"It's okay, Jax, really." Ned paused for a second. "And besides, I doubt that Grandmother would allow Grandfather to order the test. She seems to like you for some unknown reason, and she wouldn't want anything to spoil the birth of 'your' children."
"Lila is just a doll when it comes to helping out, Jax. It's easy to see why she likes him so much," Chloe says as she smiles up at Jax. "So, I don't think we would have any problems in that department, Ned. Lila--no doubt--always comes through."
Jax smiled down at Chloe. "You always know how to put a silver lining on a dark cloud," he whispered. "Thank you." His enthusiasm of just a few minutes ago that had been diminished by Ned's icy glare started to come back. He looked up at his "wife" and managed to smile, "Alexis...if you don't want to go through with my crazy scheme, I'd understand completely. Normally, I wouldn't think of using an innocent to further our selfish goals, but image for a moment how wonderful it will be to have your child grow up with so many people to love him...or her. And I promise...when my parents ask what names we're thinking of I'll say, 'Nothing starting with a J.' I rather wish sometimes they had an original bone in their bodies," he said, hoping to get her to laugh.
Alexis gave a small smile at his joke, then said, "I'm okay with it if Ned is." She turned to Ned and asked, "Are you okay with it?"
"No. Not on his *points at Jax* life. My child will not have a 'J' name. I'd prefer something that didn't remind me of the man my fiancée was married to when she got pregnant." Ned kisses Alexis' cheek, then turns to Jax and smiles as sarcastically as he speaks. "Sorry."
Jax smiled. "I meant I would make sure that there was NO discussion of giving the child a name starting with 'J.' Naming the child is up to you two."
Ned nods his head. "I'm glad you realize that, because the only way you're naming my child, is if I'm dead or unconscious." he tells Jax seriously, then sees the look forming on his (Jax') face. "Don't even think about it."
Chloe laughs at Ned and Jax.
"Well, you don't have to worry about it Ned. Jax will let you and Alexis name your own, won't you, Jax?" She says in a humorous manner.
Jax smiled devilishly down at Chloe. "Of course. I have to save all my creativity for naming our children... How many do you want?"
Alexis smiled at Jax and Chloe, thinking how nice it was to see that Jax had finally found someone. It was a nice change to see one of her friends happy.
"Really...I couldn't be happier for the two of you. I just hope this all works out," Jax said.
Ned gave Jax his first civil look for the evening from him (Ned). "Thank you, Jax." Ned told him sincerely. He then placed a kiss on Alexis' cheek. "So do I." Ned rested his head on Alexis' shoulder, then lifted it suddenly. "Sweetheart, when did you say your appointment was?"
"Um," said Alexis, "I'm pretty sure it was three thirty. Why?”
"Look at the clock, Sweetheart." Ned says, laughing slightly.
Alexis looks at the clock on the wall, and her eyes grow huge with shock. "Oh my god!" exclaims Alexis as she sees that it is three twenty-five. She turns to Jax and Chloe and says, "We have to go NOW, or we're going to be late. We'll talk to you guys later." With that, Alexis grabs hers and Ned's coat and they leave for their appointment.
***
Sarah is about to get the credit card out of her purse but she realizes she left her purse on the park bench. "Shoot, Sam, I gotta go back to the park right away. I'll be back as soon as I can," she says heading for the door. When she gets outside Sarah feels vulnerable and exposed. She runs toward the park as quick as she can freaking out. Suddenly, she trips and just sits on the ground crying for a few minutes. Then, she gets up and starts running again, her knee is bleeding and her pants are torn and she has no idea where she is going.
***
Robert looked over at his daughter and smiled. "I want to put this whole thing to rest. There's been too much lost time already. For most of your life, you've had just your Mum or Mac. I want to make sure you have your family around you when you need them from now on."
Mac smiled as he saw his brother standing in the open doorway. "Well...are you just going to stand there all day staring or are you planning on coming in?" he asked laughing softly.
Robert laughed. "You have quite a flare for dramatics you know...getting yourself shot to show up your brother. Just have to be center stage, don't you?"
"Shot?!?!" Mac said suddenly. "Felicia...you didn't say anything about that...You said I got hit on the head."
Felicia squeezed his hand gently and looked down into her husband's eyes.
Mac could see that had been really scared. "I'm sorry...I know you just didn't want to upset me. I love you so much."
