Chapter Ten
3:10 Luke’s
Jason Morgan is seated at a table to the side of the door when it is opened by
a man and a woman. He checks out the man first; 6’2", brown hair, blue eyes,
good looking, broad shoulders, and strong build. His eyes move over to the
woman; medium height, slim build, dark reddish hair, dark glasses and dressed
in a burgundy pant suit composed of slim pants, that showed off her tiny waist
and fit physic, and a cropped jacket. His eyes traveled back up to her face
and he could feel her staring at him, measuring him, but with those glasses he
couldn’t read her eyes. She walked toward him and that is when he realized
that she was the most dangerous of the two. She began to speak in a
deceptively soft voice.
B - "Mr. Morgan, you don’t take very good care of yourself do you?" for some
reason he was a little surprised by her accent and therefore wasn’t really
paying attention to what she was saying "You do realize that you could be dead
right now don’t you?" he sat up straighter as he noticed a small but deadly
gun in her right hand aimed directly at him. Renaldo finally notices that
something is up and begins to approach her from the rear only to be stopped
when she repositions herself so the gun is aimed at both of them.
G - "Damn it Brie, hell of a way to introduce yourself isn’t it!" he says in a
low voice.
B - "Just proving a point to Mr. Morgan." She puts her gun away but Renaldo
continues to advance, Gage take a step forward but is stopped by a slight
shake of her head. She turns and hands the letter to Jason who was closely
watching the entire scene. Renaldo puts his had on her arm to stop her and
before any of them realize what is going on she has spun around and Renaldo is
laying on the floor with her foot to his neck (believe me - possible, those
self defense and karate classes come in handy) and her gun trained on him.
"Mr. Morgan, may I suggest that you read that letter, quickly, your friend is
beginning to annoy me." Jason quietly scans the letter before looking back up
at Brie and Gage.
J - "Your late." he gets up from his chair " I believe you have proved your
point Ms….." Brie removes her foot and Gage helps Renaldo off of the floor
while she puts her gun away and removes her glasses.
B - "DeAmonte" she replies.
J - "Yes that’s what the letter says, so you must be Andrew Gage."
G - "Gage, nice to meet you." He puts out his hand, "My manners are a little
better than my partners, I guess fancy boarding schools can’t teach you
everything," he glares at Brie "I believe in shaking hands upon meeting
someone, NOT pulling my gun." Brie ignores his gibe and continues to look
around the room.
J - "Nice to meet you…..both" he adds with a slight hesitation as Brie
continues to ignore him "I was beginning to think you guys were a no show."
B - "We got lost." she replies in a disinterested voice.
J - "Well your here now. Why don’t you throw your stuff upstairs and then we
will go meet with Sonny."
B - "Excuse me - upstairs?" she asks
J - "Yeah, there is an apartment up there. Sonny and I crash there sometimes,
it’s fully furnished and all yours."
B - "No that is fine we will be staying at the Port Charles Hotel, I already
made the arrangements. Plus I won’t want to crash your bachelor pad."
J - "Correct me if I am wrong, but you work for us right?" Brie slowly nods
her head "Then you will be staying upstairs, this place is sort of a second
office for us so it is more convenient than the PC Hotel." Brie glares at him
"As for crashing our space, no problem we both have homes so we aren’t
homeless." he adds sarcastically.
B - "Well if you will excuse me I will just go get my stuff - Sir." she wheels
around and walks out the door. Gage watches her go before turning around to
Jason.
G - "Hey man, sorry about that. I don’t know what is up with her, she isn’t
normally like this. She’s been a little touchy since we got to the States,
maybe it’s being in the good Ole` US of A for the first time in a while."
After they retrieve their stuff from the car they come back inside, Jason
removes a key from his key ring and points them toward the apartment then he
gives them directions to the waterfront office asking them to be there at
4:30. Gage walks towards the stairs that Jason has indicated and begins to go
up them.
