Risk
Chapter LXXIII
Skye Chandler Quartermaine leans back in the
big chair and sighs. This isn't what she signed on for when she'd
made her deal with Jax. Well not exactly true... maybe in the
back of her brain there had been a plan for dismantling ELQ and
destroying Grandfather for everything he'd done to erase her
identity as a Quartermaine. But even those dreams of destruction
had, had her in the drivers seat. Now she's just along for the
ride. Not a comfortable feeling, not comfortable at all. AA might
preach serenity and knowing what you could control and giving up
the rest to a higher power, but on a day to day basis a recovery
program is all about control.
Being out of control gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her
stomach. And every facet of her life right now is out of her
control from where she worked to where she lives to even the guy
she was planning on seducing and having her way with. Things had
been moving that direction with Jax until Alexis Davis had
stupidly gotten herself kidnapped. Now Jax is married and that
plan would have to go on hold. Skye looks up at the knock on the
door. "Come in."
"I shouldn't be finding you here." AJ says from the doorway. He glances down at his watch. "You're taking it to extremes. What time did you start this morning?"
"Seven."
"Go out for lunch?"
"Had it delivered."
AJ nods ruefully. "Yeah, no surprises there. Pack it up, Sis. We're heading for the gym, then a nice late dinner, maybe pick up a meeting over at GH..."
Skye is already shaking her head. "I can't. I have too much to do here. It's already starting-- the lawsuits and the emails about the Cassadine takeover. If I don't stay on top of it then..."
"Then Cassadine will."
"Or Cassadine's attorneys."
"Come on. You know you want to kick the crap out of Cassadine's Goon. The only way that is going to happen today is at the gym. It'll give you a fresh perspective for the morning. The fires will still be burning in the morning."
"That's what I'm afraid of." Skye rises and all of a sudden puts a hand out on the desk to support herself. She hadn't realized that she'd been sitting so long in one spot or so stiffly.
"Are you alright?" AJ rushes to the other side of the desk.
"Yeah, just stiff."
"Definitely heading for the gym then."
"There is too much to do." Skye protests.
"Right which is why I'm picking up some of it." AJ says mysteriously.
"What have you done, little brother?"
"You'll have to come with me to see. Is your workout bag in your car?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go."
Monica paces the family room. Since her suspension she'd taken to pacing different rooms in the house. She doesn't quite know what to do with herself since going into General Hospital is not an option.
"Monica." Alan says firmly drawing his wife's attention and ire.
"WHAT?! Haven't you already done enough?!" Monica snarls at him.
Alan takes a deep breath before saying softly in a very controlled voice. "Emily just arrived. She's bought herself a car. I think she wants everyone to get whatever they want to say out now."
"Everything we want to say... what kind of car is it?"
"She told me on the phone that it's a Mercedes."
"Well You can't go wrong with a Mercedes." Monica shrugs then frowns. "When did Emily get her driver's license? While she was away in rehab?"
Alan shrugs. "Guess we'll have to ask her that. She's over eighteen so it's not like she has to run things by us." Monica starts walking toward him. "And I don't want her upset... since it's bad enough that she isn't staying here some nights."
"Just the nights she has therapy. I could drive her. It's not like I have anything else to do." Monica says defensively not wanting this to be another sign of her poor parenting and all of her kids running from her. First Jason with the accident, now AJ is furious with her, she'd just gotten Emily back.
Alan winces. He puts a hand at his wife's back but she pulls away from him and walks across the foyer to the front doors of the house. Lila is already out there on the front porch with Reggie. Edward hasn't come out of his room today. Ned and Kristina wait next to Lila. Ned had received a phone call too and come up to the big house to wait.
"Oh my GAWD, I love it!" Kristina hoots as she sees the car pull up to the front of the house using the circular drive. "I LOVE IT!!" She races out to the car as soon as Emily come to a halt.
"It's certainly unique." Lila says hesitantly. Reggie just shakes his head.
"And it's a Mercedes." Alan reminds himself.
"I'm sure she got a good deal on it." Ned mutters and winces.
Monica just starts laughing and can't stop. "Perfect. Just perfect."
"Where are we going? This isn't the way to the gym." Skye protests as she watches AJ take a wrong turn.
