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The Triumph Of AJ Quartermaine
Chapter Eighty Six
okay readers-- think pulp fiction for a minute-- this is going to bounce all over the place at the start as each person gets to where they all meet up. Anne56 suggested that I get more into the characters' heads but I have trouble doing that since it reminds of the worst part of DooL-- people talking to themselves (shudder). But she also suggested that I show Katherine Bell Besieged and miserable. hmm that I think I can do or at least start to do in this chapter.
A Break from Insanity
(Friday at 3p ELQ Port Charles Headquarters.)
AJ gathers his homework and laptop from the office and tells his secretary that he'll be on his cell phone but not to call unless there is blood or mayhem, and Edward's doesn't count, as he is planning on getting Carly out of town for the weekend after dropping Michael off at Jason's. He'd already talked to Emily that morning about housesitting since it was her brilliant idea to bring Foster over to the Happy family house. His secretary had contacted the security company and caretaker of the plans. Hassan had already contacted Carly with a gem of an auction on Cape Cod that had Carly drooling and had set him to planning the getaway.
One of his school buddies that he had partied with throughout his time at boarding school had a family "cottage" on Cape Cod. Since the season hadn't started yet, AJ had been able to talk him into a discrete barter. No one would be able to trace where they were and the cell phone would be their only link. Well that wasn't quite true, Jerry would know since he was going to fly him and Carly. It was the only way to make the weekend worthwhile and not a total hassle of traveling and connections. The privacy had the added benefits of throwing off the press and stopping Jason from messing up the weekend away. Jerry was also planning on kidnapping Bobbie and Lucas. Jerry had contacted Audrey to make sure that Bobbie wasn't on the schedule for the weekend. It was a risk; Bobbie and Carly were iffy on the best day. But they wouldn't be staying together, Jerry had his own connections and had arranged accomodations for his own happy unit.
Port Charles Elementary School
After checking in at the front office with the principal, Jerry makes his way to Lucas' homeroom. The principal had gotten used to seeing Jerry, and Jerry was actually listed as an emergency contact. Something that he had never expected and still got him a little mushy when he thought about it. All the bags were packed and in the back of Bobbie's SUV. Jerry wants to be right there when School gets out to pick Lucas up and make his way to General Hospital to pick up Bobbie. Bobbie had talked about going antiquing with Carly but had never made the plans. Jerry had decided to take matters into his own hands. As the final bell rings, Lucas pops out of his seat and grins waving as he sees Jerry waiting outside the door. Jerry nods to the teacher, greeting her by name. Jerry slings Lucas's book bag to his shoulder and gingerly but swiftly makes his way to the front doors as a sea of children eddy around him and Lucas follows in his wake. Lucas had been in on the plan all along to kidnap his mother and had been bursting with the knowledge for days. Bobbie had suspected something was up but Lucas had held up under the bribes and motherly intimidation.
Happy family house.
Carly has the bags already packed for her and AJ. Sure it was only a weekend, but there is a bag for her, one for AJ and one for all the things that she planned on bringing back from the weekend. She'd already memorized the material that Hassan had faxed to her. It was highlighted with items that she wanted to check out. The study was mostly done. Now she was looking for the living room and the basement game room. She and Jordan had run all over town today getting everything set up in the house for him and Emily. Jordan protested staying at the house. Afterall he was supposed to be Carly's security but seeing as he was not making any headway with either Carly or AJ, he'd given in and instead made the best of the situation by planning the diversion that was going to get Carly and AJ out of town without alerting the press. Carly had informed Jordan while she was all for Emily getting out of the madhouse that was the Quartermaine Mansion there was no way she was going to let a teenager have free reign of the house. Knowing there was nothing left to do, Carly pours herself a cup of coffee and sits down at the kitchen table to review the business section of the Port Charles Herald and the Wallstreet Journal looking for the planted information on the Deception Spa.
