Switching Places
Chapter 21
Riley: There are only two options regarding commitment, your either in or your out. There is no such thing as a life in-between.
Sam was looking out over the docks, knowing she had to make a decision. Corinthos was not even close to a done deal and she now had to cover more than her con. She had to cover up her crime. The best way to do that was the Spencer boy. Wincing as that meant she had to give up her plans for both Corinthos and the hottie on the docks, unless she used Lucky to get what she wanted.
Feeling the baby kick, she sighed as this was another fine mess she had gotten herself into, at least she had come to terms with being a mother, too bad she had to give the baby up to the father when the time came. At least that had been the plan originally, but now she was thinking about custody arrangements, Sonny had been rather generous with his ex-wife and his adopted son. Imagine how much he would pay out for a kid that was actually his.
Seeing Lucky coming around the corner, she made sure to bring tears to her eyes and said "Lucky, I need your help. The father of my child is with another woman, I just found out that it is more serious than I thought. Do you think you could help me get an attorney, I may need to sue him for child support? He is rather rich and I'm afraid he will fight me for custody."
"Why would he do that, I mean, you said it was a one-night stand, and that there were no commitments made?" He said trying to recall all she had ever said about the man.
"I know, but that was before I learned some more about him. Turns out he raised a kid that wasn't even his, and fought for custody of him. What am I going to do, there is no way I can fight someone that rich and with that many illegal connections."
Lucky kept the smile off his face; he had found the way to destroy Jason. He had finally remembered what she had said about her child's father; he was connected to Corinthos, sex in Puerto Rico, then when you added in that he had raised Michael. It was all adding up to Jason having an illegitimate kid. While he knew that Elizabeth was in love with Jason, the idea of him having a kid with someone, she would come running back to him the minute she found out.
"I have a better idea, why don't we get married, this way we have a better chance of keeping your child safe."
"Are you sure?" She said pretending to dry her tears, even as she thought, perfect. "Lucky, I don't think it will work, I mean he lives in a fancy penthouse and has lots of money, how do we fight him?"
"We move in to my mother's house, it's in a nice part of town, as for money. My brother is Nik Cassidine and he will be more than glad to help us out. Plus, in two days I start at the police academy. That will make us look like perfect parents compared to a mobster and his moll."
Elizabeth was finishing the chart, when she heard Monica talking to Alan, saying she was worried about Emily. That she had once again refused to come home for the holidays. "Would you please see if you could get her to come home, I'm leaving in ten minutes with Carly and Michael."
"Sure, you just go ahead, I will see you at home tomorrow in time for pizza." Said Alan.
Elizabeth thought about it, then went over to the waiting area. Calling Sonny, she asked if she could talk to him that it was very important. He promised to come straight to the hospital. Elizabeth wondered about letting Alan know but she knew that if it didn't work out the chief of staff would be disappointed.
Going back to work, she was placing Alexis' chart back, happy her friend was doing better when Sonny showed up. "Elizabeth, what can I do for you?" He asked, even as upset as he was about the Brenda situation, he had to admit that the petite brunette being on the penthouse floor was a godsend to fighting his darkness.
"Two things, actually. May I borrow your jet?" She asked with a smile.
"Elizabeth, as much as I would love to send you to Jaso-" Elizabeth interrupted to the mob boss and said "That isn't it. Jason said he had to be down there for a few days and since I am going to be off work, I was thinking about visiting Emily. She is refusing to come home for the holidays."
"The jet will be waiting on the tarmac waiting for you whenever you are ready. What is the second item?" He asked.
"I was hoping you could arrange for a driver once I'm there. I don't have directions and I want to surprise Emily." She said with a smile at the mobster.
"I will take care of that as well as hotel reservations for you. Don't forget to let Jason know you are going." Sonny was practically blinding her with the shiny teeth smile and deep dimple action he had going on. All he could think was if Elizabeth had his jet, which was one more day to make sure that Brenda didn't get her divorce.
Elizabeth went to the stairwell and called Jason, the blond told her to enjoy herself and to make sure that Emily and her behaved. "I promise no wheelchair races." She said with a smile in her voice. Going to find Dr. Quartermaine, Elizabeth told him about her plans, bringing a relieved half-smile to the man's face.
