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Cassadine TNG 9 It’s a Stefan Chapter.

Monday– fly back to LA out of Logan

Mouse was able to change our flight to leaving late Sunday night. It’s been great seeing Twink and Boston but I’m ready to get back to LA and get back to work. Even if I talk to her everyday, I miss Baba, Frankie does too. He’s been hanging with me because of the basketball games and stuff but Baba has always been his best girl even if he complains about her always trying to feed him.
It’s taken me awhile to sort out how I felt about the Marital Arts thing we went to in Boston. I’ve seen people fight before. I’ve seen people get cut or bashed over their head. Even saw a dead body once when I was living on the street. I get it. It’s a violent world. Predator and Prey. But it just seemed to never stop in that ring... it seemed to go on for so long and it was right there, right in front of me. I’m dressed up like I’m heading out to a fancy dress ball with the king of Siam while guys are beating the **** out of each other and they have guys hired to scrub the blood off the mats. It was one night of my life I’ll never get back. And it’s an experience I guess. I learned something. Still kind of figuring out what... other than unless it’s part of a character in a really great part... I’m not doing that again.

Up in Port Charles, New York, Stefan reads the schedule commentary and frowns. Picking up the phone he dials the private line of Cameron Lewis. The two men have been involved in each other’s lives for decades now tied together first by Tasha and now by Faith. “Cameron, Am I interrupting.”

“Sunday night medical journal reading, just keeping current. What’s up?” Dr Cam cuts straight to the chase. He might have been associating with Stefan Cassadine for over twenty years but the man never called him unless there was an issue.

“You have access to Faith’s schedule?”

“Gimme a second.” Cameron goes over to his desk and opens up the computer clicking on favorites. Fancy might have him on her speeddial as Dr Cam but she is also his granddaughter thanks to Zander’s marriage to Tasha. “Ah, she’s not a fan of blood sports. I’m fine with that. I’m not either.”

“A dead body.” Stefan comments. He is actually relieved by the silence on the other end of the line. It means to him that Faith has already discussed this with Cameron.

Cameron seems to change the subject. “Fancy is a very pragmatic girl and weighs her decisions carefully. That hasn’t changed over the course of the last two years, your counsel has probably done more to reinforce that style of thinking rather than mitigate it.”

“And?” Stefan definitely doesn’t see the problem so far. He’s wishing Nikolas and Kristina were more so. Tasha definitely. His sister retained her childish impulsive behaviors after the integration. The term loose cannon seems to apply quite often. Luckily that is her husband’s problem.

“Fancy has never made any bones about the decisions she’s made whether it was moving in with Kenny Lorie or doing the movie. She’s always been very skilled at identifying the frying pan and the fire.”

Stefan reads easily between the lines. The pervert and his filthy film had been a better choice than what Fancy had been exposed to at the time. “It’s been one of the reasons why you claim her so well adjusted.”

“She doesn’t regret the decisions she’d made. And she makes them rather than letting others make the decisions. Fancy is not, and never intends to be a victim. Would I be more comfortable if her choices were what was she was going to wear to the movies on Friday night? Yeah. The entry shows she is not only not a fan of bloodsports but also it shows she has a problem with the dichotomy between getting dressed up and watch people beat each other up. If she has to ever play a period piece set in the Roman empire... I’m sure she’ll be able to draw on this experience.”

“And your recommendation as far as Faith being out in Los Angeles?”

“Mrs Koslov is a good chaperone.” Cameron pauses. “She cares about Fancy, gives good advice.”

“However?”

“It’s admirable. It’s a good thing, however– Fancy is protective of Baba– not vice versa. I don’t believe she is in any immediate physical danger and Frankie is a steady guy... again not someone who is going to protect Fancy from the hard choices.”

“We already know she can make the hard choices.”

“Yes,” Cameron agrees. “But should she? The people who really put their foot down with Fancy are 3000 miles away: Kristina, Mouse and you. Bruno could but he won’t because of the video. Dillon has never and he’s the wrong age bracket for Fancy to be receptive to his hands on counsel.”

Stefan winces but he sees the problem. “And if I decided to go to Los Angeles?”

“You?! Move to LA?” Cameron laughs. “Yeah, that would work.”

Sunday is actually Mona’s day off so Edwards’ late Sunday night call isn’t going to get her into any trouble. “Where are you?”

