Journeylove- There's a bit of that Brook trouble hinted at below. Nothing drastic, just the planting of seeds. Yes, seeds.

Story-

Bobbie had never really discussed the parenting of Carly with her directly. How could she? Bobbie was essentially little more than a whore, a call girl that worked for money because she felt that it was the only thing that she could ever do with her life. Carly asking that question brought back the memories that Bobbie would have much rather have forgotten.

"I know how hard this is for you, mom, but please…"

"Carly, you're not thinking straight. You don't need to know who your father is."

"Yes, I do," she grabbed her mother's wrist. "Mom, this made me think about things… things that I never thought about before."

"You're worrying too much right now. Morgan was sick and you're worried that something else will happen to him, or to Michael… or just anyone else that you care about. Carly, everything is going to be fine."

"You don't know that!" Carly gave a harsh whisper, trying not to upset Morgan. She knew that he would pick up on the vibes that were being given around him. "Can we talk outside, please? From the window so I can watch him. I just don't want him to hear any of this."

"There's nothing to talk about," Bobbie's eyes were closed. The years that she had spent trying to forget all the men that she had bedded simply to make a buck were coming back. She was angry at Carly for making her remember. Bobbie knew that she wouldn't go back to that life, but it didn't mean that she wanted to even remember it.

"Mom, please… hear me out at least?" Carly was desperate. Her mother was the only person who could help her and if Bobbie didn't want to then Carly didn't know if she could ever truly trust her mother again. This wasn't as simple as Bobbie wanted to make it out. Carly had her father's blood type, so did Michael. What if the same thing happened to Michael that happened to Morgan? Or worse?

"All right… but I'm telling you right now that you're not thinking properly." Bobbie got out of the chair and followed her daughter out of the room.

Carly watched Morgan from the window as she intended, but her attentions were completely focused on her mother. "I know that you don't like how I was conceived, mom. I know that you regret doing what you did, giving me up, not raising me yourself."

"So then why do you want to make me remember all those regrets, Carly? I thought we were passed the point where we were trying to hurt one another."

"I'm not trying to hurt you!" Carly defended her motives. "I'm trying to help my children and myself."

"How? By bringing a man in who might not even want anything to do with you or your children? Carly, what if you find your father and he doesn't care? He doesn't accept you as his daughter? What if that happens? It will break your heart. You saw what it did to Sonny when Damian came around."

"They managed to make it through the tough times, mom," Carly could remember vividly everything that happened between her husband and step-son. "I know that my father would do the same thing. He might be hesitant at first, but he would accept me… I just know it."

"No, you don't… you're trying to think about the best case scenario, which is what you should be thinking about anyway. You don't need to know who your father is."

"Yes, I do," Carly wasn't going to back down, not from this. "Mom, what if something else happens to Morgan? Or Michael? Sonny's family can't help Michael in any way because they're not his blood."

"The Quatermaine's practically own the hospital, Carly. If something happened to Michael don't you think that they would come here running to help him out? And even if they couldn't, Lucky and Lulu are here, too. Michael has all the support he needs."

"Mom," Carly wiped away some of her tears. "I'm afraid for my children now. This made me realize so much that I had been ignoring. I know that the odds are small, but they are there, that's why I can't drop this. I need you to help me find out who my father is. It's that simple."

"It's not simple," Bobbie shook her head. "Carly, your father could literally be one of dozens of men."

"So I'll find each of those men and get tested…"

"You can't do that! It's impossible."

"No, it isn't. Mom, you know how rich I am. Sonny has enough money to test half the population in the United States, I know you didn't sleep around with that many people…"

"Well thank you for downsizing my clientele, Carly. It really helps to know that you have enough respect for me to assume I didn't sleep with half of the American population."

"That's not what I meant!" It came out wrong, everything was coming out wrong. Carly couldn't help it. "Mom, it doesn't matter how many guys there were. You just need to tell me who they are."

"I can't even remember who they are! That was almost thirty years ago. Carly… please… I can't."

"You mean you won't."

"If that's how you think about the situation then I can't stop you," Bobbie lowered her head. "I wish you could believe me, Carly. I really wish you could."

"So do I." She walked to the doorway, "If you can't help me then there's no reason for you to be here."

"My grandson is in that room, that is enough reason for me to be here."

"You saw him, you know he's going to be all right. You can check up on him later… right now, right now I just need to be away from you."

"Carly…"

"Please, mom, before we both start saying even more things that we're going to regret." She still loved her mother, but that didn't mean she was entirely happy with Bobbie. Far from it, she'd never been more irate with her mother than at that very moment. How could Bobbie, in her right mind, even think about sacrificing the safety of her grandchildren? Carly would move heaven and earth to make sure that they were okay. Why couldn't her mother do the same thing?