Carly just was happy to get on the train, she could not believe that she had done this, now what was she going to do? "Carly, are you okay?" Asked Monica hoping the blond wasn't regretting going to New York for the circus tonight and the parade tomorrow.
"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind. So, little man are you excited about the parade tomorrow?" She asked Michael.
Monica found herself grateful for the respite from the gloom. Even though she didn't like Skye and had never pretended to, what Jax was doing was beyond what anyone deserved. Then there was Dillon who Tracy had just abandoned to them. The poor kid was acting strange the last couple of days, yesterday he had taken a huge lunch down to the gatehouse, saying he wanted to eat in peace.
Carly was having flashbacks to the previous evening, all she could think or see was AJ and her trying to keep Rosie under control then ending up falling on the bed. She was still blaming it on not having sex for almost seven months, that had to be the reason she had gone to bed with him and enjoyed herself so much. Turning she nervously started talking to Monica, trying to clear the images running through her head.
AJ thanked Justus and went back to get Skye, while she was not a suspect in the murder of Luis Alcazar she was considered a "person of interest" to the police. As he brought his sister into the Quartermaine mansion, he thanked Reginald for the information that Courtney was waiting for him in the study. Making sure that Skye had been warned to stay away from Edward, he went to see what his ex-wife wanted.
"Why were you sleeping in my bed, last night? I have no intention of getting back together with the poor brother." She said.
"You have even less of a chance with Jason, than you do me. I was there because you abandoned Rosie downstairs."
"Then why were you naked?" She asked feeling superior to the loser she had once been married to.
AJ just stared at her wondering what she would say if he told her that he had been having sex with Carly. That they had used her bed repeatedly for a couple of hours. Then he smiled and said "Well, since you were stripping, I thought I would offer to help you move to a similar profession. By the way, I have my trust fund back; I have had it back from the moment I signed my divorce papers. Now if you aren't interested in joining the world's oldest profession, get out."
Jason was finished straightening out the mess in the casino, so he went to find the next flight to Arizona, he was going to join his fiancee and his sister for the holiday. Sonny had called to tell him that he had arranged for a catered dinner for the girls and anyone else that wanted to join them.
Turning to the man in charge of the casino, he asked for directions to the nearest shopping center, then left to find the bike he kept here. Out on the road, he started to change his mind but knew that Elizabeth wouldn't care where as long as it was sooner than later.
Entering the mall, he went to make sure that he could find all he needed, before returning to the Casino to get the packages he already arranged. Two hours later, he arranged for everything to be shipped to the airport, then went to return his bike.
Entering the plane, he never saw the flight attendants flirtatious smile as she asked if he needed anything stowed. "No thank you please wake me up when we are about twenty minutes out."
Elizabeth stood outside the door, raising her hand to knock, then pulling back. Finally she pulled out her ring, removed it from the chain and placed it on her finger. That gave her the confidence to knock firmly on the oak door in front of her.
"Come in." she heard. Entering she saw Emily looking out the window, the younger girl looked depressed as she told her "Just leave the tray on the side table, I will eat when I feel like it."
"Hospital food, why would I do that to my best fr-" Elizabeth never even got the rest of the statement out before her best friend flew into her arms hugging her.
"What are you doing here? How did you get here? Is anyone with you? Can you stay?" She said excitedly.
"I'm here to see you for Thanksgiving, I hijacked Sonny's private jet, no one is with me, and I can stay until Sunday." She said still hugging her best friend.
"Why are you not with Jason?" She asked Elizabeth taking a good look at her best friend; the newly minted nurse looked happy and healthy for the first time since the mess with Lucky started.
"He had to go to the Casino and I thought I would visit you. If you want me to."
"Did you bring the rest of the drawings?" She teased.
"They are in the hallway with Francis." She said hugging Emily once more, she could see how pale her friend was and knew that Carly was correct, Emily was sick.
"Sonny, when will she be back with the plane, I mean I want to get my divorce if this is some sort of ploy to keep me married to you." She trailed off with a hint of a threat.
