Author's Note: On the show, ELQ and Aurora (Drew's company) were supposed and Michael was working for Aurora. In this story, I have Drew solely running Aurora and not attempting to merge with ELQ. Since Michael was given reduced access to ELQ in "Dark Nights", I have him going outside the family and working for Ryan Lavery's (AMC) media company and attempting to arrange the merger through that company in order oust Valentin out of ELQ. It's referenced in conversation in this chapter. I just wanted to fill in the background information there at this point. Happy Reading!
While Kellie and the kids were on the phone with Charles, Dante stopped by.
Jason met Dante at the front door.
"I didn't take you for the butterfly and rainbow type," Dante said, seeing the stickers on Jason.
"I'm not," Jason said, "But when your three-year-old wants to put stickers on you, you let them put stickers on you. What brings you by?"
"I wanted to check on my sister," Dante said, "See how she's doing after well running into Charles at the hospital like that, finding out he's alive."
"She's in still in shock," Jason said, "Happy he's alive, but…"
"Still trying to believe it," Dante said, "I get it. When Anna called me yesterday, I thought I might have been hallucinating the whole conversation. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I had concerns even if it was Charles and I didn't want to put Kellie in danger until we knew more or ask you to keep it from Kellie."
"You were looking out for your sister," Jason said, "I had my concerns when I saw Charles in the hospital parking garage. But it sounds like everything checks out."
"I think so," Dante said, "I saw him at the hospital briefly. I stopped by to get my read on him. Anna asked me to keep an eye on him for a bit in case of well brainwashing."
"We'll all be watching even with Kevin's clearance and the therapist who evaluated him on the plane," Jason said.
"The Cassadines are tricky that way," Dante said.
"Jason, someone's looking for you," Kellie said, as she came into the entry way carrying Kelsey who was now holding more sheets of stickers, "She says you need more stickers. Dante?"
"More stickers huh?" Jason said, taking Kelsey from Kellie, "Are you sure about that?"
"You're silly, daddy," Kelsey giggled as Jason carried her away.
"So how about that good news today?" Dante said, giving Kellie a bear hug.
"I still keep thinking this is a dream," Kellie said, "I'm going to wake up and find he's not really here."
"It's no dream, Little Sis," Dante said, "Unless we're both having it. I've seen him. I have to say knowing the Cassadines, he came out remarkably well."
"Not usually what would happen," Kellie said, "But I will take it."
"Same here," Dante said, "I'll keep an eye on him for bit, in case there's something that got missed. I'm sure you will too given what you encountered in your time with WSB."
Kellie nodded.
"You and I good right?" Dante said, "I know I didn't tell you first thing when Anna called me."
"I honestly don't care," Kellie said, "Charles is home, alive, and in one piece more or less."
"To be honest, I didn't know where to start when Anna called and told me," Dante said, "You looked like you were feeling pretty good last night at the Floating Rib. I asked Lorenzo to speak privately. He suggested we wait to tell you until we knew more."
"Dante, it's fine," Kellie said, "There was a lot going on. Do you know what was happening with the SEC and Carly and Michael?"
"You know Carly lost her share of the MetroCourt because she leveraged it to buy stock in Lavery Media Publications?" Dante asked, "And then the stock tanked when the merger with ELQ didn't go through."
"Yeah," Kellie replied.
"Apparently, Carly knew about the potential merger with ELQ before she bought the stock," Dante said, "The SEC got wind of it. Now they're investigating her, Michael, and the owner of Lavery Media Publications, Ryan Lavery. Did you know she and Ryan Lavery are dating apparently?"
"Seriously," Kellie said, "You know what, I don't think I want to know anything else. All of that just looks bad if Carly knew before she bought the stock."
"Carly says she didn't know it was insider trading," Dante said.
"Why am I not surprised that might actually be true?" Kellie responded, "And that's just bad timing with Willow's transplant."
"They'll have to sort it out themselves," Dante said, "I don't think Sonny and Jason can bail them out of this one."
"It's just messy," Kellie said.
"Not our circus," Dante said.
After the kids were in bed, Jason found Kellie upstairs in their room. She was sitting on the bed, holding a worn piece of paper. Jason recognized the paper as the letter Charles had left her in the event he'd died saving her life.
Kellie attempted to ignore Jason at first as he got ready for bed. Jason came and sat next to Kellie on the bed.
"I don't think not talking about whatever is bothering you is going to make it just disappear," Jason said.
"I'm fine," Kellie said, unconvincingly.
"It's been while since you've had that letter out," Jason said, "As much as you're happy that Charles is alive, I'm sure it's bringing up a lot of different emotions for you."
"I just needed," Kellie started to say as she put the letter on the nightstand, "I don't know."
Jason gently took Kellie's hand and encouraged her to get under the covers with him. He snuggled Kellie up against him.
"What are you afraid of?" Jason asked, gently.
"It's nothing," Kellie said.
"What are you afraid of?" Jason repeated softly.
"It's just," Kellie replied, finally relenting to answer Jason's question, "I know as much as Charles is relieved to be home and wanted to get back to his family, he still got shot and lost the better part of a year of his life because of me. Once things settle down and he's had time to think about all of that, what if he decides that the risks of being associated with me are too much. What if I don't really end up having him back like it was before."
"That could be a possibility," Jason said, "I'd think it's highly unlikely. That's not who Charles is, never has been. I know you struggle to understand how much Charles considers you part of his family even with it being in that he left you in black and white. I don't think there will ever be that one thing that would cause Charles walk away from you. I'm guessing that's something that's always been at the back of your mind."
"Maybe this is that one thing, Jason," Kellie replied.
Jason shook his head, thinking for a moment.
"Would you ever think my mom would decide she wanted nothing to do with me?" Jason asked, "Even when she doesn't agree with my choices."
"No," Kellie said, "But she raised you from the time you were what? A toddler?"
"What about Drew?" Jason asked, "He was an adult when we found out about him.
"Well, no," Kellie said.
"Have you considered your relationship with Charles isn't really any different than the one Drew and I have with Monica?" Jason asked.
Kellie gave Jason a look mixed with annoyance and resignation.
"What I'm supposed to do with this now?" Kellie said, "This is stuff Charles wrote thinking he'd be gone if I ever read it."
"It doesn't make what he wrote any less true," Jason said, "The truth is things won't be like they were before. Time passed and things happened to both of you separately, changing you. You'll have to get to know him again. I had to do the same get to know people where they were at when I came back after everyone thought I was dead. They had to get to know me where I was at."
"But the letter, do I know ignore what Charles wrote or I don't know what else?" Kellie said.
"I don't think you should or can ignore it," Jason said, "That's one of those things you'll have to talk about with Charles. It might actually be a good thing to have everything out in the open, how much you feel like a daughter to him and how important you realized he really is to you. Maybe your relationship with Charles will actually be better."
"I don't know," Kellie said, "All of this feels like a lot right now. I don't know what to do with any of it or what to talk about."
"You don't have to know anything right now," Jason said.
Neither said a word after that for a while as Jason held Kellie against him as she drifted off to sleep.