Zander's expression reflected how she looked. She's tried to fix her makeup and look less like a sleep depraved forty year old who had just broken up with her fianc? but apparently she'd failed. She stared into the boy's eyes and couldn't find the confidence they used to hold in her. She briefed him on the latest developments in his case, trying to sound optimistic. The truth was that Dara had been giving her hell. It was as if the ADA was getting her revenge for all the times that Alexis had beat her since setting foot on Port Charles.
Zander nodded. "So what you're saying is you don't know whether they plan on setting bail anytime soon. And you haven't gotten any further with getting me immunity if I testify against Sorel."
"You need to be patient."
"Be patient, be a good rat… that is if they let me rat on Sorel!"
"Don't raise your voice to me you ungrateful little bum," she hissed. "You might find yourself with a public defender urging you to confess to killing Wilson so quickly your head will spin. I'm doing my best. Sonny will deposit bail for you the moment it is set."
Zander's eyes shone with anger. His handcuff's clinked as he brought his hands together.
"Sonny Corinthos is paying you. He wants to use me to eliminate the competition. I'm supposed to count on the protection of someone who wants to use the cops to do his dirty work."
"Well, my budding Al Capone, he's your best bet. No one is forcing him to help you."
Tears of rage spilt from Zander's eyes and he wiped at them angrily with his fists.
"I'm scared," his voice came out in a choked whisper. "Not just for myself, for Emily too. I can't let myself hope," Alexis had caught such despair in his eyes before he closed them that she felt her throat constrict.
She covered his hands with her own. "Has someone threatened you again?"
He nodded.
"It was the first thing you should have told me when I walked in," she said sternly.
Zander remained quiet.
Slowly he raised his head, his bloodshot eyes meeting hers. And once more since meeting the boy, Alexis felt that nagging feeling of recognition. She knew him, his mannerisms, his eyes, his hands, almost everything about him was familiar. If he were older she would consider this to be love at first sight, like what she'd read in books about people feeling as though they knew each other in a different life. She couldn't explain it and it scared her. All she knew was that if Sonny dropped Zander tomorrow and if Emily left him, even if she pressed kidnapping charges against him, Alexis wouldn't care. She'd work pro bono, she'd do anything to help the boy.
"I'll help you. You are innocent and that should count for something. You'll be out of here before Christmas."
Zander smiled bitterly. "Home for Christmas," he murmured. "That doesn't mean much for me."
"There isn't… anyone?" Alexis inquired gently.
Zander looked away. Alexis stared at his set jaw. His family was a very sensitive subject that she dared touch only for the second time.
"When my parents split up, their problem was who wouldn't get me. My mother won the grand prize and she was sort of ok about it but her asshole boyfriend wasn't. So… I didn't get to finish high school. I had to run errands for Steve, the boyfriend, deliver his money, deliver other people's money, steer clear of the cops… until one day I took the money but I didn't go home. It didn't last for very long but it got me here. And when it run out I got myself a job," he finished in the same dispassionate tone he'd used throughout his narrative. "I guess my story isn't exactly original," he said dryly, turning to her.
Alexis met his gaze steadily. "I worked as a public defender for a while, a good one. Many of my clients had similar stories. I've seen enough cynicism in the eyes of teenagers to last me a lifetime."
I didn't get to finish high school. Somehow the fact that Zander had wanted to continue his education but hadn't gotten a chance had registered as strongly to Alexis as though he'd said he'd been starving. She knew what it was like to be deprived of knowledge. Once more her thoughts went to Stefan, how he'd sat with her, taught her how to read and write. How he'd run to her after a lesson with his tutors and he would repeat it to her word for word, occasionally producing hilarious results like when he told her that the First World War had started when Archiduke Ferdinand was murdered by an ostrich that was hungry. In Greece where as Martha had told her in the twenties a King had died after being bitten by a monkey, Alexis had no difficulty believing that. Only when she finally got tutors of her own did she learn the boring truth. "What sort if country is Austrohungary anyway," Stefan had said angrily.
"Do you want to share the joke? I could use a laugh," Zander said gruffly.
She looked up at him, a blush creeping on her cheeks. "Was I smiling?"
"Yes."
"I was just thinking of something, it's not important." She glanced at her watch. "It's late. I need to get going. I want you to call me in case anyone threatens you again. Now I'll have a nice long talk with Mac Scorpio and settle a few things."
"Sorel has cops on his payroll."
"Do you know names? Faces?"
"Like they're gonna care about what I have to say… They won't even let me point the finger at Sorel. All they want to do is strap me to a bed and stick a needle in my arm." His voice had risen in anger. He took a deep breath. His tone softened. "And you know, a few months back I would strap myself to the bed and offer them a vein but I don't feel like that anymore. Not since I met Emily…" his voice trailed off.
Alexis briskly wiped a tear with the back of her hand and got up slowly. She placed her hand on Zander's shoulder.
"Have a little faith in me, will you? Emily knew what she was doing when she came to me."
Zander raised his eyes to meet hers. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly.
