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The Quintessential Q
Chapter Sixteen
Plans, Plots and Schemes
The Happy Family house
Carly goes into Rita's room and pushes open the curtains waking the sleeping kiddo. "You know what day this is?"
"One day less of my summer vacation and one day closer to stepping into the preadolescent hell of intermediate school." Rita groans pushing her hair out of her eyes. "I was finally the boss of the school and now they're going to make me a little minnow to get picked on by some stupid ninth grader."
"True, but you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that the stupid ninth graders are just a year away from being the minnows of the high school-- that's why they call them freshmeat. Karma Babe, what goes around comes around harder and faster. But that's not what I was talking about."
"It's freshMEN, Carly!" Rita frowns and then grins. "Daddy and Cook are due back today."
"Yep. Which means we have a million things to do today." Carly starts listing them off. "Straighten up the house, get your laundry done and packed, call your brother to make sure he brings goodies to the party..." Carly wrinkles her nose and rolls her eyes. "...call your sister to invite her over, call Em for the same reason have her bring Lila and Reggie for sure and Edward only if she has to. AJ's already left for work; I wouldn't let him touch a thing in the kitchen, if your brother and new mama are going to be in my house then my kitchen has to be spotless. Michael has to have a checkup at General Hospital and I was wondering if while we were there you could get your school physical? That would be one less thing to worry about so we wouldn't have to take another day off from riding later."
Rita cheers up at Carly's plans to keep on riding daily even when her Dad and Cook were back. "I'll do the kitchen." She offers. "I know how Johnny likes it and since he learned from his mother...."
"They probably like it the same way. Good plan. I'll straighten up the main floor, dust and vacumn with Michael helping me it will only take twice as long. Then we'll race over to GH, I'll push my mother's weight around to get into the Doctor's office on time and if everything goes right we'll still get in a couple of hours with Mr. Roberts before we have to come back and get ready for the party. AJ PROMISED to get off work early..."
"Carly, get out of here so I can get dressed and we can get going." Rita laughs.
"Right. I'll see you downstairs." Carly races out of the room and into Michael's. She snatches him up and tells him all the plans for the day as she goes downstairs.
"I'm going to miss this but I am REALLY glad that Dad is back." Rita takes a deep breath and then jumps from bed. She changes into her grubbies and throws together all the clothes from her hamper wrapping them up in the sheets from the bed she drags them down the stairs with her. Carly grabs the clothes when she sees Rita dragging them down the hall. She drops them on the laundry room floor and sorts-- tossing clothes and linens in different corners of the room. Picking a corner, Carly stuffs the clothes into the washer and starts the load. When she comes back into the kitchen, Rita is already loading the dishwasher. Carly squeezes Rita's shoulder on her way out to the living room.
Deception--
Emily tucks her helmet under her arm and unzips her leather jacket making her way to her office. When she opens the door she is surprised to see the portrait hung on the wall. Maintenence had been busy overnight. Her phone is already ringing. "Emily Bowen-Quartermaine."
"Em, it's Carly. The judge and cook are back today. Be at the house at 5p for the welcome home party. Get Lila and Reggie there and if there is no way out of it bring Edward... AH Hell bring Edward anyway. I guess I can be nice to the old goat for a couple of hours."
"He'll appreciate it." Emily laughs. She looks up to see Ned and Jax standing in the doorway. "Carly, I got to go; the Delicious Duo is in my doorway." Emily hangs up the phone to Carly's laughter. "Just the two I wanted to see."
"Okay, I'll accept that I'm delicious, but you?!" Jax looks at Ned. Ned rolls his eyes.
"Did you two get the numbers on the vogue advertising meeting yesterday?" Emily waits until they nod. "The offer is on the table; we can get an extra ten percent IF vogue interviews the two most eligible bachelors on THIS continent. Do I call her back and arrange it?" Emily picks up the phone.
Ned crosses the room in a quick walk and grabs the receiver out of Emily's hand. "No way in hell."
"Ditto." Jax nods. He looks over at the portrait. "Interesting choice there, Em."
"It's from my shoot on Saturday. Didn't Anderson do great work?"
"It doesn't look like you." Ned mutters.
"I know. Isn't it great? Oh and by the way family party over at Carly's for Judge and Cook, they get back today. The party starts at 5." Emily looks at her days schedule.
"I'm invited to a "Happy Family" party?!" Ned says shocked.
