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A few weeks later
Titans Office
"I just signed the deal with Temporal Industries," Skye reported. "We can expect to start reaping the benefits any day now."
"Terrific," Tracy replied. "Courtney, have you gotten a hold of Barbesin-Rauscher yet?"
"Still busy," Courtney sighed.
"Well, try again."
"OK."
"AJ, any progress with TZA?"
"They're proposing a 3 million dollar deal...sounds promising."
"Good, good....I think that will be a wise move. Call them back, and....wait, on second thought...hold out for one more day, and they'll probably up the ante even more."
AJ nodded. "Smart thinking."
"Jax?" Tracy turned her attention to Jax, who was sitting behind his computer.
"What would you think of raiding Buchanan Enterprises?"
"Sounds like a goldmine, but keep your hands clean."
"Oh, I will," he responded, with a twinkle in his eye. Skye laughed. Asa would certainly love this one.
Jerry, was looking at the New York Financial Gazette, a huge smile on his face. "Great news."
Tracy put down her clipboard and smiled at her husband. "Let's hear it."
"MC Inc stock is tanking....seems business is dwindling for Corinthos."
"Awww, too bad," AJ spat.
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy," Skye added. "But you know what that means people. Titans is on the rise!"
"Sorry, Sonny, I guess you can't win every time," Carly put in.
"This definitely is looking great, but I really want that Barbesin-Rauscher deal. Courtney-"
"I'm on it." Courtney said. Just before she picked up the phone to dial, it rang.
"Titans!"
"I'm so happy with how this is going," Skye said, coming up behind Jax and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He turned his head and kissed her cheek.
"Me too. I get to make an armload of money, stick it to Corinthos, and work with you all day long. I couldn't ask for more." They were about to kiss when they were interrupted by Courtney's shriek.
"What is it?" Skye asked.
"Oh my God, I can't believe it."
"What happened, honey?" asked AJ.
"We're going to be on TV!"
"What?"
"That was Melissa Mayne from Business Now on ABC! I guess Titans has been making a lot of headlines in corporate newspapers and magazines lately, and she wants to do a feature on us! Like, interview us on how we got started, and how we soared to the top so quickly!"
"That's great!"
"Terrific!"
"Wonderful!"
"Oh my God, what am I going to wear?" Carly asked, eyes widening.
"This isn't Miss America, princess," AJ said dryly. "This is a business show, not a beauty contest. We have to be professional, so you won't be on there plugging your club, either."
Carly shot him a look. "I'll ignore that since I'm so excited right now, AJ, but if I were you I would watch your mouth."
"Hey, can't handle the heat, get out of the-"
"But, Alex P. Keaton over there does have a good idea. About the club I mean." Carly cut in. "What would you guys think about having a party to celebrate Titans' rising power at Club 101? We'll make it really huge, a gala celebration. All the higher-ups can be there."
"Sounds great," Courtney replied.
"Sure," said Jerry.
Skye and Jax nodded.
"What did I tell ya, she'd turn this into a publicity stunt for her club?" AJ groaned.
"Think about it this way, Junior, if we really get Titans' good fortune all over the press, it will rub it in to Sonny that much more." Carly said.
"Well, in that case......let's party!"
*****
2 nights later
Club 101
"I have to hand it to Carly, the place is rockin'" AJ yelled to Courtney above the loud music. "Oh my God, did I just say that?" He made a pretend scared face.
"You did. Maybe you're turning over a new leaf where Carly is concerned," she replied.
"Who knows...but I have my wonderful lady to thank for it," he said, putting his hand gently behind her head and kissing her forehead. She responded by planting one of her own on his lips and pretty soon they were making out.
"Can't they get a room?" Carly said loudly, near the happy couple on the dance floor.
"Ahh, come on, AJ hasn't acted out too badly tonight," Zander said.
"I guess not....but still, he-"
"Hey, let's just dance and enjoy ourselves, ok?"
"Well...."
"Please?" Zander flashed her a winning smile. Carly melted.
"Ahh, come here."
