Part 4

Brenda walked on the docks at night, again. She looked up ahead and saw Zander.

"Why do you walk here alone?" he asked. "I hope you know judo. Or carry a gun."

"Both," she said, flippantly. "Unlike you. I can't believe you are down here after what happened to you last time."

"I'm safe now," he said. "I have you."

"Why yes," she took his arm. "So shall we have a stroll along the docks?"

"Certainly, madam."

"How is your job search going, young man?"

"Pretty good. Would you like me to be a mechanic or a shipping clerk?"

"I get to choose. Let's see. You'd have auto oil on your hands a lot as a mechanic, right? On the other hand, I don't see you as a very good shipping clerk."

"What's it to you the condition of my hands?"

"I like them."

"Why thank you. I'm very good with them, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure."

"Then I intend to go to school at night."

"Did you graduate from high school?"

"Yes, and I've been trying to get started on college for years."

"Why haven't you been able to?"

"Sonny was going to help me, he even was going to pay the tuition, and I was trying to get in, when he reassigned me to look after Carly, which does not allow for a schedule on which one can attend one's classes."

"Why ever not?"

"She is always up to something, so you can't consider yourself free."

"There's early in the morning. I'm sure she's still in bed then."

"Not always. And if you are in bed with her, it's hard to leave from there for such a thing as school."

"So she's good in bed, eh?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Brenda laughed. "No, I don't want to know. Scratch that. Now you're free of her and can work on your education."

"Where did you go to school?"

"Expensive all-girls prep school in California."

"Were your grades good?"

"No."

"You didn't go to college?"

"No. I'm like you. I often planned to start at PCU. Then I started modeling, got involved with Sonny, and I never got started. But I'm a lousy student anyway."

"You can sign up with me. We can be lousy students together."

"I'm sure that would be fun. I'll see if you get yourself signed up first."

"You would be a distraction to all the guys in all your classes. You could single handedly lower the grade point average at PCU."

"I could try."

They came up to Jake's. Zander said, "I challenge you to a pool match."

"You're on."

He beat her easily. "OK, you need a few lessons," he said.

"Are you going to give them to me without touching me?"

"Of course not."

"Well, come on. I really need instruction in this game."

Carly came in. She went up to Jake and was about to ask her if Zander was in, when she saw him at the pool table, arms around Brenda, supposedly showing her how to hit a pool shot.

Carly herself had been in that same position too many times before for the scene not to remind her.

"Better watch out," she said to Brenda. "You can end up in his room upstairs."

"Isn't that the whole point?" Brenda asked. "No one really supposes I want to learn this game, do they?"

"She couldn't be here to see either of us," Zander said, pulling Brenda slightly closer, "let's dance."

"I am here to see you," Carly said, looking at Zander.

"Be still my heart," Zander said. "How did I get so lucky?"

"I have to talk to you," Carly said.

"She looks serious, Zander," Brenda said. "She realizes she made a wrong turn, and now she wants to replace me as the woman who's going upstairs with you tonight." As she said this she turned to him and pressed her hands to his chest, then moved them up over his shoulders in a massaging sort of motion.

"There are no replacements for you," he said, looking down at her with fiery eyes.

Carly swayed a little, and grabbed the pool table. She tottered, tried to take a step, and then fell onto the floor in a heap.

Jake ran from behind the bar and knelt down by her. She shook Carly, who started to come to. Zander and Brenda both froze and stared.

Carly came to. "Are you all right?" Jake asked, automatically. She helped her up.

"I feel sick," Carly said.

Jake escorted her to the rest room. Another woman in the bar followed them in, asking if she could help.

"What's wrong with her?" Zander asked Brenda, as if it were some sort of women's secret that she might know. "She can't be that overcome by your competition for me."

"In her mind she projected it as competition for Sonny, maybe," Brenda said. "But that's not it. She's pregnant."

"How did you come to that conclusion, Dr. Barrett?"

"She fainted and now she's throwing up."

Jake came out, having left Carly to the care of the other patron.

"She got sick," she explained to the staring Zander and Brenda.

"See?" Brenda said.

"She should be happy," Zander said. "Pregnancy was her goal in life. Sonny's baby, yadda, yadda, do you know how often I heard that phrase?"

