Sarah Brown in the only Caroline “ Carly Roberts” Benson-Born-Spencer-Aughta-been-Morgan-Married-Quartermaine-Corinthos that I recognize.
When will the madness stop? Part 2
Her waist length dreadlocks sway from side to side as they searched the forest. She was hot-- despite the frigid cold-- and dirty and did she mention hot? Her faded denim mini shirt and well-worn-yet-tight-farmers shirt weren’t drenched yet, but she was about to take a swim in the lake just to cool off. But she had nothing to complain about. Her boys were just as bad off as she was.
Someone tapped her on her shoulder.
“Yeah?”
“Boss lady, I think the lady lawyer type is getting a little fidgety over by the phone bank.” One of her employees said trying to be tactful.
She turned to him. “What makes y’say that wild child?”
“Uh, I don’t know, why don’t you just take a look see?” He said jerking his head in the general direction of the phone bank.
Azora looked at him oddly before turning around. There stood a very pregnant, very frazzled, very flustered looking Alexis Davis waving her arms in the air trying to get her attention.
“Oh…we-ell, what can I say, when a pregnant lawyer type calls all that want to live to see tomory, answer.” She said tipping her cowboy hat and jogging up to the phone bank.
She slowed as she approached the flustered looking woman in a dressed down khaki’s and maternity shirt. (That IS dressed down for Alexis.)
“And how may I haylp yall today ma’m?” She asked with a smile on her face as she took off her hat and looked up to where Alexis stood on a make shift stage.
Slowly, laboriously, Alexis crouched down. “I have a feeling something’s wrong.” Alexis said in a hesitant whisper.
Azora looked at her oddly, looked back at her boys, the Spencer men and the volunteers combing the area and then back at Alexis. “Y’mean her' or elsewhere’s?” She asked suddenly serious. She was never one to take a woman’s maternal instinct lightly.
“I’m not sure. All I know is that AJ usually calls by now and A) he hasn’t B) Neither has Skye, Ned, Courtney or Carly and C) AJ has been so involved with this search that his calls come like clock…” the phone rang. Azora smiled at Alexis.
“Hold dat thought,” she said as she jumped up onto the stage and grabbed the ringing phone.
“How’sd’ya?” She asked brightly, turning to face Alexis. As she listened her face paled, then suddenly brightened a huge smile curving her lips. “Ya’sure… Positive… It’s him? … Who found him?” Her jaw went slack. “Yer kiddin’ m’right?!…” She let out a small snort. “GH, we’ll be there in a jiff!” She slammed down the phone, threw her hat into the air and roared out. “YEEEEEEEEEE-HA!!!!!!!!!!”
Alexis looked at her concerned for a minute. But as Azora ran over to her she knew, just knew that this was a good thing. “They found him! He’s alive!”
“Who? What? When? Where? How?” She asked slipping into lawyer mode.
“ AJ. Found his son. About 30 minutes ago. In the park by the fountain. And I tain’t got the foggiest but DAGNABIT! He found him!”
“Is he okay? Does Carly know?”
“I don’t know about the first one, but AJ took him to GH where he’s been ever since. And yeah, Carly knows.”
“Well don’t just stand there, Azora! GET A MOVE ON!” Alexis chuckled. She was so profoundly moved by the fact that he had been found alive that she wanted to personally make sure that AJ, Courtney and Carly were holding up.
“Wait one second…”
Lucky, Luke and Lucas were all busy looking along side the dockworkers when they heard. “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAW! ”
Lucas looked at his uncle and cousin. “What does that mean?”
Luke chuckled. “I think that means in Azora-eeze for: there’s good news and that we need to head up that way.”
Lucky nodded. “I hope your right dad.”
They all reached the platform and could tell that something good had happened.
“Good news, m’boys, seems that AJ was at the right place at the right time fer once in his life!”
The relieved hoots and hollers of all the men and volunteers irrupted from the crowd.
Lucas, Lucky and Luke all relaxed tremendously. They had just lost Laura; they weren’t up to losing Michael too. “What you guys say we take a trip to GH.” Luke said putting his arm around both of his namesakes.
