October 25, 1997
Port Charles General Hospital Pediatrician, Dr. Simone Hardy's eyes glazed over as she scrolled through labs. It was probably a bad sign that she was already overwhelmed with her service before eight AM. Her original plan had been to start early and be done rounding in time to make it to her seven-year-old son Tommy's soccer game. That might have worked if she hadn't started the morning with two pending admissions and no rounding resident since apparently the resident assigned to round was an admitted patient elsewhere in the hospital. She knew she was a jerk if she saw anything other than compassion for Dr. Julie Devlin but sometimes it was hard to be a single mother and not be a jerk.
Her ex-husband would certainly have a field day with that admission, especially since she had been the one to file for divorce. At the time she just hadn't seen another option. Living with Tom had become intolerable enough that she was sure living without him had to be preferable. In some ways it had been and still was but in other ways it had left her struggling to be their son's primary parent. Because in many ways, that had been a role that Tom had filled during their marriage and even during the early years of their divorce before he opted to take a job at Boston Children's in the aftermath of his being framed for stalking by his former colleague Dr. Kevin Collins. Apparently, he had needed a fresh start since in his opinion his reputation was irreparably tarnished in Port Charles. Or something like that. Basically, his own mother had encouraged him to turn himself in for a crime he hadn't committed. The sad thing was, as much as Simone pretty much hated his mother, she had understood her position at the time. She just hadn't felt the need to own up to that when she and Tom had shared one final breakfast with Tommy before he left town.
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Kaylee Reynolds fastened the clasp on her pearls as she prepared herself for Alma Gomez's funeral mass. So much had happened, but the unexpected death of the woman she had truly believed would someday become her mother-in-law had helped her reframe her feelings. Despite her own uncertainty, the only place she needed to be at nine o'clock was in a pew at Queen of Angels supporting the man she truly loved.
"You look nice," Carolyn Reynolds said when she appeared in her daughter's doorway.
Kaylee knew her mother was trying to be supportive. "As long as I also look respectful," she said.
"That too, listen, honey, are you sure this is a good idea? Have you even spoken to Raoul since he testified against you?" her mother asked.
"He was subpoenaed by the prosecution. He answered questions honestly, that isn't exactly testifying against me," Kaylee said. In the moment though it had certainly felt like that. Then there was the issue that she had only learned Raoul's mom had died because she had been flipping through the Port Charles Herald and saw her obituary.
Carolyn Reynolds shook her head. "I suppose it could have been worse," she said. She pulled her daughter into a hug. "I'm sorry but I can't lose you too, honey. I can't lose you too!"
Kaylee hugged back. "You aren't going to lose me Mama! Mr. Ward is really good and it's going to be ok," she said. She wished she could believe her own words. Even with a good attorney sometimes life was still messy.
Kaylee gave her mother a final squeeze and then they separated. "I should go the mass starts at nine. I don't want to be late, and I wanted to pick up some roses from the florist on Main Street.," she said. But she swallowed hard as she made her way downstairs and out the front door.
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Dr. Monica Quartermaine readjusted her probe angle and then pushed a few buttons on the machine to save all of the images. "Everything looks great, Carly, I think the volume overload was just due to all of the blood products you needed. I'm heading to Emily's cross country meet but I'll give Dr. Meadows a call before I leave since I know she was hoping to discharge you this afternoon," she said. Then she started pushing the echo machine in the direction of the door.
Dr. Meadows was hoping to discharge her? That was news to Carly. She was a bit surprised at how uncomfortable she was with that plan. Her breath caught, the unsteady weak sensation returned, and before she knew it, she was crying.
Monica must have heard the sobs because she returned to stand beside to Carly's bed. She laid a hand gently on Carly's shoulder. "Why don't you tell me how you're feeling and maybe I can be more helpful?"
Carly tried to take a deep breath but found that just made her cry more. Eventually, after a few shaky short breaths, she managed to regain a little composure. "I guess mostly just really weak. I'm kind of afraid to try to get out of bed," she said. She regretted the words the moment they were out. Monica might be a cardiologist, but she was also her husband's aunt and the BFF of the woman who's home she had wrecked.
"You have definitely not had an easy pregnancy and I suspect you still feel quite uncomfortable. I wish that wasn't the case and that things were easier, but I think you're probably at a point where you need to be gentle with yourself, listen to your body, and allow yourself extra rest. That may be more easily accomplished outside of the hospital. Hospitals aren't the most relaxing, or quiet places and I think Dr. Meadows thought you would be more comfortable at home," Monica said.
Carly didn't say anything. What could she say? Everything Monica said made perfect sense, but it wasn't that simple. She wasn't married to Dr. Alan Quartermaine. Ned might have more than stepped up and she was so grateful to him, but she also still felt like a huge burden to him. Despite her efforts to hold them back the tears started falling again.
Monica gave her upper shoulder a squeeze. "I know this is hard, Carly, and I am sorry and if some of this is that you just aren't completely comfortable letting Ned in on all of the medical aspects of this then maybe we can talk about that more in the context of this lovely family we both married into than in a physician patient context," she said.
"It isn't that!" Carly said. Except it really was almost exactly that.
"Ok, why, don't I just stay until Ned comes back," Monica offered.
"You don't have to do that," Carly protested.
"I know, but I don't want to leave you alone right now," Monica said. She gave her shoulder another squeeze and lowered herself down onto the edge of Carly's bed.
Carly knew that Monica was trying to be kind perhaps even trying to make her feel welcome in the family. But it just made Carly feel completely broken. Then it became impossible to stop the tears.
