She introduced herself as Rosa Maria Medina. She was Cruz's grandmother and, upon meeting her, Bobbie was convinced that the ninety-eight-year-old woman despised her. Bobbie wasn't sure what she had expected, but when Cruz talked of Grandma Maria, she had envisioned someone more talkative, or lively, definitely taller. She held the phone between her shoulder and her left ear and tried to reiterate her feelings to her husband but, as usual, her words were going in one ear and out the other. "I don't understand why you can't come home a little early. I got the house ready for your family. The least you can do..."
"The least I can do? Bobbie, you know why I can't drop everything and come there. You act like my grandmother is the Antichrist." Cruz patronized, signaling for Axe to come back later when his most faithful employee showed up at his door. "Listen, we'll talk when I get home—"
"When you get home?" Bobbie shrieked, covering the phone with her right palm to listen for any noise outside the bedroom she had barricaded herself in. "This is not the nineteen fifties. You will come home right now or I will make your life a living hell." She warned, twisting the cord around her left index finger.
"You're the one who suggested they stay at the townhouse. If you're sick of them, just go back to the Brownstone." Cruz suggested through gritted teeth.
"I was trying to be nice since you were the one who wanted to run off and get married without inviting any of our family." Bobbie pointed out.
"What?" Cruz spurted incredulously. "If you didn't want to get married that way, you should have been a little more vocal beforehand." He knew it was hormones, but God help him, he didn't know if he would survive the rest of this pregnancy with Bobbie's alternate personality.
"Well maybe if you had been a little more willing to use protection that one time, maybe then I would have gotten to meet your family before I got knocked up. Have you thought about that?" Bobbie challenged angrily.
"Bobbie—" In Cruz's voice there was a warning, but he doubted his wife would pay any attention to it.
"No! Don't Bobbie me! Do you have any idea how people look at me, how your family looks at me? They didn't know me before. They probably think I'm a middle-aged gold-digger." She whimpered.
"First off, it would probably be the other way around. I've always had a soft spot for...the mature."
"Good save." Bobbie congratulated. "Can you please get here soon? Your grandmother is holed up in the nursery and I don't want to make them go to the Brownstone if they don't want to. I'm playing dutiful wife, expectant mother, and hostess. I need a little bit of help."
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Just, try to get to know them. Once you do, I'm sure you'll be forced to look through mountains of scrapbooks—on second thought, ask about recipes." Cruz advised.
"I love you." Bobbie took a breath and hung up the phone, glancing nervously at the bedroom door. It was still two hours until dinnertime which meant recipes were out. There wasn't nearly enough room in any of the women's suitcases for them to hold even one scrapbook of a much younger Cruz. She didn't know what it was about them, but she felt like the outsider. Cruz would come home and they'd talk nonstop with him until she entered the room. Once she was in their presence, the room would fall into a hush.
"What kind of hostess am I being?" She called out to the room. "They're in a new place and I've done nothing to make them feel welcome." She couldn't always hide behind Cruz, especially since he made certain to not be home a lot.
"You got yourself into this mess and you're going to plow forward and get your self-respect back." Bobbie repeated it over and over like a mantra and it was powerful enough to get her to her feet. "You're a Spencer. Start acting like it."
"BS!" Maxie said a little too loudly, attracting the attention of a white-haired woman passing them on a walker.
"Is not." Lucas crossed his arms defensively, careful to keep the rest of his cards from the view of Maxie.
"Oh, now, please. Don't be a spoilsport. It's obvious you're lying." Maxie fanned her cards in front of her face.
"Pull the cards if your so sure." Lucas challenged.
Maxie lifted an eyebrow at him and flipped over the aforementioned cards. "Damn." She whispered.
Snapping his fingers at his cousin, Lucas smirked. "What is it you like to say...oh yeah? Eat em."
Maxie's hands swept over the cards and she pulled them toward her, grumbling all the way. "We should play Speed. It's much more fun than this."
"Spoken like someone who is losing."
"Ha-ha." Maxie rolled her eyes.
"What's taking so long, Daddy?" Lance wanted to know, looking over at the still-closed hospital room.
