Family Secrets

The small residential street on the outskirts of Port Charles coursed along with its usual Saturday afternoon activities. Children played in their front yards with one another, running in and out of the street mindful of the occasional oncoming car. Adults carried along, mowing their lawns, weeding their flower beds, or simply soaking up some midsummer sun.

Further down the street, the road transformed from smooth pavement to a dusty trail leading further out of the city. Houses became further and farther in between, mailboxes ten yards from front doors, and once in a blue moon could the occasional person be spotted nearby.

That was the beauty of Port Charles. One minute you were in the middle of an average-sized shipping town in upstate New York, the next you were so far from the city that the sound of the wind blowing seemed to be as loud as a multitude of cars honking their horns in the middle of rush hour traffic.

Silence. It was a beautiful thing.

So quiet that you could hear a pin drop . . . or a man scream.

And no one was around to acknowledge it.

The cloud of dust and small rocks could be seen a good fifty yards away from the drive leading up to the small farmhouse. The cloud became closer and closer, creating the illusion of a small dirt tornado calmly and steadily drawing itself to the house like a magnet.

Ten seconds later, a black jag came to a crunching halt on the drive, and the large cloud of dust settled calmly to the ground. As soon as the engine was shut off, both front doors of the vehicle swung open and two large men emerged from the car.

“God, I hate it out here,” Johnny grumbled.

“Stop being a punkass, Johnny,” Manny sighed. “It’s nice out here. No crowds, no yelling, no . . .”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Johnny interrupted. “Let’s get this over with so I can get back to the real world.”

Johnny began to make his way up the drive towards the house and Manny remained standing by the jag, lifting his face up to the hot summer sun.

“Are you coming or not?” Johnny sighed.

“Yeah yeah, hold your damn horses, bitch,” Manny muttered as he slowly made his way up the drive. “It wouldn’t hurt you to get some sun, you know. You’re all pasty looking.”

That caused Johnny to frown. “Whatever.”

The house came further into view as did Patrick sitting on the porch steps. “Hey, guys,” he sighed.

Johnny and Manny grinned at him and stopped their trek. “Patrick, my man, how goes it?” Manny laughed.

“It’s hotter than hell, that’s how it goes,” Patrick muttered as he wiped the sweat of his brow with the back of his hand. “I can’t wait till they finish fixing up the other safe house because this no central air thing sucks ass.”

“Just be glad you’re out here and not inside.”

“Yeah, true,” Patrick grinned. “You missed quite the show an hour ago. He was crying like a baby for a good half hour.”

All three men chuckled and Patrick stood to stretch. “Dave’s out back and Eric’s inside, I’ll round him up and wait out here for the final word.”

“Yeah, Jason’s on his way.”

“Alright, civilization, here I come,” Patrick grinned as he began to walk around to the back of the house.

Johnny and Manny walked in and passed Eric on the way, relieving him of his post. They walked into the large master bedroom that was empty save for a portable TV/VCR and a few wooden chairs.

Manny checked the TV and VCR, making sure they were in proper working order as Johnny pushed the chairs around.

“So you’re really into that chick, Lou, huh?” Manny asked Johnny with a smirk.

Johnny couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. She’s . . . . different.”

“Different as in she didn’t come running when you snapped your fingers?”

Johnny scowled at his remark. “No . . . well, yeah, partly. She’s a challenge, that’s for sure. And smart. Not like Cindy.”

“I thought her name was Sydney?”

“Well, whatever. She’s a ditz.”

”Johnny, all the girls you fuck are ditzes.”

“Not . . .,” Johnny’s mouth snapped shut and Manny regarded him carefully. “Who’s not?”

Before Johnny could answer him, the pounding from behind the closed door began in earnest. Johnny and Manny smirked at each other.

“Awww, someone woke up from their widdle nappy wappy and now's all cranky wanky.”

Manny laughed at Johnny and shook his head. “You’re such a moron.”

“Whatever. Let’s bring our friend out, huh?”

Manny walked to the closet door and swung it open smiling down at the small man tied and gagged to the chair.

“Hey, Sonny,” Manny smirked. “Having fun?”

Sonny blinked rapidly trying to keep the sweat and tears from his eyes. The sudden flash of light caused a momentary spell of blindness. His hair was drenched with sweat as were his shirt and pants. The tape around his mouth muffled his angry cries. Manny grabbed the chair Sonny was tied to and dragged it out into the bedroom.