“Plane flying back to LA.” Edwards says quietly. There are a lot of guys trying to get some shut eye on the flight. “We need to talk.”

“What about, Handsome?”

“You’ve really been setting me up right every time I call. Good Food– ways for me to blow off steam without getting in trouble with the Coach. I haven’t had to worry about getting jumped figuratively or literally.”

“Got to keep you in good shape for the next time you’re in The City.”

“Yeah, about that. What would you think about moving to LA?”

“Excuse me?! You’re hot in the sack, sunshine, but we barely know each other.”

“It wouldn’t be that big of a risk for you really. CSMC has clubs out here too.” Edwards starts talking fast. “Besides I think you should open your own business. Doing what you do for me the dinners and stuff but charging.”

“I think there are laws about charging for the and stuff.” Mona laughs. “You’re serious?!”

“Mona, you got us tickets to the biggest match outside of a NBA game. It’s been sold out for months. You’ve gotten us into the best restaurants and the charity gig talking to the kids was just the right thing at the right time. The only reason why Ingram is still alive is because of that acupuncture guy you found in Chicago. I thought coach was going to be pop an aneurism or something. Between the acupuncture and the massage he went from ready to tear the guy’s head off to asleep.” Edwards is still bewildered by that but everyone had chipped in to tip the masseuse big time when he had come tiptoeing out of the hotel room– seriously thought the coach was going to have a stroke or something. “I’m serious... like a personal assistant or something. I know you could run it anywhere but you’d already have a clientele here.”

“You really think it would work?” Mona asks hesitantly.

“You don’t know how much it would work. It’s nuts here okay? We’re making more money than we ever have. Everybody wants something. Has their hands out or whatever. And yeah, I freaked up there in Toronto when I realized I’d given you my hotel room number and stuff and who the hell was going to show up. You knew what I needed and sent Joanie. You’d never met her but you did the research and within 90 minutes I’m getting a taste of normal. I’m out on the road. It’s hotels and room service or really stupid behavior. There is nothing normal about it.”

“You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“You’ll think about it then?”

“Yeah. I will.”

“That’s all I’m asking... for now.”

“Get some sleep, Handsome. I head out to LA and you’re going to need to be rested.”

Edwards quietly laughs and says good night disconnecting the call.

“She going to go for it?” Upton asks.

“I think so. I just don’t know if she’ll come out to LA.” Edwards turns out the light over his seat, a nonverbal way of saying he’s done talking.

Mona bites her lip and shakes her head. She picks up her phone and then puts it down again. “Ah **** it.” She picks up the phone and calls the CSMC hotline. She leaves a message and has a call back within about half an hour. It would have been sooner she knows but she’d flat out said it wasn’t an emergency, that she needed some business advice.

“Okay, Mona in The City, Why are you calling me for advice rather than writing to Dear Abby.” Mouse starts the call.

“I work the club where those two laker players came in and offered tickets to Fancy... you know for Philly?”

Mouse already has her whole employment history on the screen in front of him. “It was a good game. Fancy had a good time.”

“Well you know me and that forward Edwards? Well he’s been calling.”

“Stalking?” Mouse says with a hard tone.

“Oh no. He’s cool. Really cool. Yeah, I did him but that isn’t what this about.”

“I’m relieved. Business?”

“He called me from Toronto you know the next stop. He must have been homesick or something and I had told him about the website... you know the one with all the info on the CSMC towns. I set him up with a good dinner. Had Joanie take it to him you know the massage therapist who works at the club up there? She got him straightened out. He slept like a baby and had a great game the next day.”

“Fast forward to Chicago.”

“Yeah, dinner at Marta’s place... some things that were recommended on the Chicago blog. This time it wasn’t just him. It was Edwards and his coach and a couple of other guys.”

“Fast forward to Boston.”

“I lined him up at the Greek Place. I know it’s not CSMC but I figured if Anders even let it in the waterfront building it had to be good. Set him and a couple of the guys up with a charity gig at Children’s Hospital... you know the place where Chandy’s cousin is doing his doctor school thing? And then I got them tickets for the Mixed Martial Arts fight. I’m not fronting them anything. They’re only going to CSMC approved stuff. They’re paying full price, hell a premium for those tickets.”

“That they couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.” Mouse counters.

