Chapter 10
Felicia stuck her finger in her ear and shouted into the phone, "No, Mac, you
don't need to come home, I have it all under control."
"It doesn't sound like it from my end." Mac said dryly.
Felicia rolled her eyes. "Mac, I can do this."
"Well, tell Maxie that when I get home she'll be getting a lecture from me about
smoking in school."
"If she's *alive* when you get home. I'm about to go upstairs and throw that
radio out the window." Felicia glared at the ceiling. "She's been blasting it
ever since I brought her home."
"Felicia, I don't want you getting stressed over this. It's not good for the
baby. Maybe I should come home."
"Mac, I'm only five months pregnant, okay? Nothing is going to stress me out;
it's just Maxie and me here. I sent Robbie over to Betty's when I went to get
Maxie and Georgie's still in school. So everything's under control. Don't
worry. Now I have to go."
"Love you." Mac said.
"Love you too. See you later." Felicia hung up. She squared her shoulders and
marched up the stairs. She came to Maxie's room and forming a fist, pounded
hard on the door. "Maxie! Open this door! Right now!"
Two seconds later and the door were ripped open. Standing in the doorway stood
17 year old Maxie Jones. Felicia looked her daughter up and down and tried to
figure out what happened to her baby girl. Maxie had dyed her hair black, wore
dark make-up, and had a nose ring and her right ear was filled with earrings
while her left only had one piercing. Felicia just shook her head.
"Maxie, not only are you grounded for smoking, getting into fights, and cutting
school, I'm taking this radio out of here." Felicia pushed past her and
unplugged the large boombox that stood on Maxie's cluttered desk. She grabbed it
by the handle and spotted both Maxie's Walkman and portable CD player. She
scooped up those two. "No TV, no computer, no telephone, and no music."
"But Mom, this is so unfair! You're treating me like a baby!" Maxie whined.
"Because you're acting like a baby." Felicia said and took the stuff into her
and Mac's bedroom. Maxie followed behind her.
"But Mom, could you just please let me keep the Walkman?" Maxie pleaded.
"No." Felicia said firmly.
Maxie stomped her foot. "You are *so* unfair."
"Tough." Felicia shrugged. The doorbell rang out. "I'll get that, you go back
to your room." Maxie stomped back into her room as Felicia hurried down the
stairs. It's probably Mac, she thought, he was probably on the cell when he'd
called her. She breathlessly opened the door, a huge smile on her face. "I was
expecting you."
Frisco grinned at Felicia. "Were you, kid?"
Felicia gaped at him. "Frisco?"
"In the flesh." He spread out his arms and turned around.
"Oh my God, Frisco!" Felicia launched herself into his arms.
"I take it you missed me?" He laughed as he hugged her tight.
Felicia stepped back and looked at Frisco in wonder. Then she frowned, pulled
back, and punched him in the jaw. Frisco collapsed on the floor.
~*~*~
Stefan was seated behind his massive desk talking on the phone to Bobbie.
"Barbara, since today is the anniversary of Jason's death then you are right, I
will not go to see my daughter today."
"Good, I'm glad you see things my way Stefan. She's having a bad time today and
I don't think the shock of learning she may also be a Cassadine is something she
can handle."
"Then I will hold off on my visit until Monday, do you believe she will be able
to withstand the news?"
"I hope so." Bobbie sighed. In the background she could hear herself being
paged, 'Bobbie Jacks to Room 245, Bobbie Jacks to Room 245'. "Listen, Stefan, I
have to go."
"I understand Barbara. Good day." He hung up the phone and began to wonder what
would be the best way to approach his daughter. There was a soft knock on his
door. Thinking it was Alexis, he called out, "Enter!"
Layla sauntered into the office. Stefan, in shock, stood up. "Layla?" He came
around his desk.
Layla smiled. She walked over to Stefan with a secret smile on her face. "So
you do remember me."
"How could I forget?" He asked.
"We were only together for a little while." Layla shrugged.
Stefan looked her up and down, noting the changes in her. "You've grown out
your hair."
Layla ran her fingers through her hair, which reached the middle of her back.
"I was tired of the bob."
"You've lost an eye." Stefan stated.
"To your Uncle Victor." Layla stated coldly.
Stefan was not surprised that there were others who knew that Victor wasn't
dead. "The black patch is very…piratical."