"It's not, Jason had to go to the Casino and she was feeling lonely. She went to see Emily. We will get our divorce as soon as she returns. Are you sure there is nothing to prove you were in Luis's room?"
"Nothing, I didn't touch anything. What about you, did you leave any evidence?" She asked thinking about Taggert's visit this morning, she had sworn that she had visited the man who had lied to her with Sonny and that he was alive when they left.
Mac left the hospital then called Felicia to find out if the girls were still coming home the day after Thanksgiving. Since she had ended things with Roy, she had been trying to deal with Maxie's belligerence and Georgie's unhappiness alone, but the girls had just requested returning home to Port Charles would solve their problems.
Thinking on his girls, he couldn't help smiling at Alexis' dream of her daughter being the perfect child, the woman had no idea what she was in store for. Boys had to be easier. Once at the station, he went to see if Taggert had done anything more productive than harassing Sonny Corinthos.
"Mac, we have timeline going. We know that Carly Corinthos left the hotel minutes before Luis was tossed off the balcony, but we still have no idea where she was before that. Jax left by walking down the stairs not long afterwards, but he is not a likely suspect in the murder, maybe in tossing the body, but not killing the man."
"What about the girl and this Lansing guy."
"He is claiming he spent the night with a blond, but didn't recall her name. As for the girl, I have no idea who she is, but we might have a break, one of the buildings across the street has a nosy little old lady living there, I sent Capelli to get a statement from her."
"Until then find out if you can verify this Lansing's alibi. We know he went up in the elevator with Courtney but that she spent the night with AJ. We have Carly with time missing, but she could have been trailing Sonny and Brenda. Same with Jax."
"We might have a problem." Said the lab tech as she entered the office. "We have DNA that is close to the victim at the scene. Either a daughter or a sister. There were also samples from Corinthos, Jacks, Matthews, Mrs. Corinthos, both the ex and current. Mrs. Jacks left a sample as well. The only one who came back clean was this Alan Quartermaine Jr."
"Great, so we have to talk to half the town. Taggert you take Jacks, I will deal with Corinthos myself." Said Mac as he left the station. Once at the Towers he went to see if Justus had arrived, before going up the elevator with the man's attorney. His instincts said that for once Corinthos wasn't involved.
Sonny heard Johnny knocking and went to get the door while Brenda kept trying to call Jax, so that she could let the man know she would soon be free. He knew that it was a useless endeavor but that if he tried to interfere she would fight for Candy boy even more.
"Sonny, Mac called and needs to talk to Brenda and you." Said Justus as the two men entered the penthouse.
After twenty minutes of posturing, they finally got what they thought was the truth. "Thank you, I will try to rein in Taggert, do you have any idea why your sister and ex-wife were at the hotel yesterday?"
"Courtney called and left a message last night, she broke up with Zander and was staying there for a few days, as for Carly, I would assume she is seeing someone who was staying there."
"Do me a favor, don't leave town, otherwise, Taggert will be convinced you are guilty."
"For how long?" Asked Brenda, as she saw her quickie divorce going bye-bye.
"Until we have our murderer." He said leaving. Stopping over to see this Ric Lansing, he pulled out four photos of blonds, only for the man to pick out an unexpected picture and say "that was the one."
Calling Taggert he said "Get me AJ Quartermaine, tell him I have more questions for him."
Chapter 22
Doyle: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Emily was finished looking through the portfolio grateful for the laughter that it provided. Having Elizabeth here was the best medicine for her pain. "So just what is going on with Carly?"
"Nothing, she had an epiphany and is now acting nice." She said trying to make sure she didn't know she was lying. "So just what is going on with you?"
"Nothing, I swear." Emily could see that Elizabeth was skeptical so she looked for something to distract her friend with when she saw the ring, her heart stopping as a smile spread across her face she asked "Is there anything you want to tell me about you and Jason?"
"Not yet." She said with a shy smile.
"Then you might want to take that rather pretty piece of jewelry off." Said Emily laughing as she held her best friend's hand as she face turned red. "So does this mean what I think it means?"
"Yup, I trapped Jason into marriage, we are having triplets in two weeks and I demanded a wedding ring." She said as the two fell over laughing. The blond standing outside the door chuckled then decided to have some fun.
