Part 4
Peter and Tim came out of the locker room after the last baseball game of the school year. Jeremy Marshall, the star of the team, was stand out in the gym in front of the bleachers, talking to the girl he dated, Taryn Polk. She had long, dark, straight hair, and an olive complexion, and wore her glasses half the time, giving her an intellectual look.
"Hey guys," Jeremy said, stopping them. "Great game, both of you."
"Thanks," Peter said. "We helped you a little, maybe!"
"My homer wouldn't have meant so much without your single," Jeremy said. "And old Tim here, made that great catch in the seventh. Put out their rally."
"Yeah, great job," Taryn said to Tim and Pete.
"Hi, Taryn!" One of Taryn's best friends and another girl had come up to the group; a cute girl with red hair in a ponytail, and freckles, and a brunette, wearing a volleyball uniform.
"Hi," Taryn said.
"Hello, Branwyn," Jeremy said.
"This is my cousin, Kara," Branwyn, the redhead, explained, introducing the girl in the volleyball uniform.
"Hi," they all said.
"These guys are Tim and Pete," Jeremy told the girls.
"How was the volleyball game?" Taryn asked Kara.
"We lost," Kara smiled, with a little roll of the eyes.
"Was it PCH you were playing?" Peter asked.
"Yep."
"So were we."
"Except they won," Taryn said.
"Hey guys, let's all go to Kelly's!" Jeremy suggested.
"Spanish is horrible," Branwyn told Tim. She had the window seat, right across from Tim. "Is Russian easier?"
"No way on earth," Tim said.
"I'll stick to Spanish," Branwyn declared.
"Hey, Q!" Pete was sitting in the middle, between Tim and Jeremy.
Quinn was getting some coffee to go. She was wearing gold-colored scrubs.
"Who is Q?" Branwyn asked.
"My brother's girlfriend," Peter answered. "She's a nurse. Oh, yeah, and she's Tim's sister."
Quinn stopped by the table. "Hi," she said. She started drinking her coffee.
"Are you on that middle shift, then, Q?" Peter asked her.
"Right, I'm on my way to work."
"Which hospital do you work at?" Jeremy asked.
"PC General."
"Hey, aren't you – you're Quinn, aren't you?" Taryn said.
"That's her normal name," Tim said. "Pete likes her initial."
"Didn't you used to date my uncle?"
"Oh, yeah, you're Patty's daughter. Tara?"
"Taryn."
"You've grown!"
Everyone laughed.
"She's a big girl now," Jeremy said, looking at her with smiling eyes.
"How's uncle Paul?" Quinn asked.
"Good. I guess you see him sometimes at the hospital."
"Now and then."
"Well, it was nice to see you again, anyway."
"Same here. Well, I'll get on to work. Behave yourselves."
"Yes, big sister!" Tim laughed, with the rest of them.
"Your sister's pretty," Branwyn said to Tim.
"She went to Mercy High, too," Tim informed her.
"How old is she?"
"Almost twenty-four."
"Imagine being that old," Branwyn said. "All done with college and everything."
"Yeah, so old!" Peter laughed.
"How old is your brother?" Kara asked.
"Twenty-one. Ancient also."
"You guys should see his car," Tim said.
"Oh, wait, I've heard about that car," Jeremy said. "Your brother didn't want it, or something?"
"Yeah," Pete said. "My parents gave him the car, a Porsche, on his twenty-first birthday, and he refused to take it until one day he decided he wanted Q. to be able to drive it."
"What brought on that change of mind?" Kara asked
"Hard to say. Sander – that's my brother's name – is a mystery a lot of the time."
"Funny name," Taryn said.
"Short for Aleksander, which in English is Alexander, so some people around here say Zander," Peter told her.
"Odd name, you wouldn't think it was that common. The same as that guy who was in the news a couple of years ago for drug dealing at PCH," Taryn said.
"You're on top of things, aren't you?" Peter asked, laughing.
"Yeah, Zander Smith," Taryn said. "That was the guy."
"Must have been a real character," Tim grinned. Then both he and Peter laughed.
"What's so funny?" Branwyn asked.
"He had a southern drawl, not too much, a classy one, which was very pleasant on the ears," Joanna told Quinn. "He was from Lexington, and he was tall and dark haired."
"It can't be," Quinn said.
"Is Sean Monroe a common name in Kentucky? Both names?"
"Gee, I hope so," Quinn said. "What a thought."