He wrapped his arms around her and they began to sway to the music. Shania Twain was onstage singing, much to the crowd's delight. Carly had outdone herself for the party, managing to line up Shania, No Doubt, Paul McCartney and NSync. Everyone's musical tastes were catered to, and everyone was enjoying the great sound.
Beside Court and AJ and Carly and Zander, Tracy and Jerry and Skye and Jax shared the centre of the floor as well.
"I love this song," Skye confessed.
"You, a country fan? I never would've guessed," Jax said.
"Well, not usually....this song just really gets to me. Kinda makes me think of me...."
I'm not always strong
And sometimes I'm even wrong
But I win when I choose
And I can't stand to lose
But I can't always be
The rock that you see
When the nights get too long
And I just can't hold on
The woman in me
Needs you to be
The man in my arms
To hold tenderly
Cause I'm a woman in love
And it's you I run to
Yeah, the woman in me
Needs the man in you
When the world wants too much
And it gets cold and out of touch
It's a beautiful place
When you kiss my face
The woman in me
Needs you to be
The man in my arms
To hold tenderly
Cause I'm a woman in love
And it's you I run to
Yeah, the woman in me
Needs the man in you
As the song ended, Jax gave Skye a kiss on the cheek.
"You make me so happy," he said.
"You do the same for me. I can't believe how everything has done a complete 180 these past few months...it seems like nothing can go wrong."
Just then, No Doubt took the stage and began to play a more upbeat song, their hit "Hella Good." More people began to fill the dance floor, and the Titans leaders spread out to mingle. Everyone was there. All their family and friends were dancing and talking and having fun; even some of the Quartermaines came out to have a good time. Many of their most high-class associates from various companies they did business with were there. Skye was particularly close with a business called the RCFB, as she had went to school with several of their top workers. She had invited their entire staff to the pary, and they were all there: Amanda, Christmas, Ani, Gina, Melissa, Shari, Nicole, Emeraldax, DragonStar, LexiLorie, SkyeJax, Shanea, IceQueen, Sarah, Clonnie, Jacinda, Jordana, DaNiaFan, Kristie, Kristi, Falenn, Catrenee, Mandy, Rinoa, HopaFlop, Sairorse, Lesera, Rowan, Eli, Meg, Cutie55102, Racha, Momrobare, Michelle, and Ally. The place was jumping and it seemed that the only PC resident who wasn't there was-
"What the hell is Corinthos doing here?" Jax asked, as the greased-up mob boss strolled coolly through the door, a cocky smile on his face.
"I can see I spoke too soon," Skye muttered.
Carly stormed up to Sonny, with Zander hot on her trail.
"Did you come to insult me more, huh? Call me trash again, make the few people in this town who care about me think I'm garbage? You better have a damn good reason-"
"Carly-" Zander began, trying to avoid a big scene.
"No!" she shouted. "You have already caused me enough problems, Sonny, so you can just turn around and walk out."
Just then, the song finished up and it was quiet. Sonny decided to take this opportunity.
"I just came to give the...esteemed...members of Titans a message. I wouldn't start popping corks any time soon."
"Yeah and what's that supposed to mean?" Carly shot back.
"You'll see. That's all I have to say, now you can go back to whatever you were doing." He began to head for the door, but then stopped and turned around again. "Oh, and Tracy, welcome back," he added, winking. With that, he and his bodyguards were gone.
"Ooh that-"
"Hey, Carly, it's okay. He doesn't know what he's talking about." Zander said, taking her hands.
"He just makes me so mad! Mr. High and Mighty all the time..."
"Me too," Skye said. "But come on, look at how Titans is doing and look at MC Inc. He's just blowing off steam."
"Yeah, there's no way he could gain any ground on us." Jax added.
"Unfortunately, it seems there could be." Tracy said grimly, snapping off her cell phone.
Skye's eyes widened. "What happened?"
"We lost the Barbesin-Rauscher deal. Seems MC Inc. got wind of our plans and beat us to it. Maybe Corinthos isn't as down and out as we thought."
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