"Triplets, just imagine grandfather's face if that was true. Forget that; imagine your grandmother's." Said Emily as she slid to the floor laughing. "You have to draw me a picture of that."
"Did I tell you about Jason and my idea of a coffee shop?" Elizabeth said as she sat down next to her friend. "Justus said Jason looked like someone had told him that he had to dance the lead in Riverdance."
"Stop, I beg you, just stop." Said Emily as she held her stomach at the mental image. "Oh my god, I missed you. You have no idea how much."
"Then come home, get help for your medical problem and stop hiding." Elizabeth said as she stopped laughing. "Emily, I know, I know what is going on, and you need to stop ignoring it."
Jason had been about to enter but he froze at the words coming out of his fiancees mouth, what medical problem and why was Emily ignoring it.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Emily said looking down.
"Emily I called the insurance company, pretending to work for ELQ. I know. Please let me help you." She begged as she turned on her knees and faced her friend who was burying her head.
"You had no right." Emily raged. "This is my life, my problem, no one but mine."
"What about those it affects, what about your parents, Jason and AJ, what about Lila? What about me, am I supposed to find out that you have breast cancer when it is too late to help you? Or Nik or Lucky? Damn it, Emily, you are not going to deal with this alone. If I have to I will call Sonny or even Luke Spencer and have them kidnap you to get you to deal with this."
"Nik doesn't care; he is planning a perfect life with Gia." She said ignoring the remarks about her family.
"Yes, he does so does Lucky and all the other people in your life. So please, please let us help you. I refuse to let you wallow and for your fears to kill you. Don't you get that is what the problem is, you are afraid you are going to die like your mother. Please Emily, I know you can beat this, I know that you will live, if you only try."
Jason stiffened as he realized that Carly had known about this, that this was the reason Elizabeth had become a nurse, she was not going to let his sister go. Drying the tears running down his face, he went to make a few calls, Emily didn't know it but she was going home.
Returning a short while later, Jason stood outside the door and listened as Elizabeth told Emily she wouldn't lie to Jason about the cancer that it wasn't good to have lies in a relationship. She did say she would allow the younger girl a chance to tell him for herself that she would only say that Emily needed his help.
Knocking he stuck his head in saying "May I come in?" Only for his sister to turn and look at Elizabeth. When Emily saw the surprise on Elizabeth's face, she threw herself into her brother's arms. "Jase, I'm so glad you are here. Congratulations on getting engaged."
"So how do you feel about breaking out of here for a day or so, there is someplace I want to take Elizabeth and you." He said as he released his sister to hug the brunette who owned his heart.
"I have to make arrangements with my doctors..." she trailed off seeing the papers in Jason's hand. "Unless my big brother already took care of it." She said laughing.
"Jason?" He could hear the question in Elizabeth's voice, then he said "Trust me."
AJ stated that he had been in Courtney's room all night, not telling Mac that Carly had been in there with him, they had made a deal. If for any reason it came out they would say that he had helped her get the stupid dog to the room then left him with it when Rosie had started barking.
He had been surprised to find out that Courtney had claimed they had been having sex all night and that she had heard nothing. He had no intention of sleeping with her ever again, and hadn't the night before.
Mac was certain AJ was lying about something but he had no idea what it was. Letting the man go he told him not to leave town, then went to see what the coroner had for him.
"Okay, we have proof that he had sex with two different women that night, one being Mrs. Jacks. The other one the sample matches a cold case in North Caroline. Older man younger wife, hubby ends up dead, wife disappears with fortune and boy toy. They are sending the case file."
"Was it a murder case?" Asked Mac.
"No, in fact they aren't even certain it was a criminal case. Hubby had a heart attack the only person claiming it was murder was his first wife, who was bitter about the divorce and his abandoning their kids. We also have evidence of a physical altercation. The blood on the hand matches the sample provided by Sonny Corinthos. Jasper Jacks left behind a sample as well."
"What was the cause of death?"
"Strangely enough, it was a drug overdose, but the drug used isn't proscribed locally. Only in South and Central America."
"Thanks, I need you to finalize the report, I have to talk to someone."
