Ned Ashton felt a bit nostalgic as he pulled on a pair of jeans. He wanted to pretend that it was just the act of getting ready for a concert in hotel room that reminded him of a time when music was a much bigger piece of his life. It was more than that though. It was almost impossible to think about music without thinking of his second wife. He had gone to Luke's on a whim the night his divorce had been final, he played open mic, met Lois Cerullo, and everything developed from there.

September 2, 1993

When he stepped into Luke's carrying a guitar, Ned Ashton wasn't sure what he was doing. It had been years since he had played with his college band. He had grown up, gone to law school, gotten married, and, as of about eight hours ago, gotten divorced.

"If you're here for open mic, you sign up over there," a kid with longish black curls said as he gestured across the room.

Ned nodded and followed his direction. On a whim, he printed Eddie Maine on the sign in sheet. He had used the stage name during his college performance days with the Idle Rich. His grandfather had hated that!

XXXXXXXX

Here goes nothing, Ned thought as he stepped onto the stage at Luke's. He took a deep breath, struck an A chord and began to sing.

"As I walk this land of broken dreams

I have visions of many things

But happiness is just an illusion

Filled with sadness and confusion

What becomes of the broken hearted

Who had love that's now departed

I know I've got to find

Some kind of peace of mind

Maybe"

There was definitely confusion. Although maybe confusion was just a misnomer for denial. It was hard to believe his wife had truly loved him if she had been sleeping with Paul Hornsby before, during, and presumably after their marriage.

"The roots of love grow all around

But for me they come a tumblin' down

Every day heartaches grow a little stronger

I can't stand this pain much longer

I walk in shadows searching for light

Cold and alone, no comfort in sight

Hoping and praying for someone to care

Always moving and going nowhere

What becomes of the broken hearted

Who had love that's now departed

I know I've got to find

Some kind of peace of mind

Help me!"

To add insult to injury, apparently Jenny was pregnant. She assured Ned it wasn't his child. It couldn't be as apparently his purportedly virgin bride had actually already been knocked up when they said their vows.

"I'm searching though I don't succeed

But someone look, there's a growing need

All is lost, there's no place for beginning

All that's left is an unhappy ending

Now what becomes of the broken hearted

Who had love that's now departed

I know I've got to find

Some kind of peace of mind

I'll be searching everywhere

Just to find someone to care

I'll be looking everyday

I know I'm gonna find a way

Nothing's gonna stop me now

I'll find a way somehow

I'll be searching everywhere..."

Generous applause began as Ned struck the final chord. That surprised him a bit but he smiled in spite of his circumstances. He might have lost in love but apparently, he could still pull a crowd. That actually thrilled him more than he had imagined it might.

XXXXXXXX

Ned nursed a coke and listened to someone butcher an old Johnny Rivers hit. He had an early morning conference call with Celia and Quentin so he needed to keep a clear head. He should probably call it a night. He just wasn't quite ready to go home.

While he was trying to motivate himself to depart the woman with the sparkling sapphire eyes who had introduced him before and who he wanted to believe had made eye contact while he sung came up and leaned over the bar beside him. "Virgin Mary, Claude," she said before she pulled herself up onto the neighboring bar stool.

"You were amazing, and I don't use that word lightly," she said as she reached for the drink being slid across the bar.

"Thank you," Ned said.

"Lois Cerullo," she said as she extended her hand. "So, Eddie Maine, what's your story?"

Ned hesitated. He would likely never see her again but there was something exotic and alluring about her. "Recently divorced, trying not to choke too much on the bitterness."

Lois seemed a bit taken a back but she nibbled on the celery from her drink and seemed to regain some composure. "So, you're a straight shooter, there isn't anything wrong with that. Integrity is one of the most important things."

"Unfortunately, my ex-wife didn't share that core value," Ned said.

"What did she lie about?" Lois asked.

"How much time do you have? At this point it would definitely be faster to go through what she didn't lie about. Of course, that would require me to come up with something she didn't lie about and I'm kind of drawing a blank there." Ned said. He took a quick gulp of his Coke.

"I'm sorry," Lois said warmly.

"Well, it's in the past. I should call it a night, I have an early meeting," Ned said.

"Don't be a stranger, Eddie! The crowd likes you," Lois said.

As he made his way back to the townhouse, he owned in ELQ's Candlewick Park he wondered if Lois had really been talking only about the crowd. In spite of his circumstances he hoped she hadn't been.

