Risk

Chapter LXVIII

Tuesday

Stefan arrives at GH early composing and formulating a plan of action. If Monica Quartermaine believes she can blackball Barbara well two could play at that game. He obtains the OR schedule from the previous day and finds the surgery Bobbie had been excluded from and the list of the staff involved. He tells his assistant to direct the staff to report and give statements. While his assistant is gathering statements he goes up to the Cardiac Intensive Care unit and introduces himself to the patient's wife, laying on the charm as only a Cassadine with an agenda can.

"Drop me off here."

"Kristina..."

"Drop me off or I swear I'll jump out of this car."

Ned reluctantly pulls over to the curb and comes to a stop. "Kristina..."

Kristina gets out of the car and walks in to the Morgan/Corinthos coffee warehouse without looking back. Straight across the warehouse floor to Zander's desk. "I want to talk to you."

"Kristina!" Zander looks around and then lowers his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"You were in on it too?! One minute I'm trying on my bridesmaid dress next thing I'm waking up in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere!"

"Well not exactly." Zander shifts uneasily. "I ended up standing up for Alexis.... gave the speech and everything. Your brother told me and Elton you were indisposed. But I figured they got you out of the way because Stavros was in town. Alexis was relieved you were not at the wedding. It was the first thing she asked about."

"Then why when I tried to get hold of my sister... was there no answer at the house or the penthouse or her cell phone or her answering service. Where is Alexis?"

"Honeymoon?" Zander offers helpfully.

Kristina plants both of her hands on Zander's desk forcefully and leans over it. "Quit jerking me around. I have just spent the last four days holed up in a cabin in the woods with no phone, no outside access and no information. If you don't tell me what the hell is going on then my next stop will be to someone that can give me the answers."

"I'm not jerking you around." Zander protests. "I didn't know where you were. The wedding was Alexis's shot. You knew that. Gees Kristina, Stefan and Ned agreeing on something? Isn't that your first clue that something big is up?"

"It's the first clue that they are thinking with their balls! All you geniuses get together and decide what is best for the little woman. Well it's bull!"

"What the hell is going on here?" Jason demands from the stairs. "This a place of business. Get back to work!" Jason orders the workers who have taken a break to watch the floor show. There is a rush of movement as everyone finds a task and concentrates on it. Jason comes over to Zander's desk "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Alexis' sister, Kristina. And I want to know where the hell my sister is."

"Kristina..." Zander's tone has a pleading quality in it.

"Not here." Jason says flatly. "There. That was simple wasn't it? No drama involved. Now if you don't mind... you're disrupting my business."

"Your business? I thought this was Sonny's business. My sister is very important to Sonny and would want her found!"

"Kristina, this is um... Jason Morgan... You know of Morgan/ Corinthos coffee." Zander does the introduction.

"Your sister is less than nothing to me and if she never comes back from her honeymoon I'm fine with that. Zander, get her out of there." Jason orders.

"Kristina, come on.."

"But..."

"Kristina, damn it, come on." Zander grabs her by the elbow. He hisses in her ear. "Gees do you run into burning buildings too. Walk in the street without looking both ways? No wonder Ned and Stefan got you the hell out of town." Kristina rips her arm from Zander and stalks out of the warehouse. "I'll talk to her."

"Whatever." Jason goes back up to his office.

Zander has to run to catch up with Kristina who is stomping off her fury in the direction of the launch to Wyndemere. "Kristina, wait up!"

"You made yourself perfectly clear."

"Evidently not-- cause you're still doing it." The get to the benches at the dock and Zander sits down in frustration. "Do you even care what Alexis wants? Or it it all about what you want?"

"How dare you say that to me?"

"I dare cause I want to know! Alexis has always been there for me. Always. And I want to know if you are going to make a mess that is gonna get her killed to clean up? That guy back there... Jason Morgan? He's a hitter okay? And he's ticked. He's ticked at Alexis. He blames her for everything that went wrong between Sonny and Carly. He blames her for Carly not being protected from Stavros from the start."

"Oh please! It's the same old crap over and over again. Sonny's wife is an adult. I'm an adult. The caveman approach was over a million years ago with the neanderthals. Get over it!"

Now Zander has gone from frustrated to pissed. "Listen Lady, I have never been anything but nice and helpful to you cause we had the same goal... to get Alexis back. But I'm not going to be a whipping boy to you being irked at your brother or Ned Ashton! You want answers. I'm trying to give them to you, and you're biting my head off! Well screw you! I'm sick of all of you. I'm sick of your whole nutso psychopathic family. The only sane one in the bunch is Alexis!" Zander jumps up from the bench and starts back to the warehouse.

Kristina runs after him and grabs him by the back of his shirt. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm mad at Ned. I just hate anyone treating me like I'm a child and can't make my own decisions. I've had four days to stew on it and I just blew up all over you. I'm sorry."

