Secretly by gratescott (Seq to WMWBTY)

[JRK Archiver]

This is the sequel to Working My Way Back To You, which can be found in the archives. Please read that fic before reading this one.


Authors Note: Well I said I wasn't going to write a sequel, but the day after I completed Working my Way back to you one started forming in my mind. So here's the sequel to "Working my Way back to You" It's in the archives if you haven't read it before. This story takes place about a month after the first story ends. It deals with the interference of the person who I've always thought should have been the third wheel in their relationship, Tracy. Oh and don't worry, it may get rough, but I intend for it to be funny and it will like the first one, have a happy ending.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 1


A large crash was heard through out Kelly’s followed by a round of applause. Georgie bowed slightly to the crowd. “It figures Dillon would make my clumsiness part of the show.” She knelt down the best she could wearing the roller skates and long poodle skirt that Maxie and Dillon had been so sure would be a hit on 5O’s Diner Night. Guy knelt down to help her pick up her third broken plate of the evening.

Guy was dressed like Dillon in black jeans and a tight white t-shirt, his hair slicked back and entirely too greasy. Dillon joined them to make sure Georgie was okay. Despite the playful bow, her frustration was written all over her face.

“That’s three Dillon, three plates I have to take out of my paycheck. I swear that if you don’t let me take these things off, and I drop another one, I’m taking it out of yours.” Georgie had just recently taken over the bookkeeping and scheduling at Kelly’s much to Bobbie’s relief. Business at Kelly’s was growing daily and with spring soon to arrive, and the outdoor tables soon to be filled as well, Maxie and Guy had been added to the Kelly’s staff. Most of the time Georgie was happy for the help, but when Maxie got one of her bright idea’s like wearing roller skates while bussing tables, she wondered if it was worth it. As that thought crossed her mind she noticed Maxie skating with entirely too much finesse carrying 3 plates to deliver an order to a far corner table. Maxie hadn’t dropped one thing tonight. It made Georgie sick. What made it worse was that she was doing all that and chewing gum at the same time. There had to be rules against people who could do it all. There had to be.

“Now Dillon, I told you that you should of let me wear the skates instead but, no, you have poor Georgie breaking these poor defenseless plates.”

“Hey, if you can’t see I was trying to protect you dude, I don’t know what else to say.” Dillon shook his head and thought to himself. ‘It was hard enough to be gay in America and even harder to be gay in America in high school. But to be gay in America, in high school and be caught wearing roller skates well that was just too much.’

“Hey Dillon, I’m taking the skates off. If I wasn’t so sure it was a health code violation I’d walk around in my socks in homage to the fifties sock hop, but as for tonight my tennis shoes are going back on.”

Dillon touched Georgie’s face so tenderly that Guy felt he was intruding and averted his eyes. “I guess it was a bad idea. I like you all in one piece, broken plates are one thing but I don’t want you to break your neck. I like your pretty little neck the way it is.” He stroked her neck with his thumb and lifted her chin to kiss him. “You’re off the hook.”

“Thank you. You are truly saving my life.” As she said that Monica and Alan entered Kelly’s arm in arm, looking shocked at the 50’s touches added to the decor.

“If you really mean that, you’ll wait a few minutes before you shed those things and go save mine.” Georgie looked at Dillon not understanding. “Can you seat my Aunt and Uncle?” She looked at him like he was crazy. “Please.” He was pouting and that did the trick.

“You know they’re not that bad.” Georgie said grabbing his arm to steady herself before making the trip across the room. “When I was volunteering they were always very nice to me.” She used his arm to propel her across the room. She was headed straight for Maxie who was carrying a tray of dirty dishes. Maxie skillfully dodged Georgie narrowly preventing a major catastrophe.

Georgie wasn’t so lucky. She was heading toward Dr. Alan with way too much speed built up. Luckily Alan realized what was happening and grabbed her with an outstretched arm to keep her from crashing into him. “Sorry Dr. Quartermaine, I’m not very good with these things. I have the perfect table for you and Mrs. Dr. Quartermaine. Follow me. Georgie tried to start skating but started to lose her balance. Alan grabbed her arm and put it on his. Supporting her as she led them to the table. Georgie’s cheeks turned red from embarrassment. Guy met her at the table with menus and after she got them settled she let him grab her arm and pull her to the corner where she took off the skates.

“I’d let you wear the skates if I were Dillon.” Georgie said smiling.

It was a crazy night at Kelly’s and Dillon knew Georgie had no choice but to seat his aunt and uncle in his section but it still made him wary. He decided that Alan and Monica were probably the people in his family he should least dread coming here and he hadn’t missed how sweet Alan had been to Georgie when she’d almost run him over. He approached the table, “Are you ready to order, Uncle-O?”

“Uncle-O?” Alan looked amused

Dillon smiled, “I’ve been saying Daddy-O, but it seemed a little inappropriate, considering you’re my uncle.”

Alan and Monica laughed giving him their order. “I’d like a cheeseburger special.” Monica told Dillon handing him the menu. “He will have a salad.” Monica said glaring at Alan.

“Is she still watching your cholesterol?” Dillon asked knowingly.

“I guess someone has to.” Alan said good-naturedly.

“Actually we have a Chicken Waldorph salad tonight. It’s the daily special, would you like that?”

“Sure.” Alan said sounding pleased. “And two diet cokes.” He looked to Monica for approval of his beverage choice.

Dillon started to walk away. “Dressing on the side.” Monica added.

Dillon found himself amused as he left the table. ‘Some things never change.’ Then another thought crossed his mind. ‘That wasn’t bad at all.’

Bobbie who’d been eating at the counter with Lucky went over to Alan and Monica’s table to say Hi and ended up joining them. Alan was watching Dillon and Guy as they juggled plastic condiment containers passing them back and forth to each other sometimes from all the way across the room as they delivered full ketchup containers to the tables. “He looks happy.” Alan said sounding surprised. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him happy.”

“I guess you haven’t been her since he started working here.” Bobbie said smiling.

“No, we don’t actually come here that often anymore.” Maxie delivered their food on her skates. Maxie made sure they had everything that they needed before making her way from the table. “Alan took a bite of his salad and smiled. “I think that’s going to change now. This is wonderful.”

“It’s a Guy creation.” Bobbie smiled. He’s started working here a little while ago and he’s a great addition. Dillon comes up with these theme nights and ideas. I think there are fifteen different themes they do. Friday’s Italian night, but if you come any other night you never know what you are going to get. I finally convinced Georgie to make a calendar for the wall, so that the customers can look ahead. Georgie’s great she’s taken over the books. All Luke and I have to do is sign the paychecks. She handle’s the schedule. They all cover for each other if a school project or homework assignment has to get done. Maxie adds flare. She’s the one who came up with the poodle skirt and skates idea. As well as the hairstyles and most of the decorations. Dillon puts on a show, no matter what the theme, he runs the jukebox or theme music. He does tricks for the crowd. They love it. Guy he’s the one behind the counter.” She pointed to Guy who was filling coffees behind the counter. “He’s got an instinct in the kitchen. He comes up with one extra menu item to change things up a little bit for each of the themes. He added the Chicken Waldorph salad on the Cruise theme night, but it became so popular we had to add it to the daily menu. As a team with Dillon as their unofficial leader they’ve tripled our monthly profits.”

Alan, Monica and Bobbie ate their dinner watching the show that surrounded them in awe. Alan and Monica couldn’t quite believe that the young man responsible for all of this was the same one that’d been living in their home not that long ago.

“Everyone, you know what time it is?” Dillon and Maxie said loudly getting everyone’s attention. The crowd cheered. Dillon hit a button on the jukebox and the room broke out into a rousing rendition of “Rockin’ Robin.’ At first Alan and Monica were startled, but they quickly joined in. ‘The rest of the crowd must be regulars.’ Alan thought to himself realizing they’d known exactly what time it was. Maxie, Guy Georgie and Dillon made a chain with Maxie in the lead and zigged through the crowd whistling and singing the words to the song. People at the tables toasted their neighbors. ‘It was like a scene out of an old movie.’ Alan thought finally getting why Dillon seemed to fit into it so well.

When the song was over. Alan’s attention returned to his own table. “If only Edward could see him now.”

“Who knows what he’d think of it?” Monica responded.

“He’d have to admit that he’s done well by this place. I mean tripling the prophets, and look at the customers.” He looked over at Dillon who was laughing over in the corner staring into Georgie’s eyes. “I mean, look at him. I’ve never seen him smile like that.”

“Maybe we should tell Edward what’s going on. I mean if anything he’ll have to be at least a little impressed by his business savvy.”

“You’re Aunt and Uncle are staring.” Georgie said to Dillon right before he kissed her anyway.

“Let ‘em.” Dillon said placing his arm against the wall in his best Fonzie impersonation and in true Fonzie form he let out a “Hey.” He snapped his fingers and looked around as if he were waiting for all the women in the room to come to his side.

In her best sweet voice Georgie grabbed Dillon’s arm and said. “Oh, Dillon my hero.”

Dillon grabbed her and held her tightly to him and kissed her again. Guy walked by and laughed. “You know I’d say get a room, but you have one right up stairs.”

Georgie snapped him on the but with the towel she was carrying on her shoulder. Dillon looked down at her. “You know,” He said. “I didn’t know anyone could look so good in a cardigan and a poodle skirt. But it looks so perfect on you. Almost as if you were from another time or just stepped off a movie screen.

Georgie smiled. “You always seem to know the exact right thing to say. I’ve almost forgotten the fact that you forced me to wear those shoes of death earlier.”

She walked away and Dillon watched her admiring the way she walked. ‘Who needs skates?’ He thought, ‘She looks as if she’s floating on air without them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alan and Monica arrived home thinking they were on their way to do a good thing. The thought that talking Dillon up to Edward and Tracy would help to in reuniting the family. They truly thought that Edward would be impressed. “He’s increased their business. He gives the customer’s a different show every night. We were so proud of him.” Alan finished his speech. Edward didn’t respond. It was almost as if he was mulling over what they said, finding it unbelievable and disregarding it. They didn’t know what he was thinking and so they stopped talking.

Tracy had heard most of the conversation. She feigned disinterest but the last part about him increasing the little Diner’s business had caught her attention. He was wasted at that Diner and she knew it. She started formulating a plan to get him back under her roof where she could have more control over him. She was convinced that if she got him back home under her thumb that he’d realize that his business skills would be better suited to revive ELQ. She had to get him back home and she knew just the threat to make that happen.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 2


“Those look awesome Maxie.” Georgie sat admiring the multiple salt and peppershakers she’d help Maxie make out of Maraca’s. “You always come up with the best ideas.”

“Thanks I try, hey before me all you did was add a burrito to the menu and translate the menu into Spanish, at least now there’s flare.” Maxie got up and crossed the room grabbing a long flowing Spanish style skirt which was layered thick and had multiple ruffles at the hem. It had a simple rose pattern embroidered on it three different places.

“That has to be the prettiest costume you’ve come up with so far.” Georgie usually dreaded putting on the outfits that Maxie had pieced together from local thrift shops for their various theme nights. She’d felt like a little girl playing dress-up on Vegas Night and the skirt she’d had to wear on their tribute to France night was entirely too short. ‘If I never have to dress up like a French Maid again I can die happy.’ Georgie thought as she grabbed her skirt held it up on the hanger in front of her and danced around the room. The skirt was made for dancing. You could twirl it around and not risking showing off your underwear. This and the poodle skirt she was wearing today were definitely Georgie’s style. ‘Best of all.’ She thought to herself. ‘I don’t have to wear the neck breaking shoes of torture.’

“You’re in a good mood.” Maxie said. “That just might be the first time you’ve ever complimented one of my wardrobe choices.”

“I’m just giving praise where praise is due.” Georgie smiled.

“I’m not buying it. What’s up?”

Georgie didn’t want to rub her happiness in Maxie’s face but she was about to burst and she had to share. “I’m just so happy. Things between Dillon and me have never been better. We are so past all the bad things and I just feel like smiling all the time. Every once in awhile he’ll look at me and I know, I just know, that we’ll be together forever.”

