Disclaimer: The usual
Distribution: Please ask first.
Babble: Well after 31 tortuous chapters I've finally decided to tell you what is wrong with Emily and what Zander's evil plan was. Please let me know if it was worth the wait. In other words reply.
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What If…
Chapter 32
~Durango~
Rory drummed her fingers on the wheel absently as she moved through traffic with the speed any racer would be proud of. A glance at the speedometer warned her that if she didn't slow soon P.C's finest would eventually be all over her. Reluctantly she eased back on the accelerator and slowed the vehicle to a respectable level of only 13 miles over the posted limit. She could always talk her way out of a ticket if she was only going that fast. That trick of hers always drove Jason insane, but she wasn't about to complain. Lord it over him in triumph, yes, but complain? Never. Because the mere fact that she could talk her way out of a ticket meant she could still drive, otherwise her insurance would have been yanked years ago.
Jason, her eyes went to the clock on the dash, it was almost time to check in with him again. She was very aware of how much it had cost him to let her go this morning alone, especially when he was convinced she was the target of all these not so accidental attacks. So the last thing she wanted to do was to make him worry even more if she could help it.
Another reason it was a good idea to slow down and not race back to Port Charles was sitting next to her. Emily hadn't said a word since they'd left the doctor's office. She sat quietly and simply stared out the front windshield, but Rory was pretty sure she wasn't seeing a thing. Emily's hands had been moving the entire time. While Emily had focused out the window her hands had been flicking what fingernail polish she had left, off of her fingernails, until now they were almost bare.
Rory wanted to offer comfort but had no idea how to do that. As nice as Emily was and as close as they had gotten in the last few days the fact remained, she really didn't know Emily very well, and Emily didn't really know her either. Besides Rory was busy dealing with her own issues at the moment.
Issues like anger, and an intense need to emasculate Zander Smith the next time she saw him. But maybe emasculation was too good for him, maybe she should set it up that on one night when he least expected it Zander found himself alone in an alley with…
"I think I'm going to be sick."
Emily's words interrupted her plans of revenge and Rory checked the rearview mirror before pulling to the side of the road. She hadn't even put the car in park, before Emily had her door open and was racing to some bushes near the truck.
Switching off the engine Rory realized she was really going to have to come up with a creative way to fully pay Zander back. It was either that or let Jason kill him if and when he ever found out what Zander had done. Smiling slightly in anticipation Rory pulled out the new cellphone Jason had presented her with this morning and pressed M1. It only rang once before it was picked up at the other end. "It's me."
"Is everything going okay?" Jason asked immediately.
She could hear the concern in his voice and felt guilty for the worry she was causing him. "Everything's fine. I wanted to tell you that I'm on my way back to the penthouse now, I'll be there in plenty of time to change and go with you to the funeral."
"I didn't ask you to do that," Jason reminded her.
"You never would, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm going."
Sighing Jason knew better than to argue when he heard the tone she was using. Besides he really didn't want to argue with her. He did want her to accompany him to the funeral, and not just because he would be able to keep an eye on her then. He wanted her with him because her presence would make it easier for him. The man who'd had no weakspots for years suddenly had a large one, one the size of Rory Nichols.
"Are you okay?" Rory's voice broke the silence.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Jason moved away from the couch and the papers he'd been looking at, towards the window to look at the harbor. "You sound upset."
"I am. I'm so upset I'm trying to think of the most painful way to murder someone. I either need you to talk me out of it, or help me execute it so I won't get caught," Rory admitted.
Something in her tone of voice convinced him she was only half kidding. "Can you tell me about it?"
"No," she answered immediately, hesitated, then went on. "I think you'll find out eventually but for now it's not my place to tell."
When he heard a knock on the door behind him, he turned and called out a distracted hail to come in.
"It sounds like you need to go," Rory commented.
"When will you be back?" Jason gestured at the newcomer to take a seat and looked at his watch before glancing towards the fireplace.
"Give me another ½ hour at least, if it turns out I need more time than that, I'll call you and let you know." Rory looked at her watch then checked the rearview mirror again. "And yes I'll be careful Jason."
Jason closed his mouth to stop the words.
"Bye."
"I'll see you soon Rory," Jason turned off the phone and set it in its cradle.
"That was Rory?" Sonny asked as if he hadn't been eavesdropping.
"Yeah, she had an errand to run," Jason said shortly.
Sonny nodded and knowing that Francis was with Manny's sister he asked what he thought was the obvious question. "Who is with her?"
"No one."
"No one?" Sonny repeated in confusion. "What do you mean no one? I thought we agreed she needed to have a guard."
"We did agree," Jason admitted. "You and I agreed, but Rory didn't."
