Lucky walked into his mother’s office at Deception where he found her sitting at her desk with a stack of papers in front of h

This story is going to pick up pretty much where GH is now. Any changes that I’ve made will be obvious, and everything will be explained well enough so as to confuse anyone. The first chapter is going to be used to establish where everything and everyone is. I promise that subsequent chapters will bring twists and turns, romance, intrigue, and suspense. Things may be where GH is now, but I promise that they won’t stay the same. I hope that you enjoy reading this story, and I hope that you give me feedback to let me know that you’re reading, and to let me know what you like and dislike.

CHAPTER ONE:

Lucky walked into his mother’s office at Deception where he found her sitting at her desk with a stack of papers in front of her.

“Working hard?” he asked with a big smile on his face.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Laura’s eyes lit up at the sight of her son. She got up from behind her desk and gave Lucky a hug. “There’s nothing wrong is there?” she questioned why Lucky was there.

“No. We have a meeting this afternoon You didn’t,” Lucky said before Laura could answer. “I see how it is, mom. The typical ‘middle child syndrome.’ Everyone always forgets the middle child,” he smiled as he spoke sarcastically.

“I guess that’s what it is,” she shrugged her shoulders, playing along with his game.

“Seriously, though, how did you manage to forget our meeting today? We don’t have much time to get the shoot set up for the fall campaign.”

“You haven’t heard, have you?” Laura asked her son as she sat down again behind her desk.

“What now?” Lucky asked, accustomed to always having some sort of problem with the Spencer family.

“I got this today,” she picked up a letter. “It’s Gia’s official resignation as the Face of Deception.”

“She really went through with it,” Lucky said quietly as he shook his head. “Dammit! How could she?” Lucky’s anger was apparent.

“Lucky, you knew that Gia was considering this,” Laura tried to reason with him. “Once she and Nikolas get married—“

“Yeah, she won’t have the time. Blah, blah, blah. That’s a load of garbage, mom, and we both know it. How could you be so nonchalant about this?”

“Was I supposed to tell her ‘no’?”

“For the time being, yes. Without Gia being the Face of the future, we can’t send out the summer campaign, let alone shoot the fall campaign with her. If the prints weren’t already out to press, we wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, have Gia as the Face for the spring.”

“Lucky, this really was a tough decision for me,” Laura spoke softly as usual.

“I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m blaming you for this. I just can’t believe the Cassadines. They think they can do whatever they want.”

“Lucky, please, we just got over all of this stupid Cassadine feud a few months ago. I’m not about to start a new one over this.”

“Sure, why do that? Just let the Cassadines win. So, Deception will be ruined. Who cares?”

”Stop that attitude now! We, you and I together, need to work quickly to find a new Face because Deception isn’t ruined, and it will prosper. Gia was unknown when this company was re-launched. She’s not irreplaceable.”

“Well, that makes a girl feel good about herself,” Gia interrupted as she entered Laura’s office.

“Gia that’s not—“ Laura started but was stopped by Gia.

“I understand,” Gia smiled and nodded. “And that’s why I’m here so that I can help you find the new Face.”

“Gracious of you,” Lucky looked at Gia and spoke sarcastically.

“Mrs. Spencer, there’s a very important call from Mr. Gruden on Line 1,” Elton peeked his head in.

“Thank you, Elton. I don’t want to chase the two of you out,” Laura looked at Lucky and Gia, “but do you think that you can wait in the other office?”

“Sure, mom, no problem,” Lucky got up and walked out of the office, not waiting for Gia.

“We understand,” Gia smiled and left as well.

“So, do you guys have any ideas about the next Face?” Gia asked Lucky in Carly’s former office.

“Yeah, actually, we do. We want someone who’s not going to bail when she thinks that something better has come along. That happened the last time and—“

“And, you can’t stop with the attitude and low blows,” Gia interrupted him. “You knew that I wasn’t going to be able to still be the Face of Deception.”

“Oh, I forgot. You’re going to be a Princess. Tell me, though, what exactly are you going to the Princess of? I mean I know that the Cassadines are royalty, but how much importance does that really hold? Nikolas and Stefan have been living in Port Charles now for about six years. You’re not even a member of their family yet, and you’re already Miss Important Thang of the World.”

“Please, Lucky, that’s such a lame ass excuse.”

“Is it now? Nikolas barely had that ring on your finger, and you were already acting like you were able to snap your fingers and tell people what to do.”

“When? How?” Gia scoffed at Lucky’s accusations. “Can’t think of anything, can you?” Gia said after a few seconds of silence from Lucky. “In your mind maybe I act like I’m above other people, but in reality—“

“Kristina,” Lucky interrupted her.

“What?”

“You did it with Kristina at your engagement party. You took one look at her and decided that she wasn’t dressed to your standards so she had to change.”

“Come on now. You and Nikolas both agreed that what I said what not done out of a snobbish attitude.”

“No, it was done because you were jealous. Kristina looked beautiful without having to drape herself in diamonds and make-up, and you wanted to make her feel bad about herself.”

“That is so ridiculously untrue.”

“Hey you two,” Laura said as she came into the room. “It sounded like it was getting a little loud in here. I hope it’s because of your elation of deciding upon our new spokesmodel.”

Laura looked at the two for a few seconds as they stood speechless.

“So, have you decided who should replace Gia?” Laura asked.

“Yes, we have,” Lucky finally spoke up. “Kristina Cassadine.”

Across town, Skye was settling into her new office at ELQ. Skye called for a board meeting of shareholders about what she had hoped for the company for the coming year. Monica, Alan, Sonny, Edward, Jax, AJ, Ned and Lila assembled in the board room, and Skye soon followed.

“I don’t know what the hell the point of this meeting is,” Edward groaned. “ELQ belongs to the public now.”

“All of the paper work hasn’t been completed yet,” Skye reminded him. “So, therefore as CEO; I felt that it was important for us to discuss where ELQ is headed in the coming year.”

“Down the tubes,” Edward mumbled.

Skye rolled her eyes and got ready to give her presentation when the door flew open.

“I’m so sorry that I’m late,” Melissa said as she stumbled in the room. “My shift ran over, and I just couldn’t get out of that place.”

“What the hell is she doing here?” AJ asked.

“My goodness, AJ, the alcohol really did destroy your brain cells. You seem to have forgotten that I put sweet Ms. Bedford in my will. Part of that deal included her getting ELQ shares. It’s only one right now.”

“I’m sorry, but that makes no sense,” Skye told him.

“Of course you wouldn’t understand it. I think that Ms. Bedford might be able to contribute something to this company such as new ideas, initiatives, or whatever so she is now a part of this board,” Edward explained.

“Can we get on with this,” Monica demanded. “Some of us have better things to do with our time.”

Skye proceeded with the meeting, presenting ideas that she felt might ELQ expand its expenses.

“We need something new and different,” she told the group. “ELQ has the market on pharmaceuticals. Now we need to make a big stink in other avenues.”

“Stink is the appropriate word,” Edward butted in. “I smelled a rat as soon as you came into this family.”

“Father, can the name calling stop. We’re all adults,” Alan spoke up.

“Does anyone have any ideas?” Skye asked.

“So we don’t stink, what about perfume?” Melissa said lowly.

“What?” Skye looked at her as if she spoke in a different language.

“Well, you’re talking about stinking. What about perfume?” she suggested as she sat directly across from Skye on one end of the long table.

“So if you look at projections,” Skye continued as if Melissa hadn’t even made a suggestion.

“Wait a second here,” Ned stopped her. “Don’t you want to talk about Melissa’s suggestion?”

“From my research, ELQ already has done the perfume business. Ever hear of the old saying, ‘Been there, done that’?” Skye looked utterly perturbed at having to deal with what wasn’t on her agenda.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Edward said grinning. “As Skye said, the records show that ELQ dabbled in perfume before. Those records must also show how profitable it was for us.”

“Yes, grandfather, Deception was successful when we had it,” AJ added his opinion. “But do you realize how difficult it is to start up a new perfume company? I highly doubt that Laura Spencer is going to sell Deception to us so that means we’ll have to start from scratch.”

