Title: Keeper of Our Dreams
Author: Tasha
Feedback: lilbrattygirl13@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-R
Category: WIP
Type: Alternate Reality/Drama/Romance/Mob
Summary: The sequel to Our Dream Love

Prologue

Fate stood by and gave them love sent by a dream. From the moment they awoke, it intertwined with reality and fused them together as one. Out of this gift, came another.

~*~

The early morning salty ocean breeze wound its way through the beach. The waves straight in front of her were still gentle, but the young blonde knew that it wouldn’t last. By late morning, they would be crashing into the beach, destructively.

Sitting on the deck of her house in a patio chair, dressed in track pants a light long sleeved t-shirt, Courtney Morgan could see the sun coming up, just at the point where the water met the sky. The navy blue night was slowly turning to purple as the rising orb’s rays combined with the heavens. Soon, orange would be added to these two colors when the great ball of fire rose higher to start the day.

It had become a habit for her a month after Abriane was born to come out and watch night change into morning. It wasn’t out of choice, since the baby always woke up around that time and would take an hour or so to fall asleep again. So, instead of staying in the baby’s room, her mother opted to bring her downstairs and stand in front of the patio doors, walking the floor and talking to the little girl.

Now, the child was eight months old and slept longer, but the habit still stayed with Courtney. She didn’t even need an alarm clock to wake her, the baby’s cry at the same time consistently had trained her mind and body to wake her up automatically. She would watch the sun rise completely out of the water before going back upstairs to bed now, every morning.

Although it was a very early morning ritual, the blonde enjoyed it peacefully.

Chapter One

The orange blazing sun slowly made its way above the water, into the sky, and Courtney raised her hands above her head to stretch her arm muscles. A yawn escaped her lips and she stood up. The ball of fire received one last glimpse before she turned and opened the patio door, stepping into the living room. She woke up early to watch the sun rise, but as soon as it did, she would make her way back upstairs to sleep a bit longer before Abriane was really ready to get up for the day. When she was, Jason usually had already left to the casino, where he operated the small businesses in addition to the gambling center.

He’d settled into his new job nicely, and showed no signs of restlessness for his previous employment, or any unhappiness. They’d both adjusted to life on the island quicker than had been expected, even though Courtney didn’t have too much adjusting to do. She talked to Alex at least once a day, but her friend was doing most of the work, except when it came to Sonny. While he knew the stipulations of the contracts held by Morgan-Corinthos Coffee, and also some small details of things that went on ‘behind the scenes’, he did not know all o f it. Because of that, Courtney and Sonny handled business over the phone and email, and what Alex needed to know, Courtney told him.

And, the atmosphere was just what the blonde had grown up in. The beaches, the tourists, the consistently warm weather, all of it. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it until they’d been there a month and if finally registered that it wasn’t a vacation they were taking until the baby was born. The island was where they were going to live, it was their home.

Courtney’s feet walked across the smooth, nearly glassy living room floor as she headed towards the stairs that led to the top floor of the house. She turned to Abri’s bedroom, just to check on the little girl before she went into her own.

The room was decorated with a light yellow color on the walls and a pale cream carpet. A window that looked out onto the beach and ocean was placed directly across from the door frame the young woman walked through. A white crib was placed to her left against the walls, a few toys were scattered on the floor, but most remained inside a small toy box next to the dresser and under the window. The baby, even at eight months old, revealed a fascination for objects that were yellow in color, be it a toy or a towel, and her father figured that it had something to do with the color they’d painted her room. Most of her toys were yellow and her blankets matched the walls, with green and white thrown in for the flowers on the one she usually used.

Courtney walked over to the crib, where the blankets still lay slightly disheveled, and saw that it was empty. She must have woken up after I went downstairs, she thought as she moved towards the door. She walked a few feet and came to the entrance of the room she shared with her husband, colored a very light green so the color was barely noticeable. The blankets on the bed were pulled back on her side, from when she’d gotten up nearly and hour before, but Jason’s side of it was occupied, with his daughter sound asleep on his solid chest.

The blonde grinned at the sight, even though it was fairly common, especially on weekends. Every once in awhile, Abri would wake up after her mother had gone outside and onto the patio, so Jason would hear her from the baby monitor in the room and get her. Courtney would return to the room later to find her daughter asleep on his chest or him on his side, with her snuggled up next to him and his arm protectively over her sleeping body. The first few times, the photo opportunity wasn’t missed and some of the pictures were framed around the house, one being placed on the walls of each of the bedrooms.

