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Skye and Jax returned to the Titans' offices around 2:45, and were surprised to see that Courtney and AJ were the only ones there. They apparently were taking advantage of the situation; they were in the middle of an all-out make out session.
"Ahem."
AJ and Courtney turned around. Sheepish looks filled their faces.
Skye raised an eyebrow. "Working hard, I see?"
"Uh, sorry sis...we uh....we got sidetracked filling out some documents." He looked at Courtney and grinned.
"Yeah, sorry Skye. It won't happen again."
Skye shook her head and chuckled to herself. "OK. That's fine. You're just lucky it wasn't Tracy who walked in on you."
"You're telling me," said Courtney.
"Where's Carly?" Jax asked.
AJ's smile disappeared. "She uh...she had to pick up Michael from school," he answered, looking at the ground.
Skye winced. That must be hard for AJ; she knew how much he loved and wanted to see his son.
"But, uh, she'll be back, right?" she asked.
"Yeah," Courtney replied. "She just had to pick up his new babysitter, because Leticia is away with Reginald for the week."
"I see....well, everyone just get back to work, okay?" Skye said.
While the others began writing documents, or typing out offers, or making phone calls, Skye began to plan her strategy for finding the mole. Tracy had left her the names of 3 companies that she wanted Titans to buy out, and ballpark figures for offers. This was perfect, because the way she saw it, there were three people she needed to test: Carly, Courtney and AJ. She knew that Tracy wouldn't be sabotaging the company; she put all her time and money into it and had no reason to throw it all away. Jerry wouldn't do it, obviously, because he was very devoted to his wife. She trusted Jax more than anyone in the world, and knew without thinking twice that he would never intentionally harm something she was a part of. That left Carly, Courtney and AJ. She really believed that AJ was guiltless, but she hoped through her little test that his innocence would be proved. Courtney didn't seem like the type to turn on her friends, but then again, she was knew to the business world, and very trusting of everyone...she could be leaking secrets to someone who seemed trustworthy and not even realizing it. But still, Skye suspected Carly the most of all. After all, she was Sonny's biggest cheerleader not too long ago, he was apparently the love of her life. True, Carly seemed to hate his guts as much as she did....but perhaps her story about their breakup was all a lie? Maybe she fabricated the whole thing to gain their trust, and then she would blow them out of the water all to help Sonny....Skye hoped this was not true; she would really feel like a fool. But whoever was helping Sonny hurt Titans, she wanted to know, and she wanted to know soon. She looked at the list again. Robertson-Michaels. Northstar. Datacom. None of these were overly large deals. Perfect for conducting a test of loyalty.
She decided to meet with Carly, AJ, and Courtney separately, in private. She would discuss one of the deals with each of them, tell them she was putting them in charge of it. No one else in the company would know about the deal; she would instruct them to keep it entirely to themselves. The way she figured it, if one of them was the mole, he or she would blab the details of the deal, and Titans would lose it. Yes, they would lose a little money by not getting the company, but losing one was better than not finding the mole, and losing tons of deals down the road. She figured it would benefit the group greatly in the end. So, once they lost one of the deals, she would know for sure which Titans member was backstabbing them, would inform the rest of the group, and kick the liar out. Tracy would be proud.
Just then, the door opened. It was Carly- and Michael. Everyone who turned was quite surprised, especially AJ. A look of sadness, coupled with happiness and vulnerability washed over him. He was frozen, he didn't know what to do or say. Skye noticed, so she quietly approached Carly.
"Carly, what's going on?"
"I'm sorry, but Michael's new babysitter got a really bad case of the flu, and I didn't want Michael exposed to it. And there was no one else I could find; Bobbie was working, Maxie is at summer camp, and Zander and Mike are both busy. I had no other choice but to bring him here."
Skye glanced at AJ. He still sat there with that same frozen expression. Courtney was rubbing his shoulder but he still was not saying much. Normally he would have jumped at the chance to see Michael, try to talk to him, anything, but this was so unexpected that it caught him off guard.
"Well, I...I guess it's ok," Skye said uneasily, "just as long as he doesn't get in the way."
"I'll be good," Michael said with a big smile. "Who are you?"
