When Cassadines Fall ~ The Detour

6 months in four days

Wednesday

"I got him." It’s a good thing that AJ had answered the phone otherwise the first words from the caller would have been lost against the bedroom wall where all clocks, phones and noise makers go if Carly has first crack at them. As it is the caller’s words are slurred.

"Got who?" AJ asks sleepily. He glances over at the clock. It’s 4am. He sits up and rubs his eyes.

"The Chef. Found a guy here in DC. As soon as Carly got word to me yesterday. Me and the old Man made the round of DuPont Circle. Up and comer. Might even get him to stay if you want to add another restaurant to the Port Charles Hotel." There is a pause as Jerry pauses to take a drink of a beverage he doesn’t really need.

"Who is it, AJ?" Carly asks sleepily.

"It’s Jerry. He found your Chef."

She’s wide awake now. Carly grabs the phone away from AJ. "I thought you were going to have to go to New York, or Toronto or something. How did you find someone right there?!"

"You told me Saturday. Gimme five weeks and I’ll get you the best in the world. Gimme five days and you’re going to get the best who isn’t doing something else this weekend." Jerry gives Carly the quick reality check but then eases her mind. "He’s good, Girl."

"If you say he’s good." Carly sighs. It’s actually a huge weight off her mind. "When are you going to be back and what do they need?"

"They’ll be bringing most of it. It’ll be the Chef and four of his chef-ettes."

"I don’t think that’s what they are called."

"Me neither but it’s four am and I’m drunk."

"Oh. Right." Carly looks at the clock. Jerry needs to get some sleep if he’s going to be able to fly today. "Em has already talked to Johnny about helping with any supplies if they forget anything once they get here so thanks, Jere. Let us know what time you want to be picked up at the airport."

"Right." Jerry hangs up.

All of the students are focused on the instructor as if every word is gold. These are the folks that are serious about the American Dream and the old school belief that their families hopes and dreams are resting on their shoulders. So there is a huge jump as Carly raps on the door and walks to the front of the classroom promptly at 8am.

"I’m sorry for interrupting. But I need to get one of your students. Hey Li!" Carly waves in Li’s direction. "I know she probably didn’t tell you but she is getting married this Saturday to my brother in law, Jason Morgan, and she really needs to be doing things like getting a wedding dress and having some photos taken."

"You’re disturbing my lecture."

"I get that a lot. Not normally when I’m in this condition." Carly pats her protruding belly. "You are all invited to the wedding banquet. It will be at the Port Charles hotel. Li will have more details as they become available." Carly goes up to the board and writes— RSVP and her phone number up at the stables. "We’re going to be running around like crazy people for the next 4 days so just leave a message saying if it’s going to be just you or if you’re bring a date. And we’ll see you all there." Carly smiles at the instructor and then at the class. "And now Li and I will be going."

Li is shaking her head in disbelief but packs up her books and materials to the offers of excited congratulations all over the room. "I apologize." She says sincerely to the teacher as Carly waits at the doorway for her. "They call her Hurricane."

"This I believe." The instructor laughs. "Consider this extra credit. Make notes of everything that happens, how it was handled. And how much of it you handled."

Once out in the hallway, "Jerry called early this morning. He has the chef for the banquet. So we’re good to go. I know that Jason is supposed to be in charge of this or rather his family is but if this is going to be something that impresses your folks you’re going to have to let me know if I start heading down the wrong way. The only thing I know about Wedding Banquet is watching the movie last night over at Maddy’s place and some net research. But we’ve got the full team on this: Me, Emily, Maddy and even Elizabeth is going to pitch in. Basically the ladies night crew is coming thru."

Li keeps up with what Carly is saying mostly. "Jason and I talked to Father Frank this morning before school. He will marry us but simple– nothing to draw attention."

"Ha! That will be a nice trick after we get done with the banquet." Carly strides out to the waiting van. She slides open the back door. Emily is on her cell phone with a notebook on her lap and making frantic notes. Elizabeth is riding shotgun and Maddy is in the drivers seat. "If you guys would postpone this until after I have the baby, and finish getting my license I could fly us down to New York."

