Chapter 45

Luke Spencer stopped short when the elevator opened to reveal Mac Scorpio and two uniformed officers.

"Commissioner," he said.

"Spencer," Mac replied as his two officers stepped aside to allow the older gentleman to pass.

Luke waited for the elevator to close before turning his attention to the man standing guard. "I want to see Sonny," he demanded.

"Mr. Corinthos doesn't …"

"I don't care what Mr. Corinthos wants," Luke said pushing his way passed the guard and opening the penthouse door, "I want to see him now."

Luke entered to find Sonny standing by the fireplace, drink in hand. Not an unusual image, just not at eight in the morning.

"Max, it's alright," Sonny said before swallowing the brown liquid in his glass.

Luke waited for the guard to leave then demanded, "I want answers, Corinthos."

Sonny sighed, "Luke …"

"Don't mistake me for some wet behind the ears police recruit," said the older gentleman. "I know one of Sorel's men when I see him. He killed my boy or knows who did. I want to talk to Roscoe."

"Well, you can't," Sonny replied. "He's dead."

Luke frowned unhappy with this turn of events. "Jason just got out of jail and already you have him working? Didn't he deserve a night off?"

Sonny walked over to the liquor cabinet and refilled his glass. "Jason had nothing to do with it. Commissioner Scorpio was just here to inform me that Roscoe's body was thrown from a moving car earlier this morning in front of our new coffee warehouse."

Luke watched silently as Sonny swallowed the brown liquid in one shot. "What about Madigan? Where is he?"

Sonny placed the glass on the tray resisting the urge for another drink. "Never returned to police custody. No one knows where he is."

"This wasn't revenge for Sorel," Luke stated already knowing what Sonny wasn't saying. "There's a new player. Someone else is after you and your territory. Who is it?"

Sonny took his time pouring himself another drink – this time water. Could he involve his old friend when he wasn't completely sure just how deep Lucky was in?

"Luke," he began, but the older gentleman stopped him.

"Sonny, my son is dead," Luke asserted. "You aren't going to keep me out of this."

"Even if it turns out Lucky was working for his killer?"

Luke stared at Sonny dumbfounded. "Lucky was not working for the person who killed him?"

"Are you sure about that?" Sonny asked. "Think about it, Luke. No one suspected Lucky would try and kill Jason. Everyone thought it was the other way around, so how do you explain Roscoe or who ever Roscoe worked for finding Lucky on the docks just after he shot Elizabeth and coming up with the plan to frame Jason?"

"I don't know," Luke yelled. "Maybe they were following Jason."

Sonny sighed knowing his friend was refusing to listen. "I know you don't want to hear this but Lucky went to the docks to meet whoever he was working for. Why else was he there? He had just shot Elizabeth. Does it make sense for Lucky to go to the docks afterwards?"

"Does it make sense for Lucky to shoot Elizabeth?" Luke asked his voice filled with pain. "Lucky was not himself. If he had been he wouldn't have done the things he did to Elizabeth, or gone after Jason. He was suffering from whatever that bitch and her psycho sidekick did to him for over a year. He needed help and no one could see it until it was too late."

"I'm not arguing that Lucky didn't have problems," Sonny told his friend, "but I'm telling you that this wasn't just some coincidence. One of my enemies wasn't waiting around for the off chance that Jason would be held at gunpoint where the woman he loves would be shot and then kill the shooter to frame him.

"Lucky went to the docks to meet who he was working with. The plan had gone wrong. He would have needed help to fix it, but he obviously didn't think his partner would turn against him. Whoever it is killed Lucky and framed Jason."

Luke shook his head at the scenario Sonny was describing. "No, you're wrong. That is not what happened. Lucky would have been out of his mind with grief over shooting the woman he loved. Maybe he suffered a complete breakdown and was just wondering the docks aimlessly, or maybe he was looking for Nikolas to help him. Either way, it doesn't matter. I don't care why my son was at the docks. All I care about is that he is dead and I want to know who killed him. So you need to tell me who it is, Sonny. Who killed my son?"

"I don't know," Sonny answered.

"Don't lie to me," Luke yelled.

"Luke, I'm telling you the truth," Sonny said. "I don't know who's behind this, yet. But I will and when I do, you'll be the first to know."