“That’s so great, Georgie.” Maxie said genuinely happy for her sister. She turned on Georgie’s radio and they danced around the room together until Mac told them it was time to go to bed.

~~~

“Maxie, it looks so awesome.” Dillon said giving her a high-five. Maxie got out of school earlier then the rest of them, this being her senior year, and she would always get stuck with the job of decorating Kelly’s. She didn’t mind, since all of the decor ideas were hers anyway. She really liked to be the one who put things in their place. Penny and Courtney would also pitch in with the decorating but Maxie was in charge and she liked it that way. Having everything decorated before Dillon arrived was always her goal, because he always got ideas to change things around on her. They were a lot alike in that way. They both were chiefs with Guy and Georgie gladly playing the role of Indians.

“Maybe the pinata should be moved...” Maxie knew Dillon well enough to know that if she didn’t second-guess herself he would. So this was the trick she did. She’d say “maybe I need to move...” and his response would always be, “no every thing is perfect where it is.”

“No every thing is perfect where it is.”

‘There, now that he’s said that he has no excuse to go around rearranging things.’ She was good at this reverse psychology stuff and she knew it.

“Did you put all the outfits up in my room already?” Dillon asked knowing the routine. When Maxie nodded he said. “I’ll go change, then Guy. You take a break now. Then you and Georgie can go up and change. You guys always take longer then we do.”

Guy was in the kitchen putting the last touches to his special of the day, Chicken Mole. When Georgie and Maxie found out that it was Chicken made with a chocolate sauce they knew they’d be eating good on their break tonight. Guy had a knack for coming up with one item to add to the menu that would always be so popular the customers would ask about it for days. As far as the rest of the menu, it would remain the same. They would just translate it into the language of choice for the night. The specials on Spanish night were always a Burrito, Chili con Carne, Guy’s Special of the day, and hamburger especial con queso. Maxie started filling baskets with Warm Tortilla Chips while Georgie filled small bowls of Salsa for each table. “There, that should make the atmosphere complete.” Guy said smiling. He noticed Dillon coming down the stairs in his black pants and white dress shirt and went up to change.

The white shirt had white rope embroidery across the front and looked simple but nice. “I like this.” Dillon said admiring it, “but is it enough?” Maxie pulled out a short piece of thin fabric with fringe at each end. It had a serape style print and she put it around his neck letting each side hang loosely in front of him.

“It’s perfect.” Georgie said smiling. “You look so handsome.” She kissed him full on the mouth lingering a little too long for a public kiss.

“I’m wearing this everyday from now on.” Dillon said dreamily.

Maxie pulled out a large sombrero from behind the counter. “The finishing touch.” She tried to put it on him.

He backed up. “Wait, watch the hair.”

“Yeah like I’m really going to mess it up.”

“You wouldn’t really make me wear that Maxie, come on.”

“I think it’ll look great on you.” Maxie said teasing. She was still trying to put it on his head.

“I’ll wear it when we get to the entertainment portion.” Dillon said knowing that he’d only have to have it on for a few seconds considering the hat dance he had planned took place around a sombrero placed on the floor.

“I guess that’ll do.” Maxie said outwardly pouting but realizing that she’d tricked him into wearing it at least part of the night.

“Cool.” He said aloud, thinking to himself. ‘They are so gullible.’

Maxie and Georgie saw Guy heading back toward the kitchen and handed him his serape printed fabric piece before heading upstairs. They put on their skirts and blouses. Georgie looked at herself in the mirror on Dillon’s closet. The blouse had elastic on the bottom hem, all across the top and at the base of the sleeves. She had the sleeves pulled up to look like regular sleeves and thought the outfit looked fabulous. “Uh, uh.” She heard Maxie say from across the room. Maxie grabbed the sleeves and put them partway down on Georgie’s shoulders. “There that’s better.”

‘Of course.’ Georgie thought to herself finally an outfit I like and Maxie has to ruin it. ‘Well, what can I do if thru out the night it just happens to ride back up into a more appropriate position on my arm.’

Maxie put a little extra make-up on them and they headed down stairs. Dillon stopped in his tracks staring at Georgie. Brian had taken up his nightly place at the Kelly’s counter. He elbowed Dillon in the ribs and said. “Breathe.”

‘That’s it.’ He thought, “Every night is now Spanish night.’ She walked over to Dillon and twirled her skirt over his feet. “Wow!” It was all he could say. He kissed her lightly on the mouth and they reluctantly separated to start working.

About an hour into Dinner rush, Tracy arrived, and was seated by Guy. She took a napkin off the table and set it down in the chair before she sat down then started putting napkins all over the table in front of her. Dillon saw her arrive and what she was doing and took over Guy’s spot at her table. “Um, Mom... what are you doing?”

“You never know what’s on the tables of a place like this.”

“That table is perfectly clean. Georgie just wiped it off not even 2 minutes before you walked in the door.”

“Like that girl would know anything about properly sterilizing an eating environment.”

“Don’t start.” He was starting to bristle inside and out. He decided to drop that subject and give into his curiosity. “So what brings you here to La Kelly’s this evening?”

“I missed you.” She said dryly, no emotion behind the words.

“I doubt that.”

“So cynical, how’d you get that way?”

“Oh, I wonder.” Dillon said rolling his eyes.

“I did miss you.”

“Oh, so I guess that’s why this is only the second time I’ve seen you since I moved.”

“Business keeps me busy.”

“What business mom? There is no business. There is no money.”

“I won’t bore you with the details. So do I get to order dinner?”

Dillon decided the conversation was worthless and was more than happy to get out of there. “What would you like?”

After asking tons of questions like, is the lettuce hand-washed, our the tomatoes ripe, do you have anything besides ranch dressing, she finally decided on the chicken waldorf salad. She sat in silence trying to hide the fact that she was enjoying the salad watching her son make a fool of himself. She had to admit he was loved by the patrons in the little diner, but it was entirely undignified to be running around it the outfit he was wearing.

Dillon went behind the counter and grabbed a sombrero. He threw one at Guy and they put them on their heads. Dillon grabbed Georgie and Maxie walked over to Guy. Courtney hit a button on a CD player that she placed on the counter and the Mexican Hat Dance song started playing. Brian grabbed another sombrero and grabbed Courtney’s hand and a few of the regular patrons rose and joined them in the free spaces between tables. They threw the sombreros on the floor and started doing the hat dance. They kicked their feet and then linked arms dancing around the hat. More patrons joined in and it seemed the only person that wasn’t dancing was Tracy. Lucky took over dancing with Maxie and Guy went over to ask her to dance. She quickly refused and Guy who’d been just trying to be nice went back to the kitchen. “I tried.” He whispered to Dillon as he passed by.

Tracy was appalled and embarrassed for her son. He is turning himself into a clown for this job. He was better than this. She couldn’t watch it anymore. She had to give him the ultimatum she’d come up with. She knew that if she got him home with her, she’d be able to control him. She’d convince him that ELQ needed him and after awhile he’d thank her. She looked at he and Georgie as they danced around like fools and knew that he’d start out mad at her for this but soon he’d realized it was for his own good.

A while later, he was filling the water and she decided now was the time. She knew there was only one way to get him home. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

That was the last thing he wanted, but he went ahead and agreed. “Sure, it’s slowing down now. I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself tonight.”

“Yes.” She said with a fake smile “it was just.... great.” She said not really sounding convinced.

“The reason I wanted to talk to you is that I think you’ve proved your point. It’s time for you to come home.”

“What point did you think I was trying to make?” He didn’t let her answer. “I’m sorry mom, but I’m not going to live there. It’s not home. It was never home to me. I‘ve never really had a home until now.”

That ruffled her composure. “You’d just leave your mother there, with no one who even cares if I live or die, all alone.”

“Um, Mom, isn’t that what you did to me?”

“Nonsense.” She realized that she had to change her tactic and go with her big plan. “I have the right to have the police drag you back home if I wanted. I just wanted to give you a chance to do it on your own.”

“Why are you doing this?” Dillon was starting to feel like the wind had been sucked out of his chest. “I’m doing good here, Mom. I’m happy. Don’t do this.”

She knew that the only way to get him to do this was to threaten him with the one thing he couldn’t give up. “Well I guess I could say my way clear to let you stay here, but you’d have to do something for me in return.”

‘Great!’ He thought, ‘What is she going to ask me to do this time?’

She knew he’d agree to move home after she made the following statement. “You can stay here. I won’t call the police and report you as a run-a-way, if you... break up with that classless Georgie girl.”

[JRK Archiver]

Part 3



Dillon’s world was caving in. He sat across from this person he no longer knew wondering if she could possibly be the person that gave birth to him. “Mom, what is this about? We aren’t hurting anyone and I’m happy.” His voice broke and he had to pause for a moment before continuing. “I’m doing better in school. I’m supporting myself. I’ve actually gotten two raises since I started working here, Mom. What does it matter if I live here or if I’m with Georgie.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand the responsibility that comes along with being a Quartermaine. It’s something you have to learn.”

“And all those years, that we floated from city to city in Europe were you ‘fulfilling” your responsibility.”

“Father never gave me a chance to show my potential. That right has always been reserved for the men in the family and a few young women outsiders. You as one of the young Quartermaine men can earn your Grandfather’s trust. You still have a chance to be a success in this family’s eyes, but not while you’re still here mooning after a girl who’s not much higher on the food chain then algae.”

“What a witch.” Courtney whispered to Brian. From there spot at the counter they could here everything that was being said. Brian just shook his head.

“Georgie’s a better person than anyone in our family is. She’s two times better then I could ever hope to be.”

“Nonsense.”

“You want me to break up with Georgie, so I can stay living here. How is that going to help you? First you’ll make me break things off with her, then you’ll make me quit my job, then you’ll make me do something else, and it will never stop. I know you.”

“Have a little faith Dillon.” I just want you free to find a more suitable relationship. One that makes you look more worthy in your Grandfather’s eyes.

“I don’t care how Grandfather looks at me. All that matters to me right now is being happy. I can’t be happy apart from Georgie and I can’t be happy living with you.”

“Well, if you ask me, happiness is overrated. No one ever promised me happiness. You have a choice, break up with Georgie or I report you as an underage run-a-way and you move back home with me.” With that she left Kelly’s without paying her check or leaving a tip.

Dillon took some money out of his pocket and paid his mom’s bill. He gave the money to Courtney. “You don’t have to pay for her meal. Not after what just happened.”

“Actually I could go arrest her right now for running out on her check. It’d be my pleasure.” Brian said. He looked at Dillon and saw that he was defeated. He knew he was on the verge of losing it and probably couldn’t even talk at the moment for fear of crying in front of them. “Although I understand why your paying for her. Turning her in would just make things worse for you.”

“Keep your money, Dillon. Bobbie won’t mind. I think it’s time for you to take your break.”

Dillon nodded, wanting to say thank you but the words wouldn’t come out. He walked out the back door and stood outside with only his thin white shirt separating his skin from the cold. He didn’t know whether to throw the trashcans around for awhile, punch the brick wall or cry, so he decided he’d do all three.

Courtney went up to Dillon’s room and found Georgie working on her homework. Everyone was really good about covering for each other when there was homework to be done. Georgie and Guy had more homework then the rest because of their AP classes, so often they’d seek refuge in la casa de Dillon. “Georgie, Dillon needs you. He’s out the Kelly’s back door. His Mom did a number on him.” Georgie was up as soon as she heard Dillon needed her. She was about to go down the stairs when Courtney told her to wait. Courtney went into her room and grabbed a jacket handing it to Georgie. “Put this on. It’s cold.” Georgie put it on as she headed towards Dillon.

He’d just thrown the trashcan and was about to punch the wall when Georgie stopped him. “Dillon, what’s wrong?” He hugged her so fiercely if he’d been any other guy she would have been scared. “What’s going on? What did your Mom do now?”

“I can’t believe I ever felt the need to defend that witch. She’s not a mother. I’m not a son to her. I’m a key to the family’s good graces. I don’t get it. They hate me. Why can’t she see that?”

“Do you feel like talking about what happened?”

“I have to.” He let out a groan of frustration. “I have to move back to the Quartermaine’s.

“What? Why?”

“I don’t even know. That’s the thing. I mean she doesn’t ever reveal her true motivations. She just wants me back home.”

“You can’t go back there.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“Of course you have a choice.” Georgie noticed Dillon shivering and ran her hands up and down his arms to warm him up.

“She told me right now, that either I break up with you, or she’ll call and have me reported as a run-a-way. She knows that I’ll choose you. She knows I won’t give you up.”

“I don’t get it. Why does she hate me? What did I ever do to her?”

“She doesn’t hate you. She’s just shallow. I mean basically as far as I can tell people without money just flat-out don’t exist in her world. Don’t take it personally. It has nothing to do with who you are. You are the best person I know.”

“I hate to see you go back there. You’ve been happier than I ever thought you’d be this last month. I don’t get it. Why doesn’t she want you to be happy?”

“She’s never been truly happy one day in her life. The way she sees it, if she’s not happy no one else has the right to be. I’d actually feel bad for her if I didn’t hate her right now.”

“Do you really hate her?” Dillon didn’t respond but the tears that welled in his eyes threatening to spill answered her question. “I think we should break-up.” She could tell instantly that she’d stopped talking entirely too soon.

“What, no way. I’d live in hell if it meant I could still be with you. I can’t believe you even said that.”

“That’s not what I meant. Dillon, I don’t want to be without you either, but I don’t want to watch you every day as you slip further and further into the sadness that I’ve always been scared would eventually pull you away from me.”

“Nothings going to pull me away from you.”

“I know that. And I love you Dillon. I just think that maybe we can work this out.”

“Yes we can. I can go back to that house and then we can stay together.”

“All you have to do is break-up with me, right? So why don’t we stage a break-up? You’re mom doesn’t have to know that it isn’t real.”

Dillon smiled for the first time since he‘d sat down to talk to his mother. “I think, I’m in love with a genius.”

“Why yes, Dillon, I think you are.” She stroked his cheek and kissed him. “We’ll tell only Maxie and Guy to keep them from beating you up.”

“Come on, I could take them.”

“I’m sorry babe, but know you couldn’t.” Dillon smiled and rolled his eyes. “Maxie and Guy can help us out, cover for us when we disappear. We could sneak around and see each other as often as possible privately. We just can’t let anyone see us together. We can be together. You can stay living here. It’s the best solution. Actually, it’s the only solution.”

“It’s not going to be easy.” Dillon said starting to feel hopeful.

“Love never is. Aren’t you the one that told me that love is hard work and that we need to work hard every day to keep it alive. I’m sure this will be a lot of work, but if it means we can stay together and you can stay happy, I’m willing to do anything.”

“We can’t do this indefinitely.” Dillon said pausing for a moment to collect his thoughts. “I need to go to Justus and see if he’ll help me to become emancipated. If I’m able to do that then we won’t have to hide anymore.”

“Do you think that’s possible? Do you think he’ll go against your family to help you?”

“Anything is possible as long as I’m with you. As far as Justus, I can ask. If he won’t help me I’ll find someone who can.”

They came back in careful not to show any public displays. They found Maxie and Guy in the kitchen and told them their plan. “Are you sure you can pull this off Georgie?” Maxie said concerned.

“They have to.” Guy said. Dillon could tell that Guy somehow seemed to understand how badly Dillon needed not to go back home. Dillon made a mental note to ask him later why that was. “Dillon and I have seen this done in tons of old movies. We’ll use some of that knowledge to help them pull it off.” Guy already had something in mind but didn’t want to bring it up yet. He wasn’t sure how well it would go over with Dillon.

Tracy had gotten halfway home and realized she hadn’t paid for dinner. She didn’t want the people that ran that little diner to think she was as impoverished as they were so she turned her car around and headed back.

“So when are you going to do this?” Maxie asked.

“I’m going to call my Mom tonight. I’ll tell her I’ve made my decision. I’ve chosen my room here over Georgie and that I’m going to be breaking up with Georgie here tomorrow. Knowing my Mom, she’ll come here to watch the show, partly for her own twisted pleasure, and partly to make sure it’s for real. We’ll have to be really careful, because she’s not going to buy it. She’s going to assume we’re still together. She’s going to actively try to catch us. If I know anything about my Mom, I know that.”

Guy was standing where he could see the dining room and saw Tracy walk in. “your mom. She’s back.”

“Dillon?” Georgie didn’t have to finish her sentence. He knew what she was going to do.

They kissed. “There’s no time like the present.” He said. “Go. Make it real.”

She smiled. “Remember that I love you.” Georgie raised her voice to screeching and backed out of the kitchen appearing to Tracy, Courtney and Brian the picture of the heartbroken girl. “I can’t believe this. How dare you do this to me.”

He followed after her. “Don’t make a scene.”

She got even louder, starting to shake. “Don’t make a scene.”

‘Wow,’ Dillon thought. ‘She’s a good actress.’

“Yeah, you’re dumping me so you can stay living here and you expect me to calm down. At least I now know where I stand. Let’s see, how does it go, your job, your little room upstairs and then me, or wait, does it go job, room, Sage... then me. I guess I know what your priorities are.”

She realized as soon as she said it that she’d really hurt Dillon with that line and it took everything she had not to try to comfort him. “Georgie, you don’t understand.”

“Go to hell, Dillon!” She ran out into the cold without a jacket. Tracy watched all of it with a sense of smug contentment on her face.

Brian was fuming. He’d thought Dillon was made of better stuff. He’d thought Dillon would have chosen Georgie. He grabbed his coat and the coat of Courtney’s Georgie had shed after coming back in from talking to Dillon and went out the front door to find her. He knew if he stayed around he’d have some choice words for Dillon and he didn’t think it was his place. He found Georgie who was visibly shaken. The emotions of the fake break-up still feeling all to real. He put Courtney’s jacket around her shoulders and said, “I think Mac would want me to take you home.”

“Thanks, but I have to work.”

“I’ll help them close when I get back. Don’t worry about it.”

He dropped her off at home, by then she’d pulled herself together. “Tell Maxie to get my books, my clothes and my jacket and bring them home. They are up in his room. Oh and give Courtney her jacket back.”

“Will do sweetheart and don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

She smiled, feeling guilty for lying to him. She didn’t know who to trust and Dillon and her had only discussed telling Guy and Maxie so she just looked at him and said, “Thank you.”

He got called to work a few moments later and used his cell-phone to tell Courtney he’d taken Georgie home. He’d planned on helping them clean up but now he couldn’t. “I’ve got your jacket. Tell Maxie to get Georgie’s clothes, and school books from Dillon’s room.”

“I will.”

Sorry I can‘t help you close up.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Dillon had gone up to his room moments later followed by Maxie. Maxie yelled at him loudly in his room for show and then lowered her voice to tell him, “You’re mom looked like she totally bought it.”

“For now.”

“You should probably call Georgie tonight and check on her. I know my sister and I know that even though it was a staged fight she’ll feel bad about what was said until she talks to you.”

“I will.”

They closed. Courtney sent Maxie and Guy home early to keep Dillon from getting a black eye. There was something up and she couldn’t quite figure it out. She couldn’t understand what had happened. She knew in her heart of hearts that Dillon would definitely have chosen Georgie over his room upstairs. She didn’t think it was her place to pry so they worked in silence.

Dillon snuck down stairs an hour after closing to use the payphone to call Georgie, thinking that Courtney might be able to hear a conversation that took place in his room. Courtney heard a noise in the dining area and went down in full ninja mode to check it out. She overheard Dillon on the phone and by the sappy sound of his voice she knew who he was talking to. ‘Cool they’re making up.’

She started to walk away, trying not to eavesdrop when she heard Dillon say. “Do you think my mom bought it? I mean, I knew it was fake and yet it still got to me.”

Courtney smiled. Those kids had just beaten Tracy at her own game. For some reason she was proud. She walked lightly back up the stairs. ‘If they want to keep this to themselves let them.’ She decided then that she wouldn’t let them know that she was onto them, but if they ever needed some help she’d be there.

“So you think it’s too soon for me to sneak over and see you.”

“Dillon!” She tried to sound exasperated.

He put on his best pouty voice. “I can’t help it I miss you. I have to hug you before I go to bed. We can’t leave things the way they were before.”

Georgie gave in. “Park around the block okay. She had spies everywhere.” She said it teasingly but Dillon knew it was true.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 4



Dillon left Kelly’s as quietly as he could. He went to the lot that held his black Mercedes. Ned had given it to him in a very sweet gesture of brotherly affection not too long ago. It was just after he’d first left the Quartermaine mansion for the greener pastures, most people referred to as those little rooms over Kelly’s.

Brian was putting the last touches on the report they’d called him into finish when he saw Mac. “Late night?” He asked.

“Yes, late night after a long day, but I’m heading home in a few.” When Brian didn’t walk away Mac asked, “did you need something?”

“Well actually commissioner, it’s not really my place to tell you this, but I think you’d want to know.” Brian paused and when Mac didn’t prompt him to continue he said, “It’s just that I just came from dropping your daughter Georgie off at your house. She left Kelly’s early. I think she and Dillon broke up tonight and I just thought you’d probably want to know.”

“This is one of those moments as a parent that I feel totally unequipped to handle. I never say the right thing to her at times like this. This is when I wish her mother were here for her.”

Brian assumed that Maxie and Georgie’s mother was dead, not having ever heard anything about her. “It must be rough, raising them on your own. They are both great kids though. I see how hard they work every day. Guy, Maxie, Dillon and Georgie are a great team. After tonight though, I’m not sure if that’s going to continue.”

“Do you know what happened?”

“I’m not exactly sure. Dillon’s mother came in tonight for dinner and Courtney and I overheard her threatening to have the police drag him back home if he didn’t break up with Georgie. He seemed upset. I even felt bad for him. Then later they got into a fight and Georgie accused him of choosing his room instead of her. I didn’t think Dillon would have made that choice. I thought he was made of better stuff then that, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Thanks for telling me and thank you for seeing her home.”

“No problem. I’m going to try to talk to him when I finish up here about priorities. Someone needs to. I have a feeling he’s not really been brought up to make the best choices.”

Mac raised his eyebrows in a gesture that read, ‘good luck!’ and left the station.

Dillon was glad to see Mac’s car gone as he approached the house. He would be able to knock on the front door. Climbing up to her window had proven on prior occasions to be hazardous to his health. He knocked on the door and then ran around the side of the house just in case. Maxie answered and he quickly jumped out of the shadows, scaring her half to death. “What are you doing here? Get in before anyone sees you. Where’s your car?”

“Safely parked on the next block and I’m here because I had to see Georgie tonight.”

“You have absolutely no self-control. You are just asking to get caught. Go upstairs. I’m sure she’s waiting for you. I’m going to bed. Helping my sister come up with ways to sneak around with you is truly exhausting.”

He arrived at Georgie’s room closed and locked the door. Neither of them realized that Mac had just walked in the front door. They crossed the room to each other and hugged like they’d been away from each other for weeks. He whispered something in her ear in French that she didn’t understand.

What did you say?

“Je souhaite que nous n'a pas dû rencontrer secrètement.”

“I love it when you speak French. What does it mean?”

“You’re the smart one, figure it out.”

Mac made his way up the stairs and heard a male voice in his daughter’s room. He went to the door preparing to knock and demand an explanation when he heard Georgie laughing. He thought it odd that she’d be laughing after what Brian had said. He then realized the male voice inside was Dillon. ‘They must be making up.’ He didn’t know if he was happy about that or not. He knew though that he didn’t want the making up to turn into making out. He then heard Georgie say, “I really think your Mom bought it. She was entirely too happy that I was upset.”

“We are going to have to be really careful. No one can find out that this break-up is fake.”

‘Except me.’ Mac thought. He wondered if they could pull it off. He realized that they were laughing and enjoying themselves and was about to walk away when he realized that it was too quiet in there all of a sudden. ‘No making out in my daughter’s locked bedroom.’ He decided he knew what to do to break it up. He knocked on Georgie’s door a grin forming when he clearly heard every word that was said in the room.

“Oh shoot!” Georgie said.

“Georgie it’s Mac. I need to talk to you.”

“Just a minute.”

“Under the bed. Shhh.”

‘Thank God for thin doors.’ He thought to himself. He was going to effectively end their make-out session without letting them know that they’d already been found out.

“Hey Mac!” Georgie came to the door standing in the doorway trying to prevent him from entering.

Mac walked into the room anyway and sat down hard on her bed. “I ran into Brian tonight at work. He told me what happened. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay Mac. I mean I’m sad, but I’m trying not to think about it.” She was talking too fast wanting him to leave. “When I’m ready to talk about it. I’ll talk to you. I promise.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it now? After I talked to Brian I went by the store and picked up you favorite Ice Cream.”

“Chunky Monkey.” Georgie said getting excited and also touched that he’d been so thoughtful. She also felt guilty for letting him think she was heartbroken and for hiding Dillon under the bed.

“I’ll see you downstairs in five minutes.” He said, feeling satisfied that nothing too bad could happen in five minutes. He left and went downstairs looking out the kitchen window to see how Dillon would fare going out the window.

“You’ve got to go.” She said as soon as he’d climbed out from under the bed.

“Oh I see how it is. It goes Ben, Jerry, then me, right?”

“Right,” she said smiling. “And don’t forget it.” He was about to go out the window when she stopped him. “Wait, what did you say to me in French?”

“You lose the right to my free translation help when you choose Ice Cream over me.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, but I’m still not telling.” He kissed her and then climbed out of the window loosing his grip and falling to the ground.

Mac watched him fall and noticed he didn’t move for a moment. He was about to go check on him and let him know he knew he’d been there when he saw Dillon get up, brush himself off and limp away. Georgie came in and saw him looking out the window. She thought for sure they’d been caught but Mac said nothing and so she kept quiet.

She sat in the kitchen eating her favorite Ice Cream, constantly changing the subject of their conversation so she wouldn’t have to lie to Mac about Dillon. ‘This is going to be hard.’ She realized, ‘really hard.’

Brian stood knocking on Dillon’s door. “I know you’re in there. I just want to have a word with you.” Dillon wasn’t in the room.

Courtney came out in the hallway. “He’s not there.”

“Where is he? I wanted to talk to him. Tell him about my wife, about how he needs to choose love if he wants to be truly happy.”

Courtney smiled. “I think he went to go see Georgie.”

“So, they’re making up. Good for him. I knew he’d make the right decision, once he thought about it.”

“Actually, for a moment there I thought they were making up too.”

“But they’re not?” Brian said, his brow furrowing. “Young love is exhausting.”

“They’re not making up because they never broke up.”

“What?”

“I overheard something I shouldn’t have and figured out that they staged the whole break up for his mom’s benefit.”

“Well then, they are smarter than I thought.”

“Maybe, maybe not. They’ve only been faking for a couple of hours and I’ve already figured it out. Now you know. I think they are going to need some help to pull this off.”

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow. See what we can do.”

“No, No. I think it’s probably important to them that they think they are pulling it off by themselves. We should just do anything we can to make sure that no one else figures it out.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Dillon’s plans to sneak in were ruined when he ran into Courtney and Brian in the hall. “Where were you?” Brian asked casually.

“Oh, just taking a drive to clear my head.”

“Is it clear now?” Brian asked.

“Yeah it is.”

“Good, because we need to talk.” Brian wanted Dillon to squirm. He’d spent the better part of the night focusing on this fake break-up so he was going to make Dillon pay by making him uncomfortable. They left Courtney out in the hall smiling, before the door closed she heard Brian say. “What were you thinking dumping that sweet girl just so you can stay living here?”

“Go Brian!” She said as she made her way into her room. “Make him sweat.”

Brian, Courtney and Mac all knew the truth with out Dillon and Georgie’s knowledge and they all intended to keep the kid’s secret, but that didn’t mean they would have to make it easy for them.

Dillon was reeling from the lecture Brian had given him. He felt bad for lying to him, but didn’t know who to trust. He realized Georgie was probably having to lie to Mac also and it gave him comfort to know that he wasn’t alone.

He called Emily at Wyndemere, “You still up.”

“Sure am. What’s up?”

“Actually I was wondering if you’d do me a favor?”

“Sure what is it?

