Chapter Thirty One
Alexis hung up the phone, stretched her pregnant body as she dealt emotionally with all Nik had just told her. She wished she felt guilty about her late daughter, wished it mattered to her but she had read the file, had gleamed all it had in it about Sam's misdeeds and her choices.
When her nephew had given her the news, she had been shocked, she had always thought she had given birth to a boy but like Nik had said, if that had been true, Helena would have killed a son.
Hearing the sound of Kristina moving around in her room, Alexis turned looked at the decorated Christmas tree with the large assortment of gaily wrapped packages underneath and went to get her little girl, this, this was all that mattered. Her daughter and the newest child she had on the way, that was her future, she refused to live in the past.
Opening presents was a rather interesting experience though, as when she unwrapped the gifts that Nik had sent for her personally there was nothing in there but coal.
Then the same with the gifts from Ned and Jax. Finding a note in an envelope in the last package, she read what it said then looked around concerned. Finally, after really thinking about it for a while, decided to let it go, because she really, really didn't want to go to jail.
When Ned called, she gave him the news and her ex-fiancee frowned, he had heard about the coal and the letters replacing presents for various people around town including his grandfather, and knew that there was more to the story but let it go. He had gotten Alexis a selection of old movies, a new popcorn bowl and a microwave, hopefully whoever ended up receiving it was happy with his choice.
Scott who had opened his gifts, only to find coal was about to call the police when he saw the note. Reading it, he thought about the second chance he had been given and sat down to make a decision.
After a call to Laura, then his daughter, he looked around then gave up on getting his real gifts back as he decided to honor that long ago promise to Dominique and went to see Serena who was at his parents house.
Listening to Gail talking to his father after a phone call, Scott grimaced as he overheard her telling him that Santa had paid a visit to the elderly Mrs. Hardy and that she had gotten the same coal instead of gifts treatment he had.
At the Morgan residence it was barely eight o'clock when Cam woke his father up by fussing in his room. Jason looked over at a still sleeping Elizabeth and went to change his diaper then carried him back to their bed. Soon Cam was asleep, the steady sound of his father's heartbeat easing back to slumber as his father watched his family sleeping, enjoying that he had finally gotten his dream.
At General Hospital, the nurses were gathered at the hub, showing off the pens they had received as a gift from Santa Claus. Fancy very expensive pens with their names on them had been found in their lockers when they had begun their shifts.
When Alan arrived for the morning shift he had agreed to work, he saw them showing the pens off to Emily who had worked an overnight shift. "Em, go home. I will stay for the rest of the shift."
"Thanks dad." she said yawning as she walked to the locker room with the head nurse who was also heading out for the day. Showering and changing she was reaching into her locker for her clothes when she felt a foil wrapped box.
Pulling it out, she sat down on the bench and unwrapped the beautiful but small box. "What on earth?"
Taking out the key chain and with an absentminded Merry Christmas to Epiphany she followed the directions to the car garage and saw the man standing there wearing a suit. "Ms. Quartermaine?"
Nodding, she felt her eyes almost popping out when he uncovered her late biological mother's favorite car from when she was a little girl. "How on earth?"
"Ms. Quartermaine, were you saying something?" asked the man who handed her the remaining package then wished her a happy holidays as he went to a waiting car then drove off, leaving a stunned intern to stare at her present.
Sinking down onto the running board of the 1927 Bentley Vanden Sports Tourer, she couldn't help wondering who had known about the trips she would go on with Paige to car shows and how they had both loved this beautiful car.
Hearing the paper in her hands crinkle, she opened them up and read about the trip to London and how they would personalize a new Bentley that was waiting for her own touches before shipping it to the states for her.
Dear Emily, I have watched over you this year, this is a present in appreciation for the joy and beauty you had brought to this world. Santa Claus.
In shock, she was about to get behind the wheel of the beautiful car when the weather occurred to her as regretfully she made a call to arrange to have the car picked up and taken to the mansion.
Driving her regular car home, she was soon hearing her grandmother's story of her present, of what her parents had gotten and how her grandfather had only gotten coal.