"It would be hard to believe that one or both of them hadn't done it on purpose."
"I agree. Maybe not, though. He had been to Port Charles. That would naturally come up in any conversation they had soon after they met. They had that in common first, and could go from there."
"They have another thing in common."
"OK. He has an ex-girlfriend from Port Charles. I don't care if he talks to her about me. I can't stop former boyfriends from doing it any more than they could stop me from talking about them to Zander."
"Right. But it goes yet further, then. I wonder. If you had never met Zander, and she didn't know you at all, that would be it. But she knows you. On top of that, she knows you are with her ex-boyfriend. I wonder if she told Sean all of that."
"Sean could have told her only that he dated someone from Port Charles."
"He could have. If he said you were a nurse, she'd say her parents were both doctors, which nurse is it, and the bottom line is, 99, she knows it's you."
"It will remain to be seen. I think I will treat it like they ran into each other and that's it. It's not my business, or Zander's."
"Are you going to tell Zander about it?"
"Of course."
"Good Luck!"
"Thanks. Well, how was the wedding? And how good a time did you have with AJ?"
"Nice. Very nice."
"He was a gentleman?"
"A perfect gentleman, strangely enough."
"Strangely enough?"
Joanna laughed. "I don't know why I might have been expecting anything different."
"Maybe the other Mansons. How were they?"
"Polite. Actually pretty nice. Sociable. You know. The different context."
"Sounds like you had a good time."
"Pretty good. AJ is nicer away from the rest of the Mansons."
Emily heard a lot of noise and yelling downstairs at the Quartermaine mansion.
"Well, she's not here," she heard her grandfather saying.
"I can let her go back with you on her own recognizance," she heard Detective Taggart saying.
She went into the living room, which was where the voices came from.
"Well, she is here," Detective Taggart said. "I'm sorry Miss Quartermaine, but I have to book you for driving under the influence."
Emily was fuming when she came back from the police station. All that humiliating taking of her fingerprints and taking her picture. Somebody had done it, and she was now sure it was Quinn.
She went to the gate house to talk to Sean about it.
"Have you gone and seen her?" Emily said. "I know you might want to look her up. I know it doesn't mean you're trying to date her."
"No, I haven't looked her up," he said. "I'm not even sure Quinn can know I'm here. This town isn't that small."
"It's really small," Emily said. "She probably knows already."
"Why would she turn you in?"
"She was right there, and she was the one asking questions. The cops wouldn't. AJ told them he was driving."
"Well, was he?" Sean asked. "Wait, don't answer. Talk to your lawyers about it. For sure your parents will line them up."
"Did you go and see her?"
"I did not go see her!" Sean said.
"She told me about you in the hospital, remember? Now it occurs to me she could have put you up to this whole thing to get you back in town."
"If she wanted me back, she could have just said so!"
"Maybe she is sneakier than that."
"No. She's not sneaky."
"You haven't seen her in a couple of years. Maybe she's gotten sneaky."
"I doubt it. Back to the real issue. How could she know whether or not you were driving?"
"She was asking me how it happened, and saying I was really banged up. I asked Detective Taggart how he could possibly charge me when AJ was driving and he said my injuries were the proof I was driving."
"It wouldn't matter who your nurse was."
"Not any nurse would talk to the cops about it."
"If she did, it has nothing to do with me, I assure you."
"Maybe she's nervous about Zander."
"Maybe. From the way you describe him, and what I know of her, he must drive her crazy."
"Why do you say that?"
"She is stable and steady and sensible and he is volatile."
"She was the one dating him just for the fun of it."
"That fits right in with your theory, Emily. She fell hard after all. He doesn't fall for her. She knows it. He still wants to be with you, no doubt. She must realize it by now."
He went over and put an arm around her. "It will be fine," he said. "She won't get the satisfaction of bringing you down."
"There is good news and bad news," Quinn told Zander, in the lobby of the gate house, where they were getting ready to go out to dinner at the Outback.
"What is the bad news?" Zander asked.
"Bad news first, eh? Smart. Well, it's this. Shyster Sean came into town with Little Emily and was her date for the wedding. At least, I think so. There's a slight chance there could be more than one Sean Monroe in Lexington, Kentucky."
Zander was silent, then smiled, then shook his head.
"I wonder if they know."
"I'm hoping they only realized they had something in common. She came from Port Charles, and he had been there. He may not have even told her much about his ex-girlfriend who took him there."
"So what is the good news, nurse?"
