Risk

Chapter LXIII

Agendas

Kris meets with Andy this time at Jakes. He winces at the noise. Evidently the proprietor was going with a live band for Saturday night. One more suited to a garage than a public venue. "Is there someplace quieter we could speak?"

Andy tilts his head in the direction to the rooms in back back by the phones and the bathrooms. "Kinda surprised to hear from me I guess."

"I wasn't expecting it."

"Well next life I want to be the one that gets the cushy assignment of opening up minds to the new world."

"Age has it's privileges. What happened?"

"I just spent the whole late afternoon, and missed dinner, over at the Quartermaine mansion listening to the old man rant and rave."

"The Prince watching the wedding from there." Kris nods.

"Old Man Quartermaine is less than thrilled. And I think I'm going to run the maid working there. She's done time somewhere. Anyway they were definitely not thrilled to find out that there is no warrant out for Mrs Corinthos or The Prince either. Quartermaine was tearing strips off the commissioner and Taggart both. I was just lucky enough to not be the ranking officer there."

"The Prince is meeting with them tomorrow." Kris looks at his watch. "Today. I need updated dossiers on all of them. The preliminary ones are sufficient but I don't want any surprises. I want to know who is most likely to bring or use a weapon."

"Yeah, well that's a quandry. Both the Drs Quartermaine have been known to react violently in confrontations but normally its each other. Ned Ashton is the sane one but he's keeping a low profile. Nobody has seen him since before the wedding. The Old Man believes in using his money as his hammer."

Kris snorts. "That's not going to work this time. Who else."

"Mrs Corinthos ex, AJ Quartermaine. The family f'up. You've already got a full file on him. And the new long lost sister, Skye Chandler Quartermaine. She's been running the company lately... worked a deal with Jasper Jax to get the top seat, doing an endrun around the family. Then there is Jason Morgan. He never goes anywhere without a way out and the means to get there."

"Morgan will not be a problem."

"How do you figure?" Andy might have been born to be an agent for the Cassadine but he is also a cop.

"He's already been in communication with The Prince. As long as he perceives the meeting as guarding Carly's interests he will not intervene."

"Oh?" Andy shakes his head. "I don't get this. It's a waste of the Prince's time. It's small potatoes. So the Q's have dissed his girlfriend. So what?"

Kris straightens and looks at his little brother sternly. "Do not question The Prince."

"What does this have to do with protecting the line? Why are we involved in this... family squabble? It's not even our family!"

"Carly is facilitating the return of The Prince as well as the reapproachment of The Prince and his son, the Heir. Nothing will distract her from the task. The Quartermaines get in the way and they will be removed from her path. One way or another. Nikolas has decided to make Port Charles his base of operations. That means there can be no obstacles to The Prince here in Port Charles."

"You're starting to get attached to that kid, aren't you?" Andy realizes. "You want AJ out of the picture too."

"Michael has the potential to be one of us." Kris nods. "The day will come when The Heir takes the reins of the family. He will need a trusted advisor loyal to the potential of the true Cassadine line. The Quartermaines are irrelevent."

"And you think the mother is going to go along with that?"

"She will come to see the symmetry."

Hours later at the Quartermaine mansion. Lucky grinds his face into the pillow and opens a bleary eye. He and Em had been up most of the night catching up. But heck it's Sunday and even if it had been Monday he wouldn't care since he was looking for a reason to call in sick anyway. Definitely not leaving the darkroom tomorrow. He sits up and stretches. Em is still out like a light next to him curled up under the covers while he'd crashed on top just grabbing a throw from the foot of the bed. Climbing out of the bed, he pads sockfooted to the bathroom to splash water on his face, and really wake up. He winces as he stretches out his shoulders. and that bed is suppose to be good for her?

Reggie knocks on the door and eases it open. He sees the dual dented pillows on the bed but also that one side is made if mussed with the throw on the top and eases out a breath. He'd taken a risk not telling anyone except Lila that Lucky was there but it had turned out okay. "Lucky?" He calls out softly.

