General Hospital Fan Fiction Message Board

Larry might have stepped in it in Chicago, but he’s a good guy and definitely a good guy to be heading up Baby’s local security team. His assimilation into the CSMC home office family had been a welcome one. Baby has been spending a lot of time with Josef; Josef has been spending a lot of time on Spoon Island-- more than was usual according to those willing to say anything. It’s said with a grin anyone could figure what’s up. Baby had stopped drinking even wine with dinner and is leaning toward foods heavy on Folic Acid. Not that he would have known that before moving to Port Charles. But Baby, when she’s home, spends a lot of time in the garden especially this time of year as it winds down. Everyone on the island does; everyone is having an increase in their intake of green leafy veggies. There is just something about getting your hands dirty out in the sunshine-- especially when you’re in upstate New York or Chicago. You know what you’re going to get in February. There are a couple of full time gardeners. There is also a garden chore book so even someone with the blackest of thumbs could get out in the sunshine even if it as grabbing the digital camera and doing the daily record of the garden and not feel the least bit guilty about sitting at the table eating the fresh veggies. Course there are a few guys who get teased about always signing up to pick berries and then never bringing any back to the kitchen.
Baby has a friendly competition going with Sally and Dawg with their place on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. Of course, Sally had already written back more than once that Baby is cheating by having Dawg in Chicago all the time. It means she is tasked with not only working their small property but also the little store that goes with it. And the people who’d owned the place before had been more interested in liquid refreshment than fruits and veggies. Most of Dawg’s property was originally planted in the base ingredients for beer, mead and wine. Sally and Dawg hired a couple of people to help out. This is after all their retirement property to save Dawg’s knees. Course Dawg’s already working a plan where the property would be going CSA—community supported agriculture. For a city boy, maybe because he was a city boy, Dawg had from the time Lila Quartermaine turned his life around become a convert to the idea that everyone deserves some green even if it could only be counted in inches rather than acres. When the Hoyden was in dry dock and Karin and Mark going to university, there had been a lot of cross over between Dawg’s property high in the center of the island and Karin’s property down on the water. More than once Karin and Mark had shown up with clams, crab, fish or even lobster to finish off whatever Sally was pulling from their property. And that first harvest of the fixings for beer and mead, had been a learning experience for both Mark and Dawg who had gone mad scientist on the two women cooking up a variety of alcohol in one of the sheds. Mark’s parents had even come in from Idaho for that one.
Mouse benefitted from Mark and Dawg’s creations and had been on the list for bottles of whatever they made from day one. He might need a coke to get going in the afternoon, and even prefer it when he was working but it was nice to have a nice glass of something before crashing at about 6am when Mona took over the Helpline. Normally if there was big drama that needed to be handled quickly it was at 2am so the deal had been from the start that Mouse would keep the helpline until after 3am Pacific time. Mona out in LA had it from there although she didn’t get out of bed until 6am Pacific time. With her cell and her laptop by the bed, she was ready for whatever call came through and there was normally 1 or 2 in a week but most people even if they called took the leave a message option knowing Mona would still have an answer for them within hours. Larry’s day started at about 6am too. He’d do a debrief with Mouse before the other man crashed and made sure that everything was up to snuff for whatever Baby’s plan for the day was. He’d take whatever list that Mouse had for him of potential problem areas on the island that needed a hands on security review and then he’d make sure that the transfer of the island monitors was smoothly transitioned to a pair of eyes up at the big house while Mouse was recharging his batteries. Baby does most of her work from the island by Video conferencing to currier packets coming from branches all over the hemisphere. There is always something going on. Right now it’s CSMC Philadelphia’s construction. There had been a setback when Isaac had been hospitalized for an infection. Yuri had told Baby that one was coming since Isaac should have spent more time in the hospital or on light duty. Being back in Philly, there is no such thing as light duty-- that branch is in high gear. Everything could be handled by Larry Brown, Marco and Joanie who are the top three in Philly but you couldn’t convince Isaac of that even with his dad covering. Another high touch branch right now is Miami. Javier had people on doing the bar and club conversions fulltime (Mike and Betsy) but he has a lot on his plate. Things had gotten better already though since Falconari and Greene had moved on to Chicago. Trujillo had been moved from the hospital to a physical therapy facility in Iowa. Javier hadn’t liked that at all but at least it’s close to the CSMC branch in Iowa. The good news is she did have some sensation in her feet--real not phantom but nobody is waving a magic wand. It’s going to be a long haul for the Miami Dade detective… a long, hard frustrating haul.

