Risk

Chapter LXI

Cameo

The reception after the bride and groom have left. Edward starts moving toward Carly. He'd been trying to isolate her all day but if Jason wasn't by her side then that Eurotrash lothario was hanging all over her. But Em catching the bouquet had been the last straw. He strides toward Carly ready to walk thru anyone who gets in his way and runs smack into Jason. "Forget it, Old Man."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ed blusters.

"You want to talk to Carly, call the penthouse and make an appointment."

"Make an appointment! I know you didn't lose the part of your brain that knows who I am!"

"Actually, Grandfather, he did." Em strings an arm thru Edward's.

"Well you know what I mean." Edward flushes.

"I know what you mean. And you know Jason doesn't care. And Jason knows you aren't going to be bothering Carly 'cause you'll be too busy dancing with me." When it looks like Edward might protest, Em brings out the big gun. "Two years since I've danced with my grandfather. Not last nurses' ball but the one before." Em reminds.

"If you hadn't tried to run off with that hoodlum..." Edward says gruffly.

"Do you really want to discuss my running off?" Em brings the bouquet to her nose and makes a significant sniff.

"Let's Dance!" Edward takes Em's hand and starts tugging her toward the dance floor then stops in his tracks and grabs the flowers from Em and slams them in Jason's chest.

Penny comes up beside Jason. "I don't know if they're your color."

"Here." Jason offers them to her. "Although I don't know what the big deal is about used flowers."

"You wouldn't. Do you want to dance?" Penny asks.

"Sure." Jason shrugs. "Lets."

Carly sees Elton out of the corner of her eye and flags him down. She holds up a hand to Thaao. "Excuse me for a minute will you?"

"I shall count the seconds." Carly sighs and walks off with Elton.

Elton catches the eye roll and silently muttered-- "Oh Please." And snickers. Only Mrs Corinthos. "Elton, the wedding was amazing! You did a wonderful job."

"Well I did have help." Elton says modestly. "And money was no object."

Carly leans in closer. "How much do you know about what is going on at Deception?"

"Oh Honey! What don't I know, Miss 23%! You naughty, naughty girl." He leans in closer and whispers. "And how is Istanbul this time of year?"

"Plagued by earthquakes." Carly says wryly. "It does horrible things to the electronics."

"I just bet it does." Elton sighs and gets down to business, all business losing most of the affectations that suckers others into believing him not threatening. "How exactly is this going to work? Prince Nikolas has taken over your old office. Since you're back what happens there? You know Mrs Spencer isn't going to give up the big office. Should I be ordering new business cards?"

"Nik and I discussed that one in Milan. He and I will be sharing my old office when I go in. But I'll be working mostly from where ever I am using the laptop. Laura can have the big office. It isn't important to me anymore."

"Well that isn't that big of you. Giving me my own office." Laura says coming up on the duo having heard the last few lines. "You can go, Elton."

Elton looks from Laura to Carly and then skidaddles. Carly sighs. "Was that really necessary?"

"How much?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much to make you go away?"

Carly laughs uproariously. "Oh that's just special. Well I'd love to say that a lot more than a dollar but here is the thing. Even if you could come up with the money to buy what my shares are worth which I know you can't, I couldn't sell you my shares even if I wanted to."

"Excuse me?"

never "All part of the deal that Nik and I worked out over coffee in Milan. Handshake deal with no fine print. He can't sell his shares to anybody but me and vice versa. I'm back, Laura. And I won't be a silent partner."

"You never were." Laura snarls.

"Well let me put it another way then. If two of the three partners agree... then it happens. That can be you and Nik, it can be me and Nik or it can be you and me as unlikely as that will ever be. So I suggest you either get with the program or the only thing you'll be doing in that big office of yours is testing Deception nail polish." Carly taunts.

"How dare you!"

"Oh please will you just knock it off? I'm not some guy that is going to be sucked in by your protests or tears. This is business. It's always been just business between us right? So either get down to business or get the hell out of Deception. Tell you what... I'll give you a dollar for your shares. Hell I'll give you two. What do you think? Double your investment."

"Never! Don't think you're going to win, Carly. All I have to do is wait. I'm very good at waiting."