"No," Luke said. "I'm not going to just sit around and wait for you to keep me informed. I want in. I want to know everything you have so far and that's not a request."

Sonny sighed. "I'll have everything you want tonight."

"Good," Luke replied turning for the door. He stopped before running into Jason standing on the other side of the threshold.

"Jason," he said to the man he thought until yesterday killed his son with mixed feelings. Jason may not have killed Lucky, but Luke knew he was still the reason his son was dead.

"Luke," Jason said as he stepped back to allow the older gentleman to pass.

"What did he want?" Jason asked as he entered the penthouse.

"Everything I know about Lucky's death," Sonny responded. "Unfortunately he wasn't happy with what I had to tell him?"

"Which was?"

"Roscoe's dead, Madigan has disappeared and Lucky may have been working for his killers."

"What?" Jason asked incredulous. "Are you sure about that? Lucky was crazy when he came after me. He didn't seem to have any plan. He came at me out in the open in broad daylight."

"I don't know. Maybe working for are the wrong words. Maybe these people knew that Lucky was disturbed and were using him to get what they wanted. Either way, Lucky knew his killer and Luke didn't want to believe it."

Jason nodded. What Sonny said made sense. "What have we got?"

"Nothing," Sonny said. "Absolutely nothing. I know who it wasn't. I've been able to cross all our previous possible threats off the list. I've got people looking into South America, Chicago and Miami, but so far everything is clean. This person is new and that's what makes him dangerous."

"What do you want me to do?" Jason asked his voice devoid of emotion.

"I want you to take a few days off and relax," Sonny told him. "You just got out of prison. You need a vacation. Go down to the island. Take Elizabeth with you."

"I can't. Elizabeth is moving back into her studio today and she's taking summer classes at PCU to catch up on what she has missed."

"Are you okay with that?" Sonny asked. "The studio isn't the most secure of places."

Jason nodded, "I know. That's one of the reasons I'm here. I want to assign Francis as her guard. I also want our people to go through the entire building and make it as secure as possible."

Sonny didn't hesitate. "It's done. Get Johnny and anyone else you think you'll need."

"Uncle Jason!" Both men turned to see Michael running down the stairs straight for Jason.

"Hey, buddy," Jason laughed as he stooped down to take the running child in his arms.

"You missed daddy's birthday," the little boy accused.

"I know," Jason replied as he set Michael down. "I'm sorry. I would have been here if I could."

"Mommy said you had to go away, but you didn't say good-bye."

Jason sighed and walked Michael over to the couch. "My trip wasn't planned, so I didn't have time to say good-bye. If I could have, I would have come to see you."

"Are you back to stay?" The little boy asked.

"Yeah, buddy, you're not getting rid of me," Jason said giving Michael a hug. "I promise we'll go to the park tomorrow. Would you like that?"

"You bet," Michael said smiling up at his one time father.

"Michael, where's your mom?" Sonny asked.

"Upstairs, getting dressed," the boy replied not taking his eyes off of Jason.

Sonny laughed at his son's hero worship of Jason. "You want to go tell her that Jason is here. I know she would love to know."

"Okay," Michael yelled and ran up the stairs as fast as his little legs could go.

"He's getting so big," Jason commented trying unsuccessfully to hide sadness in his voice. It had been over two years but he still missed being Michael's father.

"I know," Sonny replied. "It seems like Carly has to buy him new shoes every week. He keeps growing out of the old ones. I can't believe he'll be starting kindergarten in September. It seems like only yesterday he and Carly came into my life." He was quiet for a moment then continued. "Jason, I just want to thank you."

The younger man looked at his best friend shocked. "For what?"

"For what?" Sonny asked incredulous. "Man, where do I begin - my life, my family, Carly, Michael, everything. I wouldn't have any of this without you."

Jason shook his head. "Sonny, this is the way it was supposed to be."

"But none of this would have happened if not for you, so thank you."

"You're welcome," Jason said quietly.

"Jason!" Both men again turned to see Carly running down the stairs and into Jason's arms virtually identical to her son not ten minutes earlier.

"I should be mad at you for skipping my party last night," she said after finally releasing him.

