Chapter Six- Gone too Fast

Months before, Gia took Zander back with a few conditions: no more cons, no more schemes, no more fake identities, no more out of town jobs she couldn't go along on, no more lies, and absolutely no more dealing with any of the Scorpio Eight.

Zander had loved Gia for years, and been without her for too long. So when the crew split up he went back home, to the brownstone they had shared in better times, and agreed to her terms.

Gia didn't think a career change to something that involved repeated blows to the head, like boxing, was such a smart idea. But she backed him up because, Hey, she thought, it's not being a thief.

And Gia Campbell could deal with anything but having Zander on the wrong side of the law.

That was fine when they were both kids, chasing danger like a wildfire follows the wind, both loving dancing on the edge, when they were still young and dumb.

Now she was a business woman, and there was no way she could run a fortune 500 cosmetic dynasty by day and date a criminal by night.

Thank God, Zander gave that all up for me, Gia thought.

She could bring him to Christmas dinner this year and for the first time not lie when she said he was reformed.

The image made her smile. But when Zander walked in the door, with Spinelli on his heels, her expression turned to a frown.

"G!" Damien Spinelli cried, hugging her. "You look righteous as always, babe."

Her eyes went to her boyfriend. She nodded at Spinelli. "Where'd you find him? The lost and found? Or did you just bail him out?"

"Harsh," Spinelli said. "You know that was a one time thing when I needed that favor with you talking to your brother, the cop, for me."

Zander walked over and kissed Gia's cheek, trying to soften her up. "You smell great. New perfume you are coming out with at Deception?"

"Zander." Her tone was no nonsense.

"He needs a place to stay," Zander admitted

Gia slid her eyes back to Spinelli, not amused in the least.

Spinelli gave her a flirty wave, wiggling all his fingers and smiling. "It will be like camp."

She didn't smile.

"What is the job?" Gia asked

"There's no job," Spinelli and Zander said in unison.

Gia glared at her boyfriend. Then turned, grabbed her purse, and walked out of the house.

The door slammed. Zander and Spinelli stared at it.

"I think she bought it," Spinelli said.

SONNY hated losing. And in his business life, he never did. Bodies fell into the Port Charles River on a regular basis because of his orders.

But when it came to love, that four letter word he despised, Sonny had lost big time, over and over.

Only once was it not his fault, when Lily died. Beyond that he was the one who screwed up, choosing the wrong type of woman, the polar opposite of Lily. The bitch, the loud mouth, the ruthless conniver. And then trying to make them a housewife.

Faith had taken half his assets in the divorce, and worse, some of his territory. She was a ball buster in the first degree and Sonny was still trying to piece his life together after kicking her out two years ago.

Then he tried to tame Blair Cramer. She worked him over good, dangling her adorable kids and the idea of a family life in front of him while lining her pockets with his cash. Her psychotic ex- husband came and kidnapped her one night. Sonny didn't bother sending anyone after them. Let Todd have her, he had thought at the time, glad she was gone.

Carly was a one night stand that started drunk and ended nasty, with him staring down the barrel of a loaded 45.

Morgan had come close to killing him that night, and Carly hadn't even tried to stop him. If not for Milo busting in... Sonny could have become a body in the river himself that night.

Sonny wondered if Carly had been scared of Jason and that is why she sided with him. Or was she just a cold hearted bitch?

Of course, Lois was different. He knew her since grade school. Her family was his family, her blood his blood, in all the ways that meant anything. Her daughter was his god daughter, soon to be step daughter.

Yeah, life was finally looking up, Sonny believed.

He went from his bedroom to the walk in closet, looking for a suit to wear to dinner tonight at the Metro Court. He pictured the look on Lois' face when he asked, "Will you become my wife?"

Soon he would ask her and then his future would be secured.

Sonny smiled. His eyes moved from his suits to the shelves that held his shirts, then to the place on the third shelve where if you pressed in it caused the secret door to open to the safe room.

Only he knew it was there. Only he knew the precious piece of art that hung on the wall inside, and what secrets, if you looked at it just right, it revealed.

At least that is what Sonny thought.

CARLY loved her new driver. Well, not loved in the way she had loved Jason, before he let her down for the last and final time.

But she did think this guy was cool as hell.

The driver thought he worked for a rich widow, the same story she told everyone when she came up from Florida all those years ago. She had a bulging back account from running cons up and down the east coast, all she needed back then was a place to call home, and a spot in the family that gave her up at birth. She got both. And a surprise when she learned she came by her hustling skills from the Spencer side of her genes.

Carly hired this driver for two reasons. One, she never drove anywhere -not even in an emergency, not ever -because she froze behind the wheel and remembered Charlotte, who died in a car accident over fifteen years ago.

Two, Max Giambetti used to work for Sonny Corinthos. So though Max thought they were just shooting the bull, he was actually giving her the inside look into the mob boss' mind she needed.

"He make you drive Lois around?" Carly asked.

Max glanced in the rearview mirror and made eye contact with her. "Sometimes. And her kid, too. You ever try concentrating on the road with three giggling teenage girls in the back seat? I'm glad to be done with that."

"Sonny just let you quit? That allowed?"

For the first time, Max's face went dark. "After my brother was killed in a gun battle... he threw himself in front of Sonny... well, it was either Sonny let me out or I took him out. I got Milo into that life and unfortunately Milo got me out of it."

His brother's death was still so fresh, just a month before, that Max could barely keep the tears from falling from his eyes now.

Carly said, softly, "Sorry to hear you lost your brother that way."

"He was a good man," Max said.

Carly added, "I hate violence." In truth, she didn't. But the truth never worked well in a con.

And for Carly nearly everything she had ever done was part of a long con.

"A woman like you is too classy to even hear about the criminal underbelly of this world. Lets talk about something else, Miss Spencer."

"Sure." Carly would let it drop for now but, whether Max knew it or not, they would be doing plenty of chatting about Sonny in the future. "Hey, turn that up, will you?"

Max twisted the dial on the radio. "You a fan of this group?"

Carly smiled, thinking of the time Jason played this tune at full blast as they sped away from cops in Argentina, "Just this song."

She's a lover, baby, and a fighter
Should of seen it coming when it got a little brighter


With a name like Dani California,
the day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya

A little loaded, she was stealing another breath


I love my baby to death

(Red Hot Chili Peppers)

ACROSS TOWN, in his room above Jake's, Jason Morgan was listening to the same song on the radio and remembering Argentina. The heat, the dusty road, the cops speeding after them. And her, laughing through it all.

Then once they lost the cops they ended up breaking into a deserted cottage near the beach.

Riding high on adrenaline, their clothes flew off as soon as they were inside. Their mouths found each other and without a word they were dancing on the edge of love for the millionth time.

He regretted not every saying the words to her back then. Would they be in a different place if he had managed to say, "I love you," or even "You know I love you, right?"

They acted like it was all a game- the stealing and loving. Just good times in the life of two no good grifters.

But, for him, it was more. And even now when she said she hated him, Jason had to believe it was more for Carly too.

He grabbed his leather jacket and decided to see if Carly felt like some company tonight.

NOTE- Michael and Morgan do not exist in this.