"Yeah, so what? Christmas is coming..." in eight or nine months

"He will destroy you, and I won't have to lift a finger. You aren't human to him just a toy."

Carly reaches up and takes off the cameo on her neck and stuffs it in her pocket covering it with her hand. Stavros had told her they'd already left the Quartermaines after the bouquet had been tossed but she couldn't guarentee that he still wasn't still receiving this. "And I thought this was about business. Do you want to make it about your ex-husband? Oh wait, Stavros never says ex wife. Do you really want to go there? Do you have a problem with me sleeping with your husband, Laura? Are you going to go all Cassadine wife on me and threaten to slit my throat cause I make your man happy and you never could?"

"Stavros is nothing to me; Luke is my husband and always has been."

"That would be news to your yappy little lapdog attorney but fine. But make up your mind how you want to play it 'cause you can't have it both ways. Either Luke is your man and you have nothing to say to me about Stavros... no veiled threats... nothing. Or you can keep acting like a jealous wife and belittling my relationship cause you really want Stavros back and you hate it that we have something that you never had with him."

"You are delusional."

"And you are the original bitch in the manger. You aren't happy unless every man in town is sniffing at your heels..." Carly starts lifting fingers. "Scotty, Luke, Stavros, Stefan, hell Sonny too. And Lucky and Nikolas had better be catering to your sorry ass too or you'll be wondering why."

Laura reaches out and slaps Carly across the face full strength whiping Carly's head around. The sound falls into a lull at the party and resonates throughout the room. There is a collective gasp.

Elton's eyes go wide across the room. He'd been unable to look away from the trainwreck in the making. "Oh Dear. Thank God the press is stuck at the gates."

Thaao is already at Carly's side, putting himself between Carly and Laura. "Have you lost your mind?!" He exclaims before turning to Carly. "Are you alright? Did she injure you?"

"I don't think I got to introduce the two of you. Thaao Pappas, this is Laura Spencer, Stavros Cassadine's ex." Thaao, a man of the world, and too familiar with the perils of um...dating someone married to another nods. Carly works her jaw and runs a tongue over her teeth to make sure that none have been loosened. "I'm fine. Just fine. I'll see you at work on Monday, Laura." Carly taunts.

Laura makes as if to go again but then Stefan is in the mix too. He puts his back to Laura and blocks her from reaching for Carly. His piercing gaze goes to Carly's throat first. Carly sees the look and pats the pocket of her jacket. He nods and then turns around to Laura. "I believe it is time for you to go home, Laura."

"WHAT?! You're taking her side? You didn't hear what she said to me!"

"No, but I did you see you assault her. Everyone in the room did." Stefan says in a low voice. Laura looks around and realizes that she and Carly are the focus of attention. Nik and Lucky come back thru the double doors with Bobbie right behind them. At the first slap, Bobbie had gone for reinforcements at Stefan's direction. Nik and Lucky come up on the tense gathering. "Lucky, take your mother home please... she is upset."

"I'm fine." Laura says emphatically. "And I'm not going anywhere. Do you hear me, Carly. I'm not going anywhere."

Stefan steps toward Laura backing her up as he does so and hisses in a voice low enough for just the two of them to hear. "I told you Stavros was watching everything. Everything. Get out so I can try to clean up this mess and find out exactly how much danger you have put us all in." Stefan steps back. "Lucky, Nikolas, please take your mother home." As far as Stefan is concerned the conversation is over and he turns his back on Laura.

"What the hell is going on?" Nikolas puts his hand on Stefan's arm.

"I will call you later." Stefan gives Nikolas the brush off. His focus is totally on Carly. "Get your mother out of here." Nik and Lucky leave with Laura.

As soon as the doors are closed behind the three of them, Bobbie turns Carly around to examine her face. "My Gawd Caroline, what have you done?!"

Carly pulls her chin out of her mother's grasp. "Why did I know you were going to say that?"

"Really Madam! Your daughter was the victim in this." Thaao interjects.

Bobbie holds up one finger. "One sec." She takes a deep breath and exhales. Then she smiles and asks. "Could you got get me some ice wrapped in a napkin please?" Thaao looks at Carly who nods and then he goes off in search of ice.

