Hey readers! See, I'm getting back into updating! I'm already halfway done with the next chapter. Please, please, review, review, review! Let me know what you think! I love hearing feedback from you guys! By the way, I am sorry with the twists and turns. I tried to make it seamless. ALL REVIEWS WELCOME!
"Can you believe it's already here?" Michael whispered to Kiki as they cuddled on their large plush sofa, watching a film.
Kiki turned her head to kiss the edge of his jaw as she whispered. "No I can't. To think, in just two days I'll be Mrs. Michael Corinthos III."
"Took us long enough." Michael murmured with a smile.
Kiki chuckled. "We've had so much to go through though what with you being shot and then your cousin coming back from the dead and my mom."
"Speaking of which…" Michael said, pulling her up so that her back rested against his front as he settled into a sitting position.
"What?"
"Well, since Ava's been released since the mysterious disappearance of the evidence, how do you want to go about this?"
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is do you want her at our wedding?" Michael asked, even though the idea of the woman who had framed A.J. for Connie's murder at his wedding burned like acid.
Kiki turned to look at him more fully, her eyebrow raised. "Do you?"
Michael shook his head with a weak smile. "What do you want?"
Kiki sighed and rested her head on Michael's chest. "Michael…I love my mom but I would understand if you'd rather not have my mom there. She framed A.J. for Connie's murder after all."
Michael squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know, but she's your mom. I don't want you to have any regrets."
Kiki nodded, taking Michael's hand in hers. "I won't, not as long as I'm marrying you. I think we should invite her as a precautionary measure, though. If we don't invite her and she finds out, she'll either make a scene at the wedding if she finds out in time or she'll hold it over us for the rest of our lives."
Michael saw the logic behind the reasoning. "Alright, I'll make sure to explain to my family."
"Do you mind if I do it with you?"
Michael smiled and kissed the back of her hand. "I would love nothing more."
The next day, Michael and Kiki's first stop was to visit Ava at her penthouse. Julian had moved in with Alexis at the house that he had purchased for her to make up for getting her last blown up.
"Michael, Kiki, what a surprise. Come in, come in." Ava said with a flourish of her hand and a grin. "What brings you by?"
"Well, we have some news." Kiki began. "Michael and I are getting married."
"Well, I already knew that." Ava said with a chuckle.
"Tomorrow." Kiki added.
Ava's eyes popped open wide. "Tomorrow? And why wasn't I informed of this sooner? Were you trying to keep me out of this? I mean I know I have animosity with your family Michael but I thought we could get through…"
"Stop." Michael said, shaking his head. "We weren't trying to keep you out of this. The animosity is well understood and deserved, which I'm sure we can all agree on. You're Kiki's mother and it wouldn't feel right to exclude you." Michael informed her. "We would have sooner but we got so caught up in the details and then all the hoopla going on that we never got around to mentioning it."
"How does something like that slip your mind?" Ava asked Kiki. "I should have been the first person you told."
"Well when Michael first proposed we all thought you were still dead, so…"
Ava shook her head and chuckled in spite of herself. "That's not what I meant, but I'm happy that you've told me. Am I allowed to help you prepare tomorrow? Have you chosen a maid of honor? Bridesmaids?"
"Of course," Kiki said, settling down onto the couch, pulling Michael with her, who put an arm around her shoulders.
"Well?"
"Well, my bridesmaids are a few of my friends from the city."
"And your maid of honor?" Ava asked. Based on the uncomfortable look that Kiki had, she knew she wasn't going to like the answer.
"Carly. Carly is my maid of honor. She's helped me so much these last few months and we've grown close."
Ava maintained her composure even though it killed her that Carly, her mortal enemy, was going to be her daughter's maid of honor. Michael was having trouble stifling his chuckles. Seemed like poetic justice to him.
"Mom, please don't be mad or upset, Carly's proven a very good friend to me, and I'm honored to be joining her family as her daughter-in-law. If you can't accept that, then don't bother coming to the wedding."
Michael looked at her, shocked. What happened to her words yesterday? Ava had tears coming to her eyes.
"No, Kiki, no, please. I understand. I wasn't there for you and she was. I'm grateful that you had someone to be there for you when I couldn't. Don't worry about me, I simply want to celebrate with you."