"We don't have to do any matchmaking for Little Emily."
Zander laughed. He picked Quinn up and twirled her around. He put her down, and they were both laughing. "We do have much better things to do with our time," he said.
"Indeed we do," she smiled.
Zander and Quinn took Alexis out to dinner at the Outback after a time trial at the speedway.
"He was tall, and had dark hair, and is a lawyer and said he wanted to take the New York State Bar Exam," Alexis said. "He was a passable dancer."
"It's him all right," Quinn said.
"Was he interested in the New York Bar when he came here with you?" Alexis asked.
"There was some talk about it. He went and interviewed with the Baldwin firm. He was thinking we could stay here one summer, but we ended up in Kentucky. I volunteered at a hospital in Louisville."
"Now he sounds like the travel agency for Port Charles, all about how wonderful it is."
"So you danced with him, eh?" Zander asked.
"Yes. And with several others. Even Jerry," Alexis smiled. "We had a drink after that, and talked to Jasper Jax."
Zander and Quinn looked at each other sort of quickly. Alexis smiled.
"What is he up to?" Zander asked.
"Jasper? He was nosing around for information about your Dad. I introduced him to your Mom. He appeared delighted with her."
Quinn's eyes sparkled with amused curiosity. "How did she and Stefan seem to do?"
"OK, actually. They were dancing."
"I would like to have seen that!" Quinn said. "Do you think they like each other?"
"Yes. He likes her very much, I know that."
"Oksana, it's hard to tell," Zander said. "I can't imagine her feelings on such a subject. Sad, I guess."
"She can be kind of stoic," Alexis said. "But that's on the outside. Probably doesn't want you worrying about such things at this point."
Jerry came with drinks and sat down with them, next to Alexis.
"I got to dance with this fine young lady," he grinned. "Did she tell you?"
"She did. Funny you ran into each other there," Zander said.
Now it was Alexis and Jerry's turn to exchange glances.
"Yeah, it was just like we do at the races," Alexis said. Jerry admired her subtlety.
"We could all watch the Sirius 400 on TV," Quinn said. "You are all invited by my place for it."
"Of course I am nervous. I've never asked anyone out before," Tim was saying, in the kitchen at Oksana's house.
"Just take a deep breathe, and do it," Lisa advised. She stood against the counter with a water can in her hand.
"Or get talking about something else and work it in," suggested Diana, who was putting dishes into the dishwasher.
"I like Lisa's way," Peter opined. "and Diana's. Be sure in your mind of the one sentence, so you don't have to look for words. Like: Branwyn, how about going to the movies Friday night?"
"How about going to the movies with me Friday night," Diana amended.
"Yeah, get that part clear," Peter said.
"Thanks, Diana," Tim said. "And Lisa. You, I don't know if you're any help at all," he said to Pete, throwing a rolled up piece of paper towel at him.
Peter dodged it and laughed. He threw it back. It missed Tim but hit Diana.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Peter exclaimed.
Diana threw it back to Peter.
"Dead on!" Peter laughed. "We could use you on our baseball team!"
Quinn's eyes were on the track up ahead, concentrating. She came around the bend, smoothly. It was so easy when you were the only one. It made such a huge difference to do the exact same thing, but with several others on the same oval driving the same way.
It was good for your mind. It was clear of everything else. It knew only the track up ahead.
But when you came off, the world came back again.
Her father, godfather and brothers looked the car over.
"She said she'd go," Tim told Quinn. "Now what do I do?"
Quinn laughed. "You survived asking her out. You can survive going out with her, too."
"Now if you were her, what would you think was a good time?" Tim asked.
"You're a good researcher, if nothing else," Quinn smiled. "I would say it was fun if it was relaxed. No pressure. Keep talking. Tell her about yourself. Ask her about herself."
"There isn't much that is interesting to tell about me," he said.
"Of course there is, you dufus. You play the guitar. You played at the Nurse's Ball. You've been to the Indy 500. Tell her about your sister driving in the races. Your friend who lived in Russia and how you experienced the Russian New Year. Find out if she has brothers and sisters."
"I know she has a cousin."
"OK, ask about the cousin. What's it like to be in a class with your cousin? Does your cousin tell your aunt anything you did, and then your aunt tells your mother and then what happens?"
"Wow, you see all the details, Quinn," Tim marveled. "You're so smart."
She laughed and ruffled his hair. "I knew the day would come when you would appreciate me," she said.