Gus got out of the car without so much as a backward glance at Craig. She walked through the automatic doors and immediately saw the person she was looking for standing by the desk.
"Nancy Wesley, may I have a word with you?" as she caught her arm in a steel grip and pulled her behind a potted palm.
Nancy looked up and, for the first time in her life, felt pure, icy and unadulterated fear. Gus Fredericks looked like she was ready to wring her neck; she was already doing a good job with her arm.
"Gus," Nancy said in a saccharine tone, trying to calm her captor, "What's going on--?"
"Cut it out, Nancy," Gus interrupted. "Tell me where they are."
"Th-the geriatric wing," Nancy stuttered.
Gus let her go. "Keep your mouth shut about this or I will shut it for you. Permanently."
The interview had taken place so quickly and quietly that the hospital routine had not even been disturbed. Nancy rubbed her arm gingerly as she thought. How in the world did she find out?!
She looked up and saw Craig walking in.
"Nancy, what happened?" he asked solicitously, taking her into his arms and hugging her.
"I'm fine," she said, leaning her head against his chest. The collar of his shirt had not been fully buttoned and Nancy thought she spotted a lovebite on his neck.
"Where did you get that?" she asked, peeling the collar back and exposing the pale red patch of enflamed skin.
Craig glanced in the direction that Gus had gone. He wondered how he was going to explain this to his wife.
Damn, this has turned out to be a really bad day. . .
Roman just stood there. He couldn't believe his eyes. His daughter, his firstborn, acting just like his ex-wife. It was too much for him to take.
"Now just what the hell were you two doing in there?" Roman asked, raising his voice.
"Dad," Carrie said, tilting her head towards Rose who was watching them with a bemused expression on her face, "Please, can we talk about this somewhere else?"
"No!" Roman barked. He turned to Mike. "Wipe that lipstick off your mouth for chrissakes, young man! Don't you have any sense of decency?!"
Rose tried to give Mike a look of censure and sympathy as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Dad!" Carrie exclaimed. "It's not what it looks like-"
"Like hell it isn't! What am I supposed to think when I find the two of you in a locked linen closet? In case you've forgotten, you're married, Mrs. Reed. You made a pledge before God to be faithful to your husband, 'forsaking all others.' Now we're going back to that office of yours and we're going to have a talk so I can figure out how many of Marlena's morals you absorbed from her while she was raising you!"
Roman grabbed Carrie by the wrist, intent on dragging her away if he had to.
"Let her go," Mike said as he stepped in between Carrie and her father, placing his hand on Roman's arm in a nonconfrontational, yet extremely threatening manner.
"Get out of my way, son," Roman said in a low, dangerous voice.
"You have no right to treat her this way."
"She's my daughter, Horton," he replied, "And it's her duty to respect and honor her family. Somehow I don't think cheating on her husband on their first anniversary fits into that category."
"Daddy, you're hurting me!" Carrie cried as his grip on her wrist tightened.
Mike's eyes narrowed and turned the color of blue ice as he executed a self-defense move on Carrie's father that Roman had not been expecting. Before Roman knew what was happening, Mike had him pinned against the wall, with one hand on Roman's neck and the other grasping his wrists behind his back.
"I'm sorry about this, Roman," Mike said as he held him there, "but you're making a scene and you're in no mood to be reasoned with. So I think it's best for all of us if you go home, cool down, and we talk about this later."
"I can see that I'm not needed here," Gus remarked as she took in the scene before her.
Carrie and Mike's heads turned at exactly the same moment and in the same manner. In any other situation, Gus would have laughed at their synchronicity. She took in the fact that her mild-mannered, seemingly softhearted buddy had gotten the better of super-spy Roman Brady.
"May I take over from here, Mike?" she asked, indicating the pinioned Roman.
"Please," he answered as he relaxed his grip on Carrie's father.
Roman massaged the back of his neck and both of his wrists as he glared at his daughter and Mike.
"Don't even think about it, Brady," Gus said as she took him by the arm. Turning to Rose, she asked, "Excuse me, but could you tell me where I might be able to have an uninterrupted conversation with Mr. Brady?"