~~~

The next day Dillon took the launch over to Wyndemere and made his way to the haunted mansion. He’d never been there before. “This is cool.” He said to Emily as he looked at his surroundings. “It’d make a perfect set for a movie.”

She laughed. “Do you always look at the world thru a camera lens?”

“I think I do.” He said laughing. “Were you able to get Justus here?”

“I sure was. He’s waiting for us in the study.”

He greeted Justus and shook his hand. “Thanks for meeting me here. I asked Emily if we could meet here because I don’t want anyone to know I’m meeting with you.”

“What’s wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble?” Emily asked. Justus looked concerned.

“No, not really. It’s just that my mom is trying to manipulate and run my life again. I’ve been living away from home now for a month and a half or so and in that time I’ve seen her a total of two times. Once, by accident at the hospital for like, five minutes and once yesterday. All of the sudden she’s decided she wants me home again. She threatened me, said if I don’t break up with Georgie, she’d call the police and have me brought back to the Quartermaine mansion. I can‘t live there anymore Emily. I just can‘t.”

“So let me guess,” Justus said. “Thinking like a true Quartermaine, you and Georgie staged a fake break-up for your mother’s sake and you are going to sneak around.”

“Sounds about right.” Emily chimed in. “that’s what I would do.”

He hadn’t expected them to figure it out so quickly. “We have attorney client, and cousin-cousin privilege right.” They nodded. “Yes that’s exactly what we did. But would it make me less of a Quartermaine if I said that it was Georgie’s idea to sneak around.”

“No.” Justus answered.

“No.” Emily said smiling. “Her being the one that came up with the idea of deception does not make you any less of a Quartermaine, what makes you less of a Quartermaine is...”

“...Admitting that you weren’t the one who came up with it.” Justus finished her sentence.

“Taking credit for someone else’s brilliant idea is a Quartermaine tradition. So what can we do to help?” Emily asked wheels turning in her head. “You could meet her here at Wyndemere. No one would see you together.”

“Actually I was looking for a little more help than that.” Dillon asked. “I’m turning eighteen later this year, but I don’t want to have to hide our love that long. We’d be asking to get caught? I want to do something more pro-active.”

“Emancipation.” Justus said.

“Exactly.”

“I can’t really afford to pay a lawyer.”

“What are cousins for?” Justus said smiling. “But I’m not sure that you want me to handle this. I’m a criminal lawyer. I’m not a family lawyer.”

“From what I hear you’re the best lawyer around.” Dillon infused just the right amount of hero worship in that statement to make Justus give in.

“I’d love to help you out.”

“Thank you. Can you start this soon?”

“I’ll start the paperwork later today. I’ll keep you up to date.”

“Can you keep this quiet for as long as possible?”

“I’ll serve your Mom with the subpoena as close to the trial date as possible. This may take a while but I’ll try to push it through. There will be a hearing and you will have to tell the court what your mother’s done.”

“I know.” Dillon said sadly.

“Let’s talk. I need to know some information before I can file the papers.” Emily excused herself and walked right past a painting on the wall that had eyes that were moving.

“Did your mom ever abuse you?”

“No. She never hit me. It’s not like that.”

“There’s more than just physical abuse. There’s emotional abuse, neglect.”

Dillon hesitated. “Do we really have to call her an abuser to do this?”

