[Stefan is driving the car, Laura sitting beside him.]
Stefan: I am the one who was given the order to kill your mother.
Laura: (softly) You?
S: Helena was testing my mettle, my, uh, my loyalty.
L: You confide in me about how much you love me and then you tell me that you killed my mother? … Stop the car! (undoes her seat belt)
S: No, no, Lasha, please listen
L: Stop the car! (fumbles for the door handle)
S: No, listen to me!
L: No! Never again! Stop the car!
S: No, Lasha, no, don’t do this!
L: Stop the car!
S: (Pulls over.) So you loathe me now, is that it?
L: Yes.
S: Well, good. Somewhere Helena is satisfied. You know, she gave me the task of killing your mother so that I could never go to you, so you’d never trust me again.
L: Don’t you dare paint yourself as a victim. You killed an innocent woman.
S: Would you have chosen differently?
L: Oh, of course I would!
S: Then do it! Do it right now. You have five seconds, and don’t let me see the decision cross your face. You refuse to kill Lesley Webber and you will be exiled, probably killed. You’ll certainly never see Nikolas again. An innocent child will be raised by a monster to be a monster. Choose, right now!
L: (whispers) I can’t.
S: (softly) Well, I did. And I would do it again. Your mother’s life was insignificant compared to Nikolas’s. When Helena gave her order, I never blinked. I knew better than to give anything away.
(Fade into flashback:
(Helena is sitting in a chair, and Stefan walks by to stand in front of her, facing a curtained window. He’s wearing beige pants and a short-sleeved white shirt.)
Helena: He’s asleep?
Stefan: Yes.
H: You read to him, didn’t you. . . Perhaps you missed your calling. You should have been a nanny.
S: Well . . . (turns slowly to face her) Nikolas will need another one now that his own has disappeared. More of your work, I assume? . . . Is there another reason you demanded to see me?
H: She made contact with the nanny.
S: Laura?
H: She violated the conditions, she pays the forfeit. I want you to kill her mother. You are Stavros’s brother and my son. It is your duty to see that atonement is paid.
S: (nods, his face expressionless) Then consider it done.
(He starts to walk by her, but she reaches out to put a hand on his arm to stop him.)
H: Surprise me, Stefan, or don’t bother to return.
...end flashback)
L: You killed my mother for Nikolas?
S: Lesley Webber meant nothing to me. But she was your mother, and you would have wanted me to save her.
L: Since when have my wants and needs ever mattered to your family? I didn’t want to be kidnapped. I didn’t want to marry Stavros.
S: Did you want your son?
L: Every day of his life. From the moment he grew inside me to when I left him on that island, and every endless year that we were separated after that - but like everything else, it carried no weight compared to what Helena wanted and the house of Cassadine demanded. Vengeance, retribution, death after death after death.
S: She enjoyed telling you the way your mother died.
L: She savored it.
L: I already knew that my mother was dead. I cried all the way on the flight from Amsterdam, so much so that it was very hard to see. That’s why I didn’t notice Helena until she was right in front of me in the airport in Athens, and I froze. . . And she smiled, this terrible gloating smile, and she said -
S: 'A life for a life. As you took my son so I took your mother.' And you said 'no'. Your voice was soft and broken. And then she went on to say it was your fault because you had tried to see your son. . . Then she said that because you deprived Nikolas of a mother, it was only fair that you’d be deprived of yours. And then you screamed 'no' over and over again.
L: She told you?
S: She taped it. I had to listen to your agony unaffected, while she told you the details of the accident. Then she said you fell to your knees, sobbing as she walked away.
L: No, I don't remember that- . (crying) I don't remember anything until I got off the plane in Cairo and saw Luke. He asked me what was wrong, I said I was upset about my mother, he said he understood, but he didn’t. No one could. I can't believe I'm sitting next to the man who did it.
S: You're not.
L: You just said that -
S: I said that I was given the order - to kill her. And it would have been prudent to do so . . . But there’s no prudence in my love for you, Lasha. There never was.
