CHAPTERS 17, 18, 19
Chapter 17
Brook walked into the bathroom and saw Tracy fixing up her make-up.
"Um, Granny?" she stated simply.
Tracy did not realize that Brook had followed her.
"What are you doing here?" she screamed.
"I'm sorry if I scared you."
"You didn't."
Brook laughed. "Yes, I did."
"What do you want?"
"I came to talk to you actually."
Tracy laughed. "Now I know you're lying."
"I'm serious, Granny. I…um, well, you know…"
"Are you going anywhere with this? Because really, I do have better things to do than listen to you mumble."
Brook blurted out, "I saw you crying in your room this morning!"
Tracy was disappointed. "You were in my room?"
"You left the door open. When I heard you crying, I peeked in."
"You had no right to do that."
"I was…I was…I don't know, Granny! I guess I was worried about you."
Tracy's mouth opened.
Brook continued, "I know I don't treat you much better than the rest of the family, but I do care about you."
"That would be the Quartermaine in you talking."
"What?"
"For better or for worse, the Quartermaines do care about each other. We just don't know how to show it. Or—," she paused. "We do…It's complicated."
"So Granny, did you just refer to me as a Quartermaine?" she asked surprisingly.
Tracy nodded. "I did. Your name may be Brook Lynn Ashton, but you have Quartermaine blood in you. It shows," she added.
"Is that a bad thing?" Brook laughed.
"Could be," Tracy said. "Depending on whether or not you like being one of us."
Brook shrugged. "I think I'm afraid."
"You should be," Tracy joked.
Brook Lynn swallowed. "So are you all right?"
Tracy replied, "I wish people would stop asking me that."
"Oh. Sorry."
"Why don't we go back to the table before the family starts wondering whether or not we've pulled each other's hair out?"
"What do we tell them if they ask what we talked about?"
"Say you hate me, and you always will."
"But why?" asked Brook Lynn.
"The family cannot know that we…"
"Bonded?" Brook laughed.
"Exactly."
"I guess I understand."
"Good," Tracy said. "Because I'm counting on you."
The two walked out of the bathroom and towards the table.
"Hey!" exclaimed Dillon. "They're both alive!"
Tracy rolled her eyes.
"So what did you two talk about?" an intrigued Lois asked.
"Nothing," Brook announced. "I hate Granny, and I always will," she added, glaring at Tracy.
Tracy gave her a look of approval. Brook smiled slightly. It was only the beginning.
Chapter 18
"Ugh," Tracy moaned.
"What's the problem, Mother?"
"Look," she said disgustingly, while she held out her glass of water.
"What?" Ned asked.
"Do you NOT see the smudge?"
"Mom, it's fine," Dillon told her.
"No, son, it's NOT fine. This is supposedly a 5 star hotel."
"Just sip your wine," Dillon told her. "Forget about the water."
"No," Tracy responded. "This is not acceptable…Excuse me. Excuse me," she called out to the server.
"Me?" a server asked.
"Yes, you will do," Tracy said. "Do you see this?" she asked holding up the glass of water.
"It's a glass of water," the server said.
"Yes, I see that. ICE. GLASS. WATER. Look closer!"
"What am I looking for?"
"Is there a problem?" Jax asked, while approaching the table.
"Yes, there is a problem," she announced.
"I can handle this," Jax told the server. "My apologies if she gave you a hard time."
The server walked away.
"What is the matter, Trace?" Jax asked.
"There is a smudge on her glass," Ned smirked.
"Well, we'll just have to get you another then, won't we?"
"What kind of place are you running?" Tracy asked.
"Just because Jax is running the hotel, Tracy, and you're not," Skye told her, "doesn't mean you get a free pass for insults."
"I wasn't insulting Jax. I would never do such a thing," she said innocently.
"Of course not," replied Jax. "You like me too much."
"Isn't that the truth?" Luke said. "But she's mine now. Mine!"
"Ugh," Edward said.
"Not this again," Alan replied. "We've already been through, have we not?"