"You're my date so officially-- No. And I had to promise Carly to not only destroy Kenny but to also get it on videotape in order to stop her evil plans for you. If you mess this up for me, you won't have to worry about Carly." Emily looks up from the screen to look directly at Ned. "I know this might be spoiling all your fun, even though it is no fun for me to listen you constantly attack my brother, but once you step foot in Carly's house you can't say ANYTHING bad about AJ. Pick on Jax for a change-- Carly would like that, and I think it would make grandfather happy."
"Grandfather is invited?" Ned asks insulted to his core.
"Yep, that's how far you are in the doghouse. GRANDFATHER-- the house breaker, gets an invitation to Carly's party that is being catered by the hottest new restauranteer in Port Charles before you do. So can you do it? Be nice for two hours tops?" Emily quirks a brow. Ned sighs and waves a hand in a whatever gesture.
"Remind me again, why am *I* going to this?" Jax asks curiously since Emily seems to be laying down the law.
"The Judge gave custody of Lucas to Bobbie; Bobbie is married to your brother. You're still trying to get out of the doghouse with Jerry. You should be nice to the Judge. Bring a great gift. Something from Williams and Sonoma would be best." Emily connects the dots for Jax.
"That's mail order right?" Jax says giving in.
"They have a store in the Mall too. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me it's time for me to turn into Suzy Corporate. If you have any suggestions on how the HELL I am suppose to destroy Kenny get me a memo or something. Jax-- didn't you and Lucy do something with a stink bomb?"
"It was a tampered perfume, and that wasn't me; it was Lucy. I just knew about it moments before it happened."
"Cross that one off my list." Emily mutters as she walks to the dressing room off her office. "It doesn't count if it's something that has already been done. This is going to be tough. Damn, and she would want video."
Jax looks at Ned who stares after Emily. "I TOLD you she'd been taking lessons. Why didn't you tell me you were on Carly's hit list? And you've been baiting her? Are you INSANE?! Do you play in traffic too?"
"Oh like you aren't on her list. I seem to recall you bring Robin Scorpio to a party at Carly's house." Ned snaps back.
"Yeah, but I'm working my way off it. I'm putting up with you, aren't I?"
"Excuse me?"
"Ashton, when have you ever known me to stick with a company? It's not my style; I dismantle companies not babysit them."
"You're here because of Carly?!" Ned is flabbergasted.
"I'm here because of Jerry, who is mentoring Carly, who is fond of your cousin, who is getting her feet wet with Deception." Jax proves Em is not the only one that can connect the dots. "But I can quite honestly say that I am not part of any plot of your downfall. So it wasn't Deception Carly was going to use. And since she seems to be using Jacks rules, thanks to Jerry, I'd say you had a close call. Jerry is a firm believer in prior planning preventing peas poor performance. He doesn't always practice-- but he's a firm believer in it. And with a student like Carly you know he'd be harping on always setting the proper groundwork. Look at all the energy Emily is putting into this prank on Katherine. She's been taking notes."
"Oh hell."
"Don't worry about it, mate. You'll catch up one of these days." Jax slaps a disgusted Ned on the back. "I'm off to the mall to find something appropriate for the newlyweds."
Nik's project.
The jag pulls up in front of the three houses. Nik walks up the cracked and crumbling walk to the main house. It is unlocked. He walks in hollaring a "HELLO?!" as he goes. No one is there. Nik looks out the back window and sees a heavy duty pickup parked by the carriage house. Nik wonders in. He sees the contractor set up on a door supported by two saw horses. "How is it going?"
"It's going." The contractor grunts. "Luckily, I got guys that live to knock out walls and strip rooms back to the studs. That is what has got to happen to update the major systems: electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling. Partner is already back at the office working on blueprints of the renovations. He was here early to take sketches and pictures."
"I would like to be kept closely abreast of the progress." Nik requests.
"Sure. Whatever. Let me show you the prize of what we've salvaged so far." The contractor leads Nik to a different part of the carriage house. "You wouldn't believe how tough it was to get this out. I thought that we'd need a crane for it." He points out the eight foot cast iron claw foot tub. "They don't make suckers like that anymore. The victorian version of a hot tub. Once it is sandblasted and refinished it's going to knock the socks off of anyone that sees it." He holds up a box. "These are all the brass fixtures out of the house on the right: door knobs, hinges and the like. That house is in the sorriest state so it'll be coming down first. The guys are working on pulling out the marble fireplace fronts and any good wood."
"Wood?"
"Yeah, there are some period woods that there would be no way to match. Stuff that has been logged out of here decades ago; the only place to get those woods if by logging it out of old wrecks like what you've got maybe some old barns. Clean it up, replane it; it'll make a statement to anyone that knows woods and wow anyone that doesn't. Whatever we don't use; I've got connections that would give me their first born to have first crack at the leftovers."
