come in here with their guns blazing, it's hard to get free of a booth."
"You know sometimes, the way you think worries me." Jason said.
Rory laughed and took his hand, "Sometimes I scare myself."
"Mr. Morgan, Mr. Corinthos has been waiting, if you would follow me," Mario said brushing past a couple that was waiting ahead of them.
"Thank you Mario," Jason followed the man to the table.
Sonny got to his feet and shook Jason's hand, "Jason, Rory you look gorgeous," he said brushing a kiss on her cheek.
Rory felt Carly's glare, she didn't like that, Rory thought taking a seat next to Carly, "Thank you Sonny, sorry were late."
"What happened did the mall not have the right accessories for your outfit?" Carly asked ignoring the fact that Rory looked good in a soft blue off the shoulder dress.
"No actually it was the make-up, it kept running, pretty poor quality from Deception," Rory shot back sweetly.
Jason shook his head stifling a groan he had a feeling it was going to be a long night.
"May I offer you something from the bar, or would you rather stick with the wine?" Mario asked oblivious to the tension at the table.
"I'll have the wine, Sonny will have a scotch neat, Jason will have a beer, whatever is on tap, and the infant will have what? A Shirley Temple?" Carly asked with a smirk.
"Water's fine for me, I'm driving, you know some of us know how to drive," Rory answered calmly.
"Are you sure? The bartender makes a virgin daiquiri that is to die for?" Mario said beaming, "or the Pina Colada, it is excellent," Mario said kissing his fingertips in expression.
"No water is fine," Rory said glancing at him.
"Oh very well, but when you change your mind let me know," Marion said as he bustled away, "Congratulations on your baby."
Rory snorted, "What is that man on?"
"I don't know but don't you wish he would share it?" Carly replied.
"Not if you have to walk like that."
"True," Carly noted as she watched Marion skip to the desk.
Rory took a sip from her water and focused back on table, "What?" she asked when she caught Sonny's amused look.
"Nothing," Sonny said quickly. He couldn't figure those two out, one minute they were ripping at each other the next they were united in picking on someone else, women he thought with a shake of his head.
Rory opened her menu, which unfortunately was in Italian; she looked up at Jason with questions in her eyes.
"Order whatever you want, and as much as you want, the meal is on me," Sonny said expansively, "Or if you want I can order for all of us."
"On you?" Jason asked with a glance.
"Oh yes, I'm still working on that debt of mine."
Jason laughed and leaned back in his chair so the waiter could serve his beer, "Your still keeping track of that?"
Sonny nodded.
"Why?"
"Jason a man does not forget a $60 million dollar debt," Sonny said with a smile.
Carly choked on her wine, "Whaat? You owe Jason $60 million," she cried loudly causing several heads to turn in their direction.
"Yes I do."
"No you don't, it's not nearly that much now." Jason argued.
"Explain." Carly snapped.
"Well not long after I met Sonny he had a little problem and I was able to help him out, it was no big deal."
"So says the King of Understatements," Carly muttered turning to Sonny, "Now you explain please."
"Jason sold me his 12% of ELQ, which at that time was worth $60 million."
"And the debt comes in where?" Rory asked.
"Well he sold his shares to me for a nickel on the dollar or $3 million, so I owe him." Sonny shrugged his friend had kept him out of jail. No that wasn't true he had kept him alive because there was no way he was going to jail and Jason knew that. Jason had signed over all that money, without hesitation, and after only knowing him for a few months, even then his loyalty was paramount.
"God Jason I thought math was your strong suit," Carly cried, "man if I knew you then I would have smacked you upside the head."
"Actually you did know me then," Jason shrugged, "It was no big deal the money wasn't mine, it belonged to Jason Quartermaine, his inheritance or guilt money, I don't know. It was a weight on me and Sonny did me a favor by taking it."
"Still I told you then I would pay you every cent, of that $60 million and I intend to."
"I can't believe you are still keeping track."
"Yep your escape slash slush fund in Switzerland grows monthly." Sonny said with a grin.
Carly just shook her head, sometimes she really didn't understand men, "Your awfully quiet, what do you think of this shortey?"
"I'm just remembering that he was going to make me buy the hot dogs later," Rory teased with a smile, inwardly she was worried, she didn't like the thought of her Jason having that much money, she liked him the way he was.
Jason choked on his beer and caused Sonny to laugh, "Hot dogs? You will have no need for hot dogs after the meal you have tonight, trust me."
