Chapter 38
Luke’s - Later that same afternoon.
Sonny is sitting at a table working on the books, the band has finished
rehearsal and are packing up their stuff as Lois gives them some last minute
instructions, Ned is at another table talking on his cell phone. Jake has
come and gone finally calling about an hour ago to let Sonny know that he and
Gage had found Brianna. Jason has been absent all morning, he was a the
penthouse working and waiting for an important phone call.
The door swings open and Emily and Lucky enter hand in hand laughing.
Lucky - "Hey Dad, everything set for tonight?" he asks greeting his father.
Luke - "Just about, wanna give me a hand in the back for a second?"
Lucky - "Sure," he turns to Emily and gives her a peck on the lips "honey I’ll
be back in a while."
E - "Take your time." She smiles back.
L - "Hey Emily where are the kids?" she asks from across the room.
E - "They wore us out this morning so we came in my car and they are behind us
in the limo."
S - "You should have just tied them to the roof."
E - She turns around, smiles and walks towards him "Hi Sonny." She says
kissing his cheek. "You know I would never do a thing like that, those kids
are angels." she grins. Three similar snorts and variations of ‘yeah right’
come from three different corners of the room that leave Emily laughing
loudly. "They were on their best behavior last night, they are saving up all
their energy for tonight and tomorrow."
S - "Oh great! My poor kitchen was just painted from the last time they were
all together." He groans.
E - "I hope you have some paint leftover." She says with a sassy grin, "Hey,
where’s Jase?" she asks looking around.
S - "We left him at home so he couldn’t spoil the kids anymore."
E - "Oh and you don’t?" he lifts his hands and shrugs innocently as if saying
‘who me?’. "Yeah right." She laughs again as Lois walks up.
L - "You’re coming tonight right?" she asks Emily while giving her a small
hug.
E - "Yep, with Liz and Nikolas, we’d never miss the returns of The Great Eddie
Maine."
L - "Your all coming together?" she asks a bit shocked.
E - "Yep, Nikolas and Lucky are getting along, for now, and they figure with
the two of us plus Mrs. Spencer pushing all the time they better just give in
graciously."
L - "Good for you." The conversation comes to an abrupt halt when Renaldo
comes staggering into the room with three children attached to various
appendages, Patrick follows at a distance afraid that one of them might latch
on to him. As soon as the children realize they have an audience they detach
themselves and cries of ‘Mommy and Daddy’ fill the room. Renaldo lifts the
smallest child, a boy, from his shoulders and he rockets across the room to
Lois, a slender young girl with short dark hair hurries over and jumps into
Ned’s lap pestering him until he hangs up the phone, and a beautiful dark
haired pixie with shining eyes flies in Sonny’s direction calling ‘Daddy,
Daddy’ excitedly.
S - "How’s my angel?" he asks swooping her off the floor and into his arms.
G - "Daddy I’m not an angel, I’m your little monkey, remember?" she asks him
seriously. "Monkeys have more fun, they get to play outside all day long and
climb trees and eat lots and lots of bananas." She pauses and purses her lips
for a moment before looking into her fathers eyes "Daddy do you have any
bananas?"
S - He laughs "No sweetheart, not on me."
G - "But I want one." She pouts.
S - "Didn’t you have lunch at the Quartermaine’s?" he asks placing her on the
top on the bar.
G - "Yes, Cook made us bagel dogs, and even Old Edward had one, mine had lots
and lots of mustard."
S - He resists snickering at the mental image of Edward eating hot-dogs with
the kids and looks back at her. "Ummm, sounds yummy, did you bring me any?"
G - "No silly, I ate it all!"
S - "Not even a little tiny bite?" she shakes her head. "Well then you’ll
just have to pay the toll." He reaches over and begins to gently tickle her
while she squirms and squeals in delight.
G - "Daddy, Daddy, stop, that tickles!!!" she says giggling until he stops but
by then they were both laughing.
S - "Well did you at least save room for dinner?" he asks still grinning "I’m
making you guys spaghetti," she scrunches up her nose "what you don’t like my
special spaghetti?" he asks her putting his hands to his chest and staggering
backwards a steep looking wounded while she giggled.
G - "But Daddddy, I want pizza." She says with an innocent smile and a bat of
her little eyes, he chuckles at her act.