Robert cleared his throat softly. "You know...Jax flew Robin home this morning. She's out in the hall with Ana."
"Jax, huh?" Mac asked.
"Yeah...He and Chloe had to go, but I'm sure he'll be back later." Robert swallowed hard, then said, "Mac...I think it's time this feud end. I can't stand being away from Lady Jane anymore."
"It's not up to me, Robbie. She's the one who felt the need to take her family away from Australia and us," Mac said, getting a little emotional. "Besides, if she wanted to make up all she had to do was come to me and say so."
"You thick-headed Aussie! She's your sister, for mercy's sake. This has gone on too long. I'm going to go talk to her later...and one way or another, this family is not going to spend any more time blaming each other for something that was no one's fault."
Mac nodded and conceded to his brother's wishes. "So...does Jax know the whole story?"
"Most of it. Lady Jane didn't tell him. I did."
"Then I guess he blames me too..." Mac said.
"No...he doesn't. He was here all night waiting with the rest of us. He doesn't want to waste any more time either."
Mac smiled. "Jerry won't be happy about this."
"Well...that's just Jerry. He's always been more Scorpio than he would care to admit anyway." Robert remembered the last time he had seen his eldest nephew.
Jerry and Mac were just 16 then.
It was a few weeks before the plane crash. The whole family had gathered on the family estate outside Sidney to celebrate Jax's fourth birthday.
After helping his little brother blow out the candles, Jerry had gone into the house with his Grandfather Scorpio, who he adored, to play chess.
"Dad loved Jerry so much..." Mac remembered.
Robert smiled. "Dad loved all of us equally."
"Hey...enough of this," Mac said. "Go talk to Lady Jane. We've all lost enough time..."
As Robert entered the outer lounge, he smiled at Robin, Ana, Luke and Laura. "He's going to be just fine," he said happily. "He'd probably love some company, too..."
Then, Robert went over to Ana and held her hand briefly. "I have something I have to do. I'll be back later."
***
"Alright. But we'd better hurry before anyone sees you," Maxie said.
The two rushed down the halls, check around corners before dashing around them.
Maxie felt like she was in an episode of "Mission Impossible."
Finally, they walked through the automatic doors of General Hospital. To Maxie's left sat Paul waiting for Nadia. "Hey, Paul. I'm taking Nadia home with me, kay? Come on Nad!" Maxie pulled Nadia's arm to guide her away from Paul.
"Bye Paul," Nadia calls giving him a she forced me to go look.
Paul yells something that Nadia doesn't hear as she and Maxie walk away.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to come to your house?" Nadia asks nervously. She feels bad about ditching Paul but she didn't really have a choice.
"Trust me, Nadia. You can come over to my house. It won't be a problem." She slowed her pace down so that Nadia could keep up with her better.
Little did Maxie know that as she made that promise a dark colored, tinted windowed car was slowly following them.
Nadia was relieved to hear that. She struggled to keep up with Maxie still wearing the borrowed red cocktail dress and heels since she hadn't had a chance to go home yet. "Do you think you have any sweats I could borrow?" she asked no longer caring what she looked like just wanting to be comfortable. She noticed they were almost to Maxie's house but her feet were killing her. "Hold on a second," she said squatting down to take off her shoes.
As she did so, the man in the car took advantage of the opportunity rolling down his window an inch or two just enough to fit his gun through and aim it at Nadia...
Maxie laughed, remember too that Nadia still wore the borrowed red dress. "Yeah, sure." She turned to see why Nadia had stopped and smiled when she realized what she was doing. "You know you're just gonna get rocks in your..." Maxie cut short as she noticed the dark car approaching. It was the same one from before, back at Paul's house. Moving before she had the time to think, Maxie jumped on top of Nadia pushing her to the ground.
One lone gun shot echoed, flying into a nearby tree. The car revved its engine and sped off.
From beneath her, Maxie could hear Nadia quietly weeping. "Nadia. What is going on? Does this happen to you all the time? We HAVE to tell Mac!"
"You can't tell Mac!" Nadia says seriously. "If you do it's only going to make it worse. Anyway it's only happened a couple of times and I only got hit once but it wasn't very bad," she says remembering the time when a bullet grazed her arm over the summer and her father had treated the wound himself insisting that she never tell anyone about it or both of them would be killed.
