Chapter 16

Luke's statement had shocked them all into silence.  The only sound that could 
be heard was Carly's laughing.  It had grown uncontrollable. Bobbie feared that 
she would become hysterical. Stefan had hoped that Bobbie wouldn't tell her 
brother about his meeting with Carly because he knew that Luke would have tried 
to talk her out of it.  Victor hadn't expected to see Luke Spencer at all. This 
wasn't in his plans. 

The sound of an innocent child's voice moved them back into action. "Meatloaf?  
Yuck!  Mommy can we order pizza?"

"Luke take Michael and Carly into the house!"  Bobbie hissed.  

"No way, Jose. This looks interesting."  Luke folded his arms across his chest 
and leant against the door jab. He noticed one of Sonny's men talking on a cell 
phone out of the corner of his eye and subtly gave him a "I'm in charge of this" 
sign. The man nodded and hung up.

"Luke, please!"  Bobbie hissed again. 

Carly started coughing from her prolonged laughing.  "Silly Cassadines, tricks 
are for kids!"  That sent her into another round of giggles. She brought herself 
under control.  "Uncle Luke, I know you said the Cassadines were out there, I 
just didn't know how far out!"

Bobbie shot Luke a look of fear and Luke just shrugged his shoulders.  Carly 
waved away Stefan and Victor.  "Okay, guys, you've had your fun for today.  
Can't wait to see what you've got planned for April Fool's Day."

"Why is she not taking this seriously."  Victor demanded.

"She's a Spencer, Vic, when do we ever take anything seriously?" Luke said. "But 
I think Caroline's right.  It's time for you two to go." 

"Why is Mommy laughing so much?"  Michael asked as he peeked from behind Luke.

"Michael, honey, why don't you go upstairs and…and play with one of Lucas' video 
games."  Bobbie suggested.

"Anyone I want?"  Michael asked cheerfully.

Bobbie nodded.  "Anyone you want."  Michael ran back into the house. Bobbie 
turned onto the men.  "I think we better just end this right now."

"Hey, Mama, this has been the best joke you've ever played on me. How'd you get 
a bunch of Cassadines in on it, I'll never know. That was a good one."  Carly 
wiped at the corner of her eyes.  "How'd you keep a straight face through it 
all?"

Carly noticed that no one was answering her.  She looked around at their serious 
faces and the slight smirk on Luke's. Her mouth dropped open and she gaped at 
them in shock as it finally dawned on her.  

"No…no!"  She started to back up.

"Caroline, darlin'…" Luke began.

"Shut up!  You just shut up!" Carly screamed.  "What the hell is this, Mama?  
Did you know?"

"I…" Bobbie started to answer but Carly stopped her.

"No, you shut up too!  You knew about this and you never told me? How long have 
you known?  Have long have either of you known?"  Carly asked Stefan and Victor.  

Then she shook her head.  "No, I'm not listening to this because this…this isn't 
real.  This is some cruel joke and you know what, I'm not laughing anymore. This 
is not funny!" Carly brushed past them and started down the stairs.

"Carly, where are you going?"  Bobbie asked.

"Away from this…madness!" Carly spat out. "I need to just get away right now." 

Bobbie started to go after her but Luke placed his hand on her, stopping her.  
"Let her go, Barbara Jean, she just needs some time to handle all this."  Luke 
caught the eye of Sonny's man and nodded at him, giving him the go-ahead to 
follow Carly.

"Stefan…I'll call you."  Bobbie sighed.

"Yeah, after you explain to me, what the hell you were thinking of. Surprising 
Carly like that!"  Luke roared.

"Luke…" Bobbie began.

"If it's too much for either of you, I would like to see my grandson."  Victor 
said smoothly.

"Hold on there, Vicky, you ain't going nowhere near that boy." Luke said 
warningly.  "And you better not try to talk to his mother anymore either. And 
you Vlad, I think it's time you slink off to that rock of island you reside at 
and leave my niece alone too."

Stefan ignored Luke and said softly to Bobbie. "If you need my help I can…"

"Sorry, buddy, she doesn't need your help.  She's got me and she's got her 
husband." Luke stated. 

Stefan started to respond but Bobbie stopped him.  "It's okay, Stefan, thank 
you.  Could you take your uncle with you?  This is awkward enough with him 
around."

