Chapter 45

Carly sat on the couch watching Jax pace, her frustration at his unwillingness to listen to what she had to say growing. "Jax. . ." she tried to interrupt again.

"No.  I think what you had to say proves my point," he replied as he turned towards her and Ned.

"How?" she asked him. 

"She's in cahoots with Alan."

"She apparently iknows/i Alan," Carly countered.

"There's a difference?" Jax asked defensively as Ned frowned.

"It's not that unfathomable that their paths might have crossed at some point," Ned sighed.

"Which shows. . .?"

"What?" Carly demanded as she rose to her feet.  "She's the one who got Stefan involved, and according to Amy, he questioned Alan about why Donna's treatment was delayed."

"Like that's going to get us anywhere?" Jax challenged.

Carly rolled her eyes at that: "I don't know what you want me to say.  I didn't hear everything, but I saw a lot.  Her reactions were--- well, weird."

"What isn't with those people?"

"The fact that Lyman loves her doesn't count?"

Jax stared up at the ceiling as he crossed his arms over his chest.  "A lot of good that's done her.  I mean, he's made one hell of a choice for her health, and doesn't it tell you something that he based his decision on ithat woman's/i recommendation. Considering why her license was suspended, you really want to defend her integrity?" he challenged.

"Like Lyman said: there are worse things that she could have lost her license for."

"Can we leave your personal agenda out of this?"

"Maybe it's not mine we need to be worried about here," Carly shot back angrily.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that," she shrugged as she fought to regain some semblance of control.  "You are dead set on being right.  On making them back off.  Tell me, is it really because you're worried about Donna, or being right?"

"You know I'm worried."

"But about iwhat/i?" she continued to push.  "I've only seen you this blindly focused on bringing down Sonny, so tell me something: is your real concern Donna or bringing down the Qs.  Do you really want to help her or are you just using her as a reason to do something you've been wanting to for years?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Jax defended.  "I care about her.  I wouldn't use her."

"It's not like it would be the first time, iJasper/i.  I mean, I am fully aware of why you originally wanted for us to be partners.  Mutually beneficial wasn't it."

"You're a real bitch, you know that?"

"And you're a prick, so what's your point?"

"Enough!" Ned sighed as he got to his feet.  "Do you two hear yourselves? We can't be fighting ourselves and succeed against them!"

"Well if someone would listen to reason. . ." Jax groused.

"Your reason isn't the only one there is," Carly reasoned.

"Why are you so supportive of strangers? We know nothing about them."

"Not quite," Ned put in thoughtfully.

"Yeah, Dr. Bartlett being the former First Lady and that Lyman 'loves' Donna is a whole lot to go on."

"If that was all we knew than maybe," Ned sighed as he started to pace.  "Carly, when is Johnny going to have the background checks completed?"

She shrugged in response, then elaborated: "he said he'd give a preliminary report sometime tomorrow, but that most of the information it contained would be 'common knowledge,' whatever that means.  Why?"

"I was just thinking, what if those people really aren't who we think they are?"

"Finally, a reasonable opinion!" Jax grinned, causing Carly to roll her eyes yet again.

"I never said it was a bad thing," Ned pointed out.

"OK, now I know you need sleep, because you're making less sense than Edward," Jax muttered.

"No, I'm just not making myself clear enough," Ned sighed.  "And before you say anything, try to interrupt less than him, would you?" he asked, receiving only a cold stare as an answer, which he ignored while he continued: "You're right about us not knowing a lot about them, but what about what we do know?"

"Which is what?" Jax asked.

"Donna trusts them or she wouldn't have given them her Power of Attorney," Carly suggested.

"Yet she didn't let them know that she was in trouble," Jax argued.

"She told someone and they. . ." Carly shrugged.

"My point exactly.  Not to mention that it sounded like the Cregg woman saw her recently, but Donna never said anything to her.  Not to mention that they're evasive as hell.  'I do stuff involving law?' What the hell does that mean?"

"Cop, lawyer, paralegal, reporter. . ." Carly listed.

"I wonder. . ." Ned sighed.

"Wonder what?"

"It's just. . ." he shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair.  "I just can't shake the feeling that I should know who they are.  That their names are familiar.  I just can't put my finger on why."

"Couldn't be that they're in cahoots with your family now could it?" Jax asked sarcastically.

"Unless. . ."Carly started.

"Unless what? Don't tell me that you think their names are familiar too!"

"I didn't mean that."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I was just thinking aloud."