G - "Brie, what were you thinking!" he turns to Brie expecting her to be right
behind him "Brie?" he calls and turns to walk back down to the turn in the
stairs where he finds her standing at the foot of them looking up. "Brie, you
coming?"
B - "Yeah." She says quietly before walking slowly up the stairs.
G - "You okay?" She nods her head "Good, now tell me what the hell you were
doing?"
B - she snaps out of her thoughts "I told you I was proving a point to Mr.
Morgan, in this business men tend to be protectors of woman, they are not used
to women protecting them. I was just proving that I am an asset not a
liability." She tells him defensively before walking quickly past him and
through the open door of the apartment.
G - "Okay, but did you have to do it so soon? I am not going to be happy if
we have to drive back into the city tonight and explain to Derek how we, no
YOU, blew it." She ignores him and strides past the kitchen and down the hall.
B - "I’ll take this bedroom" she says "you take the master. I will be ready
in ten minutes." And then shuts the door, effectively shutting him out.
Chapter Eleven
Jason in the limo on the way to the waterfront office.
J - "Hey they are here."
S - "Great, what do you think?"
J - "I think that you should see for yourself."
S - "What the hell does that mean?"
J - he ignores his question "They are meeting us at the office in 45 minutes.
See ya then."
S - "Okay I will have Noah bring me in the chopper, have Renaldo pick me up at
the ELQ building in half an hour."
J - "All right." He hangs up the phone and remains deep in thought until they
stop at the docks.
4:20 The Waterfront
Sonny rounds the corner with his shadow and approaches the office where he
spots a woman standing at the rail looking out over the harbor into the
setting sun. He stops abruptly and stares hard at her profile until she turns
around and leans back against the rail. He takes a deep breath, shakes his
head sadly and continues walking.
S - "Excuse me, are you lost?" he asks. She doesn’t appear to hear him and
looks to her left as a tall man approaches her, the man gestures with his head
towards Sonny before she finally turns and looks at him. He shifts his
attention back to her only to find her green gaze boring right into him.
J - "Sonny." He blinks and releases his eyes from hers before turning to
Jason. "Hey man I thought I heard you coming."
S - "Yeah here I am so are we ready for company?" he asks as he walks with
Jason into the office.
J - "They beat you here."
S - He looks around the empty office "Did I miss them?" he says glancing at
his watch "I’m early aren’t I?"
J - "They are outside checking out the area." He hears footsteps on the wooden
walkway outside "wait a minute that’s probably them now." He opens the door
to reveal the pair that Sonny had seen out on the docks. "Come on it." He
nods to the guards outside the door and then turns to Sonny "Sonny Corinthos,
Andrew Gage."
G - steps forward "Gage" then he turns towards Brie "and this is.."
B - she steps towards him "Brianna DeAmonte" she extends her hand. Sonny is
surprised not only that she was a women but that she was quite obviously
foreign and after a small delay he extends his hand.
S - "Call me Sonny." He asks with a small grin and goes to shake her hand.
The grin dies from his face as he quickly withdraws his hand from her warm one
shocked by the electrical current that had passed between the two. Brie takes
a few quick steps back and slides her hands into her pockets. He recovers his
composure "Nice to meet you Ms DeAmonte" he says in a quite voice as he
reaches for the reassurance of his rings that are hidden under his shirt.
"Jason may I talk with you a moment?"
Chapter Twelve
Brie gives Gage an "I told you so look" as Sonny and Jason talk quietly in far
corner of the room.
S - "What the hell is going on here?"
J - "They are the two that Derek sent us - his best."
S - "Let me see that damn note." He growls.
J - He reaches into his jeans pocket and pulls it out. Sonny is quickly scans
it "I already sent for Jake, he should be here any minute."
S - "This is not going to work" he replies still reading the contents of the
letter.
J - "Sonny she is good. I’ve seen her in action and she knows what she is
doing."
S - "Action, what type of action? She’s been in town for an hour, she only
weighs 100 pounds and the only action she is going to see around here is the
door closing behind her and the guys hitting on her in the bars on the way
outta town."
