Dream a Little Dream

Chapter 28

“Hello, again!” Lucy caroled as she came back onstage. She'd put on another dress – this one a pale pink strapless sheath with a silver ribbon and bow at the empire waist.

“I hope you all enjoyed your dinner,” she continued. “Many thanks to Heather Webber for helping to create the menu and making those wonderful desserts. Heather, take a bow!”

Heather stood up at her table, beamed and waved as the audience applauded.

“And many thanks to the wonderful kitchen staff here at the Lady Jane Plaza for executing the menu so beautifully,” Lucy said, bringing more applause.

“Our deepest gratitude goes to Cassadine International, who helped underwrite tonight's festivities,” Lucy said. “Because of their generosity, we're on our way to my goal of the most successful Nurses' Ball ever! Nikolas, Stefan, please stand up and get the thanks you deserve.”

The audience applauded warmly. Laura beamed at her son, who looked over at her and smiled back. Stefan saw that, and was gratified.

“We've come to the entertainment part of the evening,” Lucy said. “It's going to be a lot of fun, but remember their, and your, reason for being here tonight – the fight against HIV and AIDS. We have pieces of the Memorial Quilt in the lobby, please take the time to look at it sometime tonight. Now, on with the show!

“Our first performer is not only a former chief of police, but she's also living with the struggle of HIV and AIDS every day as the mother of someone with HIV,” Lucy said. “But you'd never guess she was the mother of a grown woman by the vitality she shows in her number tonight. Dancing to 'Spy in the House of Love' is Anna Devane!”

The curtain slowly rose. Anna was backlit; she looked like a silhouette as the opening saxophone strains of the song began. She was wearing a long khaki trench coat. Then, as the opening beat dropped, the spotlight shone on her, she dramatically pulled off the coat to reveal a black, sequined outfit – sweetheart neckline, narrow straps, a fringe skirt, black fishnet stockings and black patent leather pumps. A few whistles and catcalls could be heard.

Stefan Cassadine, however, heard nothing but the music and saw nothing but Anna, moving gracefully about the stage. He loved the movements of her arms, the easy kicks, the saucy looks. That combination of strength and sensuality had his heart racing. He was breathless by the time Anna finished. He was among several men who stood and cheered when the music stopped.

“You were great, Mom!” Robin Scorpio cried, flinging her arms around Anna after she came offstage. “Some way to start a show!”

Anna pressed Robin close to her. She was determined to help in the fight against HIV and AIDS, to do anything she could towards a cause that could save her daughter. But she also knew the odds increased against Robin with each passing day. She blinked against any tears that would come.

“Excuse me, Anna, may I borrow your daughter for a moment?” Alan whispered.

“Certainly,” Anna said with a smile, then went to her dressing room to change back into her gown.

Alan smiled at Robin. “Our guest has arrived,” he said. Robin breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“I was so scared when there were those weather delays,” she said. “Have you told Lucy yet?”

“No,” Alan said. “I'll do it after our number. You'll be here, right?”

“I'll be here,” Robin said. “I know Lucy doesn't like surprises like this...”

“We had to keep it low-key, Robin,” Alan said. “That was the only way to make this happen. Lucy will understand.”

Meanwhile, Lucy was doing the first auction of the evening – a weekend “getaway” to the Lady Jane Plaza, including a limousine to pick you up and bring you home, two nights in a luxury suite, all meals and unlimited spa services.

It was a popular item, as many men bid at the behest of their wives and sweethearts. The bidding was long, and Cameron Lewis ended up winning.

“Woo-hooooo!” Alexis said. “Manicure, pedicure, massage, facial, oh, wow!”

“Enjoy it, you two!” Lucy called from the stage. She was wearing another dress – this one a one-shouldered gown in beaded gold.

“Our next performers are GH fixtures and longtime supporters of the Nurses' Ball,” Lucy said. “They're performing 'Do You Love Me?' from the classic musical 'Fiddler on the Roof.' Here are Drs. Alan and Monica Quartermaine!”

