Switching Places 95

Claudia found herself lying in a bed as the nurse spread calamine lotion all over her body while wishing there was a way to kill the kid, again and again. Chicken pox, the little prick had given her a kid's disease. Turning to the nurse, she snapped for her to be warm the lotion next time, before turning onto her side.

Calling her uncle, she asked if he had arranged for young woman to taken care of.

"Claudia, she is untouchable. We can't go after her."

"Why not?" She asked furious at being denied the opportunity to make her brother's girlfriend pay. Johnny had been ignoring her requests for months, and she knew that was because of this slut he was seeing.

"She is under Jason Morgan's protection, as well as being the police commissioner's daughter and is a Cassidine. WE cannot afford to have all of those people as well as the WSB as enemies right now. Your brother picked the perfect girl friend; she is someone no one can touch."

"What is going on with the WSB?" She asked wondering why a spy agency would be looking at them.

"This young woman, I had her investigated. Her father is one of their best agents. And her godfather is head of the agency. We must wait until we take the territory."

"Fine, but I want her hurt as soon as possible." She said before trying to reach the itch in the middle of her back and snapping at the nurse to turn down the heat.

When the doctor entered, Claudia snapped "I thought that drug was supposed to help with this."

"It only works during the first 24 hours of an outbreak; you should have come to us sooner. Nurse, don't turn that heat down. Miss Zachara you are in danger of getting sicker if she does that again. So please let us treat you. You have over five hundred blisters on your body. You are a very sick woman."

"Tell me something I don't know." She snapped at the man.

Once outside, the doctor felt his hands shaking. Claudia Zachara had a fever, infections of her blisters and they were testing for encephalitis. This was one of the worst cases of the shingles he had ever seen where the patient was still breathing on her own.

Hearing a code blue, they rushed back into the room and saw that Claudia was now unconscious and being put on a breathing machine. "Someone call her uncle. We might need his permission to relieve the bleeding on her brain. Then find out why these meds aren't working."

Elizabeth placed Lia in her oatmeal bath with Jason, as she seemed to be relaxing. Seeing her daughter turn to her dad and giggle, she said "It seems to be working."

Jason was amused to realize that his daughter was enjoying the water instead of fighting the soft gloves they had on her hands. "Did my mom say how much longer she would be dealing with this?"

"Another day or so. Her fever is down, she has been drinking normally unlike poor Kitty and I think she is sleeping easier." She sighed as she watched Jason sitting in the water, soothing their little girl.

When Lia and Jason's skin was pruning, Elizabeth took their daughter from her father and went to dry her gently while Jason took a shower to get off the smell of the oatmeal. Seeing Lia falling to sleep, he slipped his arms around Elizabeth's thickening waist and said "How about some sleep for mommy?"

Turning in his arms, Elizabeth could smell the faint whiff of oatmeal in spite of the shower and said "Better yet, Mommy is finding she has an urge for some oatmeal."

Elizabeth backed Jason up into their bedroom and onto the bed glad he was only wearing a towel. Removing it, she was kissing her way down his chest, when she heard the knock at the door. "Maybe they will go away."

Then they heard the sound of someone saying "Is anyone here?"

"Jason, would you please lend me your gun?"

"No, you are not shooting your father." He said before counting to ten. "Why did the guard let him in? That is who I am going to shoot."

Laughing, Elizabeth went downstairs and glared at the very large pink teddy bear in the room. "Dad is you here?"

"I am trying to find a place to prop this thing." He said in a grouchy tone of voice. "He rolled off that pool table when I tried to place him there."

"Here, I will take him." Said Jason coming down the stairs in a hastily donned pair of jeans and t-shirt.

"Elizabeth, how is Lia?"

"Better, she is sleeping right now."

Jeff looked regretful and said "And you were trying to get some sleep as well. I am sorry. I can come back later."

"No, that's' fine. Why are you here?"

"I need your help with Noah Drake."