"Barbara, you wound me." Victor said.  He bowed low.  "Until another time, then.  
Tell my daughter that I will be around."  He started down the stairs.

"She's not your daughter!"  Bobbie shouted down to him.

Victor turned around and nodded with a little smirk on his face. "Sure. You just 
keep on thinking that if it makes you happy."

~*~*~

Carly started to run when she was halfway down the street.  She didn't know 
where she was going and she didn't notice that a stocky man in a suit, talking 
on a cell phone was following her. She ran smack into Alex.

"Hey baby, couldn't wait to see me?"  Alex joked.  He lost the smile when he 
noticed the look of devastation on her face.

"I… I have a father.  Two!" Carly's chin started to tremble and tears began to 
well up in her eyes.  She wiped furiously at her eyes.

Alex grasped her by the shoulders.  "What are you talking about?"

Carly tossed the hair out of her face and turned her head, fighting the tears. 
"I met my…fathers today.  And I'm not ready to…deal with it so I'm going to take 
a walk.  If that's okay with you?"

"Carly, let's go back to the Brownstone and talk about this."  Alex suggested 
gently.

"I'm not going back there.  *They* are there!  Why don't you go on and meet 
them?  Have a nice chat."  Carly snapped. She then let out a big sigh and looked 
at the ground. "Alex, I just…I just need some time alone.  Could you go home and 
let Michael know that his mother loves him and I'll be home soon. I don't want 
him worrying or anything."

Alex nodded.  He could see that whatever had happened had really affected Carly.  
"I can do that for you." Alex rubbed her shoulders. "Where are you going?"

Carly shrugged.  "I don't know.  Where I end up?"

"Carly…" Alex began.

“Don't worry about me, Alex. I'll be okay, I think."  Carly gave Alex a soft 
kiss on the lips and walked away.  Alex watched her until she turned the corner.  
Then he headed for the Brownstone to find out exactly what was going on.

Carly had barely turned the corner before a dark four-door car drove up beside 
her.  A little startled, she stopped for a second.  The window of the backseat 
rolled down and Sonny's head poked out.  

"Get in."  He demanded. 

Carly sighed.  She wasn't in the mood for whatever Sonny was up to now.  She 
just wanted to go somewhere quiet, think about the bomb that had just been 
dropped on her and cry.

Sonny opened the door and climbed out.  "Get in, Carly.  Please."

Carly rubbed her neck. "Sonny, I just saw you for lunch.  Right now isn't the 
best--"

"Something went down at the Brownstone just now and it hurt you bad.  Something 
to do with the Cassadines. So why don't you get in the car and tell me about 
it."

"How did you know?"  Carly asked.

"Get in the car and I'll tell you." Sonny gestured towards the open door.

Carly shrugged.  She could tell that Sonny was not going to leave her alone and 
she wanted to know how he knew.  So she climbed in and waited as Sonny got in 
next to her and shut the door.  

"Are we just driving around like last time?" Carly asked as she gazed out the 
window.  She didn't want Sonny to see the tears that were coming to her eyes.  
"Because I can't deal with another trip down memory lane." 

"No, we're going to the penthouse.  What happened?"  Sonny asked quietly.  "And 
why do you look like you're about to cry?"

"Would you believe it's meatloaf night and I really hate meatloaf?" Carly 
wisecracked.

~*~*~

Emily shoved in a handful of clothes into her overnight bag.  She didn't know 
how long she was going to stay with Carly so she was taking extra clothes as a 
precaution. She grabbed her camera bag and started to fill that up.  Suddenly 
there was a door slam.  Emily looked up frightened.  What if it was Elizabeth?  
She couldn't talk to Elizabeth now! But how could she avoid her?  The closet!  

Emily jumped across her bed and started to run for the closet. Just as she 
opened the closet door, her bedroom door opened and Sly walked in.  

"Sly?"  Her jaw dropped.  This she wasn't expecting. 

Sly shoved his hands into his bad pockets and looked down at the ground.  Emily 
recognized it as his "I don't want to apologize but I was wrong and so I will" 
pose.  "Emily, I'm sorry about last night…"

"Sly, you don't have to--" Emily started to stop him. He had nothing to 
apologize for.

Sly held up his hand. "No, I have to.  I was wrong.  I was just being jealous 
and I should have known that I had nothing to be jealous about.  I trust you, 
Emily."

