Post by madelinehawaii on Oct 3, 2007 14:29:14 GMT -5
Time: February 2003
Place: Salem
There was a crisp layer of snow beyond the window of the conservatory that created a glare, making the thin winter sunlight seem brighter than normal. Too bright this morning. Tony wasn’t particularly in the mood for sunshine, bright or otherwise. Barely a couple of weeks home from the compound, and already he wanted to wring his brother’s neck, and he was sick of dancing around Marlena, pretending one minute to be interested for all the parties who were busy watching, including his children, and fighting the urge to shake her the next with the insane hope she’d simply remember everything and he could be done with this sick charade. Finding the bug John had planted only the previous day hadn’t helped improve the situation either or his disposition.
Why the bloody hell couldn’t the man be as tenacious about digging into his own past?
Into this reverie came the faint sound of a latch clicking and he heard footsteps whisper along the pavers as he lifted his cup to his lips. Had to be Cassie. Rex never bothered trying to sneak up on him. After a swallow of what was left of his coffee, he pretended to stare out of the window as though he didn’t know she was eyeing him curiously from the narrow table a good ten feet behind him
He had little trouble admitting that he worried more about her than Rex. His son appeared to be finding his way so far, fitting in, making friends…accepting circumstances as he found them but not Cassie. She fought and scratched her way through even when there was no need. A spitfire, with a head of blazing red hair to match her temperament.
But he knew her toughness was a façade, as John so aptly recognized day after they’d returned and told the twins the truth. Listening to him as he admitted his own anxieties upon arriving in Salem with no memories and no past affected Tony more than he liked. Still, he’d been right. Cassie was most definitely insecure. On top of that, Tony recognized several other attributes in his daughter, ones he couldn’t help but find disquieting as he realized why he’d picked up on them so quickly. The girl had an innate ability to manipulate people, and worse, she enjoyed it. While Tony had found some of her antics amusing, her behavior was a painful reminder of just whose influence he was witnessing. She may not remember Stefano, but he was hardwired into her personality in a way that Tony found hard to bear.
In every other way the girl was exquisite, vibrant and alive, intelligent and totally unpredictable. She was everything he knew Stefano prized in his offspring and Tony had to marvel at the job he’d done wiping out aspects of her mother. Beyond the slight physical likeness they shared, the two women were like Jeckel and Hyde. If Tony hadn’t known positively they were related, he’d have sworn it was a set up engineered by the old man.
For one thing, Stefano knew him too well. Any child would have found a place in Tony’s heart, but Cassie was an enigma. It was a though his father had purposely fixed it so that the girl was the exact combination of the two women Tony had loved the most.
“Daddy?” Her lips brushed his temple.
An involuntary smile lit up his face and it amused him that a simple thing like hearing himself referred to this way could inspire such joy. “Ah, my darling…good morning.” He reached to squeeze her hand affectionately, guiding her over the chair next to him. “And how did you enjoy breakfast with your mother?”
“It would have been better if you’d joined us.”
Tony couldn’t resist a snort of laughter. “Somehow, I doubt that,” he told her with a bitter smile that he knew she’d misinterpret.
Cassie returned a smile that was coy and batted her eyelashes as he’d seen her do to young Shawn Brady. “You needn’t have worried, John only stayed for a few minutes…something about an early meeting.”
With a blank tape recorder, thought Tony, rather pleased with himself for once, remembering the immense pleasure he’s felt grinding John’s bug beneath his heel the night before, but he didn’t let his satisfaction peek through his calm demeanor. “A meeting,” he mused aloud, making an effort to sound disinterested, “what a shame.”
“Daddy…”
Tony’s dark eyes gleamed with a smoldering edge to them and her voice failed her, but not for long and she took a deep breath and plunged ahead.
“I know how you feel about Marlena.”
Dear god, for a second, he felt as though he was staring into his wife’s face, unfathomable, so that he hadn’t a clue of what was going to come out of her mouth next. “Its good to know someone does,” he said, half jokingly, “because frankly, I don’t.”
