Part 93

There was a Board meeting of Alter Corporation at the Outback, in the small room for parties, right behind the bar. Alexis was there to observe and give general advice; she was corporate counsel. The board was made up of Sergei, Jerry Jax, Luke Spencer and his sister Bobbie Spencer.

They talked about putting an upper deck on the Outback, "Let's call it the 'Wallaby Room,'" Luke suggested. The board agreed to this name unanimously.

Then the board discussed improvements that could be done to the basement in Kelly's – a coffee house with music was the favored project.

Later, at the hospital, Bobbie enthusiastically told Monica all about it. "One day, everything was as it was. Suddenly I am on the Board of Directors of Alter Corporation. A big honcho. Luke and I are really excited. There seems to be so many interesting things to do! And we thought of these businesses as go-nowhere ones, that barely held on to making a slim profit!"

"You're my best friend!" Monica fumed, "and here you are in the middle of this! That corporation owns part of another corporation that is moving in on ELQ in the sneakiest way!"

"Heck, I had no idea," Bobbie said. "But it's such a good deal. We can expand Kelly's. They came up with this idea to put the bar and Kelly's into one corporation. So in those times when one of the businesses is losing money, the other picks up for it. It's such a great idea; I wish we had thought of it years ago. We also have the chance to expand Kelly's into the basement. We're going to put a coffeehouse down there," she said. "It will be open at night and have music. Maybe Ned can do something there," she suggested, hoping to mollify her friend.

"How one guy can create so much upheaval in a town," Monica said, "is beyond me. I don't really care for myself and Alan, but we're stuck listening to Edward's steam! This is Zander's father, and that's probably why he's doing it."

"You know Luke had that falling out with Sonny," Bobbie said. "So he thinks this is a real blast. A lot of it will interfere with Sonny's hold over his so-called territory. To Luke, Alter Corporation is like a big party, and he's running here and there to help get things in order. Revitalizing the whole town, he says. This Sergei is his favorite person. Oksana is already Laura's."

"Oksana, what's she doing?" Monica asked.

"She went in with Laura on Deception," Bobbie said, "Now it's expanding, going public, and everything is looking up. Sonny is out of it, so that does away with all kinds of problems."

"Goodness," Monica said. "That Zander! His heart skips a few beats, and here we are. As if he wasn't enough trouble on his own!"
Alexis and Zander visited Deception one afternoon. Alexis had some papers for Oksana and Laura, and she wanted Oksana to show her son some of what she did.

Oksana liked this. She showed Zander some of the books, and explained how the investments worked, how the government got involved, who and how decided what they needed and bought it, and how they advertised and distributed their own product.

Alexis added comments where she thought it would help.

"You can do anything, and try different things," Oksana told Zander. "That is what is fun about doing things this way. Start with one thing, like our sporting goods store. Then go from that to a thing related, and you the more you spread out the less risk there is. If one thing goes downhill for awhile, another is picking up."

"Thanks, but I think I'll find a respectable profession to go into," he said.

"We'll see," Alexis said, with a wry smile, glancing at Oksana.

Oksana and Alexis introduced Zander to Laura, who said she was very glad to meet him, and showed him how the whole office was laid out. They ran into Cheryl, and when Laura saw that they knew each other, she asked Cheryl to show him the photo studio, thinking it no harm to do a little minor matchmaking between two fine looking young people.

"I'm glad you have your mom back," Cheryl said, as they walked into the studio. "She's the best to work for, anyway. And your dad. Whatever they did before, it looks like you're doing well now."

"Yes, thank you. How did it turn out with your parents, by the way?"

"After all that, would you believe they got back together?"

"Wow. Are you glad?"

"Yes. The woman my father was seeing dropped him. The only thing that makes me nervous is him taking up with someone else like that. He hasn't, as far as I can tell."

"That's great, Cheryl."

"How did your parents end up here?"

"Well, remember how I was in the hospital? The doctor needed my medical history. Alexis, the lawyer I work for, you know her know, right? I had known her for awhile, and to make it as short a story as possible, it comes down to that she found my parents by looking for me in the missing persons records. My mother realized someone from here was looking for me and showed up here, then my little brother came up. Then Alexis contacted my father and he came up eventually. They gave the whole medical history to the doctors. Then my mother decides to move herself and my brother up here. My father has nobody in Daytona, and he seems to be hanging around here more instead. The really big miracle is that my mother agrees to let my father see my brother, at least, so long as someone else is around."

"Yes, I could see that by your birthday party. That's really good isn't it? That's what they were fighting over. Is he the one who took you out of the country, then? I remember you had a hard time with that."

"It was. What did I tell you?"

"Never to let one of my parents take me out of the country without an American passport! You were quite adamant about that!"

"It was hard to get back in when I was over in Moscow without it. He had us there with him a couple of years, and when Mom finally found us, then she wanted us to go back. That started a whole bunch of trips to the consul - that's a guy who works for the State Department and decides who can go from whichever country he works in to the States. It took a lot of work to prove to him Pete and I were citizens."

"Then when you got back, they put your Dad in jail?"

