Ch. 24 Maybe It's Luck

Jason stepped off the elevator with the paper brag crinkling at his side. Kelly's had been unusually busy for the breakfast hour. It seemed like forever before he was able to order the food and get out of there. He wasn't sure what to get, so he'd settled on their usual morning meal from the diner. What he wanted to do was sit down and talk. Answer any questions she might have. Let her know he was there if she needed him.

He opened the door and was surprised to see Carly on his couch. He placed the large bag on the desk and walked towards his friend.

"Where's Courtney?" he asked.

She kept her gaze fixed in the same direction and pointed. He followed with his eyes where she indicated and saw what was holding her attention.

"How long she been out there?" he asked, seeing the woman on the balcony over looking the city.

"Ten minutes, maybe more." she answered, keeping watch on the woman. She didn't want to look away, the penthouses were a ways from the ground floor and anything could happen. Especially with someone still getting used to being in their own skin. She didn't want to think about it.

"What happened?" he asked, knowing he'd missed something.

"You should talk to her." She could almost hear him nod from behind her. "Not about today. I mean you need to talk. I think she needs to know who she is and I think you need to be the one to tell her."

Jason sighed. He wanted so badly to just sit with her and tell every little detail. But he did not want to pressure her. The last thing he wanted was to have her push away from them. He felt stuck.

"I'll come by later." Carly said and got up to leave. "Oh, and Robin left a while ago said she'd be back. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll fall in a well."

Once she left, Jason looked back towards the now vacant balcony. He felt his heart stop and immediately jumped to conclusions.

"Hey." he heard her voice and saw her coming from the kitchen, he released a large breath and his heart started beating again.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Fine." she answered. "What took so long?"

"Sorry, it was busy."

"It's fine."

"What were you doing out there?"

"Thinking." she answered. "An-And I think...I know that I'd like to figure out all I can about my life."

"I'll tell you whatever you want." Jason replied, not exposing the happiness he felt at hearing her say that. "What do you want to know first? Where do you want to start?"

"What about what's in the bag?"

"The bag? Oh, the bag." he replied completely forgetting about breakfast.

She smiled at his less than smooth reaction to her comment. Upon seeing it, Jason felt himself smile for the first time in a long time.

"That out there is Wyndemere." Jason informed pointing at the building from the pier.

"Everything looked a lot smaller from the balcony." she said amused at the large building out on the water. Jason had begun to take her around the Port Charles. Unfortunately, nothing had sparked anything for her , but there were still places they hadn't been to. With any luck one of them would bring something back to her.

Jason let a smile come to his face for the second time that day while he watched her admire the view from the docks. His smile faded when he heard a familiar voice come from nearby.

"Listen, I'll have your money. Just give me some time." the man said.

"You've had enough time old man." the other spoke, angrily grabbing his collar. Jason walked over to the two men and intervened.

"Hey."he said getting their attention.

"I got no trouble with you man, this guy owes me."

"Get out of here." Jason ordered, throwing a wad of cash at the man. "And don't talk to him again."

The man happily obliged, taking off with the money. He turned to the older man left behind.

"You didn't have to do that. But thanks." he said to Jason, his breath smelling of alcohol.

"What are you doing Mike?" he asked the man he'd hoped to someday call his father-in-law.

"Just a bad choice that's all." he said. "I would've paid them eventually."

The older man rubbed his forehead, going over what just happened when he saw the blonde near the edge of the wooden planks. He felt himself panicking.

"Jason, you can't let her see me like this." he spoke desperately. "This is my last chance to be a good father."

"I don't lie to Courtney." Jason said, shaking off the man's pleads. He looked back and saw that she was now walking in their direction and he shook his head before looking back at the man. "I'm not doing this for you. Go."

"Thank you." he said and turned to leave.

"And Mike." Jason said. "make sure this was the last bad choice."

The older man nodded and took off, as best as possible without being seen. Courtney appeared at Jason's side and saw him looking in the direction Mike had taken.

"What's going on? Who was that?"

"No one." he answered, knowing it was for the best. He knew she was seeing everything and meeting everyone for the first time again and didn't want her first impression of her father to be that one. "It was no one."