General Hospital Fan Fiction Message Board

She wasn’t able to sleep past 5am again. Twink decides not to fight it. She isn’t going to be in California long; there is really no reason for her to adjust to the time zone. It’s better for her to stay on Eastern time. She’d gone to bed at about 1am after cleaning all the fish from the night fishing trip which of course meant that she’d taken a long shower to get off the smell of fish guts. When she’d gotten up, Gizmo came from the upstairs bedroom ready to attack whoever was making noise. She’d bribed the dog to be quiet using leftovers from the fridge and gone out to have a swim. Gizmo had followed her out and sat at the edge of the pool watching her doing laps. Grant walked out of the pool house at about six balancing two hot cups of coffee. Gizmo had run to him and then back to the table jumping up on a chair next to the umbrella’d table.

Twink pulls herself out of the pool and comes over to the table. She slides into a terry robe and towel dries her hair leaving the towel resting on her shoulder as she reaches for the coffee.

“I didn’t have a chance to say anything last night but you were really good with the fishing.” Grant had been kind of shocked. It was unexpected the way Twink had efficiently gutted and cleaned the fish caught by the whole boat. Even the captain of the boat had been impressed and offered her a job.

“I was raised on a boat. Yes, it was a very big boat but on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The only thing truly fresh was coming from the ocean or when we were in Port. And Narin and I might have been a team from my birth but he always picked up shifts where ever he was needed. The work my parents do is that important to him. Just because he was needed in the kitchen didn’t mean I went to stay with someone else. I stayed with Narin. Just because he was training with Daddy or Michael and Karin doesn’t mean that I was off in the nursery with a Nanny. That’s one of the reasons I started training at the gym at three. Narin couldn’t put it off any longer.” Twink puts on a baby voice and says in Thai, English and French. “Me too, me too, me too.” Twink grins. “So until he could trust me with a knife to gut the fish I got stuck removing scales. And if he ate a piece of raw fish from whatever he was cleaning then I did too. “Me too, me too, me too. Gizmo likes you. I didn’t think he liked anyone but Brittany and Mrs. Ramirez.”

“I know. And I didn’t even feed him.” Grant looks over at the black dog sitting at the table watching Grant and Twink. “What’s the plan for the day?”

“Fancy is coming over early and we’re going through all those clothes so I can send back the ones I don’t want. She got another day off from work because of that coworker of hers. She’s getting paid but it blows because she’s about the work. Bic will probably line up some promotional stuff. Bic is her agent and a Laker’s fan. They have season tickets right next to each other.”

“Which came first the tickets or the agent?”

“Well Fancy might have researched who the best agent in Hollywood was and then made sure she got season tickets to the Lakers right in front of him. She’d never played or even seen a basketball game before she moved to LA. Now she is nuts for the game. She says she’s too short to play and too old to start but she was tutored by her Uncle Stefan to be an analytical thinker and that is the way she comes at the game and how to get an agent.”

“That’s the uncle who is out taking care of the horses?”

“Her Uncle not mine. He is a Cassadine.”

“Are he and Baba…”

“NO! Ewww.” Twink protests but then wrinkles her nose. “You know now that is in my brain. They are the same age but eww.” Twink shakes her head emphatically. “Baba is cool, she’s fun. Stefan Cassadine? Not fun. People are tools to him. A mutual friend of ours who lives in Chicago had a new guy move in to her house. Fancy’s Uncle hated him even before he met him just by reputation. He wanted Narin to come to town and beat the guy up and get him out of Maeve’s house.”

“I can’t see Narin doing that…. Oh wait. I can see him doing that. That’s what he did to me.” Grant finishes wryly

Twink nods. “Narin beat the tar out of him too. With you it was to see what your skill level was. With Yuri it’s to find out what kind of self-control he has. So I guess Narin and Stefan Cassadine were worried about the same thing really with Maeve and the boys but Narin is willing to give the guy a chance. Yuri isn’t stupid. He knew what Narin was doing. He took the beating. Fought defensive only. Yuri isn’t like you. He could have made a showing of it. If Narin and Yuri actually got into it where Yuri wasn’t trying to hold back…. It would be bloody.” Twink doesn’t even get that it might have been a smidge insulting to Grant. For her it’s just stating facts.

