Explanation: This chapter has been BUTCHERED to fit the board guidelines. I had incorporated a lot in the questionable scene, and had to take it out but I hope it still makes sense. If anyone would like to read the chapter as it was INTENDED to be read and ENJOYED, please let me know, stephanie22304@yahoo.com believe me I'll send it right out.
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What If…
Chapter 31
~Penthouse 2~
Clothes littered their way through the penthouse like a trail of breadcrumbs. A coat, Jason's, was on the floor just inside the door, her coat, on the first step. His shirt had been discarded on the landing on top of the sixth step. Shoes followed, his then hers, leading a path to the master bedroom. Laughter echoed from the room and down the stairs.
Jason hadn't realized that making love could be so much fun. But a healthy element of playfulness accompanied Rory with everything she did, including making love. It didn't lessen the need any. In fact it seemed to strengthen their connection. The mere fact they were able to be so free while being so intimate was particularly telling.
"Are you laughing at me Morgan?"
Rory's amused voice caught his attention and the smile on his face grew. "I'm just thinking."
Her shirt was being held together by a couple of buttons, her jeans were gone, his were unsnapped by her good hand that was now in the process of unzipping his jeans. Frowning up at him she couldn't help her tart reply. "You sure pick a hell of a time to start thinking."
Amused all over again Jason's hand tightened on her hips settling her intimately against him.
"Somehow I thought it was impossible for a man to think and," while she spoke her hand slid inside his jeans encasing the growing hardness in her hand, "at the same time…"
The rest of her words were lost when his mouth covered hers. A laugh escaped her lips, proving her point about men, she relished the victory for a second before concentrating on kissing. His mouth caressed hers, lightly nipping around the edges of her lips before pressing more urgently.
Amusement and playfulness, began to vanish as another deeper emotion took hold of both of them. Passion and love, though as yet unstated, grew in both until their movements became more frantic.
His tongue plundered hers with abandon. His hand burying in the softness of her curls, drawing her up to her toes. Shifting he broke the kiss, his lips brushed her temple, tongue tracing the curve of her ear before nipping his way down her neck sending shivers of pleasure through her body. Frustrated by the lack of mobility her sling afforded her she broke contact and backed off a step to pull it off.
Jason's immediately reached out to stop her. "Don't."
Sling on the ground Rory stepped forward and pressed her lips to his stopping the words with a heated kiss. Tormenting them both she broke it after a minute and went back to work on his jeans. "It's not broken Jason, only dislocated. As long as I don't have to do a floor routine my arm will hold up okay."
Working the jeans free of his hips she took his briefs down at the same time, getting quickly to her feet she pressed first one kiss to his chest then another. Taking him in her hand she massaged him. "You did say I'd get to be on top sometimes didn't you?"
The strange mixture of amusement and arousal shouldn't go together yet as amused blue eyes met aroused blue eyes, they did. "I remember saying that."
Shifting her grip on him he groaned against her hair and slumped against the door as her mouth roved his way over his face, his jaw. Allowing her to lead he let her turn him and began backing towards the bed. Anticipation and passion was building, his mouth was looking for hers again when his foot caught on something and he staggered. He might have been able to right himself, if Rory hadn't been plastered against him.
Jason landed hard on his ass, his back hitting the edge of the mattress. Trying to cushion Rory's fall the air came out of him in a whoosh, when she landed hard on him. The stunning surprise at falling quickly faded into concern that she might be hurt. "Rory?"
Laughter rolled out of her, easing the tension in his stomach and dancing blue eyes met his. "I'm going to start calling you grace," she murmured.
Grinning reluctantly he shifted his hold on her preparing to lift her to her feet but Rory had other ideas. Moving quickly she straddled his hips, one knee on either side of him. Taking his mouth again in a kiss. His grip shifted, and his hand slid up her thigh, slipping under the shirt coming to rest on her hips. One finger slid under the edge of her underwear. He had never known just how wonderful and torturous friction could be. Each movement she made on his lap, made him want to groan. Part of him wanted to stop her movements, another part wanted to bury himself inside of her.
She tasted his lips, stroking them with her tongue, in light strokes, moving tantalizing slowly from one corner of his mouth to the other. The combination of her teasing whisper of a caress against his lips, mixed with the grinding so intimately against him, pushed him to the edge.
His hands moved up, to undo the last of the buttons, to push the shirt off of her, but she drew back to unclasp the front hook of her bra and brought his hands up to cover her breasts. Leaning down, he took the full weight of her breasts in his hands when she bent for his mouth again. She sucked on his bottom lip, taking it into the heat of her mouth. Her tongue sliding against his lips was the final straw.
His hands tightened on her breasts, manipulating the soft flesh there, teasing the nipples into a point. Gasping in pleasure, her mouth opened and he quickly took advantage, their tongues dueling for control, her hands tightened convulsively on his shoulders.
"The bed," Jason grasped breaking the kiss, searching for the strength to get off the floor but Rory shook her head.
"Beds are overrated," she murmured before her mouth began moving slowly against his.