"Patrick Drake's father?" She asked.

"Yes, I think he has liver disease and when I tried to talk to his son about it, Patrick refused to get his father help for the liver and for the drinking. Also, I went to talk to Alexis but she was busy dealing with some sort of dinner that is being moved to Bobbie's brownstone."

"Oh, so they are still having that." She said surprised. "Georgie must really want to have the truth come out. She has a case of the chicken pox as well as Kitty."

"I know I should tell Alexis first, but I made up my mind. I will be there if there are any questions from Kristina later on, but Mac is her father. I went over there yesterday, intending to tell them I wanted to be part of her life, but I saw them together. He IS her father, in all the ways that matter."

Hugging him, Elizabeth saw Jason slipping out the door from the corner of her eyes. "Do you have time for something to drink?"

"No, I am heading back to New York City. It's where I dumped Drake in a rehab center."

"I will try and talk to Patrick, but dad he is pretty closed mouthed about his family. Did you ask Steven?"

"He got a message while I was there, another encephalitis scare on some Island. Your friend Emily is working at GH to help out while they are short handed. She tried to talk to him, but Patrick still refused, saying Noah has to help himself first. He is right, but I think that Noah wants to die."

"You could be right. I will talk to Patrick, for all the good it will do. Have you heard from Sarah or Uncle Tom lately?"

"Yes, your sister is dating some English doctor with a title. Sir Simkins. I don't know what to do about her; he is almost my age." He said shaking his head. "Tom said to let her be that she seems happy, I just don't get it though."

Jason saw Johnny outside. "Did I demote you?"

"No, I sent your hall guards to get the mail and arrange for a surprise for the two of you."

"What kind of surprise?" He asked suspiciously.

"Sonny, his new wife Olivia and his son Dante are coming in at the airport. Kate is meeting them, but I wanted an excuse to avoid being there."

Well aware that Johnny had come to dislike his former boss, Jason said "What has been going on? Francis said you located the geek."

"In San Francisco. He was high as a kite when our people found him. They are trailing him, but leaving him alone. Boy has an interest in getting in trouble. On one slightly more serious note, Diego is dead. Claudia killed him. He was the one who took out Lansing."

"Well one question answered. Has she made anymore moves?"

"No, which worries me. She is suddenly quiet. Are you coming to the office tomorrow?"

"Yes, but first I have to warn Carly about Sonny."

"She already knows. He called her yesterday. She came to see me this morning, wanting to know about Dante. Other than that, she was fine. Said she hoped that they found some happiness. She acts a little weird around Kate though. I get the feeling she doesn't like her, yet I have never even seen them talking and Kate doesn't get it either."

Not wanting to get into Carly's past life, he said "You know Carly, she gets like this every once in a while."

Johnny saw his sister was back in bed, but that Georgie was still holding her stomach. "How are you feeling?"

"Horrible, I can't believe I threw up in front of you."

Hiding his smile, Johnny held her while she walked back to bed. Hearing the familiar sounding knock on the door, he said "Do you want me to let her in?"

"She will just keep knocking if you don't." She growled as he went to let in Lulu who flirted with the man she now knew was rich. Ignoring her, he said "Georgie is in our bed, so be quiet."

Entering, Lulu sat on the bed, and started talking. "I am so glad I don't have the chicken pox as bad as you do, it must be terrible, for your boyfriend to see you with rashes like that. Do you know that your hair is matted and you smell like oatmeal?"

Georgie let her run on, then after twenty minutes, felt like she had endured her punishment for the week. "Lulu, I am really tired and need something to drink, do you --"

As if on cue, Johnny entered and handed her the ginger ale and toast. "Bobbie said this would settle your stomach. She said it works for pregnant woman too, that Carly used to use it all the time. So if your mom shows up, please make sure she knows you aren't. I don't want to be shot."

