A.N. Apologies to anyone looking for a CM fic. I've been playing. But a one-shot in that universe should come soon.

This will probably be my only story for this fandom, serving as a bit of an indulgence for me. Maybe 2-3 chapters. I've watched General Hospital with varying levels of consistency, depth and investment over the years, depending on time, the availability of recording devices, and usually with a heavy hand on the fast forward button. So my details are sketchy at best. Recently, I saw something asking which pairing I might have liked to see in the past. I remembered that there was someone I'd always wished Anna had interacted with a bit more, but couldn't remember his name, or anything else about him. That sent me on a search, followed by a wonderful few days taking advantage of clips posted on the internet, revisiting someone who had then been, for me, a beloved character. If you are a young GH fan, and have never met him before, search out the years 1983-88. Golden. Hope you enjoy.


Old Friends

"Bye. See you in a few days."

Anna Devane sent Valentin off to his overseas meeting with a kiss, then settled back to savor the remains of her tea. It had been a long week, following a long week before, and a long week before that…..

A long life, if I'm honest with myself….

and there was much to think about. Which was why she'd chosen Kelly's for this morning's breakfast, and not the MetroCourt, where she would have been assured of any number of interruptions.

It's funny how things go in cycles. I remember when pretty much everything happened here at Kelly's. And Duke's.

So she sipped her tea, and stared off into the middle distance, and pondered the state of her relationship with Valentin, and whether it should even exist. And she ruminated on what had happened with Finn, and Peter, and her love for Charlotte, and the fact that she hadn't seen Robin or Emma in forever. And she began to think of all the things that used to happen at Kelly's, and Duke's. She was still lost in that jumble of thought when her peripheral vision caught an odd movement in the area of the doorway.

The perils of being a spy. I can't ignore anything, even to have a good think.

She tilted her head out to see better, and realized that the movement was being made by a person, a man, half in and out of the doorway, apparently undecided about entering. She was about to resume her position when her eyes registered a certain familiarity about the man, but she had to wait for her brain to take an extra moment to realize what, exactly, was familiar. She couldn't quite see his face, which was partially turned away, and she couldn't place his hair, which was dark and liberally flecked with grey. But when her eyes traced the rest of his body, traversing his torso and passing down the length of his jeans to his…. sneakers!…in a flash, she knew.

She stood, and took a few steps in that direction.

"Jake? Is that you? Jake? Jake Meyer?"

The dark head whipped around to meet the voice, and confirmed her suspicion. There they were... the same handsome features, a few decades older, and the same bemused smile. Maybe not quite the same twinkle in his eyes.

It took him but a second to recognize her. "Anna!"

Jake quickly closed the distance between them, and caught her up in a bear hug.

"Jake! Oh, my God! When…why….how….oh, never mind, it's so good to see you!"

He pushed her back just far enough to take a good look at her, holding her hands in his.

"It's good to see you, too. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure I would see a familiar face at all. Everything is so different."

Spreading his arms to take in the whole of Kelly's.

Anna nodded. "I guess it's been a while, hasn't it? Oh, gosh, this is such a lovely surprise! Listen, do you have time to join me?"

He grinned. "I just got here. I should be asking you if you have time to stay. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Just an internal examination of the state of my life. Which, considering, it would be a great favor if you would stay."

Her smile telling him she was jesting. But not completely.

"In that case, I would be very grateful to join you."

"Great." She led him back to the table, where he was soon after brought his requested herbal tea. As the server left, Anna smiled again.

"Still?" He'd had a penchant for healthy food and drink even before it became popular.

Jake chuckled. "What can I say? I'm a creature of habit."

She laughed. "So I see. Did you know I first recognized you from your sneakers?"

"Ha! So, tell me. How have you been? What are you up to these days? Besides ruminating, of course."

Anna waved away his questions. "My rumination is boring. As is my life, at the moment. So, come on, I'd much rather hear about yours." Resting her chin on her hands. "Tell me. What brought Jake Meyer back to Port Charles?"

Jake sat back in his chair. "Ah. That."

She waited him out.

"Honestly, Anna, I don't know. I just…..I needed a break. I needed to get away, and…..I guess I just needed to come home, wherever that is."

Neither of them could help but notice how easy it was to fall into deeper conversation with someone with whom they were bonded by history.

She gave him a small smile. "And home is Port Charles? After all these years?"

He managed a shrugged sigh. "I wasn't living here for more than about five years of my life, but for whatever reason, it's the place that came to mind."

"And Kelly's?"

Jake shrugged. "Kelly's. The Brownstone. I actually went by there first, but it's obviously under new ownership now."

Anna's brows asked the question, and Jake responded.

"Because it's been whitewashed. Whitewashed! Can you believe it? That beautiful old building. There's no way Bobbie would have done that."

