Chapter 10: Talking things Out
You make things better by talking about them, but only because you are shining a light in the darkness.
Monica woke up to see Epiphany Johnson taking her pulse. "I think I am fine. I just need the answer to two questions. One is AJ alive and two does Jason have bleach blond shoulder length hair?"
The nurse chuckled and said "Yes as to the hair, apparently while trying to get Jason to safely, your older son dyed his hair. Trust me, I asked that one myself."
Standing up, Monica followed her back into the large front room where Mac was talking to Tom Hardy and to her surprise Audrey and Steven. "When did you to arrive?"
"Ten minutes ago. I was rather shocked to see both your sons playing with my grandsons." replied Audrey as she sat down on the large sofa. "They all disappeared though."
Johnny Z walked into the room carrying the iced tea pitcher and glassed just as AJ returned. "You do know if you don't make it as a mini gangster you will always have a successful career waiting in domestics. Manny, maid and even cook." he said then saw him mother glaring at him.
"Uh..." he had no idea what to say and was happy when Cameron and Jake rushed into the room excited to see their great grandmother. "I will see what is taking Jason and Elizabeth so long."
"You do that, you chicken." said Steven as he watched the man slip away just as Jason entered the room.
"Uncle Steven, Mommy says it's not nice to call someone that word." warned Cameron who then spoiled the warning by adding "So don't get caught."
"Cameron Steven Webber, is that appropriate?" asked said Mommy.
With a guilty expression, he said "I heard Uncle AJ call Jason that, yesterday when you were walking ahead of us at the beach."
With an aside to Tom, Epiphany said "Gee, I wonder why he would say that?"
Chuckling, Tom saved his great nephew from trouble by greeting a now clean Jason with the idea of having Epiphany take the boys to the playroom. Seeing that they didn't want to leave, Jason instead suggested they search the kitchen for the ingredients to brownies. "Maybe after this we can talk your Mommy into making some."
"Okay, I can sound out the words for Epiph." said an excited Cam "And Jake can carry everything to the table."
Once the boys had left, Jason said "Johnny and Elizabeth don't know parts of this, so we are going to let AJ start since they don't even know what the two of you have been doing." he informed Monica.
"Good, I have been patient but I really want to know what is going on." she said sitting down next to Elizabeth and hugging the brunette. "Then afterwords, I want to spend some time with my grandsons."
"I am sorry, we just..." said a guilty Elizabeth.
"No, I understand. From the firestorm that went on after you went shall we say missing, I get why it was kept quiet." Hugging the young woman who had given her a great gift, she said "Okay start talking."
"I have been being held someplace for the last several years by a man, he is little more than a shadow of a memory right now. All I recall is that I was trying to escape to get help for the others. I have no idea who they are but we think we have some idea."
"My daughter, that is why you dragged me into this?" asked Mac.
"All I know is that I woke up in a hospital in Las Vegas. The police ran several tests on my clothes and everything including the drugs in my system. They concluded it was some kind of designer drug that induces memory loss."
"Then how do you know the other stuff?" asked Audrey.
"They also found a key, and there was some evidence that I had been free a few days before whoever had me finally drugged me." he said running his fingers through his hair. "As time went on, my memory returned, then one day I saw a blond man with bright blue eyes. But it wasn't Jason,"
"The man in Port Charles pretending to be him?" asked Elizabeth.
"Yes, and just seeing him gave me back my memories. At least part of them, my past in Port Charles and the knowledge that someone is waiting on me to rescue them." he said.
"He connected with Johnny, that is the man using my face. We... uh, I already had a plan in place to look for some answers to a few questions I was having. He had the surgery in February of this year." admitted Jason. "He had always been friendly with Stan, Epiphany's son. He tracked down what had really happened in regards to his death."
"What did happen?" asked Mac.
"Stan had been getting out of the business, he didn't like Spinelli and had been trying to warn me about the kid. I didn't want to see it because I just saw someone who needed rescuing. Someone who I thought was too smart for his own good. I didn't want to look any deeper, because..." then with a sideways look at Elizabeth and his mother. "I was lonely and he made it easy at first to keep-away from Elizabeth and our sons. Now I think it was more than that, but we will get to that part later."