"Always a dangerous proposition with you."

"Shut up," Carly snapped. Running a hand through her hair she rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath.  As she exhaled she continued:  "Like I was saying, we agree that it seemed that they knew Doctor Bartlett, right?"

"Which 'they?'" Ned asked wanting to make sure they were on the same page.

"Donna's friends."

"You really have a loose definition of the word friend there, don't you?" Jax quipped.

"Well at least I can define the word," she replied sweetly, before turning to Ned, "anyway, what if you're right and they do know each other."

"You mean Donna's friends?" Ned asked, trying to keep up with her train of thought.

Carly rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, Donna's friends and Bartlett.  I mean, we already know McGarry knows Dr. Bartlett.   He said he was bringing in a ifriend/i to consult."

Jax shook his head at that, "he's a self important windbag. . ." he started.

"Well they do say it takes one to know one," Carly returned as Ned sighed and interceded yet again.  "Would you two stop it? We're not going to accomplish anything if we can't even keep from fighting ourselves!" he repeated before turning his attention back to Carly, "I don't see your point.

"Think about it.  If they know the Bartletts then you probably have heard their names at some point.  On the news, at some fundraiser. . ." she explained.

"Could be. . ." he muttered.

"Still doesn't tell us anything," Jax reminded.

"Then let's make it," Ned suggested as he looked to Carly.  "Get a pad and pencil from my desk, would you?"

"Sure," she answered, confused as she crossed the room to get the items requested.

"What are you plotting?" Jax asked, watching Ned suspiciously.

"Just that if you're right, then they know more about us then we do them."

"And?"

"And that might not be the whole truth. Best way to hide something is in plain sight.  They could've already given us the key to whose side they're on, we just need to find the right door," Ned answered as Carly came back to them with the pad.  "So let's figure out what we know about these people," he added as he took the pen and pad and sat down.  "First up, Dr. Bartlett. . ."

"Former First Lady.  Her license was suspended because she treated her husband," Carly started.

"Not to mention that that helped him to cover up his illness," Jax jumped in, making sure to highlight the negative.  "She knows Alan, and is somehow connected to McGarry." Jax added.

"She was also able to get Cassidine to pull strings, but doesn't want everyone know who she's here to treat," Carly pointed out.

"There also might be a connection between her and Lyman, as well as Cregg.  They did seem to know her guard, and he deferred to her medical opinion," Ned acknowledged.  "Anything else you two can think of?" as they shook their heads, he crew a line across the paper.  "OK, now what do we know about McGarry?" he asked, then answered himself: "He was Donna's emergency contact and is the alternate on her Power of Attorney.  But what else--- personality assessments aside," he clarified with a pointed look at Jax.

"He seems to know all of them," Carly started.

"And V," Jax grumbled. 

"Actually, V acknowledges that she knows him.  What did she say? Something about being friends with her godfather, wasn't it?" Ned countered.

"Something like that."

Shaking her head, Carly interjected: "He's take charge.  Doesn't like incompetence."

Ned sighed at her words, "no personality assessments," he reminded.

"He expected us to know who he was talking about," Jax said as he mentally reviewed his time in the other man's presence.  "Someone told him that Donna's fall might not have been an accident.  He seemed angry.  He threatened me because I wouldn't give him a straight answer."

"What? You never told us that!" Carly protested.  "No wonder why you have issues with him!"

Ned mulled over what Jax said and knew that clarification was needed.  "Exactly how did he threaten you?"

"Told me that I better not stand in his way.  That if I did I wouldn't like the results," Jax  admitted on a shrug.

"Could be either hiding something or being overly protective," Ned remarked as he added to the notations he had already made on the paper. "Anything else?"

"Not off the top of my head."

"OK, now what do we know about Lyman--- other than the fact that he may or may not be the person that Donna's in love with," Ned started.

"If there is someone," Jax argued.

"There is.  She told me so herself right before. . ." Ned shook his head as his voice cracked slightly.  "Anyway, she said she thought he knew how she felt but that she was still in the 'friend zone.'"

Carly sighed, "I think he's regretting that."

"Yeah," Ned muttered with a nod. "So what do we know?"

"He has a degree from Harvard and 'does stuff involving law,'" Jax answered with distasted as he repeated the man's own description of what he did for a living.

"He was Donna's boss, but not a professor.  He said he was relocating when she took the job with Jax," Carly countered. "He also said they stayed in touch.  From what I overheard from his conversation with Chris, he didn't know about AJ and doesn't understanding why she didn't tell him."

