The door opened and Sonny looked up from his desk, knee deep in the coffee import paperwork that he had forced himself to personally tackle instead of handing off to business manager Benny. He had needed to focus on something concrete and with it, center himself and cool his jets while he handled the latest crisis in his life. His eyes lit up, hopeful that Kristina had taken him up on one of his many offers for a lunch date. Instead, Jason Morgan stepped over the threshold and regarded, with surprise, that his boss and longtime ‘brother’ was actually doing paperwork.
Sonny scrawled his signature at the bottom of the bundle of papers and closed the folder, placing it into the large pile to his right. “You’re back early,” he noted as he tossed the pen to the desk.
Jason gave a casual nod. “Things went well,” he reported as he took in the sight of a new picture on the bookshelf behind Sonny’s desk to join the other two. Young Morgan, nearly 4, was all dark hair and bright eyes, a puckish grin on his face. The picture had formerly lived on the desk from Sonny’s office at his home with Carly. The one of Kristina was a few years older, a smattering of purple highlights mingled in with her chestnut locks. It had been given to Sonny by Alexis, one of the last times the two spoke in civil tones to each other. Finally, the one of Michael, the first one to go up, was clearly a decade old. Michael no longer sported a Queen of Angels uniform and from what Jason knew, his golden hair had gone a shade lighter, probably due to the fact he now resided in Hawaii, where he attended medical school and from what Emily said, surfed whenever he got the chance. Jason himself had not seen the young man in years, first because of AJ strictly forbidding it and later, and more painfully, from Michael’s own request.
“You got in yesterday?” Sonny’s question was neutral, but there was a hint of a challenge in his tone. Jason knew that despite their friendship of nearly 2 decades, Sonny was always weary, ready for betrayal from any of his staff, even Jason. It was no wonder that the dark pads under his eyes remained gloomy after all these years.
Jason said nothing for a moment, studying his boss carefully. “Carly left a few messages. I checked in with her.”
Sonny rubbed his chin, a sign of irritation Jason knew all too well. “Right,” he said flatly. He then held his hands out, palms up in resignation. “A clean break is best. I’m staying at the Barrington until I get a new place.” He paused before adding, “thank you for checking on her, though.”
Jason didn’t have to ask if there was another woman. He knew better than that. Carly had raved into his ear about the ADA, Dara Jensen. It was ridiculous and Carly had been insistent, but then, Carly was always insistent when she was on a jealous tear while studiously omitting her own indiscretions. It was par for the course and Jason was well used to it. He knew Sonny was probably seeing someone right now, but it wouldn’t be the right hand of the District Attorney.
No way would Sonny even look at Dara Jensen.
“I always check on Carly.” It was neither a complaint nor a boastful remark. Carly needed Jason and Jason needed to be needed by Carly. It was a symbiotic relationship of sorts. He calmed her down and stopped her from flying off the handle and she made him feel needed. They cared for each other, as close friends, and while she would recount to him every minute detail of her life, he was careful to not share a whisper about Gia to her.
Or Sonny.
Sonny opened another folder, not wanting to discuss Carly any further, or the way she managed to exasperate him without even being in the same space. “I don’t have anything for you right now. Something’s coming down the pike later next week though; you should take some time off.” Not 5 minutes inside the door after being away for a few weeks and Sonny was already telling him, in the politest terms, to go somewhere else.
There was a nervous energy permeating in the air between them. Something was off and both could feel it.
Was it a woman?
Jason moved to the window, glancing down at the parking lot below where his bike sat at the warehouse entrance, workers moving back and forth. “I haven’t seen Emily in a bit,” he admitted softly, noting to himself that she was now his sole link to the Quartermaine family he’d pushed away for so many years.
“How is Emily doing these days?” Like everyone who knew her or knew of her, Sonny’s voice changed as he brought up the fair doctor, his tone warm and engaged, as if already assured that whatever was going on in her life, it was wonderful and well deserved.
Jason stilled at the innocent question, the long buried suspicion flaring up even now, nearly a decade after it happened.
Emily, returning home from her first successful years at university had attended a birthday celebration for Justus at the Haunted Star, LuLu Spencer’s successful yacht nightclub. Friends and family had attended and the party had been a roaring success, going on well into the night. It had been a joyous occasion, one of the few family gatherings Jason himself attended. Just after midnight, Emily had begun to not answer her phone or text messages. Although no one had really been concerned, since she came back into the home just after dawn, it hadn’t been until a guard of Sonny’s innocently remarked the next day that Sonny had gone off the radar during that time period as well.
It was then that a seed of doubt took root in Jason’s mind. A Quartermaine guard, after a hefty payment, had told one of Jason’s men that the young Quartermaine heiress had snuck in doing, in his words, the walk of shame.
“She looked like she had the best fuck of her life.”
Later, Sonny had informed Jason he found a tipsy Emily near the docks. In a small temper tantrum, she’d thrown her phone and then Sonny’s into the waters and had refused, for whatever reason, to go back to the party or home. Instead, they’d walked through the night while she sobered up. Nothing had happened. Sonny’s face and tone brook no argument. He would not justify himself to Jason, ever.
Emily had simply refused to discuss it with Jason. She had turned red with anger and pointed her finger at him. “You are not my keeper; I don’t owe you any explanation.”
3 days later, Jason had been sent on assignment to Puerto Rico. It was late May.
He did not return until Labor Day.
The message from Sonny was clear. No matter what, Sonny was the boss, Sonny was in charge and Sonny did not take kindly to having his authority questioned.
Message received. Jason never brought it up again.
Although Jason later learned that Nikolas Cassadine had shown up to the party with a pretty socialite from France, which had set off Emily on her drunken rollercoaster, he had never been able to determine what had really gone on that night.
He had never before been given any reason to not trust Sonny. There had been no evidence or witness or proof of any kind, but the gut feeling he had at the time was hard to set aside.
Plus, this was Sonny. There was always another woman.
Gia had just told him that Emily was seeing someone new. A mystery man Emily was hiding.
“Emily’s good. I hear she’s seeing someone.” His eyes snapped to Sonny, watching him vigilantly.
Sonny flicked his gaze to Jason, catching a tinge of a tone he’d not heard before. He chose to ignore it. “Yeah? Good for her. You know him?”
Jason shook his head. “Not yet, but I’ll find out.” That was a promise.
Sonny stepped away from Jason, going back to the desk. He placed his hands on the dark wood and rolled his neck, easing the tension from it. “What did Carly tell you?”
Jason ducked his head, almost embarrassed to be repeating it. “Dara Jensen.”
A trademark grin passed over Sonny’s face as he shook his head, forcing the flicker of genuine fear deep down. Already, he could see Jason didn’t believe it. That was good. “Did she tell you who she’d nearly been fucking in the hallway that night?”
Jason took in a breath. No, she hadn’t.
“Thane Bauer.” Sonny dropped the name with all the emphasis it needed. “Jack Bauer’s little brother, can you believe it?” He turned away, moving to the mini fridge that sat in the corner of the room. He pulled out bottled water and snapped the lid with a satisfied turn. “Did you know he had a brother?”
Sonny didn’t turn back around in time to see the way Jason’s face paled at the name.
Thane Bauer. In Port Charles.
“Yeah. I knew.” Jason took a hard swallow, his throat clammy and dry and gave his head a small shake as Sonny turned back to face him. He needed to tell Sonny about Thane Bauer. He needed to put more guards on Carly and Morgan. He needed to get guards on Emily, despite her objections.
He needed to keep Gia safe.
He needed to tell Sonny about what really happened in Hong Kong.
But first?
He needed to find Thane Bauer.
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