"Jason this is serious how could you let her leave without someone with her? Doesn't she realize how serious this is?" Sonny demanded. He had seen how wrecked Jason had been when Rory had been missing, then found hurt, so it made no sense to him that Jason would willingly let her leave the penthouse alone.
"She knows exactly how serious things are. We had a long talk that lasted most of the night, and I told her everything. I told her what I know and also what I suspected," Jason defended himself. "She listened, she argued, she posed questions that I hadn't got around to thinking about yet, and she finally agreed to having a guard."
"If she agreed to a guard why the hell are we having this conversation?"
"Because there are conditions," Jason finally snapped. Frustration, worry, and tiredness had him showing some of the anger he was feeling in his eyes, in his voice. "She'll let Francis guard her, but only him. She'll always have her own car to drive, and will only have the guard if she goes somewhere without me. And all of this will start when Francis is done with the funeral, so that means tomorrow. She had to do something this morning with no guard."
Sonny was unaccustomed to having Jason snap at him so it took him a moment to formulate a reply. "Couldn't you have gone with her?" Jason gave him a look that spoke volumes and made him feel like an ass for asking such an obvious question.
"I offered and she said no," Jason answered shortly.
Sonny took his seat at the couch again and focused his attention on the file that was open on the coffee table. He stared sightlessly at the papers for long minutes while Jason prowled the room behind him. He couldn't help but be struck at the changing of their roles. At the times when he was worried, tense, angry he paced, and Jason remained still. This time it seemed the reverse was true. Shaking his head Sonny looked at the papers again for another minute before being compelled to speak. "Didn't you want to know where she was going?"
"Of course I wanted to know," Jason snapped. "Rory explained that what she was doing was a secret and it wasn't her secret to tell, so I let it drop."
"Just like that?" Sonny turned to look at his friend and found Jason had paused in front of the fireplace and was staring at the ledge that ran above it.
"Yeah just like that," Jason muttered.
"What's that?"
"What?" He turned in question.
"The envelope you're staring at," Sonny pointed.
"It's from Rory."
Sonny rubbed his eyes in frustration, this was similar to him trying to have a conversation with Michael. The boy loved to give out information but only after 50 questions. "What did it say?"
"I don't know."
"Jesus Jason what's going on?" Fed up Sonny demanded an explanation and was only a half a minute away from calling Benny and having a guard go look for Rory now.
"Rory left me a note to tell me where she was going and why. If she's not back by a certain time, or she doesn't check in when she's supposed to, I can open it," Jason finally explained and moved away from the envelope.
The envelope was now calling to him like it was a bottle of vintage scotch and Sonny got to his feet and moved to the fireplace. Curiosity had him picking the envelope up and flipping it over, as he had figured it was still tightly sealed. "Christ man you're far stronger than me. I would have opened this the second the door closed."
"Yeah well I'm not you. I can't act like you, especially not with Rory, not anymore anyway."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Jason's tone made Sonny look up from the envelope.
"It was pointed out to me that what I learned about relationships I learned from you and that wasn't necessarily a good thing," Jason admitted reluctantly.
"No you learned about relationships from Robin," Sonny corrected him.
Jason nodded seeing his point. "That's true, but I learned how to treat women by watching you."
Sonny couldn't help but flinch and hope that wasn't true. But as he turned and put the envelope back on the ledge, he had the uncomfortable feeling that it was.
An unnatural feeling of wanting to talk, to explain things was moving through Jason and it was slightly unnerving. He realized it was just a reaction to everything that was going on with Rory, but he felt compelled for some reason to explain what he meant. Maybe if Sonny understood what he was trying to say, it would make the words make sense to him as well. "Not just how you treat women in general, but how you treat them when it comes to business. With Lily," Jason froze.
"Go on," Sonny said after a minute.
"I didn't see you with Lily very much, but yours was the first relationship I ever saw up close. You didn't tell her things, but she never seemed to ask. You always treated her with respect, even when you lied to her. She seemed to be willing to take what it was you gave her, and not ask for anything more, at least not until the very end."
"When it was too late to matter," Sonny murmured.
"Not too late because of you, but because of Rivera," Jason corrected his friend. "Do you want me to stop?"
"No I think this is something you need to say," Sonny answered and at the same time wished it was afternoon so he could have a drink.
"With Brenda I never understood how you could forgive her for what she did to you, but you managed it. You also kept her out of things, and you only told her stuff when you were backed in a corner and had no choice. But that never stopped Brenda from asking, from demanding to know everything. I don't think you ever fully trusted her again, and I think she knew that, and that's why she was so desperate to know everything." Jason offered his opinion.
"You saw a lot more than I thought you did."
