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Title: Just Between Friends
Author: speedy
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Expecting her second child and caught up in a mafia war, Carly Corinthos has a secret that will change the lives of everyone she knows.
Disclaimer: I'm not the Rat, so obviously the characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them for awhile.
Notes: Just moving this over from my now defunct website. This veers off canon right before the panic room fiasco in 2003.
Chapter 9
Frisco and Carly maneuvered through the crowd. They were heading for the bar, when they weren't stopped every few feet for Frisco's old friends to say hello, friends he hadn't seen in years. It was strange to Carly to be so openly welcomed, especially by the Quartermaines. She wondered briefly if she would've been welcomed like this if she had been honest and told Bobbie who she was in the beginning, instead of lying and going after her mother's husband out of revenge.
Courtney rushed up to the couple excitedly, hugging them both. "I'm so glad you're here!" she cheered. "How's the loft?"
"It's great," Frisco said, smiling politely. "Thank you for letting us stay there."
The young blonde smiled joyfully. "It's no problem! I'm glad you like it."
Carly squeezed her husband's arm in an effort to hide her annoyance with Pollyanna. That much cheerfulness grated on her nerves, not to mention that Blondie was here with Jason and there wasn't a damn thing Carly could do about it at the moment. Nor did she really want to be face to face with it at this very second. She excused herself and continued to the bar, leaving Frisco on his own.
"This is some place, uh, Carly has here," Frisco said to Courtney, his eyes still on his wife.
"Isn't it? It was a speakeasy back in the '20s. The owner boarded it up after her best friend was killed in a shootout on opening night. Her husband went to prison when he got revenge and Catherine had to give up her son."
He looked at the young woman strangely. Sure, shootouts were common at the time, probably mafia related same as the current owners, but she'd said it so nonchalantly, it caught him off guard. "That's terrible."
"Yeah, it is, but Carly's made it into a big success. Catherine would've been proud of her." Courtney's happy face fell as she looked beyond Frisco.
He turned to see who she was staring at. He recognized the man who had just walked in, a young woman on his arm. A chill went down his spine, warning lights going off all over in his mind. Ric Lansing, a lawyer working for the Alcazars. He didn't know if Lansing knew him, they hadn't actually met before, but any Alcazar connection in Port Charles could not be a good sign. He needed to get Carly out, now. Before word got back to Lorenzo.
"I hate that guy," Courtney told him quietly, looking away and tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Her voice pulled his attention away from Lansing. "Not a friend of yours, I take it," he said, eyeing her reaction.
"God, no," she said, rolling her eyes. "He's a complete psycho."
Courtney suddenly looked like a possible asset. "Who's the girl with him?" Frisco asked interestedly.
"Elizabeth Webber. She's a waitress at Kelly's, too."
Webber. Frisco knew the family, although he didn't know any Elizabeth. She looked a little like a dark haired Heather, without the mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Not a friend either, huh?"
"She was in love with Jason and wanted him back when I started dating him," she replied, annoyed.
He smiled faintly. The tone of her voice reminded him of Carly, always annoyed at the competition. "Then what's she doing with him?"
The blonde shrugged. "I don't know. We keep telling her he's scum, but she doesn't want to believe us."
If Courtney's animosity was anything to go by, then he could think of at least one reason for the young woman not to believe them. "Don't you just love uninvited guests?" he joked.
"Yeah," Courtney snorted, glaring at Elizabeth. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm just going to go deal with our invited guests."
"What do you think?" Charlotte asked, walking up beside Carly at the bar. "It's been quite successful. Crowds lining up outside just to get in."
Carly rolled her eyes. "How nice for you."
Charlotte's voice dripped with condescension as she bragged. "Club 101 was like this too, until Jax and Skye ran me out. Everyone keeps commenting on how successful I've been." She glared at her old friend. "At least since I took back my life."
Carly was being goaded and she knew it. "Do you have a point, Charlotte?"
