The Next Day
School still hadn't started back up after Garrett's antics on the playground. Kellie and the kids stayed home. Jason had left to meet with Sonny while Kellie and the kids were in the middle of a movie when Carly showed up.
"Johnny let me in," Carly said coming in the room.
"That's fine," Kellie said.
"Do you guys mind if I borrow your mom for a few minutes?" Carly asked the kids, "We'll just be in the kitchen. I promise I'll bring her back."
The kids nodded and Kellie got up from the couch. Kellie and Carly headed to the kitchen.
Carly excited hugged Kellie, "I'm so happy you're home."
Before Kellie could say another word, Carly started to chatter away, "And how great is it, we're both pregnant at the same time. I refused to believe it when Jason said the doctors thought you had ovarian cancer. Thank God, Spinelli was able to look through your medical records. You have to be so relieved. Thinking you were dying, I can't imagine."
"Of course, I'm relieved," Kellie said, "Could we um."
"So what did the doctors have to say about your due date and is the baby healthy?" Carly asked, continuing with her questions.
"Everything looks good," Kellie said, "I'm probably around the end of the first trimester. I have to set up an appointment at GH for pre-natal care. I'll probably have a better idea then."
"We'll have to go shopping for maternity clothes and baby things together," Carly said.
"Carly, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact I'm having another kid," Kellie said, "I haven't even thought about maternity clothes and all the things a baby is going to need yet."
"Can you imagine?" Carly kept speaking, "Our kids will be such good friends."
"You do realize your kid will be my kid's aunt or uncle right," Kellie asked.
"But they'll still be good friends," Carly said.
"Does that mean I should start calling you, Aunt Kellie," Michael said, entering the kitchen, "You are married to my uncle."
"How much do you value your life, Michael?" Kellie asked.
"Michael," Carly asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Stopping by to see my sister," Michael said, "And to make sure you don't go crazy planning play dates on her first full day home."
"Who told you?" Carly asked.
"I stopped by the MetroCourt to see you," Michael said, "Olivia told me you were on your way here. I know you and I know my sister could probably use a a few days before your spring shopping sprees and whatever else on her?"
"Have I ever told you you're my favorite brother Michael?" Kellie asked.
"I'm pretty sure I cinched that when I got the lease on the Crossing Into Dawn office buildings free," Michael said.
"Nice try. You know I can't be bought," Kellie said.
"Let's at least plan on shopping," Carly said.
"When I'm ready to go maternity clothes shopping," Kellie said, "I'll let you know."
Carly wanted to protest.
"That's fair enough, Mom," Michael said, "Kellie only got home yesterday and just found out she's having a kid."
"Alright," Carly said, "But I want all the details about your first prenatal visit. I assume the doctors in Florida took an ultrasound. Did you get copies?"
"Mom," Michael said.
"Okay, okay," Carly said, "I'm just so excited for you. Have you told the kids yet?"
"Last night," Kellie said, "When they wanted to know if we figured out why I was sick all the time. They don't seem fazed by it. Alyssa wanted to know how babies were made and she says the baby has to be a boy so she doesn't have share."
"If she's ends up with a sister," Carly said, "She's going to have a rude awakening."
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," Kellie said.
"How is she after everything?" Carly asked.
"i'm not sure" Kellie said, "She's wanted to stay close to me, but at the same time is afraid I blame her. She's chatty, but kind of quieter than normal. I have no idea what to do for her. What good is everything I learned with the foundation if I have no idea how to use it to help my own daughter?"
"Okay, you may not know how use that knowledge to help your daughter," Carly said, "But you have people that do. People that can tell you what you need to do to help."
"Mom's right," Michael said, "This isn't like when you rescue kids and girls. It's your daughter. It makes sense that what you'd do for the people you rescue wouldn't be the same as what you'd do for your daughter."
"I guess in my head, I know that," Kellie said, "And Dr. Byrne referred Alyssa to a child psychiatrist."
"You already have a next step," Michael said, "In meantime, just let her be a kid as much as possible."
Kellie's phone dinged that she'd received a text message. She opened the message and started laughing and crying.
"What is it?" Carly asked.