She was silent for a few minutes, then Emily told them about Paige, the car shows and what she had received. "Clearly someone wanted you to have a wonderful reminder of Paige."
"Still, who on earth was Santa Claus this year?" she asked while opening her remaining gifts then heading up to get some sleep.
At Jax's penthouse, Nadine woke up in the guest room while Lady Jane entered the front door, carrying a shopping bag of gifts and listened to her son telling her about how Brenda had not seen the light but how he was done trying to get her to face the truth.
"She can figure it out on her own." he said then with a smile that lit up his face told her how Nadine had spent the night. Seeing her knowing grin, he said "In the guest room."
"I am finding I really like how this young woman is keeping you on your toes." his mother said while giving him a hug. "Your brother sends his regrets and his wishes for you to have a happy holiday."
When Nadine had joined them, as they ate breakfast, they talked about the gifts the hospital had received, the ones that had been given to the various community groups and since Ned had already called Jax, they had discussed the various citizens who had been gifted with coal.
Slowly opening presents, Nadine was happy when Jax received hers and had after opening it, pulled her out onto the terrace in spite of the cold to kiss her and tell her thank you.
Returning inside, they saw the few gifts remaining both labeled from Santa Claus and wondered what they had done to be on the favored list. "You go first."
"No you go first." said Nadine with an impish grin. "After all, it is more likely you know who this person really is."
As Jax denied knowing who the person was, he opened the box and showed Nadine and Lady Jane the Louis Vuitton watch and the letter with it. As he read how it was custom made, and how a trip to Switzerland was in order to have it altered to him, he quickly asked Nadine to go with him.
"I wouldn't miss this for anything." she said astounded at the beauty of the watch, even if she didn't get why it had an insurance value of a quarter of a million dollars, after all a watch was a watch.
Opening the large box first, she laughed at all the small wrist animals even as she announced that this was great. "The kids on the peds ward will love these."
The second box was covered in delicate white foil paper with silver snowflakes on it and gold ribbon. The box alone was almost too beautiful she thought as she slowly unwrapped her gift. Gasping when she saw the gift inside, she looked at Jax then at the vase and said "Its gorgeous."
Seeing the rare purple Serves vases, Lady Jane gasped. "Oh my dear, those are antiques, I saw them at a dealers in New York last time I was here."
Flushing a bit, because for the nurse it was their purple color that was pulling her in, she could feel her jaw drop as she read the insurance estimate and what the "Santa Claus" had written inside. "But I am nice because I know no other way to be, I don't do it to get things."
Jax pressed a kiss on her brow then said gently "Nadine, he knows that, that is why he sent you this gift. For you being you."
It was almost nine when Elizabeth woke up. Seeing Jason holding Cam who was fast asleep, she got up and went to shower after giving her husband a Merry Christmas kiss that if Cam hadn't been there would have lead to much, much more.
In the shower, rubbing her stomach with her bath soap, she felt a fluttering and said with a smile "I get it, you want to unwrap presents as much as I do."
When the baby settled down, she dried her hair then went to wake her husband and her son. Getting both started for the day, she was soon eating breakfast that her husband had cooked for them. "Um, I love omelets."
"I know." he said with a smile as he kissed her then fed Cam another bite of oatmeal.
As Lorenzo looked at the teenage boy and the castle behind him, he reread the note he had received then said as gently as possible. "I am your father, Diego."
The teenage boy looked doubtfully at him, then thought about the note his sister, no, no his mother had give him just before she died and said "I promised Maria I would meet you here. Why are we here, this place has been empty for years."
Looking at the bright yellow castle known as the Sol de Oriente estate on the western coast of Mexico, he was stunned as he told his son. "I was given this as a presents."
"What?" asked the shocked boy. "Why would someone give you a castle as a gift?"
"As a way of thanking me for making the right choice to walk away from my family's mistakes." he said stunned as he unlocked the door and then picked up his son's meager suitcase and said "I guess this is what he meant about having a second chance at living my dreams."