"Why don't you go back to whatever rock your friend has been keeping you under," she suggested, smirking. "Everyone's happier with this Carly."
The brunette matched her old friend's glare. "And if I don't?" she asked challengingly in a low voice, narrowing her eyes.
"I will make your life miserable."
"One word from me, your little fantasy here is over," she sneered. "This is my life you're living, not yours."
"Yeah, right. No one would believe you." Charlotte crossed her arms confidently. "You don't have a shred of evidence. The only thing you have is an old relic that no one cares about."
Carly laughed. She wasn't going to put up with this. Charlotte was going down and Frisco was going to help her do it. "You are so wrong. Me and the 'old relic', as you put it, will wipe the floor with you."
"Bring it on."
As soon as the young woman was out of ear shot, Frisco pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number, looking at the people around him. "Yellow alert. Get me everything we have on Ric Lansing," he ordered quietly, then hung up.
"That doesn't sound good," Luke said, standing close beside him.
Frisco gestured to where Courtney was talking to Lansing and the girl. "He works for the Alcazars," he whispered, leaning closer. "The girl, she's a Webber. You know her?"
"Yeah! That's Elizabeth, she's Jeff's youngest. She was Lucky's girl until Faison and Helena took him away and brainwashed him."
The agent raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Lucky's girl, huh?"
"She can be trusted, if that's what you're thinking."
"No, it wasn't, but that's good to know." He sighed. "Come by after the party. I think I'm going to need your help."
"Help with what?" a voice asked from behind them.
Frisco and Luke both froze, looking at each other. They turned around in unison. Frisco swallowed hard when he saw the slender figure that the voice belonged to.
Felicia stood with her hands on her hips, her head tilted slightly. Her eyes were solely focused on her ex-husband. When he didn't answer immediately, she tapped her foot impatiently.
Frisco smiled and chuckled nervously. "I just... uh... need his help with a job. You know, in meantime, while I'm inactive." He forced himself to shut up, knowing how bad he sounded. There were times that he just couldn't lie to her, usually when he really didn't want to lie in the first place.
"A job," she repeated, unbelieving.
"Yeah, a job. The WSB doesn't pay inactive agents."
She stepped closer to him. "You're up to something," she said accusingly.
"I'm not up to anything, I swear."
"I know you, Andrew," she said, poking him in the chest. "I know that look. That's the same look you gave me when you told me about that 'tour' in France. You know, the one where I was kidnapped by Faison because you were back with the WSB and lying to me about it."
He put her hands on her shoulders and smiled as flirtatiously as he could. "That was a long time ago, Princess!"
"Don't. Call. Me. Princess," she growled, pushing his hands away. She sighed. "New year, same old shit, Frisco."
His face turned serious. "It's not like that, Felicia."
"Then what is it like, huh?" she scoffed. "So is this a cover marriage? She your partner?"
"She's not an agent, she's my wife!" Frisco insisted. "You want to see our marriage certificate?"
"There are independent witnesses to the happy event," Luke added in. "The 'I do's were legit."
"Stay out of this, Luke," they both snapped.
"Sorry, just helping out!" He looked between them, then threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine, I'll leave you kids two alone."
The older man walked away, but neither Frisco nor Felicia paid any attention. "I want to know what you're up to! I will not let you drag the girls into some case!"
"I told you, I am not on some case," he replied calmly. It wasn't entirely a lie. This wasn't just any case, it had been his life for two years now. "I'm here with my wife. That's it, end of story."
"I'm not buying it, Frisco."
To hell with it. They weren't married anymore. He didn't have to justify anything to her. "Believe whatever the hell you want. I don't care."
Frisco walked away without another word, looking for Carly. It was time to get the hell out of dodge.
Carly was still at the bar, still fuming from her run-in with Charlotte. She couldn't shake the feeling something else was going on. And she was going to find out what.
"Let's get out of here."
