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The Quintessential Q
Chapter Two
Deception
Coming home from the auction, Emily leads the driver with the horse trailer up to the property above the deception spa. She modifies her driving style to make it easy to be followed. Carly is on her cell phone telling everyone and her mother about the horse. As soon as she had called Bobbie, Carly had heard Lucas in the back ground pleading to be allowed to see Carly's horse. Carly called up to the property to contact the vet student that was living there for free room and boarding for her horse as well. All the student had to do was be oncall for Carly's horse too once she got one. Emily passes the Deception Spa and continues up the valley to the property right above the spa. She softly wows as she enters the clearing. It's the first time that she had been up to the property. AJ and Carly had been treating it as a big secret. One in which they had been one upping each other.
"Pole Barn?-- Nothing fancy?" Emily laughs. "Right!"
"That was my plan." Carly says ruefully. "I just wanted to get the old cabin raized and then once I got the all clear from the environmental guys put up something good enough so that I could finally get the horse from your grandfather. AJ was the one that started asking who was going to be keeping and eye on the horse when I was home or at the spa. And if we had someone up here for emergencies then they were going to need a place to sleep..."
Emily nods. "And the plans exploded from there." Emily pulls from the road waving the driver with the trailer by her. She takes in the building infront of her. It had been built to blend into the forest behind it. All dark wood and with a green roof. One end of the building was obviously the office/apartment with shuttered windows and landscaping with even some perky little geraniums in windowboxes. "It looks like a postcard."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Carly wonders.
"I think it's a good thing. How did you get so much done so fast? It looks like it has been there forever. You'd never know there had been a fall down cottage used for a meth lab just six months ago."
Carly winces. "Can we just forget about the meth lab part? I hadn't been scared like that in so long. I mean I was scared when AJ was in Indonesia when the riots were going on but at least Michael was safe at home with Jason then."
"You two do seem to make.." Emily looks in the rearview to see if Rita is listening then drops her voice, "sh*t into sunshine though. AJ came out of Jakarta smelling like a rose. All of ELQ asia loves him. He started moving his own people into the company here. Grandfather, I think, was hoping that AJ would fall on his rear and have to be rescued after the way that he snatched the CEO while Ned and grandfather were looking the other way. And this-- six months ago it was a meth lab now it's a little piece of heaven. You got the Deception Spa to work at, and it's within walking distance of here."
"I feel like I should be knocking on wood somewhere." Carly sighs. "The Spa runs itself. I just show up to test products and brainstorm now and then with the staff there. I bring the manager the wild schemes I come up with or something I read in a magazine and they either make they work or tell me why I'm totally out in left field. The staff know about this place. I got the phone lines working while it was still under construction. When I'm at "work" I'm actually up here." Carly looks around at the trees and green. She rolls down her window and can hear the sound of running water faintly in the back ground. "I wonder what it will be like in the winter?"
"Snow up to your knees." Rita interjects. She had been lovingly tracing the entry in the catalogue about the horse. "Did you know that he's done a little harness work too? That means he could pull a sled or something."
"Rita Regina Porter, don't you dare say that to AJ." Carly looks back over the backseat to where Rita is sitting next to a sleeping Michael.
"Why? It says it right here!" Rita holds up the catalogue.
"Because Carly didn't build a big enough stables to house a sleigh." Emily laughs and grins at Carly.
"What are you going to name him?" Rita asks.
"I don't know." Carly admits. "I think I'm going to wait a little while and see if he names himself."
Emily puts the 4 wheel drive into gear and pulls up to the stable. Where the driver is already back at the trailor getting ready to take the Morgan out and get him settled into his new home. Rita races out of the car to the trailer. Carly gathers up a sleeping Michael and does into her office. The office has everything that she would need in an emergency: A pull out couch. A playpen that Michael just used for naps now. A computer and phone hookups. The office has three doors. One goes to the vet student's apartment, one to the outside and one that goes into the tack room. Carly puts Michael down in his playpen and then picks up the mobile part of the baby monitor fastening it to her belt. Emily checks out the office and then follows Carly into the tack room. It is still rather barren but the smell of leather is seductive. The tack room has three doors as well: the office, the stables, and a shower/dressing room. She'd been expecting something dark and small before she'd stepped foot on the property but she should have known better knowing Carly. There are four spacious stalls: One has an palamino mare, another had been prepped for Carly's horse, the other two are empty. Each of the stalls has two gates One onto the common corridor of the stable and the farside of each of the stalls has a gate that opens out into a corral. "Carly, why the gates on both sides of the stalls?"