“It might be the only way. Now I do know that she abandoned you here with the family for months. Is that the first time she’s left you without warning?”

“No.” Dillon didn’t expand on it.

“You are going to have to give me more to work with.”

Dillon started telling his stories. Justus took notes. It was worse then Justus had expected.


Luke who’d been spying on the Cassadine’s for fun overheard their conversation. He felt bad for Dillon and decided he’d help him out if he needed to. After all this was the young man who’d dressed in drag for him, and also the person who’d tripled the prophets at Kelly’s.

~~~

Later that same day at Kelly’s regular Italian Friday night Dillon and Georgie were doing their best to work together and act as if there were a riff between them. Tracy dragged Edward to Kelly’s to see Dillon in action. Tracy wanted Edward to see what an attribute Dillon would be to ELQ. She also wanted to keep an eye on Dillon and Georgie. She was angry that her plan to get him home hadn’t worked, but she was skeptical that he’d actually broken up with Georgie and she had decided she’d take every opportunity she could to find them out. She saw them both disappear and decided she needed to track them down and see what they were doing.

When they were alone, Dillon gave Georgie a letter to read when she got home that night. “I will write you a letter to read every night that we have to sneak around like this. I’m so sorry that we have to do this.”

“It’s going to be fun.”

“Thank you for doing this and for being such a good sport about it.”

“Hey it was my idea and I still think it’s a good one.”

“Justus seems to think I have a good chance but he’s not making me any promises, because I do have a record.”

“It’ll all work out. It has to.”

“I love you for being so optimistic.” He looked around and stole a kiss.

“I love you too.” They stopped kissing and looked around making sure they didn’t get caught. “You go in first.”

Brian had noticed them sneak off, even though they’d left about two minutes apart. He saw Tracy headed for the back door and decided it was time to intervene. “Excuse me ma’am.” He said in his best sweet voice. “I’m sorry you can’t go out that door right now. I’m doing some repairs on it.”

Tracy turned on the flirtation. He looked like the perfect guy for a fling. Too poor for a husband, too young for a boyfriend, He was perfect. She started flirting and he flirted right back to distract her. When Dillon and Georgie heard hammering on the back door, Dillon and Georgie snuck around to the front splitting up to come in separately.

Luke came in to Kelly’s and Edward got his attention. “Luke Spencer, how are you?”

“Kind of nervous that you are talking nice to me. How ‘bout you old man?”

“I’m good. Listen I understand my grandson is working for you. I was wondering if you could tell me just how much business he’s bringing in.”

“He’s a really good employee. Never misses a day. He’s about tripled our prophets and we’ve even had to add a few tables and hire more workers to deal with the load of customers he’s brought in. I’ll tell you one thing I’d double his salary tomorrow if he threatened to leave.” Luke embellished the truth to let Edward know that he was determined to keep Dillon at Kelly’s. “I’ve actually been thinking of asking him to train some of my bartenders over at Luke’s. He’s really woken this place up.”

Edward was very impressed. He didn’t know exactly what to do with that so he decided to sit on it for awhile. Brian successfully kept Tracy from seeing Dillon and Georgie together and Luke kept Edward from noticing anything as well.

So the secret that Georgie and Dillon were trying to keep was becoming less and less of a secret. Yet they had no idea that anybody that they hadn’t told knew anything.

[JRK Archiver]

Part 5

Secret Rendezvous ~ Day 1

Georgie went up to her room immediately after she arrived home from work that night in order to avoid Mac and his constant questions regarding her break up. She took Dillon’s note and opened it, wondering what treasures of love would lie inside. What she saw left her confused and curious and she knew that’s what Dillon had in mind. It read, “Pour quoi dois-je vous rencontrer dans un rendez-vous secret?” She decided she’d have to go out and get a French dictionary tomorrow.

Dillon was riding the launch to Spoon Island and wondering if Georgie would understand his note. He was going to call on every foreign language that he had a slight knowledge of and write her a note every day. He had a plan to tell her what those notes said eventually when they could have a real date. He didn’t know all the languages he was going to use. He just had been around them enough to figure out what he wanted to say, and he had to admit that he cheated with a few and looked them up. He knew Georgie didn’t know the languages so that it really wouldn’t matter if they weren’t completely accurate.

He thought back to their earlier secret rendezvous at Kelly’s. Even with his Mom and Grandfather there they’d been able to keep their meeting a secret. He was so proud of himself. “I am so good.” He said aloud. Tomorrow was Saturday and he’d already told Georgie his plan.

“Emily and Justus knew immediately that we’d probably faked a break-up.”

“How’d they know?”

“They’re Quartermaines.” Dillon had said as if that explained everything. Georgie looked at him confused. “Don’t worry. They won’t tell anyone. Actually Emily asked if there were any way she could help and offered to let us meet over on Spoon Island so that we couldn’t get caught. Do you want to take her up on that offer?”

“That sounds great. We have tomorrow morning off. Do you think Emily would mind if we go over there tomorrow?”

“I already asked her. She said yes.”

“Awesome.”

“You take the launch at 10:00 and I’ll already be over there. I’m going to go there tonight. If you get caught say you are going over because Emily invited you to tea.”

“Yeah, because I always have tea with Emily Quartermaine. Don’t you think that’s a little obvious?”

“I’m sure Emily would love to have you over to tea sometime. Don’t worry about it. Nobody will know that I’m there. So nobody will be suspicious.”

“Okay sounds fun. We‘d have the whole morning with no one interrupting or having to worry about being caught.”

“Cool, wear jeans, be comfortable.”

He was looking forward to tomorrow. He got off the launch and set out to find Emily and Nikolas to plan tomorrow’s big day.

Stealing Away to Steal a Kiss ~ Day 2

Georgie had no idea that Coleman was following her as she made her way to the launch that would deliver her to Spoon Island but Emily and Nikolas unbeknownst to Dillon had taken steps to prevent anyone from following her there. They’d asked the launch pilot not to leave Spoon Island after bringing Georgie off there. He was now guarding against intruders. If someone wanted to get to Wyndemere, they’d have to take their own boat and fight off a guard.

Georgie hadn’t ever been to Wyndemere that she could remember. It reminded her of the far away places she’d read about in books, yet it was only a boat ride away from her every day life. She was standing at the bank looking around wondering where to go when she heard Dillon’s voice calling to her from behind a nearby tree. “Georgie, over here.”

She walked into the cover of the trees and disappeared from the view of the Port Charles harbour. “It’s so great here. It’s like spooky and beautiful and mysterious. I could stay here forever.”

“I could stay anywhere forever if you were there with me.”

Georgie looked down, her cheeks turning red. “Me too.” She looked over and saw a picnic basket behind another tree. “What’s that?”

“A basket.” He grinned sarcastically.

“Dillon!”

“I thought we’d take a walk and find a good place for a picnic.”

“That sounds like fun.” They started to walk and Georgie talked. “When I was little and Mac and my Mom were still together they’d take us for picnics in the park all the time. Mac was always late because of his job but he’d always make up for it. He’d buy us Ice Cream and play catch with us. It was great.”

“I guess I didn’t realize that your Mom and Mac weren’t still together. I mean he’s not you real father. I just thought that he was your Mom’s husband and that’s why he was so devoted to you guys.”

“He and my mom divorced. They’d been divorced for about 6 or 7 months when my Mom went to go take care of my Great Grandma, but they’d been having problems for a couple of years. Mac doesn‘t have to be our Dad but he is.”

“When did your Mom and Mac get married?”

“I think I was about 4, but they’d been together before that. He’s actually been in my life since I was born. He is my Dad. He’s the only one I’ve ever known. My Mom always told us stories about Frisco though. He’s my biological father. Maxie remembers him, but I don’t. What about you? What about your father?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“All I know is his name and that he has another family now.”

“Didn’t your Mom ever talk about him?”

“Actually no. My mom doesn’t talk much about anything besides herself.” Dillon blew out a short laugh but Georgie just stayed quiet. It wasn’t funny to her. “So since your Mom talked about your father, you at least know why he’s not in your life, right? I guess that’s a good thing.”

“He’s actually a hero, my father. He’s an international spy. He fights terrorism. He works for the WSB. It‘s his whole life and he never could really have a life outside it.”

“I can’t believe how much I’m learning about you today. I guess I sometimes focus too much on myself. I’ve been with you long enough that I should know that Mac and your Mom are divorced. I should know that your Dad’s a spy. He is a spy right? That’s not a joke. I mean your real father not being around because he is a super-spy or a rock-star is usually something reserved for movie plots.”

Georgie laughed. “Yes he’s really a spy and I guess he could qualify as a singer too.”

“What kind of music?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only heard stories. I’ve never heard one of his songs.”

“Why not?”

“I guess I just never asked.”

Over on the docks Coleman waited around for the Launch to return but it never did so he finally gave up and left. He would report to Tracy that the kids were definitely not together because Georgie had been at Wyndemere all day and Dillon hadn’t followed her out there.

They found a flat area that looked out over a bluff on the other side of the island. It was the perfect place to spread out the picnic blanket. Emily had helped him pack the basket and he was very grateful. The food items she’d helped him pick were all finger foods and they were having a great time feeding each other. There were grapes, cheese and crackers. They had sparkling apple cider chilled and poured into wineglasses. After awhile they set the food aside and were able to have their first real make-out session since they’d “broken up.” When things got a little too intense he stood up and they brushed off the grass and dust that had collected on them from rolling off the blanket. They laughed as they gathered up everything and put it back in the basket.

“You know this was my first real picnic. I went to the one on the fourth of July with my family but I didn’t stay long. I was missing you. But in all the time I was growing up I never once had a picnic. It just wasn’t my Mom’s style.”

“Then we’ll have to make picnics a tradition for us because I don’t remember the last time I’ve had so much fun.”

“Well the fun is not yet over. We still have a little time. Nikolas said we could take his horses for a ride if we wanted. Do you ride?”

“Of course I do. What did you think I did all those summers I spent in Texas? I’d love to go riding with you.”

“Great, but I have to admit another thing to you. I’ve been on two horses my whole life and they both were ones that you posed to have your picture taken on. Can you teach me?”

“I’d love to.” They stole another kiss and headed to the stables. Dillon realized as they walked that this alone time was going to be good for them. They were finding things out about each other that they’d never really had the time to find out before.

After the horseback riding, Dillon was sore but he’d had a great time and they decided they were definitely going to do it again. When they were done, Georgie looked at her watch. “Oh my god.”

“Oh your god, what?”

“We’re going to be late for work.”

“If we get the launch now, we won’t be.”

“But we can’t take it together. Somebody might see us.”

“It’s the only way to get back in time.” Dillon said worried. “We’ll just be really careful. We’ll split up immediately and no one will see us.”

Twenty minutes later they carefully scanned the area as they got off the launch. They looked around. No one was looking so they kissed one last time and Dillon hid behind a crate as Georgie started to walk toward Kelly’s. A moment later Dillon came out from behind the crate and headed the same way.

What they didn’t know is that there kiss had been witnessed by Luke who’d been smoking a cigar around the corner. He’d already known they were going to be sneaking around but he was surprised that he’d caught them kissing already. “I may have to teach the boy some stealth tactics.” He said aloud.

That night at Kelly’s they completely avoided each other. It was difficult but they were proud of themselves for pulling it off. Courtney and Brian though noticed the obvious looks of endearment they were passing one to the other at times during the night and they wondered if Dillon and Georgie realized they weren’t fooling anyone.

That night her letter read. “Zu warum müssen wir weg stehlen, einen Kuß zu stehlen, oder?” He’d told her not to worry about the notes, that he’d explain them soon enough, but it was driving her crazy.


Waiting builds character ~ Day 3

Sunday night at Kelly’s was Mardi Gras theme. Courtney was scared that this was the day that Dillon and Georgie’s deception would be revealed. Mardi Gras night had some kind of special meaning to them. She didn’t know exactly what it was. All she knew was that every Mardi Gras night, Dillon would arrange for Georgie to end up covered with beads. Then he’d take her into the kitchen, out the back door, or to the nook that led to the bathroom and he’d kiss her. Tonight if they did that they’d be found out. Courtney had an idea that Tracy had eyes everywhere.

She discovered a moment later that those eyes tonight would be Tracy’s. Tracy flinched at the gaudy decorations as if they were harmful to her delicate eyes. ‘I’ll delicate your eyes, lady.’ Courtney almost said aloud.

The night went well. They’d been extremely hostile when they’d had to brush up against each other. He’d been very spiteful to Tracy and had Maxie handling her table. He was hoping she’d get angry and leave but she seemed to be parked there at the table in Kelly’s for the duration of the evening.

Beads flowed and Georgie as per tradition ended up with beads galore around her neck and wrists and arms. The DVD fireworks went off and Dillon went into the kitchen to wait for Georgie. When she got there she stood across the room from him. “We can’t do this tonight. You’re mom’s here.”

“It’s tradition. It’ll only be for a second. The fireworks’ll distract her.”

They’re kiss for a second turned fiery. Guy noticed Tracy heading for the kitchen and got there first. He pushed Dillon forcefully out of the way and grabbed Georgie and kissed her, just as Tracy rounded the corner. Dillon was mad that Guy was kissing Georgie and then when his Mom came into view he understood. He put on his best hurt face and stormed out of the kitchen. His Mom’s extremely too-pleased expression made his skin crawl. He went outside and took a deep breath to calm down.

Georgie asked Guy what was going on and when they were free to talk he told her. “Tracy was coming it was the only thing I could think of.”

“Thanks for the save.” Georgie smiled. “Do you think she bought it?”

Guy frowned. “I think so, she looked entirely too pleased by the whole situation.”

“What kind of mother delights in her child’s unhappiness?”

“Not a good one.”

“That’s for sure.”

Maxie got to the kitchen then. “What happened?”

They told her and Guy finished with. “Could you check on Dillon? I think he understood why I did what I did, but I don’t want to risk him beating me up over this.

Maxie went to find Dillon. “Don’t worry Guy. He probably couldn’t beat you up anyway.” Georgie smiled and returned to work.

Maxie found Dillon outside looking miserable. “Are you okay? Y’know Guy only did that to keep you from getting caught.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you look so sad?”

“I think I just realized that not only does my Mom not want me to be happy. She actually gets off on it. I mean, you should have seen her face when she saw them kissing. It was like she’d won the lottery.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Tell Georgie I’m dropping by tonight.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I’ll be careful. I need to see her.” He went back to work and ignored his mother and Georgie the rest of the night. Ignoring his mother was easy. Ignoring Georgie was not.

