Goodnight, my angel, now it’s time to dream
And dream how wonderful your life will be
Someday your child may cry
And if you sing this lullaby
Then in your heart
There will always be a part of me
— Goodnight My Angel, Billy Joel

---

 

General Hospital

Elizabeth handed a coffee to Carly and took a seat beside her. “I thought you might need this.”

“Thanks,” Carly murmured. She rubbed her eyes. “Mandy went in about an hour ago. Alexis and Ned are with Christina while she’s being prepped.”

“Sonny didn’t come?” Elizabeth asked.

Carly sighed and shook her head. “No. I don’t think he will be coming either.” She flicked her eyes towards the brunette. “Jason go back to work today?”

“Yep,” Elizabeth answered. She brought her cup of hot chocolate to her lips and sipped it. “I told him that I was planning on spending a lot of time here today so there was no point in him sticking around the house. He’s coming home early though and we’ll go pick up the kids around four at camp. Drew wanted to know if he could go to Luke’s.”

Carly raised her eyebrows. “Luke’s?” she repeated. “As in my uncle’s house?”

Elizabeth nodded. “Apparently, Drew adores him.”

“That’s fine. Anything to keep his mind off Mandy. He kept asking all these questions last night,” Carly said.

“I know what you mean. Sometimes kids ask the very questions you’re trying to ignore yourself,” Elizabeth murmured.

“Have you and Jase talked to Dee and Davie about…” Carly trailed off, not wanting to bring the subject up.

“We were going to last night, but we got back from our ride later than we expected,” Elizabeth told her. She gave the other woman a brief smile. “We always seem to lose track of time when we’re riding the bike.”

“It’s nice that you and Jason have something you can do together like that,” Carly said softly. “You guys…you’re really in love, aren’t you?”

Elizabeth looked at her oddly before answering. “Yeah, we are. I know you never wanted me in Jason’s life—”

“I hated you so much back then,” Carly said quietly. “At first I thought you were after Jason. I couldn’t see that I was wreaking havoc on his life—you know, I thought I loved him so much that seeing the two of you dancing that night in Kelly’s—it broke my heart.”

“You saw us?” Elizabeth asked, incredulously. “I would have thought you’d bust in.”

“The thought crossed my mind,” Carly admitted. “But you know…I couldn’t understand it. I mean—you were what…eighteen at the time?” When Elizabeth nodded, Carly continued. “He looked happy, you know that?”

“I was having a bad night,” Elizabeth told her. She sighed. “I can’t believe it was thirteen years ago—it seems like yesterday. I was missing Lucky so much it was just choking me.” Her eyes grew distant as her mind returned to that night in November. “And Jason was there. He always seemed to be there when the pain was getting too intense. So, for some reason…I tried to make it better. I put mine and Lucky’s song on the jukebox and asked Jason to dance.” She looked down at her hands. “I was trying to pretend he was Lucky—but I should have known it couldn’t work.”

“Why not?” Carly asked curiously.

“I didn’t really see it then,” Elizabeth said. “I was too young—too sure that I would always love Lucky and that it would never change. But I think…no, I’m pretty sure that for most of that fall…that I falling in love with Jason.” She sighed. “I just wished I could have seen it earlier. Would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

“I slept with Sonny that night,” Carly told her. “At the time I regretted it—I know that even though I wasn’t really in love with Jason and he wasn’t in love with me—I still…I still hoped we would be a family.” She sat back in her chair, her head tilted towards the ceiling. “And I saw you dancing with him. I saw you taking away what I had already decided was mine.” She sighed again. “It seems so petty now doesn’t it?”

“What?” Elizabeth asked. “Our mutual dislike?”

“It seems that hating you because I didn’t think you were good enough for Jason is almost ridiculous all these years later. He’s obviously happy—I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jason happier than when he’s been with you. Right now with my little girl in surgery and my marriage crumbling, hating you is the last thing on my mind,” Carly told her.

“Good. Because I never wanted to fight with you,” Elizabeth replied. “You always started it.”

Carly snorted. “Yeah…well…you gave as good as you got, too.”