"Saw too many movies as a kid. Especially westerns" Carly shudders. "It always seemed that if there was a fire in the barn that the people had to go in to get the horses. I wanted to be sure that I could get the horses out without running into a burning building. 'Course AJ was more practical than I."
"What did he do?"
"Installed a top of the line sprinkler system." Carly rolls her eyes and Emily just laughs. Carly decides that the horse needed a little quiet time to get settled in and get to know his new neighbor, the palamino, so she suggests that they walk down to the spa. Rita decides to stay behind and offers to take the baby monitor from Carly. "Are you sure?" Carly hesitantly hands over the monitor. She didn't want to wake Michael but.... "Number two on the speeddial in the office is the spa, Call me when he wakes up if I'm not back yet." she insists.
"Who is number one?" Rita asks.
"AJ's office. And number three is my mother, Bobbie Jacks, who is a nurse. But you aren't going to need that one." Carly thanks the driver who is prepping to leave and pays him including a healthy bonus. She takes a business card from him knowing that she is going to need help getting her new baby to shows and things once Rita starts competing. Stringing her arm through Emily they walk the short distance to the spa. The trail is well traveled and marked now with trees on either side shading the path. The path opens up to a Japanese style building-- that while foreign curiously blends into the surroundings. Strangely enough the building looks better from the back than the front where the parking lot adds a jarringly modern look. Carly opens up the back door and checks in with the front office so that the staff knows the boss is on the premises. She makes sure that there are no problems and checks the appointment book to see who is free. She schedules Emily for a full schedule-- facial, manicure, pedicure, massage and steam. Carly squeezes Emily into the best massuese's booked schedule. Seeing that the steam room is open, She and Emily start there. Getting comfortable in the plush towels provided by the spa they enter the empty room. As the heat hits them both there is a joint sigh. Climbing onto the wooden benches, they recline: Emily on her back and Carly on her stomach. "Okay, no little pitchers listening now-- spill." Carly demands.
"I told you on the phone last night. I was thisclose to having Nikolas take me seriously and then Johnny burst in, handgun showing and telling me to get my clothes on. He dragged me back to the house and told Alan to keep a better eye on me or I'd be pregnant before I got my diploma." Emily complains.
"OH that was LOW!" Carly's eyes go wide. "A possiblity considering how hot you told me that you and Nik were running but still LOW! Especially considering that that he kissed you on the way back to the house."
"I still don't know what to think about that." Emily licks her lips and then bites her lower one. "I think he was trying to get me to shut up but..."
Carly grins. "It's always been my favorite way to get guys to shut up. Works wonders with AJ. Sometimes he's pathetically easy to distract. But it's a two way street."
"Yeah, I saw that at the wedding." Emily teases. "You were ready to pull the judge's daughter's hair out by the roots and AJ got you out of there with a smoking liplock."
"You were there?"
"Yeah, Nik and I were sitting on the patio getting some fresh air when you were going at it with Viki. We saw and heard the whole thing. I'd say that you were the winner in that one."
Carly sniffs. "It was no contest. But if that bitch thinks that she is going to make a play for AJ she is going to learn that she got off lightly. I don't care if AJ isn't interested; her even looking in his direction is an insult to me."
"Oh I think that she got that. She's going to move onto easier pickings unless I miss my guess." Emily frowns. "Nikolas."
Carly slides up on her elbows looking at Emily. "Easy pickings?"
"Well yeah, he's probably back to thinking I'm a little girl; and what guy wants to hang out with someone that could get his extremities blown off-- from stallion to gelding with a 9mm." Emily shudders.
"I talked to Jason last night after I talked to you. We met up at Luke's. Did you know that Johnny quit? Walked in after dropping you off and quit. No notice or nothing."
Emily's eyes go wide. "Oh gees."
"Part of it was you, I figure, but having Edward steal his chef while he was out looking for you didn't make him happy either."
"Ohmygod." Emily exclaims. "I knew we had a new cook but I didn't even put it together. That is just so... grandfather, you know?"
"Oh yeah. So now I figure that Johnny is going to be at his restaurant fulltime. And once Cook gets back from her honeymoon..."
"She'll probably start working there too. She won't have to but I can't imagine Cook not working. I miss Cook." Emily says wistfully. "Now Reggie and Grandmother are the only sane ones in the house. Dad and Mom are getting on better but he still keeps a suite at the Port Charles. He says that the mansion is still too much of a strain on his sobriety. And I think Mom likes it that way, they can act like they are cheating on each other when she goes to have a nooner with him at the hotel. This way she gets a husband and a lover, and they all come in the same package."