Rose pointed wordlessly towards an empty office at the end of the corridor, about twenty feet away from them.
"'Thank you," Gus said and steered Roman towards it.
Carrie watched as Gus took her father away. Her entire world had changed in the past thirty minutes, and she wasn't sure how to handle it.
She closed her eyes as she felt Mike's hand on her shoulder. She reached up and covered it with her own.
"He's still bitter about Marlena, isn't he?" she whispered.
"I'd say that's an astute observation," Mike replied.
Carrie turned around to face him.
"What's going to happen to us?" she asked.
"We're going to be okay, Carrie," Mike said as he hugged her gently. "I need to go home. I'm exhausted and I need to sleep. I think we both need some time to think before we decide what we're going to do."
Carrie nodded, putting her arms around him. "Grandma told me Max is coming home tonight. He was supposed to make it in time for the reception, but it looks like that's not going to happen."
"It's been one helluva day, hasn't it?"
"Yeah."
Mike cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Carrie, never one to be coy, slid her arms around his neck and planted her lips on his. It was a long, sweet and thoroughly satisfying kiss. It would have gone on longer if not for the fact that they both felt the need to yawn as they pulled away.
"Mike?" she asked, savoring the sound of his name as she rested her head against his chest.
"Yeah?" he replied, stroking her hair.
"Can I have a ride home?" She looked up at him to see what his reaction would be.
"Are you sure that's what you want?" Graphic visions of Carrie and himself danced through his head as his eyes widened at her request.
She snickered as she saw the hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Mike, I'm not up for anything more than sleep, so wipe that look off your face."
He grinned and hugged her tight. "Yes ma'am!"
"Are you sure I look all right?"
"You look perfect," Max Brady said to the pretty young brunette by his side. "How's Adam doing?"
"He's still sleeping, poor little tyke. The plane trip really tired him out."
"Are you okay?"
She smiled brightly and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm fine, Max."
Max raised his hand to knock on the door but it was flung open before he could make contact.
"Max!" Caroline Brady exclaimed as she hugged her adopted son. "I'm so glad you could make it!"
"Yeah, me too, Mom," he replied as he hugged her back. "Mom, I have someone who I'd like to introduce to you."
Caroline peered over his shoulder and noticed that there was a woman standing behind him.
"Why Jamie Caldwell, it's been a long time since you've graced our home with your presence!" she exclaimed. Then she noticed the toddler that Jamie held in her arms.
Max put an arm around Jamie and hugged her close. "Mom, I'd like you to meet my wife, Mrs. Jamie Brady. This is our son, Adam."
Caroline's jaw dropped. To say she was shocked would have been the understatement of the year.
Sami sat in the jail cell, hugging her knees tight against her body as she rocked back and forth on the cot. She was miserable. Even though it was all for show, Sami wished that she did not have to spend the night in the Salem Police Department's dungeon.
She was contemplating what would be best for her at this moment.
Austin had all but come out and admitted that he had feelings for her. She had not known what to say to something like that. All of her life she'd been searching for someone who would be there for her, for better of for worse. For a brief time she honestly believed she'd found that kind of a bond with Franco. To find out that he'd been sleeping around was a shattering blow to her pride and her ego.
As she forced herself to look at her actions during the past few months, more importantly the past few years, she began to realize just what an evil bitch she'd been. If she had any sense of decency or dignity, she would have stopped pursuing him for all those years. And she would not have used her son they way she had.
Her hand went to her abdomen. She couldn't be more than six weeks pregnant. It was strange that mere hours ago she'd been ready to march up the the nearest abortion clinic and demand to have Franco's demonspawn removed from her body, but now. . . now she felt strangely connected to the tiny being growing inside of her. No matter what anyone said, she and Franco had conceived this baby in love. Sami refused to think of it any other way. Austin's words had pierced the anguish-induced fog that she'd wrapped herself in and made her see clearly for the first time in months. She realized that she still loved Franco, despite how he had betrayed her.