He snuck out again that night and found that Mac had left a ladder at Georgie’s window. He wondered why, but figured Mac must be painting or fixing the window or something.

Mac saw Dillon sneaking up to Georgie’s room and was happy that he’d left the ladder out. He didn’t have insurance for broken necks of lovelorn male suitors. He was happy they were happy but also not willing to let them just get away with spending too much time alone together in her room. He set a timer for 5 minutes.

“I wanted to slap that smug look off her face, Georgie, and that scares me. I mean I know I’d never do it, but I hate it when I have thoughts like that. I had to go outside just to collect myself.

“I wish she’d just accept that we’d broken up, or better yet accept us as a couple. Is Justus making any progress?”

“I talked to him today and he said we’d have a court date soon and then he’d serve my mom.”

“The sooner the better.”

Mac knocked on Georgie’s door. “Georgie have you seen my badge? I misplaced it after work.”

“It’s in the kitchen on the counter.”

“Thanks Georgie.” Mac knew very well where it was. He went back downstairs and set the time for 5 minutes again.

“Oh here’s your note for today.” It read, “Perché dobbiamo attendere di fare le cose che vogliamo fare?”

“What does all of this mean? Is this Italian?”

“Yes it is and don’t worry about it. You’ll find out eventually.”

When’s eventually? Georgie was frustrated.

“Soon.”

“How Soon?”

You ask too many questions. He touched her chin and started to kiss her. Mac knocked on the door again. “Hey Georgie, did you want to go running with me in the morning before school?”

Georgie rolled her eyes and whispered. “He is not leaving me alone tonight.” She spoke louder. “No, tomorrow I run the mile in gym class.”

“Okay!” Mac shouted before heading back downstairs and checking his watch. He set the timer again.

“Maybe you should get out of here.”

“We were just getting started. Perché dobbiamo attendere di fare le cose che vogliamo fare?”

“That’s what my note said. What does it mean?” He didn’t answer. “You know you sound sexy when you speak Italian.”

“I’m still not telling. Now give me a kiss goodbye. The kiss goodbye turned into more.” Mac knocked on the door again. “I have a big meeting tomorrow at work. Which tie should I wear?”

“The blue one.” Georgie yelled rolling her eyes at Dillon.

“Which blue one?”

“I’ll be out in a minute to help you.”

“Thanks Georgie, you’re the best.” Mac said, satisfied with himself.

He went down to the kitchen and watched Dillon climb down the ladder. ‘That ladder might be ruined by the winter weather by the time this is over, but at least Dillon won’t have broken his neck.’ Mac thought to himself.

He went upstairs and Georgie was holding a tie for him. “This one’s my favorite.” She said, handing it to him. Mac kissed the top of her head. They were both satisfied with the nights event. She because once again she’d gotten away with having Dillon up in her room. Mac because he’d both prevented Dillon from breaking his neck tonight and prevented Georgie and Dillon from doing anything too risque up in her room without him even revealing he was on to them.

Wishes ~ Day 4

They’d talked on the phone after he’d gotten back to Kelly’s that night and had decided that they had to play it cool for at least one day. No secret meetings. No stolen kisses. No late night visit to Georgie’s house interrupted though it may be.

Dillon looked at Georgie. She was beautiful wearing her jeans, her cowboy boots and a big cowboy hat. It was western night. It was a new theme they were trying out. They hadn’t done it before and he was enjoying it too much. He wished they could enjoy it together. The southern accent that she was using sounded so sweet to his ears. He just wanted to reach out and touch her.

Georgie looked at Dillon in his jeans and smiled. ‘He looks adorable as a cowboy.’ She thought to herself, knowing that he wouldn’t think that was a compliment. She wished she could tell him though. She’d just change the word adorable to the word hot.

He might have known that the one-day that they decided to behave Tracy would be nowhere to be seen. He thought of maybe changing his plan. He wished he’d never decided to make this day the hands off day.

Coleman sat in the corner. Once again he wondered what Tracy thought he’d see. They seemed to be broken up. He finished his dinner and left. ‘ He left Kelly’s and met Tracy at the docks. “They haven’t said a word to each other all night. If you ask me you are wasting your time.”

“I’ll decide when I’m wasting my time.” Tracy said haughtily. She decided she’d drop in on Kelly’s tonight after all.

‘So Coleman’s spying for her.’ Luke filed that information away. He needed to have a little talk with young Dillon.

Tracy went to Kelly’s and noticed that Dillon and Georgie were not in the dining room. She started to snoop around but Courtney way laid her.

Dillon and Georgie were in the kitchen together and Courtney had no idea if they were in a compromising position or not. But they could be so she wasn’t taking any chances. She ran into Tracy ‘accidentally’ with her pitcher of Ice water spilling some of it on her. “Oh I’m so sorry. I tried to stop you, but you didn’t seem to be watching where you were going. Were you distracted?”

“You’re incompetent. I’m surprised my son let’s you work here.”

“It’s not up to him.”

“It will be eventually. I‘ve had enough of this incompetence for one night. I‘m leaving.” Tracy grabbed her jacket off her chair and left without ordering, shivering in the cold as the air hit the water on her shirt.

Dillon and Georgie were not having a rendezvous in the kitchen but if they had been Courtney was pleased that she might just have helped them to keep their “not so little secret.”

Dillon handed Georgie her note for the night without anyone noticing. It read, “Ik wens dat wij geheim niet moesten ontmoeten.”

[JRK Archiver]

Part 6

Day 5: Until we can meet openly

"Caught ya." Luke said as he rounded the corner of the warehouse building Dillon and George were hiding behind. Yesterday had been torture. They had spent the whole day avoiding each other and they could hardly stand it. They decided to meet today before work behind this warehouse. They had no idea Luke followed them.

"You scared me Mr. Spencer." Georgie said putting her hand to her chest.

"Sorry little lady, I just wanted to make a point. If I can catch you and young Spielberg together I’m sure Coleman can as well.

"Coleman?"

"Your mother’s hired herself a spy."

"Why would my mother need to hire a spy?" Dillon was freaked out. ‘How in the heck does Luke Spencer know what’s going on?’

"Okay I guess I have to recap for ya. You and little the beautiful Miss Jones are supposed to be broken up or you’ll have to leave that little shoebox of a room above Kelly’s I rent you and return to the luxurious surroundings of the Quartermaine Mansion. I don’t quite know why you’d prefer Kelly’s, but that’s none of my business anyway." Luke continued. "So you then decided to fake a break up and sneak around with Georgie behind your mother’s back." He cupped his hand to the side of his mouth. "Good move by the way very smart. I completely approve. You get to have your freedom and you get to keep the girl. All in all a great plan, but you are having trouble with the execution. This is the second time I’ve seen you two kissing."

"How do you know all of that?"

"I have eyes everywhere." Dillon waited for Luke to expand, even prompted him with his eyes to continue but Luke didn’t go any further.

"Okay, can you please just forget you figured this all out? My mom finding us out would be totally un-cool."

"Oh, I’m not going to broadcast your business. I just think that maybe you could use a little help."

"What kind of help?" Georgie said worried.

"Well if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t know that Coleman was watching you. Also you need some training in the art of stealth dating."

Dillon laughed. "Any advice you have dude, I’ll listen."

"It’s time you two should be getting to Kelly’s. Dillon why don’t you meet me at Luke’s when you get off work tonight. You can tell Georgie what you’ve learned tomorrow. I think the three of us spending too much time together here talking might look suspicious."

"Thanks Luke." Georgie said smiling. She touched Dillon’s hand instead of kissing him and turned to leave. Dillon handed her his note of the day. When she opened it later she’d see that it read. "Hasta que tengamos el derecho de encontrar abiertamente."

Luke spoke. "Wait at least 5 minutes, even if it seems like its taking forever. Then don’t leave in the same direction that she did."

"I’ll have to walk half-a-mile in the wrong direction to go a different way."

"You’re young. You can handle it."

"I’ll be late for work." Dillon said as an excuse.

"Well, then it’s a good thing your boss is a nice guy." Luke grinned and left.

Part of Dillon, that part that was prideful was upset that they’d been found out. He was happy though that it was only Luke that had seen them. The part of him that remembered that Luke was wanted by the police and yet still able to hide in plain sight, showing up where he needed to, without being caught knew that these instructions from Luke were a godsend.

Later that night as Dillon entered Luke’s club he looked around and from seemingly out of nowhere Luke appeared in front of him as if he’d crystallized out of thin air. "Okay you totally got to show me how to do that."

"Patience young grasshopper. Baby steps first." Luke put his hands together in the sign of prayer and slightly bowed. Dillon responded in the same way. Luke appeared amused. "I like you kid. You should consider that a compliment because I don‘t like too many people. And even fewer know about it if I do."

"Well thank you. I like you too."

"Okay so sit down, we have a lot of work to do. I‘m going to teach you the 10 best ways not to get caught."

"Should I take notes?"

"Rule number one: Don’t leave any evidence of your deception lying around where anyone can see it.

"No notes. Got it. I‘ve been giving Georgie a note everyday. Each one says something to her, but I‘ve put each one in a different language. Do you think that‘s okay?"

"Actually. That’s good as long as she hides them and Coleman’s not a linguist I think you are safe, but that takes us to rule two."

"What’s rule two?"

"Rule number two: Communicate through a trusted third party. Are there other people in on this?

"Yeah, Georgie’s sister knows, and Guy."

"And your cousins."

"How do you know that?"

Luke ignored the question. "So do you usually hand her these notes yourself?"

"Yes, Actually."

"Well stop. Give them to her sister or even better, Guy. Does Tracy know that he‘s gay?"

Dillon was astonished. "Seriously man, are you omniscient or something?" Guy wasn’t closeted but didn’t share his sexuality with just anybody.

"If you want to think of me in that way, that’s fine with me."

Dillon laughed and answered Luke’s question. "No, my mom doesn’t know he’s gay. Actually we were about to get caught the other day and Guy came in pushed me out of the way and kissed Georgie so my Mom would see."

"I think I might like Guy too. That was very smart. He should be giving her the letters. He should do it openly. It’ll make Tracy think that there is something more going on between them. That leads to rule three."

"Rule three, I can‘t wait."

"Rule three is a biggie. Use decoys. Guy’s a good start. He’s a great decoy. He can throw your Mom off your scent and he’s gay so you don’t have to worry about Georgie falling for him."

"Georgie wouldn’t fall for another guy. I trust her."

"Yeah, but be honest. Isn’t it a little bit more comforting to you that he’s not interested?"

"Honestly, I guess, yes. But it’s also that I know he’ll look out for her and not take advantage. He’s her friend. He cares. I trust him."

"So use him to pass the notes. Use him as a go between for messages. Use him as a decoy to throw off your mother. If he’s willing."

"He is. He told me he’d help."

"If you want to meet Georgie have her meet Guy to go out on a date and then have him drive her to you. That leads to rule four."

"These seem easy enough Luke. But really, maybe you caught us because of your omniscience and not because we weren’t sneaking around well enough. No one else knows. We’ve been keeping it pretty quiet." Luke stayed silent. He had a feeling more other people knew more then they were letting on. "Not that I‘m not grateful. I do want any help you can give me. What’s rule four?"

"Always leave a false trail."

"Isn’t leaving no trail better?"

"Well, when you have years of experience like me that maybe possible. But for now it’s not. Your mother must be slightly on to you or at least suspicious or she wouldn’t have Coleman watching you."

"So how do I leave a false trail?"

"You let Coleman overhear you mention place A. But you actually go to place B. Or you let him find a note saying you are going one place, or let him follow you to a place then lose him. Actually this all ties together with rules five and six. Rule five is stay ahead of the game, and that can be accomplished by adhering to rule six."

"What’s rule six?"

"Rule six is never stay in one place for too long. Keep moving. Keep mobile. If possible."

"Okay got it. What’s rule seven?"

"Rule seven is fight."

"Fight?"

"It’s a rule especially for the couple trying to hide their couplehood. A broken up couple does not just accept a break-up. There are still emotions under the surface. You and Georgie have been able to sneak around and spend time together. The bitterness isn’t there. But think, if you’d actually broken up with her you’d be fighting. Or at least she would. She seems like the nail spitting type to me."

"That she is."

"Well tell her to use it. Tell her to act as if the break up is real in front of people. Stage a fight and promise each other that you won’t take things personally. It’ll be even harder to hide if you hurt each other’s feelings."

"You’re right. Why didn’t I think of all this?"

"Amateurs." Luke said grinning and rolling his eyes.

"Rule eight is always have a cover story."

"When we snuck off to Spoon Island I went out the night before. She took the launch out in the morning and I told her to tell everyone that she was going to go have tea with Emily."

"Good, now has she actually ever had tea with Emily?

"No."

"Well then, not good. The cover story has got to be believable and as close to the truth as possible. So say I catch you walking down Georgie’s street on your way to sneak up to her bedroom window. What do you say when I ask you what you are doing there?"

"I was going for a drive and my car broke down and my cell phone wasn’t working and I realized that I had to call a tow truck but I didn’t want to go to a strangers house so I decided to ask to use the phone at Georgie’s."

Luke was shaking his head. "And why are you climbing up to Georgie’s bedroom instead of using the front yard."

"I didn’t want to wake up Mac. I know how busy he is with all his police work and everything."

"That whole speech has holes the size of watermelons in it.

"Explain."

"First of all when you ramble. People figure out you are bluffing."

"My Mom’s told me that before. But I have bluffed my way out of many a situation."

"I don’t doubt that. But I have a feeling it’s more about you endearing them with your attempts to cover then them actually buying the bluff."

"So what did I do wrong? Where did my cover story go bad?"

"First of all, they can check your car and see that it works, or call your cell phone and see that it’s functioning."

"So what would you say?"

"First of all I wouldn’t sneak up to her room, but if I just had to. Y’know hormones and all." Luke said smiling knowingly. Dillon blushed. "I’d say I was going for a walk. If they catch you climbing up the side of the house you tell them the truth. You say you were going to see Georgie, that you missed her. That you’re glad you were caught because you would have been making a mistake and you act like it’s the first time you’ve ever done it."

"So easy, so obvious. Why didn’t I think of that?"

"I’ve got years on you boy. Have I ever told you that I kept my family on the run and safe for more than ten years? We went all over the world. And we stayed one step ahead of the enemy the whole time. But I’ll tell you about all that later."

"Wow, so I’m learning from the master."

"You got that right and don’t forget it. Okay there are two more rules. You need to learn. First of all, rule nine, accept help. If someone, like me or Justus or Emily or your friends offer to help, let us. I don’t think I’ve ever fully learned this lesson and it’s put me in danger more times than not. Be careful who you trust, but when you do trust someone, swallow your pride and let them help you."