Lucky sticks his head out of the bathroom. "Yeah." Then he thinks about it. "You giving me fair warning that Alan or the Old Man are heading this way with a shotgun?"

"They have already left for a meeting down at ELQ. Monica too. AJ is meeting them there. Mrs Quartermaine is having brunch down in the front room."

"I'm up. I'm up." Emily mutters still asleep. "Be right down."

"I'll head home." Lucky reassures Reggie or at least thinks that is what he is doing.

"Mrs Quartermaine is expecting you for Brunch too." Reggie ducks back out the door.

Lucky comes over to Em's side of the bed and sits down. He can tell Em is still asleep. He scratches the end of her nose. She bats his hand away. He does it again. Her eyes finally open and a moment after that she actually wakes up. "What time is it?"

"Time for brunch with Ms Lila."

"K." Em knees Lucky in the back to get him to move so she can get out of bed. She wipes her hair back out of her eyes and climbs out of bed, slowly and carefully. There're good days and there're bad days. And she prefers to find out before she falls on her face. There'd already been plenty of those days back in the early days of her rehab. "Need coffee."

"Just as soon as we get down there." Lucky says cheerfully. "Hey wait a minute-- when did you start drinking coffee?"

"When did you get to be cheerful in the morning?" Emily grumbles as she gathers some clothes and goes into the bathroom shutting the door after her.

Lucky plucks at his shirt and sniffs it suspiciously. It would do until he could get home and change. He settles back waiting for Em to get out of the bathroom. It doesn't take long. Em comes out dressed, her hair wet, and is fastening her brace then pulling her shirt over the top of it. "How long you have to wear that thing?"

"Until I don't need it anymore." Em replies. She grabs a comb off the table and starts in on her hair. "What did I miss?"

"The old man and your folks aren't here. It'll just be us and Ms Lila."

"Good. Yesterday hit my drama quota." She tosses the comb to Lucky in a nonverbal clue that he needs it.

"You and me both." Lucky tosses the comb on the bed next to him and rises. "Shall we?" He holds out the crook of his arm.

"Oh lets."

Mrs Lansbury shows Carly into the living room of Wyndemere. Carly grins at the sight. Michael, Lucas and Nikolas are all crashed out on the floor and couches. Something that would probably drive Stefan in all his stick up the butt tendencies up the wall. She eyes the game still in progress on the coffee table. "Oh boy." Coming over to her son she leans over and gives him a smooch on the top of the head. "Hey Mr Man."

"Mama!" Michael wakes up cheerfully. "Whatcha doing here?"

"Figured you couldn't be the only one having all the fun seeing Lucas. Where are Mama and Stefan?"

"Grandma was tired and went to bed after we all teamed up on Stefan and kicked him out of the game."

Carly laughs. "Didn't I teach you to be nicer to your elders?" She gives him another kiss.

"It was fun. They didn't think I knew how to play." Michael says smugly.

"They'll know better next time." Carly looks at the board. "What color are you?"

Michael comes over to the board and shows her. "I had North America for awhile. But Nikolas came in thru Alaska."

"Who is this?" Carly picks up one of the armies.

"Lucas."

"I think he's going to win." Carly studies the board. "But holding onto Europe is tough."

Michael whispers in her ear sharing his strategy. "I'm going to let them take each other out, then I'll win."

"That's my boy." Carly runs a hand over Michael's babyfine red hair straightening and flattening it out as she does so. "So should we wake the others up? I think the lady who let me in wants to start fixing everyone breakfast."

"Mrs Lansbury. That's the lady's name. She's cool. She makes great snacks. But I don't think she liked Kris."

"That's okay 'cause we do." Carly goes over and gives Lucas a smooch on the top of the head while he's still asleep. Lucas opens his eyes. "Hey Little brother!"

"Carly!" Lucas practically jumps out of the chair he's curled up in. His shout wakes Nikolas.

Carly looks over at Nik and makes a tsking sound. "Getting your butt kicked by a couple of kids. I am so going to have to work with you on that one."

