Just Between Friends - Chapter 32
Title: Just Between Friends
Author: speedy
Fandom: General Hospital
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Expecting her second child and caught up in a mafia war, Carly Corinthos has a secret that will change the lives of everyone she knows.
Disclaimer: I'm not the Rat, so obviously the characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them for awhile.
Notes: Just moving this over from my now defunct website. This veers off canon right before the panic room fiasco in 2003.
Chapter 31
Frisco was actually impressed. Corinthos had acquired quite a bit of front companies and was beginning to branch out into international smuggling. Not that it made a difference. He was still too arrogant, too unprepared to jump in that pool of sharks.
Corinthos hadn't yet stepped on any of Alcazar's toes either. He was still small enough that the arms dealer would just swat him down like an annoying bug.
There was nothing Alcazar could possibly want. Maybe the docks, but even then...
It just didn't make sense.
"Oh, this looks bad."
Frisco looked up to see Carly in front of him. He was still on the sofa, having refused to leave - or allow her to leave - the cottage. "Huh?"
"The furrowed brow, the tense muscles, the murderous scowl..."
"I'm not finding anything."
She frowned. "Not good."
"The closest thing I can come up with is the docks, but Alcazar controls docks in New York and Toronto. Those are far more accessible and profitable than Port Charles."
"Well, I have some good news," she announced.
He looked interested. "Yeah?"
"I tracked down the leasing company records."
"For Charlotte's apartment building?"
"Yep. Can't guarantee there's anything there," she shrugged, "but the owner of the company had the records stored. Apparently, he's had a few legal issues."
"And he can't get rid of any records until they're all resolved. Did you get permission to look at them?"
"Yes. In fact, he was real quick to tell me he didn't want trouble with law enforcement."
"I bet," Frisco snorted. "I guess we can go tomorrow."
Carly put her hands on her hips. "Why not now?"
"I'm in the middle of something," he said, insistent.
"And you're not getting anywhere," she pointed out.
"And I'm not going to going to if you keep pestering me."
She huffed, resisting the urge to rip her hair out or deck him. "I've been upstairs all morning doing my own work! I haven't pestered you once!"
"Yes, you did!"
"Oh, I made you stop and eat breakfast. What a whoop." She rolled her eyes. "Big baby."
He glared at her. "Excuse me?"
"Do you need me to tell you you're a little on the obsessed side?" she asked with a sigh.
"Am not," he grumbled.
She crossed her arms. "What's next, spy boy? A bug in Alcazar's sunglasses?"
Frisco looked like she'd slapped him across the face. "I'm that bad?"
Her eyes narrowed. He gave up a little too quickly for her tastes. "Why aren't you fighting me on this?"
He looked down, pained and maybe even a little a little ashamed. "When I came back from Bulgaria, I found the guy who'd locked me up here in Port Charles."
"I think you mentioned this. Domino, right?" she asked quietly. He so rarely spoke of that time, she was actually touched, even if she didn't know where he was going with it.
"Right. Only he was going by Nicholas Van Buren and he was engaged to Tracy Quartermaine."
Carly rolled her eyes. She'd heard plenty about Tracy's romances while she was married to AJ. "She has such wonderful taste in men."
"Anyway, I was determined to take the guy down, show everybody who he really was." He took a deep breath. "So, I stole his glasses and put a bug in them."
She stifled a laugh. "You didn't!"
He nodded, even gave her a little smile. "Robert arrested me. He said I crossed the line."
"I'd say that was pretty smart."
"He said that, too." Sad eyes turned back down. "Looking back, he was right. I was totally obsessed with making Domino pay for what he'd done. I was getting close to crossing the line between right and wrong. If Robert hadn't stepped in, I probably would've done something I would've regretted later."
She thought for a moment before responding. "Well, in light of that, maybe you should back away from the files for a while."
He cringed. "I'm that bad?"
"Getting there," Carly replied, looking sheepish. "You know, it's entirely possible that the answer isn't in the files. Sonny may just be in the way of something unrelated that Alcazar has planned. Sonny might not even be the real target."
Frisco contemplated the idea. "Just a pawn caught in the middle. It's possible. I should've thought of that myself."
"So let's get back to my evil twin for the time being. Vent some frustration on her skanky ass."
He slammed his computer shut and grabbed his keys. "Let's go."
Three hours and nothing to show for it, except sinuses full of dust. They were going to be breathing dust for a week after this.
Carly sneezed for what seemed like the hundredth time. "I can't believe there's nothing here."