Layla cocked her head to the side. "You know, you would look good with a
patch."
Stefan just laughed softly. "What are you doing in Port Charles, Layla?"
"Maybe I just came for this?" Layla wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted
her face to his. Stefan, never one to resist Layla's charms, bent his head to
meet her lips.
Just then Stefan's door swung open to reveal Alexis. "Stefan, I'm here, what
did you want to talk to me about… You!" She cried when she saw Layla in Stefan's
arms.
Layla twisted around. "Alexis dear!"
"Don't 'Alexis dear' me! What are you doing here?" Alexis glared at Stefan.
"What is she doing here?"
"I can't drop in and visit old friends?" Layla asked saucily.
"Layla, you always have an agenda. What is it?" Alexis demanded. "I'm not going
to let you amuse yourself with my brother again."
"So he's your brother now? Let's see the last time I saw you two, he was your
cousin. When did all this change?" Layla and Alexis were now ignoring Stefan's
presence completely.
Stefan cleared his throat. "Excuse me ladies. I am still in the room."
"Sorry, Steffie." Layla grinned at him. "Lexi and I won't fight anymore, I
promise."
Alexis rolled her eyes at the sugary-sweet way Layla talked to Stefan. Steffie!
Layla ran her finger down Stefan's jaw and said seductively. "I just came to
see if you knew where Victor was but I can see you're busy so I'll come by some
other time." She started to saunter out of the room but then paused at the door
to toss out, "Bye Lexi, nice seeing you again."
Alexis turned to Stefan. "What was she doing here?"
Stefan shrugged, nonchalantly. "You heard her, she came to see about Victor,
which perturbs me. However, we have more important work to do than ponder what
devious plans Layla has in mind for Victor."
~*~*~
Maxie, who had poked her head out her door to hear who was there, came charging
down the stairs. "Mom! What happened?"
"Your father happened, dear." Felicia said calmly.
"What?" Maxie gasped.
Frisco gently rubbed his jaw and stood. "Why'd you do that for?" He turned and
saw Maxie. "Who? Maxie? Is that you?"
"You would know if you ever came to see her and her sister." Felicia folded her
arms and glared at her ex-husband.
"Dad? Dad! You came for me after all!" Maxie launched herself into Frisco's
arms, knocking them both down.
Felicia just cocked an eyebrow. "Did he?"
Maxie stood up. "I told you, Mom, I told you Dad didn't forget about us. I told
you he was coming back."
"Right and that's why he never called, never wrote, never stopped by in between
the dangerous missions that were so much more important then his own daughters!"
Felicia was talking to Maxie but was staring at Frisco.
"But, I wrote, I sent cards, I couldn't come back until now though." Frisco
tried to tell her.
"Yeah, right." Felicia said, apparently not believing a word he was saying. "So
why did we never get them?"
Frisco shrugged. "I don't know, I sent them to the brownstone, I thought you
were still living there."
"We moved six years ago!" Felicia exclaimed, waving her arms around. "Didn't
you wonder why you never got any replies?"
"Well, I uh…" Frisco just trailed off.
"And if you didn't know we'd moved, how did you know to look for us here?"
Felicia demanded.
"I just learned recently that you were married to Mac and that you and the girls
lived here." Frisco narrowed his eyes and stared at her stomach. "Are you
pregnant?"
"Yes, and when did you find out about all this? Probably this morning, am I
right?" Felicia watched as Frisco looked away. "And when did you get into Port
Charles? Were you even going to tell us you were here? I know you couldn't be
here for us, the only thing that could bring you here is probably the WSB."
"Mom!" Maxie stood in between Frisco and Felicia. "Lay off Dad's case will
you?"
"Maxie, don't talk to your mother like that." Frisco said sharply. Maxie
looked at him with hurt, surprised eyes.
"Frisco, don't come in here trying to act parental after all these years."
Felicia said. "Maxie, go up to your room. You're grounded, remember?"
"But Mom…" Maxie started.
"Go!" Felicia pointed at the stairs. Maxie turned and stomped up the stairs.
Frisco watched her go. "What happened to my little girl? I barely recognized
her."
"That happens when you don't come by for over six years. Little girls grow up,
with or without their fun-loving daddies."
Frisco frowned. "Felicia, I…why is Maxie grounded? And why is she home during
the middle of the day? And who said she could wear so much make-up?"