"He followed us back, yeah, and then got arrested, because the whole move violated the custody order."

"I'm sorry all that happened. Makes my story sound like a little tempest in a teapot."

"It was tough for you, too. I remember how upset you were."

"Eventually it got to be less of a problem. My father cooperated more with my schedule when he realized I was only doing things everyone else did. He had to get used to it. But I'm glad you're brother is not so torn between them as you and he used to be."

"Yes, it's a really good thing. Pete is going to do OK, I think."

"You are too, Zander. Now you've got a job, and getting your education straightened out. And when Quinn was here with Alexis asking me what I knew about you, I asked her if we switched boyfriends, and she said no, you were her patient. So now it is true we did switch boyfriends."

"Well, now that you're happy with her old boyfriend, don't switch again, OK?"

"Oh no! I'm sure Quinn would never agree to that either!"

Around 7 p.m. on the swing shift, Quinn was lining up some bottles in the supply closet, when Zander came in. "Found you," he said, reaching out to take her into his arms. After getting a kiss, she pulled her extra apartment key from her pocket.

"There you go," she said. "Go to sleep for a few hours before I get there; that's the deal, right? You get up awfully early. Can't have you staying up past midnight to talk to me."

"Yes nurse," he said. He let her put her key into his jacket pocket.

"See, the swing shift isn't all bad," she said, smiling up at him. He kissed her again, and they were still kissing when Joanna came in.

"You better take good care of her," Joanna said. "After all she took care of you."

"For sure, Joanna," he answered. "It is her turn now."

"Don't be silly, that was work," Quinn said. "See you later, Zander. Get some sleep. Don't forget."

"I won't," he laughed, pulling her pony-tail. "But you wake me up. That is part of the deal too."

"You're so cute when you are asleep."

"Wake me up, or else!"

"Oh, I will. You're cute when you're awake, too! And you do some amazing things," she said, in an undertone.

Quinn went back to what she had been doing, humming a little bit.

"So we can say this is going very well?" Joanna asked.

Quinn smiled. "We could say that."

"My, you're in a good mood! I never saw you in that good a mood on account of Paul! But are you Zander's lover, or his mother? What is all that lecturing about sleep?"

"I'm a lover who's considerate. He gets up really early to study with the tutor. I'll get back a little after midnight. I want him to get some sleep - at least a couple of hours - before I get back. It's not ideal for a good night's sleep, though. Splitting it up like that."

"He's young," Joanna said, "he'll handle it."

"Yeah," Quinn said, looking off, "he will."

"Sounds like he's making you happy. Still, it must be very different when you're used to being with someone ten years older than he is."

"Hmmmm?" Quinn asked. "Oh, Paul. Yeah, ten years older. But not nearly as good in bed. Not a tenth. Isn't that what you're pumping to know about?" she asked, mischievously.

"Of course that's what I'm pumping to know about! So thank you for answering, Miss Prim! But come on. I know we will always want to think the guy we have now is better than the guy we don't have any more. I'm hoping Glen will prove to be better than Charlie in every way. Still, you have such a difference here. Now you're the one more experienced, and you've been with a guy way more experienced."

"Experience doesn't matter. You can have years of dull experience. It's the personality that matters."

"How do you mean?"

"Some guys think too much. Now, Zander, he doesn't think. He goes on guts, or instinct, or whatever you want to call it. Fundamentally, he is so sure of himself. "

"That's what AJ and the others are forever criticizing him for."

"They're not thinking of this."

Joanna laughed. "I guess they wouldn't be. So you're saying this trait has an up side?"

"Boy, does it ever!"

"Crazy. Yet it can be a disaster otherwise. Look where his impulsive acts get him to."

"I think the answer may be keep him in the right situation. He was so good at sports, for instance. Something where you decide what you want to do so quick it is instinct rather than planning. He could go into sports or something like that. Or business, maybe that is what it takes, because his parents function OK there. He's like them, really. Don't tell him I said that."

"OK," Joanna laughed. "Already thinking of his future, I see."

"Not to tell him what to do. It's only ideas! Anybody could help him with that."

"Yeah," Joanna said. "Well, I hope Glen turns out to be better than Charlie."

"What does Glen do?"

"He's a real estate agent."

"A real estate agent?"

"Not exciting, but not a bad thing to be, either. He is an extrovert. Makes him a natural to sell houses."

"So he's still pestering you, or did you let him stay over?"

"No, but he still pesters, as you put it!"

"If he can't wait until the right time then - you might think about forgetting about him and going back to circling around the village square."

"Well, you're not going to circle with me, I can see that!"

Quinn found Zander asleep on her couch. She wondered if he had happened to fall asleep there, or if he didn't trust her to wake him up if he was already asleep in her bed.

She went and took a shower, and in her bathrobe went to poured him a glass of vodka, from a bottle that Oksana had given her for Christmas. She took a sip herself, then knelt down. "Wake up, Zander," she said. "Wake up, Sander. Sandy, wake up."

This and a little shaking got his eyes to flutter, then open. "Hi beautiful," he said, smiling a bit, then closing his eyes again.

