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When Cassidines Fall
Not That Simple
"Hello Reginald." Monica comes in from the outside and
drops her overnight back in the foyer.
"Dr Quartermaine." Reggie is slightly taken aback.
"I thought you were on a business trip."
"Been there, done that. Is Lila..." Monica glances down
at her watch.
"...in the green house." Reggie fills in the blanks.
"Emily is in with the tutor. Can I get anything for you?"
"If you're offering, I'll take a coffee and something other
than airplane food. I'm going to go out to the Greenhouse."
"I'll take care of this." Reggie hefts the overnight
bag to his shoulder and heads toward the kitchen to put in
Monica's order.
Monica follows the hallway to the greenhouse. There are two
access points to the greenhouse. One from within the house and
the other from the gardens. Both are specifically designed for
wheelchair access. "Hello Lila."
"Monica darling!" Lila moves back from the plants that
she is checking for trouble. "That was a quick trip."
"Yep, basically a glorified introduction. I did it and then
headed back to PC. Stefan seems to feel he can handle the rest."
Monica leans over to give Lila a kiss on the cheek.
"And this is the replacement for Dr Jones?" Lila pats
Monica's hand as her daughter in law takes the seat across from
her.
Monica is momentarily startled. It always surprised her how on
top of things Lila is. "Eventually." Monica sees the
tape player in Lila's lap. The buttons on it are oversized and
easy to use with her mother-in-law's arthritis. "What are
you doing?"
"Oh a little project for the girls. Nikolas put his house
together in the fall and the grounds were last on his list of
things to do. They suggested that he might like a landscaping
plan for Christmas. Something he could work on this spring."
"It's a lovely thought. Not only the landscaping project but
spring." Monica takes off her jacket. The green house is
kept warmer than the rest of the house. "There was snow in
Baltimore, nothing like here, but still snow. I swear I think the
winters are getting longer and colder every year."
"Kills off the bad bugs." Lila says cheerfully. "And
makes the first flowers all the more precious."
"You really are a life and lemonade kind of woman. I've
always appreciated that about you." when it hasn't
driven me bats. Reginald brings out a tray with coffee and a
light meal for Monica and a pot of tea for Lila. He pours for
both of them and then doublechecks to make sure everything is
okay.
"Don't fuss, Reggie." Lila directs with a wave of a
hand. "You need to be working on the third act."
Reggie nods. "Beep me when you're ready to come in."
"Third Act?" Monica asks after Reggie leaves.
"His new play. I'm hoping to have it ready for spring. We
already have the time blocked off for it at the theater. So you
liked this new Doctor?"
"I think she'd be a good addition to GH." Monica takes
a sip of her coffee. "Where is Edward? I thought he'd be
here today."
"His secretary at the office called. AJ brought Michael to
the office today. Edward discovered a pressing business
appointment he couldn't get out of."
Monica shakes her head. "Unbelievable." Monica is about
to continue with a Carly bash about her palming Michael off on AJ
but decides to bite her tongue. "I should go into the
hospital." Monica sighs.
"When you see Alan tell him to come to dinner tonight. I
already left a message over at the Hotel. Emily won't be here
because she is going to a basketball game over at Queen of Angels
but it would be good to see both of you... in one room."
Stefan walks across the street to John Hopkins. The couple of
days being in Baltimore has him already familiar with the layout...
at least of the part of the hospital that interested him. He goes
up to the nurses station of the neurological floor. "Dr
Ryan?"
"She is on rounds." The nurse glances up to the clock.
"She should be finishing up soon if you'd like to have a
seat in the visiting area."
"Yes, thank you." Stefan says with a polite bow. He
takes a seat over in the visiting area and pulls out the email
from Lucky. The answers from Dr Webber for Dr Ryan. He'd read
them before leaving the hotel. The other email he'd printed out
and not read yet. He glances over it quickly and then silently
curses starting from the beginning and reads it through again.
This missive from Nikolas had nothing to do with hospital
business as he had assumed but instead is about family business--
Victor. Trust Madeliene to have found the backdoor to getting
information regarding his uncle. Yes, this would work. And a note
from Nikolas to Victor would go a long way in cementing Nikolas'
position as future head of the family.
"KC, there is someone here to see you." The nurse
points to the visiting area.