"Yep," Dillon announced. "Engagement and everything."
"Woah, what?" Lois said.
"What happened between Granny and Jax?" Brook Lynn asked.
"They were going to get married," Dillon said.
"What?" Lois was shocked. "Let me guess. Blackmail involved?"
"What else could it be?" Monica said.
"Aren't scheming woman delicious?" Luke asked.
No one responded
Skye spoke the truth, "Tracy had evidence that indicated I murdered a cop, which I didn't by the way, but the evidence was misleading."
"I had pictures of you with the dead guy!" Tracy screamed.
Skye continued, "And Jax agreed to marry her if she didn't turn in the pictures."
"So what happened?" Brook Lynn asked.
"Sam McCall turned out to be pregnant. Jax thought it was his. He put the marriage to Tracy on hold--,"
"He cancelled it," Tracy corrected.
Skye went on, "Tracy turned in the pictures; I went to Pentonville."
"I had no idea that was the whole story," Lois said. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Tracy."
"So Skye went to prison because of my mother," Dillon noted.
"And Luke," added Alan. "Why Skye? Why did you put all your trust into this man?"
"Alan, big brother, dear. Now you leave my husband alone."
Luke was surprised that Tracy defended him.
"Besides," added Tracy. "Jax was also at fault."
"You know, she does have a point. Jax, you weren't much help to Skye on the witness stand," Edward told him.
"Leave me out of this. I have to go back to running MY hotel."
"Ha. Ha," Tracy said.
Chapter 19
Emily tapped her glass. "I'd like to make a toast."
"Oh, this'll be good," cracked Tracy.
"Put a sock in it," Monica told her.
"Go ahead, Em."
Emily continued, "To Grandmother—"
The family became quiet. Tracy closed her eyes and bit her lip.
"An amazing woman. A graceful woman. A woman who always saw the best in everyone," Emily glanced towards Tracy.
Tracy's eyes remained closed.
Emily went on, "May she live on in our hearts forever."
"That was beautiful," Alan told her. "You are such a sweetheart, Emily."
Tracy took a deep breath.
"Whatever you're going to say," Edward told her. "Don't say it."
"Oh my goodness! Who said I was going to say anything?"
Dillon rose to his mother's defense, in an effort to "take back" what he said earlier.
"She's obviously upset. Can you just leave her alone?"
Tracy swallowed. "Thank you, Son."
"Tracy, are you all right?" Alan asked her.
"I'm fine," Tracy said annoyingly.
"She's fine," Luke backed her up. "Tracy, I need to talk to you," he whispered.Tracy shook her head. Luke put his hand on her hand.
"Please?" he asked.
Skye gazed on with envy.
"Excuse me," Tracy said.
"Now where are you going?" Skye asked.
Tracy didn't answer. She walked towards the ladies room again.
"Um," started Dillon. "Anybody going to go after her?"
"I will," Emily stated.
"Oh no," said Brook.
"Why not?" Emily asked rudely.
"Because Granny doesn't like you."
"Can you blame her?" Luke laughed.
"Luke," Skye said. "That was uncalled for."
Emily innocently responded, "I don't think Tracy likes anybody."
"Well, she hates you," Brook said. "Probably more than she hates my mother."
"What?"
"All right, Brookie. That's enough," Lois told her.
"Mother is in the restroom. Skye, Monica? Maybe one of you can talk to her?" Ned asked.
"I don't think so, Ned. I'm sorry. Besides, I haven't known your mother for as long as Monica."
"Well, of course you'd volunteer me!" Monica said angrily. "Just so you don't have to talk to her."
"Can we please stop insulting my sister?" Alan asked.
"Why?" Monica asked. "She's not here."
"What happened to being nice to everyone?" Emily whined.
Monica swallowed. "I'll go talk to her."
Monica walked towards the restroom.
PREVIEWS FOR CHAPTERS 20 AND 21:
Tracy, Monica, Emily, Brook, and Lois all end up in the restroom together.
Brook Lynn tries to connect with her grandmother.