Chapter 7: Oh Brother!
Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked to the window and saw the amazing view that greeted her every morning. And then she saw Grace moving around the room. Elizabeth watched her carefully. Since the day she walked through the door Grace and her husband Manuel had managed to give her all the support and love that her family had neglected to give. Her family. Steven. He was here. No he couldn't have being maybe it was dream, a bad dream, a nightmare. Because if he was here, that meant her family was up to something. She closed her eyes and tried to think of other things.
Grace was straightening out the walk up closet, but she didn't have to look up to know that Elizabeth was awake. She couldn't say the exact moment she started caring so much for the little brat. Even though the teenager tried to act nonchalant and hotheaded, Grace saw the truth in her eyes. She was just a scared and lonely little girl. The only thing she was asking for was love. And her family seemed to have denied it to her. The girl had walked into this house bearing the weight of the world in her fragile shoulders. From the moment she laid eyes on her, she knew that Elizabeth was special. Life had being rough, but nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Sometimes people need to go through hell to find paradise. Grace was sure that Elizabeth was going to find happiness at the end of the rainbow. But in the meantime she was ready to fight with her. And fight they would, now that the Webber Family seem to have remember they had a young daughter. The fact that Steven Webber was the first to arrived meant that the rest were on their way. What were they looking for? Only God knew for certain. But now there was a difference, Elizabeth wasn't alone anymore.
"Sleep well?" Came the voice of the older woman and caused Elizabeth's eyes to open again. Grace was still inside the closet. Elizabeth smiled and answered. "How do you do that?"
"I can smell a brat miles away. The only time you're not up to something is when you're asleep like a little angel."
"I'm not a brat. And I wasn't planning anything." Countered Elizabeth to the still empty room.
Grace walked out with an armful of dirty clothes and found Elizabeth floating in white pillows and stuff animals with a huge smile on her face. "How did you sleep?"
"Good. But I had the most unsettling dream." Elizabeth sat up and leaned against the headboard while Grace dumped the clothes in the chair next to the desk. "I dreamt my brother was home."
Grace walked closer to her and sat at the edge of the bed. Taking Elizabeth's hands in hers, she talked. "That wasn't a dream child. Mr. Webber is here."
"Mr. Webber? You mean Steven, right? Not Jeff."
"Yes, Steven. He arrived yesterday afternoon. Right after you left with Manuel for your appointment."
"So it wasn't a dream? He really hugged me last night." Her faced twisted in disgust. "Did he say why he was here or for how long?" "No. He merely said he was home and barked orders about how things were going to be from now on."
"He what? Did he yell at you? I'm going to kill him. He doesn't have the right. This is it. I'm going to find him and tell him to get rid of the stick he has up his ass. This is not his house. We are not receiving orders from a Jeff wannabe." Elizabeth was on her feet now.
"Wait. You don't have to fight for me. I did that for myself."
Elizabeth's face brighten at the thought of sweet Grace setting straight her stuck-up brother. "What did you say to him?"
"That's non of your business." Elizabeth opened her eyes at that remark. Grace continued. "But I'm an old woman and no one barges into my kitchen and tells me what to do with a bark. I talk and I like it when people talk back. So I told him that if he wanted changes he better asked with a nice tone of voice and that a please wouldn't hurt either."
"And what did he say to that?" Liz was smiling at the thought of her brother being talked down by Grace.
"He mumbled something and left."
"You go Grace!"
"I give respect, so I better get respect in return."
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T." Both women said in unison and laughed.
"Is he awake?"
"He woke up early and said something about a hospital. He asked for me to tell you to wait for him. He wants to have lunch with you, so you can catch up."
"He asked."
"Yes he did."
"That means I have a couple of hours to prepare myself for the storm."
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Jason walked to his office with a scowl on his face. It had been a long night and he wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. Gabriella, his secretary, didn't even dare to look at him. She had to warn him about the visit that was waiting in his office, but she knew better than to talk to him when he was in a bad mood. She had being forewarned about the many moods of Jason Morgan. Jason opened the door to his office and stopped on his tracks when he saw the two figures sitting before him and the man standing near the mini bar. He closed the door and moved to his chair.
"Good morning to you too."
"Does this mean you're not glad to see us?"
"I warned them about your mood swings, but they ignored me." Marcos had a glass of scotch in his hand.
"Would you shut up?" Jason said to no one in particular.
"Told you." Marcos added, nodding to the two men before drinking from his glass.
"What crawled up your ass and died?"
"Nothing."
"So what is it? The heat? You know it might work to take the damn leather jacket off. You're leaving in a tropical island for God sake's!"
