"Boss? The Ashtons are here," Renaldo announced as Ned and Lois entered the penthouse.
"Ned! Lois! It’s good to see you," Jason called as he and Carly exchanged warm hugs and pleasantries before sitting in the den.
"We came as soon as we heard," Lois said, taking Carly’s hand gently. Carly gave her a withered smile in return at Lois’s warm gesture.
"Any word yet?" Ned asked as Jason handed him his drink. Jason shook his head as he took a seat next to Carly.
"Michael left home, he wasn’t taken. There’s some relief in that."
Ned and Lois exchanged a surprised glance, "he ran away?" Lois asked in awe.
Jason shook his head vigorously, "he didn’t run away. He...he has some issues to deal with, hopefully he’ll come home so we can deal with them together."
Carly nodded in agreement, "he knows how much we love him. He’ll come home soon," she said, giving Lois a brave smile, trying to calm her own raging fears.
"I’m sure he will," Lois agreed confidently, squeezing Carly’s hand gently.
************************************
"You ready?"
Andrea and Michael stood in the elevator as it rose slowly to the top floor where Michael’s home for the past 16 years resided. Michael nodded quickly as he gripped Andrea’s hand firmly. The elevator slowed and eventually stopped with a ding. The doors slowly opened and the couple carefully exited, turning the corner. Renaldo’s tired eyes rose slowly but immediately opened gleefully at the sight of Michael.
"Michael!" he cried joyfully, grabbing the child he’d watched over since Michael was a baby and hugged him fiercely, overcome with relief.
"Hey Renaldo, howya’ doin’?" Michael squeaked as Renaldo squeezed him tightly.
Renaldo pulled Michael away, a broad grin on his face as he slapped Michael’s cheek gently.
"You had us all worried sick. Your parents are inside with the Ashtons."
Michael nodded as his stomach filled immediately with butterflies as Renaldo quickly ushered the two inside the penthouse and rushed to the den.
"Michael’s home!" he said quickly to the four inside. Jason was up and out of the room like lightening with Carly in hot pursuit. Ned and Lois quickly brought up the rear. Michael’s heart did flip flops as his father entered the room, his face immediately crumpling with mixed grief and joy. His mother quickly followed, her eyes already filling with tears as the two rushed towards him with open arms. Any reservation that Michael had, slid from him in that moment. Letting go of Andrea, he opened his arms just wide enough to be engulfed by Jason. Carly immediately joined the two as an eager Spencer bounced into the room and threw himself at the reunion. Lois, Ned and Andrea stood by quietly, not wanting to intrude on this tearful reunion.
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry," Michael whispered to his parents as his own tears fell freely onto Jason’s dark shirt.
"It’s okay, it’s okay," Jason murmured gently as he said a silent prayer of thanks for Michael’s safe return. After a few moments the group pulled apart to allow Michael to give his mother and brother individual greetings.
Carly stroked her son’s cheek gently, "I was SO worried and scared, I thought I’d lost you again," she said hoarsely.
Spencer tried desperately to hold back his tears but once Michael’s watery eyes focused on him, he burst into tears as he clutched onto his older brother.
"I really freaked you out didn’t I pal? I’m sorry," Michael said quietly as Spencer quickly pulled away and wiped his eyes, slightly embarassed.
Becoming aware of their guests, Jason quickly wiped his eyes and turned to Ned and Lois.
"Ned and Lois came by," he started but before continuing, Lois gave Michael a warm hug and a moment later, he received another from Ned.
"We’d better go," Lois said quickly and Ned nodded, "we’ll call later and we’ll let everyone know that Michael’s safe and home now."
Lois and Ned quickly showed themselves out as Michael pulled Andrea aside.
"Call me later, you should really be with your family now," Andrea insisted and Michael nodded in agreement.
"Someone will drive you home," he said quietly before gently kissing her on the lips.
"Thank you for everything," he whispered before watching her leave.
