Fic: All Roads Lead Home

[csi_sanders1129]

Title: All Roads Lead Home
Chapters: 1/1
Author: csi_sanders1129
Genre: Drama. Angst. Friendship.
Ratings: T
Word Count: 2,616
Pairings/Characters: Jason Morgan, Damian Spinelli, Sam McCall. Mentions of other characters.
Synopsis: In which Spinelli thinks he is no longer welcome at Casa de Stone Cold and Jason is determined to prove otherwise.
Comments: Written for NaNoWriMo and for the hc_bingo prompt of ‘homesickness’ in a kind of abstractish way. Characters aren’t mine, just borrowing. Thanks to suerum. Enjoy!

 

Jason came home fully expecting to find the Penthouse in a mild state of chaos and disorder. It had pretty much been the general state of things ever since Brenda moved in, but he was starting to get used to it. Or at least he minded it a little less.

What he hadn't been expecting was a house that appeared to be utterly silent. There was no eager Jackal-speak assaulting him as he walked through the door, no fluid sound of fingers skillfully flying over a keyboard (and it probably should have seemed weird that Jason somehow associated these previously-annoying sounds with home).There wasn't even any sign of Sam and Brenda arguing - which was something close to newsworthy.

"Sam?" He called out, somewhat alarmed by the apparent emptiness of the Penthouse.

She appeared at the top of the steps a second later, looking calm and relaxed. Jason's level of alarm lowered. "Everything okay?"

"Ugh," he started as he shrugged out of his jacket, "it's quiet."

She paused, considering this. "Hmm, it is. It's… nice, I have to say."

"Brenda's here, right? She didn't go out or anything?"

"She's upstairs in the pink room, on the phone, I think." Sam assured him, leaning idly against the wall. "But, Spinelli decided to move out. He took some things and left a little while ago."

Jason faltered in his step toward the kitchen as her sudden and very unexpected announcement registered in his head. "Spinelli what?"

"Moved out. I talked to him about it earlier, mentioned that you might have been on board with the idea and he agreed pretty quickly after that." Sam reported, as if discussing something entirely trivial and not something with the capability of stopping Jason dead in his tracks.

"You told him what!" Jason turned to face her now, absolutely furious at what he'd discovered Sam had done. He'd only been away from the Penthouse for something like three hours and he'd come home to this insanity?

Sam shrugged, as if it wasn't a big deal at all, "I told him you thought it would be a good idea for him to move out. Now that Brenda's here there really isn't room for him."

He stared at her in absolute confusion. He couldn't believe she'd thought that kicking Spinelli out would be okay with him, that he would agree to it at all. "And if I don't think it's a good idea?"

"You said yourself that-"

"No!" Jason protested, knowing exactly to what she was referring. "No. I said that I didn't really want him staying in the weight room. But I meant because he shouldn't have had to give up his room, not because I wanted him gone. What exactly did you say to Spinelli?" Knowing as he did of Spinelli's easily destructible feelings on his place at Casa de Stone Cold, he doubted she'd said anything good.

Sam brushed past him, claimed a seat on the edge of the couch. "That, ugh, you thought he'd be better off somewhere else. The MetroCourt or Kelly's for now, maybe, until he can find a place of his own." She frowned at him, gesturing toward the stairs. "I mean, come on, Jason, you never painted the room – were you expecting him to stay there forever?"

"I offered to paint the room twice last year. He told me he didn't want it changed. And that was a nice try, but you're not escaping this conversation that easily. I didn't tell you to get rid of Spinelli. And you made him think I wanted this?"

"This needed to happen. You know it did. He couldn't stay here forever and after the whole Maxie situation, a fresh start will do him some good, you have to admit." Sam said, now attempting to defend her actions with logical reasoning as opposed to complete dismissal.

He closed his eyes, dragged a hand over his face and walked away from her. "This… no. Spinelli belongs here."

Sam snorted in protest. "Try telling him that. I bet it's a lot harder to convince him you want him here than it was to get him to think you were sick of him."

"Please don't tell me that you told him that." Not a question - he could guess the answer from that snarky response – just a distressed hope.

She shrugged again. Back to not caring and dismissive again. "… I might have."

"Why?" He asked, out of pure curiosity. "What are you doing this for? Because of Brenda? She's not living here permanently, just until this whole thing blows over. It's not like it would have been crowded here for that long."

