The Story of Us ~* May *~      Part IX   1825 Falling Waters Drive: "Morning Mama." Michael sidled up to Carly on the balcony outside of her room and leaned himself against her chair. "Mrs. Landsbury said we were having breakfast out here." Steadying her coffee with one hand slightly askew from her body to absorb the little jolt of Michael's stealth, maybe too stealth she'd have to start tying bells around his and Jason's neck, appearance. "Yep." Setting her coffee down on the round table in front of her and curled her arm around Michael. "I got something I want you to see." Reaching over with her free hand she gave him a pair of binoculars. "I saw him last night when I was getting ready for bed." "What?" Michael held the binoculars up to his face. "Where? What is it?" Carly turned Michael's face with her fingertip on his chin look over there. The other side of the falls. See that cliff?" "Yeah. . ." "Start at the top of it right in the middle and go down." She looked up and smiled at Jason as he came out of the bedroom with a tousled looking Morgan. While Jason was dressed for the office in charcoal grey pants and a white dress shirt, Morgan looked ready to crawl back into his bed. His sooty black hair stood up in every direction all at once and he was squinty eyed and clutching his sippy cup to his chest for dear life. "Hey there baby boy." He slid easily from Jason to her arms and rubbed his face against her shoulder before settling down and taking a drink of juice. "He wakes up as happily as you do." Jason ran his hand over the back of Michael's head. "Have you seen them?" "What am I supposed to - OH!" Michael bounced on the balls of his feet. "An eagle! No! Two eagles! That's so cool! There's a big one and a little one? A dad and mom?" "That's what it looks like. We could be getting babies." Carly smiled over Michael's head at Jason. Jason had been up late last night looking up all sorts of information on eagles and she could tell that he was just dying to share some of it with Michael. She had no idea what parents did before the internet. "The big one is the female. They're always bigger than the male eagles by three or four pounds." Jason poured juice for Michael and for himself. "There might be eggs in the nest already waiting to hatch." "Awesome! Hey! I could do my science project on the eagles. Do you think Francis would let me borrow one of his cameras and point it at the nest? I could record them and write about them." He looked back and forth between his mom and Jason. "It'd be way cooler than those lame baking soda volcanoes everybody in my class is gonna do. Please?" "You'll have to ask Stephen since Francis is out of town. But he probably won't mind." Carly answered quickly seeing the storm clouds roll through on Jason's face at the mention of their head of security. Francis' request for some time off hadn't really gone over well. Jason had granted it but he was in a pissy mood about it. "So Mr. Man. If you want to do your project on the eagles you'd better do some library time today after school. We can all meet at the Grille for dinner since I'm going to be at Deception all day trying to get things in order. That sound good to you Jase?" "I'm probably going to have to go back to work once dinner's over but I'll be there." "I'll even see if I can't get Lucas out of his room long enough to eat." "Be careful Mama." Michael warned as he held up the binoculars to Morgan's face only to have his little brother drool on them. "Lucas is crabby. Last night when I wanted to play video games in his room he said he'd put me in a wastebasket and throw me over the falls if I didn't leave him alone. CRAB-BY." "Well I'm not scared of him. I'm too big to fit in a wastebasket." Carly pried the slightly damp binoculars out of Morgan's fist before he could start banging them against the side of the table. "What have you got to do at Deception?" "I want to get the office up and running so that I don't have to worry about it until after the Nurse's Ball." Said with the requisite eye roll. Carly was beginning to wonder if any company from Deception up to Microsoft was worth co-chairing a charity ball with Lucy Coe. Best not to think about it too much Queen of Angels Elementary School: "What are you doing?" "Shh! You shouldn't sneak up on people!" Stupid girl. "And you shouldn't be doing whatever you're doing that somebody can sneak up on you doing." "Go away!" Michael hissed as he clutched Mrs. Riley's portable phone to his chest. "I have to make a personal call. Personal. That means private. Private means none of your business." Michael saw the lower lip stick out. "Are you gonna tell?" "I'm not a tattletale." She sniffed. "I don't care what you do. But if Mrs. Riley catches you she's gonna be ma-aaa-d." "Christina Coe what are you doing in the magazine