“Sonny,” Johnny grinned. “It’s good to see ya again, man. We’ve got a little something to show you.”

Johnny turned to the small TV and VCR and hit ‘play’. “Courtesy of Jason, of course.”

Manny stood behind Sonny to make sure he watched the television while Johnny stood next to the TV. The video was of Jason and Carly’s wedding reception and Manny rolled his eyes.

“This is what Jason wanted him to see?” he asked curiously.

“That’s what he said,” Johnny shrugged. “I don’t get what . . .”

His sentence was cut off from loud moans and groans coming from the TV. Manny’s eyebrows shot up and Johnny’s mouth fell open. On the screen, Jason and Carly were on a bed going at it.

Johnny was the first to come to his senses. “Oh fuck, Jase is taping that shit again!”

He and Manny began to crack up as they continued to watch the video. Manny turned to Sonny who had his head hanging down.

“Ah ah ah, Sonny, Jason wanted you to watch this. So watch.”

Manny pulled Sonny’s head up by his hair to make sure his eyes were focused on the screen.

For the first time Sonny spoke. “Take it off,” he mumbled through the tape.

Johnny laughed at that. "I think they already took everything off.”

Sonny continued to struggle with Manny, trying to avert his eyes to no avail. At that moment, Jason walked into the bedroom and took in the scene before him. He glanced at the TV and shook his head.

“Damn you guys, what the hell did I tell you about borrowing my videos?”

Johnny snorted. “Sorry, Jase, we thought it was just a home movie. Now we’re scarred for life.” He glanced at Manny and smirked. “But I’m sure Sunny Delight here is thrilled to see how happy you and Carly are."

Manny narrowed his eyes at him. “Shut up, bitch.”

Jason tilted his head and focused on the television. “I remember that night,” he grinned. “It was a couple nights before you showed up at our doorstep, Sonny.” He tilted his head to the other side as his eyebrows went up. “Damn Carly really is flexible isn't she?”

Manny and Johnny laughed loudly but stopped abruptly when Jason glared at them. “I know you assholes weren't watching this.”

Manny shrugged in response. “Nah, Jase, we had our eyes closed.”

“Good.” He refocused his energy on Sonny and ripped off the duct tape around his mouth. “What am I gonna do with you, Sonny?” he asked as he pulled a chair from the corner of the room and took a seat in front of him. “You never should have come back. I would have let you live, but you tried to fuck up my family again and I can’t let that ever happen.”

Jason stared at him for a moment and than shouted loudly. “Sonja!”

A tall beautiful woman entered the room with a graceful air. She wore a pair of black leather pants and a men’s white oxford shirt tied off at the belly button. Her long black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and all eyes were focused on her. She placed one leather gloved hand on her hip and the other clutched what appeared to be a black medical bag. A large smile adorned her face and she winked at Sonny.

Jason turned back to Sonny, his eyes cold. “Sonny, I want you to meet Sonja.”

“She your whore?” he spat out.

Johnny and Manny looked at each and shook their heads. “Fucking moron,” Manny whispered.

Not even a second passed for Jason to react to Sonny’s comment. Jason pulled back his arm and punched Sonny across the face, effectively breaking his nose. As Sonny’s head reeled back from the impact, Jason grabbed him by his shirt collar and shook him roughly.

“That is the last fucking time you disrespect my wife, you got it?” he hissed.

Sonny, attempting a last stand at bravery, spat in Jason’s face in return. Jason chuckled slowly as he wiped at his face. “You fucking asshole,” he muttered. "Rot in hell."

Jason pulled out his gun from his waistband, stood before Sonny and without a moments hesitation shot him in his right knee. Sonny began to scream and cry in pain. Without a backwards glance, Jason made his way to the door. Before he could make it out, Sonja stopped him with a sad sigh.

"Well geez, Jason, thanks for taking the fun out of killing him."

He responded with a small smile. "Sorry, Sonja, but the fucker was getting on my nerves. He's all yours now."

"Thanks for the leftovers."

"No problem,” he took a step forward but then stopped and turned his head back towards her. “Make him hurt, Sonja."

Her smile doubled. "With pleasure."

He nodded silently and headed out of the door.

A few seconds after Jason left the room, Manny made his way out as well. He stopped and stood next to Sonja. “Watch it, babe, Johnny has been running on empty for a while now.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “No shit?”