Carly takes a seat, Bobbie sits down next to her. Stefan stands in front of them both. "How much did Stavros hear?"

"I took off the cameo as soon as she started in on him." Carly sighs. "He probably didn't hear any of it. He and Michael were heading home just after Alexis threw the bouquet. He hasn't said anything since then."

"You were wearing a wire?! Didn't you learn anything the last time! My Gawd, Caroline..."

"Enough with the My Gawds, Mama!" Carly protests.

"Barbara, please let me handle this." Stefan suggests.

Carly snorts. "You think you're going to handle me."

"No. You already handled it when you disconnected the wire. You don't want my brother upset nor do I. What is the last possible thing that Stavros might have heard."

"Hell I don't know!"

"Think!" Stefan demands raising his voice.

Carly closes her eyes. "All she has to do is wait. I'm not human. I'm a toy. Stavros'll destroy me and she'll dance on my remains. There. Happy now?"

"Dance on your remains." Bobbie shakes her head.

"Okay that part... I exaggerated a little. She'll sit back and watch." Carly then adds defensively. "Look. I was keeping it to business. She's the one that made it personal."

"You couldn't just walk away?" Bobbie suggests.

"Why should I?!" Carly retorts. "She's the one that went all Cassadine wife on me. She needs to make up her freaking mind. Either Stavros is her business or not. And if she is going to make him her business then I'm going to defend myself. She's the one who needs to walk away."

Bobbie decides to comment as if all the parties are rational. "Honey, Stavros and Laura will always be in each other's business. They share a son."

"We are so not going there." Carly denies. "I know you try to play nice with Tony for Lucas' sake and that's incredible mature of you. Good going, Mom. Atta-girl! But Nik is a grown up. And he got to be a grown up without either Laura or Stavros. And I'm sure Nik doesn't want to be the excuse for what ever Laura and Stavros do to each other."

Bobbie opens her mouth to protest but winces. Carly had a point there. Stefan doesn't say a word.

Jason and Penny watch from a distance. Gia comes up to them after realizing that her ride home has disappeared with his mother. "I thought you'd be in the middle of all that."

"Bobbie is handling it. I'm staying out of it."

Gia laughs. "Right. That's what you always say."

Penny realizes that Nikolas left with Laura in that moment. "You're going to need a ride home."

"I can call a cab." Gia shrugs. "I'm sure Carly still has the number memorized."

"No." Jason says flatly and then explains. "You'd have to meet them at the gate and then you'd be in the middle of the press. Security isn't letting any vehicles thru."

"Then I'll hijack one of the limos. Or hell go talk to Zander. Goodness knows he knows how to hotwire a car."

"Don't make it more difficult than it has to be. Penny and I were going to drop Carly off anyway. We can drop you at the Harborview."

Gia looks at Penny. "That's okay with you?"

"Sure." Penny shrugs. "I think the party is about winding down anyway. I just need to go get my coat." Penny turns to Jason. "You sure do know how to show a girl a good time." She laughs and shakes her head.

"Wait up." Gia says. "I'll go with you and grab Carly's. That way we can all get out of here."

Carly's house. Michael is occupied listening to music and working on an email to Sophie so Stavros goes in search of Michael's tutor. Kris is just ejecting a video tape from the remote receiver. "How was the reception here? It was excellent at the Quartermaines. I left the equipment and tape there for Mrs Quartermaine."

"Excellent." Kris says grimly.

"What happened?" Stavros demands. "Did the Quartermaines give Caroline any problem after Michael and I left the mansion?"

"Not the Quartermaines."

"Who? Pappas' runt? He was sniffing around Caroline-- literally. He appeared harmless."

Kris sighs. He puts the tape back in and rewinds it to just before they'd lost picture but not sound. Then he hits play. The sound is muffled but loud enough to be heard. "Best technology on the market." Kris says quietly.

Stavros holds a hand up to Kris to silence him and sits down to concentrate.

At the Jacks Mansion, Liz comes up to Emily. "Did you see that? Pow! Right in the kisser. I didn't know that Laura had it in her. She's always so sweet. But Carly would push anyone to it, I guess."