“Can I catch a lift?” Alexis said hobbling up beside them.
“Of course darlin’ gotta keep my favorite pregnant lawyer happy.” He said with a sly grin.
“Oh, and you know of many other pregnant lawyers?” She joked back, happy to see him smile.
Azora was glad that they had left. She crouched down and motioned for her men to come closer. “I need yall to do me favor.”
They asked what. “Just yall come in closer and let Azora Jade tell yall about a show of force we's gonna put on fer the Teflon don.”
It had felt like hours since they had seen AJ in the hall sobbing. But it hadn’t even been an hour. Carly looked at Courtney as they sat outside the Hospital Chapel and smiled a watery smile.
“I don’t think I’ve thanked you or AJ for your help this last two months.” She said timidly, avoiding eye contact, her feet nervously swinging under her seat.
Courtney smiles and squeezes her hand. Carly, when AJ saw how devastated you were about the kidnapping he and I both agreed to help you. We didn’t just do it for the fact that we could possibly see Michael when this was all said and done, we did it because you had never had someone reach out their hand to you with no agenda and no strings attached. And he wanted to do something. ANYTHING. He felt so helpless.”
Carly sighed guiltily. She wasn’t trying to make her feel guilty but even if she were she wouldn’t need to say much more. “It’s partially my fault that Michael doesn’t know AJ.”
Courtney shook her head. “Now is not the time nor the place for recrimination or self-loathing. Now is the time to look toward the future and the hurtles that it holds. Besides, you’ve both come to grips with it, and you’ve both put it behind you. So don’t dwell on it Carly. For your sake, for Michaels, especially Michael. He’s going to need his mommy strong and resilient, not guilt ridden over something from the past that no one can change.”
Carly’s eyes clouded over. “Sonny.” He had just gotten off the elevator. He looked pissed.
“Uh oh.” Courtney said a second later.
Carly turned a little. “Oh shit,” she muttered. Here came Luke, Lucas, Lucky and Alexis barreling down the hall. “Oh shit.” She repeated. Luke, Lucky and Lucas had all been out for a piece of Sonny since his stunt of trying to get custody of Michael away from Carly while Michael was missing.
Courtney grabbed Carly hand. “Just look this way and pretend that you don’t see Sonny.” She whispered out of the corner of her mouth as she smiled at the family walking towards them. ‘Oh, yeah, world war four in General Hospitals’ cathedral corridor… Perfect… just perfect.’
AJ sat at the altar on bended knee, his hands clasped together sitting on the counter of the small altar, and his eyes were closed as he prayed. “God, just this once, all I want is for everything to turn out okay. I know it’s a lot to ask. And I know that I’m not the most deserving of human beings, but just this once, I want everything to be okay.” His voice trailed off as his chin began to quiver.
He took a deep breath and with a waffling voice he whispered. “I’d trade him places right now if it were possible. I’d sell my soul.” He grabbed his now blood stained sports coat that Dr. Thornhart had given back to him. “I’d give it all up if you could take the pain and hurt away from him and give it to me.” His eyes turned skyward to the luminous cross at the altars head. “I’d walk away from my life, my wife, my friends, my family, my job, everything, if it meant that he wouldn’t have to suffer.” His voice trailed off as he leaned his head against the railing and cried.
A long luminous arm reached out and touched his shoulder. He jumped back startled, and even more startled at who was standing before him.
“Kristina…” He gulped.
Her hair sparkled in the light. Her white peasant top with flowing sleeves made her even more angelic like. She smiled. “It’s okay AJ. I’m real.”
“No… No, you’re not… and I’m not drunk, or a sleep, or dead, so… this… this is a really bad acid flash-back…sans the acid…” He gulped.
“AJ… I know that you remember me from the park.” He closed his eyes tightly. “And I know that you carry this … this guilt deep inside of you. But that guilt, that all consuming nagging guilt is unfounded.”
