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When Cassadines Fall ~ The Detour
Jerry had been wandering around the SeaTac Airport stretching his legs. The flight from Hawaii had been an easy one but he’d been the only pilot on board. So it had also been a long one even with autopilot. This early in the morning the airport is about as quiet as it gets with many of the stores just opening up for their cleaning crews. The Chows are still asleep on the plane; only Bobbie had been awake to come out into the terminal with him. AJ arranged another pilot to meet them in Seattle.
It would make the Chows acclamation smoother if he played cruise director for the last leg of the flight rather than pilot. Yuen’s English is still barer than basic. Once her husband had arrived on the island she’d been more involved in staying at the hospital with him than in going to her English classes. Harry is more comfortable writing in English than speaking it. Unfortunately, the hand broken during his confinement that had to be rebroken because it didn’t heal correctly is his writing hand. Grandma, Harry’s sister, had been trying to convert everyone to the joys of Perry Mason but had only managed to convert Leilani. There is going to be some major phone bills there with those two comparing notes. Maybe Maddy could arrange to get the Chows online.“Hello gorgeous.” Jerry growls in Bobbie’s ear and then nuzzles her neck in that ticklish spot that he’d found and couldn’t resist.
Bobbie brings her shoulders up to protect her neck and drops her cell phone in her purse. One of the reasons she’d been up so early was because she wanted to call home and let everyone know the ETA. Jerry had tried to make the trip to Hawaii another honeymoon and they had turned off cell phones and not even checked messages. All the communications had gone one way– from them out with no incoming calls or emails. It has seemed reasonable at the time. Considering her kids, the vacation wouldn’t have been restful trying to referee from 5000 miles away.
“Un oh.” Jerry slides into the seat next to Bobbie. “What happened? Or do I want to know?”
“Carly managed to get in a fight with your mother, AJ’s mother and Lucas. We’ve been gone for a couple weeks. I don’t want to even think what would happen if we’d made it the full three weeks we’d planned considering what we’d heard about Harry Chow’s condition.”
“Did you call her or did she call you?”
“Oh I finally checked my messages and there was one there from her, Lucas and Taggart.”
“ Taggart?”
“Oh yes, I returned his first because I thought he’d be the most objective. The fight Carly got in with your mother-- the police ended up being called. But don’t worry. Taggart says that there won’t be a Child Services Investigation.”
“What?!”
“Right. And Taggart agrees with Carly. It wasn’t her fault.”
“So it was my mum’s fault?” Jerry shakes his head in disbelief. Taggart always took Carly’s side even if he made noise to the opposite direction. It’s easier than fighting with her.
“No.” Bobbie picks up her purse and puts it in her lap and hugs the straps tight with both hands. Because if she didn’t then she’d be wrapping her hands around her husband’s throat. “No, this is all your fault.”
“Love, I’ve done many things but I have an alibi for this one. I was with you.”
“Right, leaving Lucas in charge. OH not AJ or Jax or your father but Lucas. So when Jax and your father go out of town and leave Lady Jane to fend for herself of course Lucas is going to jump right in and take care of things because hey! He’s in charge.”
“So far I’m not seeing a problem.” Jerry shrugs.
“He skipped school. He took Lulu with him. He didn’t tell anyone where he was going. And when Carly showed up at your mother’s house, with a police escort I might add, they were having a TEA PARTY.”
“It was probably hot chocolate.”
“JERRY!”
“Let me have the phone I’ll call Lady Jane.” Jerry sighs. Bobbie hands the phone over and Jerry dials his parents’ house in Port Charles. “Mum? It’s Jere. Hear you’ve had some excitement while we’ve been gone.”
Lady Jane is quick to defend and doesn’t beat around the bush even though just to be on the safe side and to not get her grandson in trouble she doesn’t go into specifics. “Now not a bit of it was Lucas’ fault, Jere. Well maybe a bit. But just a bit. And he’s been quite punished. Carly ripped him a good one and when she finished then AJ told him another incident of going walkabout that he’d have the Vet up at Carly’s stables install one of those chips they put in prize poodles. And he hasn’t been allowed to ride at all but been slaving up at the stables and watching the Judge’s daughter get all the riding time. Carly’s been ever so stern with him.”
“I only beat the lad on every other Sunday, Lady Jane.” Jerry teases but he rolls his eyes at his mother’s quick defense of her new grandchild-- actually both of them since she hasn’t really said that Carly had been unreasonable either. “I’m surprised Carly and AJ were calm enough to lay down the law so quickly. Normally Carly has to blow and then get reasonable.”
“Well yes, She didn’t say a word for the first night.”
Jerry frowns. “Did Lucas tell you that?”
“Oh no, Jere, I was there. I spent the night at the Happy Family House. Just until your father got back from New York the next day.” There is an almost gleeful note in Lady Jane’s voice. “Unfortunately everything happened on a Friday so Little Michael was over at Jason’s house. Jere? Jerry? Are you still there?”
Jerry has his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone as he finally gets his voice back. “Barbara, how about you and me go live in Hawaii? We could just turn around from here. AJ has already sent a pilot.”
