Everything I Do-Chapter 17
"Yes," she said smiling. "For the hundredth time, I have taken care of the arrangements for your little surprise. The music’s all taken care of. I’ll talk to you later," she said hanging up the phone. Her friend was really excited about his upcoming nuptials, and she couldn’t be happier for him. Turning around, she saw that her good mood was about to be broken. "Good morning, Miranda," she said giving her a fake smile.
Miranda suppressed the need to roll her eyes. She thought that V would already be gone to work, and she would not have to face her this morning. Giving an equally genuine smile, she greeted her. "Good morning to you, too, V. I thought you had already left." She paused at the foot of the stairs and folded her arms.
"Don’t worry," she said picking up her briefcase and put the contracts inside. "I’m about to leave. Then, you can have the entire house to yourself."
"I assure you, I do not mind not being here all alone," she said smiling. She was sure V got her meaning.
"I have to go. Have a nice day," she said before closing the front door. She was in fact a little anxious to get to the office. There were, at least she hoped there were, some very important faxes waiting for her. While she was looking into Brenda’s whereabouts over the past year, she wondered exactly what Miranda’s were for the past two. Something just wasn’t right about her.
"Mac," she said as she saw him come up the walk in front of the house. "What are you doing here?"
He gave her a small kiss. "I thought that I would come and take Miranda to brunch. She really does need to get out a little more."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Really, does she? I thought she got out enough to the police station."
"Come on, V," he said reasoning with her; she had no reason to be jealous. "She’s our guest, and I’m trying to be hospitable."
"I see, and believe me, I understand. Then, why don’t you go by and pick up Robin too. I’m sure she would love to join the both of you and spend some time with her uncle."
"And do what with Brenda? I don’t want to subject Miranda to a revisitation to the past."
"Of course, you wouldn’t," she said obviously not pleased with him. She couldn’t believe that he actually believed what he was saying. He really thought that Miranda was some helpless woman in need of his protection and his friendship. Why couldn’t he see that she was using him? This was a useless battle. "I have to go, now," she told him simply.
He smiled. Maybe he got through to her. Maybe she understood why he needed to be nice to her, why he felt the need to help her. "You’re going to work awfully late today."
"Yeah, Lucy came by this morning. Final preparations for the wedding, you know. If you didn’t know better, you would think that she was the one getting married."
"Oh, yes, the wedding," he said. One thing he couldn’t understand was her friendship with Jax. To him, that just didn’t make any sense.
"Yes," she all but bit out, "the wedding. Why don’t I leave while we are still on good terms." He nodded, and she walked to her car and left.
*****
"I didn’t expect to see you in today," Katherine noted as she looked up from the layouts of the upcoming campaign. "You know, it is rather late. Are you sure you can handle all of this work, you know, in your condition."
Lucy narrowed her eyes at her and went to her own desk on the other side of the office. She still couldn’t believe that Katherine was so insistent on their sharing an office. This was ridiculous; she bet the only reason she did it was to annoy her. "I’m perfectly capable of handling everything. Don’t think you can get your little grubby hands on everything."
"A bit test, aren’t we," Katherine said smiling. "This pregnancy is really taking a toll on you, Lucy. You’re more irritable than usual."
"No, it’s not the pregnancy, it’s you," she countered. "No," she said holding up a hand. "I’m not going to argue with you. I’m going to keep myself calm, and I’m just not going to talk to you."
"Really," she said standing up and picking up some of the storyboards. "Is that a promise?" She walked over to her desk. "So, you won’t want to give your opinion the new spread. At least that is some good news. You know, you really are spreading yourself thin. With Jax’s wedding and the companies, are you sure you’re not going to wear yourself out."
‘And with plotting with Luke to get rid of you,’ Lucy added to herself. "I have already told you, I don’t need or want your help. I have a family, you know, a husband I can ask, if I need to," she delivered with a smile.
Point taken, she smiled. She shrugged lightly; Lucy was not going to get to her. "Whatever you say," she said sauntering back to her desk. "Don’t say that I didn’t offer any help. Your luck with pregnancies has not always been the best. I have a lunch meeting," she said picking up her briefcase. "Ciao."
"Good riddance!" she called out after her. Sighing, Lucy sat back in her chair and absently rubbed her stomach. Was she getting in over her head? Before, she would have eaten Katherine for breakfast, but things were different now. She had to put the baby first. And, what about Serena? She hardly ever got to spend any time with her. Although Scott was happily married to Eve, she still considered the little girl her daughter, as did she.
She shook her head. Enough with that type of thinking. She worked hard, very hard, to get to where she was, and she was not going to have it taken away by the likes of Katherine Bell. She could do everything. She had to. There was no turning back now. Katherine had to be dealt with.
*****
Perfect, V thought when she walked into the house and saw that several faxes were waiting on the machine. Shuffling though the pages that pertained to L&B business, she finally got to what she was looking for. It seems that Miranda’s trail wasn’t that hard to follow after all.
"Interesting," she mused as she read over the papers. It seemed that Miranda took a little vacation to northern Europe during the past year. She titled her head to the side and thought. Could it have been a coincidence that she and Brenda were in the same part of Europe during the same time? But, then again, she couldn’t be sure that Brenda stayed in Sweden the entire time she was away. She needed to establish a time line.
She almost jumped out of her skin when someone came up behind her. Turning around, she breathed a sigh of relief. "You almost gave me a heart attack," she said quickly placing the documents in her hand in a file.
