Between trying to figure out what was going on with their youngest daughter, a heavy caseload, and the resurfacing idea that she should drop everything and join ELQ as Chief Counsel, tension had started to build in her marriage and she had no idea how to stop it from getting worse. To top it off, it was Thanksgiving and that brought its own level of insanity that she wasn't quite prepared for. She stood at the doors leading to their back porch, coffee in hand, looking at the lake when he came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I overreacted last night." Ned stated quietly. He had blamed her for working late as a means to avoid having an actual conversation about ELQ and deep down he knew she really was inundated. There was only so much she could delegate to a paralegal.
"I'm sorry, too. I don't want to fight about this, Ned. I don't understand why you don't see what I see," She said as she turned to face him. She loved him. She wanted to support him, but she could not understand how he didn't realize that her working at ELQ wasn't a solution to the fact they needed quality time together. That work would bleed into their family life and it wouldn't be healthy.
"You're really afraid working at ELQ will tear us apart?"
"Just discussing it is tearing us apart."
"Listen, it's Thanksgiving and I don't want to talk about this today. There's enough to deal with." He couldn't deny that she had a point. For some reason, there was tension between them and he couldn't figure out why. ELQ should not have the ability to break them. There had to be more, but today was not the day to dive into it.
"Do you mind if we stay here today? I don't have dealing with the Quartermaine dysfunction in me today." She asked, hopeful, thinking maybe they could preserve some sense of civility. Kristen was home and it would be nice to have time as a family.
"It's the first Thanksgiving without my grandfather. We have to go." Ned said not following.
"I understand that. I do."
"Then what is it? Because this isn't like you. You've always shown up for me when I needed it most. Stefan is in Greece. Nikolas will be at the house with Emily. Why wouldn't we go? Your family will be there, too. It's not like you need to be at Wyndemere."
"I was just hoping we could spend today with our family. The family we built outside of the Quartermaines and the Cassadines."
"This feels like you're pulling away from me and I can't quite figure out why."
"I'm not. I love you. But, can't we just spend the day, grateful for what we have?"
"We can do that and be with our extended family, Alexis. Plus, we have our own post insanity tradition to uphold." He reminded her of the family tradition that they had just for them. "If this were a normal year, maybe we could get out of it. But it's not just any other Thanksgiving."
She sighed, she tried. "I know. You're right. I'm sorry."
'It's ok. Trust me, I fully get why you'd want us to skip it." He said as he hugged her. "I love you."
Later that morning they drove to the Quartermaines. They had set aside any differences that had been pulling them apart, and Alexis hoped that the day wouldn't reveal anymore cracks in her relationship. When they entered the house, she spotted Nikolas, who she was genuinely glad she'd have a chance to catch up with. He was really the only family she had left in Port Charles, which was maybe part of the reason she was pulled more heavily into Ned's family dysfunction. More than she had ever planned to be.
"You mean to tell me, there's an actual turkey in the oven?" Ned said overhearing the discussion as he and his family entered the living room.
"I don't buy it. There's no way we aren't having pizza." Owen said.
"I agree with Owen, whose ordering?" Emily said, reaching for the phone.
"Just give it a chance. Maybe there's hope." Monica said, taking the phone from Emily as Ned walked to pour himself a drink.
Tracy followed her son and pulled Ned aside, "What's up with your daughter, Ned?"
"Kristen is just annoyed that–"
"No, the little one. Over there." Tracy interrupted and nodded her head towards Addison, who was sulking on a chair in the corner, mindlessly looking at her phone.
"Oh. Honestly, we're not sure. This is new. It's usually a book." He was surprised she had taken her phone out so soon. He and Alexis really did need to figure out what was going on with her. This shift couldn't be healthy and they were both concerned.
"Well be a parent and figure it out." Tracy reprimanded, showing some concern for her granddaughter.
"Gee, your support means the world mother." Ned said, picking up his scotch and walking over to Alexis, who was talking to Nikolas.
"Did you hear from Stefan again or has he dropped out of sight?"
"He's plotting something. What, I don't know. I confirmed my grandmother is still ill and still on the island."
"Good. Let me know if you need anything." Alexis finished saying as Ned approached and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"I will." Nikolas replied and then walked over to stand with Emily, who was talking to her mother.
"Do you know where Kristen went?" Alexis asked, noticing their daughter had disappeared as soon as they arrived.
"No, actually. I was about to ask you the same thing." Noting AJ was also missing.
Meanwhile in the Quartermaine den, Kristen was confronting AJ, "So what will it take to get you to back off."
"Did Ned put you up to this?" AJ asked, intrigued.
"No. I'm here on my own. So, what do you want, AJ?"
"This is cute. In order for blackmail to work, you need to actually have something to hold over the person you want something from or did your father forget that essential lesson in the Quartermaine way."
"You won't succeed. There's no way Michael will be CEO."
"I see this now, you think it should be you. The dutiful daughter, meant to take the reins from her self anointed father."
"Michael isn't ready."
"Michael was denied the chance to be ready."
"There you are," Ned said as he entered the den. "What's going on here? Junior, what are you up to?"
"Ha. Ask your kid." AJ said as he left the room amused.
"Kristen?" Ned waited expectantly.
"AJ wasn't doing anything. I was trying to help."
"By doing what exactly?"
"I just thought if I knew what he wanted in exchange, maybe this deadlock could end and you'd get control again." Kristen explained rationally.
"We know what he wants. Michael as CEO. AJ is as transparent as they get, sweetheart. I told you I'd keep you in the loop. Nothing has changed."
"Dad.."
"Krissy, trust me. Let's go back."
As Ned and Kristen walked back into the room Tracy was interrogating Addison, "What the hell is so damn interesting on that phone?"