Shrugging Jason explained. "I always watched people, you and Robin in particular, but I always watched people, it's how I learned things. I know you loved Brenda, but the way you chose to end it with her, that was deliberately cruel on your part, and it was the first time I'd seen you be cruel to a woman."
Sonny nodded slowly, it had been cruel, yet it had also been the only way he could walk away from her. Brenda was then, and had been for the rest of her life, his drug, and no junkie, ever fully forgot their drug of choice. It didn't matter if they'd been clean for 5 minutes or 50 years, the craving for the drug always remained.
"Next I saw you with Hannah, which never made any sense to me," the literal minded Jason went on. "I always thought she looked like Lily, even though she never acted like her. But that didn't seem to matter to you, or maybe it did and that was why you dated her," he shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that when you found out she was FBI you kept her around for weeks, even months longer than you should have. You played with her and used her, and I could have cared less about Hannah, but you were walking a fine line with her."
Nodding again Sonny moved back to the couch. Jason had no idea just how close to the edge he'd been.
"Then there's Carly," Jason's voice grew quiet as he considered his best friend's. Some of the hurt was still there even after all of this time. He rarely let himself look back, it made no point to him, he couldn't change it, so why look back. But sometimes he couldn't help remember a time when things had been different between them. "I can't even begin to describe the relationship that the two of you have together, but whatever it is, it works. I've never seen either one of you happier, than I have since I've been back this last time. But even now, even though you've admitted how much you love her and that you do in fact trust her, you still keep Carly on a leash in what you tell her."
"Too much information in Carly's hands is not a good thing. Too little information is also not a good thing," Sonny explained.
"I know," Jason agreed. "But the way you treat her, the way you treated all of them, is okay for you, it seemed to work I guess, but I can't follow your lead anymore. Rory isn't Robin or Carly, from my own life. And she isn't like any of the women I've seen you with so I can't treat her like she is. I tried that, I didn't know what I was doing until Carly pointed it out to me."
"Carly?" Sonny asked in disbelief.
"Yes Carly, she notices things too Sonny. She probably knows a lot more than you're giving her credit for," Jason pointed out then went back to the subject at hand. "I tried to be like you and I almost lost Rory because of it."
Jason stalked back to the fireplace and picked up the envelope. "Do I want to know what's in here? Yes. Will I be able to live with it if I never find out? Yes, as long as she's here, I'll throw it in the fire and never think about it again."
Was it always this strange for the teacher when the student left them in the dust? Sonny had never wanted to teach Jason things about life. He'd had to in business of course, and there were a few basics in life that Jason needed to learn. But he'd never fully considered how much Jason had watched him in those first few years of friendship.
Jason had somehow managed to learn something he was only now beginning to grasp. That a woman, like Carly could be his full and equal partner if he'd only let her in. All he had to do was let Carly in, just a little bit, that was all she wanted, and wasn't that what he was already doing? "Carly's coming with me to the funeral."
"You told her?" Jason asked in surprise.
Sonny was still surprised himself but he nodded. "Yeah I did, I couldn't seem to help it. I saw what you went through when Rory was missing and hurt, and all I could think about was how I would be lost if it were Carly. I don't think I can handle losing her, that realization made me let her in," he sighed. "I hope I don't regret it."
"You won't," Jason said confidently.
Shifting on the couch Sonny wanted nothing more than to change the subject. He felt he could now that Jason's unusually talkativeness seemed to have passed. This time when his eye fell on the folder on the table he recognized the papers there. "Interesting reading isn't it?"
Jason moved back from the window and took a seat on the loveseat. "Did you catch the comment on page 42?"
Shaking his head Sonny picked up the autopsy report on Elizabeth Webber, flipped to page 42 and began to read.
~Durango~
"How are you feeling?" Rory asked after another 15 minutes of silent driving.
"I think I'm numb, at least I'm trying to be," Emily admitted. "I keep trying to wrap my head around what the doctor said and every time I think I have, it hits me all over again and I feel sick."
"I can see why. But at least this time when you get sick you know it's not because your pregnant," Rory pointed out the positive. "Anemia is treatable and curable. The right food, plenty of rest, vitamins, and pretty soon you won't be feeling like crap anymore."
"I know, don't get me wrong I'd take anemia over pregnancy any day, but," she hesitated.
Spying the sign for Port Charles, Rory pulled over in front of it and leaving the engine running, she put the car in park and waited. "But?"
"But when I think about Zander and what he did, it makes me feel sick," she admitted.
"What do you think he did?" Rory prompted.
"Don't you know? I think, given with what the doctor told us there is only one possible scenario as to what he did to me, or tried to do to me."