"Anyhow, Johnny found proof that Stan had gone to work for what he believed to be a pharmaceutical company. It was a front for Ian Devlin and Jerry Jacks. After he had done what they needed, they had him killed. The package he sent to his mother, it was a clue in case he didn't survive. He was cautious, because he had never met the man who hired him."
"Jerry?" asked Mac thinking about how far the man had fallen.
"Yes, but in the guise of Mr. Moreau, hence the book The Island of Dr. Moreau." said AJ. "When Spinelli received the package and promised you he would look into it, he never did why?"
"I was told he couldn't find anything." Epiphany told Mac.
"But in truth, he hadn't been looking. That was partly my fault." said Jason. "I sent him to spy on Sam, telling him to take care of her, it was right after she was hit. But I didn't think things through, I didn't get that he got the idea that it was because I was concerned. I was, but that she would try and pin the hit-and-run on Elizabeth."
Seeing them look, Elizabeth explained that she had been on the road that night and had hit the railing while almost falling asleep at the wheel.
Monica said "Her forgiving me for that, it was all part of a plan, wasn't it?"
"I think so, at least that is what it is looking like." admitted Jason.
"So, Jerry killed Stan. And if Spinelli had bothered looking into it, instead Devlin shot Michael and sent my life into the pits." said Jason in disgust. "Even then, we had the name Moreau, but since I haven't ever seen the box of items, I never connected it and Spinelli would have blindly avoided it since Sam would later become part of that mess."
"How?" asked Monica.
"She told Devlin about Jake. I found that out from something Johnny's father said this year. I was trying to get at the truth, but things kept happening around me, now I get that it was all partly because of Sam and Spinelli. We will come back to that." he said before looking at AJ.
"Johnny then went to report to Jason. He kept quiet about me, since he didn't trust me. He was probably right not to. At the time, I had just found out about Michael and was very angry. I visited him at the hospital in New York and saw Sam McCall visiting him along with a few others. Sam's visit intrigued me because I saw her with the man we now know is Jerry Jacks, but I kept quiet. I shouldn't have because I had the other clue to Jason's mystery. One day while we were there, I heard a song in the cafeteria. It jogged my memory as to the key."
"The one on you in Vegas?" asked Steven.
"Yes, it wasn't to a post office box or a safety deposit box. It was to a diary, I found it in Port Charles hidden in the library there. It lead me to what I believe was my coat. Inside were clues."
"The ones you sent me to chase down?" asked Mac.
"Yes, I followed the exact same clues, but we are stuck on one. I know the answer is in the previous clues, that is why I sent you after them. There was one clue, it said that if I got stuck to ask Elizabeth or you." he said looking at the commissioner. "She knew several of the answers already, from reading travel guides. She picked up some weird reading habits from my brother." he said.
"We had just found the one in West Virginia when we got your call. Why don't you give me the rest of them, maybe if we are all together we can figure them out." he said.
"Fine, but later. There is more you need to know. Okay, we are about to the part of the story where Michael ran away and double Jason and I were to meet up with my brother." said AJ. "We had been keeping an eye on one of the people Jerry seemed to want dead. A Claudia Zachara."
Seeing Johnny wince, Mac said "Did he kill her?"
Jason knew it was time and said "No, Michael did."
Seeing everyone turn and stare he added. "Claudia had grabbed Carly and she went into labor. Michael hit her when he found them because she was threatening to take Carly's baby then kill her."
Seeing them wince, he said "I only know what Johnny O'Brien told AJ when he called yesterday."
"Getting back to AJ's story, is this when you switched places?"" asked Monica.
"We had a plan in place, next time I went out of town, we were planning on doing so. But it went to hell rather quickly." said Jason. "First Sam decided to tag along and I didn't want her angry and attacking Elizabeth and the boys. So I let her come along. Spinelli was in on it and we had car problems from something he claimed to have put in my SUV to help. Needless to say it didn't. I was having horrible headaches and knew that I needed to get it checked out."