“I don’t think she does either.”
That was the last thing he wanted to hear. “I’m afraid my dear, that you are imagining things…I understand that you want…”
“I’m serious,” she interrupted him, hurt by his brush off. “When she knows you’re not around to hear what she says or gage her remarks, she’s much less guarded.”
Perhaps the sincerity in her voice was genuine, perhaps not, but it made him pause. “Has she said something?”
Cassie shook her head. “No, but she’s curious, not openly but…” She frowned, irritated that she couldn’t find the right words to explain what she wanted to convey to him and for an instant he wondered if perhaps Marlena was beginning to remember more of her past. He waited for Cassie to continue but she either couldn’t find the right avenue to express herself or changed her mind about sharing it with him. Part of him was disappointed, which bothered him even more and decided it was time to change the subject.
“Well never mind, where is your brother this morning?”
Before she could tell him, his cell phone sitting on the table next to him beeped. He glanced over at the number.
Shane.
They’d yet to speak to each other since Tony’s return from the compound. According to Patrick, who had shown far more civility that in the past, Shane was away and would contact Tony upon his return and though Tony had told himself he had nothing to worry about, that Shane still had ISA responsibilities he needed to follow through on, there’d been the faintest hint in Patrick’s demeanor that all was not as it ought to be.
He glanced back at Cassie to find her studying him intently. “Yes?” he prompted to remind her of his question and she shrugged.
“In class.”
Tony nodded and with as much nonchalance as he could manage under the circumstances asked, “Have either of you seen or heard from Dr. Putnman lately?”
“Here, or at school?” Cassie was confused.
“Well, Bart tells me that he…” pausing, Tony wondered just how much the twins really knew about the doctor’s true nature, “the man literally vanished while I was away and I thought that perhaps one of you might have heard something from one of the other students?”
“And we assumed that you’d be able to tell us what happened to him,” she countered.
Tony eyebrows shot up. “Me? He shook his head a couple of times. “Why?”
“Because he works for you.”
Leaning back in his chair, a sliver of memory flashed in his mind like heat lightening…Rolf’s beady eyes, waiting, expecting Tony to pick up the knife, to use it for his entertainment and kill Sebastian... “The doctor was employed by your grandfather,” Tony explained stiffly, fighting back the emotions that threatened to burst through the veneer of control he was maintaining whenever the images began to surface again.
“Is that why you never trusted him?”
Tony had to tear himself from the past to focus on his daughter. She could be quite perceptive when it came to people, when she applied herself and didn’t allow her insecurities or desires to get in the way. “I didn’t trust him because he lied to me about you and your brother,” he told her bluntly.
Cassie shook her head. “But why would he…or why would your father want to keep us away from you?”
He couldn’t answer her for several long seconds as everything he’d learned over the last few weeks boiled within him, especially as he remembered the sight of her and her brother lying in their cribs, trapped between Stefano holding a gun on one side and Andre on their other. He couldn’t tell her the truth. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he knew what the truth was. So little remained of that in this family…the more he learned, the more convoluted the entire situation became and so he fell back on his initial reaction, simplistic but very convenient. “Your grandfather loved his children but he also had no compunction when it came to using us for his own purposes and he’s always been quite adept at exploiting our weaknesses.”
His daughter’s luminous eyes gazed back at him in silence and then abruptly she smirked at him. “I didn’t realize you had any.”
And the challenge in her tone made Tony laugh again. “Your step-father hasn’t provided you with a list of my shortcomings yet?”
“No.” Her smile vanished. “Actually he won’t even mention your name and if Rex or I bring it up, he changes the subject.”
“How civilized.” The crack escaped his lips before he could stop himself but again Cassie misinterpreted his motives.
“He’s just worried that Marlena will choose you.”