"I know what I think, I just want to know what you think." Rory watched Emily close her eyes in what looked like pain and was tempted to let the subject drop, but she knew the only way Emily was going to deal with what she'd found out was if she talked about it. "You need to be the one to say the words Em. Until you say them, none of this is real."
Emily was quiet for a long time while she thought about things, and Rory was quiet as well. The only noise came from passing traffic and the muted sound of the base coming in from the speakers. The radio had been turned down but it wasn't off. She had concentrated hard and at times thought she'd identified the song that was being played, but she never turned up the volume to check if she was right. Rory was about to put the truck in gear again when Emily began to speak. At first the words were so quiet she thought she was hearing things, but gradually they grew louder.
"The night Zander and I watched movies at his place, probably went along pretty much like I thought it did, he drugged me intending to sleep with me."
"Rape you," Rory couldn't help but interject. She didn't want Emily to try to pretty his actions up.
Nodding reluctantly Emily went on. "Something must have happened when he was moving me to the bed, because at some point before he could … rape me, he found the birth control pills in my purse. Seeing them he knew they would wreck his plans so he put me back together and pretended like nothing happened."
"And what do you think his plan was?"
"I made a mistake. I popped all my birth control pills out and put them in an old pillbox of Grandmothers. I didn't want my parents to find out I was taking them, and I knew I would never forget to take them, so I hid them in plain sight. The actual pills on one side, and the placebo sugar pills on the other side. And because of this stupidity Zander was able to take advantage," she finished mockingly.
"Naiveté not stupidity," Rory corrected.
"Whatever," Emily rolled her eyes. "He managed to switch out my birth control pills replacing them with placebos, so when I thought I was taking my birth control pill I was actually taking sugar. That explains why my hormone levels were off. It also helped lead to my anemia and what concerned the doctor enough that she asked to see me in person. Had the pills been legitimate birth control pills, like I told her I was taking my hormone levels would have been different, and that would have shown up in the blood work she had ordered. Like she informed us I had no trace of the pills in my system so I'd probably taken my last real pill over 3 months ago."
Rory checked the rearview mirror and seeing nothing out of place she focused on Emily again. "Go on."
"What do you mean go on?"
"You need to finish your theory Emily. You haven't told me why Zander would do this," Rory reminded her gently.
"Isn't that obvious?" Emily demanded and when Rory merely raised a brow and waited she went on huffily. "He wanted to get me pregnant. He wanted me knocked up with the Smith version of a Quartermaine heir."
Rory nodded. "Do you feel better after saying it?"
"No. Isn't there a chance that I'm wrong? I mean there's no guarantee that I would have gotten pregnant even if I wasn't on the pill. Couldn't the pharmacist have just made a mistake?" Emily asked desperately.
"Emily you said it yourself, you have been taking placebos for more than 3 months. Do you think the pharmacist messed up every time?"
Jarred by the truth of those words Emily searched for another excuse. "Okay but the birth control pills were only a backup, had I ever slept with Zander I would have made him wear a condom as well."
Sighing Rory tried to answer that as delicately as she could, there was no reason to shake Emily anymore than she already was. "I know that's what you would have intended, and Zander would probably have even produced a condom to show you, he would even step back to 'put' it on. But Emily we're talking about your first time ever, and I'm sorry to tell you this but you're not going to be focused on whether or not he actually puts on the condom or not."
Emily's faced flamed but she kept quiet.
"Even if things start in the heat of passion, and one thing leads to another, eventually you get to that point where you're too embarrassed to look at what he's doing. You'll be too busy wondering if your doing things right, you'll be worried that your making too much noise, or that you're not making noise at all, you won't know what to do with your hands. You'll also be wondering if it's going to hurt. Sex, for the first time isn't like the magical moments that romance novels, TV, or movies make it out to be. It's an awkward, and for women, a painful experience."
Emily's blush intensified.
"Very rarely do you hear the sound of trumpets the first time out. About the only thing that makes it great at all is if you're with someone you really care about or love, and he cares about you, and he holds you in his arms. Then it's good."
Emily thought Rory's words made more sense than what she'd seen on her favorite soap opera. She had concerns about like that when she had been merely thinking about sex, she couldn't comprehend how overwhelming actually being in the moment would be. "So you're saying I wouldn't know if he was wearing a condom or not?"
"The first couple of times you probably wouldn't know, and if he said he was wearing a condom, I doubt that you'd check to find out if he was lying. You will more than likely become adventurous in bed, but normally you don't become so right out of the gate. So you have to figure or rather Zander figured that he might have three or four shots with you before he had to worry, and if he knew when you were ovulating that would improve his chances," she theorized coldly.
