OK, the next time I decide to write a conversation between 11 people just shoot me! This is probably the biggest challenge that I've given myself as a writer, I just hope I pulled it off!

Chapter 32

CJ was the first to notice the former First Couple walking towards them, and poked Toby in the shoulder as she slid off the couch and to her feet.  He quickly followed her lead, grasping the ball on its bounce and sliding his laptop to the couch.  Leo paused mid-pace and quickly ended his conversation. Meanwhile, Sam looked up at the quieting of the bouncing ball, hit save and rose holding his laptop at his side and Josh pushed away from the wall.  "Sir. M'am," they all said in unison, causing Jed and Abbey to shoot somewhat amused looks at each other, while V. stood off to the side, feeling out of place.

"All of you take a seat," Abbey ordered, a touch of her annoyance in her voice. At the command, CJ rounded the couch to sit next to Toby on the couch.  Sam pulled the chair he had been occupying closer to the central area of the room, as Josh moved to the couch opposite  the one Toby and CJ sat on with Leo moving to sit on one side of him and V the other, leaving a love seat catty cornered to both couches for the couple.  "Now, let's get something straight here and now.  While we're here Jed and I are not the former first couple.  We're just Jed and Abbey.  And just to make sure you understand how serious we are about it, we're making it an executive order that you address us as such," she informed them, to a snort from Leo.  "You have a problem with that?" she asked, as Toby, CJ, and Sam tried to hide their amused grins and Josh looked up at the ceiling.

"No m'am. . . I mean. . ." he stopped, chuckling slightly.

"Humoring," Jed chided jokingly as he sat on the edge of the love seat.

"That was you, not her."

"Told you they wouldn't take it any better coming from you," Jed gloated, as Abbey rolled her eyes.

"Best course of action, avoid addressing them directly," CJ muttered to Toby, who shook his head.

"Like he did before he knew our names," he agreed.

"You two have something you want to share?" Jed asked, baiting a trap.

Toby and CJ shared a look before she dropped her gaze and looked away, knowing she couldn't hide her amusement, but that his beard would do the job as he answered evenly, "Not really."

"Nice cover," Leo muttered as Josh banged his head against the back of the couch.

"I thought so," Toby shrugged.

"OK. So what's next?" Jed asked deciding it was time to move on as his wife sat next to him, and the door opened, allowing Ron Butterfield to slip in.

"Aren't we forgetting someone?" CJ asked as she indicated the phone on the table located between the couches with her head.

"Right," Jed said as he looked at his wife who rolled her eyes.

"Really, Jethro, sometimes I don't know how you manage at all," Abbey muttered as she reached for it and started dialing their youngest daughter's number from memory. After a quick exchange with Zoey, she reached over and switched the phone to the speaker function.

"Moving on," Leo interjected with a shake of his head.  "I thought we'd start with you, Ma'am, I mean. . . Abbey."

"Well, there's not much for me to say.  Donna's condition is critical. She hasn't regained consciousness, which is a major concern right now. There's been some stonewalling at the hospital about getting the tests done, as well as the problems you experienced earlier with the MPA.  Stefan Cassidine helped me get past the tests barrier and we're waiting for the results.  I'm heading back to the hospital later tonight to talk to the other doctors on the case.  With luck they'll allow us to upgrade her condition," Abbey informed easily.

"Is there are reason you were stonewalled?" CJ couldn't help but asked.

Abbey looked over to Ron, and then sighed, "Let's just say I'm not so sure that Leo's so off base with the idea someone is doing things to hinder Donna's recovery."

"I still don't. . ." CJ shook her head. 

"Have we found out if what happened is connected to the guy who was harassing her?" Sam asked, causing Josh's head to come up.

"Some guy's been harassing her? Since when?" he asked, then frowned when he realized he was the only one surprised by Sam's question.  "You all knew about this?"

"Most of us just found out," Toby grumbled as he looked pointedly to Sam.

"She didn't want anyone to know!" the younger man protested.

"And a lot of good not telling any of us but you got her!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I never would have thought you would've turned your back on someone who. . ." Toby started angrily.

"Arguing amongst ourselves isn't going to get us anywhere," Leo interrupted.

"Why wouldn't she say anything?" Josh wondered, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that someone was bothering her and yet she didn't say anything to him.

CJ shifted uncomfortably on the couch, "because she thought she wasn't important enough."

"What?"

"CJ why would you think that?" Abbey wondered, knowing that the answer was what was making CJ uncomfortable.

"She came to see me a couple of weeks ago when I gave a lecture in Land View.  She made a couple of comments about her bad taste in men, but. . . she never. . ." CJ shook her head.  "Anyway, the organizers of the event came to my room. . . In hindsight I'd say she was coming close to asking for help. . .She left then.  I don't remember her exact words, but they were something about my having more important things to do than visit with her."