"That’s a lot of ifs and whens, Carly." Maddy suggests watching her passengers from the rear view mirror until they are all buckled in. "Besides I don’t think anyone wants to be the first people to get in an airplane with you flying it."

Emily hangs up the phone before Carly can make a snappy comeback. "I’ve got appointments lined up for the outdoor and studio photography. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some pictures out of that will work for the pictures at the banquet. It’s going to cost the earth to get these done. And I know they are going to laugh in our faces when we say we want the negatives by tomorrow when we leave."

"What about Winslow?" Elizabeth asks.

"They aren’t giving any info out at his studio. That Vogue spread is messing everything up. He’s The Guy right now. What I did get from the rep, and only cause I’m the model in those photos is that he’s not coming into the studio today... he’s working at home."

"Oh that’s not going to work." Carly complains. "We need to talk to him today."

"Call Jason." Maddy suggests. "I’m sure that he tracked down all the info on Winslow when you were kidnapped, Em. I bet he has the guy’s home address, phone number and shoe size for the cement boots."

Em grabs her cell phone and hits a preset.

"I don’t have it with me, Em." Jason answers absently. "I’ll have the information back to you before you arrive in New York City. Right. Don’t let Carly go overboard. Li’s freaked out enough as it is." Jason hangs up. He looks at his watch. The jewelry store will be opening up especially for them in about ten minutes at 8:30am. This is a place that had been recommended by Benny. Benny knew jewelry. Or rather his wife knows jewelry and had called ahead for them.

"Carly going overboard?" Sonny asks Jason. "You were just about to tell me about the proposal and Carly throwing a vase at your head?"

"Yeah, Carly is pissed. She thinks I should have taken Li out to a nice dinner proposed over dessert. Big Rock she said."

"Where did you propose?"

"The grocery store."

Sonny winces. "Well it gets points for originality, I guess."

"Yeah, whatever. Benny’s wife says that I need to get an engagement ring, wedding bands, a present for Li probably a necklace and a present for her mother." Jason consults the handwritten list.

"And a present for your best man but I’ll pick that out myself." Sonny grins. "You still have to be fitted for a tux."

Jason flinches. "Can’t they just use the measurements from when I was running things? Carly made me buy a bunch of suits I haven’t worn since."

"Well it’s a start." Sonny shrugs. "When you call Em back with the info she wanted you may want her to call Wyndams see what they have on the rack."

Maddy and Elizabeth arrive at the CEO’s office of ELQ promptly at 9am. Michael and AJ are keeping each other company until he takes Michael down to the daycare center so he can get some work done.

"Carly said Jerry found a chef?"

"Yep. Should be flying in this afternoon. Already made reservations for them at the Port Charles Hotel starting as soon as they arrive" AJ nods. I’ve reserved every room that wasn’t already reserved for this weekend. So there is plenty of rooms for the out of towners. The concierge is expecting you to go through the storerooms and the banquet hall to see what is needed there."

"Yeah, if we can get the invitations out." Elizabeth mutters. "This is going to suck if we have everything but nobody filling the seats. Miss Manners says you are supposed to mail out the invitations six weeks in advance to give the guest a month to RSVP. Not overnight."

AJ holds up a data cd. "This is the ELQ list of bigwigs. The extended family... we can only hope that you will lose Aunt Tracy’s invitation. I wouldn’t mind having Dillon at the wedding but we want the Chows to like us– Tracy would be pushing it. Dad got hold of Lucy Coe last night and had her email over her master list for the Nurses ball. That would be all the movers and shakers for Port Charles as well as the major players at General Hospital. You’re going to have to ask Jason for his list. Em already give you her list?"

Liz nods. "Hers is the church list though so it can’t go out until after the Chows know."

"I thought this was supposed to be a big surprise." AJ looks at the two girls with a frown.

"Jerry called Carly and confirmed it with Li. Someone from the Q’s basically needs to ask the Chows for Li’s hand in marriage. It’s kinda old school but considering everything else that is going on... it would make it more likely that the Chows will show up for the party." Maddy fills AJ in on the last minute development. "Miz Lila already had a plan to see Mrs. Chow. It was supposed to be for Ladies Night this Thursday but I think there will be a change in agenda." Maddy fills AJ in on the last minute change.

