Anna chewed her fingernail absently as she stared out the airplane window at the milky black of the night sky. She wasn't even sure why she was here, flying back to Pine Valley. She should have told David
to forget it-- she wasn't going to help. But any resistance was a lost cause as soon as she allowed him to begin speaking.
That voice. The one that could bring a smile to her face and an ulcer to her stomach at the same time.
She'd avoided getting any specific news from Pine Valley after she left. She'd kept in touch with Aiden, but he knew not to fill her in on the goings on in Pennsylvania. Other than finding out "who done it" in the Michael Cambias case, she wasn't interested. She'd had enough of the chaos, the lies, and the pain. She'd moved in with Robin for awhile, then she got her own apartment. In Paris. Plenty to do in Paris. Plenty of things normal people do in a big city. But no run ins with people with multiple personalities. No murders
where all her friends were suspects. Despite being a large European city, compared to Pine Valley, it was relatively quiet. Normal.
Boring.
She sighed and shook her head slightly. Pine Valley was probably the only place in the world so chaotic as to make Paris seem boring. Well, Port Charles had it's moments. Maybe it was something weirdly American.
David had tried to explain on the phone, but she'd been more confused the longer he spoke.
The daughter had been a shock. Why, she didn't know. She'd known others with surprise adult children who had shown up on their doorsteps. Actually, there seemed to be a lot of that in Pine Valley. She thought a moment of her year and a half in Paris. Nope. Not once. But this meant that Leora had a sister-- and part of her reason for jumping on a plane rather than trying to help from overseas had been to see that sister. Part of the reason.
"Wow..." she'd said after David told her. "how old is she?"
"Twenty. I mean... well... let me think... I think she's twenty one."
"You're not sure?"
"Um..." David was silent on the phone, thinking. "It would be twenty one now. I think."
He didn't sound drunk. Seemed odd he wouldn't know his daughter's age.
"And how long have you known?"
"About seven months."
"And... she's in trouble because of a custody dispute, right?"
"Yes-- she married JR Chandler--"
"J.R. Chandler?" cut in Anna. She tried to figure out how old JR was about now. That must have really irritated Adam-- JR was only about 18.
"Yeah, and that kid has turned into a real Adam Junior. He's pulling all his dad's nasty tricks. He drugged her, he tried to blackmail her, he tried all sorts of things to get custody of Bess--"
"Bess. I thought you said she had a boy."
"She did," said David. "... it's a long story. Um... "
There was a silence on the phone for a moment. Okay, David, she thought. Think up your cover story. I'll figure it out when I arrive.
"There was sort of a mistake--" said David after a moment. "... and - - now Babe didn't know this-- she got Bianca's baby, and hers was kidnapped for awhile. She thought he was dead--"
"I thought you said she didn't know the girl baby wasn't hers--"
"She didn't at first-- she found out later... Anna, it was a mess, but it's all straightened out now. Except-- Erica is holding a little grudge-- and JR is trying to ruin the life of the little boy and make him into an Adam the third-- so we have to--"
"Oh, little three piece suit stretchie, eh?"
"Anna, this isn't funny."
"Okay-- okay. So... right now you have a situation where JR and Adam will agree to give up custody, but now Erica is trying to get custody... of ..."
"Ace. I mean James. They renamed him James after Jamie Martin--- "
That had to irritate David, Anna thought. She assumed JR had done the renaming. He seemed to adore his little brother Jamie.
"...So yeah..." David went on. "-- Erica will take James unless we can figure out her age."
"David, this is weird. It has to be a joke."
"Anna, believe me, I wish it were. And I thought it would be easy to get Erica's age..."
"Yes, you told me all that." said Anna a little shortly. "Look-- I'll get a flight out there -- you have about thirty six hours left, right?"
"Yeah-- Babe signed this contract-- she thought Erica was joking, and--"
"Okay...never mind that. Erica probably had someone fix a few age related documents. I'm sure there are other ways we can sort this out. Looking at her children's birth certificates, for one... I'll see what I can find on this end before my flight. I'll call you from Philadelphia International when I get in."
"Anna... thanks."
"Sure," said Anna with a sigh.
She'd arranged her flight, and sat down at the computer to do a little digging. Detective work was definitely not David's strong point. He ought to have asked Aiden for help, but from what he'd told her, he and Aiden were not on good terms again. Still, how hard could this be?
After an hour of searches, password hacks, and multiple conflicting windows of information on her screen... she was hooked. This was weird. None of it made sense. The more she looked, the more
confusing it got. Maybe things would be clearer once she got to Pine Valley.