“I … I let my son suffer.” He retorted bitingly. “He was hurting so bad… he was hurting so bad that he was okay with me… ME being at his side.” He wiped his nose with his sleeve. “The man he called a 'bad man', the one person that for all intents and purposes…” Kristina put a finger to his lips to quiet him.
“You were there when he needed you the most. You were the one that ran here! YOU were the one that held him close and promised that it would be okay. Not Sonny. Not Jason. Not anyone but you.” She took her finger away when she saw that he was not going to fight her on it.
“I guess I ought to thank you.”
She looked at him oddly. “Why?”
“The PCPD is claiming I’m some big hero. All I did was what you told me to do. I was too stunned to move…”
“AJ…” she said in a warning tone. “You would have done what was right, with or with out my assistance. I was just a tag along that got a little over excited.” She said with a small laugh.
AJ, while still in shock, couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, because of you the PCPD has labeled me some Big Bad Billy Bad Ass.” Kristina chuckled a little.
“I did the dirty work. You saved his life.” AJ re-adjusted the sports coat in his arms, when a small rattle fell out of the pocket. He picked it up, and examined it.
“What…”
“It’s for Alexis… if you wouldn’t mind giving it to her for me… it’s for my niece.”
“Your niece…” his voice trailed off, his mouth suddenly dry.
“It’s the only way she’ll believe you. Only I would know about those initials.” He rubbed his finger tips over the shiny golden handle where the initials K.N.D.A were engraved with a soft effeminate script. “She’ll understand…”
“I asked Courtney and Carly too see if she would come see me… so I could tell her but … I’m still in shock. I mean… how many times does a guy get visited by his wife’s dead best friend?” Kristina smiled at this.
“AJ, you have to make her see that she is doing the right thing.” AJ didn’t understand. “It’s not for you to know, but if you say to her, ‘you’re doing the right thing,’ and then give her this, she’ll understand.”
“Oh… okay…” He looked down at the coat. Seeing the blood only made his mind race and wonder if he was capable of doing enough for Michael’s recovery.
She could see his thoughts and reached out and touched on his hands as it clutched the sports coat. “AJ, just be there for him. Just sit by him and if he asks for you to do something for him, do it… within reason Quartermaine .” She added sternly, but still with a smile.
“What’s the worse of the two evils?” Courtney asks Carly hurriedly.
“Alexis and the Spencer’s. With them around at least Sonny and Jason won’t even think of coming any closer. And Alexis needs to see AJ.”
“Gotcha.” They both did a 180 and faced the Spencer’s and Alexis.
“Are you guys okay?”
“Where’s AJ?”
“Where’s Michael? What happened?”
“We will be able to tell you as soon as dumb and dumber stop coming any closer.” Carly said through gritted teeth.
“AJ’s in the chapel, and Michael stable, but still in surgery.” Courtney added quickly.
Lucas, Lucky and Luke looked over their shoulder and all three turned red. “Let’s go some where more intimate.” Luke said ushering them towards an empty waiting area.
“WAIT!” Courtney said pulling back. She looked at Alexis. “AJ’s in the chapel. He asked that we send you in. He has something for you…I think.”
“Oh… okay… you’ll fill me in once we’re done right?” She asked, confused. Why would AJ want to talk to her?
“We’ll tell you everything.” Courtney assured her as Luke, Lucky and Lucas led her and Carly away.
Kristina was walking away from him down the aisle towards the doors. “Kristina.” He called out to her. “Thank you… for…for everything.”
Suddenly Alexis opened the door and walked towards him. She walked right past Kristina, but she couldn’t see her. Kristina couldn’t help but reach out and touch her sister’s shoulder. Alexis stopped, a shiver going down her spine.
“No AJ, thank you…”she whispered walking away, eventually disappearing.
AJ turned his attention to the very pregnant attorney before him.
“I was told you wanted to see me.” She said in a neutral tone. He looked haggard and frazzled and worn.
“Yeah, yeah,” He said walking to a pew. “Come, sit. I know you’re going to need to sit because if you don’t you’re going to faint.” He said as he fiddled with the rattle.