Rory nodded, "Okay for once I will let you be in charge of me, order whatever you want, if one of those dishes is a Fettuccini Alfredo I will be your friend for life."
Sonny nodded and placed the order in Italian.
Rory pulled Jason's arm, tugging him closer, "Whatever you do, do not mention your escape fund to Uncle Gabe." She told him quietly, but apparently she wasn't quiet enough.
"Uncle Gabe?" Carly asked, "Who might that be?"
"Well Blondie, I guess he would be my Uncle Gabe," Rory drawled slowly.
"So why shouldn't Jason tell him about the money?"
"Well Gabe is, well he's somebody that no one at this table would have trouble recognizing, if you catch my drift," Rory answered evasively sipping her water.
"So he's a grifter."
"Aren't we all in some way or the other Carly?" Rory asked turning on her.
Maybe Carly though, but she would definitely file this information away for future use. "Some of us more than others."
"Ladies let's not fight, we're here to have a nice dinner," Sonny interrupted the staring contest.
Carly glanced at Sonny, "We aren't fighting."
"Carly," Sonny started.
"No we weren't if I wanted to start a fight, I would say something like," Carly paused and focused on Rory again, "do you need a stool to stand on when you kiss him shortey?"
"And I would reply with, it's a good thing you had time to get your roots done Blondie, the punk look is dead," Rory shot back, before they both turned to look at Sonny.
"That would be a fight." Carly said.
"Men are so clueless," Rory said.
"Yes sometimes they are," Carly, agreed sipping her wine, she enjoyed the surprised look on Sonny's face. Maybe, just maybe there was something to Rory.
"My god what is that woman wearing," Rory muttered looking at another table.
Carly glanced over, "I didn't know Lycra and Velcro were making a comeback."
Sonny looked at the two women and then looked at Jason, "Do you understand them?"
"Nope but I'm willing to go with it," Jason admitted, "maybe you should not try to control them and go with it to."
"What is it with everyone calling me a control freak," Sonny muttered shaking his head, he wasn't controlling he was just right.
~Outside~
"Come on Sal, you do this one thing for me, and I will owe you big," Lucky said to the waiter.
"I don't know, were not supposed to comment to the guests," Sal said glancing around the alley.
"If you do this for me, I will change your daughter's school records, and Brown will be all over themselves to have her," Lucky pressed.
Brown, he wanted his daughter to go there so bad, "Lucky you know who she's here with, I won't do anything to make them mad."
"Your not going to talk to them only her, and you'll be saying the truth anyway. Come on do this for me, and I'll wipe out your DMV record as well, that ought to help on your insurance right?" Lucky offered.
"Okay, I'll do it." Sal said before heading back to the kitchen, "but if this comes back to bite me, I'm going to be all over you."
Lucky nodded his head and sighed in relief, alls fair he thought walking away from the restaurant.
~Inside~
Rory pushed her plate away, "Okay I admit it, you did good Sonny."
Sonny smiled, "You sound surprised."
"I am, believe me." Rory said with a laugh.
"Well it's not as good as my own recipes but it is good food," Sonny boasted.
"Oh god, don't start," Carly groaned.
"What is he a good cook or something?" Rory asked Carly.
Jason groaned.
"Cook, a person who works in a diner is a cook. I am a chef." Sonny said snidely.
"Oh, pardon me," Rory said, "So is he a good chef, or is it just the hot air talking?"
Carly laughed, when Sonny's face grew red, "No he's pretty good. In fact it's one of the reasons I married him."
"Oh so his place is in the kitchen, that's good to know." Rory teased with a laugh that caused Jason and Carly to laugh as well.
"That is not funny." Sonny said with a frown, "Keep that up and you will never get an invite over for supper."
Rory frowned solemnly "I'm sorry sir, if you think you can do better than this, it might be worth risking a visit to the penthouse."
"Sonny is sensitive about his cooking," Carly said with a grin.
"Oh."
"He hardly even let's me into the kitchen at all."
"Why would I, all you ever do is make frozen pizzas." Sonny grumbled, "and mess up my oven every time you do."
"Hey I like frozen pizzas," Rory said, causing Sonny to groan again.
"Would anyone care for dessert?" Sal asked as the dinner plates were cleared away.
"Yes please." Sonny answered for all of them.
Sal took the orders and paused by Rory, "I know what you want, you want the Death by Chocolate that you ordered before."
