Sonny was about to leave the penthouse when Nina walked in the penthouse door carrying to-go bags.
"I told you I'd be there," Sonny said, "I was just running a little behind."
"I know," Nina said, "But I figured I could just meet you here for lunch instead. I thought maybe you might want to talk about how things went with Kellie."
"She hates me," Sonny said, shaking his head.
"Come on. It can't be that bad," Nina said, setting the to go bag on the desk.
"She wants nothing to do with me," Sonny said.
"I'm sure it will blow over," Nina said.
"She and I haven't really spoken or spent time together since she got back to Port Charles last year," Sonny said, "She refuses to listen my side of anything or my expertise."
"She's not receptive to Carly turning you and Jason into the feds, " Nina replied cautiously.
"No," Sonny said, "And then she blew a conversation I tried to have with Charles out of proportion. She thinks I went after him. I thought Charles could maybe get Kellie to listen to me."
"Okay, okay," Nina said, "I know things didn't go so well with Kellie. But maybe she just needs a little time and space. You can reach out to her when she's cooled off. She'll come around eventually."
"Kellie was very clear that I was to leave her and Jason alone," Sonny said, "She even threatened to find a way to turn me into the feds."
"I'm sure she was just angry" Nina said, "She didn't mean it."
Sonny shrugged, "I'm not so sure."
"Maybe I could talk to her?" Nina said.
Sonny gave Nina a skeptical look.
"You're right," Nina said, "That would just make things worse. What about Olivia?"
"You just missed her," Sonny said, moving to take the food out of the bag, "She made me promise to leave Kellie alone. Alexis basically told me the same thing after I approached Kellie at the MetroCourt the other day. I don't think I have any choice."
"Well, I believe it won't always be that way," Nina said, "Someday, Kellie and Michael will come around."
The Foot Bridge
"I guess I should think about heading home," Sam said, leaning her head on Kellie's shoulder.
"Me too," Kellie said, "I want to spend some time with the kids."
"I heard I'd find you two here," Lorenzo interrupted as he approached.
"Dad," Sam said, jumping up and hugging Lorenzo.
"I see you're feeling good," Lorenzo said.
"It might be the tequila," Sam said, "And I don't have to tell Danny his father might be going to prison."
"What brings you here?" Kellie asked, standing up.
"I wanted to see you were okay for myself," Lorenzo said, "You gave us quite the scare. You want to take off on Jason, that's fine. Just don't go radio silent or lose the trackers and guards okay."
"Let's face it, I can make no such promises," Kellie said.
"It is kind of a fish bowl with the guards sometimes," Sam said, "I get it."
"I don't think you should be encouraging her," Lorenzo said.
'Will take you me home, Dad?" Sam said.
"I'm happy to," Lorenzo replied.
"I'll meet you at the car," Sam said.
Sam hugged Kellie super tightly for a long time.
"We should do this again with Liz," Sam said, "She's really fun after a few drinks. I'll get her and Johnny's story out of her."
"Thanks for listening," Kellie said as Sam released her.
"Bye," Sam said, waving haphazardly as she walked off.
Lorenzo nodded at his guard to follow Sam to the car before turning his attention to Kellie.
"And how good are you feeling?" Lorenzo asked, hugging Kellie.
"Nowhere near as good as Sam is," Kellie said, "She is going to feel that in the morning. But she probably needed to blow off some steam after everything that happened the last few days."
"And wondering about Danny and Jason," Lorenzo said, "You're certain he's not going to prison to keep Carly and Michael rom being charged by the SEC."
"I'm certain," Kellie said, "You and I would be having an entirely different conversation if I wasn't."
"About you possibly taking over the business and increasing your security," Lorenzo said, "I know Jason would try to run it from prison, but it would signal weakness someone would try to take advantage of."
"It would," Kellie said, "Jason has stabilized things a lot, but people would still try. He's still working on a transition plan if he weren't able to run the business so I don't have to."
"It takes a while to build that kind of trust and loyalty," Lorenzo said.
"Max doesn't want it," Kellie said, "Brando would have been possible option if he had wanted to stay working for Jason. But then Heather Webber murdered him."
"What about Johnny or Francis?" Lorenzo asked.
"Johnny's never had that desire," Kellie said, "I would assume it's less so with him dating Liz. I'd hate to give up Francis if he was even interested."
"But it might be better for you strategically," Lorenzo said, "Would you have taken over the business for Jason if he ended up going to prison?"
"Under these circumstances, no," Kellie said, "In that moment when I really thought it was the most likely possibility, I couldn't imagine making that sacrifice if Jason were to make that choice. I didn't want to. One of my first thoughts was to call Maximus Sr about getting the kids and I out of Port Charles. Obviously, I could go to the island."
"But you'd still need some sort of protection if it's a free for all between Jason and Sonny," Lorenzo said, "Despite being overthrown from his place has head of a territory, Sonny still has just enough sway to attract enemies looking to step in. Maximus has more than proven he's willing to provide you protection however you indicate you need it."
"Go figure that it would be the mob family I unknowingly married into that would ultimately provide the most protection in the end," Kellie said, "The one we didn't even know until after Tyler passed we were connected to."
"It wasn't necessary when Tyler was alive," Lorenzo said, "You were in California away from most of it. Sonny could still hold things together enough even when Jason was gone that you and kids weren't caught in an all out war. If I had known that my attempt to help the feds shut down Sonny's operations years ago wouldn't be successful or that my father would expose my role in it, I probably would have kept running my organization. There wouldn't have been a need to hand it over the holdings to Sonny. You wouldn't have had to rely on Sonny's inconsistent protection."