***************************************
Mary sat quietly on the stone bench, it hadn’t been two minutes since Ned had phoned with the good news that the tension the house had once been filled with, melted away instantly. Even the sun had come out of hiding from the clouds, radiating its warmth onto the town below.
"Mary?" came Keesha’s voice as Mary walked slowly towards the house. Keesha smiled at her daughter, quickly pulling her into a warm hug.
"I know you’ve been told that Michael’s at his home, but I thought I’d check on you anyway, how are you?"
Mary gave her mother a relaxed smile, "it’s cool, Michael called me and said he’d call later, he sounded good to me, what about you?"
"Well," Keesha started as the two wandered into the house, Keesha’s arm around her daughter’s shoulder and Mary’s arm slung around her mother’s waist, "I’m glad he’s gone home, but I can’t help wonder why he left like he did. Do you know?"
Mary cast her eyes downward, knowing full well that if her gaze met her mother’s, she’d spill everything. Shaking her head, "no, he never said anything to me."
Keesha noted the downward expression of her daughter, immediately sensing she was not getting the entire truth from her child but resisted the urge to prod.
"Alright then, oh, a friend is waiting for you in the den with your father. I believe his name is Dominic."
Mary’s eyes bulged slightly, "he’s in there with Dad?" she squeaked as she quickened her pace. Keesha hid her smile but nodded, "oh yes, they’ve been chatting for a few minutes now."
Mary burst into the room with Keesha close behind. Dominic and A.J. immediately turned their attention, rising from their seats at the entrance of Keesha and Mary.
"Sweetie, just getting to know your new friend here Dominic. Pleasure meeting you," A.J. said as he quickly shook Dominic’s hand. Dominic returned the friendly smile as Keesha nodded her head before taking A.J.’s hand and the two left the den.
Mary smiled at Dominic, suddenly overcome with nervousness. Dominic sat back down in his seat and Mary took the seat just vacated by her father.
"How are you?" Dominic asked, his eyes serious.
"Okay, Michael went home, I still haven’t told my parents anything about the truth. I gotta tell you, it’s really eating at me, but I know I can’t say anything. This is entirely Michael’s call."
Dominic nodded understandingly, "it’s been rough on you hasn’t it?"
"Not as rough as Michael or his parents I’m sure."
Dominic frowned slightly, "yeah, that’s something I want to talk to you about."
"What do you mean?"
"You mentioned earlier about wondering if whether his parents knew about this or not."
Mary shook her head, "that was just me reacting to them reacting really. I don’t think they knew."
Dominic sat quietly for a few moments before Mary frowned at his behavior, "what, is something different going on here?"
"I looked a little into the past if you don’t mind and I found a few things."
Mary’s eyes widened, "I don’t mind, what did you find?"
Dominic took a deep breath, "when Carly was with Tony Jones, did you know that they lived right across from your father for several months and that apparently your father and Carly were quite close?"
Mary wordlessly shook her head.
"Jason Morgan was also involved with a Robin Scorpio at the time Carly became pregnant. Apparently, he was known for not straying."
"Dr. Robin Scorpio? The AIDS researcher?" Mary asked and Dominic nodded.
"People were surprised when Carly said Jason was Michael’s father, after all Jason and Dr. Scorpio were very much in love at the time, people were surprised he’d cheated on her with Carly. Strangely though, when Robin returned from Paris after Michael’s birth, she said nothing about Jason’s new role as a father and the two even reunited shortly before terminating the relationship permanently after a few months."
"That’s weird, I mean, your man cheats on you while you’re away at school and you do nothing about it except kiss and make up?" Mary shook her head in disbelief, before tilting her head thoughtfully, "but maybe they did argue and somehow got over it."
Dominic shrugged, "maybe," he said but his voice rang clearly unconvinced.
********************************************
Michael sat down across from his parents as Justus quickly took Spencer for a walk. Jason and Carly sat together, holding hands as they prepared to tell the son they loved more than life itself, the truth.
"Michael we know that you know and Mary probably told you how we reacted."
Michael nodded, an odd calmness coming over him.
