Trying to still get this chapter done without using the internet much. Most of the writing I have been doing I can do without internet but when it comes time to research and fill in the details it is difficult. I will just be going on memory of what happened when Sam investigated Jason's birth and the distribution Edward's ELQ stock to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I am also having to guess at some of the story I have already written because I lost it and didn't want to take the time to read it online either. I think I am almost done with this story. I never intended for it to be too long. I might do one more chapter after this. I am not going to do anymore scenes with Aaron meeting other people in his life. Just think it would be too redundant. I think the next chapter is going to be the brothers discussing what happened to Jason and Jack on CI and the resolution to that.

Chapter 7

Alex opened the front door and saw a young man with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He immediately felt familiar to her.

"Can I help you?" She asked him.

"I am here to see Aaron Davidson." Michael ran his hand through his hair nervously.

"Your Michael aren't you?" Alex questioned him. She had been reading more about the Quartermaine's and had went through so much information on the internet all the names and photos had all ran together. But Michael had stood out to her. He had similar features of her husband.

"Yes I am." He looked at her in surprise.

"Aaron isn't here." Alex told him as she motioned for him to come in. "I don't know how long he will be. He said he had an errand to run and he would be right back."

As she led him into the living room she noticed he was carrying a brief case as she motioned for him to have a seat on the couch.

"Can I get you a drink?" She asked him. She wasn't sure what to do. Her first instinct was to ask him what he was doing there without being asked. But he seemed so nervous and unsure of himself she decided to give him a chance to explain himself.

"No, thank you," He looked at her closely for the first time. "Mrs Davidson, I don't intend to take up very much of Aaron's time."

Something about the way she was looking at him reminded him of Sam. He definitely got the feeling she didn't want him there and she would have no problem kicking him out physically if he said the wrong thing. He wanted to wait for Aaron to arrive before he discussed business. He decided to put the ball in her court.

"Do you have any questions about the Quartermaine's you want to ask me?"

He became even more uncomfortable under her scrutiny. She was just staring at him then she suddenly asked, "How close are you with Jason?"

"He has been like a father to me." He answered without hesitation. "He has been there for me during some of my most difficult times."

"How dependable can a hit man be though?" she asked with disgust.

Michael took a deep breath and counted under his breath like Jason had taught him. He didn't want to loose his temper and not get business taken care of with Aaron. Depending on where the conversation went would determine how well the technique would work.

"Look," Michael began in a calm tone that he didn't feel. "You have done nothing but read newspaper stories about Jason. None of those stories tell how he protected me, my brother and my sister. When my Dad didn't protect us he was always there to rescue us and get us out of bad situations. He is protective, loyal and the best father his kids could have."

"Also," Michael continued emphatically. "He was NOT and is not a hit man. He never took contracts to kill anyone."

"But he did work for your father, Sonny," Alex said stubbornly. "He did remove people your father thought was a threat."

"If they were threats to our family I am sure he did, as you say, remove them. All the good he has done to protect my family outweighs any of the bad he has done." Michael told her plainly. "I know we are not going to agree. Maybe you need to see it with your own eyes."

"What are you suggesting?" Alex asked with trepidation.

Michael pulled out his tablet computer out of a side compartment on his briefcase. He was swiping quickly to find what he was looking for. "Here," he held out the tablet for her to take from her. "See for yourself."

She took the tablet from him, not sure what she was looking at. She saw it was a video. She decided it wouldn't hurt to see what Michael wanted to show her.

"I will warn you," Michael said to her with a grin. "It is long. It is a compilation of videos and photos from my childhood that my mother had and ends with the recent Easter egg hunt."

The first images were a shock because they were before Jason's accident that gave him a new face. It was like seeing her husband with one of their children. He was standing at a window holding the baby where the baby could see out. He was carrying on a one sided conversation with the baby. Then there were snapshots in the video. The video seemed to jump forward a few years and it very quickly jumped to more recent times with the change to his face. There were other people in the video that were familiar to her from her internet research.