S - "Pizza it is." She claps her hands together and dives towards him to give
him a hug.
G - "I love you Daddy." She says into his ear and he smiles and blinks back
tears.
L - "Yeah Corinthos!" she interrupts, "Let’s blow this pop stand."
S - "Sure lets go." He tells her before swinging his daughter up and onto his
shoulders then walking towards the door. "Come on ang..ah, monkey, let’s go
home." They pass Emily on their way out "Tell your Aunt Emily bye." She waves
and he adds "See ya tonight Emily, thanks for watching them."
G - "Daddy?" she asks tugging on his hair and leaning forward to see his face
while he held tightly to her ankles to keep her in place "Can I climb a tree?"
S - His laughter is heard back inside, "No, but lets ask Noah if he’ll let you
fly the helicopter for a few minutes on the way home." Patrick and Renaldo
give each other looks that say ‘your going, not me’, while Ned and Lois smile
at one another thinking what a wonderful combination of two unique people the
little girl was. Her physical beauty was derived from both her mother and
father, having the best of both, her smile and stubborn chin a tiny replica of
her fathers, but her laugh was solely her mothers, as were her nose and
rosebud mouth. Best of all her personality was wonderful; gentle, carefree,
and uninhibited like her mother, generous, fair, honest, and loyal like her
father. Her mind was also matched to both of them, already she showed signs
of being sensible and analytical but also she had a grasp of style and an
appreciation for music and art, all in all she was a extraordinary and
beautiful child, who was lacking only one thing in her life - a mother.
Back at the penthouse the mood was not as jolly, Jason had been working all
morning, but he kept checking his watch and waiting for the phone to ring.
Final it did and he made himself wait for it to ring again before reaching for
it.
J - "Morgan." He listens for a few moments and grabs a pen to write something
down, "Are you sure?" he waits for an answer, "Thanks for checking so fast, I
owe you." He tells the person on the other end before ending the call and
carefully hanging up the phone. A few minutes later he picks it up and dials
again but hangs up before the call connects, he stands there looking down at
the note he wrote before picking up the phone again and punching in a
different number. The phone is answered on the other end and all he said was,
"Get over here now." then hung up.
Fifteen minute later there is a rapid knock on the door before Jake opens it
and walks in. Jason is standing with his back to the door looking out the
terrace windows with his arms crossed over his chest.
Jake - "Jason are you okay? What’s wrong?" he asks cautiously looking around
the room.
J - He slowly turns around "What’s wrong?" he says quietly before continuing
"What’s wrong is that Brianna DeAmonte doesn’t exist."
Jake - "What!"
J - "Correction, doesn’t exist anymore." Jake doesn’t answer he just
continues to stare at Jason with a shocked expression on his face. "Brianna
DeAmonte died in 1995 in a car accident in Monaco at the age of seven."
Jake - "What?" he repeats staggering backwards into a chair.
Chapter 39
Luke’s
The doors to the club are still closed, they won’t open for business for
another half an hour, Luke moved around the bar making sure all the last
minute details were done. Pretty soon the club would be packed to overflowing
with people, but for right now it was empty the anticipation hanging in the
air. It was going to be a great night.
S - "Luke!" he calls from down the hall.
Luke - "In here."
S - "The place looks great." He tells him when he finally walks into the room.
He is wearing black slacks and a black jacket that was closed with five
buttons running up the front ending a few inches below his neck, just enough
to show the off-white shirt with a banded collar.
Luke - Thank you, thank you." He bows. "Ashton here yet?"
S - "Nope, Lois went to get him."
Luke - "Your late, everything okay on the homefront?"
S - "Fine, just a little disagreement about bananas on a pizza." He tells him
with a grin and Luke gives him a look like he’s crazy. "Long story." He grins
back. "Have you seen Jason?"
Luke - "Nope he hasn’t been around all day."
S - "Hmmm," he murmurs "what about our other guests upstairs?"
Luke - "Haven’t seen the French goddess since she disappeared this morning,
but Gage came down about an hour ago and helped out a little."
S - "They spent most of the day with Jake so I hope everything went well."
Luke - "Jake definitely has his hands full with that one." He says and Sonny
nods in agreement.
Outside Luke’s
J - "I’m still not sure about this."