Carly squeezed Jason’s hand gently before locking her gaze onto her firstborn.
"It’s time we told you everything."
"Now, I know you must have a lot of questions, but can you hang on until we’re finished?" Carly asked and Michael quickly nodded.
"A long time ago, when I first came to Port Charles, I was a mixed up person, much different than who I am now. I was so angry and bitter with my birth mother, your grandmother Bobbie. That anger and bitterness grew and spilled over and I became involved with her husband Tony Jones. I wanted to hurt her at every and any opportunity that came about and Tony was one of those opportunities. Well, Bobbie found out about the affair and promptly divorced Tony. After awhile, I actually grew to love him and I thought that he also felt the same. At first, Tony and Bobbie were at odds with one another, constantly fighting about their broken marriage, their son Lucas and most of all, me. Unfortunately, that anger eventually dissipated and the two managed somehow to work out some of their problems. I must say, I was not a very stable person, I didn’t think very highly of myself, I had no self-esteem or confidence and I was very possessive and jealous."
Carly cast her eyes downwards for a moment, ashamed of her behavior from so long ago. Jason squeezed her hand gently, encouraging her to continue.
"When I saw Tony and Bobbie becoming friends again, I saw red. I panicked and believed that they might reunite, especially since Bobbie had since divorced from her husband, Stefan Cassadine. I thought that Tony would leave me and go back to Bobbie and Lucas and they would be a family again. I thought I’d lose everything I had tried to take from Bobbie and make for myself in one swoop and I was determined to fight for what I believed was mine. I did some horrible things, things I’m in no way proud of or care to even mention to both Bobbie and Tony. I lied to Tony and deceived him on many occasions. Instead of enjoying our life together, I spent most of my time making sure he never found out the truth about any of my escapades. After some time, I thought I’d succeeded until I caught Bobbie and Tony hugging in the hospital library. I flipped out, certain that Tony would come home and tell me we were through. I figured that I’d do something to hurt him before he could hurt me."
Michael held his breath, completely riveted by his mother’s tale as her voice dropped a tone.
"And I did."
"You must understand, I was so angry and upset and very confused and frightened. I was on a rollercoaster heading to disaster. I went out for a good time, to drink my sorrows away and I met a man."
Carly watched Michael carefully, trying hard to choose her words with the utmost delicacy, "I met A.J. Quartermaine. I didn’t know he was your father’s brother at the time, he was nice and sympathetic and we got on well."
Carly clutched her hands together nervously as she skipped the drunken sex part, "after A.J., I realized what a horrible mistake I’d made and went home. Tony was waiting there and we made up. A few weeks later I found myself pregnant with you."
"I didn’t even think about A.J. Just you and me and Tony and what a wonderful family we would be. Tony was thrilled for us, he’d lost a daughter years earlier, I think he secretly hoped you would fill the void his daughter left when she died. He was possessed with you, he loved you the instant we found out. A.J. meanwhile had blacked out the entire evening and I managed, in fear of losing Tony, to convince him that we’d simply gotten drunk and nothing had happened, but A.J. persisted and he soon became a thorn in my side. I got frantic again and did something that I can barely admit to this day."
Carly again, overcome with deep shame and regret, bowed her head, "A.J. was a recovering alcoholic and he’d once again gone sober, but this time he really meant it and was very determined to stay away from drinking. To make another long story short, I attempted to make it look like he’d ruined his sobriety. He said he’d leave town and join a treatment center if he relapsed again and I blindly and foolishly took another chance with someone else’s life."
Shaking her head at the memory, Carly continued, "A.J. as it turns out, didn’t leave town. He became more suspicious of me and eventually figured out with the help of Keesha that I had drugged him and made it appear that he had begun drinking again. He remembered everything after that and therefore concluded that he might be your biological father. We fought a lot, both A.J. and I and Tony and I. It was all crumbling around me, the lies were catching up and Tony was growing sick of it. He left me and threatened to keep you from me. A.J. was also pushing for a paternity test, the one you found in the Quartermaine’s attic, and I panicked, again."