"That's why he was pressing so hard for me to meet him last week," Emily whispered in horrified realization.
"What?"
"The night you and Jason came to town he was adamant about seeing me that night, according to my calendar that's when I would have been the most fertile."
It was hard but Rory managed to swallow her pithy comment. She really was going to have to run the bastard over the next time she saw him.
"Zander's goal was to make me pregnant," Emily turned to look at Rory. "But why? He didn't know what I would do if I turned up pregnant. I've been afraid for weeks that I was pregnant, and until the doctor said I wasn't I still didn't have a clue what I would do if she said I was."
"That's the risky part of this brilliant plan. I'm sure if this had worked the way he planned for it to work he would make sure he found out if you were pregnant the instant you suspected, or he might even have planted the seeds that you could be himself. He would have wanted you to have the baby, told you that he loved you, and already the loved the baby. He might even have been smart enough to say that if you didn't want the baby, to have it anyway and give it to him to raise." Unaware of the looks Emily was giving her. Rory's mind raced ahead as she plotted what she would do with a similar con. "He is smart he's proved that already. Originally he was going to sleep with you before you turned 18. But seeing the birth control pills, made him adapt, he also changed his mind, rightly so. If you showed up pregnant and under 18 he would have been arrested for statutory rape of a minor. So that's why he eased off until after you turned 18, that was smart on his part."
Emily could only stare at her friend in horror at the scenario that was being outlined with such precision.
"Suddenly your 18, pregnant, scared out of your head, terrified of telling your family the truth, a family that you already left once because of Zander. And then there's Zander telling you everything you want to hear, telling you he loves you no matter what, and you can be a family, he would be the anchor that you'd cling too. Jesus this is brilliant," Rory muttered. "He'd probably work in the idea of marriage as well, the argument he could use to sway you if he had too, is that his child didn't deserve to be born a bastard, and you would more than likely agree, once that happened he would be one step closer to his BBD."
"His what?"
"His bigger and better deal," she explained absently.
"Which was?" Emily asked in fascination this Rory, cold, methodical, studying all the angles, was a side of Rory she hasn't seen before. Gone was the teasing, sarcastic woman with an easy smile, and loved to laugh, in her place was this calculating woman that reminded her of the bad parts she tried to ignore in her brother.
"You said it yourself, he wanted a Quartermaine heir, one fathered by him," Rory answered bluntly. "If you had his child he would be set for life. The Quartermaines would have, at worst tried to bribe him to leave, and even if he took them up on it he would always be able to return and ask for more, the baby would be his ace, his golden parachute for life."
"Jason," Emily whispered.
"Oh he'd count on you to control Jason, and I know you Emily, I only met you last week but I know you, so I know Zander knows you as well. There is no way that you would let Jason permanently damage Zander, especially not if he was the father of your child. You never know when you might need Zander for something because of the baby. No you might let Jason hurt him but you wouldn't let him kill him."
Rory couldn't help but smile at the beauty of the simple plan. If Zander hadn't jumped the gun and drugged her early, or if he had fixed her buttons correctly, he might have gotten away with it. "Very clever."
"You sound impressed."
Hearing the horror behind those words Rory lost the smile and belatedly remembered she was speaking to the intended mark. Emily would have been the victim in this con, Rory wasn't used to speaking with victims, especially not victims she liked, and she knew she'd just messed up. "I'm sorry Emily I just got carried away."
Emily nodded stiffly. "I'd like to go home now."
"Whatever you want," Rory sadly started the truck. That had been so stupid, she had forgotten she wasn't speaking to someone in the life, they wouldn't understand the fascination a plan like this could hold. It wasn't that she approved of what Zander had tried to do, because she didn't and she wouldn't have, even if she didn't like Emily. But just because she would never approve of the plan it didn't mean she didn't appreciate the idea.
Darting a look at Emily's cold expression she wondered if her blunder had just cost her a new friend. Philip's words from years ago came back to her. You and your criminal of an uncle don't belong in the real world because your nothing but parasites that feeds off the good in people, draining them dry just like a vampire would.
Philip had hurled those words at her when he realized she was the reason he was going to spend 3 months in a Mexican jail. She'd thought she'd brushed off his words immediately, but because they came back to her now, she realized she hadn't. They had only been festering inside of her just waiting to attack when she was the most vulnerable.
Both women were depressed, angry, and cloaked in their respective thoughts so the rest of the drive was made in silence.
~P.C.P.D.~
"Whitey your breaking my heart here, isn't there anything more you can give me?" Taggert pleaded as quietly as he could into the phone. He wasn't above begging when he really needed something but there was no reason for the entire squad room to hear him beg.