"Can all the equipment you need be brought in from the alley?" Nik wonders.
The contractor does some mental calculations. "Yeah, why?"
"I was thinking that perhaps it would be appropriate to put up a fence in the front to keep curious bystanders at a distance and save possible lawsuits from the crumbling walk or from having people wandering through the houses before the demolition."
"Good point. A fence along the front of all three then?" The contractor walks back to his makeshift work area and grabs a sample book from one of the contractors he normally works with. He flips through the pages until he sees something that strikes him. What about this?"
"I like it." Nik nods. "Although the stone lions and brick gate is a bit much."
"It goes with the house." Contractor shrugs. "But it would take too long. I'll order the straight six foot wrought iron and not even put in a gate. The gate can be put in later as one of the final steps once the house is almost done and you're ready to start receiving guests. And it's something that can be done without getting a permit."
"How soon can I see premliminary sketches and plans?" Nik damands.
"Well my partner has got a bug up his butt on this one. He was muttering to himself on the way out of here. You came along at just the right time. Someone he considers a total hack was put on the historical society board instead of him. He's got something to prove."
"Historically accurate is not my priority. If it were, we wouldn't be talking about electric lights and central air and heating." Nik reminds the contractor wryly. "I've lived in historically accurate abodes. They're drafty."
"Let him run wild for awhile. You'll get some great ideas and then we'll rein him in. I've already had a roofer out looking at the main place this morning."
"Roofer?"
"Yeah, I told you that the foundation is sound, the walls look good but have a few rough spots. The roof is my primary concern at this point. Best time to do the roof is during the summer. Interior work can wait for when the weather turns nasty." The contractor pulls out a sheet of paper and writes out fence, roof, schedule subs for the major systems. "Sign off on this and I'll get it taken care of. Scheduling the subs might be premature but I want to have them available when we're ready to roll."
Nik signs off on the sheet. "I want to see sketches and plans ASAP."
"I'll call my partner. Let him know that you'll be swing by the office tomorrow. Don't expect him to be coherent though. You're asking for an all nighter."
"Perhaps, but I would rather be involved in all facets of the renovations."
Port Charles Hotel.
Emily had finished her meetings in record time and checked on Katherine Bell's schedule on the company computers. Katherine is scheduled out of the office for the next two days on a Deception promotional tour Ned had arranged out in the back of nowhere. "Thank you, Ned." Now was going to be her only opportunity-- at least for awhile. Emily takes out the skeleton key to the hotel and enters Katherine's suite. Emily searches Katherine's room wearing her leather bike gloves. She's careful to put back everything in the same places as she found it. She makes notes of Katherine's financial information including a PIN number Katherine had left in her desk drawer, her choices in grooming supplies, inventories her wardrobe, discovers what venders Katherine deals with regarding drycleaning, flowers etc. Biting her lip she forces herself to go the final distance and opens up Katherine's medicine cabinent. "Oh hell." Emily mutters reading the back of a box on a getting pregnant kit. "How do I tell Nik about this without letting him know how I found out?" Emily's resolve strengthens. No way was she going to stand around while Kenny set up Nikolas.
Going back to the desk, she looks up a phone number and calls before she chickens out. "MAACO? Yes, this IS Katherine Bell. I've grown bored with the color of my prized Mercedes convertible. I realize black goes with everything but really-- it's just SO passe. Puce is the color for this season. I understand it is a custom color. I'll be out of town for the next few days and I want my car painted and returned before I get back.... Yes, my keys and the funds will be waiting with the concierge at the Port Charles Hotel. You DO know where that is? Is there an extra charge for metallic?" Emily asks as she tucks Katherine's keys and a the necessary bills into a Deception interoffice envelope. She hangs up the phone. "Good thing cash is untraceable." Emily looks around the room one more time then leaves. On her way out of the Hotel she drops a stack of mail on the concierge's desk. Stuck in the middle of it is the envelope with Katherine's keys and the money. Emily gets the concierge's attention. "I was talking to my brother; he lives over at the Harborview towers? He says a bunch of thieves are targeting Mercedes and porsches, you know, to rip off and sell out of the country? It might be a good idea to beef up the video survellience of the parking structure. Too many of the guests have nice cars for us to not take care of them and helping the police solve this would give the hotel a real shiny gold star."
"I'll take care of that today, Miss Quartermaine."
"Great. I knew I came to the right guy." Emily smiles at the concierge and winks at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."