Sami let herself smile just the tiniest little bit. The baby was going to be a boy, a good, strong brother for Will, a constant reminder of the love that she and Franco had shared.
Let him die a lying bastard. He would live in her memory forever as the first man who had ever made love to her, who had made her feel good about herself. Surely Franco could not have faked all of the affection he had showered on her. He wasn't that good of an actor.
She would raise their son to be a better man than his father.
"Sami?"
She looked up and saw that Austin had come to visit her.
"Austin, what are you doing here?"
"I posted bail for you. Come on, you're going home."
"What?" she asked, not sure if she'd heard him correctly. "Why did you do that?"
Austin sighed and shoved his hands into his jeans. "Sami, I won't let you spend the night in this place, not in your condition."
She snorted. "I'm as healthy as a horse, Austin, and you know it."
"Don't argue with me, please?" he wheedled. "Just come back to the mansion and get a hot meal and a clean bed."
She smiled tentatively at him and got up from the cot. "How can I refuse such creature comforts?" she asked, extending her hand through the bars. He grabbed it and squeezed gently.
"That's my girl," he said as he looked into her eyes and smiled.
A police officer arrived in seconds to open the door and let her out. Sami rushed into Austin's arms and he hugged her tight.
"Thank you," she whispered.
He put a hand on the back of her head and stroked her hair. "I promise, Sami, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Gus all but pushed Roman into the office and slammed the door behind them, locking it.
"Just what the hell were you trying to pull back there, Brady?!" she demanded, poking his chest with her index finger. "Do you realize that Mike is the Chief of Staff and your daughter is the head of PR? Were you trying to create a scandal by drawing attention to them?"
Roman sat down as the full force of her anger hit him dead on.
"I would say that they were creating a scandal plenty well on their own," he shot back. "Just what am I supposed to think when Mike had her lipstick smeared all over his mouth, hmmm?"
Gus shook her head and set her jaw. "It's none of your business, Roman," she said softly, taking the fire out of his anger. "Carrie's a grown woman and she can make her own decisions. That means that she's also allowed to make her own mistakes if she so chooses. Between you, me and that desk, I think that Mike is definitely not a mistake. He really cares for Carrie, unlike that simian throw back to the Pleaistocene that claims to be her husband. Carrie stopped being your responsibility when she grew up, Roman, and that was a long time ago."
"She's still my little girl," he replied, folding his arms and adopting a defensive posture.
"Carrie will always be your daughter, Roman, but she's a woman now." Gus could see that she wasn't getting through to him. "I just want you to know that we're not leaving this room until you promise me that you won't do anything stupid."
Roman glared at her.
Gus glared right back at him.
"I mean it, Roman," she said, her voice taking on a threatening note. "If I have to be your counselor, keeper and parole officer, I won't have you piling anything else on this situation."
"You're serious, aren't you?' he asked, unwilling to believe it.
She nodded as she sat down on the couch.
"Roman, you've just got to learn how to behave properly in the presence of non-ISA members."
"Are you sure you don't want to come inside for awhile?" Carrie asked as she stood in front of the door to her old apartment, key in hand.
Mike leaned against the doorjamb, contemplating the wisdom of answering her in the manner that he wanted to. "Carrie, forgive me for saying this but, 'this is all so sudden.'"
She ducked her head and laughed a little. "I know. It's just. . . I don't want to be alone tonight."
"Are you implying that you want any available warm body?" he asked, pushing her hair away from her eyes.
She gave him a look that made him want to tear her clothes off and stake his claim.
Carrie very deliberately pressed her body against his and whispered in his ear in a very, very naughty voice, "You know what I want Mike. . ."
She nipped the side of his neck and drew back as he reached for her.
"A good night's sleep." She grinned wickedly and a look of absolute frustration contorted his features. "Aw, Mike, don't look so unhappy. I didn't say anything about tomorrow morning. . ."
Mike grabbed the keys out of her hand, unlocked the door and pushed her inside as Carrie let her weary but highly amused laughter echo through the halls.