J - "Hey man maybe you should reserve judgment for a second."
S - "Why?" he asks before turning his dark eyes on the beautiful woman across
the room.
Chapter Thirteen
Brianna and Gage are talking in another corner of the room in very low voices.
B - "I told you." She says in French with a smug look on her face
G - "Why are you speaking in French?" he asks switching to the same.
B - "Neither one of them know it, well Jason," she amends "but he probably
doesn’t remember. Anyway if they overhear they won’t know what we’re saying
and it will annoy Sonny" she says with a half smile "and right now he deserves
it. Besides it is the only language you don’t completely butcher."
G - he ignores her last statement and then asks quietly "Brie aren’t you being
a little rough on the guy? You don’t even know him."
B - "Oh yes I do." He looks at her strangely but she doesn’t notice since all
her attention is centered on the other two men "He is definitely not liking
this one little bit."
G - "Okay so he isn’t, but why are you so angry?" the front door knob rattles
and the door bursts open, both Gage and Brie automatically go for their
weapons. Gage jumps in front of Sonny and Jason while Brie spins and drops to
one knee taking aim directly at the door.
Jake - "Brianna, is that you?" he yells ignoring the gun she is holding steady
and pointed directly at him.
B - She rises from her crouched position on the floor "Jake how are you?" she
asks with a smile before being lifted up from the floor and into a giant bear
hug.
Jake - "Great! Hey you finally grew!"
B - "Nope I’m afraid I’m hopeless." She points towards her feet and the boots
that she is wearing.
Jake - "Damn still wearing those 3 inchers to get up to normal height huh?"
B - "Never leave home without them." She replies with a small grin. "So back
off!"
Jake - He gives her another small hug and turns serious "It’s good to see you
darlin’" he then looks over her head and sees Jason and Sonny who are still
behind Gage watching the scene with both curiosity and amusement. "Sonny.
Jason." He acknowledges them before going over to Gage and pumping her hand
"Gage how the hell are you? You keeping her in line?"
G - "Actually it is the other way around."
Jake - "With Brianna that is normally the way it is." He replies "It’s good to
see you."
G - "Same here buddy. I hear you got out of the rat race and into another
one." The room is silent "marriage, ugh, I don’t know whether to pity or
congratulate you." Gage replies with a grin, Jake laughs out loud, while Sonny
continues to watch the two of them and Jason watches Brie who has one again
become quite, distant, and reserved.
Chapter Fourteen
Later at the waterfront office, Sonny and Jason are the only two left in the
room.
S - "Well Jake obviously likes them but the question is are they going to do a
good job for us? After what you told me about Brie at the club.." his voice
trails of as he shakes his head.
J - "Jake is a good judge of character, but then again so are you. What do
you think? Objectively."
S - "I’m not sure, my gut says yes, but…"
J - "But what? She’s a she?" He says with a grin.
S - "Yeah - that too. What do we really know about them?"
J - "I’m going to run complete checks as soon as I get on the phone."
S - "Good find out everything you can and then we can go over it together. I
think we should meet with Jake and find out exactly what he knows about them."
Jason nods his head in agreement. Sonny turns and looks at him curiously
"What do you think?"
J - "About them?"
S - "Yeah."
J - "Well Gage, now he’s an open book," Sonny nods in agreement "he reminds me
a little of how Joseph was, you know?" a look of regret passes briefly over
both of their faces before he continues "But Brie she a wild card, she may
look fairly innocent but she is far from it, I have a feeling she is full of
surprises. She’s a tough read and doesn’t really like either one of us for
that matter."
S - "Why do you say that?" he asks looking puzzled.
J - "Besides her pulling a gun on me when we first met? Oh I don’t know it’s
something in her attitude, she wants to pretend that neither of us are in the
same room with her. Did you notice how she tried not to communicate with
either of us and that Gage does most of the talking? She did that to me at
the club too, it was like she was trying to pretend we don’t exist or are not
in the room."