Baby comes into her study and takes a seat on the comfortable couch. “How are things going, Larry?”

Larry knows she’s talking about the company rather than local. “Nice simmer, nothing boiling over.” He puts a folder on the coffee table in front of Baby. There is sheet for each of the branches there. Anything that was boiling over rated having its own folder. “Philly and Miami are up to their ears with new business. Philly’s got a good handle—Jeff Brown knows real estate, Marco knows CMSC and Joanie is stitching it all together.”

“Isaac?”

“Will be out of the hospital again by this weekend and is already swearing that he is not going to overdo.”

“I’ll call him and tell him that if I hear of him overdoing then he’ll be coming here to recoup. That will probably make him mind his Ps and Qs. He wants to be in the middle of things not on an island in the middle of the Charles River. The Three in One?”

“That’s what had him overdoing. Building three is winding up the gutting process. Jeff is probably just a couple of days away from getting permits for the actual construction.”

“Have Hill and Cole given final approval on the blueprints?”

Larry grins. “Yeah. Jeff was happy about that, figures it will stop Hill from sending him wish lists and revisions now that they have something in stone.”

Baby grins back at Larry knowing that there isn’t a chance in hell that there will be a reduction in emails. If anything Hill would probably want more to see everything that was going on. The high schooler was already planning on spending her next three day weekend from school in Philly checking on progress but mostly checking up on Isaac. “Miami?”

“Odette was barely a bump damage offset by the boom on the construction side.” Larry nods. “But we bought a lot of bars and clubs looking for Macon. A lot. Javier had already said about half of them are going to be fixed up some then sold to make the money back. He’s got Mike and Betsy on that full time.” Larry since he’s been doing these morning reports with Baby has a lot better of handle on the players than he did when he was working in Chicago and just meeting up with the heads when there was a summit. These morning briefings aren’t just about the branches but about the up and comers in each of the branches so that Baby could see where they could be the most useful. “Javier put a note on the progress of either converting or eliminating the clubs that they might seem slow but that Betsy and Mike are working from the hardest to the easiest—her choice. The easiest being some that are going to be sold anyway. He says should start seeing some turn on that by next month.”

“How much of this is Mike’s doing and how much is Betsy?” Baby asks. It’s not the first time asked, so this time Larry has an answer.

“Javier been keeping in good contact with Mike. Mike says that yes, he’s backing Betsy up but she isn’t needing it as much as she did at the start. That the first visit she’d blend back into the woodwork and just check everything out and makes notes the way that Baba taught her. The second visit she’s showing a lot of spine according to Mike—the audits are well done and the conversion are even better. As far as Betsy’s concerned, she’s not doing it for herself but she’s doing it for Mr Ortiz.” Larry makes little quotes in the air around Mr Ortiz. “She doesn’t put up with any bull****. Javier thinks between Mike’s resume—trained by Bruno and coming in from the construction trades, and Betsy’s experience working restaurants and bars… it’s a good fit.”

Baby leans back and hmms. “So if Betsy is used outside of Miami for audits and conversions will she still be good or will the requests and reports need to be routed through Javier in order to get the spine along with the knowledge?”

Larry shrugs. “Honestly? She’ll go where you tell her to go. She wouldn’t be CSMC if she didn’t. But if you have Javier relay the message…”

“She’ll grow wings if she has to. Have Javier let us know when the last of the conversions are done. It’ll be about time for a visit then.” Baby watches as Larry makes a note in his book. “Chicago… no, Seoul. What did Mouse find out?”