Michael exhaled slowly, the pieces of the puzzle were now matching up and the picture was coming into focus.
"I had one friend, Jason, your father," Carly emphasized, "I showed up on his doorstep with nothing but the clothes on my back and my child inside me. Without hesitation, he took me in. I told him everything and he swore that he would never let anyone take you away from me. I loved you SO MUCH. You were all I had left in life and nothing was going to take you from me. You were born at 11:17 pm on December 26th by C-section a full month early. You were tiny and we both almost died but Jason saved us both, I trusted him with both our lives and as always, he came through. He protected you and me from the Quartermaines and Tony Jones. A test was done and Tony found he wasn’t your father. You were born with a heart defect, something I believed I’d caused but Jason tried to convince me it wasn’t. You were named Michael after your father’s friend and mentor, Michael Corinthos Jr. Bobbie and I eventually grew close and I told her the truth about who I was. You already know that Tony kidnapped you and tried to run to San Francisco with you. After getting you back, your father and I, a few months later, fell in love and married, we raised you as our son and a few years after you, we had Spencer. That’s about it."
A silence overcame the room. Long and painful as Michael stared at the floor allowing the information to absorb into his mind, slowly, carefully, filtering out nonsense and excuses and just keeping to the facts.
"So you were never in the running, were you?" he said flatly, not raising his eyes to meet Jason’s.
Jason shook his head, "no, I wasn’t."
Michael had so many question running through his mind, each one insisting they were more important and deserved to be asked first. Michael put his head in his hands and closed his eyes. Everything was foreign, nothing was real and nothing was home.
"Why?" he asked weakly, finally raising his eyes to Carly’s. "Why didn’t you tell A.J. the truth?"
"I was scared, I knew A.J. could take you and I might never see you again or be a part of your life. I was scared you’d never know me."
"So you just made it so I never knew him."
Carly furrowed her brow, "I was trying to do what was best for you, I was protecting you."
Michael’s ears pricked up, his eyes grew in desperation, the salvation of the story that he sought. "Protected me? You protected me from him? What did he do to you? Did he beat you? You said he was a drunk and he always relapsed, did he get drunk and attack you?"
Michael’s eyes darted from Carly’s face to Jason’s in hope of agreement, "that’s it isn’t it!!?? He hit you and threatened to keep you from me so you had to protect me right? He was a monster and you were scared, I understand!" he said desperately.
Carly’s eyes filled with tears as Michael rose from his seat, suddenly energized, "of course! You were doing what any mother would do! Protecting your child from a monster, this was the big secret behind the truth? Wow, I can’t believe this! A.J.’s so different now, you wouldn’t imagine he was some cold-hearted bastard years ago, I guess Keesha really did change him."
Turning around, Michael stared at Carly, tears streaming down her face as Jason held his head in his hands.
"Why are you crying? You were scared, you were protecting me!" Michael cried.
"NO!!" Carly shouted as she shot up from her seat. Clutching Michael’s arms, she gazed at him lovingly, blinking her tears away, "he did not beat me and he was not a monster!"
Overcome with shock, Michael stared at Carly with utter disbelief as he slowly shook his head, "then…why?" he whispered.
Carly sat down slowly, shaking her head softly, "I-I don’t know, I can’t remember," she started.
"Tell me!" Michael insisted.
Carly thought for a moment, searching for the real reason before abruptly stopping. Perhaps there had never been a reason, not a good one at least.
"You don’t have one do you?" Michael said, watching his mother intently. Carly slowly shook her head, "I haven’t thought about this in almost ten years, I honestly don’t remember, it was so long ago."
"Well, it’s pretty obvious to me," Michael started, his voice growing cool, "you were doing what was best for you, not me, just you. It’s got a name too, it’s called being selfish and that’s exactly what you were doing."
Jason’s head snapped up, "hey! You watch yourself here, let’s calm down for a moment."