Jason smiled. "I'm sorry but I had somewhere more important to be."

"Ugh, I can't believe you picked her," she said. "Out of all the women in Port Charles, you have to fall in love with that goody-goody muffin face."

He sighed. He'd been gone a month but it seemed like nothing had changed. "Carly, I don't want to have this discussion again. Leave Elizabeth alone."

She laughed and smacked him on the shoulder. "Relax, I'm just kidding with you. Elizabeth didn't tell you?"

"I know this may shock you, but you're not exactly the first thing on my mind when I'm with her," he told her with a smirk.

"Don't tell me. I'd rather not have that image in my head," she said with a disgusted look on her face before becoming very serious. "I think you might need to sit down for this."

He took a seat on the couch and braced for whatever Carly was about to say. "What did you do?"

She smiled knowing he was expecting the worst. "You're going to be proud of me. I did what you wanted. I apologized for everything I put her through and she accepted. We called a truce between us. From now on we're going to be civil to each other. Well, more me than her, but you get the idea."

He sat silently for a few minutes not sure he really heard Carly correctly. "Is this true?" He asked Sonny.

Sonny laughed. "Yeah, it's true. I know what you're thinking. When she told me, I thought someone had kidnapped her and replaced her with a look-a-like. I was going to rush her to GH for DNA testing."

She elbowed her husband in the stomach. "Laugh all you want but Elizabeth and I reached an understanding."

"An understanding?" Jason asked amazed by this turn of events.

"Yes," she replied. "I promised to stop giving her a hard time and she promised to stop bringing up all the mistakes I made with you. We're never going to be friends but we will be able to tolerate each other."

He was speechless. This was more than he could ever have hoped for. "Are you alright?" He asked concerned. Maybe there was something he didn't know about.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you," she said hitting Sonny in the stomach again when he started laughing once more. "There doesn't need to be something wrong with me for me to be nice."

"Well, that's not entirely true," Sonny said between laughs.

Now Jason was worried. "What do you mean? Are you sick?"

"No, I'm not sick," she told him. "I'm pregnant."

He was speechless again. "Pregnant?" He asked looking between Sonny and Carly for confirmation. "Pregnant," he said again when both nodded. He smiled and took her in his arms.

"This is great," he said as he shook Sonny's hand. He realized now why Sonny had thanked him earlier. "Congratulations."

"Thanks, man," Sonny replied. "We need to celebrate – for both the pregnancy and you being released from prison. We can have a celebratory breakfast instead of last night's dinner. I'll go make my special Spanish omelettes," he said giving his wife a quick kiss before going to the kitchen to begin.

"I can't believe you're pregnant," Jason said taking a seat on the couch.

Carly smiled. "I know, isn't it amazing?" she said sitting beside him. "Who would have thought that I would be here happily married with children when I first came to town."

"It's what you've always wanted, Carly," he said. "A family you belong to."

"I know and I have you to thank for it. Without you none of this would have happened." She looked at him confused when he started to laugh. "What?"

"That's the same thing Sonny said to me before you came down the stairs," he told her.

"It's true. Sonny and I wouldn't be together if not for you," she said as a tear fell down her cheek. "There is no way I will ever be able to repay you for everything you've done for me."

"Just be happy," he said wiping the tear from her cheek. "That's all I want."

"Are you happy, Jason?" she asked.

He wasn't sure just how to answer her question. He thought of the argument he knew Elizabeth and her grandmother would have when the older woman found out about Elizabeth's intention to move out – not to mention when she found out about he and Elizabeth. He thought of this unknown enemy who came close to sending him the prison and who would continue to be a threat until he was dealt with. He thought of Elizabeth's smile this morning when she woke and saw him looking down at her. "Yes, I'm happy," he said.

"You're sure?" She asked. "I mean really, really, really sure the muffin makes you happy?"

"Carly," he said with a hint of warning in his tone.

"What?" she asked. "You can't blame a girl for giving it one last shot, can you? Truce or no truce."

"Carly, please," he began only to be interrupted as Sonny returned to the living room to announce breakfast was ready.

Carly gave Jason a quick smile then stood and walked toward her husband calling Michael and Leticia as she did. Jason sighed before turning to the happy couple. Carly was never going to change.