He is living with the ultimate Ginger and Mary Ann. Mike looks from Galina to Betsy who are both kicking on chaises on the back patio enjoying their down time; their schedules normally have them communicating by notes on the fridge. Betsy is definitely more his speed. She’s a nice girl even if she’d had a few tough breaks along the way. The house they’re living in used to belong to her Grandmother. Betsy would rather have her grandmother. They’d met while trying to catch a killer. A killer who’d moved on Betsy bruising and manipulating her to get a safe place to stay while he plotted on his next victims. But the silver lining of her association with Macon was being taken under the wing of CSMC. Betsy thinks her new boss, the head of CSMC—Miami, hung the moon. Javier Ortiz had recognized the signs of abuse and taken control of the situation forcing Betsy to confront her fears and report everything to the police. Then he’d made sure that she’d been safe staying with Carmen until the bad guy had been caught. Even Baba who had been the one to teach Betsy how to audit CSMC properties didn’t have the same standard as Javier in Betsy’s brain. Mike is okay with it most days. He had no desire to have his girl think of him as a god and he likes Javier fine—trusts him too. But Mike had been trained by Bruno out in Los Angeles. He knows Javier isn’t a deity just a really good boss with a firm handle on his city. He’s glad to have Javier in charge than say… Yuri.
That job in Atlanta with Yuri and Baby had been enough exposure to Yuri. He’d work with him again if Baby said so but his impression of the guy is that he is a lit short fuse and really nothing Galina had said about her old boss had changed his opinion much. Mike had been a little nervous about Galina moving in with Betsy wondering how it was going to mess with life. He and Betsy are still new. Galina has been very respectful of the relationship and he’d saw that despite the glamorous façade that she put on for work that, Galina is more focused on her studies and would disappear for hours on end studying coming out of her room with her golden blonde hair tied in a messy knot on the top of her head and a pair of reading glasses pushed up to hold back the stray hairs like a headband. He’d taken a look at her texts one time and shut the book on about page ten. Galina said it was math. Course the math he’d studied had numbers rather than letters and symbols. No wonder she was always studying it’s not just math it’s a foreign language.

“Give me a minute. I will get mine and then you will see.” Galina gets up from the chaise and goes back into the house.

“What’s up?” Mike asks Betsy.

“Galina was asking me about my five year plan and was surprised when I didn’t have one.” Betsy gives Mike a worried look. “Did I forget to do something?”

Mike shakes his head. “They’re kinda new and something that Atlanta started with the strippers there. When Yuri left Atlanta a lot of the girls spread out to other branches; the plans spread to the other branches too when those girls filed their five year plans with their bosses. And the talent new to Atlanta are indoctrinated into it pretty quickly and spread the word back to their old branches too.”

“So it’s something we should be checking in the audits of the strip clubs?”

“Javier isn’t as hardcore about it as Yuri is. He thinks it’s a good idea but not mandatory; Yuri would cut hours on a girl who didn’t have a five year plan or who wasn’t working it. First thing he did when he moved up to Chicago was fire 12 girls for Conduct Unbecoming.”

Betsy’s eyes go wide on that. She’s new to CSMC but she’s already familiar with that phrase. It’s basically the threat used to get clubs and bars in line. Conduct Unbecoming slammed the door hard on getting a job anywhere in CSMC. You couldn’t mop floors with a Conduct Unbecoming on your record.

“Is only eight.” Galina corrects when she takes her seat back. “The other four they are on probation, very strict probation, if not better in six months then <snick>.” Galina makes a motion across her throat complete with sound effect. “Then they will be done with CSMC. He put another twenty on probation and scolded all of them for being short sighted. Already the money better in Chicago and the girls are happier because they know he is watching and that he will not be happy unless they are doing their best. And the eight he fire—drugs. It needed to be done. He put managers on probation too—he scolded them behind closed doors but everyone hear anyway. Ronnie say they went running to Maeve, the hub manager, on how Yuri was so out of control. This is what they say that he is out of control. They want Maeve to put a leash on him.” Galina smirks at that. “Maeve have meeting with all of them and Mouse calls during the meeting and tells her to let them be when Maeve backs Yuri… that because Yuri and Baby are so good friends that Baby will be in Chicago more often and if the business isn’t right then Baby will handle herself because the managers know what they are supposed to be doing, and what they weren’t doing.”

“They must have totally freaked.” Betsy’s eyes are wide. She’d only met Baby briefly long enough to be totally intimidated by her. Her plan for her career at CSMC is to stay the heck out of Baby’s way. “Who is Maeve, and why did they go to her?”

“Yuri might be the head of Chicago now but Maeve is the top woman there. She runs the Hub. It doesn’t surprise me that they went to her.” Mike replies. “It would have been either her or Marta at the restaurant and Marta plays with knives. It would be like if someone had a problem with Javier they’d go to Carmen.”

“Ohhh.” Betsy nods. That makes sense. She’d seen the give and take between Javier and Carmen, the founder of the Miami Nice cleaning service. He even calls her Mami when trying to butter up the older woman and get her to feed him. It was that kind of relationship. “I get it now.”