"Okay and what’s the last rule?"

"Have fun."

"No, what’s rule ten?"

"Rule ten is have fun. This is an adventure. You are in a wonderful time in your life. You are in love. Don’t forget that. Don’t let the hiding get to you. Don’t let it irritate you or depress you. Have fun with it. Come up with new and better ways to have fun when you can sneak off to be with her. Make each day of this time special."

"Thanks so much for your help."

"You’re welcome." Luke smiled. "By the way, this place closes at 1am and there just happens to be an extra key hidden in the foot of one of the monkeys outside."

"What?" Dillon couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

"I didn’t say anything." Luke looked sheepish.

"Thanks man."

"No problem."

Dillon started to leave but turned back. "I was wondering if you’d help me out with something else."

"What, I haven’t done enough already?"

"You’ve done more than enough. It’s just that I have something I want to do for Georgie that you might be able to help me with."

"Tell me what you have in mind."

Day 6: Content to be in love secretly

Luke had said he’d look into Dillon’s special request, so he’d have to wait to see what Luke found out later. He called Georgie after the instruction session and told her the rules. From now on they’d communicate exclusively thru Guy and Maxie. They’d even limit their phone calls. They also decided they had to see each other each day but were going to follow all the rules to do it. Justus called this morning and said that they had a trial date. It was to start the day after tomorrow and Tracy would be served tomorrow. So she wouldn’t have much time to retaliate. Justus was going to serve her in person. He’d said he wanted to see her face. Dillon wouldn’t mind seeing it himself.

He gave Georgie her note for the day through Guy. He passed it to her in school that day. It read, "Vi ville akkurat er tilfreds være i kjærlighet hemmeligt." And so far it was the weirdest language that he’s used so far. She’d at least been able to tell what language the notes were in before this. This one was even a mystery language. She asked Guy to find out what language it was. "It’s Norwegian." He reported.

"Norwegian, Wow." Georgie smiled.

"Does Dillon know Norwegian?" Guy asked.

"He must know a little bit. Hey do me a favor. Try to get out of him what these notes mean. I’m so curious. It’s killing me."

"I’ll try, but I doubt I’ll get it out of him."

"He wants you to meet him on the hospital roof tonight the first chance you get. He wants you to go there and visit with someone you know, like you’re Aunt Bobbie or your uncle so to someone on the outside looking in it looks like you are there for another reason. Then he said to take one set of elevators down. Then go to entirely different set of elevators and take them to the roof."

"Luke really did teach him some stuff. I can’t wait to see him."

"You’ll see him in a few minutes. We are all working together today."

"By the way I have to flirt with you tonight." Guy said smiling.

"Just pretend I’m Jude Law or Lucy Liu."

"It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it." He said teasingly.

"He also said that you and he should have a short spat, just a short one, for anyone who may be watching."

"I hate that. I hate fighting with him."

"It’s for the greater good and besides you get to make up tonight on the hospital roof."

"True, True,"

That night after much elevator shuffling Dillon and Georgie met on the roof. Maxie had prepared a picnic basket for them and left it there. They had a battery operated radio they turned on for mood music and dancing. They toasted each other with Diet Soda and ate salads from Kelly’s. "This is great."

"One of the things Luke told me was to have fun and this is fun."

"I hated fighting with you earlier."

"Me too. Hey you are such a good actress. I always actually believe you are angry with me. What’s your motivation?"

"Today I imagined you running over Stuffy with your car."

"Stuffy?"

"Stuffy’s my favorite stuffed animal. My dad brought him home to me one time when I had a cold. I had a stuffy nose. He said that stuffed animals helped heal stuffy noses. I still think that bear made me better. I’ve called him Stuffy ever since, because he’s a stuffed bear and because he cure’s stuffy noses. I still sleep with him whenever I get sick."

Dillon looked at her adoringly. "I love that this situation is forcing us to share things about each other that we don’t know."

"Me too. We’ve known each other for less than a year. We’ve got tons of catching up to do."

"That’s true."

"I know guys don’t usually have stuffed animals, but do you have a childhood toy that holds a special place in your heart."

Dillon looked sad. "Not really. We moved around too much for that. I used to rent the latest video game equipment at the hotels when I got a little older but when I was little I stopped collecting toys because I always had to leave them behind."

"Well you are settled down in one place now." An idea started to formulate in Georgie’s mind. "It’s never too late to start."

They danced under the stars and then separated. She left first and he waited the five minutes that Luke had instructed. He sat looking at the stars wondering what he ever did to deserve Georgie. They played musical elevators and did not get caught.

Dillon’s cell phone rang after he exited the hospital and it was Luke. "I found what you were looking for."

"Great. Thanks dude."

"You’re Welcome dude."

Dillon laughed, "Cool, I’ll pick it up in the morning."

Day 7: We’re in love

Georgie read her note again. "Eu desejo que nós nao tivemos que estar receosos mostrar ao mundo que nós estamos no amor." She’d thought it was Spanish but Guy had told her it was Portuguese. She was still curious as to what the notes said but Dillon had assured her that he’d reveal what they meant soon.

She was on her way now to meet Dillon. Guy was driving her to a town twenty miles away. They were going to stay mobile this time by meeting in his car. They’d park for a while drive to a new place and park some more. They were following Luke’s rules to the letter and it was working for them.

"What is this?" Tracy asked giving Justus an evil glare.

"Read it."

"My son is trying to become emancipated and you are helping him."

"Yes."

"Why is this the first I’ve heard of it?"

"Because he didn’t want anyone to know. Attorney-client privilege."

"I’ll pay you to get off this case."

"Running scared already Tracy."

"That’s what you think. He’s not going to get away with this. I’m going to have the police drag him home tonight."

"You can’t."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that now that you have been served, his living arrangements by law have to remain the same until a decision is made or the court decides otherwise." Justus hadn’t been able to get a hold of Dillon today to tell him that. He decided he’d tell him the next time he saw him.

Tracy was fuming. She grabbed a glass, poured herself a drink and left the room." Justus just loved seeing her shaken up.

Georgie and Dillon drove around for a while and he kept touching her thigh and her hair. They were so happy to be together. He found a place that looked private and parked. "I’m so glad you are here."

"Me too."

"I have something for you."

Dillon reached into his pocket but stopped when Georgie leaned down into her book bag and said, "I have something for you too."

"You go first."

She pulled out a medium sized stuffed brown bear. It was wearing a striped blue bowtie. "I know it’s girly, but I just thought it was so sad that you’d never had a toy you could hold onto. I wanted you to have something that you could keep.

Tears reached Dillon’s eyes but did not spill out. "It’s perfect." He grabbed the bear and kissed her. "Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

"I’ll call him George, after you. This means a lot Georgie."

"I’m glad you liked it. Now what did you bring me?"

"I’m not sure if you’ll want it. If, If you don’t I’ll understand. I just know that if I could find out something more about my Dad, something that’d make me feel a little closer to him, I’d want to have it." Dillon pulled a cassette tape out of his pocket.

"What is it?"

"It’s a song. It kind of reminds me of how we first met. It’s beautiful and sweet."

"Okay?" Georgie hesitated and took the tape in her hands. They were shaking. "What does it have to do with my father?"

"The person singing the song is your dad." Georgie paused for a second. Her face went white and tears fell from her eyes. "You don’t have to listen to it if you don’t want to. I just wanted to give you the option."

"I can’t believe you found this for me."

"I had Luke track it down. He got it from your Uncle Tony. Luke says he knew your father a little and that if you ever had any questions for him that he’d be more than happy to tell you whatever he could. Did you... want to hear it?"

Georgie’s voice broke as she simply said, "yes." Tears fell as she put the tape in the player. The song filled the car.

Kissing you is not what I had planned
And now I'm not so sure just where I stand
I wasn't looking for true love
But now you're looking at me
You're the only one I can think of
You're the only one I see

All I need
Is just a little more time
To be sure what I feel
Is it all in my mind
Cause it seems so hard to believe
That you're all I need

Yes it's true we've all been hurt before
But it doesn't seem to matter anymore
It may be a chance we're taking
But it always comes to this
If this isn't love we're making
Then I don't know what it is

All I need
Is just a little more time
To be sure what I feel
Is it all in my mind
Cause it seems so hard to believe

No stars are out tonight
But we're shining our own light
And it's never felt so bright
Cause girl the way I'm feeling
It's easy to believe
That you're all I need


After the song it took her awhile to talk. They sat in silence. He didn’t want to intrude in her thoughts. When she finally spoke she said, "It’s beautiful. The song, his voice, everything."

"More than you expected?"

"Way more than I expected. It kind of makes him real to me. He’s always just been this fictional character in my mind. Frisco Jones, super spy. Thank you for giving me a piece of my father. I love you."

"I love you too."

[JRK Archiver]

Part 7


Day 8 - Secretly

Georgie shuffled her feet as she approached Mac. “Umm, Dad.”

“Yes honey.”

“Last night at work, Justus came by and gave all of us one of these.” She said handing him a subpoena to appear in court that day. “I need to miss school to go and so does Maxie. I wanted to let you know.”

“I know about the hearing.”

“I was wondering. I mean, I know I only have to be there when it’s time for me to testify, but I would kind of like to stick around there to see how it goes. I’ll make sure Guy finds out what work I miss and I promise I’ll get it all done.”

“I’m sure you will. That’s fine honey, but I don’t see why you’d want to I mean he’s not your boyfriend anymore right?” Mac said a gleam in his eye. Georgie wondered why it looked more like he was teasing her then questioning her but she let it pass.

Georgie remembered one of the rules Dillon told her that Luke told him to follow. Keep it simple tell the truth. “I still care.”

“I know you do.” Mac said wondering when he’d get the opportunity to tell her that he’d known about their plan all along. He sobered for a minute knowing this next revelation he’d make was going to be difficult. “Sit down for a minute I need to talk to you.”

Dillon hands were shaking as he tied and retied his necktie. Justus had told him to dress well. He dressed like he had that short time this summer that he’d worked for his brother at ELQ. He was now trying to whip his hair into submission. He was wishing he’d gotten a hair cut recently. He pressed it down on his head. It wouldn’t obey. “Uuurrgh.” He let out a loud sigh of frustration.

Courtney who’d just finished getting ready for court this morning had been hearing Dillon pace all morning. When she heard the groan she finally decided he needed someone to calm him down. She knocked lightly on his door. He answered it in a frenzy. “Problems?” She asked looking at his hair. It was for the most part flattened down on tope of his head, the image of the All-American boy but there were parts that wouldn’t cooperate and if you noticed those parts, then he looked more like Alfalfa.

“How is the judge ever going to think I can control my own life if I can’t even control my hair?”

“What are you trying to do to it? Paste it down. Your hair looks fine the way you normally do it.”

“That’s not what most people say.”

“I find it endearing. Who knows maybe you’ll get a young female judge that feels the same way.” She mussed up his hair with her hands and about 20 seconds later all the work he’d done trying to control it this morning was gone. His hair was spiky.

He looked at himself in the mirror. “It’s kind of like an extreme mullet.” She smiled humoring him not getting it. He explained. “They always describe a mullet as business in the front and party in the back. This look is like business on the bottom.” He said pointing at his suit. “And party on the top.” He pointed to his hair. He felt like a kid placing dress-up. The judge was never going to take him seriously.

He started to pat down his hair again. “Don’t try to be something you are not. It’ll just make everything about you look fake to the judge. The judge knows you’re a teenager. The papers will tell him that. Be yourself. If you are comfortable. He’ll notice that and take you seriously.”

“How do you know so much about court?”

“My husband and brother are both frequent visitors.” Courtney smiled wryly.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve thought about that one before I asked it. I can’t even control my own mouth.”

“Everything will be okay. I’m going to stay the whole day and so is Brian. You’ll have people there on your side. “Bobbie’s going to testify and Luke and all your work friends. We’ll do our best for you on the stand. Has Justus told you your chances?”

“He says it’s about fifty-fifty. He’s not giving me much of a guarantee. He says these cases go either way. I’ve made a few mistakes and those can count against me, but then again so has my Mom. So it’s a wait and see thing. Worse comes to worse, I have to stay under my mom’s control until my eighteenth birthday in a few months and she’ll probably force me to move home because I pulled this on her.”

“Will she let you keep working here?”

“I don’t think so. She’ll play the ‘I’m trying to do what’s best for you.’ card and would probably force me to quit, for my own good, she’d say, because she wants me to work for ELQ.”

“Do you have any desire to work there?”

“Not really. I mean it’s just not my thing. My mom won‘t ever accept that though.”

“So your Mom’s the controlling type. She doesn’t seem to want you to do things that make you happy. Why is that? Do you think your Mom doesn’t love you?”

“Deep down, I know she loves me. I haven’t lost sight of that through this whole thing. She just doesn’t know how to love me. She thinks loving and controlling someone go hand in hand. She thinks that ultimately her decisions for me are the only things that will make me truly happy. She thinks that maybe I’m fooling myself now and that this is not what I truly want.”

“Wow, I thought you would hate her after everything you’ve said she’s done.”

“Sometimes I do, but she’s my Mom. When it comes down to it I know that every bad decision, every wrong move she makes, every horrible choice she forces me to make however twisted are coming from a place of love. I, I just can’t live with it. It ultimately hurts me. Sometimes I think she’s actively trying to hurt me. Most of the time I know that’s not true but sometimes when things get bad like they have recently I think she wants me to suffer. I know it’s not true, but it’s hard not to feel that way. If I succeed at this trial and I can have control over my own decisions. If she looses the power she has to control me, maybe we can finally start to have the relationship that I’ve always wanted to have with her. I mean I’m one of the only people in this world that...” His voice broke for a second. He almost didn’t go on. “I’m one of the only people in this world that loves her. I mean how sad is that?”

“So you can love her and still put her through this trial?” She didn’t say it as a judgment. Just as a question.

“I have to. If I don’t show her that I can make my own way and be happy without her interference. How will she ever learn? She might just figure out from this that you can love and be loved without it being about control. It’s not her fault. She’s just never learned those lessons. She‘s never wanted to.”