S - "Well then that definitely isn’t a person we want working for us."
J - "But her deliberate actions and her instinctive reactions are two separate
things."
S - "Where are you going with this?"
J - "Did you notice where she was when Jake burst in?" Sonny squints his eyes
thinking about Jake’s entrance and Jason continues "Gage jumped in front of us
but she went straight down in front of the door, directly in the line of fire,
directly between us and any possible threat. Sonny if it would have been a
hit she would have been the first person hit or the first person to make a
move. She gave Gage the time he would have needed to save both of our butts."
Sonny is now standing at the window looking out over the water and doesn’t
respond "But that isn’t the only thing, it is something in her eyes, her
attitude, gut feeling, I don’t know, something! A feeling I had the minute
they walked into the club, I was watching her and it is like she is only half
alive, emotions shut down, kind of like I used to be before you and …."
S - he finally turns back to Jason "Robin?" he says very softly
J - "Yeah. But with her it’s different, she hasn’t done it because she
doesn’t know any better like I did, she is doing it intentionally. Hiding
something and in a lot of pain."
S - "Pain? Physically?"
J - "No in her soul, her heart, and her mind."
S - he nods his head slowly his own sadness and pain are reflected in his eyes
"I’m going to take off." He says quietly and turns towards the door.
J - "Sure I have work to do and some phone calls to make." Sonny opens the
door and leaves without saying anything else.
Chapter Fifteen
Jake, Brianna, and Gage are sitting in a quiet corner table talking.
Jake - "It’s getting cold outside and I need to get home soon."
G - "Yeah quite a climate change from South America. Thanks for showing us
this place its great, don’t you think so Brie?" He asks her trying to draw her
into the conversation since she had been staring into her coffee cup stirring
it and saying nothing for at least the last five minutes. She looks up
suddenly as if she had just remembered that they were there.
B - "Yeah."
Jake - "I’d love to introduce you to the owner she is great." Brie’s spoon
stills in the coffee cup. "Ruby is a part of Port Charles history kinda like
everyone’s Aunt, I swear half of Port Charles has either lived or worked here
at one time or another, but she is with her great-niece and nephews right now
in Florida. She took them to Disney World for a few days."
G - "Well we will meet her eventually it looks like we will be around for a
couple months. So tell us about Port Charles."
Jake - "Well it is definitely not Paris or LA or even New York City for that
matter, but it is home. You know I never thought I would settle down in one
place, much less get married, but now I couldn’t live any other way. I’m tell
you marriage, mortgages and babies are my future." He says with a huge smile
"This town in great, everyone knows everyone and there is always something
going on to keep you entertained. I mean where else can you find Fortune 500
Corporations, the second biggest cosmetics company in the world, one of the
top models in the country, a Record label, a world famous Blues Club, two East
Coast mob bosses, AND still not be afraid to walk down the street at night?
What else could you want, big city dreams in a small town package."
G - "Sounds interesting, when do we get to work?"
Jake - "Take the two days that Sonny and Jason gave you because pretty soon
you’ll be too busy."
B - "They are checking on us you know." She states.
Jake - "Well Corinthos and Morgan are not still alive because they are stupid
or careless. They are just doing what either one of us would do."
G - "He’s right." She takes a sip of her coffee saying nothing and Gage turns
his attention back to Jake. "Anyway what do you mean that we’ll be too busy?
Is something going on."
Jake - "Not much - yet. But I am about to be up to my elbows in diapers and
bottles so you guys have a lot to learn in a short time and you will be more
than busy."
G - "Congratulations, Derek told us the news. Why wasn’t I invited to the
wedding?"
B - "Yes Jake, congratulations."
Jake - "Thanks. Sorry about he wedding though. Jule and I got married a year
ago and from what I heard you two were up to your ears in some deal in
Argentina, besides I remember Brie’s aversion to the States. Matter a fact I
was surprised to see you, I didn’t think the Derek would be able to free you
guys up."