“Edwards calls me tonight and he says I should move out to LA and do it right like a business. And I wouldn’t know how, how much to charge, if it was even possible. I mean I’m just reading the site you know? I’m telling Edwards what the best is based on the CSMC people’s comments. And he already knows I can’t do it always... like we don’t have people in Philly.”

“You wouldn’t have to move to LA. You could do it anywhere, you know that right?”

“Is it a business? I mean can I quit my day job for this?”

It’s late when Frankie and Fancy get back to the LA house but the light is on and Baba is up. Fancy comes over and gives her a hug. “You didn’t have to stay up.”

“I just got back myself. My clock it is all screwed up.” Baba pats Fancy’s arm. “I say we go to sleep and sleep until we wake up. Tuesday is soon enough for a schedule.”

“Deal. And we won’t tell Uncle Stefan.”

The thing about having an idea dropped in his lap, whether it was getting Alecia Hart out of her contract, setting up the website for all the clubs or starting up CSMC talent once somebody dropped it on him it kind of took over. It’s one of the reasons he is still working for CSMC over twenty years. There is always something interesting coming along. So what Mouse is doing isn’t really out of character. He is actually awake at 9am and standing in front of Mona’s apartment building. She doesn’t live in a CSMC building so he’s going to have to get in the old fashioned way. He presses the call button for every single apartment and waits to hear the click of someone opening the front door sight unseen.

Going up to her apartment he calls her on his cell.

“Hello?” It’s someone less than half awake. A woman after his own heart. She’d be waking soon enough.

“Yeah, it’s Mouse. I’m at your front door --open up.”

“My front door?! Gimme a sec. Oh hell.” Mona starts tossing things out of the way and hopes he doesn’t open a closet door. “I’ll be right there.”

Mouse just grins. He already has the advantage. The door is thrown open to reveal a lushly gorgeous woman with sleep mused hair. “Damn, and I would have thought with a brilliant idea like the one you called me on you’d have been up all night.”

“You liked my idea?”

“You got a coke? Pepsi will do in a pinch.”

“Yeah, come in.” Mona goes back to her kitchen and grabs herself a coke and one for Mouse as well. She indicates the dining room table in the nook and takes a seat.

Mouse pops the top of the soda and takes a quick pull before pulling out his trusty laptop. “Is this what you had in mind?”

“Holy ****.” In her dreams, it was something like that. She’d just been doing it. Edwards was the one that said it should be a business.

“I’m thinking of calling it onephonecall.com or something. And actually routing some of the CSMC hotline calls there, the stuff that comes through while I’m asleep. As a CSMC resource, you’d have a built in clientele if anyone happens to be trying to line up vacation plans.”

“If they’re CSMC they could do it themselves.” Mona counters.

“And yet none of them have. Yeah, I get hits on the website, lots of hits. And I’m sure if people are visiting a CSMC city they are checking the hours, clubs etcetera. Lining up charity gigs? Looking through fellow employees resumes? Going outside the CSMC to line up events? Not so much.”

“Nobody thought of this before?”

“I don’t know that. I know you’re the first person who asked about it and as far as I know the first one using the website to actually be planning schedules for a civilian. This could work either place: New York or LA. The pieces are all there, there are lots of different agencies that will put together a package. That would probably be the bread and butter. Some guy from Seattle calling up and saying my mom is going to be visiting in New York... what should she go see. It’s travel agent stuff but it also allows for the CSMC level of security.”

“Which is something the ballers like too.” Mona agrees with a nods. “They don’t want to get set by some hoochie or end up getting in a beef in a strange club in a strange city.”

“A year ago I would have said run it out of CSMC- Talent in Boston. It’s a phone line and it’s a website.”

“Tower building. Where they had that huge party. The one where Fancy kicked that Buffy chick out to the curb for doing blow on opening night.”

“You are on the same page.” Mouse nods. “Boston will be the talent division until Alecia decides otherwise but there has been huge growth in LA. More than the adult film which has been there from the beginning. Opening up the Tower building, opened up another club, as well as music options. It’s going to be a hub. I already talked to Maureen about it.”

Mona’s eyes get wide. “You talked to the head of CSMC- LA about me?” Her voice ends in a squeak. “It’s like 6am there!”

“Actually it was about 2am when I called.” Mouse shrugs. “Maureen closes the clubs. It’s her habit. She got used to it when she was running Seattle. No need to wake up early to catch the sunshine there.”

“So how does it work? How does it make money?”