room? You should be working on your book report. And who are you talking to?" Michael cringed knowing Mrs. Riley would come in and bust him. "I wasn't talking Mrs. Riley. I was practicing my lines for the food group play our class is doing." Christina slipped out of the magazine room and shut the door behind her. "I'm the ham." Michael rolled his eyes and dialed his Dad's cell phone number. "Dad?" "Michael? What's wrong? Why are you whispering?" "Because I'm not supposed to be using the phone." Michael answered. "But I want to see you today. Can you come to the school?" "What's wrong Michael? Are you in trouble? If you need help just say yes." "I'm not in trouble. I just want to talk to you. Come right after school please." "Does your mom know about this? Buddy she doesn't want you sneaking around like this." Big sigh. "I'll be in the library. Bye Dad." Adults could be so stubborn. E.L.Q: "Jason?" Stephen stuck his head in. "Your sister is here." "Send her in." Signing off on the last of the budget cuts for the company Jason got out from behind his desk and met Emily in the middle of his office. "Hey Em." "I heard it. I knew about it." Emily hugged Jason then took a step back. "But I couldn't believe it until I saw it." "Saw what?" "You. Here. CEO of ELQ." She picked an imaginary piece of lint off the shoulder off his dress shirt. "No leather in sight." "Funny." Emily sat on the sofa. "I just never thought you'd be here doing this. I always thought you didn't want anything to do with the family." "I don't. That's Justus' job. He handles the old man and the rest of them. I just run the company." Leaning against his desk Jason crossed his ankles. "Even then there are days I'm tempted to just hand the whole thing back to Carly." Emily kept her comment to herself. "But you're doing a good job. Grandfather is always boasting that you'll save the family." Jason just held Emily's gaze. "Okay so in between the boasting there's a bunch of grumbling about you being a petty hood and a two bit criminal." She confessed. "But actually coming from Grandfather that's sort of a compliment." "The job's not as bad as I thought it would be. I don't like the public relations part of it but Justus does and he's good enough at it for the both of us. And Ned and Jax have taken over the docks project so I can pretty much just hide in my office, do the books and fire people." "Mom and Dad both told me about the new house. It sounds gorgeous." Emily smiled brightly. "Any chance I can get a tour? I know- I know I'm being rude but Jase come on you've been home for a month now and I've hardly seen you at all." "I know. I haven't been avoiding you Em, but there's been a lot going on. The company, the house, Michael's school and now Sonny's taking Carly to court for custody of Michael and Morgan. Things are sort of crazy." "Things are always crazy around Carly." Emily replied dryly. "It's like she's this tornado and she just sucks you into whatever her drama is." "That's not true. I don't do anything I don't want to do and I don't stay anywhere I don't want. Carly's not the one causing the problems. Sonny refuses to stick with the agreement he signed off on before we came back." "I'm not saying it's your fault Jase. It may not even be Carly's fault either. It's just the way she and Sonny are. That's why I was so happy when I came home and you'd found Courtney. It meant that you weren't just around to clean up after Carly and Sonny. You had your own life." Emily ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I actually ran into Courtney yesterday at the hospital. . ." "Emily. . ." "She really misses you Jason. And she doesn't understand what she did wrong, why the two of you can't make things work." "She shouldn't be talking to you about us. Look Em, Courtney and I were separated before I left. She'd moved out and didn't want to be a part of my life." "But you have a different life now! Now you can be together!" "I'm not going to argue about this. I don't even want to talk about it. Courtney and I are through. If she can't move on I'm sorry. But she's not my responsibility anymore." "But Carly is? I don't understand why you do this to yourself Jason. You get so wrapped up in Carly's problems and Carly's life and you forget to have your own life. Don't you deserve to be happy just as much as Carly?" "We're both happy. I don't have any regrets about the choices I've made. None. Carly and I are good and so's our family. Everybody's so happy that I'm back here and I'm in charge of the company and the hospital and almost a part of the family but what nobody wants to realize is that if it weren't for Carly we'd still be on the beach someplace nice and warm. Carly bought this company and she bought the hospital and she bought the house." Jason shrugged. "I'm not attached to