"You mean to tell me this has happened to you before? I mean other than last night?" Maxie asked shocked at the notion of being shot at twice in the span of 12 hours. "Nadia, I promised you I would keep your secret, but one of these days someone is going to get killed."
"It's really not as bad as it seems Maxie please don't tell anyone it'll only make things worse," Nadia said. She was terrified by the threat of dying but had gotten better at ignoring it and pretending it wasn't a problem which made it easier to deal with.
"Nad, you know I won't tell anyone. It's just... I dunno... I guess I'm sorta scared." Maxie paused at her door before opening it. "Its hard I guess, you know..." she chuckled, "yeah, I guess you'd know!"
Maxie opened the door and found Lucas playing with Georgie in the living room. She motioned Nadia to stay quiet and snuck up behind Lucas, put her arms around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I owe you so big!"
"No problem!" Lucas laughed, surprised by Maxie's method of thanking him.
"Hey, Georgie? You having fun with Lucas?" Georgie nodded and continued to play with her Barbie dolls.
"I'm guessing you're the plastic haired, perma-undie Ken?" she asked Lucas.
"How could you tell," he laughed, noticing the Nadia cowering in the corner. "Hey Nadia! Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"
"Uh... no they released me early," Nadia lied hoping that Maxie would go along with it. "I didn't know you liked to play with dolls Lucas," she teased attempting to change the subject. She hadn't had a doll since the one her mother gave her for her third birthday so she didn't even know who Barbie and Ken were.
Lucas dropped the Barbie doll as though it was on fire and blushed with embarrassed. "I was just..." he tried to explain.
"Lucas! I know you're just keeping Georgie company." Georgie smiled and Maxie gave her wink. In her mind, Maxie was wondering why Nadia didn't want to tell Lucas about her "mob-ties". She knew Lucas could be trusted, but it was Nadia's decision.
"Hang on, I'll be right back." Maxie ran to her room and grabbed a pair of sweat pants a T-shirt. She took a quick glance at the T-shirt and giggled. 'Nadia's gonna love this!' she thought to herself. She returned to the living room and held up the pants first, "These okay?"
Nadia smiled and nodded.
"How about this?" she held up the T-shirt. On the front was big neon-colored lettering with "B Cool" written across it.
Lucas took one look at the T-shirt and started to laugh hysterically.
***
Liz carefully searched around the park for Sarah. The most she could see were residents walking their dogs or jogging in the morning sun. 'Man! I wish she'd just come home, for goodness sake. Augh!' Out of the corner of Liz's eye she noticed something awkward sitting on the bench. Taking a closer look, she realized it was a purse. Not recognizing it, she decided to see to whom it might belong to. She unzipped the purse and pulled out the small wallet within.
There was no driver's license, only one credit card.
Liz carefully slipped it from its place and read the name, "Sarah Webber." It was her sister's purse. But, why was her sister's purse just sitting on the bench? Figuring Sarah must have forgotten it, Liz decided to have a quick peak at the contents within. In the wallet she found a torn picture. A handsome man, around Sarah's age, Liz supposed. The other half that matched was a picture of Sarah. Carefully, she pulled it out and read the caption on the back. "John and me at Sam's Pub." Two hearts surrounded John's name. Liz chuckled at the caption. 'So, sweet little Sarah has a boyfriend?' She shook her head. In the change part of the wallet, she found a condom. 'Oh! So sweet Sarah isn't so sweet!'
Liz looked around, suddenly realizing that maybe Sarah lost her purse because something happened to her. Her heart started to pound slightly, her nerves became more on edge.
"Sarah?" she called out. Memories of her rape suddenly came flooding back into her mind. 'What if the same had happened to her?' she thought to herself.
Lucky searched the docks and didn't turn anything up so he went in search of Liz. He saw Liz by a park bench shaking. "Elizabeth, are you ok?" Lucky asks, as he comes towards her.
Liz couldn't stop shaking. Her nerves were on edge. As the sound of Lucky's voice she quickly turn and looked him straight in the eyes. "I found Sarah's purse. But no Sarah...."
"Its ok Liz she is around here somewhere." Lucky says as he pulls her into his arms to hold her. Lucky thinks, ‘She is probably thinking about her rape and that is not good.'