So much had started from there. Unfortunately, it all fell apart the day Lois got caught in the crossfire of Sonny's world and their daughter died. Music was a bittersweet reminder of the life and dreams he and Lois had once shared. That frequently made it too painful to pursue. But tonight the Outback was donating all of their cover to the Charles Street Foundation, the foundation his grandfather had founded almost sixteen years earlier to encourage collective works and responsibility through cooperative economics. One of the earliest foundation grants had funded the Children's Home his grandmother and Mary Mae Ward started in 1982 so it was kind of a command performance. There was some irony there but Ned supposed it was what it was.

XXXXXXXX

Lucy Coe turned in front of the full-length mirror in Rex's suite. Her husband to be had left her to get ready in his suite. Apparently, he was readying for the ceremony in his best man, DV Bordisso's Suite. As much as Rex seemed to have thought of everything, Lucy felt a bit unsettled. It was all so fast. When she had married Dr. Tony Jones, she had been desperate. Now it was almost like Rex had that same desperation. She wasn't sure what that meant. Of course, at forty-three, it wasn't like she was exactly a spring chicken herself. Perhaps Rex was right and there was no time to waste.

XXXXXXXX

"I know you have had a long week so; I think Ned would understand if we just decided to stay in tonight," Dr. Ryan Grabler suggested as he entered their master suite where his wife was sitting at her dressing table brushing her hair.

Tracy Quartermaine-Grabler swiveled around to face her husband. "My son is performing a benefit concert for my father's foundation. I don't see how I can miss that," she said.

Ryan did see how she could miss it but doubted he was any more likely to help her find that vision herself than he had any of the other times he had tried in the fifteen years he had known her so he just sat down in one of the arm chairs in their bedroom and waited for her to finish getting ready. They had originally met in June 1982 when they had shared a keynote address at the opening for the Chapparal County Children and Family Center spearheaded by Mary Mae Ward and Lila Quartermaine. She had been Pro-Counsel for Child Protective Services and he was the new child psychiatrist in town. He had been struck by her articulatory skills and her refined beauty-the total package. As he had gotten to know her, he had been struck by her sense of equity and humanity. In time she had even shared her greatest vulnerability- her fourteen-year-old son and her perceived maternal ineptitude.

Ned had turned seventeen the month before their March 1985 nuptials. He had come home from Ethan Allen Academy to attend their wedding but he had been aloof and distant. Because Ryan had known how much his new stepson's behavior had hurt his bride, he had wanted to be furious. At the same time, he had known that wasn't the answer. So, he had decided that his place was just to support his wife.

Twelve years later, their family had expanded with two more children. Together they had navigated the joys, challenges, and sleep deprivation of parenting. They were a great team and Ryan wouldn't change it for the world. Yet, in spite of that, he knew his wife still felt inept in her relationship with her elder son. Unfortunately, Ryan was afraid that she, undeservedly, always would. Even in that context, some things, like Ned's music, were exponentially harder. Ryan grasped that music was a healthy form of expression for his stepson. His lyrics were personal and heartfelt and he worked through pain and loss. As a psychiatrist he couldn't fault the process. But as a husband he saw the pain those lyrics evoked for his wife who still seemed to blame herself for all of her son's struggles.

The blaring sound of his pager pulled Ryan from his thoughts. That was odd since Dr. Davis was supposed to be on call. "I'm not sure why someone is paging me," he said as he got up and retrieved the cordless phone from the base on his wife's bedside table.

When he punched in the call back number, he was greeted with the voice of one of their PGY3 Psychiatry residents. "Hello, this is Dr. Harold Kim."

"Dr. Kim this is Dr. Grabler, how can I help you?" Ryan asked.

"I'm sorry to bother you but I'm taking call on PCGH's inpatient unit and Dr. Davis told me to staff this patient with you. He feels the patient should be directly admitted to your Shady Brook Service."

Ryan shook his head, took a deep breath, and released. It seemed like lately Dr. Davis wanted every patient admitted to Shady Brook where conveniently he did not have admitting privileges. Regardless, that wasn't Dr. Kim's fault. "Ok, why don't you tell me who the patient is and as you understand it why the patient isn't suitable for admission to PCGH's inpatient unit."

"The patient is Lexi Starnes. She is a 27-year-old female with the primary diagnosis of PTSD and prior suicide attempts. Earlier this afternoon she attempted suicide by laceration. Dr. Alan Quartermaine took her to the OR to repair her right femoral artery with good results. She received two units of PRBCs in the OR and was extubated in PACU. Dr. Quartermaine was going to admit to his SICU service overnight only because he needs frequent vascular checks and Q4H H&H. Due to her extremely high Columbia Suicide Score he was hoping that we could admit to the Psychiatric ICU and he said he would follow along and order the vascular studies to ensure the arterial repair was successful."

