Clutching at her stomach, Marla Mears Quartermaine made her way from the bathroom and back into the master bedroom of their suite in the Port Charles Hotel. Usually, the sensation of emptiness outweighed everything for her, but the pain was more excruciating than normal. She had been too nauseated to eat breakfast and had almost skipped some of her pills but then she remembered when she had done that before and how much she had literally ballooned overnight. That and a cocktail dress for Saturday Night's ELQ Shareholder's Dinner were hardly compatible events. So, she had taken her usual dose and her stomach was rebelling. That was really all it was, really!

"I guess you aren't feeling any better?" Hugh Lars asked. He quickly got up from the bed and came to stand beside her and wrap an arm around her and lead her back to the bed.

Her husband's words caught Marla by surprise. She had been so focused on her pain that she hadn't even seen him sitting on the bed. He had left before she was awake for some ELQ meeting, and she had been counting on him being gone all day. Instead of answering his implied question she asked her own. "What are you doing here?"

Hugh Lars raised an eyebrow as he turned back the comforter and helped her into bed. "I was worried about you. I wanted to make sure you were feeling better, and I thought maybe we could have a later lunch before my board meeting," he said.

"I'm fine! I'm just having a little cramping," Marla said through gritted teeth.

Hugh Lars smoothed the covers back over her and then wedged himself on the edge of the bed. "Maybe some ginger ale would help settle your stomach. I think there is some in the kitchenette," he suggested.

"I'm fine! You should go, you don't want to be late for your board meeting," Marla said. She winced as more spasmodic pain shot across her abdomen.

"My meeting isn't until four o'clock. Why don't I give Alan a call and see if maybe he can see you in his office?" Hugh Lars suggested.

Hugh Lars's cousin Dr. Alan Quartermaine was a trauma and pediatric surgeon, or something like that. Marla failed to see how he could possibly be helpful. "I told you, I'm fine; I had brunch with Lila, and I had too much dairy yesterday. I just need to rest, and I assure you I will have pulled myself together in time for the Shareholder's Dinner tomorrow night," she said.

"Marla, you can't possibly think that your attendance at tomorrow night's dinner is the important issue for me right now. I'm worried about you, honey! I know you were in and out of the bathroom much of last night and you don't look well now. Maybe Alan could just check some labwork and get you some IV fluids if you're dehydrated."

"I'm not dehydrated!" Marla protested. Her stomach seemed to cramp in protest, but she tried desperately to ignore that.

"I'm going to get you that ginger ale. If you aren't able to even keep that down, then maybe I just need to take you to the Emergency Department. Stoicism has it's place and also it's limits," Hugh Lars said before he left the room.

That left Marla to clutch her tender tummy and agonize over the age-old question that continued to plague her. Why couldn't Hugh Lars just let her be?

XXXXXXXX

Beth Quartermaine stepped off the East Elevators on the third floor. When Carly had been transferred out of the SICU her obstetrician had felt more comfortable transferring her back to the High-Risk Obstetrical Unit than the regular L&D unit on the second floor. Purportedly that unit had a 1:1 nursing ratio and the ability to do more drips. Or at least that was what Mark had explained when she had called him. It still sounded a bit ominous, regardless of how much Beth hoped it wasn't.

When she made her way into the unit and to Carly's room, she saw that Carly appeared to be sleeping as Ned worked away on something on his laptop.

Ned must have sensed her presence because he looked up and then closed the top of his laptop. "Thank you for coming," he began.

"Of course, I was so glad that Carly called. Mark and I have been praying so hard for her and the baby. It is such a blessing to be able to hear her voice again," Beth said.

"Definitely," Ned said.

Beth saw the discomfort in Ned's eyes. She wondered if he was more worried about Carly than he was willing to admit or if he was desperate to not be late for the ELQ Board Meeting. Knowing Ned as she did, she figured it was probably both. So perhaps the kindest thing she could do was help him feel comfortable leaving his wife. "We'll be ok here if you need to go. I know Mark said that meeting started at four and I presume you're expected to meet with Edward beforehand or something."

"Yeah," Ned said absently as he started to slide his laptop into his briefcase. "Please call me if Carly needs anything. I think even Grandfather would admit that sometimes other things are more important than ELQ," he said. Then, after gently kissing his wife's forehead, he left the room.

XXXXXXXX

Jasper Jacks had to wonder if he was losing his touch. So far, the day had passed without any contact from ELQ Board Member, Greg Nelson which made Jax wary that he hadn't bought into the fake documents he had given him the night before. That was a problem, because in an hour the ELQ board would convene and Jax needed assurances that Greg would vote with him.

