Chapter Fourteen

Courtney was rudely awakened the next morning by the phone ringing on the stand right next to her head. After realizing slowly that the offending noise was not just a dream, she reached for it.

"Hello," she mumbled into the receiver, still hidden under the layers of blankets.

"Hey, it's me. I was wondering if you could work on some papers I need done? I'm going to be busy all day, and I'd rather have them done as soon as possible."

Sonny.

At times like this she wanted to kill him.

"What time is it?" She was too lazy to pull down a small piece of blanket from her head so she could glance at the clock for herself. He'd called her this early and woken her up, was now asking her to do paperwork she told him she wouldn't be doing when she'd come back, so he could at least allow her the small pleasure of being lazy for an instant and tell her what time it was.

"Seven thirty."

"You woke me up at seven thirty so you could ask me to do some paperwork? Are you nuts?"

"What? I've been up for an hour."

"That answers my question."

"When did you become so lazy?"

Courtney yawned loudly before responding to his inquiry. "I'm recovering from major injuries and my doctor-who-doesn't-really-exist said I shouldn't be disturbed. He prescribed a lot of sleep and no interuptions from certain brothers."

On the other end of the phone, Sonny raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Okay...so you'll help me out?"

Silence.

"Courtney? Come on, I've got a meeting I've got to be at soon."

She groaned and buried her head into her pillow. She mumbled something into it, which Sonny couldn't understand. He checked his watch; he had five minutes before he had to leave, or he'd be late. Jason came into the living room, a cup of coffee in his hand. He saw Sonny leaning against the desk, holding the phone to his ear. He heard the person on the other end say something, although he couldn't hear what they said specifically or identify who it was by the tone of their voice.

"So, you want me to drop them off there?" Sonny responded to the person's voice. "You can't come here?"

"Sonny, we've got to go." Jason told him, taking another sip from the mug he was holding. He knew Sonny knew this, but when he was on the phone, sometimes it could be for awhile.

On the other side of the phone and a couple of miles away, Courtney froze in her spot as she was trying to sit up. "Was that Jason?"

Her older brother looked up at his best friend when he heard her question. He cleared his voice flightly and said, "Yeah, it was."

Courtney pursed her lips. She hadn't seen him yet, but she'd still heard his voice, even though it was an accident. Just by that short voice 'sample,' she could tell that he hadn't changed much. His voice sounded just like it had two years ago; comforting, low, firm. She was silent for a few moments before Sonny spoke again. "I'll drop the papers off on the way to the meeting."

Somehow, she was bale to get her tongue unstuck from the roof of her mouth, and told him, "Okay."

~*~

Sonny hadn't told him where they had to stop before going to the meeting, but Jason assumed that it had to do with whoever he'd been on the phone with earlier. Sonny looked out the window and just as the car theyw ere in came to a stop in front of their first destination, the cell phone in his pocket rang. The black haired man reached for it and took it out. "Corinthos."

The person on the other end talked quickly, and Sonny realized that this could take awhile. As the associate talked in his ear, SOnny took out the pappers he needed Courtney to do for him, he was surprised she'd agreed, since she told him she wouldn't work, and handed them to Jason. "You'll know which apartment to drop it off at."

Jason just nodded and opened the door. The sun was brighter now that he was out of the darkly tinted car, and he looked up at the building in front of him, recognizing it instantly. He shut the door behind him, but didn't move for a couple seconds. It was the building Courtney's loft was housed in. Damn it, he though. Sonny'd either set him up to do this on purpose or just wasn't thinking with that phone attached to his ear, and Jason didn't know which. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself, he started towards the front door.

It only took a minute or two to reach the door of the loft. He stopped just outside, and he could hear her movign around inside. He tried to imagine what she was doing by the sounds, and he could see her by the couch folding a blanket or sheet, and rearranging things. He heard the couch scratch against the floor, and then again.

~*~

She'd heard his voice when he was at Sonny's and as far as she knew, he was going to be right downstairs when Sonny brought whatever paperwork he wanted done up. So close, she thought as she pushed the couch closer to its new position in the living room. She'd been meaning to do this eventually, and what better time to do it than now? Courtney gave the couch one final push to straighten it out, and there was a knock on the door.

Sonny. That mean if shelooked out of her windows, she'd see the car, and Jason would be right there, inside one of them. Would he know if she looked down at him? Would he be looking up at her at the same time?

