CHAPTER 1

"Giving Nikolas back to who?" Nikolas asked from the doorway.

He had not wanted to let his parents know that he was listening. He had come down only to get something to drink, but the question had escaped his lips suddenly. At first, when he had seen his mother crying, his heart had sank low. He thought that something had happened again, and either his father would have to leave, or that they would go back on the run. But then they talked about giving him to someone. Why would they have to give him and not Lucky?

"Oh God, Nikolas, you scared the heck out of me, boy!" Luke exclaimed as the young man entered the kitchen.

"Answer the question!" Nikolas snapped when he saw that Luke was avoiding his gaze. "Why would you have to give me back to someone? Who is this Helena woman?"

"Sweetie, you better sit down, because there is something you need to know," Laura said, before she got up and took her first born's hand. He followed her to the table obediently and sat down in front of his father, and his mother took the seat next to him. "Why do we have to do this?" Laura asked as she passed both hands on her face slowly.

"Have to do what, mom?" Nikolas asked nervously. "What is it that I need to know?"

"Maybe I should go and get Lucky, he needs to hear this, too," Luke said quietly and Laura nodded. As he stood up, Nikolas followed his father's face with his eyes, and could've sworn that he saw tears.

"I'll be right back," Luke said softly and squeezed Nikolas' shoulder as he passed by him. The last thing he heard was Nikolas asking "Mom, what's going on?"

Luke went to the living room, and let himself fall on the couch. He slowly passed his hands on his face, his tears falling down on his cheeks as he did so. "Oh please God," he whispered to himself in the stillness of the living room, "if you do exist, don't let them take Nikolas away from Laura. From us," he rectified.

Luke wiped his tears and got up, passing in front of the mantle to get to the stairs where his son was doing his homework. Looking sitting on the fireplace was Laura's framed picture, which contained photographs of everyone through different stages of their family. Luke slowly ran his hands over their first Christmas family picture, when Nikolas was 13 months old. Luke could clearly see the boy's laughing face, sitting on his mother's lap, as they tried to take the picture. Still, to this day, Laura didn't know that it was Luke who was tickling the boy.

As Luke put the picture back on the mantel, he was taken back to a long time ago, when all of this had started. A simple visit had changed their lives forever. Back then, Luke would rather have died than to admit that he cared about the boy. Now, he would shout from the mountain tops how much he loved him.

*****Flashback*****

"Who are you?" Luke asked the visitor on the porch of the little cabin he had rented for the weekend. There went his plans to be alone with Laura, Luke thought as the visitor looked around him, clearly examining the perimeter around the property for some reason.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon, unusually warm for this time of year. November in New York state wasn't the warmest time of the year, but for some reason, it was warm enough to be outside with only a sweater and a pair of pants, which was Luke's attire that day. "Look, pal, I rented this place, and I paid cash for it. This is suppose to be a romantic retreat for me and my wife, so why don't you do just that, and retreat yourself to another cabin!" Luke said and nearly closed the door when the visitor finally spoke.

"I need to see Laura. Now!" the man commanded, looking at Luke with clear disgust in his eyes. "It is a matter of life and death. For her son"

"What the hell are you on, man?" Luke asked, closing the door of the cabin as he stepped out. "You aren't getting anywhere near my wife!"

"Listen to me, Spencer. I need to see Laura and I need to see her now," the man answered coldly

"And you listen to me. Laura doesn't have a son. Now either you leave now, or I'll make you leave. And trust me, you don't wanna know what I'm capable of," Luke answered icily

"That is where you are wrong, I do know what you are capable of," the man answered, slowly putting his hands in his pockets. "Now I can stand here all day, but eventually Laura will wander towards the window and see me. She cannot stay far from the sunlight, because she missed it too much while she was married to Stavros. How do you think she will feel when she sees me? She will know that I did not come alone, she will know that I have Nikolas, and will want to know why you did not think it was necessary to give her my message. I would hate to be the reason of a fight, so soon after you found her again"

"I know who you are," Luke said finally. "You are the youngest of the Blood Sucker family. Laura told me about you. She said that you helped her get through it all. Well, she is home now, safe, back with her HUSBAND, she doesn't need you anymore"

"She might not need me anymore," Stefan agreed, "but she does need her son, and I can not take care of him anymore,"

"Luke, why aren't you coming back to bed?" Laura asked as she stepped out, wearing a beautiful white bathrobe. Her hair was loose on her shoulders, and a smile was permanently across her face. But her smile slowly faded as she saw Stefan. "Where's Nikolas?" She asked, panicked

"Who's Nikolas?" Luke suddenly snapped out of his gaze enough to understand that Laura was out, too.