any of it. I'm just," Jason smiled. "I'm just attached to Carly." Queen of Angels: When the clock finally hit three and he could hear everyone in the halls scrambling around, Michael went to the back wall of the library and approached Ethan. He didn't know how any of the guards could stand for so long and not get tired. "Hey Michael. What's up?" Ethan dug into his pocket and pulled out a pack of gum, silently offering a piece to Michael. "Where are you going?" "I've got something I need to do and I need you to let me do it and not tell my mom or Jason I did it." Of all the guards Ethan was Michael's favorite. He didn't just treat him like a dumb kid. The very first day Ethan had started watching Michael they'd come to an arrangement; Ethan would cut Michael some slack on the unimportant rules so long as Michael followed the important ones. "Okay I'll bite. What is it that you've got to do?" "I called my dad and he's gonna be here soon and I want to see him." Ethan shook his head immediately. "No. I'm sorry Michael but no." "I just need to talk to him." Michael pleaded. "Just for a few minutes. It's really important and I can't really talk to him with the supervised visitation. Mom never has to know." "Your mother has eyes in the back of her head.' "Just ten minutes. Ten minutes and you can be in the room with us." Michael wheedled. He needed to talk to his dad. "This is a bad idea." "You don't have to tell them that I told you before dad showed up. I called him and he came and we just talked for a few minutes before you told him to go." "You've got ten minutes Michael and I'm not lying to anybody about it. Ten minutes and it never happens again." "It won't happen again." Michael promised just as Sonny walked through the door. "Dad!" "Hey buddy! What's going on?" "Come into the library." Michael waved at Max. "Hi Max!" He tugged his father into the library. "I wanted to talk to you. Actually I wanted to ask you something." Now that the time was here Michael felt sort of sick to his stomach, but wasn't going to go back on his plan. "You can ask me anything Michael. You know that." Sonny sat down in one of the chairs so that he and Michael were on eye level. "Anything you want." "Is it okay if I want to keep living with my mom? I know you want me to live with you and I miss you too Daddy but I think I should stay with Mom." Michael's words trailed off as his father went still and silent. "I love you both. I don't want you to fight. And I don't want to go to court and I don't want her to have more headaches." He shifted from foot to foot. "We've got a backyard now and an eagle nest. We just saw them today and I'm gonna use them for my science fair project. I think me and Morgan should stay where we are." Sonny was silent for a minute before reaching out and hugging Michael. "I want you to listen to me Michael okay? I love you and your brother. You're the most important thing in the world to me and I want you to have whatever you want." He pulled back and ruffled Michael's red hair. "But the best place for you is at home. I know you're having fun with your mama but someday you're going to see that you belong with me. It's like that time before when you and your mom moved out and lived in a different house remember that? You went away but you came back. It's going to be the same thing now. You'll see." "We're gonna go back to the penthouse?" "Yes. Because we're a family. And families should live together. I bet if you asked Father Coates he'd say the same thing. Your mom and I took vows to make us a family and nothing changes that." "But I thought we were staying in the new house. . ." Michael's voice faltered. "Just for a little while. It's not permanent." Sonny answered. "Trust me Michael. You and Morgan and your Mama will be coming home soon. I promise." "You know about the headaches and everything?" Michael asked doubtfully. "They're really bad and she needs lots of rest and quiet. Sometimes they last the whole day and nobody can yell. . ." "Your mom is gonna be fine. I'll take really good care of her." Deception: "And where do you want these?" Elton held up several of the test shots from the Face of Deception campaign including shots of Elizabeth dressed in the drag queen version of Audrey Hepburn. "Dump them." Carly pointed to the growing pile headed for the incinerator. They'd been at cleaning out her old office for hours and were just beginning to make a dent in the files and paperwork. In a perfect world Carly never would have hired Elton back but he knew more about Deception than she did and there was no denying that he was good at his job. For all his fastidiousness when he'd arrived that morning he'd put on a pot of coffee, rolled up his sleeves and dug right in without complaint. Looking around the small office, Elton nodded happily. "I