Galina looks down to cover her thoughts. These two do not know that now Yuri has his own Carmen even if she is calling herself something else. Something she hadn’t realized, or needed to know, until Mouse had questioned her about her oddjob for Yuri. “Here is mine. It was in Russian before but I make an English version for my boss here. You see nothing is taken out from when I first write it but it is edited and added to every six months or even more often if things change always date the change. The original have Yuri’s initials every time we review together. It is work in progress, da? Yuri want to know all your goals and how you are going to get them step by step. I do study for Baby and find out when is peak earning money and when money drops off for dancers. Yuri tell the girls over and over that they are professional athlete and they need to act like it and plan for next career and that the good money will not always be there unless they plan now. He show them my study and show them where they are on the chart.” Galina pulls out the chart from the folder. “See I am here. I have a few more good years, da? Maybe more than a few but I have to be through with school by here.” Galina points to a point on the curve. “And making enough money that I can transition from here to there with no loss of income.”

“And you can really do that just transition from here to here….” Betsy runs her finger over the intersection of the job curves.

“That is the plan.” Galina shrugs. “But things change always so Yuri says I need nest egg too and I know he is right even if it is no fun. He is mean when he gives examples. How much money is a sprained ankle? A broken leg? A torn ACL? Athlete right? He harps on all of being athletes have to prepare for injury cause it will happen. This is why I am always broke and live in place with peeper manager.” She adds wryly. “It is why Gretchen, Ronnie and Margo all live together in Atlanta and then in Chicago so that we can save money for rainy day. Is also reason why I do not buy house or condo. I have to be flexible and be able to go where money is. Mouse already tell me I have standing job offer in Port Charles, the home office, when I graduate as long as I stay right.”

“I wouldn’t even know what to put on one for me.” Betsy shakes her head. “Things have changed so much in just the last few months… I can’t think that far ahead.”

“But you like doing these audits better than being barmaid, da?”

Betsy nods. “It’s been really fun figuring things out and how they work and how they can be better. And Mr. Ortiz has been really enthusiastic about the feedback and acted on it too. Because of all the business he had to buy to catch Macon it’s really been really busy and he’s been so worried about Detective Trujillo. So everything I can do to make things easier for him you know I’m going to do it. After that first day with Baba, he told me I was on a Manager’s salary and he gave me that title too so that it would be easier when I went into the clubs and he told me I’d get a dividend on every establishment I convert.” Betsy tells Galina.

Galina can tell that Betsy has no clue what she just said. She looks over at Mike who just grins back at her. “Dividend?” Galina says weakly as she sucks air while saying it.

Betsy nods. “I told him he didn’t have to do that; the Manager’s salary was plenty but Mr Ortiz said it’s a CSMC tradition that if you start something that you get a dividend earnings as long as you’re with the company. The dividends actually belong to Baby of course. Mike told me he is still getting dividend for work he did out in the LA branch, right?” Betsy looks at Mike.

“How many of these… conversions have you done so far?” Galina asks.

“Only four.” Betsy tells her roommate. “Baba and I did the initial audits but it’s taking longer to do the actual conversions but at least I knew which ones to start with that needed the help the worst. And I haven’t been checking the dancers five year plans—Mike says Mr. Ortiz doesn’t have them as mandatory just a really good idea.”

And most people would have started with the easiest ones to get the higher number of conversions rather than the hardest. “This is true.”

“I guess I’m going to have to figure one out for me then. How am I supposed to convince others it’s a good idea unless I’m doing it too?”

Galina nods. “I know who you should talk to—Roxie Jackson over at Jackson Asset Management. She is not CSMC but she is planner. I think she can give you good outline.”

“She’s not CSMC?” Betsy is already suspicious. Everything good that has happened in the last few months, all the positive changes have been because of CSMC and Mr Ortiz.

Mike isn’t going to mention that Roxie had been bounced for conduct unbecoming. Betsy heard that and she’d never see the money manager. “She’s okay. Her husband was-- in fact the story goes that Roxie brought her husband and his band to CSMC talent. And Javier’s sister, Kiki, works for Roxie. She’s studying to be an accountant and it’s one of her summer jobs. And I think that Morgan Benson is tight with her too.” Mike mentions Betsy’s lawyer.

“I guess that would be okay then.”