Now, she crept quietly over to the bed and slid in next to the two of them. The baby faced her, so she lay on her side, head propped up on her hand. She looked down at Jason’s sleeping face, his spiky brown hair sticking out all over the place now, and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. Courtney then put her head on one of the pillows as she watched the sleeping child. She’s so content, the young mother thought as she ran her hand carefully over the back of her head. The baby moved, bringing a tiny hand to her face before wriggling her face deeper into the sleeping man’s chest. A small innocent sigh escaped her lips as she settled back down into sleep as Courtney watched.

As son as she did, the blue eyed woman chuckled slightly, and felt a strong hand make itself through her hair when she did so. Jason was awake, eyes full of sleep when he looked at her in curiosity. “What’s so funny?” he whispered, voice holding evidence of sleep as well.

“Your daughter. She’s such a daddy’s girl. She seems to enjoy sleeping near you.”

The blue eyed man glanced at the baby and the contented look on her small features. He knew she liked it, the doctor at the hospital had told them just as much when she had a check up. Babies found comfort in listening to the heartbeat of an adult, their parents, and by the looks of it, she was no exception. Micheal hadn’t, either, when he was a baby. “Yeah, I think she gets it from her mother.”

His wife chuckled and put a hand to the side of his face, making him look at her before kissing him again. “Yeah, I think she does, too. Is that good or bad?”

It was Jason’s turn to kiss her. “A very good thing.”

Courtney leaned her head further into his shoulder and moved her fingers across his chest above Abri’s head and looked at the clock. Jason usually got up at eight, so he had about two and a half hours before he did so. Soon, they both found themselves drifting back to sleep.

Chapter Two

Later in the day found Courtney sitting on the couch, a phone to her ear and laptop on her knees. Her daughter sat in the play pen set up in the middle of the living room, surrounded by some of her toys and cooing at them contently. Every one in awhile, she would look up to find Courtney half of her attention on her and looking at the computer and watch her in curiosity before returning her full attention to one of the toys in the pen.

“Yeah, you’ll probably want to check their credit before you say yes or no, since they want to lease.”
“I checked on that earlier this morning and sent you that information in your email, you should have it.”
“Well, did you check…I told you I sent it. Print out a hard copy and put it in a file. I saved it to my files on this computer, so you put it in a file and save it, then both of us will have a copy.”

Abri had a stuffed animal in her small hands and she squealed in delight as she hit the button on the paw and a music box tune began to float out of the speaker inside. She turned her head back to the blonde woman watching her from the couch and giggled at her. Courtney smiled back before talking into the device against her ear.

“Yeah, that was her. She’s playing with a musical stuffed animal in the play pen.”
“Perry made me put her on the phone again when he called the other day, he usually always does, and she just cooed and laughed at him the whole time. He and Mandy are both becoming familiar to her.”
“Oh yeah, she can pick up Jason’s voice from anywhere. We could be upstairs and she’ll hear him call me and start bouncing around and squealing like she did a minute ago.”
“Jealous? No, I expected it since she’s a girl. If I had anything to be jealous of, it would be of her.”

The blonde little girl shifted her body, putting her hands and face against the tiny netting surrounding the pen and stared beyond it intently, Courtney made a face and the baby looked at her with a puzzled expression. The much older blonde chuckled and looked at the clock at the bottom of the screen of the computer. It was almost six o’clock and Jason would be home soon, so she had to get something ready to eat.

“Alex, I’ve got to go, Jason’s going to be home any minute. Print that out and check the credit report, then decide whether you want to give them a contract.”
“I’ll talk to you later.”

Courtney punched the ‘end’ button on the phone with her thumb while simultaneously shutting down the laptop computer. Abri returned her attention to her stuffed toy, moving her hands over it and pinching it’s softness in curiosity as its song continued to play. “Ooooh,” she gurgled. The blue eyed woman set the closed computer on the couch beside her and leaned forward, watching her and trying to get her to notice that someone was staring at her. It took a couple of minutes before she did, then she squealed and let go of the animal as her mother got up and lifted her out of the pen.