As the video went on, there were fewer photos and more actual video. It illustrated the quick changes in technology that occurred over the course of Michael's life span. It also illustrated the change in personality as well as Jason's changed face. He was more playful and affectionate. He was a man who had come back from the dead basically and he was enjoying the life he had with his family.

When the video ended she handed it back to Michael and said, "There is no doubt he went through a major change and not just his face."

"He loves us all the same though." Michael told her.

"I noticed this is mostly footage and photos of the two of you except for toward the end. Then it is film footage of him with his sons with you only occasionally in there. You took the time to gather all of these memories of mostly him and you. Why did you do that?"

"Originally I started putting the older stuff together for him when he didn't remember who he was." he told her sadly. "I wanted to show him that he hadn't been a bad person just because he worked for my father."

"So he had a problem dealing with the fact that he worked for your father." She said with interest.

"He still does," Michael told her. "Otherwise, he would have started working for my dad again after he got his memory back. But he didn't."

"But he has remained friends with him." She challenged.

"Yes they are," Michael confirmed. "You don't spend the better part of twenty years having each others back and not form a lasting bond."

"No I guess not." She admitted.

They both looked up at the front door as they heard keys in the lock. They both stood as they watched Aaron walk into the living room.

Michael stared at Aaron in awe. Even being prepared and knowing that Aaron looked like Jason before the plastic surgery, he was still taken aback.

Aaron stared back at Michael, taking in their similar features and height. He had seen photos of him at Jason's house so he knew who he was. He just didn't know what he was doing there in his house.

"Sorry about just showing up." Michael responded first. "I don't mean to intrude. I promised Jason I would give you some time before I came to talk business with you but something came up to change those plans."

"What changed?" Aaron asked him. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.

"I was out of town on business when some one from the Port Charles media contacted me to let me know they are running a story about you. The headline is going to be 'Lost Quartermaine found!' When this story breaks it could cause a panic with companies we do business with. They will see ELQ as an unstable business because true ownership will come into question."

"But I don't want anything to do with ELQ." Aaron insisted.

"Our business partners do not know that." Michael told him. "If I can get out in front of this I can show a united front and it will calm them down."

"What do you suggest?" Aaron asked as he motioned for Michael to take a seat back on the couch.

"Well as luck would have it," Michael began. "We had an informal board meeting and came up with a plan we were going to present to you anyway."

Aaron watched as Michael reached for his brief case. Then he asked, "Why didn't Jason call me and give me a heads up on what was going on?"

Michael looked up from his open briefcase, "I didn't call him to tell him. He is going through therapy to find out what happened to Jake and him on that island. I didn't want to worry him with this, especially when we had already worked out somewhat of a solution."

"Right now," Michael continued. "He is only talking to Sam and Jake's mom about what happened to them. When he is ready I am sure he will let us know what happened."

Aaron just nodded in agreement. He had learned that early on that Jason didn't like talking about stuff too much especially when the situation was highly emotional. He didn't have a problem with Jason not sharing his experiences with him. They may be twins but they hadn't known each other that long. He was sure that Jason wouldn't be talking to him at all about anything except for the fact that they were twin brothers.

Michael pulled out a packet of papers and changed a little. He quickly became all business.

"The majority share holders appreciate that you do not want any ELQ stock for yourself. I have papers for you to sign that state that fact. However," Michael continued before Aaron could respond. "We have decided to put shares aside for each of your children. The details are in this packet of papers. I want to leave these with you to look over."

"That is very generous of all of you." Aaron didn't know how to respond.

"We all agreed it is what grandfather and grandmother would have wanted." Michael told him as he was packing up his briefcase. "They both would have been so happy to know about you."

Michael stood up and offered Aaron his hand to shake.

"I will be getting out of your hair," Michael told them. "I have intruded enough and I apologize again for that. It just couldn't be helped and it needed to be done sooner rather than later."

"I am actually glad you came, Michael." Aaron told him as they walked to the door. "Jason and Sam love you very much and have faith in you. I am willing to trust that."

"I appreciate that." Michael told him as they reached the front door. "I don't mean to rush but please get back with me as soon as possible. I attached a business card with all my contact information with the contracts. When you have made a decision we can go over any revisions you may have."