"Thanks." KC finishes up her Q&A of the students
from the rounds and then dismisses them. She makes her med notes
quickly and unlike many of her coworkers-- clearly. Then walks
over to the visiting area. "I guess this means you have more
information."
"What you requested." Stefan looks around. "Would
it be possible to have this discussion in a more... condusive
atmosphere?"
"I haven't eaten. Come on; there is a diner up the street
from the hospital. I just need to get my jacket and sign out."
KC leads the way to the doctor's lounge. She notes her location
on the dry erase board as well as the information that she is on
her pager. KC takes the lead out of the hospital to the nearby
diner. A panhandler attempts to accost them but Stefan's glare
backs the guy off before he can make his pitch. KC seats herself
and Stefan takes the seat across from her after she is seated.
"The Chili is good here--hot though."
"That's what they always say." Stefan glances around.
The diner is familiar thanks to his brief sojourns into Kelly's.
The location and the name might be different but the atmosphere
is familiar. Students cram for exams at the counter and at tables
along the wall.
A harried waitress Elizabeth's age comes over and drops the
laminated menus on the table. "The specials are on the board.
I'll be right back to take your orders." True to her word
she is back with her notepad after a quick circuit of the tables.
"What can I get for you?" Stefan and KC order. The
waitress nods and heads back to the kitchen.
Stefan hands KC the email. "Here is the information you
requested."
KC pulls out a pen and starts picking through the email putting
little astericks by interesting points. She looks up from the
email. "You didn't tell me the passenger is a doctor."
"Dr Webber doesn't practice."
"Why?"
Stefan grimaces. "She was in a serious car accident. It's
taken her some time to regain her strength."
"Bet she's hating cars about now. What happened?"
Stefan really doesn't want the conversation going there. "In
addition to the injuries of the accident, there was a medicine
error which delayed her recovery."
"Did she sue?" KC asks curiously.
"No, it was an error at the accident site. I believe you
call it Good Samaritan... someone who thought they were assisting
and acting in good faith to preserve her life." The waitress
comes to Stefan's rescue delivering the meals.
KC looks at Stefan's chiliburger. "I wasn't kidding about
the Chili being hot."
"A very good friend of my nephew is from New Orleans. I have
grown accustom to spicy. How soon can you come to Port Charles?"
KC sighs and wipes her hands on the napkin in her lap. "I
have some vacation coming. I know you've already talked to my
boss and cleared my schedule. It would serve you right if I just
went home like I planned since you've been so kind." There
is a sarcastic edge to KC's tones.
Stefan reaches into the inside breast pocket of his jacket and
pulls out another email. This from a shipping company. "This
is a confirmation notice of shipment of equipment to Kambala."
KC looks over the list. The equipment and medical supplies might
be a drop in the bucket for a US hospital but are more than the
best hosital in Uganda could budget for ten years let alone one.
"You play dirty. Fine. It looks like I'll be vacationing in
Port Charles this year. But that's all this gets you... a consult.
You've got your hired gun."
"How soon can you be ready to go?"
V knocks on Alexis door at L&B. Alexis is just packing up her
briefcase. "You off to the hospital?"
"I'll be so glad when Stefan is back." Alexis complains.
"There is a clear division of labor within the Cassadine
Family. Nikolas is The Prince. Stefan handles business and I
handle the legal. This crossover is playing havoc with my
schedule."
"You got a couple of minutes?"
Alexis looks at her assistant carefully. V seldom requested
consults but was instead an independant worker. "If there is
a cup of coffee involved I'll give you fifteen."
"I just made a fresh pot." V and Alexis go downstairs
to the lunch cubbyhole of L&B. "What do you know about
Madeliene Reynolds, Dara's niece?"
Alexis accepts the mug that V doctored for her. "Not much...
well I guess plenty for a woman I've only really met once to talk
to. She is living at Nikolas' place. She plays chess with Stefan.
I see her van everyday if I'm running late since she takes
classes with Emily at the mansion. She puts on a great
Thankgiving dinner. And she's probably happier than hell about
Larkin being in a cage. Why?"
"I just found out she has more family in town than Dara."
V leans up against the counter next to the coffee maker. "The
Jacks are pretty well convinced she's Jerry's daughter."
Alexis chokes on her coffee and holds up a hand to stop V from
beating her on the back. "Whoa. You could have had a little
lead up on that one. Is she making some kind of claim against the
Jacks? It would have been worth more a couple of years ago before
Jerry got busted for money laundering."