think that's the last of it." He handed Carly a box with important papers in it. "These are for you and I'll call maintenance to come and get everything else and take it down to the trash." "Thanks." Carly took the box into her new office, again admiring what a decorator with a little bit of talent had been able to do with the spacious room. Instead of white, off-white, beige, cream and eggshell the office was now done in the softest sea blue with sandy accents. The whole room reminded Carly of the beach at Hilton Head. The focal point was an antique desk she'd actually found in Hilton Head that was roughly the size of a small bus. It had room for her computer and phones as well as art boards for the next Deception ad campaign. The movers had to lift the desk up on a crane and load it through the window since there was no way it would have fit through the stairway. She was really looking forward to having lunch with Jason on it. Of course that wouldn't be that afternoon. But soon. And often. Smiling she sat down behind her desk and leaned back in her chair having a very nice mental holiday for a few minutes before turning her attention back to the work in front of her. When the intercom on her desk buzzed, Carly was surprised that two hours had already gone by. "Yeah?" "You asked me to let you know when it was time for lunch. You've got about fifteen minutes." Elton's voice came through the intercom. "Is there anything you need me to do while you're out?" "No. I think we're done for the day." Carly started closing up folders. "Thanks Elton. We might as well enjoy the half days while we've got them. After next month we're going to be swamped. I'll see you tomorrow." She was turning off the computer and sticking the plant cost projections into her briefcase when the office door banged open. "What the hell did you think you were gonna get out of it Carly?" Sonny demanded slamming the door shut and tossing his coat down on the sofa. "You sent Michael to do your dirty work? You don't even have the guts to talk to me yourself? Don't you ever try and use Michael against me again Carly. Or I swear to God I'll make sure that you never see either of those boys again. Do you understand me?" Carly started at the loud noise, and whirled around to find Sonny standing with his fists on her desk, the wide smooth expanse of the desk between them was suddenly a very reassuring presence. She'd seen Sonny at his best and his worst but she'd only been on the receiving end of a look like that once - the night he thought she was Faith and had to be talked out of killing her. "Sonny! What are you talking about? When did you see Michael? You violated the custody agreement? Why am I not surprised? And I haven't sent Michael to do anything." "Michael called me and asked me to come to the school. When I got there he told me he wants to live with you and Jason. He thinks he and Morgan should stay with you." Sonny slammed his fists down on the desk. "You think you can coach him? If you coach him enough that's what he'll tell the judge?" "If that's what Michael said he wants then that's what he wants. I don't tell Michael what to think or how to feel. He's happy where he is. Why can't you see that? Everyone is better off this way." "My sons are not better off with you. You're a tramp Carly. A lying, scheming tramp. And I've tried to be reasonable with you. I tried to let you have your house and the boys but you'd rather screw Jason than be a good mother. You're going to lose the boys and once Michael and Morgan are with me do you really think Jason's going to want you? All Jason ever wanted was to be Michael's father and when he figures out you can't give him that he's going to pack up and leave just like last time." "Jason left because he thought Michael and I would be okay. He thought that you and I would be happy and we'd make Michael happy too." Carly felt a fire in the pit of her stomach come on like a blast furnace. "He was wrong. Jason's not wrong about a lot of things but he really screwed that one up. He wasn't the only one. I was stupid. I thought you could take care of us, make us happy. Guess what Sonny? We all know better now. Jason knows better than to trust me to you and I know better than to trust my children with you. Maybe I am a lying scheming tramp but it beats the HELL out of a sniveling whining coward who doesn't have what it takes to put his family first. And spends all his time blaming everyone else for his mistakes. Deke, Mike, Brenda, Rivera, Ric, Faith, Lorenzo, me. It's always someone else's fault. Well I'm sick of it Sonny and I'm sick of trying to keep the peace." Carly leaned on her desk. "You want to fight me? You'd better get ready to roll in the mud Sonny because there is nothing I won't do for my kids." "What are you going to do? Shoot me? Get