"Shhh! Wait! Do you hear that?" Liz could faintly make out the sound of crying coming from within a grouping of trees. "Stay here. I'll be right back." Liz slowly moved the bushes away from her and climbed into the mini-forest.
There sitting beneath a tree was Sarah crying. Her hair was all disheveled and leaves were stuck within it. Her clothes were rumpled and dirty.
"Sarah? What are you doing here by yourself?" Liz asked her sister, concerned.
"I...I was going to get my purse from the park and I lost my way," Sarah said hardly aware of what she was saying. "I left it in the park earlier by a bench, but I'm not sure which one it was. I have to go get it now," she said, knowing that she probably looked awful and her lower lip was trembling uncontrollably. She didn't want to talk to anyone, but she was terrified of being alone especially so near John's hotel. "Can you help me?" she asked pleadingly.
"Sarah, here is your purse." Lucky says, handing Sarah her purse.
Liz pulled Sarah by the arms, helping her to her feet. "Sarah, I don't get it. You used to live in Port Charles. Why are you having problems finding things? And why are you so dirty?" Liz led her from the bushes, Lucky handed Sarah her purse. "I want to help, Sarah, really. I just don't know how."
"I don't want to talk about it right now," Sarah says trying to dust herself off. "Is she mad?" Sarah asks hoping that Grams isn't too upset. She knows she isn't going to be able to explain where she's been all night without telling them about John and she really doesn't want to do that.
"Sarah, lets get you home. Your Grams is worried about you." Lucky says. "Sarah, she isn't mad she was worried because you weren't home last night." Lucky
"Sarah, let's just get you home. If you don't want to tell me what happened to you, then fine." Liz shook her head in disbelief. 'Good little Sarah has gone bad,' she thought to herself. 'What a switch!'
Sarah was grateful for once that Liz didn't care to hear about her life. She walked home with Liz and Lucky not saying a word the whole way. When they arrived at the house all Sarah wanted to do was take a shower and then sleep. "Um, Liz could you not tell Grams about any of this?" she asked hopefully. She was already thinking of an excuse to tell Audrey so that she wouldn't have to tell anyone about John.
Liz sighed, "Yeah, Sarah, I promise I won't tell Grams. I just don't understand why you won't tell me what's wrong."
"Liz, don't push she will tell you when she is ready," Lucky says.
"I'm going to go take a shower," Sarah said before disappearing up the stairs. She wanted to forget she'd ever met John but that would be hard considering how nice he'd been to her not to mention the fact that he had been her first. She never would've thought in a million years that he'd do something like this but he had.
"But Lucky! I just want to find out what's going on with her!" Liz hissed, as Sarah headed up the stairs for her shower.
Audrey appeared at the top of the stairs, "Elizabeth? Is that Sarah? Is everything okay?"
"Yes, Grams. Sarah's fine. She just forgot how to get around Port Charles," Liz laughed, hoping Grams wouldn't catch on.
"Oh," Audrey seemed surprised that Sarah would forget PC so soon, but decided to shrug the thought off.
"Um? Grams?" Liz gave a quick glance at Lucky. "Can I possibly, maybe, go to Scotland for vacation?" Liz winced, waiting for the answer. Audrey raised her eyebrows, shocked at Liz's question. "Scotland? hmm. Who are you planning on going with?"
Liz looked at Lucky, then looked back at Audrey. "Lucky? That's who you're going to EUROPE with? I don't think so. Find some other people to go with you two and MAYBE I'll consider it!"
"So Liz who can we get to go with us? Or you should tell her why you want to go to Scotland." Lucky say.
***
"Damn. What's Mr. Moreno gonna do now?" one kidnapper asked. "I mean, she's not that FBI lady, but she's still Mr. Corinthos' girlfriend."
The leader of the group looked down at Brenda, noticing how helpless she looked amidst the group of towering mob men. "Don't worry. Guaranteed Mr. Moreno will have something in store."
Brenda looks at them helplessly and one of the guys bends down and puts her chair upright, and unties her arms from around the back. Brenda looks at him and tries to think quickly. "I really have to go to the bathroom!" she says.
The guy rolls his eyes. "Alright alright..." he takes her by the arm and begins to lead her to an adjacent room.
Brenda pretends to trip over something, and falls back into the guy, knocking him over. "Oops..." she says casually, after quickly retrieving the cell phone, that had fallen from his coat pocket. She gets back up and proceeds to walk.