"What is it, like 90 degrees out there?"
"93°."
"Is there a point to all this bickering? I have work to do. If you two are here that means you two have work to do too."
"Bossy much?"
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Her makeshift studio was flooding with canvases, oil and acrylic paints, brushes every size imaginable, cloths, turpentine and carbon pencils. She was sitting on the floor looking inside a box. Elizabeth was looking through her sketch books. She had to find those drawings. She had being thinking about Jason and the way his eyes darkened, when she mentioned his son. He went back to New York, her bet was something happened to the little boy. Something he didn't want to talk about, but that he was still feeling deep inside. Maybe if she could find the sketches and make him a picture his eyes would lit up again. She had to at least try. She took another one and opened it to find what she was looking for.
She had being having a nice quiet afternoon. Laying on the sand, reading a book and sketching every other person that caught her eye. Then she saw him. She hadn't recognized him at first. He looked different, relaxed and almost happy. The little boy was smiling and when she caught his eyes and face she saw he was too. She picked up her sketched book and pencil and moved closer, but being extremely careful not to be seen. She sat down under a palm tree and started sketching them.
Getting up from the floor with the book in her hands she was going over the sketches she had made that day at the beach. She found the perfect one. She laid the book on the big wooden table in the middle of the room. She started looking for a blank canvas.
"Urgg! This place is a dump! I can't find a thing in here." She kept going through the clutter when the door opened.
"Haven't change a bit since we last saw each other. Still talking to yourself and still a slob." The blond man walked into the room with a smile on his face.
"You haven't change much either. Ever heard of knocking?" She kept looking around.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt. Just wanted to see what you were up to."
"Well you came, you saw, you can leave now."
"Whoa! Got up from the wrong side of the bed?"
"I didn't mean to be rude. I just... I'm not used to being disturbed when I'm painting. Grace and Manuel always knock first. I've being leaving alone for a long time. I guess I'll have to get use to having you around again."
"So you stuck with it?" Seeing her confusion he continued. "The painting I mean. I remember when we were little. You were always asking for new coloring books and pencils. Grandmother always..." Elizabeth winced at the mention of her Grandmother.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"It's OK."
"You have a lot of stuff. You did all this?" He said pointing at a couple of paintings that where placed on various easels near a large window. "Wow. This are actually really good."
"Gee thanks."
"No. I mean it Lizzie. This are great. You definitely got Grandmother's talent."
She spoke before he continues. "Steven, what are you doing here?"
"Didn't the housekeeper tell you? I came to have lunch with you."
"First, her name is Grace. Second, yes she did tell me. And third, I didn't mean here right now. I meant here as in Puerto Rico."
"I missed you. We all have. Can't a guy come visit his little sister?"
"You missed me? Come on. You rarely spoke to me when we lived in Colorado. Why would you come all the way to Puerto Rico to see me when all of you sent me into exile the first chance you got?"
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"O' Brien, Caruso. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Should we be intimidated that you're using our last names, Morgan?"
"Johnny cut it out. We have work to do. The man is obviously in a bad mood, what can we do about it?"
"Annoy the hell out of him."
Francis shook his head and started informing his boss about their assignment, ignoring his partner. "Sonny sent us to investigate Carlos Morales and his organization. We have every reason to believe that some of his connections are meeting here in the casino. By being in the inside they are sure that none of our guys point them out as enemies."
"In the inside as in working for us?"
"We are not a hundred percent sure yet. Benny is running background checks as we speak, but we've being talking about it and maybe they are just using the casino as a rendezvous point. They might be trading information under our noses."
"I've being on top of security myself. This is not happening in our tables. I would've notice by now." Marcos was pissed. If what they where saying was true, he hadn't being doing his job well and that wasn't an option when you worked for Sonny Corinthos.
"We know you're doing your job Diaz. That is not the problem."
"Call me Marcos. The only one who calls me Diaz is my wife when I'm in trouble."
All of them laughed, all but Jason. Johnny went on. "This are some of the men we're checking out." He passed the others folders full of information on the key players on the drug network operating the island.
Jason kept his eyes on the papers, examining them closely. Then he saw him. The same dark hair and eyes. The same smugly smile and shiny jewelry. Tony. The man that attacked Elizabeth.
"Hey take it easy. The paper didn't do anything to you." At Johnny's words he looked up. His eyes were full of rage and his hands were crumbling the papers he was holding. Marco saw the picture at the top of the file and realized why Jason was infuriated.
"That's the same little punk that attacked her."
"Attacked who?" Francis and Johnny were looking back to Marcos and Jason in search of an answer. Neither answer the question.
"Benny told me he work for Carlos, but he never said he was Carlos younger brother."
