Chapter Seven
Author's Notes: Alright, here's chapter seven. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter, but here it is. Thanks to everybody whose read and reviewed thus far. This wasn't beta-ed, so all mistakes are mine. Cookies to anyone who can recognize the Monty Python line.
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"Spin-elli!" Maxie whispered furiously, tapping on his closed bedroom door. She was more inclined to simply burst inside of the room, but she did not want to walk in on something she'd rather not see, "C'mon Spinelli! Open this door right now!"
"Hi."
The small voice startled her; causing Maxie to jump on her heels and nearly knock her head against Spinelli's still closed door. Standing not three feet away from her, with a curious look on his face stood a curly haired four-year-old.
"What'cha doing lady?" Cameron asked, staring up at her with big, brown eyes.
"I-um-uh-I-hi," Maxie stuttered as the child quietly and calmly watched her stand and babble in the hallway, "I'm just here to visit Spinelli. Do you think he's-uh-still sleeping?" Maxie clutched her designer purse's strap, debating on kicking Spinelli's door open. Anything to get him to answer.
Cameron giggled, "Sp'nelli's not home. He went with Daddy."
"Oh, oh crap," Maxie burst out with, making Cameron break out into giggles again. Neither Spinelli nor Jason was home, and she had been cornered by a four-year-old. Elizabeth Webber's four-year-old. And she really didn't want to run into his mother; really. It was too early in the day open that can of worms.
"Cameron! Come on honey! It's time to get your jacket on!" Footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs, and then suddenly, the woman she didn't want to see was practically looming at the end of the hallway, "Oh, hi Maxie. What are—are you looking for Spinelli? Because he and Jason already left; about a half hour ago."
For a full minute, to her complete horror, Maxie's mouth didn't work. She couldn't force sounds from her constricted throat out her mouth. When she finally managed to push the sounds through her lips, Maxie stuttered, "I-uh-yeah. I didn't know. It would have been nice for Marco to let me know, before he let me barge right in here. I mean, it's not like I wanted to wander through the place, and run into."
"Me," Elizabeth interrupted before Maxie could finish her sentence, "Look, Maxie, I asked Marco, to let you up, even if Spinelli wasn't home."
"Why?" Maxie exclaimed, "What could that possibly accomplish? We're not friends, we're barely civil. Why?"
"Because we need to talk," Elizabeth began, then turned her attention back to her son, "Cameron, honey, can you go on downstairs and wait with Milo for me? Tell him to help you put your jacket on, okay baby?"
"Okay Mommy," The boy replied, before offering a happy little wave to Maxie, "Bye lady!" Before trotting down the stairs, calling, "Milly! Mommy says you gotta help me with my jacket!"
"Alright Maxie, I know that you and I are never going to be best friends," Elizabeth began, hoping to get what she had to say out and over as quickly and as painlessly as possible, "That will, in all honesty, not work. But Spinelli thinks of you as a friend, and Spinelli is important to Jason, and to me. So, for their sakes, I think that we should be able to peacefully co-exist, don't you?"
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"Boss."
The door to the office opened, and the elder Giambetti stuck his head in.
"Yeah Max?" Jason looked up from his desk.
"They're here."
A hint of a grin crossed the blonde's face and he dropped his pen to the desktop, "Send them in."
He'd called them back; both of them. One had been falsely accused; the other had taken a bit of a 'working vacation'. Alcazar had been behind the whole thing; wanting to throw them off of what he had been planning, and tried to make it look like Johnny had turned against them. But instead, Jason had managed to placate Sonny into hold off while he did a little investigating. He and Francis had soon turned up the truth; and again Jason had managed to convince Sonny to send Johnny away, making him no use to Alcazar and keeping his friend safe, at the same time. But now, things had changed, and they were back. They were needed here now.
The bodyguard followed with a grin of his own, "Sure thing boss," Max disappeared, and moments later a graying head appeared in his place,
"Hey Boss."
"It's good to see you again Francis," Jason extended a hand to his old friend, and the handshake was returned with gusto, "I'm glad to have you back."
"Likewise Jase," Francis clapped the younger man on the back. Looking behind his newly arrived friend, Jason didn't see what he expected,
"Where's John?"
"Sleeping it off in the car," Francis chuckled, "Some floppy haired kid with a computer is making sure he doesn't choke on his own drool."
"Shit," Jason groaned, asking, "How much did he have to drink on the plane?"