“You’re providing a service. I’d say monthly subscription for the civilians. I’ll set up a retainer for the CSMC end that will cover set up costs and your space out in LA if you decide to go out there. A personal assistant can make anywhere from 15-20G all the way over 100G. And that’s kind of the model you’re following here. You’re not a travel agent. You’re not a manager or agent. You’re one phone call.”

“I tell ya with Edwards I think the guy was calling cause he was lonely.”

“That works too.” Mouse nods.

“So what happens if this thing starts going gangbusters and one of the civilians calls me up and asks for a hooker?”

“If we were offering that service and at the amount of money we’d be charging it would be a callgirl.” Mouse corrects. “Are you comfortable with that?”

“Not really. You always read about on the news... some madam gets popped and all of a sudden it’s all over the news about little black books or discs or something and everyone is screwed. Even the outcall lap dance/stripper stuff is risky.”

Mouse nods his agreement. “There would be a hell of a lot of benefit though to getting the goods on these guys. They might decide to go into politics or something someday. It would be good leverage.” He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. That will have to be a referral. They want a hooker they can call and get their own. Okay two pronged.... you’re dealing with the away– that’s what you called about. What about home while the guy is away? These guys have bucks. They probably have housekeepers and yard care services but CSMC is a property management company. A guy is on the road watching TV and hears about mud slides taking his house down into the ocean– we should be that one phone call. He finds out that his housekeeper’s kid has been taking his escalade out joyriding?”

“Call us.” Mona nods seeing where Mouse is going with this.

“How soon can you start?” Mouse asks.

It’s noon when Fancy comes out of her bedroom. She’s showered shampooed and shined and ready to start her day even if it is 6 hours later than she normally does. Walking out into the family room off the kitchen she stops dead in her tracks. “Uncle Stefan?”

“I believe you are late for lessons, Faith.” Stefan looks at his watch. “Acting is an art. Art is a discipline....”

“I will have discipline.” Fancy finishes Stefan’s motto for her entire education. “We didn’t have class scheduled for today.”

“No. But neither did I expect that you’d be sleeping in until noon. Perhaps you need to revisit your schedule and make adjustments so that you may accomplish all you intend.”

Fancy grimaces and she starts toward the kitchen but then turns around. “Oh my gawd. You’re staying aren’t you?”

“I will be monitoring your progress closely.” Stefan nods.

“I don’t believe this. I take it back. I totally believe it. What was it-- the basketball games?”

“Are they furthering your goals?”

“Yes, they are. Although it’s still too early to tell.”

“Very well. It’s not the basketball games.” Stefan picks up his suitcase and because he has the layout of the house memorized goes straight to the library which is now his room. He puts his suitcase on the couch and starts unzipping it. He pulls out the clothes he’d packed.

Fancy is right there behind him. It’s already settled in that Uncle Stefan is going to be staying weirdly enough. It’s more what is in his suitcase that freaks her out. “You are not wearing undertaker clothes in LA. You’ll cook. Light colors reflect the heat.. blah blah blah. If you’re staying you need new clothes. Today. I need to call Mason.” Fancy leaves the library which is already Stefan’s room as far as Fancy is concerned.

When Stefan comes back out to the kitchen, Fancy is already on the phone back to the clothing designer and chatting with him on speaker phone while she makes coffee. His brows goes up as he listens to the conversation.

“You’ve seen pictures of Uncle Stefan, if you think Kristina wears too much black– puh-leaze. And it’s LA. Not only will he cook but I think he wears the black so that he can blend into the background which would definitely not work here. And I can’t go the other way either I mean jams or tshirts? That is so not Uncle Stefan, he’d start digging his heels in and the next time I went to the theater I’d be going with a guy who looks like the secret service or something.”

“I think you’re underestimating the guy, Fancy.” Mason answers. “Kristina told me he was born on an island in Greece. He does know how to dress for a tropical climate even if he may be rusty at it. Work him to the lighter grays, you’ll probably never get him in a tshirt but how about a collarless button down shirt? There are some timeless fabrics for mens’ summer wear– linen, lawn, seersucker gawd forbid Madras– you’ll probably never get him in denim but maybe khaki or twill. Not in a Nike or a Reebok but maybe a nice deck shoe. There is such a thing as summer classics: Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Neiman Marcus.”

“Well I figured I wasn’t going to be able to get him into Target.” Fancy snarks back.

Is it possible to hear a wince?