“Yeah, he's hung up on this chick in Pennsylvania.”

Sonja smiled at Manny and nudged him with her shoulder. “Thanks for the info, Manny.”

He smiled at her in return. “No problem,” he told her a little too happily as he walked out the door.

Johnny, who was watching Sonja and Manny’s conversation from a distance, began to make his exit after Manny. He slapped Sonny, who was on the verge of passing out from pain, across the head on his way out and stood in front of Sonja.

“Hey, brown eyes, what's going on?” he asked her quietly.

“Not much, John John.”

“Don’t call me that,” he sighed.

She patted his cheek. “Sorry, John John.”

He smirked at her and let his eyes roam over her body. His eyebrows knit in concentration and his eyes went back to her face. “Is that my shirt?”

She looked down at herself. “Nope, it's mine.”

“I want it back.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “No problem, John John. When I'm done here you can have it back.”

He grimaced at her in return. “It'll be covered in blood.”

“I know, sweetie, that's why I didn't wear mine.”

He chuckled softly as he rubbed the tied off part of the shirt with his fingers. “It looks better on you, anyways,” he told her thoughtfully.

She cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. Johnny let his hand fall to his side and he regarded her carefully. “Look, Sonja . . .”

“I heard you got it bad for some girl in Pennsylvania,” she interrupted.

He shook his head. “Not as bad as I got it for you,” he teased.

She slapped his cheek harder. “John John, what am I gonna do with you?”

“I have a couple ideas.”

She smiled at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, brown eyes, once you're through with Corinthos here maybe we can go back to my place. You know have a little party just the two of us.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Your parties are no fun, John John. You always come up short.”

He chuckled as well. “That's not what you said last week.”

“What can I say? I had a bad week.”

Johnny smiled sadly at her and she bit her bottom lip. She could no longer hear Sonny whimpering in the background and she looked around Johnny to see him slumped over in the chair. She sighed tiredly at the scene awaiting her. She really hated it when they passed out on her.

Johnny followed her line of vision and shook his head. “He’s such a pussy.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t have to worry about him anymore . . . I should, um, you know get to work.”

“You still meeting me after you're done?” he asked hopefully.

She tilted her head to the side and looked at him seriously. "Who's this girl in Pennsylvania, John John?" She tapped her index finger to his chin. “Cause from the looks of it, you really do have it bad for her.”

He shook his head. “Nah, she's just some girl.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “No, you're lying, Johnny.”

His head shot up at her using his real name. “Sonja, I don't know if we sh. . .”

“No, seriously, Johnny,” she cut him off. “If you want to talk about it when I'm done—”

“I said no,” he answered angrily.

He winced at the severity of his own voice and Sonya fought back the frown that wanted to come. “Ok, I was just . . . whatever. You should go; I have to get to work.”

She shouldered past him and fought back the tears that wanted to come.

“Sonja,” he sighed.

She turned around and faced him with a large smile on her face. “Get lost, John John. It’s time for me to take care of some real business. Because even from this angle, Mr. Corinthos seems like ten times the man you are,” she winked.

He snorted at her and walked towards the doorway. “I’ll call you later, brown eyes,” he called, not looking back.

“Yeah, you do that,” she whispered when he left the room.

She finally turned to regard the man in front of her seriously. This was going to be a piece of cake. Too bad he had passed out already. She sat in the chair that Jason had occupied and crossed her legs, waiting for him to wake up. A large moan was heard from behind her and she turned to see the video that the boys were watching.

“Sweet bejeebus, what the fuck were they up to?”

She walked over to the TV and turned it off. “Have to remember to call Carly later. Girlfriend and I need to talk,” she told herself with a hint of mischief.

She sat back down on the chair and smoothed out a wrinkle in her shirt. Five seconds later she roughly kicked Sonny in the knee where he was shot and his scream echoed throughout the room.

“Hi, Sonny,” she said cheerfully. “You were boring me, so I thought I’d wake you up.”

He regarded her through his tears. “Who are you?” he hissed in pain.

“Me? Why I’m the last face you’re gonna see. Pretty nifty, huh?” she smiled.

“Get lost, bitch.”

She frowned at him and rose from her seat and paced in front of him. “Do you know why Jason hired me?”

Sonny continued to cry silently.

