Sunday, July 14, 2013

General Hospital: Nurse’s Station

“So, how is the new mother doing?” Robin teased, stepping up to her friend. She handed a chart to Nadine.

“Tired,” Nadine said with a smile. She scrawled a quick signature at the bottom of the chart before filing it away. “I don’t remember being this tired with Amalia, but I think I was still operating with the adrenaline of the whole situation. You know — being knocked up by a guy I wasn’t entirely familiar with.”

Robin laughed and looped her stethoscope around her neck. “Things are definitely different this time around, huh?”

Nadine chewed on her lower lip. “Not exactly. I’m still not sure where I stand with Johnny.” She tugged on her ear. “You know Lulu Spencer is back in town.”

“I thought she and Johnny were over,” Robin replied. “Not to mention, he’s been happily married to you for over three years now. You know he loves you.”

“That’s the thing,” Nadine sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, yes, we’ve been happy. Life was great until she came home but I don’t know…” she shrugged. “He’s never said it.”

“Oh, honey–just because he doesn’t say it, doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel it,” Robin said. She placed a hand on Nadine’s forearm. “And I wouldn’t worry about Lulu — he could have gone chasing after her but he didn’t. He stayed in Port Charles and the two of you have a good marriage with a beautiful daughter and another child on the way. Why, you’ve positively domesticated the boy.” She smiled and picked up a chart. “It must be the second child syndrome. When I was pregnant with Anna last summer, I was so exhausted and I felt disgusting all the time. Nothing Patrick would say would make me feel better. I was sure he was thinking about all the cute women out there–”

“Johnny doesn’t know about the baby,” Nadine said softly. “I wanted to tell him, but I found him in the study, talking to Lulu, so I put it off. Every time I try to tell him, he’s either with her or we end up arguing about her. So…I don’t think this has anything to do with that.”

“Oh, Nadine…” Robin sighed. “I don’t know what to say to help you. I hope that it’s not his fault — that Lulu is to blame here. She has a history of knowing what she wants and pursuing it.” Her mouth twisted in a grimace. “No matter who gets hurt in the process.”

“I just have to wait her out,” Nadine said resolutely. “I might not be sure if Johnny loves me, but I know he respects me. If he wanted to be with her, he’d tell me. He wouldn’t jerk me around like that. I should just concentrate on all the good things, you know?” She forced a smile. “We do have a good life. Our daughter is absolutely perfect and this baby will just make it even better.” She grabbed a chart and stepped out of the nurse’s station. “I’m sure you’re right — the pregnancy is just making my hormones act over time.”

She started down the hallway, not making it more than a few steps before she cried out, dropping the chart and grasping her abdomen.

General Hospital: Hallway

“Johnny, wait–” Leila Marquez stopped her friend’s husband from entering the hospital room. “Before you go in–”

“Robin didn’t say what happened,” Johnny said, pulling away from the nurse. “She just said Nadine was hurt, that I needed to get here immediately. Is she all right?” When Leila didn’t answer immediately, he grasped her shoulders and shook her slightly. “Is she all right?”

“Johnny, she lost the baby,” Leila said softly. She gently removed herself from his sphere and stepped back. “She had a miscarriage.”

His hands fell limply to his side. “Miscarriage?” he repeated. He looked through the window into the room, where his wife lay in a hospital bed. She was rolled over on her side, facing the window. “She was pregnant?”

“You didn’t…” Leila pressed her fingers to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Johnny. She wasn’t very far along, she might not have known–”

Images flew through his head, memories of Nadine coming across him these last few weeks–something in her face, in her eyes. She had wanted to tell him something but circumstances had always prevented it. She’d known and every time she’d tried to tell him, Nadine had found him with Lulu.

He didn’t know what had gotten into Lulu since her return. She was constantly seeking him out, looking at him those eyes that had once seemed so mysterious and captivating. They just seemed empty and lonely now. He couldn’t make her understand that he loved his wife and their life together.

