CHAPTER 10

"Daddy came to see Grandpa," the little girl answered with a smile. "They are talking business," she added with her angelic face.

"How do you know they are talking business?" Jerry asked curiously

"Because Grandpa didn't want us there, silly, don't you know that they adults want to talk business when they are sending the children out of the room?"

"Of course, I knew that," Jerry said as he passed his hand in his hair. "Of course I knew that."

"No, you didn't," Liana laughed and felt herself lifted from the floor. "Claude, put me down!" the little girl giggled and Jerry smiled. She was pretty cute, for a parasite.

"Do you know her well?" Jerry asked his best friend

"Liana is my third cousin Lucky's daughter , or something like that. She's probably not even family anymore, since she is the daughter of the son of my grandmother's brother, so that makes her my fourth, or fifth cousin. Not that I care. Liana's cool, and she knows how to play baseball and all the cool games"

"Why you never talked to me about her?" Jerry asked as if his best friend withheld some crucial information on him.

"I did, but you said you didn't want me wasting my breath to you about a chick, so I stopped!" answered an insulted Toby.

"Yeah well, if she knows how to play cool games, she isn't a chick, she's one of the guys!" Jerry exclaimed. He wouldn't admit that he also thought Liana was cute, and that he would do anything and say anything to cut her some slack as a woman, the inferior sex. He was, after all, only 7 years old, still at the cooties stage, but somehow, Jerry thought it wouldn't be that bad if Liana wanted to give him some.

"So what business are they talking about?" Toby asked Liana, as the little girl laughed, being held upside down and swung side to side by Claude.

"How should I know? Jerry and I have been kicked out when grandpa decided to talk to my dad," she answered and Jerry smiled at her cute, high pinched voice.

****************

"What do you mean, he's out?" Jax asked Michael

"Toby and he went to take a walk, I think," the pre-teen answered. "They had some research from school or something, and they didn't want me there with them, so dad said to let them go"

"I wanna talk to your father, right away," Jax pestified and waited until Sonny took the phone, but he didn't even have time to say anything that Sonny was talking;

"Relax, they are perfectly safe, I have someone on them at all time," Sonny told his best friend. "Johnny won't let them get away, and he will call me as soon as they do something unusual"

"Do you trust him to take care of my son?" Jax asked into the phone but he knew Johnny could be trusted.

"Yes, I do," Sonny answered honestly. "He's been working for me for years, he knows Toby and Jerry as much as we do, and the boy thinks he hung the moon, because he pretty much lets them do whatever they wanna do, but they don't know he comes to me and tell me as soon as they have their backs turned"

"All right, call me if anything happens," Jax said and he heard his friend sigh at the other hand of the line. "I mean it Corinthos."

"I know, I know, don't worry, nothing will happen to Jerry this time, you have my word."

"Your word better be worth something, Corinthos!" Jax growled into the phone and Sonny just laughed.

"You don't scare me, pretty boy," Sonny teased. "I'll let you know if I hear something from Johnny. Even if it is good. So you'll know I always keep my word"

***************

"So what are you doing here, Toby? I thought you hated my grandpa?" Asked a really confused Liana after her dizziness from being thrown upside down by Claude wore off.

"I never said I hated Uncle Luke, Liana. I said that my mother said he was able to eat me alive if I ever came too close!" Answered a really insulted Toby to be caught being scared in front of his little cousin.

"I'm the one who needed to see Luke," said Jerry, still looking at the little girl's perfect smile. "I have a date tonight and I wanted to make a reservation to bring her here," the boy lied and Liana laughed.

"Yeah, right!" She answered, still chuckling. "I may be young, but I'm a Spencer. So don't try to make me believe in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy either. Spill the beans. The real ones. Why are you here?"

"Ok, fine, I guess nothing can be passed by you, huh?" Jerry asked as he scratched the back of his neck. "Remember, you asked for the truth here, so don't go off on me when you hear it," Jerry took a deep breath and did his best to look embarrassed. "I tried to ask my dad and he didn't want to answer me, so I needed someone who knew a lot about it, so I came here to ask Luke"

"Ask Luke about what?" Liana asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion

"Sex," Jerry coughed up as Toby spit his soda out.

"About what?" Liana asked again, puzzled. "You don't know your sex? Even I know it! Come on, you're a boy, don't you have a little snake like thingy in your pants?"