"If you don't like being treated like a child, if you don't like being treated like you can't make your own decisions... Then stay the hell away from Stavros. Look what he did to Alexis. You do that and I'm sure your brother and Ned will stay off your neck. I gotta get back to work." Zander waits for Kristina to release his shirt and then goes back to the warehouse without looking back.

Jason deals with the business of the warehouse automatically. This for him is the easy part. Customers were the tough thing. Nobody would call him a people person. There is a knock on the door. "Yeah?"

"Never thought I'd be here." AJ walks thru the door.

"Never thought you would be either." Jason grumbles. "Isn't this just the icing on the cake and the day has just started. What do you want?"

"To talk to you about Michael." AJ can see Jason already starting to shake his head. "Look this is what Stavros set up. If I want to know anything about my son, do anything for my son I have to go thru you." Jason groans. "Don't think it doesn't bother me... go against the grain... but what else is new... having to go thru you to get anything about my son." AJ says bitterly.

"Cassadine didn't tell me what he was up to ahead of time... or I would have told him he was making a big freaking mistake."

"How did Carly take it... the deal?" AJ questions.

"He's still breathing." Jason snorts.

AJ grins. "Yeah, in the middle of the night going thru the books he gave me for the tenth time... I finally got around to thinking about Carly skinning him since it was real obvious he hadn't cleared anything thru you...or her. You warn him to keep firearms away from her?"

"Cassadine can take care of himself." Jason shrugs.

AJ gets serious. "Jason... how safe is Carly and Michael with Cassadine?"

Jason leans back in this chair and frowns. "Who is asking? The guy trying to take a boy away from his mother?"

"I know you have no reason to trust anything I say. All I can tell you is I'm trying to play this straight. I've made more mistakes with Carly than either of us can count. You don't like me. I don't like you. But we have too many people in common."

"Same amount of people as we've always had." Jason counters even as he reads that AJ is telling the truth.

"Jase, Sonny hung me from a meathook. He locked me in a cooler with bottles of quality booze. I didn't want to sign away my rights to my son. My... weakness is public record. Something anyone could use against me, hell I've used it against myself often enough."

"And against everyone else... especially Carly." Jason retorts.

"Carly didn't know what Sonny did. I believe that even if she was more than willing to take my signing my rights away. She didn't care how Sonny got it but she didn't know what he did."

"So you're going to put it all on Sonny?"

AJ shakes his head. "I just want to know if I'm going to get more of the same."

"It's a distinct possiblity." Jason nods. "Fuck with Carly again now that she's with Cassadine... waking up inside of the bottle would be the... best case scenario."

"Are Michael and Carly safe with Cassadine?" AJ repeats.

"I'm keeping an eye on things."

"That's not an answer."

"That's the only answer you're going to get."

"Where is everyone, Reggie?" Ned asks as he comes into the mansion at a run.

"Where ever you were... you should have stayed there." Reg warns.

"Now you show up you traitor!" Edward snarls from the stairs. He is dressed in his pjs and robe "My company has been betrayed by that interloper, dismantled by Cassadine with help from Alan's ungrateful spawn."

"I came back as soon as I heard." Ned says soothingly.

"Don't placate me, you punk! You want to be a rockstar! Well go out and be a rockstar; there is nothing... nothing left here for you."

"It can't be that bad." Ned shakes his head. "Just tell me what happened."

"I told you what happened! Jax sold us out to Cassadine! Cassadine says he'll dismantle the company if we don't follow his directives! He was here! Here in this house watching the damn wedding with Lila! Where the hell were you? Where are your priorities?! I needed a unified front and ended up being outflanked by that maniac! Everyone was there except you! He's a threat to Lila... to Michael and he has to be stopped. But no, oh no! Skye and AJ are already riding in his hip pocket."

"Is Grandmother alright?"

Having heard the ranting from the living room, Lila rolls into the foyer. "I'm fine, dear. Mr Cassadine was a perfect gentleman."

"Don't tell me you're buying that, Lila!" Edward protests. "It's bad enough for you to defend Corinthos or Jacks!"

"I'm not stupid, Edward." Lila snaps. Then takes a deep breath and willfully blanks her face. "Mr Cassadine was on his best behavior, and has lovely manners."

"Have you..." Ned looks to Edward.

"Already increased security all around the mansion." Edward nods. "And I contacted my senator in Washington."

"Darling, you funded his campaign but that doesn't make him your senator." Lila rebukes.

"He damn well better be as much money as I spent! He's having the justice department look into Cassadine... and the INS. Damn undesirable has no place being in this country."

Lila looks at Ned. She can already forsee the trouble that course of action will bring. "It's good to have you home, Darling. I'm sure another pair of eyes is just what your grandfather needs. Someone who understands the best interests of the family and the company."

Ned reads Lila's wishes and nods. "I'm going to go into the office... see what I can find out."

"Excellent idea, darling." Lila suggests. Ned goes racing back out and Lila angles her wheel chair toward Edward. "INS, Edward? I forbid it!"