"That's Tony, right? The kid was doing small jobs on the network, working his way up. He wants to prove to his brother he's worthy of his trust. Lately he moved up on the organization. A month ago he traveled to Miami and has being sending potential dealers out on expeditions."
"That's why I haven't found him."
"Why are you looking for him?"
"Who did he attacked?"
"This one is mine. I want to take care of Tony Morales myself. He has a debt to pay and I'm going to collect."
~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~
Lunch went by slowly. Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to get away. Steven Webber had grown up to be even more obnoxious than he was years ago. Now he was a research doctor. The pride of Jeff and Carol Webber, and the entire posh society of Colorado. If she had to listen to one more of his 'How I saved the day' stories she was going to puke BBQ chicken all over him.
"They remembered me from when I worked as an intern in the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at the University of Puerto Rico Medicine School, so they called me up and offered me a position in the HIV Research team."
"That's good."
"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be with my baby sister."
"I'm sure I was your first thought when you got that offer." She was as sarcastic as she could be.
"Are you mad that I came here?" He said dropping his fork.
"No. Why would you say that?" She said not even making an effort to disguise her lie.
"Well your tone for one. Look it's being two years since we last saw each other. I know we were never close, but I'm making an effort here."
"Yeah well, I don't need you to make an effort OK. I've being completely happy living alone for two years. You don't need to pretend you care, when you really don't. No one from the Webber family have give a damn about me before, why start now? You came here to work, I was vanished here for whatever reasons. We're going to live together, fine. But you don't have to make an effort to connect with me. You don't even have to talk to me at all. I'm about to graduate highschool and in a month I'll be 18 years old. I'm going to be out of your lives soon. So let's just stay away from each others lives until then." She stood up and left the dinning room without looking back.
"Bitch." He said once he was alone. He took his cell phone and dialed the number. "Hey, is me. Yes. This is going to be more difficult than what I originally thought. She's jaded and right down bitchy. I know, she said something about when she turns 18, she's going to be out of our lives forever. No I didn't say anything about that. She thinks I want to mend old wounds and that I came here to be the perfect older brother. I know that's my job, but it's going to take more than sweet talk. OK. I'll try. Talk to you later." He pushed the end button and sighed. This was going to be more difficult than what he thought.
Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked to the window and saw the amazing view that greeted her every morning. And then she saw Grace moving around the room. Elizabeth watched her carefully. Since the day she walked through the door Grace and her husband Manuel had managed to give her all the support and love that her family had neglected to give. Her family. Steven. He was here. No he couldn't have being maybe it was dream, a bad dream, a nightmare. Because if he was here, that meant her family was up to something. She closed her eyes and tried to think of other things.
Grace was straightening out the walk up closet, but she didn't have to look up to know that Elizabeth was awake. She couldn't say the exact moment she started caring so much for the little brat. Even though the teenager tried to act nonchalant and hotheaded, Grace saw the truth in her eyes. She was just a scared and lonely little girl. The only thing she was asking for was love. And her family seemed to have denied it to her. The girl had walked into this house bearing the weight of the world in her fragile shoulders. From the moment she laid eyes on her, she knew that Elizabeth was special. Life had being rough, but nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Sometimes people need to go through hell to find paradise. Grace was sure that Elizabeth was going to find happiness at the end of the rainbow. But in the meantime she was ready to fight with her. And fight they would, now that the Webber Family seem to have remember they had a young daughter. The fact that Steven Webber was the first to arrived meant that the rest were on their way. What were they looking for? Only God knew for certain. But now there was a difference, Elizabeth wasn't alone anymore.
"Sleep well?" Came the voice of the older woman and caused Elizabeth's eyes to open again. Grace was still inside the closet. Elizabeth smiled and answered. "How do you do that?"
"I can smell a brat miles away. The only time you're not up to something is when you're asleep like a little angel."
"I'm not a brat. And I wasn't planning anything." Countered Elizabeth to the still empty room.
Grace walked out with an armful of dirty clothes and found Elizabeth floating in white pillows and stuff animals with a huge smile on her face. "How did you sleep?"
"Good. But I had the most unsettling dream." Elizabeth sat up and leaned against the headboard while Grace dumped the clothes in the chair next to the desk. "I dreamt my brother was home."
Grace walked closer to her and sat at the edge of the bed. Taking Elizabeth's hands in hers, she talked. "That wasn't a dream child. Mr. Webber is here."
"Mr. Webber? You mean Steven, right? Not Jeff."
"Yes, Steven. He arrived yesterday afternoon. Right after you left with Manuel for your appointment."