~Deception~
"If you keep smiling like that someone might think you're happy." Carly warned her husband while running her fingers through her hair trying to tame the disarray.
"Really?" Sonny pulled on his coat yet kept the grin on his face.
"Happy and Sonny Corinthos. Those are words that just don't go together." Moving casually Carly picked up the papers from her desk, being careful to keep the Modern Pool magazine out of sight. "So if you don't want to lose your image, I'd lose the grin there sport."
"Sport?" He frowned in her general direction. "You've been hanging around Luke too much."
Carly threw her pen at him. "Don't ever compare me to Luke."
Recognizing the warning signals and not feeling like fighting with her at the moment, Sonny changed the subject. "I wanted to ask you what your day was like tomorrow."
Mollified somewhat but still angry at the remark Carly sat at her desk and began to put the papers back in order. "I'm swamped. A new perfume designer we've been trying to sign is flying in from Milan to meet with Laura and I. I am not going to lose this one, even if I have to lock Laura on the roof again, he's getting signed before he leaves."
"Oh okay," Sonny nodded and reached for his coat.
Antenna alerted when he didn't immediately jump on her for her threat, Carly looked at him and saw the sadness in his eyes. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. I need to get going."
"Sonny," Carly was out of her seat and in front of him before he took more than two steps. "What did you come here to ask me?"
Hesitating Sonny searched her dark eyes for a long time and debated with himself. Why had he come here? He'd always handled things like this alone, or with Jason if he was in town, so why was he here thinking about dragging Carly into things? Too much information with Carly meant he was doing damage control, too little information meant the same thing. He was always walking a tightrope with what he could tell her and couldn't. Normally this would fall into something he couldn't tell her. Not because he didn't trust her, but because he didn't want to worry her.
But somehow with everything he saw Jason going through because of Rory's accident, and the subsequent problems because of his actions, it made him rethink his position. He found himself wanting to confide in her, and even more surprising, wanting to take the comfort he knew she would offer if she only knew what was going on.
"Sonny?" The longer he was quiet the more concerned she grew. For once she didn't yell or demand, she just asked. "Where did you want me to go tomorrow?"
"A funeral," he whispered.
Taking his hands, in hers Carly swallowed the fear the answer provoked and kept her eyes on his. "Who?"
"You don't know him. Hell I didn't really even know him. I only met him twice maybe three times. He was a young kid, who made the mistake of working for me and I can't get his face out of my head." Or the image of Manny's sister, Sister Mary Elena either. "I shouldn't even be going and I have no right to ask you to go with me."
"You always have the right to ask me," Carly corrected him, stepping back she moved to the intercom. "Elton I need you to clear my schedule for tomorrow. I have somewhere to be with my husband."
"Mrs. Corinthos what about Monsieur Davida?"
"Let Laura deal with him, after she blows it I'll call him next week and smooth things over with him one on one, just like it should have been done this whole time. Now clear my schedule." She ordered.
"Carly…"
"What do you say to a nice meal with just you, me, and Michael?" Carly interrupted, shoving some files in her briefcase before moving towards her coat.
"What are you doing?" Sonny took the coat automatically when she held it out, and helped her into it.
"Leaving early, I'm the boss I get to do that." Carly kept it light but she was well aware how big of a step her husband had just taken, and she wasn't about to let him backslide. Between Jason admitting she mad sense earlier, to Sonny admitting he needed her with him, and confiding in her, it had been one of the best days of her life. Linking her arm through his she started them to the door. "Tell me about him, at least what you know."
Sonny took a step, then another, at the doorway he began to speak. "His name was Manny, Francis brought him into the organization…"
~Kelly's~
Emily reluctantly began moving towards the table again, her eyes followed Francis' longingly as he disappeared out the door. She would have liked to escape as well, but had a feeling she wouldn't be able too. "Hey Nikolas." When he stood to pull out her chair she was very careful not to touch him. "What's going on?"
"I've been looking for you." Nikolas informed her. He'd made it all the way to the almost empty Corinthos/Morgan Warehouse before coming to the conclusion that she'd probably went inside Kelly's.
"You found me," and wasn't she so lucky? Blinking she shifted her focus to Lucky. "So what are you going to do now that your…"
Her cheeks reddened and Lucky finished the question with a grin. "Back in the land of the living?" If possible she turned even redder. "I don't know. Probably get back into computer work. I'm tired of moving boxes in a warehouse."
At first Nikolas had only half-listened to Lucky. He was focused on getting answers out of Emily. But at those words he focused on his brother. One look at the determined expression on his face told him that his brother was serious. His eyes darted to Emily in question who nodded slightly.
"Quit with the looks, I'm in the room, I'm sitting right here, it's not like I can't see you two," Lucky groused.
Nikolas couldn't help it he had to make the shot. "You've been in the room several times in the past few years it didn't mean you saw us."
"Nikolas," Emily tried to stop him. The last thing she wanted was for Lucky to fall again.
"It's okay Emily, he's right," Lucky admitted softly. "I could say I'm sorry forever and it won't change things or make them better. All I can say is I'm back now, and I'm here to stay."