"Did you?" It was the first words Elizabeth had spoken to Jason since she had woken up the day after their fight.
"Yes, I am fine. There was bleeding, but they used a laser to fix things." he said softly. "First we need to tell you what went down."
"I split up with Sam, she ended up caught by Jerry. More than likely she just blundered in like usual. While she was being held, Jerry found me and shot me several times. By the time AJ and Johnny arrived, I was a mess."
"We got him out but Jerry saw 'Jason' and shot and drugged Johnny. A bullet grazed his head and hit him in the leg. Meanwhile, I made a decision to get Jason out of there. First I waited until Jerry had left, then checked on Johnny. He was lucid and saying he would make sure things in Port Charles were taken care of."
"I woke up in a private clinic in Mexico City. They found the bleeding and took care of it at the same time as the bullets. I was laid up for almost two months." he said with a shudder.
"Meanwhile, Johnny was delirious and between the lack of sanitary conditions and the lack of skills of the woman taking care of him, he started to believe he was Jason. But he forgot everything else. He only got his memory back the day Elizabeth verbally assaulted him at the warehouse. I gather first it was a jumble of memories, mainly what Jason had told him to use to get you to believe him about who he was, Elizabeth." AJ found himself wanting to help his brother and the girl his sister had considered her best friend.
Sitting quietly, she then said "The strange remarks, that day. I was so angry and wondering what the hell was wrong with you." Jason saw her looking at him. "Snow, and see you later, and something about a blue vase. But you never gave me a blue vase."
Looking at her, he said sadly. "There was a letter with a key. At the safe house you would have found a package with a promise that I would be back. Inside was a blue vase with a ring in the bottom."
The others in the room felt like they were intruding but didn't leave, knowing that there was more for the two to deal with than just this. "We should talk, later." she stated then asked AJ to continue.
"When Jason was well, we started to track down the connections to the Russians and to whoever was kidnapped. We made a list of everyone that has died in Port Charles since Jerry Jacks came to town hoping to figure out who else was being held. Since the note mentions Mac, we believe that Georgie is one of them, sir." he said to Mac.
"How do we find my daughter?" he asked firmly. "What do you need?"
"The answers to the clues. All of them in order are how we find her and whoever else is there." said Jason. "Elizabeth, one thing. Nik..."
Seeing her flinch, he said "Nik, is somehow involved. We know he gave Ian ten million dollars to let him see Emily after she died, but we are finding a connection to Claudia that doesn't add up either."
"Of course not." said Johnny. Seeing them look at him. "Nik knew about Claudia's connection to Michael getting shot. He knew it was about Sonny rejecting her and kidnapping me."
"Wait, I thought it was about business, the shipping routes for the drugs they wanted brought in." said Jason whirling around in anger.
"For Ian, yes. Claudia went to him, wanted Sonny taken out after the Cannery explosion. Your business had nothing to do with this." said Johnny. "Anthony was the one who made the deal with Sonny after he got in over his head with the Russians."
Furious to figure out that he had been lied to yet again by Sonny as well as by Nik, Jason lost all regret about taking away his empire. Seeing AJ's expression, he knew that his brother agreed.
"I just don't get it, why wouldn't Nik tell?" asked Monica bewildered.
No one touched that question as AJ moved on. "We heard about the warehouse, we were already there trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Johnny, Jason had done some reconnaissance and seemed upset, but it wasn't until after Elizabeth was hurt that he explained."
Elizabeth knew that he had more than likely found out about Lucky and Nik, and felt sick. When she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder, she looked up to see Johnny Zachara watching her with a sad expression. "How did you spirit her away?"
"That was with my help. He showed up in medical scrubs, but those eyes, gave it away." said Epiphany.
"I had forgotten the contacts at the motel." admitted Jason. "We were frantic and needed to be sure to grab both Elizabeth and the boys. When we got Elizabeth out of GH, I went to find Cameron and Jake."
"But I got there first." said Johnny shaking his head. Explaining to Monica and Mac, he expected anger but instead got understanding.