This time, he did suppress the grin twitching at the edge of his mouth and swallowed his retort about John’s baggage when it came to relationships, especially the one he was currently trying to hold together and for some reason that brought Tony’s thoughts back to the phone call he’d just received. The reason wasn’t that much of a mystery. From the moment he’d regained consciousness in the plane, or for that matter, the first night at the compound when his memory began to return, he’d spent hours considering how exactly he was going to break this news to Anna. It couldn’t be done over the phone, that was for certain. He was going to need Shane’s help.
“She could, you know.”
Tony’s head shot up to meet his daughter’s sly but earnest expression and had to remind himself who she was talking about.
“Cassie,” he said, leaning forward and reaching out to take her hand, “your mother is confused because she doesn’t remember the things that happened to her before and after you and your brother were born. Those fears have nothing to do with her feelings for John.”
“Or you?”
He shrugged. “The feelings she has for me are hardly ones that John need worry about.”
“Why? Because she pretends not to like you?”
“It’s not an act Cassie.”
Pulling her hand away, Cassie sat back with a stubborn look on her face. “You’re just trying to keep me from interfering.”
Tony had to cover the grin that instantly sprang to his lips behind his hand. This was just great…discouragement would only create more of a challenge in her mind and encouraging her would pretty much do the same. Disinterest seemed the only course of action left, not that he figured that had a chance in hell of working either. The girl wanted a family…the kind her sister had. Cursing his father, he pasted a flat, blank aspect on his face and wondered if it was normal for a parent to want his daughter to find herself a boyfriend as a way to keep her distracted from more dangerous activities. He must be crazy. “How are the living arrangements at the dorm working out,” he asked without a shred of hope that she’d focus on his question and sure enough, she ignored it completely.
“I’m not giving up on this because I see how you feel every time you look at her.”
Tony sighed inwardly, then grabbed his phone and stood up. As he leaned down to kiss her on her forehead, he brushed an errant red curl out of her face and said softly, “Don’t underestimate your step father, he’s quite determined. And believe it or not, he needs her more than I do.” With that, he dropped another kiss on the top of her head and took off in the direction of his study.
Place: Salem
There was a crisp layer of snow beyond the window of the conservatory that created a glare, making the thin winter sunlight seem brighter than normal. Too bright this morning. Tony wasn’t particularly in the mood for sunshine, bright or otherwise. Barely a couple of weeks home from the compound, and already he wanted to wring his brother’s neck, and he was sick of dancing around Marlena, pretending one minute to be interested for all the parties who were busy watching, including his children, and fighting the urge to shake her the next with the insane hope she’d simply remember everything and he could be done with this sick charade. Finding the bug John had planted only the previous day hadn’t helped improve the situation either or his disposition.
Why the bloody hell couldn’t the man be as tenacious about digging into his own past?
Into this reverie came the faint sound of a latch clicking and he heard footsteps whisper along the pavers as he lifted his cup to his lips. Had to be Cassie. Rex never bothered trying to sneak up on him. After a swallow of what was left of his coffee, he pretended to stare out of the window as though he didn’t know she was eyeing him curiously from the narrow table a good ten feet behind him
He had little trouble admitting that he worried more about her than Rex. His son appeared to be finding his way so far, fitting in, making friends…accepting circumstances as he found them but not Cassie. She fought and scratched her way through even when there was no need. A spitfire, with a head of blazing red hair to match her temperament.
But he knew her toughness was a façade, as John so aptly recognized day after they’d returned and told the twins the truth. Listening to him as he admitted his own anxieties upon arriving in Salem with no memories and no past affected Tony more than he liked. Still, he’d been right. Cassie was most definitely insecure. On top of that, Tony recognized several other attributes in his daughter, ones he couldn’t help but find disquieting as he realized why he’d picked up on them so quickly. The girl had an innate ability to manipulate people, and worse, she enjoyed it. While Tony had found some of her antics amusing, her behavior was a painful reminder of just whose influence he was witnessing. She may not remember Stefano, but he was hardwired into her personality in a way that Tony found hard to bear.