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Dr. Tom Hardy opened the door to Kelly's Diner for his son and then stepped back while the almost eight-year-old darted inside. He was growing up so fast! Or maybe it just seemed that way since he missed out on the day to day. That was one of the biggest downsides to being in Boston. Ironically one of the biggest upsides was that he didn't have to see his own mother daily and pretend it was ok that she had so little faith in him that she believed he would stalk Felicia Jones.
August 15, 1996
As he sat in the waiting area at Baldwin, Jordan, & Baldwin, Dr. Tom Hardy contemplated if seeking legal counsel made him appear guilty, or just savvy. He was neither. However, when his own mother had begged him to turn himself in, he realized he had to do something, or he might be seeing prison time for a crime he didn't commit.
After he had resolved his impending legal crises then he could turn his attention to the disappointment that his own mother had so little faith in him. He had told himself he had needed to put aside his personal feelings. However, perhaps he hadn't actually done that. Perhaps he hadn't just selected Lee Baldwin because of his legal prowess. Perhaps he was seeking validation from the family his mother had never allowed him to acknowledge.
He had been three when his biological father, Dr. Thomas Baldwin, had deployed to serve in a mobile army hospital during the Vietnam War. His mother had him declared dead to allow her to marry the man he had always called dad, at least as long as he could remember. Years later, when he learned that he wasn't truly a Hardy, he had heard how Lee Baldwin had opposed having his brother declared dead and had not believed in his heart that he was. He had been right, but by the time he had finally returned home his family at least legally belonged to another man. According to his mother, he hadn't handled that well. A paper trail revealed his efforts to vacate his son's adoption. He died, days before the hearing that likely would have done exactly that. Somehow Dr. Steve Hardy eventually smoothed things over and he grew up knowing Lee Baldwin as his parents' friend, but not realizing he should have been his uncle until years later when his cousin Scott slipped up and revealed their connection at his sister Monica's medical school graduation party.
His mother had promptly developed chest pains and been rushed to the hospital. Later, his father had urged him not to bring the matter up, that it was a difficult and painful time for his mother. So, for years he had kept his peace, and for years he had regretted that.
"Tom, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I trust that this is regarding your father's estate," Lee Baldwin said as he came out of his inner offices and extended his hand.
"Actually, this is more of a personal matter."
"Oh, well, why don't you come into my office then?"
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"So how can I help?" Lee Baldwin asked after he had sat down in the wing chair adjacent to the one Tom selected rather than retreating behind his desk.
"I'm not sure if you're aware of the Felicia Jones stalking case?" Tom began.
"Only loosely, did the PCPD finally make an arrest?" Lee asked.
"I'm afraid they may be about to," Tom said.
"I'm not sure I understand," Lee said.
Tom didn't completely understand himself, but he did the best he could to explain Mac Scorpio and his colleague, Dr. Kevin Collins' theory on the stalker.
"Can I get pancakes?" Tommy asked as they sat down at a center table.
"Sure, you can get whatever you want," Tom agreed as he forced himself to let go of the memory and focus on the better life he was trying to build for his son.
As instinctive as it was to look back on the events of that summer and wonder if his former colleague had been intentionally framing him, Tom had accepted that was a path to anything but health. It wasn't his place to play Judge or Jury, so he hadn't. Instead, he had extended true compassion to his former colleague and used that as motivation to break out of some unhealthy patterns and relationships in his own life. Sadly, he had accepted that was impossible to do in Port Charles, so he had taken the job at Boston Children's. It had all made so much sense, at least until he considered that as much as he couldn't bear to be away from Tommy it was equally unfair to take his son from his mother. So, that left him making the three-hour one-way trek to see his son every weekend he was not on call.
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Ned Ashton was a bit taken aback to see his Aunt Monica sitting on Carly's bed when he returned. "Is everything ok?" he asked with trepidation.
Monica stood and turned to face him. "The echo was fine. I'll give Dr. Meadows a call from my cell once I actually get to Emily's meet. I think Carly is just understandably overwhelmed with everything and I felt leaving her in the midst of that wasn't the most kind or compassionate thing I could do."
Ned shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, this has been pretty rough for her," he said.
"I suspect she is physically and emotionally exhausted. Alan and I will run any interference you need with Edward, but I really think that Carly needs to just let herself rest. Strict bedrest isn't evidence based in Obstetrics but that doesn't mean that it is wrong if at this point Carly just feels more comfortable spending the majority of her day in bed," Monica said.
"Did she say something?" Ned asked.
"She said she feels weak and I'm sure she does. She just had a massive hemorrhage, and her hemoglobin is still on the low side. She is still recovering from the pneumonia and then you add the additional physiologic demands of pregnancy and I am sure it is a struggle. I think you should do as much work from home as you can for the next few months because I think she is going to need you. Perhaps she will be better at accepting that from you than I was from Alan at this phase of the pregnancy with Katelyn. I hope she will. Anyway, your cousin Emily's race is supposed to go off at 9:00 so I need to get over to the Community Commons.
"Tell Emily, I said Good Luck! Don't break a leg," Ned called at his aunt's retreating form. He heard Monica chuckle in response as he sat down in the spot Monica had vacated and tried to figure out how to make things ok.
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Elizabeth Webber was almost certain that the semi dorky white guy with the pancake devouring biracial child was her cousin, Dr. Tom Hardy. Of course, since her family was dysfunctional at best, she barely knew the guy and she was pretty sure that technically they weren't actually blood related. With that thought she picked up the coffee pot and started around the diner for refills.