“O-o-okay.” She said wondering what was going on.
He took a deep breath. “You have no reason to believe a word I say. But here it goes it any way. I wasn’t the one that beat the hell out of that kidnapper.” He paused. “I was in the park when I heard a sound. I went to investigate. But this light blinded me. And the next thing I knew…” He gulped. “There stood Kristina with Michael in her arms…” He saw how she paled and handed her the rattle. “She said that this would make you believe.”
Alexis was speechless. She inspected the rattle closely and gasped at the initials. She hadn’t told anyone, not even Ned, that she had picked out the name for her daughter. Kristiana Natavia Davidavich Ashton Her breath caught in her throat.
“You… you saw m…my sister?” She stammered.
“Yes.”
“D…did she have anything to say? I mean, did she want you to tell me anything?” She asked without taking her eyes off the rattle.
“Yes, she said that you are doing the right thing.” When she choked back on a sob he put his hand on her shoulder. “Alexis, I may be shooting blind here, but does this have anything to do with your baby?”
She looked at him startled. Her eyes pleaded with him not to say it out loud.
He sucked in his breath. “Lemme take a wild stab in the dark…”
His eyes were closed but he could hear the voices around him. He tried to move, to escape but he was strapped down. He could hear them laughing at him. He opened his eyes and saw that it had all been a dream. They still had him. He had never been found, rescued, freed. He whimpered as his captor approached him.
“Does Red not like his wittle gifts?” He shook his head no. “Well TOO BAD!” Tears streamed from his eyes and he wanted to scream but the gag would not allow it. He shook his head from side to side trying fruitlessly to keep the needle away from his arm. His breathing began to deepen as the sobbing intensified.
‘ Please make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Became his mantra. He wanted to fall back asleep and into the dream where that nice red headed lady had helped him again. Where that nice dark heard guy picked him up and ran him to safety. He wanted the pain to stop. The dull ache to leave. He wanted to be a boy again.
Not a possession.
Not a bastard.
Not a slave.
Suddenly the noise and laughter faded, “Michael…. Miiiichael….” It sounded like her voice… but how could he be so sure. “Michael… Miiiicheal… it’s okay now Michael. You can wake up now.”
“I don’ wanna. Dere gonsta hurtz me again.” He sniffled, keeping his eyes closed tight.
“Open your eyes and sit up Michael. Nothings holding you down.” She said with a playful laugh.
Hesitantly, he opened one eye and saw that while still in the same room, that the restraints, the bad people, the needles and the medicines were gone. “Bu…but we’re still in here.” He whispered his voice quivering.
She put her hand on his and whispered. “Close your eyes and think of the safest safe place you could ever be.” He closed his eyes tight and squeezed her hand with what little might he could muster.
Kristina looked around them. She remembered this place. It was the Quartermain Boat House beside the pool on the deck. How did he remember this place?
“You can open your eyes now.”
He did and jumped into her arms. “Fank you. Fank you sooo much.” He cried in relief.
She gently patted his back. “I did nothing. You brought us here.”
He pulled back with tears in his eyes. “But… but you helped me lots.”
“I did nothing that need not be done.” She stated firmly.
“You helped me sleep.”
“You needed it. They only let you sleep a few hours a night and I had to do something. Sleeping under a table with only newspaper to keep you warm…”
“Cuffed to hot water heater…” he remembered with a shudder.
“Underneath the bed…” she said rubbing his arm as he shivered.
“Standing…”
“Hanging from a wall 3 foot off the floor.”
He looked at her sheepishly before asking. “Are you my guardian angel?”
She quirked her eyebrow. “You fixed my hurts, you let me cwy, you hugg-ed me an…and you founded me food.”
“Table scraps. I brought you table scraps.”
He looked at her, but at the same time kept his head down as he fiddled with the cross that she wore around her neck. “I was weally weally hunry.”
“I know you were, and that is why I brought it too you.”
They sat in silence for a while. Michael enjoying being away from his captives and Kristina enjoying her last minutes of Angel-dom. She knew that this wasn’t forever.
