It couldn’t have been him, she thought as the doctor finished checking her over. All throughout the examination, she had taken turns paying attention to the doctor and assuring herself that she had mistaken the man in the restaurant’s identity for Darin’s.
Darin.
Just the thought of his name brought all kinds of emotions to the surface. Things that, up until now, she was sure she had tucked away and locked safely in the recesses of her mind. But just seeing him... No! She hadn’t seen him. She shook her head, trying to clear the jumbled myriad of thoughts that floated through.
“Are you all right Mrs. Quartermaine,” the doctor asked.
Carly looked up to the man, only now really seeing him. “It’s Spencer. And yes, I’m fine.”
“Can you tell me if anywhere hurts. Any pains or aches.”
Carly shook her head, “No.”
He wrote something down on his clipboard and returned his gaze to her. “You know why you fainted? Was it stress? Fatigue? Any pre...”
“No. None of that. I just...” saw a ghost, she finished in her mind. Now that wasn’t fair since Darin wasn’t dead. But, from the day she had learned of his leaving, she had categorized him that way. He had been dead to her.
“Ms. Spencer,” the doctor asked, seeing that she had gone off in her own ruminations.
She looked back to the man. “I just saw...well, I thought I saw someone I knew. But it wasn’t him. It was just a mistake.” I think. I hope.
The doctor nodded, taking his pen to her chart once again. Carly’s eyes flew to the curtain as it was opened. Her heart’s beating returned to normal upon seeing that it was just Bobbie.
“Carly,” Bobbie spoke in a surprised tone. Walking to the other side of the bed, she took her daughter’s hand. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Is the baby okay,” she asked in a rush.
Carly didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or to cry. “I think I’m fine,” she turned and looked at the doctor for confirmation.
“She seems well enough,” he supplied. “I think she just had a surprise. It seems she knocked her head,” he pointed towards Carly’s head with his pen, “but she should be fine. We’re still running a few precautionary tests on the baby, but so far, that seems fine too.”
He got up, “I’ll be back as soon as the results come in. If everything is fine, then she can go home,” then left the curtained-off area.
Mother and daughter released their held breaths at the same time. Turning to look back at her mother, she asked “How’d you know I was here? Did Dani call you?”
Bobbie looked behind her, pulling up a chair and sitting down, never once letting go of Carly’s hand. “No. Someone else did. Carly, you can’t make it a habit of ending up in the hospital. I think that incident two weeks ago was enough, don’t you?”
“It’s not like I plan these things,” Carly rolled her eyes. “And who told you? Was it AJ?”
“No. If you have to know, it was Sonny.”
Carly frowned at that. “How did he know,” she whispered to herself, but then remembered that Francis had been following her all day.
“I don’t really know and I don’t really care. All I care about is that I’m here with you. Now tell me, why’d you faint?’
She looked at her mother. For once, Bobbie actually seemed concern about her. Okay, so she was concerned at other times as well, but those kinds of feelings came too far and too few in between. “I don’t know. I was just tired, I guess,” she lied. She didn’t really want to go into explanations right now. At least, not until she figured things out for herself.
Bobbie looked at her daughter, pretty sure that she was lying again. She let it go though. When Carly was ready to tell her, she supposed she would. “Well, everyone is out there waiting for you. Even that handsome Darin Roberts.” Bobbie felt Carly instantly jerk, then her hand, which she still held, turned ice cold. “Carly, what’s wrong? Do you need the doctor,” she asked in a worry, ready to go flag the young intern down if the need came.
“W-what...Who,” she whispered, barely able to get the words out.
Bobbie tried to remember her recent words, coupled with Carly’s reaction. She was nervous about Darin Roberts, but why? He had said that Carly, or rather Caroline, and him had history. Maybe, he had been lying though. Maybe, he’d really hurt his daughter in the past and that was the cause for her reaction.
“Darin Roberts. He came by the Brownstone today, looking for you. We had a talk and he said he knew you...Did he hurt you Carly? Is that why you’re afraid?
Had he hurt her? Yes, he’d nearly broken her heart. But it had all been her fault to begin with. She’d been the cause of his sister’s death - her own best friend. He’d had every right to leave her. Every right. She couldn’t very well blame him. But now he was back? They never came back.
“Carly, are you listening to me,” Bobbie again in a worried tone.