Jake - "Jase, please just until Monday, you said yourself that she isn’t going
to hurt anyone, so just give me until then."
J - "Okay Monday, that’s it."
Jake - "Thanks."
J - "But I’m not going to lie to him, if he asks me straight out I’ll tell
him."
Jake - "Deal." He replies and they shake hands as Jason mutters to himself.
J - "I hope we’re doing to right thing."
Jake - "We are." He says firmly trying to convince himself.
Back inside Luke checks his watch.
Luke - "You ready to kick this party into gear?" he asks Sonny.
S - "Let’s do it." He replies clapping his hands together while Luke pulls on
his suit jacket and heads for the front door.
A steady stream of customers make their way through the doors for the next
hour. Edward wheeled in Lila then make a beeline for Sonny and immediately
began complaining about the *heathen children* that *wore out* his lovely
wife all day. Monica and Alan walked in behind them and made their way
directly to their table laughing with each other the entire time. Laura
entered with a son on each arm, while Liz and Emily followed in their wake
talking excitedly. Laura dragged Lucky and Nikolas towards Luke, while Liz
and Emily made their way towards Jason and Jake who stood near the fireplace.
A.J., Carly, and Bobbie arrived next and walked immediately towards Alan and
Monica where they all sat down and began talking. Mac and Felicia walked
through the doors, with Mac carefully watching Felicia due to her advanced
state of pregnancy, they went up to Sonny finally rescuing him from Edward’s
incessant chatter and began to fill him in on the latest news from Robin.
Over Mac’s shoulder Sonny saw his father and Mary come in followed by Joe and
Karen and Frank and Julie, he excused himself and walked towards them. He
greeted Mike with a hand shake and a smile then gave Mary a motherly kiss on
the cheek as well as one for each of his new *sisters*; Karen and Julie. He
lead them to the best table in the house where he stayed talking to them until
he looked up and noticed Jake and Jason in deep conversation by the fireplace,
both looked worried and he wondered what was going on so he straightened and
told the group he would be back later. He made his way towards them, but as
he was halfway across the room a flash of green caught his eye and he turned
his head towards it. She was a vision; her long dark red hair pulled up at
the sides with small curls falling softly around her face, the dark green
dress that hugged her body from neck to waist then flaring out and ending a
few inches above the knee. He followed her legs down to her feet which were
incased in strappy black heels that wound around her ankles, finally he
dragged his eyes back up noticing the plunging back and high neck of the gown,
his eyes moved up further, finally meeting hers. They both stood watching one
another so long that it didn’t go unnoticed by some of other people in the
club. Mary placed her small hand on Mike’s arm and nodded in their direction,
Mike stopped talking with Karen and looked at his wife who nodded to Sonny,
Mike eyes found his son and widened in surprise, Karen noticed the look and
refocused her gaze in their direction and was curious at what she saw. Jason
and Jake both stopped talking when they noticed Sonny standing motionless in
the center of then room, then they both noticed the direction of his gaze and
turned to one another debating what to do. Luke abruptly stopped speaking and
Laura looked at him strangely noticing that he had drifted off, she followed
his eyes and sucked in a deep breath before nudging Luke who turned back to
her and shrugged his shoulders then they both turned back to watch again.
Sonny continued to stare at Brie until he felt his feet take a step in her
direction, their eyes remained locked as he took another step, and another,
until a hand clamped on his arm. Brie blinked and looked away, Sonny looked
to his left then his right, Jason and Jake stood on either side of him. He
turned back for one last look but she had already disappeared into the crowd
around the bar.
Jake - He clears his throats "Great turn out huh?" he asks Sonny nervously
while looking over his head trying to get Jason to help him out, but he was
also looking for Brie.
S - "Thanks." He answers absently.
Jake - "Hey, when is the music gonna start, the natives are getting restless?"
S - "Yeah," he looked once more at the bar. "I guess I better go check on Ned
and Lois."
Jake - "Okay, see ya later." He says as Sonny walks toward the stage where
Lois and the band are all standing. Jake turned to Jason "Gee buddy, thanks
for the help." He tells him sarcastically.
J - "What?" he answers finally turning aback to Jake.
Jake - "I said, never mind." He sighs.
J - "I don’t get it." Jake gives him a questioning look. "Brie, I don’t get
her. She’s had his attention like no one since…" his voice trails off but
Jake nods his head in agreement knowing what kind of life Sonny had lived.