Emily looked away from him and started to chew on her lip. "Sly, I…"

He walked up to her and took her in his arms. "I understand if you're still mad 
and--"

"I'm not mad."  Emily interjected.  She sighed and leaned her head on his 
shoulder.  

"You aren't?"  Sly asked in surprise.

"No."  Emily shook her head.  "If you don't want me seeing Nikolas anymore, 
that's okay with me."

"What?  I'm not trying to choose your friends here."  Sly said.  

"Sly, it's okay.  I won't see him."

Sly frowned down on her.  "What happened between the two of you last night?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Emily just wanted to have this nice quiet time 
with Sly before telling him about what she did. 

"Okay, we won't talk about it."  Sly rubbed her back and then her noticed her 
things spread out on the bed. "Where were you going?"

"Uh, Carly had invited me to stay over at her place for a few days but now that 
things are…okay with us, I think I'll just turn down her invitation."

Sly nodded.  "Alright. How about we go out tonight?  You know, you, me and a 
nice dinner?"

"How about we just stay in…at your place?"  Emily suggested.  She wanted to be 
as far away from Elizabeth as possible.

"My place?"  Sly frowned. "Well, my roommate is going away for a few days."

"It would be great.  Just the two of us, alone?" Emily pleaded. "We're barely 
alone here, you know."

"Whatever you want."  Sly agreed. Emily smiled and grabbed her bags.  This was 
just what she needed.  Some time alone with Sly.

~*~*~

Nikolas walked into Kelly's and sat at the counter.  Lucky came up to him and 
smiled.  He poured out a glass of water for him. "Hey, what's up man? You look 
like hell."

"I've made a big mistake, I think."  Nikolas groaned.

"What happened between you and Elizabeth?"  Lucky asked.

"We broke up."  Nikolas told him.

Lucky whistled lowly.  "What?  I thought you two were happy. Man, you did make a 
big mistake."

"No, that wasn't what I was talking about--" Nikolas stopped himself before 
spilling about Emily and last night.  Lucky wouldn't understand and he would 
only go and tell Elizabeth and that would just make things worst.  Nikolas 
needed to talk to Emily again before telling Elizabeth, if he was going to tell 
Elizabeth anything at all. That talk he had had with Emily that morning hadn't 
been in depth enough for him. 

"What happened to your shirt?"  He asked instead.

Lucky grimaced at the sight of twin black marks on his once white shirt.  "Maxie 
Jones happened."

Nikolas arched an eyebrow and Lucky continued.  "She had a little run in with 
her father and…it kinda upset her a little."

Maxie emerged from the kitchen and walked up to Lucky.  "Here I am, all squeaky 
clean." She either didn't see Nikolas standing there or she was just blatantly 
ignoring him, she just smiled up at Lucky.

Lucky grasped her by the chin, looked her over and smiled.  "There, don't you 
feel better?  And you look a lot better without all the gunk piled up on your 
face."

Maxie's eyes began to twinkle.  "You think so?"

"Yes, without all that make-up, you're a very pretty girl."  Lucky nodded. 
"Don't wear all that stuff anymore."

"I won't."  Maxie promised solemnly. Mentally she made a note that Lucky hated 
excess make-up. That was one mistake she won't be making again.  "If you want, I 
can pay for the dry-cleaning for your shirt."  She offered.

Lucky shook his head.  "No, it's alright.  Do you feel any better about your 
father?"

Maxie frowned.  "I…I don't think so.  He's a jerk!  Just like Mom's said or at 
least thinks.  She never says it out loud but I know she's thinking it. Speaking 
of my mom, I gotta get home before she wakes up!"

"You're still grounded aren't you?"  Lucky asked.

Maxie looked down at the floor.  "Yes…"

Lucky sighed.  "Maxie, what did I say?  Your mother's having enough trouble 
without you running around when you should be at home."

"But Lucky…" Maxie started to try and defend herself but her stopped her.

"Go home Maxie before your mother wakes."  Lucky advised.

"I'll see you around, Lucky."  Maxie gave in and walked out the restaurant. 

"Looks like someone's got a crush."  Nikolas commented before taking a sip of 
water.

"Who?"  Lucky asked confused.

"That Maxie girl."  Nikolas gestured towards the door that she'd just exited 
through.