They would have been there sooner but they’d run into traffic as it is they are already pushing 11am. Emily consults the address that Jason gave her and then announces they are there. Together Emily, Carly and Li talk their way past the doorman and up to Gary Winslow’s apartment.

"You think he warned him?" Emily worries as the elevator goes up.

"After the way you were toyin with the doorman? I don’t think so." Carly watches the floors clicking off. "And if he does..." Carly shrugs. "He’ll open the door."

Li shakes her head. "Should call. Is rude."

"We did call..." Em counters. ... the office. "Gary won’t mind." I hope. Once at the right floor and the right apartment, Emily takes the lead position so she is the person seen thru the peephole. She rings the doorbell. Eventually the door is opened by a disheveled man dressed in pj bottoms and a robe. It’s clear they have woken him up.

"Emily Quartermaine? What the hell?"

"Tried to call you at the studio but they said you were working here today. I need a big favor. Huge. My brother is getting married."

"That’s nice." Gary retreats back into his apartment and leaves the door open knowing that the women will be following him. He goes into the tiny kitchen and puts on a kettle to make coffee. "You need me to make you a dress? No problem I owe you for coming thru for me."

"Well I may take you up on that one but it’s bigger than that. This is Li."

"Nice to meet you." Gary nods in the direction of the petite woman.

"The bride. Who is getting married this Saturday."

"Did you say This Saturday?!"

"Yeah." Carly smiles. She’s got a pretty good idea what the designer is thinking. "And yes, we do know how long it takes to plan a wedding, to get a wedding dress properly done. Take that and throw it out the window. Everything is going down on Saturday. Jason won’t care if Li walks down the aisle stark nekkid."

"This is my sister-in- law, Carly." Emily does a belated introduction. "I told you about her."

"Well that’s sweet but I’m glad more people don’t feel that way." Gary snorts. He shakes his head. "Em, there is no freaking way. Designing a dress would take weeks, making it... who knows how long. It depends on the materials. And anything that I have on hand would look like a cut down, hand me down. And it is not leaving my shop with my name on it."

"We figured as much." Em sighs. "But it was worth a shot. We were at least hoping you’d have an idea of which way to turn to get things. I know we’re probably going to end up over at David’s Bridal trying to find something that almost fits and doesn’t overwhelm Li. We were just hoping to maybe borrow a seamstress or two or twelve who would want to earn some extra money doing alterations. Cause you know it’s going to need major alterations."

Gary winces at the mention of David’s Bridal. It’s like the Wal-Mart of wedding dresses. He looks at Li. "Stand up and take off your coat."

Li looks at Carly, her eyes going wide and recoils as if slapped. Carly winces. Gary probably didn’t mean any harm but considering Li’s history that order was too much like something out of her past.

"It’s okay." Emily tells Li reassuringly. "He’s just rude. He doesn’t mean anything by it." She leans over and smacks Gary in the arm. "Don’t be a son of a bitch. She’s freaked out enough as it is."

"Sorry." Gary says without meaning a word of it. Because Li came to his place with Emily he’s already got it in his head that she is a model, not a client and his diplomatic skills are nonexistent in either case. "I just need to know what you’re working with." Li stands up and takes off her coat. Gary starts walking around her slowly examining and critiquing. "So fucking tiny. No hips. No chest to speak of. Stay away from strapless she’ll have to be taped into it or it will fall off. Hair up. Long neck. Nothing puffy or she’ll look one of those crochet toilet paper covers." Emily starts taking notes on a pad that Gary has on his dinette table. Gary grabs the pad from her and starts sketching. He’s already in another world.

Carly goes over to the kettle when it starts to hiss and finishes making the French press style coffee. She sniffs the strong aroma of the coffee but doesn’t pour a cup for herself rather cups for Em, Li and Gary. Gary’s grows cold while they wait. Em starts to worry because she has appointments scheduled in the afternoon at the photography studios as well as some wedding boutiques.

Gary tosses the artist pad down on the table. "It’s rough but it’ll give you some ideas."

"Damn. You are good." Carly draws it out. "Li, what do you think?"

"It is very beautiful."