"Isn't it a little early for you?" Nik asks wincing from the couch that was never meant to be sat on let alone slept on.

"Yeah, Mama. You should be sleeping." Michael orders.

"Stavros had to go do business." Carly rolls her eyes and Michael does the same. "I thought I'd come see my favorite guys." She plops down on the couch next to Nik and Michael eases in next to her. "So what's the plan for the day? I left it totally free for family time." Carly looks from Michael to Lucas.

"We could go riding." Lucas suggests eagerly. "If it's a nice day."

"I'm liking this plan already." Carly agrees looking around the front room of wyndermere. "Dang this place is huge. You'd need rollerblades to get from one end to the other." Lucas' eyes light up. He hadn't thought of that one.

"Thanks alot, Carly." Bobbie says coming down the stairs with Stefan who'd been notified by Mrs Lansbury of Carly's arrival. "I'm going to remember you for that."

"Hey Mama."

Stefan catches Nikolas trying to get comfortable in his slept in clothes. "Nikolas, you still have clothes here. Lucas, why don't you get changed into your riding clothes. Perhaps there is something still here that Michael could wear from when you were living here before." Lucas and Michael go running upstairs. Nikolas follows them more slowly.

"Stavros doesn't have any horses. There is a stable on the island but no horses. He doesn't seem to be too interested in them though." Carly goes wandering about the room picking things up and putting them down. "He and Michael always spent time down at the beach: swimming, sailing, building castles."

"My brother has little tolerance for animals." Stefan coldly. A host of bad memories coming over him.

"Oh?" Carly stops and looks at Stefan.

"And if you continue... your laison with him, I would refrain from getting any."

"You're going to have to explain that one."

Stefan rides the fine line between truth and truth. "Did you fall when learning to ride?"

"Sure." Carly shrugs. "If you don't you're not pushing yourself. It's also a way of learning to trust your mount. Normally they balk cause they've seen/sensed something that you haven't."

"Nikolas also fell when learning to ride. And yes, I wanted to kill his mount while dealing with the pain Nikolas was in. But that is the difference between me and my brother. I wanted to kill the mount. I didn't do it. Stavros would have."

Carly winces. "Good to know. No horses. That sounds just a little too Rhett Butler for my taste."

It's no surprise. They all know who they are there to see. Stavros Cassadine. The gall is where-- the conference room of ELQ on a Sunday mid-morning. The call had gone out for a unified family front. AJ, Skye, even Jason all there when the combined pressure of Edward, Monica and Alan had been applied. With all that-- Jason's agreement had still come as a shock. As much of a shock as not being able to find Ned.
Surrounded by his family, Edward stomps into his own conference room. "Listen you murdering bastard...." Edward has cleared the threshold with the family flanking him when he comes to a halt. The man standing on the far side of the conference room is not Stavros Cassadine. "Where is he?"

Stavros who is seated at the head of the conference table with the oversized back to the room. He turns around and lays his hands flat on the table. "I believe you are looking for me."

"Who do you think you are?! Barging in here! Breaking and Entering! I'll have you arrested!" Edward reaches for the phone.

"By all means, exercise your rights. Call. Call the police. Unlike everyone else in my family, I have yet to see the inside of a Port Charles jail cell." Stavros taunts.

"Think twice, Mr Quartermaine. You don't know what we know." Kris says quietly.

Jason pulls up a seat. This might take awhile and he might as well be comfortable. "Right. Like why you're all of a sudden stealing lines from the PCPD. We don't know what you know. You should get a better script-- that's an opening to a bluff."

Edward looks at his grandson slack jaw'd but with a bit of pride. If only he wasn't a thug. He'd be the perfect person to take on ELQ. Not petty like Skye, incompetent like Junior or conflicted like Ned. Where the hell is Ned? Probably off on a rock and roll weekend. He puffs up like he'd
called Stavros on it himself. "You're bluffing." He pulls up a chair and defiantly sits in it but doesn't reach for the phone. AJ seats Skye then himself. Alan seats Monica then takes the seat closest to Stavros but a distance away.