Kiki took a deep breath and nodded. "The ceremony is at the church at 3. Reception is following after at the Metro Court ballroom."
Ava had to stifle her scoff. Of course they would be having it there. Carly would be pulling out all the stops for Michael's wedding.
"We have to get going, though. I'll call you later." Kiki promised.
Ava watched with barely concealed agony as Kiki left with Michael. She knew that she had no one but herself to blame for her own misery. She had lied to Kiki about her father, she had killed Connie and been involved in the mob, she had let her daughter mourn her. She deserved everything she was feeling. It could have been much, much worse.
Meanwhile, Sonny was just finishing showing Carly and Jason the footage that he had captured. Carly was absolutely livid and was already plotting revenge against the 'saintly' nurse. Jason was in shock, and he ran his hands through his hair vigorously, his eyes pained.
"Elizabeth knew who I was." He was the first to say anything. Carly put an arm around his shoulders and leaned her head onto his closest shoulder.
"We'll get her back for this." Carly promised.
Jason shook his head. "We can't sink to her level. Her sons don't deserve the humility. I don't want Jake to have to deal with this."
"But he will have to eventually."
Jason nodded. "I can't believe I was such a fool."
"You didn't know." Carly consoled him. "She had us all fooled. She's always been especially talented at playing victim and damsel in distress."
"She's done this in the past, manipulated me. I should have seen it now. Honestly, I don't think I was ever truly in love with her. I think most of it was lingering feelings from when I was Jake."
Carly shook her head. "She got into your head. Because you had no memory of your past with her, she was able to make you fall for her all over again, without knowing the consequences and how much of a mistake it would be to be with her."
"We're engaged, Carly. Yet, I haven't been able to bring myself to sign the divorce papers or send them to Sam. Sam. Sam's being fooled, too. I swear I'm going to kill him."
"Dr. Tate?"
"Yes," Jason said through clenched teeth and then shook his head. "No, killing him would be too easy. I have to find a way to make him hurt but in a way that won't come back to bite me in the ass."
"He's in love with Sam." Sonny murmured.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Jason asked. "I'm pretty sure she's fallen for him, too."
"You still love her, don't you?" Carly asked, her eyes sad for her friend.
Jason nodded. "I've always loved her. I think part of me staying with Elizabeth was because I didn't want to be that guy."
Sonny chuckled. "Like Patrick did? But, then again he made the right decision by going back to Robin."
Carly nodded.
"Exactly like that. I didn't want to break Elizabeth's heart, but in the process I broke Sam's."
"You thought she would stay with Patrick. Be happy with him." Sonny reminded him.
"I did," Jason nodded. "If Sam would have told me her decision before I had told Elizabeth of mine, it might have changed things."
"You don't know that. Elizabeth still had her claws in you. You didn't have any reason for wanting to end the relationship."
"I should have never been in that relationship again." Jason said exasperated. "You know what, no, Sonny do you have copies of that footage?"
Sonny nodded, handing him a DVD disk that had compiled it all.
"Thanks." Jason said standing up.
"Where are you going?" Carly asked, getting up, too.
"I'm going to confront my soon-to-be ex-fiancée." Jason said storming out of Sonny's living room and onto his motorcycle.
Despite his anger, he managed to keep within the speed limit as he sped across the rain slick streets to Elizabeth's house.
"Jason?" Elizabeth called when he slammed the door behind him.
"Yeah, it's me. We need to talk." Jason growled, his blue eyes ice cold.
Elizabeth was immediately concerned. "What's wrong? What's happened?"
"What's wrong?" Jason chuckled darkly. "Let's see, my fiancée has been lying to me for months and I broke a good woman's heart because of it."
Elizabeth slowly began to panic. He couldn't possibly know could he? Did Ric remember something?
"Whatever Ric's told you…"
"Ric didn't tell me anything." Jason spat. "You did."
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "When did I?"
Jason held up the disc and walked over to the DVD player. He pressed play and clear as day you could see Elizabeth talking to the good Dr. Tate about how they had been conspiring for months.
"Where did you…" Elizabeth asked, as she sat down on the couch, her complexion ashen.
"Where I got this is none of your concern. What is your concern is that we're done."
"No, no, please Jason. I love you. We can work through this. I'm sorry that I lied to you. I'm sorry that I worked with Gideon to get Sam out of the picture. I'm so, so sorry. I knew this was the only way that you and I could ever be together."