"The doctors have to make sure everything is fine before they talk to us." Lucas tried to keep his voice neutral and calm. He had hated hospitals ever since BJ died. He hated them even more since his family had decided to take up residence in them. It was almost enough to make him want to convince his mother a home birth was the way to go.
"That's right Lancelot." Maxie added, pushing his hair back with a corner of the card in her hand. "Pretty soon they'll let us know what's going on. See, if Alexis is okay, we get to take her home."
"But why? They should know. They're doctors." Lance insisted impatiently.
"Yes. That's why they want to make absolutely sure. It's no fun to come back if they were wrong." Lucas tried to keep his own memories at bay. Aunt Mattie had been told to go home and then had to come back.
"But what's wrong with her, Daddy?" Lance persisted.
"The doctors found something wrong in her lungs. And they had surgery to fix it. They are trying to make sure they got it all out."
"Is there something in my lungs too?" Lance pointed to his chest.
"No. Your lungs are fine."
Maxie could tell the child was about to ask something else, so she handed him the kaleidoscope keychain she kept in her purse. She couldn't stand this waiting any more than the child in her presence, but his questions were making her uneasy. Why did they have to make a habit of being in the hospital so much? Pretty soon they would be spending holidays here. She shook her head, trying to erase that thought out of fear that it might happen. It had been over two years since her last appointment; BJ's heart was still keeping her alive. The doctors had tried to convince her that her cousin's heart wasn't strong enough, that she needed to move onto a better one, but Maxie had thrown a fit to keep it. The day she gave up BJ's heart would be the day she was dead.
A pair of feet shuffled and the trio glanced up to see a haggard looking commissioner. Mac held the door halfway open, his way of inviting them in. He seemed incapable of even speaking. Maxie immediately rushed to hug him, but he pushed her away, clearly unable to hold it together if he leaned on her for even a second. Rubbing his tired face, he refused to meet Lance's eyes, knowing his eyes would give him away. There was no reason to frighten the child.
The smiling, bouncing creature he spotted further down the street was a far cry from the weeping girl he had held in his arms a few short days ago. Holding her until her breathing gave away the fact she was asleep, Steven had tucked her into the bed and left quietly, leaving the gift he had brought her on the nightstand next to her phone where she was sure to see it. For a brief minute, he considered staying with her, just in case the phone rang, but reason quickly returned to him. Georgie would call him if she needed him. And she had. Nearing her, he reached out a hand to gently tug on a flyway tendril. "Someone looks better."
Georgie met his cautious stare with a quiet composure. It had been at least a few days since she had seen him and she could admit to herself that she had missed him. Everything had come pouring out of her mouth in a string of mumbles and barely heard curses, but he had held her through all of it, understanding her pain. Her roommates hadn't approached her until this morning, until she had waved the proverbial white flag—it was actually a sock. "Hi."
"Hi. Are you feeling better?"
Georgie beamed at him. "Yes I am and so is Alexis." She practically chirped.
Her smile was contagious. And beautiful. He quickly pushed that thought out of his head. She was barely over twenty. That was dangerous territory. Steven smiled back. "That's great!"
"I'm sorry for the other day." And yet, as embarrassed as she was about how she had acted, she wasn't sorry that he had stayed with her until she had fallen asleep.
"Don't worry about it. Everyone is allowed one bad day in Paris. You just used yours early in your trip is all."
Georgie lightly punched his left arm. "Are you busy right now?"
Technically he was supposed to be looking for the umpteenth new location to re-shoot the scene they had just done even though the director would probably end up using the first scene after all. Wasting his time or hang out with Georgie? The choice was infinitely simple. "Not a darn thing. What do you have in mind?"
"I'm hungry. Do you want to get something to eat? It's nice weather. Maybe we could go for a walk. You still owe me the rest of that tour." Georgie picked a piece of blanket fuzz from his sandy hair and held it out for him to see. "Sleeping on the job? Shame on you."
"No. That's called it freezing at five am in the dark." What the man had against actually shooting in a studio Steven would never learn. He offered Georgie his arm. "Shall we walk malady?"
Georgie nodded and linked their arms together. "This is going to be fun."