She shook the tought away, and moved towards the door. "You know, there are other things I'd like to be doing this early in the morning. It's a very peaceful activity. You should try it," she said loudly, so he'd be able to hear her through the closed door. She grabbed the handle on it. "It's called sleeping!" she finished her sentence just as she opened the door, and Courtney didn't say anything else. She didn't need to.

Chapter Fifteen

Courtney's eyes narrowed curiously as she stepped out of the door way to the loft and into the empty hall. There was nobody there, and as she stepped forward, paper crinkled softly. Looking down, she saw that it was a folder. She bent down to pick it up before she opened it, and when she did, she saw that it was full of papers, the ones taht Sonny had asked her to work on. Her eyesbrows raised in amusement.

Knock on my door and then leave the folder there without waiting for me to get them. Nice, Sonny, she thought as she rolled her eyes. One of these days... Courtney turned to go back inside when she heard feet as they went down the stairs, then stopped. She took a step and seconds later, it sounded as if someone was rushing down the stairs, now. Or maybe falling. "Okay..." Courtney said quietly as she tossed another glance towards the stairwell.

~*~

Sonny's hand was on Jason's arm, pulling him away from Courtney's loft and down the stairs partway. He stopped and listened to the door open, and they waited. He could hear her footsteps and movements, and when he thought she was inside, he tugged on Jason's sleeve, pulling him as he walked down the stairs. Or, rather, attempted to. Sonny was trying to get out of the building so quickly that he tripped over his own feet and fell, pulling Jason down with him. Btoh men rolled the rest of the way down the stairs. Jason felt the edge of every stair as it stabbed his sides and back when he rolled. The hallway was turning, and he wanted to close his eyes to keep it from doing so, bt he couldn't. He watched as Sonny hit his head on the last stair and followed suit, unwillingly.

"Ahh," Sonny grimaced momentalrily before jumping to his feet and hitting Jason on the shoulder. "Get up, let's go"

The brown haired hitman looked up at his friend,c onfused. He was hit more often than Sonny was, so he was used to it, but he'd gotten off the floor much quicker than Jason could. He grimaced as he pulled himself to his feet and rotated his shoulders as he walked, flinching in slight pain, He could feel the bruises already forming, and he was pretty sure they'd be nasty ones. Sonny opened the door to the car and slid in, Jason close behind. Jason slammed the door shut and turned to the dark haired man next to him, who was doing his best to look completely inconspiculous, despite having pretty much thrown himself and the man next to him down the stairs of the building his sister lived in.

Jason ran a hand over his hair, the last remnants of gel falling to the seat. "What the hell was that about?"

Sonny blinked. "What?"

"What do you mean, 'what?' We just fell down a stairwell thanks to you!"

"Oh, that," Sonny waved it off causually, hoping that it wuldn't seem too serious. "I was in a hurry and you were taking too long."

~*~

*Sonny's meeting with the five families*

Sonny sat in one of the steel chairs aorund the table in the room of the warehouse. Jason stood behind him, barely more than an observer in these meetings, as his friend and boss talked. As the conversation came to ca close, Jason noticed the sudden tension in the air. Sonny must have as well, since he stared at Taglioti.

"If there's something else here, go ahead," Sonny said.

Samm Taglioti coughed, then leaned back in his matching steel chair. "We've heard that your sister is back from her sabattical. How did she enjoy Greece?"

He should have seen this coming sometimes. Of course the five families would be aware that Courtney had made her way back to Port Charles, the mob families could find out anything they wanted. Anything.

Sonny nodded. "She enjoyed it alright." A lightbulb went off in his head at that moment. They'd heard about Greece, what happened there.

They knew that his sister had been betrayed.

"Will she be working with you again?" Taglioti inquired. He was feeling around the obvious wound, betrayal was a deep cut for those who were involved in this business, to determine if there was still a weakness there. If Corinthos' sister could be tricked once, there was the possiblility it could happen again.

Chapter Sixteen

Sonny licked his bottom lip contemplatively. "No, she is not." He waited a few seconds before looking directly at Taglioti. "Right now, she's just enjoying being back home."

Taglioti shifted in his seat for a moment. "Well, this could be a problem. With certain events that have taken place recently, people are going to wonder about your sister's loyalty." The main paused, watching Corinthos' face for a change. It didn't. "As if her leaving didn't cause enough suspicion."

Jason's face remained unchanged, but questions were rolling through his mind. He knew there had been some unrest when the other families found that Courtney would be leaving the country to work for Sonny in Greece, but it was quickly put to rest. But what recent events could stir up trouble again? He eyed his boss, and saw that the man looked unfazed and confident.