Glancing down at his watch, AJ swears. He's already behind schedule. Michael was at the corporate daycare center on the ground floor as he was every Friday now. It made the transfer between AJ and Jason easier, and kept Carly out of the mix. Michael's weekend bag was packed and in the trunk of the waiting limo. AJ had already called Jason and found out that he'd be at the coffee warehouse. AJ exchanges pleasantries with the manager of the daycare while he greets Michael. Rushing from the building, he enters the limo waiting at the front doors giving the driver directions to the docks. The traffic gods evidently had approved the plan and within minutes AJ was in front of the Morgan/Corinthos coffee warehouse. Gathering Michael and his things, AJ enters the warehouse and makes his way to the upstairs office. With a few weeks practice the exchange is made smoothly with only a few barbs exchanged between AJ and Jason. AJ informs Jason he can be reached on the cell phone this weekend. AJ leaves before Jason can ask any questions and is on his way to the Happy family house to pick up Carly.
General Hospital 6th floor Nurses Station.
Bobbie is finishing up charting the end of her shift after checking the post op patients. Focused on her work, she is startled when strong arms surround her pulling her back against a rock hard chest. She shivers with delight as Jerry finds that spot right on the nape of her neck that drives her wild. Turning around in Jerry's arms she plants a smooch on him and seeing Lucas there greets him as well much to Lucas's dismay. Audrey looks on with a knowing little smile. She wishes Bobbie a General Hospital-free weekend taking the last charts from Bobbie and shoving her toward the elevators. Tony looks on from a nearby corridor as Jerry strides from the hospital Bobbie under one arm and his son under the other. Both Jerry and Lucas laugh as Bobbie tries to pump them for information. Tony grimaces and fumes.
Happy family house.
AJ has the limo driver pull around back away from the eyes of the press at the gate. He enters the kitchen to see Carly dancing around the kitchen. Laughing, he draws her attention. Carly throws her arms around him and laughs as well. She holds up the article in the Port Charles Herald about the spa's potential water problems. It was the first article she'd seen since she and Jordan had found the Meth lab. Katherine had evidently been blindsided by the writer and could only come up with a no comment. Having been the topic of press pressure for so long, Carly knows what's next. Like a pebble rolling down a mountain, this story was going to avalanche and bury Katherine. Hopefully it would also take the heat off them. The press was going to have fresh blood and Foster wasn't even going to have to bite anyone.
AJ frames Carly's face in his hands and plants a kiss on her that almost distracts him from their plans. Reluctantly pulling away, he races upstairs to change out of his business armor and into casual clothes. Carly rereads the article gleefully waiting for AJ to get back. Within minutes, AJ is back dressed in khakis and a pullover. He flips off the coffee maker as he passes it and gathering up the bags by the door he waits impatiently as Carly gathers their coats and opens the door to where the limo sits, its trunk already open ready to receive the bags. Tossing the bags into the trunk AJ slams it shut and slides into the back of the door, where Carly waits. Carly apologizes but can't resist she turns on the TV in the back of the limo. The water problem might actually be a big enough story for the local news to break into the soaps.
Port Charles Airport.
Bobbie had been pumping Jerry for information as soon as she saw that they were not heading home. Jerry's eyes had taken on a mischievious glint as he kept mum. Bobbie had turned in her seat to get the information out of Lucas only to find him ensconsed in his gameboy and walkman. With a harumph of disgust she had settled back in her seat only to resume the questioning as they arrived next to the small plane. Lucas looks up as the car comes to a halt. He unbuckles his seat belt dashing from the car to the open door of the plane. Bobbie protests half heartedly before turning to Jerry. He's already out of the car too and going to the back was unloading the luggage that Bobbie had been too busy to notice before. Bobbie looks in the sidemirror and sees the Limo pulling up behind them. Carly hops from the limo before the driver has a chance to open the door. Carly walks up to where Bobbie is still sitting in the car and leans in the open window. "Ready for Cape Cod, Mama?"
"Is that where we're going?" Bobbie rolls her eyes. "Jerry and Lucas have been keeping it a huge secret. They stole me away from the hospital as my shift was ending. How long have you known?"
"Ever since I got a fax from Hassan. I marked what I wanted on the auction program and AJ handled it from there." Carly looks around. AJ is helping Jerry load the luggage into the plane. "Come on, Mama. I think they just called our flight."
"You seem to be in an awfully good mood." Bobbie asks curiously.