Carly looks at Emily and shrugs. "I guess it works for them. You do know that I would never have married your brother if he would have still been living at the mansion. I'd already gotten out of one looney bin-- I wouldn't have checked into another. And quite frankly I didn't like AJ when he was living at the mansion. That place brings out the worst in him."
"It's Ned and Grandfather. I don't think that Grandfather really intends to be such a pain-- "
"Ned does." Carly's eyes narrow. One more wiseass remark from Ned and she didn't care what AJ said she was going to make him more miserable that he already was. She'd already started laying the foundation of a plan. Something that could be independent but that in a heartbeat could be turned to make Ned's life a living hell.
"I know that Ned pushes your buttons." Emily shakes her head. "But he has been really good to me. Okay except for that one time when he thought I was back on drugs when I found out that Dorman had killed Matt and had been using my journal to get over on Mom. AJ came through for me then. He was the one that could tell that I was in shock and not using. Ned does for me what Jerry does for you. He protects me from Grandfather's interference. I'm not you. All my money is tied up and somebody had to be in charge of it. I can't hide it the way that you do-- I have to have Ned."
"AJ could do it, or Jason even. Or how about Jerry, that would give the old man a coronary." Carly muses. "You don't HAVE TO HAVE Ned. I'm telling you, Emily; my patience with that man is beyond exhausted. AJ asked me to leave Ned alone, and so far I have, but all I need is one word from AJ, and Ned can sit on the stool next to Katherine Bell crying in his beer." Carly smiles at the image. Just then there is a page for her to the front desk. "Whoops, got to go-- Michael must have woke up. Listen, I booked you for the works. Someone from the staff will take you from here to a massage, and then a facial and then nails and things. And anyone here can call me up at the property." Carly races from the sauna back to the dressing room where she takes a cold shower, dresses, collects her messages and heads back up to the stables.
Emily closes her eyes and bakes into the bench. She reviews what Carly had said. Ned was going to have to be warned. Not that he would take it seriously but he at least deserved a warning before he invited the steamroller into his life. Carly had been remarkablely patient-- for Carly. AJ didn't get as hung up on ELQ as Ned had always been. It made it easier for him to make decisions when he knew that his top priority had to be keeping his wife occupied: Michael, the house, driving lessons, the spa, the stables. Each time things began to slow down, AJ had come up with something else to keep Carly focused. And each time AJ came up with something, Emily benefitted. Emily's life had changed alot once Carly and AJ had hooked up. Because of the custody agreement that AJ and Jason had worked out she got Michael every Sunday when she went to mass with Jason and brought the baby back to AJ and Carly's house. AJ and Carly's house was another haven when the mansion got to be too chaotic. And AJ had tried to get Carly out of town every weekend when Michael was with Jason which meant she got to do alot of house sitting. Carly had been too scared to take driving lessons on her own, which meant she'd gone to lessons too. Because Carly went after the spa it had created an opening so that Emily could go after the Deception company. Emily wonders how she is going to benefit from the stables. Sure, she'd been on trailrides back in Arizona but had never really been horse crazy. They were beautiful, glorious animals but she was more than happy to admire them from afar. She didn't have the lust for them the way Carly and Rita did. "I'll probably end up learning how to drive a horse trailer." Emily muses aloud and smiles.
"Talking to yourself, Dear? I guess you've been spending too much time with your loony tune sister-in-law." Emily opens her eyes and then groans and closes them again. Just her luck. Katherine Bell.
"Katherine." Emily says resignedly but can't resist her own dig. "Nothing for you to do at the office?"
Katherine flushes at the reminder that she is now just a figurehead at Deception. This brat had ruined everything. To put it in ELQ terms, Ned had made her the vice president in charge of paperclips in her own company. On top of that Nikolas had dumped her. He'd put a nice face on it. But the possiblity of being named in a sexual descrimination lawsuit was enough to make his extremely private nature rebel. "It must be nice to have nothing better to do, than lounge around a spa. You really landed on your feet when the Quartermaines took in their own little matchgirl."
Emily grits her teeth. Yeah, she loved the Q's but not a day went by when she went by when she didn't miss her mother, or know that her current good fortune was built on her mother's pain and death. She'd give it all up to have her mother back and in good health. What a bitch. "I guess it's better than landing on your back which is the way that you made your fortune." Emily sits up and prepares to leave. Katherine brought out the absolute worst in her, and she really didn't like herself when she was around Katherine.