The curtain parted to reveal a simple wooden kitchen table, with a painted backdrop of a kitchen. Monica, in a simple gray blouse and black skirt, her hair under a babushka, was sitting there. Alan, dressed in the traditional garb of an early 20^th-century Russian Jew, walked onto the stage.

“Golde, I have decided to give Perchik permission to become engaged to our daughter, Hodel,” Alan said. Monica threw her hands up in the air.

“What?!” Monica cried. “He's poor! He has nothing, absolutely nothing!”

“He's a good man, Golde,” Alan said. “I like him. And what's more important, Hodel likes him. Hodel loves him. So what can we do? It's a new world... A new world. Love. Golde...”

He began singing.

“Do you love me?”

“Do I what?!” Monica replied. The song continued.

“For twenty-five years I've lived with him,” Monica sang towards the end. “Fought with him, starved with him. Twenty-five years my bed is his. If that's not love, what is?”

Alan sat next to her on the bench in front of the table, looking into her eyes, then they faced the audience and sang together.

“It doesn't change a thing. But even so, after twenty-five years, it's nice to know.”

They sang the final note cheek to cheek. Emily, watching from backstage, wiped away a little tear. Even Jason smiled out in the audience. AJ came behind Carly backstage and put his arms around her. The audience cheered as the curtain fell.

* * *

After Lucy had walked offstage from introducing the next number, a song from “Nunsense” by some of the sisters from Mercy Hospital, Alan called her over to where he and Robin were.

Lucy was flustered when Alan said there would be an addition to the program.

“Alan!” she said. “I have everything arranged! The sets are in proper order! I can't change things willy-nilly!”

“Relax, Lucy,” Alan said, turning on his most charming demeanor. “It's a speech. No need for any more sets. In fact, it will give your crew even more time to set up for the next number, as the curtain can stay closed.”

“A speech? By who?” Lucy asked. Alan leaned in and whispered a few words to her. Lucy clapped her hand over her mouth to smother a gasp of astonishment. Over the hand, her eyes were like saucers.

“You heard right, Lucy,” Robin said with a grin.

“Why didn't you tell me?” she demanded.

“It had to be kept very, very quiet,” Alan said. “That was a condition of this happening at all. I couldn't risk letting someone see it written somewhere, or overhear it being discussed, and leaking it to the press. Don't worry, Lucy, everything will be all right.”

“When do you want to make the introduction?” Lucy asked.

“Call me on stage after here,” Alan said, pointing to a spot on her program. “That will give me time to change back into my tuxedo and greet our guest. Will that work?”

“That will be great, Alan!” Lucy said, with a little squeal and bounce of excitement. She kissed him on the cheek. “You are my favorite ex-husband!”

“Hey!” said an approaching Tony Jones. “What about me?”

“Do what Alan just did and you'll be at the top of the list, buddy,” Lucy said with a smile.

* * *

“You're up after this, Brooke,” Carly whispered to Brooke Lynn. “Good luck!”

Brooke walked over to the stage entrance after getting a hand-squeeze for luck from Georgie. Diego gave her the thumbs-up.

“Does Lucas not being here mess up the number?” Georgie asked Dillon, who shook his head.

“No, he was there for background,” he said. “But has anyone noticed he's been a bit ... distant this summer? Then to take off the way he did?”

Bobbie, sitting in her dressing room finishing her makeup, listened at the closed door. She'd been worried about Lucas, too.

“He was really restless, it seemed,” Diego said. “Do you think it's because of his mom's new boyfriend?”

Georgie shook her head.

“Whatever it is, that's not it,” she said. “Lucas told me he really liked Jerry, that he treated his mom better than any man she'd dated. And Jerry was pretty cool with him, too, not sucking up, just being nice and friendly.”

Behind the door, Bobbie breathed a sigh of relief. That had been a worry for her.

“I thought maybe it was that bus crash,” Serena said. “I know it upset my Mom. It brought back a lot of memories of his sister.”

Bobbie blinked back tears. Oh, what would BJ be doing here tonight, she thought. Singing, dancing, doing a number with her father or me?

