Carly stood outside of Michael's hospital room and peeked through the window. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw his eyes were open. She was about to go inside but froze mid step.
How was she going to tell Michael that the two most important men in his life were gone?
Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door and smiled brightly. "Oh my God, Michael, it's so good to see your eyes open!" she said, rushing over and hugging him tightly.
"Hey Mom," he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder. He laughed after a few moments. "You can let go anytime."
"Not a chance," Carly said, leaning back slightly and ruffling his hair. "You gave us quite a scare there, you know."
"I'm sorry. Mom, what happened? One minute Jacob and I were walking down by the warehouse, and then there was a flash, and that's all I remember."
Carly nodded. "There was an explosion, you guys were pretty close to it," she said.
"Dad and Uncle Jason were in that building though. And Jacob was with me. Why isn't Dad here?"
Carly shifted in her chair. "Dad can't be here right now," she said softly. "Michael, you just woke up a little while ago, what have the doctors said? Are you hungry? Can I get you anything to drink?"
"Grandma Monica has been in here three times, and Emily once. I'm fine, just tired and confused, and no I don't want anything to drink. Mom, is Jacob okay? Was he hurt in the explosion too?"
Carly started to open her mouth but before she could say anything the door opened and Courtney came in.
"Hey Michael!" she said brightly. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm awake," he said as his aunt hugged and kissed him. "Maybe you can tell me more than what mom is. Is Jacob okay?"
Courtney's eyes met Carly's, and they both sighed in unison.
"What?" Michael asked.
"Jacob was hurt pretty badly, Michael," Courtney said quietly.
"So was I. He's going to be okay though, right?"
Courtney shook her head. "No, he's not," she whispered. "Jacob didn't make it, he—he died Michael."
"Oh." Michael looked down at his hands for a minute and then looked up at her again. "Is Uncle Jason here?"
Courtney looked at Carly again, unsure of what to say. Carly's eyes were watery and her lips were trembling.
"Michael, honey," Carly began, her voice barely audible. "Jason didn't survive the explosion either." She tried to prepare herself for the next announcement.
Michael's eyes darkened considerably and he twisted the bedspread tightly between his fingers. "Jason's dead?" he looked back at Courtney, who nodded. "Where's Dad?" he asked, his voice tight and controlled.
"Michael—"
"Where's my Dad?" he repeated, his voice rising.
"He's dead," Carly whispered. She reached over to hug him, but he pushed her away.
"All three of them?" he said, his hands still twisting the blanket. "Why? Who did this? Was the explosion an accident or intentional?" He continued without letting them answer. "Of course it was intentional. They were getting too close, they were too close to finding out who was responsible. They knew too much, and someone found out." He was rambling now, but Courtney understood what he was saying. He just confirmed everything Jack had told her earlier.
Carly though, was confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Nothing," Michael said. Courtney was surprised to see how much like Sonny he really was. Refusing to explain it to Carly, because he would rather she didn't know what he knew was something Sonny always did.
Courtney didn't have that luxury of not knowing though, and she knew she had to tell Carly.
"Michael, I know this is all sudden and overwhelming, and I wish there had been an easier way to tell you, but—"
"No, its okay Mom," Michael said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. "You had to tell me." He paused. "Is Morgan here?"
"Yeah," Courtney said. "He's right outside."
"Can I see him? Alone." He looked at Carly. "Just for a minute, please?"
Carly nodded as she and Courtney both stood up. "I'll be right outside," she said. She kissed him once more on the forehead and then followed Courtney out into the hallway.
"God Court, did you see how he shut down when we told him?" Carly asked, once Morgan was in the room with Michael. "He's not even crying, and what was he talking about when he said they knew too much?"
Courtney sat down on one of the waiting room couches and waited until Carly sat next to her. "I've got to tell you what Jack told me tonight, only I'm not sure how to say it. And you have to promise me to stay calm when you hear it, okay?"
"I don't have the energy to fly into a rage, what did Jack tell you?" she asked.
"God, there really is no easy way to say this," Courtney sighed. "Jason and Sonny were teaching Michael and Jack all about their business."
"You're not serious."
"Jack said it all started when he began asking questions, and finally, the answers weren't enough and Jason started to show him how things were done. He said Sonny was doing the same thing with Michael, only they didn't tell us because they knew how we'd react."
"Are you sure he's telling the truth and not just trying to worm his way into the business himself?"
Courtney shrugged. "I don't know. He says that there's something in Jason's office that he needs to show me that will explain a lot, but we came here before he could show me."
"Son of a bitch," Carly whispered, her head swinging back towards the hospital room. "How much do you think they know?"
"Probably more than we do," Courtney said truthfully. "Jack did say that Jason and Sonny were keeping them in completely legal matters though."
"I don't believe that for one bit," Carly said. "Damn it Sonny, why do you always go and make things so difficult? Even when you're not here, you put me through hell with that son of ours." She lifted her eyes towards the ceiling and touches the strand of pearls that hadn't left her neck since the funeral, a gesture Courtney had seen her do often these past few days.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Courtney asked.
Carly shifted her gaze from upward, to the hospital room, and then finally to Courtney. "We get them the hell out the business, that's what we do."