Frisco just walked up to her and gave her an order. No pleasantries, no requests, just an order as if she were one of his agents. She shook her head. Man, the gall of him... "Oh, now that you don't want to be here, we have to leave. But when I wanted to play hooky, we had to come."
"I'm in charge, what I say goes," he shot back coldly.
"I thought marriage was supposed to be an equal partnership. Isn't that what you told me back when I was divorcing Sonny?"
"This isn't a marriage, this is my job," he said quietly. "Remember?"
"As far as everyone but Luke is concerned, this is a marriage," she reminded him. "Remember?"
He took a deep breath, tapping his fingers on the bar for a moment. "We have reason to be worried about our cover. We have to leave," he told her.
"We have reason to stay put."
"Why?"
"Charlotte, duh!" she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not leaving until I know what is going on with her."
"You know what is going on."
"Rule number one, things aren't always what they appear," she told him, repeating the advice he'd given her when they'd gone into hiding the first time. "My gut says she's up to something."
"So I'll put someone on it. We're leaving."
She spotted his ex-wife at the end of the bar talking to Maxie. Somehow she doubted he was worried about their cover. "You're just running away from Felicia."
"I am not!"
She leaned closer, smirking. "I saw you fighting with her."
"We were not fighting," he insisted, but she didn't buy it.
"So what was it?" she asked knowingly. "Disagreement? Heated discussion? Difference of opinion?"
He looked away, his jaw tightening. "I'm not discussing this with you."
"Why not? I think I got a right to know what kind of discussion my husband was having with another woman."
"The 'none of your business' kind." He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door. "Let's go."
Carly yanked her arm away from his grasp and turned around, intending to look for Luke, but spotted a wedding cake being brought out from the back and set on the bar. A second followed it. "Oh shit," she grumbled.
"Huh?" He turned to see where she was looking. "So what? It's cake, Carly."
She met his gaze guiltily. "I think one of those is for us."
Chapter 11
Author: speedy
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Expecting her second child and caught up in a mafia war, Carly Corinthos has a secret that will change the lives of everyone she knows.
Disclaimer: I'm not the Rat, so obviously the characters aren't mine. I'm just borrowing them for awhile.
Notes: Just moving this over from my now defunct website. This veers off canon right before the panic room fiasco in 2003.
Chapter 9
Frisco and Carly maneuvered through the crowd. They were heading for the bar, when they weren't stopped every few feet for Frisco's old friends to say hello, friends he hadn't seen in years. It was strange to Carly to be so openly welcomed, especially by the Quartermaines. She wondered briefly if she would've been welcomed like this if she had been honest and told Bobbie who she was in the beginning, instead of lying and going after her mother's husband out of revenge.
Courtney rushed up to the couple excitedly, hugging them both. "I'm so glad you're here!" she cheered. "How's the loft?"
"It's great," Frisco said, smiling politely. "Thank you for letting us stay there."
The young blonde smiled joyfully. "It's no problem! I'm glad you like it."
Carly squeezed her husband's arm in an effort to hide her annoyance with Pollyanna. That much cheerfulness grated on her nerves, not to mention that Blondie was here with Jason and there wasn't a damn thing Carly could do about it at the moment. Nor did she really want to be face to face with it at this very second. She excused herself and continued to the bar, leaving Frisco on his own.
"This is some place, uh, Carly has here," Frisco said to Courtney, his eyes still on his wife.
"Isn't it? It was a speakeasy back in the '20s. The owner boarded it up after her best friend was killed in a shootout on opening night. Her husband went to prison when he got revenge and Catherine had to give up her son."
He looked at the young woman strangely. Sure, shootouts were common at the time, probably mafia related same as the current owners, but she'd said it so nonchalantly, it caught him off guard. "That's terrible."
"Yeah, it is, but Carly's made it into a big success. Catherine would've been proud of her." Courtney's happy face fell as she looked beyond Frisco.