Skye smiled and squatted down so she could see him at his eye level. "Hi there Michael. My name is Skye. I'm your-" she paused. She couldn't just say, hi, I'm your aunt...he would be confused and Carly would be really pissed. "I, uh, I work with your mommy."
"Oh. Okay." he said, as if this met his approval. Skye grinned.
"How old are you, honey?" she asked.
"5." he replied, proudly. "How old are you?"
Skye giggled. Kids are so forward. "Well, a lot older than you, I'm afraid."
"Hey, we both have red hair! Cool!"
"Hey, you're right. And you know what, Michael? I don't care what they say, redheads definitely have the most fun."
"Yeah!!!!"
"And I can see you're a very fun kid."
"That's what they tell me," Michael answered, in all seriousness. Skye tried to suppress her laughter.
"Were you a fun kid when you were my age?" Michael asked.
Skye's smile disappeared. She hated thinking about her childhood, it was so painful. And, in all honesty, she didn't really remember much of anything before she was about 6. Next to nothing.
"Umm...well, I guess so!" She wanted to change the subject. "Hey, listen Michael, how would you like to get a donut? We have a bunch right outside the door on Connie's desk, and I'm sure she'd be glad to give you one. I bet you like the chocolate ones with sprinkles, right?"
Michael grinned widely and nodded. "Yeah!! Can I mommy, can I?" he asked Carly.
"Sure, sweetie, just right out there. Don't be too long and don't get in Connie's way, okay?"
"Okay!" he promised, then ran out the door to Connie's desk.
"Carly," Skye hissed. "Don't you know what this is doing to AJ?"
Carly looked over at him. He did look pretty upset. "Yeah well...why should I care how AJ feels? He made my life hell not too long ago."
"Well...." Skye wasn't sure what to say. Carly did have a point. "Well, he's been pretty civil with you lately, hasn't he?"
Carly snorted a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah if you call constant digs and putdowns civility."
"Oh, come on, Carly, he does that to everyone. That's just the way he is."
"Yeah, whatever," Carly said, then turned to go see her son, who was stuffing his face with a big chocolate donut, chocolate icing and sprinkles all over his face.
"Wait," Skye said, grabbing Carly's arm. "Just think how he feels, not having seen his son in years-"
"Michael is hardly AJ's son. He gave up that right a long time ago."
"Carly....well, maybe so, but biologically, he is Michael's father. And Carly, whether you want to believe it or not, he does love that little boy. A lot. When I lived with him, Michael was all he ever talked about. About how he wanted to see him, play with him, tell him he loves him. It broke my heart Carly, because he just longs to reach out to Michael so much."
"Yeah well, he can cry me a river."
"Carly, think about it. How would you feel if Sonny suddenly decided that partial custody just wasn't enough? What if he decided that he wants Michael full-time, and he got his fancy lawyers and paid-off judges to take Michael away from you? You'd never see him again, and he would grow up in a violence filled home, with shady characters all around him, and turn out to be a mobster just like Sonny. How would you like that?"
"It would be the worst thing in the world."
"Exactly. And that's how it is for AJ, now."
"Well, it's his fault-"
"Well if Sonny ever took Michael, people could say that it was your fault, for getting involved with Sonny in the first place."
"But-"
"Carly, please. Just let AJ see Michael for 5 minutes. Please. I promise, I'll talk to AJ first, and he will not under any circumstances say anything to Michael about being his father, or anything like that."
"Come on, Skye, I can't trust AJ not to pull a stunt."
"You have my word."
"Yeah, like that's worth a lot."
"Carly, we've worked together for quite some time now, and I thought that we were actually starting to get along somewhat. Or at least not hate each other's guts anymore."
They both chuckled. "Yeah, well...." Carly hemmed and hawed. She glanced at AJ again. Surprisingly, she did feel a twinge of sympathy for him, she didn't know why. She sighed. "OK, five minutes. But, I'll be right there, and AJ better be on his best behaviour."
Skye beamed. "Thank you Carly, I owe you one."
"Let me take the company jet to Hawaii for a vacation?"