In every other way the girl was exquisite, vibrant and alive, intelligent and totally unpredictable. She was everything he knew Stefano prized in his offspring and Tony had to marvel at the job he’d done wiping out aspects of her mother. Beyond the slight physical likeness they shared, the two women were like Jeckel and Hyde. If Tony hadn’t known positively they were related, he’d have sworn it was a set up engineered by the old man.
For one thing, Stefano knew him too well. Any child would have found a place in Tony’s heart, but Cassie was an enigma. It was a though his father had purposely fixed it so that the girl was the exact combination of the two women Tony had loved the most.
“Daddy?” Her lips brushed his temple.
An involuntary smile lit up his face and it amused him that a simple thing like hearing himself referred to this way could inspire such joy. “Ah, my darling…good morning.” He reached to squeeze her hand affectionately, guiding her over the chair next to him. “And how did you enjoy breakfast with your mother?”
“It would have been better if you’d joined us.”
Tony couldn’t resist a snort of laughter. “Somehow, I doubt that,” he told her with a bitter smile that he knew she’d misinterpret.
Cassie returned a smile that was coy and batted her eyelashes as he’d seen her do to young Shawn Brady. “You needn’t have worried, John only stayed for a few minutes…something about an early meeting.”
With a blank tape recorder, thought Tony, rather pleased with himself for once, remembering the immense pleasure he’s felt grinding John’s bug beneath his heel the night before, but he didn’t let his satisfaction peek through his calm demeanor. “A meeting,” he mused aloud, making an effort to sound disinterested, “what a shame.”
“Daddy…”
Tony’s dark eyes gleamed with a smoldering edge to them and her voice failed her, but not for long and she took a deep breath and plunged ahead.
“I know how you feel about Marlena.”
Dear god, for a second, he felt as though he was staring into his wife’s face, unfathomable, so that he hadn’t a clue of what was going to come out of her mouth next. “Its good to know someone does,” he said, half jokingly, “because frankly, I don’t.”
“I don’t think she does either.”
That was the last thing he wanted to hear. “I’m afraid my dear, that you are imagining things…I understand that you want…”
“I’m serious,” she interrupted him, hurt by his brush off. “When she knows you’re not around to hear what she says or gage her remarks, she’s much less guarded.”
Perhaps the sincerity in her voice was genuine, perhaps not, but it made him pause. “Has she said something?”
Cassie shook her head. “No, but she’s curious, not openly but…” She frowned, irritated that she couldn’t find the right words to explain what she wanted to convey to him and for an instant he wondered if perhaps Marlena was beginning to remember more of her past. He waited for Cassie to continue but she either couldn’t find the right avenue to express herself or changed her mind about sharing it with him. Part of him was disappointed, which bothered him even more and decided it was time to change the subject.
“Well never mind, where is your brother this morning?”
Before she could tell him, his cell phone sitting on the table next to him beeped. He glanced over at the number.
Shane.
They’d yet to speak to each other since Tony’s return from the compound. According to Patrick, who had shown far more civility that in the past, Shane was away and would contact Tony upon his return and though Tony had told himself he had nothing to worry about, that Shane still had ISA responsibilities he needed to follow through on, there’d been the faintest hint in Patrick’s demeanor that all was not as it ought to be.
He glanced back at Cassie to find her studying him intently. “Yes?” he prompted to remind her of his question and she shrugged.
“In class.”
Tony nodded and with as much nonchalance as he could manage under the circumstances asked, “Have either of you seen or heard from Dr. Putnman lately?”
“Here, or at school?” Cassie was confused.
“Well, Bart tells me that he…” pausing, Tony wondered just how much the twins really knew about the doctor’s true nature, “the man literally vanished while I was away and I thought that perhaps one of you might have heard something from one of the other students?”
“And we assumed that you’d be able to tell us what happened to him,” she countered.
Tony eyebrows shot up. “Me? He shook his head a couple of times. “Why?”
