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When Cassadines Fall
Election Day
Instruction at the mansion has finished for the day. Em and Maddy meet up with Liz at Kelly's where she is working. Elizabeth motions with her head that she sees them as she delivers an order. The girls take a seat at the counter. "Okay-- who did you vote for?" Em asks as Liz comes around the counter.
"Not telling!" Liz grins. "That's why they have those curtains on the booths. I dragged Lucky out of bed bright and early. We both went down to his Dad's and voted. I still can't believe that they use a bar for a voting place."
"It's a club, not a bar. And it's a neighborhood fixture." Em says loyally. "They started using Luke's after Ward House burned down. When it was rebuilt it was being used as a battered woman's shelter too. It's kind of risky to have anybody just coming and going there now so they left the polling place at Luke's."
"What about you, Maddy?" Liz asks. "You already vote?"
"Oh don't get me started. I went down to the registar over a month ago brought all my emancipation paperwork showed them how I was an adult in the eyes of the law and to sign up. I really wanted in on this election. There were some zoning referendums that could effect the kiosks in addition to be big senate race...."
"What happened?" Emily asks.
"The registar pulled out her copy of the constitution and pointed to one of the amendments. 17th I think. It doesn't say you have to be an adult... it says you have to be 18 to vote. Two freaking weeks short." Maddy grumbles. "And Niknik and I got into it last night. Do you know he's not even registered? He could vote but didn't register. It's sick."
"Is that what WWIII was about?" Liz asks. "Lucky came out of the house and wouldn't let me go in."
"Probably not. We talked about voting when we were walking Cinnamon last night. WWIII was about Nik using my stuff all over his house."
"Your stuff?" Em asks.
"Nik brought back abunch of stuff from New Orleans. Stuff that Granny Sophia had been saving for me. Didn't ask me just pulled it out and put it all over the house. I thought I was going nuts. He rearranged the kitchen so it was just like Granny Sophia's. Put a bunch of new stuff in it that he brought from there."
"Oh creepy." Liz shudders. "So you'd open a cupboard and things were like familiar but wrong?"
"I think he was trying to be sweet. Make me feel at home he says. A little warning would have been nice. I was so mad at him that I opened the front door without checking who was on the other side and it was his grandmother."
"Oh I'm hoping it was Lesley Webber but it wasn't, was it?" Emily winces.
"Nope, Granny Helena in all her sable clad glory. Boytoy in tow."
"Yikes!" Em shudders. "Is she still ticked at you for spoiling her fun at Ned and Alexis' reception over at Wyndmere."
"It wasn't brought up but the implication was definitely there that I was doing both her son and grandson. Since I was Stefan's date the night of the reception. I guess she figures since she likes them young that Stefan does too."
"Eww." Liz grimaces. "I mean okay, Stefan is good looking for an older guy but he's no Sean Connery or anything."
"Change of subject." Maddy demands. "Em, how did dinner go last night?"
"Pretty good actually. Johnny brought over a lemon-anise flan. That kept Grandfather in a good mood. They got into it a little bit about the unions but that is standard. Grandfather pointed out that Johnny knowing anything about unions is just proof they are corrupt and controlled by the mob. That the damn politicians have already put into law the stuff that the individual needs to protect themselves from the big bad companies. Grandmother tried to point out that was true on paper but iffy in real life. Grandfather started telling her she'd be singing a different tune when the various unions strike on the theater. That she didn't know what it was like to have the little people refuse to work."
"And then what happened?" Liz asks.
"Well Johnny butted in on that one. Reminded Grandfather of when the staff went out on strike, including his mother, when Grandfather bad mouthed the unions when the docks opened."
"I love it. Miz Lila and Johnny teaming up on Mr Q. What were you doing when this was all going on." Maddy wants to know.
"I was eating my flan and minding my own business. If Grandfather hears all the stuff I've been doing over at Deception for the line staff I'm never going to hear the end of it." Em laughs. "What about you, Elizabeth?"
