Author's Note: Alright, I finally have an update for you! It's a little rushed, I was trying really hard to actually get something written and hopefully, it's still enjoyable! Anything set apart by "xxxxx" is a flashback.


Chapter 4 -- The Tangled Webs We Weave

"So Rachel, what do you say? Will you spend forever with me in paradise?"

"I could definitely get used to this," Rachel replied, her eyes sweeping over the sandy beach and resting on the blue-green waves that crashed against the shore. She reclined against the chaise and closed her eyes against the sun. "But forever is an awfully long time AJ."

"Not long enough where you're concerned." AJ laughed. "I'm sorry, was that cheesy? It was; it was lame. I can't help it though, you captivate me Rachel. You leave me tongue-tied and I haven't felt this way since, well, it's been a long time."

Rachel peered over the top of her Chanel sunglasses, smiling at the man who sat at her feet. "Tell me about her," she said, nudging him with her foot.

"About who?" AJ picked up her foot and massaged it.

'The Queen of Spain." Rachel rolled her eyes. "The girl who broke your heart. The one who's made you so bitter."

"I'm not bitter anymore," he replied, tickling the soles of her feet. "Not since I found you."

"Charmer." She smirked at him, removing her feet from his grasp. "Come on, tell me about her. If you tell me everything, I'll share my own past sordid heartache with you and we'll see who wins." She smiled at him coyly. "Please?"

"Oh all right." AJ made a big production of sighing. "Her name was Courtney and the day she married me was the happiest day of my life…"

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Jesus, I really did fall into his trap with my eyes wide shut. Or is it eyes wide open? Either way, I was a fool and AJ had no problem manipulating me.

Manipulating, is that what he did? Was it really that difficult to begin with? I'm not a stupid woman; chances are I would have formed my own revenge against Steven on my own.

AJ just made it a lot easier for me.

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"So you see Rach, it's the perfect plan!" AJ's eyes lit up like a child's would on Christmas morning. "In Courtney's mind, the only thing worse than being married to me would be giving me half of her foundation money. She'll refuse signing over anything to me. She'll threaten me with litigation and her big bad brother, but she won't give me a cent. But she'll do it in person. She'll come to the Bahamas to see me, and that's all we need. We just need her to be here."

Rachel sighed and rolled over in bed, taking the sheet with her. Over the past weeks, AJ had become infatuated with this plan. "I don't know AJ, it seems awfully farfetched."

"Trust me, it's not." AJ sighed as he watched Rachel walk over to the balcony and look out. "Rachel, she deserves everything that we'll do to her. I deserve everything we're going to get from her. And you deserve to have your revenge on Steven."

Rachel whirled and faced him. "How does Steven fit into this?" she asked. "You've never said anything about Steven."

AJ grinned. "Steven lives in Port Charles," he explained. "If we're going to frame Courtney for my murder, we can easily have her murder Steven."

"Don't say murder," Rachel said with a shudder. "This is all starting to sound like a bad movie with all the murder and revenge talk."

"I'm sorry." AJ walked up behind her and slid his arms around her. "Rachel, what Steven did to you was terrible. After all you did for him, after saving his career, he tossed you aside like garbage. You deserve so much more than that. You've earned the right to make him pay for that. He's the same as Courtney. They need to pay for what they did to us." He took her silence as acceptance, knowing her resolve was weakening.

"I thought you were like me," he whispered into her hair. "I thought you wanted to have everything in the world, and I'm telling you Rach, if we go through with this, we will have everything. We'll be untouchable, and more importantly, we'll be together."

Rachel sighed and leaned back against him. "Do you really think everything will go as planned?" she asked reluctantly.

AJ smiled into her hair. "I haven't let you down yet, have I?"

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He was good; I'll give him that. Not that I made it hard for him, I let him worm his way into my life with expensive presents and cheap promises. Seriously though, what woman doesn't want to be spoiled though? Who doesn't want to be treated like that?

Why did I agree to everything? Yes, I hated Steven. Hated? Hate? Whatever, he wasn't my favorite person by any means, but up until I met AJ, had I really wanted him dead? I can't say the thought of death had ever actually entered my head. Sure, I thought about cutting off his hair while he slept, but I never thought about stabbing him with those scissors.

AJ's sneaky; I'll give him that too. How could I be so foolish to believe that he was actually in love with me? Because it's obvious now that he wasn't. I was just another player in his twisted game.

If only I had researched everything a little bit better, this all could have been avoided.