"Do you actually think that you have a *right* to even demand answers to your
questions?" Felicia was ready to kick him out.
"Felicia, I am still her father."
Felicia blew a strand of hair away from her face. "Her absentee father. Mac has
been more of a father to the girls than you could ever hope to be. Now get out!"
"Felicia!" Frisco cried out as Felicia opened the door and shooed him out. "We
can talk about this, can't we?"
Felicia shook her head. "No, not today. I don't need this stress. We'll talk
some other time, all right."
Frisco paused in the doorway. "I will come back again. You can't just shut me
out of their lives."
"And you can't just pop back in whenever it suits you." Felicia shot off just
before slamming the door in his face. She ran her hands through he hair.
"Argh!" she groaned.
"How could you do that to Dad?" Maxie said accusingly from the top of the
stairs.
"Don't you dare question me. And get back into your room." Felicia heard Maxie's
door slam shut. "Damn Frisco."
~*~*~
It was past Midnight and Victor was still wide-awake. He sat back in his chair
and called for his right-hand man. "Higgins!"
Higgins scurried into the room. "Yes, sir?"
"The flowers were delivered to my daughter as planned, were they not?"
"Yes, sir." Higgins nodded. "Our men saw them being delivered. They were
intercepted by AJ Quartermaine but he handed them to your daughter."
"Good. Anything else happened that I should be aware of?"
Higgins whipped out the sheet of paper that detailed Carly's activities for the
day. "She did not go to work today and your grandson didn't go to school either.
They were visited by her mother, then AJ Quartermaine, then Laura, uh, Spencer
and daughter showed up. They took Michael with them. After that Sonny Corinthos
appeared. He spent some time in the house before the young Quartermaine girl
showed up with for a brief chat. Corinthos left during that time. A few hours
later, her mother and your grandson came back. And an hour ago, Corinthos
showed up at her door but was turned away."
"I also thought it would interest you sir, that Corinthos has posted guards on
your daughter. It doesn't look like she is aware of them though."
Victor nodded. "Must be Spencer's work. Thank you, that will be all, Higgins."
Higgins turned and started out the door but was stopped by Victor. "Higgins! Is
my suit ready?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good, I want to look my best when my daughter finally meets her father on
Monday."
~*~*~
Saturday, Paris.
There was knock at the small apartment that Robin shared with her parents. After
all those years of being separated from each other, there was no way she was
going to leave them.
"I got it, Mom!" She called to where Anna stood in the kitchen, making dinner.
She opened the door and her mouth dropped open in surprise. "What are you still
doing here?"
"There's a bomb scare at the airport and I won't be able to get another ticket
to Port Charles for a couple of days, could I stay here for a while?"
"Sure. My parents shouldn't mind."
~*~*~
Port Charles
Eve laid down the last fork and sighed. "Done." She looked over the well-set
dinner table and smiled at her handiwork.
Chris came into the dining room, tying his tie. "You looked pretty satisfied
for someone who only set a table."
Eve turned to him with a smile. She batted his hands away and tied the tie for
him. "It was very hard work, trying to get those napkins into fancy shapes."
"And my slaving over a hot stove was nothing?" Chris arched his eyebrow.
"Oh, it was something all right." Eve grinned. "Do you know how sexy you look
when you cook for me?"
Chris smiled back. "Oh, tell me more." He wrapped his arms around her waist.
Eve gave him a quick peck on the lips and then backed away. "No, can do. We
have guests coming very soon."
Chris pouted. "We still have at least 15 minutes." At Eve's look, he gave up.
"Remind me, who's coming again?"
Eve started ticking off the list on her fingers. "It's a small group. Karen and
Joe, of course, Elizabeth and Nikolas, Emily and Sly, Carly and Alex, I think…"
"Why aren't you certain? Did Carly finally wise up and dump that loser?"
"Chris, I know you don't like Garcia…"
"Don't like him? I can't stand the guy!" Chris exploded. "He was so determined
that you were the General Homicide Killer that if Julie hadn't tripped herself
up, he would have put you away."
"Chris, honey, calm down." Eve said soothingly. "I wasn't arrested, Julie has
been put away for a long time, and things are fine between Garcia and me so why
don't you just chill for a while."
Eve picked up the open bottle of wine and poured him a glass. "Here, take this
and relax until everyone gets here. Okay?"