“It’s all right.” Johnny swallowed hard. “Is she all right otherwise?” he asked hoarsely. “I mean…inside?”

“I don’t know. Kelly should have that information.” Leila tipped her head towards the door. “You should be with her now. She needs your strength.”

Johnny nodded and pulled open the door. He would be the husband Nadine deserved and he would see her through this tragedy. There would be other children to fill their lives.

But first she would have to forgive him for not being as attentive as he should have been. He should have known she was pregnant and would have if his mind had been on his family.

She would forgive him for finding him with Lulu so often and he’d make her understand that he loved her. There just wasn’t any other choice for him. Nadine and their daughter was his entire life and he’d be lost without them.

 

Friday, July 19, 2024

Kelly’s: Lulu’s Room

Lulu frowned. “How exactly am I responsible for the destruction of your family?” She set her bag on the bed and unzipped it. “I think you give me too much credit.”

Amalia uncrossed her legs and slowly got to her feet. “I know my parents were in love once, that I had a family. You know how I know that without having once seen it?” She fisted her hand and pressed it against her heart. “Because I can feel it in here.”

Lulu tossed a few things in a dresser. “That’s really nice, but–”

“You know what my family is like now?” Amalia continued. “My father has had two miserable marriages. My mother has spent her life alone. They pick at each like they’re tearing meat from a bone. When they run out of things to hurt each other with, they use me.” She stepped up to Lulu, only a few inches shorter. “I have a right to know what happened and what you had to do with it.”

“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?” Lulu demanded defensively. She took a step back and continued to unpack.

“I’m not stupid,” Amalia snapped. “Enough people mention you in relation to my father. I know enough to connect the dots.”

“That was all a long time ago,” Lulu said, waving a hand dismissively. “It’s best to leave it alone.”

“If something tore apart your family,” Amalia said tightly, “you would do whatever it took to find out why, wouldn’t you?”

Lulu sighed and sank down on the bed. “Look, it was not a shining moment for me okay? I’d rather forget it.”

“That’s really nice,” Amalia retorted. “I wish I could.”

“Fine, you asked for it.” Lulu stood and planted a hand on her hip. “I came back to town and decided that I wanted Johnny back. I didn’t give a damn if he was married and I sure as hell didn’t care that he was happy with your mother. Anyone with eyes could see that he worshipped the ground she walked on, but I guess she was never secure with that. She was always harping on him about me and after she lost the baby–”

“Baby?” Amalia interrupted. “What baby?”

Lulu blinked. “She was only a few weeks along, I don’t think she’d even told Johnny. Anyway, she miscarried and Johnny was really upset about it. I found him at Jake’s, just about passed out and he thought I was Nadine.” She shrugged.

“So what? You took advantage of it?” Amalia said scathingly. “What kind of person does that? Does my mom know that Dad didn’t even know who you were?”

“I don’t know what Nadine knew or didn’t know,” Lulu replied, irritated. “The whole experience was mortifying. I left the next morning and I didn’t even know about the divorce until years after it happened.”

“Does that make it okay?” Amalia demanded. “You used my father’s grief against him and you destroyed my family, my mother’s life, my father’s life.” She spread her hands out. “My life! And somehow it’s okay because you were embarrassed that my dad wouldn’t have touched you if he’d known it was you?”

“Look, I told you that it wasn’t exactly a good moment for me. I’m not particularly proud of it, but it happened. It’s over. You should move on.” She stood and turned her back to the teen, hanging a few things up in the closet.

“How can I move on when my parents can’t?” Amalia shook her head. “You’re nothing but a home wrecking slut! You think it’s okay now because it happened all those years ago and you’re not around to see the fallout?”

“Who do you think you are?” Lulu whirled. “You have no right to talk to me like that–”

“Are you kidding me?” Amalia scoffed. “I’m the girl whose life you ruined on a whim. Let’s keep this in perspective.” She folded her arms under her chest.  “You should apologize to my mother.”

Lulu’s eyes widened. “You are out of your mind.”

