“Well, here we are,” AJ said, lowering himself onto the blanket. He and Keesha were on the south end of the Quartermaine grounds where the private lake was located. Reginald, under Cook’s instruction, had prepared a lavish picnic lunch for them which lay untouched inside the wicker basket.
Keesha smiled, “Yes, we are.” She also sat on the blanket. Most of the morning she had made a point to avoid AJ’s gaze as much as possible. Now, she continued to do so as she played with the latch on the basket.
AJ, taking her hand away from the basket, said, “Would you please tell me what happened last night?”
Keesha knew the question would be asked. She had hoped that she would have more time before it was, but that was not to be. AJ had a right to know what was going on. It wouldn’t be right for her to keep it from him any longer.
“Keesha…”
“I heard you,” she said softly. She held his hand as she looked into his warm, brown eyes. “Something, we never thought possible has happened.”
AJ moved closer to her and asked, “You’re pregnant?”
Keesha laughed nervously. To herself, she thought, if only I were. Everything would be so much simpler. She shook her head and said, “No. It’s not anything about me. It’s about Jason.”
“What about Jason? Did he leave the mob? Has he decided that the Quartermaines are fit to have a role in his child’s life?” AJ asked, not trying to mask the hurt and anger he felt.
“No. None of that,” she said, afraid to tell him everything, but knowing she had to.
“What then? He’s been gone for over a month. Is he back in Port Charles? If so, I have a few things I want to tell him about the way he excluded me from rescuing you,” AJ said angrily.
“He had his reasons,” she said, lowering her eyes to the basket again.
“What reasons? He doesn’t give a damn about you. He only wanted to play hero so Robin can keep him on that pedestal she has him on. You’d think someone with her background wouldn’t involve herself with someone like him. A mob boss, for goodness’ sakes! Her stepfather was in the mob and look where it got him. Dead that’s where it got him and if she doesn’t leave while the leaving’s good, she’ll end up the same,” he said with conviction.
“Not any more,” Keesha said.
“What do you mean? Keesha, you’re talking in riddles, baby. Would you please just tell me what happened with Jason that got you so upset that you ran out on our date and then, later made you cry?” he asked, gently caressing her cheek.
She swallowed hard. AJ was right. It was now or never. “Jason and Robin broke up last night. Because of me.”
“Because of you?” he repeated, confused. “Why?”
“Because he remembers,” she said as her eyes flew to his. Deep inside she was a coward. She didn’t want to see his reaction, but she had to. She owed him that much.
“What does he remember?” AJ slowly asked. He suddenly became afraid to hear her response, but inside he knew. Everything over the last few weeks began to make sense and he felt his heart grow cold as his worse fear was about to become realized.
“Everything,” she said, holding on tightly to AJ’s hands.
“How long have you known?” he asked, looking down at their intertwined hands.
“Since the night of the rescue. He told me that night,” she said. Her eyes became blurry with unshed tears and she began to furiously blink back the tears as AJ released her hands and moved away from her.
“You’ve known that long and you didn’t tell me?” AJ asked, looking at her with hurt-filled eyes.
“Yes,” she said as the first sob escaped from her.
“Why? Why didn’t you tell me, Keesha?” AJ asked, his voice becoming hoarse with each word.
“I don’t know,” she said, as she shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“You’re lying.”
“No!” she sobbed. “I don’t know, AJ. Honest. I wanted to tell you. So many times, I started to tell, but…”
“But what? What stopped you?” AJ asked, angrily. As she shook her head, he continued, “I know what stopped you. You’re still in love with him.”
AJ abruptly stood and move to the water’s edge. He heard Keesha come up behind him, but he didn’t move. He didn’t want her to see the tears that flowed down his face as his world fell apart.
“No! I’m not AJ,” Keesha said, placing her hand on his arm. When he flinched at her touch, she dropped her hand and stepped back.
“I wondered why you didn’t want me to touch you…make love to you. I thought that it had something to do with what happened when you were taken. I thought that if I gave you some time, you would be okay and we would be close again. But now, I know that I was deluding myself. You didn’t want me to touch you because it was me touching you. You really wanted Jason,” he said, struggling with each word as he tried to keep the tears from filling his voice.
