Here - Chapter 15
Thursday, 09-Mar-00 19:54:49

152.163.207.181 writes:
Here - Chapter 15

"What did you just say?" Bobbie asks the shell-shocked ex-agent again, this time more forcefully. When she sees the blank, stunned look in Hannah's eyes, Bobbie feels like she could jump over the counter and shake the words out of the young woman.

Finally, after looking to Tammy for support, Hannah repeats quietly, "Sonny and Carly are sleeping together."

Bobbie shakes her head slowly and glances at Tammy, whose brow is raised in amused curiosity. "That can't be, Hannah..." Bobbie objects, "There must be some sort of mistake..."

Hannah looks down at the counter sadly.

"Could you have misinterpreted?" Bobbie presses, looking for - hoping for - a chink in the story.

Hannah closes her eyes briefly, then opens them and looks directly at Bobbie, "I didn't misinterpret anything, Bobbie. Carly was naked," she spits the word out bitterly, "all wrapped up in Sonny's sheets. Then she kissed him right in front of me!"

Feeling her breathing quicken, Bobbie can not accept the words she hears. She starts to offer some sort of explanation, but Hannah puts up a hand to stop her.

"Don't bother, Bobbie." Hannah sighs, "There is no other reason she would be naked in that penthouse." Her eyes flash angrily, "I mean, it's not like they're friends or anything. They despise each other."

Bobbie is confused and frustrated now, "But you just said that they're sleeping together, Hannah!"

Hannah picks up an empty coffee mug and sits it back down on the counter, "People don't have to like each other to have sex. Animals do it all the time, don't they?"

Bobbie clenches her jaw at the remark, but manages to hold her tongue. She knows that Hannah is upset. Bobbie can see that the young woman still has feelings for the former target of her investigation.

"Are you finished interrogating me?" Hannah snaps, standing up and ready to head back to her room.

"No," a male voice says from behind her.

She turns and sees Mike studying her. "Mike..." she breathes, embarrassed, feeling her face redden.

"Are you sure about this?" Mike questions uneasily, looking at her hard through narrowed eyes.

"Yes. I'm sure." She looks from Mike to Bobbie. Both still appear unconvinced. The two parents are staring at Hannah desperately, as if hoping she will break down and admit that she is lying. Then she rolls her eyes and walks away from them all, leaving her audience standing knee-deep in the news and unwilling to help them shovel out of it.

Tammy purses her lips and stands with her arms folded in the uncomfortable silence.

Mike looks at Bobbie. He asks in disbelief, "Do you think it's true?"

Bobbie, feeling the anger bubbling up in her chest, tries to shrug offhandedly, "With Carly? Who knows...?" She tries to sound casual, but her voice cracks. She thinks of those nights - early mornings, really - when Carly would come home late from Luke's. Bobbie had wondered where her daughter was, but did not feel she had a right to say anything.

But why Sonny???

**************

"It's about time!" Bobbie says when Luke finally opens the door.

He rubs his eyes. Her banging on the door has just woken him from a sound nap he'd been taking at his desk. He is still crumpled and groggy in his clothes. "What's going on??" He squints at her, as if the daylight hurts his eyes, "Aren't you one of those people who work when the sun is up?"

"It's Carly!" Bobbie says through gritted teeth and stomps through the door to the bar.

"Yeah?" Luke yawns, not very interested, "What's she done now?"

Bobbie spins on her heel and looks her brother in the eye, "Hannah says Carly's sleeping with Sonny!"

Luke rakes a hand through his short hair and grimaces, "Oh...that..."

Bobbie's eyes widen and she hits his arm hard with her purse, "You!"

"Ow!" Luke grunts, grabbing his arm where she hit it.

She shakes her purse accusingly at him, "You knew???"

He rubs his arm and looks at his sister sheepishly, not saying anything.

"Of course you knew," she sighs and collapses onto a bar stool, "I'm always the last to know when it comes to my daughter..." She looks over her shoulder at him and asks quietly, "Why didn't you tell me???"

He slowly walks around the bar until he is stationed behind it, directly across from her. "Well..." he starts, then clears his throat and defends himself, "you know, I didn't know anything for sure, Barbara. I mean, you know, he was coming around...and I, uh, I caught them in the parking lot once..." He shrugs as his voice trails off pathetically.

"What???" Bobbie blinks, "Caught them doing what, exactly??"

He takes a deep breath, then waves it off, "Just, you know, doing the old liplock."

Bobbie shakes her head sadly, "I don't understand this, Luke...I thought she was really starting to get on her feet..."

He nods and reaches under the bar for his stash of cigars, "Yep."

She makes a face and admonishes her brother before he even brings the cigars to the bar's horizon, "Please, Luke, not so early in the morning."

He looks at her with chagrin and objects, "But this is my bar!"

"And these are my lungs!" she shoots back.