"I will look over the papers tonight and I will get with you first thing in the morning." Aaron told him as he opened the door.

"Welcome to the family." Michael said in parting as he walked through the door.

As he expected, Alex was combing through the contract when he returned to the living room.

Knowing she had the legal mind in the family he asked her, "What do you think?"

"You were right," she answered. "It is a generous contract, but it is up to you. Are you sure you don't want your own any share of the ELQ pie?"

"I am very sure," he answered definitively. "I am not even sure I want them to set aside anything for the kids. They don't need it."

"Maybe they don't," Alex replied. "But it is their heritage. They should have something of it for no other reason."

He took the contract from her and started skimming the pages and stopped at the break down of money involved if the kids were to receive the promised shares.

"They definitely don't need this much." Aaron said with determination. "I think they can get half the amount of shares that is listed here. That way they have a piece of their heritage and a foot in the door if they want to become involved in it when they are older.

"The kids will be home soon and we have other things to talk about." Aaron told her. "I left what was in the safe deposit box in the car. It was a journal detailing our birth and how my parents came to adopt me. It was their confession letter to me I guess."

"Tell me about it." she encouraged.

"Jason had already been taken out of the room to be cleaned up and examined before I was born. Susan Moore had passed out and never knew she had another child. Just the mare fact that I was born about thirty minutes after Jason is the reason I was taken."

"Did she just take you because your birth mother didn't know anything about you?" She questioned. She knew he was disturbed by what he had read in the journal. "I know I can read the journal for myself but I think you need to tell me what she wrote."

"The woman who was with Susan, a woman named Heather Webber came up with the idea apparently." He continued after she proded him. "Heather was her birth coach and cousin. She was going on about them not having the money to care for one child much less two. Mother wrote that she asked her if Susan would be willing to part with one of us. She went on to write that Heather convinced her that Susan would fight to keep both of us and it was better if Susan didn't know about me.

She told herself for years that she had done the right thing. Both of them still struggled with it. I could never tell they struggled with anything. They always seemed so happy with each other and our lives. They hide this well. the only time they came close to tipping their hands were when I asked if they knew how to get into contact with my birth mother when I got curious about what she was like and why she had given me up.

I put their nervousness down to thinking I wasn't happy with them and wanted to go live with her or something. It never occurred to me that they were hiding something like this.

She writes that she didn't know about all my other family. She just thought I had the brother. She wrote that Heather told her that our father didn't want anything to do with any of us and they wouldn't be getting any support from him.

It was only after I asked about Susan that Mother did try to find her. But when she found out she was dead and that Jason had been raised by our father she paniced and didn't tell anyone except for Dad of course. They decided not to tell anyone because Jason was in boarding school by then and they figured Alan would just send me there as well."

He finally came back to himself and began seeing Alex again instead of his mother writing the journal.

"I think after Jason gets his memories settled I will take the journal to him. It is part of his past as well as mine."

"Why don't we discuss the ELQ stock and your reluctance to take any of it even any for the kids." Alex knew he had to take a break from talking about his adoptive parents. Distracting him with ELQ business would have to do for now.

"Until we can feel like we are part of that family I will not be comfortable with an inheritance from someone I didn't know. I don't care if he was my grandfather."

"To feel like part of the family we will have to start spending time with them and getting to know them other than newspaper stories." Alex pointed out.

"I actually have another idea about becoming a part of their family." Aaron told her. "We can discuss it after the kids are in bed. They should be home soon."

It seemed to take extra time to get the kids to bed. Aaron didn't know if they sensed his sadness and it was unsettling to them or if it was something else. He knew that they each had their reservation about moving away and they had lost all of their grandparents in one careless moment.

It was what made him reconsider moving to Port Charles or at least somewhere close by.

"Hello, Michael," he said. "Sorry it is so late but I have a counter offer for you that I am emailing to you right now."

"Are you sure about this?" Michael asked after he read the email.

"Yes," he replied. "We are very sure."

"Ok then," Michael replied with surprise. "Let me run it by the family first thing in the morning and I will get back with you with new contracts."