“Wanna watch mommy make dinner? Daddy’s going to be home soon, you like that don’t you?” She walked into the kitchen and placed Abri in the high chair in front of the counter furthest away from any of the appliances. The small blonde banged her hands on the surface of the tray in front of her, a way of asking for something to play with.

There was rarely a time when she could just sit and watch the activity around her, she nearly always had to be part of the excitement. Neither of her parents were hyper or felt a need to be the center of attention, so it was a mystery of where she’d gotten that gene. Her mother could be full of energy at times, but was mostly laid back, and Jason could also be playful but didn’t even come close to the level of his daughter’s bouncy energy.

Courtney grabbed some of the letter magnets from off of the refrigerator door and put them on the tray. Abri looked up at her and her mouth dropped in wonder at the simple toys, even though she’d played with them many times before. Her little blue eyes returned to focus on them as her hands moved the letters around pointlessly.

“So, Abri, should I just make the salad and let daddy grill the steak or should I do it myself and have it ready when he gets home?” Courtney asked, more to herself than to her daughter, as she took romaine hearts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber and an onion out of the refrigerator.

“Eeeee” was the response she got and her mother looked at her.

“Yeah, I’ll let him do it.”

Chapter Three

Jason sat in his office three floors above the main level of the casino, leaning back in his chair and looking out the large window. A glance at the clock on the wall told him that the work day was technically over, but he couldn’t go home to his wife and daughter just yet. Carlos was downstairs getting a figures report for him to look over before he left, so he had to wait for the man to return. It shouldn’t take too long, he thought to himself as he propped his feet up on the window ledge and leaned the chair back a little.

He hoped it wouldn’t, he was getting anxious to get out of the office. The sun was shining outside and he knew if he would look down from the glass pane, he would see people walking around on the beach, some in the water swimming, and others on the streets. In the distance, a few houses stood and some younger children ran around in the grass, playing a game that looked like tag. It all just fueled the eager desire to get out of the casino, particularly his office. His restlessness didn’t come from the lack of ‘danger’ in his life since he and Courtney moved to the island, but more from wanting to get out and enjoy the day while it was early in the afternoon.

Jason found it easier to work and concentrate in the morning hours or when it was pouring down rain than when it was the usual nice weather. Being outdoors appealed to him when it was favorable, and that was probably the worst thing about the job, not the lack of ‘excitement’. He got as much of that as he needed with his eight month old daughter at home.

He’d tried keeping the windows open, but all the noise from the streets below distracted him rather than helping. Carlos had walked into the office to find him leaning over the window ledge the second day of his ‘experiment’ with that idea, and suggested that he just buy a large tent and move his entire office to a spot next to the boardwalk. That had snapped him out of his reverie and on to the option of keeping the blinds closed. That failed, as his curiosity got the best of him. Jason had gone home and whined to Courtney that everyone should have to stay in their houses until he was ready to come home at the end of the day. Of course, she’d scoffed at him. The only other alternative was becoming a night owl and working when it was dark, but that was instantly shot down. Courtney would kill him, for more reasons than one.

Maybe I could just work in the morning, before eleven and then come home for the rest of the day. That would mean I’d have to get up earlier, probably three or four. Jason rolled his eyes and allowed a sigh to escape his mouth. And I’d have to go to sleep earlier or else I’d really get nothing done on little sleep. Don’t like that either. Damn, I’m just screwed, aren’t I? If we had more rain, it’d be easier to keep from being distracted, but it’s got to look like this every day. Maybe I should rent that tent and give it a try…

A light knock resounded on the door and he pushed the chair around with his foot to face the entrance to the room as Carlos walked in. He held a file folder in his hand and Jason sat up. “Here’s the report, Mr. Morgan. Have a nice day,” he said, handing his boss the yellow document.

“Thanks, you too.”

The man nodded his goodbye and walked out as Jason opened to the paper on his desk.

~*~

A half hour later, Courtney was adding cut up banana to a fruit salad when she heard the front door open and shut. Behind her, Abri looked up from the letter magnets still intact on the tray. Thirty seconds later, her father appeared and she squealed for him. The blonde laughed and Jason smiled at the baby as he threw his cell phone and car keys on the couch.