Lulu was feeling ignored and headed towards the door but stopped in time to hear Johnny saying "Just think some day instead of the chicken pox are kids will be making you feel this way. "

"Johnny, if you want to have kids, you had better stop talking like that. Because right now, I just want to find a nice safe place to die." Georgie grinned, Johnny was making plans for their future and all she wanted right now was for him to get into bed with her.

Leaning down, he said "You aren't going to die, maybe be sick a little longer, but you aren't that sick. Your parents are going to be here this evening, are you sure you don't want to cancel?"

"No, now that I am no longer contagious we need to take care of this. Alexis deserves to know the truth."

"But not at the expense of your health." He said before moving over to slip into bed with her. Pulling her into his arms, they were soon fast asleep in spite of it being the middle of the day. Lulu just left and went to see if Carly was here.

Seeing her cousin along with AJ and Jax, she asked why the two men were there.

"I am here for this dinner party. Carly asked me to be her date since Jason and Elizabeth can't be here."

AJ added "My sons are here. How are you Lulu?"

"I want out of here, but Aunt Bobbie is worried that I will accidentally scratch my blisters." She said with a sigh. "There is nothing to do, Michael and I ran out of games the second day. There is only that computer game that Carly won't let him play."

Sage and Skye were kicking her uncle's butt at poker. "Hey, I am going broke here. Stop eating all my money." He said as Skye stole another cookie.

At the knock on the door, Lorenzo saw the grim look in Mac's face as he came in with another man. "This is Det. Taggert; you may recall him from when he lived here."

Sitting them down, Taggert said "We found Diego, Claudia Zachara killed him. She had arranged the hit on Ric Lansing and your son carried it out. We had a man inside, but his cover is no longer any good."

"When are you arresting her?"

"We aren't. She caught the chicken pox from your son; she is in a coma at the American Medical facility in Rome. They flew her there yesterday. They are expecting her to die at some point this week. She got bad meds. Ironic in a way, since she was the one importing them into Italy."

"Thank you, for letting me know. Where is my son's body now?"

"I have arranged for it to be shipped here. It has to be disinfected because of the Chicken pox." Said Taggert.

Walking them to the door, Lorenzo stood outside and cried for the little boy who could have been. Skye walked out and hugged him, saying "I am so sorry, my stupid plan lead to this."

"No, he seemed to be truly trying. Then something happened, something caused him to do this, not you." He said fiercely before hugging his wife.

Johnny saw Mac arriving in time for dinner, but when he drew him off knew that it was not going to be good news.

"Your sister is in a coma; she caught the chicken pox from Diego who she was sleeping with after he killed Ric Lansing for her."

Seeing the reluctant look in the man's face, he asked what else is going on?

"Radio chatter and cell phone chatter. Your sister tried to hire someone to hurt Georgie. Her Uncle Rudy put a stop to it, not wanting anymore trouble, but if your sister comes out of that coma..."

"Don't worry, I will NEVER let anyone in my family harm Georgie." He said. "Alexis is downstairs since we didn't want Kitty to see her. She would want to hug her and just to be on the safe side, we are keeping her entertained upstairs along with Michael and Morgan."

As they joined the women, he saw that Georgie was arguing with Maxie over something. When he got what the argument was about, told his future sister in law. "I agree with you, but you might want to remember that Georgie is stubborn and let it go."

"Hey!" Said the young woman in question. "Enough of that. Maxie, when this is over, you can hug me all you want, okay?"

"Never mind." She said snottily to her sister. "Now what is this big secret are you pregnant?"

"NO!" Said Georgie blushing while looking wildly at her parents. "I promise nothing like that. In fact this is about Alexis' son."

Alexis said softly. "It's Johnny isn't it?"

Seeing them nod, she said "I thought so, at one point, but then decided that you seemed to sure of your place in the Zachara family."

"Yuk! You are dating your brother, Georgie." Said Maxie.

Seeing the look on Mac's face, Georgie sighed and said "WE both went through that stage, but the thing is, he isn't my brother. We were already in love when we found out the truth."