Evidently he didn’t have his hand totally covering the mouthpiece. “Jerrold Jacks, don’t you even joke about such a thing. You’re needed here straight away!”
“There is something else?” Jerry’s asks in disbelief. “What the hell else?”
“Stefan Cassadine bought Madeliene some killer dog. And I mean literally a killer. It’s trained to rip apart any threat to Maddy. Jax is sure that the dog has probably been trained to go after anything that smells like a Jacks. He has a video tape of this dog attacking a policeman. It’s like a cross between a wolf and a yeti. It dragged Madeliene to the ground and then ripped the padding right off the policeman.”
Jerry lets out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “The policeman was wearing pads.”
“Well yes. It was a training exercise.” Jane admits. “But the dog is dangerous and huge. Jax says that he never would have let the dog on the plane if he’d known how dangerous it is.”
“Mum, I thought you said Cassadine got the dog for Madeliene? What does Jax have to do with this?”
“Well yes, he did, but Jax flew Stefan and Dr Ryan over to Poland and back to pick the dog up.”
Jerry closes his eyes. He can feel a headache coming on. Just then there is the sound of a pills being tapped from a bottle and then placed in the middle of his hand. “Thanks Luv.” Jerry doesn’t even look at them just swallows them dry. He doesn’t care what they are– arsenic would be welcome at this point. “Lady Jane, we’ll be back in Port Charles in the morning.”
“That’ll be lovely. I’ll let your father know and we can get together for lunch or something after you’ve recovered from your trip.”
“Right. Bye, Lady Jane.”
“Take Care, Jere and give my love to Bobbie.” Jane Jacks hangs up the phone.
Bobbie looks at Jerry curiously. “Stefan gave Maddy a dog?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I could talk to Stefan if you like.” Bobbie offers sweetly, a little too sweetly. Jerry gives his wife a look that has Bobbie not saying a word but it doesn’t stop her from giving a little smile. This time its his child who is causing the ruckus. Not just hers. Bobbie grabs the Vogue magazine out of the bag and starts thumbing thru it.
Jerry grabs the magazine out of her hand and whistles. “Now I bet that had the fur flying over at the Quartermaines.” He turns the magazine around so that Bobbie can see the cover with Emily on it.
Bobbie’s eyes go wide. “Okay Carly fighting with Monica just started to make more sense. Not that either of them need a reason but it appears its more than just Emily’s eighteenth birthday party.”
“Hullo? Is anyone here?” After a quick knock on the door, a clear feminine voice calls out.
“They’re not open yet.” A voice calls from the back. Nikolas walks out of the backroom. Most of his contribution is done on this project. Maddy could finish this up herself. Hell Li could finish this herself. It’s more putting things away than it was having to converse with anyone. Nik is not particularly cordial to the caller. Louise down the block is one thing but this a busybody with a totally different agenda. “Mrs Jacks.”
“Please call me Jane.” Jane smiles at the young man that is the biggest roadblock to her granddaughter. “I thought you and Madeliene might want to know that I spoke to Jerry and they are going to be back tomorrow... probably tonight. It’s a good thing everything seems about done here. I have no idea if Jerry has called anyone about where the Missionary is going to be staying if it is with family or a hotel.” Lady Jane shrugs.
“The Chows have an apartment in the neighborhood. Maddy and I have nothing to do with that. Queen of Angels is handling all the details, Mrs Jacks. You may contact Father Frank if you have any further questions.” Nikolas’ tone is quietly and politely dismissive.
“I thought that perhaps Madeliene would be here.”
“No.”
“I was really hoping to get to see Maddy’s new dog. Jax and V were quite impressed with him on the trip back from Europe.” Lady Jane tries another angle.
It’s really not in his nature to be impolite. “V has been very helpful with suggestions of improvements to the property to increase Mir’s security.” He’d had to steal the notes that Maddy made and make copies of them to give to Larry for the needed upgrades As Soon As Possible. The work is being done while Mir is out on rounds with Maddy; all workers are off the grounds before Maddy returned from her route. It’s going to be a pattern from here on out for anyone doing work in or around Wyndemere Lite even the neighborhood boys with their snowblowing business. “Maddy will not be returning anytime soon. In addition to her normal routine she has an appointment with my uncle.”
Elizabeth brings Lucky a cup of coffee. She wafts it under his nose. It was either this or ribs but Lucky has to be awake this morning. Nikolas is down at the store. Maddy is out on rounds. She has to take Grandma Lesley to the Elm St Clinic before going to PCU for class. Lesley is keeping it quiet but the trip to the clinic is supposedly to work but hopefully to get the final cast removed. Lucky’s grandmother wants to be out of the cast before the next Ladies Night at Luke’s.
“Elizabeth?” Lucky’s voice is sleepy.
“Sorry, Lucky.” Liz wraps Lucky’s hand around the cup. “I thought you were going to stay up all night. You came to bed early before I could tell you about today.”
“Why are you doing this to me?!” Lucky practically buries his face in the coffee taking a quick slurp and then waiting for his tongue to cool off before taking another. Only then does the dazed and confused fog leave his brain.