Jerry couldn't help but burst out laughing. This was the girl who claimed she knew everything and yet she didn't know about sex. She would be easy to fool. "No, not that kind of sex. You know, kissing," Jerry said in a tone of confidence. He, unlike her, knew everything there was to know about sex. He, after all, caught Michael kiss Cassie Scorpio with the tongue! So he knew all about it now, but he needed to play dumb to fool Liana.

"That's gross!" Liana said as she wrinkled her nose. "My mom and dad do it all the time and sometimes even make those sloppy noises! Why did you wanna know about that?"

"Cause we caught Michael kiss a girl and he had a goofy look on his face afterwards and I wanted to know when I would be old enough to do it, too! Wanna give it a try?" Jerry asked and he stepped towards the girl.

"Stay away from me!" Liana laughed and Jerry started to run after her. "NO! HELP, CLAUDE!" She laughed, putting chairs in front of Jerry to slow his progression down, but he was fast catching up with her.

"I didn't know Luke turned his club into a day care during the day," the kids heard from the door and Liana, in her rush to get away from Jerry, hit Stefan Cassadine with full force.

"Uncle Stefan," Jerry said, stopping dead in his tracks. "What are you doing here?"

"I will ask you the same thing, Jeremiah. Does your father know you are here?" Stefan asked as he crossed his arms on his chest, waiting for an answer.

"Um, well, you see," Jerry started, obviously fishing for an excuse, and they heard a little voice interfere.

"They were watching me, Mr. Vampire, sir," Liana said as she looked up to Stefan. "Daddy needed to talk to Grandpa, and the boys were just playing in front of Kelly's, so daddy asked them if they could come here and keep an eye on me while he and grandpa were in the office"

"Is that what happened?" Stefan asked his nephew, and he clearly saw the boy swallow before he nodded, which clearly indicated that he was lying.

"Yeah, that's what happened, Uncle Stefan. Toby and I are just keeping Liana company here while her father's in there with Luke"

"So why couldn't Claude watch her?" Stefan countered back and he saw all three kids look at each other, waiting to see which one would come up with an idea first.

"Because Claude is busy in and out of the club, while he takes the delivery inside and puts them where they need to go," they heard from behind as the big black man walked in with a case of liquor on his shoulder. "Is there a problem here, Mr. Cassadine?"

"No, thank you, Claude," Stefan answered and looked down at his nephew. "Your father will be hearing about this. I don't think he will appreciate you hanging out in bars"

"It's a club," Liana said and looked at the floor as soon as Stefan's eyes met hers. "Sir."

"Very well. I don't think your father will too pleased to hear that you are hanging out in clubs," he added the last word, looking at Lucky's daughter and the little girl smiled. Stefan tried not to smile back, but the corner of his lips lifted against his better judgment. He didn't want them to think it was ok to lie, but the blue eyed girl was too cute to resist. "Can you give your grandfather a message for me, Liana?" He asked as he kneeled down in front of the girl and Liana smiled and nodded. "Thank you. Please tell him that my mother is acting up again, but I do not know what she is up to. I am willing to work with him this time, instead of against him, to avoid problems and misunderstandings. Can you remember that?"

"Yes. Your mother is misunderstood and you want to help him have problems because you don't know which way is up?" Liana asked, confused.

"Just tell him to call me, please," Stefan said as he got up. "Miss," he said to Liana. "Gentlemen," He added for his nephew and his little friend, and he walked out. He didn't hear all three kids breathe a sigh of relief.

"So, how about that kiss?" Jerry asked the girl before he started to run after her again.

***************

"What kind of a rescue dad?" Lucky asked as he sat in the chair Jerry Jacks had just emptied. "If this is another one of your phony adventure to keep me from going nuts working in the computer field at the hospital---"

"No, Cowboy," Luke said seriously, "this is the real thing. I know I've tricked you before, thinking you, as my son, would need adventure in your life and took you in phony leads and stuff like that, but this is actually true. Someone needs us, badly."

Lucky suddenly sat up and looked at his father's face. He was actually serious about this. "I'm listening," Lucky simply said.

"All right. Now keep in mind what she is capable of," Luke started, without telling Lucky who ‘SHE' was, knowing his son would figure it out soon enough, "But Jerry told me he saw his mother being held by her evil step-mommy dearest in a mansion upstate. Now, according to Crocodile Dundee's son, she told him to come see me if he ever needed help with the black widow, and the boy took her to his word. He said that his mother being held prisoner was a big problem with Helena, and I have to agree with him there. The problem is, if Helena gets wind that he talked, she'll kill Alexis, no second thoughts. So this is where I need your help, Cowboy. I need you to distract Helena while I rescue Natasha"