"Let's not push it." With that, Skye went over to AJ. Carly watched them suspiciously as Skye explained the situation. Then AJ got a look of pure surprise and happiness. Courtney smiled wide and hugged him. Skye began to talk again, and AJ nodded. The three of them came up to Carly, all smiling. Michael came in the room, a second donut in hand. AJ mouthed 'thank you' to Carly, and she just nodded. She shot Skye a look that said "You owe me." Skye nodded back, then headed over to where Jax was working.
When she sat down, Jax gave her a big kiss.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"I saw what you did for your brother over there. That was remarkable."
"Aw, it wasn't much-"
"Well, you got the ever-stubborn Carly to change her mind, and that's something. Plus you just made AJ's day, hell, probably his whole month."
Skye smiled. "I hope so." She looked over to where the four of them were sitting.
"Hi Michael," AJ said with a hind of nervousness in his voice. "Maybe you remember me, I'm AJ."
"Do you work with my mommy too?" Michael asked between bites.
"Yeah, yeah, Michael I do."
"Do you like Pokemon?" Michael asked suspiciously. AJ grinned.
"I've seen it once or twice while I was flipping channels. That's the cartoon where the little guys fight and you can collect cards and trade them, right?"
"Yeah!" Michael said. "I'm their biggest fan. Who's your favourite?"
"Um, well...." AJ desperately searched his memory, trying to remember the name of one of the cartoon creatures. "Uh..." then it came to him. "I guess I would have to say Jigglepop."
Michael burst out laughing. "It's Jigglypuff, silly!" He laughed some more, and AJ's face just glowed.
"What about Alvin and the Chipmunks, Michael? Do you ever watch that?"
Skye was absolutely thrilled to see things going so well. She snuggled up next to Jax, who put his arm around her.
"It's great to see them get along," he said. "AJ looks to be on cloud nine."
"Yeah," Skye said happily. "With any luck, this won't be their last visit."
"So how old is Michael?" Jax asked. Carly had mentioned it before, but he couldn't remember.
"He's 5, going on 25," Skye replied. She glanced over. "Cute as a button."
"I bet you were cuter," Jax said, grinning. "I wish I could see what you looked like as a little girl."
"I was probably cuter than you," Skye joked.
"Ohh, I wouldn't count on that!" Jax joked back. "My mum entered me in a beautiful baby contest when I was little, and I won!"
"Boy," Skye said with a wry grin, "what ever happened?"
"Hey!!!!"
******
"Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you!!!!!"
"Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by
Just like me
They long to be
Close to you!!!!"
"Shut the hell up! I have a headache!!!!!" Althea's gruff voice shrieked from upstairs.
Little Antoinette frowned. That was their favourite song.
"I guess we better do something else."
"Okay. Let's play cards."
"OK!" Antoinette went over to the junk drawer to look for the cards. She hoped she could find them, because she loved to play old maid, even if she always lost. She stood on her tippy toes, reached up and opened the drawer and reached inside. She pushed aside several objects, but then she stopped when she felt something big and cold. She pulled her little stool up to the counter and stood on it so she could see what it was.
"What do you have there?"
"I don't know." It was shiny and black, shaped kind of like a sideways L. One side was a handle, and the other looked like a tube. Antoinette had no idea what it was. Where the two pieces connected, there was a little piece that looked like you might pull it. There was a big gouge mark on the side of the object, that sort of looked like a lightning bolt. There were thin silver stripes along the handle.
"Antoinette, that's a gun! Put that away." The drawer slammed shut.
"Sorry Becca."
"It's okay...let's just...let's just go outside."
"Who's making all that noise?" Althea's voice boomed.
Uh oh. They better hurry up and go in the backyard, Antoinette thought.
"Come here!" the ugly voice screeched. Antoinette ran out the backdoor, but after a moment of hiding behind the big evergreens, she realized she was alone.
Hurry up, Becca.
*****
Skye woke up with a start. She rubbed her eyes and looked at Jax. He was sound asleep. She glanced at the clock to his left. 4:13. Man, she needed to sleep so she could concentrate tomorrow, when she worked on finding the mole. If only she didn't have these strange dreams. She wondered what they meant. She saw herself as a little girl, and she saw what was going on....but who was Becca? Skye had no idea. She couldn't remember ever having met someone named Becca. And to make things worse, she could never actually see Becca in her dreams; she could only hear her voice. What was going on? Were these simply strange dreams prompted by talk of childhood? Or were these really memories?
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