"And you didn't try to stop her?" Josh half asked/half accused.

"Of course I did.  But you know how she is, and I really didn't think. . ." CJ fiddled with a pen as her voice trailed off.

"You had no way of knowing, Claudia Jean," Jed reassured.

"It doesn't make me feel much better," CJ sighed, "I just figured I'd catch up with her later.  But the lecture circuit. . ."

"There were other people who had to have known, and could've said something," Sam put in, looking at V.

"It's not like I have you all on speed dial.  It was all I could do to get her to call you, never mind the maneuvering it took to get her to file for a restraining order. . ." she protested as she rubbed at her collar bone.

"I'm just saying. . ." Sam started, as Charlie broke in: "this isn't getting us anywhere."

"Charlie's right.  What's next?" Jed asked as she looked over the group, stopping on his goddaughter.  "V, why don't you tell us what you know? Especially since you knew about the harassment and what the police have done about it.  I'm assuming she did go to them?"

"Yeah.  She filed for a restraining order, but it was denied."

"Do we know why?" CJ asked.

"There are a couple of theories floating around," V. admitted.

"Would one of them have to do with the fact that it's rumored that the perpetrator is a member of a prominent Port Charles family?" Toby questioned as he looked over the notes he had made on the information he had been given.

"More or less."

"Which family?" Zoey asked.

"The Quartermains," V. exhaled, to the curses of a couple of the people in the room.

"Which explains the problems at the hospital," Abbey said through gritted teeth.

"How?" Josh wondered.

"Monica Quartermain is Chief of Staff.  Her husband, Alan, used to be.  Plus Edward and Skye are board members," V. explained, as a muffled question by Charlie and answer from Zoey drifted over the line.

"Which member are we dealing with?" Zoey asked.  "I mean. . . well, aren't a couple connected?"

"AJ.  And he's not 'connected.' If anything, he has a couple of the local mobsters out for blood.  In fact that's the other reason why it might have been denied."

"Meaning?"

"Donna's friends with Ned Ashton and Carly Spencer."

"Isn't that. . .?" Toby muttered as he looked over to CJ.

"I think so. . ." she replied without looking up from the note she was making, as Abbey posed her own question to V: "Any relation to Luke Spencer?"

"His niece," V confirmed over Jed's groan.  "Ned is AJ's cousin.  The two of them have a somewhat adversarial relationship, even by Quartermain standards. AJ replaced Ned as CEO of ELQ shortly after he---AJ—" she clarified, "married Carly.  The two of them where really only married because of their son, Michael.  It, not surprisingly, didn't last long, and they're very antagonistical towards each other.  AJ signed away his parental rights, but has often claimed that he was forced to by Carly's second husband, Sonny Corinthos."

"You are so calling her," Toby said under his breath to CJ, who just nodded, as V. continued: "Ned runs L&B Records and Carly's partners in a couple of ventures with Jax.  You'll more than likely meet them at the hospital at some point."

"If I remember correctly, Ms. Spencer's the one who thought that it wasn't an accident that Donna's Medical Power of Attorney was misplaced," Leo put in.

"That still doesn't explain why it matters that Donna's friends with them," Josh commented.

"Corinthos is an alleged mobster and racketeer," Toby told him.

"Not to mention the dealings Luke Spencer had with the mob," Abbey sighed.

"I'm not even asking how you know about those," Leo said with a frown.

"Just be glad the Congressional committee didn't," she shot back.

"Ummm. . . Josh did have a point," Sam sighed, wanting to get the conversation back on track.

"Carly isn't exactly the most. . . stable of PC's citizens.  She's pretty volatile when it comes to her son."

"Isn't she the one who shot a man in open court because he got off on kidnapping charges?" CJ asked.  "But her name was different at the time. . ."

"She went by Roberts then," V. confirmed.  "Any way, she's kinda known for her outlandish plans.  Some of them can be seen as entrapment, and she's done worse to keep Michael than try to convince someone to say that AJ was harassing them."

"You think that the judge thought that that was what was going on?"

"At the least they used it as an excuse to deny the request."

"Do we know what type of evidence she had?" Leo asked.

"Messages left on her answering machine.  Cards. Letters. Gifts.  She couldn't prove he was following her, but Jax and Ned catching him in her apartment one night when they dropped her off. . ."

"He got into her apartment, and they still refused the order?" Charlie interrupted incredulous.

"She never said anything about him breaking in. . ." Sam commented at the same time.

"There was no evidence of a break in.  He got a key somehow," V. filled in.  "And I didn't find out about it till I read the report on the incident.  He claimed she gave him the key and was embarrassed when he was caught there.  At the time she hadn't reported any of the other incidents to the police. Truth was, we didn't know about half of them then either.  Jax and Carly had her get a security system installed in her apartment."