"Maxie?  She's just a kid."  Lucky frowned.

"She looks like she's seventeen, right?"  Lucky nodded and Nikolas started on.  
"That's old enough to know what you want and to try and get it."

Lucky laughed. "You're just imagining things."

"Lucky, she only had eyes for you.  I don't think she even noticed me sitting 
here.  She was ready to do whatever you wanted her to.  You don't like a lot of 
make-up, I bet you anything that the next time you see her, she won't be wearing 
so much as a light lip gloss.  You didn't like her sneaking out of the house, 
she won't even step one foot out of her door until you think it's okay for her 
to.  Lucky, the girl's got a crush and she's got it bad."

"Well, I guess it's sweet?"  Lucky shrugged.  "I don't know what to do though."

"Well, you might have to let her down easily because she's got you up on a 
pedestal.  You call me a prince, to her, you're the prince."

"Okay, now you're being ridiculous." Lucky pointed out.  "I treat her like I 
treat Lulu, like she's my little sister.  You saw that. Now, how could she put 
me on a pedestal with the way I act?"

Nikolas shrugged.  "I don't know but you are up there."

"She's just a little girl."  Lucky muttered as he wiped down the corner for no 
reason.

"You may think she is but we both know she's not."

"It's a lot easier thinking she is, okay?"  Lucky said.  "I've got customers. 
Are you ordering or not?"

"Uh…no.  I'm going to head on back to the island."  Nikolas stood.

"See you later, man."

~*~*~

Frisco walked into the alleyway that he was to meet up with Layla in. She had 
called him on his cell and changed meeting places suddenly.

"Hey Blondie."  Layla called from her perch on the hood of their rental car.

"Layla, can we get on with this?  I need to go and see my daughter Maxie.  We 
had a…disagreement."

Layla whipped out her nail file and started to work on her nails.  "We're just 
waiting for…"

"Me and here I am."  Marcus announced.

"About time."  Frisco muttered.

"You, I want to talk to."  Marcus pointed at him. "What are you doing to Mac and 
Felicia?"

"Me?"  Frisco exploded.  "What are they doing to me is the question!  They don't 
want me to see my own daughters and…"

"Enough!"  Marcus held up his hand. "I changed my mind.  I don't want to hear 
about it because it would put me in the middle of you guys and I don't want to 
be there."

"Well, I got some good news for ya!"  Layla jumped off the car.

"It better be good."  Marcus rubbed the back of his neck.

"I think I know where Victor is." She did a little wiggle and grinned at him.  

"Knowing is better that thinking."  Marcus pointed out.

Layla pouted.  "I remember in the old days when you would take my hunch as and 
actual fact and act on it."

"Where do you think he's at, Layla?"  Marcus asked.

Layla folded her arms and said.  "I trailed Higgins to the Port Charles Hotel.  
He's got to be there."

"Are you sure?"  Marcus stressed.

"I liked it better when you didn't doubt me but yeah, I'm sure."

"Good.  You're off the case now."

Layla laughed.  "Marcus, I'm not on the case remember?"

"Yeah, well now you're really off the case."  He said flatly.  He hated doing 
this to Layla but she had to learn that rules where rules.

Layla placed her hands on her hips and stared at Marcus for a few minutes before 
nodding knowingly. "Ross called?"

"Katarina knows she's here?" Frisco asked in surprise.  

Layla scoffed.  "Come on, Blondie.  Boss lady knew I was here even before I got 
on the plane.  It was only a matter of time and I knew it."

"Well, I'm glad you did.  This way my next message won't come as a shock.  
Rina's coming for you."

"What?"  Layla gaped.

"Guess you don't know everything, do you?"  Frisco smirked.

Layla ignored him.  "She can't!  I'm too close to finishing this."

"And that's why she's coming.  You're too close, Layla.  This is a revenge 
mission and you know how the Bureau doesn't do that!"

"Then maybe it should learn to."  Layla said through clenched teeth.

"Layla," Marcus began gently, "why don't you just go back with Rina, get the eye 
surgery done and when all this is over with, you can come back to Port Charles 
and we'll have a nice visit.  We could relive old times and all that.  Keesha 
will hate it but…"

"Damn it! I started this and I want to finish it!" Layla hissed.

