Manhattan, NY
Ally Rescott Alden Bowman glared at the digital display on the scale in Dr. Ransom's office. She had been mortified by the 204.5 she had seen flashing two weeks earlier. She had vowed to do better, eat less. She had even restarted the diet pills and somehow, she had gained another ten pounds. She was almost two hundred and twenty freaking pounds, and she was only barely twenty-seven weeks. Perhaps her dates were off? Yes, that must be it!
She was so busy contemplating that she almost forgot the paperwork which had brought her in. "I need these papers completed so I can be on complete bedrest," she said as she pulled the thick sheath from her oversized purse.
The stick thin nurse raised an eyebrow. "Complete bedrest? Umm, that's not really a thing," she said.
"Yeah, well I don't think I asked for your uneducated opinion. Just have Dr. Ransom fill these out. I need them back today so my attorney can file to have my alimony adjusted," Ally said. Then she glared at the nurse until she just took the papers and retreated.
She had been on complete bedrest when she had been pregnant with Tyler. That had gotten her out of taking her finals but left her free to visit Casey at his cabin. She had gone into labor there but fortunately Casey had rushed her back to the Alden Estate so she could call the ambulance from there.
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Steffi Alden frowned at the second line on the home pregnancy test. Her husband's super sperm had struck again! Unfortunately, another baby was the last thing she needed, or wanted. First there was the issue that even with Zoey's "help" Courtney and Tyler were more than she could handle on the good days. Then there was the issue that she had just relaunched her modeling career. Finally, perhaps most importantly she had relapsed hard in the middle of her pregnancy with Courtney so she could only imagine where she would end up when she had already been struggling even before getting pregnant. Not that she could risk mentioning any of that to her husband.
As much as she truly believed that Cooper loved her, that was no guarantee that he would ever understand how she was struggling and how to help her. The fact that he had also been a childhood victim of sexual assault in some ways made that reality even more painful. Perhaps for both of them. Steffi wondered about that.
"Someone wanted to say goodnight to Mama!" Cooper said when he came into their master suite holding their twenty-month-old daughter in his arms.
Steffi hurriedly shoved the pregnancy test into a drawer of her vanity and stood up quickly. Her head swum a little bit, but she forced herself to cross the room to where her husband stood with Courtney. "Hi sweetie. How about if Mommy reads you a story tonight in your room?" she asked.
Steffi patted the top of Courtney's head a few times before she turned to her husband."Can you get her actually into her crib, while I get the books?" she asked. She didn't wait for Cooper to answer but just headed for Courtney's nursery and pulled a few books from the shelf almost randomly.
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In Midtown Manhattan, at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, Simone Torres' struggled to focus on the article she was supposed to be writing. Her thoughts kept returning to Carly and to Charli. Far too much felt far too similar. They had both married into powerful families and struggled through pregnancies with male heirs. Ned Ashton seemed to love and cherish Carly much more than Tres Maricante had cherished Charli. When she had talked to Ned Tuesday night, and he had promised that Carly would get the best medical care possible she had wanted to believe that was going to make all of the difference. Or at least she had until Ned had called her a few hours ago to update her that Carly had been intubated and transferred to the surgical ICU. She had wanted to hate Ned, but it had been hard because he had sounded so broken and so tired.
October 30, 1997
Simone Torres gritted her teeth when she heard the chimes of her cellular ringtone. She knew she never should have given the number to Steve in marketing. She was so over him, except she had truly never been into him in the first place. But when she picked up the phone, she realized it wasn't Steve from marketing and she collapsed into her desk chair with a resounding plop.
"Hello," Simone managed to force the word out.
"Simone, hello, it's Ned Ashton…"
"Carly is getting worse?" Simone asked. Yet she almost knew the answer even before he said anything more.
"She finally looks almost comfortable. But she is very sick. They had to intubate her and transfer her into one of the intensive care units. At least now she is able to finally rest," Ned said.
Ned sounded exhausted and stressed. Perhaps he was, but it was hard for Simone to find much sympathy for him because it was all sounding far too much like Charli's story. She wasn't ready to bury another friend!
"Dr. Meadows wants Carly a little more stabilized and then she is going to do a cesarean section to deliver the baby, likely on Saturday," Ned said.
"This Saturday?" Simone asked. Ok, so maybe Carly wasn't going to languish in an ICU on a ventilator being a human incubator for an heir.
"Yes, ideally, ok perhaps delivering at 31 weeks isn't ideal but if Dr. Meadows feels Carly is strong enough to go through the surgery, then I think it is probably both of their best chances, so I'm just going to have to pray and go with it," Ned said.
"I think you're doing the right thing," Simone said.
"I hope so," Ned said. The uncertainty was evident in his voice. He hesitated a moment and then said, "May I ask you something?"
"Umm, sure," Simone stammered.
"I don't know Carly's mom well and I'm not sure she even knows that Carly is pregnant. I know she didn't when we got married and I kind of thought since she was Carly's mom that it was Carly's place to tell her about the baby. I'm just afraid she didn't and I feel like I should say something but I have no idea how to handle this," Ned said.
That question definitely deserved more warning! Simone realized she had never asked if Carly had told her mom. She had just presumed she would have but she really didn't know…
"I know Carly hadn't told her before the wedding and then when she got admitted the first time, I offered to fly her mom in if it was helpful. She was clear it wouldn't have been helpful and that her mom still didn't know about the pregnancy. That was two weeks ago," Ned said.
Simone realized that she had just presumed that Virginia had known Carly was pregnant. But when she remembered the conversation where Carly had told her she was pregnant she realized that she hadn't said anything about telling Virginia, or more relevantly Virginia's reaction. Simone couldn't remember a time Virginia had been without a negative reaction so perhaps that was more evidence that she didn't know. "Um, I guess I don't really know either," she managed.
"Ok, so if we presume, she doesn't know, am I still meant to just let Carly tell her when she is able?"
"I guess that depends on whether you're going for son in law of the year or husband of the year," Simone said.
"What if I'm well aware I have no claim to either?" Ned asked.
Simone felt badly. "Sorry, I get more cynical when I'm stressed," she said.
Ned laughed bitterly. "I used to do that. Ok, I still do sometimes but I'm trying to do better. I want to do the right thing here, I just have no idea what it is," he said.
Simone took a deep breath. "I think if Carly didn't tell Virginia about the pregnancy, then she had a reason and we should respect that," she said.
Ned sighed. "That was kind of my thought process but my I'm not exactly an expert on the child side of parent-child relationships," he said.
The conversation with Ned had reinforced the differences in Carly and Charli's situations. Unfortunately, it had also reminded her of just how sick Carly really was. Despite Ned's optimism she worried that Carly's situation was much more dire than Charli's had been.
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Jason Morgan pulled into the alley behind the Solieto Warehouse in Tribecca. He killed the engine on his bike and parked on the loading dock next to Vinny Pozzulo's bike. It had been almost thirty-nine hours since Sal Mazza and Joseph Bruni had been ambushed unloading a shipment. Joseph had gotten through with minor injuries, but Sal was in the SICU at PCGH with bilateral chest tubes. Despite that he was expected to survive and even make a full recovery. That still left Jason to answer to the Commission about why Anthony Moreno sensed there was a power vacuum in Port Charles.