"I want to believe you," Nikolas answered slowly. "You have no idea how much I hope your telling the truth and I hate to question it but…" Catching Emily's eye she nodded so he continued on. "I have to wonder what brought about this sudden change in your attitude."
Lucky saw Emily brace herself for his reply and saw the way Nikolas' eyes narrowed in study. He remembered his promise to Gia and knew this was a perfect opportunity to capitalize on it. "I finally woke up."
It was Emily's turn to press. "Does this have anything to do with Rory?"
"Yes," he saw her shoulders slump in defeat and felt a large dose of regret. "Seeing Rory made me realize how bad I'd let myself get. Elizabeth would have hated what I've let myself get turned into. She would have hated it even more if she knew it was my grief over losing her that sent me to that place." The words came easy to his lips because he believed them with all his heart. Elizabeth would hate what had happened since her disappearance.
"So you don't think Rory is Elizabeth anymore?" Nikolas asked and barely hid the wince when Emily kicked him. He glared at her, and she glared right back but neither one spoke, both waited to see what Lucky would say in response.
Concentrating on the scratched up table in front of him as if it held the meaning of life Lucky began to speak. "Seeing Rory made me take a long look in the mirror, and I didn't like what I saw looking back at me. I saw someone who had been in so much pain that he chose to deaden it with alcohol instead of dealing with the loss. I never realized how big of a coward I really was. I couldn't handle losing her so I hid."
"You're handling it now Lucky," Emily touched his hand trying to offer comfort.
"I'm trying," Lucky raised his eyes to her and smiled.
"You didn't answer the question," Nikolas pressed. "Do you still believe Rory is Elizabeth?"
Lucky could see the hope and concern in Emily's eyes. Nikolas' eyes were cool as his expression, and Lucky knew he was being dissected, his every move and answer was being weighed as to the truth. He met Nikolas' eyes squarely and lied. "No. I'd give anything in the world if she were. But Elizabeth is dead, I just have to live with that."
From the corner of his eye he could see Emily's shoulders slump again, this time in relief. But Nikolas' expression never changed. "I'm not going to lie, it's hard to see her. And I'll probably get that flash of hope that she is Elizabeth every time I do see her, but hopefully that will fade with time. I'm not going to stalk her or Jason anymore."
Sighing Nikolas shook his head breaking the eye contact. "I hope your telling the truth Lucky. For your sake and theirs I hope your telling the truth."
~Penthouse 2~
Rory sunk lower in the tub until the bubbles crested her shoulders. The damp heat, of the hot water soothed her muscles until she could have purred. Easing even lower she absently wondered if anyone would miss her if she just took up residency in the decadently large tub. Alone in the spacious bathroom, that was larger than her Uncle's living room, she finally relaxed her bruised and stretched muscles. She wasn't as over her trip over the cliff as she had been acting all day.
The discussion with Jason had gone better than she had hoped. Although she hoped the whole baring her soul thing wouldn't become a habit, she had to admit it had been necessary. They weren't completely back on track, but they were a lot closer than they were four hours ago. Inch by inch the tension seeped from her body, if she kept this up, in another 48 hours she might be willing for round two with Jason.
Testing her shoulder she raised it from the water until it was shoulder height. There was a twinge, okay an ache but it was more mobile than it had been that morning. Pushing a bit farther she tried to raise it over her head and barely managed to stop the groan before it escaped. If Jason knew she was still in pain he'd be all over her to take a pain pill. Not, that she didn't like him all over her, but she preferred to be conscious when it happened. She wouldn't take a pill, on that she was certain, she could be just as stubborn as him. Tilting her head back under the water she began the awkward process of trying to wash her hair.
~*~*~
Closing the refrigerator door with his foot, Jason moved to the counter in search of a bottle opener. Thanks to Sonny they wouldn't starve, but they were going to get real tired of peanut butter sandwichs. A well-stocked refrigerator didn't mean anything when neither one could cook. Canned food was his specialty while frozen food was hers. Neither, sounded very appealing at the moment. His stomach had been reminding him that it hadn't been fed much, for the last hour or so.
Taking a long pull on his beer he left the kitchen in search of a phone book. Moving to the desk in the living room he opened a drawer but it was empty, he struck gold with the second drawer he opened. Alexis must not have known how to cook either because it looked like she had a menu for every restaurant in town. Setting them on the desk he decided to wait to see what Rory wanted.
"That better not be the last beer Morgan."
"It's not," Jason replied turning to find a still damp Rory standing on the stairs. The long sleeved collared shirt, his if he wasn't mistaken, hung on her slender form, and when she began to walk closer he could see the damp spots forming because of her dripping hair. "I thought you'd died in there."
"I merely decided that since I'm stuck in the lap of luxury I might as well abuse the facilities," she informed him haughtily. Taking the bottle from his hand she took a long swallow.
"Have you taken anything?"
"No I'm pill free so I can drink," she handed the bottle back. "Wipe the frown off your face, I'm fine."
Jason did his best to do as he was told and found a towel shoved in his hands when he managed to comply.