“I’m fine. I. I just...” Carly stopped, not know what to say.
“If you want, I can call the police. I can have Sonny take care of him right now. If he ever hurt you Carly,” Bobbie’s anger increased.
“No momma,” she whispered as the tears finally came. “He did hurt me, but... It was my fault and... And I deserved it.”
“No one deserves to be hurt Carly, no matter what you’ve done to them in the past.”
She shook her head in the negative. “I... It was my fault his sister, my best friend, died. It was my fault and... And one day, he just left. That’s how he hurt me. But I deserved it. I killed Carly.” She broke down sobbing.
Bobbie instantly got up, lowering the bar on the bed. She took her daughter into her arms, letting her cry on her shoulder. How could she possibly fix this?
“How about I just go and see if I can find my dad,” Lucas asked this time. He’d been trying, unsuccessfully, for five minutes to get away from adult supervision.
“I already told you Lucas. No. Your mom would kill me if I just let you go wandering through the hospital,” Dani said as she rubbed Michael’s back. The little boy had started to drift off into sleep, but wouldn’t let his eyes close.
“But my dad works here. And he could show me things, like how to work that machine,” he pointed to the contraption he had been trying to play with earlier.
“That thing can kill you Lucas,” Dani said, not really knowing the function of the machine, but wanting to scare him nonetheless.
“Aww, come on,” Lucas whined. “I’ve been sitting here forever.”
“Only about ten minutes,” Sonny said as he walked over. He had spent those last ten minutes worrying about Carly’s condition. No. Not her, the baby really, but he guessed that Carly would have to be fine in order for the baby to be fine as well. What time of that he hadn’t spent worrying about Carly, he’d spent it in an old-fashioned staring contest with the mystery man, who was still present. He supposed it was a good thing the man hadn’t left yet, because he would make sure that he never bothered Carly again before the night was through.
Taking a seat next to the tired boy, Sonny looked over at him and smiled. “You can’t walk around the hospital by yourself Lucas,” he told the boy. “For one, it’s probably not allowed. And two, Dani’s right. Your mom would be angry.”
“But this is so boring,” he elongated the last word for effect.
Sonny only smiled, liking the boy’s persistence. “Why don’t you get up and walk around in a circle then. That’ll be fun and okay with Dani,” he said, throwing a glance at the woman seated next to him.
Lucas looked at Sonny. He’d seen the man before, but only a handful of times and for minutes, maybe even seconds at that. He didn’t really know who he was or what he did, but he knew that he was a dangerous man. He’d heard his mom and Carly talk about him on numerous occasions. “Fine then,” he conceded. Walking in a circle would be better than sitting stock still for hours on end. He got up and started walking in a circle.
“Thank you,” Dani told Sonny. “I thought I was going to have to shoot him...or worse yet, myself.”
“Well, you could’ve let him up,” Sonny returned.
Dani scoffed. “If I had let him up, then he would have disappeared within minutes.”
Sonny glanced quickly in Lucas’ direction, seeing the boy still walking around the waiting area in a circle. “He's still here."
“Look Mr. Corinthos. I know a lot about kids, and once you give them an inch, they steal a yard. He’s only staying because he knows you are a,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “criminal.”
Sonny nodded and smiled. He would let that one go. For now. “So, how would you end up being the childcare expert. You have kids,” he asked.
Dani scoffed again. “Do I look like mother material,” Dani raised an eyebrow in question. “My sister has kids, that’s how I know.”
“Nee, nee,” came Michael’s voice. He was stretching his hands out to Sonny, wanting to be held.
“Do you mind,” Sonny asked the woman, not wanting to offend her. Or for heaven’s sake, scare her.
Dani looked to the little boy, then to the Mafioso sitting beside her. “You’re not wearing any weapons, are you,” she asked in a hushed tone.
Sonny rolled his eyes as he stretched out his hands to Michael, picking the little boy from Dani’s lap and transferring him into his own. “Hey, there Michael. How you doing little guy,” he asked in a tone meant for dealing with babies.
“Fwine,” he replied. He looked up to the familiar face, then put his head down on Sonny’s chest and closed his eyes.
Dani sent the two a confused gaze. How could Michael be more comfortable with a know crime lord rather than her? She baked cookies for pete’s sake!
“Don’t be too angry Ms. Carzuti,” Sonny said, noticing her look. “Michael is my namesake. It’s only natural that he would feel comfortable with me.”