She was about to tell him there was nothing to apologize about when the door opened. "Two more minutes," the tall thin officer barked.
"You'd better get going," murmured Zander.
Alexis squeezed his shoulder and felt Zander's coarse cheek as he turned and pressed the side of his face on her hand in an expression of tenderness that took her breath away. She whispered goodbye and was out of there before he could see the tears that had filled her eyes again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stefan opened his mouth and closed it again too stunned to say anything. He'd given up hope on Nikolas ever deciding to assume his responsibilities as the Cassadine heir so when his nephew told him exactly that he feared it was nothing but a drink induced hallucination.
"Is this some kind of joke?" he said.
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"No, it's just that…" he blinked hard trying to concentrate. "I'm happy that you finally saw this need."
"I will have to head the family soon and I need to learn about business… about our business and who better to teach me than you?"
Stefan breathed deeply. "I hope I will not disappoint you."
Nikolas smiled. "I don't think there's any fear of that." He paused. "I want us to be close again," he added softly. "Like we were on the island. Like when we first came here."
Stefan swallowed hard. He hadn't been prepared for this.
"Alexis asked me if I'm doing this for myself or for you, I told you it was for me but it's not completely true."
"You've spoken to Alexis about this?"
"Yes."
"You saw her? How was she?" he asked eagerly.
Nikolas shrugged. He didn't want to lie but what could he say? Bitter, erratic, sad… "She was …ok."
The pause he'd made didn't go unnoticed by Stefan. "The truth Nikolas."
"She broke up with her… with Ned."
The excitement Stefan felt about this was dampened by the certitude that Alexis was hurting and she didn't want him near her. "It's for the better," he said simply.
"How can you say that, Uncle! She loved him."
Stefan snorted. "Nonsense. He was never good enough for her and I'm glad she finally saw that before she married him."
"I think they'll get back together."
"Even if they do it will not be for long."
"You seem so sure of that."
Stefan sighed. "I know Alexis, Nikolas. No one knows her as well as I do."
"She's alone, Uncle. Just like you. Neither of you will tell me what went down and now that I've spoken with her some more I'm starting to think it's all your fault. Have you kicked her out of the family again?"
Stefan raised his hands to cover his face. "I understand why you would think that," he said defeatedly.
Nikolas raised his hands up in the air. "I give up! You want to stay in here and brood day in day out, go ahead. Alexis doesn't want to talk to you, fine. I love you both but I can't take this anymore," he yelled.
Stefan stared away. He didn't want Nikolas to see the tears in his eyes. He had dreamt of the moment Nikolas would come back to him and now he felt disgusted with himself. He hadn't said the truth to the boy and he accepted his love without shame. And now he would have to let Nikolas in the Cassadine business. Alexis had helped him when he'd been appointed trustee of the estate after the coup. She'd put her career second and she'd stood by him. In retrospect he realized she'd been running the estate with him although she made it look as though all of the decisions were coming from him. She'd seen every aspect of the business even the shadiest of them and she'd never passed judgment, she'd never left his side. A significantly larger percentage of Cassadine business was now above board but still, would Nikolas show the same acceptance? Stefan smiled ruefully, it remained to be seen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The door opened before Lucky knocked on it. In the dim light he made out Andreas' face. Lucky followed him in the cold house. Suddenly, a light hit his eyes, blinding him. He instinctively put his hands up.
"There's no need for that, Helena. I can smell you," he murmured. He guessed there might be someone with her that Helena didn't want him to see.
"Did you miss me, my dear?"
"Terribly," Lucky said through gritted teeth.
Helena took a step closer to him. Lucky could see her well-manicured hand reach for him her rings catching the light. She held something in her hand. Lucky made no move to take it.
"What's this?" he said gruffly.
Anger flashed in Helena's eyes. "Just take it," she said not letting her frustration show in her voice.
Lucky took the photograph in his hand. The little girl's round blue eyes stared at him from it.
"She's growing up, day by day," Helena purred.
Lucky set his jaw.
"I need to ask you a favor."
Lucky didn't take his eyes away from the picture. "Where is she?" he said, his voice thick with emotion.
"She's somewhere where she's safe but you and I know that that could change any minute."
"You don't have to threaten me all the time." Lucky said wearily. "I'll do whatever dirty work you want to lay on me next."
Helena laughed. "I have a very easy task for you, my dear. Very easy indeed." She handed him a small vial filled with a clear liquid.
Lucky took it from her hand and stared at it carefully.
"I want four drops of this liquid to find their way in whatever drink Nikolas is having. It is tasteless and odorless so he will not understand a thing. You may not put more than four drops and you must do it at least once a day."
"Nikolas?"
"You heard me."
"Why would you want to hurt him? Your own flesh and blood?"
"My plans do not concern you. But I will tell you that I'm acting in Nikolas' best interest. I will know whether you have given him his daily dosage or not and I will be very cross with you if you don't. Innocents could suffer," she hissed in his ear.
Lucky bowed his head and stuffed the vial along with the picture in his pocket.