Jax heard the knocking on the door as soon as he arrived home from talking to Brenda. She said saw was leaving Sonny, but he had his doubts. Opening the door, he saw Mac standing there. "What may I do for you?"
"You can tell me whom you were protecting by tossing Luis Alcazar off his balcony. We know he was dead already, so you will only be facing charges for wrongful disposal of a body, lie to me and it will be impeding a police investigation. So make this easy so you don't have to disturb Alexis, whom were you protecting?"
"Come in, and sit down." He said as he eased onto the chair. "I showed up there to confront Luis with the fact that he had faked Brenda's entire illness, she isn't dying."
"I know, she told me." Said Mac.
"When I arrived; Skye was passed out, half-naked. I knew that her self-destruction was my fault, but I knew that faking being happy with being married to her would have been worse than cutting ties now. So since I was responsible, I tried to get her out of there, she slapped me and refused to leave, before passing out."
"Why didn't you take her with you?" He asked.
"Brenda showed up, I wanted to protect Skye from charges so I got rid of Brenda, I had hoped to get back to the room to get her but I had a confrontation with Corinthos outside of Brenda's room a few minutes after we arrived."
Mac made a note, realizing that Brenda and Sonny were lying about being each other's alibis. "When I tried to get back, hotel security was already in the room with Skye, so I left and went to find Justus."
"That is why he arrived at the station as soon as I arranged for AJ and Skye to be brought down."
"AJ?" Asked Jax.
"He isn't a suspect, seems like he got back together with Courtney last night. Thank you for telling me the truth. Come down to the station on Friday and I will arrange for the ADA to charge you. There will be a fine and more than likely community service. Jax, I have no idea why you didn't call the police, Skye didn't kill him, and he was already dying by the time she arrived in his suite."
Carly was walking with Monica down to the hotel restaurant, Leticia was tucking a tired Michael into bed, but the adults wanted something more substantial to eat than the hot dogs, peanuts and cotton candy that they had earlier.
Monica had been enjoying her day with her grandson and was shocked to realize that she had come to enjoy the time with Carly. The blond seemed to have matured in the last few months. As they sat down to eat, she laughed as Carly asked the waiter for the largest burger they had with an order of fries and that while she was waiting she wanted some corn dogs.
"Well at least if you fall down and have a heart attack, you can be glad you are eating with a heart surgeon." Said Monica after ordering her salad and steak.
"I just wanted some real food. You know the type you shouldn't be eating. With hanging around with Alexis who is preggers and refuses to eat anything unhealthy because of the baby, and Elizabeth who can eat literally anything and not gain any weight, it means I try to watch what I eat." She admitted.
"I'm glad that you have gotten close to Elizabeth, she is a truly wonderful girl." Said Monica.
"I know, I think I spent so much time hating her for being everything I ever wanted to be, not realizing that what I saw was the surface. There is so much going on underneath the calm facade she has going."
"She is very much a combination of her parents, Jeff is a lot like Elizabeth, calm, rational and yet he had an artistic side, one he thought made him weak, so he buried so deep down and I think part of him resents Elizabeth because of it. Steve Hardy, her grandfather painted it's where she gets it from and where Jeff got his resentment."
"So you know Liz's dad?" She asked.
"I was married to him, years ago. It didn't last; we got married for all the wrong reasons. Jeff and I had finished med school together, he saw it as meaning it was time to settle down, I had just lost this man I had barely knew, and here was this handsome charming and rich man wanting to take care of me. I screwed the relationship up almost as soon as we arrived in Port Charles, then when my lost boyfriend showed up it turned out to be Jeff's older brother."
"The doctor who was killed a few months ago, right."
"Yes, I ruined my marriage to Jeff over an infatuation, destroyed Leslie Webber's marriage, and almost ruined by marriage to Alan over a man, that I thought was perfect, only to realize that it was all in my head. Rick truly loved Leslie and I destroyed their marriage and ruined AJ's relationship with Alan in the process. He changed after that, becoming the man he was when he died."
"Monica, I do understand. Trust me, I have been looking in the mirror the last few months and not liking the person I was before. I regret so much, but I will say something, one thing I don't regret was destroying Jason's relationship with Robin."