"Yeah, and you aren’t going to get it unless you’re willing to wait about three months." Gary takes a sip of the cold coffee and grimaces. "So you have to be looking for the things that will be flattering. "Queen Anne neckline– high in back and sweetheart neckline. Maybe some bell sleeves if you can get it in light weight fabric or lace. Those are going to be hard to alter. Maybe go with a sleeveless and have the bell sleeves added after. Might be able to do that on alteration." He mutters to himself. Gary turns to Em. "And for Gawd sake get her some shoes. Something that will at least bring her up to the petite range rather than having anyone accuse your brother of going for the child bride."

Carly decides to get impulsive. "We’ve got a limo waiting. Do you want to go with us?"

Gary groans. Sure he was supposed to be working but actually he’d been working 20 hour days since the Vogue magazine hit. This is his first day off in weeks. "Yeah, sure whatever." He drags himself out of the chair and to back to his bedroom to change.

"I need something to eat or I’m going to pass out." Elizabeth tells Maddy as they walk back to the van after finishing up with the concierge of the Port Charles Hotel. It is just after noon but they’ve been going all day. Because of the kiosks and the way the wedding tasks had been split the night before both of them had been up either way late or way too early.

"Yeah, I’m there with you." Maddy looks at her watch. "And as much as I don’t want to cook. We should probably head back to the house. There will hopefully be some information there for us. And poor Mir has been stuck at home two days in a row. He’s going to start eating the house."

"Or Lucky’s going to shoot him." Elizabeth agrees. "He yowls when you’re not around. His comfort zone is either with you or in the van. Not alone at the house. And he takes possession of Lucky’s truck whenever anyone lets him out of the house. He likes standing on top of it."

"I think it’s a high ground thing. He can see me coming better if he can get a good angle. Cinnamon is such a guy’s dog. When I wasn’t around she was happy to be with Nikolas. Mir is definitely my dog." Maddy nods. "We’re going to have to take him with us this afternoon. We shouldn’t be in one place longer than ten or fifteen minutes."

"You ever think how unfair it is? I mean Carly and Em are off shopping for wedding dresses and we’re doing the whole rest of the banquet?"

"Oh hell no." Maddy disagrees. "Those costumes of my mother’s that are upstairs at Nik’s? She’d start designing the next years on Ash Wednesday as soon as she woke up and had a little hair of the dog that bit her to get over the hangover. It would take a year to get things just the way she liked. Sure she was distracted by other things along the way but she’d be sketching for months before settling on something. Granny Sophia gave Aunt Dara some of Mama’s sketch books after the funeral. There were plenty to go around. Then it would be just the right fabric. Just the right beads or feathers. Everything had to be just so. And you know a wedding dress would be just like that too. Which is stupid. I mean a dress you are going to wear once. Gimme a pair of boots instead. We’re going to be able to make the place look great. No matter what they get as far as a wedding dress it isn’t going to be perfect. It’s going to be what they settled on."

"Ouch. You’ve got a point." Elizabeth sighs. "Well we know the cake will be great anyway."

"So do you have one?"

"One what?"

"A dream wedding scrap book?" Maddy looks at Elizabeth out of the corner of her eye.

"Of course not." Elizabeth dismisses the question just a little too quickly.

Oh yeah you do. Maddy grins.

Elizabeth flushes knowing that she’d been suckered by Maddy but decides to gut it out. "So what faxes are you expecting?"

"I didn’t know places like this existed." Carly tells Gary Winslow as they sit together waiting for Li to come out of the dressing room. It’s about three pm Li had her makeup professionally done. And there were a number of dresses that had been picked out that she is going to be photographed in. "After I have the baby maybe I should come back here and get my wedding pictures done. My husband and I eloped."

"You said money is no object. Here you can get your picture taken in a $30,000 gown without having to pay the 30G." Gary shrugs. "And that you were looking for some photos to put up at the banquet. I might have only been out on my own for awhile but before that I was apprenticed under another designer. And I’ve been in New York City since birth. The best chance of actually finding a gown that fits would be in Chinatown."

"Oh just to give you a heads up. I know Em won’t mention it because the total focus is on Li right now but Em’s boyfriend proposed to her yesterday."