“If you’re so damn ashamed of your behavior, you owe it to my mother to apologize for what you did. If not for you, I’d still have a family. You need to own up to what you did and you should apologize to my mother.”

“I don’t think so.” Lulu pulled open the door to her room. “You need to go.”

“I’ll go.” Amalia paused in the doorway.  “But don’t think for one second I’m going to forget this.”

The older woman rolled her eyes. “Please. Your grandfather couldn’t intimidate me, what makes you think you can?”

Amalia smirked and leaned in. “I’m not crazy. I’m younger, I’m smarter and I’m Claudia Zacchara’s niece. Do you really doubt I can take you on and win?”

Saturday, July 20, 2024

Morgan Home: Back Porch

“Another day, another family meeting,” Jake muttered, taking a seat between his sister and brother.

“Would it be possible for you to stop being an asshole for more than five seconds or is that asking too much?” Cameron glared at him.

“It’s asking too much,” Jake responded dryly.

“Would you guys knock it off?” Juliet demanded.  “I am so sick of the two of you arguing about everything when you’re in the same room together. Jake, believe me, we all know how you feel about Mom and Dad and quite frankly, I’m sick of your rebel without a clue attitude and Cam, he only says shit to annoy you because he knows he can.” She rolled her eyes. “Boys are so dumb.”

Jason coughed. “Uh, yes, if we could shelve the sibling rivalry for a second.” He stood in front of his children and took them in for a moment. Cameron, his adopted son who had never given him a sleepless night; Jake, his middle child who had looked at him with angry eyes most of his life; and Juliet, his daughter, who never asked easy questions or accepted simple answers. These were the children he’d been left to raise by himself for whatever reasons. He only hoped that he hadn’t screwed them up by not resolving the issue of their mother long ago.

“I know I’ve made some mistakes with you guys,” he began, “especially where your mother is concerned. I should have talked about her sooner, I realize that now. I hope you can forgive me for keeping it locked up as long as I did.”

Jake snorted but Cameron punched him in the arm. “Pretend for five seconds that you have a little bit of respect, you tool.”

Jason ignored the byplay and continued, “I want you to know that any questions you have about her or about our life before, I will answer them no matter what, okay?” When they remained silent, he continued. “That being said, I think we all need some closure from this situation.”

Juliet sat straight up. “What kind of closure are you talking about?” she asked suspiciously.

“I talked to Diane about declaring…” he stopped and found that he couldn’t say it.

“You want to declare her legally dead,” Jake finished flatly.  “That’s just great. You waste most of our lives pretending she never existed and the second you bring her up, you’re just going to write her off.” He shot to his feet. “What? So are we going to have some sappy memorial where everyone talks about how much she fucking loved us all? You gonna erect some huge stone so we have a place to visit? Why did you wait so damn long if you think she’s dead?”

“Jake–” Juliet put a hand on his arm. He shook it off.

“Shut up, Jules. Everyone is always saying how damn awful it is that you never had a mother and it’s good that at least Cam had some memories of her but what about me? I never had a mother and it’s his fault!”

“Knock it the hell off–” Cameron lunged off the sofa.

“And I’m not talking about how she left or why she died,” Jake retorted. “I’m talking about my entire life, never being able to open my mouth and ask a question, never being able to look at her picture without hiding it some drawer afterwards,” he spat. He looked to his father.  “I never had a mother because you never gave her to me!”

With that, Jake stormed into the house and a few minutes later, they heard a car engine start. The brakes squealed and the car roared off.

Jason slowly sank onto the other sofa. “He’s right,” he said roughly. “I thought it would be easier for everyone if we didn’t talk about her but he’s right. I could have given her to you in other ways. I could have kept the pictures up, told you stories…”

“Dad…” Juliet rounded the coffee table and sat beside him. “Jake forgets sometimes that we’re not the only ones who lost Mom. You did, too and maybe the things you did were more to protect yourself than us and that’s okay, too.” She looked to Cam. “Right?”

“Yeah,” Cameron nodded. “Don’t beat yourself up, Dad. You did the best you could.” He looked to Juliet. “You never told him, did you?”

