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When Cassadines Fall
Checking In; Checking Out
Memorial Hospital ICU unit. Pete consults with the doctors as Maddy waits standing back a bit. "Come on, Petite, you can see her now."
Pete takes Maddy's hand and leads her into a room where Lisette lies, or what had once been Lisette. Her face is horribly disfigured by the beating she had taken and the presence of all the machines. "Oh Mama." Maddy breathes out sagging into the chair next to the bed. The only sounds in the room are all the machines artificially maintaining the body remaining.
"Your Mere is in the room, Petite, but she is not in that shell." Pete rests his hands on Maddy's shoulders. "She only waits for you to say goodbye so she can go on." He murmurs comfortingly.
"I want to be alone with her, Poppi." Pete gives her a reassuring squeeze and then retreats to the corridor outside the room.
"She going to hold up?" Ricky asks looking in the window to where Maddy sits with her mother.
"For now. Later?" Pete shrugs. "I need you to go to Lisette's house and find out if the police have finished there. If they have-- get a crew in to clean up. If not call me, and I'll put the push on with the cops. Eventually Madeliene will want to go there, to go through her mere's things. Not one drop of blood, not one broken piece of furniture."
"I'll take care of it." Ricky stuffs his hands in his pockets and strides off.
The Port Charles contingent arrives at the ICU and see Pete standing there staring into the window. They all walk up and turn to look. Jerry winces at the machines and the sight. "I'm going to go get something to eat. Anybody want anything?"
Nik turns to look at him like he is crazy. "No, thanks."
"Pete? Why don't you walk me to the elevator." Pete nods and follows Jerry to the elevator. Jerry presses the G button. "Just tell me it's been handled already."
"It's handled."
"Good." Jerry steps onto the elevator as the doors open. "Although if it hadn't of been I wouldn't have minded going along for the ride. It's been awhile since I've seen the bayou."
"It's lovely this time of year. Not as hot and humid as the summer." Pete replies. He looks back over his shoulder. Maddy is coming from the room. Edward grabs her into a hug and starts patting her on the back.
"I'll be back in about thirty; I just need to chill."
"We'll still be here." Pete nods knowing his old friend well.
Edward leads Maddy over to the chairs and sits down next to her. He keeps a hold of her hand and keeps patting it, saying comforting things in a low voice. Pete walks over to the gathering. Maddy looks up at him. "She put up a fight-- her knuckles were bruised."
"Yes, Lisette did some damage of her own. Have you said your goodbyes, petite?"
"Poppi, are you sure...."
"She's gone, Madeliene." Pete tells her. Maddy nods reluctantly but trusting that he is telling her the truth. Pete walks over to the doctor and gives instruction for the removal of the life support. The doctors would have removed it hours before only waiting for Maddy to get there to take the final step. The doctor steps into the room and with the nurse begins to turnoff and remove the machines.
Stefan walks over to Pete. "Is there some assistance we can be for arrangements?"
"That's already been taken care of." Pete dismisses with a wave of the hand. "As have your accommodations. I reserved room for you, the old man and the boy at a nearby hotel."
"What about Jerry and Maddy?" Nik asks.
"Jerry finds his own room always."
"And I'll be staying at Mama's." Maddy says from the chairs.
"Non, Madeliene. You will stay with me until the funeral. You can't stay at your Mere's. The police are still there."
"But Poppi..."
"He's right, Maddy." Edward agrees with Pete. "It's too late tonight to deal with whatever mess the police will leave. And if the cops here are anything like the ones back in Port Charles they don't hire them for neatness. Tomorrow is soon enough for all that. A cup of tea and a place to sleep that's the ticket for tonight."
"Someone say tea?" Jerry comes back from the cafeteria. He hands Maddy a styrofoam cup of tea and then starts offering coffees and juices around to the others. "You know it's getting late, early in the morning. The cooks down in the cafeteria were already starting their baking. It's a miracle that anyone can sleep in this place with the great smells coming out of the cafeteria. Stefan, you should check it out see how hospital food should be done."
"I'll take it under advisement." Stefan says wryly. He takes a cup of coffee from Jerry. Perhaps one day he'd understand this man's twisted take on the world. He'd been of use from time to time for his skill in hiding money and also blowing things up. Neither of which Jerry had returned to since marrying Barbara and taking charge of her children, Lucas and Caroline. Of the two, Stefan is sure that Caroline is the more difficult. Lucas was always a sweet boy. "Madeliene, as Mr Robideau has arranged accommodations for us for what is rest of the night. We'll meet you tomorrow by then the police will surely have finished with your mother's apartment."
"Oh, okay. Do you need the address?" Stefan just smiles at Maddy's inquiry. There was no doubt she'd been thrown for a loop. "Nevermind that was a stupid question. I'll see you tomorrow."
Edward rises from next to Maddy and bending over kisses her on the top of the head. "Lila will be waking up soon. I should give her a call. She will be worrying herself sick. And don't worry about calling your Aunt. Alexis and Ned will tell her in person first thing in the morning."
Nik comes over and takes Maddy's hand. "You need anything you let me know. Em and Johnny are going to cover things back in Port Charles until you get things settled here."
Jerry walks over to Pete. "Where are you putting them up?"
"Rooms are reserved at the Windsor Court."
"Right. I'll drop them off. Give you a ring as to where I'll be but figure it'll be the B&B down in the Garden District."
"They won't appreciate you showing up at 3 in the morning."
"Nah, they're used to it." Jerry shrugs. "My wife is the one that won't appreciate the call. I guess I'll have to call Carly instead. Let her fill in her mum later."
"The firecracker? The one who attacked me in the middle of the Port Charles grille?" Pete quirks a brow.