"That little sneak! She didn’t mention a thing."

"She’s giving him time to realize what he said because it kinda slipped out. He was very automatic about it. Like it’s been running on a tape in his head for awhile now. All * when we get married* but it was the first time he has ever mentioned marriage around Em. So it might be a slip but it’s still a very big deal."

"She’s a prize."

"She is." Carly agrees. "So you might start sketching for her now."

Gary comes to his feet when Li comes out of the dressing room. This dress had been the closest one to his sketch. It’s about a size too big and about 6 inches too long but there were tricks that he and Emily knew from photo shoots to make this dress look perfect in pictures. Em had already started by clothes pinning Li into the dress. That would never work for a real wedding dress since the view most people got of a wedding dress is the back. Gary holds his hands up so that Li stands still and slowly walks around her. He fixes the veil, adjusts the headband a little. Looks at her straight on. "Em?"

"Yeah?" Emily comes out of the dressing room.

"Pearl earrings and bracelet."

Emily goes back into the dressing room and grabs her prop bag. She sorts thru her jewelry and comes up with something she thinks will work. It’s actually a pearl necklace but Li could wrap it around her wrist twice. "Here." She helps Li finish getting ready and then escorts her over to the *outdoor scenes* where Li would be photographed. The last thing anyone needed to do is have a real outdoor shoot in February.

"How good are you?" Gary asks Carly as he sits back down next to her.

Carly laughs and pats her stomach. "I’m a well married woman, Mr. Winslow."

"I can make that dress work. If you can get them to sell it to you."

"Oh well. I thought you were going to ask for something hard." Carly strings her purse up on her shoulder and goes in search of the manager.

Jerry pulls into the private terminal at the Port Charles Airport at 4pm. It’s a good thing it’s the ELQ plane rather than his own since the Chef and his crew had been chain smoking since they left DC. Only stopping during takeoff and landing. There had even been a period of time when Edward had been almost pleading to take the copilot’s seat. It’s not like he was having much luck communicating with the Chef and crew.

True to the previous arrangements there are a couple of cars ready and waiting for them. Edward is heading straight back to the mansion. Jerry would be getting the chef and his staff familiar with the Port Charles Hotel, the bar and their rooms. He has no idea if these guys need less sleep than he does, or got more sleep while he was making arrangements. But the Chef looks like he’s ready to party all over again. Carly is so going to owe him for this one. Jerry sees Edward making a break for the waiting limo. "Have your better half give me a call. There are just a couple of points that she needs to cover when she meets with the Chows."

"Right. Right." Edward waves a hand and jaunts off to the limo. Things couldn’t be any better if he had planned it himself. Hell! He had planned it himself. There is a little skip in his step as he climbs into the back of the limo. "Home." He tells the limo driver and then puts up the glass. He pulls out his phone and hits the number one on the preset. "Lila, darling, it’s your honey bear. We did it!"

Jerry watches the limo pull away. "That old fart is going to take credit for this." Turning around to the chinese contingency he puts on a welcoming face. "Gentlemen, your ride awaits. Lets get business out of the way so we can get the party started." Jerry claps the head chef on the back in a friendly fashion. "There is a reason I settled in this town and it isn’t just the gorgeous women."

Luckily it is Nik’s night to cook so the crockpot is right there bubbling away at 6pm. Crockpot is great for the winter and they’d all gotten creative with it... with varying degrees of success. But as soon as Spring rolls around the crockpot would be going into the kitchen pantry and probably not seen again for six months. Even sick of it as they are all getting you couldn’t beat the advantages. Elizabeth and Maddy sit at the kitchen table with portions of a warm stew in front of them, taking bites as they multitask on other things. Elizabeth has some reading for school that she really needs to get done and it offers a nice break from the wedding pressures. Maddy is doing the skim of the journals Nik had picked up for her when he did the evening rounds and seeing if there is anything special she needs for the kiosks.

"Johnny wants us to stop by his place about the cake. He left a note with Ciela so it must not have been an emergency. Since Em is in New York with Carly and Li over night he is going to get the cake done so he’ll just have to worry about the decorations closer to the wedding. He also asked if he could be any help with the menu– since he has the food connections around here." Maddy reads aloud.