V shakes her head. "She isn't making the claim. The Jacks
are, and she's stonewalling them. I watched when Jax tried to
talk to her. She was icy. And I thought for a minute she was
going to sic' her dog on him."
"Cinnamon. Really quite the sweety but very protective of
Maddy and Nik too. Even gets along with Stefan... and he's never
been an indoor dog guy. You're saying that Jax made no inroads
with her at all? Most women can't resist him, and he knows it."
"Icy. Shut him down." V nods.
"I suppose they could go for a court order to get paternity
testing. Maybe make some kind of offer of support." Alexis
winces. "What a mess. Tell Jax to step carefully. Jerry too
if you see him. You saw how involved Stefan made himself in
Dara's defense. He wanted Larkin's head on a pike. And that's
Maddy's doing. I may not know Maddy but I do know my brother.
Stefan has one hobby really... chess. And he
gets kind of... obsessive about it. Maddy not only plays chess
but she's been known to beat him on occasion. He will do about
anything to protect those games. And with a Cassadine that is
saying plenty." Alexis grimaces. "And you might also
warn the Jacks that any kind of legal wrangling they'll be coming
up against me. Stefan and Nikolas both have made Madeliene...
Cassadine business."
Monica stops by the nurse's station to pick up her messages. Amy
looks up from her phone call and quickly terminates it. "You're
back." She says with some surprise.
"Yeah." Monica stretches the one word answer and does a
mental eye roll.
Amy leans over the counter and hisses. "Did you get the
specialist?"
"What do you know about it?" Monica frowns. Amy's rep
as grapevine central is well known but discretion was suppose to
be the word of the day on this operation.
"Laura is my sister. And Nikolas respects
that even if nobody else does." Amy declares. "Well?"
"Stefan is working on it. And I don't want to talk about
this in the hospital."
"Don't want to talk about what?" Tony Jones asks as he
comes up to the nurses station to collect his messages.
"What I do when I'm not in the hospital." Monica says
flatly. "I'll be in my office." Monica collects her
messages and files and leaves.
"Is Monica okay? She isn't having any more health problems?"
Tony thinks aloud.
Amy goes back to her charting. She hands Tony a file
automatically. "Not that I know of."
"Well if anyone knew it would be you." Tony takes the
file and starts toward his office. Glancing in the file he has a
question and turns back around to ask Amy.
She is already on the phone to Nikolas. "Nikolas, Monica is
back from Baltimore. She says Stefan is still working on getting
that Neurosurgeon for Laura." Tony's eyes narrow and before
Amy can turn around and see him he leaves for his office and
phone calls of his own. Baltimore... John Hopkins... he knews the
head of the department there. They'd done conferences together
before. He's even filled in when the guy had a conflict. There
were favors owing.
"Amy, are you talking to Nik?" Maddy comes off the
elevator in time to hear the last comments.
"Yeah. You want to talk to him?"
"Just tell me what office he's in. I need to get this
package to the fed ex today."
"He's in Stefan's."
"Thanks."
"Maddy is on her way to your office. And she's carrying this
big box. Let me know what happens with your uncle. Yeah, I'm
going to call Luke tonight. Right talk to you later." Amy
hangs up the phone and goes back to her charting.
Nik is already coming down the hall and runs into Maddy taking
the package from her. "Thanks."
"No problem. You're doing this for me anyway. Dang this
thing is heavy. What did you put in here?"
"I added a few books from the library last night. I didn't
think you'd mind. And it's not like the guy is up on the
bestseller's list. Do you have the note done?"
"Yes, it's in the office." Nik takes the box into the
office and reaches for the note handing it to Madeliene.
"What language is this in?"
"Latin. The priest might be able to read it but I doubt any
of Victor's guards will be able to."
"Which will probably make them suspicious." Maddy
snorts.
Nikolas sorts through the box and is appalled by the contents--
clothing, undergarments, slippers, toiletries. "He doesn't
have these basic items?"
"It's jail, Niknik, not a country club. Luckily they're
bribeable so some things can get through that wouldn't go in a US
prison. So yeah, I covered the basics and then threw in some
brain food. I didn't know what he's into so I got him a travel
chess set, some art pencils and a blank journal so he can write
or draw. The books. I finished up Machevelli's Discourses; the
book about how to overthrow princes so I threw that one in too."