Steven led them toward the banks of the Seine once more, pausing every now and again to watch the boats float by. Spotting a man sitting in front of an easel, he nudged Georgie with his elbow and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "What do you think? A real painter or just trying to get the girls?"
Georgie made a face of surprise. "Of course he's a real painter. He's..." She happened to glance over the man's shoulder and her face went white as a sheet. When she met Steven's curious stare, she whispered, "He's gearing up for the smut cover of his next novel."
Sneaking a similar glance, Steven struggled not to laugh. "If that's any indication, the book must suck."
"He's a struggling artist. Cut him some slack." Georgie teased, blushing when he looked up from his easel.
Leading them quickly away before the man could hear them further, Steven laughed. "He's not struggling. His art is though."
She giggled, throwing her head back a little. "What made you want to come to Paris?"
"Work. And it doesn't get much more glamorous than shooting a movie in Paris. Even jaded Hollywood types do the same thing. What about you? Of all the cities in the world, why study in Paris?"
"Why not?" Georgie responded in quiet fascination. "I couldn't think of a better opportunity to get to really see the world as a whole. I don't know if you've noticed, but Port Charles is pretty small. And small towns carry gossip. It's just nice to be this far away so, if on a whim I decide to do something crazy, it won't get back to the people who used to baby-sit me."
"Something crazy huh? Like what?" He teased her.
"I don't know. I haven't really made it a priority." Georgie admitted.
He stopped her suddenly and turned her body so they faced each other. "Then I think it is my mission to make sure you make it a priority."
"How are you going to do that? A risk involves fascination, a little fear, and exhilaration. Paris is so calm." Georgie rationalized.
"Then you aren't looking in the right spots." Steven argued. "Paris is the City of Lights. The City of Love. A city with this reputation isn't calm. You can't be the world capital of romance by being calm. If it was possible then the whole world would flock to Port Charles to find love."
Georgie smiled at his skewed expression. "It's pretty calm right now." She nodded toward the mass array of colors sprinkled across the darkening sky. "And beautiful." She added for good measure.
He locked eyes with her and felt himself return her smile. Without his conscious approval, he took a small step toward her. "Everything is beautiful in Paris."
The wind picked up a little and Georgie moved to brush her bangs out of her eyes but Steven's hands were already there, on either side of her face, tucking the wispy strands behind her ears. She brought her hands to rest against his and felt a shiver go through them both. The night had been perfectly cool a minute ago, but now it was suddenly very warm.
"We should...um...we should..." If he would stop staring at her, she would be able to get through a full sentence.
"We should what?" If she stopped moving closer to him, he would be able to just put one step in front of the other and walk away.
They both seemed to leap forward though she wasn't certain of anything until she felt their lips meet tentatively. His hands were still on her face, applying enough pressure to tilt her head to the side and deepen the kiss. She had thought about this moment for a long time, she realized. A lot longer than she should have. She was here, in Paris, to study, to get an education...but all of that seemed to float away when she found that she was suddenly participating in the kiss.
Her hand came to rest against his chest before she was ready to end the kiss. She didn't know if she ever wanted it to end. Breathing had fallen on her list of priorities to at least number two. But then he broke the kiss and she was left feeling disoriented. She pulled her hand away from his gray pullover as if he had stung her.
"This wasn't the crazy thing I had in mind for you." Steven breathed out. He tried not to look at her. Looking at her would lead right back to kissing her. And as good as it had been, he couldn't kiss her again. He just couldn't.
"No." Georgie made certain that there was no question in her voice. He obviously regretted it. She tried not to let that hurt her.
"Bungee jumping. Skydiving. Drinking too much wine." He rattled off nervously. Two minutes ago he might have added kissing someone she wouldn't normally kiss on there. Alright, maybe he had lied about this not being on his list for her. But the fact remained she was still younger than his baby sister. He was probably already going to school when she was born. As beautiful as he was starting to realize she was, he couldn't fall for her. He couldn't have fallen for her already. He glanced at his watch. "I...I've got to get back to the set."
Alexis shared a nervous look with Mac, barely noticing that the rest of the cavalry were leaving the room. Nodding toward the phone, she felt herself gulp before she asked, "Do you think Georgie bought it?"