Her hair is braided and out of her way. It’s a danger to dress student now because there was always someone around with a Camera and who knew when she would end up on either the cover of something or on the back page with a black bar over her face to hide her fashion shame. Not that she gave a golole about fashion but Elena would track her down—so there is an upgrade on her backpack, and the clothes that she is wearing. Her boots had always been good and her bicycle had always been top of the line. She is back on eight in one of the study rooms. This time she’s smuggled Lurch in and he is kicking on a really uncomfortable loveseat with his paws up in the air in his favorite dead roach position. She’d told Nitty to cut back on her gigs at least until after finals. There is one exception and that is going to be the Giving Thanks trip down to New Orleans and she is going to leave that in the hands of Nitty to plan. She looks up cautiously at a knock on the door. She gets up to unlock the door and lets in her cousin. “Hey Bill.”

“You’re looking good for a woman on the most wanted list, Twink.” Bill replies. He puts his bag down on the table.

“Doesn’t Emerson have a library?” Twink dismisses with a sniff.

Tulane comes in with Bill. He can’t believe he is actually meeting the girl in his video. Of course he’s met her before but that was before she kicked ass on The Hill. Before she’d just been Bill’s brainiac cousin at MIT. He puts his bag on the table as well. “Your vid equipment is better.” And it kills him to say it because Emerson is a journalism school.

“We’re on our way over to Anders’ place. Soccer match-- want a lift?”

“That sounds good actually. My eyeballs are fried. I’ve got Lurch though; Narin took the night off.”

“He’s hard to miss.” Bill says wryly. “If they haven’t protested Lurch being at the office I doubt Anders is going to mind. Where is Narin?”

“All I know – he has the night off. I think he has a girlfriend. I don’t want to say anything to jinx it though. Maybe if he has a girlfriend he’ll stop being so pushy about me going out to these charity gigs Nitty keeps lining up.”

“Feeling like that old reality show the Bachelorette? How did that one go? 20 guys and less roses than players?” Bill suggests.

“Narin either has a date or he’s put a bet in on my graduating.” Twink is joking but she is planning on having a talk with her bodyguard/mentor. “He’s telling me to go rather than cleaning the machete on the coffee table. It’s very strange. I’m waiting for him to sign me up for some version of the Dating Game. Bachelor number 1 if I were fruit what kind would you want me to be?”

“That’s easy.” Bill says derisively.

“Oh? What’s the answer?”

“A tomato.”

Twink blinks. “Okay, yeah that works. Let me call Narin and we can get going. We taking the T?” Twink reaches into her back pack and pulls out the Mouse created tablet that had replaced her laptop It doubles as a phone too. It’s bigger than her old phone but smaller than a laptop. It made aps easier than talking where you basically had to go hands free anyway. She nods at Bill once she gets permission. “I’ll call when the match is over.”

“Actually borrowed a car from Talent so it’s no big having Lurch or dropping you off at your place.”

Twink relays that to Narin and then closes the call. “Who is playing?”

“Who cares?” Bill shrugs.

“That definitely works.” Twink nods. Bill had evidently made the decision to turn off his brain and right now she could get behind that too. “Come on, Lurch.”

The big dog does a 180 off the loveseat and lands on his feet ready to go. Bill picks up his bag and Twink’s too. “Same deal I have with Hill? I’ll hold your bag and you kick their asses?”

Twink laughs. “Yeah, that would look good in the papers.”

“There is that. Fine. If needed Tulane, Lurch and I will block for you.”

Tulane asks. “Should I have worn a red shirt?”

“I’ll be so happy when this blows over.” Twink makes sure she has a good handle on Lurch’s leash and nods to Tulane who has his hand on the door knob.

Bill and Tulane look at each other. They know this is not going to blow over.

“Welcome home, Uncle.”

Stefan quirks a brow. Not so much as being called Uncle by Faith but instead of considering Los Angeles home. Especially when he’d just come from visiting Nikolas and Penny and their four boys in Greece. The absence of his mother on the Cassadine Island is enough to start recalling happier memories of his youth, what few there were before his mother and Stavros started trying to kill him. Luckily, they had never coordinated their efforts or he never would have made it to his teens. Nikolas had chosen well in bringing Penny Couvre into the Cassadine family and introducing a long overdue strain of sanity added back into the genes. Hopefully due to both the nature and nurture Penny provided would serve the Cassadine well in the next generation and beyond.