“Maybe he's nervous about starting college this fall,” Maxie said. “Even though he's going to PCU with most of us, it's still a big transition. Maybe he wanted to get away from it for a bit, so when the opportunity came to fill in as a counselor at the diabetic camp in Vermont, he took it.”

Bobbie smiled. Maxie made a lot of sense. She wouldn't worry about it for now.

* * *

Lucy strutted onto the stage in a leopard-print gown with flowing sheer sleeves in the leopard print.

“Rrrrowwwrrrrrr-rrrrowww!” Jax growled from the audience. Brenda cuffed him upside the head.

“This next performer comes by her amazing talent naturally, with Ned 'Eddie Maine' Ashton and Lois Cerullo of L&B Records for parents,” Lucy said. “Here is Brooke Lynn Ashton, singing 'The Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.'”

The curtain rose, and there was Brooke, all alone in a circle of light. She sang without accompaniment.

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me bring your love
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace
Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there's sadness, ever joy.

Her lovely voice soared into the refrain:

Oh, Master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.

Lois had come from a back table to sit with Jason during the performance. He looked at her face, glowing with pride and tears as she gazed at Brooke Lynn in her sophisticated silver gown, her hair falling straight past her shoulders, singing the beautiful hymn. “My little girl, she's gone for good,” he heard her whisper. Jason put his arm around Lois and hugged her shoulders. “You and Ned, you did real good with her,” he whispered in her ear.

Lois kissed his cheek.

“Thanks,” Lois said. “I just hope it's enough.”

* * *

It was time for another auction. Lucy returned to the stage in a royal blue gown with silver accents and spaghetti straps.

“I hope everyone's having a wonderful time,” Lucy said. “And we still have some amazing things to come, believe me! Right now, it's time for another auction. We're auctioning off a dinner for two at Vagabond, courtesy of the Spencer family. Dinner will be a ten-course tasting menu, followed by three courses of dessert. It includes all beverages and gratuities. We're starting the bidding at $500. Do I hear $500?”

“Five hundred!” Mac Scorpio called from backstage.

“Five-fifty!” Amanda Barrington offered.

“Six hundred!” John Durant, standing next to Mac, called out.

The bidding was soon fast and furious. Mac, Amanda and John were joined by Kevin Collins, Jerry, Alan, Florence Campbell and Lorenzo Alcazar. Jason surprised himself by joining the bidding. Kevin won.

“Whew!” Lucy said. “That was exciting! Thanks to everyone who bid, and, thanks, Doc!

“It's time for another performance,” Lucy said. “Here are some of Port Charles' finest – Mac Scorpio, Marcus Taggert, Linc Murphy, Brian Beck and Andy Capelli.”

The men, all in their tuxedos, filed onto the stage. Mac stepped forward.

“A funny thing about cops,” Mac said. “We like to watch cop shows. And there was one cop we all loved – Lennie Briscoe on 'Law and Order.' Lennie was a good cop and always had a good wisecrack. His portrayer, Jerry Orbach, died last year. It is in tribute to him that we perform this song from 'The Fantasticks,' where Jerry originated the role of El Gallo.”

Mac stepped back into line with the others. They sang, a capella.

Try to remember the kind of September

When life was slow, and, oh, so mellow ...

The harmonies were spot-on – Brian and Marcus sang bass, Mac and Andy sang a lower tenor, while Linc was a high tenor.

...Deep in December, our hearts should remember,

And follow.

* * *

Robin watched her uncle perform from the hallway outside the ballroom. Then she turned and went towards the lobby. Jason got up and followed her.

He found her in the lobby, in front of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on exhibit for the ball. She gazed at the block Mac had made for Stone, all those years ago. The robin perched on the bridge under a starry sky, Stone's name appliquéd across the top. She remembered the time Luke had arranged for Stone to bungee jump off the bridge.

And those final days in Sonny's penthouse ... the heart-stopping moment of finding out she was HIV-positive, imagining her mother and father there comforting her, the heartbreak of telling Stone she was infected, his wail of despair after telling him, and those final moments. She could still hear his voice ... “I can see you, Robin ...” and laying in his arms after he'd died.