"So it wasn't a dream? He really hugged me last night." Her faced twisted in disgust. "Did he say why he was here or for how long?" "No. He merely said he was home and barked orders about how things were going to be from now on."
"He what? Did he yell at you? I'm going to kill him. He doesn't have the right. This is it. I'm going to find him and tell him to get rid of the stick he has up his ass. This is not his house. We are not receiving orders from a Jeff wannabe." Elizabeth was on her feet now.
"Wait. You don't have to fight for me. I did that for myself."
Elizabeth's face brighten at the thought of sweet Grace setting straight her stuck-up brother. "What did you say to him?"
"That's non of your business." Elizabeth opened her eyes at that remark. Grace continued. "But I'm an old woman and no one barges into my kitchen and tells me what to do with a bark. I talk and I like it when people talk back. So I told him that if he wanted changes he better asked with a nice tone of voice and that a please wouldn't hurt either."
"And what did he say to that?" Liz was smiling at the thought of her brother being talked down by Grace.
"He mumbled something and left."
"You go Grace!"
"I give respect, so I better get respect in return."
"R-E-S-P-E-C-T." Both women said in unison and laughed.
"Is he awake?"
"He woke up early and said something about a hospital. He asked for me to tell you to wait for him. He wants to have lunch with you, so you can catch up."
"He asked."
"Yes he did."
"That means I have a couple of hours to prepare myself for the storm."
~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~
Jason walked to his office with a scowl on his face. It had been a long night and he wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. Gabriella, his secretary, didn't even dare to look at him. She had to warn him about the visit that was waiting in his office, but she knew better than to talk to him when he was in a bad mood. She had being forewarned about the many moods of Jason Morgan. Jason opened the door to his office and stopped on his tracks when he saw the two figures sitting before him and the man standing near the mini bar. He closed the door and moved to his chair.
"Good morning to you too."
"Does this mean you're not glad to see us?"
"I warned them about your mood swings, but they ignored me." Marcos had a glass of scotch in his hand.
"Would you shut up?" Jason said to no one in particular.
"Told you." Marcos added, nodding to the two men before drinking from his glass.
"What crawled up your ass and died?"
"Nothing."
"So what is it? The heat? You know it might work to take the damn leather jacket off. You're leaving in a tropical island for God sake's!"
"What is it, like 90 degrees out there?"
"93°."
"Is there a point to all this bickering? I have work to do. If you two are here that means you two have work to do too."
"Bossy much?"
~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~
Her makeshift studio was flooding with canvases, oil and acrylic paints, brushes every size imaginable, cloths, turpentine and carbon pencils. She was sitting on the floor looking inside a box. Elizabeth was looking through her sketch books. She had to find those drawings. She had being thinking about Jason and the way his eyes darkened, when she mentioned his son. He went back to New York, her bet was something happened to the little boy. Something he didn't want to talk about, but that he was still feeling deep inside. Maybe if she could find the sketches and make him a picture his eyes would lit up again. She had to at least try. She took another one and opened it to find what she was looking for.
She had being having a nice quiet afternoon. Laying on the sand, reading a book and sketching every other person that caught her eye. Then she saw him. She hadn't recognized him at first. He looked different, relaxed and almost happy. The little boy was smiling and when she caught his eyes and face she saw he was too. She picked up her sketched book and pencil and moved closer, but being extremely careful not to be seen. She sat down under a palm tree and started sketching them.
Getting up from the floor with the book in her hands she was going over the sketches she had made that day at the beach. She found the perfect one. She laid the book on the big wooden table in the middle of the room. She started looking for a blank canvas.
"Urgg! This place is a dump! I can't find a thing in here." She kept going through the clutter when the door opened.
"Haven't change a bit since we last saw each other. Still talking to yourself and still a slob." The blond man walked into the room with a smile on his face.
"You haven't change much either. Ever heard of knocking?" She kept looking around.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt. Just wanted to see what you were up to."
"Well you came, you saw, you can leave now."
"Whoa! Got up from the wrong side of the bed?"
"I didn't mean to be rude. I just... I'm not used to being disturbed when I'm painting. Grace and Manuel always knock first. I've being leaving alone for a long time. I guess I'll have to get use to having you around again."
"So you stuck with it?" Seeing her confusion he continued. "The painting I mean. I remember when we were little. You were always asking for new coloring books and pencils. Grandmother always..." Elizabeth winced at the mention of her Grandmother.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
"It's OK."
"You have a lot of stuff. You did all this?" He said pointing at a couple of paintings that where placed on various easels near a large window. "Wow. This are actually really good."
"Gee thanks."
"No. I mean it Lizzie. This are great. You definitely got Grandmother's talent."