"Want to know a secret, a small part of me is glad about that as well. Robin is a wonderful girl, I know that her telling the truth about Michael caused pain, but I'm glad in a way, because it ended Jason's acceptance of her."
Carly was stunned and Monica could see the questions she wanted to ask so she decided to tell her the truth. "Robin sees Jason Quartermaine when she looks at my son, not the man he is now. When they first got together it was clear she was hurting over Stone and Jason was finding his way in the world. However she was trying to change him back into the man he had been before the accident. Aside from his choice of profession and the fact that I will always mourn the loss of Jason Quartermaine and what could have been, the man I have as a son now, is a wonderful compassionate man who has found his place in the world. His relationship with Elizabeth makes me laugh a bit. There are so many connections between our families and so many ways that they could have co-mingled over the years; I love that it is Jason and Liz that will finally be the rope that binds us."
"Why?" Asked Carly getting the feeling that there was more going on there than what Monica was saying.
"Some secrets are made to stay hidden. Let's just say, that I have a very big one, one that needs to be protected. For Elizabeth's sake. Have you ever wondered why Elizabeth's parents have never come to see her in Port Charles after all this time?"
"I know that Jeff is her dad, from the blood type, I mean he is her dad?" Asked a shocked Carly.
"Oh, most definitely Jeff Webber is her father. He is also the reason she is in Port Charles. Now do you want some dessert, I'm feeling the need for something chocolate." Said Monica, she was certain that Carly's curiosity would send her looking for the secret, she was hoping that the blond would.
"Jason is you sure?" Asked Elizabeth when the three of them disembarked from the plane.
"Yes, now lets get checked in, then maybe we can spend some time talking about Carly and what she told you about Emily." He said looking to make sure that the orderly he had hired was putting his sister in the car, not wanting to explain to Emily about Carly.
When they finally returned to the hotel five hours later, Emily went straight to bed so that she could leave the lovebirds alone in the huge suite that Jason had arranged for. She had to laugh, while what he had planned was romantic, it was just like Jason, practical but with a twist.
Taking her pills, she climbed into bed, knowing that the twosome where not going to let her return to the clinic, but she had no intention of living at the Mansion, she would end up being locked up in the insane asylum long before the cancer killed her.
Picking up her phone, she started to dial Zander, she had gotten the whole truth about what he had been up to from Elizabeth, but she truly needed to talk to him to get closure. She would always care for Zander but she had to face her future, and it was going to be short so that meant living for her, not her family. Doing all the things she had ever wanted to do. Like walking up to Nicolas Cassidine and kissing him senseless, not that she was expecting a proposal, but she really liked the idea of leaving the man speechless.
Then she was going to figure out what was going on with Carly and Elizabeth; the petite brunette had been deliberately avoiding the subject. She also had one more thing she wanted to do, while she was happy that Elizabeth had become a nurse, she knew that art meant a lot to her friend. She was going to see about publishing the caricatures that her friend had sent to her of various people and places in Port Charles, they were fabulous and Elizabeth had no idea how much they had helped her over the last few months.
Brenda opened the door and saw the pregnant woman standing there, "May I help you?"
"I need to speak to Sonny Corinthos, it's important." Sam had waited until she had seen the guard leaving, then walked up to the office door.
"He is in the warehouse; do you need a chair?" She asked not sure what the woman wanted but getting a bad feeling.
"Yes, please, I am feeling a little under the weather."
"How far are you along?" She asked.
"Six months, that is why I need to speak to Sonny, I need his help with something."
"Brenda, are you in here?" Asked Jax entering the office. "Why are we meeting at Sonny's?"
"Excuse us, miss. Marco!" She called. "Would you please stay with this young woman?"
Jax got a glimpse and thought that the woman looked familiar but didn't recognize her. Brenda told Jax her secret and seeing his eyes widen, she said "Do you understand why I have to do this?"
"There is no way they would charge you." He said/
"Scott Baldwin is sniffing around; I have to do this. Will you wait for me?" She asked whispering as she checked for someone watching before kissing him.
"Forever, as long as I know we have a future together."