"Too often," Brenda said. "But Sonny has no children, and I wonder if it's his problem. His infertility problem."

"She'll get the blame for it. Sort of like Henry the Eighth's wives."

"Henry the Eighth? You're not as uneducated as you come across."

"I went to an expensive prep school in Florida. My education is as good as yours. I bet my grades are no worse than yours."

"I bet you mine are a little bit better."

"Well, I'm going to get my transcripts for PCU, so I'll have my proof. Get yours, and the bet is on."

"OK! What are we betting?"

"If you win, you get several free pool lessons, including the trip upstairs."

"Ho, ho ho! That's what you get if you win."

"OK. If you win, you get free car repair the next ten times you need it. If I win, I get 10 massages, like the one you almost just started before Carly keeled over."

Carly and the lady came out. Carly looked pale.

"You look awful, Carly," Jake said. "Can I call someone to take you to the hospital?"

"No," Carly said, emphatically. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Zander looked a little doubtful. "I'd offer to drive you home, but Sonny could find out and he would kill me."

"I wouldn't want you to be killed, Zander," Brenda said. "I could drive you home, Carly."

"No," Carly said.

"At least sit down for a little while," Jake said. "Let me get you a glass of water."

Carly sat down gratefully at the bar, giving in to Jake's ministrations.

Zander looked at Brenda. "So how about a dance?"

"Sure," she said.

Carly studiously keep her eyes toward the back of the bar.

They danced close, chests touching. "Mmmm," Brenda said, "you are in great shape. Hard muscles. I forgot how that was. I think I like my men young."

"Are you still recommending the gigolo route for my career?" he asked, teasingly.

"Sure."

"Are you offering me a job?"

She giggled, and snuggled yet closer. "Not until the interview and application process are over."

"You could take your pick of us kept men," he replied. "You could get your own sugar daddy."

"Yeah, but then he's in charge. I like being in charge."

Carly tried to sip some water and spilled some of it onto the bar.

"I'm sorry," she said to Jake.

"That's all right," Jake said. "But can't I call someone to come and get you?"

"I will," Carly said, taking out her cell phone.

Jason Morgan ran right over to get Carly. He kept a poker face when he saw Zander and Brenda. They didn't notice him.

"Get me out of here fast," Carly said.

"I think abortion is the right thing to do here," Carly said to Bobbie the next day. "Then Sonny and I could start over. But after trying and trying, and nothing, and being apart all that time – it's too much. I can give Sonny a baby now."

"I don't know," Bobbie sighed. "I know you don't want an abortion and that's a given. Don't drive yourself crazy about that. It is really a matter of whether you're going to tell the truth to the two men. Look what happened when you lied about Michael's paternity. Surely you've learned something from that experience?"

"It doesn't have to work out that badly again."

"It will."

"OK, so they have to know eventually. But as to the timing, well, that is up to me. Surely there must be some compensation to us women for having to deal with all of this?"

"Carly," Bobbie said, not without fondness, "Forget all that. The sooner the truth is known, the better. When would you say was a good time, anyway?"

"At least, after the baby is born. Because there's no way to test the baby for DNA until then, anyway."

"But you know what the test will show."

"They don't know that."

"You'll subject Sonny to a let down. And Zander won't have time to get used to fatherhood."

"But look at the situation! It'll never work. I can hardly have Zander coming over to feel the baby's heartbeat in Sonny's living room!"

"Carly, you don't have to do that. But Zander should have the chance to get used to the idea during the pregnancy."

"Even after the baby comes, what, Zander is going to buy diapers and bring them over to Sonny's penthouse? He lives over a bar. He can't have a baby on the weekends."

"Bring the baby here to see Zander. I'll help you in any way I can, including having Zander to my house to see his child."

"His child! He doesn't even want one!"

"You can't assume how he feels about that, and he may feel differently when he knows he has one."

"What if he doesn't?" Carly thought about this for a second, and then had a brainstorm. "What if he is willing to sign over any rights to Sonny?"

"Then you could work that out! It would be all open and honest. That's what is best for the child."

"That is what is best for the child. A perfect solution. I'll talk to Zander."

"It would be. But you're going to talk to Sonny, too?" Bobbie asked.

"Yes, mother. I'll talk to him."