“I have to go and you need to be awake because they are installing the remotes and the new gate for the back”
“Waste of money.” Lucky mutters. “I could have done it myself.”
“I know. But between that and fixing up a part of the garage so that the boys can get access to the snowblower and other tools without cutting thru the yard. I know Maddy introduced the boys to Mir but it would still be better to really keep things separate until Mir gets used to Port Charles.”
“Something is changing every f’ing day.” Lucky protests. “That dog will never get used to Port Charles. Barks at every f’ing thing. Comes back and there is a new gate. As soon as spring rolls around the landscapers are going to hit this place like ants at a picnic. I got more sleep when we were living over the motorcycle shop!”
“Quit whining, Lucky. It’s very unattractive.” Lesley says from the doorway. She’d gotten tired of waiting for Elizabeth up at the house and walked down to see what the delay. “Sucks to be a daysleeper but that’s your choice, Lucky.” It’s not like her grandson needs the money. Lucky had always been a daysleeper by inclination and then getting suddenly rich had allowed him to continue that pattern. Lucky could afford to only take classes in the afternoon or at night. Hell he could afford to take whatever class he wanted and screw the concept of core classes to get a degree.
“Sorry Grandmother.” Lucky says sheepishly.
“Nikolas is down at the corner store and then will be going to the hospital. Maddy is on her rounds and then has a chess match with Stefan. The contractor is arriving with a crew of jackhammers to get this ridiculous gate put in. In February.” Lesley shakes her head. A sane person would have waited for spring. “There. You’re up to speed. Elizabeth, lets go we’ve got places to be.” Lesley goes back down the stairs carefully hanging on to the railing with her good hand.
“Got to go.” Elizabeth gives him a kiss. “I’ll see you later. Oh and you’ve got dinner tonight.” Elizabeth grabs her bag and races down the stairs.
“Damn. I have got to get an outside job.” Lucky mutters. “Nobody respects a guy’s REM time around here.”
Stefan waits as Maddy introduces Mir to the solarium at Wyndemere. The rug that Cinnamon had laid on has been replaced with a much bigger rug. After Mir does a perimeter check he goes to the rug and circles three times and then lays down. He watches Maddy to see what is going on now and if they were going to be staying long enough for him to take a nap. Since Mrs Lansbury was there when they arrived, Mir just watches her comings and goings with interest but he doesn’t announce them.
“I was expecting to hear from you before now.” Stefan opens the conversation and the game as soon as Maddy is seated and he takes the chair across from her.
“I bet you were.” Maddy counters.
“You have been avoiding me.”
“Yep. You going to move or talk?” Maddy demands.
Stefan studies the board and makes his second move. “My sister came to see me about Mir.”
Maddy pauses in her second move. “Why would she give a rip if you gave me a pony?”
“She had possession of a tape, a video tape.”
“How did she... oh right. V works for her.”
“The tape was... very disturbing.”
“I’m not having Mir put down.” Maddy finishes her move and waits for Stefan to counter. “And yeah, I figure you were probably trying to threaten me and you weren’t serious when you said you were going to have Mir put down then. Just trying to box me in to what you wanted to do.”
“Needs have changed.”
“Not really.” Maddy leaves it there waiting for Stefan’s move. “And frankly, Candy likes the idea of nobody just dropping by unannounced. I think it’s all the tunnels and servants that this place has. Someone can just pop up out of nowhere. I don’t think that will be happening around Mir.”
“You should have been consulted at every juncture.” Stefan admits.
“Oh yeah.”
“The tape was very disturbing.” Stefan repeats.
“I bet. I thought I was going to end up in a cast that looks like Granny Lesley’s.” Maddy agrees. “But I didn’t. Lulu has been missing a dog since Foster went to go live with Carly. She’s more used to big dogs that I am... was.” Stefan blanches at that. “It’s a good thing this happened during the winter. No big worries about Lulu having friends over and playing in the yard.” Maddy shrugs. “And Mir seems to like tea parties and napping while being used as a pillow when Kim Possible is on. But it’s back to school for me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Obedience school.” Maddy says wryly. “It was one of V’s suggestions so that Mir and I can get comfortable with each other and what he can do. He’s already trained. I am not.”
“I will of course...” Stefan stops as Maddy is shaking her head.
“Granny Lesley has already said she is paying for the classes. V’s friend Officer Owen is going to come over to the house and give all of us lessons. First it was going to be just me but then Elizabeth figured she’d better sit in on a few as well. Evidently it takes a village to raise an Ovcharka.” Maddy rolls her eyes.
Stefan changes the subject slightly. “Alexis was not alone when she brought the tape.”
“Oh?”
“Your aunt was with her as well.”
“You’re kidding!” Maddy shakes her head in disbelief. “My aunt wants my dog to be put down too?!”
“Actually no. Both Alexis and Dara argued for the dog despite the tape.”
“Weird.”
“That they would argue for the dog?”
“No, that they’d agree– on anything.” Maddy grins at her frequent opponent. “It’s your move.”