Carrie yawned sleepily as she fetched sheets out of the linen closet. She changed the bed as she listened to the shower running in the background. Mike had been in there for about thirty minutes. She hoped he hadn't fallen asleep.
Tucking in the corners of the top sheet, Carrie wondered how, in the space of fifteen hours, she had ended up in this situation.
Gus.
Of course, she was the reason. Carrie recalled how her usually dull existence speeded up whenever Gus was around. For the first five years of her life, Gus had been the one to take care of her while her own mother was away. Gus had always been more of a sister than an aunt to her, but it amused them both to have her identified as "Aunt Gus."
She sat down on the newly-made bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. She took a deep breath and sighed, closing her eyes and falling backwards on the bed. She was so tired. . .
Roman was not a happy camper curled up uncomfortably on the couch as he was, but then again, Gus could care less. She had bigger things to worry about besides Carrie's overprotective and slightly psychotic dad.
She wasn't sure where Claire was right now, but Carrie would have made sure that she was safe and sound. Gus herself had responsible for Carrie from the time she was born and she had total faith in Carrie's abilities as a guardian.
Anna had displayed no interest in raising her daughter. Both of her parents frowned upon Anna's shirking of her responsibility and felt that Carrie should have been given up for adoption or in the least Anna should have tracked down her husband Roman. Anna balked at the idea; she had hated living the life of a cop's wife. Anna and Gus' brother Ash had no intention of staying around after graduating high school and took little enough of an interest in his infant niece. Ten year-old Augusta Fredericks spent most of her free time looking after Carrie.
Gus smiled, remembering Carrie's first baby steps, the adorable little blonde toddler scampering around on her chubby little legs at eighteen months. Gus had turned twelve that year. She was there for Carrie's first smile, her first baby tooth, and her first word which was, appropriately enough, "Gush" (Carrie's first attempt at pronouncing "Gus"). Carrie had always been a happy baby, full of smiles and sunshine. She was also a tenacious little thing.
When she was about two years old, Carrie had a sleepy-looking stuffed star that had a music device inside of it which played "When You Wish Upon a Star." Gus enjoyed a brief giggle as she remembered Carrie toting that star around everywhere. She even slept with it and sometimes Gus would wake up in the middle of the night listening to the tinny piano music version of the Jiminy Cricket song because her niece had rolled over on it while sleeping. To her knowlegde, Carrie still had that ridiculous toy.
Anna had taken Carrie away the summer she'd turned sixteen, something about mother-daughter bonding and a trip to New York City. Ash had graduated from high school and was three years into college by then. That was the summer Gus met a very young ISA agent named Rafael Garcia.
I was so young and stupid, Gus mused as she remembered how dazzled she'd been by him. Always considered the plain one of the Fredericks sisters, it was refreshing to receive positive male attention, especially from someone as good-looking as he was.
Rafael Garcia had seen past the gawkiness that had always made Gus uncomfortable. He'd seen the woman she would become and did his best reassure her that she was beautiful. Any other man in his situation would have taken shameless advantage of her infatuation, but not Rafael. Besides, he was seven years her senior, and totally enamored of his partner and lover, Angelique d'Aubery. He'd done his best to just be a friend.
It wasn't his fault that Angelique had broken up with him in August of 1979 because she'd found out she was infertile and didn't feel that Rafael should saddle himself with someone who couldn't have children. It wasn't Gus' fault that she wanted to comfort Rafael as best she could when she heard about what had happened. They had shared the blame equally for getting drunk and having sex that night in September. They both agreed later that it was a mistake, and they were better off as friends.
Extremely intelligent and a brilliant student, Gus was set to graduate from high school a year early. Her pregnancy was, in a way, both a curse and a blessing. As Gus agonized over what she should do, Angelique stepped in and offered to adopt the baby. It was over a month before Gus agreed. She told no one of her plan and hid her pregnancy very easily by wearing baggy clothing and eating as much as she could in order to stimulate a substantial weight gain that her unobservant parents simply assumed was caused by depression. Anneliese and Augustus Fredericks worked hard to pay the bills and had little time to devote to looking after their youngest child.