"I lost track," The Italian admitted ruefully, "He drank and watched cartoons the whole way back."
"Cartoons?"
"He says they're better hammered."
Jason snickered, "John would know."
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"Argh! There you are!" Maxie announced loudly, marching across the sidewalk to her friend as he stood next to car, across the street from Jason's coffee house/office. Lightly slapping him on the bicep, she fitted her arms together, "I tried finding you this morning; I even went to the penthouse, and I ended up getting cornered by Cameron and Elizabeth. Elizabeth wanted to talk, Spinelli, talk. And I have to say, Jason must be staring early with that kid's stealth training because I did not hear him coming at all," Maxie finally slowed in her ramblings to peer into the car Spinelli seemed to be guarding; squinting in the open window to find a well built man in a wrinkled suit, the first three buttons of his rumpled and spotted dress shirt undone, sprawled across the back seat of the car; fast asleep, "Why are you watching some random guy sleep and, ew; drool; in his car?"
"Good morning Maximista," Spinelli began, a befuddled look on his face, "You went looking for me?"
"Well, yeah," Maxie leaned forward, catching a deep whiff of the sleeping man's breath and hurriedly withdrew, cringing, "Whew. Why are you baby-sitting a napping drunk?"
"Apparently the dozing one is a skilled protector of the night, held in high regard by Stone Cold," Spinelli said by way of explanation, before wanting to know, "What did the Fair Elizabeth wish to speak with you about?"
"Just stuff," Maxie evaded, having decided on the way from the penthouse to the coffee house that she wasn't going to disclose the topic of her conversation with Elizabeth to Spinelli. Well, she'd decided that she'd t least try not to. He usually managed to wrangle the truth out of her; even if he didn't mean to. Maxie just had problems lying to Spinelli. He was, after all, her best friend.
"Ah," Spinelli nodded, like he understood, but in reality, he had absolutely no idea what his fair blonde friend was talking about. The female kind was a mystery to him.
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"Hey guys!" A bubbly salutation from behind them had both Maxie and Spinelli jumping where they stood; Spinelli knocking his head off of the car door, and Maxie letting out a startled squeak as the coffee sloshed from the paper cup she held.
"Geez Nadine!" Maxie gripped, checking her shoes for splatters, "Must you be so damn cheery?"
"Yes," Nadine deadpanned, and then treated the other blonde to a toothy, ultra-bright, fake smile, "What are you guys doing?"
"We are standing guard over the sleeping protector of the night," Spinelli explained, gesturing towards the still-dozing, still-drooling man slumped in the back seat of the black, non-descript car.
"I think he's dreaming," Nadine observed, as the sleeping man flung an arm out over the back of the car seat, and muttered,
"I don't want to go in the cart."
Spinelli cocked his head to one side, and stared, perplexed, at the 'protector of the night'. Maxie arched a brow, and planted on hand on a hip. Nadine pursed her lips into a hard line; her eyes bright as she tried not to burst out laughing.
"That's just weird," Maxie said decidedly, taking a step back as the napping man swung a hand out of the open window.
"That looks uncomfortable," Nadine agreed, and Spinelli looked back from the man in the car to the two of them,
"Perhaps we should wake him?"
Hugging her jacket closed around her, Nadine asked, "Who is he anyway?"
"Friend of Jason's," Maxie replied, as if the premise shocked her sensibilities.
"And why is he napping, whoa," Leaning too close, Nadine caught the scent of the sleeping man's breath that set her back a few feet, "Sleeping off an overabundance of tequila, outside of the Coffee House?"
"He had a companion," Spinelli mentioned, pointing towards the door of the coffee shop, "A graying fellow with a commanding demeanor instructed me to remain vigil over the sleeping protector of the night."
"You mean, he told you to make sure the guy doesn't choke on his own drool," A fourth voice joined their conversation, and Spinelli shrugged, conceding,
"Basically."
"What are you doing here?" Maxie asked, hiking her purse higher on her shoulder.
"Jason's place makes the best coffee in town," Was Johnny's dull reply before he gently poked Nadine's shoulder, "How'd you get here so fast? You got some kind of transporter I don't know about?"
"Indubitably," Nadine joked with a grin.
"Do," The drunken napper was seemingly on the precise of being a hung-over dozer, "In, do, bid, do. Bid do. Ba do."