Katherine grabs her by the arm in a vicious grip. "What is that suppose to mean, you little bitch?"
"Just what I said. You really need to move on, Katherine. Move on somewhere where people don't know your history. Somewhere out there is someone that doesn't know what a golddigging, backstabbing, cradle robbing, social climbing Kenny you are, but it's not here in Port Charles. You've already made your way through most the rich available men and some of the unavailable ones as well; the rest of them know what poison you are. Now let go of my arm."
Katherine's grip tightens instead. "Edward really should take you in hand. You're completely out of control and lacking any kind of manners."
Emily wrenches her arm from Katherine's grip. "And who am I suppose to learn manners from? You? What a joke. The only thing I could learn from you is Hypocrisy and Sucking Up 101."
Katherine swings on Emily slapping her so hard that her head jerks around. Emily turns back to Katherine her hand at the side of her flaming face. Katherine realizes that she has gone to far. She still had Edward marginally in her corner but she'd allowed herself to be baited. "Don't expect an apology. You asked for that."
"I don't expect anything from you, Katherine except for you to continue to shoot yourself in the foot. Stay away from me and you'll stay healthy."
"What is that some kind of threat?" Katherine's eyes narrow. "Are you going to set your mobbed up brother on me? Jason likes me."
"Jason liked Robin, and for some reason Robin liked you-- or maybe she just put up with you because you were sleeping with her Uncle Mac. But you'll notice that all those statements were in the PAST tense. Jason isn't with Robin anymore, and you're not with Robin's Uncle Mac anymore. But no, you don't have to worry about Jason. How I deal with you is my choice and Jason respects that." Emily's eyes go hard. "I'll take care of you myself and you'll wish that it had been Jason. As disgusting as the thought is you seem to be able to pull the wool over men's eyes at least for a little while before they get smart but you've never been able to fool women. Haven't you learned yet to not underestimate me?" With that Emily stalks from the sauna leaving Katherine there to steam. She goes back to the dressing rooms and stands under an icy stinging shower. "Damn, damn , damn. I hate myself when I'm around that witch." A spa staff member tracks Emily down and takes her in for her massage. Emily's easy mood had been broken by her confrontation with Katherine. Something that the masseuse noted right off.
"You are a mass of knots." She comments a frown between her eyes. Normally the clients came from the sauna already a pool of jelly from the heat and steam.
"Katherine Bell." Emily mutters face down on the massage table.
The Masseuse's frown clears no further explanation necessary. "Enough said. Put her out of your head or all my hard work will be for naught. Things are much better now that Mrs Quartermaine is in charge here. Many wondered if perhaps it would be worse, afterall we do read the paper. But Carly has been so busy with her family and whatever she is building up the road that she just flies in and out of here to leave payroll and to pick up the books. Drops a million messages and ideas on the manager via email and is off to the next thing."
"Well her husband thinks that you all are keeping her out of trouble." Emily bites her lip and recalls what Carly had said in the steam room-- something about a plan in place to take down Ned if necessary. "I wonder what is keeping her busy now."
Meanwhile at General Hospital in the Volunteer Coordinator's office, there is a rap on the door and a deep voice replies to come on in. "How can I help you?"
"I'm on my break from college and was hoping to volunteer here. In fact, I was hoping it was something that I could continue doing come September once classes resume at PCU. I just declared myself a communications major. I was hoping to maybe get some experience with the fundraisers and public relations for the hospital."
"Possibly turn it into a practicum come fall?"
"Yeah, that is just what I was thinking. I've always admired the work done here at General Hospital. I'd love to be a part of it."
"Well why don't you fill out this application. It's a necessary requirement and then we can start looking for something that fits into your schedule."
"Right now my schedule is open." She takes the forms and sitting down begins to fill them out. Once the form is completed she hands it back to the coordinator. "I know that we weren't really formally introduced yesterday at my father's wedding; I hope we can rectify that now. Hi, my name is Victoria Porter, but you can call me Viki." Viki extends a hand.
The coordinator takes her hand and shakes it. "And I'm Nikolas Cassadine. Welcome aboard, Viki."
"Thanks. I know that I'll learn alot working closely with you."
hmmm I'm thinking that the next chapter is going to be Nik and Em's first meeting after Johnny interrupted them so rudely. But I'm open to suggestions. Deb