Dillon comes out from the main house. He also has a cup of coffee. He pulls up a chair. He’d heard the last of it. He nods at Twink’s assessment. “Narin would probably still take him but Yuri would do some damage.”

Twink nods. “I’ve seen footage of Yuri fighting. He cleaned the clock of a bully at the dojo and it was all caught on vid. His opponent was a fourth degree black belt in Taekwondo. I couldn’t take him; Yuri I mean not Park. I’m very good but so is Yuri and he has me on height, weight. Yuri ever has a reason to come at me… I’m leaving quickly. I can run very fast. I doctored Yuri after the fight.”

Twink has Dillon’s undivided attention. He isn’t one to pick Baby’s friends; he’d leave it to Stefan Cassadine to try… and fail. But he has his concerns about Yuri and his conversations with Bruno who’d worked some jobs with Yuri didn’t make him less concerned. “Oh?”

“He knows his own strengths.” Twink tells Dillon. She is careful in what she says in front of Grant.

Dillon grimaces but nods. That assessment pretty much matched Bruno’s take on the guy. “He’s a cowboy. He takes risks.”

“Not with Maeve and the boys.” Twink says earnestly. “And the reason why he takes risks with Baby is because no one else will—he gives her what she needs.” Twink explains. “Narin is more comfortable with Yuri staying there than if Yuri was staying somewhere else.”

Dillon sighs and nods. “Like it matters what I think. Baby is going to do what she wants.”

“Uncle Dillon, you know that is not true.” Twink shakes her head. “Change of subject. But if I have it in my brain so do you. Grant thinks that Fancy’s Uncle Stefan and Baba should hook up.”

Dillon puts a hand to his head. “I think I just felt something pop.”

“That is not what I said.” Grant laughs. He’d gotten over being star struck by the famous director the night before when they’d all been fishing.

Twink changes the subject again. “Uncle Dillon, I did get a chance to look over the property. It looks good, no cracks on the foundations. Everything is straight. I didn’t go up on the roof. Grant had a conniption. I think Mona should have someone come out to inspect the roof and chimneys. But that is the only followup needed to the earthquake.”

Dillon pulls out his phone. He has two choices either would get the job done. He could call Friday, his assistant or he could call OnePhoneCall. Course as soon as Friday got the message she’d just be calling OnePhoneCall anyway. He hits a preset. He has the option of leaving a message or speaking with a rep so he leaves a message. “Mona, it’s Dillon Quartermaine. Twink says I need to have someone come out to inspect the roof and chimneys. Call Mrs. Ramirez or Friday to arrange a time. I’m only going to be in town for a couple of days. I’d like to have it done before I have to leave again. Thanks.” Dillon puts his phone down.

“Friday thanks you for not calling her at 6am.” Twink quips. “Friday is Uncle Dillon’s assistant. She knows everybody.”

“I thought Mrs. Ramirez knew everyone.” Grant counters.

“I’m a lucky man.” Dillon shrugs.

“Any coffee left for me?” Fancy asks. It’s only 6:20 am but she’s already up and out. It’s the curse of living with the Cassadines for almost four years. Neither Uncle Stefan nor Baby slept in. She’d already done an hour of yoga before driving over.

“It’ll stunt your growth.” Dillon answers.

“It’s a little late to worry about that.” Fancy rolls her eyes. “Don’t start without me.”

“Too late.” Twink says wryly. “I have a list of events and a rack of clothes. You want to dress me?”

“Sure. Why didn’t you pick them out at the store?”

“Do not get me started on that.” Twink gets to her feet and grabs her coffee. Fancy follows her into the pool house. “I’m already supposed to file a report to Mona.”

“That bad?!” Fancy shakes her head and is glad she hadn’t bothered even pulling out a chair. This she isn’t going to wait on. “Tell me.”