While Brenda was using the restroom, the kidnapper who had escorted her looked over at the other kidnapper and said very quietly, "Hey, Boss, she took the bait just like you said! Wait till she discovers the phone doesn't work!" He laughed.
Brenda gets into the small bathroom, and pulls the phone out from her sleeve. "Stupid thugs!" Brenda remarks and presses the power button on the cell, her hands still shaking. Nothing happens. "Come on...come on...please turn on! please..." Brenda says under her breath. After several tries nothing happens. "Dammit!!" she screams, forgetting that the men are right outside. Brenda looks quickly around the small room, seeing there are no windows. "You almost done?!" shouts one of the guys. "Yeah...give me another minute..." she says, stalling. Brenda throws her head back in frustration, and sees a ventilation shaft near the ceiling. She smiles. Brenda climbs up onto the back of the toilet, and tries to get it open. It flaps open and she tries to get in. Finally, she pushes herself up, by jumping on the toilet flusher. She is laying, stomach down in the tight, black shaft, as she hears the men opening the door, she begins to crawl.
***
Samantha waited impatiently at Kelly's. Sarah had said that she would be right back but it appeared that she had abandoned her. She thought about Lucas and how, he too, had abandoned her when something better came along. ‘Aka, Maxie Jones.’ Maybe it was her, or her accent or something really stupid. And if she were any less of an English woman, she would go running home to London, but she was here to find her birth parents and she would stay here until she had found them. "I guess I can just stay in a motel for tonight," she said aloud as she walked out of Kelly's and through the park. She sat on a bench and thought of all the adventure she'd had today. "But what I could really use right now, is a friend," she said to herself softly.
John had decided to make the most of his last day in Port Charles going for a stroll in the park when he came across a lovely young girl sitting on a bench.
She was just like the rest of them the perfect targets alone and vulnerable used to playing by the rules but wanting to break away she would do just fine.
John slowly approached her, "Did I hear you say you need a friend?" he asked innocently enough a line he had used many times pretending to be a friend long enough to get what he wanted.
Samantha smiled at him.
He was very handsome... just the thing to get her mind off of all that happened that night.
"Yes, I said that I needed a friend," she gave him a sexy smile. "Do you want to be my friend?" She asked innocently. ‘This could be fun! It was going to be great living in Port Charles!’
"Well what kind of friend are you looking for?" he asked suggestively. He knew just how charming he was and always used it to his advantage. "Hey if you're not doing anything I know this great club we could go to," he added before she could answer his first question. He wanted the suggestion of romance to be out there but didn't want to risk her saying that she only wanted a buddy. Not that he wouldn't get what he wanted either way.
***
Jason watches Carly as she sits across from him at a table outside of Kelly's. After thinking for awhile, Jason leans forward. "Alright...I think I know how you can get rid of AJ."
Carly looks at him.
"OK, one of three things: 1-leave him. 2-you, me and Michael go to the island 3- we turn AJ into an alcoholic." Jason says simply. "What do you think we should do? Unless you have another plan?" he asks.
Carly's face lights up. "Jason, do you mean that! Ok I'm thinking....hmmmm, I love the alcoholic idea. Its was mine first,” she says, laughing a little. “Oh course, I got caught. I can’t leave him and I don’t want to run away anymore. I would really miss my mom. Hey... How about we get AJ to really mess up ELQ. Yeah, we could get your grandfather so mad at him for messing everything up, that he throws AJ right out of the CEO seat. After that, maybe I could get him to go off the deep end.” Carly giggles. “Then I can have him mess up sooooo bad that no court in the world would grant him custody of Michael. Maybe I can get him to hit me in public or something! Jason, do you know anyone in the courts? Do you think we could get the right judge? What to you think?"
Jason laughs at Carly's enthusiasm at taking AJ down. "Well...I guess that would actually be a good idea. Use what he thinks is power against him. We might need some help though. Maybe Ned, or someone. There's no way that I am going to let him hit you, in public, or ever, so forget that! Maybe we can make him so angry that he explodes on you, and threatens you in public??" Jason smiles. "I can always get in contact with the judge that signed your release papers from Ferncliff...he still owes me a favor. If we make AJ look bad enough, he'll never get custody of Michael. So, how do you want to start carrying out this little plan?" Jason asks.
***