Mac shook his head, the kid had had the right idea, but seriously, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to raise two kids? What were you planning on telling them as they got older?"
"I wasn't thinking. I just wanted... I just wanted to protect them." he said. "Looking back, I just acted on instinct."
"So, what is going to happen now?" asked Monica.
"We track down the clues, find whoever is there and rescue them. Let Elizabeth heal and then we take it from there." said Jason looking at the woman he loved.
"How are you dear?" Audrey asked her granddaughter. "Truly?"
"Getting better. Facing the trauma has been helping. It has been a roller coaster ride, but talking things out has helped." she admitted. "The boys are loving it here, I am going to miss this place when we leave."
"It's not like we can't ever come back." Jason pointed out. "We own it."
The others once again felt like they were intruding but AJ didn't want to embarrass Jason and Elizabeth. Deciding to keep moving he added. "We are also working on a few plans dealing with things in Port Charles."
"Like Sonny suddenly ending up in jail?" asked Mac.
"No, he did that one all on his own." said a grim AJ. He had had his own plans for the man who had destroyed his son. "I do have to ask, how far gone is my son?"
Mac didn't want to tell him, but knew he had to. "He is ordering around Sonny's men. But things are ugly. Jason, the Giambetti brothers are gone, so Cody Paul is running things. At least on the surface."
Jason knew that Cody was taking orders from Johnny O'Brien, but didn't tell Mac. "Why is Michael out on bail?"
"Carly bailed him out." said Monica. "I talked to an attorney friend of Lee Baldwin's, but Michael rejected his suggestions, Carly keeps trying to pressure Alexis to represent him, but she won't touch the case. She sent the girls to visit Ric but he committed suicide, so they are back now. Things got ugly with Sam."
"That would be my fault." said Elizabeth who told them what she had said.
With a chuckle, Mac said "I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Alexis reported that to Ric. She is still furious about that one, and to have the girls in the know, both of them would have had to answer some very ugly questions."
Hearing small footsteps, they all saw the little boys rushing in and had to smile when Jake ran to his mommy and said "Brownies, please?"
Seeing the look on their faces, Elizabeth said "Well, I am going to need some help. Any volunteers?"
To the sound of Me! Me!, Elizabeth said "We are going to be in the kitchen. Relax, Uncle Tom, I won't overdo it. I promise. Mac, I looked at the clues, I can't figure out the last one either. Maybe it is something between Georgie and you, instead of ..."
Seeing her leave without finishing, Mac looked and saw that Jason looked upset along with Tom. Johnny just sat down and took the first set. "Okay, Smoot, that would be Boston. These are the Lions at the NYPL, this one is the armonica in Philly."
Seeing his sad expression, Monica asked how he knew that one. "I remember a friend writing to me about it. She knew how much I loved playing the piano. At that point, I couldn't because of my father." With that he went back to looking at the clues. "I think this one is Gettysburg, but don't have a clue as to the name."
"That is because it connects to the Hardy's." said Monica.
"Who?" asked the young Italian.
"My family." replied Tom with a chuckle.
"I thought you were a Webber?" he stated while looking confused.
"Elizabeth's dad didn't know he was a Hardy until he was finished with med school. He kept the Webber name to honor his adopted father, Lars."
"And I got stuck with it as a middle name." said Steven. "What about this clue?"
"The Greenbrier resort, they have a secret bunker. I remember hearing about that ages ago." Johnny didn't mention that once again it was the result of his pen pal. "This one here, I think that is Mount Vernon."
Mac took the clue about the round barn and said "I wasn't sure. We knew that it was Virginia, but other than that..."
"Yes, it is. Georgie Washington built a round barn so that his horses could thrash wheat inside of it while exercising." said Jason.
"Dweeb." said AJ under his breath, only for his mother to hold her breath in shock when Jason looked around for the boys then smacked him upside the head.
She felt her eyes watering up, it was the first time in years she had seen them truly acting like brothers. Deciding to go help Elizabeth in the kitchen, she found her daughter's best friend letting the two little boys help. Standing in the doorway, watching the adorable scene, she felt Epiphany enter.
