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Author's Chapter Notes:

I hope you enjoy this update. Expect another one soon! Thanks to all who are reading and reviewing. You are making my whole week merry and bright!




Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 2

“I can’t -- I can’t make you any promises,” he said quietly as he watched her pulling on her rumbled stockings. She sat at the very end of the mattress and kept her back to him. He wanted to reach out to her for a moment there, the way he had the night before, but he thought better of it. It was best not to muddy the waters any more than he already had.

She nodded her head. “I know. I would never ask you to, Jason. We can just chock up last night to a bit of insanity and too much booze.”

She then grabbed her purse, strung it over her lean shoulder, and headed for the door. She looked back at him once and said, “I wish you all the best.”

And then she was gone. Really gone. He learned the next day that she had left town. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about all of it so he had chosen to feel nothing at all. He pushed every memory of that night out of his mind completely.


XoXoXo

Jason looked at Keesha for another brief but potent moment, immediately recognizing her discomfort. He then turned back to face AJ. “AJ, just get out of here. Do you really think these kids need to see you like this? What about your son? He could come in here any minute. Do you want him to see his dad drunk?” His fists instinctively balled at his sides. “Just go.”

AJ laughed as if that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “You think you can just come in here and throw ultimatums around, Jason? You don’t even live here and haven’t in years. Just because you play Superman for Keesha’s kid doesn’t mean you’re a hero in my eyes. Maybe the kids would like to know exactly what you do for a living…”

“AJ, stop it!” The words surprisingly didn’t come from Jason but rather from the doorway where a familiar blonde stood glaring at them. Julia Barrett-Quartermaine looked about as pleased to hear AJ’s drunken rant as Jason felt.

AJ whirled around, avoiding somehow falling over in the process. “Ah, my dear wife, home from the trenches so soon?”

Julia looked uncomfortable about the way AJ was carrying on but she also looked like she was not going to put up with it. “AJ, I need to speak with you upstairs.”

“Oh come on, Jules, join the party. Jason saved the day. He saved Keesha’s daughter from an oh-so-serious asthma attack. We aren’t done heaping on the adulation yet here.”

Julia sighed. “AJ, come with me. Now. Or else.” 

“Or else what?”

“I will have Alice forcibly remove you from this room and carry you upstairs.” She looked embarrassed at even having to make such a pathetic threat but she must have sensed Jason was ready to rip his brother limb from limb and was trying to save her husband. Not that AJ deserved to be rescued after all that he had done to destroy people’s lives over the years.

“Oh no. Not Big Alice,” AJ said mockingly. He then looked around the room, dark gray eyes zeroing in on Jason. “But I am done here anyway. This is one tough crowd. They can’t take a joke.” He then followed Julia out of the living room. The door was shut then and Jason sighed before turning to look at the three pairs of eyes zeroed in on him.

“Sorry you had to hear that,” he said stiffly.

“Is he your brother?” Melanie asked. “Really? You two don’t seem much alike.”

Jason nodded. “He’s my brother. So they tell me.”

He hadn’t intended it to be a joke but Melanie and her brother snickered anyway. It seemed to help lighten their moods. Their mother on the other hand, though, she was stiff as a board sitting between them on the sofa. He realized he had to say something.

“Keesha, I’m sorry about what just happened.”

Keesha glanced at him, ever so briefly before turning back to face her children. “It’s alright. I know better than anyone that family relationships can be very complicated.” She then stood up, her arm lightly and accidentally brushing Jason’s as she moved past him. The only indication she had noticed their physical contact was the widening of her coal eyes and the slight shifting of her already taut shoulders.

“Come on, kids, we have things to do before dinner.”

“Like what?” Thomas asked, finally speaking up for the first time since he had alerted everyone to Melanie’s attack.

“We need to finish unpacking,” Keesha said.

Jason felt his chest tighten by no will of his own. “How long are you staying in town?” He found himself asking.

Keesha looked at him now, but only because it seemed she felt she had to do so to be polite. “I am not sure actually.” She then beckoned to her children with her hands. “Let’s go upstairs.”

The children both sighed as they climbed off of the sofa. AJ had started weaving a good story for them and like any curious kids; they had wanted to know how it ended. But they weren’t going to find out today, Jason guessed. It was truthfully better that they didn’t hear anymore.

“Thanks again, Mister,” Melanie said, piercing him with a sweet, impish smile before the three of them slipped out of the living room.

Jason sighed and pulled his keys out of his pocket. He hoped by now Courtney Kanelos had lost track of him or given up looking for him so he could head back to his penthouse for a while before he had to head down to the docks late tonight to oversee an incoming shipment.

He had always preferred solitude but tonight the thought of going home to an empty place suddenly, strangely, left him feeling out of sorts.

XoXoXo

Jason noticed that sunlight was fading away and darkness was falling all around him as he walked out of the Quartermaine mansion and headed to his bike. He climbed onto it and was just about to start the engine when he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

“Jason, wait!” Monica Quartermaine hurried to his side, now slightly breathless. “You’re leaving already?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah.”

Monica looked disappointed and again he knew that she was thinking of the boy he must have been, the one who spent time with his family and relished being in their presence. That boy simply wasn’t anymore but Jason was not sure Monica would ever truly accept that fact.

“Well you came for some reason. I didn’t get to ask why though with the uproar going on all around us.”

Jason didn’t want to admit he had been running from someone - a petite ninety-five-pound blonde woman, no less - so he shrugged and said, “I was just passing through and thought I’d stop by and see if Emily was visiting.”

Monica shook her head. “No, she’s on duty at the hospital tonight. But it’s a good thing you did come or Keesha’s daughter might not have been so lucky.”