locked up in Ferncliff again? You're nothing Carly but a two bit whore. Everyone in this town knows it. No judge is gonna so much as give you a dog license." Carly's eyes went deadly cold and an ugly sneer curled her lips. "When I'm done, you're going to wish I'd shot you. This time I won't be the one in Ferncliff. You will. I've kept your secrets Sonny. I've never talked about the breakdowns or the temper or the night you nearly blew my head off because you were having hallucinations. Or the time I walked in and found you cutting yourself with broken glass. I never said anything to anyone because I loved you and because I know - I know how deep those scars run. But that was then. Now I'll tell everyone. I'll rip those scars open 'til they bleed. Every time you've thrown a glass. Every time you've sat in the cemetery talking to your dead wife, every time you put my life or Michael's life in danger because you're unstable and won't get help. By the time I'm done testifying Sonny you'll be locked up for the rest of your life. Just you and the rest of the pathetic freaks with mommy issues." "Shut your mouth!" Sonny started to come around the desk. "Or what?" Carly taunted softly. "What Sonny? What are you going to do to me that you haven't already done? Leave me? Or I know- fuck Alexis Davis in our bed! How about that? Maybe you'll point a gun at me? How about you let your psycho brother kidnap me and chain me to a wall like a dog in a kennel? You know the whole time I was missing all I could think was Please God let Jason find me because I knew at least Jason would be doing something to find me." Sonny flinched but fired back as soon as she stopped talking. "You're the crazy one Carly. You're the one who let the whole town think you were dead because you caught me in bed with Alexis. You let your own son think you were dead! And what about Club 101? You stole money out of your own club. You'll do anything, sleep with anyone to get what you want. Michael deserves more than a whore for a mother." "What? A whore for a father? Come on Sonny. You don't want to get into that crap with me. I'm not the only one with a faked death. You screwed Angel Ellis. And Alexis and what about that bitch Brenda? I'll trot her crazy ass back here and have her explain why it is that Jax dumped her at the altar. And what about Brenda? You drove her crazy and with her you didn't even need a bullet." Carly's face flushed. "I swear Carly - I don't want to do this. But if I have to I'll cut you out of the boys' life. You won't so much as get visitation by the time I'm done. Everyone's going to know that you've been panting around like a bitch for Alcazar the man who kidnapped you and tried to kill your husband. You think you love him." Without a conscious thought Carly's palm connected to the side of Sonny's face snapping his head back with the sheer force behind it. "Don't you ever talk to me about Alcazar. Ever.You're the one Sonny. You're always swearing to God. Well I swear to you. If you so much as think about taking my children I will go to the police and get a restraining order against my psychotic ex-husband who threatens me with guns and shot me in the head while I was in labor and I'll tell them that you were in a jealous rage and you tried to kill me. Maybe they'll believe me. Maybe they won't but do you really think the PCPD won't jump at the chance? If you want my kids you'd better practice your aim because you'll have to KILL ME." Grabbing Carly's arms Sonny pushed her back several steps. He touched the side of his face. "You already killed one of my children. I won't let you do it again." Frozen, Carly reached for the phone. "I'm calling security. They can throw you out. They can throw you out of the window for all I care you greasy son of a whore." The phone was torn out of her hands and hurled against the far wall exploding in a shower of broken glass as it hit the shelves and the multi-colored bottles lining the wall. Carly screamed at the noise and shoved her chair between them. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT RIGHT NOW!" "We're not done here." Sonny took another step forward. "You heard her, you little bastard. Get out of this office right now and stay out." Sonny was grabbed from behind by two large hands that threw him over Carly's desk sending him sprawling on the floor. Alan reached out and touched Carly's arm. