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When Cassadines Fall
Playing For Keeps
Carly takes a the deck and shuffles quickly looking around at the remaining players-- Jax, Jerry, Jane, Luke, AJ. John is snoring on the couch where he had crashed. Bobbie has gone upstairs exhausted by her day. Lucas and Michael are asleep in Lucas' room. Up and down the night had gone with the various pots. Jane plays a conservative game and it wouldn't surprise Carly if she was a counter, over the short game she'd be modestly ahead and on a marathon game she'd probably clean everyone's clocks if they just played blackjack. Jax plays recklessly. Jerry and Luke play with the practice of decades and the skill of guys who'd gambled to eat. AJ is doing better this game than last but he's playing against way too much experience. He'd end up losing but respectably. Carly looks down at her own stack of chips. She'd been running streaky all night... even down to her last quarter at one point before she'd started rebuilding. "Seven card stud. Antes in." Carly calls out a pot builder and starts smoothly dealing out the cards two down to everyone and then a card up. The bet is to Jax who is sitting next to her.
"When is Rita and Lucas' next show?" Jane asks Carly as she peeks at her hole cards.
"There is an invitational over in Beecher Corners in the middle of January." Carly replies. The game continues and she deals another card up.
"I really enjoyed watching the children. And Emily's boyfriend put together a fantastic spread for the break." Jane only mentions the positive-- not Emily getting kidnapped with Rita, or Carly threatening her husband with bodily harm.
"Porter's is the best restaurant in town. And it would have to be a toss up on who is the better cook... Cook or his mother." Jerry agrees.
"Not that you'd ever know from when she was working at the mansion." Jax laughs. "AJ, aren't your grandparents having the holiday with her? You'd think they'd learn."
Carly looks at Jax. "Cookie is cool." She says a hair too calmly. "She just knows how to deal with people who piss her off. It's your bet again."
Jax throws some money in the pot. Jane and AJ fold. "So where did Lucky spend Thanksgiving this year? With his mum?"
Jerry looks at his little brother and shakes his head. "No, Lucky and Nikolas decided to put on their own Thanksgiving over at Nik's place. He's had it in the works since we came back from New Orleans."
Jane perks up. This might be her opening. "So Jerry, when are you going to take Bobbie and Lucas to New Orleans to see your old haunts? You've spent a lot of time there over the years especially around Mardi Gras."
"Well if I can talk Carly here into taking Lucas, I was thinking of taking Bobbie down there this year." Jerry suggests.
"No problem." AJ agrees.
"No problem?!" Carly's brows go up. "Right. So Jerry, is it okay if I kill him if he starts having Michael making crank calls?"
Jerry laughs. "Since his only crank call was to Luke..."
"Relax little mama." Luke throwns in.
"Relax hell." Carly throws back. "I didn't see you volunteering to do anything but put tabasco on their tongues."
"Hush. That's a Spencer secret cure for foul mouthed rugrats."
"Lucas can stay with John and me." Jane volunteers.
"He'll be fine at our house." Carly tells her quickly. "I just want permission to kill him if it should become necessary."
"I'll inform Lucas." Jerry lets her know. "And Mum, this is best since Carly's already involved in Lucas' activities."
"So will you stay with your friend Pete or with this Granny Sophia person you met the last time you were down there?" Jane tries to get more info although she is disappointed that Jerry doesn't have Lucas stay with them.
"Ah Granny Sophia." Jerry grins. "If Maddy hasn't rented out her mum's old apartment there is a vacancy in the building. And She and Bobbie can talk about people in common they know. Your Aunt Ruby, Luke."
Luke chokes on his bourbon. "Granny Sophia? Aunt Ruby?"
"Sophia Moriz."
"Oh **** you're kidding?! Man. She is a legend." Luke gets a worshiping tone in his voice like he gets when speaking of BB King or Etta James. His previous annoyance at the chatter forgotten. "She was the toughest working broad in the business. And you met her? You really met her?!"
"Yep, and she's still hell on wheels. Iron fist in velvet gloves. No bigger than a minute. But she rules any room she is in." Jerry expands. "And Em's friend, Maddy was practically brought up between Sophia and Pete's mom, Rosa, who was an amazing woman in her own right."
"Where was this Maddy's mother?" Jane asks curiously.
"Messing up. From all I could piece together, She had Maddy too young, got messed up with the wrong crowd. Maddy was a Mardi Gras baby. Her father was never in the picture. Maddy lucked into Pete's mom. Rosa kept a close eye on Maddy and had her over to her place when Lisette was out with her friends. I figured out when I was talking to Nik that I actually met Maddy when she was a younger than Lucas is now. The time Pete and I did Mardi Gras and he got cut. Kid was cool as a cucumber even then."
"So you never met her mother, this Lisette? Like at a Mardi Gras party or something." Jane suggests. Jerry shakes his head.
Luke stares hard at Jane. Damn he needed a cigar about now. He turns to glare at Carly. His jaw drops and then snaps shut as he fights the urge to say something. So he just glares a bit more.
"What?! What? What is your problem?" Carly complains as she shifts in her seat under his glare.
"What the hell is it about you, little girl?!"