“Told me what?” Jason asked.

Juliet bit her lip. “I might be wrong,” she said softly.

“But you might be right and Dad needs to hear about it.” Cameron reached for his sister’s purse sitting on the ground in front of the couch. He found the folder. “Jules has a theory that I think you need to know about it.”

“Juliet…” Jason started.

“Before you tell me you tried everything,” Juliet stood and took the folder from her brother, “I talked to Spinelli and he said this wasn’t an avenue that occurred to you.” She paused. “Helena Cassadine died not long after Mom disappeared, but shortly before she did, a birth certificate suddenly showed up December 2010 for Maia Cassadine. She’s listed as Helena’s granddaughter in only one obituary — the place where Helena died. Helena had almost fifty obituaries around the world but only the one from Rafina, Greece, listed a woman named Maia.”

Jason stared hard at his daughter. “What did Spinelli have to say?”

“He said that the parents listed on Maia’s birth certificate never existed and there’s no record of her birth anywhere.” She hesitated and looked to her older brother for support.

“Dad, Nikolas Cassadine thought he saw a woman who looked like Mom…in Rafina…last summer.”

Jason slowly stood up and swallowed hard. He accepted the folder from his daughter. “And this woman…Maia?”

“Spinelli couldn’t find a picture of her but we were able to confirm that she runs an arts and craft store there.” Juliet folded her arms nervously. “Cam thought it was too much of a coincidence.”

“When you add in the apparent history Mom had with Helena and the fact that Helena made Laura Spencer disappear without a trace once…” Cameron shrugged. “It just sounded right.”

“Your mom had been off Helena’s radar for years,” Jason murmured. “It wouldn’t have occurred to me to check…I was still searching my own contacts when she died…”

“We have to go to Greece, right?” Juliet asked. “I mean, we have to know for sure who this woman is. Spinelli said he couldn’t find any connection between them and…I talked to Nikolas this morning and he never heard of a woman named Maia in the family.”

“I need…” Jason paused. “I need to look into this a little more, Jules.” He held up the folder. “This is a good…this is a good theory and we can’t…we can’t proceed with anything else until we know sure.”

Jax & Carly’s House: Front Porch

 

Carly was picking up trash from the small party Morgan had hosted the night before. If anyone had told her years ago that she would be entertaining Robin and Alexis’s kids at her house, she would have told them where to shove it.

But now, the group didn’t feel complete without Mal, Kristina or Molly. Carly had never thought it possible, but maybe she was mellowing as she approached fifty.

An SUV pulled into her drive way and a short woman with dark hair stepped out. Robin Scorpio-Drake pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head as she climbed the steps. “Looks like my kid was here recently.”

“Try every kid in Port Charles,” Carly sighed, tying a trash bag closed. “I rue the day I encouraged CeCe to speak.”

“I feel your pain,” Robin replied. “I was hoping to find Mal here. He’s not picking up his cell.”

Carly bit her lip. “Nope, not since Jax dropped him off last night.” She paused. “Never getting his driving privileges back is he?”

“We told him that when he starts to show his father a little respect, he can have his license back.” Robin pursed her lips. “Or when he graduates medical school. Whichever comes first.” She sighed and surprised Carly by sinking down on one of the chairs. “I never thought any of the choices I made would damage my kids.”

Carly raised an eyebrow. “You, princess?” she couldn’t help but remark.

Robin smiled faintly. “I was also so sure that I knew the right way to live but it’s like everything that comes out of my mouth or Patrick’s, it drives Mal further away.” She looked at Carly. “We all make the best choices we can but still…it all comes back to haunt us.”

“You’re not kidding.” Carly sat next to her. “I look at Cecily every day and see all the same things in her that were in me at that age. All she thinks about is herself. She knows what she wants and she goes after it. It terrifies me because I know the trouble it can cause.”

“Mal and Patrick have done nothing but argue for weeks,” Robin replied. “He thinks that he was a mistake…that Patrick never wanted him.”