“ELQ started from scratch, and look at it now,” Monica reminded everyone.

“My sentiments exactly, Monica,” Edward nodded at her. And I say we take a vote on it.”

“Wait a second here,” Skye’s voice became raised. “ I’m the CEO, and I say when we propose a vote or for that matter make a motion. We don’t just have Miss Little Good Nurse strolling in and commanding the show.”

“Why not? You did,” Monica scowled at her.

“Not now, Monica,” Alan told her.

“I’m sorry, Skye rules all. I forgot,” Monica said sarcastically.

“Can I say something here?” Lila said. “I think that Ms. Bedford’s suggestion is worth talking about.”

“I agree, Mrs. Quartermaine,” Sonny told her.

After more bickering and discussion, the motion finally was proposed to develop a perfume company for ELQ.

Skye voted for helself and Tracy against the motion as did AJ. However, everyone else voted in favor of the motion; ELQ would go into the perfume industry once again. Skye was flabbergasted that Jax and her father would vote against her, but the case to market perfume seemed too good.

“Well, then, if this to be, then I suggest that we start working right away to get this perfume to market,” Skye showed adversity in the face of defeat.

“You’re the CEO, my darling,” Edward delighted in antagonizing Skye. That’s your job. You come up with all of the specs and call us back in. We’ll be happy to vote on it then. But as for today, I really need to be going home to get my rest,” he stood up.

“And I need to get to work,” Monica also stood up. “Can we call for adjournment?” she looked at Skye.

With no other choice, a vote to adjourn was called, and the meeting ended. Edward praised Melissa as the crowd dispersed, and Skye fumed.

“They won’t get away with this type of behavior,” Skye promised AJ.

“It’s a small battle; we’ll prevail in the end,” AJ assured her.

“Well, it looks like we have to get cracking; we’re in the perfume business now. But you know?”

“What’s that?” AJ asked her.

“They think that I’ll fail at this; they’re wrong. I go into something with all of might determined to come out on top. And I’ll win this battle, too. That’s a promise.”

CHAPTER TWO:

“Wow, I do have to say that you two work quickly,” Laura said, shocked at Lucky’s announcement.

“Well, what do you think?” Lucky asked his mother.

“I’m surprised, I do have to say that,” Laura told them.

“You don’t have to make your decision right now,” Gia told her, also shocked by Lucky’s announcement.

“Well, I can’t deny that Kristina is very beautiful,” Laura reasoned.

“And I’m sure that they camera would love her,” Lucky pushed harder, knowing that he was annoying Gia.

“I think that before we get ahead of ourselves that we need to ask Kristina about this,” Gia again spoke up. “It probably wouldn’t be bad to look at other girls for a while, too.”

“Mom, we can’t delay this too long. We need to redo the summer campaign as well as to get ready for the fall prints. Our summer campaign’s going to be going out in a couple weeks. We don’t have much time,” Lucky reminded her.

“You’re redoing the summer campaign?” Gia asked.

“Gia, you know it’s nothing against you,” Laura explained to her. “But from a proper business sense, we can’t market someone who we know isn’t going to be around for future campaigns.”

“Excuse me, Ms. Spencer, but your 1:00 is here,” Elton announced upon entering the room.

“Thank you, Elton. Tell Mrs. Garner that I’ll be right there,” Laura told him. “I seem to keep having to run off; I’m sorry,” Laura smiled at the two. “I don’t expect you two to wait around. Thank you very much for your help. I have a lot to think about. I’ll talk to you both a little later.”

“Bye, mom,” Lucky hugged and kissed her.

“Kristina as the new Face of Deception?” Gia looked at Lucky in disgust. “What the hell was that?”

“Mom seemed to like it,” Lucky shrugged his shoulders.

“You just said Kristina because you wanted to get back at me.”

“I thought you had no problem with Kristina.”

“I don’t have a problem with Kristina. I just hardly think that she’s model potential.”

“And you know what makes a model?”

“I knew that Elizabeth wasn’t model material even before she did.”

“Look, I’m not going to stay around here and argue with you,” Lucky began heading towards the door. “I think that I’m going to pay Kristina a little visit.”

“Laura hasn’t even said that she wants Kristina.”

“Trust me, she will,” Lucky winked at her and left.

Kristina, meanwhile, was across town jogging through the park. She had stopped to take a break when she ran into Zander.

“A little cold to be jogging isn’t it?” Zander asked as he saw Kristina resting.

“A little,” she smiled. “So what are you doing out here?”

“I thought I’d go for a walk,” Zander answered.

“A little cold for a walk isn’t it?” she smiled brightly at him.

“Touché,” he nodded.

“So what’s so pressing that, or should I say depressing, that made you want to come out on this cold day for a walk?” she asked as she adjusted the hat on her head.

“Have you ever just needed to get away and clear your head from everything?” he asked.

“No, I never had that problem,” she answered facetiously. “Anything you care to talk about? I know that we don’t know each other that well, but sometimes I think that that helps.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. It’s just a little funk, though. I’ll snap out of it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Then, I hate to just leave you here, but I need to get going again,” she stood up and stretched a little.

“I understand. And, hey, thanks for the offer… to listen, I mean.”

“I know that you’re a friend of Alexis, and I try to make her friends mine.”

“That’s nice; I’ll keep that it mind. Now you’d better get going before you cool off too much,” Zander told her.

“I hope to see you around,” she said before jogging away.

As Zander got off the bench to leave, he noticed an earring on the ground. He realized that it must’ve been Kristina’s, but it was too late to catch her so he put it in his pocket and planned to stop at Alexis’s to give it to her.

Kristina didn’t get too far when she ran into Lucky. She stopped when she saw him to say hello.

“It must be fate,” Lucky said upon seeing her.

“What must be fate?” Kristina was confused.

“Running into you. You were just the person I was looking for.”

“Me?” she pointed to herself. “What did I do?”

“It’s not what you did. It’s what I hope you’ll do.”

“OK, I am so confused.”

“And I am so cold,” he chucked. “Why don’t I let you finish your jog, and we can maybe meet in about an hour?”

“I’ll say yes, and mainly because I am so confused yet intrigued. Any hints?”

“Meet me at Kelly’s Diner at 2:00, and you’ll know all.”

“No hints?” she persisted.

“Deception,” he smiled at her. “Kelly’s, 2:00.”

“What?” Kristina shook her head.

“I’ll see you there,” Lucky teased and then walked away.

Nearby, Carly waited for Jax at her club. She looked around, impressed, at all of the work that had been done on getting the club ready.

“Hey,” Jax was out of breath as he came in.

“You’re late,” Carly told him.

“Actually, I think it’s just that you’re early for once,” Jax joked with her.

“Funny,” Carly pretended to be mad.

“Things look good,” he told her as he gazed around the place.

“It looks great . This is definitely going to be the place to be in town.”

“You hope.”

“Actually, it was your money so you should be the one hoping,” she grinned at him. “But you know that this place is going to be a cash cow. We’ll be turning people away. They can come to eat, drink, party, and dance. My gosh, you should see the dance floor. It’s going to be so cool,” Carly asked like a little kid with the excitement she displayed. “Come look at it,” she grabbed Jax’s hand and pulled him. “I can’t wait for this place to be finished,” Carly exclaimed as she held Jax’s hand, and they stood on the dance floor.

“It’s not going to be all fun and games, you know,” he reminded her.

“Of course it is,” she said as she grabbed his other hand. “Think about the music playing, people dancing,” she started a little dance with him. “And we’ll be turning people away at the door,” she swayed her hips a little more. “And…”

“And paying bills,” Jax raised his eyebrows at her to make sure that she knew how serious this venture was.

“And Jax finally loosens up,” she let go of his left hand and twirled out.

“And Carly getting serious,” he twirled her back in and very close to his body.

“Oh Mr. Jacks, when I set my sights on something, I attain it so you don’t have to worry about it,” she looked up at him as he looked into her eyes.

“Is that a fact?” he tried to hold back a smile.

“You’ll just have to watch me to see,” she pulled away from him and started walking away.

“Oh, I’m watching,” he murmured to himself as he watched Carly.