"What did I do?" Carly protests with a whine.
"First we play who is the daddy with Michael. And then at a party at your house we play who is the daddy with Johnny Cook. And now here we are at another party you are at-- playing who's the daddy with Maddy Reynolds." Luke proclaims. "That is what you're going around the block about, Jane, isn't it? Since you aren't grilling Golden Boy you must figure she's Jerry's kid."
Jax stares at his mother. Carly and Jerry both laugh. Carly shakes her head. "You're kidding right."
"Look at her face and tell me I'm kidding." Luke directs. Carly looks over to Jane who is studying the cards on the table and not answering or defending herself from the accusation.
"Mum?" Jerry inquires in disbelief.
"I don't know, Jerry. I just don't know. There are just too many coincedences."
"How could you think that I would EVER abandon a child?!"
"And if you didn't know?" Jane snaps back. "Maddy was born in 82. You were at Mardi Gras in 82. You don't remember half of it. But you sent back pictures. You didn't even have time to have the pictures developed before you were called down to Panama and it's not like you exactly had a forwarding number down there. And after that you went straight to the Phillipines to be with Mirander. You weren't back in the US for years after that." Jane rises from the table and goes over to the photo albums. She searches quickly until she finds the right album and flips to the picture and sets it on the table in front of Jerry. "You sent back this. I saw this picture, a picture identical to this one, at the photographers studio here in Port Charles. It was a set of two. One of the models was Emily Quartermaine the other was a friend of hers, Madeliene Reynolds."
"It's impossible." Jerry denies but there is a growing pit in his stomach. "She said her name was..." Jerry exhales and then takes another deep breath.
AJ looks at him in concern wondering if his father-in-law is going to pass out. "You okay, Jerry?"
"She said her name was Lisa." Jerry whispers.
"Oh boy." Carly's eyes go wide.
"Congratulations-- it's a girl." Luke quips patting his shirt pockets. "This is where I'd normally pass out cigars. But I seem to have left my stash in my other jacket."
"Not one word." Jerry growls looking at each person in turn. "No one says a f'ing thing until I talk to Bobbie and to Maddy. Caroline---"
"I'm cool, Jerry. But you better move on it. Cause Lady Jane here had a lot of info and I'd like to know where she got it. Who have you been talking to?" Carly demands.
"You're just lucky I have the day off tomorrow." Maddy tells Stefan as she sets the chess set up again. They'd each won a game and were set for the tiebreaker. They wouldn't have had a second game if she hadn't won the first... now they're ready to start the third. Maddy sees Nik come into the study. He throws another log on the fire. "Howzit going?"
"The driver arrived and collected Mrs Lansbury and your aunt." Stefan glances down at his watch for the first time not truly realizing how late it is. "You're staying the night here, Uncle. The spare room is already prepared. And Mrs Lansbury instructed the staff to pack you a bag. It was dropped off when they picked them up."
Maddy winces. "I should have spent more time with Aunt Dara."
"She is returning to her house today." Stefan tells her.
"We looked in on you two but I don't think you even saw us." Nik says wryly. He'd never watched Maddy play chess. Like Stefan her focus is total. Chess is war.
Maddy stretches in her chair to get the knot out of the middle of her lower back. "I declare a truce. I need to stretch my legs and Cinnamon probably needs to go out. You want to walk the neighborhood with us, Mr C?"
Stefan looks over to Nik who shrugs. "I'd enjoy that."
Maddy looks at her watch. "It's a good thing I didn't tell Larry for sure I was coming to see him. I'll have to take him that pie tomorrow. Maybe I can get Cinnamon in. Dr Collins said it would be okay. But he wants to make sure he is in the building if there is any problem."
"Why should there be any problem?" Stefan questions.
"Oh I don't know... dog... public building... the dog is a pit bull. I thought I'd just put a harness on Cinnamon and wear some shades."
"I think you're making this difficult." Nik tells her.
"You'll see." Maddy says in an I told you so fashion. She walks out of the study and to the kitchen to get her coat by the back door as well as Cinnamon's lead. She grabs Nik's coat tossing it to him. STefan is already buttoning his overcoat. "Hey pup, we're rolling." Maddy calls out. Cinnamon races from the living room where she'd be sacked out by the fire. Maddy hands Nik the lead while she puts on her coat. Nik affixs the lead. Together they walk into the cold night air. Cinnamon familiar now with the route stops to check out any strange smells. Nik and Cinnamon lead by a bit on the cleared sidewalk. Maddy strings her arm through Stefan's as they follow.
Dara looks up at the sound of a key in the lock. Taggart walks through the door already stripping off his gloves and scarf. "What are you doing here?" She glances at the clock. "You must have left before dessert! Your mother is going to want to kill me."
"She can stand in line." Taggart growls. Going over to the chair where Dara is curled up he leans over and gets right in her face. This is their first face to face meeting since V had picked Dara up from the house last week. "Don't you ever do that to me again. Don't disappear from the house without letting me know what the hell is going on. Don't protect me by not telling what is going on in your life. Don't make me find out you've been arrested by some flatfoot coming up to me to tell me you have already been and gone from booking. And don't you ever make me go to another holiday at my mother's house without you." He reaches out to run his hand along the nape of Dara's neck and pulls her to him. His kiss is hot and insistent demanding a response. Dara brings a hand up and rests it on his forearm. With his eyes closed Taggart rests his forehead against Dara's. "Don't scare me like that again."