Ned tapped the pen against the pad as he stared off for a moment.  "You ok?" Jax asked,

"I was just thinking.  They all seemed surprised that Donna had said that she had worked for an economics professor."

"And they called it something . . ." Carly reminded, her face scrunching up as she tried to remember.

"The Charlie line, or something like that," Jax confirmed.  "But they said she ihad/i worked for a professor."

Scratching his chin Ned looked down at the paper and then wrote the words: economics professor punctuated with a question mark before looking back at the others: "what else about Lyman?"

"They're concerned about his health," Carly deduced.  "The way he was standing by the wall I'd guess a bad back, but that can't be the only thing."

"He's protective--- they all are," Jax conceded grudgingly.

"OK, now, what about Cregg?"

"She worked for Isobel's public relations firm in Hollywood, but she left at least four years ago.  I don't remember why, just that we were going to try to get her for L&B.  She was the last of them to see Donna."

"But not the one whom Donna had been expecting to come for a visit," Carly interrupted.  "She said she does something involving public speaking for a living."

"She knows Lyman well enough to joke with him without offending him and vice versa," Ned mused.  "Anything else?"

"What about they guy she came in with?" Carly questioned.  "Am I the only one who finds it weird that he'd make a comment about forming a line and yet not stay longer?"

"Some people can't handle hospitals," Ned answered, "besides he sounded like he thought there were too many people in the room."

"And he said something about a studio," Jax said thoughtfully.  "I wonder if he's the one who told McGarry it wasn't an accident."

"I don't follow."

"McGarry made a comment about someone telling one of 'Toby's cubs,' that it wasn't an accident."

"That makes him what? A reporter?" Carly wondered.

"Great, just what we need."

"Actually, it just might be," Ned muttered.

"Assuming he's on our side."

"We haven't proven they're not."

"We haven't proven they are."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Skye groaned as she rolled over to the sound of banging on her door and pulled herself out of bed.  Grabbing for her dress in the dark, she stumbled towards the door as she fumbled into it.  "What?" she demanded as she pulled it open and squinted at the hallway's brightness.

"Sorry to interrupt your sordid rendezvous, but we have things to take care of," Edward said as he stormed past her.

"And a good evening to you too, Grandfather," she sighed as she went back in and closed the door leaning against it as she squinted at the light she just turned on.

"What did he sneak out the back while I was knocking?" he asked disgustedly as she scanned the room.

"Actually, he left a while before your banging commenced because a friend of his is in the hospital, but thanks for the concern," she answered sarcastically.  "Now, what can I do for you?"

Edward frowned at her and shook his head, but refrained, barely, on commenting on her sex life.  "We need to discuss what to do about AJ."

Skye rolled her eyes at him as she pushed off the door and started to cross the room to where he stood, watching in amusement as he looked at the bed in disgust before moving to a chair in the corner and eyeing it wearily.  "How much can we do?" she asked him as he took the seat.

"Don't get smart with me, young lady," he groused as he pointed a finger directly at her face, annoyed at the tone he heard in her voice.

"Edward, the girl is lying unconscious in the hospital and is listed as being in critical condition, so I serious doubt that we'll be able to buy her off like we did the others.  And I swear, if you suggest  doing something to her there. . ." she shook her head as she let her words trail off, unable to voice an appropriate threat, not that she thought it would really mean anything to him.

"No, no.  We just need a plan for I f she gets better."

"iIf/i?" Skye questioned, her eyebrow rising.  "Why does that word coming out of your mouth make me so nervous."

"As you said, the girl's in critical condition, I shouldn't have to remind you that that means that there's a chance that she might not make it.  And I can tell you this, young lady," he responded punctuating his words with a finger, "iIi wouldn't have any hand in harming her."

"As in someone else might?"

"Now, I didn't say that. . ." Edward replied quality, causing Skye to sink onto the edge of the bed, a hand going to her forehead and pinching the bridge of her nose at the beginnings of a headache. 

"You might as well have.  Please tell me you didn't do something stupid like, I don't know--- put a hit out on her."

"I'm not some common criminal."

"Grandfather, what did you do?"

"Like I said iI/i didn't do anything."

"Then who did and what did they do?"

Edward sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "Monica may have arranged for the test results be delayed," he hedged.

Skye's eyes widened at that, "she did what?!?!? Does she have ianyi idea how much words she's making this? If Mac or anyone finds out we're not going to be able to pass this off as a drunken accident!"