"LT I may be god but I don't do miracles anymore," came Whitey's snarky reply. "Now stop bothering me."
"Wait, Whitey." But it was too late Whitey had hung up.
"So how is the forensic guru today?" Garcia asked cheerfully.
Slamming the phone down Taggert sent his partner a warning look. "I don't want to hear a word."
"I wasn't going to say a word," Garcia paused a beat. "I was going to say several words. Words like I told you not to get into a pissing contest with Whitey because he wins every time."
"I hate your version of I told you so," Taggert grumped.
"Cheer up if you keep frowning like that no woman will want to date you."
"What's with you did you get an A on your book report? Or did the teacher finally ask you to stay after class to enact her own version of Mary Kay Leterneau?" Taggert taunted.
Garcia let the jibe roll off his back with practiced ease. He had received nothing but taunts since he'd gone back to school to get his criminal psych degree. He'd finally realized that his colleagues were merely jealous that he had enough smarts and ambition to go after what he wanted to, at least that's what he told himself when he got fed up with the abuse.
"No really, what put you in such a good mood," Taggert asked seriously.
"Guess who is going to a funeral?" Garcia asked.
"A funeral puts a smile on your face? That's just sick."
"No," Garcia glared at his partner. "It seems Francis Carnivale booked St. Vincent's today for a funeral at 1 o'clock."
"Francis works for Sonny." Taggert was instantly interested.
"I know and my sources tell me that both Sonny and Morgan will be at this funeral," Garcia reported.
"Who is the funeral for? One of the victims we got? I didn't think their bodies had been released yet."
"They haven't this funeral is for a guy named Manny Rameriz."
"That name sounds vaguely familiar," Taggert reached for his notebook.
"Rameriz was a new guy who worked for Sonny, he surfaced about six months ago. As far as organized crime can tell, he was strictly a low level grunt for Corinthos."
"If he's so low level then why does he warrant the presence of both of his bosses at his funeral?" Taggert wanted to know. "And more importantly what did he die of and why didn't we hear of his death before now?"
"He died of natural causes, a heart attack, according to the death certificate signed by Doctor Wilson, no autopsy was ordered even though Manny was in his early 20's. Wilson is citing a preexisting heart condition."
"I always knew Corinthos had an in at the coroner's office," Taggert grumbled.
"He has an in, in every County office," Garcia piped in bitterly.
"We need to see the body," Taggert determined.
"I agree, but after your stunt yesterday," Garcia felt Taggert's glare but kept talking. "By bringing Morgan down to the station for questioning, without a warrant, not to mention the harassment complaint Alexis filed against you on behalf of Rory Nichols, you picked the wrong time to mess up. There is no way a judge will sign off on the warrant we need to seize the body and stop the funeral."
"This is so fucking frustrating. They're the criminals, Morgan and Corinthos are the bad guys, but it's the cops who are punished. We have to jump through so many hoops, there's no way in the world we're ever going to nail them," Taggert bitched bad-temperedly.
Garcia thought that Taggert had brought most of the problems on himself, due to the out of control behavior he had when it came to Corinthos, but he wisely kept that opinion to himself. "What do you want to do?"
"This makes 5 of Corinthos people dying in the last couple of days, or I should say 5 that we know of, who knows who else is already dead. Added to that we have a suspicious accident at their warehouse that injured Jason Morgan. And the confirmed fact that someone tried to kill Rory Nichols, Morgan's girlfriend," Taggert went over his list of interesting facts. "As far as I can tell this only leads to one conclusion. It looks like we have a new player in town, one who is trying to eliminate Corinthos and Morgan."
Garcia nodded that was his take on the situation as well.
"The next few weeks will be hell, you remember what happened last time Corinthos had a mob war?"
"Vividly," Garcia replied. "And so does Mac, he was shot during that particular war and almost died."
"Yep, and I have a feeling things are about to get nasty all over again." Taggert stood and reached for his jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair. "Want to take a drive?"
"Where?" Garcia asked even as he fell in step next to Taggert.
"I think it's only fitting that we pay our respects to the late Manny Rameriz and at the same time find out who else is attending his funeral."
"You're not going to do anything that I'm going to have to write you up for, or even worse arrest you for, are you?" Garcia asked half-seriously and wasn't comforted by Taggert's smirk he received in answer to his question.
~L&B~
"Emily where the hell are you?" Nikolas demanded in the receiver before slamming the phone down hard when he got her voice mail yet again.
"What did that phone ever do you to you?" Lucky asked from the door.
"Lucky I didn't see you." Biting back his irritation at being interrupted Nikolas cleared his expression and focused on his brother. "What's going on?"
"I just thought I'd drop by," Lucky explained.