"Can you give my hair a good dry?" Rory asked. "I would but it's a bit awkward with my arm." Turning away so she wouldn't have to see the look her words caused she moved for the couch and settled into it's softness.
Keeping up with Rory had always been a problem. One minute she was dismissing her injury and the pain as not even being there, and the next she was asking for his help. Somehow he knew the puzzle that was Rory was never going to be fully explained to him.
Feeling the cushions depress with his weight behind her, Rory let out the breath she'd been holding. He wrapped the towel around her hair tentatively and carefully began to dry her hair, being very cautious with the bruising he knew was there. His touch was gentle, soothing, somehow she knew it was soothing for both of them. The simple action of him drying her hair was necessary for them both after the last couple of days. He'd put the towel down and was now working his fingers through the curls trying to untangle the quick to snarl ends. Maybe it was time for a haircut.
"I hope I got all the conditioner out," Rory murmured after a harder than normal tug. "That's the problem with washing your hair in a bath, you never know if you get all the soap out."
"I know what your doing."
Hearing the serious tone in his voice her first instinct was to joke it off. "I know what I'm doing too. I'm sitting."
"I didn't realize it at first but earlier on, every time I tried to take off your shirt, you distracted me," Jason continued.
"I seem to remember you liked my distraction," again she tried to deflect.
Refusing to be sidetracked, Jason reached for the comb she'd brought with her and began to work it through the thick hair. "You disappeared in the bathroom so quickly, saying you wanted to bathe and didn't need any help."
"News Flash Morgan I've been bathing myself for years," Rory reminded him a little sharply.
"Now you're down here wearing shorts and one of my long-sleeved collared shirts, with your arm carefully back in the sling."
"I didn't realize my wearing your shirt would make you so weird," Rory began huffily. "Just let me go change."
"Into what?" His hands tightened in her hair when she tried to pull away. "You don't have any collared shirts that aren't dress ones, and you need a collared shirt. That's why you're wearing shorts, and long sleeves, because you want the collar."
"And oh mighty Kreskin why is that?" Rory demanded.
"Because," his breathe was warm on her neck causing her to shiver. "You're trying to hide the bruises from me." Testing her he put a finger against the collar and pulled on it slightly, when she tensed he let it go.
Knowing she was busted Rory relaxed against him abruptly catching him off-guard. "You got so weird before."
Shifting slightly into a more comfortable position he questioned her. "What do you mean?"
"The other day you got all alpha male on me, because of a mark on my wrist," she explained softly. "The bruises on my neck, on my shoulder, let's just say their more than just a mark. I didn't want you getting weird on me again, or worse shut down on me. I don't have the energy to joke or fight you out of it at the moment."
"You're right I'm going to hate it when I see the bruises, just like I hate the fact you were hurt at all. But I'd hate it worse if you keep trying to hide things from me."
Considering his words she leaned her head back against his chest and covered his hand with hers. "My arm hurts, although it's sort of settled into a tolerable ache. The bath, with that decadent tub helped take a lot of the aches out of my body. My head's a lot clearer, just a little headache." She felt him tense with her words and had to force herself to go on. "I'm not used to having someone worry about me. I'm used to handling things on my own. So if I don't let you in, I'm not trying to punish you, it's just I'm used to doing things for myself. And maybe a part of me thinks I'm protecting you. It's my pain, there's nothing you can do to help me with it, all you can do is feel guilty or worry, so why tell you?"
Her words washed over him and made a lot of sense, he felt the same himself. And had done the same to her on more than one occasion. "It's hard caring so much about someone else isn't it?"
"Honestly?" Rory asked feeling his nod she went on. "Sometimes I think I'd rather be tossed off a cliff, it would be a hell of a lot less painful."
"Less risky too."
"I guess I'm drawn to risks," she sighed dramatically. "You were a risk."
"Because of Philip?" Now it was her turn to tense. "It wasn't your fault."
"Yes it was."
"You were young."
"I was stupid."
"You were naïve."
"I was arrogant and thought I knew everything."
"You were 18 and found out you didn't know everything."
"You're not going to let me beat myself up over this are you?"
"Do you remember when I told you how I saw both Carly and Robin at the same time and I ended up hurting all of us?" Jason asked quietly.
Rory shifted so she could see his face. "You didn't really realize what you were doing could hurt them until it was too late. You were young and you didn't really know any better. Everything was new to you, including your feelings you didn't know how to handle them."
"Exactly my point."
She opened her mouth to correct him only to shut it in a huff. "That was sneaky," Rory grumbled only to groan when someone knocked on the door. "Its either a phone call or a door knock. We so need to leave town."
Jason couldn't help but agree.
"Mr. Francis," Rory greeted him with a genuine smile. "I didn't know you were still working. You must be bored out of your skull."
"I found this on the floor," Francis held out her purse.
"Thanks, I was a little," feeling Jason come up behind her she grinned again, "distracted when we got here."
It didn't take a genius to figure out that her and Jason had obviously made up. For that he was glad. At least something good had come out of this long and frustrating day.
"I found something of yours too Mr. Francis," Rory remembered suddenly heading for the closet.
"Is everything arranged?" Jason asked quietly.