"That sounds extremely reasonable. Dr. Quartermaine can quote you better statistics but no matter how textbook his repair was, and it's Alan so I'm sure it was basically perfect she is still at extremely high risk to lose her leg. Hence admission to a medical facility with access to trauma surgery, vascular surgery, and interventional radiology is prudent. I would be very uncomfortable admitting directly to a standalone Psychiatric facility at this point. Did Dr. Davis explain why he felt that would benefit the patient?"

"Not really, he initially told me to just tell Dr. Quartermaine to admit to his service and then let him fight it out with his mother in law in the morning. I thought he was joking but he assured me he was quite serious and said if I didn't want to do that then I could see if you would do it as a Shady Brook direct admission. I did attempt to explain to him that Dr Reichman is on call at Shady Brook this weekend and he actually discharged Ms. Starnes twenty days ago but he didn't seem to want to hear that."

"Ok, so I do agree that this patient is likely going to need a long-term psychiatric admission, however, she is going to need to stay at PCGH until Dr. Quartermaine is comfortable that there aren't any post repair vascular issues for her. I'll call Alan and tell him we can comanage and have the patient physically placed in the Psychiatric ICU. Can you let the charge nurse know we need a bed in Psychiatric ICU and the patient will need one to one. I'll come in and see the patient tonight."

"Thank you, Dr. Grabler," Dr. Kim said.

"No problem, I'll be there in about twenty or thirty minutes," Ryan said. He terminated the call, returned the phone to the charging base and then crossed the room to his wife. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he squeezed his wife's shoulders.

"It sounds like someone else needs you in this moment more than I do. It is the casualty of being a physician's wife or perhaps I should say physician's spouse. Monica's call schedule is often even more insane than my brother's."

Ryan knew that what Tracy was saying was logical but he also sensed that this was a moment she needed him more than she felt comfortable admitting. He wanted to be there for her. "I can still be sorry it worked out this way," he said.

"I know what you're thinking Ryan, but really, I'll be ok. Why don't you go on to the hospital and I'll have my father pick me up. If you get done at a reasonable hour maybe you can stop by for Ned's second set. If not, since both of our children are sleeping elsewhere tonight, we will eventually get an opportunity for some uninterrupted alone time."

"Now that sounds enticing," Ryan said. Then after a quick kiss, he slipped out of their bedroom.

XXXXXXXX

At the bar in the Port Charles Grille, Alexis Davis removed the olive skewer from her martini and chewed thoughtfully. Dr. Jones had been supposed to meet her at seven o'clock. He was already five minutes late. She really hoped he wasn't about to drop a malpractice action in her lap after five o'clock on a Friday night. That left her to do nothing but stew over hypotheticals all weekend. Then there was the issue that she felt so out of her depth with malpractice law. There was so much medicine involved and truth be told her aptitudes just didn't lie in the sciences.

At ten minutes past seven, Dr. Jones finally made his tardy arrival. "I'm sorry, I got held up at the hospital," he said as he sat down on the adjacent bar stool.

For a reason she couldn't quite explain, Alexis doubted his explanation. She pushed that thought back into the back recesses of her mind. "So, you said you had a legal matter to discuss?" she asked.

"Yes, I originally went to Justus Ward. He handled my last divorce but I fear his allegiances lie elsewhere. I want full custody of my daughter."

Daughter? What daughter?Alexis was quite certain that Dr. Jones had a son.Well at least he was suing rather than being sued that was a definite plus. "I'm sorry, I don't follow," she said.

"I'm not sure if you're trying to be diplomatic or if you're really clueless, Ms. Davis, but Carly Roberts is pregnant with my daughter and I want full custody," Dr. Jones said.

Alexis hadn't been living under a rock. She knew that the Jones's marriage had ended after Dr. Jones got caught sleeping with PT tech, Carly Roberts. He had been served at the hospital for his divorce hearing so it was a bit hard to miss. She also had heard that Carly was pregnant although she had wondered if that had been a ruse or she had suffered a miscarriage because she hadn't exactly looked pregnant at the Quartermaine reception a week earlier. Of course, if she wasn't pregnant with Ned Ashton's baby, then that marital union had really come out of left field.

"Didn't Carly just marry Ned Ashton?" Alexis asked.

"Yes, which is why I would prefer not to use Justus Ward for this. There are far too many Ward and Quartermaine connections," Dr. Jones said.

"Ok, so I guess most of the rest of Port Charles just sort of presumed that Ned Ashton married Carly because he was the father of her baby. Are you sure this baby is even yours?" Alexis asked.

"Yes," Dr. Jones said flatly.

"Ok, so New York State laws provide for a marital presumption for paternity. So, as long as Carly is still married to Ned Ashton when she delivers then he will be legally presumed to be the child's father."

"But he isn't!"

"In that event, once the child is born, we can file a paternity petition in family court. Carly and Ned will have to respond to that. The problem is that, even if you can show you are the biological parent through DNA testing, the court may still consider that Ned is the legal father with all the rights as if he truly was the biological father."