Grant looks over his shoulder at the two girls who are leaving him alone with someone who might be considered one of the best directors in Hollywood but who, if intel was on the money, was one of the major players in CSMC. “I think Twink’s plan is to have a layover in Chicago to meet up with Narin. I might be meeting this Yuri person. You think he could take Narin?—Really?”

Dillon smiles and shakes his head. “If it comes down to that then we are beyond screwed. What did you think of the 190 SL?”

“Amazing car.” Grant says gratefully. “You can’t tell from driving how old it is, it’s… silk.”

Dillon nods. “Alice is a genius. Back in the day there was a show called Trick My Ride on MTV… she was not only on it but the people from MTV tricked her shop because of the respect they had for her work. She was working as a Nanny at the time and just remodeling cars as a hobby. After that she was remodeling in a professional level shop. It stopped being a hobby and became a business. She still has that shop and lives in a cottage outside of Port Charles. For her business she has a building in Port Charles and a sign that says Gordon Radcliffe since she took on a partner that she’s teaching the trade too. I think her last project car was a Porsche that she put together for a charity gig.”

“Radcliffe…. There is a Bill Radcliffe in Boston.”

Dillon looks at Grant intently. “What did Bill do to get the attention of HSA?“

“Not him, his roommate has posted videos of Twink on You Tube. Anything Twink is pretty much flagged now and comes to my desk.” Grant realizes how that sounds and quickly adds. “My boss is still trying to make up ground from what happened with Chicago.”

“And you’re afraid of someone else getting their hands on the papers she writes.” Dillon says flatly. “So would whatever she is writing on the Port of Los Angeles make a good movie?”

Grant shakes his head. “Please don’t. The terrorists do just fine without a ****ing roadmap.”

“I don’t have a lot of trust in my government.” Dillon sets down his coffee. “I trust some individuals but on the whole… not so much. I’ve seen them screw it up too many times. You seem like a good guy with Twink’s best interests at heart. There may come a time when you feel the same way that I do: either that you can’t trust the government or you can’t trust them to be able to do what needs to be done. If that is about Twink’s security then call the CSMC helpline. It may chafe but if you call that line it’ll be answered by someone who only cares that Twink is safe not how it is going to look on The Hill. Narin is trusting you with Twink’s security on this trip which is a huge step for him. And a very big surprise to anyone who knows him. Twink and Narin can live in Boston and she can go to school there because of CSMC.”

“Burying her contact information.” Grant nods.

Dillon nods his agreement. “That and vetting her gym, her cab driver, anyone who comes to the house on a regular basis. Narin is aware of security protocols and varies Twink’s schedule.”

“I’ve noticed. So was I vetted as well?”

“You going to visit your father while you’re out here?”

Grant straightens. That is the answer to that question. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Yeah, I know that feeling. I don’t send too many Father’s day cards either.”

The only way they are going to be able to get everything done is to adhere pretty much to Mrs. Ramirez schedule like it’s the gospel. Twink and Fancy worked their way through the clothes sent over by Neiman Marcus and Fancy labeled each outfit for each event and even put sticky notes on the boxes of shoes to make sure that everything is good to go when it’s time for Twink to get ready. But for this part of her schedule, she knows exactly what to wear. This is the gym that Narin had heard about and wanted to check out. She and Grant don’t exactly work out together at the gym in Boston but they’d been there at the same time often enough to know each other’s routines. Grant starts working the speed bag in one part of the gym while Twink is off to the side doing jump rope. She has ear buds in but there is no music playing. It’s basically just a cover so that she won’t be bothered as she takes in everything going on in the gym. She hears the talk about a girl in the gym. It still seems like the serious boxing gyms have something against women working out. Course women boxers, real boxers, are rare. Twink doesn’t think much about the comments. She kind of agrees with them. She wouldn’t be here either if there were leotards, spinning classes and lemon grass smoothies. She wants to know if the equipment is well maintained and that there are people here who know how to use them.