"I love that you tried, Uncle Lo," Kellie said, "You've been heavily involved with my security. We both know you're not entirely without resources or leverage which will be more public with you taking back all of the shipping company. And if you hadn't gone mostly legit, I wouldn't have had someone to take over running the foundation when I had to step back."
"I hope you know how proud I am of you," Lorenzo said.
"Uncle Lo, I don't think," Kellie started to say.
"I'm serious," Lorenzo said, not letting Kellie finish her sentence, "You had a rough start to overcome between your mom being a drug addict and dying young, leaving you to the foster system. Given what it took for you to survive, you could have embraced following in Sonny's footsteps to run his organization. I know it's been rough at times. It's been one of my worst fears that you'd get completely sucked into mob one way or another especially these last few years. I can't help but be proud of the fact that every time you found yourself considering taking over the business, you've been honest with yourself that you don't want that and made decisions to avoid that."
"Some might consider that debatable," Kellie said.
"Kellie, you had an open invitation to join the five families on your own and you didn't take it," Lorenzo said, "I watched the sacrifices you made when you first came to Port Charles for the business, to protect all of us, and all too often at your expense. In ways that never should have happened. I bear some of the blame for that. But to hear you say enough to taking over the business if Jason went to prison for Carly and Michael, it makes me really happy to see you take ownership of your life like that. To value yourself enough to put yourself first, to make a different choice than you would have at one time."
"Uncle Lo, we both know there's no guarantees that under different circumstances," Kellie said, "I still could end up down that road."
"But not today, not yet," Lorenzo said, "Even if you don't realize it, that's still a really big deal. I remember the young girl who showed up looking to buy the penthouse from me years ago."
"You were kind of grumpy that day," Kellie quipped.
"If I recall Lila Rae had kept me up all night," Lorenzo said.
"You also didn't let on that you'd found out I was your niece," Kellie said, "If it weren't for the fact I read you the riot act for knowing way too much about my spy activities and wanting to pay for my therapy would you have told me? Or did you plan to just not say anything?"
"I would have told you," Lorenzo said, "I wanted you to have all the protection and resources you were entitled to as an Alcazar. But when you first came back to Port Charles, I had no idea how or when to approach the subject. I think you wanted to know your family, but I knew it was hard for you."
"It was," Kellie said, "When I came back to Port Charles that time, I'd just really planned to take care of the threat I suspected was coming. I didn't plan to stay or intend to get too close to anyone. I didn't really want to let you in when I first found out we were related."
"I know," Lorenzo said, "That's why t I tried not to pressure you. I knew If I pushed, you'd push further away."
"Then Mike died unexpectedly of cancer," Kellie said, "And I got into that awful fight with my dad. When you showed up at the penthouse, you stayed with me. Even though I was really drunk, crying, and angry and throwing tequila bottles and passing out, you didn't leave. You stayed even though I was an absolute mess."
"You were not in any condition to be left alone when I found you," Lorenzo said, "Even if you'd been sober, I wanted you to know that I was there for you if you wanted."
"I'm glad you showed up," Kellie said, "When I sobered up, I realized you might make an okay uncle."
"Just okay?" Lorenzo asked, teasing.
Kellie shrugged, "Verdict might still be out.'
"Well I am still proud of you," Lorenzo said, "Don't think I didn't notice you changed the subject."
"I don't really know what to say to that," Kellie said.
"You don't have to," Lorenzo said.
The Quartermaine Kitchen
Monica was sitting at the breakfast table drinking tea when Tracy walked in.
"Ah…there you are," Tracy said, "I have a bone to pick with you, Monica."
"What now, Tracy?" Monica replied.
"You and Charles sneaking around like teenagers so he could spend the night" Tracy started to say.
"Oh for pete's sake, Tracy," Monica said, "What Charles and I do is our business. But we never intended for him to spend the night."
"But you still wanted him to," Tracy said, "Whether his staying over was intentional or not."
"Do you even have an actual point, Tracy?" Monica asked, exasperated.
"Do you know how much I would give to have more time with Luke?" Tracy responded, "And here you have more time with Charles. The two of your are spending it pretending you don't want to do more than go on a date here and there instead of just embracing the fact that you get a second chance to get married if you still want to, to be a couple."
"Charles went through an ordeal," Monica said, "As much as I like to pick up where we left off, it's not practical."
"Monica, at our age we don't always have the luxury of time to be practical" Tracy said, "Especially when we get a second chance at love for lack of a better word. Sure, I might be annoyed at one more person moving back into the mansion. But Alan wouldn't have wanted you to be alone. You can marry Charles or not. But just don't waste time not being together because it's not practical or you're worried about what anyone else thinks."
Monica looked confused at Tracy, speechless. When Monica still didn't think about it, Tracy walked off..
"Just think about it," Tracy said as she left, "Or make yourselves miserable choosing to be apart. But what do I care?"
Author's Note: I was almost done with Kellie and Lorenzo's section when I saw the news that Leslie Charleson passed away. Back in "Dark Nights" when I realized I was going to kill Charles off and in a hostage situation no less, I did hate what it meant for Monica and the end of the Monica/Charles relationship. Or so I thought. Once I realized Charles was alive, it's always been planned to include a happy ending for Monica and Charles. As I am getting ready to write the final chapters for this story, I have to admit that writing this arc of Monica's story feels incredibly bittersweet now.