“Someone would have found her,” he said quietly but thought again how right carrying her in his arms had felt; how he had been so sure that he would be broken if she didn’t make it.

“But you did,” Monica said. “And I know Keesha and everyone else is grateful.”

Jason nodded. “When did Keesha get into town?”

“Last night,” Monica replied. “It was unexpected to say the least. She just showed up on the doorstep with her two children asking if she could stay with us. AJ was being impolite and Tracy was being downright bigoted and rude but Edward insisted they stay and so here they are. For however long it lasts. It’s a blast from the past seeing Keesha again. She looks very much the same though.”

Jason nodded but said nothing. It was true. She looked a bit older, a bit more refined than before, a bit less comfortable in her own skin, but she was still incredibly beautiful. He could never deny that.

“Her kids are sweet,” Monica said. She shook her head. “Anyway, I suppose you have to go now.”

“Yeah, actually I do.”

“Well we liked seeing you here. At least I did,” Monica amended, obviously thinking of AJ’s disapproval. “Come back soon. We miss you a lot.”

“I will come by again sometime,” Jason promised as he gunned the engine. He watched Monica, heard her whisper “drive safely”, then jammed down on the gas pedal, and then he was off into the chill December night.

XoXoXo

Keesha had just tucked her children into bed for the night and was heading to her own room when she spotted Julia approaching her. She knew very little of the woman but she could recognize the hesitancy in Julia’s large blue eyes, as if it was painful for her to have to come and say whatever she was going to say.

“I’m sorry for earlier today,” Julia spoke up. “I talked to AJ and he swore to me that he wouldn’t pull a stunt like that again. At least not in front of your children.”

Keesha nodded. “They’ve seen far worse,” she admitted though she hadn’t intended to say that much. Her past was supposed to be kept in the past. She had told Edward she was separating from her husband but not why. She didn’t want anyone to know the truth. Truthfully, Port Charles was the last place she had ever wanted to come but necessity had dictated she do just that. She had to believe her beloved children were safest here.

Julia watched her questioningly as they fell into step with each other down the hall but fortunately, she didn’t press the issue. Instead, she said, “AJ’s just having a hard time dealing with … some things that have come up recently.”

It's an excuse. Keesha recognized one when she heard it. She had made them over and over again for years. She knew AJ was nothing like Damon when push came to shove but wives shouldn’t have to cover for their husbands' behavior. Their husbands should have to own up to their mistakes. However, in Keesha’s experience, few ever did. Instead, the wife ended up having to do what Julia was doing now – trying to make peace and restore some kind of order to their world.

“I am sorry to see he’s drinking again,” was all Keesha could think to actually say.

Julia nodded. “I am as well. He had truthfully stopped once our son was born two years ago but then … Well, he just … I suppose the expression is he fell off the wagon. He had his reasons but –“ Julia broke off for a moment, seeming to mull over what she wanted to say, how much she wanted to say.

Finally she splayed her hands and said, “I suppose you’re going to find out anyway. It’s no longer a secret.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything.”

Julia shook her head. “As I said, it’s a secret no more. You see … I have a son.”

“You mentioned you and AJ have one.”

“Well yes… Trey. He’s so wonderful. The sweetest little boy. Very much unlike his parents,” Julia quipped but there was hollowness rather than humor in her voice. “I love him so much. He was AJ’s and my gift. The thing that really brought us back together … But he’s not my only son.”

Keesha raised an eyebrow unconsciously. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh... It’s a very long story but the Reader's Digest version is that when I left town back in 1993, I was pregnant. With AJ's cousin Ned’s child.” Julia paused to let the news sink into Keesha’s consciousness. “I made a choice to give up the baby when he was born. Right or wrong, no one ever knew, not even my sister Brenda. It was my best kept secret really. I always wondered, of course, where my child was, if he was loved, healthy, protected. Of course I had to wonder but it was a closed adoption so I had no way of finding out. But then about three months ago, my first son – his name is Cooper - showed up on the doorstep – literally – wanting to connect with me. He had turned over every rock and stone to find me and a whole can full of worms immediately exploded upon his arrival. Things … Well, they haven’t been the same. I am glad to finally know Cooper, so glad actually, but AJ is angry especially since he hates Ned and vice versa and even more so, I was involved with AJ shortly before Ned and I reconnected for one night. AJ considers it a betrayal and he can’t forgive me. He never forgives anyone.”

Keesha averted her eyes from Julia’s. Their stories were a bit too similar though with very different outcomes. Keesha couldn’t help but think about the bad decisions she herself had made - ones that were still hurting everyone around her.

Julia cleared her throat. “Sorry to unload all of that sordid backstory on you but as I said, it’s no longer a secret. Rather it is just the wedge in my marriage.”

Keesha nodded. “It’s alright.”

Julia nodded at her and then walked away, soon slipping into a room at the end of the long hall. Keesha knew where AJ’s room was and it wasn’t that one. It was safe to assume that Mr. and Mrs. Quartermaine were no longer sleeping together. It wasn’t her business but Keesha couldn’t help but wonder how her many secrets would affect everyone if they ever came out. She resolved then that she would only stay in Port Charles long enough to get back on her feet and then she would leave before any more true damage could be done because of her.






Chapter End Notes:

I hope you didn't mind the little history lesson I stuck in about Julia and AJ. I just wanted to kind of explain his behavior a bit more while fleshing out some of the relationships that will be affected by revelations to come! Plus, it was a good way for Keesha to reflect on things she blames herself for - even things she shouldn't blame herself for!

 

Oh and P.S. I intend to make Jason work to get Keesha back so it won't necessarily be an easy road ahead of them. I think Keesha is entitled to be pursued by Jason, don't you?





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