"Big news." Liz stands up straighter. "I get to do a practicum at the PCPD as a forensic artist. Next term I'll be there full time. Just the little class I took this term was enough to kind of pique my interest. It's not something I would want to do for a career cause it's really rather grim dealing with victims of crime. You have to be detached and I have a tough time with that one. Some of the stories push my buttons." Emily winces remembering everything that had gone down with Tom and finding out he'd been the one who raped Elizabeth in the park. "But even with all that I'm learning so much about detail and faces. And you know I could do better than those composite drawings they put on the news sometimes although the technology is improving there too."
"What did your advisor have to say when you asked about the Sabbatical?" Maddy asks.
"How do you think I got the practicum?" Liz opens her eyes real wide. "Between me knowing so many people down at the PCPD already and the advisor not being ready to let out the news yet... the fact that I'm an underclassman didn't even come up." Liz puts a hand out and Maddy high fives it. "Knowledge is power. You guys have convinced me."
"Miss! Could I..." A guy holds up a menu.
"Whoops. You guys decide what you want. I'm going to make sure everything is okay on the tables." Liz grabs the coffee pot and her order pad.
"Why is she still working here?! No offense but she is really a cruddy waitress; you can tell her heart isn't in it. And it's not like she has to... she has school... Lucky's filthy rich and would give her whatever she wanted."
"To make her grandmother happy. It keeps Audrey off her back if she can document that she is paying her way. Besides Kelly's is gossip central. Goodness knows what you can find out just by hanging out here. The only way to get more of the juicy stuff is to hang out with Amy Vining. Speaking of gossip. What's the goods on Amanda Barrington?"
"The gal from my downtown kiosk says that Barrington Industries is up for a big contract. They got two things going against them... they aren't the lowball offer and the other major company is high profile for their charity work. You know a company with a heart-- the kind of company that will give the project positive press before there is even a groundbreaking. BI has line itemed the required percentage for the arts but it's always bare minimum. All things being equal the other company is going to get the gig. They need something high profile to put them over the top. What did you find out?"
"Other than Amanda drinking like a fish which everyone knows anyway. She figures the way to get her is to shame her in front of all her muckymuck friends. Ward House Fundraiser is coming up. Carly figures it is the perfect time to drop a few bugs in a few ears and let everything snow ball from there. Have the friends do the work wondering why Barrington's hasn't come through by now. I mean the Nurses Ball is the big charity do in Port Charles. It's been around for almost ten years and the Barrington's haven't sponsored it once? I already talked to Grandfather. He is going to be my escort for the evening since Johnny has to work. Grandfather will get to network and support the one charity that means anything to him and I'll set the ball rolling."
"I like it." Maddy nods. "Okay, news on the other front."
Liz who'd finished with the ordering leans over the counter and hisses. "Larkin?" She looks around like maybe the walls have ears.
"Indirectly. Niknik is convinced that Ricky is in town or was. A guy fitting his description dropped off some info to his Aunt's investigator."
"Who is Ricky?" Liz asks. "Isn't that the guy who told you about your mom?"
"Right. Maddy pulls her bag from the floor and goes searching through her wallet. "Here is a picture of him with Poppi. It's a few years old." Maddy pulls it out of the clear sleeve and hands it to Liz. Liz studies it carefully and then passes it to Emily. "Ricky being in town isn't a bad thing necessarily it just means Poppi wants to know what is going on. But he has a habit of stirring things up. Ricky doesn't mind causing trouble if it gets him what he wants. He and Nik rub each other the wrong way. Nik is trying to run this thing like a Cassadine.. lay a trap and wait for Larkin to walk into it. Ricky is more likely to show up at Larkin's house and just blow him away."
Em, even being the gentle soul she is. "Well I can see the benefits of both plans. But blowing Larkin away would just come back and bite Ricky... and Poppi in the butt."
"And the other thing is... I don't know if Ricky is like undercover or what-- if he is still in town... am I suppose to recognize him if I see him? The PCPD doesn't know who he is but you can bet that the FBI has better pictures than this of him." Maddy takes the picture back from Em and slides it in her wallet. "I guess I'm saying if you see him play it cool. I'm going to have to call Poppi again and find out what is what."
Standing under a leafless tree, Ricky blows on his hands to warm them. Actually the gloves are keeping his hands warm enough the process actually warms his face. "My nose is going to fall off if they don't get out soon."
"Excuse me? Can I help you?" Another middle aged white guy asks him. Was this town full of them or what? The guy is looking at him like he is some kind of perv or something.