It wouldn't have been hard to find out the truth about Courtney and why she left AJ. Hell, the guy made her life a living hell. I probably would have retaliated by sleeping with his brother as well.

Get real Rachel. Courtney's never done a thing in retaliation. She's not like that; you're the one to possess all of those traits.

It doesn't matter how kind and good Courtney is though, she's never going to forgive you for what you've done.

Yes, AJ really does know how to ruin lives.


"Jax?" Courtney opened her eyes upon finding herself alone in bed. She rolled over and blinked several times before her eyes focused on Jax, who was in the living room talking animatedly on his phone.

She sighed and buried her face in her pillow. She was exhausted. She hadn't slept for more than twenty minutes last night, and she couldn't afford to spend all day in bed, no matter how tempting it was.

It wasn't just the whole Rachel thing that was bothering her; it was everything else too. She kept thinking about Michael, and how she hadn't spent much time with him in the weeks before his disappearance, and she thought about Carly and Sonny, and how they were, or weren't, in Carly's case, dealing with it. She had been so consumed with her own life lately, with Rachel, and with Jax, that she had neglected everyone else that was important to her.

She slid out of bed to stand in the doorway and watched as Jax ended his call and put the phone down. "Hey," she said softly as he started going through a pile of paperwork. "Working from here this morning?" she asked, walking over to him.

He looked up and nodded. "I just needed to go through some stuff, but didn't want to leave you alone," he said absently, placing a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't," she assured him, wrapping the robe around her tighter and smiling at him.

"You didn't sleep much last night," he noted. "I was trying to let you sleep in, but I guess that didn't work. Is everything okay?"

She hesitated, watching as he opened a notebook and began writing. It was obvious he was busy with work, but if she was going to tell him, it had to be now.

"Actually." She sat down next to him and took a sip from his cup of coffee. It was bitter, she noted, remembering that Jax drank his coffee black whereas she turned hers into a sugary sludge. "There is something we need to talk about."

"Yeah?" he asked absentmindedly, not looking up from his writing. "Is it something about the wedding?"

"No." She bit her lip and then placed her hand on the notebook, taking it from his grasp. "It's about Rachel," she said.

"Rachel?" He put down his pen and finally turned to look at Courtney. "What about her?"

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"You son of a bitch!" Rachel didn't bother waiting until AJ was completely in the room.

"That's an interesting way of greeting the love of your life." AJ smiled at her. "Having a bad day, dear?"

"You bastard, did you think I wouldn't find out?" She thrust a stack of papers at him. "You've got an entire background check on me here. You went behind my back and found out every little detail of my life? Everything! My whole relationship with Steven, my family, everything about school and my career…AJ what the hell did you think you were doing?"

AJ looked at the papers he was now holding. "Rachel, honey, I can explain," he said, putting the papers down on the desk and walking over to her. "You have it all wrong."

"Do I?" she laughed bitterly. "You have no idea what I'm thinking right now."

"Sure I do," he said. "You're upset, you think I don't trust you."

"Obviously you don't," she retorted. "AJ, out of everything you could have done, you do this? You know I don't trust easily, and I trusted you."

"You can still trust me," AJ said, stepping closer. "Just let me explain," he said, smiling sweetly at her.

"Go ahead, explain," she said with a wave of her hand. She folded her hands in front of her and waited expectantly.

"I didn't mean to upset you, that's why I never told you about this," he said soothingly. "The only reason I even had the check done was I wanted to make sure there was nothing in your past that could jeopardize the plan," he added. "I was just trying to protect you."

"Protect me," she said, smiling a little. Her voice softened as she ran a hand over the side of his face. "You mean, you only looked into my past after you told me about the plan to keep me safe?"

"Exactly," he said, sliding his arms around her. "I love you Rachel, I couldn't stand it if anything else bad happened to you."

"You're so sweet," she said as she moved her hands over his back and brought them around to his stomach. "I don't know what I'd do without you AJ." She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "There's just one more little thing," she said, toying with his belt buckle.

"What's that?" he asked, running his hand through her hair.

She moved her hand down and grabbed him in a vice-like hold, ignoring his strangled yelp. "You're a goddamn liar AJ," she said venomously through clenched teeth as she tightened her grip. These papers are dated two weeks before I even ever met you so don't you dare tell me you were just looking out for my best interests." She released her hand and smiled satisfactorily as he collapsed over the back of a chair.

