STEFAN'S PROPOSAL TO "BARBARA"

(Bobbie is holding the ring; Stefan walks in behind her)

Stefan: Well...

Bobbie: I saw the card.

S: No need to apologize.

B: I wasn't going to.

S: I didn't know how I'd work up to giving it to you.
Now I don't have to. It's been in my family for generations.
My father gave it to me when his mother died and told me to 
save it for the woman I wanted to share my life with.

B: But you never found her, so now it's a pricy thank you gift
for a woman who slept with you once? Are the pickings that slim?

S: Are you trying to insult me?

B: Yes. I don't understand this, and I don't like it.

S: Well, then, have your stiff drink and forget you ever saw it.

B: Stefan, that is a diamond engagement ring--apparently, your 
grandmother's.

S: I know what it is, Barbara.

B: Well, so, why would you want to give it to me? You can't want to
marry me!

S: No, I would be a fool to think of anything like that. Wouldn't I?

B: Oh, my God. Stefan?

S: Maybe you were right, Barbara. Maybe you should leave.

B: Could we start this over?

S: Listen, I made a grievous mistake. I misjudged your feelings for me.
Can we leave it at that?

B: No. No, it was my mistake. You weren't wrong. I do care for you.

S: I don't care to be cared about--that I can get from the dogs and the 
staff, thank you.

B: I really didn't know I meant anything much to you.

S: Well, you don't seem particularly pleased to find out.

B: Well, I want to be, I just--I'm just so used to being bought off.
You know, Tony tells me that he loves me and he'll be there for me for 
the rest of his life--oh, by the way, are his shirts back from the 
cleaners because he's got a hot little date tonight with his hot little 
girlfriend?
And Luke, you know? Luke, I know he would do anything for me.
And he calls me "Darlin'" 
And he calls me "Punkin'"
And he calls me a dozen other pet names all too dopey to mention. 
But, really, little Barbara Jean isn't bright enough to live her own 
life, so why not order me around like a trained flea and make me feel
about the same size?
All those sugar-coated words seem to be followed by a kick in the teeth,
so--if you say something nice to me, my assumption is that you have 
something better to do.

S: I know this is all wrong. 
You're--you're Luke's sister.
You're Laura's sister-in-law.
You're divorce papers aren't a month old.
These things should be insurmountable, and would be, but, Barbara, 
I've always known how I would recognize the woman I'd marry.

B: How?

S: She would be the one person on earth more lonely than I am.



B: Stefan. You hardly know me.

S: Do I strike you as someone who is inclined to rashness?

B: No.

S: Do I strike you as a man who is controlled by his sexual appetites?

B: No.

S: Have you ever seen me pursue other women?
Have you ever seen me with any other woman, besides my nephew's mother?

B: No.

S: Do you want me to tell you that I love you? Is that it?

B: No.

S: I could. I could do that. I could make all sorts of professions. I 
could admire your eyes, your beauty, your directness. But you've just 
had eight years of declarations, eight anniversaries with a man who 
swore he'd always love you and instead broke your heart. I would think 
you've had all you can stand of love, or the chatter of love. In any 
case, love is not the strongest bond. Love is frail compared to need. 
No creature will starve for it's young. Yet some will devour them in 
order to survive. Would it surprise you to know that I have a very clear 
picture of the rest of my life without you? It looks a lot like this 
room before you walked into it--a long hallway with death at the end. 
It's tragic and comic and commonplace. And if I must accept it, I will.
Do you ever imagine the rest of your life, Barbara? 

B: I try not to think about it.

S: Could you perhaps imagine it spent not alone, but as my wife?



B: You're actually asking to marry me?

S: I've never proposed before. Was I being unclear?

B: Oh, No. Unnerving, mostly.

S: Well, you caught me off guard. I wasn't prepared. But you were here. 
You found the ring. And I've said the words so many times before in my 
head.

B: Stefan, I am very flattered and very touched.

S: I see.

B: I guess it's the way you see me. It sounds so idealized. And that's 
not me. I've led a very complicated life. There are so many things about 
me that you don't know.

S: I doubt that...very much.



B: All right. Tell me what I don't need to cover.

S: Your years as a prostitute. The child you gave up for adoption. Your 
previous two husbands--Mr. Brock and Mr. Meyer. Your friendships with 
Scott Baldwin, Roy DiLucca, Noah Drake--none of which keeps you from 
surprising me each time you walk in the room. For all the sinister deeds 
your brother lays at my feet, I am much less a man who does things than a 
man who knows things. In my own life, the moments that meant the most 
were the moments that came without warning, without witness. I could be 
alone in a room, or with one other person on a bench overlooking the sea,
or in a dark study late at night. I suppose I try to become witness by 
proxy to those lives I sense might influence mine. And I know how 
invasive it must feel to hear that you've been researched in this way.

