True North
By Jaclyn Parker

"Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers."
-Victor Hugo
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"Hey, Mikey, one more."

"Hun, what's going on? You haven't drank like this since…" The bartender trailed off and just looked at his customer before obliging and giving her another beer.

Janet sighed and shook her head.

"Mikey, did you just ever have one of those days?" When Mike, the bartender at the Lakeview nodded, she nodded along with him. "I've had one of those months. Hell, one of those years."

"What happened, Lass?" Mike said and Janet smirked at his nickname for her. Even though she had told him her name was probably the Hebrew form of Janet, meaning gift from God, and not the Scottish one that meant girl, he had stuck to calling her Lass.

The night that Jack had called off their engagement, a furious yet distraught Janet had run into Lisa Grimaldi at the front desk of the Lakeview as she was trying to get a room. Lisa had taken her aside and as soon as Janet explained the situation she had told her that she could stay at the Lakeview as long as she needed. Lisa had even given her a deluxe room at an absurdly low weekly rate. When Janet had asked her why she was doing this Lisa had mumbled something about Hurricane Carly and Jack, adding on a mini rant about some woman named Julia.

Janet's brain hadn't been able to wrap around someone else's problems that night, so she had been forced to tune Lisa out after a few minutes. Finally she just accepted the generous offer and after getting her room key, promptly headed to the bar.

And that's where she had met Mike and spent a long drunken night bending his ear, alternating between feeling periods of absolute devastation and uncontrollable rage. Mike had taken care of her well, especially after hearing her story, and had even discretely gotten a hotel employee he trusted to see her to her room at the end of the night.

Ever since then she had enjoyed coming to the bar before going to her room every other night to have a glass of white wine or a beer and just talk to Mike. He was a good listener even his though his boyfriend Kyle joked with her one night, after joining them at the bar, that Mike rarely listened to a word he said.

"So what's going on?" Mike prompted her again and she took a long sip of beer, before looking at him.

"So you know how I told you that thankfully Carly and I have been able to avoid each other?" Janet said.

"Yeah," Mike nodded. "You said it's a good thing too or else you would go all, and I quote, 'ape shit on her skinny blonde ass'. End quote."

"I said that?" Janet asked, confused. "I don't..."

"Well that might have been the night you challenged Kyle to the tequila shoot off." Mike said, wryly.

"Oh yeah…not a good night." Janet said chuckling at what little she remembered about that incident.

"Hey, I told you not to challenge him. He drinks the hard stuff like it's water." Mike said, fondly. "Just don't give him wine. Then he babbles like you've injected him with truth serum."

Janet laughed and then Mike waved her on with her story.

"Well, I originally had off of work today, but Henry called and needed me to work the morning shift. So I figured why not, right? Well Liberty had one of her half days of school before break so she comes in just as my shift's ending and wants to go see a movie with me."

"You've got a good kid." Mike said and Janet nodded, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. He was about to say something else when the customer at the end of the bar flagged him down. He poured the man another shot of scotch and then returned to Janet, bringing another beer with him.

"So, we stop to get coffee before we go and who do we see, but…" Janet said, accepting the beer but indicating that this was it for her tonight.

"Lemme guess. Carly?" Mike said and Janet pointed her beer bottle at him.

"Give the man a prize." Janet said and sighed. "Parker was with her and even though I tried to tell Liberty to take it easy on him, sure enough they got into a huge argument."

"Right there in the middle of town?" Mike asked incredulously, and then his eyes twinkled. "Did she slap him?"

"No! Of course not!" Janet said, before realizing that Mike was joking. "Parker had nothing to do with any of this mess and I understand that. But my baby girl, she just can't see that."

"So that's what got you all upset? Liberty fighting with Parker?" Mike asked, confused.

"No, it was what happened afterwards between Liberty and me." Janet said and Mike shook his head.

"I don't understand, Lass."

"Did you know that Carly and Jack haven't seen each other since that night? They haven't even talked to each other on the phone, according to Parker." Janet said, trailing her finger down the side of her beer bottle and staring at it intently.

"Do you think it's some sort of ploy?" Mike asked.

"I don't know! At least…I don't think so. I mean, knowing Carly, if she and Jack were together she'd be shouting it from the rooftops just to rub it in. Right?" Janet asked, her eyes searching Mike's face like he had the answer.

"But that's not what Liberty said to you that's making you so upset." Mike deduced and Janet lowered her eyes.

"She said that if Parker was right and if Jack wasn't with Carly, then maybe that means I did lose him on my own. And that maybe she was following my footsteps by letting good things slip through my fingers like I did with Brad and now Jack." Janet said, hearing her daughter's angry words as if she was standing right next to her. "Then she said to forget the movies and she would get a ride back to her dad's house from her friend, Mindy. I tried to talk to her but she just walked away."

"Come on, Lass. It'll be okay. She's just upset and confused right now." Mike consoled her, patting her hand. "She loves you."

