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When Cassadines Fall
Lucky rises early the next morning fortified
with a caffeine direct drip. (Wishful thinking in that but what
he really wishes for.) As soon as Lulu wakes, they head out to
his dad's favorite ice fishing spot. On the way out the door,
Lucky leaves a note on the dry erase so nobody will be surprised
by their absence.
Lesley, who doesn't need as much sleep as she used to, wakes just
after Lucky and Lulu leave. She wanders around the house checking
the place out. Her Grandson has done a good job. Lesley looks
around and nods. The place is. interesting. Everything is of the
highest quality but not cluttered with dusty relics like most
Cassadine holdings. And there are homey touches; the quilt on the
wall, the afghans over the back of the couches and chairs, not
too many cut flowers more plants.
After checking out the living room and study, she wanders back to
the kitchen. The coffee is on and she thinks about it for half a
second before reaching into the fridge and pulling out a Pepsi.
With her good hand tied up with the bottle she pushes the door
shut with her foot. Going over to the table she props the bottle
between her legs to hold it steady and unscrews it with her good
hand. This is going to be a pain. Thinking of pain, she reaches
into her housecoat pocket and pulls out the bottle of painkillers
the doctor had given her down in North Carolina. She'd found out
the hard way to take the pill at the onset of ache rather than
waiting for the screaming, throbbing pain that followed. This is
still aftermath from being slammed into the door in the accident.
Nothing hurt as bad as the break before it had been set but it is
just nagging, stiffening.
Cinnamon rises from the rug at the foot of the basement door and
wanders over to Lesley. She plants her head in Lesley's lap and
looks up at the new addition to the household with her big brown
eyes. "Don't start with me, dog." Lesley mutters.
"I am not a dog person. Foster is bad enough."
Cinnamon's ears perk up as Lesley talks to her. Lesley sighs. The
dog is just not getting it. Setting the painkillers on the table,
she reaches down and absently scratches Cinnamon behind the ears.
"Don't get used to this. This is a one time only deal."
Cinnamon replies with a low rumble, closer to a sigh, as she
tilts her head and closes her eyes, her massive head resting even
more heavily on Lesley's leg.
Maddy comes out of the basement dressed in her fuzzy socks,
thermal bottoms and an oversized sweatshirt. She reaches
automatically for the coffee pouring herself a cup before she
turns around to the table. "Hey. You must be Dr Webber."
"Not too many others running around in a Frankenstein type
cast." Lesley says wryly. "You must be Maddy."
"Sorry I wasn't here last night when you got in. Nik didn't
tell me the last time you talked when your ETA was. Nik freaks on
things abit."
"I'd not noticed." Lesley says with sweet mendacity.
She takes a sip of her Pepsi.
Maddy takes the seat across from her. She looks at the table and
the bottle of painkillers in front of Lesley. She reaches over
and takes the bottle examining the top and then with quick twist
while applying pressure she opens the bottle. "I'd love to
meet the moron who gave you a child safety bottle. Or do you
think that Nik's little sis is going to get into your pills?"
"No, Lulu wouldn't and yes, the guy was a moron."
Lesley agrees. She shakes a pill out onto the table and then
hands the bottle back to Maddy who doesn't cap the bottle but
instead goes looking for a different container in all the drawers
in the kitchen. She finally comes up with an individual sized
container for like salad dressing or something with a poptop lid
and dumps Lesley's pills in them. "The only time I took them
outside the hospital was on the plane. and then I put it off too
long. Lucky gave me one but I wasn't paying any mind to the
container." Lesley looks over at the clock on the stove.
"Lulu is normally up by now."
"She is up." Maddy agrees. She tilts her head in the
direction of the dry erase board. "Lulu went fishing with
Lucky." Maddy takes a sip of her coffee. Cinnamon pads from
Lesley to Maddy. "Hey pup. You want to go outside?"
Maddy puts emphasis on the last and Cinnamon's tail whipping back
and forth beating up on Lesley's lower leg. Maddy rises and lets
the dog out in the enclosed back yard and then uses the time to
set up a dish for Cinnamon when she comes back in. That fast the
dog is done with her business and on the way back in. She sits
down on the rug inside the door and holds out a paw. Maddy grabs
the rag left by the door for this and starts wiping down the
dog's paws one by one. Maddy looks up at Lesley. "Don't know
if you have been tracking this one but we're working on our third
week of snow-straight. Every dang day."