"No, please Mr Quartermaine. Do call the police. And once they arrive explain to them how I broke and entered on my own building."

"What?" Skye exclaims.

"Kris." Stavros indicates with a hand. Kris deals out copies of a the transfer of shares from Jasper Jacks to Stavros Cassadine.

"That lying sack of shit!" Skye flips thru it rapidly realizing the truth. "That son of a bitch sold me out! He never told me anything about this. We had an agreement." Stavros winces at her vulgarity. What was it about women in business thinking that they had to sound like one of the boys?

"Paragraph 15b. I doubt that any agreement Mr Jacks had with you mentioned him holding his shares in perpetuity" Kris refers to the pertinent clause. "The transfer of shares to be confidential until after the nuptials of Jasper Jacks and Natasha Cassadine."

"This is all your fault!" Edward roars at Skye. "Take the company public you say. We'll all get rich! And now look! First that greasy mob boss, Corinthos and now we have a demented murdering eurotrash Cassadine at the table!"

"Not at the table." Stavros corrects cooly. "I own the table. I own this building. I own this company. I own ELQ."

"That's impossible." Alan shakes his head. "Yes, it's a public company but we still own a significant portion of it. You own a piece of ELQ but you don't own ELQ."

"I've yet to hear from you... AJ isn't it? Tell me. A percentage of nothing is...?"

"Nothing." AJ says grudgingly.

"Exactly. We can go on as before. And you can continue to grow wealthy from your shares of ELQ. Or you can cross me... and I will dismantle ELQ piece by piece and sell it for scrap."

"What do you want?" Monica interjects tersely.

"Nothing. You have nothing I want and I have nothing of yours..." Monica blanches recognizing the same wording as what Carly had given her the day before at the reception. And then Stavros continues. "... nothing except ELQ of course."

"Monica?" Alan sees the strain on his wife's face.

"It's about that bitch. It's all about that bitch. Take the f'ing company. Do you think I care? I will see my grandson! My son is Michael's father! He has rights. Legal, morally, ethically how ever you want to slice it."

"Monica, be quiet!" Edward snarls.

"I won't be quiet! That bitch is wrong, criminally wrong, to keep Michael from AJ! You might have been able to delay things making that warrant disappear but it's temporary! We'll go to another judge. And Carly will either produce Michael or she'll go to jail where I hope she rots!" Monica slams to her feet and then stalks from the room.

"Excuse me." Alan goes after Monica to try to calm her down.

"Do you have anything to add?" Stavros raises a brow in AJ's direction.

AJ considers him for a long moment that says simply. "I'd prefer to talk to you privately."

"No, I forbid it!" Edward declares. "Bad enough, Monica losing it like that. You're dealing with me now, Cassadine. Mano a Mano." Jason chokes on a sip of water he'd just poured.

"Kris, Take Ms Chandler-Quartermaine to her office." Stavros orders. "And advise her of the benefits of heading a Cassadine subsidiary. Collect all the pertinent data to ease the transition."

"I'm not going anywhere with him!" Skye snarls.

"Then you will be replaced as CEO. You may go."

"What a damn minute!"

"Either go with Kris and perform your function as CEO of this company or resign. Your presence in this room is no longer required or desired." Skye slams back from the table and stalks from the room. Stavros nods at Kris who follows Skye out.

"Awful confident aren't you?" Edward sneers. "Sending your muscle out of the room. You think you can take all of us?"

Stavros smiles. "Jason, I never did have a chance to thank you for your assistance in getting back into the country. The subterfuge ended up being unnecessary but it was quite... colorful."

Jason leans back in his chair the combined glares of Edward and AJ not affecting him at all. "I told Carly whenever she wanted to come back to Port Charles I'd ease the way."

Edward realizes. "You got rid of the Judge."

"That's the thing about buying a judge, Old Man. Once you whore one all that's left is negotiating the price."

"Jase, How could you? How could you do that to us? Siding with him?!" AJ protests.