"Yeah, all the arrangements have been made," Francis answered just as quietly.
"I found this wallet yesterday," Rory approached them carrying a brown wallet. "It belongs to a Francis Xavier Carnivale age 27," feeling Jason's frown she looked at him and grinned before handing off the wallet. "I meant to give it to you earlier but I forgot. I have to admit that's the first driver's license photo I've seen that actually looks like a person. Even Jason's makes him look like a druggie or a prison escapee."
Francis' eyes flicked from Rory's grin to the frown on Jason's face and a memory came to him. A memory of Rory jostling him in the elevator the day before for no apparent reason. His eye dropped to her sling. Had she picked his pocket with one arm in a sling?
"I know what a hassle going to the DMV can be," Rory went on seemingly oblivious to his speculation. "Speaking of which I better check my own purse, there's no telling what Kojak kept."
Pocketing his wallet Francis thought of the 3 hours he'd spent at the DMV that afternoon to get a replacement driver's license with a photo that bore no resemblance to him. Not to mention the time on the phone canceling his credit cards, and paying the additional fine to the PCPD because of the ticket he'd received the day before for driving without a license, and his frown in her general direction became more pronounced.
Reading the warning signs in his and Jason's eyes Rory took her leave of them with a final grin and moved toward the couch, already digging in her bag. "Where the hell is my phone?" She muttered under her breath.
Shaking his head and knowing full well she'd swiped Francis' wallet Jason changed the subject. "What time tomorrow?"
Instantly serious all thoughts of his missing wallet disappeared at the question. "The service is at 1:00 at St. Vincent's. I needed to ask you who you wanted to be on Rory when I can't be, like tomorrow and the rest of the tonight? Sister Mary wants me at the viewing tonight. If that's okay."
Knowing Francis had been close to Manny Jason nodded quickly. "Take as much time as you need. As for additional guards," he could all but feel Rory's eyes on him and knew they still had a lot to work through. "You're more up to date on who's good and who isn't, so I'll let you choose. When I'm here we don't need anyone else, and when she's here at the penthouse she's safe. I think the only time she'll need a guard is when she goes somewhere." The look had turned into a glare he knew that without looking. "But she and I need to talk about some things first so I'll let you know."
"Okay," Francis nodded. "I'll be leaving then goodnight."
"Wait," Jason called awkwardly he wasn't good at this sort of thing but he made the effort. "Is someone going with you?"
Seeing his unease Francis couldn't help but smile. "Johnny and the rest of the crew will be there. Manny is … was well liked. Goodnight Ms. Nichols."
"Goodnight Mr. Francis."
Jason closed the door and hesitated in front of it for a long minute, preparing himself for the battle he knew was coming. For a few hours he'd let himself forget all that had happened in the last few days. It was funny how the grief of a friend could remind him. He jolted slightly when Rory slipped an arm around his waist and hugged his back. Resting his hand on hers he took the comfort she offered. "We need to talk."
Resisting the temptation to groan by burying her face in his back Rory hugged him once more then drew back. "I know," she admitted mournfully and turned back to the couch. "Let me have it."
~P.C.P.D.~
"Whitey where the hell have you been?" Taggert burst through the door of the crime lab and yelled the question at the bespectacled doctor.
Whitey glanced over at the intrusion then turned back to his beakers. "Ever heard of knocking LT?"
"Don't change the subject I've been looking for you for hours, I've been paging you for hours," Taggert berated the man. "Where the hell were you?"
"Out," Whitey answered nonchalantly and went back to his chemicals.
Drumming his fingers on a desk Taggert waited for more information. The drumming got louder when he realized he wasn't going to get any more details. "What did you have a sale on 80's music you had to get too?" Taggert borrowed Alexis' slam.
"Nope that was last week," Whitey answered with a smirk, baiting the LT was an interesting pastime almost as interesting as baseball.
Whitey began to hum under his breath and Taggert knew that wasn't a good sign. It meant two things. One he was going to have another song in his head for hours, and two, he'd pushed Whitey before he'd even had a chance to ask his first question. Going against every instinct he had Taggert tried to correct the damage he'd inflicted.
"I'm sorry Whitey it's been a long and frustrating day," Taggert began, when he heard a snort behind him he turned to glare at his very amused partner, Alex Garcia. "I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
"Nope you shouldn't have," Whitey agreed before pouring a little bit of clear liquid into a beaker that was already purple.
"It's the Nichols' case, it's got me stymied," Taggert tried a smile that he knew looked ghastly. "I could sure use some of your input on that."
Humming under his breath Whitey merely nodded.
"So do you have anything else for me?" Taggert asked.
"Maybe."
Knowing his partner's intent Garcia moved quickly, stepping in front of him before he could hit Whitey. "We really need something Whitey. Taggert seemed to think you might have something because of what you didn't release to the Nichols' girl attorney."
"The LT is on to something Garcia. I'm impressed he must have eaten his Wheaties today." Whitey added a little bit of red to his chemical concoction and it began to bubble in the beaker.
"What's so important about her cell phone?" Taggert couldn't hold back any longer.