Frisco let out a deep breath. "Their records for the last three years are so shoddy, it's entirely possible they were running on a cash basis. No leases."
She nodded in agreement, following his train of thought. "Knowing that area, they could make a lot of money off drug dealers and prostitutes."
"Not to mention illegals and people who just don't want to be found."
"Like Charlotte."
"Possibly. It also explains the legal trouble."
"They're not responsible for what renters do."
"Unless they knew about it and did nothing. Then it's aiding and abetting."
"So..." Carly trailed off, putting away her last file. "What now?"
Frisco closed his file and tossed it in frustration. "Go back to the witnesses."
Carly stuck her head out of the kitchen. Frisco was back to obsessively working away, trying to find a workable lead on either Charlotte or Alcazar. After nothing but cold leads and dead ends, he was not in a good mood. She'd never seen him this frazzled before. He'd always been the calm, cool professional, carefully examining all the angles. Of course, her case had never hit so close to home before. He needed to step back from work. He needed a break, a real break.
She walked over to the sofa and closed Frisco's laptop.
"Hey! I was working on that!" he snapped angrily.
"I've got a surprise for you!" she sing-songed.
"I don't like surprises."
She smiled as sweetly as possible. "It's not bad, I promise."
He wasn't buying it. "Yeah, I've heard that one before."
The doorbell rang, causing Frisco to reach for his gun. Carly just grinned. "Right on time!" she said, rushing to answer it.
"Carly! You don't know who it is!"
She threw the door open and Georgie stepped inside, followed by Dillon. "Hi, Robin! Hi, Dad!" the teen cheerfully greeted them.
Frisco relaxed and smiled as Carly ushered them inside. "Hey, princess," he replied.
"I brought a couple DVDs," Dillon said, lifting up the backpack slung over one shoulder. "Classic 007s. Hope that's okay."
"That's great," Carly told him. "I made pizza."
"Homemade?"
Frisco snorted. Carly threw him a dirty look. "Frozen."
Georgie jumped on the sofa and reached for her father. "Sit with me."
He sat down and put an arm around her when she snuggled up to him.
"Come on," Carly said, dragging Dillon with her into the kitchen. "You can help me with dinner."
Frisco rolled his eyes. No doubt Carly had set this whole thing up and was giving him a little time alone with his daughter. He made a mental note to thank her later.
"How are things in Georgie-land? Keeping out of trouble?"
The teen sighed dramatically. "Maxie's freaking out."
"About what?"
"Kyle. He's acting weird." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I think you really scared him."
He couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on his lips. "So he's not as dumb as I thought."
"Don't look so proud," she admonished, sounding almost amused. "Maxie's going to find out you're responsible eventually and then she's going to kill you."
"Meh, she hates me anyway."
"She doesn't hate you, Dad."
He wasn't as confident, but Frisco decided to let the subject go. His time with her was too precious. "Dillon didn't really bring James Bond, did he?"
Frisco was sure Dillon was going to hurt him. After only the opening bit, he'd "liberated" the Gameboy he'd found in Dillon's backpack and amused himself through the rest of the movie. The teen kept glancing at him as if he were committing some sort of sacrilege by not watching Sean Connery's bad impression of a spy.
"Didn't enjoy Bond taking down the evil villain and getting the girl, Mr. Jones?" Dillon asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.
Frisco snorted. "Movies."
Georgie grinned. "Doesn't happen that way in real life, huh?"
"No. Bond would've been caught and killed in the first five minutes. And the women, forget it."
Dillon wasn't convinced. "Being a spy doesn't attract women?"
"That requires someone knowing you're a spy. Not exactly conductive to living long. Spying is not the glamorous life these movies make it out to be."
"Never been to a Monte Carlo casino, then."
"Actually, I have a couple times. You don't banter with the target, you don't make yourself the center of attention unless you're the decoy, you do not under any circumstance give out your real name, and you certainly don't go to bed with enemy operatives. Most would slit your throat while you orgasm."
His focus remained on the game. He completely missed the look of horror that crossed his daughter's face.
"Seriously?" Dillon asked, subdued.
"Yep. That's when a man is most vulnerable. Romance and love are easily exploitable weaknesses. A real spy can't afford to get involved with anyone."
Georgie jumped out and rushed out of the room. Dillon started to get up, but Frisco gestured from him not to. "Let me," he said, following the girl into the kitchen.
She stood at the counter, trying to hold back her tears.
"Georgie, sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"How can you live like that?" she cried.
"Like what?"
"Like that!" She pointed back out at the living room. "Always looking over your shoulder, always suspicious of the people around you, wondering who's going to use your family against you?"