L: Okay, you win.
S: (whispers) What?
L: You win whatever this game is you're playing with me. I’m beggin you - tell me, is my mother alive or dead?
S: Yes, she- she’s alive.
L: (crying) No, no. Oh God, oh God.
(Stefan reaches over to touch her hair, her face. She takes his hand in hers.)
S: (whispering) I knew what I was risking - Nikolas' soul, possibly his sanity, but I knew how you loved your mother. I couldn’t kill her. I was supposed to arrange for a car accident. I had planned to go to your mother and tell her that- that if I didn’t stage her death, Helena would surely kill her, but I never got the chance.
L: Wh- then the accident did happen?
S: Yes. I- I was following her that day, when I saw her car go out of control. I realized then that Helena had not trusted me with the task, she’d obviously sent someone to tamper with the car. She was on her way off the cliff, I forced her to swerve into the hillside, and when I found her, she was unconscious. I had only a few moments to decide, but- then I injected her, as I had planned.
L: With what?
S: A drug that simulates death, and sometimes causes it. Now, the accident was reported, her body was taken to General Hospital. After she was identified, she was replaced by another woman’s body, and revived.
L: (whispering) Oh my God, oh my God. (crying) All these years - she’s alive. She’s alive. Oh my God.
[Stefan is driving again.]
L: Do you swear that I'm going to see her tonight?
S: I must warn you - she may not recognize you. She’s never fully recovered from the accident.
L: The accident or what you injected her with?
S: I don't know. I’m not sure. But there was no choice.
L: My God. What have you done to her?
S: Lasha, I saved her life, and I risked mine to keep her safe. . . For six and a half years I paid for her care, and visited her in secret. I raised and protected Nikolas from that demon. And bided my time.
L: Waiting for what?
S: On Nikolas’s seventh birthday, between nightfall and daybreak, all of Helena’s minions were gone from the island. Nikolas’s inheritance came under my control. It wasn’t a bloodless coup, but it was effective. And from that day until this, your mother has received the finest care money could buy. Specialists from all over the world. (sighs) Maybe her daughter can reach her now when no one else could.
L: Why are you doing all of this?
S: It’s . . . my final act of devotion. Further tokens of esteem would be inappropriate, given my, uh, current change in circumstance. (He lifts his left hand from the steering wheel, the ring flashing in the light.)
L: You're married?
S: Yes. Yesterday, to Barbara Spencer. Which makes us in-laws. (pained smile) Back where we started.
L: That's insane. You don't love her.
S: (harshly) What I love I cannot have.
L: Then, what? You married her just for revenge?
S: You think I would?
L: In a heartbeat.
S: You underestimate me . . . No matter. Your expectations are no longer my concern. Once you're reunited with your mother, I'll be free and so will you.
(The car is stopped. They both get out, Laura walking quickly forward, then stopping suddenly as she looks up at the building.)
L: She's up there?
S: Yes, in the tower room.
L: (Looks up.) Uh, the window is the same as the one in the game.
S: Which is why we had to hurry. I had no idea Helena was able to leave the island, much less engineer a computer game.
L: How could she, if you have all the power now?
S: Well, obviously she still has her greatest strength - the ability to cause pain. She’ll never control Nikolas or the family again, but she can still torture you. Now, I can stop her, as soon as your mother is safe.
L: Why didn’t you tell me the truth before?
S: (Hesitates) I wanted to- give her to you as a wedding gift. . . I suppose in a way I have. Go to her, Lasha, I’ll wait here. . . And, whatever you find, I did the best I could.
(Laura hesitates, looking at the tower window and then back to him. She walks up to him and kisses him on the lips.)
L: Thank you.
(We hear her footsteps running to the building. Stefan looks stunned, touching his hand to his lips, as he watches her walk away. Once she enters, he turns and slowly walks a few steps, then stops and turns back. He is still in shock. As he looks at the building, there is a sudden explosion from within. Stefan puts his arms up to shield his face from the blast, and is thrown to the ground by the force of the explosion.)
END