She walked over to the couch and sat down. She rolled her eyes as AJ gasped for air and tried to stand. "You have five minutes to start explaining, and it better be damn good or I'm walking, and you'll never see me again."

"Actually." AJ stood up and faced Rachel; his eyes level with hers. "You're not in any position to be making idle threats to me." He walked over to her and Rachel took small satisfaction in the fact that he was limping.

"Looks like you're not in much position to do anything," she replied with a giggle. Her smile faded when she saw the look on AJ's face.

"I mean it Rachel, don't even think about walking out on the plan or me right now. You can't. I won't let you."

"Can't?" She shook her head. "AJ, you're sicker than I thought. Forget it, I'm not going to be a part of this stupid revenge plot anymore. Find yourself another girl."

"I can't," he said, grabbing her hand as she tried to walk past him. "Believe me, I would if I could, but it has to be you."

"And if it's not?"

"Then I'll ruin your life more than you ever thought possible."

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"So let me get this straight." Jax spoke slowly as he looked at her. "The first time you met Rachel was on the plane back from the Bahamas, and then suddenly she showed up on your doorstep and told you she killed AJ for you? And now, she wants you to kill Steven? Is that what you're telling me?"

Courtney nodded. "Basically, yes," she admitted.

"Do you know how much sense that makes?"

"None," she agreed. "Jax, I know, believe me, I know it doesn't make sense at all."

He just stared at her for a minute before standing up to pace the length of the room. Finally, he turned and looked at her.

"Courtney, did you do it?" he asked finally.

"What?"

"Did you kill AJ? Honey, if you did, please, tell me, and we'll get through this, we'll make sure nothing happens to you."

"You think I killed AJ?" She shook her head. "Jax, how could you think that?"

"Well, Courtney, I don't know!" He paced again. "But if you did, you can't just place the blame on one of your closest friends who's in a coma and can't defend herself."

She stared at him. "Jax, I just told you! I don't know Rachel! I just met her a few months ago."

"Oh come on Courtney, I know what this is about!" He sat down next to her and sighed. "Look, I know you've noticed Rachel flirting with me, and I get that you might be jealous, but honey, that's no reason to accuse her of murder."

"Are you serious?" Courtney stared at him in disbelief. "I sit here and tell you that I'm being not only framed for murder, but also blackmailed into actually killing someone, and your first instinct is to accuse me of making it up because I'm jealous?"

"It would make more sense than what you're saying," Jax admitted. "I'm sorry Courtney, but it just doesn't make sense at all. Rachel doesn't strike me as a psychotic killer."

"I can't believe you," she said. "You seriously think I killed AJ?"

"Courtney, if you did, I promise, I'll help you get through this."

She stared at him again. "I didn't kill AJ," she repeated.

"And I want to believe that."

She shook her head, turning away from him. "I should have waited until I talked to Jason." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Of course, you went running to Jason first, didn't you?" Jax sounded harsh. "I thought you weren't going to have him fix your problems anymore, remember that? He's not supposed to be the one you turn to now."

"I didn't!" She protested. "If you'd let me explain, yes, I went to Jason and asked him to check Rachel's background. He has the means to do that, and you don't. But as for everything else? I'm sorry to disappoint you but I haven't told him that Rachel killed AJ. You're the only one I've told and you know what? I'm sorry I did."

"Of course you are." Without another word Jax left the loft, slamming the door behind him.

"Perfect," she whispered to herself, sitting back down on the sofa. She closed her eyes and rested her head in her hands. She wasn't sure how long she sat like that but she didn't move until she heard her cell phone ringing from the other room.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Jason, hey."

"Hi. I had Stan pull the information on Rachel." She noticed his voice sounded off. 'Can you meet me this morning?"

"Sure." She looked at her watch. "Where do you want to meet?"

"You can come by here, I'll be here until after lunch," he offered.

"Okay, yeah, great. I'll be there soon. Bye." She hung up the phone just as it rang again. She saw Jax's name flashing on the LCD and pressed the button on the side of the phone, the one that silenced the ringer and directed the call to voicemail.


He knew. He knew the whole time that Courtney and I were sisters. AJ never gave a damn about me, he needed me to make sure he could hurt her in every way possible. Oh he's going to pay. I'm going to make sure of that.

Rachel's eyes opened slowly and she blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the dim light in her room. A smile spread across her face slowly as she looked over at the phone on the table next to her bed.

Yes, she thought as she reached for the phone. He'll pay.