"That is ridiculous!"

"New York law places a priority on children being raised within wedlock. Are you sure there isn't any possibility that Ned Ashton actually could be the biological father?" Alexis asked. She couldn't see Ned Ashton marrying Carly without some irrefutable proof that he was the father of her unborn child.Of course, at least according to the wedding announcement she had received, Edward Lawrence Ashton had married Caroline Leigh Benson so perhaps Ned knew something Dr. Jones was missing, like Carly's legal name.

"I am the father!" Dr. Jones's voice thundered. Several people turned to look at them but Tony just glared at them. "So, are you going to help me or not?" he asked in a more moderated tone.

Alexis sighed. She longed to say no, but Stefan would want her to say yes. Stefan had made a big push for her to handle the legal matters of PCGH physicians even if they weren't really hospital matters. He claimed that it was beneficial to the hospital to have their physicians free to focus on their practice of medicine and not be distracted with mundane legal issues. He also argued that there were scenarios where these legal issues actually made the hospital itself more legally vulnerable than one might presume on first review. Alexis suspected there was some other motivation as well although Stefan had not yet seen fit to explain that and Alexis had not been brave enough to ask.

"I can't file the paternity petition until the baby is born. Do you know Carly's anticipated due date?"

"Dr. Meadows originally told us December 29th. I doubt that has changed but apparently Carly rescinded my access to her records. Can you do anything about that?"

Alexis shook her head and resisted the urge to scream. "Under the new patient privacy laws, I doubt that. Now if you are granted an order of filiation then you would have access to your child's health records but again, we can't even begin to pursue that until that child is born."

XXXXXXXX

Liz Webber yawned as she wiped a sponge across the counter at Kelly's Diner. Originally, she had been annoyed by her grandmother's insistence that she pick an extracurricular activity or get a job. Sarah had promptly signed up for Cheerleading and joined the Key Club. The latter would have definitely been the simplest path and, since Allison and Emily Quartermaine were both Key Club officers, perhaps the group actually accomplished things. But then she had discovered that Lucky's Aunt Ruby owned Kelly's Diner and figured that might be the perfect way to both get her grandmother off her back and have a chance with Lucky. Unfortunately, Lucky didn't spend much time at the diner and Liz had been stuck working the dinner rush the last two nights in row.

She had just finished serving three spaghetti specials when she heard the door jangle and saw Lucky standing there. Perhaps her luck was about to change.

"Hey," Lucky said as he sauntered up to the counter.

"Hey yourself! Did your Aunt Ruby call in reinforcements?" she asked.

"Umm, actually I'm meeting friends," Lucky said.

Lucky looked nervous. Liz almost wondered if her sister had deigned to meet him. But their grandmother thought she was going out with some guy named Nikolas. Apparently, his father worked at the hospital with her grandmother so she approved of that relationship. "You look positively thrilled," she said.

"It's a bit of an overdue apology," Lucky said.

Hmm maybe he was meeting Sarah. Although that didn't really fit because Liz couldn't remember the last time Sarah had apologized to anyone. "When were you supposed to meet them? Maybe they decided they weren't so sorry after all," she said.

Lucky laughed. "You really cornered the market on optimism, didn't you? Hate to break it to you but I'm the one who needs to apologize," he said.

"What did you do?" Liz asked.

"It's kind of complicated. I'd rather not get into it now," Lucky said.

Liz had a feeling what he really meant was that he didn't want to get into it with her. That was basically her parents' approach to almost any topic as well. As she contemplated that the bell on the door jangled and she looked up to see Emily and Allison Quartermaine walk in. Was Lucky apologizing to them? Why?

"Have you been waiting long? I'm sorry if you have, the XC meet took longer than I expected and apparently our dad is still in some OR at PCGH so AJ dropped us off on his way to pick up Keesha," Emily said.

"I guess you need to run faster," Lucky joked.

"Or not, she won the race and broke the course record," Allison said.

"Wow! Good job, Em!" Lucky said as he gave her a hug.

Emily blushed. "Thanks, I like Friday afternoon races."

Liz picked up a few menus and made her way around the counter. "Do you guys need menus?" she asked.

"Oh, hi, Liz, I'm sorry I completely didn't see you there," Emily said.

"Hi, good job at your race. Is your team still undefeated? Sometimes Mr. Hawkins uses that as the bonus question and science is not exactly my thing so I can always use free points."

Emily laughed. "Yep, we're still undefeated, and we only have one more dual meet."

"Awesome! Just win your last meet and then I can just answer yes and channel some optimism," Liz said. She winked at Lucky and then smiled when he returned the gesture.