“Does she know how much you love her?” Courtney asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure she’s questioning it right now.”

“And where did you learn how to love?”

“What I didn’t learn from old romantic movies, and watching real families interact at the hotels I grew up in, I learned from Georgie.”

“Then why’d you two break up?” Courtney said finally getting her chance to make him squirm.

He remembered Luke’s rules. “It was for the best.”

She let it go. She wasn’t as cruel as Brian. Brian needled Dillon about the break-up every single day.

“No, Dad you can’t.” Georgie was almost in tears.

He knew this wasn’t going to be easy. “I don’t have a choice. Tracy’s lawyer sent me a subpoena just like the one you got.”

“But why? Why are you on their side?”

“I’m not on anyone’s side. I’m on the side of the law. I have to appear. They are calling me as the police commissioner. They’ll bring up his record. I was his arresting officer twice Georgie.”

“But that’ll ruin his whole case Dad.”

“It would come out anyway. I can’t do anything about it Georgie. I was given a subpoena just like you. I just wanted to tell you, because I know you still care about him.” She looked at him like he was some kind of traitor. “Go get dressed. We’ll go to court together.”

“I’ll find my own way.” Georgie pouted and started to walk away.

“Don’t be stubborn. We’ll go together. Be ready in twenty minutes.” Georgie walked away from him and he could see the tears welling in her eyes. He realized then that he’d do anything he could to make sure that she never looked at him with eyes like that again. There was something about Georgie. He was surprised she wasn’t a spoiled brat. There was part of him that wanted never ever to say no to that girl. It was a good thing that he didn’t always let that part control his actions or he’d have a hellion and a half on his hands. It was at times like this that he missed Felicia. He needed to talk to her so badly right now. She’d listen and give him advice like she’d done at times with Robin. He thought of Robin and both the mistakes and successes he’d made raising her. It terrified him and yet gave him a sense of peace. He thought about Dillon and the recent talks he’d had with Bobbie and Brian. He decided to take those thoughts with him into the courtroom and go from there. He didn’t know exactly what he would do, but he’d let his heart lead the way.

Dillon got word to Georgie through Guy that she was to meet him at Luke’s that night. They still intended on sneaking around not knowing that it didn’t really matter at this point in time. Dillon got to court with only about 5 minutes to spare. “You look good.” Justus said admiring Dillon’s suit. “It shows the court respect when you dress like that.” Dillon took a deep shaky breath. “Just relax. Try not to be nervous. I’ll do my best.”

Dillon licked his dry lips and faced the empty judge’s box. He wondered what the judge would look like. He hoped that the judge was a young woman like Courtney had described. He started to picture her in his head. She looked kind of like Demi Moore and Ashley Judd mixed into one. He started to get calmer. This was all going to be okay.

“All rise. The honorable judge, Lindsay Richards presiding.”

‘Lindsay,’ he thought to himself. ‘That’s a good sign. Score, It’s a woman.’ Out of the judges chamber came not a young woman, but an old man. This guy was not just old, he was OLD. He had to be almost 80. He looked back at Courtney and they shared a terrified grin. ‘I’m slicking my hair down tomorrow.’ He thought to himself.

“You may be seated. We are here today to hear the case for the Emancipation of Dillon Albert Quartermaine Hornsby. This is Hornsby vs. Quartermaine. Will the interested parties please introduce themselves to the court?”

Tracy‘s lawyer rose to her feet. “Elizabeth Clifton, your honor attorney for Ms. Quartermaine.”

Justus rose to his feet and said. “Justus Ward, your honor, attorney representing Mr. Dillon Hornsby.”

“It is my understanding that Ms. Tracy Quartermaine chooses to prevent the minor child from this act.”

“Yes, your honor.” Tracy’s lawyer said curtly.

“And to the opposing council. Are you prepared to present your case in a hearing format or do you wish for a formal trial date to be set?”

“We are prepared.”

“Young man.” The judge said turning to Dillon. Justus signaled for Dillon to stand. “Do you understand that by opting out of a formal trial, you will be accepting my decision as final in this matter? Do you understand that there are no opening or closing statements in this setting and that only testimony from subpoenaed witnesses is accepted into evidence?”

“Yes sir, your honor.”

“Thank you. Are you prepared to call your first witness today Mr. Ward or would you like a hearing date set.”

“I’m prepared your honor.”

“You may call your first witness.”

“I call Bobbie Jones to the stand.”

Bobbie had finished answering questions as to her relationship to Dillon, and what kind of worker he was. She was showing Dillon in a very favorable light. “No further questions you honor.”

“Ms. Clifton, do you wish to question this witness?”

“Yes your honor. Ms. Jones, do you have any children?”

“Objection your honor. Whether or not the witness has children has no bearing on the case.”

“Overruled. Mr. Ward please don’t object to opposing council’s first question. I know you are a criminal attorney but things are a little more relaxed here in the family court system. If her line of questioning has no bearing on the case then I will disregard Ms. Jones testimony.”

Justus was in shock. ‘At least now I have grounds for an appeal.’ He thought to himself. Maybe that’d been a gift.

“Yes I am a mother.”

“And your children, do they still live with you at home?”

“One of them does my son.”

“And he’s the same age as Dillon correct?”

“Yes.”

“If he wanted to leave home and emancipate himself would you let him?”

Bobbie looked stunned. She started to say “this is a totally different situation ...”

Justus’s firm objection interrupted her. “Objection. Your honor?”

“Sustained. You will disregard the question. Please Ms. Clifton, stick to the matter at hand. This woman’s ideas about motherhood have no bearing on this case.”

“Yes sir.” She changed her tactic. “Has Dillon ever missed work since he started working for you?”

“About two days after he was hired he took ill. He was off for about 4 days, but only because I wouldn’t allow him to work. He hasn’t missed a scheduled day since.”

“I’m told that he occasionally takes days off for school projects and assignments. Do you not consider that missing work?”

“The majority of the people that work for me at Kelly’s are in high school. They all have projects and assignments that come due. The business that Dillon has brought into my diner had made hiring more people possible. They all support each other and cover for each other when there’s work to be done. My patrons never suffer. There is always sufficient help.”

“You’ve said he lives in a building you own?”

“Yes he lives in a small studio above the diner.”

“How does he pay for this room?”

“It’s part of his salary. It comes out of his check. It’s room and board.”

“How many boarders do you have at this residence?”

“Currently there are four.”

“And is it correct that all four tenants share the same bathroom?”

“Three share the same bathroom. The other boarder lives in the apartment that my Aunt used to live in before her death. It has a separate bathroom facility.”

“Do you think it’s an adequate living space for a young teenage boy?”

“Objection, your honor. My client is not a real estate agent nor does she have a degree in child psychology.”

“Sustained.”

“One last question. You say he took ill shortly after starting his job there. If he succeeds in this bid for emancipation he will have to handle all of his own expenses. How do you think this young man could manage if he were to need to have medical care?”

“We will be looking into insurance benefit plans in the very near future. The business that Dillon has brought into our Diner has made this possible.”

“No further questions.”

“You may step down.”

Bobbie sat down next to Georgie who’d arrived during her testimony.

“Is that true are you going to be making health insurance benefits available?” Georgie whispered in her ear.

“It is now.” Bobbie said winking at her. ‘It wasn’t perjury.’ Bobbie thought to herself. She hadn’t said they were looking into it. She’d said they were going to be looking into it and later today she was going to look into it.

Luke answered his questions as Bobbie had. “He’s a good worker.” “He’s tripled our profits.” “We’ve had to add tables.” “He’s very smart and creative.”

Courtney, Maxie and Guy took the stand and all said that Dillon was easy to work with. “He makes it fun.” Maxie had said.

“Is work supposed to be fun?” Tracy’s lawyer had asked.

“There’s no reason why it can’t be. It’s not like we are doctors or lawyers. The fate of someone’s life is not in our hands. All that is in our control is whether or not they have a good dinner that night. If we have fun, they have fun.”

Georgie took the stand nervously. Justus smiled to ease her nerves. “Ms. Jones, what is your relationship to Mr. Quartermaine.”

“He’s a friend, a co-worker.”

“Is it true that you have dated Mr. Quartermaine in the past?”

Georgie realized Justus was asking the questions in a way so that she wouldn’t have to lie. “Yes.” She’d dated him in the past, she’d dated him in the present, she’d date him in the future but they didn’t have to know that.

“So you’ve been privy to more in-depth knowledge of his relationship with his Mother than other people in his life have?”

“Objection, a girlfriend is not an expert witness on a mother-son relationship.”

“I’m only going to ask her to describe what’s she’s observed.”

“It’s a fine line, Mr. Ward if it starts to lean toward speculation on the witnesses part I will disregard the testimony, proceed carefully.”

“Yes your honor.”

“Ms. Jones have you witnessed Dillon and his mother interacting.”

“Yes I have.”

“Is it true that Ms. Quartermaine has asked you to break up with her son on more than one occasion?”

“Yes it is.”

“Privately or in front of her son.”

“Both.”

“And what reason does she give you?”

“She says I’m not good enough for him. I’m not the kind of girl the people like him are supposed to be with.”

“And what kind of girl are you, Miss Jones? Have you ever been in trouble with the law?”

“No sir.”

“What was your grade point average last semester?”

“4.0.”

“And what did you do with your free time before going to work at Kelly’s this winter?”

“I volunteered as a candy striper at General Hospital.”

“You sound like a very responsible girl.” Mac was beaming. He was proud of her. Did he tell her that enough? He wondered as Justus continued. “So why do you think Ms. Quartermaine has a problem with you being with her son?”

“Objection calls for speculation.”

“Re-phrase your honor. Has she ever told you why she doesn’t want you with her son?”

“Yes sir. She said that the ‘police commissioner’s daughter’ isn’t worthy to shine her sons shoes.” Dillon wondered when his mom had said that.

“Thank you Ms. Jones. I have no further questions for this witness, your honor.”

“Ms. Clifton, your witness.”

“Miss Jones, do you like Ms. Quartermaine?”

“I don’t really know her. She’s never tried to get to know me.”

“Just answer the question. Do you like Ms. Quartermaine?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Is it fair to say that you want nothing to do with her?”

“Objection. That’s a leading question.”

“Sustained.”

“Is it true that the only reason that Dillon is asking for this emancipation is that you told him to?”

“No ma’am, it was his idea.”

“Is it true that the only reason that he’s doing this is that his mother asked him not to see you anymore?”

“No.” She said aloud. ‘It’s not the only reason. It’s one of the reasons.’ She thought to herself.

“What kind of student was Dillon when he left home?”

“Objection, your honor. Calls for a broad conclusion.”

“Rephrase, your honor, what kind of grades did Dillon have when he moved out of his home?”

“He was getting mostly C’s at that time, but he’s doing a lot better recently. He’s been getting A’s and B’s consistently since he moved out of the Quartermaine Mansion.”

“Is this because you’ve been doing his homework for him?”

“No. I wouldn’t do that.”

“So you have nothing to do with his grades changing.”

“I’ve tutored him but that’s all.”

“You must be some kind of amazing tutor if you can make that much progress in such a short time.”

“Was that a question, you honor?” Justus asked.

“Your last comment will be stricken.”

“No further questions.”

Brian was called to the stand. “What’s your occupation?”

“I’m a detective with the Port Charles Police Department.”

“And your relationship to my client.”

“I live in the same boarding house with him.”

“Would you say he’s a responsible tenant?”

“Yes. He’s never too loud. He always pays his share of the satellite bill he forced us to install after he’d been there for a month. He’s helpful. I do maintenance for Kelly’s as part of my rental agreement. He helps out with that whenever I ask him to.”

Tracy rolled her eyes and whispered something in her attorney’s ear.

“As a police officer would you worry that this young man may get in to trouble if left to his own devices?”

“Objection calls for speculation.”

“He’s a police officer. I’m just asking his considered opinion.”

“Overruled, Detective Beck, you may answer the question.”

“I have no worries. He’s become a responsible young man.” He emphasized the word Man and shared a smile with Dillon.

“No further questions.”

“Your witness.”

“You stated that Dillon helps you with maintenance. Is that correct.”

“Yes it is.”

“My client states that her son has no knowledge or skills in that area. How do you explain that?”

“He wanted to learn, so I’ve been teaching him.”

“Are you aware that your apprentice has a record for reckless driving and grand theft?”

Brian was shocked. He actually had no idea. “No I was not aware of that.”

Does that change your opinion as to whether or not he should be allowed to stay in his present surroundings considering he has no formal supervision there?”

“No it does not and as far as supervision goes, he has plenty at Kelly’s. He’s living with two police officers.”

“No further questions.”

The other side had subpoenaed Ned, so all that was left to testify on Dillon’s side was Dillon.

“We will take an hour-long recess for lunch and return at one o’clock.” The judge stiffly rose to his feet as the courtroom rose to attention. Georgie was still ignoring Mac. Maxie and Guy had gone back to school. She talked with Courtney and Bobbie avoiding Dillon for Tracy’s sake.

Justus had to make a phone call so he left and Dillon turned to Brian. “Thank you for testifying for me. You’ve been giving me such a hard time about Georgie lately I didn’t know what you were going to say.”

Brian felt a little guilty for letting the game he was playing with Dillon make Dillon worry. “I didn’t know about your record.”

“I get stupid when I get sad or angry.”

[JRK Archiver]

“Well at least you realize it. That’s a good sign. You are coming into your adulthood. If you realize why and when you tend to make mistakes you can avoid them in the future.”

Brian was always saying things like this to him. He was half-big brother, half-wise father, and all good friend. “I just hope that the fact that I have a record isn’t all that the judge hears.”

Luke called everyone buy Tracy out into a lunchroom at the courthouse and delivered submarine sandwiches to all. Georgie and Dillon avoided each other the best they could but communicated through non-verbal eye contact. They weren’t fooling anyone in that room. Even Bobbie knew they must not really be broken up by the looks they gave each other. No one knew, because Justus had failed to tell them, that hiding at this point was unnecessary.

Dillon took the stand after lunch. “Would you say you had a normal childhood?” Justus asked.

“Objection calls for witness to define normal.”

“Re-phrase your honor.”

“Were you raised in a house?”

“No.”

“Exactly, where did you live growing up?”

“I lived in five-star hotels all over Europe.”

“Were you ever left unattended?”

“I had a nanny until I was about 8 but it got to hard to keep the same one, since we moved so often so after that she’d hire random people to watch out over me.”

“What do you mean by random people?

“Bellhop’s, chambermaids, assorted concierge’s.”

“Did she know these people?”

“Sometimes.”

“Did she ever leave you with someone you’d never met?”

“All the time.”

“Did those people ever leave you unattended?”

“Most of them did. The good one’s would come to the room to check and make sure I hadn’t run away once an hour, but mostly they’d just go about their business and tell my Mom I’d been a good little boy when she would get back.”

“How long would she leave you for?”