"Ha ha."
"Yeah, well maybe you'll put a note in the flyleaf of that
one too and tell him to apply it to Granny Helena." Maddy
pulls some other things out of the box. "Munchies--
biscotti, hard candies, tinned meats even threw in a little
caviar. Crackers. you know this and that. I thought maybe a
fruitcake but decided that would be too mean and didn't figure he
needed a door stop anyway. Since he's old I got some of those
magnifying eye glasses from the drug store. I don't know if he
needs them but hey he can always trade them. Multivitamins. This
can is actually a safe that I stashed some cash in." Maddy
sloshes the can about. She'd made sure the can didn't have a
popular brand name on it like Coke or Bud... something the guards
might appropriate for their own use.
"You seem to have thought of everything."
"No, I'm sure there is something I missed. But the priest
will let us know after he delivers the package. And send back a
list of specifics. Course if Victor sends back the note in Latin
you're on your own."
"It kind of looks like Nik's place." Bobbie observes
looking around. "And the neighborhood is similar too."
"Pete says the house is in Maddy's name. His Mum left her
half and he sold Maddy the other half and financed splitting the
house into apartments. Granny Sophia lives in that apartment
there." Jerry points it out. He can see the old woman
standing in the window. "She's watching us now." Jerry
puts his hand at Bobbie's back and escorts her up the stairs.
Granny Sophia is waiting with the door open.
"I knew you were a bad boy. But at least your father knew
about using protection." Granny says grimly. "Come in.
I'm letting all the heat out."
Bobbie looks at Jerry questioningly and then crosses the
threshold. She follows the tiny woman into the overheated front
room. Sophia takes her comfortable chair with the view of the
street and Bobbie takes the seat across from her. Jerry stands
behind Bobbie's chair resting his hands on her shoulders. "You
know why we're here."
"Struck me wrong so I called Niknik. He filled me in."
Sophia shakes her head. "You screwed up. You should have
come to me or Pete first. Cornering her in the study."
Sophia snorts. "Your father would have known better."
"My father would have tried to buy her off!" Jerry
protests.
"And she would have taken the money and you'd never had to
deal with her. What do you want? A little girl? It's a little
late... hell it's more than a little late. You want a little girl
then adopt!" Sophia slaps the arm of her chair for emphasis.
"Maddy's a grown woman making her own way in the world and
doing just fine."
"She has to know that Jerry is there for her." Bobbie
defends her husband.
"HA!" Sophia points a finger at him. "Ask me the
last time someone offered to take care of Maddy; I dare you!"
"Tell me." Jerry demands grimly.
"The day Billy Bob's kin showed up here like something outta
deliverance planning on taking this house and Maddy too, with her
mama barely cold. They were going to take care of her alright.
White trash making my skin crawl. Niknik and Ricky jumped them
right across the way to get them away from Maddy! I finally ran
them off with my .44. And I tell you their brother wasn't much
different just sneakier. Lisette had two bedrooms over in that
apartment... why do you think Maddy was living with me?"
"Was she...?" Bobbie can't finish the question.
"Abused?" Sophia shrugs. "They're defining that
all different kinds of way now. Raped? No. Maddy was slick even
as a kid. She knew when to get out of dodge. Come back around
when Lisette was sober or at least awake and her men friends gone."
Sophia looks up at Jerry. "You be Jerry and you got a chance.
You try being Daddy, even mention the word Daddy, and there isn't
a ladder tall enough to get over the wall she'll build."
"I wish Ricky had filled me in on some of this after Lucas
told him." Jerry says with a sigh.
"Ricky knew." Sophia's eyes narrow and there is a
suggestive hmm in her voice.
"My son, Lucas, told him. He overheard Jerry talking. In his
own way he was trying to help. Trying to find out more about
Madeliene." Bobbie explains.
"Well then you can just thank Ricky when you get back to
town for you getting blown out of the water. Trapping Maddy was a
mistake but she was ready for you and you played right into her
scenario."
"Ricky doesn't get on with Maddy." Jerry claims. "He
was really putting the push on Pete to get her out of town after
Lisette died."
"It isn't that simple. It never is with those two."
Sophia bends over and pulls a five dollar bill from her purse on
the floor beside her chair. "I have five dollars that says
Ricky went straight from talking to your Lucas to telling
Madeline exactly what the score was."