Anna nodded. "Bobbie hasn't lived there for a number of years, but I thought you would have known when it was sold. Didn't you own it together?"

Jake shook his head. "I signed it over to her when we divorced. I didn't know if she could handle it on her own financially, and I didn't want her to have to move."

As it had with most of the men in her life…..maybe all of them…..Anna's relationship with Jake Meyer had been complex. Often enough, with her serving as police commissioner, and Jake defending the accused, they'd been on opposite sides of a conflict. But he'd also stood staunchly by her side when she'd needed him.

And Duke's. And Bobbie's. And so many other people who didn't even have friends to care about them.

Jake took notice of her silence.

"Can I ask what you're thinking about?"

Anna took a sip of her tea. "Just that you reminded me of how I've always remembered you. Always taking care of people, always looking out for them."

"Hmph."

It was so unexpected a response that Anna looked up abruptly.

"What?"

Too late, Jake regretted his reaction. He'd come here to forget, after all.

"Nothing. Just….I wish I had been better at it."

Anna's eyes widened. "You saved me, Jake. You saved Duke. And Bobbie. And even Lucy Coe."

"Don't remind me." Pausing a moment. "She's not still around, is she?"

Anna made a face to prepare him for the bad news.

"I'm afraid she is. She's even quite wealthy now. Have you heard about Deception?"

"Hers? I can pretty much write the book on it, as you'll recall."

Anna chuckled. "No, I meant her cosmetics company. It went public a few months ago, and…well, she's rich."

Jake could only shake his head. "Lucy Coe, running a cosmetics company." Pausing to reflect. "You know, all she ever seemed to want was whatever it was she couldn't have. She reveled in playing the victim. Can't imagine how she's coping with all that money and power now." Remembering, once again. "Is she still colluding with Scott Baldwin?"

"Oh, no, Scott has moved on to another relationship. The absolute empress of evil. And Lucy is with another lawyer." Seeing that Jake was about to ask more, she quickly diverted. "But I want to hear about you! What have you been up to, and what made you decide to come home to Port Charles?"

Emphasizing 'home', because she could already see that he needed anchoring.

Jake lifted his cup to signal to the server that he would like a refill, and settled back in his chair.

"Well, most immediately I've come from the border. When I left here, after your trial, and Bobbie didn't follow…." Halting for a moment of painful memory. "…..I stayed in Uruguay for a while, then worked with a bunch of different NGOs in different parts of South America, and then Central America. Mostly I worked with families and orphaned kids, trying to find them refuge anywhere I could. The stories, Anna! The things that happened to them. I couldn't…."

Hearing the emotion in his voice, Anna reached a hand out, and laid it over his.

"I was able to help some of them, but not all of them. Not even half. And then even the ones I'd helped started showing up again, either turned away at the border, or deported after the fact. But so many of them shouldn't have been. So, I headed north, and set up shop on the Mexican side for a while, then on US soil. And I've been there ever since."

Like nearly everyone else, Anna had heard about the ongoing influx of refugees and hopefuls attempting to cross the southern border into the United States. But also like nearly everyone else, she'd been less familiar with the particulars. All she knew for certain was that his experience at the border had put a tone of sadness into the voice of her old friend. She said as much.

"It's been hard on you, hasn't it?"

Jake cast his gaze toward the window. "Not at all as hard as it is on them. The physical conditions aren't great, and even if they came from worse, at least at home they had privacy. Even that would be tolerable, if it ended with them gaining safety. But when it doesn't…."

Anna squeezed his hand. "Still trying to save the world."

Jake returned a sad smile. "Guilty. And still failing."

Anna's tone gentled. "You didn't fail me." She studied him a moment more before speaking again. "You know, Jake…I don't want to intrude on your privacy, but….if you want to talk about it…"

Her detective skills noticed the play of emotion crossing his face. Clearly he needed to talk. So she was a bit disappointed when his features settled upon dismissing the topic.

"Thank you, Anna. But if it's all right with you, I think I'd rather just catch up right now." Leaning forward, his hand supporting his chin. "Who is still around that I would know? Besides you, of course."

For nearly any other two people, it would have been a difficult task of memory. But these two had been friends, colleagues and occasionally even adversaries, and that time of their lives was marked deeply into the consciousness of each.

Anna mimicked Jake's body position, leaning her face into her palm.

"Hmmm. Let's see. Well, there's me. And I've already told you about Lucy."

"And you said something about Baldwin." Just a hint of antipathy. Or more than a hint.

"Right. Scotty is still practicing law here. Oh! And Robert!"

Jake was surprised to hear that.

"Robert is here? Is he still with the police?"

She smiled to think what she was about to tell him. "Robert is the district attorney."