"There's no reason to question my sister's loyalty. She's done nothing, and would never do anything, to betray me or this business and she hasn't given anyone a reason to think otherwise. I told you this two years ago."

"Things have changed since then," Taglioti pressed.

"Nothing has changed since then!" Sonny bellowed, startling some of the other men in the room. "Courtney is loyal, she has not and will not betray me."

The man sitting across the table smirked. "Okay, Mr. Corinthos. But if I were you, I'd keep an eye out. It wouldn't be the first time you've been tricked by someone you love, now would it?"

~*~

Carly looked around the penthouse for an order form for glasses she needed for the club. Courtney had left minutes before, and she'd dropped off papers that were supposed to be Sonny's.

"Damn it, where did I put that form?" she spoke aloud, and she bent down to look under the couch. She was supposed to meet Courtney at the restaurant of the Port Charles Hotel for dinner before heading to The Cellar afterwards, and she wanted to take the form with her instead of coming all the way back for it. Sonny was supposed to be going, too, and his wife doubted he'd want to come all the way back when they could just go straight to the club.

She walked over to Sonny's desk, just to make sure that she hadn't put them on it. No, there was nothing there, with the exception of the paperwork Courtney had put there. "Could they be upstairs?" Carly asked herself, and headed towards the stairs.

A second before she disappeared into the upstairs bedroom, her husband and best friend walked in downstairs. Sonny went straight to the bar and poured himself a drink. He downed it in one gulp as Jason watched, perplexed by the events that had taken place so far. Sonny was acting strange, and had been ever since Courtney had come back home. Carly was, too. She was keeping something from him, he could tell from the other night. He was completely clueless, and that wasn't a feeling he enjoyed.

He watched as Sonny poured another drink, his third by now. "So, what was that about," he asked.

Sonny's glass stopped at his lips momentarily, and it took a moment before he thought better of setting it down, because he was swallowing the amber liquid a second later. He winced and set the glass on the bar before walking towards his desk. "What was what about?"

Jason looked at him incredulously. What else could he possibly be asking about? He thought it was obvious. "That meeting, Sonny, why is Taglioti interested in Courtney being back and why the hell were you talking around the subject?" Sonny busied himself with the papers on the desk. He picked one up and pretended to be reading it before putting it in one of the binders.

"That's the wrong binder, those go in the red one," Jason corrected, and Sonny removed it, putting it in the other.

"I never was good at keeping the files straight," he said, taking the binders, folders and loose papers and stacking them up in the middle of the desk.

"he said that something's changed."

"And since when do you start listening to what Taglioti says, Jason? I told him that nothing changed and that is what you need to pay attention to." He walked back to the bar. He didn't want to talk about this right now, he didn't want to answer Jason's prying questions, his sister would kill him if he did. Damn Taglioti, Sonny should have known that Courtney would have been brought up, especially since it would just take someone with common sense to know that the five families would know and take advantage of it. Wouldn't he if the situations were reversed? Of course he would, so why should he expect Taglioti to do otherwise?

"Why would they bring up Courtney, then, Sonny? I'm not blind, I know you and Carly-"

"Carly what?" Carly stood at the top of the stairs, a white paper in her hands. She started down, a puzzled and curious expression set on her face. "What were you saying about me?"

Jason opened his mouth to answer, but Sonny cut him off. "Nothing," He looked at his friend, silently trying to tell him to drop the subject. Now.

"Don't lie to her," Jason said. "I know the two of ou are hiding something and I want to know what the hell it is and what it has to do with Courtney."

"I don't know what you're talking about. What am I supposed to be hiding that has to do with Courtney?" Carly didn't lie very well, especially to Jason'f face.

"Carly, you're a worse liar than Sonny, don't try it."

Carly stopped talking when she looked at Sonny, he was glaring at her. She glaced back at Jason. "Well, then, I'm just going to go and let you two deal with it."

Sonny nodded, obviously thinking that this was a good idea, and relief washed over his face. Carly was an egg Jason knew how to crack perfectly, and Sonny didn't need that. Jason watched her grab her pure and leave, furious.

"There's nothing going on here," Sonny said, going for another drink. He'd be drunk in no time if he kept this up, which didn't sound so bad at the moment.

Jason stepped over to the bar, standing right across from him now, and took the glass before the dark man could pour himself a fourth drink. "I don't like secrets, especially now when it seems everyone knows and they're purposely keeping it from me. I'll find out what it is."

He strode to the door and slammed it as he left. He hadn't been this angry in a long time. Inside, Sonny downed another glass of alcohol, cursing Jasper Jacks.