"But Lila, he's got no business being in this country." Edward blusters.

"And if he leaves, it won't be alone. Call off the INS." Lila goes rolling back into the living room.

Edward grumbles but goes to find a phone.

Stefan knocks on Alan's door at General Hospital. "Dr Quartermaine."

"Stefan." Alan looks up from his stat sheets and gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. There is a vibe coming off of Cassadine that doesn't bode well for someone. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, it has come to my attention that one of our staff has acted... inappropriately and their unprofessional behavior could have endangered a patient. I would prefer that this... breech be addressed directly and swiftly. There have been many times in the past when we've been guilty of... covering up a staff members... foibles... in the interest of preserving the reputation of the hospital. But it does little to build community confidence in this institution. And this staff member has already blackened the reputation of the hospital in the past."

Alan's voice is grave. "You've heard something I haven't. You know that I take my duties here very seriously. And while we don't see eye to eye on many things... The best interests of the hospital is something that is very important to me."

"What is the proper procedure?"

"Suspension of privileges, review board. The staff in question has a right to defend themselves... but if it is egregious or a repeated behavior we should be on firm ground. And you're right, dealing with this swiftly will increase community confidence." Alan nods. "And it will keep our insurance premiums down." Alan adds grimly.

"Then I will leave you to deal with this. I expect that the privileges will be terminated immediately. If the soon to be former staff member wishes to challenge the decision then schedule the review at the next available date."

"I know my job."

"Yes, and I have every confidence you will do it." Stefan leaves the file on Alan's desk. "Inform me when it is completed or if security will be necessary to remove this person from the premises."

"Of course." Alan nods and then sighs an easier sigh of relief when Stefan leaves and looks down at the blank manila folder. This was going to be unpleasant. Disciplining staff members is one of the most stressful elements of his job. He opens the folder, swears and then leaps to his feet grabbing the folder as he does so. "Stefan! What the hell do you think you are pulling?" Alan calls out as he throws upen the door.

Stefan turns back around and stalks back toward Alan's with the grace of a panther. "What do I think I'm pulling?! After the stunt your wife pulled yesterday in front of an OR full of staff? Before operating on a patient? A patient we are charged with protecting and caring for? I am preserving this hospital from a lawsuit for harassment and defamation because believe me, Barbara has a case. Your wife's action have tarnished my... Barbara's professional reputation. Dr Monica Quartermaine will answer for her actions."

"I can't do this. You can't ask me to. You can't order me to." Alan denies furiously.

"Then it will be you or her. Correction-- it will be you and her. Either do your job or I will find someone who will."

"You know you and your brother are an awful lot alike!" Alan snarls. "That's the same crap he pulled on my daughter."

"It's a shame your wife didn't realize that when she choose to attack a member of my fam... staff." Stefan snarls right back and backs Alan into his office. "Your wife chose to make this a battleground rather than a hospital. The rules have changed. Barbara will no longer be the whipping boy to your wife's frustrations with the actions of your family. She might tolerate it, but I will not. If Dr Quartermaine cannot act in a controlled professional manner than she has no business in an operating room and no place in this hospital."

"I'll talk to Monica."

"No, you will suspend her privileges. She will get no special treatment because she is the wife of the chief of staff. As you said... she can always appeal. If she opens her mouth again about Barbara... let me put you on notice now... she will not work again in this state. Because if she does... everything that your wife has ever done to damage the reputation of this hospital will once again be fodder for the media and medical community... I will ensure it." Stefan threatens calmly and then walks out.

"How bad is it?" Ned demands from the doorway of Skye's office at ELQ.

"Oh the prodigal returns." Skye snarks. "Go ahead let me have it. This is all my fault and this never would have happened on your watch."

"Oh get over it. The barn door is open; the milk has been spilled. How bad is it?"

"Why aren't you attacking me?" Skye asks suspiciously. "It's what you do. I'm sitting in your chair. What-- you saving it all up for AJ or something? What do you know... why are you feeling guilty?"

"Do you really want to play this game or do you want to do something about the situation?"

"You were off having a personality transplant weren't you."

"If I had been, I'd give you a referral." Ned snarks back. "But I think it's a lost cause." Then he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "I knew Cassadine was on his way back. But I thought he was going after Cassadines... specifically Alexis and then Kristina. I was trying to protect her... get her out of town. I didn't see this coming, and I should have."

Skye holds out her hands extended infront of her and starts applauding. "Wow yet another case of hind sight being twenty twenty. I put all my eggs in the Jasper Jacks basket, and I guess we both got a surprise."

"It's that bad."

"Oh I'm sure I have a job. Hell I probably have more of a chance of advancement within Cassadine Enterprises than I ever would with ELQ. It's a whole different mountain to climb."

"A very slippery mountain."

Skye shrugs. "Big risks mean big payoffs."

"What a load of crap." Ned laughs.

"Hey... come on here. It's not often I try to walk on the sunny side of the street."

"How bad?"

"We're screwed."

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