That dumbfounded the usually glib Jake Meyer.

"The district attorney? Are you kidding me? All the time I knew him, I never even realized he was a lawyer!"

She chuckled. "Well, he is. And his brother Mac…..I don't think you would have met him…..is the acting police commissioner. Mac is married to Felicia."

A warm smile came to Jake's face. "Felicia. She was part of our first group at the Brownstone, and she and Frisco came back a second time. Those were some good, good people."

Anna agreed with him. "The best."

Jake continued reminiscing. "So many of them are gone now. Tony, Tania, even little BJ."

Which told Anna that Jake had actually been kept abreast of some things, if not all. She remarked on it.

"I wasn't sure you knew about Tony. Or even about BJ."

When he looked at her again, Anna had the same thought she'd had a thousand times before. For someone who could be so cool in the courtroom, and so objective with the most guilty of clients, Jake Meyer was also afflicted with wearing his heart on his sleeve. In retrospect, it might have been what had drawn her into their friendship decades ago, and what had made her so willing to put her fate into his hands.

Jake's eyes held a trace of fullness as he responded. "I was there for BJ's birth. In fact, I was the first man in her life!" Giving his little Jake grin. "Oh, man, I was in love with that little baby." Sobering, then. "Ruby managed to get word to me when it happened. I couldn't even imagine. As much as I'd always wanted a child, I couldn't imagine losing one."

Anna gave a sad nod. "Nor I."

"My first instinct was to come, but it really wasn't my place. Bobbie was with Tony then. So I wrote to her instead, and sent flowers. But I never heard back from her."

Some pain stays with us for a lifetime, doesn't it? Thought Anna.

"I was away from Port Charles when BJ died," she said. "When Tony died, too. Did Ruby track you down that time as well?"

"Huh? Oh, no. I think I'd moved around too much by then. No, I know about Tony from Frisco."

"Frisco?!"

Jake was apologetic. "Yes, sorry, I should have mentioned it before. My work at the border has brought me into an unlikely partnership with DHS. And, via DHS, with the WSB. Frisco and I have spoken a number of times." Then, remembering. "Oh! Are you still with them, too? The WSB?"

Seeing Anna's reaction, Jake was surprised. Did she just squirm?

If she had, she covered it well. "I'm…..well, sort of, I guess. It's funny, I've always liked to think of myself as a good agent, but not necessarily an orthodox one. The WSB frowns upon that, from time to time."

Jake's brows went up. "Frisco too?"

"No, not Frisco. Though he's not quite as laid back about the rules as he once was. Anyway, I do some work for them, sort of on an ad hoc basis." Not mentioning whose need was actually met with the 'ad hoc' status of her actions.

Jake nodded at that. "Well, if you ever want to do some of that work at the border, I'll be happy to see you."

She caught the implication of his words. "So you're going back, then?"

Jake heaved his deepest sigh yet. "Yes, I think so." He sat back. "When I left there, I wasn't sure. That's part of why I needed to get away. But even before I got on the plane, I knew I would have to go back. I can't leave them without help."

Anna tilted her head to give him a sideways look.

"Jake Meyer is the only one who can help them? I mean, I know how good you are. But I can also see how exhausted you are. Maybe it's time to let someone else do it."

Jake looked at her for a long time, then cast his eyes again through the window, and down to the table.

"I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's hubris. But there are so many of them, Anna…."

His voice trailed off, and she could tell that his inner gaze was no longer in the room, and that whatever it was looking at haunted him. Anna made a quick decision, and tapped his hand to gain his attention.

"Why don't we let you get some rest, and we can have dinner together. I can call Felicia and Mac, if you like. And Robert. And…anyone else you might want to have join us."

He understood who 'anyone else' was, and he wasn't ready for it. But she was right, he needed to rest. Jake pushed back his chair and stood.

"Dinner would be wonderful, but can we wait a day or two? I need….I think I just need to catch my breath for a little bit, you know?"

"Oh, of course! I'm sorry, I should have thought of it. Tell me where you're staying, and I'll be in touch."

Jake looked around as thought he'd lost something. Just myself.

"To tell you the truth, I hadn't even thought about it. Well, if I'm honest, I'd wondered about the Brownstone, but… " Remembering from long ago. "I don't suppose they still rent rooms here, do they?"

Anna didn't know, but it didn't matter anyway. She'd decided.

"You'll stay with me. I've got a big place, and it's nearly empty."

"Oh, no, Anna, I couldn't put you out."

She stood, and tugged on her jacket. "You're not putting me out. You're giving me company. C'mon, Jake. It's the least I can do."

He really didn't have anywhere else to go. He really was exhausted. And lawyering at the border wasn't exactly a lucrative enterprise.

"Okay. Thanks."