Rory blinked in surprise, "What?"
"When you were here before, a few years ago with the dark haired young man, I remember you adored the Death by Chocolate."
Her smile instantly faded, "I've never been here before."
Jason reached under the table for her hand, and he glared at Sal.
"I am so sorry, I must have been mistaken," Sal said immediately, cursing Lucky inwardly when he saw the confusion and fear in the girl's eyes, "what would you care for?"
"Raspberries," Rory answered quickly, "I mean a Raspberry tart."
"Certainly," Sal said and stepped away.
The teasing mood of a few minutes before had vanished, and uneasiness settled over the table, "Were you here before?" Carly asked.
"No!" Rory snapped, "I'm sorry, no I haven't been here, he must have me confused with someone else. If you'll excuse me for a minute," Rory said getting to her feet.
Jason kept a hold of her hand when she stood and she nodded her head in reassurance, "I'm fine."
"Wait for me," Carly said getting to her feet to follow Rory, it was time someone told her what the hell was going on.
Jason watched them leave and finished his beer before looking at Sonny, "Do you think the word will go out?"
Sonny nodded "I'm sure the phone lines are busy while we speak."
"Good."
"Have you thought anymore about moving into the Penthouse?"
"I've brought it up to Rory, or rather I should say I tested the waters, she wasn't very receptive to the idea."
"I mentioned it to Carly, after some resistance she seemed okay with the idea."
Jason glanced towards the hall that Rory had disappeared through again, "That's good."
"Is she okay?" Sonny asked, "at times she seemed a little quiet tonight."
Jason shrugged, "Something upset her today, but she didn't want to talk about it. What just happened with the waiter didn't help."
"Does it have to do with her run in with Lucky?"
"What run in?" Jason demanded sharply.
"She didn't tell you?" Sonny shook his head tiredly and told him, "I saw her and Lucky together on the docks, I sent Johnny out as soon as I spotted them, but by the time he got there they were both gone."
Jason sighed and pinched his nose, "He must have said something, and Rory's been a little off ever since I saw her again."
"Well it looked pretty intense, I think it's time we put a guard on her." Sonny said sipping his coffee.
"She won't like that."
"She's going to have to have a guard sooner or later, you know that. If we get one now they can keep Lucky away."
"Maybe," Jason said glancing towards the hallway again, "but she won't like it."
~Powder Room~
Rory waited for another woman to leave before sitting next to Carly at the vanity, "Did you mean what you told Jason?"
Carly blinked, "Give me a hint."
"This afternoon, what you said about Michael, did you mean it?" Rory held up her hand when Carly's expression changed, "Before you even say it I know it's none of my business, but I still need to know if you meant it or not."
"Why?" Carly asked studying her in the mirror.
"Because it concerns Jason. Ever since I've known him, Michael has been the most important person in his life, and it will kill him, if he allows himself to believe what you said and then have you take it back."
"Now wait a minute," Carly said angry at what Rory was suggesting.
"I'm not saying you will on purpose, but it could happen, you know that." Rory cut her off.
Carly studied Rory, she could read people pretty well, and all she could read about Rory was her concern for Jason. Maybe she thought before answering, "Yes I meant it, Jason will always be Michael's father."
Rory sighed in relief, "What about Sonny?" she asked digging in her bag for a comb.
"Sonny feels the same way, we didn't decide this on the spur of the moment you know."
"Good I'm glad, now what about A.J. is he still in the picture?"
"Man is there anything you don't want to know?" Carly grumbled touching up her eyeliner, "No A.J. is not in the picture, Sonny got rid of him."
"When I met A.J. the other day he made some comment about getting Michael back, is there anyway that could happen?"
Carly felt a shiver down her spine at the thought of A.J. taking Michael away from her, then her gaze fell on her wedding ring and she felt strong again, "There is no way in hell Sonny or I will ever let that happen."
"Good." Rory said.
An awkward silence fell between the two women.
Carly shifted in her seat; there they were getting along again. She didn't have many women friends, all right she only had one, so it was strange to be getting along with Rory.
Now what? Rory wondered uncomfortable, "Well I think I'll head out and see if Sonny would like to dance."
"The hell you will."
Relived Rory smiled, that was much better, "Watch me," she said sweetly exiting the room to head back to the table with Carly on her heels.
Both men stood as they approached the table, "So Sonny are you going to be a good host and dance with me?" Rory asked setting her purse on the table.