“AJ, what the hell are we going to do with a perfume company?” Skye asked her brother as the two sat alone in her office.

“You’re the CEO,” he shrugged his shoulders.

”Kiss my ass,” she joked with him. “I’m serious. We have to come up with a fragrance first of all. Then we have to market it. Hell, we need a model for God’s sakes. Do you know any models?”

“Emily,” he said quietly.

“What? Emily? As in our sister Emily?”

“Yes, actually. She did a little modeling in the past.”

“Why’d she quit?”

“A little stalking incident…”

“Oh is that all? Then I’m sure that Monica and Alan would jump at the chance to let her do it again.”

“Why not? She’d be doing it for us, her family. We’d have constant monitoring of her, and maybe it would be something to get her out of this funk she’s been in.”

“It would be perfect, you know. I mean, she’s available, and beautiful, and well, perfect.”

“Now we just have to convince her to do it.”

“She’ll do it. And the sooner she agrees, we can do like teaser ads or something. You know, something like ‘Coming in Summer 2002, JoeBlow perfume,” with Emily’s face.

“‘Joe Blow perfume?’”

“Whatever, you know what I meant,” she rolled her eyes at him.

“I know, but ‘Joe Blow?’” AJ laughed.

“Get over it! AJ Perfume, is that better?”

“Well, a little improvement,” he continued to play games with her.

“Anyway, we need to contact Emily now. I want to get started on this right away. We can’t fail.”

“We won’t. Not this time.”

“Well, I’m here,” Kristina said as she approached Lucky, who was sitting by himself.

“Have a seat,” Lucky pulled a chair out for her.

“Quite the gentleman,” Kristina smiled at him. “A gentleman who has me intrigued, might I add?”

“Now, before I even start, promise me that you’ll let me finish what I have to say before you say no.”

Kristina was really confused by Lucky, but she was also extremely curious as to what he wanted. “What are you talking about?” she asked him.

“Deception.”

“Who are you deceiving, and what part do I play in that because…”

“No,” Lucky chuckled. “We’re not deceiving anyone. Deception, my mom’s perfume company.”

“OK,” Kristina was still confused. “What part do I play in your mom’s perfume company?”

“The campaign that we run uses one model exclusively. We call that model ‘the Face of Deception,’ and she appears in all of the ad campaigns,” Lucky explained.

“Isn’t that Gia?”

“It was Gia. She quit, resigned. And you’re going to be her replacement.”

“Me as the Face of Deception? I don’t think so. I have no experience in modeling, first of all.”

“Neither did she.”

“Even so—“

“Even so, nothing. You’re the face we want; I just spoke with my mom about it. We need to do test shots so we have to get them set up right away,” Lucky was anxious. “They’re just a formality. What we really need is to get the summer campaign out in just a couple weeks so we really have to hussle.”

“Lucky, I can’t do this. I’m sorry, but I have to decline.”

Lucky didn’t get a chance to answer before his cell phone started ringing. After a few moments of talking to someone, he hung up.

“I have to get going,” he told Kristina. “But I’m not accepting your answer. You will be the next Face of Deception. And I’m leaving before you can tell me know,” he smiled at her. “I hope that we’ll be in touch,” he turned to look at her before leaving Kelly’s.

Kristina was about to leave a few minutes later when Gia came into the diner.

“What are you doing here?” Gia asked Kristina.

“I just got done meeting with Lucky Spencer,” Kristina explained.

“He really went through with it,” she mumbled under breath. “So, I’m looking at the new Face of Deception?” the coolness in Gia’s voice was apparent.

“Well…”

“You’re not going to be able to handle it; I’ll tell you that right now. You don’t even have the right look. I mean, I’m not trying to be cruel; I just want to save you a lot of heartache and embarrassment. Ask Lucky’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Webber, she’ll tell you what she went through. So when do you start?”

“Lucky told me that we needed to get working because the summer campaign needs to be out soon. So I guess that I’ll be starting very soon. I’m having another meeting with him soon.”

“I can’t believe that you’re actually going to do this.”

“Gia, you know what’s funny? I had no plans to do this. But my whole, I always go out and prove to others that I could do what they said that I couldn’t. Now, you’re telling me that I can’t do this; I’ll prove to you how well I can. Thank you for giving me that push,” Kristina picked up her purse and stormed out of Kelly’s.

On her wait out, she ran into Nikolas.

“Kristina, what’s the matter?” he asked, noticing that she was upset.

“Other than the fact that your fiancé’s a bitch, nothing. Look, I just need to calm down; I have to go,” she said as she bolted.

Nikolas was really curious to find out what had happened so he hurried inside and asked Gia why Kristina would say that.

“She said that I’m a bitch? Lucky asked her to be the new Face of Deception so I told her that I would give her any tips that I could to help her out, and she got this whole attitude of ‘I can do this on my own; I don’t need you.’ And I told her that just in case, I would be there. Then she said that I just wanted her to fail.”

“That’s all?”

“Yeah. Guess that she was having a bad day.”

“So she’s going to the new Face of Deception? I’m sure that she’ll be success, don’t you?”

CHAPTER THREE:

“Mom, Dad, we need to talk to you,” AJ said to his parents as he and Skye entered the Quartermaine living room.

“What is it, son?” Alan asked.

“Skye and I were talking today after the meeting, and we think that Emily would be the perfect choice for our spokesmodel,” AJ explained.

“Absolutely not!” Monica immediately spoke up. “After what your sister went through the last time she modeled, how the hell can you even suggest it?” she looked at AJ. “Wait,” she put her hand up to tell AJ to not say anything, “I know how you came up with it. Skye suggested it.”

“What?” Skye was baffled. “I did not.”

“Actually, mom, I was the one who told her that Emily had modeled before. And, before either of you mention it again, I do remember what she went through the last time. But, not only is she older, she’d be working for us. We could be around her all the time.”

“AJ, Skye, what’s the rush on this?” Alan wondered. “We just made the decision a few hours ago to do the perfume business. Do you realize how long it’s going to take to get the company up and running?”

“People are already working on it,” Skye told him.

“How’s that possible?” Monica asked.

“I want ELQ to make money,” Skye told them. “The board voted on a plan so as CEO, I’ve begun carrying out that plan. ELQ has many connections, as do I. We will be selling perfume by summer. But, we need to market it now. Deception is a little two bit local company, but look at the strides they’ve made in the cosmetics market. We need to get word out that our product is coming. We need to have people wanting, and waiting for the launch date. An ad campaign in the magazines would do just that.”

“It sounds like a good plan, but you’ll have to do that without Emily,” Monica told her.

“Don’t you think that maybe Emily should get a vote in this?” AJ asked them.

“AJ, your sister is recovering from a devastating back injury. The high stress of modeling is that last thing that she needs. End of discussion. Now, your mother and I have reservations for dinner that we need to get to,” Alan turned and looked at Monica. “Let’s go sweetheart.”

“Alan and I will not budge on this,” Monica assured them as she and Alan left.

“Well, it was worth a shot,” AJ told Skye once they were alone. “But mom and dad won’t go for it, that’s obvious.”

“Wait a second, though. Do Dad and Monica have ‘to go for it?’” Skye asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t Emily eighteen?”

“She will be very soon,” AJ realized.

“The last I checked, an eighteen year old was about to make decisions on their own.”

“I like the way that your mind works,” AJ smiled at his sister.

“You want to tell me about it on the way up to see Emily tonight?”

“I really like the way your mind works. Your car or mine?”

“Mine’s faster,” she said as the two headed out of the room and to the driveway.

At Laura’s office, Lucky showed up to tell his mother that he had spoken with Kristina.

“Mom, do you have a few minutes?” he asked her.

“Actually, I have more than a few minutes. I am done for the day,” Laura said with a big smile. “What’s up, honey?”

“A little while ago, I talked with Kristina Cassadine about being the new Face of Deception.”

“And?”

“And she turned it down. It looks like we’re back to square one.”

“Great,” Laura let out a big sigh and put her face in her hands. “Back to where we started from when we first launched the company. Dammit.”