"We're not doing that anyway."

"What do you mean? What did you do?"

"I can't help it if the PCPD is so incompetent that they didn't give AJ a breathalyzer."

"Oh g-d," she muttered burying her head in her hands, once more mentally questioning what had possessed her to go out to dinner with Adam and her Chandler 'realatives' on the night of an ELQ party because lord knew that those always brought trouble with them.  "How the hell do you expect us to fix this?" she demanded as she lifted her head and stared directly at him.

"It's really very simple.  We give her the same offer as the others.  We pay a nice cash settlement, get her a job elsewhere and this all disappears," he answered.

"Like Jax or Ned won't talk her out of this?" she challenged.

"Then we tell the truth."

"Or your version of it anyway," Skye interrupted with a long suffering roll of her eyes.

Glaring at her, Edward pressed on: "she's an opportunist who was convinced by Carly and Ned to lead on AJ.  Her fall was nothing more than an unforeseen consequence of that plot."

"You really think people will buy that?"

Edward smirked at that: "it's amazing how much money in the right hands will buy."

"Somehow, Grandfather, I seriously doubt it will be that easy."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sam stared at the door to the hotel room and questioned the instincts that had brought him here.  Before he could change his mind, he reached out and knocked.  Dropping  his hand back to his side, he took a step back.  As seconds passed he shoved his hands into his pockets and started to pace, his shoulders slumping under the quilt he carried.

Sliding the door to her room open, she took a moment to watch the dark hair man with his back to her, "I was wondering when you were going to show up on my doorstep," she said softly as she tightened the belt of her emerald robe with one hand and smoothing down her short red hair with her other one. 

Sam froze for a second before turning and looking at her sheepishly. "You were expecting me?"

Rolling her eyes at his childishness, she stepped backwards: "I don't need all of Port Charles seeing me in my robe," she deflected softly as she indicated that he should also come into the room.

"Sure I shouldn't be concerned about your father?" he tried to joke as he accepted the invitation and crossed the threshold.

"Oh, I'm sure you should be, but I don't think his reasons for knocking you for a loop will be because you're in my room."

"Mal . . ." he started as she turned from closing the door.

"Don't worry about it," she shrugged.  "Besides, I'm probably the only one who'd open a door and slam it in your face.  Well, except maybe what's her name," she added as she crossed in front of him and moved to the bed, the edge of which she perched on.

"Skye," Sam sighed.

"Ahh.  So which helped more; the drinks or getting laid?" Mal challenged bitterly.

"I wasn't that drunk," he protested as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Sam, try it with someone who didn't grow up around a drunk," she returned as she shifted on the bed, her hands smoothing out the silk so that the gap didn't expose too much skin.  "So I guess you heard about Donna."

"Yeah," he sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck and started to pace.

"And you what? Thought you could come here and I'd tell you how it wasn't your fault?"

Sam looked at her in surprise: "you mean you don't think it is?"

"Well, not entirely," she answered truthfully.

"I should've come or called someone who could've," he continued as if he hadn't heard her as he started to pace.

"Yeah, you should've," she replied simply, "but you know what they say: 'should've, could've, didn't.' You can't change it now, although you are compounding things."

"What do you mean?" he asked as he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

"Why haven't you?" he retorted as he turned to face her.

"Nice defense there, counselor," Mal answered as she rose.  "No wonder you needed so much time to work on that case."

"So glad I can count on you."

"You want solace, find it with your latest playmate."

"Jealous?"

"You wish."

"Well, it certainly seems it.  You are spewing an awful lot of venom that way."

"Gee, I wonder why," Mal started simply as she crossed her arms over her chest.  "I mean, it couldn't be that her brother's the one who put Donna in the hospital bed or that you're being a jackass, now could it?"

"I. . ."

"Give it a rest, Sam.  I'm not here to give you absolution or smooth things over with my Dad and company," she shot back as she started towards the door.  "I'm going to pass this off as you having had too much to drink, so go find your latest flavor of solace and ego boosting because I'm through," she finished as she pulled open the door.

"Mal, I didn't mean . . ."

"You never do, Sam," she sighed tiredly.

"I. . ."

"Sam, I have an interview in the morning and I really need some sleep."

"OK," he said softly as he crossed the room and paused in the doorway, "Mal, you really think it wasn't my fault?" he asked, sounding like a small boy.

"Only partly, Sam.  Only partly," she answered before closing the door in his face.