"Do you see tickets in my hand LT?" Whitey asked calmly. "Because I sure don't."
"Do you want to be arrested for blackmail?" Taggert demanded in frustration and Garcia groaned.
Whitey raised his head to stare him down and Taggert shifted on the balls of his feet when confronted with half of the man's eyes peering at him from over the lenses of the coke bottle glasses. Those eyes just weren't natural. The half above the lenses was cool and assessing, the half behind the lenses were enlarged and unnatural looking. He could withstand neither.
"Here," grumbling Taggert pulled out the tickets to the subway series that he'd spent a week's pay on and slapped them down on the counter next to Whitey.
The tickets disappeared quickly into one of the many pockets in Whitey's pristine lab coat and he pushed away from the table to move to another one that held a cell phone. "This is her cell phone."
Garcia eyed it dubiously, the phone was in pieces. "Did it get wrecked in the crash?"
"No I tore it apart, it was only damaged in the crash," Whitey informed him coolly. "I didn't need a warrant because the casing was cracked so the interior was exposed," he answered the question before it could be uttered.
Taggert didn't even bother to question if Whitey's story was accurate, knowing the man as well as he did, it probably wasn't, but who was he to argue. Whitey was too smooth to get caught. "What did you find?"
"This." Whitey held up a small silver piece of electronics with a pair of tweezers and held it out for them to study. It was thin, hardly thicker than a piece of paper and smaller than a thumbnail.
"What is it?"
"LT," Whitey clucked his tongue. "I'm disappointed in you. Have you let that subscription I gave you to Mercenary Monthly lapse already?"
Garcia snorted and Taggert leveled a glare at him. "Whitey?"
"What does it look like?" Whitey began his lecture with a question.
"A dime that had been flattened by a tank?" Garcia offered after a minute, earning himself a glare in the process.
"A bug?" Taggert tried desperately.
Whitey beamed at his prized pupil. "Exactly it's a bug."
Garcia whistled. "I've never seen one that looked like that before."
"You probably won't again either," Whitey informed them superiorly. "This is high dollar work. The PCPD can't even afford the tax on one of these babies."
"What about the FBI?" Taggert asked.
Whitey didn't even try to hide his disgust. "The FIBBIES wouldn't know how to work one of these if they had the manual and the creator talking in their ear every step of the way."
Taggert grimaced he'd forgotten Whitey's well-known hatred for the FBI. "Then who?"
"You know any reason why Spookland might be interested in this Nichols' chick?" Whitey asked after another minute of pouting.
"The CIA?" Garcia asked.
"Maybe but their not the only spook in alphabet soup land," Whitey reminded him before moving back to his original table.
"We ran her history she's clean, so why would there be a bug in her phone?" Garcia wondered aloud. "I can see Morgan's possibly but hers?"
"Whose to say that there isn't a bug in Morgan's? Maybe there is. How would we know?" Taggert asked.
"Does that make you feel left out LT? Knowing someone else might be listening to your boy's phone calls when you can't even get a warrant to place a wiretap on Corinthos' phone?" Whitey asked nastily. He hadn't forgiven either the FBI mention or the baseball tickets.
"Someone's in trouble with teacher," Garcia whispered loud enough for Taggert to hear.
"Is there anyway to trace the bug?" Taggert asked ignoring Garcia for the time being.
"No," Whitey turned back to his concoction and checked his notes before adding a green liquid that caused the stuff in the beaker to hiss and turn black.
Eyeing the beaker warily Taggert moved closer. "Is there anything else?"
"Could be," Whitey admitted and waited.
Knowing he had to come up with the answer or endure another 2-hour lecture Taggert thought fast. "Is the bug still active?"
Whitey grinned widely showing off his dentures. "Yes, it just needed drying out. Still works like a charm, of course it would if we had a receiver." He tugged hard on his ear. "Imagine if we had a receiver as well, we could hear everything too."
Not liking the way this conversation was heading Garcia moved to one of the other desks to look at the microscopes. Sometimes it was better to not know all the details.
"It's a pity we don't have a receiver," Taggert played along. "Or someone smart enough to build a receiver."
Whitey bristled under the insult. "Yes what a pity. Anyway her phone is cleared, it will be put back together and released in a half an hour."
"Whitey what would it take to build a receiver?"
"A warrant."
"What else?" Taggert pressed.
"I haven't given it much thought," Whitey poured some more liquid into the mix.
"Why don't you think about it and get back to me," Taggert offered coolly before turning for the door.
"You know my thought processes work a lot quicker when I'm looking at a Roger Clemmons Rookie card," Whitey called after him and was pleased to see Taggert flinch.
"You had to piss him off."
"Shut up Garcia," Taggert hissed.
"If you hadn't jerked him around over the ball tickets he wouldn't be hitting you up for something else," Garcia reminded him.
Taggert wanted to hit his friend for being right.
"Think about it LT," Whitey drawled before lifting the bubbling mixture to his mouth and taking a swallow. "Ohhh just like mom's."
~Penthouse 2~
The only way Jason knew how to be was blunt, so he let her have it. "There's a chance that Sonny and I weren't the primary targets with everything that's happened. I think there's a good chance you were the target all along."