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Sonny pulled himself up with the edge of the desk. "Stay out of this Alan. It's none of your business." "The hell it's not. Carly is my grandson's mother. You're just the punk trying to steal him. Well it's not going to happen Sonny." Alan leaned on Carly's desk snarling directly in Sonny's face. "Now pick yourself up and get out before I come across this desk and give you the beating of your life." "We're not done Carly. Not by a long shot." Sonny stalked out of the office slamming the door hard enough to crack the glass in the middle of the frame. Carly watched him leave with a knot in her stomach and bile rising in her throat. She didn't know she was shaking until Alan guided her to the sofa and pressed a glass of water between her hands. "Did he hit you?" Sitting on the coffee table in front of Carly, Alan checked for any outward evidence of an attack. "No. No Sonny wouldn't hit me." Not when there were so many better ways to hurt someone. "Do you have your Imitrex here in the office?" Alan asked. "How's your head?" "I've got it in my desk drawer." Carly gulped down the water. "But I don't think I'm having one right now." "Well they can sneak up on you so let's just be on the safe side." Alan patted Carly's knee and went to the desk bringing out the injectible pen and placing it on the table. "Do you want me to call Jason?" "Oh shit! Jason!" Carly groaned. "I'm supposed to be meeting him down at the Grille for dinner. If I don't show up he's going to come looking for me." She started to push herself up, only to be stopped by Alan's hand on her shoulder. "Alan Jason can't come in here. If he sees this he'll kill Sonny." "Good. I'll help him hide the body. It's a family tradition with Quartermaines." "Spencers too." Carly choked out. "No. I've got to go down." "Just a minute." Alan shook his head. "Why don't you call Jason and tell him you're running a little bit late because I came over to talk about some new migraine treatments I just read about with you. Which is true by the way. That way you can take a few minutes to get yourself together. Because I promise if he sees you like this he'll know something's wrong." Carly nodded and reached for her cell. "Jase? I'm gonna be a little late. No, Alan came by with some information about migraines. Order me a steak and I'll be down in a few." When she finally felt calm enough, Carly stood up and called for the cleaning crew to come in sometime between then and the next day. "I'll walk with you down to the Grille." Alan announced once she was off the phone. "I thought you always had body guards with you." "Not always in the same room." Carly gathered her things. "It gets hard to work with some of them breathing down your neck. Francis is out of town so there are a couple of new guys that need breaking in." She rubbed the back of her neck. "They need to be housebroken. I've got a panic button and I could have called them but someone would have probably wound up dead." They stepped into the elevator. "Why did you step in? You don't like me any more than Sonny does." "That's not true. I don't know you, Carly. I don't like things you've done. But regardless of that, you're Michael's mother." When they reached the dining room, Alan followed Carly to the table where Jason sat with Morgan on his lap. He could see Michael at the bar with his guard being served a chocolate milkshake. "Jason." "What happened?" Carly sighed and motioned for the waiter to bring another chair for Alan. "Sonny came to the office." She kept an eye on Michael. "We fought. It was ugly." There was no point in lying to Jason he'd find out anyway and get all tight lipped and tense-jawed. "Michael told Sonny he wants to live with us and Sonny thinks we coached him to say it." She reached out and took Morgan. "How's my baby?" Jason looked to Alan. "You saw it?" "I came in at the end. Corinthos was out of control. I had to pull him away from Carly." Alan sat down. "The man's a rabid dog Jason. I know you don't like to involve the police but at the very least you should let them know. In case something like this happens again." "It won't." "It could." "It won't. Besides they're going to know Carly and Sonny are in the middle of a custody fight. They won't want to be dragged into the middle of it." "They won't think that if I'm the one that calls." Alan offered seriously. "I know we have our differences of opinion but I don't want that man near my grandson." "Sonny can be dangerous to his enemies." Jason took a drink of scotch. The warning was mild but he knew Alan would understand its meaning. "So can Quartermaines." Reaching into his pocket Alan withdrew his cell phone and dialed. "Mac? Alan Quartermaine. I'm at the Port Charles Hotel and I just ran into a situation you should know about." Pulling out her own cell phone, Carly dialed housekeeping. "Carly Spencer. I just ordered a clean up crew for the Deception offices, it can wait until tomorrow. Yes. I'm sure. It's not a big deal." Closing her phone, Carly exchanged looks with Jason across the table. The first shots were fired. Now they just had to see who'd be left standing when the smoke cleared. "What potent blood hath modest May" - Ralph Waldo Emerson