Part 39 PG-13

"So he's a Russian pirate," Sean said to Skye. "Still, he has a lot going on. He's pretty bright. You could talk to him. Your family wouldn't kick you out for talking to him, would they? You could tell them you were spying for them."

She had gotten a room at the Port Charles Hotel. In her name, and had him sneak up to it. They were sitting in the Jacuzzi.

"Not a bad idea," she said. Then, she leaned over and started kissing him. It was a great way to get him to shut up.

He started to pull her out of the Jacuzzi. He was sitting on the edge of it. But they got no further than that.

He was certainly well endowed, Skye observed. That and his amazing (for him) propensity to shut up while having sex (Skye wondered if this was the only time he ever did) made him a ten in the sex department, at least. She felt good after she'd been with him. Way less tense, and more energetic.

"I see why that nurse dated you while she was in school," Skye told him, later.

"Why is that?" he smirked.

"Well, you're good for one thing, anyway," she said. "Well, for all I know, you may be a good lawyer, too."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," he said. "Were you a cheerleader, by any chance?"

"No," she said. "I call it as I see it."

"Oh, a lawyer's nightmare," he said.

The nurses surrounded Quinn and exclaimed at her diamond ring. This was something they would normally do for any engagement ring, but in Quinn's case, they had to add all kinds of comments about somebody managing to land the queen of non-commitment. Quinn survived these, since they were all somehow backhandedly complimentary of Zander.

"Who ever thought we'd see you wearing one of those!" teased Teri Hayes. "It's beautiful, though. Must be some guy, getting you to commit!"

This was typical.

"Don't fret," Joanna said. "You were right to wait for the right guy to come along."

Later, she saw Paul in the cafeteria. He had heard. "Congratulations," he said.

"Thank you," she said politely, too happy to be annoyed, and even feeling gracious toward Paul, as his breaking up with her had in a way led to her present happiness, and furthermore, he was an angel compared to Sean.

Quinn and Zander took Alexis to the Outback, so they could tell Alexis and Jerry.

"I'm so thrilled," Alexis said. "Totally excited for you. I couldn't be happier. You're so perfect for each other. It's an inspiration."

"Really?" Quinn asked, and she looked over at Jerry coming over with a bottle of champagne he had insisted on getting for the occasion.

"Really," Alexis smiled.

"You'll be one of the bridesmaids, won't you?" Quinn asked.

"Me?" Alexis said. "I'd love to but - I figured you'd have so many friends your age."

"I'd rather have you. You have something to do with it, somehow," Quinn said.

"I'd be glad to, then," Alexis said. She told Jerry about this when he came back.

"I need you," Zander said to Jerry. "If you're willing. I don't have a long list to get ushers from."

"Glad to oblige," Jerry said. He and Alexis looked at each other. Quinn and Zander, seeing that, exchanged glances, too.

"Thank you, both of you," Quinn said. "I hope it will be an inspiring experience for you."

"We set up a new place, under Kelly's," Sergei told Skye, at his office. "It will have music. Original, live, music. We came up with a name for it. The Underground. We think that wasn't too original. Somebody else said we will call it the London Underground. It has a theme, for that. We went with that, because it is a bit more creative."

"Yes," Skye said. "It is. You can have the theme - the names of the stops, or the colors from the lines - a representation of the underground map on the walls."

"Good ideas," Sergei said. "And anyway, we need publicity for it. Make it the cool place to go, so everybody wants to come there. Somebody like you, being there, will make it cool like that."

"I don't know if that's true," Skye said. "I'm not the standard of cool around here. But I have some experience with publicity. My family just won't let me use it."

Sergei was at the Outback Bar later. He told Jerry and Alexis: "She want to prove herself, against that family."

"That family," Alexis said, sitting at the bar, writing on a yellow pad, "will have a fit if they find out she works for you."

"So exactly," Sergei said. "They will have a fit. It will be interesting to see, as always."

Alexis threw her head back and positively laughed. Jerry grinned. "I think you're trying to give that old man, Edward, a heart attack, Sergei."

AJ congratulated Quinn, and said he hoped she'd be happy. "Zander seems to stay out of trouble now," he commented. "I mean, after all, he's not such a bad guy. You've been a good influence."

"He doesn't need a good influence from me," she said. "When your sister was with him, he had no family. He's got all that back now."

"That's been a good thing for him, too, then," AJ said.

AJ told Emily, Sean, Skye and Jason about Quinn and Zander being engaged. His parents and grandfather were fuming on in a different part of the room about the ELQ board meeting earlier in the day.

Emily looked blank. She was just happy that these days, Sean had dropped all his pushiness in the sex department.

Jason looked as if there was nothing he could care less about.

Skye looked surprised. Sean looked surprised too, but said. "Quinn must be very happy with him, to agree to marry him," he said.

"Oh, yeah," said AJ, "the whole hospital grapevine said it would take a miracle to land Quinn because she had already turned down a couple of guys. Zander was so clever he told her he wouldn't ask, and it would be up to her."

"Clever," Sean mused. "Yeah, that's damn clever."

Sean came up behind Skye. "Go away," she whispered. "Do you want Emily to suspect something?"

"Oh, come on, Skye," he whispered back. "Go right up to her and tell her. If she complains, remind her of her undying love for Nikolas. Now that Zander's taken, she'll see more in him, too."

"Very funny," Skye said, "make sure your keep your shyster mouth shut."

"Lawyers work with words," he said. "I'll try to be quiet," he added. "I know how much you like that."

"Thank you," she said, rolling her eyes. "Now quit hanging around me before they notice."

Emily didn't like that Zander was getting married. "It seems so odd," she told Nikolas, on the phone later, calling him from her room.

"It does," Nikolas said. "When you think back to those days, to think he'd end up marrying a professional woman like that. From what I know of him in the last year or so, though, it doesn't seem as strange. You don't know that version of Zander. The one with the parents, and the brother. You only knew the alone, drug-dealing version. Being a former girlfriend, you don't get to know the new version."

"How can anyone be that different?" she asked. "It's not like his family are different people. They're just here, rather than there. Why does that improve him?"

"Social support system," Nikolas said. "He didn't have it. How are you and Sean?"

"OK," Emily said. "Nothing really changes. He's been a little less pressuring, though."

"That's good," Nikolas said. "Call us and maybe we can do a double date sometime."