She understood far more than he'd actually told them. He guessed she had heard bits and pieces from Felicia or Mac, or even from Robin or Tony, over the years. Maybe it hadn't sunk in, connected before. And he hadn't sugarcoated the little bit he had just said. "Guess I'm used to it by now."
Her reaction was more like he expected from Maxie. She spun around to face him, her anger written all over her body. That clearly wasn't what she wanted to hear. "You really are going to leave, aren't you?" she asked accusingly.
"I don't know," he replied, feeling guilty for lying. "It's always a possibility."
"I may never see you again."
"Hey," he tried to comfort her, but she pulled away from him, "I always come home eventually."
"But things could go wrong and you could be caught."
"Been caught before and still came home."
"Not without everyone that loved you thinking you were dead for a year," she shot back coldly.
He sighed. He'd hoped that she didn't know about that, as far-fetched as that might be. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Do you feel this?" he whispered into her ear. "Do you feel me? I'm right here, safe and sound."
He felt her arms come around him, squeezing him, and he knew the truth. She was scared. For him, of losing him.
"But..."
"This family knows better than anyone that there are no guarantees in life." She pulled away enough to look at him, tears in her eyes. "It wasn't that long ago that we feared every phone call, every time we saw a doctor, every time a machine beeped, that Maxie was going to be gone. Only when we finally got that news, it wasn't Maxie, it was BJ." He wiped away a tear from her cheek. "I can't guarantee if and when I'm sent back out into the field that I'm going to make it. But I can't say that I'm actually going to make it into Luke's tomorrow either. I'm very good at my job. That's the only guarantee I can give."
"Can't you just stay here? Quit?" she asked anxiously.
He shook his head. "It's not that simple. I made choices a long time that I can't walk away from. I can't just call my boss up and say 'I quit'."
"Why not?"
He couldn't tell her the real reason, he couldn't tell her he was still working and he could be in danger. He couldn't tell her that even if he left and never went back, the danger would always be there. "It doesn't work that way."
Georgie looked on the verge of tears again. "I just got you back, I don't want to lose you again," she said softly.
Frisco hugged her tightly and placed a soft kiss on her temple. "I know, baby. I know. You've just got to take me however you can get me."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, princess, it does."
Chapter 33
Author: speedy
Fandom: General Hospital
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Expecting her second child and caught up in a mafia war, Carly Corinthos has a secret that will change the lives of everyone she knows.
Disclaimer: I'm not the Rat, so obviously the characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them for awhile.
Notes: Just moving this over from my now defunct website. This veers off canon right before the panic room fiasco in 2003.
Chapter 31
Frisco was actually impressed. Corinthos had acquired quite a bit of front companies and was beginning to branch out into international smuggling. Not that it made a difference. He was still too arrogant, too unprepared to jump in that pool of sharks.
Corinthos hadn't yet stepped on any of Alcazar's toes either. He was still small enough that the arms dealer would just swat him down like an annoying bug.
There was nothing Alcazar could possibly want. Maybe the docks, but even then...
It just didn't make sense.
"Oh, this looks bad."
Frisco looked up to see Carly in front of him. He was still on the sofa, having refused to leave - or allow her to leave - the cottage. "Huh?"
"The furrowed brow, the tense muscles, the murderous scowl..."
"I'm not finding anything."
She frowned. "Not good."
"The closest thing I can come up with is the docks, but Alcazar controls docks in New York and Toronto. Those are far more accessible and profitable than Port Charles."
"Well, I have some good news," she announced.
He looked interested. "Yeah?"
"I tracked down the leasing company records."
"For Charlotte's apartment building?"
"Yep. Can't guarantee there's anything there," she shrugged, "but the owner of the company had the records stored. Apparently, he's had a few legal issues."
"And he can't get rid of any records until they're all resolved. Did you get permission to look at them?"
"Yes. In fact, he was real quick to tell me he didn't want trouble with law enforcement."
"I bet," Frisco snorted. "I guess we can go tomorrow."
Carly put her hands on her hips. "Why not now?"
"I'm in the middle of something," he said, insistent.
"And you're not getting anywhere," she pointed out.
"And I'm not going to going to if you keep pestering me."
She huffed, resisting the urge to rip her hair out or deck him. "I've been upstairs all morning doing my own work! I haven't pestered you once!"
"Yes, you did!"
"Oh, I made you stop and eat breakfast. What a whoop." She rolled her eyes. "Big baby."
He glared at her. "Excuse me?"