Still it starts to tick her off when one of the fighters who should be working on his kicks is more interested in talking smack about her than working on his technique. And from what the coach and other fighters are saying… this guy is supposed to be good. Suppose to be up for a card at 150 lbs-- welterweight. If Twink were fighting she’d be considered more Bantam weight at about 112 pounds. Most people, if they were minding someone else’s business, would probably assume that Twink weighed less than that. Muscle weighs more than fat and Twink doesn’t have any fat to spare. She isn’t like some of those whack job gymnasts who have cut their body fat so far down that they have stopped their periods—she is healthy and lean. Twink can hear the frustration in the coach’s direction to his fighter trying to get the guy to focus. She brings her jump rope to a halt and comes over to the coach, pulling out her ear buds and stuffing them in the jacket of her warm up suit. “He’s lazy.”

The Coach looks over at the little girl standing next to him. “Who are you?”

“Someone who can get him to focus before he embarrasses himself. He’s going against Pemico?” Twink names off the local fighter who has a growing reputation in the same weight class. “He is fodder. But if he isn’t willing to train then he’s not even going to make Pemico look good which is the reason why he probably got the fight anyway.”

“He’s got good ring sense.” The coach says defensively. But he also realizes that fodder is a good word. “How would you do it?” He asks humoring the child.

“He likes to spar then he needs to spar. I know a fighter.” Twink looks over where Grant is working the speed bag and looking very competent. He has no clue what is going on. “There is a difference in weight classes but that is fine for sparring. It works different muscles-- speed against strength.”

Nothing she’s said is wrong. “What is the catch?”

“The fighter isn’t registered. It would be unsanctioned—strictly training and we could both get in a lot of trouble if it got out. There would have to be an agreement. I would pay for the fight… $500 in fact for three rounds right now. But if you or your fighter ever mentioned who was in the ring or tries to back out for this sparring match then I would expect to be paid back double.”

“Deal.”

“The fighter of my choice.” Twink says warningly.

“Deal.” The coach holds out a hand to shake.

Twink shakes his hand and gives him the $500. Then she calls out. “Grant!” Twink waves him over.

“What’s up?” Grant comes over.

“I need you to be my corner.”

“What?!” The coach exclaims. “I thought…”

“I never said. I just said that it was within a couple of weight classes… and that I would make sure that he won’t be an embarrassment when he goes against Pemico. Go ahead and tell your fighter about it. Let him think it’s a joke that you’re playing on him because he’s being lazy in training.”

“Are you sure about this?!” Grant protests.

“You wanted to see vid on me in the ring. This will be better.”

“This is a really bad idea.” Grant protests. He’s switched to French figuring that if there is a second language spoken here it’s probably Spanish.

“It’s just three rounds.” Twink goes along with the language switch and grins at him knowing he’s heard that before. “Really, he is lazy and needs a lesson here rather than during a card where he could get killed. It’ll be fine.”

Grant is shaking his head but tracks down gloves and head protection. Twink takes off the track suit exposing a t-shirt of her gym back in Boston and the Muay Thai loose trunks. She puts on the gloves when Grant brings them back and takes his assistance getting into the ring. It would be good to be underestimated always. The other fighter is talking smack and wondering if his coach is high but he’s going to take the money and play this game figuring it would be fun to feel this one up in the ring if nothing else.

The owner of the gym comes over when he sees the trunks that Twink is wearing. He whistles over his teeth when he sees the first thing that Twink does when getting into the ring while the other fighter is trash talking. Twink is bowing to the four corners. This looks classic trained. Something he hasn’t seen since Phuket. He tells the other coach. “I’ll run the bell.”

The coach looks at the owner in disbelief figuring that the fight would be stopped rather than endorsed. Then he looks at Twink in the center of the ring and his eyes get wide. His fighter is distracted by pretty features and long blonde hair braided back tight. He takes in the muscle definition as well as the gear. “Shut up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Shut up. The condition of the spar is if you talk about it then you have to pay back double. You got a grand on you? Shut up.”

“It’s a girl.”

“It’s a fight. And you better take it seriously or I swear I’m quitting. I don’t need this ****.” The coach counters.

“Gees. What bee flew up your ass?” But the fighter moves over to his corner and shrugs.