B: It does. But to be honest, it's also a relief. I have wasted far too 
much time being hoisted up onto pedestals only to fall on my derriere.
There are two kinds of women, Stefan. There's Laura and there's me. 
Laura's a princess. Now, don't get me wrong, I love her most days. But 
I'm definitely not a princess. Now, I'm not saying I'm crude or 
foul-mouthed, or that I can't operate an oyster fork right along with 
the best of them, but I am not what a man as refined as you are is 
looking or in a wife.

S: Refined? Well, that's very generous considering you could've said 
peculiar. You know, I wasn't always such a formal gentleman in tastefully 
dark attire. But after my father died and then my brother, necessity 
descended like a straightjacket around me. Like you, I am what 
circumstances made me. You escaped yours. I'm still a prisoner. But I 
have a passion in me that would make a princess cower. And when we made 
love, I was anything but refined. Barbara, you are my escape back to 
myself, and I won't let you go.



S: I won't have you as a mistress, Barbara.

B: Stefan, what century is your vocabulary living in? I mean, a single 
woman and a single man can conduct a relationship without one of them 
wearing a scarlet letter.

S: And where would these liaisons take place? At your home, with Lucas 
down the hall? Not here, certainly. It is my role to teach Nikolas by 
example what is expected of him as the head of our family. And believe 
me, a Cassadine needs inhibitions, which his father, who had none, is 
proof.

B: Well, then tell me this. After three failed marriages and three 
promises to love me forever--that were as easy to break as 
breadsticks--why would I want to be anyone's wife again? 

S: Divorce is unknown in my family. Why? Because love is the least of 
the promises we make. Would you sign a contract vowing to be nothing but 
amused every day till you die? Would you believe anyone who did? And yet 
that's what people do by the thousands every day--stand before God and 
man and swear to feel the way they feel this minute for the rest of their 
lives. For us, the old ways are still best. If love increases, it's a 
blessing. If it cools, it's a disappointment. But the marriage still  
survives because it's founded, not on a feeling, but on the most 
fundamental human concerns--children, property, security.

B: I'm not able, physically, to have children.

S: You have a son, I have Nikolas. You know how fond of you he is, how 
naturally he's drawn to children.

B: Lucas still misses his big sister terribly.

S: Would there be any question of how they'd dote on each other? And as 
for property, I have much more than I know what to do with.

B: Well, I own the house that I live in outright, so that and the rent 
income from it would remain mine. I always had my own money--until Tony 
and our joint account, and then suddenly I couldn't get a chair 
reupholstered without producing a receipt. Yet he thought nothing of 
writing out a check to his girlfriend.

S: It's degrading for a woman to ask her husband for money. What I would 
prefer is to set up an account in your name, say as a wedding gift, with 
a reasonable initial deposit, say $5, $6 million, and make monthly 
deposits thereafter, for you to spend on Lucas, yourself, what have you.
I would have no say and no acess to it. 

B: I don't need $5 or $6 million.

S: Neither do I. But I have it. Why shouldn't my wife? And like it or 
not, marrying me will make you an influential woman. You'll be courted 
by foundations, commisions. I suppose how much you take on, will depend 
on whether you continue working or not.

B: Whether? Wow, what a thought. I love my job, you know. I really busted 
my hump working my way up all these years, but come to think of it, I 
have gone as far as I can go at G.H.

S: You know your own mind. I won't presume to advise you. As for 
security, if in as little as six months you decide you can no longer 
remain in the marriage, you and Lucas would be a financially stable for 
a good many years. But I think you know that I take my commitments very 
seriously. If you become my wife, I'll do anything to keep you--anything.
These things I will promise you in return for the honor of your presence 
in my life. I'm a steady man. I will care for you, give you comfort and 
encouragement. And in return I will only expect your loyalty, your 
honesty, your affection. You've stopped saying no.



S: And what is it you think I might not be saying, Barbara?

B: You've been raising Nikolas alone for a long time. And now he's a 
teenager, a little unruly--and a new environment without all of the old 
controls. He's already run away once. Are you shopping for a mother for 
him?

S: Nikolas already has a mother. She's been nothing but a source of pain 
to him. Do I think you'll be a wise friend and a good influence on him? 
Yes. But for all his life, I have been enough for him. It's a little late 
to be shopping for a mother, don't you think?