“He thought it would be funny if all these big bad sexist assholes like you got beat up and then killed by a woman.” She laughed softly. “You think about that, little boy. The last thought running in your head is this.” She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “You're my bitch now.”

He thrashed his head away from her and she continued to laugh. “Aww, Sonny, don’t be like that. We’re gonna have lots of fun. Well, me more so than you, but hey, it’s all good.”

She walked over to her bag and pulled out a large knife. She studied it briefly and then at Sonny who was watching her carefully.

“You think this is sharp enough, Sonny?” she asked sweetly.

He didn’t answer her.

“Sonny, don't be like that,” she sighed.

“Fuck off, bitch,” he muttered.

Her eyebrows ascended. “You know you either have huge balls or no brain to sit there and call me names. I'm going with the no brain.”

His head lolled forward and looked at her. “Just fucking get it over with.”

She clucked her tongue. “Nah, you pissed me off.”

She took the seat in front of him and crossed her legs. “I asked you if you think this is sharp,” she said waving the knife under his nose.

“Fuck you.”

She shook her head. “Sonny, Sonny, Sonny, what am I gonna do with you?”

She took the knife and ran a deep cut down his cheek, the blood dripping quickly. Sonny gasped in pain and she laughed quietly. “Well I guess that answers my question, it's pretty sharp, huh?”

She looked at the knife and at Sonny and carefully ran the blade down his other cheek. “I don't like you,” she told him matter-of-factly. “Manny and Johnny hate you. And Carly and Jason despise you. Unfortunately for you, that means that this is one of those days that I take my sweet ol’ ass time. How’s that grab ya?” she laughed.

She set her knife down and grabbed her gun from the bag and cocked it. “Damn, do I love my job,” she winked at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason shook his head as he saw Johnny finally appear from inside the house. "Took you damn long enough," Jason started as Johnny climbed into the waiting car.

"What?" Johnny asked. “I had to talk to Sonja.”

Manny contemplated his friend. “What’s going on between the two of you? You didn’t get back together again did you?”

“No, we’re just friends, that’s it.”

“You two have been acting weird around each other lately,” Jason acknowledged.

“No, we haven’t,” he replied defensively. “I’ve known Sonja since I was eight, if I damn well wanna talk to her, I’ll talk to her. There’s nothing weird about that.”

“Why are you getting all defensive?” Manny smirked.

“Fuck off, Manny,” Johnny sighed.

Jason tilted his head to the side and watched Johnny carefully.

“What?” he snapped.

“You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?”

Johnny’s mouth opened, ready to speak, but snapped back shut. He looked out the window instead without answering.

“Oh, sweet lord,” Manny sighed. “It’s true.”

Jason groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What?" Johnny sighed.

"What happened with the girl in Llanview?" Jason asked curiously.

Johnny shrugged with a smile. "Lou isn't as easy as I thought she'd be."

"So you gave up?" Jason asked shocked.

"Fuck no," Johnny laughed. “I’ll get her, you have my word.”

“So this thing with Sonja is starting or ongoing or ended or what?” Manny asked curiously.

“All of the above.”

Manny’s eyes widened. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means,” Johnny began. “That we were sleeping together. We stopped. We started again and then we stopped some more and now it might be starting up again.”

Jason sighed. "I thought the two of you called it quits for good."

"We did," Johnny muttered. "But one night, I don't know -- we got carried away."

Jason raised his eyebrows. "When?"

"A few weeks ago."

Jason chuckled and Manny rolled his eyes.

"What's the big fucking deal? You and Carly were fucking when you were dating that little bitch Robin."

"That's different," Jason started.

"How?"

"Carly wasn't part of the organization."

"You're right, she was just insane."

“Johnny, just be careful,” Jason warned him. “You said yourself that Sonja took it hard when you broke it off the first time. Starting it all up again can’t be good.”

"It's not like that," Johnny argued. "This is just two friends getting together and having a good time."

"Is that your explanation or Sonya's?" Jason responded.

Johnny narrowed his eyes at his two friends. “I’ll prove it to you,” he told them matter-of-factly. “Sonja and I are nothing more than friends with sometimes privileges. I’m interested in Lou right now.” He punched the intercom button to speak to the driver. “Charlie, swing by the airport, I’m taking a trip.”

Manny’s mouth fell open. “You were just there two days ago.”

“And I want to go back, how about that?”

Jason shook his head slowly. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Johnny.”

“I do too,” Johnny muttered to himself.