Habit had Nikolas checking Lucky for signs of drinking or hangover. Lucky's eyes were clear, his hands weren't shaking and there was no smoke odor coming from his clothes, indicating Lucky hadn't been drinking in a bar. That was a good sign, because Lucky liked to do his drinking in a bar. Nikolas had rarely found Lucky drunk at home. It seemed Lucky was a social drinker, even if he never said a word to anyone else, he still preferred to do his drinking surrounded by other people. Nikolas wasn't sure if that was good or not, but he was relieved that Lucky hadn't taken to stocking his apartment with booze, yet.
"I'm still sober," Lucky said good-naturedly. "I told you I'm not drinking anymore."
Nikolas refused to look or feel guilty for doubting Lucky. He'd seen too much in the last 2 years to take anything his brother said at face value. "That's good to hear."
"But you're not sure if you believe me or not," Lucky pressed. "I don't blame you Nikolas I can finally see how far I let myself slide."
"Yes you did," Nikolas agreed bluntly, refusing to sugarcoat things for Lucky. "You scared the hell out of mom and me a lot of times, and I can't tell you how many times Lulu called me in tears because you made mom cry or you forgot something you promised Lulu."
Lucky flinched at the coolly stated words. He knew he had a lot to make up for. Especially with Lulu, Nikolas, and Emily, they hadn't deserved what he'd put them through. He dismissed the mention of Laura from his mind. The relationship he had with his parents was far too explosive, he wasn't ready to walk through that quagmire yet. He needed to start slow and helping his brother seemed like a good place to start.
"Have you given anymore thought to going to Europe with Gia?" Lucky asked in an effort to change the subject.
Nikolas knew Lucky was trying to avoid the subject of their mother and was too tired to pursue it right now. "I'm not going."
"Why not? I told you, I'll be fine."
"There are a lot of reasons," Nikolas answered vaguely.
"What kind of reasons?" Perplexed Lucky went on. "Ned agreed to give you time off, I'll be fine on my own, Gia is chomping at the bit for you to go, so why are you dragging your feet?"
Nikolas didn't quite know how to dodge Lucky's pointed question, he hadn't had to dodge Lucky in over two years, so his evasion abilities had gotten rusty. Also as much as he may try to deny it at times, he was a Cassadine, and he wasn't used to being questioned. "I told Gia last night that I had no intention of going with her."
"And your still in one piece," Lucky whistled in appreciation. "How did you manage that?"
By being quick on his feet, the expensive vase that had been a housewarming gift from Mrs. Landsbury had been a victim of Gia's rage, and it had almost taken off his ear when she threw it at him. He hadn't got angry in return, because he could see the hurt that was causing her to lash out. Actually it was more than him seeing the hurt, he knew he was the one that had caused it, and he'd felt guilty because of that hurt, but not guilty enough to change his mind. He didn't want to leave. More specifically he didn't wanted to leave Emily. He had come to that unsettling realization at 3:00 am as he'd tossed and turned in the guest room. He just wasn't sure what that meant for him, for Emily, or for Gia.
He loved Emily, he always had, but he wasn't in love with her. That kind of love he'd reserved for Gia. Yet it had been Emily, and not Gia, that had been consuming his waking and some of his sleeping thoughts for weeks now. And ultimately it was the thought of not wanting to hurt or leave Emily that made him decide to stay in town. He just didn't know what he was supposed to do now.
The sight of Gia's pain the night before had hurt him terribly, and he knew he loved her. But at the same time thoughts of the pain Emily was in were also dancing in his head. He'd seen the stricken look in her eyes when Gia had made her announcement the day before. And he had only been able to watch as the color drained from her face and Emily had run out of the diner like it was on fire.
"Nikolas?" Lucky snapped his fingers in front of his brother's face. "Come back to me now."
Blinking furiously Nikolas forced his attention back to the present. "Did you say something?"
"Okay what's going on with you?" Lucky asked. "First Emily was acting weird and now you are."
"Emily?" He latched on her name. "When did you see Emily? What do you mean she was acting weird?"
"Take it easy," Lucky ordered. "I haven't seen her since yesterday when she lied and shot out the door."
"What do you mean she lied?" Nikolas asked.
"She said she had to meet Zander," Lucky explained.
Swallowing his distaste over hearing Zander's name and nodded. "He is her boyfriend."
"That's just it, he's not." Lucky saw the confusion in Nikolas' eyes and went on. "She told me before you showed up that she'd broken up with Zander the night before. She was a little upset about it but was determined it was for the best. So I don't understand why she said she was going to meet him, and ran away from Kelly's like she did."