“Hold on, let me get that,” Lucky said, referring to his ringing cell phone. “Hello,” she said upon answering the call.

“Lucky?” Kristina asked.

“Yeah.”

”This is Kristina Cassadine. I hope that you don’t mind me calling, but you did leave me your number so I figured that it was all right to call.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I changed my mind. If the offer’s still open, I want to test to be the new Face of Deception.”

“Of course it is,” Lucky’s excitement showed on his face. “I’m here with my mom right now. We have to work out some details, but I’m sure that I’ll be calling you at latest tomorrow.”

”Great,” she answered. “Do you need my phone number?”

“If it’s the same as the one on my caller ID, then no I don’t.”

“Well it is.”

“Great.”

“Yeah, great. I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.”

“You will.”

”OK, someone’s knocking at my door, so I guess I’ll talk to you soon.”

“You will. Goodbye,” Lucky couldn’t wait to hang up the phone to tell Laura the good news. “That was Kristina. We have our Face,” he smiled.

“She said yes?”

“I told her that we’d work out the details and be in touch with her tomorrow. I think that she’s going to be right, mom. Care to celebrate?”

“You know what? I do. Let’s go somewhere for a nice dinner. How about the PC Grille?”

“We’ll call and tell them to get a table ready on the way.”

Back at Alexis’s, Kristina opened the door to find Zander waiting on the other side.

“Zander, hey,” Kristina greeted him.

“Sorry to bother you,” he told her. “But…”

”You’re hardly bothering me. In fact, I have no one to celebrate with so I’m going to be the one bothering you.”

“What are you celebrating?”

“Come in, and I’ll tell you.”

“So you got some good news?” Zander asked her as he took a seat on the sofa.

“I guess you could say that. I just got off the phone after agreeing to possibly become the new Face of Deception.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“We’ll see. I can’t actually believe this. But I still feel the need to celebrate. Even if I don’t get the job, at least I tried. I didn’t back down. Are you hungry?” Kristina spoke very quickly.

“A little, I guess.”

“Well get hungry because you’re going with me to have dinner. I mean, unless you have something to do.”

“Actually, no, I don’t.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Where?”

“Alexis took me the other day to the Port Charles Hotel Restaurant—that’s not the name of it, but that’s where it is—and it was so good.”

“That’s not really my type of place. I’m sorry. I don’t fit in with those other kinds of people.”

“You’re not having dinner with those other people. You’re having dinner with me, and you fit in just fine with me. And you don’t want to bring me down from this good mood I’m in, do you?”

“Gee, can I really say no?”

“No, you can’t. So let’s go.”

“By the way, the reason I’m here in the first place is to give you this,” he pulls out her earring and gives it to her.

“I just noticed that it was gone, but I figured that I’d never see it again. See, just another reason for me to want to take you to dinner. And by the way, you don’t have to look like you’re going to a funeral with that face. My company’s not that bad.”

At Carly’s club, she and Jax continued to go over more business details.

“If you don’t mind, I do have a question to ask you,” Jax told Carly.

“Shoot,” she told him.

“We’ve been talking about and looking at all of the progress being made and talking about what’s going to happen when this place opens. What’s the name of this place?”

“Well, you’re probably going to laugh. Everything to this point has been so over the top, so elaborate. But as far as the name goes, I was thinking either about Club PC or just simply 180,” Carly looked at Jax, her eyes asking for approval.

“180 because coming to this place will turn your life around?” Jax didn’t seem to like either name.

“No, but for marketing purposes it could work. Our address is 180 Anderson Drive, and a lot of the clubs in L.A. and New York use just numbers for their name. You don’t like it?”

“I say we keep working on it.”

“Carly, I need to speak to you,” Sonny’s voice came from across the room.

“Sonny, what are you doing here?” Carly asked, surprised to see him.

“I need to speak to you. Or are you and Candy Boy in an important meeting?” Sonny asked in a very condescending manner.

“See, why do you have to do that? Jax didn’t even say a word to you,” Carly grew very angry with Sonny.

“That’s how he fights, didn’t you know that? Sonny thinks that he rule and manipulate everyone. He thinks everyone should be treated like lackey bodyguards,” Jax retorted.

“OK, not this, and not now. I need to speak to my wife,” Sonny told him.

“ Ex -wife,” Carly reminded him.

“Can I speak to you in private?” Sonny’s tone told how annoyed he was.

“I have to be going anyway. We’ll be talking,” Jax told Carly and walked out without even acknowledging Sonny again.

“I still can’t believe that you trusted him enough to go into business with him,” Sonny shook his head as he talked to Carly.

“Well, I am able to make my own decisions. All of your associates don’t meet with my approval either, but you don’t seem to care. So what brings you by?”

“Michael.”

“Is he all right?” Carly grew worried.

“Yeah, Michael’s fine. I just stopped by the house to see if you were there, and he was playing with Leticia.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“The adoption.”

“Sonny, please tell me you haven’t changed your mind. The papers are already signed.”

“Of course I haven’t changed my mind. There’s just been a problem with the papers.”

“What is it?”

“When Alexis filed them, there was a mix up, and she didn’t catch when read over them. The language was a little confusing…”

“What are you trying to say? What’s this mix up?”

“When you signed those papers, you handed me custody of Michael…”

“That was the point, wasn’t it?”

“No, I mean you handed over custody to me, and me solely. The way the agreement read was that you were signing over your rights as well. Like I said, Alexis didn’t catch it until after the papers were filed,” Sonny explained.

“So you’re telling me that I don’t have any parental rights to my son? That f ucking bitch,” Carly shook her head.

“Hey, it was a mistake,” Sonny didn’t like Carly referring to Alexis negatively.

“You think?! A mistake, yeah that’s all it was, a mistake. I think that it was a little more than a mistake, Sonny. Because of Alexis the Great’s stupidity, my son isn’t my son anymore—at least not by law.”

“Keep your voice down. This isn’t all Alexis’s fault, you know. Did you read over the papers? Did you have your lawyer read over the papers?” Sonny knew the answer to the questions he asked.

“Unbelievable. This is my fault. Of course it’s my fault. Alexis and Sonny don’t make mistakes, only Carly does.”

“Would you calm yourself? Alexis is already working on the papers to sign custody back over to you.”

“And how long is that going to take? And do you think that she can handle it? Maybe if she got her mind off of your cock and on to her work, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Enough! I won’t stand here and listen to this!” Sonny raised his voice very loudly.

“No, I won’t stand here and listen to this,” Carly got off of her chair and bolted for the door.

“Don’t do it, Carly,” Sonny warned her. “You stay away from Alexis!”

“Why? You can’t seem to,” she spat back as she stormed out of the club.

At the Grille, Lucky and Laura were sitting at their table discussing where the future of Deception might be.

“Kristina’s look is very different from Gia’s, but I think it’ll work. And I think that we can still use the same concept for the summer campaign that we had before,” Lucky explained to his mother.

“Oh definitely. I definitely think that we need to keep the wedding element in the campaign,” Laura agreed.

“Well we have the same studio, and we both know what we need to make the ads the same.”

“Right. As soon as we do some test shots, I’ll call the florist and Wyndham’s to get a dress to rent. There is one thing that I don’t know if we’ll have the power over.”

“What’s that?” Lucky wondered.

“A groom,” Laura smiled. “We need a male model, and I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get Alexander back again. So that means that we need someone who will look good with Kristina.”

Just at that moment, Kristina entered the Grille, and Lucky took notice.

“I may not be able to get you the Alex part, but would you settle for the Zander?”

“What?” Laura was confused.

”Look over there,” Lucky nodded his head in the direction of Kristina and Zander. “I may not be best friends with the guy or his biggest fan, but he and Kristina look good together, don’t you think?”

Laura waited only a few seconds to answer. “Yes, actually they do. But do you think that he’d do it. I doubt that he has any experience.”

“I’m sure that he has no experience, but Kristina’s going to be the focus anyway. He needs to stand with her for a couple of shots, wearing a tuxedo, and smiling. All of the lighting and everything is meant to give focus to the bride, and we wouldn’t have to shell out supermodel prices. Zander’s not exactly rolling in the money, so I’m sure that he’d agree for a minimal amount.”