"Is he singing?" The blonde fashionista exclaimed in a harsh whisper.
"It would appear so," The hacker used both hands to sweep his hair off of his face, glancing around the group.
"Oh-kay," The nurse drawled, once again restraining her laugher.
The final member of the quartet shook his head, observing, "Jason's got some interesting friends."
"And we haven't even been formally introduced yet." The voice was new; loud and clear, coming from inside the car. A hand was stuck out the open window, "John O'Brien."
The movement of the hand in the window space, unexpected and sudden, made Maxie jumped backward and knocked into Spinelli; sending the hacker to the sidewalk. Nadine immediately tensed, and then jumped aside to avoid being toppled. But Johnny placidly removed his hands from his coat pockets; one he slipped around Nadine to help her keep her balance, the other he extended towards O'Brien, "John Zacchara."
At hearing Johnny's last name, O'Brien refrained from any kind of facial expression that may quantify a reaction, simply raised his brows, "Really?"
"Yeah," Johnny nodded, and Nadine too offered a hand to shake,
"Nadine Crowell."
Trying to pull Spinelli from the ground, Maxie threw out, her voice a little strained, "Maxie Jones."
"I recall," O'Brien remarked dryly, and Maxie's grasp on Spinelli's arm slipped, and he fell back to the sidewalk, having not yet gained back his balance.
"Damian Spinelli," He called from the ground, then had to scurry back and to his feet as the car door opened and O'Brien stepped out.
"You're Jason's sidekick," O'Brien stated matter-of-factly, extending a hand and pulling Spinelli to his feet, "The Jackal of Cyberspace, I believe."
Back on his feet, Spinelli's face brightened, and he asked excitedly, "You've heard of me?"
"Maybe once or twice," O'Brien said emotionlessly, but his eyes told a different story, and Spinelli wasn't sure he wanted to ask him to tell it.
"Oh," Spinelli murmured, unsure as to how to respond to that.
"What're you all doing standing around out here?" Slamming the car door, O'Brien asked curiously.
"Some old guy told Spinelli to watch you," Maxie blurted out.
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"Jesus H. Christ Jason," Francis swore, smoothing a hand over his day-old scruff, "If his head gets any further up his own ass, ol'Sonny-boy's going to be sneezing up shit."
"You always had a way with words Francis," Jason acknowledged wryly, leaning back in his chair behind the desk.
"We can't all be the strong, silent type," The older man twirled a pen between his yellow-stained fingers, "Never knew you had leadership aspirations."
"I didn't. I don't," Jason shrugged, "But there wasn't another viable option. He's slipping Francis, and in our business-"
"We can't afford that," Francis finished for him. A resigned look of understanding passed between the two of them.
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Two men exited the coffee shop/office. One was Jason; in his requisite leather jacket over black shirt, dark jeans and motorcycle boots. The other was an older man in a well cut suit, with graying hair and an assessing stare.
"That the old guy?" O'Brien guessed, pointing towards the twosome.
"Yes," Spinelli nodded.
"Hello Morgan," O'Brien greeted stoically staring at the man he spoke to as the twosome crossed to the group still hovering around the car's passenger side.
"Hello O'Brien," Jason returned, affixing the same stare, "You've sobered up considerably I see."
"Nothing like a nice, refreshing nap in the backseat, I always say," O'Brien quipped with a grin that both Francis and Jason knew all too well, "Hey, Franny; guess what? The Scooby-Doo gang here said that you were some old guy. Seems you're losing that intimidating touch in your old age."
"O'Brien," The graying guard replied, almost sweetly to anyone who didn't know him well enough to see what he was really thinking, "How'd you like to ride the whole way to the Towers in the trunk? We haven't done that in a while."
He pulled a face and opened his mouth, but before O'Brien could let out a sound, Max joined the group, "Hey John, Francis, I'd just like to say, welcome back. It-uh-it hasn't been the same without you guys."
Jason forcibly restrained from rolling his eyes and nodded, "Max is right. Welcome back."
"Aw," O'Brien feigned a sentimental sniff; throwing an arm around Francis' shoulders, "All the gang's together."
Jason couldn't hold back this time, rolling his eyes. Max grinned in spite of the tough demeanor he was attempting to project; and Francis shrugged off O'Brien's arm.
"See," Johnny Zacchara nudged Spinelli with his elbow, the two of them standing off to the side with Nadine and Maxie, "I told you. Weird."
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