He turned to see who she was staring at. He recognized the man who had just walked in, a young woman on his arm. A chill went down his spine, warning lights going off all over in his mind. Ric Lansing, a lawyer working for the Alcazars. He didn't know if Lansing knew him, they hadn't actually met before, but any Alcazar connection in Port Charles could not be a good sign. He needed to get Carly out, now. Before word got back to Lorenzo.
"I hate that guy," Courtney told him quietly, looking away and tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.
Her voice pulled his attention away from Lansing. "Not a friend of yours, I take it," he said, eyeing her reaction.
"God, no," she said, rolling her eyes. "He's a complete psycho."
Courtney suddenly looked like a possible asset. "Who's the girl with him?" Frisco asked interestedly.
"Elizabeth Webber. She's a waitress at Kelly's, too."
Webber. Frisco knew the family, although he didn't know any Elizabeth. She looked a little like a dark haired Heather, without the mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Not a friend either, huh?"
"She was in love with Jason and wanted him back when I started dating him," she replied, annoyed.
He smiled faintly. The tone of her voice reminded him of Carly, always annoyed at the competition. "Then what's she doing with him?"
The blonde shrugged. "I don't know. We keep telling her he's scum, but she doesn't want to believe us."
If Courtney's animosity was anything to go by, then he could think of at least one reason for the young woman not to believe them. "Don't you just love uninvited guests?" he joked.
"Yeah," Courtney snorted, glaring at Elizabeth. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm just going to go deal with our invited guests."
"What do you think?" Charlotte asked, walking up beside Carly at the bar. "It's been quite successful. Crowds lining up outside just to get in."
Carly rolled her eyes. "How nice for you."
Charlotte's voice dripped with condescension as she bragged. "Club 101 was like this too, until Jax and Skye ran me out. Everyone keeps commenting on how successful I've been." She glared at her old friend. "At least since I took back my life."
Carly was being goaded and she knew it. "Do you have a point, Charlotte?"
"Why don't you go back to whatever rock your friend has been keeping you under," she suggested, smirking. "Everyone's happier with this Carly."
The brunette matched her old friend's glare. "And if I don't?" she asked challengingly in a low voice, narrowing her eyes.
"I will make your life miserable."
"One word from me, your little fantasy here is over," she sneered. "This is my life you're living, not yours."
"Yeah, right. No one would believe you." Charlotte crossed her arms confidently. "You don't have a shred of evidence. The only thing you have is an old relic that no one cares about."
Carly laughed. She wasn't going to put up with this. Charlotte was going down and Frisco was going to help her do it. "You are so wrong. Me and the 'old relic', as you put it, will wipe the floor with you."
"Bring it on."
As soon as the young woman was out of ear shot, Frisco pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number, looking at the people around him. "Yellow alert. Get me everything we have on Ric Lansing," he ordered quietly, then hung up.
"That doesn't sound good," Luke said, standing close beside him.
Frisco gestured to where Courtney was talking to Lansing and the girl. "He works for the Alcazars," he whispered, leaning closer. "The girl, she's a Webber. You know her?"
"Yeah! That's Elizabeth, she's Jeff's youngest. She was Lucky's girl until Faison and Helena took him away and brainwashed him."
The agent raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Lucky's girl, huh?"
"She can be trusted, if that's what you're thinking."
"No, it wasn't, but that's good to know." He sighed. "Come by after the party. I think I'm going to need your help."
"Help with what?" a voice asked from behind them.
Frisco and Luke both froze, looking at each other. They turned around in unison. Frisco swallowed hard when he saw the slender figure that the voice belonged to.
Felicia stood with her hands on her hips, her head tilted slightly. Her eyes were solely focused on her ex-husband. When he didn't answer immediately, she tapped her foot impatiently.