“Until I was eleven, it would only be for the evening, never longer than a day. After I turned eleven she’d be away for days. She wouldn’t call. I wouldn’t know when she was coming back.”

“What was the longest she ever left you without checking in?”

“Before she left me here?”

“Yes.”

“I’d say it would normally be a couple of weeks, but the longest time was for about two months.”

“Let me get this right. She’d be gone for two months without checking in?”

“Correct.”

“And she didn’t tell you how long she’d be gone.”

“No.”

“How old were you when this happened.”

“I was 12.”

“Did you ever wonder if she was coming back at all?”

“At times.”

“What about recently? When did you come to Port Charles?”

“My mom brought me here in April, last year.”

“How long did she stay before she abandoned you again?”

“Objection abandoned?”

Sustained.

“I’m sorry. How long did she stay here with you in Port Charles before leaving to go back to Europe?”

“A little over a week.”

“Did you know the people she left you with?”

“No.”

“Did she tell them she was leaving you there?”

“No. They were more surprised then I was.”

“Did she leave them medical records?”

“No.”

“Did she give you an idea as to when she was coming back?”

“No.”

“When did she come back?”

“She came back for one day in July and left again. I still didn’t know how long she was going to leave me here. She came back again in mid-November and has been living here in town since”

“So she left you here for seven months. Did she call you at all during that time?”

“Once.”

“Was it to check on you?”

“Actually no, it was to ask me for a favor?”

“Did you say yes to her?”

“Yes.”

“Even after she’d just left you here. Why?”

“She’s my mother. I love her. I wanted to help her out.”

“Why do you want this emancipation?”

“I want to run my own life. I know that I can. I want to not worry about my Mom leaving me again. I want to get on with the rest of my life.”

“I understand you’ve been living away from your Mother now for over 2 months. Did she fight you when she left?”

“She didn’t raise too many objections. It’s only recently that she’s started to fight me on things again.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“Objection calls for speculation.”

“Sustained.”

“Do you hate your mother?”

“No.”

“Okay this may be difficult because I know you love your mother, but I just want to ask you one last question. The legal definition of child abandonment is “Desertion of a child without arranging for reasonable care and supervision. Any case in which children are not claimed within 2 days, and when children are left by parents who gave no (or false) information about their whereabouts.” Considering that definition do you think your mother abandoned you?”

“Yes.”

“No further questions you honor?”

“Your witness.”

“Isn’t it true that prior to your present employment you were working for a well-known international crime-lord?”

‘Here we go.’ Dillon thought to himself. ‘It’s all over now.’



Coming up Part 2 of the trial

[JRK Archiver]

Secretly ~ Part 8


Day 8 ~

Isn’t it true that prior to your present employment you were working for a well-known international crime-lord?”

‘Here we go.’ Dillon thought to himself. ‘It’s all over now.’

“Objection.” Justus called out immediately. “Could Council please be more specific?”

“Ms. Clifton do not grandstand. Ask the defendant direct questions.”

“Isn’t it true that prior to your present employment you were working for the well-known international criminal, Lorenzo Alcazar?”

Justus rose to his feet. “Once again, your honor, I must object. There are no criminal charges pending and Mr. Alcazar has no criminal record.”

“Sustained.”

“What did you do prior to your work at Kelly’s for money?”

“I was a paid companion, kind of um, a bodyguard for Sage Alcazar.”

“And how old is Ms. Alcazar?”

“She’s 16.”

“And why is it that she needed a bodyguard?”

Justus spoke out again. “Is my client supposed to know the inner workings of the mind of his former boss?”

Dillon answered anyway. “She needed a friend. She was new in town and did not know anybody. I was hired to be a friend to her. To help her meet people.”

“And why did you leave that job?”

“I realized that there was danger involved in Mr. Alcazar’s life and by extension that of his niece. I realized that it was a smart move to move on.”

“So you admit that it wasn’t a smart move, working for Mr. Alcazar.”

“Yes ma’am I do.”

“And what’s to keep you from avoiding these kind of mistakes in the future? We’ve already established in Officer Beck’s testimony that you have a record. How can this court possibly trust you if left to your own devices? What is to stop you, Dillon, from making more mistakes that could have dire consequences? Dillon hesitated before attempting an answer, trying to figure out how to answer all of the questions that had been fired at him. Ms. Clifton used the hesitation to her advantage and just said. “That’s what I thought.” She smiled pleased, and returned to her seat.”

“Re-direct Mr. Ward?”

“Yes your honor. I have one more question. Dillon, when looking at your record, the dates coincide with the time that your Mother had left you in Port Charles. Wouldn’t it be true to surmise that is she hadn’t left you here, and you hadn’t been angry with her for leaving? Those two indiscretions would never have happened.”

“Actually no.” Justus was shocked. He thought Dillon had just ruined his chances, but Dillon went on. “I’m here today because I want to be my own man. I want to be considered a man in the eyes of this court. A man doesn’t blame his failures on his childhood, or his mother. A real man takes responsibility for his own mistakes and learns from them. I’ve learned from my mistakes.”

Edward sat in the courtroom taking it all in. He hadn’t expected to hear that from Dillon. He was torn. He’d heard from Luke how much Dillon was contributing to that Diner and although he wished his business expertise leaned to the corporate side of life. He had to admire him for what he was doing. He wanted something and he was going for it. He wasn’t a child blaming his mother for his indiscretions. He was a man fighting for a place in the world. Edward continued to observe knowing he’d be called to testify at any moment and not knowing what he’d say.

Justus smiled. He hadn’t even coached him to say that. He thought to himself as he returned to his seat. “You may be seated.” The Judge said to Dillon. Dillon walked over and sat down next to Justus, relieved that his part was over. “Any further witnesses?”

“No, your honor.”

“Ms. Clifton call your first witness.”

“Thank you, your honor. I call Ned Ashton to the stand.”

“Mr. Ashton, you are Dillon’s brother.”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he’s a responsible young man?”

“Yes I do.”

“If it were up to you would he be out on his own.”

Ned clinched his teeth. “No he wouldn’t.”

Dillon looked like he’d been struck and felt as if he’d been sucker punched. Tracy smiled with glee. ‘How did Mom get to him?’

“Why is that?”

“Because I have a daughter that’s just younger than he is and I know I wouldn’t want her out on her own.”

“So, It is your opinion, that he should be remanded into his mother’s custody.”

“I did not say that. I said that if it were up to me I wouldn’t want him to be out on his own. If I were allowed to by the court I’d take him in myself.” Ned hesitated and took a deep breath. “I had Tracy as a mother and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

That shut Tracy’s attorney up. “No further questions.”

“Mr. Ward?”

“May I ask you what kind of mother you think Tracy Quartermaine is?”

“She’s not a mother.” Tracy’s eyes clouded and it almost broke Ned’s resolve. “She loves us in her own way, but not like a mother. She isn’t nurturing. She always saw me as a way to get at the family money. I really think that’s how she sees Dillon as well.

Dillon was touched, that Ned was on his side, and that he was willing to take him in. He smiled at Ned as he stepped down from the witness stand and Ned winked back at him.

“I call, Police Commissioner Mac Scorpio, to the stand.”

Mac was sworn in. “You are the Port Charles Police Commissioner correct?”

“Yes.”

“You were involved first hand in both of this young man’s arrests, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Could you describe his demeanor at the time of his arrest?”

“Demeanor?” Mac asked confused

“Was he civil, repentant, rebellious, cooperative?”

“I think rebellious would be the right word. But that was awhile ago Dillon has changed...” She didn’t let him finish. She went on to her next question.

“Georgie Jones, the young woman that testified on Dillon’s behalf, what is your relation to her?”

“She’s my daughter, um, stepdaughter.” He hesitated, not having used the term step in regards to her or Maxie in so long.

“And how did you feel about your stepdaughter dating Mr. Hornsby?”

“I was against the relationship at first, but...” He was once again interrupted.

“Thank you, I have no further questions.”

Justus rose to his feet. “Mr. Scorpio, do you think that neglect is a criminal matter worthy of investigation and punishment?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe that Dillon was neglected and abandoned?”

“Objection.”

“Your honor, this man is the police commissioner, besides you, sir, who do you think would know best the rule of law.”

“I’ll allow it.”

“Yes I believe that he was abandoned and was a victim of neglect.”

“Do you believe that he will be a responsible citizen if left to care for himself?”

“I’ve watched Dillon these last few months at Kelly’s and he’s slowly gained my trust. I think this is the best solution for him.” Georgie smiled with glee. She sat down next to him and put her hand on his to say thank you.

“I call Edward Quartermaine to the stand.”

Edward took the stand. “You were left in charge of the minor child correct?”

“Yes I was.”

“And how was he.”

“He was a challenge.” Edward laughed. “I’ll tell you that.”

“I’ll just ask one simple question. Should Dillon be left to his own devices?”

“I wish it didn’t have to be that way.”

“Just yes or no, should he?”

Edward took a breath. “Yes, I think he should.”

Dillon and Ned sat open-mouthed. Tracy turned red from anger. She whispered in her council’s ear. “My client informs me that Edward Quartermaine may be suffering from senility. I’d like his answer to be stricken from the record.”

“He’s your witness.” Judge Lindsay said flatly refusing to rule on that absurd request. Ms. Clifton took her seat.

Justus rose, “Mr. Quartermaine, can you please explain to the court why you answered that last question the way you did.”

“Last April, my wayward daughter basically dropped a boy off on our doorstep like excess luggage. We made our share of mistakes with him. I really didn’t even try to get to know him. But in these last few months that young boy has turned into a man, before my eyes. I don’t think I truly knew it until today. He’s something special. And I will do whatever I can to help him out. But I think he needs to just keep growing. And he seems to do his best growing when he’s away from his mother. I just hope it’s not too late for me to have a relationship with my grandson.”

Georgie was in tears and so was Tracy but for a different reason. Dillon didn’t know what to do. He looked at Edward trying to tell him with his eyes that it wasn’t too late. Edward left the stand and sat down on Dillon’s side of the courtroom.

Tracy rose from her seat, loosing it. “You all hate me. You all hate me so much; you’re willing to let my son suffer. You’re willing to let him struggle out on his own, just to spite me.” Her lawyer sat her down as the judge requested strongly that she stay under control. “You are not helping your case.”

“Any further witnesses?” She’d called everyone on her list and thought it wise not to call Tracy due to her outburst.”

“None, your honor.”

“I will go over the case and will contact council when I’m ready to deliver my decision.”

Dillon was hugging Ned and shaking Mac’s hand when Edward disappeared from the courtroom before Dillon could thank him.

Tracy was watching so he just smiled at Georgie as she left the room. Guy had told Georgie the plan for this evening. So he trusted she’d be there.

Luke’s Club (that evening)

Coleman followed Dillon to Luke’s club that night and informed Tracy that Dillon was there. Justus had still failed to tell Dillon that hiding his relationship was no longer necessary. So they were continuing the charade. Luke had given Dillon permission to use the club and had told him where to find a key, but Tracy saw this as her opportunity. If she could get Dillon arrested before the judge made his decision, she’d win.

She had Coleman put in a call to the police that a young man with spiky hair had just broken into Luke’s club. Brian intercepted that call and had earlier overheard Guy and Dillon discussing the plan. Still not wanting Dillon to know he’d been found out, he called Luke, who interrupted Georgie and Dillon’s date to tell them what was going on. Dillon was seriously upset. He’d decorated Georgie’s special table at Luke’s. The one with the plaque. The one she was born under and he had special plans for the evening, but that all had to change.

As the police arrived Georgie hid upstairs in Luke’s apartment. Luke told the cops he had no idea why the police had been called. Dillon was there on business. He was going to be training his bartenders and waiters to make the atmosphere more lively and then threw in, that whoever made the false 9-1-1 call should be arrested.

Luke gave Dillon the keys to his Pink Cadillac. “This is my baby. Treat her well.” Dillon had wanted tonight to be fancy.

“Thank you. This helps more than you know.”

Dillon took Georgie and they drove miles away to a lookout point.

“I love you.” They said to each other at the same time, giggling.

“No matter what happens.” He said, worried about the trial outcome despite the seemingly positive outcome of today. “I want to be with you always.”

“Me too.”

He took out another tape from his pocket, and then realized the car had an 8-track player not a cassette. “What is that?”

“It’s the translation of your messages.” Each note I gave you was a song lyric translated into a different language. All together they make up this song. “Take it home and play it. You’ll then know what each day we’ve had to keep our love secret was all about.”

“I will.”

They held each other for what seemed like hours, but was really only about half of one. He took her to meet up with Guy and Maxie who’d just seen a movie, and she went home with them. They told her all about the movie so that if Mac asked she’d have something to tell him about it.

She went upstairs and took out her notes. She took the tape and put it in her tape player.

An old sounding song began to play. She smiled as she realized what the song was all about.

(go ahead and listen to it, you can find it at this address, www.terrificmusic.com/files/music/S/secretly.ram)

Why must I meet you in a secret rendezvous?
Why must we steal away to steal a kiss or two?
Why must we wait to do the things we want to do?
Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh, why, oh why?

Wish we didn’t have to meet secretly
Wish we didn’t have to kiss secretly
Wish we didn’t have to be afraid
To show the world that we’re in love

Till we have the right to meet openly
Till we have the right to kiss openly
We’ll just have to be content to be in love secretly.

Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh, why, oh why?

Wish we didn’t have to meet secretly
Wish we didn’t have to kiss secretly
Wish we didn’t have to be afraid
To show the world that we’re in love

Till we have the right to meet openly
Till we have the right to kiss openly
We’ll just have to be content to be in love secretly.

Why must we wait until we’re dancing cheek to cheek?
To whisper all the words of love we long to speak?
Why must our love be like a game of hide-and-seek?
Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh, why, oh why?

Wish we didn’t have to meet secretly
Wish we didn’t have to kiss secretly
Wish we didn’t have to be afraid
To show the world that we’re in love?

Till we have the right to meet openly
Till we have the right to kiss openly
We’ll just have to be content to be in love secretly.

Georgie went to bed that night with a smile on her face. Mac smiled too as he heard her play that song through the walls and knew exactly what she was up to.

Dillon didn’t sleep at all. Brian and Courtney stayed up with him and they played card games until late in the night to distract him. Both of them still giving him a hard time for dumping Georgie. He couldn’t wait until this was all over so he could tell them that they’d been faking it.

Brian and Courtney gave each other knowing looks. Dillon was going to pay for leaving them out of the loop.

Dillon and Georgie’s secret was so not a secret and they still had no idea.