"Yeah, I know. I love her too. But…" Janet replied and Mike frowned, knowing what was coming. "What if she's right? If Jack didn't break it off to be with Carly then…"

"Stop that, Lass. You know, I've been thinking..."

"Uh oh." Janet smirked, taking a sip of beer. "You going to go all Yoda on me, Mikey?"

"Hey, you could always go to Metro and drink over there with your buddy Carly." Mikey said and Janet held up her hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Yeah, okay, never mind. By all means, please continue." Janet said then muttered under her breath, "Yoda."

Mike playfully snapped the dish towel he was using at her before throwing it over his shoulder and looking at her in all seriousness.

"I was thinking that, maybe, sometimes people come into your life to give you things that you never knew you needed. But when they're done they move on, making sure that you move on to where you're supposed to be in your life too." Mike said, leaning towards her thoughtfully.

"Take Brad for example. He gave you Liberty. You weren't expecting her but can you imagine life without her?"

A breath caught in Janet's throat and she shook her head forcefully. She and Liberty had been each other's world for so long that no matter what happened between her and her daughter, there was a bond between them that no one could ever break.

"And Jack," Mike thought a moment longer and then smiled sadly at her. "He showed you there was life after Brad. That there are still good guys out there."

Janet snorted in a very unladylike manner and Mike just looked at her sternly.

"Hey now, Lass. He might have turned out to be a jerk but he was a compassionate jerk. Remember what you told me he said to you that night?"

Janet sighed and nodded, tears springing to her eyes.

"He said that he loved me, just not the way I deserved to be loved. That some day a guy is going to sweep me off my feet and make me ask myself, 'Jack who?'." Janet said and even though she understood what he was saying, the pain was still incredibly fresh in her heart. "But God, Mikey, I don't know how that will ever happen. I love…loved him so much."

"I know, Lass. But it's better that you get the heartbreak in now then to have a ring on your finger and get it broken later on, a million times worse." Mike said, patting her hand gently. "You're a good woman. You'll find love again someday. Just, do yourself a favor. Stay out of the Snyder family tree, will ya?"

The slamming of a shot glass on the counter caught both of their attention and they turned to look down at the end of the bar. The man at the end looked in their direction and waved the shot glass.

"Another." He said and then eyed Janet up and down before turning back to stare in the mirror behind the bar.

"Okay, easy fella. I'm just helping this lady throw herself a one woman pity party." Mike said, winking at Janet.

"Oh, please! What does she have to be upset about?" The man said, contempt spilling out of his voice, the slight slur an indication that this was not the first bar he'd been at this evening.

"What the hell does that mean? How dare you? You don't even know me!" Janet said, banging her beer bottle down and turning to glare at the arrogant stranger.

"I know that whatever little problem you're going through it doesn't even begin to compare to the mess that is my life. So could I get some service please?" He sneered and waved the shot glass again.

"And what could be so bad that you are downing shots of scotch like they are candy?" Janet said, angrily.

"How about the fact that my son was kidnapped and I just lost the only lead I had to find him!" He growled back and then threw back the shot Mike placed before him, before whispering again. "Dammit, I just want my son."

The next words in Janet's mouth stuck as she took in this stranger's full appearance. He was decidedly handsome, not GQ model handsome, but there was something about him that would make a girl's head turn twice. The way he carried himself, it was obvious that arrogance was a huge part of his nature but now she saw the slight slump of his shoulders and the bags under his eyes.

"I'm sorry. What happened?" Janet asked before she could stop herself. She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth especially when the man threw her an incredulous look.

"I'm sorry," Janet apologized again and held up a hand in a contrite gesture. "I didn't mean to say that. It's none of my business. I just…I can't imagine losing my daughter. No one deserves that."

The man let out a cynical snort of laughter and picked up the high ball of scotch that Mike had silently set in front of him. Saluting the watchful bartender with it and taking a long sip, he turned mocking eyes on her.

"There are many people in this town that would disagree with you." He said and shook his head, trying to figure out why he wanted to tell this dark eyed woman his life's story.

Then again, what the hell? He didn't know her and it felt good to talk to someone who wouldn't judge him right off the bat. He thought he had found that recently but even she had been deceiving him and in the end he was left alone once again.

"I have done a lot of things that I regret but they were always for the good of my family. Now, I just don't want to lose any more time than I already have with the ones who are left."

"I wish I could help you find your son." Janet said and he scrutinized her closely before giving a very charming smile.

"You know something? I wish you could too."

She watched him a moment longer and titled her head, studying him before sticking out her hand. "Name's Janet Ciccone."

The man looked at her hand and then smiled as he reached out to shake it.

"Craig Montgomery."

As the man sidled up to Janet at the bar, Mike got sudden chills up his spine. Something was off about this guy, but before he could put his finger on it another customer sat down at the bar. Before long, Mike was so busy that he had forgotten to figure out what bothered him about the handsome stranger now buying Janet's next beer.

Author's Note: I know it was a slight filler chapter but it was important to the future storyline, trust me :) Enjoy.