The owner calls out the rules from by the bell. Twink studies the other fighter from her corner. He is at a disadvantage. He might be bigger and stronger even but he is lazy and he hasn’t seen her fight. She has seen him and his bad habits in just the time while she’d been warming up with the jump rope. Grant checks the headgear. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Twink nods. The bell rings and she goes on attack.

Grant gets to see what Dave had told him about back at the gym in Boston when he’d told him that Narin would hold back for two rounds and then go all in-- not like Twink. Twink immediately goes for the other fighter’s head clocking him with a punch while he’s being a wise ass that knocks him back on his heels and then follows it up with knees and kicks. It’s a ferocious attack that doesn’t allow the off balance fighter to get any kind of rhythm going and he’s only able to put up a defensive front trying to block the attack that seem to be coming from all over. There aren’t that many head shots after the first one that started the fight. Twink focuses in on body hitting what she can full strength and not straining to reach on the guy who is 40 pounds heavier and six inches taller. If this guy connects it’s going to hurt. She has to make sure that he doesn’t connect. For the other fighter, the three minutes can’t end fast enough. It seems to have been forever. He needs the 90 seconds in his corner to regroup.

“What the ****?!” He looks over at the demon in the opposing corner. That is not a girl. No way that could be a girl no matter what she looks like.

“She said she would make sure you didn’t embarrass yourself in the ring with Pemico. I didn’t know it meant she was going to kill you today.” The coach had been slack jawed at the first punch and is also trying to regroup. “Can you go?”

“I’m not losing to a girl.”

“Stop thinking of her as a girl and start thinking of her as a fighter who is kicking your butt. If it were stopped now you’ve lost on points. You haven’t touched her. You’ve got her on reach. Start using it.”

Then starts round two. This time Twink doesn’t have the element of surprise but it doesn’t stop her from going on the attack right from the start but there are more feints and attempts to misdirect as she works the other fighter not giving him a chance to think or even really breathe. This is where his sloppy training shows. He doesn’t have the muscle memory from the hours and hours of training. What should be automatic at this stage of the game isn’t. He manages to get a right to the shoulder on Twink but she is already sliding with the blow glancing it off her body and swinging to hit him in the sweet spot on his upper arm with her left and going with her right to the gut. The other fighter back peddles and starts shaking his arm trying to shake out the sting. The arm is hanging practically useless and he knows it and by the look in his opponent’s eyes, she knows it too. He also reads in her eyes that she is not going to stop. He blades his body to protect that side and waits for the next attack.

Twink gets in close. “You try to use the ropes to buy yourself time, I won’t stop when the bell rings. I’ll just keep kicking and punching until they pull me off you. I thought you were a fighter. So fight.” She goes for a kick and the guy catches her leg but because his other arm is practically useless he can’t get a good punch in and instead basically throws Twink across the ring. Twink comes in closer again like a shark circling. “You’re as bad as Grant. What’s wrong with your legs? Are they only good for running away?” Twink punctuates her comment combinations of kicks and knees—just using her arms for blocking. She’s going to be bruised on her arms without a doubt but the other fighter still hasn’t really connected at all. The other fighter goes for a flying drop kick. It’s a desperation move and Twink does what Narin always does to her. She catches his foot and drops him right in the middle of the ring, winded and unable to move as the bell for the second round rings. Twink goes over to the other fighter and stands over him when he’s slow to get up. Twink knows he’s winded not really hurt. The fall had knocked the air out of him. “There is one more round or are you quitting now?”

“I’m not quitting.” The man gasps.

Twink shrugs and goes over to her corner where Grant is waiting with a water bottle and towel.

“This is insane.” Grant shakes his head. He can’t believe he is thinking this but the other fighter would have been better off with Narin in the ring with him. He can see it now. Narin is a coach. Narin would still have made the guy look bad but Twink isn’t interested in finding out what the guy’s bad habits are and improving. She just seemed to want to take the other guy’s head off.

The owner of the gym is the one who throws in the towel after the second round. “You’re done. You can’t breathe and if you continue you’re just going to get hurt. And you… you’re Narin’s girl.”