"Yeah, that one. She prefers to sleep days anyway. Carly and Maddy have gotten chummy so she'd want to know." Jerry looks around to see that the others are ready to leave. "Talk to you tomorrow."
"Check with me before going over to Lisette's place. The police might still be a problem in the morning."
"Well nothing a few heavy hitters won't fix-- some legit heavy hitters." Jerry gives a wry grin and starts herding his charges out of the hospital. There are a couple of benefits of being the pro in the city... Edward would take control in DC or NYC, the Cassadine in Europe-- but here in the Big Easy Jerry is the one with the ins and outs. He makes sure they all get tucked in for the night and then heads off to his B&B.
"Carly, yeah... not so good news. Maddy's mum passed away. She got to see her but there was nothing good to see.... Her live in beat her to death." Jerry waits as Carly gets the ire out of her system. "I'm going to stay down here for a few days make sure it all goes smooth. You call your mum in the morning and let her know I'll call her at a decent hour." Jerry laughs at Carly's reply to that one. "Yeah, but I knew you'd be awake. Give your brother a kiss and hug from me and tell him and Michael I'll bring them something back.... fine, I'll bring you something too. I don't know anything about services yet. I don't know about Morgan and Corinthos, they got a connection to Pete... to Maddy but they didn't know her mum. The cops are going to be heavy at the funeral with Pete being there.... I'm staying at..." Jerry fills her in on where he's staying and what number he can be reached at. "Take care, Caroline. And try not to get into any trouble while I'm away." Jerry laughs at Carly's obscene suggestion where he can stuff that remark and hangs up.
"Lucky, It's Nikolas. Yes, I know it's late. Look I don't know when I'm going to be back. Maddy's mother didn't make it. There will be things to be settled here before she can return.... I think it would be best for her to return to Port Charles-- her reasons for leaving New Orleans haven't changed if anything they've grown. I'll call when I have more information. Will you let Emily know?"
"Alexis? Yes, of course I realize how late it is. The time we left Port Charles plus travel time equals the time it is now." Stefan says impatiently. "You will need to call on Dara Jensen as soon as possible. Her late sister was the victim of foul play; you'll be relieved to know not at Helena's hand.... Arrangements for her services are already in progress. Madeliene is resolved to go through her mother's possessions tomorrow. As far as anyone else is concerned, Nikolas and I are skiing in Aspen. Mrs Lansbury was directed to contact you if there were any problems.... Our return to Port Charles is fluid at this time. It depends on if we can be of more assistance down here.
"Lila, darling it's your honey bear. I was hoping to catch you reading. It's a sad situation, darling. Maddy's holding up well but her mother didn't make it. And of course she's putting up a brave front like she can handle it all. But I haven't see a little girl so shell shocked since Monica brought Emily home to us. I'm going to stay for the service. Do what I can.... I know she'd appreciate that, you sending flowers. Love, I should let you get your rest and I know I've left you with the difficult task of telling Emily. I'll call again tomorrow when I have more specific information." Edward makes a kissing noise to the phone and then hangs up.
He thinks about it for a minute and then calls a number few people knows he has... "Jason? It's your grandfather... don't hang up. Lila's fine; Emily's fine. I'm calling about Emily's friend Madeliene. I need to know everything you know about Pete Robideau...."
A huge mansion in the Garden District of New Orleans. "Poppi, this isn't necessary. If I can't stay at Mama's apartment then I could stay with Granny Sophia. It wouldn't be the first time I've crashed on her couch."
"Ms Sophia is the one who called me, Madeliene. She was the first one there since her apartment is across the hall. The paramedics had to give her a sedative and even then she went to stay with her daughter for the rest of the night. Ms Sophia isn't there." Pete flips a light on in a downstairs guest room. "Actually a sedative for you might not be a bad idea either. You shouldn't try to do so much, petite. You need to rest for the ordeals to come."
"Let me try to sleep first." Maddy finally nods. She grabs the bag that Liz and Em had packed for her and sets it on the bed.
"Yes, try to sleep at least until it's light out. At least until I find out if you can even go into Lisette's apartment."
"Poppi-- do you think she suffered?" Maddy asks hesitantly.
Pete doesn't quite know how to answer wanting to spare her but also wanting to be honest. "I don't think Lisette knew what was going to happen. She probably believed it would be like every time before. That she could give as good as she got. The doctors say that it was one blow to the head that did the damage after that she didn't feel anything; she might not have even felt that."
"I told her so, Poppi. I told her so." Maddy shakes her head the tears slowly starting to leak again. "I knew this was going to happen."
"Sleep, Madeliene. It won't be better in the morning, but it will be clearer." Pete retreats from the doorway shutting the door to the room to give Maddy her privacy to grieve.
Pete goes into his study unsurprised to see his son standing next to the french doors that lead out to the gardens. Ricky turns around at the noise of the door opening. "Little Miss all settled in?"
"It's not the time, Ricky." Pete says resignedly. His son has always had a problem with the attention he and his grandmother had given Madeliene. Never seeing that Madeliene had given way more than she'd ever gotten. "What is the situation with the police?"
"They're all over it." Ricky says flatly. "They'd love to tie this one right back to you. Giving it a hell of a lot more attention than a drugged out whore getting done in by her dealer deserves."
Pete reaches out and backhands Ricky across the face. "You will never speak of Madeliene's mother in that fashion again. She is dead. Speak of her kindly or not at all."
"Whatever Poppi" Ricky sneers. "The cops have the floodlights set up and they're going over every blade of grass. If there is nothing else... I'm outta here." Ricky doesn't wait for an answer but leaves by the french doors.
Pete goes over to the bar and pours himself a drink. It's been a long day and only getting longer.