Kellie handed Carly and Michael her phone. They looked at the message from Molly, showing a picture of her wearing an 80s prom dress and TJ in a powder blue tux. The message with it read, "Just thought you could use something normal."
"What does that mean?" Michael asked.
"I don't think there's anything normal about Molly wearing an 80s prom dress," Carly said.
"After I almost died in South America," Kellie said, "Kristina and Molly would randomly text me stories about their day or pictures with everything from homework to shopping. They told me it was because they wanted to give me something normal. It didn't matter whether I responded or not, they kept doing it. So that's what Molly's doing and trying to make me laugh with the prom dresses."
"Can I have that photo?" Michael asked.
"Nope," Kellie said, snatching her phone back "So you can forget any thoughts you have about using that photo against them?"
Poluzzo's
Jason walked into the back office.
"Thanks for coming," Sonny said, "I know you probably would have rather stayed home. I would have stopped by, but I'm not sure Kellie would appreciate it right now."
"She's going to need time, Sonny," Jason said.
"I know you're right," Sonny said, "But patience isn't always my strong suit."
"What do you need?" Jason asked.
"How is Kellie?" Sonny asked.
"She's processing, trying to be strong for the kids," Jason said, "School has started up again after the shooting. So they're having a movie and popcorn day."
"Good," Sonny said, "How's she doing with Garrett's fate, going to prison? Personally, I think it's too good for him."
"I agree. And Kellie's struggling with that," Jason said, "Agent Gibbs and I had to talk her out of shooting Garrett at the cabin. Gibbs had already had him in custody and he was taunting her."
"Jesus," Sonny said.
"She's tempted to ask us to take care of him," Jason said, "The thought of Garrett having any chance of coming after her or the kids again bothers her."
"I know the decision should be hers, Jason," Sonny said, "But I want to make sure Kellie never has to worry about that bastard ever again. If he disappeared, what the odds Kellie would be upset."
"Honestly, she might be unhappy with us," Jason said, "But the peace of mind she'd get…. I think she'd take the approach she did when we found out Dante was your son; pretend she buys that Dante shot himself on accident and just not ask questions."
"Unfortunately, we'll have to let things cool off," Sonny said, "Before we can make any decisions one way or the other."
"In the meantime, we'll monitor the situation," Jason said, "What's the latest on Kristina?"
"It's the same," Sonny said, "She's cutting everybody out of her life. Sam is still trying to find out more and gain Shiloh's trust."
"Drew's still on board with this?" Jason asked.
"Yeah," Sonny said, "They staged some kind of epic fight when he went blind after he had followed her and Shiloh to that medieval tower."
"We need to call them," Jason said, "Shiloh and Garrett know each other. NCIS didn't think it was a coincidence that Shiloh and Garrett were in Port Charles at the same time. Garrett uses navy petty officers to move people and Shiloh used to be a defense contractor for the Navy."
"Tell me NCIS was able to open the file on Shiloh," Sonny said.
"Not quite," Jason said, "When we were going through Drew's file looking for connections between Shiloh and Garrett, we found a surveillance photo of Shiloh and Garrett. Additionally, Shiloh's Dawn of Day set up looks more and more like the set up for one Karpov's former associates. Petrov had a similar organization, groups that did community outreach and lived together. However, his included an inner circle and rumor has it was black mailing members into sleeping with him. Garrett was trafficking people through those organizations."
"What are the chances Shiloh is doing the thing here?" Sonny asked.
"Fairly high, I'd say," Jason said, "Unfortunately, NCIS has their hands tied. They still can't get Shiloh's file. According to the Director, what he's been told is a picture of Shiloh with Garrett isn't enough to get that or pursue a full investigation. They'll need more concrete evidence that Dawn of Day is more than what Shiloh portrays it be. The NCIS agents working the case are comparing it to that sex cult out of New York that was recently busted."
"My daughter's involved with a sex cult?" Sonny replied.
"It looks that way," Jason said, "The FBI is looking into Shiloh's finances. They know his inheritance was cut off and want to know where his funding is coming from."