“Well, I warned you,” Elizabeth reminded her. “I told you I wasn’t an angel.”

Warehouse

Jason entered Sonny’s office without knocking. “I need to talk to you,” he said.

Sonny shook his head. “Not now.”

Jason sat down. “It’s not open for negotiation.”

Sonny frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”

“A number of things, but first I got a question. What in the hell are you doing here?”

Sonny sighed and looked away. “Jase, I don’t want to hear about it right now—”

“It’s too bad,” Jason broke in. “You know I let people live their own lives, make their own mistakes and all, but I just can’t let you hole up in this office or at the penthouse. You’re making a mistake by letting Carly go ahead with the divorce.”

Sonny waved a hand. “Carly’s not going to do anything.”

“You’re wrong. She’s going to file—I don’t doubt that. But that doesn’t make a difference. One, you’re letting Carly walk out of your life without a fight and trust me, that’s never the right way to do things. Two, you’re sitting here while your daughter’s in surgery.” Jason shook his head. “I know you’re mad at Carly, but—”

“She lied to me,” Sonny said dully, trying to block out Jason’s voice. “She lied to me and she knew how much I hated that.”

Jason stood and took a deep breath. “All right. I told her I’d talk to you about it but I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. Will you stop by the hospital to at least see Mandy when she gets out surgery?”

“I made it clear that I didn’t want Amanda to undergo the surgery,” Sonny said simply. “Alexis only told me about Christina in order to test the twins—not because she wanted me in her life. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.”

Jason just stared at his best friend for a few moments before shaking his head. “Satisfaction? Are you serious? Jesus, Sonny. Christina is your daughter. Biologically. And you know she was supposed to die if a donor wasn’t found. How would you have felt it was Michael who needed it? Wouldn’t you get AJ or Courtney to test Jo and Steve?”

Sonny sighed and shook his head. “You’re right,” he said finally. He looked down at the desk. “As usual, you’re the voice of reason in my life.” He stared at a picture of himself, Carly and the kids on his desk. “I’ve been looking that picture of all us since Carly came in yesterday and I keep wondering—where did I go wrong? Were we happy at all? Was it an illusion?”

“You never trusted her,” Jason said, simply. “And I think Carly finally understood that and decided it wasn’t something she could live with anymore.” He sighed. “Look, you still have Mandy and Drew. And yeah, Michael’s mad at you right now and honestly, I can’t blame him. You kept the truth from him, brought him up to hate AJ and then the way he found out…he’s going to be mad as long as you let him be. You haven’t said word one to him in the week since he found out.”

“He hates me,” Sonny mused. “Don’t ever keep the important stuff from your kids, Jase. It’s never worth it in the end.”

“I don’t think I’ll have that problem,” Jason said simply. “You know I don’t lie and I don’t hide things.”

Sonny stood and put some files away. “I’m going to the hospital.”

“I’ll go with you,” Jason said. “Elizabeth is there with Carly.”

“How is Elizabeth?” Sonny asked as they left the office and headed for front of the warehouse for the car. “Is she feeling better?”

“I think so,” Jason told him. “She’s pretending a lot. Putting a smile on her face when she’s sad, acting happy when she’s not. She knows I don’t buy it, but it’s never stopped her before.”

“But she’s out of bed,” Sonny pointed out as one of the guards pulled the limo door open and Jason and Sonny got in.

“Yeah. I guess it’s the first step,” Jason said.

JFK Airport

Emily shifted uncomfortably, standing at the gate waiting for Nikolas and Gia’s flight. Lucky eyed her warily. “Should you be sitting down?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” Emily murmured, her eyes searching the flight board. “It’s just uncomfortable no matter what I do, so it’s useless to sit anymore.”

Lucky let the subject drop.

They waited in silence for the most part, Lucky occasionally asking if she was okay—if she needed anything. Emily was uncomfortable with the whole situation—everything had been resolved too easily with Lucky. She was the one still in love with their ex, not him.

Not that Emily was discounting his theory. She would never be able to completely bury her feelings for her ex-boyfriend. Zander Smith had been her first love—you could never completely forget your first love.