“That’s not true,” she whispered.
AJ faced her when he heard her quiet words. His eyes were consumed with pain and self-loathing, “Say that to my face, Keesha!”
She looked into his eyes and she knew that she couldn’t’. She began to sob uncontrollably as AJ began to speak.
“I thought as much. You’ve always loved him and you always will. I was such a fool to ever think you could really care for me,” he said, as she watched her cry.
“I DO love you!” Keesha cried. “You have to believe that.”
“I’m sorry, Keesha, but I can’t. I can’t because it’s not true,” he backed away from her. “I’m sorry, but I can’t drive you home. I’ll tell Reginald to have a car ready for you to take you home. Good-bye, Keesha.”
“AJ, no!” she called out as he moved farther and farther away from her. She sank down to her knees and began to cry. She cried harder than she had ever cried in her entire life.
The loud screams and shouts woke Michael up from his nap. Jason picked the screaming infant up from his playpen and rocked him gently. He grabbed the intercom and asked for Letitcia to come downstairs. She came and he gave her Michael. After the two of them had gone upstairs and out of earshot, Jason strode to the door. When he flung it open, he could plainly hear what had been muffled before.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Scorpio, but I have strict orders!" Reynaldo said forcefully. He had never hit a woman before and had thought he would never want to until Robin stomped out of the elevator and demanded to be let into the penthouse.
"I don’t give a damn about your orders! Let me in! I'm not leaving until I speak to Jason! Now!" Robin replied at the top of her lungs.
"Shut it up, Robin!" Jason said as he flung open the door. "This is my home. I have a child here. Would you please act like the world doesn't revolve around you for once?"
"Jason, we need to talk," she said, moving towards the door. When Reynaldo blocked her entry, she said, "Would you call him off, please?"
"Reynaldo, it's okay. Let her in. This won't take long," Jason said, before he went back inside the penthouse.
Robin followed him inside and said, "Jason, about last night. I know it was all a big mistake. I slept on it and I've decided to forgive you. The trauma of being in that godforsaken tunnel got to you and you became confused."
Jason laughed and propped himself against the sofa, folding his arms, he said, "You never quit do you?"
"I don't understand."
"The mind control thing. You do it so effortlessly. As if, you're not aware that you're doing it," he said with laughter which never quite reached his eyes.
"I don’t know what you're talking about. I've never tried to control anyone's mind. I would never do that," Robin said.
"Oh, sure you would. You do it all the time. You do it with Mac, Nikolas, Brenda, Felicia... Hell, you did it to me for over two years. Stupid me. I didn’t even have a clue, but that's all over now," he said, all trace of laughter gone from his voice.
"Jason, you're not making any sense. Your head must be bothering you again. I think we should make an appointment for you to see someone at GH," Robin said, reaching for the phone.
Quick as flash, Jason moved from his reclining position against the sofa to the table. He took the phone from her and placed it out of her reach. Her eyes flew to his and she shied away from the anger she saw there.
"I think I get it now. You don’t listen because you don't want to, but you'd better hear this. We are through. Over. Finished. Don't come around any more. Don’t harass my staff and don’t harass me. I don’t ever want to see you again," Jason said, his voice deadly quiet. He reached into the drawer and pulled out a bag. He held it out to her. "And take this with you."
"What is it?" she asked through tear-filled eyes.
"Don’t ask me what it is! You bought it! Or don’t you remember? Take it!"
Robin took the bag and looked inside. A look of shame covered her face and she found that she could no longer look into his eyes.
"Oh, yeah, I found it. Last night, in fact. What were you planning to do? Seduce me?" Jason asked. "Selfish and self-serving to the bitter end, aren't you?"
"Jason, you don’t underst-" Robin began.
Jason held up a hand and said, "Save it. I understand perfectly. You thought you could keep me with sex. Never mind that no matter what the reports try to lead us to believe. We both know that the only true protection against HIV is abstinence. But you didn’t care about that."
"That's not true! I researched and-"
"Enough. No more. Good-bye, Robin," he said, as he moved away from her to open the door.
Robin shoved the paper bag into her purse and with downcast eyes, she left the penthouse. And Jason.