"Monica, Jason was hoping you had a few minutes. He just went to the back patio."
Walking outside, she saw her son watching the sunset. "Jason?"
After inviting her to sit, he said "This is awkward, but you are the only person I have to ask. Apparently Spinelli, Sam and Maxie were using my birth mother to torment Elizabeth. Comparing the situation to Jake and her. I need to know the truth so that I can figure out what they were doing since Elizabeth shuts down."
Knowing it wouldn't put her in the best light, Monica delayed a bit by asking. "I just have one question first. If you love Elizabeth, why aren't you with her. Seems to me your family would be safer with you than away from you."
"I panicked. I have screwed up so bad over the years, almost ruined things, so many times." he said. "She is right, I did let Carly influence my decisions, just not for the reasons she thinks."
"Explain?" she asked.
"I have always thought that if I didn't push things, Carly would realize how much Elizabeth means to me. Then this year, when I thought I had lost them, I finally got it. She didn't care. She has taken over my life because she has no one else in hers. I let it happen, first because of a promise to Michael, then because of guilt over the last few years for the way Michael is turning out."
"You are not responsible for that, Sonny is, Carly is, but you are only his uncle. That would be like blaming Tracy for AJ's misdeeds."
With a chuckle, Jason said "No, a good part of them are on me, but you are right, I get that now. See Tom has been working with more than Elizabeth."
"Good, I only wish we had done things different years ago." said Monica.
"As for my feelings for Elizabeth..." He never saw the petite shadow but Monica did. "I have loved her for years. You want to know the funny part, I realized how much I loved her the day after I had lied to someone and said I had never loved her."
"Courtney?" asked a knowing Monica. Seeing him nod, she replied. "That one was a piece of work, I knew she was a user, I was reminded of Steven's mother when I first met her. Why would she be... this was when you were split up the first time."
"Yes, Sonny had faked his death and I had asked to tell Elizabeth but he refused to let me. I would have never believed he did it on purpose, but looking back, he did."
Monica had been thinking of when Courtney and Jason had been separated, not Elizabeth. It gave her a clearer picture on her son and his love life. "Carly had a big part of that, Jason. I have mellowed over the years with her, hoping to be part of Micheal's life, but I have never fooled myself in regards to that woman and her intentions."
"I get that. She is going to be a problem when we go home. We are going to cut the users out of our lives. For me that is Carly and Tom is right, that has to mean Michael." he admitted. "I just worry he won't be alive in a few years."
"Worry about it, but understand you are not required to save him." said the boy's grandmother.
"I know that. I see so much of Sonny in him, it's like he is his biologically. When he was still in the hospital, he threw a tray at Elizabeth. I restrained him, told Elizabeth to go because I could see it in his eyes, he wanted to hurt her, Mom. I was sure it was from the brain damage at first, but not long before Mexico, I saw something there, something that scared me." he said.
"So what did you do about it?" she asked.
"I did it, I got my family to safety. AJ has a few ideas, I think that if Michael doesn't end up in prison, he might take him to this clinic we found. I wish him luck, but I get the feeling that it might not help, not now."
Jason got up and went to the edge of the flagstone. "I worry about my sons, what if I am a bad parent, what if Cam or Jake..."
"Jason, I am not going to tell you not to worry, but you are not Sonny. Carly and Elizabeth aren't the same either. Those two boys aren't spoiled brats like Michael, I hate to say it but Carly never treated her kids equally. The sun rises and sets with her eldest. Not with Morgan and it will be the same with Jocelyn."
"I know that, when we broke up last year, after the courthouse interviews. Elizabeth had walked around the corner to where I had felt Cam moving inside of her, all I could do is watch. I actually think I had my second daydream of Jason Morgan's life. I dreamed she turned and told me that I couldn't walk away, that she was pregnant. It felt so real, that when Spinelli rushed up, it hurt to find it was only a dream. It's so scary for me, how much I love her and dream about a life with her." he said his voice hoarse.
"Have you ever told her that?" asked Monica.