"I'm sorry, Babe." Dara whispers. She runs her hand down Taggart's arm in a soothing fashion. "I couldn't put you in that position... where you had to arrest me. I couldn't hurt you that way."
"F' that." Taggart counters. "I would have torn down the PCPD brick by brick before that happened." Picking Dara up, he sits down in the chair she had just been in and cuddles her on his lap. One arm around her back and the other crossing over her lap and resting on her bare thigh below the football style jersey she is wearing.
Dara laughs. "You think I don't know that? Marcus, this is a total set up. You and I both know it. But just because my career is in the toilet doesn't mean you have to join me. It would be nice if one of us was working."
"You think I want to be working for them?" Taggart's offense at the comment is clear.
"Yeah, Babe, I do. You love working with Mac and Alex. It's not their fault this all has gone down. They've been good friends to both of us over the years. This isn't going to last forever. I talked to Alexis tonight. She's going to use every dirty lawyer trick in the book to get this on the court calendar at the soonest possible date."
"And you're going to sue right? For defamation, slander, libel, abuse of power-- hell what all else you can come up with." Marcus is slightly molified, more by Dara's caresses than her comments.
"Alexis will serve them with the papers right there in court in front of the Judge if possible. She doesn't want them to know it's coming... I don't want them to know it's coming. I'm so sick of getting suckered punched. It's time we got back a few of our own."
"I like the sound of that." Taggart's smile is feral as he pictures the look on Justus' face. And then I'm going to take them out to the middle of the courthouse courtyard..." Taggart refers to the open space that is between all the buildings and can be seen by all the inside windows. On sunny days during the summer it was a great place to have a quick lunch and actually see sunlight when days in the office stretched too long. "...and kick the crap out of Larkin. And when I get done with him, Justus is due a little lessoning too."
"My hero." Dara plants a kiss along Taggart's jaw. "How was your Thanksgiving?"
"Stressful. Typical. Better now. How was yours?"
"Pretty good actually." Dara admits. "Maddy seems to be doing okay staying over at Nikolas Cassadine's. I got to see her room. The kids put on a wonderful dinner. Elizabeth's grandmother was there and said grace, Ned Ashton and Alexis and then Stefan and his housekeeper, Mrs Lanbury."
"The housekeeper? How democratic of them."
"It was a riot." Dara grins. "It was like a running gag with the kids to keep Mrs Lansbury from taking over. It took all four of them and even then they couldn't keep her out of the kitchen. Although I suspect that Maddy finally relented because not giving in was giving the poor woman stress."
"Dara." Dara looks at Taggart. The way he'd said her name was so serious. "Don't do that to me again. When you leave the house for work, for an appointment, hell to go shopping. I like being able to assume... to trust that you'll be coming back home at night. I know it isn't fair because I can't give you the same reassurance but I think I need it anyway."
Luke growls as his cell phone goes off. He hates the damn thing but carries it anyway as long as Laura and Princess Lesley Lu are out of town. "Yeah? Lulu? Baby? Calm down and tell Daddy." Luke pushes away from the table. The rest of the people still up at the Brownstone fall silent. "Who is there with you? Put them on the phone." There is a pause while Luke waits and paces. "What the hell is going on? Where is my wife? What about my mother in law? I'm on my way there. Keep my daughter there. Put my daughter back on the phone." Luke reaches out and punches a hole in the wall of the brownstone. But his voice is calm when he gets Lulu on the phone. "Baby, Daddy is on his way. You just stay put. I'll be there before you wake in the morning. That's a promise. I love you too, Baby."
"Luke?" Carly asks.
"Laura was in an accident with Lesley and Lulu. There was evidently some kind of ice storm. Some idiot who didn't know how to drive in weather plowed into the side of their car. Laura and Lesley both had to go into surgery. Lulu is with a nurse at the hospital."
"Oh My Gawd! That poor thing." Jane exclaims.
"I'll..." Jerry is about to offer to fly Luke down when Luke interrupts.
"You've got your own kid to deal with." Luke refuses before Jerry can offer.
"I'll fly you down." Jax offers.
AJ pulls out his own cell phone and calls the airfield. "The jet can be ready in 30 minutes. I'll drive you both there."
"Luke? What can I do?" Carly offers.
"Get hold of The Cowboy. Let him know what happened. Tell him his mother's injuries are serious, not fatal and that I'll call as soon as I get down there and scope the scene out for myself." Luke, Jax and AJ get their coats. Carly follows them to the door.
AJ gives her a kiss. "I'll be back after I drop them off. We'll talk to Lucky together."
Carly gives him a hug. "Just drive safe, okay?" AJ nods. Carly closes the door after them and watches as the car pulls away. Jerry comes up behind her and rubs her back. "I've got a really bad feeling, Jerry."
Jerry has the same feeling but says anyway. "Don't borrow trouble, Caroline. It'll come in it's own time."