G - "We just finished up in Peru and headed straight here."
Jake - "Well I’m glad. Hey, you two need to come have dinner with us. How
about tonight?" Gage opens his mouth to say agree but Brie interrupted.
B - "Jake I am really sorry but I am wiped out, jet lag, time changes, you
know?"
Jake - "That’s okay, maybe another night, by the way where are you two
staying?"
G - "Above the club."
Jake - "Above Luke’s?" he asks obviously a little surprised.
G - "Yeah, is that a good place to be?"
Jake - "It’s actually a great place to be, but it just surprised me a little.
Nobody has lived up there in almost six years, Jase and Sonny are normally the
only two that hang out up there."
G - "Why?" he asks very interested and even Brie has looked up from her mug
waiting for Jake’s answer.
Jake - he shrugs his shoulders a little "I don’t know - memories maybe. You
know that Sonny used to live there? Of course you don’t" he answers his own
question "Well that apartment and Luke’s have quite a history, from shoot-outs
to kidnappings and bombs to births. Life, love and friendship; there are a
lot of memories and moments tied up in that place."
G - "Great just what we need someone else for Brie to pull her gun at." He
smiles over at her and Jake laughs, Brie continues to slowly stir her coffee
once again lost in her own thoughts.
Chapter Sixteen
Sonny is sitting on *their* bench (you know the one ) staring out over the
water lost in thought. Renaldo is standing about 100 yards behind him blowing
on his hands obviously cold but Sonny doesn’t seem to notice the coldness of
the night. Jason and Johnny are walking quickly down the dock to the car when
they notice Renaldo and then Sonny.
J - "How long has he been sitting there?" he asks Renaldo.
R - "Every since he left the office."
J - He pushes back the sleeve of his coat and looks at his watch "That’s
almost an hour. Johnny you stay here, Renaldo you head to the car, stay with
Pat and get warmed up. Keep the car running we will be there shortly." He
tells them before walking down the steps towards the lone figure on the bench.
"Hey Sonny, you okay?"
S - He looks up and sees Jason "Yeah fine, just needed some time."
J - "I know." He answers before sitting down next to him "You know whenever I
really miss Robin I go to the bridge. You come here." Sonny nods his head.
S - He begins talking softly and slowly "You know it’s been five years and I
miss her more and more every day." Jason remains silent, ashamed that he is
glad. Glad that at least for him the woman he loves is alive and not dead,
she may not be with him but at least she had a life to live, unlike Brenda.
"Damn sometimes life just isn’t fair, why did it have to be her and not me? I
always thought that when the time came I would go first. The possibility of
living my life without her never entered my mind, and it is hard, damn hard."
he takes a deep breath and leans his head back to look at the sky "You know I
can still feel her, every hour, every day, and lately it has been stronger
than ever. I don’t know if it’s the holidays, she loved Christmas ya know?"
he tilts his head toward Jason and with a sad smile on his face he continues
"or the house, the empty bed, the half empty closet, a trace of perfume.
Everything, everything reminds me of her. You know I see her all the time,
not just in my dreams, but today I started to see her in other people, and the
feeling keeps getting stronger and stronger. She is still with me Jason, in
my heart, my blood, my soul, forever. Will it ever stop hurting this much?"
he asks in such a pained voice that Jason can’t think of words to comfort him
"God Brenda, I miss you baby." He says in a whisper looking up at the moon.
They both fall silent for a while before Jason finally stands up and put his
hand on Sonny’s shoulder.
J - "Come on man, lets go home."
S - "Thanks Jason."
J - "No problem, lets get something to warm you up." They both walk slowly up
the steps and to the waiting limo that will take them to the penthouse, a
place with even more memories. It was going to be a long night for both of
them.
Chapter Seventeen
Penthouse - mid afternoon the next day. Sonny and Jason are sitting at the
table going over some files, the remnants of lunch are piled to one side
waiting to be cleaned up.
S - "Jake is on his way."
