People Will Say We’re in Love-Chapter 6
"You really look terrible, Alexis," Jax commented as he entered her apartment.
"Thanks, Jax," she said throwing papers into her briefcase. "You really know how to make a girl feel better."
"Sick and testy," he noticed. He went over and placed a hand on her forehead. "You don’t have a fever, so it’s not the flu. What’s wrong, Alexis? And don’t tell me it’s nothing, because I know better than that."
She sighed and gave up her task of straightening her files. She sat down with one of the folders in her hands. "Okay," she said leaning an arm on the desk and rubbing her forehead. "You’ve got me. There is something that I should tell you, because you’re probably the person closet to me right now."
Jax knew that this was serious. He pulled the chair from her desk closer to her seat. "All right, now you have me worried, tell me what’s going on."
"You know that Ned has already left, and I think that our relationship is pretty much over. See," she said holding up her left hand, "I’ve already given him his ring back. I decided that I didn’t need any unnecessary stress in my life right now."
"Good for you. I can see that you’re fine about that. But, I thought you thrived on stress. Why the change? You aren’t seriously ill, are you?" he asked concerned. There was no way he could lose his best friend now.
She shook her head and smiled. "No, Jax, I’m not deathly ill or anything like that. What I am is pregnant. I’m going to have a baby, Jax," she said simply.
"Wow," he said. "That’s great. I’m happy for you," he said giving her a hug. "What does Ned have to say about all of this?"
"He doesn’t know. Between all of our arguments and working, I didn’t have a chance to tell him before he left. I will have to, though. There is a break when he comes back here soon, so I’ll tell him then. This isn’t exactly the type of thing you say over the phone, you know."
He nodded. "No, it isn’t. I can see how happy you are," he said taking her hands.
"Happy and scared," she laughed. "I’m going to really need your help; I don’t know much about babies."
He laughed, too. "Neither do I, but I will help and be there for you in any way that I can. We’re just going to have to find somebody that does know something about babies."
She nodded in agreement. "What about Sonny’s cousin, Esmerelda? She knows everything else, I’m sure she knows about babies, too. Or at least that’s the impression I got from you."
He smiled at her and sighed. "Yes, she is a remarkable woman. I think that she surprises me because she is so young."
"And not because she’s a beautiful woman or because she’s Sonny’s cousin. Okay, I can see the logic in that."
"I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Alexis. She is my employee, and I don’t see anything more."
She shrugged. "Sure, who are you trying to convince. I never said otherwise. Are you going to take me to breakfast or not?" she asked standing up. "I’m eating for two now, you know."
"I think that you were eating for two before," he teased her.
"What are you implying, Mr. Jacks?" she asked feigning hurt.
He smiled. "Nothing, dear." Holding the door open, he said, "After you."
*****
"Good morning, Sonny," Carly said entering the penthouse. "You left a message for me."
He looked up from his desk as she entered. "That was a couple days ago. I told you to keep in contact with me, and I haven’t heard from you for several days."
She shrugged. "You can’t keep tabs on me, Sonny. Isn’t it enough that you have me followed," she said taking Michael out of his stroller. "I’ve been looking for a job, since Bobbie has been harping on me about that."
"That’s good," he said coming over to join them on the couch. "It’s about time you do something productive."
She rolled her eyes at him and patted her stomach. "I think that I am doing something productive. I’m having this baby, aren’t I? Well, anyway, I didn’t really see anything that interested me, so I think that I’m going to start taking some classes this summer. I have plenty of nursing credits, and who knows maybe nursing was my calling," she shrugged as she played with her son’s red hair.
Sonny looked up from Michael at her. "That sounds like a good idea, but only if you actually go to class this time."
"Very funny, Sonny." She looked around. "So, where’s this cousin of yours. Surely she can’t be working on Saturday."
He sighed. "Well, you wouldn’t think that she would be, but I think that she is in the beginning stages of a workaholic. What are your plans for today?"
"Always keeping tabs, aren’t you?" she said folding her arms.
"I was just being interested, that’s all, Carly. Why does everything have to be an argument with you?" he asked shaking his head.
"Okay, fine, you’re just interested. I’m going to take AJ over to the Quartermaines again. Before you say anything about it," she said cutting him off before he could argue against it. "I took him over there the other day, and I think that he really enjoyed himself. Besides, they were so happy to see him, that they didn’t even have time to insult me. I think that if I let them see him, then there won’t be any grounds for AJ to try to take Michael from me."
"Probably, but be careful over there. I wouldn’t completely trust the Quartermaines if I were you."
"Whoa, is this Sonny Corinthos sitting before me. You certainly took that better than I thought you would. Have you mellowed out completely?"
He smiled and shook his head before standing. "No, I haven’t completely mellowed out, but I won’t argue with you on what you’re going to do anyway. As long as what you do does not put our baby or Michael in danger, I’m not going to say anything against it. You might want to thank Esmerelda for my changed attitude."
"Really," she said standing up as well with Michael. "I’ll just have to do that, won’t I. Are you ready to go, Little Man?" she asked him as she took his hand. "He loves to walk now," she told Sonny. "I think that he resents the stroller."