"Through lies? If you have to lie to me to be with me, it isn't love Elizabeth. I know that I don't love you as much as I thought I did."
"What do you mean by that?" Elizabeth asked, taking on an indignant tone. "That you love Sam more than me?"
"I do," Jason whispered. "You want to know why I chose you?"
When Elizabeth didn't respond, he continued. "I chose you because I didn't remember you. I didn't remember how you had manipulated me in the past. I didn't know that you were lying to me. I didn't want to give up on our relationship to be with Sam because I knew it would break your heart, but by doing that I broke hers. I can never be sorry enough for how much I hurt her."
"Bullshit." Elizabeth said, striding towards him and crushed her lips to his. He pushed her back forcefully and he was even more furious.
"What are you doing?" He asked, his voice razor toned.
"Trying to show you that you do love me."
"I did love you, Elizabeth. But that's over now. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go grab my stuff. I'll be out of your hair soon enough."
As Jason made to move, Elizabeth grabbed his sleeve. "I don't want you to leave, Jason. I know what I did was wrong. I love you, please, don't leave me again."
"You did this to yourself." Jason muttered as he launched himself up the stairs, and started throwing all of his belongings into a duffel bag. He didn't have many things. Some clothes, a computer, and a few photos of his kids and friends. When he saw the photo of him and Elizabeth he removed it and tore it to shreds, letting them fall into the garbage.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spied her phone which was charging on the night stand. He quickly disabled it for the next couple hours preventing her from giving any forewarning to Gideon.
He threw the bag onto his back and strode down the stairs to find Elizabeth crying on the sofa.
"Goodbye, Elizabeth." He murmured as he shut the door, not bothering to look at her reaction. He secured the bag to the motorcycle and sped over to the penthouse he had shared with Sam.
One of the tenants recognized him and let him in as they were leaving. Jason found the penthouse easily and knocked on the door.
The door opened to a confused looking Sam.
"Jason, what are you…?" Jason pulled her forward by her waist and kissed her passionately. Almost by instinct, her hands wound into his hair as she pulled him closer.
Then she pulled away. "What the hell Jason?"
"Can I come in, we need to talk."
"I'd say so." Sam said giving him entrance. He sat down on the couch and eyed Sam who sat next to him.
"Are we alone?"
Sam nodded.
"Elizabeth and I broke up. She's been lying to me for months. She knew who I was before I remembered. She was conspiring with someone. They were trying to keep us apart."
"Who?" Sam asked, livid, her brown eyes sparking with fiery.
"Your boyfriend, Gideon Tate."
Sam blinked rapidly and shook her head. "No, he wouldn't do that to me."
"I have proof."
"Where did you get this proof?"
"Sonny. He was following Elizabeth."
"Why was he following her?" Sam asked, her brow furrowing.
"He was suspicious of her. Do you mind if I play this for you?"
Sam nodded and they watched as the conversation between Elizabeth and Gideon was replayed again.
Jason stole glances at her. "What do you think?"
"I think I need to speak with Gideon."
"I want to come with you."
"I don't think you should." Sam started, but then realized that Jason had the right to confront him. "When?"
"Tonight."
"Michael's wedding is tomorrow." Sam reminded him.
"I'll explain all of this to him later. He'll understand. Now, to talk to the not so good doctor."
Jason and Sam discussed a plan of action as they made their way to the hospital where they knew Gideon was working.
Sam wanted to confront him head on, but when they heard him talking to someone, they decided to keep their presence a secret.
GIDEON POV
"Have you made any progress with Lansing?" I asked Donovan, my second-in-command who had aided me in instructing Ric.
"None, I fear that the conditioning may be wearing off."
"Then you need to find a way to recondition him."
"I'll do my best, Gideon. Now, as your best friend, we need to talk. How long are you going to keep of this façade?"
"What façade?"
"The good doctor? Gideon, we both know you're anything but good. We also both know that while you may be developing feelings for Sam, your intentions are anything but honorable."
"Keep it down will you?" He needed to keep his voice down. Patrick's office was close by and while I knew he and his wife were back together, he and Sam were still friends.