"Yeah," Em replies. "And do you see that?" She nods in the direction of her family who are all huddled together. "What a mess. I can hear it all now. Grandfather is probably wondering if he can get Laura as an ally to take down Carly. See and Mom is pulling out her cell phone. You can bet she's probably calling AJ and filling him in. Where is Ned? We really need Ned right now."

Zander comes up on the two girls and hears the last. He'd been hoping for some quiet time with Emily finally now that the wedding was over and her family seems preoccupied. "Ned took Alexis' sister out of town. Cassadine has been working his way thru the family and everyone figured Kristina was next."

"What do you mean working his way thru the family? What in the hell did I miss while I was gone? I thought Sorel was the worst of it. Or maybe AJ and Sonny. What the hell is going on?!"

"It's kinda a long story."

"That's the same thing that Gia said." Emily shakes her head. "I was expecting a mine field. Really I was but I got to have a clue or two here."

"Carly hooked up with Stavros Cassadine, Nik's father, after Sonny dumped her." Liz explains.

Zander winces. "Sonny didn't dump her. There was a misunderstanding is all. Carly thought Sonny was going to divorce her. He didn't. But she'd already left with Stavros thinking it was over. It was real quiet for awhile."

"Never a good sign." Em says getting a bad feeling.

"Yeah, well Sonny couldn't find Carly so Jason got called back into town. About that time, Helena went down. And it was really freaky cause nobody here did it. The only person who could have was Stavros and everyone thought he was dead... again."

"What do you mean he was working his way thru the family?" Em demands. "Short version."

"Helena, Nikolas, then Stefan and before Nikolas and Stefan got back to Port Charles, Stavros kidnapped Alexis. She only got released to marry Jax. That's why everyone figured that Kristina was next. That's Alexis' sister. When Stavros was in Port Charles before..."

"He was in Port Charles? When?!"

"Bout the same time as everything was going down with Sorel. Anyway when Stavros was in town before, Alexis was hiding Kristina at Ned's place. So when it started looking like he was back and had taken Alexis, Kristina moved out of the penthouse and back in with Ned."

Em holds up a hand. There is just so much information. "Alexis got released to marry Jax."

Zander nods. "In her email to me she said her family is complicated. If she hadn't married Jax she would have probably never come back to Port Charles. So that's why Ned is gone. He's keeping Kristina in hiding until Stavros is gone or has moved on to someone else."

"How does anyone know if Stavros is here? Has anyone seen him?" Em looks from Liz to Zander. Zander looks away. "Zander?"

"He's in town but that is all I can say, Emily. 'Cause I'm not gonna lie to ya."

"Emily?" Monica comes over to her daughter. "We're going back to the house now."

"Okay I'll get my coat." Em nods.

"Em." Zander's question is in the way he says her name.

"Call m..." Emily looks at her mother and thinks better of it, knowing she won't get any calls tonight at least not one from Zander. "I'll call you tonight I promise."

Carly comes into her house with a determined cheerful smile on her face. "Where is everyone? I brought cake!"

Stavros comes down the stairs. "I had Kris take Michael to the cinema."

"Dang that sounds like fun. I wish you would have waited for me. We could have all gone. I haven't been to a movie in ages." Carly is shedding her coat an sets the package of cake on a nearby table. Finally she looks up to Stavros. She lets the fake cheer fall away. "How much did you hear?"

"Since you couldn't remember what Laura said to you when Stefan asked I sent him the tape by messenger."

Carly winces realizing he'd heard everything. "Who are you ticked at? Me or Laura?"

"Yes." Stavros nears and Carly stands her ground. "Taking off the cameo destroyed the video as I'm sure you know." He reaches up and runs a finger down Carly's cheek. "She shouldn't have hit you." Then he wraps his hand around the base of her face tilting her head up. "And you should never have taken off the cameo and tried to hide things from me. You will never hide anything from me. Do you understand?! I will not be played for a fool."

Carly bats Stavros hand away from her face suddenly furious. "Is that what you think I was doing? Playing you for a fool?! Laura got in my face so I got in hers. It had nothing to do with you. It was about Nikolas not you. She was pissed and trying to scare me. Now you're ticked and trying to do the same thing. It isn't going to happen."

"What in the hell-- it was about Nikolas? How do you get from arguing about our relationship with my wife to it being about Nikolas?!"