Bobbie waited a moment to see if Carly was being serious, and then she knew that her daughter was. Carly wanted to know the answers to the questions that she couldn't answer, and Carly held it against Bobbie for being unable to give her what she wanted. It wasn't Bobbie's fault. Why couldn't Carly understand that? At the same time, why couldn't Bobbie comply? There was some level of her that was saying that Carly was right. She needed to know who her father was, for Michael, for Morgan, quite possibly for herself. Bobbie had ideas of who the man was. There was only a certain period of time that she could have gotten pregnant with Carly, but that still had a window, one she wanted to remain closed.

Carly watched her mother walk away out of the corner of her eye. She placed her hand on the container, looking down at Morgan. "I know you're too little to understand all of this, Morgan. And if I scared you with the way I was talking to grandma I really am sorry. But mommy needs to do this for herself, and for your brother and quite possibly for you. I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring but if it means that I have to depend on my parents then I need to know who they both are."

Lounge-

Brook Lynn walked out of the elevator. She'd seen Morgan… what, maybe twice? That didn't exactly equate to easy pickings when it came to getting a gift. But how could one go wrong with balloons? Wasn't like the baby was old enough to really appreciate the sentiment.

She saw her mother and Sonny talking in the lounge. Not wanting to disturb them, she looked around for a friendly face. Instead, all she got was Maxie, who was doing some paperwork. "You work here, too?"

Maxie tried to hide her scowl. She was on the clock, had to be decent to the girl that she didn't much care for. How could they not see it? She was trying to steal Damian. She could see it. "Is that surprising?"

"Kind of…"

"Why?"

"Because you seem more like the person who would rather, I don't know, hang out with people than be here helping people that you don't know. I mean, it's really cool that you're here, makes me give you more credit."

"When I need credit for you, I'll ask for it."

"Look," Brook knew well and good the whole cold shoulder thing. How many times had she utilized that in her life? "I don't know why you don't like me, and I really don't care, but you don't have to keep on giving me the cold stare of death every time I come around."

"You could just stop coming around…"

"See, that's kind of hard, since I like spending time with your sister and Dillon's my uncle."

"They're not here right now, you can go be with them."

"How stubborn are you?"

Maxie groaned, "Brook, is there something that you actually need, because if there isn't I've got things that I need to take care of. I was worried about Morgan so I was doing a slower job than I normally would be, but now that I know he's going to be all right I also know that I can get back to work."

"I brought these for him," Brook showed Maxie the balloons. "I hope he likes them. I was going to ask Damian for some help, but he's not here…"

"He went home. He's really tired right now. Damian had to give Morgan his blood so that Morgan would get better."

"He gave him his blood? That's so cool."

"Damian loves his baby brother, he'd do anything for Morgan, and for Michael."

"Sometimes I wish I had grown up around here, you know? Like, Kristina's my little sister, but I don't know her very well. I still care about her and would do the same thing that Damian did for Morgan, but I don't know… the fact that he did it, it shows how big his heart is."

"The balloons are fine. If you want, I'll deliver them when I go on my rounds. I'm stopping by the wing to check on Morgan myself."

"Sure," Brook handed them over. "Maxie, are you sure that we can't just bury the hatchet? Try and be friends? Everyone else in your close circle of friends and family seems to like me… and I like them, but the two of us, we just don't get along. I want us to be friends."

"I guess we could try," Maxie didn't like being a vindictive person. It reminded her too much of the way that she used to be. Old habits died hard and came back too easily. "But I won't make any promises."

"Didn't think you would, but I'll take you up on that offer. See you around. And do me a small favor, if my ma asks about me, just tell her that I went to get something to eat over at that Kelly's place."

"Can do…"

Mike watched the two of them. When Brook was safely away, he came up to Maxie. "Green isn't your color."

"What do you mean?"

"Maxie, you're not very good at hiding your feelings. You don't like that girl at all, and you're jealous about something. Do you think she's prettier than you?"

"She wants to take him away from me, Mike."

"Who? Damian? No she doesn't… she doesn't even know him that well. She's been in town for, what, four days maybe? Maxie… you're worried about something that you don't need to worry about. Damian is in love with you. That's not going to change."

"She just has so much in common with him," Maxie heard the way they were talking about music. She didn't know anything about it, beside the fact that she liked music. "When I think about me and him… I don't see what brought us together."

"The fact that you care about him and he cares about you. Maxie, people don't come together because they have similar interests. At least not all the time. Love isn't easy to categorize, to typecast. You've got something special with him, you shouldn't throw it away because you're doubting yourself. He wouldn't like that."

Maxie thought about Mike's words. He was telling the truth. Or at least she wanted to believe that he was. She hoped she wasn't wrong and that he wasn't wrong.