“Because he works for you.”
Leaning back in his chair, a sliver of memory flashed in his mind like heat lightening…Rolf’s beady eyes, waiting, expecting Tony to pick up the knife, to use it for his entertainment and kill Sebastian... “The doctor was employed by your grandfather,” Tony explained stiffly, fighting back the emotions that threatened to burst through the veneer of control he was maintaining whenever the images began to surface again.
“Is that why you never trusted him?”
Tony had to tear himself from the past to focus on his daughter. She could be quite perceptive when it came to people, when she applied herself and didn’t allow her insecurities or desires to get in the way. “I didn’t trust him because he lied to me about you and your brother,” he told her bluntly.
Cassie shook her head. “But why would he…or why would your father want to keep us away from you?”
He couldn’t answer her for several long seconds as everything he’d learned over the last few weeks boiled within him, especially as he remembered the sight of her and her brother lying in their cribs, trapped between Stefano holding a gun on one side and Andre on their other. He couldn’t tell her the truth. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he knew what the truth was. So little remained of that in this family…the more he learned, the more convoluted the entire situation became and so he fell back on his initial reaction, simplistic but very convenient. “Your grandfather loved his children but he also had no compunction when it came to using us for his own purposes and he’s always been quite adept at exploiting our weaknesses.”
His daughter’s luminous eyes gazed back at him in silence and then abruptly she smirked at him. “I didn’t realize you had any.”
And the challenge in her tone made Tony laugh again. “Your step-father hasn’t provided you with a list of my shortcomings yet?”
“No.” Her smile vanished. “Actually he won’t even mention your name and if Rex or I bring it up, he changes the subject.”
“How civilized.” The crack escaped his lips before he could stop himself but again Cassie misinterpreted his motives.
“He’s just worried that Marlena will choose you.”
This time, he did suppress the grin twitching at the edge of his mouth and swallowed his retort about John’s baggage when it came to relationships, especially the one he was currently trying to hold together and for some reason that brought Tony’s thoughts back to the phone call he’d just received. The reason wasn’t that much of a mystery. From the moment he’d regained consciousness in the plane, or for that matter, the first night at the compound when his memory began to return, he’d spent hours considering how exactly he was going to break this news to Anna. It couldn’t be done over the phone, that was for certain. He was going to need Shane’s help.
“She could, you know.”
Tony’s head shot up to meet his daughter’s sly but earnest expression and had to remind himself who she was talking about.
“Cassie,” he said, leaning forward and reaching out to take her hand, “your mother is confused because she doesn’t remember the things that happened to her before and after you and your brother were born. Those fears have nothing to do with her feelings for John.”
“Or you?”
He shrugged. “The feelings she has for me are hardly ones that John need worry about.”
“Why? Because she pretends not to like you?”
“It’s not an act Cassie.”
Pulling her hand away, Cassie sat back with a stubborn look on her face. “You’re just trying to keep me from interfering.”
Tony had to cover the grin that instantly sprang to his lips behind his hand. This was just great…discouragement would only create more of a challenge in her mind and encouraging her would pretty much do the same. Disinterest seemed the only course of action left, not that he figured that had a chance in hell of working either. The girl wanted a family…the kind her sister had. Cursing his father, he pasted a flat, blank aspect on his face and wondered if it was normal for a parent to want his daughter to find herself a boyfriend as a way to keep her distracted from more dangerous activities. He must be crazy. “How are the living arrangements at the dorm working out,” he asked without a shred of hope that she’d focus on his question and sure enough, she ignored it completely.
“I’m not giving up on this because I see how you feel every time you look at her.”
Tony sighed inwardly, then grabbed his phone and stood up. As he leaned down to kiss her on her forehead, he brushed an errant red curl out of her face and said softly, “Don’t underestimate your step father, he’s quite determined. And believe it or not, he needs her more than I do.” With that, he dropped another kiss on the top of her head and took off in the direction of his study.