Dani took in this new bit of information, but was still irked. “Yeah... Well, I’m sure his father is having a grand old time over there,” she said, nodding in AJ’s direction.
Sonny didn’t look, but he knew AJ was probably throwing an anger fit. He tried to hold his smile back. “So Ms. Carzuti, what happened at the restaurant.” Sonny asked as he rubbed Michael’s back now.
Dani exhaled a breath, not really sure she understood the afternoon’s events herself. “Well, Carly was leaving. We had the custody situation under control. She’d even signed her divorce papers. But she wanted to leave. She was nervous, but I don’t really know why. She got up, and AJ got up too. He put his hand on her to stop her, and that guy,” she pointed boldly in Darin’s direction, “just comes out of nowhere and tells AJ to let her go. She froze. I mean, she just stood there. Then... She fainted” Dani stopped, going over the events in her mind. “She might have said something before she fainted, but... I didn’t hear her.” She looked to Sonny for a reply, but none came. “I should probably go over there and ask him what he wants or even, who he is,” she told Sonny, sure she would get a reaction this time. And she did.
“Don’t go over there,” Sonny said, his attention now returned to the man who had been staring at his and Dani’s actions for the duration of their conversation.
“You’re not my father. And you sure as he...ck aren’t my husband. If I want to go over there, that’s my decision. And you know what,” she said getting up, “I think I will.” She marched off towards the man that had sitting in the corner opposite of AJ for minutes now. Upon seeing her approach, he shifted, an unsure look coming over his face for a second, then disappearing. She took a seat next to him, then thought better of it, and moved over one. He just stared.
“So,” she let the word hang, hoping he would just confess and make it easier on her. She sure hoped he wasn’t a serial killer or anything of the sort.
“Yeah,” Darin returned, confused not only by her behavior, but also by her one word greeting.”
Frustrated, Dani turned towards him in her seat. “You’re supposed to tell me who you are and why Carly fainted when she saw you.”
She saw him flinch at the mention of Carly’s name. He must have known her though, because he had been the one to approach them in the restaurant.
“Caroline and mine’s business is just that. I don’t have to tell you anything.” Darin returned his gaze back to the man sitting across the room from him. Though he had thought the shorter man, AJ as Bobbie had called him earlier, was the one responsible for Caroline’s condition, he had now shifted his focus. The man sitting across from him was holding her son, so he had to be close to her.
Dani blinked, unsure of what to do next. “Excuse me,” she said, trying to get his attention back. When he turned and looked at her, she continued. “Okay. Maybe, we should introduce ourselves first. My name is Daniella Carzuti, but most people call me Dani. I’m Carly’s lawyer. I’m also her friend... Well, kind of her friend. I’ve only known her for two weeks. Yeah, but still. You know? We just clicked. Like that. And really, that’s...”
“Hey,” Darin almost shouted. When she stopped, he smiled. A nice, warm smile. She smiled in return. “I don’t need to know everything, okay. And... Nice to meet you Ms. Carzuti.”
“Dani,” she offered. “Or, Daniella, if you like it better.” What was she doing?
“Okay,” Darin nodded his head, “Daniella. I’m Darin Roberts, an old friend of Caroline’s, same as the woman you call Carly, but I assure you that’s not her name. Or at least, it’s not her real name,” he ended, frowning.
“Oh, well, I know that,” Dani said. Boy, he had great eyes.
Darin looked over at her. “Well good. I’m glad someone in this town does.”
They sat in silence for a moment, both just thinking. “Isn’t it kind of strange that both our names start with the letter D,” she finally asked. She mentally kicked herself afterwards.
Darin smiled. “Well, I would think not. The alphabet only consists of twenty-six letters. So, that would make it a one-twenty-sixth probability that we would have a name starting with the same letter. Adding that to the fact that the population is just shy of six billion, one hundred million inhabitants on this, God’s green earth, I wouldn’t say it was that unlikely that two people would have names starting with the same letter. Would you?”
Dani just sat, amazed. “So, what are you, a census bureau worker?”
“Actually, I’m an accountant. I love numbers.”
Dani was about to add a comment about loving numbers herself, when Bobbie walked into the waiting room. AJ, Dani, Darin, and Sonny all stood, waiting to hear the news on Carly.