"She doesn’t do anything about it, she turns in the opposite direction and
runs. Your her friend what’s going on with her?" he asks Jake curiously.
Jake - "I thought I knew her, but as you pointed out, I don’t know enough.
The Brie I do know doesn’t like to need anyone, she’s been like that since
I’ve known her. She doesn’t need or want anyone." At the end of his sentence
Mike walks up to join them.
M - "You two want to tell me what’s going on?" they look at each other then
back to Mike.
J - "Nothing." He says with a shrug.
M - "What I just saw wasn’t *nothing*, but somehow I knew you’d say that." He
says then makes his way to the bar, his pale eyes searching out a beauty in a
green dress.
Jake - "Oh great." He mutters and shoves his hands in his pants pockets.
Ten minutes later Luke jumps up onto the stage and grabs the microphone.
Luke - "Okay folks, everyone that has a seat grab it and welcome Eddie Maine
and the Idle Rich!" There is a big round of applause and some shouting as Ned
walks up and takes the microphone from him.
N - "Thank you. Okay folks we are going to do two sets tonight, the first set
is mostly older material and then in the second set we’re going to give you a
preview of some of our new songs we’ve been working on, so sit back and
enjoy." He puts the microphone in the stand and steps back to pick up his
guitar as the band plays the opening bars of "Seventh Son."
Forty minutes later the last strains of music fade and the club fills with
applause as Ned hops down from the stage next to Lois and Sonny.
S - "Good job Eddie, you’ve still got it."
N - "Thanks Sonny." He replies genuinely surprised at the compliment.
L - "Okay Nedley, this is what we need to fix before the next set." She begins
to rattle away and Sonny escapes while he can, heading over to the bar to get
a drink while looking around hoping to catch a glimpse of Brie. When he gets
there he orders a scotch then looks down the bar and notices Brie with her
back to him in deep conversation with Jake. Jake appears to be asking or
telling her something and she is rapidly shaking her head. He wonders what is
going on and turns to walk around the bar to them only to be greeted by Mike
and Edward. He stifles a groan as Edward launches into another lecture and
Mike lifts his hand to his mouth covering a cough that sounded suspiciously
like a chuckle.
Ten minutes later Lois grabs the microphone and reintroduces the band, Ned
reaches across and takes it from her while Lois watches him curiously.
N - "Okay these are some songs that no one has heard yet, not even my lovely
wife, so sit back and enjoy the music." Across the bar Edward still has Sonny
cornered and Ned just grins happy it wasn’t him.
E - "That boy is just wasting his time on his stupid music and as an ELQ board
member and stock holder you should see that it would be in your best interest
to keep Ned in the boardroom, not in some, some, bar!" he says with disgust.
S - "Edward, I think you are forgetting something." Edward lifts his eyebrows
trying to image what that might be. "All the singing he does is in my best
interest since I own 49% of the label he sings for," Edward grimaces "also
this *bar* that he is *wasting* his time singing in I own half of, so all in
all tonight is bringing me a pretty tidy profit." Edward opens his mouth to
reply but a feminine voice interrupts.
W - "Sonny, Edward, Mike, how wonderful to see you." Edward snaps his mouth
shut and turns to her with a charming smile.
E - "My dear, you look wonderful."
W - "Why thank you Edward, but lets not change to subject. Were you badgering
Sonny?" she asks with an innocent smile while at the same time sliding her arm
through Sonny’s, Edward looks suitable embarrassed and a slight blush comes to
his checks. "Now Edward, you know in my condition I shouldn’t be upset." She
tells him placing a hand on her hugely pregnant stomach.
E - "Well then your husband shouldn’t be in the line of work he is in." he
sputters back and glares at Sonny.
W - "Now Edward, that wasn’t nice." She says in warning.
E - "All right, all right," he backs off "excuse me, I must get back to Lila,
I know she’s missing me." All three hold back laughter as Edward struts back
to his table.
S - "You are an angel, thanks for getting rid of him for me." He tells her
kissing her on the cheek.
W - "No problem, but you owe me." She replies tucking her blonde hair behind
her ear.
S - "Anything you, or this little ones," he says placing his hand on her
stomach "heart desires." She laughs her eyes twinkling and the band starts up
a slow sad number.