Frowning, he gives in, shoving the cigars back onto the shelf. He leans his chin on a hand, and sighs, "Caroline's a grown woman, Barbara."

"I know that," she crosses her legs.

"You can't control what she does."

She snaps, "I know that too."

"You can't control who she does."

Bobbie throws a glare toward Luke.

"I mean," he goes on, "I wish she had better taste." He shrugs, "But what can you do, right? She seems to like the 'bad boys.' Speaking of which, how's Roy??"

She clenches her jaw and stands suddenly. "You're a lot of help, Luke," she announces sarcastically, heading for the door.

"You're leaving??" he asks, surprised.

"Yes."

He looks down at his watch, then back at his sister, who is almost at the door, "You woke me up to talk to me for three minutes?? That's it?"

She tilts her head at him, still angry that he did not bother to inform her about Carly's activities, and gives him a snide half-grin, "Isn't that what sisters are for?"

As she is halfway out of the door, Luke looks down at the bar, suddenly remembers something, then calls her back, "Hey, Barbara?"

"Yeeesss?" she responds, looking back at him, still in her child-like bratty sister role; a role she has slipped in and out of with Luke for as long as she can remember. Even through the worst times, when they were adults in children's bodies.

He asks coolly, his eyes bright, "What do you know about Claude?"

She frowns, her face full of confusion at the completely unrelated topic, "Uh-not much." She shrugs, "He seems nice. He did a lot of research work at the hospital...?"

Luke lifts a brow and screws up his face in despair.

She widens her eyes at him, "Why? He's not in trouble again is he?"

He waves her away, shaking his head, "No, he's not in trouble. Good-bye, Barbara Jean."

She looks at her brother, waiting for an explanation. When there is none, she shrugs again and leaves the bar, determined to confront her daughter.

*******

Carly is studying a PCU class catalog intently. She is circling one of the accounting classes she plans on taking with a pencil when a rapid, panicked knock on her door interrupts her. She raises her head and calls out, "Yeah? Who is it?"

"Me," Bobbie says softly, trying not to let her voice betray her anxiety - or the tenor of the conversation they are about to have.

Quickly, Carly stuffs the catalog under her pillow, steps to the door and pulls it open. She smiles at Bobbie until she reads her mother's face. "What?" she says apprehensively.

Bobbie looks over her daughter's shoulder into the room, as if half-expecting to find a nude Sonny lounging on the small twin bed, "Can we talk?"

Carly knits her brow and looks down at her watch, "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Then her face clears and she becomes concerned, "Is it Lucas? Is he sick or something??"

"Lucas is fine..." Bobbie nods toward the room again, "Can I come in for a minute?"

Carly steps aside and motions Bobbie to the chair beside the bed, "This sounds serious..."

Bobbie takes a seat and, with a heavy sigh, admits, "It is serious, Carly."

Carly runs a hand through her hair nervously and sits back down on the bed, automatically feeling guilty even though she knows she has done nothing wrong.

Bobbie closes her eyes briefly, then opens them again and stares straight at Carly. She questions flatly, "Are you sleeping with Sonny?"

Carly's mouth drops open. She can not believe she has heard Bobbie correctly. She shakes her head and clears her throat, trying to gather herself. She has to find out how much Bobbie knows, then decide whether to lie, "Um...what did you say?"

Bobbie's eyes are unwavering. She repeats the question, although she can tell by Carly's initial reaction what the answer is, "Are you sleeping with Sonny?"

Carly lets out a disbelieving scoff, "Where did you hear that?"

"It's a yes-or-no question, Carly," Bobbie says in exasperation.

Resigned, Carly raises her chin in defiance, ready for the onslaught, "So what if I am?"

Bobbie lets out a breath, the exiting air literally deflating her shoulders and the last crumb of denial she'd been hanging on to for dear life. She shakes her head sadly, muttering under her breath, "Oh, Carly..."

Carly rolls her eyes and flops back onto her bed, propping herself up by her elbows.

Bobbie tilts her head slightly, "Why, Carly?"

Carly does not answer, her mouth is set in a bemused, annoyed grin.

Narrowing her eyes, Bobbie leans toward her daughter, "Are you trying to get back at Jason...?"

Carly sits up suddenly, angrily, nearly knocking Bobbie backward, "Jason has nothing to do with this."

Bobbie studies her carefully for a moment. She utters softly, "I'm sorry, Carly, but that's hard to believe."

Carly closes her eyes and groans a small laugh, "Well, it's the truth."

Bobbie waits a beat, then persists, "Are you still angry at Jason for leaving??"

Frustrated, Carly finally bursts, "Why do you think Jason left in the first place???"

Bobbie's face falls as Carly's words sink in. Her entire countenance slides into sad realization. She does not say a word, but her eyes are asking the question for her. How could you do something like that to Jason???