“Hey, angel, let me talk to mommy for a minute and then I’ll play with you, okay?” he told the little girl and she blinked before turning her attention back to the colorful letters, as if she completely understood what she was saying. Whether she did or not, they wouldn’t know. Jason chuckled and watched her for a second before turning back to Courtney. “It’d better rain every day for the rest of our lives or we’re going to be moving the casino and the companies to somewhere that has terrible weather every day of the year.”

He took a piece of cucumber out of the freshly made salad waiting in the bowl on the other side of the kitchen counter. She glanced up at him for a second with a confused look on her face. “Why?”

“Because all the sun is distracting when I’m working inside an office.”

“Aww, poor baby. Maybe I should come up there and make sure you get your work done. Keep you in line.”

Jason stepped closed to her. “That would be an even bigger distraction.” He cupped the side of her face in his hand before kissing her tenderly, Abri watching her parent’s interaction. She pursed her lips as an expression that could have been interpreted as a scowl came over her face.

Courtney looked in her daughter’s direction as she continued to allow him to kiss her. She laughed and pulled away from him. “What?” Jason asked, puzzled.

“I don’t think she liked that as much as we did,” she responded, popping a piece of apple in her mouth.

The brown haired man looked at Abri, who still held her scowl, and returned the facial expression. She stopped the babyish possible dirty looks and went back to the toys. “Well, she should be getting used to it, because I’m not going to stop kissing you just because she’s in the room,” he said in a teasing town, but meaning every word.

The blonde grabbed plastic covers to the bowls the two salads were in and pressed them down onto the top to cover them before putting them in the refrigerator. “So, you’re going to teach Abri how to kiss every day by watching us until she’s a teenager?”

Instead of responding to her question, he just walked over to the high chair and lifted the miniature blonde out of it. She latched onto him and immediately cooed contently at him. He placed a kiss on her forehead. “If you ever think of kissing anyone, daddy will send you to a convent. Sound good?”

She just ran a small hand over both sides of his face and giggled as her answer.

~*~

Night was starting to settle as the ocean hid half of the sun on the horizon. The air was starting to turn chilly and Courtney sat on the steps of the deck that led down to the beach as Jason was upstairs putting Abri to sleep. A light throw blanket was wrapped around her shoulders as she shifted her feet around in the sand.

Now that she’d gotten the chance to sit down and think, she couldn’t help but wonder if, after the 15 months they’d lived on the island, Jason was getting restless and wanting to go back to Port Charles and work as Sonny’s right hand. Even though he’d shown every sign of being happy here, something in the back of her mind was telling her differently since his mentioning of being easily distracted earlier.

Courtney didn’t want him to be unhappy, but this was a choice they’d made together and it wasn’t something she wanted to turn around and change now. If they did, Jason would go back to Port Charles and when something bad happened, it would show him why they’d left to raise their daughter in the first place. They’d go around in a circle.

She heard the patio screen door slid open and shut behind her as Jason came out, dressed in sweat pants and a white tank top. He set the baby monitor on the railing then lifted the blanket off her shoulders as he sat down behind her. Courtney climbed into his lap and took her blanket back to wrap around the two of them.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, slipping a hand through her hair, down her back and under her shirt. Once there, he continued to massage her back with his fingers, moving them up and down fluidly.

Courtney chuckled at the ticklish movement and leaned her forehead against his temple. “Are you happy here, Jason?” she asked softly in return.

He looked at her with a look in his eye, wondering where that had come from. She knew that he was, and had been from the beginning. “You know I am, Courtney. Why are you questioning me now?”

His fingers continued to move along her spin as her own hand ran itself along the side of his face and down to his collar bone. They watched the sun move further under the steel gray water before she responded. “Earlier, you said you were easily distracted. I just thought…”

Jason laughed softly at her. “No, I meant what I said about the noise and the beach and sun distracting me from working. It has nothing to do with being restless because I want my old job back. An office isn’t as great as a sandy beach, you can admit that.”

She grinned at him. “Yeah, I guess I can. I remember making some excuses to Perry when I first started at the company in San Francisco so I could be out of the office more.”

“Exactly. If it rained or we had a lot of snow, I wouldn’t be able to get lost looking out the window. But, I love living here. I’ve got you and Abri, we’re all safe and we’re not going to have to worry about getting shot at. This is our home now, not Port Charles and this is where we are going to stay.”

Courtney nodded in agreement, satisfied by his explanation as Jason’s lips descended to meet hers.