W - "Okay, then dance with me."
S - "Sure." He says and places his hand on the small of her back "See ya later
Mike." Then guides her towards an area where several other couples were
dancing. Brie had been watching Sonny for a while and noticed when an very
pregnant blonde walked up to him, she watched with tears in her eyes as the
woman smiled up at him and he laughed and kissed her. Then she stood frozen
as they walked to the makeshift dance floor and began dancing. Sonny glided
her around the dance floor turning his back so that the woman was looking in
Brie’s direction then she held up her right hand and waved. Brie finally saw
her face and if Jake, who was still standing at her side, would have been
paying attention he would have seen shocked to hear her whisper "Julia."
before she turned and fled through the back door, her heart breaking.
Chapter 40
Late the next morning Jake is sitting on a bench in the park.
Jake - "Your late." He tells the person standing next to him.
Jagger - "Sorry," he tells him sitting down next to him "I had to work the
graveyard shift, you know the new guy always gets the worst hours."
Jake - He nods his head turning towards him, "What did you find out?"
Jagger - "Nothing, the stuff you had must have been pretty old."
Jake - "Why?" he asks curiously.
Jagger - "Here take a look for yourself." He tells him pulling papers out of
his jacket pocket. Jake slowly unfolded them and a shocked look passed over
his face. "Told ya man."
Jake - "Your sure?"
Jagger - "Yep, checked them myself."
Jake - "Positive?" he repeats.
Jagger - "Yes." He says looking at him through narrowed eyes "Why, what’s
going on, where did you get them?" he asks sitting up straighter and going
into cop mode. "She was my friend and I cared about her, I deserve to know."
Jake - He backs down and resumes a casual appearance trying hard not to show
how upset he really was. "It’s nothing, thanks Jagger." He calls over his
shoulder as he strides towards his car, leaving before Jagger could ask any
more questions.
Luke’s
Jake hurries up to the back door and finds it locked, after a few minutes of
fruitless banging he pulls out his cell phone and dials a number.
Jake - "Gage," he snaps into the phone "get your butt down here and let me
in." A few minutes later a groggy Gage opens the door for Jake who barges
past him and up the stairs without even a hello. He entered the apartment and
immediately began calling Brie’s name while he hurried towards her bedroom, he
pushed open her door but no one was there, just a half made bed and a few
articles of clothing strewn haphazardly around the floor.
G - He walked up being him and looked over his shoulder "She’s not here."
Jake - "I can see that, where is she?" he asked angrily.
G - "Calm down." He snapped back "What is going on?"
Jake - "I need to talk to Brie."
G - "Can’t help you there, she hasn’t been here all night." He says with a
shrug.
Jake - "What?" he yells swinging around.
G - "She didn’t come home last night, last time I saw her is when she and
Corinthos were making eyes at each other in the club. I thought maybe she
took off with him."
Jake - "No."
G - He shrugs again, "Well then your guess is as good as mine, don’t worry
Brie can take care of herself."
Jake - "I need to talk to her, NOW."
G - He sighs "Let me take a quick shower and get dressed then we can go look
for her."
Jake - "Fine, I’m gonna use your phone."
G - "Go ahead." He tells him before walking towards the bathroom and the
shower. Jake sat down on Brie’s bed and picked up the phone, he dialed the
penthouse but only got the machine so he decides to try Sonny’s, the phone
rings a few times before it is picked up.
L - "Hello?’
Jake - "Lois it’s Jake, I’m sorry to bother you but I need to talk to Jason,
is he there?"
L - "Yeah he’s downstairs with the kids, hold on a sec I’ll go get him."
Jake - "Thanks Lois." He tells her, she put down the phone down and hurried
down the stairs towards all the noise. At the kitchen doorway she stops and
thinks to herself ‘no wonder they didn’t hear the phone ring.’ Three men,
Jason, Ned and Sonny, were all in the kitchen along with the three children,
Sonny was trying to cook brunch and keep his *little helper* from adding
slices of banana to everything but the Belgium waffles, while Ned and Jason
were crawling around on the huge tile floor wrestling with Brooke and Brendan.
L - "Jason?" she calls out but no one seems to hear her "Jason!" she says a
bit louder.
J - "Yea?" he answers finally looking up at her from the floor.