She hadn't been expecting that and the disbelief showed on her face.
"It's a theory but I think it makes sense." Jason settled beside her and took her hand. "We know that someone deliberately pushed your car over the cliff. At the same time someone replaced a rope at the warehouse causing a pallet to fall on me, and finally at the same time someone pushed Lucky Spencer into the river and threw a cargo net over him trying to drown him."
Surprised at the news and uneasy at the direction the conversation was heading Rory shook her head.
"The only link I can see between all of these things is the fact that the night before the accidents I asked Benny to dig up everything he could on the death of Elizabeth Webber."
Stung Rory jerked her hand away and stood up. "What the hell does she have to do with anything?"
"Elizabeth is the only link," Jason kept his tone reasonable even as her agitation grew.
"Who says there's a link? Why does what happened with Lucky have to have anything to do with us?" Rory demanded uneasiness fueling her anger. "How could anyone know you would be under the pallet when the rope snapped?"
"They couldn't," Jason admitted.
"And you've seen first hand how weird Lucky is, someone, anyone could have tried to kill him, for any number of reasons."
"That could be true," he conceded her point.
"And maybe my little trip was deliberate but that doesn't mean it had anything to do with Elizabeth Webber."
"We found bugs in our room at Jake's. Very high dollar bugs. Someone broke in our room and left you a note to trick you out of town, to the cliff where you almost died," Jason began a methodical recitation of the facts.
"Alright I'll give you that one, my accident wasn't one."
"It's been quiet here. No one is trying to move in on Sonny, no one is looking for me. Benny's too good, the grapevine is too big, I would have heard something if I was being targeted."
Mind racing Rory searched for something, anything that could explain things. "What about the murders of your men, the 3 deaths that Kojak tried to pin on you."
"Five men," he corrected softly.
"What?"
"Five men have died in the past 36 hours. Taggert only knows about 4. The fifth is Manny, Francis' friend."
"Jesus," the word slipped out before she could stop it and Jason flinched. Moving closer she sat on the coffee table in front of him and took his hand. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I never even met him until yesterday, when he died," the way his hand tightened on hers belied the words.
"Don't all the murders tell you that this could have nothing to do with me? I may have been born to annoy but I haven't pissed off someone enough they'd kill."
"It's the way they died." Unaccustomed to sharing he didn't know how to go on, but when her eyes remained steady on his, he found a way. "There was no point to the deaths. Nothing was taken, some hadn't even made a pickup yet. They were all killed in the same way, probably by the same man. It doesn't feel like it was directed at me or Sonny it feels like…"
"What?" Rory asked in apprehension knowing she wouldn't like the answer, because Jason's feelings were rarely wrong.
"It feels like a distraction," he finished coolly. "Like they were killed because someone wanted my attention elsewhere. And the only other thing I was looking into was Elizabeth Webber's death."
"I know who I am," Rory whispered quickly. "What does Sonny have to say about your theory?"
"Not much. He's still investigating all the angles," Jason admitted.
"The reason we're in this town at all, is that one of the angles he's investigating?" Rory pressed.
"Yes," tilting his head he studied her trying to get a fix on her emotions. "Are you okay?"
"For someone who just found out that someone tried to kill her and also that my boyfriend thinks I'm someone else, I think I'm doing remarkably well. In fact you might say I'm peachy."
"I didn't say I thought you were someone else," Jason corrected her.
"And I said that I know who I am and it isn't Elizabeth Webber. So you better find a new theory because I'm not buying that one." With those words of warning she stood up and headed for the kitchen. "I need a drink."
"Oh man," Jason collapsed back on the sofa with a groan.
~Kelly's~
"I meant what I said before," Lucky commented out of the blue.
Nikolas reluctantly took his eyes off Emily who was at the payphone and looked at his brother. "You meant what?"
"That I'm better. I haven't had a drink in days and although the urge is still there, it's not near as strong as it once was," Lucky explained.
"I'm relieved to hear that."
"I wanted to thank you. I know the last 2 years haven't been easy on you, picking up after me had to be brutal," Lucky kept his focus on the table. "I'm surprised you didn't cut your losses and bail. No one would have blamed you."
"We're family Lucky. Brothers. We may not have always liked that fact but we can never change it. Families stick together," Nikolas explained honestly. "And besides we're also friends. I don't have very many friends so I wasn't about to lose any."
"Friends and brothers, who would have thought?"
"Laura, Emily, Elizabeth." Nikolas kept a close eye on Lucky's reaction to her name.
Lucky shifted in his chair. "Is this the part where we're supposed to hug?"
"I hope not." Nikolas answered with a smile.
Laughing Lucky couldn't help but agree. "I think you deserve a reward for putting up with me all this time."
"You're back among the living that's all I need."
"No you deserve more." Mindful of his promise to Gia Lucky went on. "I think you need a vacation. Both you and Gia should go somewhere away from the Port Charles madness for a while. Someplace that you can recharge."
Nikolas jolted at the suggestion.