“What the hell,” Laura threw her hands in the air, “anything’s worth a shot. Let’s try it.”

“Carly, what are you—“

“You bitch!” Carly interrupted her. “First you take my husband, and now you’re trying to take my son. You won’t get away with this.”

“You talked to Sonny,” Alexis remained calm.

“Yeah, I talked to Sonny,” Carly mocked Alexis. “So tell me, how long did you have this planned? Was it when you first set your sights on getting Sonny? Or did you figure that a better way to hang onto him would be with Michael?”

“Carly, I’ve already begun the paperwork to get Michael back to you,” Alexis tried to tell her.

“Save it! I don’t want to hear what you’re doing. Michael is my son, no matter what any paper says. I want the new papers drawn up giving me back sole custody. I don’t want you or Sonny near my child.”

“Carly, Sonny has to agree to that. These papers were drawn up because you agreed to let Sonny have custody.”

“That’s too damn bad. I don’t want him to have custody anymore.”

“That may not be an option. By law, Sonny is Michael’s sole guardian. If he doesn’t agree to give up the joint custody, then these papers don’t have to be filed.”

“Are you trying to tell me that I have no say in my son’s life?”

“By law, no, you don’t. But that’s what we’re trying to fix so that there is joint custody between you and Sonny.”

“You talk all you want to. I don’t trust you. I never have, and I never will. You’re a conniving snake, and you won’t get away with this.”

CHAPTER FOUR:

Carly went straight home after leaving Alexis’s to make sure that Michael was still there. The fear that she had inside of her of losing Michael made her sick to her stomach. She would do whatever it took to make sure that no one took her son off of her, especially not Alexis Davis. Carly also needed someone to talk to. She immediately thought of Jax since they had grown closer these past few weeks. His feelings for Alexis, though, might prevent him from thinking clearly, Carly thought. So, she decided to take Michael to Bobbie’s house.

“You can go up and play,” Carly told Michael after he had given Bobbie kisses upon arriving at the brownstone.

“What’s wrong?” Bobbie asked immediately after Michael was out of earshot. “And don’t say nothing because I can tell, Carly.”

“Is there anyone around?”

“Taggert’s downstairs, but I think that that’s it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t like this, Carly. What’s wrong?”

“You remember how Sonny had planned to adopt Michael? Well, I should’ve known better than to trust that whore he calls a lawyer.”

“Alexis talked Sonny out of the adoption?”

“Just the opposite. Alexis had papers drawn up that gave Sonny sole custody of Michael,” Carly explained.

“You’re not going to sign them are you?”

“I already did.”

“Carly, what were you thinking?”

“I didn’t know.”

“What do you mean you didn’t know? Didn’t your lawyer pick that up?”

“I didn’t have a lawyer present when I signed them. I didn’t think I needed one. I wanted Sonny to have joint custody so when I was given the papers, I just signed them.”

“How could you not have a lawyer present?”

“And how could I think that you’d be on my side?” Carly asked.

“Carly, that’s not what this is about, and you know it. We’re talking about custody of your child. To have a lawyer present…” Bobbie just shook her head as her words trailed off. “But, that’s past. There’s nothing that you or I could do about that. Honey, I do want to be here for you, and I only want to help you.”

“Then find me a lawyer, tell me of someone who can not only get my back to me but also who will destroy Alexis Davis. At the very minimum, she’ll never practice law in this town again. Best case: that bitch is disbarred and backs out of town in embarrassment.”

Before Bobbie could say anything else to her daughter, Taggert entered the room from downstairs.

“Hey Taggert,” Bobbie smiled at him. “Don’t you look nice,” she said, referring to the black suit he was wearing.

“Yeah, thanks,” he smiled back modestly. “Carly,” he nodded as he looked at her with coolness in his eyes.

“Taggert,” she nodded back in just the same coolness.

“I need to ask you for a favor,” he looked at Bobbie.

”Sure.”

“My mother’s supposed to stop by and pick up this package, but I’m not going to be home. So I was wondering if I could leave it here, and she could just get it from you.”

“Absolutely. That would be no problem,” she took the package off of him and placed it on the table. “Hot date? Not that it’s any of my business.”

“Well, actually, I’m taking Dara Jensen out to the Grille. She resigned at DA, I don’t know if you heard that or not, and she’s going into private practice so we’re going out to celebrate.”

“Wow, I hadn’t heard that,” Bobbie told him, shocked.

“It’s a long story why she did it, but I think that it’ll be best for her. She wants to be able to choose the cases that she tries.”

“Good for her. She’s a wonderful attorney, and I’m sure that she will be very successful.”

“Hey, thanks for doing that for me,” Taggert pointed to the package.

“No problem. Now go out and enjoy your evening,” Bobbie instructed.

“Thanks. Good night,” he waved and went back down to his apartment.

“I am so hungry. Are you?” Carly asked her mother.

“What are you planning?”

“All of a sudden I have gotten really hungry for the duck that they make at the PC Grille,” Carly told her.

“Try again,” Bobbie didn’t want her daughter to do anything foolish.

“Well, while I’m eating if I happen to see Dara Jensen, I may ask her if she could use any new clients. I mean, I’m not Dara’s biggest fan and the feeling is mutual. But if there’s one person that Dara would like to nail more than me, it would have to be Alexis. She would relish the chance to pummel her into the ground.”

“What about Sonny?”

“What about him? I’ve spent the last two years of my life being told what to do by Sonny. You know what? He never cared what I thought. You know what his reaction was today? Don’t hurt Alexis. So, if Sonny is pissed off then that’s too damn bad.”

“Can you give me a few minutes to get dressed for dinner?”

“Thanks, mama.”

At the Grille, Laura and Lucky were pitching their ideas to Zander and Kristina.

“Now, you know that I’m not promising anything,” she told Kristina before even bringing in Zander. “But I do think that if you’re comfortable with the camera, then you are going to be the face that we’re looking for.”

“I understand,” Kristina smiled at Laura and nodded her head.

“Before we go any further, though, I do have to ask if you have any problems with dying your hair?” Laura wondered.

“I like to experiment,” Kristina answered.

“I can tell,” Laura answered matter-of-factly. “What would you think about going back to your natural color? Which is brownish, I suspect.”

Kristina kind of let out a laugh as if to say, “I think that I should be insulted.”

“You are beautiful with your hair like it is, I’m just afraid that on camera with all of the lights, that it might overpower your facial features.”

“If you’ll excuse me…” Zander stood up.

“Actually, we don’t. Sit down,” Lucky told him.

“What?” Zander was confused.

“You’re a part of what my mother has to say,” Lucky told him. “Just sit back down, and you’ll find out how.”

“Okay,” Zander’s face displayed a look of bewilderment.

“When Kristina comes down to the studio, Zander, I’d like you to come with her,” Laura began. “Our summer ad campaign featured our model in a wedding scenario. So basically we had Gia in a wedding dress standing next to her groom. That’s something we want to stick with.”

Zander looked at her still confused.

“And since we need to redo our entire shot, Lucky and I decided that if Kristina ends up being the bride that you would look good standing in for the groom,” Laura explained.

“You want me---to take pictures---be in the picture like as a guy model?” Zander stumbled over his words all the while Laura nodded her head. “Yeah, I don’t really think so.”

“Oh come on, Zander, it’s not like we’re telling you to put on the dress and wear the make up. You need to stand next to Kristina, wear a tux, and smile. It pays well, believe me.”

“You’d pay me?”

“Of course we’d pay you.”

“Come on, Zander, if I can do this,” Kristina jumped in the conversation, “then the least you could do is to help me with my first session.”

“I don’t—“

“Perfect, he’ll do it,” Kristina told Lucky and Laura.

“Hey, wait a second…” Zander looked at Kristina shocked.

“Perfect,” Laura continued with Kristina. “Now, we’ll expect you around nine a.m. at the studio on Grant Street. Zander, you probably know where it’s at, right?”

“I haven’t even said that I’ll do this,” he interjected.