Michael shook his head, "no way, I’m not calming down, not for one second." Turning to Carly, Michael’s eyes narrowed, "see, I’m guessing A.J. was a good guy and you were the bad girl that wrecked havoc on everyone’s life and since you knew that in a flash, you could lose custody of me, you decided to cut the people who WERE a part of my life out before they ever knew about who I was."
"I cannot believe this!" he shouted angrily as he paced the room, "my whole life a complete and total lie! My father is not my father my uncle is not my uncle and my cousin—", Michael stopped suddenly as the realization hits him, "Mary is my SISTER," he whispered.
"Michael, please," Carly said gently as she started towards him, Michael instantly backing from her.
"Stay away from me, I don’t know you anymore. I know my mother and my mother would NEVER do this to me."
"You take me from people who could have loved me, from people who belonged in my life. I live with bodyguards and private school and total surveillance and my life always at risk because I am the son of crime lord Jason Morgan," he said, disgust creeping into his voice.
Jason leapt from his seat as Michael marched past him towards the door, catching his arm in a firm grip and whirled him around.
"Just wait a minute Michael, what you know is not everything, let us explain to you why we did what we did."
Michael snatched his arm back, his face filled with rage, "and you," he snarled, "you thief! You STOLE me from my real father! You and Mom steal me from my own father, a good father at that. Why? Because you don’t like them, because you don’t get along with them! What’s there to explain, DAD? It’s all quite plain and obvious. You steal me from my real father because you don’t like your old family. You take memories from my real father!"
Michael’s eyes filled with tears as he gazed at his parents. "Why?" he asked tearfully, "not why did you do this to A.J, but why did you do this to me?"
"This wasn’t supposed to happen,"Jason said numbly to no one in particular.
"You mean the truth right?"Michael wiped his tears away angrily, "I can’t stay here," he said, grabbing his coat and bag off the couch, storming past Carly, sitting on the edge of the couch, wordlessly allowing her tears to fall.
"Michael, this is your home," Jason said, his stomach tightening with grief. Michael turned slowly and stared at Jason and then finally at Carly.
"I-I don’t," he started hoarsely, his stomach also tightening with pain before his face grimaced.
"Tell me one thing," he asked bitterly, "was it worth it?"
Both Jason and Carly jumped as Michael slammed the door behind him.
****************************************
The elevator doors opened, Justus and a grinning Spencer exited, nearly plowed by Michael as he rushed past them.
"Hey, hey, slow down Michael," Justus started, grabbing Michael firmly by the shoulders, as Spencer stood by nervously, clearly recognizing the seriousness on Justus’s face.
"I have to go," Michael said, keeping his eyes down barely holding his tears back.
Justus peered at Michael intensely, "what’s going on Michael? Talk to me," he said softly.
Michael shook his head fiercely, "I can’t do this right now, I have to go."
Justus relented, letting go of Michael and stepping back slightly.
"Michael, are you okay?" Spencer asked timidly, his face showing deep concern. Michael’s face slowly rose as his gaze met his brother’s. He gently placed his arm on Spencer’s shoulder as a single tear trickled down his cheek.
"No, I’m not," he said quietly. Spencer’s eyes immediately watered, "are you leaving home?" he asked fearfully.
"For a little bit," Michael said truthfully. It was all Spencer could handle as his small face crumpled, Michael immediately pulled him close in a fierce hug.
"It’s okay, I’m not leaving you Spencer. I’m your brother,"Michael said as Spencer clutched onto him tightly. After a few moments, Michael gently pried himself from Spencer’s grip.
"I’ll call you okay?"
Spencer nodded slowly as Michael entered the elevator. Spencer gave Michael a small wave as the door closed.
The elevator descended almost four floors before Michael sunk to the floor and curled up into the corner. The elevator stopped and the doors opened, allowing an older couple to enter. Michael’s face snapped up, angered by their presence.
"Take the next one!"he shouted. With wide eyes, the couple quickly rushed out and the elevator continued the long descent to the lobby. Michael gently placed his head against the wall, hearing the familiar sounds of the elevator and for the briefest moment, found the comfort he desperately sought.