"A trip is exactly what's needed." Lucky went on unmindful of the look of dismay on Nikolas' face.
"Trip?" Emily asked from behind Lucky. "Who's going on a trip?"
"We are." Gia cried catching everyone off-guard with her sudden appearance she settled on Nikolas' lap and wrapped her arm around his neck.
"Gia," surprised he automatically kissed her when she offered him her lips.
Emily tightened her grip on the back of the chair as the world dropped out from underneath her yet again. "W-what trip?"
"Deception is sending me to Europe on a publicity tour. I cleared it with everyone, including Ned, to get Nikolas to go with me. Isn't that great?" Gia kept her eyes on Emily and watched her pale.
"How long?" Emily managed the question by not looking at Nikolas who had yet to say a word.
"3 weeks. 21 glorious days and 20 long hot nights." Again Gia answered.
"Gia…"
"I need to go," Emily said abruptly cutting off Nikolas' words. She still wasn't able to look at him, if she did she'd either slap him or cry. And if she started to cry she wasn't certain she'd be able to stop. Somehow he had done it to her again. He had slipped past her defenses back into that space in her heart that he seemed destined to possess. A space that he used to hurt her in a way no one else ever could. How come she never learned her lesson? He never, ever chose her. Christ you'd think she could remember that.
"Are you alright Em?" Seeing how ashen she was Lucky got to his feet in concern.
"I'm fine I just got to go." She reached for her bag and almost hissed when Nikolas' hand covered hers.
"I needed to talk to you about something."
"It'll have to wait." Yanking her hand away as if his touch burned she headed for the door. "I'm late to meet Zander."
Nikolas shut down at the mention of her boyfriend's name.
Gia grinned in triumph.
And Lucky narrowed his eyes speculation trying to figure out the real reason for his friend's desperate flight.
~Penthouse 2~
He never saw the point in arguing. If someone was determined what they we're saying was right there was not enough words in the world to make them change their opinion. Because he knew that, and because of that he rarely argued. So it was strange to find himself doing just that with Rory.
"Jason I told you I don't agree with your little theory." Rory reached for the last slice of pizza and waved it in his general direction. "So you can quit harping on me."
"I'm just trying to make you see…" his mouth opened automatically when she shoved the slice of pizza at it.
"Bottom line Jason," Rory kept the pizza at his lips. "You want me to have a guard regardless right?"
Still chewing and not liking the glint in her eyes Jason nodded.
"You would want me to have a guard if it turns out you were the target." Another nod. "And you would also want me to have a guard if it turns out that your brain dead theory turned out to be accurate right?" Again he nodded.
Rory sighed and slumped back on the couch. "Will you worry less if I have a guard?"
"Yes."
"Will your job get done quicker if you're not so focused on me?"
"Yes."
"Fine, I'll take Mr. Francis but only Mr. Francis. No replacements, if he's busy I go without. He doesn't ride with me, unless I want him too, he doesn't tell me where I can and can't go. And he doesn't tattle to you about who I see or what I do," Rory words tumbled out in a rush, each order felt like a concession and she hated it.
Jason was smart enough to take what she was offering. "Deal. I'm not trying to spy on you, or control you. The only reason he will be around is to keep you safe."
"I know," she groaned. "And that's the only reason I'm agreeing. Once you figure things out, things which you will keep me fully in the loop on, he goes away."
"I'll keep you informed on anything I find out that has to do with you," it was the only concession he could give her.
"Relax King Corinthos' problems are his and yours I don't need to know them," she saw him relax and knew the time had come. "Now you have to do me a favor."
"What?" Jason asked already suspicious.
"I've heard every word you said tonight, and the ones you kept to yourself. I'm aware that you believe I'm in danger. All that being said I need you to give me something. Tomorrow morning no guard."
"Rory," Jason's shake of his head was immediate.
"Jason I'm not going to do anything stupid. There's something I need to take care of and I can't have a guard with me, and no you can't come with me either," anticipating his request she shot it down. "I'll be very careful. And you know that no one can follow me if I don't want them too. This first accident caught me off-guard because I wasn't prepared. I didn't know it was coming. I know now. Things will be different."
"I've just spent the last few hours telling you I think you're a target," Jason reminded her. "This isn't a game."
"I know that and I heard every word you said. I also heard the fact that you have no guard, and aren't going to get a guard. Someone tried to kill you, the other day too. And they could very well do it again. I'm not after you to have a guard, because I know you won't take one," Rory pointed out the obvious. "I'm not asking for the moon Jason, just a few hours."
Jason scrubbed a hand wearily over his face. Maybe with a few more hours of sleep he could come up with the words to sway her, but as for right now he was drawing a blank.
"I didn't have to ask Jason. I could have just lost Mr. Francis, you know that," Rory reminded him gently. "The mere fact that I'm telling you in advance should prove to you that I'm willing to try."
"You'll call me at regular intervals?" Jason asked.
Rory swallowed her grin and soberly nodded her head. "I'll even leave a note where I'm going and if I'm not back by noon, you can read it. Deal?" She held out her hand.
"Don't make me regret this," Jason warned her and shook her hand.