J - "He was coming from GH right?" He pauses and Sonny nods "Does that mean we
are going to hear about what happened in Lamaze class today?"
S - he chuckles softly "Probably. He is so excited, I remember.." his voice
trails off and his grin quickly dies.
J - "Sonny don’t." he says knowing where his thoughts are headed.
S - "Brenda should have gone, I should have made her."
J - "It’s not your fault, no one could make Bren do anything she didn’t want
to."
S - "I could have. She was trying to keep a low profile for my sake."
J - "For both of you." He corrects firmly "Sonny quit beating yourself up, it
wasn’t your fault." Sonny walks over to the wet bar and pours himself a
drink. Just then Jake comes rushing into the room.
Jake - "Hey, sorry class ran late." He says by way of an explanation. Sonny
is staring into space and Jake turns a questioning look to Jason who slowly
shakes his head and points to the papers on the table. Jake gets the hit and
walks toward the files "All right I’m ready, what did you guys want to talk
about?" Sonny remains silent and walks to the balcony doors where he stands
looking down over the city. "He okay?" he asks Jason in a low voice.
J - "Brenda." one word was the only explanation needed.
Jake - "I wish I had known her" he tells Jason sadly looking up at the large
watercolor on the wall; Brenda stood smiling and laughing on a wooden dock by
the ocean, the wind blowing her hair back and her dress against her gently
rounded stomach where her left hand lay in a protective manner (Sonny had the
painting done from a small sketch he brought from a local artist in Tahiti).
"She was a truly beautiful woman."
J - He nods "Yes she was, and she did whatever she could to protect him, even
when he didn’t want it and most of the time he didn’t." he remembers with a
smile "He once told me that she was happy when she was driving him crazy, but
you know what? It made him happy too. They loved to fight but always made
up, there love was a presence and everyone around them felt it. He truly
loved her, still does." Jake turns and looks at Sonny who is still standing
by the doors.
Jake - "How does he do it? I don’t know if I could."
J - "He has to." He whispers before changing the subject. "Now help me clean
up this mess from lunch and lets get to work, he will join us when he is
ready."
Chapter Eighteen
Jason and Jake are working at the dining room table flipping through a folder
labeled "Gage, Andrew P." when Sonny comes up and joins them.
S - "See anything that doesn’t look right?"
Jake - "Nope everything looks okay, it goes along with everything that I know
about him. I was just telling Jason that I never worked one-on-one with him,
I just know him from Brie, he’s been her partner for almost three years ever
since the two of us stopped working together."
S - "You worked with Brianna?"
Jake - "Yeah, I was her first partner." He remembers with a grin, "Derek and I
trained her ourselves, then she became my partner."
S - "For how long?"
Jake - "A little over a year."
S - "Why only a year?"
Jake - "Well when Derek put us together I don’t think it was to encourage her
to stay, it was more like a way to flush her out. You see we didn’t exactly
get along."
S - "She seems to have that problem a lot. Did Jason tell you about the
club?"
Jake - "No actually Gage did. But it sounds like typical Brianna." He laughs
"She has a major chip on her shoulder, but the reason we didn’t get along was
mostly my fault." Sonny snorts not believing that for a second "No really it
was, I drove her pretty hard. We were working mostly in Asia - China, Saudi,
Thailand; lots of jungles and a couple deserts - hotter than hell." He
grimaced in memory "Her first month was a learning experience for both of us,
everything she had learnt up until that point had been at some cozy retreat or
she just made it up as she went along, but this was reality and she had
stepped into it with both feet so it took a little while to adjust. But let
me tell you, once she did she never looked back."
S - "You said it was a learning experience for both of you. What did you get
out of it?"
Jake - "I learnt to never, ever, underestimate her. She will surprise you
every time." He tells them both seriously.
J - "Here’s her file." He slides a slim folder towards Jake as Sonny seated
himself at the head of the table, his back to the painting. Jake begins to
open it.
S - "No!" he says in a harsh voice as he lays his hand down to keep it closed.
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