Chris accepted the glass and took a long swallow. "Okay but I still don't like
him being in our home."
~*~*~
Nikolas showed up at Emily and Elizabeth's apartment and was just about to pound
on the door when it was suddenly opened by Sly. "You again." He sneered. "Are
you here to see *your* girlfriend for once?"
Nikolas was taken aback. "Excuse me?" Usually Sly was such an easy going, laid
back kind of guy. They weren't particularly tight but Nikolas did think they
were friends.
Emily heard them at the door and came to investigate. "Hey, Nik, you here to
take Elizabeth to the dinner party?" She smiled brightly, a fake smile to ease
the tension she could feel between the two of them.
Nikolas nodded. "Elizabeth called me." He was glad that Elizabeth made the
first move, he was tired of being the one doing the chasing.
Emily now smiled a real smile. "Great! She's almost ready. Sly and I were just
on our way out. We'll see you there, okay?" Emily grabbed her wrap and purse
and moved past Sly and Nikolas. "Come on Sly."
Nikolas walked into the apartment just as Elizabeth came out of her room. He
took a deep breath at the sight of her. "Elizabeth… you look wonderful."
Elizabeth smiled and said. "Thanks. Did Sly and Emily leave all ready?"
"Yeah, do you know why Sly is acting all weird?" Nikolas thought it was safer
to pick an innocent topic.
Elizabeth shrugged. "Something is going on but I have no idea what. I heard him
and Emily arguing the other night."
"They argue all the time." Nikolas pointed out.
"But this time it was different. It wasn't their usual good-natured arguing.
They sounded *very* angry."
"I hope Emily can handle whatever is going on. I think we should get going,
don't you?"
~*~*~
Carly was rummaging through her jewelry box, trying to find something to pair
with the simple black sheath she was wearing to Chris and Eve's, when she
spotted the diamond earrings and necklace Jason had surprised her with on the
night of the Docks Gala. Carly closed her eyes as she flashback to that night.
Jason had looked so handsome in his tux with his hair all slicked back. Carly
smiled as she remembered the conversation almost word for word. Carly had came
down stairs and Jason had said:
'You ready?'
'Um, almost. Do you think I should wear my hair up?' Carly piled her hair up on
her head. 'Or leave it down?' She then let it fall back to her shoulders.
'Whatever you want.' Jason had said without care. Jason walked around her,
picked up a notebook, and began to leaf through it. She looked after him, rolled
her eyes and then looked at the mirror in front of her. Men, Carly had thought,
they have no feel for fashion.
Carly tried to draw him in. 'Well, it's a formal occasion, I should probably
wear it up. But then I would have to wear some sort of necklace and earrings. I
don't really have anything that's appropriate.' Carly glanced over her shoulder,
trying not to be blatant in her hinting.
'You have earrings…'
'Yeah… Okay! Well, I can make something work, but it's gonna take me five more
minutes.'
Jason walked by still looking in that notebook. 'All right, well, I don't care
if we don't get there until they're ready to sign.'
'I want us to walk in together and impress people. You know, like, we're as good
as any of them.'
Jason looked at her and stared into her eyes. 'We are, Carly.'
Carly smiled. Jason always had a way of saying exactly what she needed to hear
at times. 'Right. Okay. Five minutes. And that's it. I promise.'
'Five minutes.' Carly went back upstairs to put her hair up and put on a small
pendant necklace and tiny earrings. She didn't know what had happened while she
was up there but when she returned Jason was explaining what was going on to
Michael.
Carly cleared her throat and smiled as Jason smiled at her. 'What do you think?'
'You look good.' Jason said with a look of approval on his face.
Carly couldn't help looking him over. 'So do you. Don't you think, Michael?
Doesn't Daddy look handsome?'
'I was just explaining to him about the party.'
'Yeah, I heard. Um, we should get going though.'
'We have to wait for Benny.'
Carly became disappointed and disgusted. Benny was an all right guy but she
wanted to be alone with Jason. 'Benny's coming with us?'
Jason carried Michael to his bassinet. 'No. He had to take care of something for
me.'
'Oh. Well, I hope he hurries. I want to be fashionably late, but I don't want to
be too late.' Jason just looked at her and smile. She smiled back and laughed.
'You think I'm crazy, don't you?'