Carly sighs. "I swear sometimes you are as clueless as Jason about women. She didn't start going ballistic until I started telling her how Nik and I were going to run Deception. How we made our deal with a handshake. And she didn't hit me until I mentioned Lucky and Nikolas having to wait on her every whim. It wasn't about you." Carly starts taking off her earrings and kicking off her shoes.

"Caroline, I heard every word."

"You really wanna have this discussion now?" Carly answers her own question. "I guess you do since you made sure Michael wasn't here to hear it. Okay. Lets have the discussion. Are you going to destroy me? Do you recognize I'm a human being or are you just toying with me? When Laura starts getting freaky about me getting on better with her son, doing better at Deception with your son by my side as you planned-- not me, and she comes crying to you... cause she will-- no matter how much she says she hates your guts.
Hell! She came begging to Sonny for money for Deception and that was after blaming him for getting Lucky killed. You know Faison's trick with Helena? She never did apologize for that just came around begging for funds. Crying to Luke or Scotty won't change anything. Hell even crying to Stefan won't change anything. But she'll come crying to you cause I'm so mean to her. Boo-hoo." Carly makes a pout face and rubs her cheek with a closed fist as if wiping away the trail of tears.
"What are you going to do then?! Cause if you are going to sell me and Nik out-- If you're playing me for a fool, I'd really like to know now. I'll destroy Deception before I let that bitch have my company."

"How? How did you get from telling Laura to decide whether she is or isn't my wife to destroying Deception? How do you get from me being played for the fool to you being played? How in the hell does your mind work?!"

"In mysterious ways." Carly paces away from Stavros. "Look when we got into this we weren't even really friends just... in the same life boat. You're married with a kid you never saw. I was in the middle of a divorce and worried about losing Michael. But it wasn't hearts and flowers. You've been really good to me and Michael..."

"Caroline, are you... dumping me?" Stavros asks wryly familiar with the venacular thanks to Gia and Nikolas.

"No! I'm just basically giving you the okay to dump me! But I want to know now. I don't want to screw up again. I'm just... trying to do it right, you know?"

"If it means ending our.. association. Let's not."

"Let's not what?"

"Let's not be right. Wrong seems to be working for both of us."

Carly laughs and throws herself down on the couch. "Only we could say something like that and have it make sense." She pats the couch next to her. "So what are you going to do about Laura?"

"You really believe she will come to me? Regarding Deception? I find that unlikely." Stavros settles in on the couch next to Carly.

Carly thinks about it. She'd been stewing about on the fight with Laura since it happened. While she is thinking Stavros reaches over and tugs Carly to him using her far leg. Carly straddles him on the couch her hand resting on the back while Stavros rests his hands on her hips. "And this is suppose to help me think?" Stavros gives her a playful slap on the rear. "Don't start something you aren't going to finish... right now." Carly warns.

"Tell me." Stavros demands.

"Yeah," Carly nods getting down to business. "I think she's going to. Not first. First she'll try to play Nikolas. Maybe go to Jason. Nik-- he'll give in and let Laura roll over him but it won't matter cause a) He knows I'll start doing my own thing and that going to you isn't going to get him squat."

"Oh? It's not?" Stavros lifts a brow.

"Yeah, he's already tried that one. I told him to bring the Marines. I think he's afraid of me." Carly grins.

"If there is an A then there must be a B."

"B) Nik and I... negotiate. He didn't like that I was charging Deception three times as much for the essence and threw a tizzy. Course I think part of that was Laura signing off on it. So we negotiated and I'm only getting twice as much. It'll take longer to build my nest egg back up but I am getting a piece of Deception now so it's almost a wash. See! Compromise."

"And Jason won't help because he doesn't want to be hit over the head with another vase." Stavros prompts.

"Pretty much." Carly agrees with a nod.

"Then who?"

"Then Laura will go looking for Sonny. And if she takes Luke with her, she'll probably find him."

"Really." Stavros muses his eyes narrowing.

"Don't go there." Carly warns.

"Where?" Stavros says innocently and not pulling it off.

"The two birds one stone thing. Sonny is Jason's problem now, not mine. Not anymore."

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