In Port Charles, Epiphany was shocked when she followed directions and arrived at a nice house on a nice street. "Why on earth would anyone give me a house two blocks over from the one I already own."
Entering, she once again read what it said and went down the hallway and gasped as she looked around the room she was in. It was her dream kitchen, the one she had created with pictures from home décor magazines over the years.
Looking at the stainless steel appliances, from the fancy over hood to the pastry ovens, to the smoker and the blast freeze and espresso machine and unable to contain herself sat down and burst into tears.
Reading the letter about how she should take a few weeks around the 23rd off so that she could spend it at the CIA and it was more than she could handle. She had once dreamed of being a master chef, of attending the Culinary Arts Institute but had given up that dream when she had had Stan.
Now "Santa Claus" had given her her dream, wondering why on earth she had been singled out, all Epiphany could do was sit there, staring at her dream in living color right in front of her.
Meanwhile at the hospital, Alan was reading about the all expenses paid golf tournament to benefit the hospital clinic that was waiting to be opened down near the docks.
There was an impressive list of names of pro players who had agreed to play in it, that alone was shocking but the part that still was getting to him was how this had been part of the wonderful gifts given to them from their mysterious Santa Claus.
"Uh, sir." Looking up to see Kelly Lee standing in the doorway, he invited her in. "Sir, I got this this morning."
Reading the note, with a chuckle he said "Oh course you are going. When is the event."
"That is the problem sir. It is right about the time Elizabeth was to give birth." she said.
"Is there some issue with my daughter in law that worries you?" he asked. Upon being told no, that Elizabeth was in great health, he said "Go, find out who Santa considers your perfect mate."
Across town Taggert was reading about the same trip to Portugal, the dinner with various bottles of port wine as well as a tour of the vineyards and bottles that were being given to each person who went on it.
At first deciding he couldn't accept the gift, he was soon changing his mind after hearing two uniformed officers talking about Kelly Lee getting the same trip. He had always found the lovely doctor interesting but hadn't had the chance to spend much time getting to know the woman.
Elizabeth and Jason were opening Cam's gifts first, wanting to watch him and the joy he found in the paper and ribbons even if the actual gifts were not of real interest to the infant.
Once Cam was settled, Jason handed Elizabeth the box with her bracelet. After drying her tears, he handed her one more gift, this one from a husband to his wife. "Jason..."
"You already know about the art supplies, but I wanted to get you something that spoke to me." he said as she looked at the old travel guide from the 1850's in Italy. "I was hoping that you would enjoy reading this before we went to Italy next summer."
"Jason, its incredible." she said as she looked through the book. Then she said "Wait, Italy, next summer?"
"After you give birth, I was thinking we could take a trip." he said as he kissed her. "You this year, you have given me an incredible gift. A family, of our own."
They were quiet as they held one another, enjoying the joy they had found together. Hearing the doorbell, Elizabeth reached out for Cam who had begun to fuss while Jason let in Sarah and Steven.
After greetings and the passing around of presents, Steven said "I will just get this out of the way. I stopped over to see grandmother. She was still refusing to see she was wrong. Said she was leaving town tomorrow."
There were a few minutes of silence then hearing Cam babbling, Elizabeth hugged her son then said "It is her choice."
"Exactly, now tell Elizabeth." Sarah said looking at Steven with a disbelieving expression. When he just flushed, she said "Come on."
"Santa Claus sent me a gift." he muttered then showed them the box he had brought along on Sarah's insistence. Elizabeth handed Cam to Jason and plucked it out of her brother's hands and sat down the box and quickly opened it.
Reading the accompanying notes, she said "Ooh, a stay at the castle and a visit with the Duke of Argyll. And why give you a gift of Scotch, do you even drink it?"
Flushing he said "I do like it. I just didn't think it was so well known."
"The nurses all got pens from this Santa Claus." said Sarah as she looked at them and said "Do you know who this Santa Claus is?"
"Not a clue." Lied Elizabeth. Unwrapping the gifts they had gotten for Cam, she then told them about the Busy Baby Stand up toy that Emily had gotten for Cam. "Thank you for obeying my request."