But she’d broken up with him. She’d been at a bad point in her recovery and didn’t think she would be able walk again. And when she’d returned, Zander seemed to be making some headway—finding a new life, moving on from Port Charles. He’d been in the process of his move to Florida and Emily hadn’t wanted to disrupt that. Convinced herself that he was better off without her and had brushed off all attempts to reconcile.

And now ten years later, Emily was finally coming around to regretting that quick decision.

“Em?”

Emily sighed and looked at Lucky. “Yeah?”

“The plan just landed,” Lucky said. He indicated the flight board. “They’ll be coming out soon.”

Emily flashed a fake smile at her friend and nodded. “Great. I can’t wait to see them.”

“Are we going to Wyndemere or my parents first?” Lucky asked.

“Your parents,” Emily answered. “Wyndemere isn’t completely ready yet. Another week or so.”

“Great.” Lucky grinned when he saw Nikolas stride out of the gate. He had his arm around Gia and his two year-old son, Marcus, or Markie as most of the family called him.

Lucky went forward to give his brother and his family a hug while Emily hung back, suddenly weary of her entire life.

Luke’s

“Say what you want to, Mikey, but my father is definitely going to give me this place one day,” Lu said confidently, hopping up to sit on the bar.

Michael smirked. “He should. We spend way too much time hanging out here in the off hours.”

“Where else are we going to go?” Lu demanded. “We’re both under eighteen. We’ve got here and Kelly’s. No thanks. I step in there and Dad will give it to me.”

“He wants to get rid of Kelly’s?” Michael asked, pulling another soda out from the fridge underneath the counter.

“Not really. He just says it’s a lot to take on, with this club, Deception and diner. He and Mom are spreading themselves thin.”

“Well, it doesn’t help that they run off to travel at the drop of a hat,” Michael reminded her. “Why don’t they turn Kelly’s over to a family member?”

“Which family member do you suggest? Carly? Dad and Mom have discussed it, but Carly already works at Deception and Club 101. With the divorce and all, the last thing she needs is to take on something else.”

“Well, what about Liz?” Michael asked. “I mean, she worked there most of her life.”

“Do you think after seven years of working there that Liz would really go back to it?”

“Well, it’s not like she’d be waitressing,” Michael pointed out. “She’d be managing the place.”

“True.” Lu pursed her lips. “I should suggest it to Dad. You know he’s always trying to find a way to remind Liz she can’t get away from being a Spencer.”

“There are worse things in life than being a part of your family,” Michael replied.

“You sure?” Lu asked. “Because we’ve got the Cassadine branch and if you ask me, they’re pretty nuts.”

“Well, Helena’s dead and Stefan’s in Greece. I think the insane branch of the family is definitely buried.”

“I guess.” Lu eyed him. “You haven’t talked about it much.”

“What?” Michael asked.

“The lunch with AJ, what’s been going on with your family.” Lu shrugged. “I just figured you’d bring it up when you were ready.”

“I don’t really know what to think,” Michael said. “I mean, on the one hand, Sonny has been the only father that I really remember. Yeah, Jase has been great and I know Mom says that I was around him for a whole year, but I don’t remember any of that.” Michael stared away, towards the old picture of Helena Cassadine that Luke had never taken down. “I know that my parents always had a volatile relationship but I thought they really loved each other—that it would always work out, you know? And now, they’re getting divorced, Mandy’s getting surgery, I’ve got this other sister who’s not really my sister since Sonny’s not my father. And that’s not even mentioning AJ and his family.”

“It’s a lot to take in,” Lu agreed. “How did the lunch go?”

“Fine,” Michael answered. “Better than fine actually. Whatever AJ was like sixteen years ago when I was born, it’s obvious he’s grown up and he’s responsible now. I look for that horrible person I was raised to see and I don’t…I don’t see that anymore. I see someone who’s a great guy and could have been a good father, given the chance.”

“Do you feel like you were cheated?” Lu asked.