"When did you find it out?" Mac asked the younger man.

"A few years ago. We couldn't tell the truth because it could have endangered Kitty and I told Georgie not that long ago. She is the one who insisted on telling all of you now."

"Did you not want Alexis to find out?" Asked Mac when he saw that Alexis was stunned into silence.

"That wasn't it, I just didn't want things to be weird between us. I like being part of this family, the way I am now." He said holding onto Georgie's hand. "But Georgie convinced me that telling the truth was the best solution. Alexis, how do you feel about it?"

"I-I just can't believe I missed it. I thought about a few times, even was convinced I was right at one point, but then something always made me believe I was wrong." She said with a half smile. "You do know that you resemble Nik a little bit. How did I miss that?"

"Because I don't have his innate politeness and knack for saying the right thing at the right time." He replied. "I can't walk away from the Zachara heritage, if only to protect Kitty. Plus if Anthony ever learns the truth, he will try and kill me."

"Then we don't tell anyone outside of the family. Now we are expecting Jax and Carly soon, are you two going to be okay with them being here?"

"I think that Carly already knows." Said Alexis to Mac.

"Fine. So how are the two of you dealing with the chicken pox?" He asked them.

"Better then when you visited yesterday. Thank you for bringing over my work, but it is already finished. We have played so many games of Candyland and Operation, that I think I can perform surgery right now." Said Georgie.

Hearing laughter as they entered, Jax said "Georgie, how about letting the professionals handle the knifes, but if I ever have a need for a steady hand to cut a ribbon, I give you a call."

Turning to the Aussie she started to scold him, but saw he was laughing. He then handed them invitations. "This is for the opening of the hotel. I have arranged for rooms for all of you. For Maxie, though since she helped Carly, she is going to be staying in a suite with spa treatments."

"That is so cool." Said the blond. "May I bring Zander if he is back in town? He can sleep on the sofa."

Mac was relieved to find out that that relationship wasn't what he had thought. Maxie had been talking to the traveling man on the phone most nights and he had been worried.

"He has his own room." Said Jax. "I also talked to Kate Howard, she is thinking of renting one of the floors for a new magazine she is thinking about starting. Carly has been asked to work with the architect to design the floor plan, maybe if you impress her enough, she will hire you."

"Too late, Maxie has a full time job and is going to finish school." Said Carly.

"When did you become her mother?" Asked Alexis.

"I'm not, just a concerned party. I don't want to lose my assistant; Bobbie is already asking me to hire Lulu. I was thinking about it, but only as a runner."

Maxie thanked Carly politely for her interest but explained that she didn't want to work for Kate anymore. "She turned me down before, so why would I want to work for her now."

Jason went to open the door and saw Sonny standing there with a dark haired woman and a young man in his early twenties. "Sonny, before you come in, did they warn you about Lia being sick?"

"Yes, we are not staying. I just wanted you to meet Olivia. As well as discuss that kid."

Sighing, Jason knew that Sonny would never change. Inviting them in, he called for Elizabeth from where she was drawing upstairs. "Elizabeth, you look lovely." Said Sonny before kissing her on the cheeks.

"Thank you, Sonny. This must be Dante and Olivia." She said as they were introduced. Turning to Dante she thought on the call she just had a little while ago with Alexis and said "You were friends with Johnny Zachara weren't you?"

"Who?"

"I forgot he was using an alias. Your room mate in college."

"Dominic? You know him?"

"His girlfriend is my friend Alexis' daughter. They are under a small quarantine right now, due to chicken pox, but yes. His little sister Kitty lives with him as well."

"Is this the Zachara kid you have working for you?" Sonny asked Jason.

The two of them moved off to go over to the spare penthouse, while Olivia tried to find something to talk to Elizabeth about. While her cousin Kate had no problem talking to girls like this, she had always been tongue tied around rich girls. Hearing a baby fussing through the monitor, she was shocked to be invited up to see the little one.