"It was something I noticed cause the boys were up here but
it wasn't something I concerned myself with. until now."
Lesley shivers.
Maddy studies Lesley for a long minute. "I hope you won't
take this the wrong way.. I'm going to get my hair done today.
You want to go?"
"But it's Sunday!" Is the first thing that occurs to
Lesley.
"Yeah, the gal who does my hair knows that any other day of
the week is impossible. So she works a halfday on Sunday for
people like me. You want to go?"
"I would love to."
"It'll take awhile. It might even end up being an all day
project." Maddy warns. "If she gets into the middle of
a story and the middle of someone's hair."
Jane Jacks wipes the thin sheen of sweat from her brow and steps
from the exercise machine. "Blast." She mutters to
herself. There is already a call into Jerry but he'd yet to
return her call and she isn't exactly anxious to let him know how
she screwed this whole situation up.
John wanders into the spare room that they'd set up as an
exercise room in their leased brownstone just down the way from
Jerry and his family. He carries a small glass of juice. "Fresh
squeezed just like you prefer, Milady." John takes Jane's
place on the machine and setting the tension the way he prefers
starts to smoothly roll into a cross country skiing type motion.
"You didn't sleep last night, Lady Jane." If his wife
of so many years didn't pick up on that hint then he was going to
get really blunt.
"I had a lot of things on my mind." Jane takes a small
sip of the juice. She grabs the front page of the Herald and
starts to read the local news.
"Anything you'd care to share?" John asks. "Because
something has been praying on your mind for some time now."
Jane sighs and sets the paper aside. "I didn't tell you
because I didn't want you to screw things up but it's too late
for that now."
"Something with the Caroline situation?" John asks. His
wife had made her displeasure over his efforts known ever since
the horseshow when Caroline had offered to do eye surgery on him
using only a hoof pick. "I thought Thanksgiving went rather
well-- all things considered. But this is something that has been
bothering you since before the holiday."
"I think we have another grandchild-a biological grandchild."
John brings the machine to a quick halt and steps off. "Excuse
me?"
"When Jerry was in New Orleans back in the early eighties.
He. aquainted himself with a woman named Lisa or Lisette. Her
daughter is here in Port Charles. The age is right; the
circumstances of her birth are right. So I was asking a few
questions. I didn't want to go to Jerry until I knew for sure."
"Early eighties. so she isn't actually a child. How is
Barbara reacting to your suspicions?"
"Very well according to Jerry. She knew that Jerry was no
saint from the day she met him. The child though.." Jane
shakes her head.
"An opportunist eh? Someone planning on hooking herself to
the Jacks gravytrain?"
"And this is why I didn't want to tell you!" Jane
protests. "No. She wants no part of it. She looked at me
like I was a candidate for Bedlam. Jerry is going to be furious
with me. He wanted to talk to Madeliene first. Evidently the girl
is very suspicious of questions being asked about her and my
inquiries made their way back. She started questioning me about
minding her business. I finally had to tell her why I was so
curious. Jerry is going to be furious." Jane laments again.
"And the girl. she is evidently up to her ears in Cassadine
family business."
"Cassadine!" John recoils.
Jane nods. "Jerry tried to go talk to her where she is
staying. Stefan Cassadine opened the door and rebuffed Jerry.
Told him to quit asking questions."
"That is unacceptable." John asserts flatly. "The
Cassadines have been nothing but trouble from our first dealings
with them. They're snakes. No, they are like scorpions. They'll
use a person until they're done with them and then sting them
just cause they can. You can't tell me different. I know that the
Cassadines had something to do with the disappearance of Emily
Quartermaine's kidnappers. The boy. Nikolas, I think it was he.
With or without his uncle or grandmother's help, he appeared too
obsessed with Emily Quartermaine to leave her kidnappers to the
authorities. Strange lad. Manners of a prince, every earmark of
rich boy entitlement but he had the hands of a laborer."
"Nikolas is very involved at the hospital
according to Monica." Jane tells her husband. "All the
Cassadines are, but Nikolas seems to actually care about the
facility rather than using it for a battleground. And Barbara
thinks of Nikolas as one of her kids. so you'd best mind your
tongue about him around her."
