Chapter 56
A little clarification, this story is taking place a little bit in the future. Also, I said at the very beginning that Juan didn’t exist, but I changed my mind and mentioned him here. Hey, if TPTB can change history, why can’t I? :-)
Everyone ate in relative silence for a while, every now and then complimenting the cooks. For the most part, it was just like any other family gathering, that is, until Luke decided to stir things up a bit.
“So, partner, how’s the coffee business going?” he asked with a grin.
Mac snorted in disgust. “Coffee busines my a....”
“Mac,” Felicia warned, cutting him off.
“Oh, come on Felicia! We all know that his ‘coffee business’ is nothing but a front.”
“Here we go,” Lucky muttered, leaning back in his chair to watch the fireworks. Liz looked at him worriedly, wondering what was about to happen.
“I thought after all the times you and Taggert have checked my books and raided the place, by now you would be more willing to accept that I’m legit!” Sonny said, his face getting red.
“Legit?” Mac asked increduclously. “You wouldn’t know legit if it shot you point-blank!”
“Oh, nice metaphor there, Mac,” Carly said, rolling her eyes.
“Stay out of this, Carly,” Sonny warned, glaring at her.
She frowned at him. “Hey, in case you didn’t notice, I’m on your side here!”
“Oh, Carly, we all know that the only person’s side you’re ever on is your own!” Tony piped up from the other end of the table.
“No one asked your opinion, Tony,” Jason growled, glancing back to make sure Michael wasn’t hearing all of this. The kids were too busy playing with their food to notice.
“Yeah, check on Michael, I might have kidnapped him again when you weren’t looking. God, am I ever going to get away from that mistake?” Tony whined.
“Not with me, you won’t,” Jason answered.
“Can we just drop this, please?” Carly asked, not wanting to upset Michael. “It’s in the past, it’s over, everyone’s fine, so forget about it!”
Tony held up his hand. “No, we’re not all fine. Thanks to that thug you call a husband, I can’t perform surgery anymore! So, no, I don’t think I can drop it!”
“Tony, please let it go for now. It’s Thanksgiving, and I invited you here for Lucas, not to fight with my daughter!” Bobbie said, shooting him a look of warning. He sighed and sat back, not wanting to jeopardize the shaky ground he had gained with his ex-wife.
Liz looked at Lucky and raised an eyebrow. So this was what he meant? He just grinned at her and shrugged. “It’ll get better, I promise,” he whispered with a laugh.
As if on cue, Michael started to fuss. Jason jumped up from the table and went over to see what was wrong. Unable to pass up such a golden opportunity, Tony muttered, “there goes the Father of the Year!” Bobbie glared at him again.
“For your information, my brother is a wonderful father!” Emily said, not able to keep it in any longer. She hated the way Tony treated him.
“Jason isn’t capable of being a wonderful father. That accident left him unable to show any emotion whatsoever, he can’t possibly love anyone, especially a child!” Tony responded, launching into his usual speech.
She rolled her eyes. “That’s such a lie! He loves that little boy more than anything. He loves me, he loves Carly, and he loved Robin!”
“Uh-oh,” Lucky muttered. “Now it’s going to get ugly!”
“Why?” Liz whispered. “Who’s Robin?”
“Shh, just listen. You’ll see.”
“You just HAD to bring up that little...” Carly started, glaring at Emily.
“Watch it there, that’s my niece you’re about to insult!” Mac said before she could finish her statement.
“Yeah, why do care about her anyway? You’ve got Jason, you won,” Sonny said, grinning. He loved to see her squirm.
“Look, Corinthos, I don’t need you to defend Robin’s honor here,” Mac said. “If you hadn’t drug Jason into your little world, she wouldn’t have come so close to dying so many times!”
“Yeah, well, that’s what Sonny does best. He gets innocent people killed!” Jax said. He had been trying to keep out of the arguement, but just couldn’t stay quiet any more. Chloe looked at him, hoping he wasn’t going to start yelling as well.
“Or shot...” Nikolas muttered, rubbing his neck unconsciously. Emily looked at him with concern, but kept her mouth shut. She was torn between defending her brother and Sonny, or sticking up for her boyfriend.
“Gee, it didn’t take long for you guys to start the Sonny-bashing, did it?” Mike asked in annoyance, trying to help out his son.
“Mike, stay out of this. It’s not your fight. I can take care of myself!” Sonny yelled. Mike held up his hands in surrender and sat back quietly.
“Sure, you can take care of yourself just fine, but God help those around you!” Jax said. Mac murmered in agreement, ignoring the glare he was receiving from his wife. “Should I make a list? Let’s see, your pregnant wife died from a car bomb meant for you, Robin almost died in a car bomb meant for Jason, and was shot at in her own home, Nikolas was shot in the throat when a bullet missed Jason, Jason’s been shot, Juan was beaten nearly to death...”
Emily tensed up at the mention of Juan. She had become pretty close to him while he was in the hospital, but his father brought him back to Puerto Rico as soon as he was released, and she hadn’t heard from him since. She glanced at Nikolas, hoping he hadn’t noticed, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw he was still focused on Jax.
Jax continued, “Mac was shot and almost died from a bullet meant for Robin, which was meant as revenge against Jason, Hannah was in that suspicious speed boat accident...did they ever find her head? Oh yes, your warehouse was torched...”
“That was AJ, that had nothing to do with Sonny,” Carly broke in, smiling at the mention of Hannah’s death.
“Fine, but it had to do with Jason, who we all know is just Sonny’s right arm, so in the end, everything leads to Sonny. Oh, and who could forget when Brenda was shot in the shower, in Sonny’s penthouse?”
“Don’t get me started on Brenda...” Sonny growled. “If it wasn’t for you, she might be alive today!”
“I had nothing to do with her car going over that cliff and you know it! If you hadn’t left her on your wedding day, she wouldn’t have had that breakdown. How could you claim to love her, then leave her like that?”
“I did it to protect her, but now I know that it was you she needed protection from!” Sonny retorted defensively.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Laura shouted, standing up and glaring at everyone. “This is Thanksgiving! Can we please put aside our petty differences for one day and have a peaceful dinner? You’re all here because you are all our good friends. Now if you can’t get along then I will have to ask some of you to leave, and I don’t want to have to do that!”
Everyone became quiet and went back to their food, glancing around at each other guiltily like a bunch of schoolchildren who had just been scolded by the teacher.
Luke chuckled at the other end of the table. “My wife, gotta love her!” She glared at him in response, still angry with him for starting the whole thing.
A few minutes later, Laura turned to Nikolas, trying to break the silence. “Where is your father spending the holiday?”
Nikolas smiled and shook his head. “He doesn’t believe in Thanksgiving. He says it’s just another Thursday to him.”
“Well, he still could have come with you for dinner.”
“What?” Luke said, glaring at his wife. “Oh no, one Cassidine is enough in this house. There’s no way that blood-sucker would have been allowed through that door!”
Lucky chuckled and leaned in to a horrified Liz. “Here comes Round Two.”
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