"That was part of it, I will admit, but I wasn't doing it to be spiteful. You go to Spinelli for everything and I… sometimes I get the feeling that you care more about him than you think you do," Sam explained, no longer harsh and defiant but instead honestly relating her reasoning. "So I told him you didn't want him here anymore to see how you would react. And now I know what you would do, but not why." She crossed the room to stand in front of Jason, "And I think maybe I know that, too. You need him more than you need me, and it's true isn't it, you do?"

Jason wasn't quite sure how to respond to such a claim, but eventually he found an answer. "Spinelli was here when you weren't, when you were against me. He's always been here; he's my family and nothing can change that, but I don't really… know exactly how much he means to me." He told her, moving to grab his jacket at he backed toward the door, "but I know it's enough to go get him back."

***

Spinelli found himself booked into a room at some hotel that was both less fancy than the MetroCourt and less hospitable than Kelly's, somewhere he wouldn't have to deal with running into people he knew and thereby saving himself from having to explain his presence.

He sat on the uncomfortable bed with his laptop balanced on his knees, already searching for a plane ticket back to Tennessee. If Jason didn't want him here anymore, there was no other reason to stay. Maxie was no longer a factor and he wasn't sure he could work with Sam at the PI office after the things she'd told him.

"To be honest, he's kind of sick of you, I think." The words had stung him to the core, and the indifference with which Sam had said them hadn't helped much. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Spinelli, but it's true."

He hadn't wanted to believe her at first, didn't want to believe that Stone Cold would say such hurtful things against him, that he would bail out and ask Sam to do this instead of saying it himself. But, then again, Jason was never a fan of potentially emotional conversations and Sam kept bringing up Maxie and Brenda and everything else that was warring against his logical mind.

"Really, you'd be better off somewhere else. It's not like you need to be here or anything. You can work for Jason from anywhere, right?"

He dragged a hand over his face and pressed his palms against his closed eyes, desperate for a break from the memories that would make that conversation play over again in his head. He'd leave in the morning, he would forget all about Port Charles, and Jason Morgan, and the last four years of his life – just as long as he didn't ever have to hear that Jason was sick of him again.

"I'll book the tickets right now," Spinelli told himself, eyeing his computer carefully. "And then I'll…. I'll figure everything else out later."

A pounding knock on the door kept him from submitting the order for the tickets on his beloved cyber companion, the only thing he had left that wouldn't betray him.

"SPINELLI! Open up!" Jason's voice was booming and something in its tone rang a little bit desperate. "We need to talk."

Since talking was what started this whole mess, Spinelli was hesitant to open the door. But, since Jason seemed intent upon knocking it down if he didn't answer, he reluctantly obliged. "If you're here to further elaborate on how you no longer want your loyal Jackal around, it is completely unnecessary. I will be on a plane back to Oakfield in the morning and I can assure you that you won't ever have to see or hear from me again, Stone Cold."

If Spinelli hadn't known better, he would swear something like fear flashed in Jason's eyes for the briefest of seconds. "No," he said finally, after a long pause. "No, you're not going anywhere."

The hacker scoffed at that. "What? I know too much to simply return to civilian life? You think I would ever betray your secrets, even after what Fair Samantha relayed to me?"

"I don't think that. I know you wouldn't." Jason assured his ever loyal grasshopper. "I came to tell you-"

"That Sam didn't say everything she was supposed to? You have something more to add, perhaps something more damaging." Spinelli crossed the room, trying to escape the conversation. "Frankly, I wasn't sure it could get any worse, but have at it, I suppose."

"Spinelli, would you just listen to me?"

"Listening is why the Jackal is sitting in some boring hotel room, and why he sees it was wrong to trust you all these years. I get it, Jason," the name, one he hardly ever actually uses, felt weird when he said it. "I'm leaving."

Fear and panic and anger this time, Spinelli noted, which didn't really make any sense at all. But then Jason was moving and he stopped himself from thinking that Jason would hurt him over this – it wasn't like Jason was going to kill him to keep him from spilling the secrets of the Organization.

"What're you-"

The question was cut off as Jason hauled him closer and shoved him back against the wall with more force than was strictly necessary. Spinelli flinched, in expectation of he didn't quite know what, but Jason didn't touch him, just braced his hands on either side of the hackers head and waited for Spienlli to stop squirming.