Stefan comes into the kitchen already dressed for his day but
Cassadine casual for Sunday. More familiar with the kitchen of
Wyndemere Lite that his own he reaches for a cup and pours his
own coffee. He'd slept uninterrupted also an unusual occurrence.
It must be a good sign.neither Maddy nor Nikolas' return had
woken him. Stefan glances up at the dry erase board. A passive
Mrs Lansbury if you will. a way of communicating location of
occupants without servants. Lucky and Lulu have gone fishing.
Maddy and Dr Webber have gone on an errand but are on the cell.
The door to the basement opens. Nikolas comes out wearing the
same clothes as the day before. "Nikolas, would you care for
some coffee?"
Nik starts, not expecting anyone to be in the kitchen. "Uncle!
I was just checking on how Maddy was doing this morning."
"Or perhaps you'd like to shower and shave." Stefan
doesn't even respond to the obvious lie.
"That would be best." Nik makes a quick exit. He
catches at a glance the board and silently swears to himself
knowing that not only is he busted but he is busted with a bad
lie.
Liz races to catch up with her Grandmother outside of Porter's.
"Hey Gram! Sorry I'm late." She comes to a sliding halt
in front of the doors. "Lucky messed with the alarm this
morning and I slept through."
Audrey frowns. "Lucky is a day sleeper. Why is he messing
with the alarm clock?"
"He took Lulu fishing this morning. They all got back late
last night: Lucky, Nik, Lulu and Dr Lesley."
"How is Lesley?" Stepping to the front of the podium,
Audrey starts stripping off her gloves and heavy coat.
"She has to be hurting. Even if the she isn't hurting from
the break she's casted up like this." Liz demonstrates and
then quickly strips out of her coat, gloves and muffler as well.
Rita walks up to the podium. "Two for brunch?"
"Rita! You're working! You're off restriction." Liz
exclaims in congratulations.
"Daddy relented after all my character witnesses came in.
Vicki even came through for me." Rita picks up two menus and
has Liz and her grandmother follow her to a table. She helps them
settle in and then hands the menus. "Would you like some tea
this morning, Mrs Hardy? Your usual?"
"That would be lovely, dear."
Liz pips up. "I'll take tea this morning too. Has Ricky
stopped by today?" Rita looks at her blankly. "It's
okay; he comes into Kelly's sometimes too. I can know if he's
around."
"He was in before we opened. I'll get your tea."
"So Gram, you were going to get me some names for me to give
to Dr Lesley?"
Audrey reaches into her purse and pulls out a post a note that is
adhering to today's date in her organizer. "This is the name
of an agency. They'll be able to come up with someone to do as
much or as little as Lesley needs. I'll stop by later today to
visit with her if that is okay?"
"That should be fine. But you should call ahead to make sure
she is home. I think I saw her leave with Maddy this morning."
"Really?" Audrey bites her lip. "How unusual. I
mean I would think she would be home resting. Do you mind, dear,
if I.." Audrey reaches into her purse and pulls out her cell
phone.
"No problem." Liz carefully calls out Maddy's cell
number.
The ringing phone is a distraction that is ignored for as long as
possible. Finally the beautician points at Maddy's bag and has it
brought to her. "Maddy Reynolds. Right-- she is right here.
Dr Webber, it's for you."
"Me? Who the hell would be calling me?" Lesley takes
the phone. "Hello?" She asks curiously. "Audrey?!
How did you get this number? Oh? Well yes, I'm doing as well as
can be expected. Madeliene has a hair appointment and twisted my
good arm to get me to go along." Audrey grins over at the
beautician who is snorting and nodding in laughter. They'd been
having a good time since showing up at still dark thirty.
Maddy had brought the coffee of course and picked up some
pastries at some place called Porter's before they'd even been
opened. They'd made their way out to the Deception spa. The one
hairdresser in the whole dang town who could work with Black Hair
actually rented a station from Carly! The hair dresser knowing
Maddy is coming in for a rebraid rather than a touch up brought
her daughter along to help and hadn't scheduled any other
appointments. A coworker who'd come in to do some ordering while
it was supposedly going to be quiet had been drawn into the fray.
She'd managed to drape a protective cape over Lesley. cast and
all and set about giving her a shampoo, scalp massage and
condition. They'd actually ended up under the dryers at the same
time. Once Lesley had come out her hair had been curled and
styled. Maddy is still in the second step of the process having
her hair straightened enough to be braided.