The other coach looks at Twink in disbelief. He’d heard rumors but he’d never actually… Narin. Wow. Narin is still mentioned in fight circles and not just for his undefeated time as world champion at Welterweight MMA using Muay Thai. In the years since he’d been consulted by a multitude of coaches and trainers at the top tier of the game to assess fighters and identify their weaknesses. They’d heard he was based somewhere on the east coast for the last few years. The other fighters in the gym who’d been gathered around the ring first intending to heckle but then stayed for the clinic spread the word in whispers around the ring.

Twink gives a deep bow to the owner of the gym. “Narin sends his regards. He has heard good things about your gym. He is detained on another matter. I apologize for not introducing myself.”

Grant is worried but he also realizes that none of these guys care that she is Tatiana Quartermaine, the daughter of one of the richest women in the world or student at MIT and a world class brainiac. As far as they are concerned she has no name other than Narin’s girl. He starts helping Twink out of her gloves and headgear. Twink works her fingers some released from the gloves and climbs from the ring. She picks up the warm up jacket and zips herself into it. Twink outside the ring is very different from inside the ring. She’s still a pain but the aggressive side of her nature seems to be bounded by the ropes of the ring. He asks in French. “And you can’t take that Yuri guy?”

“Non.” Twink goes over to the fighter that she’d just humiliated and switches to English. “And I shouldn’t have been able to beat you either. You were offered a fight against Pemico! That means something and you’re tossing away the opportunity by being lazy and disobeying your coach. His name should not be shamed because of your arrogance. Maybe Pemico’s people expect you to lose so that they can challenge the champion next but you don’t have to give them what they expect! What I did to you is nothing compared to what Narin would do. I run between three and seven miles every day. I jump rope every day. I do sit ups and leg lifts every day. I work the bag every day. That is what my coach expects of me, and I expect nothing less of myself. To expect less is to dishonor my coach and I would rather die in the ring than dishonor my coach.” The other fighters in the gym hear every word Twink says and the truth behind the words. There are more than few wincing knowing they don’t measure up.

“Well said.” The owner says in Thai.

Twink bows again and answers in Thai. “You have a good gym. But maybe your fighters have it too easy. None of them are hungry. They can have what I can’t and they spit on it.”

“You haven’t seen my fighters only my gym.” The owner counters in Thai. “They are other coach’s fighters.”

“If they train in your gym; they represent you.” Twink isn’t buying it.

“Give me your first born and I’ll make a champion of him.”

“Narin will train my children like he trained me.” Twink bows again and then walks out the door.

The other fighter runs after her still holding one arm. “Hey wait a second!”

Twink turns around on the sidewalk. This time Grant is between her and the fighter.

“What do you think you’re pulling?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Twink says coldly. “The deal is mention what happened in that ring and you owe me a thousand dollars. Do you have a thousand dollars on you?”

“You’re a trick-- playing some kind of head game.”

“No, I’m your heads up. You have what… three months before the fight? I’ll be watching. Will you be a treat something sweet and disposable on his way to the real money? Or will you be his trick, blowing up in his face on your march to your own championship? If you don’t think you can do it then quit—you’re wasting everyone’s time. And what you do reflects not only on your coach but on your gym too.” Twink points at the gym. “What you do determines whether or not Narin will ever step foot in that gym. Even if you don’t win… if you show you are worthy then Narin will come… for you, for your coach, for your gym. I’ll be watching.” Twink says again as she turns away and walks to the passenger side of the Mercedes.

Grant gets to the door before her and opens the door before coming around to the driver’s side. They leave the other fighter standing on the sidewalk. Grant looks over at Twink. “Are you okay?”

“No. I’m ticked.” Twink shakes her head. “I’ve wanted to fight since I was twelve…. before I was twelve. My parents won’t allow it. Narin won’t allow it. I’ve trained all my life for a fight I’ll never be allowed to have. Even if I understand why—I hate it. And to see someone like him spitting on what I want so badly… I wanted that third round. I wanted it so bad. Take me back to Uncle Dillon’s. I need to get my head clear for the rest of the day and I need to talk to Narin.”

Edits by Clair and errors by me. A tweak here nd there but who can resist? Deb