“Sort of,” Michael repeated. He took a long swig of his soda. “I mean, I love Sonny—don’t get me wrong. But I’ve got to wonder. What would I have been like if AJ had been a part of my life?”

Lu shrugged. “What’s the use in thinking about things that won’t ever happen?” she asked. “I mean, you could have gotten worse. You’ve had a lot of people in your life that really do love you. Jason, Sonny, Carly, your old nanny Leticia, your siblings, Liz…now you’ve got AJ to add to the list.”

“Mandy’s in surgery right now,” Michael said quietly. “But I didn’t go to the hospital. I thought Sonny might be there.”

“You’re never going to call him Dad again are you?” Lu asked quietly.

“No,” Michael answered. “I don’t have a father. I’ve got two men who fought over me when I was younger and I don’t think either one of them won.”

“Are you going to see AJ again?” Lu asked.

“I think so,” Michael answered. “I had a good time with him. I think I understand him—that I understand a lot of his actions, no matter how bad. I want to get to know him.”

“Then go to the hospital,” Lu told him. “I think your mother would appreciate the support.”

Michael nodded. “You’re right. I think I will.”

“Good,” Lu said. “You want me to come with?”

“Aren’t Em and Lucky meeting Nikolas and Gia today?” Michael asked.

“Oooh, you’re right.” Lu checked her watch. “The plane probably landed already. Call me tonight, okay?”

“Sure.”

Christie’s Room

Alexis pressed a kiss to Christie’s forehead. “It’s going to be all right, sweetie.”

“I know,” Christie yawned. “I’m sleepy.”

“Go to sleep, darling.” Ned smoothed her hair back. “Your mother and I will be right here when you wake up.”

“I love you, Daddy,” Christie said. She shifted and her eyes fluttered shut.

“We’d better get her to the OR,” the doctor said. He patted Alexis on the arm. “It’ll be okay, Mrs. Ashton. We’ll take good care of her.”

Ned put an arm around Alexis as Christie was wheeled out of the room. “How long before she hates me?” Alexis murmured.

“Christie will never hate you,” Ned assured her. “And we’re telling her now. Not waiting until she’s older and has the ability to really hate us.”

“You mean like Michael,” Alexis said.

“If we go about this the right way,” Ned said, “then we won’t lose her.” His words were confident and reassuring, but his tone told a different story.

One day his baby girl might wake up and know that Sonny Corinthos was her biological father. Ned might lose one of the most important people in his life.

“Let’s go to the waiting room,” Alexis suggested. “I want to know how Amanda is doing.”

Ned nodded and they left the room. When they got the waiting room, Alexis stopped in her tracks.

Sonny was sitting next to Carly and they were talking quietly. Elizabeth saw Alexis before they did and she stood to cross the room.

“Did Christina go in for surgery?” she asked softly. Jason stood just behind her.

Alexis nodded. “Yeah. She just went.” She looked over Elizabeth’s shoulder at Sonny and Carly. “How is Amanda?”

“She’s in recovery,” Jason answered. “They’re just waiting until they can go see her.”

Sonny caught sight of Alexis and stood. He crossed the room and Alexis held her breath.

“I hope Christina will be okay,” he said stiffly.

Alexis nodded. “Yes. Thank…thank you for letting Amanda be tested and donate.”

“It was the least we could do,” Carly said, coming to stand beside her husband. “We couldn’t not do it.”

“Right.”

Michael entered the waiting room then and shifted, seeing his parents. Sonny turned and saw his son for the first time since he’d left the penthouse. “Michael.”

“Hey, Mom. Sonny,” Michael said. Sonny winced a little at the use of his given name.

“Hey, baby,” Carly murmured, kissing her son on his cheek. “Mandy’s in recovery. We’re going to see her in a little bit. You want to come with us?”

Michael nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

Sonny let out a long breath. “Well, let’s go then.”

Jason watched his best friend and his family head towards the elevators. Maybe not everything was lost.

Elizabeth slipped her hand in his. “You want to stick around or go home?” she asked.

“Why don’t we go home?” Jason suggested. “We could pick up the kids and have that talk.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to me. Let’s go home.”

 

 

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