"Well, he is growing up quickly. I’ll see the two of you later," he said opening the door for them.
She smiled, "All right. Say good-bye to Sonny, Michael."
The little boy obeyed his mother. "Bye-bye, Sonny."
He smiled and told the little boy good-bye.
*****
Jax stood outside the door of Chloe’s apartment. He really didn’t think that this was a very good idea, but after talking with Alexis, he realized that he needed to talk with Chloe. Maybe he was going about things in the wrong way with her. He shook his head and resolved to ring the bell.
Chloe heard the bell ringing. She struggled to sit up; she had a major headache. She shook the fuzziness from her head and eventually her eyes readjusted to her surroundings. She clapped her hands over her mouth when she realized she was not alone in her bed.
The ringing bell brought her back to reality. She quickly moved from the bed and found her robe. She walked quickly to the door and looked through the peephole. "Oh my god, Jax!" she said in a shouted whisper. She took a deep breath and opened the door. "Jax," she said holding her robe closed. "What are you doing here?"
He took in her appearance. She looked haggard to say the least. "I was wondering that myself," he said smiling at her. "I wanted to talk to you."
She stared at him wide-eyed. Could he want to talk to her about their future? Could he be reconsidering their relationship? She sighed; this was definitely bad timing. "Could we talk later, Jax?" she suggested. "I really want to talk to you, but I’m not feeling very well."
"Yeah, I could see that," he said entering the apartment. "What’s wrong? You can tell me. Actually, I can just stay here and take care of you." He stopped speaking when the door to her bedroom opened.
She turned around and saw Luke leaning in his doorway with a smile. "Jax," she whispered.
He smiled. "You know what, this was a bad idea. I’m going to leave you and Spencer alone. It’s obvious that I’ve intruded on the two of you," he said turning to leave.
"Jax, wait," Chloe said going to stop him from leaving. He held up a hand to stop her. "We need to talk about this," she said allowing her hands to fall.
He shook his head. "No. No, Chloe, we don’t," he said walking out of the door.
*****
Esmerelda was glad that not many other people found the need to work on Saturdays like she did. She sat typing at her computer with Schubert blaring from the CD player sitting on the floor near her desk. She loved his music, and in fact, it was his lieders that inspired her to learn German. She sang with the music now and did not realize that someone stood in her doorway.
She looked up and was startled. "You almost scared me senseless," she said laughing. "I thought I was the only one who heard the call of the office on the weekends."
He smiled and moved further into the office. "No, afraid not. Why are you here? Did you not know that we do give Saturdays off," he teased her. "Nice choice of music."
"Oh, I’m sorry," she said reaching to turn it down.
"There’s no need to turn it down. I really like Schubert, too. Helps you think, you know," he said sitting down in the chair across from her desk.
He certainly seemed different, she noticed. "I don’t mean to pry, well, actually I do," she said honestly. "What’s wrong?"
"You know, actually nothing. Nothing is wrong. That’s the bad thing," he told her.
"Okay, now I’m thoroughly confused," she said shaking her head.
"It’s not important. You have a beautiful voice, by the way. I heard you singing when I came in."
"Thank you, that’s very nice of you to say," she said smiling. "I learned German because of this man," she said laughing.
He smiled now. "It will certainly come in very handy in the line of business you’re in now. I see bright things in your future, but I’ll bet you’ve heard that before."
"It never hurts hearing it again," she said. "Besides, I’m not exactly what you would call modest, so I know it for myself, too."
He laughed at that. "No, I would hardly call you that. Even from that first day you came into my office, I could tell that you were very sure about yourself. That’s a wonderful attribute, confidence, you know."
"Yes, as long it doesn’t become arrogance. I don’t think that I’m arrogant, yet, anyway. I think that I have a few years before that becomes a problem."
"And then you realize that arrogance leads to cockiness and that leads to mistakes, and then it’s right back to confidence. Trust me, I should know. You know what, I could really go for some Japanese, care to join me."
"Mr. Jacks," she said looking at her watch. "It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?"
"I don’t mean now, I mean for dinner. Besides, it won’t be here for a couple of hours anyway. I know this excellent restaurant in California."
"Is it in Sacramento?" she asked.
"Yeah, Utamaro’s you know the place."
"Do I know the place," she said. "They have the best Japanese food outside of Japan. Of course I’ll join you. Are you going to order it now?"
"Order it? No, I had plans to go there. I need to get out of Port Charles for a while," he said standing up.
She stood as well. "How long is a while?" she asked closing out her files and then shutting down her computer.
He shrugged. "Maybe tonight, tomorrow, Monday, next week," he laughed. "Who knows? I’m sure your boss will give you the time off, if need be. I hear he’s a really understanding guy."
She thought about it for a minute. She thought about how Sonny would react to this, but she was an adult, and he would just get over it. "Okay," she shrugged. "What else do I have to do? Do I need to bring anything?"
"No, that would take the spontaneity out of it, wouldn’t it. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you. Shall we?"
"What the heck," she said laughing as she turned off her music completely and brought the CD with her and joined him.