"Do you need me to tell you you're a little on the obsessed side?" she asked with a sigh.
"Am not," he grumbled.
She crossed her arms. "What's next, spy boy? A bug in Alcazar's sunglasses?"
Frisco looked like she'd slapped him across the face. "I'm that bad?"
Her eyes narrowed. He gave up a little too quickly for her tastes. "Why aren't you fighting me on this?"
He looked down, pained and maybe even a little a little ashamed. "When I came back from Bulgaria, I found the guy who'd locked me up here in Port Charles."
"I think you mentioned this. Domino, right?" she asked quietly. He so rarely spoke of that time, she was actually touched, even if she didn't know where he was going with it.
"Right. Only he was going by Nicholas Van Buren and he was engaged to Tracy Quartermaine."
Carly rolled her eyes. She'd heard plenty about Tracy's romances while she was married to AJ. "She has such wonderful taste in men."
"Anyway, I was determined to take the guy down, show everybody who he really was." He took a deep breath. "So, I stole his glasses and put a bug in them."
She stifled a laugh. "You didn't!"
He nodded, even gave her a little smile. "Robert arrested me. He said I crossed the line."
"I'd say that was pretty smart."
"He said that, too." Sad eyes turned back down. "Looking back, he was right. I was totally obsessed with making Domino pay for what he'd done. I was getting close to crossing the line between right and wrong. If Robert hadn't stepped in, I probably would've done something I would've regretted later."
She thought for a moment before responding. "Well, in light of that, maybe you should back away from the files for a while."
He cringed. "I'm that bad?"
"Getting there," Carly replied, looking sheepish. "You know, it's entirely possible that the answer isn't in the files. Sonny may just be in the way of something unrelated that Alcazar has planned. Sonny might not even be the real target."
Frisco contemplated the idea. "Just a pawn caught in the middle. It's possible. I should've thought of that myself."
"So let's get back to my evil twin for the time being. Vent some frustration on her skanky ass."
He slammed his computer shut and grabbed his keys. "Let's go."
Three hours and nothing to show for it, except sinuses full of dust. They were going to be breathing dust for a week after this.
Carly sneezed for what seemed like the hundredth time. "I can't believe there's nothing here."
Frisco let out a deep breath. "Their records for the last three years are so shoddy, it's entirely possible they were running on a cash basis. No leases."
She nodded in agreement, following his train of thought. "Knowing that area, they could make a lot of money off drug dealers and prostitutes."
"Not to mention illegals and people who just don't want to be found."
"Like Charlotte."
"Possibly. It also explains the legal trouble."
"They're not responsible for what renters do."
"Unless they knew about it and did nothing. Then it's aiding and abetting."
"So..." Carly trailed off, putting away her last file. "What now?"
Frisco closed his file and tossed it in frustration. "Go back to the witnesses."
Carly stuck her head out of the kitchen. Frisco was back to obsessively working away, trying to find a workable lead on either Charlotte or Alcazar. After nothing but cold leads and dead ends, he was not in a good mood. She'd never seen him this frazzled before. He'd always been the calm, cool professional, carefully examining all the angles. Of course, her case had never hit so close to home before. He needed to step back from work. He needed a break, a real break.
She walked over to the sofa and closed Frisco's laptop.
"Hey! I was working on that!" he snapped angrily.
"I've got a surprise for you!" she sing-songed.
"I don't like surprises."
She smiled as sweetly as possible. "It's not bad, I promise."
He wasn't buying it. "Yeah, I've heard that one before."
The doorbell rang, causing Frisco to reach for his gun. Carly just grinned. "Right on time!" she said, rushing to answer it.
"Carly! You don't know who it is!"
She threw the door open and Georgie stepped inside, followed by Dillon. "Hi, Robin! Hi, Dad!" the teen cheerfully greeted them.
Frisco relaxed and smiled as Carly ushered them inside. "Hey, princess," he replied.
"I brought a couple DVDs," Dillon said, lifting up the backpack slung over one shoulder. "Classic 007s. Hope that's okay."
"That's great," Carly told him. "I made pizza."
"Homemade?"
Frisco snorted. Carly threw him a dirty look. "Frozen."
Georgie jumped on the sofa and reached for her father. "Sit with me."
He sat down and put an arm around her when she snuggled up to him.
"Come on," Carly said, dragging Dillon with her into the kitchen. "You can help me with dinner."
Frisco rolled his eyes. No doubt Carly had set this whole thing up and was giving him a little time alone with his daughter. He made a mental note to thank her later.