"Addie, honey, just put it away. Please." Alexis said, clearly annoyed at her mother-in-law, but also not in the mood to fight about it or have Addison dragged into it with her. She hated how lost Addie had become in her phone recently, but it wasn't a battle they needed to fight today.
"Fine." Addison said, resigned, and put it in her pocket.
"Keep it away or they'll figure it out," Owen whispered to his sister. He knew exactly what was going on and he wanted to help her.
Kristen looked at her sister and then at her parents, who genuinely seemed at a loss about what was going. They seemed to have no idea why her sister was losing herself behind a screen. "Hey, Dad? Can you grab mom and meet me in the foyer?"
"Uh sure." He said, perplexed as Kristen left the room again and Ned went to get his wife. "Come with me for a minute."
"Ok. Excuse us," She said to Alan and Nikolas who she had been talking to about the possibility of budget cuts at the hospital and how the Cassadine's could potentially help. "What's going on?" She asked Ned as they walked out into the foyer and closed the doors.
"What is it, Kristen?" Ned asked, waiting for an explanation as to why she suddenly needed to see them both.
"Did you know Addie is on myFace?" She was direct and to the point. Her sister's sudden phone addiction had to be connected to being on that app.
"No, how do you know this?" Alexis asked, surprised.
"She friended me a while ago. I just assumed that you gave her permission."
"Well, we didn't." Alexis stated.
"There've been some posts by other kids. I don't even know how they ended up in my feed, maybe we have mutuals. Anyway, I think they explain what's going on with Addie."
"What?" Ned questioned.
"I think she should be the one to tell you the specifics. I feel like I'm betraying her trust as it is." Kristen had a feeling they didn't know. Addison had been confiding in her a lot recently about the drama at Madison and how she hated it there.
"How bad is it?" Alexis worried.
"I mean it's not good. But Addie's page is pretty innocent. Just a lot of pictures of her and Cam and some reposts from a few kids at her school. But I can't speak to any of her DMs."
"You did the right thing bringing this to us." Ned said.
"She's going to hate me."
"She'll calm down once she realizes you were trying to protect her." Alexis assured her. "Go back to the living room. I need to talk to your father."
Kristen left her parents alone and walked back in. She tried to ignore her sister, so as to not alarm her and went to talk to the rest of the family. A few minutes later Alexis and Ned rejoined the family, agreeing they'd deal with it at home. Alexis walked over to her youngest daughter and stood by the chair and Addison looked up at her trying to figure out why her mom seemed upset all of a sudden.
"Mom?" Addison questioned.
"We need to talk when we get home." Alexis said quietly, clearly not pleased.
"What did I do?" She asked nervously. Her mom hardly ever got this upset at her.
"myFace." Alexis said quietly and she left it at that. Addison would know exactly what they were talking about.
Addison looked across the room at her sister. It had to be. She was just out in the foyer with them. She felt the anger surge through her system, but tried to keep it together when Alice entered the room. "Dinner is ready to be served."
"It's happening. It's actually happening. Father would be so proud we pulled it off." Alan said as people started to move to the dining room.
Alice looked at Addison, "Why young Miss Ashton. What's wrong?"
"Nothing Alice." She said as she stared at her sister walking past her. Kristen couldn't avoid making eye contact with Addison and it was clear she knew what happened. She could see the anger all over Addison's face.
As they walked into the dining room, Addison couldn't keep it in. She tried, but she couldn't pretend to be this happy little family, while her sister had just thrown her under the bus and was clearly avoiding her because she knew what she did. "How could you?!" She yelled as she grabbed Kristen's arm, causing her to turn around. As she did Emily pulled out her chair, causing Kristen to fall just as the turkey was being brought to the table. Kristen went flying, as did the turkey and everyone watched, shocked, as once again their hopes were dashed, a curse continued.
"I'll call for the pizza," AJ said standing, amused that Ned's precious family was the source of all the dysfunction today.
"Addison!" Alexis shouted.
"What has gotten into you?" Ned asked, as the rest of the family looked on, confused.
"I'm ok, it's ok." Kristen said standing.
"No, I want to know. Why would you do this to me?!" Addison yelled.
"Addie, what kids are saying, it's not ok." Kristen tried to stay calm, be rational.
"I can ignore it! I do, every day. I'm handling it! I didn't ask for your help and I don't need my picture perfect older sister to ride in to the rescue!"
"I'm sorry, Adds."
"I can't believe you did this."
"Did someone order pizza?" Sophie asked as she entered with Chloe, pizzas in hand. They had spent the morning with Jax and had arrived just in time.
"That was faster than usual," Monica said.
"We thought we'd come prepared. What's happening?" Chloe asked, reading the room.
"What's happening is my sister is a rat." Addison said, staring at Kristen.
"Wait, she told them?" Sophie asked. 'When?"
"Today, just before you got here."
"Way to ruin the holiday, Krissy." Sophie said, defending her friend. A friend she knew she probably shouldn't be ignoring at school, but it was self preservation at this point.
"I was trying to protect you!" Kristen directed at her sister.
"Please, spare me." Addison retorted.
"Pepperoni, anyone?" Alan chuckled as he started passing around plates.
"Girls. That's enough, just stop." Alexis attempted to intervene.
"Double cheese, for me." Emily said, reaching for an unopened box as Nikolas passed her a plate.
"Is there an everything?" Owen asked, trying to avoid the line of fire between his sisters and looking in another box.
"Wait! Everyone stop." Tracy exclaimed, causing everyone to look at her, expecting her to weigh in, but the chaos was exactly what was ordered. It felt normal and it was needed to get through and so she was reminded, "First we sing. Then we eat."