"I think I finally got the press off the front gate." Carly explains gleefully. "They are now parked on Katherine Bell's. Michael is with Jason; Emily is housesitting. We're off to the beach. Where there is going to be a great auction where I might find something to add that *special* touch to the living room. What could be better?"
Bobbie unbuckles her seatbelt and as Carly steps back, climbs from the car. "You're absolutely right. What could be better? A Tony free weekend with Jerry and my kids. We're going to have a blast." Bobbie strings her arm through Carly's and they walk onto the plane.
AJ hands Jerry the last bag glancing over his shoulder even as he does so. "Well that seemed to go okay."
"So far so good." Jerry and AJ exchange a knowing glance. Jerry shuts the luggage compartment and directs AJ into the plane. Jerry starts doing his final ground check of the plane. Jerry finishes up his safety check and enters the plane shutting the door behind him. AJ is logged on checking his last minute emails from his secretary. Bobbie looks over the auction program that Carly had handed her. Carly's looking over her shoulder and pointing out the stuff she is interested in and what Hassan had highlighted for her. Lucas had already buckled in and got out his gameboy. Jerry makes his way to the cockpit and buckles himself in doing his preflight. He isn't surprised when Carly enters the cockpit and slides into the copilot's seat. "You read the paper today?"
"Oh yeah." Carly grins. "There was nothing in the Wallstreet Journal yet. AJ is looking at the Deception stock to see if there is any movement now."
"Getting kind of late in the day. Don't think that there will be any significant movement until Monday. The press has the weekend to get all over it." Jerry says absently focused on the instruments in front of him. Satisfied with the check, he calls the tower and requests taxi'ing information. Carly remains silent until they are in the air and winging their way to Cape Cod.
"If you were in Katherine's shoes what would you do?" Carly asks finally.
"Sell off the spa to protect Deception and get out from under the bad press then use the price drop to buy back the stock in the company. She could do okay with this. IF she buys the stock back she'll be protecting herself from outside raiders." Jerry strategizes.
"And if she doesn't, 'cause she is an idiot and she doesn't have a pro advising her?" Carly supposes.
"Then she'll sell the spa eventually but Deception will be weakened and vulnerable to anyone coming along to buy up blocks of cheap stock. Why? Are you getting greedy?"
Carly considers only momentarily. "Nah. Too much of a hassle. I don't want to run the darn thing and putting up with Katherine would not do my mental health any good."
Back at the happy family house Emily and Jordan are sitting at the kitchen table with the news on. Emily turns up the volume as she recognizes Katherine Bell. "Oh this is great." Emily says gleefully.
"Who is that?" Jordan asks absently scratching behind Foster's ears.
"THAT is Katherine Bell. It's going perfectly." Emily watches as Katherine struggles to keep her composure as she is battered with questions from the press. "She is trained in PR but you can tell that she's unprepared. She's not saying anything." Emily falls silent as she recognizes the man behind Katherine at the podium as she addresses the press-- Nik Cassadine. Nik steps in front of Katherine as her face flushes in fury and she is about to lose it. He takes over the press conference allowing Katherine to escape. "Damn."
"Seems you don't like Ms Bell either?" Jordan says curiously.
"She's a skank." Emily takes a deep breath. Her eyes narrow. So far Carly had been having all the fun but that wasn't going to stay that way. What would Carly do in this situation? Emily glances down at the newspaper Carly had left on the table in her hurry to leave. Edward Quartermaine's granddaughter she'd absorbed enough business, unwilling or not, to be able to read the stock page and find Deception's stock price as of close yesterday before the news had broke. "Jordan, I need to make a phone call to my cousin Ned. He manages my investment portfolio."
"You're fifteen; what are you doing with an investment portfolio?"
"Grandfather hates my modeling but he'd hate even more if I had spent every cent that I made modeling. Alan and Monica have me on an allowance. An allowance that they give me from their money. All of my money goes to the investment portfolio. The only say I had in it was picking who was going to manage it for me. That's my cousin, Ned." Emily finishes dialing the number to the gatehouse. "Ned, it's Emily. I want you to buy something for me.... Deception stock. The stock is going to fall big time on Monday.... How do I know? You might say I've got some inside information. If you can manage it-- enough stock to have Katherine squirming."
An unrepentent Jordan listens to Emily's side of the conversation. "You people are so weird."