Chapter 3 

Caroline awoke and smiled as she realized that she was home. She got up and went 
to Michael's room, only to discover that his crib was empty. She then went to 
the bathroom to brush her hair, and wash her face. She started back to her room 
to get a robe, then decided against it. She looked down at her black nightgown, 
which had thin straps and ended at mid-thigh. "I might as well give Jason 
something to appreciate," she thought. 

She then headed downstairs, and smiled when she saw Jason feeding Michael. 
Caroline walked over to the table and kissed Michael. She then went closer to 
Jason and bent down to give him a kiss on the cheek. While she was doing this, 
she noticed his eyes on her chest. He quickly looked up, and realizing that he 
was caught, started to blush. "Well, well, well. Jason embarrassed? Haven't seen 
this in a while," Caroline thought as she winked at Jason. 

"Jase, you don't mind if I walk around in my nightgown do you?" Caroline asked 
coyly. 

"Do I mind? Would any guy in their right mind, MIND?" Jason thought. "No, its 
your home too," was the only answer he provided. 

Across the table, Robin was shooting daggers. "Good," thought Caroline. "Did the 
little evangelist really believe that I was going to let her sinful remark about 
my best friend slide?" 

"I have to go over to Justus' for a few minutes," Jason said as he headed for 
the door. 

As soon as Jason left, Robin stood up, hands on her hips. "What the hell do you 
think you're doing?" Robin demanded. 

"Well Robin, I believe that I'm feeding my son. I am his mother after all, and 
its my job to make sure that he doesn't end up looking like a skeleton," 
Caroline answered sweetly. 

"You know damn well that isn't what I'm talking about! How dare you prance 
around half-naked in front of MY boyfriend!" 

"Well, Jason didn't seem too bothered. What's the matter Robin? Afraid that 
Jason will realize what it is he's missing?" Caroline taunted. 

"You are such a low-life slut! You are completely tasteless and classless!" 

"Oh that's right! You're the one lived in glamorous Paris. You must know so much 
about taste. For example, that pretty little haircut of yours. Well it's so… 
so…" Caroline pretended to give it a lot of thought. "Well, its just so… boyish. 
I'm surprised nobody has started calling you Robby." 

"I don't care what you think. I know that everybody else loves my hair". 

"Robby honey, they were just being polite. Anyway, I have a question for you. 
Why the hell do you have so much gooey gel in your hair? Oh wait a minute! I get 
it! Its so your little clips don't fall out! Robby good thinking! We wouldn't 
want one of those clips to fall out, and run the risk of Michael putting it in 
his mouth. You know, a lot of kids could choke on anything." 

Robin just gave Caroline one of her harmless dirty looks, but had no reply. 

**************** 

"Mom, why did you bring your work home with you?" A.J. asked his mother while 
staring at the stack of files in front of him. 

"Well, with your father at rehab, I'm doing all of the Chief of Staff work. I 
have to put a notice in all of these files to review blood tests. Feel free to 
help," replied Monica. 

"I can do that," A.J. offered. He started writing REVIEW BLOOD TESTS on post it 
paper, and inserting it inside each file. All of a sudden something caught his 
eye. The file was for a two-year-old girl, but what made his eyes pop out was 
her blood type, along with her parents'. According to the file, the girl was B+, 
but her parents were A+ and B-. He had thought that a child had to have the same 
blood type as one of his or her parents. 

"Mom, can you explain something to me? Does a child have to have the same blood 
type as one of his or her parents?" 

"No, it depends on the blood genes the child inherits from each parent, and on 
the Rh factor." 

"So a child who is B+ can have a mother who is A+ and a father who is B-?" 

"Right. A.J., what is this about?" 

"Umm, Mom, I've got to go," A.J. said hurrying out. 

"A.J.!" Monica called, but he was already out the door. 

******************* 

Back in Florida, Shane Roberts was sitting on the beach, watching the waves 
crash. He couldn't get Caroline out of his mind. He sat back, and allowed his 
thoughts to travel back to that wonderful July night he and Caroline had spent 
on the beach: 

Eighteen year olds Caroline and Shane were walking hand in hand, along the 
beach. They had taken their shoes off, and were enjoying the rhythmic motion of 
the waves going over their feet then falling back to the ocean. The night was 
pitch black, except for the full moon, which seemed to enhance Caroline's pretty 
features. 

"I love you," Shane said softy, moving closer to Caroline to smell the sweet 
scent of her blond tresses. 

"I love you too" 

They started to kiss softly, then all of a sudden it started to rain lightly. 
They broke apart, and started to laugh. Shane picked up his girlfriend and began 
to twirl her around. Next, he put his arms around her waist, and they danced 
slowly. They were both wet, but happier than they had been in a long time. 

Shane broke out of the enchanting trance, and came back to reality. He had been 
so stupid to ruin his romance with Caroline. He had hurt her deeply, and would 
give anything to have a second chance with her. Although she had forgiven him, 
he knew that things would never be the same. After her son was born, she had 
come back to Florida for a few weeks. They had talked and reminisced about the 
past, but it was only their friendship, which was intact. He hadn't made a move 
on her because she was dealing with her near death experience, and was worrying 
about her son. No matter how much he loved her, and wanted to re-kindle their 
romance, her happiness and the well being of her and her son came first. 

It had been several months since he had last seen her, and the empty feeling 
inside him was still there. They had talked on the phone the day after Michael 
had been found, but the conversation hadn't gone where he wanted it to go. He 
had planned to ask her to move back to Florida, but he didn't, because all she 
would talk about was how good Jason was to her, and how much Jason meant to her 
and Michael. 

He hadn't been in contact with her since, and he didn't know where things stood 
with her and the mobster. If Caroline wanted Jason, he would respect that, but 
he wanted to see her first. He wanted to find out the truth about her feelings 
for him, and her feelings for Jason. Shane got up from the sand, and headed home 
to pack. He was going to go to Port Charles.