"Those outrageous Classe fees," Sonny said, "And if Shiloh is trafficking people for Garrett, I'm sure there is a cut for him as well. We need to talk to Sam and Drew. If what you're telling me about Shiloh and Garrett is true, then we don't have a lot of time before Shiloh tries to take advantage of Kristina or even Sam."
"It would be helpful if Drew remembered why he would have surveillance footage of Garrett and Shiloh," Jason said.
"You don't think he was involved," Sonny asked.
"I know he doesn't have his memories," Jason said, "But I can't see Drew being involved in something like that except to take it down."
"You're right," Sonny said as Sam walked in.
"Hey," Sam said, "I was hoping to talk to you, Sonny."
"Have you had any luck finding anything on Shiloh?" Sonny asked.
"Not yet," Sam said, "I'm just going to need more time. I want to be sure you won't take care of things because you get impatient."
"Sam, you're playing a dangerous game," Jason said, "He has connections to Garrett."
"Since when?" Sam asked.
"We found evidence he and Garrett cross paths in Afghanistan," Jason said, "When Drew was there."
"Great so the cops can open an investigation," Sam said.
"No, not yet," Jason said. He and Sonny proceeded to fill Sam in on the connections to Petrov and the sex cult theory.
"Maybe you should back off, Shiloh," Sonny said, "If Shiloh is running a cult, who knows what he'll do to you if he gets any hint you're anything but a devoted follower. He already took you to God knows where to do God knows what."
"But the cops can't do anything and meanwhile I'm only person Kristina is talking to," Sam said, "If I back out now and she stops talking to me, where are we then."
"My plan," Sonny said.
"Then Kristina will blame herself when Shiloh disappears," Sam said, "And I don't know that she can handle that."
"Better than him coercing her into sleeping with him," Sonny said, "And you can Drew continuing to pretend you're having marital problems."
"Sonny, it kind of works out with Drew staying with Oscar at the Quartermaines until….
Sam said, "As awful as that sounds. Drew seems to understand I don't want my sister hurt. I'm just trying to protect her. "
"I'm trying to protect her too," Sonny said.
"Maybe there's a middle ground," Jason said, "Law enforcement may not be able to dig. But not that we know there's a connection between Garrett and Shiloh, we can keep looking."
"I'm still going to see what else I can come up with by attending classes and spending time with Shiloh," Sam said.
"Just be careful, Sam," Jason said.
"And figure out how to do it without putting your marriage to Drew on the line," Sonny said.
"It'll be fine," Sam said, "How's Kellie?"
"She's good, all things considered," Jason said.
"I'd imagine she had quite the ordeal," Sam said, "Is she still sick? Or did the doctors figure that out?"
"Kellie's pregnant," Jason said.
"Seriously, Jason," Sam said, "Why was she really sick? I know Kellie had her tubes tied years ago."
"The doctor never actually did the procedure," Sonny said.
Sam looked back and forth between Jason and Sonny.
"You're not joking," Sam said, "How did that happen?"
"Spinelli's looking into it," Jason said, "We think Helena had something to do with it. Maybe tomorrow I could stop by and tell Danny."
"Sure, but what's the rush," Sam asked, "Kellie's probably what 6-8 weeks along."
"She's probably more like 11-13 weeks," Jason said.
Sam's eyes got wide, "You don't have a lot of time before she starts to show."
"She's already using a rubber band or hair tie to fasten her jeans," Jason said.
"Kellie hates shopping as it is," Sam said, "I've got some items left over from when I was pregnant with Scout. I'll drop them by the house tomorrow. Then she's covered if she needs something else before she has a chance to go shopping."
"I'm sure she'll appreciate that," Jason said.
"The last thing she needs to worry about right now is having clothes that fit," Sam said.
"Is there anything else you need, Sonny?" Jason said.
"No, go home," Sonny said, "Tell Kellie and the kids I love them."
"The two of you will figure it out," Jason said, "I'll call Spinelli and see if he found out any more on Shiloh. How's your dad?"
"Frustrated on not being able to communicate. He's being moved to a rehab facility tomorrow," Sam said, "I'll get Kellie the information if she wants to see him."
"Good," Jason said, turning to leave, "I will see you later."
"Congratulations, by the way," Sam said as Jason left.