"How could we not?" teased Steven. "After all remember, I was raised with you. I know that you didn't need any encouragement to be noisy and I figured Cam is taking after his mommy."
Jason watched Elizabeth with her brother and sister and found himself wondering how on earth Audrey Hardy could possibly walk away from the joy they found merely in being around one another.
"Jason?" Elizabeth saw his distant expression and walked over to where he was standing. "What is it?"
"I was just wondering about Audrey and then there is my family." he said as he held her close.
"We worked hard to get where we are, both you and I and well Sarah, Steven and I." she said. "I want Cam to have family around, to know that he is loved."
"He will, he is." he said as he thought about the Quartermaines and how he was slowly regaining his family.
Diane Miller was not a happy woman, well she was happy but at the same time she was not happy about what her client had written to her. Anthony Zachara had left the country but he had been rather candid in his last letter to her. In it, he had told her of his plan to pair her up with the police commissioner. She wasn't sure how she felt about his plans even if she HAD been interested in the man, the simple fact was they were often on the other side of most of her cases and she wasn't interested in bringing work home with her.
And being involved with Mac Scorpio would mean work would come home, instead of staying at the office.
Going to her spare bedroom where he had left his last "little" gift. An absolutely wonderful tailored wardrobe from her favorite fashion designer. From dresses, to suits, to casual clothes. From accessories to shoes and purses. The only thing missing was lingerie but there was a letter informing her that she had an appointment with Agent Provactour and a full wardrobe waiting for her.
Shaking her head as she went to her phone and made a few calls to the airlines. Finding a flight, even if it was coach class, she would get to spent part of her holidays in the tropics.
Then looking at the letter, she thought about Anthony's request and decided she would spend her ten days away, making a pros and cons list. Who knows, maybe just maybe Anthony was onto something about her love life.
At the Brownstone, Courtney was banging on the door from the cellar, not happy to realize that no one had heard her trying to get help. She had not been expecting to run into Carly when she had arrived, but the other blond had been at the back door when she knocked.
Carly was debating what to do with Courtney and wondering how the hell she had gotten back to the states as she waited for her sons to come downstairs. Hearing footsteps, she was furious at being ignored as Leslie Webber entered the room and walked right past her to the phone.
Blatantly eavesdropping as the woman called her daughter, Carly scowled as they exchanged happy greetings and discussed what they had gotten and had been given as presents.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs again, she saw her mother with Morgan and snapped "Where is Michael, I want to see Michael."
"Oh course you do." Bobbie said disapprovingly while the dark haired child in her arms shrank back against her. "Well why don't you get the tray on the counter in the kitchen and meet us in the family room. Michael and AJ will be right down along with Lucas. And Carly not a word, or the person who will be leaving is you."
Holding her tongue, Carly did as ordered then plopped the tray down on the coffee table and started towards the presents, wondering what her mother had gotten for her from the boys as well as what Sonny must have surely sent over for her.
After all she knew he usually did his shopping early, just in case. Imagining a nice expensive ring set, or maybe even a new car, she was pouting when after everyone was gathered, Bobbie slowly handed out the presents.
Bobbie watched, waiting as the children opened their gifts, frowning a bit when she didn't see anything tagged from Carly for Morgan. Instead she saw the blond glowering more and more as the kids opened their gifts.
Hearing Morgan's excitement, she watched as he opened a package that contained all his favorite types of race cars. Moving over to Carly while the little boy was distracted, she asked "Carly what did you get for him?"
"OH, I must have forgotten it." she said while mentally making a note to pick up the boys something in the morning after the sales started, she had had very little funds and she had gone through what she had of her own cash. The money she had appropriated from Courtney was for her war chest, to win back the man who belonged to her.
While Morgan was having Lucas help him set up the fancy track, Bobbie laughed then suggested they use one of the empty rooms upstairs where there wasn't as much foot traffic.
"Morgan, right after dinner, I promise." said Lucas as he showed him the book he had gotten for Christmas and suggested that while the adults opened their presents, they go upstairs to read.