"Nah, I'm just waiting for my girl to get out... walk her home you know." Luckily the bell rings about then before the bystander can protest or ask more questions the students come flooding out of Queen of Angels. Ricky scans the sea of students all dressed alike in their little school uniforms. Finally he sees the pixie over by the bike rack. He walks fast over there catching her as she is unlocking the bike. "Hey."
"If you are messing with my dad I am so going to f' you up. I will go straight to Sonny Corinthos and tell him to kill you." Rita jerks her bike free of the stand and slams the bookbag into the basket in front.
"I didn't even know he was your dad until I ran into you. I'm not setting him up or messing with him I swear." Ricky does the cross your heart thing with two fingers and then kisses them. "I was there to see Maddy's Aunt, check out the building for the bad guy, you know? She was the one who was suppose to be in court yesterday instead it was that Justus Ward guy."
"Yeah, he's the District Attorney." Rita calms down a bit. "Daddy says he's better at it than Schultz. Schultz was a political hack with no respect for the law." Rita quotes from memory. She starts pushing her bike down the sidewalk with Ricky walking beside her.
"This from the little girl who is going to go to Sonny Corinthos to have me wacked?" Ricky grins at her.
Rita just looks at him. "Some people need killing. And some people need the courts. I don't see why we can't have both."
"You are one strange little girl." Ricky shakes his head. "I wouldn't have taken you for the catholic school type. Not with the mouth on you."
"I just started this term." Rita explains. "I was going to normal school before I got kidnapped with Emily Quartermaine. After I got back though the teacher kept recommending to my step mother than I be put on medication. She wasn't handling it too well. Cookie or my old teacher."
"This is the lady with the butcher knife."
"Right. Actually I like it here. The Jesuits are a lot like my dad. Having the answer isn't enough. You have to know why and support it. There are the big things that you take on faith but everything else you better have documentation. My dad is like that. You can oppose him but you'd better be ready to back your position with facts. You'll still lose but he'll respect you."
"And he married the woman with the butcher knife."
"Like I said... some things you just take on faith. You seem really hung up on the butcher knife thing. She's a cook-- you've got to take care of your tools. And it's not like was during the open hours of the restaurant. And she didn't actually threaten Vicki with the knife... poison yes not slicing and dicing."
"You know I can see why this Cookie lady wants you to stop reading the true crime stuff you got a twisted way of thinkin'."
"You were eavesdropping."
"I had to know if you blew me out of the water."
"Just know that I can. Anytime I want. Don't mess with my family. I like Maddy fine. And Ms Jensen's okay too even if she does try to go to trial with cases that have holes in them big enough to drive a mac truck through. But they aren't family."
"What about Vicki? Can I mess with her?" Ricky teases.
"Don't even joke about it. Vicki is a pain but she's my pain and I'll deal with her. I've been taking lessons."
"Lessons? What kind of lessons could there be for wicked sisters?"
"I'm taking lessons from Carly Quartermaine. It's just a matter of time."
"Is that old man Quartermaine's granddaughter in law that he walks in fear of?"
"Yep, All it took was her threatening to skin him alive and taping his screams for playback later."
"Yikes. Tough broad."
"The toughest." Rita says loyally. "And she's like Cookie both of them will play on their reputations... use them to their advantage. Everyone knows that Carly has been locked up for being a nut just like everyone knows that Cookie was locked up for filleting her first husband. Cookie starts sharpening her knives and everyone runs the other way. It's a real pain not having a reputation."
"You got time yet." Ricky says reassuringly. What the hell was he thinking? Either playing psycho or playing with knives? "Look if we're cool I'm going to take off. I have a lead on a job I have to check out."
"What do you need a job for if you're just here to check things out for Poppi?"
"Cause the job will get me in where I need to be to check things out." Ricky reaches out and squeezes Rita's nose between his fingers playfully. "See ya, pumpkin."
Rita bats his hand away. "Don't call me that! And don't snoop on my conversations with my dad." She climbs on her bike and starts peddling away.
Ricky looks after her. "Scary. Really Scary. I got to get out of this town."