Frisco smiled and chuckled nervously. "I just... uh... need his help with a job. You know, in meantime, while I'm inactive." He forced himself to shut up, knowing how bad he sounded. There were times that he just couldn't lie to her, usually when he really didn't want to lie in the first place.
"A job," she repeated, unbelieving.
"Yeah, a job. The WSB doesn't pay inactive agents."
She stepped closer to him. "You're up to something," she said accusingly.
"I'm not up to anything, I swear."
"I know you, Andrew," she said, poking him in the chest. "I know that look. That's the same look you gave me when you told me about that 'tour' in France. You know, the one where I was kidnapped by Faison because you were back with the WSB and lying to me about it."
He put her hands on her shoulders and smiled as flirtatiously as he could. "That was a long time ago, Princess!"
"Don't. Call. Me. Princess," she growled, pushing his hands away. She sighed. "New year, same old shit, Frisco."
His face turned serious. "It's not like that, Felicia."
"Then what is it like, huh?" she scoffed. "So is this a cover marriage? She your partner?"
"She's not an agent, she's my wife!" Frisco insisted. "You want to see our marriage certificate?"
"There are independent witnesses to the happy event," Luke added in. "The 'I do's were legit."
"Stay out of this, Luke," they both snapped.
"Sorry, just helping out!" He looked between them, then threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine, I'll leave you kids two alone."
The older man walked away, but neither Frisco nor Felicia paid any attention. "I want to know what you're up to! I will not let you drag the girls into some case!"
"I told you, I am not on some case," he replied calmly. It wasn't entirely a lie. This wasn't just any case, it had been his life for two years now. "I'm here with my wife. That's it, end of story."
"I'm not buying it, Frisco."
To hell with it. They weren't married anymore. He didn't have to justify anything to her. "Believe whatever the hell you want. I don't care."
Frisco walked away without another word, looking for Carly. It was time to get the hell out of dodge.
Carly was still at the bar, still fuming from her run-in with Charlotte. She couldn't shake the feeling something else was going on. And she was going to find out what.
"Let's get out of here."
Frisco just walked up to her and gave her an order. No pleasantries, no requests, just an order as if she were one of his agents. She shook her head. Man, the gall of him... "Oh, now that you don't want to be here, we have to leave. But when I wanted to play hooky, we had to come."
"I'm in charge, what I say goes," he shot back coldly.
"I thought marriage was supposed to be an equal partnership. Isn't that what you told me back when I was divorcing Sonny?"
"This isn't a marriage, this is my job," he said quietly. "Remember?"
"As far as everyone but Luke is concerned, this is a marriage," she reminded him. "Remember?"
He took a deep breath, tapping his fingers on the bar for a moment. "We have reason to be worried about our cover. We have to leave," he told her.
"We have reason to stay put."
"Why?"
"Charlotte, duh!" she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not leaving until I know what is going on with her."
"You know what is going on."
"Rule number one, things aren't always what they appear," she told him, repeating the advice he'd given her when they'd gone into hiding the first time. "My gut says she's up to something."
"So I'll put someone on it. We're leaving."
She spotted his ex-wife at the end of the bar talking to Maxie. Somehow she doubted he was worried about their cover. "You're just running away from Felicia."
"I am not!"
She leaned closer, smirking. "I saw you fighting with her."
"We were not fighting," he insisted, but she didn't buy it.
"So what was it?" she asked knowingly. "Disagreement? Heated discussion? Difference of opinion?"
He looked away, his jaw tightening. "I'm not discussing this with you."
"Why not? I think I got a right to know what kind of discussion my husband was having with another woman."
"The 'none of your business' kind." He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the door. "Let's go."
Carly yanked her arm away from his grasp and turned around, intending to look for Luke, but spotted a wedding cake being brought out from the back and set on the bar. A second followed it. "Oh shit," she grumbled.
"Huh?" He turned to see where she was looking. "So what? It's cake, Carly."
She met his gaze guiltily. "I think one of those is for us."
Chapter 11
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