“Zander, my mom and Kristina are counting on you. You wouldn’t want to let them down would you?” Lucky joked with him.

Finally after a little cajoling, Zander agreed; Laura and Lucky went back to their table happy while Zander and Kristina sat both in a little bit of astonishment.

“Carly, before you do anything irrational, give yourself some time to calm down,” Bobbie spoke as she and Carly entered the Grille.

“Mama, I want my son back that’s all,” Carly told her forcefully. “If Sonny wants Alexis, and she wants him that’s fine. But my son won’t be a witness to it.”

“And I’m sure that Sonny and Alexis will gladly give you your son back,” Bobbie continued as they made their way to their table. “And as far as a romance between them, I don’t think so at least not from what I’ve seen.”

“Well, they both claim that nothing is going on, but every time I look,” Carly looked up and the expression on her face changed to seething anger, “they seem to be up each others ass evidenced by the special moment they seem to sharing at the moment,” Carly said referring to seeing Alexis and Sonny across the room enjoying a drink at the bar.

“Carly, don’t do anything…” Bobbie couldn’t finish her sentence as Carly darted from the table to where Dara and Taggert were sitting.

“Excuse me,” she burst in their conversation, “I really hate to interrupt you.”

“Then don’t,” Taggert told her.

“I heard that you’re practicing law on your own now,” she looked Dara. “Interests in a new client?”

“Dara doesn’t handle cases for criminals who try to bend the law to suit them.”

Dara shot Taggert a look, and although she wasn’t a fan of Carly’s she didn’t want to be rude.

“Who’s the client, and what’s the case?” Dara asked.

“I’m the client. And the case? Well, let’s just say that not only does it involve child custody, it could also lead to the disbarment of Alexis Davis.”

“I thought that I told you that Dara doesn’t represent crime lords,” Taggert persisted in being rude.

“Did I mention representing Sonny? I said that I was client. As a matter of fact, it would be Sonny that we’d be battling. You see, he and Alexis tried to steal my son from me, and I want him back. And I want revenge.”

“Mrs. Corinthos, I won’t promise you anything. Now, I’m in the middle of enjoying dinner so I won’t discuss this any further tonight, but here’s my card,” Dara took a business card out of her purse and gave it to Carly. “Call me tomorrow, and we’ll discuss this further. As I told you, I’m not guaranteeing anything.”

“Believe me, once you hear my case, you won’t be able to refuse. Enjoy your dinner,” Carly turned around to find Bobbie standing behind her. “Let’s get out of here,” she told her mother.

“We haven’t even had dinner,” Bobbie answered.

“All of a sudden, I’ve lost my appetite,” Carly began walking away and out the door, unnoticed by Sonny or Alexis.

“Well, well, well, it looks like Sonny’s wife may have finally seen the error of her ways,” Dara commented to Taggert.

“And this may be our big chance to nail Sonny Corinthos’s ass to the wall once and for all,” Taggert spoke to Dara, but his eyes focused on Sonny.

Later that evening, Skye and AJ returned to the Quartermaine mansion where everyone had already gone to sleep.

“Mom and Dad are going to be so happy,” AJ spoke quietly. “Welcome home, Em,” he winked as he looked down at Emily sitting in her wheelchair.

“Yes, welcome home, future cover model for our new perfume company,” Skye smiled at the three of them made their way upstairs.

“Should we wake them?” Emily asked, referring to Monica and Alan.

“Nah, we’ll surprise them in the morning.”

CHAPTER FIVE:

Skye awoke before most everyone in the Quartermaine mansion. She draped her slender figure in a form fitting black suit and pulled her hair away from her face. Her makeup was complemented her skin tones nicely. She looked every bit the corporate businesswoman, and she was determined that it wasn’t just a look. Soon, she thought to herself, everyone will know that Skye Chandler-Quartermaine is a force to be reckoned with in the corporate world.

As she sat alone enjoying her coffee and reading the stock quotes, Edward entered the room.

“Joining me for some bonding time?” Skye asked Edward facetiously.

Edward didn’t answer her, and in fact, barely even acknowledged that she was in the room.

“Grandfather, I—“

”You haven’t earned the right, or should I say that you gave it away when you took ELQ from me, to call me grandfather. I certainly don’t acknowledge you as my granddaughter.”

“You can think whatever you want, but we still share the same blood. I am a Quartermaine, and nothing could change that fact.”

“You’re a shame to this family, and everyone will see through your game. I won’t rest until you’re on the streets,” Edward retorted.

“Father, why am I always subject to this kind of behavior from you?” Alan asked upon entering the room.

“Let me guess,” Monica added her opinion as she came in, “another family fight with Skye in the middle.”

“How’d you guess?” Edward asked rhetorically. “I was merely saying that Skye is a vengeful snake who can’t help but show her true skin.”

“Vengeful? Well, Edward, that’s quite a shock to hear coming from you,” Monica told him. “I think that cutting your entire family out of your will might fall under the category of vengefulness.”

“Sounds like a good summation of Grandfather to me,” AJ added snidely.

“All of you, do you see this? This is why Melissa Bedford is getting all of my money, and none of you will see one cent of it,” Edward huffed and left the room.

“Speaking of scents,” AJ said making use of pun, “do you think they’re ready?” he asked Skye referring to Emily.

“Why not?” Skye added.

“Mom, Dad, we have a little bit of a surprise for you.”

“Why doesn’t that make feel good at all?” Monica was sarcastic.

“Trust me, you’ll love this,” AJ told her as he stepped out of the room into the foyer to get Emily. Monica and Alan stood waiting as AJ pushed Emily in her wheelchair into the room.

Although they were extremely excited to see her, Alan and Monica both stood still for a moment with their mouths gaped open.

“Surprise!” Emily and AJ yelled in unison.

“Hi, Sweetheart,” Alan greeted her. His face, however, said what his mouth couldn’t about Emily being back home.

“Em, what are you doing here?” Monica hurried to her daughter’s side to give her a kiss.

“Mom, Dad, meet the new face of ELQ’s cosmetics line,” AJ sprang the news on them immediately.

Instantaneously, the bickering began. Monica and Alan flat out refused to even hear what AJ and Skye had to say. Ned came into the mansion, heard the fighting, and jumped in with what he had to say. He agreed with Monica and Alan.

“No one cares what I think!” Emily yelled above everyone.

“Of course we do, Em, that’s why we’re not allowing you to do this,” Monica explained.

“You can’t stop me. I’m not a little girl anymore!” she protested.

“You viper!” Monica lashed out at Skye. “I know that you’re behind this, you spiteful bitch!”

“Why is everything always Skye’s fault?” Alan asked her.

“She knew that we were against this. And she went behind our backs purposely to turn Emily against us,” Monica explained.

“Maybe Skye was thinking of me . Maybe she was thinking of something that I would enjoy doing, instead of what you think that I’d enjoy,” Emily added.

“Emily, honey, you’re working on your recovery. That should take precedence over anything in your life,” Alan informed her.

“This is something that is going to give me more incentive to walk. Yesterday, I walked, and I had no one to share it with. The therapists told me that everyday I should be able to walk a little more. Being here and having something to do will make me work even harder, don’t you see that?”

The fighting continued, reaching levels that seemed to be able to shake the house off of its foundation. Insults continued towards Skye from Ned and Monica as AJ and Emily defended her. Alan, on the other hand, was torn. He loved Skye and did not believe that she was being spiteful. He had a genuine fear for Emily’s safety, however, because of her past experience. The fighting all came to a halt, though, when Reginald entered the room and yelled that he had something extremely important to announce.

“We’re in the middle of something, Reginald,” Ned told him. “What is it?”

As Reginald began to speak, his face turned as pale as a ghost’s, and he got choked up. When the words came out, he could barely raise his voice above a whisper despite his best intentions.

“It’s Mrs. Quartermaine. I just went to take her her tea, and I found her on the floor. She’s not breathing very well. I called the paramedics,” he told them, visibly shaken by the events.

Alan’s heart seemed lodged in his throat; and he was unable to ask any questions, though he didn’t feel he had time to anyway. Without even thinking, he dashed to Lila’s room as Monica followed.