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"By stepping up our plan." She sighed. "What do you think Jack wants to show you in Jason's office?"
"I have no idea." Courtney shrugged.
"I hate to suggest this, but maybe we can use the boys to help us," Carly said, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers thoughtfully.
"Absolutely not."
"Well not like, hands-on help, but they might know information about the Families that we don't know," Carly explained.
"What exactly is this plan of yours Carly?" Courtney asked.
"I can't really get into it here," Carly said, gesturing around the waiting room. She lowered her voice. "But basically, we're going to go use the families against each other to figure out who killed our husbands, and in the process, eliminate the mob from Port Charles."
Courtney raised her eyebrows. "That's a little over our heads, isn't it?" she asked cautiously. "I mean, now that Sonny's gone, you know Alcazar or Faith are going to do everything they can to take control here."
"They can't do much if they're dead," Carly explained.
"Absolutely not!" Courtney whispered loudly. "I will not kill anyone and neither will you!"
"We won't have to," Carly said confidently. "If everything goes according to plan, the families will eliminate themselves with just the slightest bit of pushing from us." Her dark eyes glittered. "I've got it all figured out Courtney, trust me, if everything goes according to plan, we won't have a drop of blood on our hands."
"And if things don't go as planned?"
"Then we'll do whatever is necessary." Carly sighed. "I thought you wanted to do whatever needed to be done for our family to be safe."
"I do, but Carly—"
"No buts then. Just trust me. Everything is going to work out in the end. It may take some time; I know this isn't going to happen in a blink of an eye. Everything needs to be timed out perfectly, and precisely planned."
"I guess," Courtney said, doubt filling her voice. "I just don't want anyone else hurt," she said softly. "I can't lose anyone else."
"We won't. That's a promise I can make with total confidence," Carly said, standing up. "Now, I need to go spend some time with Michael and Morgan."
"Are you going to tell Michael that you know about him and Sonny?"
"Eventually. Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond thrilled he's awake finally, but being in a coma for two weeks isn't going to protect him from all of the yelling I'm going to do later on."
Courtney laughed. "Just concentrate on Michael finally being awake," she reminded her. "Do you want me to take Morgan home, or are you keeping him here with you?"
"Here with me. The three of us need to talk about what happened." Carly's face changed again. "How awful for Michael to wake up to find out that 3 of the people he loved most in this world are dead." She took a deep breath. "But you're right, he is awake, and that's the best news we've had in a long time."
"He'll be okay, just like the rest of us will be," Courtney assured. She gave Carly a hug. "I'll take Jack home and see what's so important in Jason's office."
"Okay, I'll call you in the morning. Good-night."
All too quickly Courtney found herself back at home and dreading to go inside. With a determined deep breath she opened the door.
"How's Michael?" Jack asked from his spot on the couch.
"As good as we could expect. I think he's in shock, just learning about everything." Courtney dropped her purse on the coffee table. "Where are the girls?"
"Lila's sound asleep and I think Riley's studying for another test."
"And why aren't you studying?"
"Already done. I was waiting for you. Mom, I really need you to listen to what I have to say."
"I know," Courtney said reluctantly.
"I know this is hard for you. It's not all that easy for me either. Can I please show you what's in dad's office?" Jack asked, standing up.
Courtney nodded. "Let's go," she said, heading down the hallway to the second room in the house she couldn't bear to enter.
She felt a pang of sadness rush through her as she opened the door and turned on the light. Everything was the way Jason had left it, meticulously neat, not one thing out of place. A small smile tugged at her lips as she ran her hand along the edge of the pool table that stood in the middle of the room. If she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, she could still smell the scent of Jason's cologne in the room and it comforted her.
"Mom?" Jack's voice brought her out of her reverie and she turned to see him kneeling next to a file cabinet and pulling out a false panel to reveal what was obviously Jason's hiding spot.
"Dad once told me, if anything happened to him, that this file would probably help determine what happened to him," Jack said. "I never looked at it, because I knew he only wanted me to if something happened to him, and his trust meant more to me than anything."
"What does it say?" Courtney asked, kneeling next to him.
"I haven't read it. You should be the first." He handed her the file. "I know you and Aunt Carly have something planned, I heard you on the phone the night of the funeral."
"Jack, I know you think you can help, but I don't think that's an idea I'm very comfortable with," Courtney said, gripping the file in her hand.
"Well I'm not very comfortable with the idea of my mom becoming a mob boss," Jack said.
"That won't happen," Courtney said, not knowing if it was true or not. She still didn't really understand Carly's entire plan.
"Are you going to open it?" Jack asked, nodding at the file.
She nodded back at him and looked back down at the thick file in her hands. She flipped it open and scanned the first few pages, not believing what she saw.
"Oh my God!"
Author's Note: Hmm, what's in the file? Guess you'll have to wait and see. I'm not really sure about this chapter, but then again, I'm not really sure about this whole story, I just know that its fun to write! I also know it still seems kind of slow-moving, but trust me, now that Michael's awake and Carly and Courtney know about their sons being involved, things are definitely going to pick up. Just bear with me! As always, feedback is appreciated!