L - "Phone, it’s Jake and it sounds important."
J - "Okay, I’ll get it in the other room." He lifts Brendan off of his chest
and gets up from the floor, then deposits him in his mothers arms on his way
out the door. He walked into the den and picked up the phone "What’s up
Jake?" he asks propping his hip against the couch.
Jake - "Jase I’m sorry I’m bugging you, but by any chance is Brie out there
with you guys?"
J - "No, why?"
Jake - He clears his throat "She’s missing."
J - "Missing," he straightens "missing how?"
Jake - "Well she didn’t come back to the apartment all night and neither Gage
nor I have heard from her."
J - "She’s a big girl."
Jake - "I know." He says with a sigh. "Did you see her leave last night?"
J - "Na, last time I saw her you two were talking at the bar."
Jake - "That was right before…" he mumbles to himself.
J - "What? Jake you still there?"
Jake - "Yeah, never mind."
J - "Look do you think she’s in trouble?"
Jake - "No, I’m sure she’s fine."
J - "Want me to head in and we can look for her?"
Jake - "No, no, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it."
J - "Okay, but if you change your mind you know where I am."
Jake - "Sure, bye." He tells him absently and hangs up the phone, he sits
there for a few more minutes looking around the nearly empty room before he
gets off the bed and walks towards the living room to wait for Gage.
Gage and Jake spent over three hours looking for her, they looked all over
Port Charles, from the docks to the penthouse, and from Kelly’s to the
Quartermaine’s, but still no sign of her. They walked back into Luke’s with a
sigh, Gage went immediately up the stairs to check the answering machine and
to call Derek and see if he had heard from her, and Jake stood there slumped
against the wall. Luke heard someone come in and stepped out of his office.
Luke - "Hey Jake what’s going on?"
Jake - "Hey Luke." He answers not moving from his position against the wall.
Luke - "What’s up with you, you look beat?"
Jake - "I didn’t get much sleep last night and now I’ve spent the entire
morning and most of the afternoon looking for Brie."
Luke - "Really?" he says surprised, "Come on." He says and walks towards the
front of the club expecting Jake to follow, Jake sighs but decides to go,
maybe it was time for a stiff drink. He rounded the corner and found Luke
standing quietly by the hostess station, Jake opened his mouth but was
silenced by Luke who put a finger to lips and mouthed "shh.", then he pointed
across the room. There she sat, still in her green dress from the night
before, shoes kicked aside laying in a heap on the floor, a cup of coffee in
her hands, and the pot sitting next to her elbow. Jake looked at Luke with a
question in his eyes, Luke just shrugged his shoulders then answered quietly.
"She was sitting there in the dark when I got here, all she said was thank you
when I brought her the coffee, I don’t think she has slept all night and I’d
say she wants to be alone."
Jake - "Well I can’t do that, but thanks Luke." He tells him before slowly
walking in her direction.
Chapter 41
Brie sat alone, the way she had been for five years, five months, and 10 days;
maybe that was just the way things were supposed to be for her she thought as
she took another sip of her cooling coffee. Things were fine before she had
come back to Port Charles, she hadn’t had the time, or the inclination, to
realize what a solitary person she had become, but here in this small town
full of family, friends, and lovers, she had come to realize how bleak her
life really was. She missed those days of catching up with friends, she
missed love, but most of all she missed….
Jake - "Hello Brie." He says interrupting her thoughts, she looked up at him
and their eyes meet, something in his look made her sit up a little
straighter, a little taller in her chair.
B - "Hey Jake." She finally answered. "What are you doing here?"
Jake - "Looking for you."
B - "You are, why?" she asked as he took a seat across from her.
Jake - "I have something to show you, something to ask you."
B - "Shoot." She says with a smile trying to lighten the mood. He reaches
inside of his coat and for a moment she thought that he might take her
seriously, she shifted in her chair trying to balance herself in case she had
to move fast, but relaxed when he drew out some papers from his inside pocket.
He slowly unfolded them then took one long last look before he placed them
flat on the table. "Come on Jake, your making me nervous, what is it?" He
simply slides them towards her.
Jake - "Maybe you can tell me. Explain to me why you and Brenda Corinthos
have the same fingerprints?" Her face turns white and her hand begins to
tremble dropping the coffee cup that it held.
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