_____________________________________________________________

Waking up unusually early for her, Carly had awoken with revenge and determination still on her mind. She got dressed and went to the club to check its progress. The entire time, however, her mind was on Dara and the hopes that she would defend Carly in a court battle. When Carly got to the club, the workers were already there hard at work much to her surprise.

“A bright and early workday, huh?” Carly remarked to one of the men.

“Those were the orders we received,” the man replied, never stopping what he was doing.

“Excuse me?”

“Mr. Jacks. He asked us yesterday if we would put in longer shifts so that the work would be completed sooner.”

“Really? Any reason?” Carly was surprised.

“Because he knows how anxious the lady is to get this club open,” Jax’s voice answered from behind Carly.

Carly whipped around and looked at Jax with delight and amazement.

“I thought that we were concerned about the budget,” Carly reminded Jax that he always talks about her spending too much money.

“Well, sometimes you have to spend a little extra to get what you want.”

“Thank you,” she got close to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How do you know how to do that?”

“Do what? Spend money? You seem to make it a lot easier,” he joked.

“Not that,” she smiled, amused. “Yesterday was probably the single worst day of my life, and I didn’t think that today would be any better. This doesn’t erase that problem, but at least it makes me feel as if something in my life can go right.”

“Anything you care to talk about?” Jax wondered.

“My whole life just changed completely yesterday, that’s it.”

“Sonny?”

“What else? Jax, I’m sure that he’s the man that I thought he was. I mean, I don’t want to hurt him, but… I don’t know. I truly don’t know anymore what to do.”

“If you ever need anyone to talk to, you can talk to me.”

“I may take you up on that offer,” she told him, “so you’d better watch what you say.”

“If I didn’t mean it, I wouldn’t have said it. Now having said, I have to go,” he laughed. “I’m not running out, though, I had another meeting scheduled. That doesn’t mean that you can’t call me later if you need a ear to chew on.”

“You are amazing. I think that when I chose a partner that I got the better end of the deal. Finally, I may have done something right in my life.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

As Carly watched Jax leave, she watched him with a smile on her face. She never thought that she’d have a friend who would be concerned about what she felt. Guilt did rack Carly, however, because she didn’t tell Jax that Alexis had played a part in Carly’s latest plan.

Despite her guilt, Carly still wanted revenge on Alexis. She reached into her pocket and pulled out Dara’s number.

Once Dara answered the phone, Carly began telling her the details of the case that she wanted to mount. After several minutes of going into the specifics about the case, Dara agreed that she would represent Carly.

“Carly, you’re not going to like me saying this, but it’s the truth,” Dara told her, “Sonny Corinthos is involved in illegal activities. You can choose to believe that or not. I know for a fact that it’s true. So because of that, we need to move this case along. Although he’s been like Teflon before, one of these days Sonny is going to get caught. If that happens before you get custody of your son… Well, let’s just say that we need to win this case very soon.”

Carly hadn’t thought of that before. “I won’t let that happen, Dara,” Carly was adamant.

“I won’t either, Carly. I’ll be touch with you.”

Meanwhile at the towers where Sonny lives, Taggert stopped for a moment and looked at Courtney. He had never seen her before, but the fact that she was with Johnny raised his suspicions. Obviously this lady had to have a connection to Sonny, and Taggert wanted to know what it was. He hid behind the corner to see if he could hear what the pair was saying.

“Johnny, I’m capable of getting it myself,” Courtney told the bodyguard. “When I took a shower in Sonny’s apartment the other day, I placed my belongings on the vanity in the bathroom. I’m sure that’s where I left my license.”

“I’d still better go with you,” Johnny insisted.

“Johnny, I know you’re just trying to do your job. And I can just hear Sonny saying it now, ‘Protect my sister while I’m out of town,’ but I’m going upstairs for a minute.”

“Sister?” Taggert said to himself then got a big smile on his face. Without anyone noticing, he got on the elevator and went to the floor that Sonny lived on. He hid behind the corner by Alexis’s place as he watched Courtney come up and get off the elevator. He waited a few seconds, made his way to Sonny’s doorway, slipped something over the lock, and pulled it shut. He then stood in the hallway and knocked.

“Can I help you?” Courtney asked him when she opened the door.

“Yes, maybe you can. I’m looking for Sonny Corinthos, and I was told that he lives here,” Taggert told her.

“Yes, he does, but he’s out of town at the moment. He left this morning,” Courtney freely gave information, as she was not used to having to protect Sonny’s whereabouts.

“Just my luck,” Taggert pretended to be upset.

“I didn’t get your name; I can leave him a message.”

“That’s all right; I want to surprise Sonny.”

“I hate to seem like I’m pushing you out of here, but I have someone waiting for me downstairs.”

“I understand,” Taggert told her. “Here let me get that,” he said, referring to the door.

“Thank you. Can you make sure it’s locked?” Courtney asked.

”Sure thing,” Taggert answered and proceeded to pretend as if the door was locked.

He got on the elevator with her and chatted a little, but he didn’t want to go to the same floor she was because he didn’t want Johnny to see him. He got off a floor above, watched the elevator doors closed, and smacked his hands together. “Got your sorry ass, Corinthos,” he said to himself.

At the Deception photo shoot, Laura was pleased with how events were going with Kristina. Now sporting brown hair, Kristina came alive on film. The wedding dress that she was dressed in looked as if it was specifically designed for her although it was one that Gia had worn in her shoot.

“Beautiful, beautiful,” Lucky told her as he snapped photo after photo. “OK, now how about a few with the groom?” he asked.

Zander, looking handsome as ever in his tuxedo, was obviously nervous. When he stepped in the scene to get into the shot, he seemed to be concentrating on even breathing. After a few shots, however, he was warming up.

“That it’s, that’s good. Now show me how much you love this woman,” Lucky instructed him. “Show me that this woman is that one you will spend the rest of your life with.”

Zander didn’t quite know how to react to these orders.

“Um, Lucky, I don’t really know her that well,” Zander finally said.

“The public doesn’t need to know that. Just hold her close to you, flash a big smile, act like you’re in love with her,” Lucky instructed.

With a little teasing from Kristina, Zander relaxed even more. Lucky announced that there would be just a couple more shots to take. As everyone got caught up in the shoot while Lucky and Laura yelled and the music pounded, no one noticed that Gia had entered and slipped in the back. She fumed at the sight of Kristina in the same dress.

“OK,” Lucky continued, “you may now kiss the bride.”

“You’re not—“ Zander started.

“I am,” Lucky answered. “It’s just a few pecks on lips. Come on, you’re husband and wife.”

Feeling awkward, but wanting to get this done with, Zander and Kristina both complied. Zander leaned in and gently met his lips with Kristina but quickly pulled back.

“That was good, now let’s see a little longer kiss,” Lucky told them.

As they had to repeat kiss after kiss, it got easier for Zander and Kristina. Finally, Lucky told them that it was time for the last shot and to “make it good.” The pair fell into each other effortlessly and locked lips intensely. Then in an instant the shoot was done, and the crew began to clean up.

“You two were awesome,” Laura gushed over them. After a little bit more praise, Kristina was tired and couldn’t wait to get out of her dress. She opened the door to her dressing room and was startled to see Gia standing there. “Gia, what are you—“

“I just stopped by to see how you were doing. Nice look,” she pointed her hands at Kristina. “It’s gotta be a little disheartening, though, eh?”

“What does?”

“Well, I mean, they seemed to make this big deal over how you were the new Face of Deception. By the looks of it, I don’t think Laura was quite ready to get over my look. I’m sure in time, if you’re still around, that you’ll be able to convince them to allow you to use your own look.”

“Why are you such a nasty bitch?”

“Because she’s afraid that everyone will find out how replaceable she really was,” Lucky added as he walked in the room after overhearing Gia and Kristina’s conversation.

“What, Lucky, being Elizabeth’s protector wasn’t enough? Do you look for all weak little girls to protect?” Gia answered back. “I need to get out of here, you two are so pathetic.”

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Lucky smiled at her.