"Nikolas is fine, he is in the car THAT IS parked in the driveway. I can see him at all times. I could not risk taking him out, SINCE he would have been an open target. But now that you both know that he is here with me, can we come in, so we can talk about the reason for my visit?" Stefan answered Laura in a soft voice.

"You are not coming into the house, Cassadine, forget it!" Luke snapped.

"Shut up, Luke!" Laura snapped back at her husband, going down the stairs of the porch and running to the car to get her son. When she passed by Luke again, the man saw a glimpse of a black haired head. "In, both of you!" Laura said as she opened and closed the door of the house and disappeared inside.

"You break her heart, and I'll break your neck!" Luke hissed in Stefan's face before he joined his wife inside.

"Prove to me that I am doing the right thing here, Laura," Stefan whispered to the ground before he walked inside the house. He found all three of them in the kitchen, with Nikolas sitting on the table and eating a cookie. Luke had his hips against the counter, slowly pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Sit down, Vlad," Luke said angrily and Stefan complied.

"Luke, I asked you not to get involved in this. I'll explain later and then you can be mad at me as much as you want, but not now!" Laura told her husband firmly. "Now, Stefan, why is Nikolas here?"

"Laura, there is something that I did not tell you before you left the island a couple of months ago," Stefan started to say after taking a deep breath. As he was about to start talking again, Nikolas shoved a piece of cookie into his uncle's mouth and Laura laughed as Stefan was forced to eat it. "Now, as I was saying," Stefan said after he swallowed the disgusting piece of food, "I will not be able to keep my promise to you, to always protect Nikolas from the family."

"What? Why?" Laura asked, instinctively taking PULLING Nikolas closer to her and the boy turned around to feed her with cookies.

"I am dying, Laura," Stefan said, refusing to meet her eyes with his own. "I have cancer, and I will not be able to raise Nikolas away from the Cassadine madness, as I promised you. This is why I brought him here"

"What are you saying, Stiffen?" Luke asked as he slowly moved to the table and turned his chair backwards before he sat on it. "Are you saying that you want us to raise the Bloodsucking creature here as our own?"

"Luke, I told you to stay out of it," Laura warned. Her maternal instincts were in full force and she was ready to fight everyone and everything that got in her child's way.

"I have the right to know what he wants from my wife!" Luke answered coldly.

"You have no right in calling my son a blood sucker! You have no right insulting Stefan! If anything, he is the reason I am still alive today! You should thank him instead of trying to insult him!"

"Laura, please," Stefan said quietly, although he was enjoying seeing Spencer squirm at Laura's outburst

"You have the right to say what you have to say without him commenting on everything!" Laura answered, shooting daggers at her husband. "Now, Stefan, I don't think Helena, will go for that. I even suspect that she will rather kill me than leave the Cassadine Prince to me"

"Laura, listen to me," Stefan said softly. "I am dying. I can not raise Nikolas. I know that you will protect him when they come here for him. And I suspect that Luke will protect him, too, because you love your son, and he is important to you. He cannot grow up with them if no one is there to protect him, and I will not be."

Laura watched as Stefan got up and went to Nikolas' side. He picked the boy up in his arm and Nikolas pulled on his lip, as he was babbling about something that only he could understand. Stefan took the boy closer to his heart, hiding his tears in his nephew's neck, and Laura saw Stefan's shoulders being shaken by sobs. "You be a good boy with your mother," Stefan whispered to the boy and turned his head around as he gave him back to Laura, in a hurry to hide his face, which was being disfigured by pain. Before anyone could say anything else he was gone, the front door closing behind him. Nikolas started to whimper, finally breaking the silence in the kitchen.