'You care. A lot.'
'Well, I just, you know. Jason, you've done so much for me. I want to make you
proud tonight.'
'You don't have to do anything for me, Carly. At all.'
Just then Benny walked in and Jason went over to talk to him. 'You get them?'
Carly could hear Benny say, 'I hope these are what you wanted.'
'Ask Carly.'
Carly turned around, surprised and wary. 'Ask me what?' Benny handed her the
box. And at first all she could do was look at it. 'This looks like a jewelry
box…'
'Open it.' Jason urged.
With a curious look, Carly turned her back to the men and opened the box. She
was stunned by the large diamond necklace and matching pendant earrings.
She said softly, 'Oh my God! Jason! Oh! They're beautiful!' She picked up the
diamond necklace and earrings and held them in her hands. 'Are they real?'
Jason and Benny laughed. 'No kidding, they're real!'
Jason nodded to Benny. 'Benny, thanks.'
'Sure. Meet you there.' Benny walked out.
Carly stared in disbelief at the necklace. She just couldn't believe it. 'Oh,
wow… Uh, I've never… I mean…'
'Try it on.' Jason smiled.
'Okay.' Carly said a little breathless. She walked to the mirror, taking deep
breaths. Jason stepped behind her and fastened it around her neck for her. She
replaced the small earrings she had been wearing with the new ones and mumbled
under her breath. 'Wow… so incredible! Oh my God.'
Jason checked out her reflection and said quietly. 'Well…'
Carly smiled widely at his reflection and he smiled back. 'Oh my goodness! What
do you think?'
'Like I said… you look good.'" Jason had given her a quick reassuring pat and
then after a quick goodbye to Michael, they left for the Docks.
Carly hugged her arms to herself as she remembered how right that night had
felt. The way she and Jason sailed into the Docks Gala with all the cameras
flashing and reporters shouting questions, it had been like a dream. Carly
frowned, remembering what happened afterwards, the attempted assassination and
her calling the strike. Things ended up pretty messed up after that. Carly
sighed.
"Mommy? You look nice Mommy?" Michael said from the doorway.
"Oh, um," Carly quickly wiped away a tear that had she hadn't been aware of.
"Thanks, Mikey. But wait, it's not complete yet." She turned her back to him
and quickly put on the earrings and necklace. She whirled back around, pushing
the hair back to show off the earrings. "What do you think?" She smiled.
"Marvelous." Alex said quietly. Alex was leaning against the doorjamb, his arms
folded and his ankles crossed.
Determined not to let Michael know how mad she was at Alex, Carly said. "When
did you get back, honey?"
Alex winced at the sarcastic emphasis she put on the word. He pushed away from
the door. "Came back to see my girl and my favorite boy." Alex grinned down at
Michael, who smiled back.
"Michael, why don't you go down to Grandma's? Alex and I will stop and say
goodbye before we leave." Carly suggested.
"Okay. Bye Mommy, bye Uncle Alex." Michael left the room.
Carly turned to Alex with fury in her eyes. Alex took a step back. "It's nice
to know you remembered about Eve and Chris's dinner party." She said coldly.
"Carly, I can explain about that. I was going to tell you that I had to go out
of town but I didn't want to wake you. You were so tired and…"
"Never heard of a note?" Carly arched an eyebrow.
Alex shook his head. "Okay, okay, I was wrong. But I'm here now."
"I didn't need you today, I needed you yesterday! Yesterday was the anniversary
of Jason's death."
"Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot. I'm sorry, baby, so sorry." Alex walked
over to Carly and took her in his arms. He knew how bad it was for Carly every
year. If he had remembered, he never would have left her.
Carly stiffened and pushed away from him. She grabbed her brush and some bobby
pins and began to put her hair up. "Well, it doesn't matter now. What are you
doing here? Did you catch the guy or did your guilt catch you?"
Alex dropped down on the bed. He knew that she wasn't going to look towards him
for comfort. 'We got the guy but even if we didn't I was still coming back to
you today. I realized how wrong I was and I came back to say…"
"I'm sorry? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before." Carly patted her hair
to make sure it was staying put. "Look, I have to get Chris and Eve's. Are you
coming with me?"
Alex nodded. "Just let me change my clothes. I still have that brown suit
here, right?"
Carly nodded. "It's in the closet. Hurry up, I'm all ready late."
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