Elizabeth shuts her school book. Sorry school but a wedding like this only comes around once, hopefully only once, in a lifetime. Something like this should take a year, six months minimum and they were trying to squeeze it in, in less than a week? "Well that is something going right." Elizabeth nods.

"Did I hear something about something going right?" Lucky comes into the kitchen and sniffing at the air heads toward the food even as he drops a disk and folder in between Maddy and Liz.

"What’s this?" Elizabeth asks even as she reaches for it.

"Merge/purge on all the lists you gave me– to make a master list." Lucky dishes up. He pulls up a seat next to Elizabeth. "There is a print out there too. Three mock ups. English Invitation. Chinese Invitation and the Wedding announcement. Merge purge is actually sorted by Zip code with the closest ones on top. Those are the folks that you have the most chance of getting their butt in a seat. Got the 24 hour printing place ready to go just need to know where the split is between invitation and announcement."

Maddy takes the hard copy of the disc and runs down thru the names. Most of the people that would do the most impressing for the Chows are in the right zip code. She examines the top 200 names and then draws a line. "Here. If some of them don’t come then damn. If all of them come then we’re screwed."

"It’s three days to the wedding. They won’t all come."

"It’s Jason Morgan." Maddy reminds playing the devil’s advocate.

"True. Maybe some of them won’t come." Liz winces. It’s getting more and more unlikely. The only way she wouldn’t come to this wedding would be if she didn’t get the invitation until after the wedding itself. But then hell she’d crashed Sonny and Brenda’s aborted wedding. It was practically hers and Lucky’s first date.

She looks at the card stock samples. The ivory and silver for the western style invitations and the red and gold for the Asian style. The front of the Asian invitations have a gold symbol that she found out doing her research meant double happiness. The perfect symbol for a wedding. "They’ll be able to do both of these?"

"Yep. And for the right amount of money they will stuff them, stamp them or hand them off to the delivery service."

"Miss Manners says you’re supposed to hand address the envelopes." Elizabeth protests.

"I don’t care if Martha Stewart say it’s a must. It’s not going to happen, Babe." Lucky is already shaking his head emphatically. "But I’ll let you pick the font for the envelopes. I’ve got some that at least look like cursive. I’m more worried about getting the Chinese invitations out in time. They’re the guests that are going to cement things with the Chows."

Maddy bites her lip as she considers the time constraints. Lucky is right. "We need a couple of things to happen. Things are so weird for the Chows right now I don’t think they have any connections to the local community other than Mei’s grandmother. Nobody is going to be turning up on their doorstep. Their address isn’t on the invitations for the RSVP. It’s the phone number out at the stables. Nik is supposed to be checking it when he checks on Sheba and the stables while Carly is in New York."

"Okay that the first thing. What’s the other?" Liz asks.

"As bad as everything went with the damn FBI– getting the Chows to that meeting with Miz Lila. They have to be there. And I have no idea how to get them there." Maddy shoves the empty bowl away.

"You could always use that favor that Ricky gave you." Nik suggests from where he is taking off his boots at the back door. Even so he knows he smells like horse and sweat. The jag is definitely going to have to be detailed after the last few days. Between Mir in the front passenger seat yesterday and cleaning out the stables today, the car has definitely seen better days.

"Oh no. I have waited for years to get Ricky in my debt. Not giving it up for this." Maddy shakes her head in denial. "No way in hell. And the longer that Ricky owes me and I don’t collect the crazier it will make him."

Nik grins and shakes his head. He comes over and gives Maddy a kiss on the top of the head and runs a hand over her braids. "Are you in for the evening?"

"Oh hell no." Maddy tilts her head back and gives him a wry look. "Even with your help on the kiosks. Need to make one more run thru down at the hotel. They were going to start delivery and set up today. AJ managed to get the banquet room for the rest of the week. They had all the wrong tables. The chairs are horrible. Luckily between Reggie’s connections and Mrs. Lansbury things might come together. And that’s a might."

“AKA Maybe.” Liz nods.

“Longshot.” Lucky agrees.

Nik gives Maddy another kiss. “I’d bet on you any day.”