"Sorry about that. You were really engrossed in those papers. Some bright, new promising singer?" he asked quite interested in what had her so intrigued.
She shrugged. "You know how I like to throw myself into my work," she explained with a smile. "I thought you and Miranda were going out to brunch."
"I thought about what you said. I think that we need some alone time together. So…" he said producing a basket from behind his back. "I brought brunch to you. No one is coming in to work today, right?"
She smiled. "Right," she said giving him a kiss. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry about what happened this morning."
"No, I’m sorry. I should have been more respectful of your feelings. Since we’re both sorry, why don’t two sorry people sit down and eat together. I’m starved."
"You’re always starved," she said laughing as he sat down to spread out the food. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to have someone so wonderful to do things like this for her. Looking back at the folder on the desk, she wondered if Mac could really be such a bad judge of Miranda. But, then again, who knew Miranda better than Jax. He knew what she was capable of, and she saw first-hand of what Miranda’s jealousy could be like.
"Hey, you’re going to join me, or what? I assure you I can eat all of this by myself if you don’t hurry up," he said bringing her back to the room.
She smiled and joined him on the blanket spread out on the floor. "Don’t you even think about it, mister," she said as began to fill her plate.
*****
"Whitney," Brenda said when she looked up and saw the woman in the doorway of her bedroom. She jumped up from the bed and rushed over to her. Drawing her into a hug, she said, "I didn’t know you were coming. I’ve missed you."
Robin smiled when she saw the two friends reunited. She was glad that Whitney was there. Brenda had told her a little about the woman and less about the year she spent with her, but she still go the impression that Whitney had helped Brenda through the entire year. "I’m just going to leave the two of you alone," she said making a movement to leave.
"It was nice meeting you, Robin," she said smiling. "I hope that we get to know one another a little better."
"I’m sure we will. Have a nice visit. I’ll be back later, Brenda," she said before she left, but Brenda did not even acknowledge her.
She dragged Whitney over to the bed where they sat down at the foot. "I had no idea that you were in town. When did you get in?"
"I’ve only been here for a couple of days. I was giving you some time to get adjusted, you know, settled in, before I came to visit. Are things any better from the last time we talked?" she asked with concern.
Brenda frowned slightly. "No, things are not any better, but I have not lost hope. I haven’t talked to Jax since that night, but I will soon. I need to tell him everything. Maybe that will make some difference."
"Are you sure you want to do that?" she asked. Sure, that was the ticket. Brenda needed to divulge everything to him, and he would naturally have to forgive her. She had been through a terrible ordeal, surely he would want to comfort her if he knew.
She shrugged and sighed. "I don’t think that there is anything else that I can do. I want to tell him; I want him to know what happened. Maybe he will understand why I couldn’t come back yet. I just couldn’t deal with everything. He has to understand."
She rubbed Brenda’s back soothingly. "I’m sure he will understand. If you’re ready to tell him and you think that it’s best, I don’t see why you shouldn’t. It will be good for you two to talk about this together."
"I agree," she said. "Whitney, I have really missed talking to you. Phone conversations just aren’t the same as face to face ones."
She smiled. "I know what you mean. Just remember, I’m here for you," she added.
*****
Robin placed the flowers down gently on the slightly browned grass as she pulled her jacket closer around her body. She eased herself down until she was sitting on her knees. Leaning forward, she traced the lettering on the granite with her fingers. Letting out a sigh, she sat back.
"Hi," she said softly. "It’s been a while since I’ve been out here. A long while, actually," she admitted. "I realize that I should come more often, but I haven’t been able to come home as much as I wanted to. It’s still a little hard to come back to Port Charles, you know. Too many memories."
She sat mute for a few minutes as she collected herself and brushed away the few tears that had managed to escape from her the pool that had formed in her eyes. She remembered how easy it was to talk to him about anything, but it was terribly difficult to talk to him when he didn’t respond.
"It’s just too hard, Stone," she said now with a broken voice. The tears fell freely now, as she leaned forward against the grass. She felt a soothing hand on her back and sat up to see who it was. "Sonny," she said through her tears. She instantly wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest. She immediately felt him wrap his arms around her as well.
"I know, Robin," he said softly. "It’s still hard for me to come out here, too." He looked at the headstone of the grave, the only reminder of his brother. Stone could not be more of a brother to him even if they were biological siblings. "Are you going to be all right?"
She nodded as she withdrew and dashed away the remaining tears. "It’s just been too long since I’ve been here." She smiled weakly. "I feel a little guilty about it. Almost like I forgot about him."
"I know that’s not true. You could never forget about him. I know that, and I know that he knows that." He reached up and wiped away the last of her tears. "Your life with Stone was happy, don’t cry about that."
"You’re right," she agreed as she turned to face the headstone. A smile slowly formed on her lips. "You’re right, we did have many happy times. Even in the end, he held onto the happy memories. I’ll never forget him," she realized as she looked back at Sonny. "He’s here," she said placing a hand over her heart. "He’ll always be there."
Sonny nodded. "Right, and don’t ever forget that, Robin," he said as he began to stand. "Are you leaving now?"
She shook her head as she wrapped her arms around herself as if warding off the cold. "No, I think that I’m going to stay here a little longer. Remembering is not such a bad thing."
"No," he said smiling at her. "No, it’s not. See you around, Robin," he added before leaving. He came out here to remember too.