So much had happened since then. Her mother had returned. She herself had gotten an education and was running the wing named for Stone. Sonny and Lily were both dead. Jagger and Karen, optimistic young newlyweds when Stone had died, were now divorced.

Robin held an envelope in her hand. It was a letter from Jagger, Stone's brother. “Dear Robin,” the letter said. “I still miss Stone every day. I can't believe it's been almost ten years since he died. It doesn't feel like it. So many things we've missed. I try not to get angry at God for that, but it's not always easy. Here's a check for the wing. I'm sorry it's not much, Deena and I are expecting a baby this winter. You know what its name will be if it's a boy. You're in my prayers every day. Thank you again for everything you gave my brother – love, friendships, peace, strength, courage. Love, Jagger.”

Suddenly, Jason was there beside her.

“You okay?” Jason asked.

“I'm fine,” Robin said. “I come here every year, for a few minutes, to look at his block and remember.”

“A lot has changed since then,” Jason said.

“Yeah, it has,” Karen said as she approached. She noticed the letter in Robin's hands. “Is that from ...?”

Robin nodded. “He sent a check,” she said.

“I know about him and his new wife expecting a baby,” Karen said. “Gina let me know, in that sweetly poisonous way she has, last month when I ran into her outside of Kelly's.”

“She's got a lot of unhappiness in her,” Robin said.

“She's just a bitch,” Karen said. “She and Jagger and Stone all had the same crappy childhood. Jagger overcame it, and never used it as an excuse for what he did to me. Stone was on his way to overcoming it – falling in love with you, learning to read – before he died. Gina just hugs all her old grudges to herself and uses them to hurt people any way she can. Fortunately, she was just in town visiting from Rochester so I don't have to see her on a regular basis.”

“Some people just can't get over their childhoods,” Robin said. “Look at Sonny.”

“I remember the first Nurses' Ball after I came home,” Karen said. “Sonny was struttin' around here like he was cock of the walk, having made that huge donation to start Stone's wing. I figured it was the least he could do, what with all the women who graduated from stripping in his clubs to prostitution and a higher risk of getting HIV. He was pretty ticked I didn't have a warm welcome for 'an old friend.' He used my troubles to get me stripping for him, gave me drugs, and expected us to laugh over those good old days. From that night on, he looked at me like I was some sort of uppity bitch for daring to realize what he really was.”

Robin looked back at Stone's quilt block.

“When Sonny died, I tried to remember him the way he was, when I first knew him,” she said. “That Sonny was loyal. That Sonny had some humility. When Stone was dying, he put aside any differences with people who cared about Stone – Jagger, Uncle Mac, Brenda – to make Stone's last days as good as they can be. But then ... he changed. It became all about power for him. Nothing else mattered. He threw away people who cared about him – me, Luke, Lucy, Brenda. Our last real talk, when I found out he was sleeping around and told him I was worried about him, how he seemed to not remember what had happened to Stone and me, after yelling and throwing some barware at me, he went to the door, opened it, and said to his bodyguard in the coldest voice to, 'please see Miss Scorpio to her car.' I knew then that the Sonny I knew and loved was gone. And after Kristina was killed, his callousness about it ... I came to hate him. He'd become a monster. The power and money had combined with his old demons to consume him.”

“Ever read 'Lord of the Rings,' Jason?” Karen asked.

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I loved those books.”

“They were made into a movie trilogy, by the way,” Karen said. “The last one won a whole bunch of Oscars. Anyway, Sonny those last years reminded me of Gollum – he'd turned sunken and gray, totally consumed with his 'Preciousssss,' which for Sonny was power. Nothing else mattered.”

“And it ended up destroying him,” Robin said. “Ironic – he was desperate for power because he thought it would keep him safe, which he wasn't as a kid. And that obsession is what ended up killing him body and soul.”

“We better get backstage,” Karen said. “See you later, Jason.”

Jason watched the girls go, then headed back to the ballroom.