"Yes and no. I just fall apart when I try. I am sorry, but it is going to be dinner time soon, and I need you to tell me about my biological mother."
"Susan and your father...." A half hour later, Jason laughed and said "I am going to ruin them. They have no idea about anything. They took the rumors and the innuendo and decided to spread their poison, but really in truth...the opposite is true."
Seeing her confusion, Jason forgot he was talking to his mother and said "I walk into a room, think of Elizabeth, hell just smell turpentine and I want her. Have for years. Sam on the other hand, it took some work to get me... uh..." Jason had finally realized what he was saying out loud to the amusement of Monica and Mac who had come to tell them dinner was done.
"Have any of you seen Elizabeth?" Tom asked when he came out.
"No, she walked by earlier." said Monica not wanting to out the woman who was still listening to them from inside.
Sighing, Tom went looking and found her in the library reading. "Elizabeth? Is everything okay?"
Wiping the tears, she said "Yes. Sorry, I just had an idea about the clue, and need to discuss it with Jason."
Remembering how explosive their last conversation had been, Tom wondered if that was a good idea, until he saw that Elizabeth seemed happy. "After dinner, right now, Mac took over the kitchen with your grandmother. Real food!"
"Johnny didn't do that badly." reminded Elizabeth.
"Well Morgan seems to only be able to do eggs, you do okay, but since you didn't cook much..." he teased.
"This from the man who burnt canned tomato soup." she reminded him. "Let get to the table."
!!*!!
In Port Charles, Johnny made sure to meet with the investigator, "Did you get everything."
"Yes and gave it to Mr. Jacks. What now?" he asked.
"Nothing, just keep reporting when you see the blond and the dark haired woman here."
"I am going to be photographing and taping anything else?" he asked.
"God, no! This has been bad enough. As it is, I am going to have to scrub my mind." replied the Irishman.
"I don't get it, they are a little trashy but I mean it is sex." said the PI.
"There is sex then there is sex where even two condoms isn't enough." Said Johnny as he thought about how sleeping with them was penance for his mistakes.
"I thought the one is pregnant."
"She is, but she has been around more than some of the hookers on Courtland street." replied Johnny. "Look, I need to meet the geek, do you have that device?"
"Here." he said. "It should wipe out the hard drive and everything else."
!!*!!
Lucky rolled out of bed, then looked at the blond in it. "Why are you here?"
"What?" asked Maxie as she started to dress.
"I mean I thought you love this guy? Can't any woman remain faithful or are all of you tramps like my ex-wife." he said pulling on his t-shirt.
"You don't know anything. Spinelli, hasn't been up for sex since Jason started avoiding him." she admitted. "I think we are over. Our relationship has made me face that I want you, not him. You have always..."
Seeing him laughing she said "What is so funny?"
"Relationship, please. Carly paid me to get you into my bed again, in revenge for the crap with Sam. A hundred thousand dollars so that I can find my son." It was actually a million but he wasn't going to tell her that.
Slapping him, Maxie rushed out of the room, only to hear him add "You can always compare my techniques with Sam. Apparently Morgan isn't that great in bed either, she was with me a couple of months ago too. Those mobsters don't seem to have what you ladies need." he bragged.
Maxie stopped then turned and said "And ...shit." She got that Lucky was more than likely the real father of Sam's kid. This time though, she was going to help the woman win Morgan so Lucky once again lost the kid.
Lucky took out the tape and called Carly. "Got it, how are you going to get it to the kid?"
"Just give it to him. Jason was the one who suggested it." she hung up and couldn't figure out the why, but when she had told him what she had done, he had just laughed, which in itself had been strange.
She called Michael and sighed when she found him at the old coffee warehouses. Sonny had sold his share and now Michael was trying to figure out what there was left to salvage. Her ex had also had Bernie transfer all his funds to Alexis for Morgan and Kristina.
Michael had lost it when he had heard that his father had turned his back on him. She had talked to Jason who had promised to get him back on the right track, but Carly was scared, for the first time she was getting how damaged her son was as a result of the bullet.
TBC