B: Still, people will call me his stepmother. Are you hoping that will 
make Laura jealous? 

S: Laura has made it clear that she can only tolerate Nikolas as a casual 
accquaintance. She would have no grounds to be anything, but grateful to 
you. Will she be jealous nonetheless? I couldn't say.


B: All right.


S: There's something else.

B: It's difficult and it's insulting, but it's going to be raised whether 
I bring it up or not.

S: Then do.

B: Luke believes, and tells anyone who'll listen, that he's the reason 
why you are here. Of course, Luke has the tendency to believe that he's 
the reason we're all here. But he will never see your marrying me as 
anything but part of your family's revenge against him. So I'm asking  
pointblank--how do I know he's not right?



S: Your brother is my enemy. I despise all that he has done and all that 
he is. If I were bent on revenge for the destruction of my family, then,
yes, his sister would be a good target. Imprisoning her, impoverishing 
her, even killing her, were I the fiend your brother says I am. But to 
marry her? To consign myself to a future with a woman I only pretend to 
care about, who can't even give me children? To throw away my life? My 
hopes, for the momentary pleasure of infuriating Luke Spencer? What kind 
of revenge is that? If you can't believe I'm sincere, surely you won't 
accuse me of stupidity?

B: I'm sorry. I had to ask.

S: Barbara, I can take no private relish in how a marriage between us 
will torment him when I know how painful the outcome will be for you.
Make no mistake, he will wash his hands of you.

B: No, I don't think he'll do that.

S: Barbara.

B: For so many years, all Luke and I had were each other. I really am the 
one person who can do just about anything, no matter how crazy or 
despicable he finds it, and he'll always find a way to forgive and accept 
it.

S: We'll see. Either way, I hope you're not telling me your answer 
depends upon him. It's intolerable to think that he could not only take 
ny father and my brother, but now my chance at happiness and yours.
(Nikolas comes in the door)
But you must do what you must do. I've said all I can say.

B: I--I need time Stefan.

S: Is that your answer?

B: No, No. I'm saying I need time to give you one. You've obviously 
thought this all through very carefully, and it wouldn't be fair to you 
if I didn't do the same.

S: You know what's best.

B: Good Night.

S: Good Night.

(Bobbie walks to the door)

B: Hey, Nikolas.

Nikolas: Hello.

B: You're out awfully late.

(Bobbie leaves)

(Nikolas gives Stefan a questioning look)

S: Yes, I've asked Barbara to marry me.



***I'm starting this next part right when
Bobbie comes back to give Stefan her answer.***


Bobbie: If you didn't live on an island, I could say I was in the 
neighborhood, but I guess we both know that was a lie.

Stefan: I thought we were all through with lies?

B: The big ones, yes. But what happens the first time Lucas breaks a vase 
or knocks down one of your paintings? Are you going to tell the truth, or 
are you going to lie and say it doesn't matter? 

S: If Lucas is my stepson, it won't matter. You know, Nikolas drew on a 
Gutenburg bible once.

B: What did you do?

S: Nothing. Well, he wasn't allowed to ride for 2 weeks, which, at the 
time, was a fate worse than death.

B: You didn't spank him?

S: Never.

B: That's my one remaining concern--whether or not you'd be a good father 
to Lucas. Well, stepfather, really, because whatever else Tony's done, 
he's always been a wonderful parent.

S: And if I promise that I'll always care for Lucas?

B: Then I'll marry you.

S: What changed your mind?

B: Who said I needed to change my mind?

S: I'm beginning to know you, Barbara. You left here looking for a way 
to refuse me.

B: And I couldn't find one. You know all about my past. You know that it 
was a life of deception, that I lied, and that I cheated, and that I did 
whatever I had to do to get what I wanted.

S: Which was?

B: Everything you're offering--a handsome man, a gracious life, more 
money than God. You know, Stefan, there was a time in my life when I 
really didn't think I deserved those things. And then when I did marry, 
I was always trying to be the kind of person that my husbands wanted me 
to be. Yes, I'll marry you..because you like me for who I am. And you 
say what you want, and you get what you want, which means you must want 
me.

S: I do.

B: Well, I want you, too. That's not a very noble emotion, but I haven't 
had much luck with nobility.

S: I'm noble. For 15 generations, at least.

B: Well, then maybe all this time I've just been working on the wrong 
kind.

(Stefan and Bobbie kiss)

B: We're going to be happy, aren't we?

S: Mrs. Cassadine, I can honestly promise you the time of your life.

(Stefan and Bobbie kiss again)