Chapter 14

Jason felt like he was going steadily insane. Everywhere he went, Alan was. Alan even stopped by the Bay House that Jason owned. He had enough.

Jason wasn't paying attention to what Alan was saying. It was the second day of being ambushed by his own family all over town. So he cut in as Carly stepped through the door.

"Alan, what do you want?" Jason asked firmly. "Not useless chatter, just tell me what the hell you are here for. Between you and Edward I am seriously considering hiring some security for myself."

Carly laughed into her hand and tried unsuccessfully to disguise it as a cough. Both men looked over. "Sorry boys." She said. "Jason you got a call from Chin Doa's. Their sink is backing up water and apparently there is a good amount of puddle forming at the feet of their chefs."

"On it." Jason said firmly as he began collecting tools and pipe fittings that he may need to repair the issue. Jason was out the door within ten minutes.

Carly looked up from straightening some of the files on her desk. Alan was completely lost due to the situation with Jason and his family, but at least he was trying. Carly knew what it was like to try to earn your way into a family or a family member's love and feel like you were constantly failing. "Do you have time tomorrow about 9:30 AM?"

"Yes." Alan said confused.

"Good, I have to do a solo interior design consult and Jason's calendar will be cleared for that time period. He'll be at Kelly's uninterrupted for at least thirty minutes." Carly confided quirking her eyebrow with a grin at Alan.

The little minx was giving him an opening, Alan realized. "There might not be a reason for Jason to be there."

"Trust me, he'll be there." Carly assured confidently. "And if you really wanted to keep him beyond thirty minutes you may allow Emily to play hooky for the morning. She will convince him to stay planted there beyond thirty minutes." Carly gave a mischievous grin that told Alan she was good at getting Jason to do things that he was averse to doing on his own.

"Why would you.."

"I know it is hard to reach out to family, especially when you live pretty differently from them." Carly pointed out. "After all not all my extended family grew up in trailer parks, darlin'."

Alan was surprised by her candor, but more so by her compassion to the situation he was in. "I think I can see why Jason likes you so well, you're pretty level-headed and my father hasn't fazed you yet."

"That old goat will never faze me." Carly said with a grin. "Not only that if he pushes to hard, I have no problem tattling on him to Lila." She stated with a twinkle in her eye that told him she would enjoy doing just that. Alan laughed for the first time in months.

"Then I suppose I will see Jason tomorrow morning."

"Yep." Carly agreed before answering Jason's phone. Alan left feeling some relief to the stress of trying to find a way to approach his son, now he just had to figure out what he was going to say to him.

Nikolas was excited about having Lucas for a younger brother and Bobbie as a mother. Technically Laura, Lucky and Lulu were his biological family, but none of them wanted anything to do with him. Bobbie had taken to him right away, the way a real mother would, he thought. He didn't understand why his own mother didn't want him regardless of the circumstances, he was half her bloodline-didn't that mean anything to Laura?

"Nikolas? Are you alright?" Bobbie asked gently, having come upon the young man as she came up the stairs after working a shift at the hospital.

"Yes, just lost in thought. I apologize." Nikolas responded.

"Well, if you decide you need to discuss those deep thoughts, let me know. I am always willing to listen even if I don't have advice for you, okay?" Bobbie reassured him.

"Thank you." Nikolas stated as she squeezed his shoulder gently.

Stefan knew how good Bobbie was for Nikolas. His son's guards were thorough in their observations on the interactions between the two of them at Stefan's request. Stefan had never felt that Bobbie would be inappropriate or cruel to Nikolas, it just reassured Stefan to know that he had not completely failed his child with Lasha's complete ignorance of their son. Even Lucky Spencer, who was obviously conflicted by his fathers views was never cruel to Nikolas. The younger boy seemed to be avoiding his brother to keep out of the tuggle war that was occurring between his own parents. Stefan couldn't blame the youth for that and Lulu was a very young child, younger than Lucas even.

Given the reports of Carly's interactions with Emily, Lucky, and Dillion Quartermaine –Stefan was sure that once she joined the fold of their family she would be accepting of Nikolas as well as Lucas. That was the main reason he wanted to get slightly closer to her. To see how she would interact with his own family unit. Perhaps there was finally a Spencer by birth that could easily bridge the gap between the Cassadines and Spencers without the burden falling to Lucas.