Carly looks down at her hands, attempting to avoid her mother's probing eyes. Carly is afraid she will break down if she reads Bobbie's thoughts too closely, and she has not been upset about Jason's absence for quite some time.

She does not want to go back that painful place again.

"Do you understand," Bobbie begins in earnest, "that I'm only asking you about this because I care about you?"

Carly breathes deeply through her nostrils.

Bobbie searches her daughter's face, "Do you understand that this time without Michael is a blessing in disguise?"

Carly is incredulous, "What?" Then she goes on the attack, "Just like your time without me was a 'blessing??'"

Bobbie stays calm in the face of Carly's wrath, "In a way, yes." She tries to reach a place inside of her daughter that she is not sure exists just yet. She says quietly, "It was a blessing for you to be raised by a good, honest, hardworking woman like Virginia Benson instead of being on the streets with me when I turned tricks."

Carly looks away, her face flushing.

Bobbie continues in a frank manner, "It was a blessing that I was able to pull myself out of that nightmare. I'm not sure I would have been able to do that if I'd had you with me."

Carly feels her eyes stinging.

"Carly," Bobbie places a hand on Carly's leg, "this is a time for you to decide what you want for yourself. A time when you can decide what you want to make out of your life." Bobbie finishes in a soft tone, "I just don't want you replacing Jason with Sonny!"

Carly stares at Bobbie for a second, then pops up angrily from the bed, a sad smile on her face. "First of all," she shakes a finger at Bobbie, "who I sleep with is none of your business. Secondly, I could never replace what Jason was in my life. Especially not with Sonny!" She shakes her head and rolls her eyes in disbelief at the notion, "God..."

Remaining outwardly calm, Bobbie replies, "Remember when you got out of Ferncliff?"

Carly blinks, "Of course I do."

"Do you remember when I asked you what your plan was for your life?"

Carly bites her lip. She remembers the conversation all too well. But now, somehow, the response she gave then seems completely foolish.

Bobbie continues, "You told me you wanted Jason. That was your plan A, plan B...that was your only plan."

Carly remains silent. Looking back on that period of time now, she can not believe how much of herself she had wrapped up in Jason. She blinks back tears, not of sadness, but of shame.

"And now..." Bobbie starts slowly, then rushes to the end of her thought, "And now is Sonny your plan?? Are you relying on Sonny now?"

Carly's eyes flash at her mother. "What??"

Bobbie presses her mouth into a thin line and looks at Carly reproachfully.

"Sonny is not even," Carly lets out a tired breath, unsure how to explain what is happening between them. She barely understands this 'thing' between her and Sonny. She starts again, "He's not even, like, a factor in my life!"

Bobbie raises a cynical brow, "Not a factor? You're sleeping with him, Carly!"

"So what??" Carly counters quickly. "I don't even think about Sonny when I'm not with him. He's just a - I don't know - he's just there..."

The explanation is unsatisfactory and Carly knows it. She keeps on talking, even though she knows she is making no sense, "I mean, you know, we just sleep together once in a while. It's not even, like, a steady thing."

Bobbie blinks, listening to her daughter and trying hard to comprehend. She shakes her head and says with a warning in her voice, "Carly..."

She cuts Bobbie off with a flat, steely glare and an even edge in her tone, "The only man I'm relying on is Luke. And that's because he signs my paychecks! I have my priorities in order: Michael, Michael, and Michael."

When she notes Bobbie's lingering doubt, Carly snaps, "Just think of Sonny as a human vibrator. Does that work for you?"

"Carly!" Bobbie admonishes. Then she is quiet for a moment, contemplating how to say what she wants to say without angering or offending the young woman in front of her. Finally, she settles for, "I just want you to get your life together, Carly. That's all."

"And that's what I'm trying to do, Bobbie," Carly uses her mother's name, knowing it will cut Bobbie like a knife. Then she softens, "Can't you just trust me? Trust that I'm going to try to do the right thing?"

Bobbie almost laughs, but stops herself. Trust you?

Carly reads Bobbie's face and quickly becomes angry again, "Just forget it. You don't have to understand what I'm doing. I'm an adult, Bobbie. You can't keep treating me like some sort of out-of-control teenager!"

Bobbie's nerves are taut, "Then stop acting like an out-of-control teenager!"

Carly narrows her eyes at Bobbie and shakes her head slowly, "Figures. As always, you're against me..."

Bobbie sighs helplessly, "I'm not against you, Carly. I'm never against you."

Realizing that they are at an impasse, Bobbie decides that she has done her best to dissuade Carly from jumping into another ill-advised relationship. She feels that there is nothing left for her to do but leave it be. Especially if she wants Carly to be able to come to her when it all falls apart.

And, as much as it hurts her to feel this way, Bobbie is certain that it will fall apart.

***** to be continued ******