Ron frowned at the recitation, "you have a comment Ron?" Jed asked, surprising him.

"It just doesn't sound like Ms. Moss was the first victim if he managed some of these things and to talk his way out of an arrest.  He had to have thought out getting into her apartment and an excuse before hand."

"That could be a way for us to get him, then, right?" Josh asked.  "I mean, we prove that Donna wasn't the first.  Get the others. . . get the police department to build a case around that."

"If it were that simple, Josh, we'd already have him in jail," V. sighed.

"What do you mean?" Toby wondered, not liking the subtext of V.'s statement.

"It's just. . .Donna's not the first person AJ pushed down those stairs. . ." V admitted.

The group seemed to inhale all at once at the proclamation.  Then the questions started coming form seemingly all sides.  Who? When? What was done? Had he gotten away with it then too? Shaking her head, V tried to find the words to answer their questions.  "It was a couple of years ago.  He and Carly were estranged at the time and they got into an argument on the stairs.  She said he pushed her; he said it was an accident.  He was drunk at the time.

Carly was hospitalized and. . . well, the fall caused her to have a miscarriage.  A couple of more weeks they could have gotten him on negligent homicide.  As it was it would've been an assault charge.  Her word against his. . . with her track record when it came to honesty. . ." V shrugged.

"Wait, are you saying that the DA's office refused to prosecute because she wasn't the most honest person in town and he's from a prominent family?" CJ asked, incensed at the idea.

"I wasn't here at the time.  But from what I got out of the file and the attached notes, ADA Jensen was willing to.  Carly chose not to press charges because of Michael."

"It just doesn't seem right.  He's done this before and still no one will do anything. . ." CJ shook her head.  "This is not how our system is supposed to work! I mean, there has to be something we can do.  Doors we can bang on so people will listen!"

"We're not using our former positions to force their hands," Leo admonished.

"Why not? They're using their names too!"

"Because if we do, they'll use it against us when this goes to court," Jed reasoned.  "But that doesn't mean that we can't use some of our connections to get us there."

"What are you plotting?" Charlie asked all too knowingly.

"We use our resources."

"Can you clarify that statement?" CJ put in, "because that could have a hell of a lot of implications."

"They're trading on favors, so will we.  We get information from people we know in town or who know the Quartermains and how they operate," Leo explained.

"And then what? Because, from what V said, we're not going to get much from the legal community here," Josh demanded.

"Someone wants to do something, because the leak who contacted INN works at the Police Department," Toby informed.

"And I can take a guess at who," V put in. 

"How high?" Leo asked, knowing it could mean a major difference in how difficult things could get.

"My bet, it either came from one of the more senior detectives or the commissioner."

"We'll still have to deal with the DA's office and judges. . ." Sam reminded.

"The problem is getting the DA on board.  The lead ADA, Dara Jensen, doesn't care who it offends, she'll prosecute if there's enough of a case."

"How's her conviction record?"

"Would be better if the DA let her have more time to build better cases," V admitted.  "She knows what's she's doing, and for us to get that far Dara would have to have a pretty open and shut case."

"Do you think we can get the information needed to make this one?" Charlie inquired.

"There are already too many mistakes on this one," V divulged.  "The Quartermains managed to block a breathalyzer and blood alcohol test.  There are also witnesses who are changing their stories.  Plus there was a delay in getting statements from Jax, Carly, and Ned.  A good lawyer can argue that they concocted their stories.  That they took an accident and turned it to their advantage."

"It doesn't sound like that leaves us with much hope," CJ said dejectedly.

"Maybe not," Toby pondered as he thought over some of the background notes he had read.  "Josh might have had a point.  We might be able to use his past history to build some kind of case against him."

"What is that devious mind of yours cooking up?" Abbey inquired, as she leaned towards him.

"I seem to remember reading in the notes that I was given that this might not have been the first cover up concerning Mr. Quartermain's actions."

"V said that he did this to another woman. . ." Josh countered.

"But that wasn't covered up, now was it? The woman decided not to press charges. . ."

"So we find out what they covered up and use that against him. . ." Charlie concluded.

"And if we can get him for what he did to Donna in the process all the better. . ." Toby confirmed, looking at his former co-workers and bosses for their reactions. 

Josh smirked.

Leo grinned.

Sam nodded.

CJ recrossed her legs as she folded her arms over her chest and leaned back into the cushions.

Abbey smiled as she looked up to Jed who hit his leg and nodded. "Well, with that settled, what's next?" the former President asked.

"We compile a list of who we know and what they can do for us," Sam responded, his game face in place. 

"And then we cut this guy off at the knees," Josh collaborated.

"Then let's get to work. We only have so long before someone buys a clue as to who we are," Leo urged, putting them all into attack mode. . .