Once up there, they found something to bond over, since Olivia saw the poor little one wearing the gloves but trying to reach for things. "She is beautiful."

"We think so, but I tend to believe that Jason is biased." She said joking. "If you don't mind a personal question, how are things between Sonny and you?"

"Good, it makes me wish I had come to talk to him long before this."

"Don't." Said the man at the door. Turning to Elizabeth, he said "You can thank this one right here. If it weren't for her, I would still be muddling through my bipolar disorder on my own. Helping her study was what made me realize that there was something wrong with me."

"Sonny, eventually you would have figured it out."

"Maybe but how many innocent people would have lost their lives. Courtney might still be alive if I had been diagnosed earlier and maybe had gotten her to see a doctor as well." He said quietly. "We took Dante to one, he is fine. But I wanted to be sure."

Seeing Olivia holding his hand, Elizabeth smiled then asked "Where is Jason?"

"Showing Dante his bike. He was interested in looking at sport bikes, but I talked him into waiting until after visiting here. We are visiting with Carly and the boys tomorrow. Olivia wants to meet them."

"They are part of the group that is sick." She warned.

"I heard, AJ said Candyboy is helping. I would have thought he would run instead of dealing with sickness."

"Sonny, try to get along with Jax. Brenda is in your past, and from what your strange friend said, he is now dating your ex-wife."

"Strange friend?" Asked Elizabeth confused at Olivia's comment.

"This AJ. He calls once a week to give Sonny updates on Michael. Weird man then tells him all about these absolutely fantastic tales about people. He had me convince that there truly was a prince on an Island with an evil grandmother. Then there was the story about the man who was mayor who had no credentials and was a former made man."

Elizabeth tried not to laugh, but then said "Nik, truly is a prince, he truly does live on an Island in the middle of the harbor and his grandmother was about as deadly as they come. Luke Spencer was mayor here in Port Charles and once worked for Frank Smith. You are from Bensonhurst, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Do you know Lois Cerullo?"

Seeing her nod yes, Elizabeth said "I can give you her phone number, she can assure you that he wasn't joking, but then Sonny can explain how he is getting along with AJ?"

Sonny explained that after the fire, it made no sense to him to be fighting AJ. "We made peace before I left. Then he called one day about Michael. We have just been keeping up to date about our son."

Jason overheard and was glad that they had made peace, too bad that Sonny seemed to be egocentric when it came to a lot of other things. Seeing Elizabeth trying not to yawn, he saw that Olivia saw and suggested they head out. "Where are you staying?"

"My old house since Kate is right next door." Replied Sonny.

Nik and Emily called Michael who was disappointed but agreed to their suggestion. The young doctor walked into her parent's house and said "Nik and I eloped to Delaware."

After the shrieks of why and how, she explained. "We wanted to be married before our son is born. We just didn't want to wait any longer."

"But we sent out the invitations." Said Monica.

"We are still having the reception, but Mom we were tired of this being postponed. Thanksgiving is next week, we were supposed to be married by now."

Rudy gave his okay then stood outside the hospital room as they turned off the machines. Hearing the sound of the beeping slow down and stop, he went to make the call he knew he was going to regret.

"Pentonville Prison Warden's office."

Hearing the request, the warden arranged for it to take place in his office for privacy and for Father Coates to join them. An hour later, the call came and Anthony Zachara played them all well. "Thank you for letting me know. Where will my little girl be buried?"

Hearing the answer, Anthony tried not to scoff at the idea of Claudia being buried in a church crypt. Instead he asked if Johnny had been notified.

"Yes, I called him first. He is going to attend the service." Said Rudy amazed. Maybe Anthony had come to realize what he had lost in sending his daughter away.

"Thank you for calling. May I go back to my cell now?" He said pretending to cry. Once there, he plotted to make sure that his son never returned from Italy. They could bury both of his children there for all he care. No one betrayed Anthony Zachara. NO one at all.