Michael stayed, watching as his little brother went up with Lucas, truly wanting to ask his mom why she hadn't gotten them anything. Being given a gift from his grandmother, he heard what she was saying and said "But I don't believe in Santa Claus."
"Michael, neither did I, until last week." said Bobbie as she told him about the gifts others had gotten from the mysterious man playing Santa. "And if he sent you a present, that must mean you did something wonderful this year."
"Like what?" he asked frowning.
"I would open the gift and find out." said Leslie. "From what I heard from Monica, there are usually notes inside."
Michael slowly unwrapped the flat box, looking at his father who was watching, curious as to what he had gotten and then at his mother who had moved to his end of the sofa.
"Michael, what did you get?" asked Carly excitedly when she saw the box, she knew that label, it was from a very expensive travel agency in the city. She was already thinking about how she could go with him when he shouted "dad, dad, you have got to read this. Remember, how I told you what Lorenzo said about Polo?"
"Yes." was all AJ got to say as Michael continued.
"Its two trips, the first one to that famous polo pony farm in Argentina, when you get a horse and equipment specifically picked out for you and a lesson from the greatest polo player in the world, then this summer a trip to England where they are having the International championships, this year. That is so cool. Can we, can we go?"
"Michael, I don't think that is such a good idea." Carly said with a deep frown on her face. "What do you know about polo? And honestly I can't see myself spending that much time in Argentina while you play around on something you will forget about in two months. Then what will you do with that stuff? You would be much better off letting me trade that in for a trip to Disney World for you and your brother."
"Mom." There was a moments silence then he continued "The present doesn't have your name on the tickets, it has AJ's. So you won't have to spend time doing that."
Carly started to open her mouth but Bobbie started to hand out presents again while Michael excitedly whispered in AJ's ear that he had to call Lorenzo and tell him about it.
Giving him permission, but reminding him that Lorenzo was more than likely spending the time with his own son, AJ watched as he went up to his room to make the call.
Glancing over at Carly, he saw her frowning when Leslie and her mother ended up with piles next to them, then saw her look at his modest pile then at him. He ignored her comments, not telling her that the boys and he had gone over to the Quartermaine house the night before.
"Uh, Carly, here." said Bobbie handing her the gifts from the boys. When Carly's lips curled at the homemade gifts that Michael had made in art class, then tossed them to the side when she saw the professionally wrapped boxes with her name on them.
Opening the first one, Carly screeched at the black coal inside of them, then the remaining two. "You did this, didn't you?" she said turning on AJ who denied knowledge of what had happened.
"Carly, there is a letter." said Bobbie who saw her eyes narrowing as she read the letter then crumple the letter up before tossing it in the fireplace and standing. "Carly what are you doing?"
"I am leaving. This is bullshit, I am not letting you or anyone else run my holidays. I want my diamonds, I know that I got diamonds from Sonny, he always gets me diamonds."
"Uh, Carly, Sonny didn't get you a present, he didn't get the boys anything either." said Bobbie. "Why would you think he did?"
"Because I know Sonny and I know that someone stole what he would have wanted me to have." she said then snarling at AJ that he would pay for what he had done, she stormed out the door, accidentally stepping on the clay snowman with Michael's name on its belly that her eldest son had made for her.
Around town, the Morgan were leaving the Quartermaine mansion with plans to spend the rest of the day as a family while across the yard from their sanctuary, the guests were just beginning to arrive at the Scorpio house.
Jason was putting Cam's presents in his room while Elizabeth was gently putting her son who was sleeping down for a rest, while hoping he would sleep just long enough for her to give Jason her own little holiday gift.
At the neighbors, Johnny was nervously waiting for Georgie, after they finished with her family, she had suggested they take a drive. That she had something to show him from his father.
Outside, the snow began to fall, softly covering the ground while those who had received unexpected gifts gave thanks, some of those who received coal began to think twice about how their lives were headed and others, well they were simply to selfish and self absorbed to learn the lesson that Santa Claus was trying to teach them...
TBC