"I'm just saying that you only got with her because she's the daughter of your grandmother's husband's bastard child. Plus, you wanted to get revenge on Patrick. Also, I'm willing to bet that you don't feel anything for her. It's just a game to you."
"I swear to god, Donovan, if you don't keep your damn voice down I'm going to find a way to shut it for you." I threatened. He glared right back.
"Are you threatening me James?"
"It's Tate." I hissed.
"You may be a Tate on your mom's side, but you were born a James, the son of the great Alistair James."
"I know you admire my father, but I don't, so let's keep the praise to a minimum, capiche?"
"Oh and you can spout on and on about your beloved grandmother Helena?"
"What?" Gideon stopped short at the familiarity of the voice.
"Sam?"
GIDEON POV OVER
Jason and Sam charged forward from where they were eavesdropping. Jason stopped the recording device he kept with him. Now he had all the proof he would need.
Sam strode forward and slapped Gideon hard across the face. Jason pulled her back. "No, Sam. He isn't worth it."
"What's going on here?"
Jason chuckled darkly. "We could ask the same thing. Who's this guy?"
"I'm nobody." Donovan said, starting to walk away. Jason pulled him back.
"We heard everything." Jason informed them. "We also know that you Gideon have been conspiring with my former fiancée."
Gideon's eyes widened just a fraction and he chuckled. "So, what are you going to do now? You obviously now know that I'm Helena's grandson and my motives for pursuing Sam."
Sam always knew there was something off about him, but every time she asked, he brushed her off. Looking back on their relationship, she didn't love Gideon. He was just the guy that was supposed to help her get over Jason, but based on that kiss she knew she wasn't anywhere near over Jason.
"I knew there was something off about you." Sam murmured.
"Really? That's not what you were saying yesterday in my bed."
"Is that supposed to anger me?" Sam asked. "You were just the rebound guy, Gideon."
"You said you loved me."
"I was trying to convince myself that loving you would help me get over Jason. My love for you was shallow, superficial, to the point where it didn't exist at all."
Gideon's eyes sparked for the first time with hurt. "By I do love you."
Sam and Jason had to stop themselves from laughing too hard.
"Really?" Sam asked. "Is humiliating someone love? Is keeping them from their one true love, love? No. I love Jason. I always have. I always will. And now his judgment isn't clouded. He sees it, too."
Jason nodded, looking reverently at Sam, his fierce companion. How could he have ever doubted his feelings for her?
Something suddenly dawned on Jason. "Your companion called you James. Jake, my son, said that his captor went by the name of 'James'. You're Helena's grandson." Just as Jason was about to throw him up against a wall, Elizabeth did it herself.
"Elizabeth?" Sam asked, confused then furious.
"You were the one keeping my son captive?" she asked, livid.
Gideon eyed her impassively. "He was released into Lucky's custody upon his arrival. I didn't know who he was, just that he was one of grandmother's pet projects."
Gideon winced at the pain of a second slap as Elizabeth slapped him roughly. "My son is much more than a project for your sadistic grandmother.
Gideon got in her face then. "I loved my grandmother, and she will be respected."
"See, I'm not the only one who didn't like her." Donovan spoke up. Gideon backed up and walked away, furious. Donovan followed after him.
"You're with her?" Elizabeth questioned Jason, crossing her arms across her chest. "How exactly are you going to explain that to your sons?"
"I'll tell them both the truth." Jason said truthfully.
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Jake's my son, too, Jason."
Jason simply shook his head and reached for Sam's hand as they left the hospital.
Sam clenched his hand in hers as they made their way to her car. They drove together back to the penthouse where unsurprisingly Carly was waiting.
"Carly? What are you doing here?" Sam asked.
"I figured he would come here sooner or later. I wanted to know what happened."
"As did I." said Sonny. "So I know what we're doing going forward."
Sam invited the trio into the penthouse where they discussed strategy.
Sam and Jason informed them of everything that they had overheard between Gideon and Donovan.
"Well at least we know who 'James' is." Sonny remarked. "What are we going to do about it?"
"We need to find a way to counteract anything he could be up to." Jason said.
"How do you plan on doing that?" Carly asked.
"I'm going to talk to Nikolas." Sam decided.
The one thing that nobody knew was that Patrick had had his office door open and heard everything that was said by all parties. He was planning his own personal revenge against his old friend. Gideon wouldn't see him coming.