“I’ll rephrase—Welcome Back, Uncle Stefan.”

“More accurate, I think.” Stefan says wryly. “Where is Mrs. Koslov?”

“Baba has her salon over at UCLA today. Frankie is with her so I came to pick you up.” Fancy nods. “I had an early call this morning so finished up in time to get to the airport rather than have Mona sending a driver.”

He might as well leave his brow in a raised position. “How likely is it for you to get a morning call, Faith?”

Fancy winces. “The guy I’m supposed to have scenes with today is still in jail. He was arrested for DUII last night late. They did as much as they could without him and then I was cut loose for the day.”

“So even if he was not in jail he would have been in no condition to perform.” Stefan says disapprovingly. “And the legal system in this state is a revolving door for those not suspected of violent felonies. Why was he unable to make bail?”

“Resisting arrest and being a jackass. It’s already online with the tabloids and they’re calling for comments.”

Stefan shakes his head. “You will not be getting in a vehicle with him.”

“Not even one of the golf carts on the set.” Fancy agrees with a nod. “Frankie already called Bic and offered to tell the executive producer himself. Bic thought that would be unnecessary; he’s ticked because he turned down work for me today based on me having an all day shoot. I’m keeping it low key. I don’t need to say anything about the guy that everyone else isn’t already saying.”

Stefan nods. “So how do you intend to use this… free time, in addition to picking me up of course.”

“Of course.” Fancy nods. “Well that depends? You don’t normally eat on the plane and Mona did find me a place she wants me to check out—Vietnamese/French fusion supposed to be clean lines, good sauces but not real heavy on the cheese and cream?”

“That actually sounds tempting.” Stefan tells his charge.

“Great.” Fancy takes Stefan’s arm and ignores the few cameras that are always staking out the airport. Anyone that has been after shots of her know about her uncle and know that for some reason pictures of him never turn out in the newspaper or magazines. Being close to Stefan pretty much guaranteed that the pictures would not end up in the paper. “You can tell me all about Nikolas, Penny and the guys while we drive there. I’ve got a street route planned out so that we won’t have to go on the freeway. Very much the wrong time of day.” Fancy says cheerfully about avoiding the curse of LA traffic.

“And you can tell me about your trip to Las Vegas.” Stefan says with a corrective tone.

“We weren’t on the strip hardly at all and Baby and Baba were both there. I was very good, on my best behavior—not like Chandy’s parents oh my gawd I don’t know how Chandy stands it—they can be so embarrassing. It’s not like Baby because she’s only ten years older than I am; it would be like if Tasha and Zander started making out on the stairs or something….”

Stefan winces but says nothing. His sister’s lack of decorum is well documented.

“…It was for Bess and George’s anniversary. Baba cranked up the AC in the kitchen of the place where we were staying and baked tons of cookies for Stanley. Never mind that he was going to be out in LA the following week. By the time they got to LA they were up to their eye balls in the Asian leg prep for the tour. I did get to meet all the guys from Cross Wind but no videos. I guess I’m only ever going to be in Mayday or The Michaelsons videos.”

“Probably not the Michaelsons now either as they are no longer on the CSMC label.” Stefan suggests.

“Bic doesn’t think like that.” Fancy denies.
Frankie does, and Frankie and Bic have their own communications. An access point that I’ve used more than once as well. Stefan just hmms. Fancy had found a parking spot close to the terminals and they are soon on their way out of the lots and to the new restaurant.

“I did tell Bic that I want to be super busy while Stanley is out of town. It’s a good thing basketball season is starting soon. Bic likes making us lots of money but he likes going to the basketball games too.”

Stefan knows that one is the truth. Mouse had manufactured the meeting between Faith and Bic when Faith first moved to LA by obtaining season tickets right in front of the agent. Frankie and Faith are regulars in those seats while Bic would use his other seat either for clients, his wife, a friend or on occasion Stanley as a favor to Faith. “It is a constant amazement that with all of your study and even skill that your career has been advanced by sitting on the sidelines of a game.”

“That and having Uncle Dillon back me.” Fancy says cheerfully. “I’ve never been to this restaurant so if it sucks then I’ll come back again another time and try it again in case someone was just having a bad day. But I want you to know…never been here before.”

“I will be brutally honest.”

“I know.”

Edits by Claire and Tweak related errors by me. As you can probably tell I do take requests… who did you want the crystal ball on? Deb