"How are things in Georgie-land? Keeping out of trouble?"
The teen sighed dramatically. "Maxie's freaking out."
"About what?"
"Kyle. He's acting weird." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I think you really scared him."
He couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on his lips. "So he's not as dumb as I thought."
"Don't look so proud," she admonished, sounding almost amused. "Maxie's going to find out you're responsible eventually and then she's going to kill you."
"Meh, she hates me anyway."
"She doesn't hate you, Dad."
He wasn't as confident, but Frisco decided to let the subject go. His time with her was too precious. "Dillon didn't really bring James Bond, did he?"
Frisco was sure Dillon was going to hurt him. After only the opening bit, he'd "liberated" the Gameboy he'd found in Dillon's backpack and amused himself through the rest of the movie. The teen kept glancing at him as if he were committing some sort of sacrilege by not watching Sean Connery's bad impression of a spy.
"Didn't enjoy Bond taking down the evil villain and getting the girl, Mr. Jones?" Dillon asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.
Frisco snorted. "Movies."
Georgie grinned. "Doesn't happen that way in real life, huh?"
"No. Bond would've been caught and killed in the first five minutes. And the women, forget it."
Dillon wasn't convinced. "Being a spy doesn't attract women?"
"That requires someone knowing you're a spy. Not exactly conductive to living long. Spying is not the glamorous life these movies make it out to be."
"Never been to a Monte Carlo casino, then."
"Actually, I have a couple times. You don't banter with the target, you don't make yourself the center of attention unless you're the decoy, you do not under any circumstance give out your real name, and you certainly don't go to bed with enemy operatives. Most would slit your throat while you orgasm."
His focus remained on the game. He completely missed the look of horror that crossed his daughter's face.
"Seriously?" Dillon asked, subdued.
"Yep. That's when a man is most vulnerable. Romance and love are easily exploitable weaknesses. A real spy can't afford to get involved with anyone."
Georgie jumped out and rushed out of the room. Dillon started to get up, but Frisco gestured from him not to. "Let me," he said, following the girl into the kitchen.
She stood at the counter, trying to hold back her tears.
"Georgie, sweetheart, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"How can you live like that?" she cried.
"Like what?"
"Like that!" She pointed back out at the living room. "Always looking over your shoulder, always suspicious of the people around you, wondering who's going to use your family against you?"
She understood far more than he'd actually told them. He guessed she had heard bits and pieces from Felicia or Mac, or even from Robin or Tony, over the years. Maybe it hadn't sunk in, connected before. And he hadn't sugarcoated the little bit he had just said. "Guess I'm used to it by now."
Her reaction was more like he expected from Maxie. She spun around to face him, her anger written all over her body. That clearly wasn't what she wanted to hear. "You really are going to leave, aren't you?" she asked accusingly.
"I don't know," he replied, feeling guilty for lying. "It's always a possibility."
"I may never see you again."
"Hey," he tried to comfort her, but she pulled away from him, "I always come home eventually."
"But things could go wrong and you could be caught."
"Been caught before and still came home."
"Not without everyone that loved you thinking you were dead for a year," she shot back coldly.
He sighed. He'd hoped that she didn't know about that, as far-fetched as that might be. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Do you feel this?" he whispered into her ear. "Do you feel me? I'm right here, safe and sound."
He felt her arms come around him, squeezing him, and he knew the truth. She was scared. For him, of losing him.
"But..."
"This family knows better than anyone that there are no guarantees in life." She pulled away enough to look at him, tears in her eyes. "It wasn't that long ago that we feared every phone call, every time we saw a doctor, every time a machine beeped, that Maxie was going to be gone. Only when we finally got that news, it wasn't Maxie, it was BJ." He wiped away a tear from her cheek. "I can't guarantee if and when I'm sent back out into the field that I'm going to make it. But I can't say that I'm actually going to make it into Luke's tomorrow either. I'm very good at my job. That's the only guarantee I can give."
"Can't you just stay here? Quit?" she asked anxiously.
He shook his head. "It's not that simple. I made choices a long time that I can't walk away from. I can't just call my boss up and say 'I quit'."
"Why not?"
He couldn't tell her the real reason, he couldn't tell her he was still working and he could be in danger. He couldn't tell her that even if he left and never went back, the danger would always be there. "It doesn't work that way."
Georgie looked on the verge of tears again. "I just got you back, I don't want to lose you again," she said softly.
Frisco hugged her tightly and placed a soft kiss on her temple. "I know, baby. I know. You've just got to take me however you can get me."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, princess, it does."
Chapter 33