"Dr Webber, if you want have Liz's grandmother pick you up.
I'm going to be here for a while yet."
"Oh no! I haven't had this much fun in I don't know how long!"
Lesley says with her hand over the mouthpiece. "Audrey, I'd
love to see you but I don't think we're going to be back to the
house until.." She looks over at the hairdresser who holds
up two fingers. Lesley mouths-- two hours? The dresser shakes her
head. Lesley nods. ".We won't be back to the house until at
least two-- probably closer to three." The hair dresser
gives her a thumbs up. Lesley hangs up the phone. "Okay and
then what happened?"
"Well I told that sumbitch that he wasn't man enough to
handle me and his little chicky on the side and I told him to get
out with what he brought. The raggedy clothes on his sorry ass
and that was it!"
"I never liked him." The daughter nods in Dr Lesley's
direction. "But would mom listen to me? Oh no." She
continues sectioning Maddy's hair for braiding.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The hair dresser takes the ribbing
easily. "What about you?"
"Well I think I'm divorced. I never did quite check into
that after I came back to town the first time. I haven't heard
from my husband in." Lesley frowns. "My gracious. I
think it's been almost twenty years! He thought I was killed in a
car accident and married someone else."
"Bless your heart!" The hairdresser exclaims. She
pauses in her combing but then skillfully returns. "And you
haven't said word one to him?"
"They left town." Lesley does a one armed shrug. "What
am I suppose to do. to say? Oh your wife is back from the dead?
They make movies and soap operas out of that kind of thing. And
it was more important to me to get back on my feet."
"Well then thank goodness you didn't bust up your legs. I
know just the man for you. Professional man-has his own business,
own house."
Maddy and the hair dresser's daughter moan. Lesley just shakes
her head. "No sale."
"Maddy. How about you, Honey?"
"Oh no way. I'm flying solo thanks. I got things to do.
school, work." Lesley listens carefully to Maddy's answer.
"Are you listening?" The hairdresser refers to her
daughter. "See. School first and then the boys. You girls
have time enough to do it all. So. Maddy, how tight is Taggart
with your Aunt anyway?"
"You just booted one out!" Maddy protests handing the
woman an elastic as she does so. "And besides Aunt Dara is
keeping that man dining at home!"
Brownstone. Jane takes a deep breath as she walks up and knocks
on Jerry's front door. Not unexpectedly it is Lucas who answers
the door. "Hey Lady J." Lucas is sliding on his jacket.
"Mom is in the kitchen. See you later."
"See you later." Jane calls after Lucas' back. She
walks into the brownstone and into the kitchen. Bobbie takes one
look at her and pulls the kettle off of the stove. It would just
have to be hot enough, dang it. She pours hot water into the
teapot.
"What happened."
"Madeliene Reynolds figured out I was asking questions about
her."
"Jerry and I knew that. Stefan Cassadine knew that."
Bobbie reminds.
"Yes, but the next time I went to get a cup of coffee down
at the Prominade, Madeliene confronted me."
"Oh dear. You didn't. Jane, please tell me you didn't."
"She is a very forciful young lady, Barbara. She boxed me in."
Jane admits.
"Oh mum." Jerry mutters from behind Jane having
finished searching the basement. In his hand are some snowshoes
Lucas requested earlier. "Lucas wanted these?" He holds
them up.
"One of his friends called and he went down to the boys club
to play basketball." Bobbie explains. "So he is out of
the house. Too many people know, Jerry. We're going to have to
tell him."
"It would be nice to talk to Maddy first so I can at least
give Lucas an idea of the temperature of the water!" Jerry
looks at his mother again and shakes his head.
"Your father knows too. But I think he learned his lesson
after what happened with Caroline." Jane figures she might
as well come clean with all of it.
Jerry drops the snowshoes and runs an impatient hand through his
hair not carrying about the cobweb he just deposited from the
snowshoe to his hair. "Oh mum." Jerry mutters yet again.
His life is a getting more confusing that ever. There must be
something in the water in PC. Bobbie slides in next to him,
leaning into him her presence a nonverbal indication of support
and comfort.
She reaches up to the disarray her husband has made of his hair
and pulls out the cobweb. "Honey, it'll be okay."
"Right."