Spinelli, though stunned by this unexpected assault got the message. He stilled and let Jason explain himself.

Jason sighed in something like relief before he spoke. "You're not going anywhere because I never said anything Sam told you. I didn't want you to leave, I've never wanted you to leave – even though it would probably be safer for you if you did," Jason explained, keeping Spinelli pinned against the wall. "I thought I made that pretty clear when I gave you back your key after you ran to LA, but apparently it wasn't clear enough."

Despite the close contact and Jason's assurances, Spinelli was hardly convinced. "Why… why should I believe that?"

"What part of this aren't you getting?" Jason pressed on, still looming over Spinelli. "I want you around. You know, I knew something was wrong before Sam even told me what she did? It was so quiet there. Do you know that I can't fall asleep until I know you're home? That I never used to need anyone? I loved people, sure. And people needed me, but I never needed anyone." Jason shook his head as if annoyed with himself over such a thing. "At least until a certain Ace of Cyberspace managed to change that without my even being aware of it."

That lengthy profession, being so very uncharacteristic of its speaker, was enough to sway Spinelli's thoughts on what had occurred. "You… really didn't ask Sam to get me to leave?" At Jason's shake of the head, he asked, "Then why did she?"

Jason stepped away enough to give Spinelli some space now that he'd effectively convinced the hacker of the truth of his claims. "She wanted to see what I'd do, how I'd react. Whatever she told you, none of it was true, I promise. Except that I don't want you in the weight room."

Eyes widened, Spinelli's head shot up to look at Jason. "But-"

"Wait," Jason protested, before Spinelli could accuse him of doing exactly what he'd said he wasn't. "I know you gave up the pink room for Brenda, and she won't be there forever, but it might be a while before this mess gets fixed. You shouldn't have to stay in the weight room - that was all I meant." He explained simply. "If you want, you can stay in my room until she leaves."

"Might that not be somewhat… awkward with Sam," she was no longer Fair Samantha, Jason noted, "around?"

"I think Sam and I need a break after what she did." Jason pointed out, which was an entirely fair decision after she had threatened Spinelli's place at Casa de Stone Cold. "I'll talk to her later, and I can set up the spare mattress in my room?"

Still rather stunned by the offer of entrance into a room he'd stepped into maybe twice in his years at the Penthouse, he mumbled his answer of, "That… that would be more amenable an environment than the weight room, the Jackal will admit. But, Stone Cold doesn't have to-"

"I don't have to, but I want to." Jason responded, looking to the laptop still sitting on the bed and the as of yet unpacked bag on the floor by the door. "So, you'll forget about that ticket back to Tennessee, right? And come home?"

"Of course, Stone Cold."

***

Sam wasn't there when they returned to the Penthouse. Whether she'd just wanted some time away or if she had predicted what Jason's request would be upon his return, it didn't matter much, really. Brenda was similarly out of their way, still exiling herself in the pink room.

"Feels better already," Jason commented upon getting through the front door. Spinelli's presence seemed to have been exactly what was missing the last time he'd walked into this room.

Spinelli nodded and adjusted his messenger bag on his shoulder. "Indeed it does, though the Jackal must say that something seems to have changed in the scant few hours he has been gone."

Jason headed toward the stairs. "You can put your bags in my room, we'll get to the mattress later." He instructed, but then moved on to the curious statement his roommate had made, "what's different? Other than that you know that you're not going anywhere as long as I can help it?"

"I… The Jackal always figured that you would grow tired of him eventually. Figured his time at Casa de Stone Cold was always on some sort of countdown and sooner or later what happened today would be a reality." Spinelli began, setting his messenger down against one of the dark blue walls in Jason's room. "But, knowing that I will – hopefully – not be so easily dismissed is a comfort that words cannot truly do justice to."

"This is as much your home as it is mine." Jason assured his grasshopper, putting Spinelli's other bag down as well. "Nothing is changing that."

Spinelli smiled – something Jason was glad to see after the events of the day – and nodded toward the door. "The Jackal is going to procure himself an orange soda, and then perhaps we can move the bed?"

"Sounds good," Jason agreed, but moved to follow Spinelli back downstairs instead of staying in the room as Spinelli had expected he would. "I think I'll have one, too."