If Jax had that assurance he was quite certain that Stuart Morris, ELQ's current CFO; and the only other non Quartermaine member of the board, had a price. He had also noted that Celia Quartermaine would vote whichever way Greg did. With a reduced quorum those four votes would prevent any agenda items that required a two thirds majority vote from passing. That was the first step towards hitting the Quartermaines while they were down. Unfortunately, it all hinged on Greg Nelson.

XXXXXXXX

Danielle Ashley was beginning to feel a bit ill herself. Five hours ago, she felt slightly dishonest claiming Lucy as her aunt to get around the non-family ICU visitor prohibition. It wasn't really a lie because technically marrying her Uncle Rex had made Lucy her aunt and he had called her to check on Lucy since she wasn't answering the phone. When she had gotten to the suite Rex and Lucy had been occupying in the Port Charles Hotel, she had learned that Lucy had been rushed to Port Charles General Hospital by ambulance the prior afternoon. At the hospital she had learned Lucy had been admitted to the 4 West ICU. When she had been informed that ICU patients were restricted to family visitors only, she had told them she was Lucy's niece. She was, but she was quickly coming to regret that fact with every readjusted pillow and fresh cool compress.

"There, how is that?" Danielle asked as she laid what at least seemed like the thousandth cool compress on Lucy's forehead.

"I feel soooo sick!" Lucy moaned.

Danielle had only heard that same phrase a million times. She was likely a horrible person, but she was past being able to find sympathy. She just needed out of the room! "I am sure you do, and I am so sorry about that. I'm going to try to reach Uncle Rex again but right now I really need to get back to work," Danielle said as she backed her way out of the room and then slid the glass door closed behind her.

Danielle collapsed back against the wall for a moment to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry! Traci really shouldn't have abandoned you in there for so long," a woman dressed in scrubs with her dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail said.

Danielle presumed she was another of the ICU nurses. "It's ok," she said.

"It really isn't but thank you for being understanding. I'm Betsy Chilson by the way," the nurse said.

"I'm Danielle," Danielle said with hesitation.

"I didn't realize that Lucy had any siblings," Betsy said.

"Oh, Rex Stanton is my Uncle. But Aunt Lucy and I have gotten very close since they got married," Danielle said.

"So, you were Dominique's sister?" Betsy asked.

Danielle nodded.

"I'm sorry about your loss. Dominique was a very special person," Betsy said.

Danielle bit her lip. "I didn't realize that Avery Stanton was my father until after Dominique's death. It isn't like I grew up with her like Katherine did. Anyway, I have already missed six hours of what was supposed to be a busy day so I need to get back to work," she said and then she stood fully upright and darted away before Betsy could say anything more.

XXXXXXXX

Hugh Lars Quartermaine felt uneasy as he pushed the down button for the elevator. Marla had managed to drink half a glass of ginger ale and then had gone to sleep. He still didn't believe that she was fine, but it was harder to justify dragging her to the Emergency Department in that context, so he had let her sleep.

"Oh, perfect timing!" his cousin Celia Quartermaine said as she joined him at the elevator bank.

"Definitely," Hugh Lars said. He forced a smile and tried to push past his concern for his wife.

Celia was more intuitive than he gave her credit for. "Is Marla feeling any better?" she asked.

"She says she is. Apparently, she is lactose intolerant and ate too much dairy yesterday," Hugh Lars said as the elevator arrived.

Hugh Lars noted his cousin's raised eyebrow as they stepped into the elevator. He didn't really buy Marla's explanation either.

XXXXXXXX

Dr. Stuart Devlin watched his older brother pace the perimeter of the conference room on the fourth floor of the PCPD that had been converted to a command center for his missing niece. If he didn't know his brother, then perhaps he would just see him as a concerned father. But he did know his brother so that left him to wonder if his niece had fled to get away from her father. If she hadn't, was that because Bennett had harmed her to the point where that wasn't possible?

Those were hard questions to imagine and certainly not ones he could bring himself to ask. He wished that Julie had listened to him when he had advised her against trying to match at PCGH. But she had insisted that she wanted to do either Neonatology or Pediatric Cardiology and PCGH gave her the opportunity to work with amazing female mentors like Dr. Monica Quartermaine and Dr. Amanda Leoni. It just also left her to potentially face her father on a daily basis something he had made sure she hadn't had to do since she was twelve years old.

He had been wary, but Julie had assured him that her father was different. She had claimed that Buddy's death had changed her father and really changed their relationship. Stuart had been powerless to do anything but pray that she was correct. For many similar reasons he was powerless to do much more than pray that she was alive and safe now.