"Like I said. You've been worried about the business. I've been taking care of getting us out of the Port Charles Hotel. Although I wouldn't mind moving back if you can manage to buy it out from Cassadine. But I figured that neutral territory wasn't the way to go. And high maintence chick like yourself wasn't going to be happy in some run of the mill apartment."
"Thank you, I think." Skye rolls her eyes. Then she realizes where they are going. "No. No. You aren't possibly thinking.... It's impossible. It's a horrible idea. AJ, for heaven's sake! The Harborview TOWERS?! You moved into MOB central?!"
"Now just think about it." AJ says defensively. "Stavros isn't messing with Jason. Emily crashes here with Gia when she isn't at the mansion. So I'll get to see more of her without going to the mansion. It has a maid service, full gym, the best security in town..."
"Sonny tried to blow it up..."
"Nobody has seen Sonny lately. I have more chance of running into Michael here than any other place in town. It's convenient to the park."
"Oh just shut up." Skye crosses her arms. "This full gym... does it have a ring? Cause I'm so gonna kick the crap out of you."
AJ snorts. "You can try. You know I'm right."
Skye says again. "Oh just shut up."
"I really wish you wouldn't encourage Emily. That car is..." Ned shudders.
"Oh don't be such a suit." Kristina carefully buckles in to the passenger seat of Ned's car. "I think it's great. It's an expression of her personality. A statement. An Affirmation of her independance."
"You don't think I have a chance in hell of getting her to paint it do you? I'll pay." Ned says plaintively.
Kristina reaches over and pats him on the cheek. "Not a chance in hell. Stick with buying her a really rocking stereo system. It wouldn't be the original equipment."
"But that scarcely matters since the color isn't original."
"Exactly. Do you really think that Alexis is going to be back on Monday?"
Ned shakes his head. "If she's not it's gonna hit the fan. You have to figure that rather than just having Alexis missing, Jax would have gone missing too. And I can't imagine that being a goal not when Stavros went to all the trouble of bringing Jerry back." Ned pulls into the driveway of the new Jacks estate. Zander had known they were coming over today and is sitting on the front porch waiting for them to show up. "You missed the show over at the mansion." Ned tells the young man as he climbs out of the car. Zander beats him to Kristina's door and holds out a hand to her.
"Emily bought a car. Ned hates it. Not that it's a mercedes you understand but the fact that it is purple. As purple as a..."
"Grape pixie stick." Zander slowly grins.
"Exactly!" Kristina agrees. "Why aren't you waiting inside?"
"Didn't seem right."
"Well we have to get everything ready for when Jax and Alexis get home." Kristina goes up to the door and unlocks it with her key. The house had already been cleaned up from the wedding and reception. Staff had already been hired and are due to start work just as soon as the newlyweds get back. Kristina starts checking the jungle of plants she'd bought for the wedding to fill in the fact that the house is basically empty. Alexis' furniture doesn't make a dent in the needs of the house. Ned takes the bottle of champagne he'd brought into the kitchen and stuffs it in the fridge.
Zander goes and opens the doorway to the den. "You think that maybe we should put some of this stuff out? It looks like Aladdin's cave exploded in there." He is startled by a knock on the front door and it opening.
"It looks like we all had the same idea." Jane Jacks comes in with another bottle of champagne. "Has anyone heard anything from the happy couple?"
"Not a word." Kristina brushes some dirt from her hands back into the huge ceramic pot at the foot of the stairs. It's a good thing that the pot is on wheels otherwise the ficus would never be moved. "And of course nobody will let me just ask Stavros where they are."
"Nope. Never. Forgetaboutit." Ned comes out of the kitchen area in time to hear Kristina's last comment. "I'm still not crazy about you even being in town!"
"I have a business to run remember? That's in addition to helping you out at L&B. Especially since you've been spending so much time at ELQ lately." Kristina raises a brow to Ned.
"Mum, why don't you let me stuff that in a fridge." Jerry takes the bottle from his mother. Ned decides to show Jerry the way to the kitchen.
Jane sighs "Well that will be about an hour to pretend that we don't know they are discussing business."
John come in from parking the car. He rubs his hands together. "What first, milady?"