Gus managed to skillfully avoid detection until May, when she graduated and went to stay with "friends." In reality, Rafael and Angelique let her stay at their apartment and prepared for Gus to give birth there. They would move to a different state afterwards and fix the birth certificate and any other paperwork that needed to be done, care of the ISA.
In June of 1980, one month shy of her seventeenth birthday, Gus had her baby, a little girl. She held her only once, and that was as she kissed her daughter good-bye and then handed her into the waiting arms of Angelique.
Gus remembered asking what they wanted to name her.
"Angelina," Rafael had replied, "Because she's going to be our little angel."
"It will forever remind us of the angel who gave her to us," Angelique had added, squeezing Gus' hand.
Even now Gus could feel the press of Angelique's lips to her forehead as she had thanked her. The tears of joy that Angelique had wept mingled with the tears of pain that Gus had shed. She knew she would most likely never see her baby girl again.
Over the years, Rafael was kind enough to keep in touch, but that was due to the fact that there was a history of medical complications in the Garcia family and should anything ever happen to Angelina, it was important to be able to get in touch with her birth mother.
Gus graduated summa cum laude from college in 1983, again, one year ahead of schedule. She enrolled in the University of Chicago Medical School and met a young and eager Mike Horton. They spent two years together in most of the same classes and Gus consoled him as he recounted horror stories about his biggest rival, Craig Wesley. Luckily, Gus was interested in oncology while Mike was more geared towards surgery and so they never found themselves competing against each other. When Gus went to City Hospital for her internship, Mike went back to his home town of Salem.
And look at where we are today, Gus thought to herself as she yawned sleepily. I have to watch the trigger-happy father while Mike gets to have some shut-eye in the company of his daughter.
She glanced over at Roman. Wonder of wonders, he had fallen asleep on the couch. Gus sat down at the desk and propped her feet up.
It was going to be a long night.
"Hey, princess, you'd be a lot more comfortable under the covers."
Carrie peeked open an eye and saw Mike standing over her. His hair was still wet from the shower and he was wearing a pair of scrub bottoms that he'd swiped from the hospital to use as pajamas. She'd seen him without a shirt on before, but somehow this was different. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to see if he felt as good as he looked. Carrie smiled sleepily as she imagined seeing that every night before she went to sleep. Or even better, waking up to it. . .
Stop drooling! she told herself. You're just going to sleep with him--next to him, I mean! So you can clamp down on those hormones right now, Brady.
She grinned at him lazily, fully intending to get up and crawl under the covers, but he surprised her by picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder so quickly that she didn't have time to register what was going on.
"Mike, what the--!"
"Consider this my last act of machismo before I turn in for the night," he said as he flipped back the covers and laid her down gently on the bed.
"Scoot over, Brady," he whispered and she rolled on to her side, tangling herself up in her oversized satiny pajama pants in the process. He slid in bed next to her as she struggled to fix her bottoms so they wouldn't twist up around her knees during the night, something she truly hated. Mike grabbed the covers and pulled them up around the two of them as he rolled over onto his side.
It was an awkward moment for them both. Should they snuggle or remain far apart?
Carrie made her decision and scooted backwards until she was nestled against him. He slid an arm under her head and another around her waist. She she placed her arm on his and their fingers laced together so naturally Mike would have sworn they'd done this a thousand times. Their feet touched each others and she nudged his softly with her own.
Behind her she heard a chuckle.
"You've got cold feet."
She giggled and rubbed her toes against his. "That's what you're here for."
He drew her body even closer to his own. He kissed her shoulder and Carrie felt a shiver go through her body. She squeezed his hand and pulled it up towards her chest. If she wasn't so sleepy. . .
The warmth of his body began to seep into hers and she felt eyelids drooping. She was safe.
"Good night, Mike," she whispered as a feeling of utter security settled over her.
"Good night, Carrie," he whispered back. "I love you."
". . . love you. . .too."
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