Nikolas barely heard what Lucky was saying. His brain was stuck on the words Emily had broken up with Zander. Letting out a breath he felt such an intense feeling of relief that it surprised him. He never fully realized how much he'd despised the fact that Emily was dating Zander, until that very moment. The news that she wasn't seeing him anymore felt like a huge burden had been removed from his shoulders. Emily wasn't dating Zander anymore and that was a good thing. But Emily hadn't told him that, in fact she'd lied to his face that she was still dating Zander, and that was a bad thing. His already confusing like, just seemed to get even more complicated.
~Harborview~
"Can I help you?" A graveled voice asked the deliveryman who'd just gotten off the elevator.
"I have a delivery for a," the deliveryman paused to check his clipboard, "Carly Corinnes?"
"Carly Corinthos?" Max asked.
"You're guess is as good as mine." The deliveryman quipped holding out his clipboard with the illegible handwriting on it. "Is this the right address?"
"I'll take it." Max informed him.
"Okay, I just need you to sign," he held out a pen.
Max scribbled his name and held out a few bills as a tip, before reaching taking the flowers from the deliveryman. "Thanks man," the man grinned and turned back to the elevator.
Max looked down at the small bouquet, whoever sent this obviously didn't know Mrs. Corinthos at all. She hated Lilies, and this was full of them.
~*~
Marin kept whistling until the elevator door closed then discreetly checked his watch. It would be close but the timing could work out. Only one guard, and the man looked like he was more brawn then brain, so that should be no problem. He just needed to perfect his plan. The elevator doors opened again and he pulled on his good old boy face and tipped his hat to the elderly woman who had just gotten on the elevator.
Leaning back against the handrail he discreetly checked out the camera that was in the corner of the elevator. It hadn't been on the plans, but he bet it had been added at Corinthos suggestion. This was why he made test runs, to take in account all the possibilities both the planned and the unplanned. He'd adapt his plan, to take care of this complication. And when he was ready he'd make his move.
~St. Vincent's~
"Are you sure you shouldn't be wearing your sling?" Jason asked as he helped Rory out of the car.
Rory nodded and smoothed down her skirt. "The doctor said I could stop wearing it after a couple of days if I wasn't doing anything strenuous. If it starts hurting I'll put it on, but since I'm starting physical therapy tomorrow, I need to start using the arm again."
"Okay," Jason could see the sense of her words and she took his arm as they moved to the church. Habit had his eyes sweeping the grounds of the church searching for any signs of danger. When Carly and Sonny disappeared inside the church he began to breathe a little easier. "I didn't get a chance to ask you, did everything go okay?"
"It went as well as could be expected considering what we found out," she answered cryptically. The urge to confide in him about her fear that she had freaked his sister out was strong. But she knew she would never do it. She couldn't explain what she'd done to spook Emily without explaining what had led to the discussion and there was no way she was going to break Emily's trust.
"Good," Jason halted just inside the church's atrium, he already felt uncomfortable and he hadn't even made it all the way inside yet.
Rory shifted closer. "We don't have to go in, we can stay out here if you want."
Jason clasped her hand tightly taking the comfort she was offering. "I don't really like churches and I like them even less for funerals. I guess I never really saw the sense in funerals. Sonny would go to church occasionally and a couple of times I went along. I made sure I had Michael baptized in a church. And before I could do that I had to meet with the priest and answer questions about God and religion and all of that."
Content to listen, Rory drew him to the side of the door so other people could get past them.
"But to me a church is like a hospital, it's just a building with life and death in it." He was rambling, he knew it, but he couldn't seem to stop it. "I just don't get funerals. Lily's was the first one I went too, then a few months later I went to this Doctor's funeral with Robin, but I didn't know him. Since then I've been to a lot of funerals of people I worked with, and here I am again at another funeral for a man I don't even know," he sighed. "I just don't see the point of them."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because he worked for us, because of Sonny, because of what he meant to Francis," Jason offered his reasons.
"That's exactly why there are funerals, their not for the dead, obviously they're beyond caring. They are for the living, to help them remember, and eventually let go, closure I think they call it," Rory offered.
"I guess I still don't like them, and I'm sorry I dragged you here."
"Jason," she held her place when he started to move, until he looked at her. "If your crazy theory is right, then that man in there is dead because of me," she saw Jason's eyes frost and realized he hadn't made that leap yet. "Because of that I have more right to be here than almost anyone else."
"If you'd please take your seat we're ready to start," the attendant spoke from the vestibule. Rory took a step and Jason began to move inside after her. The attendant was about to close the door when another pair entered the atrium. "This is a closed service gentlemen."
Taggert waved the man away by flashing his badge. "That was an interesting conversation."
"Indeed it was," Garcia agreed and followed his partner inside the church.