"You might as well go into the kitchen and help Jerry and Ned ice the champagne." As soon as John leaves, Jane looks over to Zander. "Good. I'm glad you stuck around. I have a trunk full of groceries and I didn't want John lifting any."
"You do know that Alexis can't cook right? I mean unless it's microwave popcorn and she makes a wicked coffee... espresso even."
Kristina lifts a single finger in the air. "Ahha! Someone who actually knows my sister must have sent presents then." She goes racing toward the den.
"I know that Jax has a full staff starting once they get back. We don't have to worry about them starving to death." being poisoned maybe especially if that Andreas guy sticks around. Jane shudders at the thought. "Come along." Jane leads the way out to the car and pops the trunk. Zander starts stringing bags up his arms as they are handed to him by Jane. Jane picks up the last box and leans it on the bumper while she closes the trunk and then carefully carries it into the house.
"What is that?"
"Family memorabilia. Carefully edited of all previous girlfriends to have just pictures of family and friends. Give it a nice homey touch. The only thing of Jax's here is all his sport equipment, his computer and his clothes. And the sport equipment is out in the garage."
"Have you seen that garage?" Zander asks enthusiastically. He carefully manages to reopen the front door stepping out of the way of Lady Jane. "I've lived in places that had fewer amenities. And I don't mean the apartment over the top... I mean the garage."
Skye pulls on the gloves and steps into the ring. She was already warmed up which is a good thing because she is ticked. She knows she has already lost one battle and she isn't going to lose this one. Course it was stupid to climb in the ring with AJ. He has years of experience in kickboxing and is a blackbelt. So She'd exaggerated slightly when she'd told Jax she was a brownbelt before throwing his ass across the living room of the gatehouse. She'd taken up kickboxing for the cardio workout not for the sparring. "If I knew what trouble he was going to give me... I would have done a little more damage than knocking the wind out of him." Skye mutters to herself.
AJ overhears her as he is climbing into the ring. He straigtens. "It is just gonna be you and me in the ring right? You aren't gonna start picturing Jax or grandfather or something are you?"
"Ha! Anything to win, Brother dear." With a clap of her gloved hands and a brief bow, Skye squares off with AJ. "Let's go."
AJ blades his body to Skye in a defensive posture, carefully balanced on the balls of his feet. He waits for Skye to come on the attack. His sister always rushes things. But with Skye there was no letting her win. Sparring with her is good practice in defensive moves... because she just won't stop.
Emily responds with the wave of her hand to a loud toot of the horn and a hey baby, nice ride from another driver. Since it is such a beautiful night she has the top off the Mercedes but since it is spring the heat is cranked at her feet and the passenger side window is up to keep drafts off of her copilot. "Well Grandmother? What do you think?"
"It's lovely dear. Simply lovely." Lila burrows a little deeper into her mink and cashmere lap robe.
"You aren't too cold?" Emily glances over but keeps both hands firmly on the wheel.
"I'm fine. Such memories. Why your grandfather used to drive a convertible after the war." Lila smiles at the memory. There are definite advantages to being courted by a scoundral and parking was one of them. "But I don't think we'll remind him or he'll throw a tizzy for sure."
Em glances over at Lila and spies the twinkle in her eye. "GRANDMOTHER!"
Lila shrugs. "I didn't pluck Alan out of the rose garden, darling."
In the same timezone but many miles away, under the cover of a moonless night with only the stars to light his way a man silently paddles just beyond the surf. All of a sudden there is a convergence of spotlights on him halting his progress like a deer in headlights. One of the powerboats pulls along side the raft rocking it in the wake. "Great try, Mr Corinthos. You want a lift back to the island or you gonna paddle yourself back to shore?" Sonny just growls. With a shrug, Cassadine's hired man pulls out a handgun and peppers the bottom of the raft with shots making sure it is taking on water before he stops firing. "You have a nice night now." The hired man says cheerfully. And then with a roar the powerful engine kicks in turning the boat around to go out to the survellience markers set by Kris Windsor.
Sonny hangs on to the raft rocked by the powerboat's wake, and rapidly taking on water. "You can forget about the divorce, baby. 'Cause I'm gonna kill you."
Boy he sure isn't a happy camper is he? maybe he needs some company.
deb