Frisco checked his watch.  "Hey, if this is all and Victor is probably not going 
anywhere, I need to go and…"

"Go, I can take care of her."  Marcus nodded.

"You think you can.  That's why we didn't work out.  You thought you could 
control me and you never could!"  Layla raised her voice and Frisco quickly left 
the alley.

"Layla, stop making a scene and…" Marcus was cut off by the sound of his beeper 
going off.  "I don't have time for this." He muttered as he checked the number.  

He looked up at Layla.  "I don't believe this.  I have to go. Can I trust you 
not to go over to the Hotel without Blondie?"

Layla closed her eye.  "Yes, you can trust me."

Marcus knew she was lying but he didn't have the time to actually tie her down 
somewhere. "Just…be careful."  He warned before taking off.

"I'm always careful."  Layla muttered as she tossed her hair back revealing her 
eye patch.

~*~*~

Nikolas got out of his car and started for Emily's apartment building.  He knew 
it was too soon to talk to her but he just had to.  He needed to see her; he 
couldn't get her off his mind.  He was halfway to the building when he saw Emily 
and Sly coming out.  He shrank back before either could see him.  

It was obvious to him that Emily didn't tell Sly about last night. They both had 
their arms around each other and Sly looked relaxed and happy.  Emily on the 
other hand looked very nervous and she kept looking around her as if she was 
expecting someone to show up.

Nikolas sighed and rubbed his temples.  This wasn't good. From the looks of the 
bags Sly was carrying, Emily was going away for a few days. Probably to Sly's 
and that meant he couldn't talk to her.  

He was just going to have to figure out another way to see her.

~*~*~

Carly stalked into Sonny's penthouse and flopped down on the couch. Sonny came 
and sat next to her.  "Okay, tell me what happened."

"I just met my dad today."  Carly announced.  "Actually, I met two men who claim 
to be my father, we're just not sure which one really is."

"What does this have to do with the Cassadines?"  Sonny asked.

"Oh, this is the best part…*I* am a Cassadine!" Carly said.  She started to 
giggle a little.  "Isn't that funny?  Me, Carly Spencer, Carly Roberts, Caroline 
Benson, Baby Girl Spencer is also a Cassadine!" 

Sonny frowned as something just hit him.  "So that's why Luke wanted me to put 
guards on you."

"You had guards on me?  You had me followed?" Carly sat up.

"It was only for a couple of days."  Sonny shrugged.  "He was worried about you 
and he wanted you to be safe.  He just never told me why."

Carly flopped back.  "I wish someone had told me what was going on. I don't like 
surprises."

"He was just trying to protect. He had his reasons."  Sonny said.

Carly frowned.  "This is horrible."  

Sonny took a hold of her hand and gently rubbed the back of it with his thumb. 
"Talk to me."

"Why now, is all I want to know. That and how long have they've known.  I've 
been in Port Charles for how many years?  And so has Stefan Cassadine, Daddy 
candidate number one. Why did he wait until now to 'claim' me?"

Sonny just listened as Carly continued to go on.  "Where was he when I was 
living in that hell-hole in Florida or when Frank Benson…when he ran off and 
left me and Virginia damn near poor!  Where were they when I could have used a 
father?  Why did they chose now to mess up my life?"  Carly put her head down 
and the tears began to fall.

Sonny gathered her up into his arms and held her as she cried.  "I don't know 
why I'm crying.  It's stupid really.  Some people would be overjoyed to find out 
that they have not only one father but also two!  But me…" Carly shook her head 
and sniffled.

"Carly, it's not stupid." Sonny said soothingly.  "What are you going to do 
about it?"

"I don't know.  Ignore them until they go away?" Carly suggested.

Sonny frowned at her and Carly shrugged.  "Okay, I know, stupid suggestion.  I 
just need some time away from them and Bobbie. She knew and she didn't tell me!"

"You could stay here."  Sonny suggested.  "Pack up some things for you and 
Michael and stay here for a few days."

Carly started to laugh.  "You do know how to pick your moments, don't you?  If I 
wanted to go away, I could stay at Alex's place."

"Where they could get in and see you anytime they want.  Here, I have the 
guards, who'd stop them."  Sonny pointed out.

"Well…" Carly started to chew on her lip.

Sonny brushed his finger across her lips.  "Don't do that.  So what do you say?  
Are you going to stay or not?"