“And don’t let the floor break your face when you both fall flat on it,” Gia said as she slammed the door shut. “I’ll make sure you both fail,” Gia promised as she spoke to herself.

Across town, Elizabeth was at the hospital visiting Audrey. Her grandmother had an emergency to get to so Elizabeth decided to leave. She pressed the elevator button and waited for it to reach her. As the doors opened, Elizabeth was about to step on it when she hesitated for a moment.

“Jason,” she said as her eyes lit up.

“Hey, Elizabeth,” Jason replied.

“Oh my gosh, it’s so good to see you,” she rushed into the elevator and fell into an embrace in his arms.

CHAPTER SIX:

After embracing for a few seconds, Elizabeth pulled away and looked at Jason.

“You look great,” she told him. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re here; this is a surprise to say the least.”

“You look good, too.”

“Thanks. So, what are you doing here?” she wondered.

“Looking for Emily. I went to visit her at the rehab center, but I was told that she went home. So, I got to the Quartermaine’s, and Reginald told me that Grandmother was sick and that the family was here.”

Elizabeth’s mind raced with questions. She was concerned with Lila’s health, but she also had questions about Emily being in town.

“So Emily came home because Lila was sick?” she asked.

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me that she was leaving.”

“How is Lila? Is it anything serious?”

“I just got here; I was going to look for the family when I saw you.”

“How about I help you find them?” she asked.

“That’s be good,” he smiled back at her.

As Elizabeth and Jason walked around the hospital, Gia noticed them as she stepped off the elevator. She didn’t say anything to them, but instead went to find Nikolas.

“Jason,” Monica said softly, tears running down her face, as she saw him enter the ICU. “Jason,” she repeated his name as she cried harder and ran to hug him.

As Alan sat by his mother’s bedside, Emily, Ned, AJ, and Skye sat with tears in their eyes in the waiting area; but they all watched Jason as if he was an alien since they were surprised to see him.

“How’s Lila?” Jason asked Monica, who held on to her son tightly.

“Not good. She had a heart attack, and there’s nothing that I can do about it,” she answered him.

In the meantime, Elizabeth walked over to Emily and comforted her best friend.

“How did you know to come?” Monica asked Jason.

“I went to see Emily, and I was told that she had gone home,” he answered. “So, I went to the house, and that’s when I found out about Lila.”

“You were at the house? You didn’t by any chance see grandfather, did you?” Ned asked his cousin

“You mean Edward? He’s not here?” Jason was surprised.

“No, and we can’t find him,” Monica told him.

Jason walked over to Emily, knelt down beside her, and grabbed her hands.

“How are you doing?” he asked tenderly.

“I’m so glad to see you,” Emily said as tears ran down her face. “Don’t leave me,” she instructed.

“I won’t,” he promised.

Just then, Edward burst through the doors of the ICU accompanied by Melissa.

“Where is she? I want to see my wife,” he demanded upon entering.

“Father,” Alan heard Edward enter so he came out to console him.

“Get away from me! All of you,” Edward waved his finger around pointing to the family members, “I knew that all of you were cold heartless backstabbers. But to not even tell me about Lila; I really have no use for any of you now!”

“Do you really think that we didn’t try to find you, father?” Alan asked. “What we would gain by doing that?”

“Revenge. You’ve already robbed me of so much lately that I wouldn’t put it past you to try to deny me seeing my wife. God knows what kind of stuff you told Lila. Oh why am I even explaining this to you? I want to see Lila,” he turned to Melissa and told her.

“Let me check her charts, and I’ll tell the nurse in charge that you’d like to go in,” she answered sweetly.

“Thank you sweetheart,” he told her then went to window of Lila’s room and watched his wife lying their helpless.

Melissa spoke briefly with the nurse in charge then returned to Edward and told him that he was allowed in.

“Only one person at a time, though,” she told him.

“You can’t come in with me?” he asked.

“I’m sorry; I can’t. Your family’s here, though, if you need anything.”

“They don’t care,” he told her. “Will you wait for me?”

“Sure,” she smiled sympathetically and grabbed his hand.

Edward walked slowly into Lila’s room. Always a stoic man, he could his emotions getting the better of him at the mere sight of his wife. He took a seat next to her bed and placed his hand on top of hers.

“My dear,” his voiced cracked as he began to speak. “Can you hear me, my dear? Oh Lila, please open those beautiful eyes of yours. I need you. You’re the only good thing in my life; you always were. You always understood me, even when I didn’t understand myself. And now I’m alone. The rest of the family has cast me aside. We both know that it’s not the first time that this has happened, but we always knew that you’d make it right. And now I can’t see any reason to make it better, and that’s why you need to wake up. You need to tell me what to do; you need to make things better. I need you Lila. I love you,” Edward couldn’t hold back anymore and broke down in tears. “I don’t know what I’d ever do without you. You are—“

Edward was interrupted by an ear-piercing alarm and the sound of Lila’s heart monitor flatlining. Immediately a team of medical professionals rushed in and began working on Lila. The family rushed in, but they were immediately told to get out of the room.

“Edward, you have to leave,” Melissa told him. “Come on,” she was very gentle with him.

“But Lila…”

“She’ll be fine; they’re working on that now,” she put her arm around him and led him to the waiting area.

The rest of the family watched through the window as the doctors tried to revive Lila several times. Being medical professionals themselves, Alan and Monica knew what was going on. In horror they watched as everyone stepped away from Lila, and they looked at the doctor as his mouth formed the words, “Time of death.”

Elsewhere in the hospital, Gia and Nikolas were making plans for later that evening.

“As far as I’m concerned, a quiet night at home with my princess is fine with me,” Nikolas told her, “but I talked to Lucky a little earlier, and I told her that maybe he and Elizabeth could stop over.”

“Great,” Gia said facetiously.

“Is there a problem with having dinner with Lucky and Elizabeth?”

Gia didn’t want to tell Nikolas the problems that she was having with Lucky so she lied and said that she would have just preferred to have dinner alone with him. They were interrupted by a knock on Nikolas’s door.

“Come in,” he yelled.

“Hello,” Laura smiled as she opened the door.

“Mother,” Nikolas smiled back at her.

“I’m not interrupting anything I hope,” Laura said.

“Of course not. I was the one who invited you here,” Nikolas told her. “I’ll see you later at home,” Nikolas looked at Gia and gave her a kiss.

“I’ll be waiting,” Gia kissed him. “Bye, Laura,” Gia waved and left.

“So what’s this about, honey?” Laura asked.

“First, did you see today’s newspaper?”

“I leafed through it quickly. Why?” Laura responded.

“Did you see this?” Nikolas asked while flashing Laura a page from the paper.

“‘ELQ to Launch New Cosmetics Line,’” Laura read the headline that Nikolas showed her. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t see that,” she let Nikolas know. “Wow, I guess that I have some new competition.”

“And that’s why I called you. I know that you would never ask for money, and I’m not even saying that you need it. But as you just said, you now have some new competition, and ELQ is very powerful. If at any time you need some money to help bolster Deception, I’d hope that you come to me first.”

“Nikolas, thank you sweetheart,” Laura smiled lovingly at her son, “but I could never borrow money from you.”

“OK, then don’t borrow it. If you ever get in a crunch, let Cassadine Enterprises buy Deception. You would still remain in total control, but the financial aspect would be run by CE—by me essentially. God knows, the Cassadines have enough money, and I’d like to spend some of it on something worthwhile.”

“And face the wrath of Helena in the process,” Laura laughed.

“Helena has nothing to do with CE. I’m in charge. I’m the prince, remember?”

“How could I forget? Seriously, though, thank you. The first few years of launching a company are always difficult, but I think that Deception is holding up quite well. Sure, we face losses, but I know that someday it’ll turnaround.”

“I’m not going to pressure you into this, but please remember that the amount of money that you need probably wouldn’t even make a dent in the CE bank records,” Nikolas told her.

“I don’t know; I just like the fact that I own my company.”

“Just think about it; it’ll always be an option for you.”

“Deception as a part of Cassadine Enterprises going up against ELQ, that is something to think about,” Laura nodded her head as the wheels inside turned feverishly.