Work Text:
This is a short story based on characters that I do not own and references to established works.
"The First of Many Confrontations"
"Marcus, can we go to my office and discuss this?" Portia asked in a hushed and nervous tone.
"Discuss what?" Spencer demanded, eyeing Portia coldly.
"Why do you think that your office is the best place to discuss this? It concerns Trina's accident, and we're all here for Trina, aren't we?" Taggert asked just as Spencer had.
Portia, by now, had a frightened and hopeless look on her face, as all eyes were now on her. She seemed to be looking for an elusive hole to crawl into-yet, there was none to be found.
Spencer, completely agitated by this point, took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair before he raged. "Trina is in surgery, fighting for her life. If you know something about what put her there, Dr. Robinson, would you please tell us. NOW!"
Portia literally jumped as she felt Spencer's rage go through her. Taggert, knowing what she was hiding, offered no support. He, along with the others-who had no clue what was going on-was waiting for Portia to answer Spencer.
Portia swallowed hard and wiped a tear that was falling from her eye. She then looked at Spencer, who had edged closer to her in hopes of a response to his question.
"This is not what I wanted," Portia began, as her voice trembled. I just wanted Trina to be happy. She's a young woman who deserves happiness. She deserves someone whose focus and loyalties are not split between her, an ex, and a baby. Trina's too young to have to deal with all the drama that comes with you, Spencer. You've made this choice to take on fatherhood. Trina never asked to be put in the situation with you. Having to play nice with the monster who drugged her and framed her for a crime that she did not commit is absolutely not fair to Trina!" Portia's voice grew stronger, as she was seemingly trying to convince herself of her deviousness. "You said that you'd follow Esme anywhere if she ever took Ace to keep him safe. I saw that as an opportunity to get you away from Trina and her away from all the drama that follows you!"
Spencer stood stone-faced. "So, what did you do?" he asked coldly.
"I arranged for Esme to leave with Ace by paying for plane tickets and setting up a bank account for her in a country with no extradition. That way, there was no way she would have to return to Port Charles, and neither would you. Even though Trina would hurt for a while, she would eventually get over it and over you. She would eventually be able to find someone who could give himself to her completely-which is what my daughter deserves," Portia finished, waiting for a response. More specifically, bracing for a response.
"Was it your idea or did Esme come to you?" Spencer asked.
Portia hesitated.
"Was it your idea or did Esme come to you?" Spencer bellowed his question that time.
"I went to her," Portia said stoically.
"You what?" Taggert asked, dumbfounded.
But before he could say anything more, Spencer lashed out at Portia.
"Trina is fighting for her life! Trina is fighting for her life because of you! The young woman who forgave you for blowing up her life and for causing her to question who she was is fighting for her life because of you! You literally made a deal with the devil. This devil being the one that you, moments ago, said was responsible for drugging and framing the daughter that you... that you what? That you love? My God, what kind of love is that?" Spencer was not expecting or waiting on a response, as he continued to berate Portia. All those gathered were prepared to let Spencer keep the floor-for his words echoed their inner thoughts.
"I know that I have hurt Trina in the past. I know that I am responsible for Esme coming to town. I also know that I have worked hard to make up for all that I have done to Trina. And because she is who she is, Trina has forgiven me. She has accepted me-the good and the bad! We've had so many talks that you could never know about, where we've admitted our love for each other and laid all of our concerns and feelings out to each other. We were..." Spencer's voice began to break. "We ARE in a great place. We were keeping an eye on Esme, and we knew what we were doing. As you can see, we were together. I... we were never going to let Esme get far enough to take Ace away beyond our reach! Trina loves me so, because of that, you entered into a deal with the monster who's been trying to destroy your own child's life. The funny thing, if you can call any of this funny, is that it wasn't Esme who finally blew up Trina's life. It was you, her loving mother," Spencer said chillingly, as he began to walk away.
Joss attempted to go after him, but both Sonny and Dex stopped her. They knew that he needed to be alone-if only for a short while. But before he could go too far, TJ returned.
Despite what they had just witnessed, everyone's attention turned towards the young Dr. Ashford. Spencer, upon hearing TJ, quickly returned to where the others were.
"How is she?" Spencer asked.
"Trina's out of surgery and she's stable. We just have to monitor her and wait for her to wake up," TJ said confidently, but cautiously.
"Can I see her?" Spencer asked desperately.
"Of course. I'll take you to her room," TJ said.
Spencer walked up to Portia slowly, with rage in his eyes. "Dr. Robinson, we're not done-by any stretch of the imagination," Spencer said coldly, as he walked off with TJ.
As they left to go see Trina, all the eyes in the waiting area turned to Portia. Was there any way that she could prepare herself for the vitriol that was sure to come her way now?