She spoke before he continues. "Steven, what are you doing here?"
"Didn't the housekeeper tell you? I came to have lunch with you."
"First, her name is Grace. Second, yes she did tell me. And third, I didn't mean here right now. I meant here as in Puerto Rico."
"I missed you. We all have. Can't a guy come visit his little sister?"
"You missed me? Come on. You rarely spoke to me when we lived in Colorado. Why would you come all the way to Puerto Rico to see me when all of you sent me into exile the first chance you got?"
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"O' Brien, Caruso. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Should we be intimidated that you're using our last names, Morgan?"
"Johnny cut it out. We have work to do. The man is obviously in a bad mood, what can we do about it?"
"Annoy the hell out of him."
Francis shook his head and started informing his boss about their assignment, ignoring his partner. "Sonny sent us to investigate Carlos Morales and his organization. We have every reason to believe that some of his connections are meeting here in the casino. By being in the inside they are sure that none of our guys point them out as enemies."
"In the inside as in working for us?"
"We are not a hundred percent sure yet. Benny is running background checks as we speak, but we've being talking about it and maybe they are just using the casino as a rendezvous point. They might be trading information under our noses."
"I've being on top of security myself. This is not happening in our tables. I would've notice by now." Marcos was pissed. If what they where saying was true, he hadn't being doing his job well and that wasn't an option when you worked for Sonny Corinthos.
"We know you're doing your job Diaz. That is not the problem."
"Call me Marcos. The only one who calls me Diaz is my wife when I'm in trouble."
All of them laughed, all but Jason. Johnny went on. "This are some of the men we're checking out." He passed the others folders full of information on the key players on the drug network operating the island.
Jason kept his eyes on the papers, examining them closely. Then he saw him. The same dark hair and eyes. The same smugly smile and shiny jewelry. Tony. The man that attacked Elizabeth.
"Hey take it easy. The paper didn't do anything to you." At Johnny's words he looked up. His eyes were full of rage and his hands were crumbling the papers he was holding. Marco saw the picture at the top of the file and realized why Jason was infuriated.
"That's the same little punk that attacked her."
"Attacked who?" Francis and Johnny were looking back to Marcos and Jason in search of an answer. Neither answer the question.
"Benny told me he work for Carlos, but he never said he was Carlos younger brother."
"That's Tony, right? The kid was doing small jobs on the network, working his way up. He wants to prove to his brother he's worthy of his trust. Lately he moved up on the organization. A month ago he traveled to Miami and has being sending potential dealers out on expeditions."
"That's why I haven't found him."
"Why are you looking for him?"
"Who did he attacked?"
"This one is mine. I want to take care of Tony Morales myself. He has a debt to pay and I'm going to collect."
~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~ *~
Lunch went by slowly. Elizabeth wanted nothing more than to get away. Steven Webber had grown up to be even more obnoxious than he was years ago. Now he was a research doctor. The pride of Jeff and Carol Webber, and the entire posh society of Colorado. If she had to listen to one more of his 'How I saved the day' stories she was going to puke BBQ chicken all over him.
"They remembered me from when I worked as an intern in the Breast Cancer Research Foundation at the University of Puerto Rico Medicine School, so they called me up and offered me a position in the HIV Research team."
"That's good."
"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to be with my baby sister."
"I'm sure I was your first thought when you got that offer." She was as sarcastic as she could be.
"Are you mad that I came here?" He said dropping his fork.
"No. Why would you say that?" She said not even making an effort to disguise her lie.
"Well your tone for one. Look it's being two years since we last saw each other. I know we were never close, but I'm making an effort here."
"Yeah well, I don't need you to make an effort OK. I've being completely happy living alone for two years. You don't need to pretend you care, when you really don't. No one from the Webber family have give a damn about me before, why start now? You came here to work, I was vanished here for whatever reasons. We're going to live together, fine. But you don't have to make an effort to connect with me. You don't even have to talk to me at all. I'm about to graduate highschool and in a month I'll be 18 years old. I'm going to be out of your lives soon. So let's just stay away from each others lives until then." She stood up and left the dinning room without looking back.
"Bitch." He said once he was alone. He took his cell phone and dialed the number. "Hey, is me. Yes. This is going to be more difficult than what I originally thought. She's jaded and right down bitchy. I know, she said something about when she turns 18, she's going to be out of our lives forever. No I didn't say anything about that. She thinks I want to mend old wounds and that I came here to be the perfect older brother. I know that's my job, but it's going to take more than sweet talk. OK. I'll try. Talk to you later." He pushed the end button and sighed. This was going to be more difficult than what he thought.