“I have to leave soon you know.” Michael stiffened, throwing his arms around her, ignoring the pain as he clung to her.
“Who’ll save Mikee?” He sobbed.
“It’s over Michael. It wasn’t a dream. The man that I told you would save you, did.”
“It weren’t a dream?” He asked in a soft whisper.
“It wasn’t a dream.” He let out the breath he had been holding for what seemed like the last two months and melted into her embrace.
“No more hurts? No more hurts anywheres?”
“No more. No more anywhere.”
“I don’t want my angel to leave.” He whimpered into her soft shoulder.
She pulled him away a little and looked into his eyes and saw that he was still scared. “I’ll never leave you totally. I’ll always be in your heart.” She said placing her hand over the center of his chest.
He sniffled a little. He wanted to ask her for something but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He was still shaky on the inside, afraid to ask for things. The last time he had asked for something he had gotten the worst beating ever.
But Kristina could see it in his eyes. “I think it’s time for you to go back now.” She whispered. He shook his head as she laid him down on the blanket they had been sitting on and laid his head down on a pillow that hadn’t been there three minutes ago.
“You saved me. Don’t leave me yet!” He whispered urgently, his heart racing. She hugged him from behind, caressing his bangs. Shushing him to sleep. The more her fingers caressed a certain section of his hair the lighter it got until it was totally white. When she knew he was deep asleep she untangled her arms from around him, carefully took of her necklace and wrapped it around his wrist.
She closed her eyes until the background faded into the hospital room at GH. “You have survived so much little one. But you survived the nightmare of captivity, of slavery, of beatings, and being belittled at every turn. You did what they said and even then they punished you. You worked yourself to the bone trying to appease them. You did anything and everything they told you too. You endured pure hell at the hands of a psychotic former doctor and a pervert. You are a brave little boy. And many people love you. You deserve that love, don’t you ever forget that.” Before she left she kissed his forehead and then disappeared.
“Alexis, I don’t care if I have to claim this child as my own. You are doing this for the safety of your child.”
Alexis sniffled, drying her eyes. “So you won’t tell a soul?”
“Pretend like I don’t know…” He paused. “But who does know.”
“Carly…”
“Won’t tell.”
“Ned.”
“For sure won’t tell.”
“And Kristina knew.” She said holding back a sob. “The last thing she told me before she…” she choked back a sob. “Was that, she, wanted my baby to be safe too.”
AJ put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.
He heard a disturbance outside the chapel and the door opened. Lucas popped his head in.
“You have GOT to see this!” He said excitedly.
AJ looked at Alexis“You up for the show?”
She composed herself as quickly as possible. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
He led her out and both stop stunned by the sight before them. Azora along with the 10 burliest of her dockworkers had just stepped off the elevator. Azora, who was known for her tomboyish and risqué outfits was wearing an effeminate long skirt and tailored partial mid-drift bearing matching shirt in black. Her normally unruly dreads were coiffed and curled and pulled back off her face. When she normally wore a skirt it went right up to “there” but this skirt went down to her ankles. While her shirt showed just a pinch of navel, a fair amount of normally hidden cleavage and the sleeves were long and romantic with that long V like shake that was cuffed at her elbow so that you saw no farther.
AJ’s jaw went slack at this. “Azora?” He asked stunned.
“Look at your co-workers.” Lucky nudged.
They too looked rather dangerous in their Sunday best suits and ties. They had all showered and done something with their hair and appearance. They looked menacing, to say the least.
Azora sashayed her way over to AJ and gave him a hug. “Don’t blink. Y'might miss it.” He didn’t understand until the elevator door opened and Luis Alcazar walked out of it with a very pregnant, beaming Brenda Barrett. Correction, Brenda Alcazar, on his arm.
They walked off the elevator and went passed Sonny and towards Carly. Neither looked a bit phased by Sonny or Jason. “Ms. Spencer. My wife and I would like to extend our sympathies that such a thing happened to your child and would like to pay for your sons stay if at all possible.”