“Can’t Patrick just tell him the truth?” Carly inquired.

“He’s tried, I’ve tried–he just can’t get his mind wrapped around it. Look, maybe Patrick didn’t sign up for this life when we first started dating. Marriages, babies, houses in the suburbs – it wasn’t on the list. And maybe I pushed him into this a little, with two more kids and moving out of downtown–”

“Patrick Drake is a stubborn jackass,” Carly interrupted. “He wouldn’t have agreed if he didn’t want it, too. Also, no man sticks around for this long unless this is the life he wants to have. Plus…” she grinned. “Patrick drives a minivan. If that’s not love and commitment, I don’t know what is.”

Miller & Davis: Alexis’s Office

Alexis was planning her weekly telephone call to Ric to update him on the girls when her office door flew open and an enraged police commissioner stormed in. “Lucky!”

“You need to call your daughter and tell her that if my kid isn’t on that plane August 1, I’m filing charges this time!”

Alexis sighed. “Sam called you?”

“She told me that she doesn’t feel like Chloe’s old enough to travel on her own and when I offered to fly down to get her, she refused. Damn it, Alexis, I have been as patient as I can with that woman but I have absolutely had it!”

“Lucky, Sam’s just overprotective–” Alexis began.

“Save it,” Lucky snarled. “I’ve heard it all before. I’ve heard it every summer for the last six years and I’m not interested in it anymore. Chloe is my daughter and I have every right to see her.”

“Lucky–”

“If Chloe isn’t on that plane,” Lucky said, “I will not only file charges but I will file for sole custody and I’ll have a pretty good shot of winning. You tell her that.”

He stormed out and Alexis put her head in her hands. Sam had done nothing but complicate an already tumultuous relationship. They had been arguing about Chloe almost from the moment Sam had left Port Charles when Chloe was barely a year old. She’d wanted to move but Lucky had a history here that he wasn’t ready to abandon so Sam had made the choice for him.

Alexis just wished she’d made a different one.

 Wyndemere: Nikolas’s Study

“Sir?”

Nikolas glanced up from his paperwork to find his butler Smythe looking at him inquiringly. “Yes?”

“John Zacchara requests to see you,” Smythe informed him. “Shall I tell him it’s too late?”

“No.” Nikolas capped his pen. “I’ve been expecting this.”

When Johnny entered the room a few moments later, Nikolas was surprised to see him so calm. He had assumed the other man would barge in, shouting and tossing out threats.

Instead, Nadine’s ex-husband walked to the center of the room and stared at Nikolas for a long moment. Nikolas remained seated. “I want you to tell Nadine you changed your mind about your proposal.”

“That would be quite difficult since it isn’t the case and I make it a habit not to lie to the women in my life.”

Johnny narrowed his eyes. “If you don’t walk away from her now, I promise you that I will drag out a custody battle until long after Amalia is eighteen.”

“Well, that ought to improve your relationship with your daughter,” Nikolas said quietly. “Do you enjoy using Amalia to hurt her mother?”

“Don’t you dare presume to know a thing how I feel about Amalia.” Johnny took a step forward. “You don’t deserve Nadine. You don’t love her. You’re just tired of being alone.”

“I have no illusions about my relationship with Nadine,” Nikolas informed him. “We are both well aware that we go into this marriage as friends. Our children are both older and we want companionship.” A corner of his mouth lifted into a taunting smile. “You’re like a child. You’ve put something on a shelf and you refuse to play with it anymore but you won’t give it away to someone who might value it. You destroyed your marriage to Nadine and threw her away. You don’t want her but you don’t want anyone else to have her?” He shook his head. “I never thought you were good enough for her but she thought there was something in you worth loving.”

Nikolas finally rose to his feet. “I was sorry she had to have her heart broken to find out the truth. There is nothing worthwhile about you, Johnny. You are flash and no substance and the best thing you ever did for her was sleep with my sister.”

He flicked his eyes towards the door. “Smythe will show you out.”

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