General Hospital Update Wednesday 1/8/03
By Danielle
Pictures by Juanita
Rick found Carly at the old Speak Easy and asked her about Sonny’s whereabouts. Rick didn’t buy the “Sonny’s busy” line and opted for a truer suggestion, asking if he was out of town. Carly refused to admit or deny the statement and told him he was preoccupied with more important business – even more important than Jason’s trial. Since Sonny was nowhere around, he asked for Carly to “act on his behalf.” “No way. Been there, done that. It was a fiasco,” she admitted. He continued to push, wanting her to influence her best friend to testify.
Courtney opened the door to her and Jason’s apartment to find the landlord. Mrs. Willis, there, offering support and a Marabelle magazine with the headline: “Married Men: The Fast Track to Nowhere. How to jump off the denial express.” Courtney thanked her for the magazine and pushed her out the door.
AJ stood outside Kelly’s with a private investigator he hired to follow Courtney. Elizabeth walked around the corner in time to overhear the information. The investigator informed AJ his estranged wife hadn’t slept at home for quite some time. AJ ordered him to find her and to follow her. Elizabeth continued with her schedule, heading inside for work. The detective went in as well, to ask about Courtney’s schedule. Elizabeth was in the middle of telling him Courtney didn’t work that day when Courtney came in. Elizabeth made a point to keep the PI there a little longer and hint to Courtney to hide. When the PI had left, Courtney returned, asking Elizabeth what was going on. Elizabeth informed her co-worker that AJ was having her followed and he was aware she wasn’t sleeping at home. “AJ wants the PI to find out where you’ve been,” Elizabeth informed. “Where have you been, by the way?” Courtney spun a story about Mike’s drinking and gambling and lied that she’d been sleeping on his couch. The lie caught up to her unknowingly though a few moments later. Georgie, Maxie and Lucas came in and asked permission to see the old Speak Easy Carly was converting into her new club. Courtney assured them it would be fine to look and let them attract attention while she went to the phone. Courtney pretended to call Mike to “check up” and made an excuse to go to him, when, in actuality, she called Jason and asked him to meet her. Elizabeth found out quickly, as the next call was Mike asking to talk to his daughter and admitting he hadn’t seen her in a while. She asked another young lady to cover for a few moments and followed Courtney to the apartment, where Rosie was waiting.
Jason walked into his apartment to find Jax’s suit jacket hanging over a chair and clothes scattered all over the floor. He picked up a piece of newspaper and carefully placed it over a pile of what looked to be black lingerie, then stepped on the newspaper and made his way into the living room. Brenda came out of the kitchen holding a tray with eggs, hollering to Jax (upstairs) that there was no champagne. When she saw Jason she stopped long enough for a fight to brew. He pointed out that he lived there and didn’t appreciate what he was seeing. “Well, so do I, thanks to you,” she muttered back with a smile, pointing out that she had had to make “beer mimosas” since there was no champagne and told him to pick some up on his next grocery run. She also pointed out that the dishes were dirty and he needed to wash them. “Do you think God created women to do the dishes?” she asked, even though she had dirtied them to begin with. Jax came down for a bit of the fireworks, right before Jason ordered him to go home. Alexis joined the crowd and the argument heated up when it came to Brenda’s testimony, everyone but Jason agreeing to have Brenda hypnotized to remember all the details of the night. “Am I the only one who believes Brenda didn’t kill Alcazar?” Jason asked. There was a silent “yes” in the room, unspoken, but still apparent, but Brenda agreed to try the treatment. So Jax, Alexis and Brenda headed to GH to meet with Cameron. Jason headed out the door to get to Courtney, but Carly headed him off. He informed her Brenda and Jax were at GH for her to get hypnotized, but that he had other things to do. She told him he was being his own worst enemy by not testifying. Jason wasn’t clueless though, understanding immediately that Rick had hit her up. He informed her that he didn’t trust Rick and he wasn’t going to. Rick showed up on cue, and Jason took a moment to put him in his place. “When I say no, I mean no. And don’t ever use Carly to get to me again,” Jason threatened, stomping out. Once alone, Rick thanked Carly for trying, but Carly admitted there was no chance Jason would testify. “He doesn’t like you. And if you haven’t noticed, Sonny doesn’t either,” she pointed out. She hated to do it, but she admitted that she doubted Sonny would accept him into his business even after all the help he had given her with the club. Rick told her to let him worry about that and asked about Brenda’s whereabouts. Carly informed him of the hypnotism and he immediately got upset, passing it off as he and Alexis not coordinating their defenses. He headed down to GH
Brenda met with Cameron, a little nervous about being under a spell. Once she relaxed though, the story came smoothly. In flashbacks we once again saw here enter Alcazar’s room, struggle with him, get a knife and return, intending to kill him. But when she left the second time she remembered that inevitable little detail that made all the difference – there was a man in the hall. Just as she recalled this, Rick arrived at the conference room, in the room behind the mirror, and pushed the button so he could hear what was going on. Though in her memory, Brenda couldn’t see his face or tell what the man was doing, the flashback wasn’t so mysterious. Rick was in the hall corner, next to a plant, with a gun.