The executive lounge of Deception. Ned and Jax are kicking around waiting for Emily to arrive. They could have met at the country club over a drink after a set of tennis but Em wanted to meet here. They had to touch base on the soon to be fait accompli acquisition of Helen of Troy. The bigger company would keep it's brand names but come under the Deception umbrella. Jax looks in the fridge. "You do realize that the lab rats have a better selection? And I hear Emily has a masseuse who comes in twice a week for them."
"True. But we have nicer furniture. And did you notice what days the massage therapist is coming in? Monday and Saturday. The day with the highest absentism and the day when all the overachievers come in. All of sudden we seem to be having a rash of overachieving perfect attending employees." Ned says wryly.
Jax grunts. Finally making a selection from the fridge he bites into an apple. "You know she is going to ask."
"Ask what?"
"If you voted."
"Went to Luke's this morning-- you?"
"Felony conviction." Jax reminds Ned. "And I haven't got the paperwork back from the Governor yet. It was more important to get my trading rights back."
"Can't believe V let you get away with that." Ned kicks back on the couch putting his feet up on an ottoman.
"Excuse me?" Jax says slowly.
"Don't know who you think you are foolin'. We work with her. You can't go a day without calling over to L&B."
"V and I are friends." Jax covers- lamely.
"Right." Ned draws out. "Very good friends."
"Look it wasn't my idea alright?" Jax sighs. "Damn stubborn woman. I've told her to quit you lot. She won't. Told her to move into the penthouse; she won't. I invited her to Paris with me to have chocolate truffles on the West Bank and you know how she loves truffles."
"She wouldn't."
"Told me to bring her back some and gave me a twenty to cover it.... since I was planning on going already she says."
"You're so used." Ned says tongue firmly in cheek.
"I wasn't even planning on going over. I just wanted to take her there." Jax laments.
"She's got no romance." Ned nods commiserating. "Alexis does summations in her sleep. Complete with slamming her fist on the jury box." Ned rubs his stomach at that memory. That had hurt. Evidently when Alexis slammed the jury box she really slammed it. "Although I can't blame V for not flying with you. Didn't you crash the last time you flew her?"
"It was a controlled unscheduled landing. And she'd stowed away anyway." Jax adds defensively.
"Then you crashed the helicoptor with Alexis in it."
"Helena sabotaged that. Is there any particular reason you're giving me grief?"
"What was that crack about me being slow to close the deal with Alexis?" Ned quirks a brow at Jax and grins. "One to talk ain't ya?"
Emily strides into the room. She starts pulling off her leather gloves and stuffs them in the pockets of her heavy leather jacket. "What did I miss? Did you guys remember to vote today?"
"Got my little sticker and everything."
Jax coughs as a cover for his comment "Suck up." He clears his throat. "Next election. I still have some paperwork I need to clear up."
Em frowns. "Oh right. Sorry." She cheers up. "You guys should have come to dinner last night. Johnny brought flan and he and Grandmother had Grandfather on the ropes about the unions. Monday nights are getting good at the mansion."
"Sounds yummy." Ned says wryly. "Okay Em, we're both here. But the Helen of Troy stuff could have been handled during office hours. You realize it's going to be crazy combining the companies for the next few months."
"Yep, Jax is going to teach me how to cut dead wood. Or should I say trim the fat. Whatever simile goes with the situation. Nope I'm here to tell you both I want you at the Ward House fundraiser. You'll both be participating in project Barrington $ for the Ball."
"What's this?"
"Came to my attention that the Barrington's have never sponsored the Nurse's Ball. So we're going to make sure that they do by giving Amanda the proper incentive. If shaming her at the fundraiser doesn't work then we'll go straight for the fact that BI is going to lose their bid on their next big job because they aren't high enough profile in the community."
"How do you know the contents of a sealed bid?" Jax asks suspiciously.
"If I told you my sources then you wouldn't need me, would you? So it's all agreed. Grandfather will bring me. Ned will bring Alexis and Jax, you better tell V ASAP so she doesn't make other plans." Em glances down at her watch. "The lab guys probably know I'm here by now. So I have to check in with them. See you later." Em waves as she is leaving.
"Did you know anything about a sealed bid?" Jax demands of Ned.
"Nope." Ned looks after his little cousin. "And before you ask I didn't tell her anything about V either."
"Damn."