A/N: Sorry that this one is a bit shorter than the rest. I've been sick with the flu, so I'm not really happy with the way it turned out, but the muse was being a little bitchy with all the coughing and such. On a positive note, I got a personal tweet from Steve – I mentioned that I was sick and he tweeted back "feel better". If I hadn't been so sick, I would have gotten up and danced a jig!
Chapter Forty-Four
The next few days are intense with activity. There's so much to do to get ready for Christmas. Jason and Elizabeth took Cam to the tree lot to pick out the perfect tree for the penthouse. Everything has been decorated and presents have been slowly making their way under the tree.
Jason is still keeping tabs on Spinelli's progress with his research. So far, no patterns seem to be emerging, but he feels that it's just because he's not able to go as fast as he normally would. Backtracking to ensure that Stan is not tipped off to any of his intrusions to the Corinthos-Morgan accounts, the time it takes him to get through each account is frustratingly slow. But, until Jason knows for sure that it is not Sonny that has been drugging him, he will not risk talking to him about his test results.
Much to Elizabeth's consternation, Nicholas got Lucky released from jail on bail. Trying to understand that it is his brother, she just can't fathom why he would do that to his girlfriend. This is the man that attacked his girlfriend's, and at one time his wife's, brother. Nicholas was truly in between a rock and a hard place and she was trying not to be angry with him, she really was.
Carly had come and gone on her trip to the city. To all outward appearances, it looked as if it was her normal annual Christmas shopping extravaganza. Little did she know that she had not one, but two of Sonny's guards following her every move, especially when she ditched her regular guard detail. It did not get passed them that she took the subways into the seedier parts of the city. It also didn't get passed them that in the seedier parts of the city, she met with the seedier parts of that city life. The only thing that this particular guard detail couldn't do was get close enough to hear exactly what Carly was doing with this part of the criminal element of this city. The reason being, this criminal element is very, very wary of strangers. And strangers hanging around attracted too much attention, which is what they didn't want to do. Carter and Mick made their reports to Max on everything that they could report about Carly's movements and doings.
Sonny and Max were working with some contacts in the city to see if they can find out what Carly was up to during her sojourn. Using the information and descriptions from Carter and Mick's reports, they have uncovered the identities of the "thugs" she spoke to. Now, all they have to do is find out what she has asked them to do for her. They are determined to stop her before either Elizabeth, her unborn baby, or Cameron gets hurt. Sonny has no doubt that Elizabeth is the target of Carly's plot. Max is still coming to terms with the fact that Carly would do anything like this. He, unfortunately, has had a crush on Mrs. C for years, and is now realizing that she has played him in the past to get what she wants.
Emily is looking for signs in Nicholas that his brain tumor is developing. So far, she can see no evidence of the tumor yet. Right now she is developing a list of events yet to come and, hopefully, of ways to stop them. The intern is trying to come up with ways to stop Lucky's self-destructive path and subtlety get him into a relationship with Sam. Recalling that they may have started out for revenge against Jason and Elizabeth in the last timeline, they were actually very good together, and very good for each other. Lucky had had an uncanny ability to foster the good points in Sam's personality, and the two worked well with one another.
Robin and Patrick were still working with Jason's blood and hair samples to determine the extent of his exposure to the scopolamine and what it could mean for long-term effects. They, too, were busy with their own Christmas plans, along with looking at new apartments. Robin is so tired of Patrick living at the MetroCourt, she just wants to see him settled into a place of his own.
While all of these major players were busy doing their own things, two men are running behind the scenes of Port Charles. One of these men is trying to formulate a plan to bring down the mob enforcer that he hates with a burning passion. The other man is doing everything that he can to ensure that the first man cannot harm the blond father-to-be.