"No he won't," Carly answered for him.
"Certainly," Sonny said with a smile taking her arm too lead her to the dance floor.
Rory winked at Carly and moved into Sonny's light hold and began to move to the music.
"So what brought that on?" Sonny asked.
"Nothing, I just felt like goading Carly and you were handy," Rory said with a smile, "Sorry."
"I don't mind," Sonny said, "You like her."
Rory frowned, "I didn't say that."
Sonny laughed, "Yes you did, you two have to much fun sniping at each other for you not to like each other.
Now Rory really didn't like that and she glared at Sonny and continued to dance.
~Table~
"You really are crazy about her aren't you Jason?" Carly asked suddenly breaking the silence at the table.
"Yes."
Carly blinked in surprise, she hadn't expected him to answer, normally if someone said something he didn't want to talk about he just ignored them, "So when are you two moving in to the Penthouse?"
Now it was Jason's turn to study Carly, "You don't mind if we do?"
"Would it make a difference if I did?"
"Carly you matter to me, and so does she, I don't want either one of you hurt."
God he is serious about her, Carly thought turning to look at Sonny and Rory, "So when?"
"We may not Rory doesn't want to."
"She will when I am through with her," Carly said.
"Carly what are you planning?" Jason asked warily.
"Simple, once I explain to her that I won't let her move into the penthouse, you won't be able to stop her from proving me wrong."
"That," Jason paused considering, "that could work. But why would you do that?"
"I don't know, maybe I want someone nearby to sharpen my claws on."
"I'll buy you a scratching post, now why?"
Carly looked at him in amusement, a joke? "I want to keep an eye on her and you two. She may have passed muster tonight but she still has a long way to go before I give her my blessing," She said uncomfortable with his probing.
"Thanks Caroline."
Carly shrugged, "So tell me why did she get weirded out when that waiter thought he knew her?"
Jason was spared from answering when Sonny and Rory walked back to the table.
"You don't know how nice it is to dance with someone and not have to worry about them crushing your feet," Rory said sitting down.
"I dance okay," Jason said glaring at her.
"Yes, you do as long as were a few inches apart and you only have to shuffle your feet, but Fred Astaire is someone you will never be."
"Who?"
"Never mind," Rory patted his thigh, "I'm no Ginger Rogers myself."
"Are these more make believe people?" Jason asked when Sal set his desert in front of him.
"No they're real, they're dead, but they're real." Rory said exasperated.
"Just checking," Jason looked at Sonny and Carly and explained, "she has a habit of talking about TV characters like they are real people."
"You just have no imagination Mr. The Average Rainfall in Ethiopia is 25 inches a year."
"20 inches." He corrected immediately, causing everyone at the table to laugh.
"God Jase you are working on your sense of humor," Carly said digging into her cheesecake.
"I always had a sense of humor Carly," Jason said testily.
"Really, where was it then the dry cleaners?" Carly asked.
"Now children behave," Sonny interrupted, "Rory is there something wrong with your tart your not eating it."
"It has raspberries," she said quietly looking at her tart.
"Yeah, that's what you ordered, wasn't it?" Jason asked.
Rory let our a slight giggle that died abruptly when she looked up at Jason, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears, "I'm allergic."
"Then why did you order it?" Carly asked confused.
"Just proving what an idiot I am, I guess," Rory said sadly pushing her plate away.
Jason studied Rory who kept her eyes on the table, he had had enough of this, "Excuse me."
Jason left the table and went into the hall that led to the restrooms and pulled out his cell phone. He moved slightly to let a man past him to go to the pay phone at the end of the hall.
"Benny, it's Jason. I need you to get some information for me. I need you to get me everything about the explosion at Luke's and the death of Elizabeth Webber." He paused too listen to Benny.
"No I want everything Benny, not only the facts, I want every single rumor no matter how crazy it sounds. It's after 10:30 now, so I'll give you until tomorrow morning at 11:00 to get the official police version." Jason paused again, "well you better get busy then." Jason hung up the phone and moved back to the table.
Marin hung up the phone and pulled his cell out of his pocket.
"It's begun, Morgan just made the request for all the information concerning Luke's and the Webber girl. What do you want me to do?"
Marin walked down the hall and glanced at the foursome at the table, "I understand, I'll make the arrangements, tonight, it will all be over with in the morning." He hung up the phone and studied Rory, it was a shame, she was so pretty.