"Going to sleep again, I see," she said.

"No," he said, "no way." He sat up, shaking himself awake a little more.

She sat down next to him, and gave him the glass.

He took a drink, looked at the glass, then asked, "do you turn Russian while I turn Irish?"

She laughed. "Yes, and at the same rate."

He put down the glass, then massaged her bare neck and shoulders, pulling her bathrobe off.

"That's nice, after a long shift at work," she said.

"Do you have any stress-inducing patients?"

"Not right now," she said. "Not at the hospital, anyway."

"Smart aleck," he said, kissing her neck, and then her shoulders and then her back, pushing her hair aside.

Eventually, she turned and ran her hands through his hair and down his neck. "You are dressed and I am not!" she exclaimed. "Is this fair?"

"No," he answered.

"Come on," she answered, getting up and taking his hand.

When she got him back to her bedroom, she took off everything he was wearing, between kisses. He amused her with a passive cooperation. When she was done with this, however, all the passivity disappeared. She giggled as he quickly pushed her onto her own bed, then pretended to pin her down as if she had been wrestling against him.

"Is this an athletic contest?" she asked, eyes twinkling.

"I'll let you win if you want," he said.

"I can see no way to lose it," she answered, and she put her hands to his face and pulled him down towards her to kiss him.

Later, she set the alarm for him.

"Two in the morning," she said, "See, you had to get some sleep earlier."

"Yes, with you distracting me the way you do," he was lying on his side, next to her, one arm around her and the other stroking her arm.

"Do you like my apartment? Paul would never come over here."

"Of course. Why wouldn't he come over here?"

"He always wanted to go to his house. He thought this place was small and dreary."

"I don't think it is. He's strange."

She giggled. "It's better than a barn."

"That's true. There's lots of room in a barn. But hay and straw are not as comfortable as this bed."

In the morning, she woke up at his alarm. When he was ready to go to school/work, he stopped to kiss her. She lay back against her pillow, her arm above her head. "Are you comfortable here, Sandy?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then keep your extra key and come back tonight."

He kissed her again. "I'll see you tonight," he said. He touched her face for a second, then left.

AJ was at the courthouse, trying to get a copy of the orders that had put Carly in Ferncliff. He wanted to have a complete file on her to use when she got out. He felt sure she would be getting out someday and would instantly try to get custody of Michael.

Everyone assured him no court would ever grant her more than intensely supervised visitation, with her history. But AJ knew Carly was crazy enough to try, and that she would believe she had a right to get her son back and to have AJ, his father, excluded totally, no matter what she, his mother, had done. It appeared to AJ that one who could call herself a child's "mother" had all the rights to raise a child, while the one who was nothing but the "father" could do nothing unless the "mother" allowed him to.

Zander came into the clerk's office to file papers for Alexis. He saw AJ and greeted him warily, but AJ was friendlier than he normally was.

"I'm trying to get copies of the orders the court made on Carly," AJ violated. "My lawyer says I should have these records. But hey, Zander, I was talking to Quinn Connor one day, and she told me your father had been in jail for moving you out of the country."

"Yeah, Dad is a criminal, just like me."

"For violating a custody order, though."

"Right. I'm sure you'll get Carly on that one day."

"I don't know, but it was hard to stick to the order even without her trying to kidnap Michael like that. I never thought she would do that, since Sonny has all his influence right here. He has someplace in the Caribbean that he hides at from time to time, but there's not enough action for him there – he ends up back here every time. Sonny could leave her, though. I think about having my son see Carly; some people say he should see her anyway, as long as we are careful. I thought about talking to the shrinks to see if they think we should take him to Ferncliff."

"That's a good idea," Zander said, becoming a little friendlier. "Whatever my parents did, at least they weren't shooting at each other. This is more serious."

"Yeah. I talked to my mother's friend Gail Baldwin. She's a shrink. She said no matter what, it is not cool to say negative things about Carly in front of Michael, regardless of what she's done, because he's half her, so to speak, and we can't denounce Carly without Michael thinking he is being attacked too; even if we tell him he is different, he won't understand it on the inside. And that we had better be careful about running our mouths, because kids are always listening when you think they aren't. Now he's not old enough to understand, but he will be before long, and we've got to train ourselves not to talk. In my family, that is a hard training, I'm sure you realize that."

"Yes. And denouncing people is what they do best."

"You know all about that. Did your parents say stuff to you about the other, that was critical?"

"I overhead them fighting now and then, and every once in a while they would say something. It was what they did that was most critical. I was too young to understand. I only knew the other wasn't good enough to see their own children, from what they did to the other. Those two are really big on competing with each other, or they were. Trying to beat each other in some imaginary game. I don't know if you were. You might have been. Carly stepped way out of the bounds by shooting at you."

"Hey, I'm sorry you got hit in this crossfire, Zander. Really. I wouldn't have wished you to get shot in a million years, no matter what else I ever said about you before."

"Doesn't matter now."

"OK, well, take it easy, now, OK?"

"Goodbye," Zander said, to AJ's retreating form.