"The only side I'm on is my own. And the people I care about aren't the ones in this room. But your choice, AJ, and think about this one some. Which would you rather have Carly and Michael out there." Jason waves a hand. "... or right here in Port Charles? What do you have to gain by suing Carly? Or trying to put her in jail? Nothing."

"Absolutely nothing." Stavros agrees and adds an additional threat. "Go after Caroline again in any way and Michael will never hear your name in any context. You will... cease to exist."

"What else is new?" AJ says bitterly. "You think I haven't heard all this before, been thru this before with Sonny? Michael is my son!"

"Do not make the mistake of assuming you are dealing with Sonny Corinthos." Stavros warns. "I have some empathy for your situation. I know exactly what it is like to be hated by my son. To have lost decades with him. To try to build a relationship with a man that I remember only as a baby." Stavros points at Edward. "He can give you nothing but more of the same. Your mother can give you nothing but more of the same."

"Stavros, you're stepping out of bounds here. And not doing Carly or Michael any favors." Jason warns. "Carly is not going to thank you for taking any steps that might bring AJ into the picture. She'll tear you a new ass hole first."

"You have no allies in this room, Mr Quartermaine." Stavros continues to AJ, nodding agreement at Jason's interjection. "None, except potentially... me. Caroline is afraid of you. You are a constant reminder of what she has lost. A constant reminder of the potential danger you pose to Michael, to her. At this point you have nothing, and nothing to lose. I am reminding you that going after Caroline in any way will not change that--only reinforce it. Unless you like the way things are now, it is time for you to... modify both your behavior and your expectations."

"Don't listen to him, AJ. He's an insane, homicidal maniac." Edward interjects. The last thing he needed was Cassadine sounding like he is making sense. "He's the one that is a danger to Michael. We're that boy's family."

"There are some who define insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome. Using that definition... who do you think that describes, Mr Quartermaine?" Stavros continues to focus on AJ. "...you or me?"

"What are you offering?" AJ aks hesitantly, reluctantly.

"Crumbs. But they are more than I had for the last twenty years." Stavros reaches down and puts a briefcase on the table. He opens it up inside are small leather bound books. Stavros removes them and slides them to AJ. Michael's adventures in Istanbul, the Dead Sea, The Caribbean, Switzerland, and the latest... Michael's adventures in Milan. "If there is more is up to you now." Stavros closes the briefcase. "It is up to you to prove Caroline has nothing to fear from you. That Michael can be proud to claim you as his father. You will have no contact with Caroline or Michael that she does not initiate. All requests, presents and the like will be given to Jason. We will relay them to Caroline. The way you speak of Caroline, the way your family speaks of Caroline, is the way I will speak of you around Michael."

"In other words," Jason clarifies to get to the heart of the matter and not prettied up allowing misunderstanding. "Tell Monica to shut the f' up." Edward glares at Jason hating that the boy, the sweet boy in his memory, could talk about his mother that way.

Stavros rises to his feet to indicate that the meeting is over. Jason and AJ also stand. AJ picks up the bound journals. Stavros tells AJ. "I realize I have given you much to think about. Your agreement or protestations are irrelevent. I have indicated how I intend to proceed. Your actions will speak for themselves. You may go." Stavros orders. And that one grates on AJ but he bites his tongue and steps out of the conference room. Jason is also biting his tongue. The meeting wasn't as long as he thought it's be but he is ticked at Stavros deciding anything about Michael and knows that Carly is going to be volcanic when she finds out. Anything AJ pushs all her buttons. Edward remains seated. Stavros studies the old man and sees a steel resolve. "Jason, I believe Edward has something to say to me... privately. Could you see Mr Quartermaine out."

"I got a few things to take up with you too." Jason says grimly.

Stavros nods. "Yes, I have no doubt you do. But I think you'd prefer to... take it up with me at home where there are vases."

Jason snorts at that one. "Yeah. You got a point. You're getting the headache on this one." He steps out of the Conference room.

"Mr Quartermaine?" Stavros indicates with a wave of a hand that Edward has the floor.

"Stay away from my wife."

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