Jason got to the apartment and before he could get the key in the door, Courtney threw it open and wrapped herself in his arms. Elizabeth witnessed the greeting, hearing Courtney tell him to “just hold me.” With a knowing look on her face, Elizabeth headed back to Kelly’s and Jason and Courtney went inside. Courtney assured him she had called because of something important and blurted it outright. “Unless we figure something out, we’re going to have to stop meeting here,” she told him. “I won’t let that happen,” he assured her.
Skye had a drink from a flask, waiting on Coleman. They began arguing about her drinking habits, but the argument turned toward the eyewitness. “Doesn’t it bother you in the least that we killed poor Ida?” Skye asked him. They began talking about the murder, discussing both AJ and Jason’s “parts” in the charade. Skye tried to convince Coleman AJ wasn’t dangerous, but the bar owner didn’t agree, pointing out the mishaps AJ had done recently. “AJ’s mind goes to very, very dark places,” Coleman pointed out, warning Skye to keep her eyes open. She confessed that AJ was the only one who accepted her for her, that he was her only friend. Coleman disagreed, pointing out their recent friendship. “Let’s see. Only when I can give you what you want like some quickie sex or access to people with some money.” He pointed out that friendship was a give and take thing – you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. She needed to be reminded of just how he had scratched her back before finally folding. She told him AJ had been good to her since day one and she couldn’t leave him hanging. “If you want to scratch his back, fine. But don’t show him yours because if you do, I guarantee he’ll rip it to shreds,” he warned her just as AJ appeared, overhearing his warning. AJ informed Coleman that they appreciated his assistance, but they could make do without him. AJ rudely pointed out that Coleman had been well compensated and told him to go away. Once he was alone with his sister he asked about what she and Coleman had discussed, getting worried that the bar owner had scared his sister into something. She admitted that Coleman didn’t think Jason had killed Ida, but wondered who would be next on the killer’s list. He informed her it didn’t matter, that Jason had far too much to worry about that to consider killing Skye.
AJ headed over to Jason’s penthouse to chat with his brother, but found Carly instead. The argument was inevitable, but short, Carly admitting Jason wasn’t home. AJ asked her to give her best buddy a message – a deal. When she refused, AJ played on her emotions, asking what it would be like for her if Jason got sent to prison. He told her he would help with Jason’s legal difficulties in exchange for his wife.
Lucky confronted Scott at the PCPD the morning following his arrest. Scott informed the young Spencer that he was free to go, but Laura (Summer) was being held for questioning. He informed Lucky that Laura had charges for prostitution pending and he was going to interrogate her. Lucky threw a fit, but it didn’t help. “My mom rejected you, my aunt blew you off; you can’t get a date because women see you for what you really are,” he taunted, believing Scotty had Laura arrested for not succumbing to his charms. Scotty told Lucky that he was like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and left him to teeter in the station house while he went in to see the young woman.
The instant Scotty stepped into the room Laura asked for a lawyer, telling him she’d been asking to speak to one all night and had been refused. Scotty apologized, but continued to ignore her request and sat her down. He asked her to tell him a story, but she explained she wasn’t very creative. So, he asked for the truth, wondering what influence she could have to get a state senator to issue her arrest.
Lucky watched from the window, wondering what was going on and working on Taggart about Scotty’s integrity. He pointed out that a prostitute was a prostitute, and that was all that mattered. He took a fax off the machine and went in after Scott. While Taggart and Scott were beyond ear reach, Lucky ducked in to chat with Summer, telling her they would go to the media, blowing Scotty’s theories sky high. She refused, admitting that she had been a hooker, but had recently gotten out of the life. She thanked him for getting her out, but he had to admit that the fax Taggart had gotten was probably the reason she was being released, not him. She apologized for making him spend the night in jail and explained her story about the Senator. She assured him it was over and he wasn’t the guy she had discussed with him the other night. “Honestly,” she said of Luke, “he’s the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time.” She told Lucky good-bye and admitted she didn’t expect him to say hi if he saw her on campus at Port Charles University.
Georgie, Maxie and Lucas enjoyed seeing the old club and were excited about its opening, wondering how they could score an invite. Georgie suggested a 16 and over night and encouraged Lucas to use his charms on his “big sister” to get her to allow it. He agreed, sure he could manage.